I would like to blog, on my birthday (okay, we’re actually into the next day at 12:22 @ night) that I have finished the editing of my Viking book. Well, the first edit. My own personal edit, which may not be too edit-y. I will now follow in the footsteps of my great-aunt, who is also a writer, and interview myself, as she did for the newspaper recently.
Q–Is it difficult to distance yourself from what you have spent months writing?
A–You’d better believe it. However, reading the entire book aloud, while typing in the corrections, certainly helped w/the overall flow of the book.
Q–Was it worth all the coffee, the late nights, and the general stress, trying to get the book finished by May?
A–Yes and No. Yes, I have a finished product I enjoy reading myself. And no, I got shingles from the stress of editing myself and I’m still hopelessly hooked on coffee.
Q–So you enjoy reading your own book?
A–I do, and I would like to say that the only reason I write is to entertain myself. This reasoning works with poetry, which is often too personal and too stinky for anyone but myself to ever lay eyes on. However, books are written to be read. Even though I know what’s going to happen, sometimes I surprise myself with the way I’ve written it down. Usually, it’s either shockingly spot-on, or horridly lack-lustre.
Q–Will you be starting another project soon?
A–Well, that depends. If this book doesn’t get picked up quickly, it will confirm my deepest fears that I cannot write worth a lick and I have shot two years of my life down the toilet attempting to do it. On the other hand, there is this idea rolling around in my head…teen fiction…
So there you have it, my faithful readers. An interview with the author who HOPES to be a “real” author someday. I don’t think I’d wish this life of writing and waiting and waiting and writing on anyone. Once all my query letters get rejected, then I’ll probably want to stop writing novels. Either that, or I will tell myself that agents are blind and publishers are unrealistic and you have to have money and connections to get published these days, and then I’ll wind up writing another book.
–Heather
As her husband, I can verify the part about shingles. Heather works incredibly hard. I wish I had her determination and work ethic.