Author

Author Interview; Ashley Rice

~ ChanAtkins ~ Leave a comment

Welcome to my latest author interview! Today I would like to introduce you to Dallas-based author/illustrator Ashley Rice. Ashley has created several popular illustrated books, including You Are An Incredible Kid, Girls Rule, and You Are A Girl Who Totally Rocks. Ashley’s latest release is Make Your Dreams Come True. Ashley’s mix of artwork, poetry, songs, real life experiences and positive messages are loved by tween and teen girls (and boys!)  worldwide. Her work also appears on her bestselling line of greeting cards, as well as bookmarks, fridge magnets and so on. It was a pleasure to speak to Ashley, who is a dog lover like myself!

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1) Who are your books aimed at, and how would you best describe your books?

Most of my books are written for tweens (9-12 year olds) and, more specifically, with tween girls in mind… but I also have a book called For an Incredible Kid, for example, which could be for anyone. I’ve also gotten messages and emails from older girls and women who will tell me how one of the girl power books helped them out in some way, so really the books are for anyone and everyone who finds that, in their own way, she or he can get something out of them.

2) What first inspired you to write these sorts of books?

I’ve always believed that a girl in the world could do anything, and, as I was growing up, and more specifically when I was older and actually got out into the “real world,” I was surprised whenever I would meet someone who wasn’t aware of that fact — whether it was a male friend or acquaintance who hadn’t gotten the message yet about the “girl power” movement, but especially when it was a girl who wasn’t aware of all the possibilities that were waiting for her out there that she hadn’t yet discovered. You have to believe in those possibilities and in your own personal sense of empowerment before those possibilities can turn into real, solid opportunities that can work for you in your life. So I thought it was important to reach girls like that — or, really, just to get the word out to let all girls know just how talented they truly are. And how amazing their lives will be if they keep on believing in the beauty of their dreams. That’s why I wrote the girl power poems, which were then turned into books.

3) How do you decide on the theme for each book?

Sometimes this is an idea that I think of, other times the idea will be based on a suggestion from my editor.

4) Do you often get feedback from children and if so, what do they say to you about your books?

I do get feedback from girls from time to time. Usually when they contact me it’s to tell me why they liked one of my books. Sometimes they will share with me something personal such as how that book helped them to better deal with some specific problem they were having. Those kinds of letters touch me the most and really mean a lot to me!

5) How do you promote your work?

I haven’t really done much in the way of promotion in the past but am starting to do things like interviews now. I do have a blog on my goodreads author page where I’ll post an update whenever something significant happens to me — like whenever a new book of mine comes out. I also have a web page. It’s at http://www.ashleyrice.net.

6) What are you working on right now?

I’m working on some new poems for girls on different “rules” they can make for themselves to live by, and how they can then use those principles they relate to the most to help guide them in their lives.

7) Where do you see yourself and your work in 5 years time? 

I plan to keep on writing and illustrating books along with doing my greeting card line. I have a new calendar coming out next year… hopefully many more books, etc. will follow after that! All I know is that, whatever happens, I’ll keep on writing, illustrating.

8) Did you always want to be a writer/illustrator?

I always wanted to be a writer (since I was 7) and I always drew characters and other things – mostly just doodling — but I didn’t think I was talented or skilled enough to work as an illustrator. I just illustrated my first original poems (which I was turning in to my greeting card publisher to be published as possible greeting cards) as a way to show my employer what types of images I thought could look good alongside my poems if they in fact decided to make those poems into cards. I thought they would then have a “real” artist copy my drawings — or adapt them, really – using their own, professional style. It surprised me when my publisher said they liked my artwork and planned to publish the designs I’d made as-is.

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9) What advice would you give to young people who wish to follow in your footsteps?

Work hard, believe in what you do, know that anything is possible for you if you are true to yourself, but most of all: never give up! (Even when it’s hard).

10) What inspires you to write/draw?

