Booky Ramblings would like to welcome Holli Anderson to the blog today!
Lisa recently read FIVE: Out Of The Dark, and FIVE: Out Of The Pit by
Holli, and loved them so much she needed to get to know Holli more, and we hope our readers enjoy getting to know her better too!
Thank you Holli, for taking the time to answer our questions today.
1. First off tell us a little about yourself.
Well, I’m a registered nurse and I’m the ER Director at the hospital
where I work. I have four sons who have given me plenty of things to
write about, and I have a very supportive husband. I also have two
beautiful grandchildren whom I feel it is my duty to spoil rotten.
2. What inspired you to write your first book?
The first book I wrote is unpublished and needs a lot of work before I
even attempt to publish it. I love it, though. It’s very near and dear
to my heart. I started writing about six or seven years ago when I was
going through something very hard with one of my children. I needed an
escape from this world and reading—my usual escape—just wasn’t cutting
it. So, I decided to write my own book. It’s an Urban Fantasy and if
you look real close and read between the lines, you can see echoes of
some of the struggles my family was going through at that time.
3. What was one of the most surprising things you learned in
creating your books?
I was really surprised to find out that many times, the story takes on
a life of its own! There are things in both Out of the Dark and Out of
the Pit that I hadn’t anticipated happening, but when the thoughts
popped into my head, I knew they had to part of the story. I was also
surprised to find that I don’t detest the editing process. I’ve
learned so much and my writing continues to improve with the help of
my editor and critique partners.
4. How long does it take you to write a book?
This is a tough question. I wrote Out of the Dark in about seven or
eight months and Out of the Pit in about six months. The third
installment is taking longer as my obligations are piling up. I have a
very demanding job and often times work well over forty hours a week,
so finding time to write can be a challenge. I seem to write more
often during the warm months, so I’m hoping to get book three finished
within the next three months. Just an interesting note—it took me four
years to write my first novel that I spoke about above. I did take a
two year break to get my Bachelor’s Degree during that time, though.
5. What was the first book you remember reading as a child/teen/adult?
I read voraciously and started when I was four, so my first books were
Dr. Seuss books! I remember in grade school just absolutely devouring
anything written by Beverly Cleary before I moved up to more
challenging books. By fourth and fifth grade I was reading books like
A Wrinkle in Time, and The Hobbit. I read Gone with the Wind and
Thornbirds in sixth grade, when I also discovered Alfred Hitchcock.
6. What advice would you give to aspiring authors?
Keep writing and keep learning how to improve your writing.
Participate in a writer’s group and attend writing conferences if you
can—you learn a lot and can build a group of friends to bounce
questions off of. Let people read your stuff! This was really hard for
me. No one except my husband knew I was writing until I signed my
publishing contract and announced it on FaceBook!
7. What do you listen to whilst writing?
I listen to Pandora stations. Which station depends on what I’m
writing at the time. I listen to mellow music most of the time and
sometimes I have to switch to instrumental music because the words in
the songs become a distraction. When I’m writing battle or fight
scenes I listen to the nastiest, head-banging, heavy metal I can find.
It puts me in the battle mood. Taylor Swift is good for lovey-dovey
scenes.
8. Do you read all your reviews? How do you react to a negative review?
I do read all of them. I’m trying to get to the point where I don’t
obsess about it so much—still working on that. Negative reviews are
hard, especially if they’re mean, but I do learn from them. There are
things I did differently in the second book because of constructive
criticism I received in a couple of reviews.
Random, Fun Questions:
1. What song do you sing at the top of your voice every time you hear it?
Walk This Way by Aerosmith. I love Steven Tyler!
2. What’s you go-to movie?
The Sandlot. I also love Stand By Me and pretty much anything Disney.
3. What book are you currently reading?
I just finished reading Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson. It is
so amazing, it’s still very much resounding in my head so I’m not
ready to start another book quite yet.
4. Where did you last go on holiday?
We went to Kauai, Hawaii in February for my brother’s wedding. Such a
beautiful, amazing, laid-back place!
5. What’s your favorite take away food?
Probably In-n-Out Burger, their cheeseburgers make my mouth water.
