Blog Hop Interview

 

My fellow GAP Angel, Donna Shepherd, invited me to participate in a “blog hop interview.” Donna sent interview questions to answer on my blog. I then tag back!

 
Donna posted her interview on her blog at http://www.donnashepherd.blogspot.com/ If you get a minute, drop by to get to know Donna better and leave a comment letting her know you connected to her through my link. 

Here are the questions and my answers:

1. What are you working on right now? 

I've just finished the next two books in my "Magical" series, Magical Mea Goes to School, and Magical M and M. These will be published by Guardian Angel Publishing, and take their place alongside Magical Matthew and Magical Mea.  I've also got Magical Matthew coming out in Spanish!

I’ve got a remembrance of my childhood visiting my Grandma finished -- a "colorful" seasonal story poem waiting to be illustrated, My Grandma’s Pink House. I’ve also started a new children’s picture book on different food and dress from other cultures and countries, Oh No, I’m Going to Dinner at My Friend’s House.

I have two middle grade chapter books/novellas working, The Raccoon Witches of Calhoun County, and The Case of the Missing Lollipops, and also two YA novels in process, The Young Amazons, and The Perfect Home.

 

2. What experiences have influenced you? 

I write about things close to me:  my family, people I meet or have known, places I’ve been, ideas that interest and excite me. Some stories practically write themselves. When I’m out walking, my mind is freer to think of story ideas. At night -- in dreams -- I get a lot of story ideas.

3. Why do you write what you do?

I’m a story-teller. I want my readers to see the stories I see. Most of my stories have lessons and morals. I have fun parts in my stories – usually I have a surprise or twist at the end. One of my novels, The Perfect Home, is a novel set after the Viet Nam War.  It deals with growing up and working through hurt, pain, and loss, to forgiveness and acceptance. That one has been the hardest to write, because it deals with so many emotions. My other novel, The Young Amazons, is about a group of teens from the past who have to time travel in their quest to save their own civilization. I got that idea from reading other fantasy novels.

 

4. How does your writing process work?

 

I write when I can and when I have the time. Usually I write in the afternoons and evenings, and sometimes late at night. Often a story presents itself and I have to write it quickly. Other times it percolates awhile, or I struggle and wait on the story to unfold and reveal itself. Now that my teen is graduated from high school, I expect to have a lot more time to write. And then after the fun (and sometimes torture of writing), I have to get on to the hard part of marketing, getting the word out.

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And now I'm tagging back to Donna Shepherd:  
http://www.donnashepherd.blogspot.com/