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Donna Lee Anderson |
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18Q |
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1. Did you choose the writing profession or did it choose you? Even as a child I wrote stories and made my younger sister listen. It didn't matter if she liked the story—I still wrote new ones and made her listen.
2. What is your background? (education, work, etc.) Educated as a teacher of Special Education, owned restaurant, worked for a major TV studio, worked for a financial institution. Now I have the luxury of just writing and no commute on cold rainy days.
3. When did you 'know' you were a writer? I think I always knew I could tell stories (that often were thought of as lies when I was a child—one time after being yelled at by my Mother, I told a neighbor that my Daddy and I lived alone a long time and then he brought home this Mommy—I was 5.) I really felt like an writer when I held the printed book in my hand.
4. How would you describe your style of writing? I think I like the telling of a story so I sit down and start the story from the beginning and then on to the end—although this makes it necessary to rewrite the opening/beginning several times. For me, I need to get the whole story down then "fix" the parts that need flow injections or to add more "showing" instead of so much "telling."
5. What is your writing process? I keep a spread sheet with chapter numbers and how many words per chapter (I fill this in when I'm finished with the first draft and during edit/rewriting). On this spreadsheet I have a list of characters with a few words of identification (age/height/peculiar habit, etc.) and, unlike many successful writers, I write the story then edit and rewrite. I tried outlining and I tried writing a chapter synopsis then writing but for me--I need to write the whole story down then do the fixes.
6. What was your path to publication? I belong to a writing group—we are rather large and only do reading to each other and critiquing the offered piece—no sending pages (I also belong to a small 3 person group that DOES send pages to each other for critique.) One of the members had used this small press publisher and suggested I try it too. So I did, they accepted and VOILA! The problem I had with this press is that they charge $20 for a soft cover book. Hard to sell at that price.
7. What is your favorite self-marketing idea? I do house parties. Just like a Tupper-ware party, guests come for games and dessert and then I read and then they buy (hopefully). I made up games (and I bring the prizes--the big prize being a copy of my book) and I've sold lots of books this way. The games relate to the subject matter of my book (in this case—romantic.)
8. What are the biggest surprises you've encountered as a writer? The biggest surprise is when people like what I've written and when they laugh in the appropriate places. I know it's over-used, but I still feel humble in front of a group waiting to hear what I write.
9. How do you inspire yourself? What are your sources of creativity? I finally got an office of my own. I painted it a soft dusty rose and every morning when I go in to write I feel AHHHH-I'm home.
10. What is your proudest writer moment? Proudest moment probably was when I did a reading to a group of people I was sure were bored to death by their fighting and even whispering to each other, and then sold 20 books. I guessed there was something I did right during my talk then reading.
11. What's the best advice you were given about writing? Write every day and carry a notebook with you to catch those ideas you get when not at your desk/computer.
12. What is your most embarrassing writer moment? Most embarrassing writer moment was when I was helping with a literary contest and I was really ranting about the 'non-following of rules' and found out that I hadn't read the rules carefully enough and of course these people were well within the guidelines. Egg all over my face and still (although this was many years ago) people remind me to 'read all the rules first', then laugh.
13. What business challenges have you faced as a writer? Cost of travel and advertising that the author pays for--not the publisher.
14. What is your writer life philosophy? Keep writing. Someone out there will LOVE my stuff as much as I do someday.
15. When you're not writing what do you do for fun? I teach memoir writing. This is really a fun way to 'give back' what I had to struggle to learn.
16. Who do you like to read? Mauve Binchy, Robert B. Parker, Stephan King, Michael Connelly, Grisham, Janet Evonovich, Sue Grafton, and too many more to mention.
17. What’s your advice for new writers? Write every day—even if you don't feel like it. Write something if you don't feel like attaching your big project. Don't let the juices stop.
18. What are you currently working on? I have two books in a series and this third one is set on my island (I made up) and involves some of the people from the other books. Each book is a stand alone but the same locale and people slip into all the books.
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