Tag: Author Spotlight

Author Spotlight: RK Phillips

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Today, I have the honor of spotlighting one of my favorite authors and dearest friends. I can proudly say that I knew this beautiful woman before she published her first book. She has so much talent and she’s so talented in so many ways. Having her in your life is a true blessing. Without further ado, our author this week is:

A special message from R.K. Phillips:

Hi everyone! I am RK Phillips. First let me thank Nicole for allowing me to be spotlighted on her blog and thank you for taking the time to read it. I am going to share a little about me, how I got into writing and self publishing, and some about my stories.

When people are asked how I got into writing, it kind of depends on what they mean exactly. I think it really started in high school English class when we were being taught different types of poetry and then having to write it ourselves. From there on and for many years that is what I wrote and it was a way of expressing myself. However, in the early 2000s a few of my friends and I started writing together more like role playing stories. We each had our own characters and would weave stories together. I won’t date myself and tell you where we wrote these stories. I will say though that one day I am hoping to give two of those characters their own book.

Fast forward a bit and I am in college in my late 20s. While I am taking my accounting courses I decide to sign up for a creative writing class as an elective. One class turned into three and had me thinking about things. It was because of those classes I even had the beginning building blocks for what I would need later. However, it wasn’t for another almost five years that I would even think about writing a book. However, I did get involved in another role play writing group where I met some great people that I now call friends. 

I am going to pause here to say, if there is something you want to do or try because it interests you (and it is legal) then do it. Life is scary and there are so many unknowns, but sometimes what you find on the other side is worth it. If you don’t want to do it alone at first, find someone to do it with you. 

This is how it was with my writing along with many other things in my life. No one ever told me, you should write a book, you would be great at it. I was told in my writing class I was great at writing details. I had people question certain things and others defend what I wrote. But, I didn’t have a cheerleader telling me I should do this.

Take chances and embrace who you are. Why am I talking about this when this is supposed to be an author spotlight? Because ultimately that is how I came about writing my first novel. I won’t go into details, but really what it came down to is a couple of things. One, I wanted to prove to myself that I could write a full novel beginning to end. Up until then I only had written poetry and short stories. Second, I wanted a character that was a nerdy math girl. At the time I wanted a character that was a little more like me. I love math and feel there is nothing wrong with that. Since I couldn’t get it from anyone else, I decided to write the story. 

This is how Peyton was born. Originally I played with the idea of giving her a few different professions, but ultimately when I started writing, she became a professor of mathematics. From the beginning I fell in love with her and her story. I decided that if I was going to finally get my nerdy math girl story I was going to play it up. She was born on March 14th which is Pi day. Her nickname became Pi. I even ended up releasing the novel, The Complications of Pi, on March 14th. While writing this book, a lot of things happened and changed in my life. I will save you from the details, but this book was a bit of light hearted release and love I had during all of that. I would do writing sprints with a friend in the evenings after work because at the time, I didn’t have cable or internet, so I just focused on writing and getting my apartment organized. We would set up a time for 20-30 minutes, write and then text each other with how many words we had written. Then, and still now, she is a much faster writer than I am. However, it helped to push both of us to continue to make progress on what we were working on. 

I remember when I finished the first draft of The Complications of Pi. I felt so happy and excited that I had done it. I had completed my first novel. Still to this day, I think I was prouder and more elated in that moment than even when it went live. It took me less than a year to write the first draft, but still just over another year to publish it (partly because by the time it was good to go, I had decided to wait until 03/14 to publish it). 

I was a fish out of water when it came to what was next. However, I had many friends that encouraged and walked me through the steps. I did revisions on the book, had it edited, and worked with a fabulous cover artist, Anya Kelleye, that gave me what I wanted. All this time and money was spent and it was all ready to go to be published. Still I warred with myself on if I really wanted to publish it. It wasn’t a book that was like anything else out there that I had seen. Not only did it feature my clumsy, math loving Peyton, but it was what people now call a sapphic romance. When I set out writing this book, there weren’t as many books like this out there because I looked for them. In just a few short years you can find them all over the place. There were authors that wrote these types and I read them, but they were harder to find and you had to weed through lots of bad stuff to find them. 

Thus, I debated on putting this out there. Finally I decided that if one or two that were not close friends of mine bought and enjoyed the book, it would be worth it. So, I went ahead and published the book. I had a small release party online and embraced my nerd side with this book. I would love to say it was an overnight sensation, but let’s be real, it wasn’t going to be. However, I did have more than just the two people who bought and read my book. I was so happy and surprised. That book was supposed to be a stand alone book and that is it. But, several people asked me when I was going to write the next one. That I needed to give Damien (Peyton’s brother) his story. One day I hope I get that chance. However, I moved on to two other projects that I had in my mind.

I was writing two different novels at the same time and making progress on them both. I thought I could finish one by a certain time, but I hit a huge writing block and didn’t make progress on either. Finally, I wanted to hit a specific timeline goal and focused all my attention on what is now Nature’s Strike. This story came about from a dream I had when I was a teenager and over the years I thought about it and changed it into an idea for a series until eventually it became what it is now. Again, here I was trying to take on something new and different for me. Why I couldn’t just write the same kind of book I just published I have no idea. I like a variety of types of books and so my writing interests follow that path. This time, I was out to write a book that combined romance, action and adventure, and some light fantasy elements. Nature’s Strike introduced you to Riley and her family who are your everyday people working at jobs they like in a smaller community and living their lives happily. Then on the other side you get to meet Declan and his team that are out saving people from evil people intent on causing ruination. However, they are all blessed/cursed because they each wield something Mother Nature. Not just your water, earth, fire, air; but rather, lightning, thunder, tornadoes, fire (yes), fog, hurricanes, etc… The question becomes how do these two types of people meet and can they exist together?

This time, I had new challenges. Could I finish another novel or was the first an exception? Would people be interested in this one like the first one? The answer is yes I could write a second novel and the verdict is still out on the second question. This book was released last June. 

However, during this process I found a group of authors and we started up a zoom writing sprinting group. We originally did it for Nanowrimo in 2021 and it was for one month. However, at the end of it, we all realized it was helping us and we still continue the group to this day. It has helped me to get words in when I don’t feel like writing. I wouldn’t have completed as much as I have if it wasn’t for them. Also, over the last two years, I have written six short stories that appeared in different anthologies. Some of these will become novels and some I will publish on their own. 

I am currently working on completing my third novel that is actually kind of a spin off of Complications of Pi. I decided to create a YA/NA series that features the fictional college that Peyton teaches out. While the main stories will be about students that are attending the college, Peyton will be making cameo appearances in some of these stories. I have one short story that will become a full length novel already that was in a Christmas anthology. The novel I am writing now was supposed to be a short story for a different one, but due to a few things it is now its own novel and I am hoping to release it this summer. It is titled Love Under the Stars so keep an eye out for it.

I still need to go back to finish Dream Escape that I started a few years ago. We all need our encouragement and motivation. So, if you think about it and you know someone is trying to work on something, take an interest in what they are doing or just tell them to keep it up. A few nice words can go a long way I have found with myself. 

I want to send a quick shout out of thank you to my friends who will help me with character names and titles with stories because I appreciate it. How I go about that sometimes is a whole other thing and this is already so long in length. 

Thank you again to Nicole for allowing me to take up so much space on her blog. Please check out my books and if you want to reach me you can find me on FaceBook or email me at my author email address. 

https://www.facebook.com/rk.phillips.14

rkphillipsauthor@gmail.com

Note: Some books listed are no longer available for sale as an ebook. Some authors may have physical copies, but that’s not guaranteed.

I hope you enjoyed learning more about RK Phillips. She’s an incredible woman and an amazing friend. I’m glad to know her.

Author Spotlight: Updates

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With luck, I’ll be able to officially start this segment next week. I need to start reaching out to authors and letting them know what I need. I also need to schedule it all out. I’m really excited about this. One of the biggest things that I feel strongly about is supporting authors. Sometimes I feel like I don’t do a good enough job because I don’t really have that big of a platform, but I still try. It’s my passion. I will support and promote authors every chance I get. I will support books I love. Please feel free to comment any authors you feel need the spotlight. There’s no limit on how many people you can recommend. I’m looking forward to bringing you a wonderful segment on Fridays from here forward.

Author Spotlight: A New Beginning

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I’ve decided to bring a segment back that I was once doing. Only, I’m going to tweak it just a bit. Before, the focus was on the interview questions and a book of the author’s choice. This time, I’m going to focus on the author in general and whatever they choose to spotlight. I’ll invite them to the blog and let them know what I’d like from them. The biggest thing I want to stress is that I don’t want this to turn into a promotional segment. My goal here is for readers to get to know an author and their ideas behind their books.

Authors spend so much time on writing books that we devour so quickly that it’s insane sometimes. Authors experience so many emotions while writing and releasing these books. Sometimes, I think we all take that for granted. We are so sure that an author we love will always give us more entertainment with their wonderful stories that we forget what it’s costing the authors to give us that joy. I don’t just mean financially. I mean mentally and emotionally too. My hope is that this blog segment will help humanize authors as well as give you wonderful new books to read.

I sincerely hope that you enjoy this segment. I hope that if you feel like an author should be spotlighted here that you will reach out to me so that I can reach out to them with the invitation.

Interview With Heather Frost

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https://amzn.to/3LdqV7O

Blurb:

Clare made a mistake when she saved the princess’s life . . .

In one horrible night, Clare is forced to give up her life as a kitchen maid to become the princess’s decoy. Thrust into a dangerous new world of royals and deadly politics, she must learn how to be the princess’s perfect double to ensure her betrothal to an enemy prince. Desperate to survive, Clare throws herself into self-defense training, taught by her distractingly attractive bodyguard, Bennick. The spark between them is undeniable, though a relationship is forbidden. When a ruthless assassin begins stalking her, it becomes frighteningly clear that some will stop at nothing to end the tenuous peace—and Clare’s life.

