Today I'm happy to introduce Author Keren Hughes for today's interview!
1. Have you always had a passion for writing?
Yes. Since I was a young girl I would dream of writing a Point Horror book, as they were back then, such as RL Stine’s ‘The Boyfriend’.
I actually wrote 2 books when I was a teenager. At 14, I wrote one called The Angel of Death about a babysitter who kept killing the children she babysat. Then at 15, I wrote one called Skye’s Secret, though I can’t actually remember much of what that was about.
2. Does what you read influence what you write and what are some of your favourite authors/books?
I don’t think I’m influenced by what I read as in subject matter, but I am inspired by my author friends who write all kinds of genres. I aspire to be the best author I can be and who better to look up to than my friends who have been doing it for years?!
I have too many favourite books and authors to name and if I named only a few, it would make me feel bad for not including them all. But one of my all time favourites is the Meredith Gentry series by Laurell K Hamilton.
3. What are your biggest inspirations?
My family, my friends and people who I meet on social networking sites that say “Hey I can’t wait to read your book.” Readers are an author’s bread and butter, but they are also SO much more than that. They are what keep you going.
4. Do you have a technique in how you choose characters and/or locational settings?
For this one, I say Google is my best friend! I seem to spend a lot of time researching “hot male/female models” and if I find someone I like the look of, I save a copy of the image into a folder marked ‘Inspiration’. Music is also an inspiration. The lyrics of songs can be very poignant and profound.
5. Do you listen to music while you are creating your masterpieces?
Yes. Music is something to be inspired by. I find when I am writing a love scene, I will play a few different tracks to see what inspires me the most and then I will have the chosen track on repeat for a while.
6. What do you do to stay motivated and avoid writer’s block?
I don’t have a trick for this as I currently have writer’s block. Mainly because my characters are talking to me but my fingers can’t seem to type anything. I go to write something and then find myself deleting it over and over again.
7. How has becoming a published author (independent or traditional) changed your perspective on life and is it everything you expected it to be? (If you are not published yet – what changes do you foresee?)
I have just been signed by Limitless Publishing. I signed the contract the second week of August. It hasn’t changed my perspective on anything...yet!
8. What are your biggest challenges as an author?
Finding the time to sit and write. It’s not always easy to do everything I should be doing. I should be writing. I should be on social network sites. I should be juggling everything and being a mom to a 6 year old boy.
9. Do you have any pets?
Thank goodness, no! And I don’t see any in the future either.
10. What hobbies do you have outside of reading and writing?
I am a book reviewer. I like to make greetings cards. Umm… is being a mom allowed? ‘Cause that’s mainly what I do outside of writing!
11. Where is the most exciting/memorable place you have been in the world?
Anywhere that means I’ve been able to vacation with Barry and Calum and make memories to last a lifetime.
12. Tell us about your latest work in progress or most recent published work
I have no set release date for Stolen yet as I only just signed the publishing contract. but I do know it will be available in e-book, paperback and audiobook. Here’s the syynopsis:
Roshanna O'Dare wakes in her own home with part of her memory missing and is shocked when she finds her parents dead in their home. With no family, or any clues as to what happened to her parents, Roshanna makes a plan to move away from Cypress Hill to Texas, Austin, to live with her last living relative, Uncle Joe after the funeral. But it means leaving her best friend, Marissa Mason behind.
During her Uncle’s visit, she meets his chauffeur, Bodhi Vincent, who seems to understand Roshanna in a way no one else has. Bodhi is her rock after the death of her parents and the longer she stays with him while with her uncle, the closer they become.
Before moving away, Roshanna is confronted with a shocking secret that Marissa had kept from her, a secret that changes how she sees life and the people in it—Marissa is a pure soul and her foster parents are soul drainers who need her pure energy to survive.
Marissa gives Roshanna an amulet, knowing she will want to search for her parents’ souls and, after moving to Texas, Roshanna does just that, even as she begins to wonder how she'll ever find her parents' souls or track down the man that stole them.
When Roshanna goes back to Cypress Hill to talk to Marissa’s foster parents, she finds out that her best friend kept another secret from her.
Will Roshanna find her parents' souls and set them free? Will she find love along the way?
Stolen is book one of the Freedom of Souls series. Book two is called Freed and will be the last book
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