Authors Welcome!

Wednesday, May 27, 2015

Author Spotlight


Welcome Author Anne Conley, we are so glad to have you here today.

Please tell us a bit about yourself and your books.


When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?

I’ve written stories, poems, and in journals since I was a child. It was only about four years ago, when I found myself at a personal crisis point with my ‘self’ that I began writing for public consumption.

How long does it take you to write a book?

If I have the idea totally gelled in my head, and a good outline to work with, it only takes a couple of weeks to bang out a rough draft. It takes months, however, to revise and make palatable for readers. All in all, about a year—from idea to sending to editor. I typically have about four books in various stages in the process.

What is your work schedule like when you're writing?

I get up at 5:15 and take care of social media stuff until I take my kids to school. Then I write until 2:00 when I pick them up. If it’s a rough draft, I’m consumed by getting the story out, and nothing can happen until that’s done. If it’s revisions, sometimes I have a hard time focusing and do a lot of wandering around my house.

What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?

When I’m writing, I’m listening to a loop of DVBBS and Borgeous Tsunami over and over. I’ve been writing to that piece of music for over a year, listened to it countless times, and written over half a million words to it.

How do your books get published?

I’m an Indie Author, meaning I publish them all myself on Amazon and Draft 2 Digital.

Where do you get your information or ideas for your books?

Most of my ideas come to me in the most random places, usually in my car. I do a lot of driving when I get stuck on something. I get a clean notebook and drive the backroads. I’ve gotten adept at writing without looking at my paper, although, reading what I’ve written later can sometimes be a challenge.

When did you write your first book and how old were you?

I actually wrote a small book for my College Algebra final project. The idea of making all the graphs and stuff was painful to me, so I wrote a mystery about Matthew Mattox, PI, a sort of noir thing, complete with weeping damsel in distress and Bogart-like hero. It helped my sucky graphing skills translate to an A in the class. I was twenty, and that was twenty years ago.

What do you like to do when you're not writing?

Reading, spending time with my family.

What does your family think of your writing?

They think it’s awesome when I’m having a great month, but they could care less when I’m not, treating it like some sort of hobby. My husband is the best, though. He’s extremely supportive of my writing, no matter.

What was one of the most surprising things you learned in creating your books?

That I can’t do it alone, no matter how solitary an occupation writing is. Haha. I have a great team that I work with as far as editing, formatting, cover design, and promotion. They’ve all become really good friends.

How many books have you written? Which is your favorite?

I’ve written sixteen books, and my favorite is Hot Mess. That was the one in which I finally found my voice as a writer, and a purpose for writing in general.

Do you have any suggestions to help me become a better writer? If so, what are they?

Learn everything you can about the craft. Keep writing, even when you are discouraged. Take breaks as needed, but always go back. Draw support where you can, but ignore the negative people.

Do you hear from your readers much? What kinds of things do they say?

I do, and it’s one of my favorite things. They are usually complimentary, telling me they are reading or just finished one of my books and loved it. I appreciate hearing that. Although, I’ve gotten the rare email from the reader who didn’t much care for them, and why. Those are okay, too. I don’t love them as much, for obvious reasons, but I’m glad they reached out to me.

Do you like to create books for adults?

Yes, I do. All of my books are for adults. One of these days, I’m going to write a YA book for my children. It’s started, but it’s not finished yet.

What do you think makes a good story?

Great Characters, intense conflict. Readers want characters they can relate to, and situations they can root for.


As a child, what did you want to do when you grew up?

Either an English teacher, like Robin Williams on the Dead Poets Society, or an LA Actress. After three years in college as a drama major, I learned that the movie business wasn’t where I wanted to spend my life, after which I tried the teacher thing, which I failed at miserably.

Anne has written her entire life and has the boxes of angst-filled journals and poetry to prove it. She's been writing for public consumption for the last four years. Currently she is the author of three romance series. In Stories of Serendipity, she explores real people living real lives in small town Texas in a contemporary romance setting. In The Four Winds, she chronicles God's four closest archangels, Uriel, Gabriel, Raphael, and Michael, falling in love and becoming human. In Pierce Securities, she gives us Ryan, Evan, Miriam, Zack, Quinten, and Simon. She lives in rural East Texas with her husband and children in her own private oasis, where she prides herself in her complete lack of social skills, choosing instead to live with the people inside her head.





Pierce Securities Series - a few misfits and their office manager band together to get into more trouble than they anticipate, in this new series by Anne Conley.  The first in the series, Craze, is out NOW!






