Today’s
spotlight shines on paranormal urban fantasy author Mertianna Georgia who is
here to tell us about the second book in her Synemancer trilogy, Angel of Syn.
Mertianna
will be awarding a canvas tote bag printed with the book cover on one side and
a saying on the other ("Are you a syn-er?"), and filled with goodies
plus a $20 Amazon gift card to a randomly drawn commenter during the tour (U.S.
ONLY). If you’d like to be entered to win, leave a comment below. And if you’d
like to increase your chances, visit other tour stops and leave comments there.
Welcome Mertianna. Please tell us a
little bit about yourself.
I currently
live with my husband and dogs in northern California. I have a son who attends
college in San Francisco. After years of working in the business world while secretly
wishing I could be a writer, I finally took a leap of faith and started
writing. My first book, Syn in the City,
was published in 2010 and I haven’t looked back since. Well maybe a few glances
in the rearview mirror, just to see if anyone was tailing me, but not many.
Please tell us about your current
release.
In the second
book of the Synemancer Series, Cara Augustine is
a fugitive -- pursued by the supernatural police for breaking a major
covenant. The punishment is death. She’s a Synemancer, a witch who attracts and
binds men of power to fuel her own magic. Which is how she got into this mess
in the first place. Too many men, too much trouble, too little time to prove
her innocence.
What inspired you to write this book?
I’ve always
been fascinated with the supernatural, paranormal, fantasy, and science
fiction. People in my family have had psychic/paranormal experiences,
especially my mother and grandmother. I’ve always thought they had intuition
gone wild. My grandmother gave me a book on white witchcraft when I was a
teenager, which goes to show the acorn didn’t fall far from the tree. I used to
ask her if she dated Nostradamus. I think she thought it was funny. Not sure
what a grandmotherly snort indicated. She seemed to have a gleam in her eyes.
All the time. Also, the family just takes for granted that my mother can tell
if someone’s in trouble. Like the night my mother woke in the middle of the
night and insisted she had to fly to England because her grandchildren were in
danger. My brother and his family were living there at the time. The night my
mother wanted to travel from the U.S. to the U.K. was the night a burglar broke
into my brother’s home while they were sleeping. No one hurt, thank goodness.
But how could she have known? Eerie. Wonderful. A little wacky. Inspiring.
So, when I
decided to really write a book, not just think
about writing a book, I wanted to write a story I’d personally want to read.
Throw in my family, interests, and even my business experience (Synemancer came
from the word “synergy” a big concept in business), and out came this story of
a twenty-something witch living in a world full of supernatural beings. Not
only were they a part of her world, but a normal
part of her world. She starts out not having power or a lot of belief in
herself, but discovers she’s stronger and more capable than she ever imagined.
My
character isn’t me, of course, but she’s part of me. I remember being on my own
for the first time and having major anxiety attacks about whether I’d be able
to make it. But I survived and thrived. And so does my character – eventually.
What exciting story are you working on
next?
I’m working
on the last book in the Synemancer trilogy, tentatively titled Dark Syns. Also, I have a mystery short
story called “The Bridesmaid Wore a Bullet” coming out in an anthology. There
are at least a dozen stories I’m currently working on as I have time,
mysteries, paranormal, and “literary” (for lack of a better definition). My
mysteries are full of humor but no paranormal elements, just abnormal
characters. The “literary” piece is about a sentient house, the generations of
women who live in it, and how it got that way. For each of the genres I write
with very different “voices” so it’s fun to go from one to the other and back
again.
When did you first consider yourself a
writer?
I vaguely
remember writing stories in elementary school – I think about bunnies or
unicorns or maybe bunnies with unicorn horns. I started writing a romance/suspense
novel in high school but never finished it. However, that’s when my dream of
being a writer really took hold. But life happens. Finally as an adult I
decided to take a big chance and do what I’ve always dreamed of doing. I left the
business world to write about the worlds in my head (at least it wasn’t about
the voices in my head – they told me not to talk about them).
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?
I’ve gone back and forth from writing full time to having a
day job. Unfortunately I’m not yet at the point where I can subsist just on my
writing. I’m waiting for that big movie deal to come my way. They must have
lost my phone number. And my email address. And my book. Anyway, if I had the
choice I’d write full time.
My ideal typical day would start with coffee and cocoa and maybe
an almond croissant. Then I’d sit at a computer or with a notebook and let my
characters tell me what they’re going to do next. I like writing in silence. I’ve
tried putting together a playlist, but I’d start fantasizing about the lyrics
or the singer and lose focus on my writing. According to a workshop I attended,
most people can be truly creative only about four hours a day. That syncs with
how I write (on ideal days), about two hours in the morning, break for lunch,
and two hours in the early afternoon. I guess I’d have to throw in some exercise
because I’ve been told that walking to the kitchen and back doesn’t count
(especially if I’m bringing back a snack). That’s my ideal day.
Right now, I have a day job and family and pets and groups
and friends, so I actually don’t have many ideal writing days. I wrote full
time when I created Syn in the City
and pretty much wore my jammies until way after lunch. No such luxury for
writing Angel of Syn. I had to eke
out little chunks of time for that one. I hope with the third book I’ll get
better at eking. I’d love to write full time again sometime in the future. Movie
people, are you listening?
What would you say is your interesting
writing quirk?
I’m not
sure I have any writing quirks as all
my quirks fall under the “quirky personality” category. Well, the quirks don’t
actually fall so much as tumble wildly around me as I write. Dodging tumbling
quirks is fun. Everyone should try it.
As a child, what did you want to be
when you grew up?
The list is
long because I kept changing my mind. At different times I wanted to be a
witch, a voodoo queen, a princess, a doctor, and a unicorn. Unfortunately, the
unicorn thing didn’t work out. Horns are really hard to grow.
Anything additional you want to share
with the readers?
I’d love to
hear from you. What did you want to be when you grew up? What characteristics
would your perfect story heroine possess? Do you know any movie producers?
Thanks, Mertianna. Readers, don't forget to leave a comment if you'd like to be entered for a chance to win the gift bag giveaway.
11 comments:
Thanks for sharing your family psychic/paranormal experiences, I always find those true stories to be so interesting.
fencingromein at hotmail dot com
Hi Mertianna! Thanks for another entertaining and motivating interview. I loved the family stories and have a few similar ones myself. Have a great blog tour!
Great interview, Mertianna...love your answers!
You have a day job, and you are writing this awesome series and you have 12 others in progress. I can not imagine where you find all the time.
Mertianna has a real gift for writing. I love her books, despite the genre in which she is writing now being one I'm drawn to. She's really makes these books page-turners. She truly has a wonderful talent for captivating writing!
Thanks so much everyone who left a comment for me today! I'd love to hear about your own family psychic/paranormal stories. I'm still not where I want to be in terms of eking out time to write, but I keep at it. "Bird by bird" as Anne Lamott would say. And thanks to Lisa for such a great interview.
The only paranormal story I've got is after a funeral, we were having a get-together at a relative's house and we smelt cinnamon. Must've been a sign because the food we were eating did not have cinnamon in it.
Great interview.
oncerfan(at)yahoo(dot)com
My mother could "see" things. One time she had a dream of a green car in an accident. She told me to tell our neighbor with a green car to be careful. The next night my brother and his friends were involved in a car accident. The friend was driving a green car. One of the guys died at the scene of the crash.
Kit3247(at)aol(dot)com
Interesting info about your books
bn100candg at hotmail dot com
Love your background and novels!
Thanks for the interesting information about you and your books.
kareninnc at gmail dot com
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