Author Interview: Wendy Knight

Yay, I'm excited to have Wendy Knight as my guest of honor today. She just came out with her book Feudlings last week and I've been excited to get her over here to learn more.


JD: Hi, Wendy. Can you tell us a little about yourself? 

Wendy Knight: Hi! So. I have three adorable children, the most amazing husband EVER, two tiny little dogs, and an obnoxious cat who is freakishly smart. I’m a freelance writer, and I write for the small local paper. AND I just released my debut novel, Feudlings, with Astraea Press.

JD: What would you like to tell us about Feudlings? 

WK: Feudlings is the first in a series. Here’s my short pitch -- Arianna has been hunting Shane since she could throw her first spell. Now she’s falling in love with the nemesis she is prophesied to kill – until Shane tries to kill her first.

JD: When did you know you wanted to be a writer? 

WK: When I was teeny-tiny. As soon as I could pick up those fat crayons in my little fist, I was trying to write stories.

JD: What keeps you motivated to keep writing?

WK: I got very discouraged once when I was querying Feudlings. I was going to quit. My oldest daughter (she’s ten) asked me, when I was little, what did I want to be when I grew up. I smiled and told her I wanted to be a writer, and she said, “And you are a writer! You followed your dreams!” It was impossible to quite after that. Every time I get discouraged, I remember her face when she said that.

JD: Now that your book has been out for about a week (and doing quite well), how has your life changed? Do you have any new insight on publishing or promotion?

WK: It doesn’t seem real! So, it hasn’t changed much. BUT I do have insight. When I was thinking about Feudlings’ release, I figured family and close friends would buy it. But the day it was released, I was blown away by how much support I was given – friends and acquaintances (who are now friends) sharing the buy links, getting their friends and family to buy it, offering me support, hosting me on blogs and posting reviews. It was amazing. If I never sell another copy again, it will be okay because of the love I received that first day!

JD: High-heeled shoes? Really?

WK: Oooh yes. If you were short like me, you’d totally understand. I can’t see over the weeds in the summer!

JD: And your kids… could they be any more adorable?

WK: They could, if they would sleep in their own beds until at least 7 a.m. every morning.

Back Cover Blurb

Nothing makes a new school suck worse than discovering the guy you’re in love with is your prophesied nemesis.

Ari is the most powerful flame-throwing sorceress ever, and her people’s last hope in an ancient war. But she’s also a seventeen-year-old girl, and in her free, not-hunting-nemesis times, she jumps from school to school, trying to figure out regular people her own age and pretending she’ll get the chance to graduate.

Shane lives a double life. He goes to school and masters the art of popularity, hiding the fact that he has a fate with a slim chance of his survival. He’s destined to end a 300 year-old war by killing or being killed. He knows he’s hunted by a powerful enemy who’s not afraid to die. Only problem? He has no idea who that enemy is.

When Ari shows up at Shane’s school, angry and sullen and determined to keep him at arm’s reach, neither of them realize they are supposed to be killing each other, not falling in love. Until Ari does realize it, and she almost dies – by Shane’s hand.

Author Bio 

Wendy Knight was born and raised in Utah by a wonderful family who spoiled her rotten because she was the baby. Now she spends her time driving her husband crazy with her many eccentricities (no water after five, terror when faced with a live phone call, etcetera, etcetera). She also enjoys chasing her three adorable kids, playing tennis, watching football, reading, and hiking. Camping is also big: her family is slowly working toward a goal of seeing all the National Parks in the U.S.

You can usually find her with at least one Pepsi nearby, wearing ridiculously high heels for whatever the occasion may be. And if everything works out just right, she will also be writing.

Links

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/wjk8099
Blog: http://www.writethroughthenoise.blogspot.com

Purchase Feudlings

Amazon: http://amzn.to/14ngaHB
Astraea Press: http://www.astraeapress.com/#!/~/product/category=662245&id=21444479
Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/feudlings-wendy-knight/1046265853?ean=2940016387277

A Shoutout to David Farland

This is unsolicited. In fact, David doesn't even know I'm doing this. I'm inspired to give a quick shout out to David Farland, a man who has encyclopedic knowledge writing who I consider both a mentor and my friend.

I was interviewed by Melissa Lemon on her blog this Monday and I alluded to the fact that I had put writing on the back burner while finishing my education and getting on my feet vocationally. After doing this, when I promised my much younger self  I'd get back into writing, I had a totally off the wall encounter with David Farland. I won't go into details now, but I couldn't even consider what odds had to come into play for this encounter and I felt like it was fate telling me it was time to get back into writing.

When I met David, he told me about his daily kicks, or as he had explained it to me, his daily kick in the pants to get readers of the newsletter writing. Subscribing and reading that newsletter put me back on the path to writing and taking it seriously. I had a lot to learn. I'm glad that all of my stories died when my floppy disks all got thrown away, I'd shudder to subject myself to reading them right now. I feel I've come a long way since my writings in high school and David Farland had a lot to do with that.

I've since had several (not as odd-ball) encounters with him. He's always made himself available whenever I've sought his advice (like he did with Stephanie Meyer when he gave her some pointers on this little series she wrote called Twilight). He is very knowledgeable and willing to share where he thinks the writing industry is headed and has given great advice on making my own writing come to life.

Not only that, but he is a great author. Not only has he authored the Runelord series, a great fantasy with engaging characters and an amazing magic system, but he recently authored Nightingale. Nightingale is the start of a new series that I'm going to be watching very closely. I reviewed that about a year ago here. If you remember, constant blog reader, I also named it a winner in my First Annual Duckett Reader Choice Award.

I haven't announced it on here yet, but now is as good a time as any. I'm a podcaster! Last month, I recorded 11 podcasts with authors and David was one of them. We did two fun shows together, and the first one came out this Monday. You can listen to it here, or download the podcast using iTunes. We discussed writing systems, which I find quite awesome because I feel like I have a lot to learn about putting together an outline. I don't think David's system is exactly what I'd use, but I felt I learned things from him to make my outlines that much better.

Speaking of outlines, I just finished another book by David. It is called Million Dollar Outlines, and I think every writer should read it. He talks about a lot of things that every book should have if you want a bestseller on your hands. He gives great advise on things to include when putting together an outline so that it resonates with readers, makes the story exciting, and could become the next big hit.

Anyway, my hats off to David. I appreciate everything he has done for me and look forward to many more encounters and books.