Across the northern mountains, Prince Grayson is his father’s ultimate weapon. His name inspires fear in all who hear it, but no one knows his heavily guarded secret. He carries out every brutal order only because his father holds power over the one person he cares about. Grayson’s silent obedience is tested, however, when his father reveals plans to exploit the marriage alliance between two of their greatest enemies. If Grayson submits, the blood of thousands will spill. If he resists, the girl who means everything to him will die.

The fate of Eyrinthia hangs in the balance. Some want peace. Some want war. All will be thrown into chaos.

Royal Decoy is the first in the Fate of Eyrinthia YA fantasy romance series told from multiple POVs. If you like swoon-worthy romance, complex characters, and non-stop action with epic twists, then you’ll love the captivating world of Eyrinthia.

Interview:

Tell us a bit about Fate of Eyrinthia. What inspired you to write the series?
Fate of Eyrinthia is a YA fantasy romance series. The seeds for this story came wondering if I could write a story from a secondary character’s POV. (For example, what if Harry Potter had been told from Ron Weasley’s perspective? How would that have changed the story?) I didn’t even know if something like this would work, but I began by thinking up a story where a princess is living in a dangerous time with lots of political upheaval, and she’s in the center of everything—including an arranged marriage. And then I thought, could someone else be the main character of this story? I instantly thought—a decoy. The princess could have a decoy, and the decoy could be our main character! I loved the idea, because it became an entirely new story simply by changing the focus of who was telling the story. And that’s how Royal Decoy was born.

You write the series from multiple points of view. How much different do you feel the story would be if you wrote it in first person? What made you decide on the viewpoints that you chose?
I think the story would be incredibly different if I could only tell one perspective. It would have been from Clare’s POV, since she’s the decoy and arguably the main character—especially at the beginning of the series. But we would have missed out on so much! The story would have been shorter, and narrower in scope. We wouldn’t know what was happening in the other kingdoms, we wouldn’t get to know all the layers to the other characters, and we wouldn’t have the same tension as these characters with different agendas converge. It can be a challenge writing multiple POVs and juggling different voices and storylines, but I think it makes this series so much richer.

As for how I decided on who got to share their viewpoint, it came down to figuring out who needed to share their story. I had to think through the entire series and weigh a few different factors; 1) Who had a story to tell that would directly and consistently impact the main storyline? 2) Who would ever be on their own, in a place we needed to know what was happening, when it was happening? 3) And finally, WHEN would their perspective be needed? That final question was key in figuring out who needed a POV in each book, since I knew I wanted to add new character perspectives in gradually. I had to consider which characters had secrets that I needed to keep (which meant delaying getting into their heads) and when characters would need to be in the forefront of the story.

What parts of the series were harder for you to write than others? What were easy?
Hmm, I’m trying to think what parts were hardest. I honestly just loved writing all of it, haha! If I had to pick a part that was the most challenging to write, it’s probably the beginnings. Mostly because I want to make sure they’re perfect. I want readers to be able to dive back into the world with key reminders of what happened in the previous books, without bogging down the current storyline with too many details.
As for the easiest to write: I love all the conversations! Dialogue is easy for me to write, plus I just love writing any scene where these characters are interacting with each other.

Did you have any character that spoke out to you more than all of the rest of the characters did?
Grayson and Desfan have both been strong characters from the very beginning. Grayson wasn’t even a character I planned on writing—he just showed up and said, “Hey. Here’s my story.” And now I can’t imagine the story without him! Desfan is another character that took me by surprise. Even though I knew about him before I started writing, his voice was just so strong. I always know what he’s going to say, what he’s thinking, and what he wants to do.

What are your upcoming plans for this series? 
There will be six novels in the series, with some assorted novellas. Book four—Royal Rebel—is what I’m currently working on. It will be out early 2023!

What inspired you to choose the covers for your books?
I knew I wanted to highlight a different character on each cover, since having multiple POVs and storylines is such a big part of the series. I took some time to pick who I wanted to highlight on each cover, and from there it was just a matter of finding the best models for the job. (Royal Decoy: Clare. Royal Spy: Desfan. Royal Captive: Mia.) The whole process of cover design is extra fun because my sister, the talented K.M. Frost, is my designer!

How long did it take you to write each book? Were there parts that took you longer than others?
This is a tough question. I’m generally a fast writer, so I can finish a book usually in a month or two. Editing takes me longer, because I’m a perfectionist, and I also have to wait to hear back from my beta readers. I first wrote Royal Decoy years ago, though it went through some major edits before it was released in the summer of 2020. I had written rough drafts of the other books in the series as well, so I work from those old drafts and weave in new scenes/storylines, plus polish the scenes that are already there. There are definitely scenes that take longer to write, whether because I’ve hit and wall and need to think my way out of it, or because I’m taking my time to get it just right.

Where did you come up with the names of your characters?
They come from a variety of places, but often it’s simply a matter of me just getting a sense of the character. Once I have a feel for them, I can usually decide what letter their name should start with, or how many syllables it should have. I often end up looking through a list of names I keep. In Eyrinthia, I also have the different kingdoms to consider; they each have a different culture and flavor that I want to capture for the characters who live there. Sometimes that means turning to Google for ideas, or me just making something up!

