AuThursday – Chelsea Williams

Please welcome Chelsea Williams to the Clog Blog!  Chelsea, tell us a little about yourself and your background?

I’m Chelsea, I’m a single mom living in a small town in Indiana and I’m an upcoming children’s book author. My book, There’s Something About “I Love You”, will be available for preorders next month! My hope for the book is to remind people of the power of love. I’ve struggled with my mental health, and feelings of unworthiness for a long time, but becoming a mom helped those negative feelings start to heal. I felt like there was no way I would have been given the opportunity to be such a special little girl’s mom if I wasn’t worthy.

How do you make time to write?

I work a full-time job where the hours are early so I usually come home and take the time I have before school pick up to write. But I also make sure to just make the time. Writing is something I love, and it’s really like therapy for me so it’s important to me to make time for it.

Do you believe in writer’s block?

Absolutely! You’re talking to someone with self-diagnosed ADD so writer’s block, mental fog, I definitely struggle sometimes!

Tell us a bit about the genre you write and why you love it.

So my first book coming out is a children’s book, and I think it came to me because I have a young daughter. I’m such a kid at heart and I’ve always loved a good animated film and still cherish the books I read as a young girl. It just made sense to me to write a children’s book where I can write something with an important message while also having it be fun and light-hearted. I also have a couple novel ideas rolling around in my head though so I’m hoping to bring those to fruition as well! I’ve always loved reading and writing. Immersing myself in a story has been a way for me to escape life at times. And my imagination can run pretty wild so I’d love to work on a novel next!

How are you publishing your recent book and why?

I’m indie publishing my children’s book. I think for me when I wrote my first manuscript, I had sent it in for a review and the feedback I got was good, but they wanted to know why I wrote it in rhyming format. They said it’s not popular and I’d need a reason to do it that way. My reason was, that I liked it that way. And so many books I’d read as a young girl were in rhyming format. I love it! And I truly think it helps kids read, it’s a form of poetry and I really feel like it’s an art. So after years of not working on my book because I kind of felt like I’d hit a roadblock, I just decided I’m going to work hard and publish it myself. I didn’t want to have to wait for someone else’s approval.

Are you an Introvert or an Extrovert? How does this affect your work?

I’d say I’m both. I’m about 3 months away from 30 and the older I get the more introverted I become. I think I’m just a homebody. But with the small group of friends I do have, I’m super outgoing and love to laugh and just be myself. I’ve also been working on my social media presence to get the word out about my book and I do find myself coming out of my shell more and more. I guess it just affects what I write about. Sometimes my introverted side wants to shy away from sharing the REAL thoughts and feelings I’m having.

What is your favorite motivational phrase?

Probably,

“We cannot become what we want by remaining what we are.”

I’m really good at telling myself I’ll never change or I’ll never get through something. So I like that one because it’s kind of the kick I need to be like, well yes, actually I can. I just have to decide to and work on it.

What advice would you give to aspiring writers?

If you want to start writing, just do it. Period. Don’t let fear or other people’s opinions stop you from doing something you love.

Where can readers find you on the World Wide Web?

Www.chelseawilliamswrites.com is where you’ll find my blog and you can keep up with my children’s book (which is my main focus right now) at www.Instagram.com/writerchelseawilliams

Do you have an excerpt you’d like to share with us?

Love is a powerful thing, so strong,

like a hero saving the day!

When all seems lost, it swoops right in,

and makes everything okay.

For nothing is lost forever

when love is leading the way.

AuThursday – Anna Hague

Tell us a little about yourself and your background?

Well, in my other life, I’m a freelance sports journalist, and I’ve done that job for years. I’m a big fan of auto racing, and I’ve had the privilege of covering the Indianapolis 500 for nearly 20 years. Right now, because I’m spending more time as an author, I cover a lot of high school sports, and I love it. To me, high school sports are the purest form of athletics. My husband and I live in central Indiana. We were both born there, but have moved around the country several times and landed back here. We don’t have kids, but have three parrots and a puppy, but we’ve hosted eleven foreign exchange students which has been one of the most rewarding things we’ve ever done.

Do you have a special time to write or how is your day structured?

I try to keep a structure, but with the animals in the house, there are a lot distractions. I usually write three or four hours in the morning, be it my current WIP or my stories for the paper. I’ll take a lunch break and then either go to the gym or get some chores accomplished. I’ll write again until around 4 p.m. I don’t write a lot in the evening. I prefer to spend the time with my husband having dinner or watching a little TV. Sometimes I think I’ll write into the night, but honestly because I’m up in the morning around 5:30-6, by 8:30 or 9, I’m ready for bed.

Where do your ideas come from?

Everywhere. The song Counting Stars by One Republic was a real catalyst for me when I was toying with the idea for Captured Hearts. Things from the news, or an interaction I’ve had with someone. I’ve seen a car drive by me on the interstate and my curiosity of where they might be going popped an idea into my heard. My hometown, Indianapolis was a setting I wanted to use. I finally had to start keeping a file with my ideas because they just keep coming. I wish I could write as fast.

Do you work to an outline or plot or do you prefer just to see where an idea takes you?

I’m such a pantser. I have a general idea where I want things to go, but as I write, sometimes the story takes a big turn. Although taking notes is important in being a reporter, I rarely make too many notes about stories other than the main plot.

Do you ever get Writer’s Block?

Yes. Just recently. I was working on the third book of Love Strictly Tested trilogy which deals with a murder trial, and we had a family tragedy involving a murder. I had been doing research about what happens during a murder investigation and trial, the whole thing became way too real, and I couldn’t write a word for about three months. Luckily, the publisher of this book was not quite ready for it to be finished, and I was able to get back into the story. I’m still a little freaked out by what happened.

You run your own publication company, what would you say are the main advantages and disadvantages of self-publishing against being published or the other way around?

I’ve lucky to have been both self-published and through a publisher. There are definite pluses and minuses to both. In self-pubbing, you have total control over everything, the story, the covers release dates, and royalties. The downside is you have to pay for all of the services like editing, cover design, formatting and most of your marketing.

With a publisher, they incur all the initial costs which is great, but your royalties aren’t as high. You can’t control the release date, and you don’t have a whole lot of input on the covers. I get to describe what I think I’d like on the cover, but I don’t get a lot of say so. And while they market the book, I’m still responsible for a fair amount of marketing. I really like this publisher, so it’s not anything against them. It’s pretty much the industry standard. I’ve learned a lot from both, and I think I’ll continue to do both if the opportunity is there.

Tell us about the cover/s and how it/they came about.

For Captured Hearts, I gave the designer, Kellie Dennis, some stock photos that I thought conveyed some of my vision. She sent me back two designs, and they were both phenomenal, and I had a hard time choosing, but I love what she did. For the second book, Stolen Hearts, I sent her the cover she had done and then gave her a brief synopsis of the story and characters. She came back with another amazing cover. For Angel’s Collar, I gave my input about the characters and that I thought black and white was sort of my vision, and that’s what the designer did. I like it, an am anxious to see the one for the second book in the series.

Where can readers find you on the World Wide Web?

www.annahague.com

Do you have an excerpt you’d like to share with us?

This is from Captured Hearts, the first book in the Heart series.

Even though blasts of icy February wind bulldozed through Louisville, Jamey wiped the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve.

Cigarette smoke and stale bourbon permeated the worn leather jacket, making him recoil at the smell. His rapid breathing and tense muscles made him second-guess himself. Something about this Allee Jones was not right. A week’s worth of surveillance had provided more questions than answers. Every day, he watched her apartment, and at nine thirty in the morning, she tentatively descended the three concrete steps to begin the walk to her job about fifteen minutes away. Her gaze, always focused on the sidewalk, only lifted to check her progress. She never spoke to anyone. She waited to cross the street until she was alone. Every time a group started to form at the crosswalk, she moved away so fast, he watched her stumble. Some days, she stood by the crosswalk for several minutes until the path was completely clear of people. Often she leaned against the wall of a business watching the people hustle by, never making eye contact with any of them. Women completely ignored her, but men would look at the attractive blonde-haired woman who tried to fade into the bricks. When a man would talk to her, she spoke a few words but never looked him in the eye. They all shrugged and walked away from the strange, but beautiful girl.

Jamey thought she was a stunner with waist-length honey-colored hair down to the middle of her back. Maybe she was about five foot seven, but he couldn’t tell since she hunched over most of the time. This girl’s mesmerizing actions forced Jamey to reconsider his own choices, but too much was at stake. Watching her every move, he tried to understand why someone so attractive would go out of her way not to interact with people. Those thoughts flooded his brain, and his real mission became cloudy. Something about her reached out to him, despite the fact he had never been closer than twenty yards.

He could not shake the attraction.