Sarah Allen is the author of WHAT STARS ARE MADE OF. She has been published in The Evansville Review, Allegory, and on Writers Digest, and has an MFA from Brigham Young University. She’s a major lover of Pixar, leather jackets, and Colin Firth.
 
​

Who are you and what do you write?​

Hi! I’m Sarah Allen, author of WHAT STARS ARE MADE OF. I was born in Utah and now live in Seattle. Like my main character Libby, I was born with Turner syndrome and never found a book where that was represented. I’m so excited to share Libby’s story with girls like me, and other kids who’ve felt themselves on the fringes of normal!

Here’s the fancy, official description of WHAT STARS ARE MADE OF:

​Where and when and how did the writing life begin for you?
 
There’s a scene in STARS where Libby tells her sister about getting teased for wearing hearing aids. That moment is drawn from my own middle school life, which is really just to say that I often felt closer to characters in books than kids in real life. I wasn’t shy, but somehow felt I just couldn’t quite fit myself into normal social dynamics. And so I did a lot of reading, and then storytelling, until I realized that telling stories, especially for and about kids who felt a little different, was all I really wanted to do with my life.

 
How has the journey to this point been? Can you give us a basic rundown?
 
Long and wonderful! STARS is my fourth book. I’ve written poetry and short stories and essays since middle school, but I got serious about writing novels in 2011 and began querying in 2012. Several novels and hundreds of rejections later, I applied to the MFA program at Brigham Young University, and found the help and support I felt I needed to tell the story I really wanted to tell. I began STARS in that program, and began querying several months after graduating. A little over a year later, I had that fateful phone call with my absolute dream agent, and then a few more months and some revisions later, we went on submission and found the perfect home at FSG!

 
What's been the hardest part of your writing/publishing experience so far? And the most enjoyable?
 
I am a ridiculously impatient person, so the waiting has probably been the hardest! And there’s a lot of waiting that goes on in every stage of publishing, because that’s just the nature of the biz! Honestly I can take rejection and big, heavy edit letters more easily than the waiting sometimes, because at least with those I can roll up my sleeves and get my hands in! But really there’s so much to do, and I love every bit of it! The most enjoyable aspect I think is the friends. Friends at conferences, online, writing groups, etc. Writers are just so smart and so interesting. Book people are, simply put, the best people.

 
Would you go back and change anything?
 
Only my impatience and anxiety! Despite the nearly decade-long journey, I can honestly look back and say that everything has worked out exactly as it was meant to. I am so much more prepared now, and STARS is absolutely supposed to be my first book. I would only go back to my younger self and tell her to calm down, to just keep working and it will all work out. Publishing is about readers and the work; it’s not a race and there’s no rush!

 
Where would you like to be in 5 years time? And 10? Or, what are your plans for the future?
 
My biggest hope is to keep publishing books! Lots of middle grade, of course, and I’d also love to publish young adult and chapter books and picture books too. Even poetry and non-fiction! I plan to keep publishing books for as long as they’ll let me!

 
What's one piece of advice you'd give to new writers just starting out?
 
My best piece of advice to new writers is to build up your grit and your friendships. The rest will follow in its time. But I honestly believe grit is the determining factor in this business. You’ll need grit to finish projects, to submit those projects and then move on to the next. You’ll need grit in the face of long waits and inevitable rejection. This is what makes the difference between writers who learn and work and grow until they make it, and writers who give up.
 
The other invaluable thing you can do is make good friends who get the writing journey, and are on it with you. However works best for you (conferences, writing groups, social media, etc) make friends with the other people who are at your stage in the publishing process. You can buoy each other and support each other. Learn from writers further along than yourselves, and if possible, find yourselves mentors. They can make all the difference.

 
And finally...
 