I get a lot of ideas from browsing articles, etc – whether in bookstores or on the Internet. But I tend to get ideas from anything, really – when I’m walking my dogs and just thinking while surrounded by nature something might come up in my mind that makes me want to write the words down (which is why I always carry my phone with its electronic notepad with me anywhere I go!)… thoughts and ideas can happen that way, or can be inspired by doing something like watching a movie.

11) Tell us three interesting facts about you

I live in a historic neighborhood (with arts and crafts style houses mostly houses built in the early early 1900’s)… and I really love that!

Before moving back here (to Dallas) I used to live in a community in Boston that was all artists’ lofts, and which had originally been a giant piano factory. You had to have two different artistic recommendations to get in, which meant that your neighbors were artists too (so you could help each other out, etc). That made for an interesting time! Also, to live there, we had to paint the outside of our front doors in a style that we liked a lot – mine was hot pink with a hand-drawn blue flower on it, for example. It took like seven hours for me to do though!

I often volunteer at an animal shelter during lunch… but sometimes it’s too hard for me to leave my own dogs at home to go and do that so I just skip it… but on the days when I do go I have a lot of fun and it feels good to help some other animals out… mostly the work involves “socializing” the dogs and cats at the shelter… which basically means playing with them a lot!

12) Who are you inspired/influenced by?

Shel Silverstein, Dr. Seuss, Todd Parr, Adrienne Rich, to name a few.. along with all of the other writers and artists who also work for my publisher and are amazing!

Thanks so much for the interview Ashley! Good luck with the latest book.

You can find out more about Ashley’s inspiring work on her blog/website ashleyrice.net

Look out for another interview coming soon!

 

 

Interview With Author Alec John Belle

~ ChanAtkins ~ 1 Comment

Welcome to my second author-to-author interview. This time I am really excited to introduce a great new talent. Alec John Belle is only seventeen years old and already has two novels, Before I Break and Forbidden Darkness under his belt. I came across Alec on Facebook and liked the sound of Before I Break, which is a novel dealing with homophobia among teenagers, as well as issues such as self-harm and suicide. I decided to check it out and was suitably impressed. Alec has self-published both his books, but has just recently been snapped up by a small press. Personally I think if Alec can write this well at only seventeen, he is definitely an author worth watching! Over to Alec.

1)      How old were you when you first started writing?

I was in fifth grade when I first started writing.  I was obsessed with the Goosebumps books by R.L. Stine and one day in class we had a free write, where we could write about anything we wanted.  I decided to write a horror short story about a kid who goes to see a fortune teller who makes all his wishes come true.  My teacher was shocked at how well it was written for a 10 year old, so she asked me to write more.  That year I won a writing award for school for another story I’d written about a human who woke up to realize they were an alien.  It was then that I knew I wanted to be a writer.

2)      How would you describe your work?

The best way to describe my work would be “gritty and raw”.  My first book, Before I Break, explored topics such as bullying, discrimination, LGBT teens, self harm, suicide, and a few others that would be spoilers.  It really was a lot to write, and sometimes even I had to take breaks because it was too much to take in.

My new series, in the paranormal YA genre, called The Forbidden Darkness Chronicles, follows similar topics.  It’s about a girl who discovers she is a Monster Hunter one year after her best friend’s attempted suicide.  In the series, there’s a physical entity called Darkness that feeds off of negative emotions, such as depression, anxietym bipolar, etc.  That’s what makes the Darkness strong.  Once again, with a less realistic approach, there are still real world topics that make it fall under “gritty and raw”.

3)      What is your writing process/routine?

This may sound weird, but I actually don’t have one. For me, it’s just whenever I get the urge.  I may go a week without writing, then one day feel the push.  People think that actually means it takes me longer to write a book, but when I do write, I make up fot missing days.  I can write the first draft somewhere between 1-3 months.

Also, I’m a night owl.  So all of my good writing is done at night.

4)      What are you working on right now?

Both of my books, Before I Break and Forbidden Darkness  (the first in my new series), are being reprinted under the publishing house, Booktrope.  While going through that process, I am working on the second book in The Forbidden Darkness Chronicles, titled Shadow’s Wings.

