Get to Know the Author
I’ve been seeing some new faces around here lately, and it has been such an encouragement to me to read your comments and hear from you in general, dear Reader!
I’m especially pleased that a few of you who have been reading quietly for a while have felt comfortable saying “hi” here and there, as well!
Whether you found me through a group we’re in together, because I commented on someone else’s blog you were following, or you came here because you’ve already read and enjoyed my books (or if you found me some other way that I haven’t thought of) WELCOME!
A couple months ago before I went on a short hiatus, I invited you to ask me your questions so I could do a sort of “get to know me” post since I haven’t done one in a while.
And boy did you deliver on the questions! Thank you so much! A post like this really doesn’t happen without YOUR help and input, and I am very grateful that you felt comfortable asking away!
The Questions:
From E.E. Rawls:
What would be your ideal place to sit and write or draft up stories?
To be perfectly honest… my ideal place to sit and draft up stories would look a whole lot like this…
Of course, if it were truly ideal, then there would be no bugs, the sunlight would be perfectly angled and filtered through the overhead tree branches so that it wouldn’t reflect off my screen, and yes… my laptop would have to be completely waterproof.
I could hand-write here, of course… and in an ideal situation, my hand would never cramp up.
I mean, so long as we’re dreaming.
But man… that’s such a cool place for a treehouse/writer’s getaway!
What is your favorite real place to write?
My favorite real place to write at the current moment is right here on the sofa in my room. I’ve got good lighting, a comfy-ish place to sit, and my Middle Earth map blanket. I just need to get some nice decorations up on the walls…. maybe a nice Thomas Kinkade print…
And do you write even while going on vacations?
I do not usually write when I’m on vacation. I like to keep vacation… vacation. If you know what I mean. Vacation from work, so that I can rest and recharge and be able to come back to my writing refreshed. I also tend to use vacation to go see my family, my favorite people on earth, and so when I’m with them I want to snatch up every second we have together.
However, if we’re on a long road trip going TO vacation, my husband and I will often brainstorm in the car on the way for various story plots or world building or just trying to figure out a way around whatever issue has cropped up in a story I’m working on or thinking about.
From Blue:
Favourite 'strange' snack?
Hmmm. I’m not sure I like a lot of “strange” snacks. I’m kind of picky and have fairly simple tastes. I do have some food combinations I like that maybe you might call weird: mac and cheese with applesauce on top, or grilled cheese with strawberry jam spread on it (after you grill it).
I don’t tend to snack when I write, though. I might have my water bottle nearby, or possibly a Dr. Pepper.
Do you have a favourite writing-related story?
I have several, actually. So much of my life has revolved around writing, but today I’ll tell one I don’t think any of you have heard yet.
When I was in grade school (5th grade, to be precise), my best friend and I loved writing stories together. Our first “book” was a handful of chapters about two puppies, named Rogtu and Scamper, who were best friends and got into all sorts of mischief.
Well…
We also loved telling spooky stories around the campfire. And one evening, we made up our very own urban legend about a huge black wolf named Eclipse, who we claimed lived in the forest behind the park at the end of our road. There was a whole saga to this wolf, about how he had been separated from his pack, and then the entire pack was killed by humans hundreds of years ago, and how his spirit still lurked in the last remnants of the forest, always searching for ways to enact vengeance.
Deliciously scary, no? grin
Well. One day, I was biking home from the library, and had to bike through the school yard playground that was about two blocks from my house. Suddenly, out of nowhere, this enormous black dog lopes out of the trees toward me.
Now, I’ve always liked dogs. I get along well with them. But I had just been reciting our story about Eclipse to myself as I’d been riding along, and I must admit that I sort of screamed, hopped off my bike, and climbed up on top of the monkey bars as fast as I could. The dog (which I would later absolutely SWEAR was a huge black wolf… to this day I have no idea what it actually looked like, my imagination completely took over) stood there and stared at me for a very long time, and I crouched on the monkey bars, my heart pounding, wondering if I was up high enough, wondering if ghost dogs could climb… until it finally turned around and disappeared back into the trees.
I waited a while, then got down, climbed on my bike, and pedaled home as fast as I could. It was a while before I was willing to go anywhere near the forest alone!