Ketchup or Mayo? Ketchup, definitely!
Night or Day? Working in the day, movies at night!
Inside or Outside? Inside, unless I’m at Disneyland…
Dogs or Cats? I’m a shmoosher of all fur babies (and scaly babies!), but…dogs.
Twitter or Facebook? Instagram
Ebook or Paperback? Paperback for sure!
Sun or Rain? Whichever I haven’t seen in a while!
Keyboard or Pencil & Notebook? Drafting on a keyboard, brainstorming in a notebook
Comedy or Drama? Comedy 😊
Chips or Chocolate? Chocolate!!

The Interview...
​

Who are you and what do you write?
 
Hi, I’m Keely Parrack, I live in Northern California but grew up in England.

I have always written but did not consider being an author until after I’d been a retail manager,
An elementary school teacher, and a day care director! It took having a baby to make me think oh, I could combine my love of kids with my love of writing!
​
And I thought that will be easy. Hah!! (It’s not!)
 
So now I write poetry, nature focused picture books and young adult novels.
 
 
Where and when and how did the writing life begin for you?
 
I’ve always written. My mum has a faded poem about a mouse I wrote when I was six! At school I was a big dreamer, all my report cards talk about my need to focus, but at secondary school – like High School, I was known as the best story writer – all dark weird stories! I blame that on my parents’ awesome bookshelves and my local library. Kafka, Camus, Garner, Susan Cooper, Gabriel García Márquez, I read everything I could. I wrote angsty poetry in journals as a teen and then into my University Days.

I studied English Lit, but never creative writing. The poetry was just for me, like therapy!
 
Then when I moved to the US I was really homesick at first, because I used to have loads of friends and a great social life and suddenly I had nothing, so I kept myself sane writing poetry and for the first time entered a Dallas poetry contest. I was one of ten runners up and read to an audience. Then I started writing for a freebie magazine called Bitter, reviewing music and concerts and writing opinion pieces. But then I moved to San Francisco, got a work visa, and started teaching in a day care center.

It wasn’t until three years later, after I had a baby that I got that eureka moment of why not write for kids??
 

How has the journey to this point been? Can you give us a basic rundown?

In my head I am singing, ‘A long and windy road!’

At first, I thought it would be easy to write picture books – but mine were embarrassingly bad. Then someone mentioned SCBWI (Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators) and I went to a local event, met some fabulous people, and was invited into a critique group. They held my hand as I learned very slowly how to write a picture book. I also learned that I couldn’t write one and had more of a YA (Young Adult) voice so I started writing my first YA, an urban gothic set in Nottingham, UK. I also freelanced for some local papers and wrote kids articles for magazines and papers.
 
In 2008, I’d finished my novel and sent it out to five agents, and one of them signed me!  That book got to acquisitions, but was turned down for being set in England. So I wrote another YA, a dystopian haunted twin story. That was called the most dystopian book ever, by one editor, and not actually dystopian at all by another! Lots of interest, but no bites.
 
All this time I was playing around with poetry on the side because it’s fun. I started noticing all the wildlife in my suburban garden, hummingbirds, squirrels, robins, woodpeckers, raccoons, even ducks crashing into the swimming pool, and I wrote haiku about them.
 
This turned into a rough draft called Dawn to Dusk in the Haiku Garden. At a SCBWI conference an editor from Random House loved it and had a couple of suggestions to make it stronger. Since my agent didn’t rep picture books, we amicably parted ways.
 
I spent the next eight years writing and rewriting another YA, a contemporary thriller, and fiddling with the poetry book on the side. Sending it out, getting rejections, fiddling some more and putting it away. Then I won an SCBWI award for best work in progress picture book, which made me think I’d better do something with it.
 
Meanwhile, I’d become a co-regional advisor for SCBWI, putting on local conferences and events for illustrators and authors, so when an editor from a small publishing house contacted me to see if she could do a talk about submitting picture books to them, I said sure, what kind of picture books? Would you be interested in a haiku picture book, that follows nature from dawn to sunrise? I was kind of joking, but she said yes, send it! And that’s how I sold my first book!


What's been the hardest part of your writing/publishing experience so far? And the most enjoyable?
 
The hardest is persevering and pulling yourself up again when things don’t go how you want them to.

I think it really helped me that writing has always been something I do, so not writing would be like not breathing, or not reading, I just can’t not do it.
 
The most enjoyable has been all the people I’ve met. The kidlit community is amazing, so generous and friendly. I’ve met so many incredible people, authors, illustrators, teachers, librarians, editors, agents, sales reps, book sellers. I feel truly blessed to have them in my life.


Would you go back and change anything?

At times I have thought, if only I’d sold that book back in 2008! But the thing is, I never would have written MORNING, SUNSHINE! And I loved writing that book and am so happy to see it out in the world.

So no, it sounds cliché, but everyone has their own path, mine is long and winding, but I’m enjoying the journey! And I have an awesome agent now, @taragonzalez, who I wouldn’t have met otherwise!
 

Where would you like to be in 5 year’s time? And 10? Or, what are your plans for the future?

In five years, I’d like to be here happy writing, with 2 or 3 YAs out and handful of picture books. With kids loving my books and being inspired to write and draw and be creative themselves.
 
In ten, a lot more of the same, and maybe living in another country, I do get itchy feet!
 
In the future? I love to be flexible and see where the wind blows me!


What's one piece of advice you'd give to new writers just starting out?

Find you community, it’s much more fun than going it alone, Joining SCBWI will really help you with that and with learning the basics. Read the craft books but follow your heart and find your own original voice.
 
Oops that’s three!
 
 
And the important quick fire questions!

 
Ketchup or Mayo? - Mayo
Night or Day? – Can I have Twilight?? I love dawn and dusk the most!!
Inside or Outside? – outside unless I’m cozy inside reading!
Dogs or Cats? – Cats or my cat muse will turn on me – but I do love my friends’ dogs too!
Twitter or Facebook? - Twitter
Ebook or Paperback? - Paperback
Sun or Rain? – I love both - but living in CA I do get extra excited when it rains!
Keyboard or Pencil & Notebook? – Aggh tough one – keyboard for YA, notebook and pencil for pbs
Comedy or Drama? – Drama, but I love comedy dramas too like Fleabag!
Chips or Chocolate? – Chocolate every time!

Writers joke that publishing a book is a bit like having a baby. You gestate something and you birth it into the world. Book-baby sounds so cute, right?

If you’ve actually had a baby then you’ll understand how this is less amusing than it might seem. Childbirth is euphoric and despairing. The pain of it is both physical and emotional. One minute you are a functional human being, the next you are a zombified rock with a mollusc attached, a mollusc that wants to suck the life out of you. As a rock, you have no idea if you’re doing it right and you’re beset with insecurities. You’re also aware that you should be grateful for this bundle of joy, and you are! Or, at least you would be if you weren’t so bloody tired and over it to feel anything.

So, is this really what it’s like to have a book published?

Well, yes. At least, that’s how I found it the first time around. I was overjoyed to have ‘After the Party’ out in the world, but the experience was incredibly exposing and anxiety-inducing. This was me on the page. Would anyone like what I had to say? I had insomnia for weeks, both before and post-publication. Speaking endlessly to people about the book was both energizing and thoroughly depleting.

Now, I’m on the verge of my second book being released. You’d think I’d have a handle of these things.

I wish.

Let’s go back to the baby analogy. Does having one kid make you an expert on having the second kid? No. Because each child is different – they sleep differently, they poo differently, they cry differently – and you have no idea of which type you’re getting until it’s actually in the world.

I could say the same about the next book. Is it different the second time around? Yes, it is. I know a bit more of what’s coming and that knowledge is both reassuring and alarming. What I now know is that there are critical matters that are beyond my control – namely, whether people I like it, and secondly, whether they buy it.