And, McDonald’s French fries—they’re the best!
Well, I’m a registered nurse and I’m the ER Director at the hospital
where I work. I have four sons who have given me plenty of things to
write about, and I have a very supportive husband. I also have two
beautiful grandchildren whom I feel it is my duty to spoil rotten.
2. What inspired you to write your first book?
The first book I wrote is unpublished and needs a lot of work before I
even attempt to publish it. I love it, though. It’s very near and dear
to my heart. I started writing about six or seven years ago when I was
going through something very hard with one of my children. I needed an
escape from this world and reading—my usual escape—just wasn’t cutting
it. So, I decided to write my own book. It’s an Urban Fantasy and if
you look real close and read between the lines, you can see echoes of
some of the struggles my family was going through at that time.
3. What was one of the most surprising things you learned in
creating your books?
I was really surprised to find out that many times, the story takes on
a life of its own! There are things in both Out of the Dark and Out of
the Pit that I hadn’t anticipated happening, but when the thoughts
popped into my head, I knew they had to part of the story. I was also
surprised to find that I don’t detest the editing process. I’ve
learned so much and my writing continues to improve with the help of
my editor and critique partners.
4. How long does it take you to write a book?
This is a tough question. I wrote Out of the Dark in about seven or
eight months and Out of the Pit in about six months. The third
installment is taking longer as my obligations are piling up. I have a
very demanding job and often times work well over forty hours a week,
so finding time to write can be a challenge. I seem to write more
often during the warm months, so I’m hoping to get book three finished
within the next three months. Just an interesting note—it took me four
years to write my first novel that I spoke about above. I did take a
two year break to get my Bachelor’s Degree during that time, though.
5. What was the first book you remember reading as a child/teen/adult?
I read voraciously and started when I was four, so my first books were
Dr. Seuss books! I remember in grade school just absolutely devouring
anything written by Beverly Cleary before I moved up to more
challenging books. By fourth and fifth grade I was reading books like
A Wrinkle in Time, and The Hobbit. I read Gone with the Wind and
Thornbirds in sixth grade, when I also discovered Alfred Hitchcock.
6. What advice would you give to aspiring authors?
Keep writing and keep learning how to improve your writing.
Participate in a writer’s group and attend writing conferences if you
can—you learn a lot and can build a group of friends to bounce
questions off of. Let people read your stuff! This was really hard for
me. No one except my husband knew I was writing until I signed my
publishing contract and announced it on FaceBook!
7. What do you listen to whilst writing?
I listen to Pandora stations. Which station depends on what I’m
writing at the time. I listen to mellow music most of the time and
sometimes I have to switch to instrumental music because the words in
the songs become a distraction. When I’m writing battle or fight
scenes I listen to the nastiest, head-banging, heavy metal I can find.
It puts me in the battle mood. Taylor Swift is good for lovey-dovey
scenes.
8. Do you read all your reviews? How do you react to a negative review?
I do read all of them. I’m trying to get to the point where I don’t
obsess about it so much—still working on that. Negative reviews are
hard, especially if they’re mean, but I do learn from them. There are
things I did differently in the second book because of constructive
criticism I received in a couple of reviews.
Random, Fun Questions:
1. What song do you sing at the top of your voice every time you hear it?
Walk This Way by Aerosmith. I love Steven Tyler!
2. What’s you go-to movie?
The Sandlot. I also love Stand By Me and pretty much anything Disney.
3. What book are you currently reading?
I just finished reading Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson. It is
so amazing, it’s still very much resounding in my head so I’m not
ready to start another book quite yet.
4. Where did you last go on holiday?
We went to Kauai, Hawaii in February for my brother’s wedding. Such a
beautiful, amazing, laid-back place!
5. What’s your favorite take away food?
Probably In-n-Out Burger, their cheeseburgers make my mouth water.
And, McDonald’s French fries—they’re the best!
Thank you so much for taking the time to answer our questions, Holli!
Below are links to Holli's social media sites, and some links for her books, too.
Links
No comments:
Post a Comment
We love to hear what you think about our posts. Don't be shy, say hi.