Getting side-tracked by school and getting a serious and reputable degree (an MA in Applied Linguistics/Specialized Translating), I only truly and honestly allowed myself to give writing a real shot in my mid-twenties. I grew up not only bi-lingual and interested in the creative professions, I also learned how dangerous it can be to place one’s trust on talent alone. Now that I have a somewhat stable job, I have been writing in every free minute, trying to put together a good body of work.
On the side, I also write poetry, some songs, play the
guitar really badly and like to play around with my beautiful DSLR. I have a
little kitty called Nookie, and a long-distance girl-friend called Lorrie, to
whom I owe the belief and motivation to finish my first book.
Withdrawn and with a reputation for her strange,
eccentric ways, young Lady Moira Rochmond is old to be unwed. Rumors say she
has been seen barefoot in the orchard, is awake all night in moon-struck
rambles, and sleeps all day. Some even claim her ghostly pallor and aloof
manner are signs of illness, a curse, or insanity.
The hopes of the peaceful succession to her father’s
fief lie in an advantageous marriage. Moira, however, has a hard time
attracting suitors. When one does show interest, her family pushes for a
decision.
Almost resigned to the fact that she has no choice but
to play the part she has been given in life, Moira is faced with Owain, a
member of the mysterious Blaidyn creatures and a new guard in her father’s castle,
specifically tasked to keep her safe. He is different from other people she
knows and when one night under the full moon she makes the acquaintance of the
wolf who shares Owain’s soul, she starts to trust him and seek his presence. As
he becomes one of the few individuals who doesn’t make her want to hide and
retreat, she wants to learn more about him and they grow closer until they
share a kiss one night under the moon.
Faced with feelings and desires that overthrow
everything she thought she knew about herself, Moira knows non-the-less that
they have to be kept utterly secret. However much they try, they continue to be
drawn to each other until one night, Owain discovers something about Moira that
shakes him to his core.
1. If you could work with any other author, who
would it be and why?
I love that question, because I actually am working
together with an author and she is exactly who I would work with if I had that
choice of any author in the world. Her name is Lorrie and she’s my best friend
and writing buddy. And this, apart from her enormous talent and amazing writing
voice, is exactly what qualifies her so uniquely. She is someone I trust
implicitly. I am the kind of person who gets shy and who doesn’t want to step
on anyone’s toes – I guess you could say I’m a bit of a doormat; I just to tend
to go with what other people want rather than pressing my own idea through. In
that regard, I have been used before – and even if someone didn’t do that on
purpose, it would still be a terribly awkward and exhausting situation for me.
With my best friend, not only do I know that she is
the same way, but I know immediately when she isn’t happy with something or
tries to hide it, and she feels the same way about me. In something as intimate
as writing, this is incredibly important to me.
We just finished a contemporary romance novel together
and are now working on a longer New Adult post apocalypse story.
2. What would be a typical working day for you? When and where do you write?
I work part-time as an English teacher and then manage
my city’s branch of the small language school from home. So four days a week I
leave the house early and come back in the mid-afternoon, then I usually have a
quick snack, and a break and then I take care of emails and other business.
Usually I write in the evening – afternoons aren’t
good for me, but between seven and ten usually works. On days off, I try to
jump in early and write in the morning, those are the best days. Generally, I
try to give myself 1000 word goals. I have to work on the current high priority
project (currently the Lakeside Sequel) until I reach at least 1000 words.
After that I can blog (even though I am terrible at that), write short stories
for submissions or work on other ideas.
3. What is the hardest part of the writing for you?
How long it all takes – and how very little there is
in terms of instant gratification, other than what you create in your own mind.
Even if you’re fast, writing a book takes months, then you usually have to let
it lie for a while, then edit and edit again. You submit it and that takes a
long time and then, if you are ridiculously lucky, like I was and someone
accepts it, it’s still months until anything happens. And my publisher is
really fast – it can take up to a year where you just have to wait for
publication.
Similarly, even with submitting short stories – which
obviously take less time in writing -- I have currently several accepted for publication
but it probably will be 2014 until I see them in print -- and until I can list
them in my publications.
