Q&A

What other authors are you friends with, and how do they help you become a better writer? 

There are several, but particularly my co-moderator, Mindy McGinnis! While she probably believes in my writing more than I do, she also won't hesitate to say that something's slow or confusing or plain doesn't work. That's invaluable. 

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How many unpublished and half-finished books do you have? 

Um, a lot? Feels like a lot to me, anyway. I have 6 unpublished manuscripts from before I wrote Stitching Snow, another 2 from after I wrote Spinning Starlight, and 2 half-finished that I keep flip-flopping between.

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How long were you a part-time writer before you became a full-time one? 

For all the years since I started writing, and counting. I'm a full-time math teacher, and that's unlikely to change soon. The bonus is it means I spend a lot of time with my target audience.

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How do you select the names of your characters? 

Depends on the story—sometimes I borrow names from people I've come across, sometimes I look through name websites and experiment with changing a letter or two, and sometimes (especially in the case of aliens and such) I just start smashing syllables together until something sounds good.

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What is the most difficult part of your artistic process? 

Convincing myself that anyone will like my work, and simultaneously telling myself to not even worry about that and just write what I would want to read. Basically, Impostor Syndrome ... lots and lots of Impostor Syndrome.

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Do you believe in writer’s block? 

I've said before (and possibly wrote a blog post about it once) that I believe in "writer's mud." Sometimes the writing just flows, but other times it becomes more like trudging through mud. It's usually a sign that I need to let my brain daydream in the story world a little more, or that I'm trying to take the story in a direction that isn't working, or things are happening in the wrong order. Basically, it means I have a problem and I either need to take the time to fix it, or make a note about it needing fixing so I can push forward as if it's already been fixed.