5)      What else have you got planned for the future?

The Forbidden Darkness Chronicles will have 8 books, plus some short stories in between I hope.  I also am hoping to make Before I Break a trilogy.  The second Before I Break novel, titled Once I Fall, is kind of on the back burner for now, but I’ll get back to it eventually.

6)      What is your approach to self-promotion?

Self-promotion is the hardest part about being a writer.  For me, I just post on social media about my books ALL the time, especially my WordPress site.  It’s helped bring in some new readers.

7)      Where do you get your ideas from?

My ideas are usually pretty random.  I got the idea for The Forbidden Darkness Chronicles in 7th grade when I was on a Hayride at a Halloween event.  That idea sat in my head for years, which created a story that now needs 8 books.

Before I Break came to me one day when sitting in Spanish class when I went to public school.  Suddenly, a question popped into my mind: “What if a homophobic straight male became friends with another guy without knowing the other guy was gay?”  Then next thing you know, the whole story just flooded into my head, including the ending.  I knew exactly what would happen at the end by the time class was over.

8)      What would be your advice be to other young writers?

My advice, as cliche as it may sound, is to keep writing.  Write your heart out.  Think your idea is stupid?  Write it.  Think your idea isn’t good enough? Write it.  Think it’s too controversial?  Guess what?  Write it.  Don’t let anyone tell you what you can and can’t write. If I did, Before I Break and Forbidden Darkness wouldn’t be Amazon Bestsellers.

9)      What advice would you give to a writer embarking on the independent path?

It’s difficult.  It took months for Before I Break to hit the Bestseller list on Amazon.  You also won’t make the New York Times Bestseller List.  But you will build a fan base.  It won’t come overnight and you’ll need to try and try and try and try before you start selling even one book a day, but it’s so worth it.  Trust me.

10)   Can you describe your highs and low so far?

The highs have included a few.  The first high was getting my book published.  Before I Break came in the mail and it was so overwhelming.  Same with Forbidden Darkness.  Another high was making the Amazon Bestseller List.  I cried when that happened because it was so overwhelming, and while some say the Amazon Bestseller List means nothing, it does.  I also love book signings and being able to meet new readers and talk about some of these issues.  It gives me great joy being a figure some people look up to.

The only real low is not many sales.  As an indie author, the sales haven’t been that great, but they’ve been alright.  Self-promotion is difficult.  I just hope that with my books being reprinted under Booktrope, my sales will start to get better.

You can connect with Alec on Facebook; http://www.facebook.com/alecbellefanpage

or follow his blog here; http://alecjohnbelle.wordpress.com/

Find my previous author-to-author interview with Kate Rigby here; https://chantelleatkins.wordpress.com/2015/02/11/interview-with-author-kate-rigby/

Interview with Author Kate Rigby

~ ChanAtkins ~ 5 Comments

I am so excited to share with you my very first author-to-author interview! I discovered author Kate Rigby very recently through the indie promotion site iAuthor. It appeared that I was adding my books to all the same themes as hers, so I jotted down her name as an author I would like to check out. After finding her author page on Facebook I made contact and started reading her books. I have read three and loved every one of them. Luckily for me she has a huge back catalogue! Kate’s books appealed to me as they are the sort of stories I am always looking for and can never find. In short, as a reader they tick all my boxes. Great plots, characters to fall in love with, and gritty stories to really get your teeth into. Kate has kindly agreed to this interview, and as an author with experience in traditional and indie publishing, I really think this makes interesting reading for authors and readers as well. Enjoy!

1) You’ve been traditionally published and self-published. Can you tell us a bit about how your publishing journey first began?