What I know is this – I’ve written a book of which I am proud. ‘The End of Cuthbert Close’ is about a special friendship between three women – Alex, Cara and Beth – and the pressures they face, as mothers, partners and providers. It’s about neighbours – good and bad – and how these relationships can change our lives. I’ve worked as hard as I can to produce a story that’s both funny and moving. This alone means I should be able to sleep well at night, but already I’m starting to have circular thoughts about what more I could be doing or could have done to assure this book’s success.

This morning, I woke at 4:30am for my usual panic-thinking. But this time, I did manage to get back to sleep. Probably because I was dog-tired, but also because of this – the thing I did learn from book one. Having your book published is a circus that comes to town once a year, if you’re lucky. The best way to handle it is to know the circus will come, it will be exciting and exhausting, and then it will move on to the next town, the next author. It’s a season that passes. In baby terms, it’s a phase that comes, and then it will go.
​
For a period of several weeks, I will be too distracted to write. But when I am ready, the page will be ready for me, and that’s where I will find myself again.
​

Ayla is a villain. With a gift that allows her to see when anyone will die, she’s remorseless in her profession as the perfect assassin. When she wakes up in a cryo-tank three thousand years in the future, and no idea how she came to be there, all that matters is survival.

Rescued by Leith and the crew of the Nuria, Ayla discovers a far evolved world of space ships and galactic colonization. But everything comes with a price, and though Ayla is no princess locked in an icy tower, she still has to pay for the rescue she didn’t know she needed.

Given over to Leith, a darkly handsome man who reads Ayla far easier than she’d like, they must work together if Ayla is to repay her debt. As the pair come to learn how dangerous one another are, so too grows a lustful bond that comes with rules of its own. Fighting to learn why she was frozen, Ayla’s dragged into Leith’s past with a criminal organization seeking to take over this sector of the galaxy. In order to survive, Leith will need Ayla’s help, but Ayla doesn’t know if she’s willing to pay what it will cost her… ​

Chapter 1
 
There’s nothing in the blackness.
No light. No sound. No escape.
Forever sinking in a timeless sphere.
Nevertheless . . . she was awake.
Floating in a void, only burgeoning awareness battled the slick restraints about her mind that were trying to curl her back into Morpheus’s embrace. Holding her a captive to sleep.
The struggle stirred her from slumber. She fought for each trickling thought as the hush lulled her. The warmth and safety weren’t a balm she wanted. With no perceived existence, cognizance spilled from her consciousness, slipping away like sand between her fingers.
She clenched her fists. Held nothing in hands she couldn’t see.
Incited, she rebelled at the confinement.
The barest ripple touched her, coming from the heart of the abyss.
Something out there sought her, and she wanted to answer it.
This was a prison, and someone was pounding on the walls.
A shadow called within her, one she wasn’t frightened of but welcomed like an old lover, gone too long, leaving her alone in the dark. A power to see inside the soul of someone and know when they would die. Not the circumstance. Not the time. Not the year. Just the day and the month.
Death day.
​

Hi, I’m Jillian! My husband Shawn and I live in Ontario, Canada with our 4 children – Hayden (6), Willow (4), Greyson (2), and Isla (1). Our hands are full, but so are our hearts!

I have always had a passion for storytelling, and can usually be found making up silly rhymes and/or songs for my kids–or to be quite honest– just for myself!

My favourite thing to do is go out for breakfast with my family.
My least favourite thing is hanging up clean laundry!
​

​
When Violet and her family move into her mother’s childhood home, she is determined not to let the boring, old walls confine her boundless imagination.

After a long day of unpacking her room, she becomes happily distracted when she stumbles upon a rather unusual box of crayons. Compelled by her love for art, she draws her first picture in her new room and tapes it to her wall. Soon Violet drifts off to sleep but wakes to something so marvellous even she couldn’t have dreamed it.

Who are you and what do you write?

My name is Jillian Her, and I write children’s books! My first book, Drawn In, is available soon, but I have many more in development that I can’t wait to publish!
 

Where and when and how did the writing life begin for you?

