bio: a creative soul

About the Author

Who am I?

Tough question.

IngemarportraitS.JPGAs you've probably already figured out, I'm a writer.  And a musician.  And an artist.  A wife, daughter, friend, non-conformist, country-girl, bibliophile, dreamer.

From a very young age I have been fascinated by books.  Mom read to me every night as a child, and I think that's where I learned to love storytelling.  When I learned to read in first grade, my elementary school teachers were hard pressed to keep me supplied with reading material.

It wasn't long before I was experimenting with words of my own.

As a kid, my writing was sporadic, ambitious attempts to mimic the things I was reading that didn't quite make it.  I loved all things imaginative (still do), and leaped on every opportunity to be creative in school.  Music was a godsend; when art or writing wasn't going well, I could always sit and play, and to this day I enjoy noodling on whichever instrument is handy (saxophone or Irish flute). 

The further I got into high school, and after--particularly when I attended college--I got farther and farther away from my creative side in writing.  Then, in the fall of 2005 I signed up for a required creative writing class.  It was fiction.  I learned a lot in that class, rediscovered a lost love, and my professor, a novelist herself, urged me to think seriously about writing as a career.

And, well, here I am.
 

Education

Bachelor of Arts in English (minor in Music), December 2006.

 


Questions

Writing

  1. Why short fiction? Will you ever write a novel?
  2. Why sci-fi? Why fantasy?
  3. Do you have any quirks or habits that you have to follow before writing?
  4. How often do you write?

Personal

  1. Where do you live?
  2. Are you single?

Answers

Writing

  1. Why short fiction? Will you ever write a novel?

    Short fiction is what I started out doing, and it's a habit that is hard to break.  I like it because I am impatient and like to write something and get it done in a reasonably short amount of time.  I like to see progress, and with a short work, it's a whole lot easier to see progress than with a longer work.  I also like the challenge a short provides in "can you describe all you need to and still get the story across in x amount of pages?"

    As for full-fledged novels or longer works, to be honest, yes, I am working on one at the moment.  To be extremely honest, I can't seem to get away from them!  Hahaha.  It seems that out of every ten drafts I write, nine get reviews such as: "Is this part of a novel?"  So really, I should be a novelist (but I feel I can't quite call myself that yet, as I have yet to finish a 'novel').

     

  2. Why sci-fi? Why fantasy?

    Probably because I'm a dreamer at heart.  I love to use my imagination, I love to tell stories, and what better than to use them together?

     

  3. Do you have any quirks or habits that you have to follow before writing?

    Not really, though I do like to have a mug of tea, coffee, or whatever with me while I'm working.  I also like to do my preliminary drafting with a pencil and a notepad (if you can call that a quirk?), and use the computer for really fleshing everything out.  I also have a handheld PC that I take my work on if I'm traveling.

    But as for true quirks or habits, no, I don't think I've got any.

     

  4. How often do you write?

    Every day.  And sometimes, not for days on end.

    I'm pretty sporadic in my habits; if the story is there, if I can see it all, I write.  If not, well, I let it sit for a while.  Pretty simple.

    If I were to give advice to a beginning writer, or one looking to be an "author," I'd say this: don't force it.  Many people will tell you "oh, you need to write every single day, and even then you aren't writing enough," but I think there is a huge difference between writing days and days and days' worth of dreck, and writing every other days' worth of brilliance.  Quality over quantity, and while it is very important to write often, I think that it is far more important to strive for excellence instead of bulk.

    That's the mindset I have when it comes to my craft.

     

Personal

  1. Where do you live?

    That's for me to know and you to guess! *wink wink*  Actually, my husband and I make our home in the Pacific Northwest.

     

  2. Are you single?

    (You'd be surprised at how often I get asked this.)  No, I am not single, and no, I'm not looking.  I'm happily married to the love of my life.

     
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