Ask the Author: Elizabeth Lavender
Answered Questions (10)
Elizabeth Lavender
You're welcome as far as the review! I enjoyed your book as the review showed. I'm glad you are enjoying the first book in the series, and I hope you'll enjoy the second trek in their journey as well when you get to it. I know I love writing their journey and as an author there's no greater joy than when others share in that. The third part of their journey is coming along well. The third part of their journey covers about four days and I am on the afternoon of the fourth day at the moment. With the current pace, I am hoping to have a rough draft by the end of the month. The revision process usually takes about two months at least. Then the whole publishing is about a month. So at the earliest October 2020 would be my guess. However, this one is turning out to be longer than the second book already, so the revision process could be more time consuming. We'll see! I try to keep everybody updated as well on my facebook account and through my newsletters. You can see all the ways to keep up with me on my website at elizabethlavender.net Thanks for your question and your encouragement!
Elizabeth Lavender
I think it does help. I guess some ways that are more apparent than others. Obviously, it keeps you exposed to what is out there. Also, you may end up reading something you may not have read on your own normally and then find you like it. As a writer, maybe you see something an author did well in his or her book that sparks your creativity. You get feedback from others about what they did or didn't like in a book, and you keep it in mind. However, you still remember you're the author when your writing, so there is always going to be things some people will like and others won't. Some things are just preferences. Then for the author, the book club helps with balance. Sometimes in the process of writing and revising and publishing, etc., I know I get tunnel vision. Even more so with working fulltime as well and balancing the writing. I love to read. I wouldn't be writing if I didn't love to read as well. So the book club lets me keep reading as well when I start getting tunnel vision in the writing process of my own stuff. I love the world I've created in my books, and I'm enjoying the writing process. However, I need to enter someone else's creative world and enjoy that for a while. Then I find I can return to my creative world and write even freer. So there are many ways the book club helps.
Elizabeth Lavender
I'm so glad you enjoyed it. It also is awesome to hear even though it was out of your "comfort zone" that it was an enjoyable read and that you are looking forward to the next in the series. That is an encouragement to the author to keep writing. The second book in the series is in its final revisions, and hopefully, I'm looking at publishing somewhere around March. Yes, I should see you at the next meeting.
Elizabeth Lavender
Yes, I did. My ebook is through Amazon/kindle. I did paperback through amazon as well, but I also did it through Ingram. I wanted to be sure it could be ordered by bookstores. I saw your book and it looks like something I would pick up and read. I would certainly be interested in reading each other's book and trading reviews. I will warn you I may be slow getting through it. Normally, I read through books quickly, but right now it's slow going. I have the second book in my series written and I'm heavy in revising right now. I work fulltime, so the revising is all in the evening after the kids are finally in bed. That was the time I was usually reading for enjoyment. So don't take it that I'm not enjoying the book if it takes me some time right now to get through it. Let me know if you want to do that. Sounds good to me though.
Elizabeth Lavender
So far I haven't encountered it or maybe if I have it has been small doses. The couple of times I seemed to get a little stuck, I left it for a day and came back to it. The other was reading back through parts of it and it seemed like it flowed again once I got back into my character's world.
Elizabeth Lavender
I guess I'm not too sure yet, since this my first book. As a reader, I am always amazed at the way someone can take me out of my world for a bit with his or her writing and take me somewhere else for a time. I receive something valuable from it many times and I was entertained. So I guess, the thought there is the possibility I'll be the one doing that for a reader is pretty awesome now.
Elizabeth Lavender
Don't give up or get discouraged. Sometimes it's a lot to balance, but it's worth it. There's something special about seeing your first book finished and published.
Elizabeth Lavender
I am currently working on revising the second book in the Sunspears series. The manuscript is already written. My hope is to have it revised and out by the first of the year at the latest. Part of the third is already written as well.
Elizabeth Lavender
I really haven't had that issue. I work fulltime, come home, spent time with the kids and husband, and then start in on writing. The story has inspired to write on its own. I literally have the last battle written in my head already. Now the revising is another story. However, the writing of the story has not been a problem!
Elizabeth Lavender
I've had it in my head for several years now, and it was a matter of starting to get it down on paper. There are a lot of stories that are about good versus evil, or light versus dark. I enjoy those stories, but they represent a larger battlefield. So the idea really came from a lot of sources. I think most people will begin to see they face the same struggles as some of the characters, even though they don't fight with a sunspear.
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