I have always considered myself young at heart, and the thought of writing picture books was always very exciting to me. I put it off for a long time because I had that fear of, ‘What if I’m not good enough’. About 10+ years ago I had a dream one night that I wrote down once I woke up. I saved it all these years with the intent to turn it into a picture book. About a year and a half ago, I ask my cousin Kevin, who is a designer/illustrator, if he would be interested in working together on some picture books. Our first book, Drawn In, is that story from my dream!
 

How has the journey to this point been? Can you give us a basic rundown?

A roller coaster! The self-publishing process is such a huge learning curve when you’re going through it the first time. I’ve learnt so much and feel a lot more comfortable with it now, so it will be much faster publishing our next book. Kevin and I had weekly meetings at our local coffee shop -- me sharing new drafts, edits, and ideas, and him sharing new sketch ideas and revisions. It was a lot of fun! Certain aspects of the book took longer than others, like choosing the title and knowing when the main character ‘Violet’ looked just right. We used a company to help us bring the book to completion, by providing editing services, a design team, and marketing consultant. Next time, we are going to try it on our own and hire our own editor and any other additional services we might need.
 

What's been the hardest part of your writing/publishing experience so far? And the most enjoyable?

The hardest part has been seeing disruptions in our timeline. Whether it be realizing a specific aspect was going to take longer than we thought, or being told we would have something by a certain date and then were left waiting. The most enjoyable part has been seeing the characters and the story brought to life in the illustrations. When my first physical copy arrived in the mail, the feeling was unreal!


Would you go back and change anything?

I think the only thing I would change is that Kevin and I would find our own services to help where needed, on our own. Being able to discuss directly, one on one with an editor and designer, etc, is very important to us, and we didn’t realize that the ones we were using through the company were not ‘author facing’ – which means they are hired by the company, and communicate with you via a project manager. This process is different for everyone though, and this was just something that was our personal preference.
 

Where would you like to be in 5 years time? And 10? Or, what are your plans for the future?

In 5 years, I’d like to be strictly working from home, have 5 more books published, and be picked up as a series on Netflix! Or maybe Pixar gives us a call! In 10 years, I’d love our characters to be household names, easily recognized and loved, and just be continuing to create and share more stories that family’s will love.


What's one piece of advice you'd give to new writers just starting out?

Be kind to yourself and patient with the process. There are a lot of drafts to come, bumps in the road, lots of research and waiting. If you feel unsure of yourself, that’s normal – just go back to your ‘why’—remember what made you passionate enough to get this far, and it will help you to keep going!


And now for the important stuff...

 
Ketchup or Mayo? - Mayo, if it’s chipotle flavour!
Night or Day? - I’m a night owl for sure.
Inside or Outside? - Outside
Dogs or Cats? - I have a cat, but I’d love a dog one day.
Twitter or Facebook? - I’m newer to the ‘Twitterverse’, but I love it more every day!
Ebook or Paperback? - Paperback!
Sun or Rain? - I love a good thunderstorm.
Keyboard or Pencil & Notebook? - Pencil & Notebook – I have a thing with collecting notebooks with inspiring covers. I even wrote a blog post about it once lol.
Comedy or Drama? - I am silly through and through. Comedy all the way!
Chips or Chocolate? - Dark Chocolate!

Who are you and what do you write?
 
I’m a woman - nearly fifty-nine years of age. I’m a mother, a reader and a writer, a traveller and a former high school English teacher who has been blessed with some amazing friends and family. I create short stories and I’ve recently completed a memoir. This year I hope to finish my first novel which is a political thriller, of sorts.


Where and when and how did the writing life begin for you?
 
As a child, maybe at 4 or 5 years of age, I remember the moment when the individual letters I was drawing on my blackboard at home, merged into a single word and made meaning. And I had a sudden and wonderful understanding: I could transfer ideas from my head onto the page. It seemed like magic.
 
 
How has the journey to this point been? Can you give us a basic rundown?
 
