Authors Welcome!

Monday, May 25, 2015

Author Spotlight

WELCOME AUTHOR MELLIE GEORGE!
 
Thank you Mellie for being here today and answering some questions for your fans.
 


When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer? When I was about 10 or 11. I wrote a short story about an ice skater and it won a young authors competition. Ever since then I’ve written little things here and there, but I didn’t start seriously writing until October 2011.

How long does it take you to write a book? If I have uninterrupted time, I can knock out a full novel in about three weeks (and have done it before). However, now that my day job has become much more demanding (I’m a hairstylist working in a very busy and unfortunately short handed salon) it’s taking me much longer than it used to. My current WIP is only about halfway finished and I’ve been working on it for almost a year.

What is your work schedule like when you're writing? When I am inspired to write something, I just sit down, put on my headphones, and let the story write itself.

What would you say is your interesting writing quirk? I write in “clusters”…I write the beginning, a huge chunk of the middle, and the ending and I blend it together from there.

How do your books get published? I am an indie author and self publish on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Createspace. I am hoping to have them available on Kobo, Smashwords, and iBooks soon.

Where do you get your information or ideas for your books? From my twisted imagination, haha. Honestly, being a hair stylist helps in the writing process because I meet so many different kinds of people every day. I listen to their stories and have used some of them in my writing. I also use some of my own personal experiences in my books as well.

When did you write your first book and how old were you? The first book that I actually wrote and published was started in October 2011 and published in May 2013. At the time I was 33.

What do you like to do when you're not writing? I am a total rock music addict so most of my free time I spend just listening to music and discovering new bands. I also love to spend time with my daughters and being silly with them.

What does your family think of your writing? Well…hahaha. Honestly, my parents and siblings are okay with it but they haven’t read anything I’ve written. My husband is okay with it most days but it’s very time consuming to write a book and he feels neglected sometimes. It can get hard finding a balance.


What was one of the most surprising things you learned in creating your books? The most surprising thing has been when characters just jump into your head or change the direction of their story to something you never expected. I never understood when authors would say that until it happened to me, haha.

How many books have you written? Which is your favorite? So far I’ve written nine (four of them are novellas and I have five full length novels) and I’m currently working on four more. So far my favorite book has been my most recent release, “Deeper: A Bad Blooded Rebel Novel (Book 3)” and it tells the story of my fictional rock band’s drummer, Kris Engle, and his love Jessie Monroe. During the writing process I lost my older brother right as I was writing the death of a character so even though it was difficult to finish the novel, writing that scene was extremely therapeutic.

Do you have any suggestions to help me become a better writer? If so, what are they? Just have fun, write a book that you’d want to read, and be able to take constructive criticism. Believe me, even the bad reviews help shape the write you will be.

Do you hear from your readers much? What kinds of things do they say? I do hear from them a lot and some of them have become pretty good friends of mine, many of whom I’ve actually confided things that I haven’t even been able to tell my actual family, lol.

Do you like to create books for adults? I do. I think that thanks to “Fifty Shades of Grey” becoming so popular and erotica becoming part of main stream literature we are able to be freer with what we want to write, what we want to read, and ultimately what we want to talk about. I love the age of books right now and that reading something a little naughty is okay, lol.

What do you think makes a good story? Good characters, obviously, but I think what makes a good story is how far into the character’s mind an author is willing to go. Really let your readers feel like you aren’t just reading a story, but you are part of their story.


As a child, what did you want to do when you grew up? Honestly, I wanted to do two things…be a hairstylist and be a writer. I’ve realized both of those dreams and even though I’m not where I want to be yet, I’ve become the two things I wanted to be and even though I go nowhere else in life, I can always say I did what I set out to do.






Twitter: https://twitter.com/ (@AuthorMellieG)

Amazon links:



Bad Blooded Rebel: A Rock & Roll Novella Series (Book 1) : (US) http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00J3BRBWC



Reckless Redemption:A Bad Blooded Rebel Novel (Book 2) (US): http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KJJ5D1I



Deeper: A Bad Blooded Rebel Novel (Book 3): (US) http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00Q52J0C6















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