Deanna and I are excited to have Ednah Walters visit with us this week.
A bit about Ednah:
I started making up fairytale stories before I could write, even wrote a play which was performed by my class in high school, but I didn't complete my first story until I finished my PhD in chemistry and decided to be a stay-at-home mother. The first books I wrote were picture books about the adventures of a little lion called Little Leo and his pet Cockatoo. My kids got a kick out of hearing me read them out aloud. Then I moved to mid-grade chapter books. Their favorite was Goldilocks before the Three Bears. Then I tried my hand at contemporary romance and romantic suspense. That didn't go so well and besides, I couldn't read them to my children.
Ednah lives in a picturesque valley in northern Utah with her husband, five children and two cats.
Reader’s Haven: Ednah,
Thank you for visiting with us this week! When did you decide that you wanted
to be an author?
Ednah: When I decided to be a stay-at-home mother, I needed an outlet for my creativity. You could say dirty diapers and baby talk pushed me into writing. Kudos to stay-at-home moms who thrive while changing diapers, cooking baby food from scratch, sewing cute baby clothes and whipping new dishes every day for their family. I couldn’t stand the food I cooked for my babies anymore than they did, I tried sewing, quilting, painting and realized those creative outlets weren’t for me either. So I wrote simple stories for kids. When I finished my first chapter book and read it to my kids and they loved it, I thought, “Hmm, I could do this.” Then I discovered something; just because your kids love your stories doesn’t necessarily mean the editors will too. Still, I continued writing gradually to adult and YA romance.
Reader’s Haven: How
many books have you written?
Ednah: If I exclude
the ones I wrote before Awakened (you know the ones that ended nowhere or still
take up space on my computer), I’ve written and published 2 YA books in the
Guardian Legacy series and 3 adult romance (Fitzgerald books).
Orphaned as a child and raised by her grandfather, Lil Falcon is concerned with navigating her new high school and is unaware she's a descendant of the Nephilim, a race of beings with super powers tasked with protecting humanity from the demons who threaten it. But when she meets Bran, his psi energy unlocks her latent abilities and opens her eyes to what she is, a Guardian.
But Bran has a secret and befriending him sends Lil down a dangerous path that will either destroy her or make her stronger.
Reader’s Haven: What
would you be doing if you couldn't be a writer?
Ednah: I’d
probably be in some pharmaceutical lab creating/synthesizing something.
Reader’s Haven: Approximately
how long does it take for you to write a book?
Ednah: I’d say 4-5
months, depending on which genre. My YA tend to take longer, possibly because
it’s from one person’s point of view (POV) and she’s a teen, so I have to think
like a teenager…not an easy thing to do. Things go a little faster when you
write from multiple POV.
Reader’s Haven: Do
you have any hobbies?
Ednah: Hmm, I
used to paint, but now any free time I have, when I’m not writing, I read. I
love books. I also love to workout—Zumba, TRX, treadmill. I’m more alert
mentally and physically when I hit the gym at least 3 times a week, which makes
me more productive and makes it easy to keep up with my 5 children.
Lil isn't just an average teenager. She's one of the Nephilim--the descendants of humans and angels--which gives her some serious psi skills and a mission for redemption. Just when Lil thinks she's found a balance between her normal life with human friends and her training to become a Guardian, she's warned that someone close to her will betray her.
When the boy she loves starts acting strangely and one of her human friends acquires a supernatural ability, Lil begins to realize that someone is manipulating the people she loves... and won't stop until she's been lured to the dark side.
Lil isn't just an average teenager. She's one of the Nephilim--the descendants of humans and angels--which gives her some serious psi skills and a mission for redemption. Just when Lil thinks she's found a balance between her normal life with human friends and her training to become a Guardian, she's warned that someone close to her will betray her.
When the boy she loves starts acting strangely and one of her human friends acquires a supernatural ability, Lil begins to realize that someone is manipulating the people she loves... and won't stop until she's been lured to the dark side.
Reader’s Haven: What
do you like/dislike most about being an author?
Ednah: I love getting
the voices from my head and onto my computer. I enjoy interacting with readers,
but I’d write even if I didn’t publish. That’s why I have all these completed
Fitzgeralds books. While my agent was busy trying to find a home for my first YA
and the first Fitzgerald book, and we kept getting rejections, I just kept
writing. I needed to write. On, being a stay-at-home mother is about the
hardest thing I ever did and I was going nuts. Seconds, the voices in my head
wouldn’t leave me a lone. I have so many ideas and so little time…SIGH.
What I hate the most is plotting, storyboarding with
detailed plotlines broken down into scenes for each chapter. This works great
when you have a mystery to solve though. I’d rather listen to my characters and
seeing which direction they want to go. Plotting somehow makes me feel
restricted and stifle my creativity. That doesn’t mean I don’t usually have a
guideline, so I know what is going to happen at the beginning and the end; who
the villain is and their motive; my characters’ motives and goals, and some of
the conflicts they must overcome. How and when these events will take place is
really up to the characters once I start writing. The conflicts tend to pile up
as the story unfolds.
Reader’s Haven: Who
are some of your favorite authors?
Ednah: Middle-grade
authors of Harry Potter series, Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Pendragon
series, Eragon series, Goosebumps series, R.L. Stine books, Alex Rider series,
Artemis Fowl series.
YA-authors of
Vampire Dairies, Vampire Academy, House of Night series, Hungers Games,
Vladimir Todd series, Daughters of the Moon series, the Princess Diary series,
Adult authors: J.R.
Ward, Sherrilyn Kenyon, L.A. Banks,
Historical authors like Jude Deveraux, Judith McKnight and
Catherine Coulter
Espionage and medical thrillers by Tom Clancy, Robert
Ludlum, Jonathan Cook, James Grisham.
Reader’s Haven: What
are some of your favorite movies/tv shows?
Ednah: Detective
series whether it is medical, police or fantasy: White Collar, NYPD Blues,
Monk, Dr. House, CSI, NCIS, Criminal Minds, Supernatural, Ghost Whisperer, Medium,
True Blood
Guilty pleasures: Vampire Diaries, Pretty Little Liars,
Greek…
Reader’s Haven: Do
you have any advice for other writers?
Ednah: Write from
the heart, which means write what you want to write and do it everyday. Don’t
worry about trends. If Stephanie Meyers had listened to the publishing industry
that vampire books were going out, she’d never have written Twilight. I wrote
Awakened before books about angels became popular.
Reader’s Haven: What
are you currently working on?
Ednah: I’m
working on HUNTED, book 3 of the Guardian Legacy series. It should be out
summer of 2012. I’m also working on my 4th adult romance.
Hunted (Coming Soon)
Bran and Lil may have escaped an attempt to lure Lil to the dark side and along the way, recovered the contracts of the people Bran damned when he was a soul collector, but someone forgot to tell Bran he can’t switch sides without dire consequences.
Hunted by unknown enemies, Lil, Bran and the teen Guardians must seek help from unlikely sources to avert total annihilation of the Guardians. The revelation when they come face to face with their enemy makes them realize that for once they are in a battle they can’t win. Will one of them make the ultimate sacrifice?
Hunted (Coming Soon)
Bran and Lil may have escaped an attempt to lure Lil to the dark side and along the way, recovered the contracts of the people Bran damned when he was a soul collector, but someone forgot to tell Bran he can’t switch sides without dire consequences.
Hunted by unknown enemies, Lil, Bran and the teen Guardians must seek help from unlikely sources to avert total annihilation of the Guardians. The revelation when they come face to face with their enemy makes them realize that for once they are in a battle they can’t win. Will one of them make the ultimate sacrifice?
Reader’s Haven: Is
there anything else you’d like to share with the readers?
Ednah: Yes, I do.
I’ll gift an eBook of Awakening, The Prequel to one lucky commenter. Drawing to
be held on Saturday, June 16.
On Goodreads, I'm featuring a giveaway contest of Betrayed. Click here to enter: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8970151-betrayed
On Goodreads, I'm featuring a giveaway contest of Betrayed. Click here to enter: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8970151-betrayed
Hi Ednah, thanks again for visiting with us this week. I can attest to the diapers and baby talk, having 4 kids of my own.
ReplyDeleteReaders, enjoy the trailer for Awakening and visit Ednah's web site to learn about her books.