Author Spotlight: A.E. Howard

Flight of Blue

A cursed traffic light. A rip in the fabric of the world. A possum sorcerer injured on a quest for revenge.

Kai and Ellie embark on a journey to return the sorcerer to his home. Entangled in events that could destroy the world, Kai must choose whether to accept the role he was born to play, but isn’t sure he wants.

Now let’s get to that interview!
Q: Tell us a bit about Flight of Blue. What inspired you to write it?

A: I was driving home one day, about to cross an intersection with a new traffic light close to my house. Fortunately I wasn’t in a hurry and I didn’t start up right away when the light turned green because just as a took my foot off the brake, a car blew through the light like it wasn’t even there.

Shaken, I continued home, passing a possum on the side of the road that had been hit by a car. Angered by the carelessness of drivers, especially as I’d had my then infant son in the car with me, I got out to see if I could help the poor creature. He was beyond help, but with his dying breath, he told me of an Opossum sorcerer, a cursed traffic light, and a rip in the fabric of the world. Of course, after that I had to investigate and record the story I discovered.

And most of that is true. 😉

Q: How long did it take you, start to finish, to write this novel?

A: Nine months. So all those metaphors about “giving birth” and your writing being your baby… yeah, pretty much. And I have to say that while there was fortunately no morning sickness involved, the last trimester of final editing rounds was definitely the most uncomfortable, and accompanied by a strong, “I’m ready to be done!” feeling. Unlike pregnancy, however, I had a release date and didn’t have to wait for labor to start, so I at least knew when I’d be done. 😉

Q: When did you first realize you wanted to become an author?

A: I was five or six. My mom was reading the Little House on the Prairie series to me and my brother , and I decided that I wanted to write like Laura. So I started telling myself the story of my life as I went along because I knew if I wanted to be writer someday, I’d need to practice. I started describing events in my head, taking in detail, even running conversations that might happen, or re-running conversations that did happen and changing things around.

Q: What’s a typical day in the life of A.E. Howard?

A: Let’s see, I write Tues through Saturday normally. I have a toddler, so I don’t get much done sometimes when he’s awake, work-wise. So I typically get up when he wakes up, which is far earlier than I used to! But toddler’s don’t have snooze buttons, dontcha know. Then I stumble down to the kitchen and nuke coffee from the french press if I’m lucky enough to have some left over from the day before because that early, I can’t handle making it. Sad, but true. Some semblance of housework and if we’re all lucky, laundry, gets done in the morning, or play dates for boy and/or coffee dates for mama happen before lunch/nap time.

Nap time for son equals writing time for mama! In the afternoon is play time, park time, or pool time, depending on the weather and mama’s energy levels, or errand time if that’s what’s necessary, along with check email, twitter and facebook time somewhere in the middle of all that.

Son goes to bed at nine, and when I’m in the middle of deadline land, I write from nine to twelve before falling into bed. Only if things are really intense in terms of timing do I do that every night though. Otherwise, after boy bedtime is hanging-with-the-husband-sans-kiddo time.

Q: What would you say is your interesting writing quirk? Or do you have a ritual that you must follow when sitting down to write?

A: I have to have a mostly clean desk and desktop on the computer. So if either of them are beyond my clutter tolerance, I have to clean them up before I start writing. I usually need to at least start with a hot drink at the beginning of the session, even in the middle of the summer. And I often need music to help me focus, but it has to be instrumental, or I have too many words in my head from the lyrics and what I’m trying to write, and it all gets muddled, bringing me to a grinding halt. That could also be a quirk I suppose because I know writers who write just fine to all sorts of music.

For more information, and to celebrate the launch of Flight of Blue, check out her website HERE. Thanks to A.E. Howard for allowing me to part of her special day!

BUT THERE’S MORE!

Enter below to win a copy of Flight of Blue. Good luck!

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