Yes, it began in the 1980s when I’d finished my first novel, then called ‘Where A Shadow Played’ which took me five years to complete. My mother was a major influence as she was writing a novel when I was 17, so the idea of novel-writing wasn’t an alien concept. I was able to pick her brains and get lots of tips from her. I began sending that novel out in 1984 but in the meantime started writing another in the university summer holidays. That was ‘Fall Of The Flamingo Circus’ which was ready to be sent out early 1988. My mum had given me the name of a publishing company in Worcestershire – I think I’d already sent my first novel there which had been rejected so I was quite surprised (and thrilled to bits) when they accepted ‘Fall Of The Flamingo Circus’ straight off. Once it was in hardback later in 1988, they sold paperback rights to Allison & Busby. The paperback version came out in 1990 as did the American hardback version. I wasn’t able to capitalise on that early success however and my follow-up novel required a lot of work. I should have concentrated on that and put the time in but I didn’t and so I lost the opportunity. But that’s me all over – I feared success.

2) How would you describe your work?

Character-driven and a bit quirky or gritty – often retro – and often dealing with hard-hitting issues: drugs, child abuse, disability, mental health issues, and a common theme is about the experience of being an outsider in society. I like to think the themes I write about are timeless and universal, regardless of the setting or era.

3) What is your writing process/routine?

I’m not one of these people who sets out to write 1000 words a day or whatever, although I admire people who do. A lot of my time at the moment is spent updating older work or converting to digital or promoting. I think in this day and age, more than ever, it’s important to have a routine as there are so many online distractions that were never there years ago. I think this is why my latest novel took so long to complete! I also have a reduced window than I did, say, ten or twenty years ago in that I have Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue.

4) What are you working on right now?

At the moment I’m just finalising an update to ‘Down The Tubes’ ready for the paperback version.

5) What else have you got planned for the future?

For the last few years I’ve been trying to get my backlist into digital and paperback format – most are available digitally, but only a few are in paperback as several are no longer in print. But I still have two novels written some time ago that need to be revised and uploaded. One or both of those are my priority, although my latest completed novel is with a small press at the moment. I have already sent it to one small press and will try one more – if nobody bites I will self-publish that one too. I also have more plans for ‘Little Guides’ along the lines of ‘Little Guide To Unhip’ and at the moment I’m keeping a sort of campaign diary. I would like to get that into some sort of shape but I’m not sure whether to have that as fiction or non-fiction yet. I think it is all too current and distressing to think about so I’ve put it to a back shelf in my mind.

6) What is your approach to self-promotion?

It is a necessary evil these days, even for those traditionally published unless they are bestsellers and have a successful marketing machine behind them. I wrote a blog about this in late 2010 and have just re-read it – my views haven’t changed that much on the subject! I felt like a chugger then and I still do! I don’t like leaping out at people and saying ‘here is my book – buy it’. It is more than slightly alien to many if not most of us and yet we’re told this is what we should be doing in this day and age. I suppose I have developed a more ‘out there’ approach: blogging, building a website, supporting other writers, posting samples of my writing on various writing sites and social media although you still get this feeling it’s a drop in the virtual ocean.

It’s all about getting a balance : between visibility on the one hand but not over- saturation on the other. Obviously zero-promotion won’t get you very far these days, visibility is important, but it’s a fine line between just-enough exposure and too much. I take the view that if people want something enough, they’ll buy it. I do like the joy of discovering books for myself or on recommendation by friends with similar tastes. Over-exposure or people endlessly plugging their books (or other people’s) can have the opposite affect on me. I’m sure it’s a two-way street with my work as well. The sales I’ve secured are, as far as I’m aware, from people who are genuinely interested, and if they’re genuinely interested they’ll find out how to buy it, I hope. I don’t want to turn them off.

I do find employing a bit of humour helps with self-promotion. For instance, most of my threads die but my most successful one in the Amazon fora was called ‘Reverse Promotion’. This was where we sold ourselves short and tried to put readers off our books – it was all very tongue-in-cheek so that we didn’t take ourselves too seriously. Whether it sold any more books is another matter but it was fun to do.

The upside to self-promotion is discovering authors and books you wouldn’t have otherwise discovered. This often happens in more indirect ways than blatant self-promotion, for example, meeting on writers sites, Facebook Groups, as well as mutual support by blogging and reviewing and interviewing other authors.

7) Where do you get your ideas from?

