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| Memoirs of an Ordinary Girl: The Middle-ish Ages |
What languages you can speak and write?
My native, and only fluent tongue is American English, but I excel in it. I've dabbled a little in Spanish, but that usually ends poorly.
How many books have you written?
At this point, I have written two books with one currently in editing mode for publication.
Can you list some of your books here?
Where do you publish your books?
I have published through Amazon's Kindle and CreateSpace
If you are using KDP and CreateSpace, did you try traditional publishing?
I did not. I looked into it but was less than pleased with the offerings these days. It seemed like it might take several years and I wanted to get my book out there, keep all my rights, and keep my own terms.
What is the biggest challenge you have faced when writing your book? How did you overcome it?
My books have been semi-autobiographical and nostalgic, so one of my biggest problems was getting lost in my memories and trying to figure out the right balance between truth and fiction for the sake of my story and characters. I overcame this by just working through it and asking myself what I thought readers would enjoy.
How do you promote your books?
I'm still learning how to do this effectively, but so far I mostly use Facebook, and then Twitter, my blog, business cards, word or mouth, and joining author groups.
What is your favorite genre and why?
Good question. I don't like to limit myself too much, but I do really enjoy dystopian fiction, not to write, but to read.
When did you start writing? What is the purpose of your writing?
I started writing as far back as I remember knowing how to write at all. I'm sure I wasn't very good at it as a child, but I loved doing it, creating my own worlds and characters and sending them off on adventures. When I was a teenager, it was a create and emotional outlet and I probably wrote more poetry than stories back then. Now, I write because I cannot help myself.
Which of your work has been published so far? Would you like to share a synopsis of your work?
So far I have published Memoirs of an Ordinary Girl: The Middle-ish Ages. An excerpt:
We’re Not in Kans…er, California Anymore!
As I attempted to pack, I realized I really didn’t know the first thing about Virginia. I knew it was summer there because we were in the same hemisphere, and from a made for TV mini-series my family greatly enjoyed, I knew that most of the Civil War had been fought there. Who says TV isn’t educational? I learned more US history from TV than the state of California ever taught me. Of course, every year I learned about the Roman Empire, Greek gods and goddesses, and how the Egyptians invented embalming. Fourth grade, fifth grade, and sixth grade textbook checkout time always revealed, through a quick glance at the table of contents, that Caesar would indeed get betrayed and murdered again each year. There was some sort of safety in this knowledge, but not in the unknown of Virginia. Who knew what the kids there learned in school!
Did they wear denim shorts and regular T-shirts, or would I need to wear plaid shirts and ropes for belts in order to fit in? How would my dad ever fit in out in the sticks without a beard? I couldn’t imagine him growing one out, but I figured he better give it a try. These were the only images I had of Virginia. Oh, and toothless grins. I was terrified.
As my suitcase lay open on my bed, T-shirts, denim shorts, and sandals went in. I crossed my fingers. My parents had just said they wanted to “check it out.” If we were terribly out of place or heard dueling banjos in the distance, I was sure they would not force me to move there. I was pretty sure they would have electricity, so I packed my hairdryer and curling iron. I had high hopes of indoor plumbing, but a small fear lingered in the back of my mind that I may also need my own toilet paper just in case I had to use an outhouse. I gambled that one and left the roll sitting on my dresser since my suitcase was already overflowing.
Are you working on more books?
I am currently working on the sequel, Memoirs of an Ordinary Girl: Fresh-meat Year, and I plan to write an installment for each of my protagonist, Drew's, remaining high school years as well, to total five books in the series.
What four top most things you take care of while writing a book?
1- Characterization is my priority. If I cannot connect to good characters, nobody else will either.
2- Good voice and an easy style
3- I do not create a true outline, but I must have some bones to the skeleton or I'll lose myself, so I write down every idea I have and try to find a place for it
4- I taught high school English to advanced learners for seven years, so the mechanics are also important to me.
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