For someone who isn’t quite gifted with a great amount
of patience and instead has mountains of insecurities, and who tends to over-think
a lot of things, this is difficult. Just the months of writing give you so much
opportunity to obsess and hate it all and it really doesn’t end there.
Especially for a new writer like me, this is something I hadn’t expected to be
so nerve-wrecking.
4. When and why did you first start writing?
I know it was a very long time ago? I remember when I
was in primary school, our teacher asked us to write a short story about
something we experienced with a pet. Now, I grew up with a hippie mother on an
old farm – we had donkeys and goats and sheep, chickens, dogs, cats, rabbits –
a veritable children’s paradise. But like with everything in life, we want what
we don’t have, so writing about pets just felt very boring to me. So I ended up
writing about a dolphin that let me ride on its back into a secret cave where
something or other happened.
I got a D. Missed the subject, but my teacher had a
talk with my mother about my advanced vocabulary and writing style. I still
cried.
I’m not exactly sure what that says about my writing –
but I think even then I wrote for escapism, for letting my imagination roam and
to escape the ordinary.
5. How did you come up with the idea for the book your book?
Honestly, it was a mix of things and a lot of very
giggly discussions with my best friend. I find this question incredibly hard to
answer, and I always have. I don’t really know how exactly I come up with
anything I write… I have a character or a sentence… This one was once actually
planned as collaboration and then quickly given up upon. A few months later, I
had one sentence in my head – and from that I wrote a prologue and took some of
the ideas into a different direction.
6. Are you a big reader? If so, what are you reading now?
I honestly have to say, not as much as I was. I used
to pride myself on finishing or at least getting close to finishing the 50 book
challenge quite a few times while I was still a student, but with work and
writing and reading things from my writing peers, it really has gone down a
lot. This year I am aiming for 25, because I felt so humiliated by last year’s
10.
I’m currently reading a friend’s manuscript actually
and when I am finished with that I’ll go back to Looking for Alaska by John
Green.
7. Do you have any advice for other aspiring writers?
Hm. In the undying words of
Holden Caulfield – I don’t want to be a phony. I’m brand new, I have no idea
how I got here. From everything I’ve seen, so much of this comes down to luck
and somehow touching the right person at the right time – or even just being at
the right place at the right time. I found my publisher through a twitter pitch
event! Speaking of luck.
I think what I can honestly
say is: work the scene. Write what you enjoy writing of course, but also make
sure there is a market for it. And if necessary adapt your idea from the very
beginning. You want to keep your own voice but you also should be aware that you
create a product in a very competitive market-place. I am just a beginner and
I’m a dreamer and hopeless romantic, but I do believe that we can attain what
we want through hard work. I have never believed in a big break, a sudden
wind-fall of success. I want to be a writer because I love writing; I want that
to be my day job for the rest of my life. And so, I have time to one day make
art – you know, once I have earned that chance. I am writing romance now
because I knew I could and because I know there is a market. I also enjoy it
immensely, but I think it is important to demystify the process in one’s head.
Don’t look at Stephanie Meyer,
E.L. James or the like as your role models. They have won the lottery. Look at
people who manage, just manage to scrape together a living with writing and if
that life still appeals to you – go for it. Find your audience and do it. Don’t
wait for a muse or inspiration, set yourself a schedule and write every day. I
can promise you, once you finished one it gets easier and you ask yourself how
you could ever have given up on a manuscript before. And even then, you need
luck – so all of it is just not really a fair process – but you can do the
work. Follow the right people on twitter and other social media, check calls for
submissions and participate, get insights into the market, read, blog, try. Make
it your life.
I don’t know if any of that is
really helpful or new but, there it is.
Video/Audio:
Prologue
Reading: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=DX4bzI9CU54
Websites:
Book Links:
Crimson
Romance: http://www.crimsonromance.com/upcoming-releases-romance-ebook/by-the-light-of-the-moon/
Author
Social Media:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/LailaJBlake
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/stainsofblue/
Tumblr: http://stainsofblue.tumblr.com/
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