When Krista catches her boss doing the unthinkable, the only thing she can do is run. Straight into the arms of the eye-candy she’s been trying not to flirt with on her lunch break. But whose side is he on?
Ryan’s security firm is having a hard time getting off the ground, and this may be just the job to help the company out. But pseudo-bounty hunter isn’t really what Pierce Securities is trying to get a name for. When he finds out their target is the classy lady from the park, all of his senses go on high alert. What do these men want with her?
When Krista is forced into Ryan’s sanctuary in the woods, she realizes just how wild he is, and that she doesn’t want to tame him. He may feel his methods of protection endangered her, but without Krista in his life, Ryan is crazed. 






Stories of Serendipity-- Escape to a small town in Texas with real people, real jobs, and real problems.  The Stories of Serendipity are a series of stand-alone novels you can read in order or not, depending on how you feel.  They all have happily ever after endings, and are cliff-hanger free.  Tired of reading about twenty something year old jet-setters who wear shoes that cost more than you make in a month?  Are you over the billionaire playboy sweeping the virgin off her feet?  Sick of serial romances that cost .99 each, and by the time you've read the whole story, you've invested ten bucks?  Or more?  I'm not knocking those books, I read them and enjoy them, but every now and then I want to take a trip to Serendipity, Texas.



FIRST IN SERIES IS FREE!





Claire moves into a house that she inherited from her Uncle Eddie. Her entire life, she has heard the stories of the gold that is hidden there. Dreaming of finding the gold, and opening a Bed and Breakfast, she starts fixing it up with her meager resources. Enter the hunky next door neighbor, who has every intention of helping her, but she doesn't trust him. Is he trying to find her treasure? 



Other Books in the series:

Dream On

Chef’s Delight

Hot Mess

Falling for Him

Gambling on Love

My Mistake

Wrecked

Saving Charlie



The Four Winds series are Paranormal Romances dealing with the Archangels.  They are the biblical archangels, so there are aspects of Christianity in them.  But the conflict in the stories are about the archangels falling in love and turning human, so they are dealing with human emotions and feelings.  Due to various reactions of shock and outrage, I feel the need to put the spoiler out there:  These books have sex in them, but also Christianity.  So if either of those bother you, please don't buy these books.





Uriel is one of God's Four Winds, the Archangel of Destiny. He has helped thousands of people throughout the ages find their destiny according to His will. This time however, what he doesn't realize, is that it's his own destiny he's supposed to fulfill.

Heather is an exotic dancer, who's stage name is Heaven. It's not that that's what she's always wanted to do, it's just that it helps her pay the bills, and she's got a lot of bills, with taking care of her mother and her sister. When the mysterious Uriel comes into the club, she can tell he's different, just how different will rock her world...
 



FIRST IN SERIES IS FREE!!



Other books in series:

Falling for Grace

Falling for Hope

Falling for Faith

Falling for Cyn (coming this summer)





Anne’s standalones

The Fixer Upper:


James, a UK based chef, has tried to make a career with EAT-TV, but his womanizing ways aren’t what they’re looking for with their wholesome family style image. However, the producers of a new reality show about single life, The Fixer Upper, think he’s perfect. Against his wishes his agent convinces him to give it a shot. His overpriced bachelor pad is needing a mortgage payment, and he needs a job to support the tween-aged daughter that’s recently been dumped in his lap. 
Margaret Dumas is control freak who has micromanaged her marriage to shambles. When she makes a deal with her mother to quit fixing her up if she’ll do this new reality show, she thinks she’s won. No more blind dates, no more friendly advice, no more “chance meetings” with her Mother’s friends’ sons. The only catch is she’s got to go on detestable reality television and expose her dating habits to a total stranger who is supposed to “fix” her and make her a dating machine. As if. 
When Margaret meets James, they clash on the surface, but deep down they recognize something in the other that they want. Redemption. 







The Best Laid Plans of Boys and Men:





The Best Laid Plans of Boys and Men tells the story of the whirlwind May/December romance between Taylor and Alexander. While Taylor is completely caught off guard by Alexander’s maturity and the difference between him and every other boy she’s dated, Alexander’s busy trying to figure out how to tell her he’s the lawyer suing her pants off. 
This is a standalone story of approximately 30 thousand words, not part of any of Anne Conley’s series. 




Stalker Links:

www.anneconley.com – website/blog/newsletter sign up






@anneconley10 - Twitter


Amazon:  http://www.amazon.com/Craze-Pierce-Securities-Book-1-ebook/dp/B00WNHAEO0/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8



1 comment: