Sunday, July 21, 2019

Interview with Annamarie Gardner | Poet and Author

Amanda: Give us a quick introduction to you. Published books, what you write, etc. 
Annamarie: Young Fae published Nov 2018 and Mysterious Fae will be published July 2019. I write PNR, poems, horror, erotica, and various types of anthology. 

Amanda: Favorite book you’ve published so far?
Annamarie: Young Fae was such a learning experience for me. I learned a lot about making my characters real and how to tell a story with more detail.



Amanda: Most fun character to write? Favorite character to write? (Because they can definitely be different. ;) ) Hardest to write? 
Annamarie: Asha had so much happen to her that I loved writing her story. Solesis was hard for me as I never really wrote a bad guy before.

Amanda: Did you like to read as a child? Favorite book? Do you still have that book or reread it now?
Annamarie: I have loved to read since age five. My favorite book was Little Women and I still have a copy of it. That is my comfort read. I am reading it this summer with my daughter. 



Amanda: Have you always been a writer/storyteller? How did you start?
Annamarie: Yes I always would tell stories to my friends and this led to me writing out my stories I would tell.

Amanda: Do you write to music? If so, what kind? I love to hear about new music!
Annamarie: Sometimes I listen to music or will have the tv on for background noise. With music its usually country or its whatever links my friends send me.

Amanda: I know for me, there have been some funny stories since I’ve been deep in the trenches of writing. Like a realization about a work in progress or characters (the funniest has to do with the song Mirrors by JT.) Do you have any funny stories that you’d like to share?
Annamarie: I was writing a sex scene and listening to the song " Knockin Boots" and ended up having to rewrite the scene because the song bled into the scene and it didn't flow right.

Amanda: Do you have a typical process or any writing rituals? Anything you have to have with you while writing? (Besides computer, paper, typewriter, whichever…) 
Annamarie: I have to have soda and snacks, usually chocolate or chips. 

Amanda: Who is a character that has influenced you (not from your books)?
Annamarie: So many characters, but right now it would be Gaston from Ja LaFrances Gaston's Confession. He took a big risk and faced and owned up to who he really is. 



Amanda: Which of your characters would you least want to go on a road trip with? Why? Most want to? 
Annamarie: Solesis because he is greedy, selfish, and not a nice guy. Draven would be fun to travel with as he has a great sense of humor and is so informative.

Amanda: Top three favorite books and authors right now. 
Annamarie: Sweet Treats Cafe: Blood Orange Sunday by Leah Negron
From the Darkness by Ja LaFrance
Cocksman by AR Vidal


Amanda: Favorite writing craft book or resource?
Annamarie: I love using the forums at Camp Nano they are great resource and if you are on Facebook another amazing resource is Alessandra Torres Inkers. Also feel free to reach out to other indie authors, most like to help out.

This or that:
Strawberry vs. Chocolate 
Poetry vs. Fiction
First draft vs. Editing
T. V. Show vs. Movie
Book vs. Movie
Hero vs. Villain 
Villiain vs. Anti-Hero
Witch vs. Vampire
E-book vs. Physical Book 
Tea vs. Coffee

Amanda: Can you tell us anything about what you’re working on now?
Annamarie: Mysterious Fae has just finished edits and will release this month. I am currently writing my first horror story and loving it.

Amanda: Any last comments to share? :) 
Annamarie:
Please come check me out, I love to talk to readers. I will be at Authors in Steel City Sept 6 and 7th in Pittsburg. Right now General admission and VIP tickets are on sale half price.




AnnaMarie Gardner is a wife of 19 years with two incredible children. When she was younger, she found a love of the written word through poetry. While raising her family, she sadly stopped writing. Now that her children are in school she has found her way back to the written word. She not only writes poetry but has also started her sojourn into short stories. You can also see her writing many original stories during live writes. AnnaMarie beta read for several years before she decided to stretch her wings and rejoin the incredible world of writers.

You can find her work in :
The Psych Ward:: Poetry Of Nightmares & Horrorscapes
Coming soon : Strangers : A Steamy Anthology
Owning Emotions
 
Can find her poems published in:

The Triplet's Curse - Hope's Story: Book One
The Triplet's Curse - Destiny's Story: Book Two
Coming soon.Faith's Story

Aries Jones (Never Forget Book 3) 

Cursed By The Crown: Kumari's Kitsune










Wednesday, July 10, 2019

Journal July Challenge!! #JournalJulyChallenge!!

I posted a little something about this to Instagram almost a week ago. (Yes, I'm on Instagram now. Have been for a little over a year. Here's my profile.) I'd been watching the YouTube channel Inky Leaves for a bit and was very into their journaling videos. In one video, Becky mentioned that she had been journaling for....I believe it was 180 consecutive days or something of the like. I thought that was am amazing idea but, even as an avid journaler, I was rather intimidated. So I decided that for June I would challenge myself to write every single day of the month. That was 30 days. Surely, I could do that. Well, turns out I did!! And I actually had journaled every day for the last week of May so I ended up with 36 days by the end of this challenge. And by then, it was really becoming ingrained into me as a habit. So after that, I decided I wanted to carry on this challenge into July. I kept this challenge to myself in June but I wanted to extend it to all of you in July!!

So here is my Journal July Challenge!!


It's quite simple. I challenge you all to journal 3 times a week for the rest of the month of July. That's 12 times for the rest of the month. Now, here's something important: do NOT stress about this challenge. I'm sharing it with you all because I love to journal and thought it would be cool to have a little challenge all together. If you don't journal three times a week, honestly, who cares?? What is the worse that can happen if you don't? The point is to TRY.

You can share posts on social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, etc.) with the hashtag #JournalJulyChallenge . If you want to share it in your Instagram stories each day you do journal, that's great, too. You can just share posts or you can share pictures, posts and pictures etc. Your choice!! If you want to do short blog posts about it if you find benefits from it, that would be awesome. However you want to share, just tag the post #JournalJulyChallenge . And you can tag me in your posts if you like. I'll link my social media below. Before those, here are 23 prompts to help get you started if you need a little help getting started. Remember, no one else has to see it. It's your journal. It doesn't have to be "good". The handwriting can suck. You can write in sentences or bullet points or rhyme. Whatever. It can be ten pages or three or one or two lines!! Washi tape? Go for it! Not your thing. Leave it out! It's about trying and about how you want to try to journal. Play around and have fun!!

  23 Journal Prompts:

1. Introduce yourself to your journal.
2. Favorite hobbies and why.
3. Favorite books and why. (Top five if you can't narrow it down.)
4. Favorite song/music and why.
5. Favorite memory.
6. Tell your journal about your family.
7. Tell your journal about your best friends.
8. What did you want to be when you were a child?
9. Favorite film and why.
10. Favorite television show and why.
11. Your goals for the rest of the year.
12. Write a poem. (It doesn't have to be good!!)
13. Intentions for the day.
14. Write your dream day.
15. Ten biggest goals for your life.
16. Where do you most want to travel?
17. Write out one of your dreams.
18. List ten things you're grateful for. 
19. Copy down the lyrics to a favorite song.
20. Copy down a favorite poem.
21. List five favorite quotes.
22. Make a list of things you want to do this summer.
23. Write out some positive affirmations. 

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