Have you considered having the series narrated?
Yes, I definitely have! There are some logistics I’m still working on, but I think it would be amazing to have audiobooks of the Eyrinthia series.

Do you have any other works planned outside of the series?
Yes! I have far too many plans and ideas, haha! In November you’ll be able to read Esperance, which is book one of a New Adult fantasy romance trilogy. It’s got slow-burn, enemies-to-lovers romance, forbidden magic, and non-stop action. I’m so excited to share it! You can learn more about Esperance, and my other books, on my website: www.HeatherFrost.com

About the Author:

Heather Frost is a #1 Amazon bestselling YA author who loves epic stories with breath-stealing romance. She is the author of the Seers trilogy and the Fate of Eyrinthia series. Her books have been Whitney Award Finalists and Swoony Award Finalists. She has a BS in Creative Writing and a minor in Folklore, which means she got to read fairy tales and call it homework. When she’s not writing, Heather likes to read, travel, and re-watch Lord of the Rings. She lives in a beautiful valley surrounded by towering mountains in northern Utah. To learn more about Heather and her books, visit her website: www.HeatherFrost.com

Author Spotlight: Emily Camp

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This Week’s Author: Emily Camp

Book Spotlight:

Author Bio:

Emily Camp is an author of several young adult novels. She also studies literature and is currently working toward a creative writing degree.

Follow me and find my books here: https://beacons.ai/emilycampwrites

Interview With Emily Camp:

1. Tell us about the books you’ve published so far. Can you tell us about some of your upcoming novels? I write young adult and new adult romances. I have two that have mystery elements to them as well. A Homecoming to Forget is about a girl with amnesia and she tries to figure out what happened to her the night she lost her memory.  I like to write characters that people can relate to. I feel like I’ve accomplished that in my stories. 

I’ve been busy writing a story for Kindle Vella. It’s a soap opera type story, some romance and lots of drama. It’s called What Is Hidden. Vella is a serial fiction platform, so far I’ve published over 100 episodes for this and am still working on more. I’m planning on finishing at about 120 episodes. I’m also currently brainstorming a project for an upcoming anthology in May and have another YA romance with a little bit of suspense in the works. It’s about a girl who’s ex-boyfriend is stalking her. She fake dates a guy to get the stalker off her back, and we all know what happens when people fake date in fiction. The problem is, the stalker doesn’t give up that easily. I was wanting to have it ready by spring, but I’ve been focusing on my vella projects the last few months. 

2. What was the moment you knew you wanted to be an author? I fell in love with storytelling at an early age. I remember reading and watching things and trying to come up with my own endings before they happened. But my first time thinking I could be an author was when I was 13 and fell in love with the book The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. I even wrote a story inspired by that book. I still have the story, too. If there would have been fanfiction back then I’m sure I would have written fanfiction for it as well. 

3. What are some things you do to overcome doubts about your writing? 

I started posting my stories on Wattpad to get a feel for what readers thought about my writing before I published on Amazon. I actually had a decent following there. But one thing I did was I made a document of all the kind messages readers sent me while I was writing there. I look at it whenever I feel like giving up. 

4.Have any actual life experiences reflected in your writing? Absolutely. I have used several life experiences. 

5. Who was your easiest character to write about and why? The easiest character I’ve written is Kacey from Boy of the Week. Because I got the idea of her from my teenage self. From some of the feedback I get about that book, I’m not the only one who was like her in high school. 

What was your hardest and why? My hardest character was Pierce from Sydney’s Last Night. I never really felt like I understood her at the time. She lost her sister and was grieving a sibling. I’d never experienced that when I wrote about it. However, I did lose my brother six months after I published the book. I don’t know if that would be harder to write now or not. 

Contact me at nikkiereads@starsbooksandtea.com if you’d like to be featured here!

Author Spotlight: Scarlett Kol

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This Week’s Author: Scarlett Kol

Book Spotlight:

Author Bio:

Scarlett Kol is the USA Today Bestselling Author of dystopian, paranormal and fantasy novels for young adults. Born and raised in Northern Manitoba, she grew up reading books and writing stories about creatures that make you want to sleep with the lights on. As an adult, she’s still a little afraid of the dark.

Interview With Scarlett Kol:

Tell us about the books you’ve published so far. Can you tell us about some of your upcoming novels?

I have a smattering of different novels out there. My debut novel was a near-future Robin Hood retelling. It’s a little bit dystopian, a little bit biopunk, and is told from the point of view of an upper east side Maid Marian named Mercury. However, my first and true love is more of the paranormal/urban fantasy type stories. Most of my novels to this point are standalones featuring witches, demons, wraiths, and anything else I can think up (Wicked Descent, Sleepless, Keeper of Shadows), however I always like to temper my magic with a little bit (or a lot) of romance as I adore writing those intimate moments between characters. My latest release will be Fierce which is book three from my Faraway High Fairytales series. This is a super fun series of fairytale retellings set in a contemporary Iowa high school in the fictional town of Faraway. So far, I’ve tackled the Little Mermaid but with angels (Falling), Sleeping Beauty but with Celtic mythology and portal magic (Dreamer), and the latest release will be The Twelve Dancing Princesses but make them a cheerleading squad and wolf shifters (Fierce). The nice thing about this series is that they all interconnect, but are completely standalone so you can read them in any order and still get a complete story. After that I plan on launching a brand-new series centered around tarot, so definitely watch my social media for that!

