Thank you so much for sharing your book with me and agreeing to do a Q&A for my readers.
What was the biggest hurdle you had to overcome in completing your book?
The most magical part of writing is the vanishing act where reality disappears. Yet in the case of this book, the horrors on the page felt too similar to the horrors on the news. It forced me to remain unflinchingly present. For a while, I struggled with the heaviness of it all, but sharing these feelings with my friends helped me manage them.
What is your writing Kryptonite?
Reality! Whether it’s current events or my personal life, real world distractions are my greatest source of writers block. Sometimes I use an app on my laptop that blocks all my social media so I’m forced to just focus on writing!
What advice do you have for aspiring writers looking to publish their first novel?
Two pieces of advice based on my own experiences:
#1. The best thing I did for my writing—and myself—was form a critique group. We were a handful of unpublished writers who met up every other weekend to workshop our chapters and offer feedback. Even now, we continue to be sources of support for each other.
#2. Don’t get discouraged if it doesn’t happen for you right away. Remember that your path is as unique as your story. It took me almost a decade to get published. In that time, I wrote five completed novels, and every single one of them was rejected. If you’re an aspiring author who feels broken by too many NO’s, don’t give up—hold on for your YES.
The Woodsman focuses on a man named Jackson Clay. Haunted by tragedy in his past, he’s now something of a recluse, living alone in the Virginia woods. That past, though, has been driving him to do one thing: saving those who are missing and the authorities can’t find.
Meet writer and artist T.C. Anderson, and learn about her unique poetry and art collaboration, The Forest.
Meet author Shawna-Lee, and learn about how music influenced her debut novel, Radio Waves!
I’m excited to welcome back Morgan Christie, who is talking about her debut fiction collection, These Bodies.
Meet author Gita Trelease and learn more about the upcoming conclusion to her French Revolution duology, Everything That Burns.
Learn more about Bryan Kuderna, author of Millennial Millionaire- A Guide to Become a Millionaire by 30, and Anoroc.
Learn more about author H.B. Reneau and her one-of-a-kind magic system in her debut novel, Chaos Looming.
Learn more about author Lisette Prende and her YA Fantasy novel, Bianca de Lumiere, in this exclusive interview!
Learn more about author FM Isaacs and her YA Fantasy series, Legacy of the Fox, in this exclusive interview!
Manuela Azul has been crammed into an existence that feels too small for her. As an undocumented immigrant who's on the run from her father's Argentine crime-family, Manu is confined to a small apartment and a small life in Miami, Florida. Until Manu's protective bubble is shattered.
Every avid reader dreams about having their own personal reading nook. So, if you’re one of them, you’re at the right place since we’ll now discuss some of the amazing ways how to design it and incorporate it into the rest of your home design. Feel free to take a look at our ideas and add your personal touch to them as well.
While you can always count on your laptop or any regular old notebook to get your ideas down when you really need to write, there's tons of gadgets out there to make your writing even easier!
Recently, my husband and I watched The Truman Show on Netflix. I had first watched this movie in middle school as a part of my language arts class. It had a huge impact on me and when I found out Daniel had never seen it before, I was excited to show it to him. The movie lived up to my memory and, in talking to Daniel about it, it also gave me a writing epiphany!
Pacing in fiction has always been one of my great struggles because I get excited about a scene idea and rush to get there. It’s finally sinking in though that I need to slow down in order to get the interiority I want for my narrator and protagonist. But how do you slow down the pace of a scene? The trick is knowing when to show versus tell.
Last week we got the chance to talk about some of the faux-pas writers have encountered with their friends in the past. It probably left you with some questions about what exactly could you do if you didn't want to offend your friends? Here's some ideas!
NaNoWriMo starts in exactly two days and every writer on twitter is either jumping with excitement or trying not to cry with despair. It's the most exhilarating and terrifying month of the year. If you're not in the know, NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month, and is hosted by the Non-Profit Group NaNoWriMo. It's a challenge to write 50,000 words in one month, which is roughly 1667 words per day. So let's get down to it, what exactly are you going to write?
As I'm getting ready to start this grand experiment into running my author's website and blog, after managing other business' pages for over three years, I'm reminded of an open mic night or any reading, actually. I'm standing at the podium (or in my undergraduate days, standing in the middle of the smoker's patio with a security light shining behind me on a semi-frigid night right before mid-terms) and all eyes are on me. I've been practicing my reading for a week straight, nipped and tucked to fit a scene into a five-minute time slot, and have decided this is as good as it's going to get.
Ten-year-old Harold Hufferbluss has extraordinarily vivid dreams. Some good, some not so good, and some freaky bad, but all in full color and jukebox loud. And these particular weird dreams have attracted the attention of something not quite human: Slender Sam. Ol’ Sam is watching Harold, intrigued by the boy who can dream just a little bit better than everybody else. A boy with a special knack for dreaming that others can only...dream of.