My relatively short journey to publication followed the most traumatic period of my life. All that horror after my husband died in Portugal was replaced with the strongest sense of personal achievement, and both these aspects of my life occurred in my mid to late fifties. This seems remarkable, even to me. To find your sense of self so late in life is the gist that has been given to me.

I have also been extraordinarily lucky with the people around me, including my agent Benython Oldfield from Zeitgeist Agency, my publisher Annette Barlow from Allen & Unwin and my publicist Laura Benson. Up until this point (5 weeks on from publication), I had always thought writing a waiting game. But right now, it feels like I’m desperately hanging on to a pole inside a train carriage, with half my body hanging out the door. The rush is real.


What's been the hardest part of your writing/publishing experience so far?
 
My memoir is structured in three parts, and each section narrates the journey I made through a different country: Australia, Spain and Papua New Guinea. The most difficult challenge was trying to make the decision about whether to include the final section. Questions about appropriation and betrayal still remain unresolved for me.
​

And the most enjoyable?

Finding my place. Finding where I belong. The writing community has been kind and embracing.

Would you go back and change anything?
 
No


Where would you like to be in 5 years’ time? And 10? Or, what are your plans for the future?
 
In 5 years, I will be sixty-four. I would like to be living in the same house, with the Balibo book completed and published. I would also like to return to PNG and partner with women in a writing

 
What's one piece of advice you'd give to new writers just starting out?
 
Listen to the good advice and don’t take it personally. I incorporated changes that some very wise people suggested and it is a much better book because of that. Also, although everyone says it, you must not give up. Just keep working at it till it is the best it can be.


And most importantly...

Ketchup or Mayo? -  Ketchup
Night or Day? - Night
Inside or Outside? - Inside
Dogs or Cats? - Dogs
Twitter or Facebook? - Twitter
Ebook or Paperback? - Paperback
Sun or Rain? - Rain
Keyboard or Pencil & Notebook? - Keyboard
Comedy or Drama? - Drama
Chips or Chocolate? - Chips

In my bid to support as many 2020 authors over the coming months, I am delighted to welcome another fab one to the blog today to talk about their new book and their writing journey thus far! 

Check it out...

Who are you and what do you write?

Hi Kate! Thank you so much for having me. I’m Nora Shalaway Carpenter, and I write (mostly) contemporary YA fiction. I also have a picture book out entitled YOGA FROG. 


Where and when and how did the writing life begin for you?

I started writing when I was really small. I’ve always loved telling stories, so as soon as I could write I was putting them on paper. I wrote about my pets, friends, aliens, and fantasy worlds. Anything was fair game. I recently found a piece I wrote in elementary school entitled “When Your Parents Get Upset.” LOL. I stopped writing creatively in college, however, and didn’t start again until I was 24. I’ll be 36 when THE EDGE OF ANYTHING publishes.
​

Nora's elementary writing! 

Nora age 6!

​Would you go back and change anything?

I don’t think so, because I’m happy with where I am right now, even if it took me longer than I’d have liked. But I do wish I could have time traveled and told young me that I was gonna write and publish books. That all the hours and work and heartache would eventually pay off. Maybe I would have kept writing between high school and age 25.


What’s on the horizon?

I’ve got another book coming out Oct 13, 2020 from Candlewick: RURAL VOICES: 15 AUTHORS CHALLENGE STEREOTYPES OF SMALL-TOWN AMERICA. It’s a mixed genre anthology and I’m the contributing editor. I’m also working on my next novel, another contemporary YA, this one set in rural West Virginia.


What's one piece of advice you'd give to new writers just starting out?

Read. And read everything, not just your preferred genre. Also, make sure you give yourself mental breaks. The writing life isn’t solely comprised of actual writing; it can’t happen without lived experiences, without daydreams and contemplation. If you’re in a writing jam, take a break and read. There’s really no better teacher of craft. Besides that, keeping going. Publishing is a tough and slow industry. But if you work at your craft, if you learn to revise and re-vision, and you remain persistent, I believe you’ll make it.

