Author Yearbook

We have had one yearbook slot open up, if anyone still wants to get in on the 2012 Author Yearbook. The only catch is that we will need the materials within 30 days since the book goes to print and promotions gear up in April. You can get details here: http://lorisoard.com/blog/?p=99

First come, first serve.

AY Talks Back

We were thrilled to have some time to chat with Lori Soard, who is involved in the 2012 Author Yearbook.

Author Yearbook: When did you first know you wanted to be a writer?

Lori Soard: I can’t remember a time when my world wasn’t about stories. I always made up little stories, read and wrote. However, it didn’t really occur to me that you could get paid for your writing until I was in my 20s. I took my first journalism class and the professor encouraged me to submit one of my pieces to a local newspaper. I got paid around $25 and was amazed that you could make money from writing. I was completely hooked. Who would have thought you could do something you loved and get paid for it?

Author Yearbook: Out of all your books, which one is your favorite and why?

Lori Soard: I get asked this question all the time and the answer tends to change. Like a mother, I don’t really have a favorite. They are all my babies. However, one might be more in favor than another at any given time. Right now, my book Finding Ms. Right, is getting a lot of attention from foreign publishers. It’s very exciting. It will be available in Japanese and may be released in Manga. I also have another foreign publisher looking at that book and am waiting to hear back from them.

Author Yearbook: Do you have any special things you do when writing? For example, some authors listen to a certain type of music, others drink a glass of wine (some too many glasses), and still others exercise to release that creative spirit. What do you do, if anything?

Lori Soard: In an ideal world, I love to curl up in my office with music playing and no one else in the house. I always think this is how I’ll be most productive. However, reality is completely different. I am usually working on my laptap while my two daughters fight, my husband talks about his day at work, the dogs yap at a doorbell on the television and the phone is ringing. Between that, I have to get dinner started, pick up the house and run my youngest to cheer practice four days a week. If there is one thing motherhood has taught me it is that you must be flexible. I’ve learned to work anywhere, under any conditions. When it comes to writing, I often write in a notebook while at my daughter’s practice or in a doctor’s office. I don’t waste time. I also have web design clients, so I have to block out a set number of hours each day for creating sites and promoting my clients.

Author Yearbook: What is your greatest challenge as a writer?

Lori Soard: I’m lazy at heart. I love to watch movies and read. I will procrastinate as long as I can given the opportunity, so I’ve had to create schedules and be really strict with myself about sticking to them. If I didn’t, I’d never meet a single deadline.

Author Yearbook: What is your greatest reward as a writer?

Lori Soard: I truly love what I do. Putting the stories in my mind down on paper (or computer screen) is like breathing life into something. I know how truly blessed I am to make a living doing what I love and I never, ever take it for granted.

Author Yearbook: What do you do when you aren’t writing? Any hobbies or special interests?

Lori Soard: I love to read and do crafts. I will be teaching a class this coming summer at the local college about how to write. I would like to say I’m still learning to play the piano, but the truth is that I just don’t have time. I have put that task on the back burner and will resume it when the kids are grown.

Author Yearbook: In keeping with our theme for the 2012 Yearbook of “Then and Now”, what is your favorite childhood memory?

Lori Soard: When I was little, I loved playing with Barbies. Okay, I’ll admit it, I still wish I had a reason to play Barbies. My mom would let me pull down these encylopedias we owned. They had designs on the back that looked like wallpaper (diamonds in different colors). We would set the books up like walls, with the spine facing toward the ceiling and create these huge Barbie houses with multiple rooms. My mom showed me to take a tissue box and wash cloths and make bedding and to just be creative and use things I had for furniture.

My parents both grew up very poor and had to learn how to entertain themselves. They passed this on to me along with rich storytelling traditions and it made me extremely creative. My mother also never limited my creativity. I see a lot of parents fussing at their children when they sing a song over and over or make a mess with paints. This can stifle creativity. My mother never stifled mine.

Author Yearbook: What are you working on right now? What can we expect to see from you in the future?

Lori Soard: I just started a new romantic comedy. It’s kind of different. I am also re-releasing a lot of my old titles in Kindle format.

Author Yearbook: Anything you’d like to add?