What was the moment you knew you wanted to be an author? 

I was always a huge reader and had an amazing librarian who turned me on to paranormal and contemporary fantasy in middle school However, somewhere around my early teen years as I devoured Christopher Pike and Anne Rice novels, I realized I had my own stories to tell. I loved the books I was reading and started writing short stories for local contests, and even won a few. After high school, life kind of got in the way, but I still wrote some moody, angtsy poetry for a bit and focused on studying. After my first son was born, I realized I’d strayed away from what I loved and wanted to get back to something that felt like “me”. I started writing this Women’s Fiction/Reese’s Book Club type book, but it just wasn’t coming together. Around that time, a friend gave me this book she thought I might like that I’d never heard of called Twilight and it sparked the love I had back in my teens for those kinds of paranormal stories. I’d convinced myself I had to give up the childish things I used to love but here was this writer in her 30’s doing what I wished I had. I scrapped the novel I’d started and picked up a pen to write a YA story full of magic, mystery, and swoony romance. The rest was history.

What are some things you do to overcome doubts about your writing?

Omigosh! This is such a great question as I still battle with this on every single project. It doesn’t seem to matter how many books I write or how much I hear that people love them, I’m constantly struggling with the thoughts that this book won’t be as good as my past ones, or it should be so much better, or the book I’m reading is leaps and bounds more amazing than mine. However, if I let those thoughts take over, I’d never publish another thing! Fortunately, I have an amazing set of writer friends who are my cheerleaders and support system who put me back on track when I fall. But what’s really been working for me lately is promising myself that no one needs to read what I’m writing. “It’s a first draft, if it sucks, I won’t publish it/submit it/send to readers.” Usually once I get through the first draft, it might still suck, but there are pieces in there that I love and then I strive to make the book match those parts. Eventually, I’m a few drafts in and have switched to thinking about the release so it moves from “this sucks” to “it’s coming out soon, better make it shine”. I also put a photo of my cover in my workspace to remind me that if I finish the story I get to put that pretty on my shelf.

Have any actual life experiences reflected in your writing?

All the time, whether I realize it or not (however, people I know will usually let me know). I think we all write what we know to some extent as that’s how we experience the world and we reflect it back in our writing. Most of time it’s usually a character or character trait, something minor like an object or saying, or a place fictional place I wrote about that is totally a real place somewhere that meant something to me. However, I do have one kiss in one of my books that is based on a real kiss I had once … I’ll let you all guess which one.

Who was your easiest character to write about and why? What was your hardest and why?

The easiest character was Brea Vardan from Dreamer. She’s a bit of an overthinker and is probably one of the characters I’ve written that is most like myself in how they think and break down information. The hardest character was definitely Berkley James from Sleepless. I tore down and rebuilt this book about twenty times! I think she was the hardest because she has a ton of bad stuff that happens to her in the book and it weighs on her pretty heavy which makes it tough for her to try to fight her way out of it. My heart kind of broke for her a bajillion times while I wrote that book.

Contact me at nikkiereads@starsbooksandtea.com if you’d like to be featured here!

Author Spotlight: Amanda Marin

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This Week’s Author: Amanda Marin

Book Spotlight:

About The Author:

When Amanda was a child, her father traveled frequently for business, always bringing back a book as a present for her. Whether she was getting lost in the pages of a tale about faraway knights, girls with supernatural powers, or kindly giants, she was quickly hooked on stories.

Nowadays, Amanda writes books of her own. She is a USA Today bestselling author and works in scholarly publishing. Her favorite things include Starbucks lattes, lazy summer afternoons at the beach, and stories with characters that make you go “awww.” She lives in New England with her family and furbaby, Snickers the Poodle.

Stay in touch!

Interview With Amanda Marin:

Tell us about the books you’ve published so far. Can you tell us about some of your upcoming novels?

Yes! Young adult fiction holds a special place in my heart. I got really into reading YA almost ten years ago while experiencing some major health issues. YA quickly became my go-to comfort read at the time, and as I recovered, I started to dabble in writing it. It took a couple of tries to get right, but I stuck with it. Eventually, I churned out a draft of my first novel to get published: North to Nara, a YA dystopian romance.

North to Nara grew into a trilogy (the Crimson Sash series), and it’ll always hold a special place in my heart! “North” (as I call it for short) is a forbidden love story that reinvents the Hester-Dimmesdale romance from The Scarlet Letter against a backdrop of modern social issues. I like to think that it has a positive, deeper meaning beyond the surface-level story of the two sweet, beautiful main characters who only want the chance to love each other.

Being a sucker for retellings, I also write fairy tales and mashups with a twist. The heroines in my Happily Other After short story series choose endings other than their originally crafted Prince Charming. I’ll be adding another story to that collection in early 2023. In the meantime, I have two mythology-based academy stories out (or coming out soon!) in anthologies in 2022. I love putting a modern spin on old stories!