Now you’re asking! I think I get my ideas from a variety of places, usually life or inspiring books or TV programmes. But there is no rule of thumb. Often it’s the character that comes first and in order for a character to come alive they need to be in context or situation. My sister and I have always invented characters and have been able to enact them, so that can bring them to life too – the way they speak, their interests, their backgrounds, where they come from etc.

8) You have an extensive back catalogue, but do you have a favourite book among them? Or character?

I think my favourites are where I’ve lived and breathed the characters prior to the books being written. Those characters would be Hassan and Leila (Far Cry From The Turquoise Room – they also appear in Seaview Terrace), Terry (Suckers n Scallies) Michael (Down The Tubes) and ‘Lauren’ (Fall Of The Flamingo Circus). But I also like some of the shorter novellas eg Break Point and Lost The Plot.

9) What would your advice be to young writers?

I’d say write because you have no choice, because you’re passionate about it and feel compelled to do it. If you’re only writing because you want to make a name for yourself or be a bestseller you’re likely to be disappointed and there are far more easier paths to fame and fortune! Be prepared to edit and hone your craft as you would any other. They say it’s 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration and I think that’s a valuable maxim. I’m sure young writers could teach me a thing or two as well.

10) What advice would you give a writer determined to follow the traditional publishing path?

Be prepared for disappointments. That said, a lot will depend on your genre, your persistence, your willingness to be adaptable and to follow market trends. There is always that element of luck, being in the right place at the right time with the right story. I don’t really feel suitably qualified to advise as I’ve only been traditionally published once and that was in a different era. I think I fall down on being adaptable and writing for a commercial genre. I tend to write what I want!

11) What advice would you give to a writer embarking on the independent path?

I think a lot of the advice holds true for both traditional and indie publishing these days, as the lines between them blur more and more. Unless you’re published by one of the big six, I think you have to be prepared to put in a lot of the leg work yourself in terms of

marketing. This does disadvantage those who write in a niche genre, have health problems or don’t have business acumen (I tick all these boxes!). Or those that have a day job or other family commitments. I guess that’s most of us!

12) Who is your favourite author?

This is one of the hardest questions! A friend of mine recently asked several of my family to name our favourite 60s record and I told her it was impossible to name one. Books can be a bit like that although it should be slightly easier to find a favourite author. Being a slow reader, I’ve rarely read a whole author’s works but such that I’ve read, my favourite authors include: Jon McGregor, James Bowen, Sylvia Plath, Ali Smith, Gerald Hansen, Alexander McCall Smith, Jane Gardam, Toni Morrison, Stacey Danson, Kat Ward, Sue Monk Kidd and many more. I like to savour books. Get under their skin.

I’d like to thank Chantelle Atkins for giving me this opportunity.

If you would like to find out more about Kate and her books please check her out her Amazon author page here; http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kate-Rigby/e/B001KDR9GE/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1423664127&sr=8-1

And her Facebook page here; http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kate-Rigby-Books/127908180613508?fref=ts

The Pink Haze

~ ChanAtkins ~ 2 Comments

The pink haze is a phrase used by the author Kate Rigby in her gritty novel Down The Tubes. The novel follows the two lives of estranged mother and son, Cheryl and Michael. (You can find my review and a link to the book at the end of this post.) For the character of Cheryl, the pink haze describes that aura of loveliness and addiction that surrounds the newborn child. What a perfect way to describe the near dream like state you exist in after having your first child. Although Cheryl is not exactly mother of the year (you’ll have to read the book to find out why!) I found myself completely understanding this state she found herself existing in during those early newborn days.

A haze indeed. Sleep deprived, foggy headed, surrounded by attention and well wishers and smiling faces. Everyone goes to jelly over newborns. Everyone wants to stop and stare at that rare little piece of perfection. Everyone says enjoy it while it lasts. They soon grow. It doesn’t last for long that haze. Because everything passes to the next stage so quickly. One minute your house is full of chunky baby equipment; baby gyms, and bouncers and car seats. The next moment these items are vanishing one by one. And you start to realise that as they change before your eyes, you cease to become the centre of their world. If you get in their way, they start to peer around you.