I just want to encourage anyone out there who has a dream to write or do anything else. Don’t let anyone discourage you. I was just telling one of my teen daughters this week that you can’t let someone else’s words define you. After his first performance, Elvis Presley was told to go back to driving a truck. Jay Leno was told he would never get anywhere and wasn’t funny. Harrison Ford was fired and told he didn’t have a career in acting. Thomas Edison was called slow by his teacher. If writing is your dream, don’t let anything or anyone hold you back and never give up.

AY Talks Back

We were thrilled to have some time to chat with Tara Fox Hall, who is involved in the 2012 Author Yearbook.

Author Yearbook: When did you first know you wanted to be a writer?

Tara Fox Hall: I enjoyed writing in grade school. I won a state school writing contest in 4th grade. My mother encouraged me, and would bring home small, blank, bound books. I’d write in them and illustrate them with crayons. Mostly they were about black unicorns, back then.

Author Yearbook: Out of all your books, which one is your favorite and why?

Tara Fox Hall: I have two actually: Lash (a paranormal action novel coming out in April from Bradley Publishing) and Promise Me (a vampire romantic suspense series beginning in June from Melange Books). Promise Me was the first novel I wrote and I developed a special affinity for the cast of characters, particularly my heroine Sar, and the vampires Devlin and Danial. They’re like old friends now. I’m looking forward to sharing them with readers, as so far my vampires novel excerpts, like Surrender To Me, and The Oath (of Wicked Christmas Wishes) have been well received..

Lash is completely different. It’s more action/suspense with a touch of horror, and the male protagonist is a foul-mouthed reprobate weresnake. It’s not like anything that’s ever been done before. I’m very excited about sharing Lash with readers, but because its so different, I’m nervous, too.

Author Yearbook: Do you have any special things you do when writing? For example, some authors listen to a certain type of music, others drink a glass of wine (some too many glasses), and still others exercise to release that creative spirit. What do you do, if anything?

Tara Fox Hall: The best thing I can do is turn on some white noise, like a fan or a lyric-less music channel/CD, and then start typing away. I usually don’t have any trouble writing once I cut the distractions down.

Author Yearbook: What is your greatest challenge as a writer?

Tara Fox Hall: To get my work out there and get noticed. So many people want to be writers. We’re all voices screaming out in the mass cacaphony to be heard. It’s hard to keep screaming without eventually losing either your voice, or your will to keep going.

Author Yearbook: What is your greatest reward as a writer?

Tara Fox Hall: Being read. Getting an email from a fan telling me that they loved my book or reading a review that said they enjoyed it makes all the struggle worthwhile. Knowing I created something that was important to someone. There is a tremendous feeling of accomplishment in that. Then there’s also seeing the book covers with your name. That never, ever, gets old.

Author Yearbook: What do you do when you aren’t writing? Any hobbies or special interests?

Tara Fox Hall: I like to latchhook rugs of my own design, target shoot, sew cat and dog beds for animal shelters, bake, knit, and review books. I’m an avid fan of old movies, and new ones, especially series on FX and AMC, like Hell on Wheels. I also cut and split all of my own firewood, with a little help from my husband. And I do work part time. My days and nights are pretty full.

Author Yearbook: In keeping with our theme for the 2012 Yearbook of “Then and Now”, what is your favorite childhood memory?

Tara Fox Hall: I had a wonderful childhood. There are so many memories that come to mind it’s hard to choose one. My mom was a teacher, and she had the summers off to spend with me. We’d spend them up at our lake cottage with my maternal grandparents. When I was five or so, she began buying me these Fisher Price action figures. There was a jeep, and a boat with them, and I think a plane, too. This was back before racy figures – I had a scientist, some deep sea divers, an archaeologist, a doctor, and several others. And we’d play on the shore and in the water. The game was called “Adventure.” We’d build a little fake camp and cooking pit out of twigs and pebbles, and shred up plaintain for “Whole Wheat Mash” for the stewpot. The figures were always on some exploratory mission or fighting monsterous wildlife.

Author Yearbook: What are you working on right now? What can we expect to see from you in the future?

Tara Fox Hall: I have the two novels I mention above, Lash and Promise Me, coming out the first part of this year in April and June, respectively. Promise Me will also have regular sequels, the first of which is called Broken Promise. That will publish in late summer/early fall. I’ll also have two stories in the Midnight Thirsts anthology coming out in May 2012 from Melange Books, and my new apocalyptic serial, End of Days, will begin soon in Dark Eclipse Magazine. I have other works in process and under consideration, but those are the only ones finalized right now