Recently, I had the honor and pleasure of participating in the Author's Spotlight sponsored by Patrice Rivers of the FUSE Movement. I was very honored that Patrice reached out to me on social media and we connected immediately about my blog and book. I was happy to participate in the interview and below, is the recap of the questions and my answers. I hope you enjoy. Also, never miss a blog post or email update, join the discussion today on the the website and blog.
1) When did your writing career begin?
My writing career began in July 2013 when I started my first blog. I have always wanted to write and I had so much to say after going through my divorce 18 months prior. Writing for me has always been a form of healing and I really kicked my writing into high gear and became serious about my writing voice being heard.
2) How did you come up with the title of your book?
After about a year of writing on my blog, I knew I wanted to eventually write a book. My blog theme focuses on inspirational topics and many of my blog posts spoke about life and looking ahead to more positive things on the horizon. One day in September 2014 it came to me – A Life With A View. There was a time when I thought that everything I knew in life was very grim. I came up with the title of A Life With A View since I believe that life does have a view and positive view into the future. I used my inspirational topics from the blog and transitioned those topics to the book: Faith, Love, Happiness, Friendship, Honesty, Integrity, Trust, Respect, Openness, and Acceptance.
3) Where does your inspiration and motivation come from?
My inspiration and motivation come from wanting to do better; be a better person and help others. When I see someone struggling, my very first instinct is to help them. When I lost my father in February 2010 and then going through my divorce 2 years later, I really thought that was it for me as far as life goes. I have two wonderful children who need me and I knew I had to do something to get me out of this slump. In the back of my mind, I knew writing was it and the struggles that I went through inspired and motivated me to keep going and press on to the life that I wanted to live.
4) What made you want to become an author? What motivated you?
I wanted to become an author to share my experiences with others. Instead of keeping everything that I went through to myself, I said “Why not help someone else who may be going through the same thing?” You never know who you are helping by telling and sharing your story. Also, my readers and followers on social media and on my blog gave me the push to keep going and keep writing.
5) Are you planning on writing another book anytime soon?
Yes! I am super excited about this since my first book, A Life With A View was released in January 2015 many people have asked me when my second book is being released. This is something that I’ve been thinking about since earlier this year and I wrestled with the second book being a follow-on to the first book. Will A Life With A View be a series? I even wrote a blog post about that some time ago! So yes, the second book is in the works and should be released in early 2017. Hint: This next book has a creative spin to it.
6) When your readers purchase your book and read it, what message do you want them to receive?
I would like for my readers to take away the message that no matter the situation they are in, find that piece of inspiration that keeps you going. I write about themes and how you can make those themes work for you. For example, I talk about Faith – a lot. Having the Faith to do what you love to do and knowing the outcome will be a positive one. I want my readers to walk away knowing that they can connect with not only me, but others who have walked similar journeys and know that there is a support system for any issue or problem someone might be going through. I don’t have all of the answers but I certainly have connected with some of the most wonderful people and I can definitely help with connecting people to the right resources.
7) How long does it take you to write a book?
Since I had the idea of using pre-published blog posts for my first book, it only took me about two months to write the first book. When moving the blog posts to the book, I added more context to posts and made the content book friendly and hopefully an easy read.
8) Do you believe in Authors Supporting other authors?
I definitely believe in this. You never know what you might learn from someone else. Before writing my first book, I connected with a friend who wrote and published her first book. She posted lessons learned from her experience and connected her readers to others like her who did the same thing. The cycle of sharing those experiences began and continues today and I am so grateful for those opportunities and this opportunity as well.
9) What advice would you give to an inspiring author?
My advice to a new author would be to start with what inspires you to write. If you do that up front, the rest is easy. You probably already have the content. Connect with a friend who has done this before; maybe a colleague or online writing group. Over the past 2 years, the online writing and inspirational groups have really helped me to take my blog and writing forward. Lastly and certainly not least, join a writing group. I would have never known that November is National Novel Writing Month. I found this out on social media and connected with a writing group where we write 500 words per day to our first or next book or novel.
10) How often do you blog a week?
I blog about twice a week. Since the move to my new website in October 2016, I have been blogging a little more frequently as I work to bring over the content from my old blog site. I love blogging as my thoughts just flow and I feel I can really be myself in my writing.
11) Any new projects that your readers can expect from you this year or next year?
For this year, I would like to continue with my Weekend Inspiration Newsletter series where the theme is mostly a push to be inspired to do what you love. Whether it is writing a book, standing up a blog or opening a restaurant – Weekend Inspiration gives the prompts to get started and I check in frequently with my readers. For next year, my new book will be released and I hope to do an e-course on how I began my writing career 3 years ago to present.
12) Who are some of your favorite authors?
I have so many favorites and I like so many book genres from inspiration to science fiction. Some of my favorite authors are Ava DuVernay, John Grisham, James Patterson, Alice Walker and Isabel Wilkerson.