Who are you and what do you write?

I just turned fifty on the 3rd of March, and released my debut novel on the 7th of March. It’s a Dystopian saga about a family struggling to survive and bring hope and light to a dark world one hundred years after mankind was nearly wiped from existence.


Where and when and how did the writing life begin for you?

I began my writing journey in December of 2017. I was doing a lot of reading; specifically I was reading Clash of Kings (book 2 in A Song of Ice and Fire) by GRRM… I’m a huge GoT fan lol  As I was reading, it suddenly hit me. Call it a rush of inspiration; it suddenly hit me… I could do this. Now, don’t get me wrong. I certainly wasn’t reading GRRM’s work and thinking, Ah, this looks easy, I can do this. No, not at all. I would more accurately describe it as; it inspired me to finally let loose the stories and images swirling around in my head. 
 
I sat on the idea for a few days before I said anything to my wife. I wanted to sleep on it for a bit before I said it out loud. I think I was just testing my resolve and conviction before I committed to such a huge undertaking. After a week had passed, I finally said something. She loved the idea; she supported me through the entire process and it’s been moving full speed since then.

​
How has the journey to this point been?
 
So far, the journey has been a positive. I’ve done as much research as I can to make sure I manage my expectations, but also remain confident. It took me a year to write the first draft; almost to the day. I began drafting Liberation in Dec. of 2017 and finished it in Dec. of 2018. I spent all of 2018 editing, revising, and working with beta readers. Then more revision. I employed the help of a small publisher to provide me with editing services. Long story short, I had a final draft ready by late Nov. of 2019. 


Would you go back and change anything?
 
I don’t think I would have changed anything about this journey. I’m trying to look at it as a learning experience. I’m trying to absorb as much knowledge as I can so that I can strive to improve my writing and my understanding of the industry as a whole.


What's been the hardest part of your writing/publishing experience so far?
 
For me, the hardest part of this whole process has been to open up and allow others to read my work. An entirely new experience for me and certainly the most nerve racking.


What are you plans for the future? 
 
I’ve been a software engineer for the past 25 years or so, and by all accounts, I’ve had a successful career, but truthfully, I’m ready for a change. My plans/hopes/dreams, is to be a full time novelist by the end of the decade. That is a goal I have set for myself and am working hard to make that happen.


What's one piece of advice you'd give to new writers just starting out?
 
My advice for someone starting out would be: do your research and then… JUST START WRITING! Don’t wait for the perfect conditions. Don’t wait for permission. Just chase your dreams and protect them with your very existence.


And most importantly... 

Ketchup or Mayo? - Totally Mayo
Night or Day? - Day
Inside or Outside? - I love both for different reasons.
Dogs or Cats? - I have 3 of each so I have to cheat and say both lol
Twitter or Facebook? - I prefer Twitter
Ebook or Paperback? - Totally Paperback. I have to hold the book in my hands.
Sun or Rain? - Sun
Keyboard or Pencil & Notebook? - I write on my computer, but I take notes in a notebook all of the times
Comedy or Drama? - Drama
Chips or Chocolate? - Chips all the way

​
​Each of Hazel’s books has a page of reviews & notes & news with downloadable covers and where book is available  and speaking events at  www.hazeledwards.com 
(regularly updated) 

https://hazeledwards.com/aspiring-writers-backup.html 
has useful links for aspiring writers. 

https://hazeledwards.com/theres-a-hippopotamus-on-our-roof-eating-cake1.html   
hippo book including 40th

https://hazeledwards.com/hijabi-girl.html  
HIjabi Girl puppets soon.

https://hazeledwards.com/celebrant-sleuth.html  
adult mystery with quirky problem-solving celebrant

https://hazeledwards.com/not-just-a-piece-of-cake-being-an-author.html 
Hazel’s memoir about risk-taking & writing life when you have a family 

https://hazeledwards.com/f2mthe-boy-within.html 
about The Boy Within inspiring a comic novel

​