Which books do the kids seem to be drawn to the most, and how do you think they compare to the books you loved best as a child?
This is a hard one, because we read so much in our family. And everyone goes through different stages.
L, at 12, loves anything with a dragon in it. When I was her age, I was into Nancy Drew, middle grade vampire books (which are cleaner and less scary than other genres - for example, my favorite book around that age was My Sister, the Vampire by Nancy Garden), Goosebumps, Choose Your Own Adventure, and Diana Wynne Jones. But L’s got much better taste and her favorites are The Wingfeather Saga, Dragons in Our Midst, The Enchanted Forest Chronicles, and others of that ilk.
N, at 9, is horse-crazy and is loving a lot of the same books I did at that age: Saddle Club, Thoroughbred, but she and L are currently both having a blast with the Whatever After series by Sarah Mlynowski… it sounds fun, I might have to give it a try!
B, at 6, is devouring the Magic Treehouse series. I don’t know what I was reading at 6. Probably mostly dog stories. I loved Janette Oke’s animal diary stories and anything with a dog in it, really.
G, at 4, mostly wants to read anything that has elephants in it. Elephant and Piggie by Mo Willems are his absolute favorite. At that age, I personally loved things like Harry the Dirty Dog, Owl Moon, Jumanji, Harold and the Purple Crayon, Courderoy, and Little House on the Prairie.
Woodland cottage or mountain castle: which prompts the most story, and which would you prefer to call home?
Oooh, that’s a tough one. Can I have a woodland cottage with a view of the mountains? I don’t really want to live in a castle, so for living in, I’d definitely pick the woodland cottage.
As for which prompts the most story… I don’t think I can answer that. It depends on the story and the characters. I could come up with intriguing ideas for both.
Which real-life story do you find most inspiring?
I love stories of real-life explorers. One of my personal heroes is Ernest Shackleton. Even though none of his expeditions ever really succeeded, or he never really got where he was trying to go… he brought all his men home safe and alive. And to me, that’s always been the more impressive feat.
I also love any kind of David & Goliath true-life story… like the one about the 1980 Olympic Hockey team (as depicted in the films Miracle on Ice, and Miracle).
The life story of George Muller is another one that inspires me. I strive to have that kind of faith.
If you were turned into a dryad, which tree would you be associated with?
Probably a willow. I’ve always loved willow trees, we used to have a ton of them in our yard when I was a kid. They are excellent climbing trees, it’s a blast to swing on their branches, and they just hold so many beautiful memories for me.
From Lily:
What was it like to self-publish your first book?
It was thrilling. It was messy. It sort of happened in several stages… I had no idea what I was doing.
Technically, I self-published my first book all the way back in 2005. It was an early draft of King’s Warrior… and it was honestly a serious mistake.
I should have waited. But excitement got the better of me, and there really weren’t a lot of places to get good information on how to self-publish at the time.
At least, none that I knew of.
Most of the other indie authors I knew about were through the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award forums… and while some of their advice was helpful, a lot of it wasn’t. Many of them were as lost as I was… but I didn’t realize it at the time.
Thankfully, because there were no marketing options for me at the time, very few copies of The Dragon’s Eye, or the sequel, which I also published too soon, sold. And mostly just family and friends read them.
If you could go back in time to when you first decided to pursue a writing career, what advice would you have given yourself?
I would caution myself to wait on publishing. I don’t really count my author career as beginning until 2012 when I published King’s Warrior… and I wish that I hadn’t released the early versions of it and Second Son, that only the polished versions were out in the wild.
I’d also sit down with myself and have a good long talk about expectations and costs. Not to discourage myself in any way, but to help me go into the business with a better understanding of how much work it is, how much it actually costs, and how few tangible rewards there can be.
What author has inspired you most in your writing journey?
I think this is one of those questions where I could give you a different answer every day of the week.
Some days, it’s Stephen R. Lawhead: the way that he weaves faith into his fantasy so seamlessly and without any “preachiness” you almost don’t notice it’s there, but with such depth that you get more out of his stories every time you re-read them.