What was the moment you knew you wanted to be an author?

Tough question … but mostly because the answer is SO simple! I’ve always wanted to be a writer. Even as a kid, I loved reading and writing stories. I was an early reader, and I used to walk around with notebooks and journals from the time I could write. To me, there’s nothing better than becoming immersed in a story—books are my cure-all when I’m sad and my happy place when times are good.

What are some things you do to overcome doubts about your writing?

I usually find comfort in knowing that other authors have experienced the same sorts of doubts. Imposter syndrome, lackluster reviews, rejections from agents and publishers—all the greatest writers have faced these … as have my own writer pals. There’s comfort in knowing you’re not alone in your struggles!

Have any actual life experiences reflected in your writing?

Absolutely! Without pointing fingers, I will say that some of the guys in my Cinderella story, “Another Midnight,” have a similarity or two to one or more of my exes (shhhh—don’t tell!). Plus, I have lived with PTSD for many years. I drew on some of my treatment/coping experiences in my novel Sky to Sea, which is a sequel to North to Nara. I wish I could say that I could dance, paint, or foretell the future like the muses and seers in my Mythic Academy series … maybe someday if I cross my fingers and keep practicing!

Who was your easiest character to write about and why? What was your hardest and why?

Another great question … My hardest character to write was Micah, the cinnamon-roll hero in my Crimson Sash books. He’s SO good and selfless, especially at the beginning of the trilogy. Writing him made me much more aware that kindness matters in real life as much as a novel! I learned from him even while I invented him, I guess. The easiest to write was Corisande, a siren who falls for her intended victim, in my upcoming novella A Song of Salt and Secrets. She’s shy, awkward, well-meaning, and a bit nervous all the time. I can relate! LOL 🙂

Contact me at nikkiereads@starsbooksandtea.com if you’d like to be featured here!

Author Spotlight: Diana Dawn

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This Week’s Author: Diana Dawn

Book Spotlight:

Fallen Snow: Book 1 (Whispering Willows) by [Diana Dawn]
First two books currently free!

“A mix of fairy tales and modernism with romance, adventure, and magic…a perfect fit!”

Snow found herself falling into another world…literally…as she ran from her evil stepmother who was trying to kill her. And now, a new world full of romance and mystery and magic awaited her. But, she is still hunted…still in constant fear for her life from that witch. Searching for her “prince and protector” among the handsome strangers in this mystical remote village, she finds new friends among its residents, both historical and present-day folks. It’s a mysterious woods where once you fall into it, you can’t leave. This was her new home, a world of magic and new family and friends and…romance.

A new twist on a fairy tale retelling and re-imagining romance adventure…‘Fallen Snow’ is the first book in the Whispering Willows series.”…a captivating fairy tale and fantasy book featuring the theme of romance!”–Five Star Review

About The Author:

Diana Dawn is a writer and author of the book series, Whispering Willows. As a lover of fairy tales and romance, Diana has focused her writing on romantic fiction, with an occasional hint of classic fables. She has been a lifelong writer and first began creating stories in grade school. When she isn’t glued to her computer or lost in her next fantasy story, Diana enjoys taking vacations with her husband and three children. You can find all about what is happening with my books at https://dianadawnbooks.com/

Upcoming book highlights:

Releasing Feb. 8th, I have a story “A Taste of Love” in the Valentine’s boxed set “With Every Beat of My Heart”. Available for pre-order now https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09K7P1RMQ

Releasing Feb. 13th, I have a stand-alone Valentine’s short story “Valentine’s Crush” as a part of a Holiday series. Available for pre-order now. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09DTT8C8J

Releasing May 3rd, I have a story, “Dragon Hearts Beating” in the YA dragon-themed boxed set “Dracos”. Available for pre-order now. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09HX31P21

Please check out my series Whispering Willows! The first two books are free to download either on my website or online. Plus, you can find more info on the rest of the series on my website or my Amazon page.

https://books2read.com/u/m2Ze8r

https://dianadawnbooks.com/

Interview With Diana Dawn:

Tell us about the books you’ve published so far. Can you tell us about some of your upcoming novels?

My largest endeavor has been my series, Whispering Willows. It started back in the late 1990s. I was part of a small online writing club. I decided to write my story around what would happen to Snow White if she “fell” into another world. It was a “shared world”. We all would write a chapter a week or so. I wrote there for several years on this same series. The writing club finally shut down in 2009. I didn’t do anything with my work for the next 10 years. Then, recently in 2019, I decided to not let all of that time and dedication go to waste, so I made the leap to self-publish my chapters into a book series. I have books one through eleven published so far and plan to wrap up the series on book twelve this year. However, I have a lot of other projects in the pipeline, so I hope I can get book twelve done this year! I am part of many multi-author boxed sets from this year on through 2025! Most recent are two stories for Valentines. One is a contemporary romantic suspense story coming out as a stand-alone book in a Holiday themed series by Indie/Pendent Book Services. It’s called “Valentine’s Crush” about two high school teachers who fall for each other but at the same time have to deal with a student’s deadly crush on one of them. Also, I have a story coming out in a Valentine’s themed multi-author boxed set titled “With Every Beat of My Heart”. My individual story is called “A Taste of Love” about a contestant on a reality cooking show with a crush on a celebrity chef. And in May, I will be part of a multi-author YA dragon-themed boxed set called “Dracos”. My story is titled “Dragon Hearts Beating”. This set is a collection of YA stories about dragons ranging from shifters to romance to adventure and beyond. And since it’s YA, it’s a clean read. All of my stories are clean and suitable for YA.

