Author Bio:
Monica was born and raised in Alaska. She doesn’t own a dog sled team, but has worked in a place where there are buildings with caged exterior doors to keep employees from being eaten by polar bears. She lives in Wasilla, Alaska with all her critters, some four legged and others that stand on two. She writes Science fiction, fantasy, and paranormal for young adults.
Q. What inspires your writing?
A. There isn’t one thing specifically. Sometimes an idea will strike me while I’m people watching - public transportation is a great source. There’s nothing like sitting in the transit center waiting for the bus with your headphones on making up stories to go with the people passing through. But if I had to pin down one thing that sparks inspiration in me the most, it would have to be music.
Q. What is your favorite thing about being an author?
A. I love reading because you get to live in another world for a day or two, getting to know new people and places in an intimate way that you never could in real life. Writing is like that but instead of only having a couple of days, you get to spend a couple of months discovering things. And my characters never fail to surprise me.
Q. What is the toughest part of being an author?
A. Keeping the house clean. Between writing, editing, working a day job, and spending time with my boyfriend/friends/family/animals. Something has to be sacrificed and usually it’s the household chores.
Q. If you could not be author, what would you do/be?
A. I do have a day job, but if we were picking things I’d want to do with my life if I hadn’t finally figured out being a writer is what I want to do when I grow up, then it’d be a figure skater. Definitely.
Q. What would the story of your life be entitled?
A. Extraordinary Machine – It’s a Fiona Apple song but there is a line in it that makes me think of how my life goes. She says: I’m good at being uncomfortable so I can’t stop changing all the time.
Q. What is your favorite book of all time?
A. I’m going to have to go with The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe because it was this book that I remember as the one that made me fall in love with reading. It showed me a whole new world full of fantastic things. Although I think everyone should read Oh, The Places You’ll Go by Doctor Suess. It’s like an instruction guide for life.
Q. Which part of your book(s) was the easiest to write?
A. The first chapter. The bonfire scene was the spark for the whole story and it was so vivid and full of life it just wrote itself.
Q. Which part of your book(s) was the hardest to write?
A. The last few chapters were the hardest to write. I always have trouble at the end of the book, no matter if it’s happy or sad even if I know the words. I draw the last few pages out in attempt to keep it from ending.
Q. Which character from any book are you most like?
A. I can’t honestly see myself as any of the characters I’ve read. I’d like to think I’m like Todd Hewitt from The Chaos Walking series but I think that’s mostly because he’s one of my favorite characters.
Q. Which character from YOUR book(s) are you most like?
A. I wrote a novel called The Fall. It’s not about me, but the main character Rian Winsom draws upon who I was as a teen because she is going through a lot of the things I did as a teen, minus the supernatural elements of course.
Q. What is your favorite season?
A Summer, hands down. Living in Alaska, summer here is sort of magical.
Q. Are you working on something new?
A. Yes. It’s a shifter romance called A Tail of Stars. (love me some werewolves)
Q. Anything you want to say to followers of this blog or those that are just stopping by?
A. Don’t be afraid to make a fool of yourself. Life is way more fun when you don’t care what anyone else thinks. Also, everything is better with bacon. (except coffee – bacon doesn’t belong in coffee. That’s just weird) Thanks for taking the time to listen to me ramble.
GIVEAWAY:
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on April 10.
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Thanks for being in the tour!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for having me!
ReplyDeleteGreat interview, Monica. I love it that you would want to be a figure skater. I skated for years as a kid and then taught figure skating for over 25 years. There's nothing like the feeling of the wind on your face and the freedom you get from spinning so fast your snot flies, LOL. You have to be able to do it to appreciate that comment.
ReplyDeleteI'm also a first chapter queen. I could even say, the first fifty pages are relatively easy. It's that darn middle and end thing that troubles me.
The book looks awesome! Best of luck.
Awesome. I can totally appreciate the snot flying comment. As a kid I used to skate out on the street in front of my house (Alask - enough snow and cold to make this possible). It was such a treat to be able to skate on a rink. I put in a lot of hours on my skates.
DeletePJ, thanks for taking the time to visit! Monica...thanks for stopping by and visiting!!! It was a pleasure having you here!!
ReplyDeleteThanks! :D
DeleteSounds like another great book. And I "like" your page and follow your blog.
ReplyDeleteSara Laumer
Thanks for commenting Sara-Jason! I hope you enjoy the book! :)
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