Tell me a about yourself. What got
you started in writing?
I am the oldest of six children, and I started writing
as a child at the behest of a teacher. I was raised in the Midwest in a fairly
low income family, and had experiences that writing about could help me process
from a young age. Over time I realized that I loved creating stories about the
ordinary experiences I witnessed, but many times providing happier endings for
the scenarios. As I went away to college, pursued a career and generally
progressed to adult experiences I always came back around to writing as an
outlet. A couple years ago a good friend of mine who was going through a health
scare told me she had always wanted to publish a book she had been working on
for years. We commiserated over lunches and tea on this shared passion, but when
she unexpectedly died before she could see through her last project it struck
home for me. I decided to publish my first Indie book which I had written years
prior a month after her passing. In her memory I worked up the courage to share
it with the world. From there, my writing career has gone fast and furious with
no regrets on my part.
Despite still working a traditional job in addition to
my writing endeavors, I have set a 3K word count goal to write daily. With my
busy schedule how I get there is a winding crazy path most days and organic to
whatever is happening in my day. Sometimes I wake in the early morning hours
with a chapter for my latest work just begging to get written down on paper.
Other times I take time outside at lunch to just enjoy the outdoors and write,
but other times I close myself into a quiet room at the end of a long day
putting ideas onto a computer screen. Also, my family loves long weekend drives
and quick getaways which are the best venues for getting lots of solid writing
time while my husband drives. No matter what it takes I find the time to make
writing a priority.
How and where do you write? Do you
prefer a lap top or some other method of getting your words down?
I definitely
prefer a laptop, as I type faster than I can write free hand and thus can just
let the words flow. I find myself writing anywhere and everywhere from long car
rides, outside in a park area, in a quiet bedroom or occasionally behind the
closed door of my office on break. As long as it is possible to drown out the
sounds of life around me and focus I can delve into the worlds of my characters
and make progress on my latest story telling endeavor.
What's your favorite part about
writing? Your least favorite part about writing?
My favorite part is getting to
immerse in new characters, figuring out how they would think, react or simply
motivating factors behind each scene they act out in my latest manuscript. I
love being able to take a contemporary story and give it a personal face that
the reader can identify with and rally around. My favorite settings are common every
day and the characters people you could meet just about anywhere. It is like
spying on someone else’s life for a while and telling their story, without the
fear of being arrested. The least favorite part of writing is editing and
rewriting, many times when you start on a major re-write or edit it gets tricky
realigning the entire story and not missing anything. I have enlisted more help
over the last two years to ensure my story flow and plot points remain true
throughout a manuscript even when major changes are made.
How did you come up with your book
idea? How long did it take you to write your book?
Calm Before the Storm came to fruition based on both my mother’s
personal history and working with women at a local shelter more recently. Some
of the strongest people have the saddest back story, and many times are
forgotten by society. Taking a character that due to circumstances should be
broken and battered, and showing how much strength, resolution and independence
this woman had was a story I felt needed a voice. It took me only two months to
write the book, but I had several individuals read it and help edit to ensure
that it was true to form and not overly fluffy but not so deep it would bog the
reader down emotionally.
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| Get the Book at Amazon |
What types of marketing do you do
to promote your writing?
This is a tricky balancing act. I love technology so
working with sites like Twitter, Facebook, and other social platforms including
email lists has proven beneficial. I also work with Amazon marketing services
from time to time to get the book out to a more engaged kindle audience.
Goodreads sponsored giveaways for my new book has provided me great reviews
both positive and negative to help my growth as an author. Finally, talk to
everyone you see at events, social gatherings and even networking groups.
People no longer associate me with my day job, but as a writer and that has
been due to how I network.
What are you currently working on?
Do you have a new book out?
My next project has been in the works
for a long time and is a five book (25 – 32K word per) set of books called
Aging Out. It is the story of six foster children taken in by a woman that then
leaves them a veritable fortune with the mandate they must help others when she
passes. Each of the books deals with not only a new foster child or family in
crisis, but one of the original six interacting with them. Many of these
stories are inspired by foster families I have met or my own fostering
experiences, and are a project of love for me that I’m excited to be able to
share with the public this coming holiday season. The series will begin
releasing on Amazon on October 9th, and each Friday for 5 weeks a
new one will be available.
Do you have a project on the back burner? Tell me about it.
I always have one or two projects simmering
on the back burner, and for early next year it is a manuscript in the early
stages called Parallel Lives. The story is centered on a single-mother dying of
breast cancer and her now grown daughter’s relationship as they navigate her
final days while confronting the past. It is a tale of learning life lessons
from our parent’s and not repeating their mistakes while navigating our own
destiny. As always I find that love remains a central theme of this book, love
of a parent, love of the family we build as we traverse all of life’s
experiences and love that comes from the least expected places.
What would you tell a beginning
writer who wants to publish but doesn't believe he/she has enough talent?
Find great cheerleaders who believe
in you, and can help you through the tough days. Have thick skin and take
feedback both negative and positive to heart when learning your audience, your
own writing style and the publishing world in general. Never give up, one
person will hate something you wrote but the next will love it. Perception and
personal preferences will prevail, but remain true to your comfort level
writing stories you care about. Finally, write every chance you get, take
classes and surround yourself with other authors and great inspiration whatever
form that takes for you personally. Just like any goal if
you want this bad enough, are willing to learn from your mistakes and persevere
you will see results.
***
Thank you, Angelica!
Learn more about Angelica at the following sites:
Website: http://www.angelicakate.com/
Amazon Page: http://www.amazon.com/Angelica-Kate/e/B00JTL5MLI/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1443125322&sr=8-1
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