Where do you get ideas to write your books?
Mostly from daydreaming, especially while I drive, walk, or do any type of routine work like washing dishes or brushing my teeth. My mind is always working, coming up with different scenarios, characters, settings. Voices in the head is the ‘curse’ of the writer.
How do you deal with rejection?
Easy: I don’t. I just ignore it. Fortunately for me, I’m very self-motivated.
Do you write mainly by day or by night?
I’m definitely a morning bird. That’s when my mind is fresher, clearer. My hubby goes to work and my kids to school and I stay with those ‘voices in my head’ in the quiet of my home, with my golden retriever posed at my feet while I pound on the keyboard. I admire those writers who can write from morning till evening. I can’t. I start about 9am and by the time it’s midday, my brain feels pretty tired. Then I switch to emailing, promoting and other stuff. Evenings and weekends are for my family. An exception to this is November. That’s when I do the National Novel Writing Month (Nanowrimo) and then I write on and off at odd times of the day, seven days a week during the whole month.
Do you ever get writer’s block and what do you do when that happens?
I often do get writer’s block. Inside my head there’s a constant conflict between my inner censor and my inner writer. I continually have to order my censor to shut up and leave me alone. Taking a long walk helps. The best tactic, of course, is to plunge ahead and write no matter what the censor says. The more I stay away from writing, the harder it is getting back to it. Writing on a daily basis is the best medicine against writer’s block. I tell myself, ‘Leap, and the net will appear.’
Can you tell us a little about the publisher who published your book? How have they been to work with?
My publisher is Twilight Times Books. In only a few years this company has grown from a small electronic publisher to a fully traditional mid-size publisher. The staff is extremely professional and Lida Quillen, the publisher, has been amazing to work with. I would whole-heartedly recommend this publisher to any author.
Article comments
1 - Gordon Hauptfleisch
Nice interview, Dorothy & Mayra. Congrats, Mayra, on success of "Slippery Art."