As a bonus, each week of the tour, Angela will be awarding a wall calendar print from http://www.cafepress.com/ennaraswag to a randomly drawn commentor. She's also going to award a t-shirt from http://www.cafepress.com/ennaraswag to one randomly drawn commenter during the overall tour (US ONLY).
(Items can be exchanged for other equal or lesser value items from Ennara Swag on Cafepress.).
To be entered for a chance to win, use the forms below. And to increase your chances, visit other tour stops and enter there.
Welcome, Angela. Please tell us a
little bit about yourself.
Like many
writers, I have a full life in which I juggle many duties and joys. I love to
cook, garden, and play with my twins. As a mother to toddlers, I write whenever
I am not helping them navigate their day--which typically means in the early
mornings and early afternoons when they sleep, and sometimes when Grandma comes
to visit.
I was
twenty-two when writing became a passion of mine. I've been doing it in one
form or another ever since. But it took me a very long time to follow my heart's
desire to tell stories.
For years, I
simply journaled. I delved into writing articles for newsletters and grant
proposals. I settled into technical writing, often finding myself a one-person
writing, editing, design, app development, and publication team. I learned the
basics of journalism, and finally, when on maternity leave with my twins, I
turned to writing fiction.
I am grateful
for every reader I have. Writing can be a solitary pursuit, but it can also be
a dialog, a meeting of the minds. I invite you to connect with me:
Please tell us about your current
release.
Here’s my
elevator pitch:
When a
mysterious curse threatens to transform everyone into shadowy demons, a magical
eleven year-old girl must travel to a sunken city ruin—fighting pirates,
monsters, and an undead sorcerer along the way—to find a weapon that can save
her world.
What inspired you to write this book?
So many
themes in this book are things I’ve always wanted to write about. But what
started Ennara’s world was the desire to write a story set far, far in
humanity’s future. We spend most of our time absorbed in current events, not considering
in our plans the generations that will live here thousands of years from now. When
we do think of the future, it seems to be in terms of decades, not thousands or
tens of thousands of years. We’re certainly capable of that kind of foresight,
so why don’t we use it?
Excerpt:
“Is it true she is….” Gevin blushed. “I mean, you are…
magic?”
Ennara fumbled the wand as she turned it in her fingers. She
scooped it off the floor. Her stomach knotted and her cheeks burned. “Oh, um, I
guess.”
She nervously twirled the wand again, this time accidentally
tapping the case of trinkets. A lavender light shimmered across the panes, and
behind them the objects began to twitch.
“Eeep!” Ennara jumped as the severed hand crawled toward her
and tapped on the glass. A long finger uncurled and poked the case open. The
appendage leapt from the shelf to the chest, then the floor, and scurried to
the door.
Smoos crouched on the lower bunk, wiggled her haunches, and
pounced on the hand. She shook it back and forth in the air. It grabbed the
cat’s snout and flicked her hard on the nose. She dropped the hand and snorted,
rubbing her muzzle with her paw. The hand scampered away and hid behind the
girl’s legs.
“You seem to have a penchant for necromancy, young lady.”
Tork flicked his curvy black wand at the case. “Merta perape.”
The hand and other charms returned to their lifeless state.
“Ne … necromancy?” The word felt foreign in her mouth. She
glanced at Kithe and Gevin. Both boys were fixed on her. Gevin’s mouth hung
open.
“Yes. Bringing back the deceased. Creating walking dead.
Giving life to the lifeless.”
“But I didn’t say a spell!”
What exciting story are you working on
next?
I’m writing
two stories! Book two of the Ennara series, Ennara
and the Writ of Shadows, picks up with Ennara and her friends in their
second year of school at the Druidic Academy in Icelan.
In
addition, I’m writing a paranormal mystery under my pseudonym Chase Theroux
about a young woman who is a werewolf. When she’s forced to solve who killed
her friend and an unrelated cold case from thirty years ago, she discovers
she’d bitten off more than she can chew, including the monster that cursed her.
When did you first consider yourself a
writer?
I’ve been
writing for, gosh, eighteen years, daily, passionately. But it was only when I
was hired as a technical writer eleven years ago that I stopped thinking “I
want to be a writer” and started thinking “I am a writer.”
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 write
part-time. My guess is that I am able to write about half the amount of time
that someone who, if they showed up at their desk and wrote for eight hours a
day, writes. I’m doubtful that even “fulltime” writers are able to dedicate full
days to writing. There’s so much marketing work needed as a writer, more so for
indie authors but even for traditionally published authors. But it would be
nice if I could prove myself wrong about this one day, and have days in which I
truly write fulltime.
The other
half of my time is spent with my twoddlers (twin toddlers).
My schedule
for writing is pretty rigid: whenever the twins are asleep, I can write. I wake
at 5 a.m. to get an hour in before they wake (if I’m lucky). They nap midday,
and I can usually get a couple more hours in then. Grandma comes to visit once
a week so I can go to my critique group. When I get behind in my writing, I
skip the critiques and use babysitting time to write.
What would you say is your interesting
writing quirk?
I “shop”
for monsters and interesting allies in Dungeons
& Dragons manuals. I’ve used World of Warcraft as inspiration for fight
scenes and dungeons. And I’ve even created allies for my main character based
on who I’d want in my party if the story were a role-playing game. I owe a lot
to Gary Gygax!
(I never
use exactly what is published in these games, but use them as a jumping off
point.)
As a child, what did you want to be
when you grew up?
I regularly
switched from wanting to be an astronaut to wanting to be a doctor in Africa. Being
a doctor in Africa usually came up on Sundays while driving home from church with
my mom and dad. Being an astronaut filled the rest of the days of the week.
That is, until a well-intentioned adult told me that I’d never be accepted in
any space program because I had asthma (which I grew out of as an adult). I
went on to study biology with the intention of going to med school, and fell in
love with writing on the way. I’ve been writing ever since.
Anything additional you want to share
with the readers?
People talk
about the importance of doing what you love, but not many people have that kind
of freedom. Bills need to be paid, you need to keep a roof over your head and
food on the table. More important than doing what you love is finding a way to
love what you do. To be at peace with your life as it is right now. To feel
content. Sure, you can have goals and dreams, those are important too. But just
stopping, taking a deep breath, and loving your life in all of its imperfection
is crucial to being a happy person.Buy links:
Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Smashwords
Thanks, Angela. Love the term "twoddlers". Have fun writing and touring!
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Thank you for hosting
ReplyDeleteThanks so much, Lisa, for hosting Ennara and the Fallen Druid today! You have a wonderful blog. What tricks do you use to make more time to write?
ReplyDeleteDon't have any fav fantasy authors
ReplyDeletebn100candg at hotmail dot com