What was the moment you knew you wanted to be an author?

I started writing stories and stage plays when I was in elementary school. I really enjoyed re-writing endings to shows that I wanted to change, as well as writing new ideas that I had in my head. As a child, first, I would “act them out” with my dolls, then I finally moved on to just writing them on paper. Then in high school, I would type them on the computer. Hence, the author in me was born.

What are some things you do to overcome doubts about your writing?

I have my husband read everything first. He always has some good feedback. Then sometimes I have my mom or dad read them, but that’s usually when I’m finished. I try to get my best friend to read stuff, but she’s just too busy! LOL! My husband is my biggest asset. He says I’m my own worst critic. (Aren’t we all!) For example, lately, I’ve been stuck on this one story more than any other project I’ve worked on for different reasons. My husband says I’m too hard on myself and the project is going fine. I even went to an outside editor source for feedback. It didn’t really help, and instead I came to the conclusion that my husband was right and I just need to go with my gut when I have doubts.

Have any actual life experiences reflected in your writing?

They say “write what you know”. I have found this to be true. I have a lot of stories that are historical romance, which I love to write. Well, I had some ideas that were contemporary romance that I wanted to try my hand at. I was surprised at how easy they were to write. It was like the words went right from my brain to the paper with little effort. Whether it was dialogue or scene descriptions, I couldn’t figure out why it was so easy. Then I realized it was because it was what I KNEW. I discovered it was much easier to write contemporary romance, because conversations, surroundings, everything is what we live with now, every day. That isn’t to say I am going to stop writing historical stories, but I’m certainly not going to shy away from contemporary romance, either.

Who was your easiest character to write about and why? What was your hardest and why?

Snow White has been my easiest character. She is the main character in my series, Whispering Willows. Since I have always loved the character of Snow White, I found that writing about her innocence, sweetness, and naïve charm was a breeze for me. It was easy to take her and weave a world around her, adding characters and adventures into her life. My hardest character is probably the one I am writing now. It’s not just the character, but as I mentioned, it’s been a challenge to finish the whole story. I had an idea in my head that took place in the 1700s, that I now have to convert to a post-apocalyptic story (for various reasons). You’d be surprised how difficult it is to convert the character styles, dialect, period attire, time era scenery, etc.

Contact me at nikkiereads@starsbooksandtea.com if you’d like to be featured here!

Written In the Stars Anthology Spotlight: Diana Dawn

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Written in the Stars Author: Diana Dawn

Interview with Diana Dawn:

Tell us what prompted you to start the series? Be as detailed as you want.

My Whispering Willows series actually started back in the late 1990s. I was part of a small online writing club. We all would write a chapter a week or so. I wrote there for several years on this same series. The writing club finally shut down in 2009. I didn’t do anything with my work for the next 10 years. Then, recently in 2019, I decided to not let all of that time and dedication go to waste, so I made the leap to self-publish my chapters into a book series.

How did you feel as you were writing the first book? Has that feeling changed between then and now? If so, how?

When I first started writing the chapters for this story, I had no idea how far it would go. I love all things Snow White, so I decided to write my story around what would happen to Snow White if she “fell” into another world. It ended up well over 200 chapters before the writing group shut down. I am proud of how far the story has gone. It’s so much more than I thought it would be in the beginning. There are more characters, emotion, and drama than I ever thought I would write!

How many times have you had a specific idea for the story but it has been derailed because the characters decide to go a different way?

Many times, but all for the best! Since the story/series grew into something much bigger than I first expected, I was able to expand my characters, and also bring in new ones… including some darker characters and deeper story themes. The series evolved from a sweet and naïve fairy-tale type story into something much deeper and exciting and dramatic!

What was the most difficult part in writing the series?

Originally, in the writing group, we were using a “shared world”. The moderator was a little…odd. She made things difficult for us. Folks started filtering out until there were only a few of us left. Then she just shut the whole thing down. The few of us left just took the group to another location and continued to write. It was much more peaceful at that point. LOL! So in putting my chapters of the “shared world” into a series, I only used my writing, of course, but I did change some character names and other things from the original version. My husband has been an important part in my converting the story into a series, believe it or not. He has a lot of feedback and gives me ideas. I record all of the books for him so he can listen on his way to work. I’ll get into his car and hear my voice, which is a weird feeling! LOL!

If you could give advice to anybody else considering writing a series, what advice would you give?