The pink haze is an addiction to love and needing and fulfillment. Maybe you have never experienced those things quite so strongly before. Will it ever be enough? It will always be transient and shifting. Like sand slipping through the sand timer, like the earth shifting beneath your feet. None of these moments can be held onto or held still. You are forever forced to chase leaves in the wind. You only get so close, your fingers brushing, before it lifts away again teasingly.

Chasing your next fix. That sweet milky baby smell. When even the waste in the nappy smells good. Inhaling every part of them so that you might contain it forever. No description fits. No words are ever adequate. The smell of their musty sick on your clothes, or the cheese balls that you scrape out from under their chubby chins. The smell of their hair and their scalp and their breath. Sniffing them up, as if that might be a way to capture them. Oh their cries are just for you. Their needs and wants and comforts are delivered by you. You exist in your own hazy bubble bouncing away from the world. Separate and secret.

A secret addiction. When you hold them in your arms and feel the urge from your heart to squeeze them back inside of you. Absorb them back to where they came from so that they might be yours again. Their fat wet drooly cheek pressed up against yours. The smell of their warm neck. The giggles from their lips. The curl and bend and thrust and flop of their changing bodies.

My baby. My baby. No other two words so precious, so beautiful. But every gasp of your love for them is a painful one. Because they grow and change and move away. You feel it is shameful. How you secretly long to keep them small and in love with you, needing you. You, the centre of everything.

Time marches on, though you drag your feet, and those special moments wander and wane. Demands are put upon you. Expectations have been raised. Now you are one of the mothers, sighing and rolling your eyes and rattling your car keys at the school gates. And most days are a rush from one fixed point to another. Breakfast is shovelled in. School bags packed and thrust upon shoulders. Lists are needed so that nothing is forgotten, so that you do not fall short or fail. You miss them and wish they would think of you, but they rarely do. You put the washing on the stairs and you wash out their lunch box at the end of the day. You tell them off and grit your teeth, and everyone is the same, everyone is moaning and whining and saying there is never enough time, a mothers work is never done, I have a lot to do and a short time to do it in!

Sometimes you think about the pink haze. Sometimes you can still feel them kicking inside of you. Sometimes if you close your eyes you can still feel their body in your arms, their head against your shoulder. You can still hear their breath as the snores whistle in and out, and their tiny ribcage moves against your breast. And you can still remember how you never really wanted to put them in the cot. And you never really wanted to move them from the breast. And you never really wanted to say goodbye at the school gates knowing that the pink haze was over.

Like all addictions, you could go back for more. Have another one, and then another. But eventually time will smash this apart too. Eventually mother nature will shake her head.

All you can do is watch them go. All you can do is be there whenever they come back. All you can do is hope that when the day comes that they hold their own newborn in their own arms, and they find themselves surrounded by the pink haze, that then they will know what they meant to you.

This book gets 5 stars from me because it was quite simply everything I look for in a book, and can never seem to find! A brilliant storyline, real characters, real dialogue, gritty, hard-hitting, heartbreaking and touching. I am so pleased the author has written lots of other books! Down The Tubes is a story about two people; Cheryl, who has all but turned her back on her four children in order to have a ‘life’ and is pursuing a career in drug rehabilitation, and her estranged son Michael, who ran away from home aged sixteen. The book brilliantly weaves their two life stories together, in the third person and present tense. Cheryl is such an interesting character, in many ways extremely unlikable, but I could not help be intrigued by her. Married young, she has child after child, seemingly addicted to the ‘pink haze’ that surrounds an innocent young baby. However once they start to walk and talk she sees their innocence fade and starts to lose interest. Michael, on the other hand, having been abused by his father, is such a lost soul that you are immediately drawn to him, instantly rooting for him and hoping he can eventually kick his drug habit. As the narration takes us back and forth between their two lives, the two characters almost cross paths but seem destined to never be reunited. This is such a well written book, and I am so pleased I have found an author who does not shy away from gritty storylines that make you flinch. I was left wanting more