Amanda and I have known each other for about a year now, and recently have started working together. During that time we have found that we have a lot in common, including a dirty sense of humor. But recently she has put out a book so now I would like to get to know her more as an author instead of just a friend that I sexually harass all the time.
After our usual banter that I censored out to protect the guilty, we got on the author questions.
Ok so!
Sew (I told you we had a lot in common.)
Amanda, you've been writing for a while now, but this is your first full book out?
It is. I have published several short stories but honestly I for the last three years I have pushed my projects to the back burner while I devote my time to building OWS and helping other authors.
A very selfless and Amanda thing of you to do. This first book of yours is also a series of short stories, yes?
It is. I plan on adding a new volume either annually or every other year. I am hoping readers will reach out to share their stories as inspiration for this.
And what kind of stories are these? What can you tell us about them? And yes, I am currently downloading the book, but I haven't read it yet. I was a good girl and didn't even read Heidi's review yet, to keep myself as unbiased as possible. And to not spoil it for myself.
The stories in Darker Daze are all dark fiction with some carrying supernatural themes. While fiction, these stories are all inspired by either real events or my "worst case scenario" brand of thinking. All to different degrees. For example, The Next Best Seller was the result of writer's block and a bit of writer's jealousy. On the other hand, Sweet Release was inspired by my own journal entries.
How long did it take you to write this? And was it cathartic or traumatizing or both?
I have been working on these stories for about two years. There are more than those in the books but I chose to keep them out for more work. Writing them has been extremely cathartic but this side of it has been harder than I expected. I have had to take a lot of breaks between interviews and guest posts to calm down. I didn't know it would be so emotionally draining, but I think it will get easier over time?
I totally get that. I was in fact literally downloading your book when we started. (Slow internet connection.) But I have it now and I have read the foreword and dedication and I'm already tearing up. I cannot imagine the amount of internal strength you had to have in order to write this book. It reminds me of another author who wrote a heart breaking auto-biography that I read last year. That kind of chutzpah is to be lauded.
And you touch on some deeply personal traumas here too. Even if it is fictional, I know that has to be a strain.
The hard part is protecting certain people around me. My kids, my mom...
Just from the tiny bit I have read I can see that already. So I won't focus on the stories so much, they speak for themselves really. And the front matter explains it all so beautifully anyone can take a peek on your Amazon page. (Seriously people go check it out.) Instead I want to focus more on you as an author.
You mention your OWS group and your red penners. Tell us about them and how they helped you.
OWS was the brain child of Stephanie and I back in 2015. We wanted to build a community that would support any author. We have each experienced so many personal obstacles that we wanted to find ways around them not just for us, but for others too. OWS is full of some of the most wonderful, generous people who devote so much of their personal time and talents to help each other. Every day, we are tapping into various books and projects with various roles and everyone is benefiting from it.
And were they your red penners?
Yes, I had a couple of beta readers from outside of OWS but all my editing was done in house.
And the guy that wrote your foreword? That was some really heart touching stuff there too.
So, Robert Cano is a very good friend of mine. I count him among my best friends. The experts recommend having a famous or well known author write your foreword and I know Robert is well on his way. But, more importantly, Robert gets it. Unfortunately, we are among those who are bonded by familiar pain so I couldn't think of anyone better to present my theme.
That is a truly bittersweet honor. Is all of your writing so deeply emotional?
I pour all my emotion into my dark fiction and my poetry. I pour all my whimsy and imagination into my fantasy. Not on purpose, it's just how I tick.
Well that makes sense. Each genre has a different field. So are you also writing a whimsical fantasy?
I do have one in the works. In the first OWS Ink Lit Journal I released a piece entitled "Unwet." It will be the first book of a four book series called, "The Fowl Brothers." In my head it has a whimsical, fairy tale feel that is reminiscent of Hans Christian Andersen.
.... Unwet... and I told myself I wasn't going to put the dirty stuff in this interview too...
Ok, out of context I can see where that would be misleading...It's Unwet because the MC falls through a river into a portal and lands in a new world, completely not wet from the river she was thrown in by a jealous high priestess...
Ah! Much less dirty than my mind was making it out to be! So you write a nice balancing act of stories and books. A little bit of something for a lot of people.
Basically. I am a genre slut. Both as a reader and a writer.
And on that dirty note I think I am going to take the rest of this out of the public eye!
Of course everyone make sure that they check out Amanda's latest book that I read as soon as I stopped interviewing her, and before I finished typing up this post. You can find my review of that here.
Should you want to stalk her, like I do, check out the links below.
About the Author
A.L. Mabry is one of the founders of and the Executive Marketing Manager for Our Write Side (OWS Ink, llc), an online community for writers, readers, publishers and more. She writes occasional articles on OWS focused on the connection between life and writing. She publishes articles on Medium and also has a weekly writing prompt; Coldly Calculating: Writing By The Numbers: Putting a dark twist on colloquial phrases with a numbers theme. She was previously the Editor in Chief for Eat, Sleep, Write and once ran a successful special needs blog, Rage Against the Washing Machine which has since been retired. She is a highly sought freelance writer who specializes in research-based writing. This allows her to provide quality content on a variety of topics. She enjoys helping other authors find their way with private coaching and sharing what she has learned from personal experience, for example, this post on Perfecting Your Bio. As an author, she enjoys writing in all genres and forms, even grocery lists. She is an artist at heart and Wiccan by nature with an obsessive love of vampires, kilts, and blue butterflies. She is passionate about many topics, and her posts and stories are often laced with the snarky sense of humor one acquires from raising five teenagers, all at once.
Follow the Author
http://authoralmabry.com
https://www.facebook.com/amandalynnmabry/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/mabrystreetteam/
https://plus.google.com/u/0/+AmandaLynnMabry
https://www.pinterest.com/scorpioscribes/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWd6885XNy2W1_ZbashUZRQ
https://www.instagram.com/amandalmabry/
A.L. Mabry is one of the founders of and the Executive Marketing Manager for Our Write Side (OWS Ink, llc), an online community for writers, readers, publishers and more. She writes occasional articles on OWS focused on the connection between life and writing. She publishes articles on Medium and also has a weekly writing prompt; Coldly Calculating: Writing By The Numbers: Putting a dark twist on colloquial phrases with a numbers theme. She was previously the Editor in Chief for Eat, Sleep, Write and once ran a successful special needs blog, Rage Against the Washing Machine which has since been retired. She is a highly sought freelance writer who specializes in research-based writing. This allows her to provide quality content on a variety of topics. She enjoys helping other authors find their way with private coaching and sharing what she has learned from personal experience, for example, this post on Perfecting Your Bio. As an author, she enjoys writing in all genres and forms, even grocery lists. She is an artist at heart and Wiccan by nature with an obsessive love of vampires, kilts, and blue butterflies. She is passionate about many topics, and her posts and stories are often laced with the snarky sense of humor one acquires from raising five teenagers, all at once.
Follow the Author
http://authoralmabry.com
https://www.facebook.com/amandalynnmabry/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/mabrystreetteam/
https://plus.google.com/u/0/+AmandaLynnMabry
https://www.pinterest.com/scorpioscribes/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWd6885XNy2W1_ZbashUZRQ
https://www.instagram.com/amandalmabry/
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