Some days it’s Timothy Zahn, who has so many unconnected series, and does a phenomenal job of world building for every one of them. He never seems to shirk when it comes to putting in the effort to world-build a believable place for his stories to happen in… even if it’s just a stand alone!
Some days it’s H.L. Burke, Kyle Robert Shultz, W.R. Gingell, Janeen Ippolito, Kendra E. Ardnek, Laurie Lucking, DJ Edwardson, HSJ Williams, Erin Winters, Sarah Delena White, and all my other Fellowship of Fantasy or Realmie authors who are just down here in the trenches with me. Many of them are doing a fantastic job, putting out way more books than I do, and just soaring with success… and some of them are struggling along, working hard, and sharing their discouragement over how little return they see for their efforts… but they’re all continuing the journey, putting one foot in front of the other, continuing to press on toward the goal to win the prize. I am inspired by their courage, their tenacity, and their willingness to help others along the way and cheer them toward their own goals.
A lot of the time in the past two years it’s been Allen Arnold, whose books and personal encouragement have meant so much to me as he continually reminds me and his readers and the authors he coaches to pursue our writing WITH God.
Any favorite hobbies outside of writing?
Can being a wife and mom be my hobbies?
I don’t have a lot of hobbies outside of writing, because homeschooling 4 hobbits and trying to keep them all fed some semblance of nutrition and keeping the house from looking like it’s recently been through the Battle of Britain are all full-time jobs on top of my part-time writing career.
But… I do love swimming and taking my kids to the lake. I love rock climbing and hope we can get back into that this fall. I sort of semi-enjoy gardening… I have little planters this year and they have been working fairly well… though keeping the deer away is a full-time battle that I am losing.
Do you like drawing/painting?
You know, if you had asked me this four months ago, I would have said with absolute certainty, “NO.”
But then a friend of mine hosted a painting party, and I went… and I learned how to do some things with watercolor… and I found that I actually quite enjoy painting! I’m not super good at it… but at least I can actually create something that looks halfway like what I was shooting for!
The flower to the right, for example, is one of my first attempts outside of my friend’s painting class… and I’m actually quite happy with the way it turned out!
What is one funny typo that you found while editing a story?
You know… I actually don’t have a good answer for this question. I know I’ve had plenty of typos, but I can’t think of a memorable one. They’re usually instances of “teh” instead of “the” or places where I’ve left out a word.
Sadly, I don’t think I’ve ever had a really humorous one.
Which do you prefer for reading: ebooks/paperback/hardback/audio?
In the past two years, I’ve really come to appreciate all of the above. I used to be firmly entrenched in the paperback/hardback only camp.
But my husband insisted on buying me an e-reader so I could participate more in my Fellowship of Fantasy: Indie Book Club without putting us in the poorhouse, ehehe. And I’ve come to really love my kindle paperwhite. It doesn’t hurt my brain the way reading on regular screens does, and I just can’t beat the night light feature for staying up late and not bothering my husband (or alerting him to the fact that I’m staying up a lot later than I probably should for “just one more chapter.”) grin
And last year, while working on producing my own audiobooks, I started listening to audiobooks myself, and I’ve been really enjoying using that medium in various situations where sitting and reading a page just isn’t as feasible.
So at the moment… all of the above. They’re all good. I love them all.
Is there any question you wished someone would've asked you during an author interview?
Man, you ask good questions!
I’ve been asked a lot of questions through various interviews… so it’s hard to think of things that haven’t been asked, especially since I’m the worst at coming up with questions in general. But I think I’d love to be asked more questions about my books. Things like:
~What’s the most fun you’ve ever had while writing
~What’s your favorite scene you’ve ever written
~Has your own writing ever made you laugh
~Has your own writing ever made you cry
~What was one of the toughest scenes you ever had to write
Things like that, I don’t think I’ve ever been asked, but it would be fun to answer some of those questions.
Do you feel like you know me better? Are there any further questions you’d like to ask me?
I’d love to hear YOUR answers to some of these questions, dear Reader and fellow Author! What would YOUR ideal place be to write? Do you enjoy drawing or painting? Has your own writing ever made you laugh or cry? What was your favorite book as a child, a middle schooler, or a teenager?