Each book in my series builds on the previous book, like a soap opera. This has made it difficult to market. Fans of my series love the cliffhangers that I have at the end of each book. They tell me it really gets them excited for the next release. But the downside of that is that readers need to start at the beginning of the series to know what all is happening. I think I would advise anyone thinking of writing a series to think more modularly. Try to have the books more standalone. They can still relate to each other in some way, but then a reader can pick up, say, book three, and not be totally lost. The relation can be something subtle that would make them curious enough to then purchase the first and second books, etc. This would be impossible for my current series. So it would take some planning on the author’s part to plan out this type of writing strategy.

About the Author:

Diana Dawn

Diana Dawn is a writer and author of the new book series, Whispering Willows. As a lover of fairy tales and romance, Diana has focused her writing on romantic fiction, with a hint of classic fables. She has been a lifelong writer and first began creating stories in grade school. When she isn’t glued to her computer or lost in her next fantasy story, Diana enjoys taking vacations with her husband and three children. She would love to hear your thoughts or feedback at http://www.DianaDawnBooks.com. Or drop her a line at Diana@DianaDawnBooks.com for a special free promotional offer related to her Whispering Willows book series!

Message from Diana:

Please visit my website for details and synopsis of my series, and a free download of some of the books! Plus, in addition to my series, I have more books coming out and a monthly newsletter with giveaways and other fun things!
https://dianadawnbooks.com/

Also, I just started a new reader’s group on Facebook, along with my Facebook author page. I would love for you to join us!
Dawning Books Reader’s Group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/3109388419321551)
Diana Dawn Books (https://www.facebook.com/DianaDawnBooks)

On sale until January 31st! Get your copy before it’s too late!

Author Spotlight: Maria Vermisoglou

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This Week’s Author: Maria Vermisoglou

Book Spotlight:

About The Author:

Maria Vermisoglou is an International Bestselling author of fantasy and paranormal with an obsession for witches. She loves throwing her heroes into impossible situations. Maria draws inspiration from books, travel, and…the ceiling. (So blame the ceiling!)
Maria started writing when the stories she read became too boring and the voices in her mind too loud.
When she’s not writing, she loves a good riding on the fantasy dragon, but a book can also be exciting, along with a cup of tea.
Nowadays, you can find her in Athens, exploring the mysteries of the ancient world.

Subscribe in her newsletter and you can stay up to date with her works and get first dibs on book sales, giveaways, all the fun stuff.https://maraki2311.wixsite.com/creativequill/
Follow Maria on social media: https://linktr.ee/portal_to_the_unknown

Interview With Maria Vermisoglou:

Tell us about the books you’ve published so far. Can you tell us about some of your upcoming novels?

I started with YA novels featuring witches, but I have expanded to shifters, mermen and other paranormal creatures. I even have some holiday, fairytales and mythological books. I mostly write paranormal fantasy because I love magic and unexplainable stuff. My obsession is witches but not the classical evil witches, but I strive to craft a different image than the cliches. Healers, bartenders, fighters, you name it, and their goal is to save humans from demons and themselves. If they fall in love with a human along the way, all the better! Upcoming? I have planned a NA Alice retelling (shifters and elementals), several other witch books in my series and an entirely new series that has nothing to do with magic! *insert shocked face*  A genius on the run. The Irish mafia with a secret plan. Romance, mystery, and heists! I said too much, huh?

What was the moment you knew you wanted to be an author? 

I didn’t know I wanted to be an author. It all started with a story. I always crafted stories in my mind. I took a part of the story and twisted it into something new, but never wrote it down. It helped me come to terms that this story had ended. The last goodbye to the characters I loved so much. Ha, ha. One day, I had finished another great story and the what ifs tortured my mind. What if the character was a witch? What if…? And that’s how my first story was born. I didn’t know if I wanted to know an author. I just wanted to quiet the noise in my brain. Word after word, page after page became a book. And then more books. I joined anthologies and published my own books. I never thought of myself as an author as in I never thought I’d become one, but I love it. Helps me cope with the challenges of life and it makes me happy. As a reader, books were my friends, my escape, so I want to offer that to my readers as well. A gateway to my little portal where we’re all accepted, we’re all heroes and we can all ride giant hippocampi!

What are some things you do to overcome doubts about your writing?

My only doubt is: Someone can write it better than me. I’m a pantser, so half the time I don’t know where the story is going, so it’s challenging to overcome that fear. It never truly goes away, but I believe in my stories and I’ve learned a lot over time. Sure, there are many people who might have done it better, but they’re not me. These characters chose me as their voice and I will do my best to represent their stories as best as I can. My readers love my stories so instead of doubting myself, I should write faster 🙂

Have any actual life experiences reflected in your writing? 

Yes. In the Hands of Zaztice is a Greek mythology novella that’s set in Athens, where I live and most of the story represents real events. Except the monsters. Haven’t encountered them yet. Ha. But even the monsters are symbols. I didn’t have a sword, but sometimes, one step is enough to light the path for you and the monsters to go away.

Who was your easiest character to write about and why? What was your hardest and why?

Hardest: Violet (The Eulogimenoi series). I couldn’t tell what she was thinking. It was a hazy mess that made no sense. The easiest character is Eva because she was a witch and somehow, I could sync with her thoughts and understand her real easy. It’s like the story wrote itself. 

Contact me at nikkiereads@starsbooksandtea.com if you’d like to be featured here!