Interview with humorous author Rachel Thomas aka RachelintheOC

Today's guest is Rachel Thomas who is doing a virtual book tour with VBT Cafe for her book The Mancode: Exposed.

Welcome, Rachel, please tell us a little about yourself.
I'm a published author, social media consultant, cofounder Indie Book Collective, wife, & mum.

Please tell us about your current release.
The Mancode: Exposed a humorous collection of essays about men, women, love, sex, and of course, chocolate #der. I broke it up into four sections: Anatomy & Physiology, Chocolate Confessions, Coitus & Communications, and finally, DNA & Stereotypes. The reader can really start at any point, though if hungry, I suggest saving chocolate for dessert.

What inspired you to write this book?
I had written my first book, A Walk In The Snark and released it in January of this year. It hit #1 (over fifteen times) on the Humor/Motherhood Kindle list and the Mancode essays in particular seemed to strike a nerve with people -- some positive, some quite negative. That type of controversy is gold to a writer! So I focused on that theme in particular and the essay topics came quite easily. I've also been married nineteen years -- I've got daily examples of new material.

I'm also very active in social media, with a blog, Facebook, Goodreads, and particularly Twitter, with over 11,000 followers. It's a wonderful free market research tool and men are quite verbal with their feedback. I love it!

What exciting story are you working on next?
In all fairness, women are complicated creatures. Most men will agree that while they are pretty simple, chicks can be darn hard to figure out. We say one thing and mean another. Where's the playbook? Should they have taken Advanced Placement Female in high school? (Yea, probably).

So I'm working now on Chickspeak: Uncovered, a humorous though hopefully helpful take on what we gals mean for example, by "I'm fine," cause we're like, so not.

When did you first consider yourself a writer?
I started writing at age ten. My minor in college was Journalism, only because they didn't offer it as a major. After a detour into a training, sales and marketing career for many years that I didn't really enjoy, I began writing seriously in 2008. I look back now though and am extraordinarily grateful for my background because it helps me understand clearly the marketing and sales aspect of book promotion.

Do you write full-time? If so, what's your work day like? If not, what do you do other than write and how do you find time to write?
That's a loaded question! I get my two children off to school and then immediately hit my desk. I don't clean up, don't even look at my kitchen (except to visit Joey the Coffeemaker -- "How you doin?") and head straight to the computer.

As cofounder of the Indie Book Collective, I have responsibilities there. I run the Twitter stream for the IBC, my own stream, and several others as well. My goal is to write at least two essays per day. I'm also working on an anthology piece for Valentine's Day. And I have my own social media clients.

Of course, at some point I have to exit my cave to eat, clean up, and interact with the husband and kids when they come home from school. I don't cook (I burn), so that helps quite a bit time-wise.

Luckily, I'm also kind of a late bird. I write more after everyone is crashed.

What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?
I don't write before coffee. I don't write without music. I keep the shades drawn. My family calls me a bat.

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
A writer! I knew in kindergarten that I would live in New York City and be a writer. I did live in New York City for a few years, but at the time, I was a pharmaceutical trainer. Meh. At least I made it.

Anything additional you want to share with the readers?
I'm proudly self-published, but I work very hard to insure that the product I put out is top quality. I hire an editor AND a proofreader. I draw stick people so I hire a graphic artist. I hate formatting (writer here!) which is like math to me, so I hire someone to do that also. I'm not rich, but I do feel it's worth the investment for the quality. When people see your quality, they'll buy it and tell their friends.

I'm happy to chat with anyone interested in pursuing this path. In fact, I contributed an essay to Our Indie Experience available on Amazon for only 99cents, a look at the good, the bad, and the realistic of eleven self-published authors.

Thanks for being here today, Rachel. Your humor shines through. :)

Readers, check out other tour dates and stops for Rachel and leave a comment here and there to let her know you're laughing.