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INTERVIEW WITH GUEST AUTHOR
CHARISS WALKER |
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Q: Tell us a little about yourself--like where you're from, where you went to school, etc.
A: Hello Laurel, Thank you for the opportunity to share a little about my life, my writing, and my books. I currently live in Central Louisiana where my children grew up and attended school for most of their lives. We all moved away many years ago but I admit that returning to the area feels a little like coming home. Then again, I have lived many places and as I like to say, "I've seen a lot of stuff." That "stuff" gives me a lot of fodder for my writings.
Q: How long have you been writing and how long have you been publishing?
A: I've been writing for most of my life; however, my first book was published in 2008. Over the past almost fifteen years as a writer, I have written and published about seventy fiction and nonfiction books.
Q: Did you start with short stories, a novella, or a novel? And what made you decide to sit down and actually start something?
A: I knew from an early age that I would one day become a writer. In the early days, I entered writing contests and I won quite a few. I also tried my hand at writing romance novels but it never felt like a good fit for me. I hadn't been very lucky in love and I couldn't fake that in my writing. I also always kept a journal and one day that no longer seemed to be enough because I had a lot to share. However, it was through my journaling that I realized I had to write about the things I knew first hand, the things that had deeply touched my life.
Q: Why did you choose to write in your particular field or genre?
A: I chose the nonfiction genre to launch my writing career because I am and always have been a perpetual student who tried to find answers to life's perplexing problems. My search led me into the metaphysical aspect of those questions and I earned a master's degree in Metaphysical Sciences. Along with that degree, the responsibility to teach and share what I had learned soon followed. And my first book was born to share those concepts. To date, I have almost as many nonfiction books published as fiction. I find that after writing a particularly dark character's story in the crime or supernatural suspense genre, it cleanses my palette by writing something uplifting and inspiring in the nonfiction genre.
As I followed what felt like a designated path to my writing career, I realized that I could share those same metaphysical qualities through the characters of my fiction stories. That knowledge spurred me to publish fiction stories about characters with supernatural or paranormal gifts as well.
Q: Does writing energize or exhaust you?
A: Writing energizes me. It is the promotion of my work that sometimes feels exhausting.
Q: Do you aim for a set amount of words/pages per day?
A: It depends on the book, but I usually break it down into number of pages that I want per chapter and the number of words in each chapter. Because my books are sold exclusively on Amazon and are in the Kindle Unlimited program, I set up my book formatting for Kindle versions from the very first page. It helps to keep me focused on my goals. For cozy mystery books, I usually want 36 chapters in that genre. If I write one thousand words per chapter, that give me a cozy mystery book of about 36,000 words that I can price at $2.99. Longer books are priced accordingly.
Q: Do you work to an outline or do you prefer to just see where an idea takes you?
A: For nonfiction books, I work with an outline. For fiction books, I already know the premise of the story and the characters, so I let the characters lead me on their journeys.
Q: Tell us about the cover/s and how they came about.
A: The covers come first for me. As soon as I know the premise of the story, I immediately design my cover for that book. It serves to inspire me as I go along with the writing process. Plus, I like to set my books up as preorders and you have to have a book cover to upload for that.
Q: Do you read your reviews and how do you feel about good/bad ones?
A: In the beginning of my writing career I read every review and rejoiced or cried over them. Now, I check the number of reviews and the star ratings and don't worry about it overly much. Yes, a particularly nasty review can still hurt my feelings but most of the time, I look at that person's other reviews to find that they are just nasty tempered and that temperament comes out in most of their reviews. As a friend once told me, "Some people would complain if you hung them with a new rope." The interpretation of that idiom is that some people are just complainers and find something to criticize no matter how good it is.
Q: What project(s) are you working on at the present time?
A: I am currently writing the eleventh book in the Becky Tibbs: A North Carolina Medium's Mystery series, A Medium's Tweet. It releases on March 30, 2022 and the story delves into the cruelty that can be exhibited by social media bullies and trolls. How will sweet Becky Tibbs's respond to such a personal attack? I also have a new psychological suspense series, Snapped, in the works and Alice's Anger is the first book in that series. It explores the reasons people snap or lose control of their emotions to do something out of character and out of the blue. Alice's Anger releases on March 1, 2022. Finally, I have a nonfiction book, A Beginner's Guide to Discovering Your Path, which is the third book in A Beginner's Personal Growth Series. With all of these WIP going on, the first quarter of 2022 will be a very busy time for me.
Q: If you could tell your younger writing self anything, what would it be?
A: I would say, "Chariss, don't fret about the things that interfere with your desire to write. Everything happens in its perfect time and you will begin your writing career when that time comes and not a second sooner or later. Just breathe."
Keep in touch with Chariss Walker at: Website: https://chariss.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CharissKWalkerAuthor
Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/Chariss-K.-Walker/e/B004QZNKRK
A: Hello Laurel, Thank you for the opportunity to share a little about my life, my writing, and my books. I currently live in Central Louisiana where my children grew up and attended school for most of their lives. We all moved away many years ago but I admit that returning to the area feels a little like coming home. Then again, I have lived many places and as I like to say, "I've seen a lot of stuff." That "stuff" gives me a lot of fodder for my writings.
Q: How long have you been writing and how long have you been publishing?
A: I've been writing for most of my life; however, my first book was published in 2008. Over the past almost fifteen years as a writer, I have written and published about seventy fiction and nonfiction books.
Q: Did you start with short stories, a novella, or a novel? And what made you decide to sit down and actually start something?
A: I knew from an early age that I would one day become a writer. In the early days, I entered writing contests and I won quite a few. I also tried my hand at writing romance novels but it never felt like a good fit for me. I hadn't been very lucky in love and I couldn't fake that in my writing. I also always kept a journal and one day that no longer seemed to be enough because I had a lot to share. However, it was through my journaling that I realized I had to write about the things I knew first hand, the things that had deeply touched my life.
Q: Why did you choose to write in your particular field or genre?
A: I chose the nonfiction genre to launch my writing career because I am and always have been a perpetual student who tried to find answers to life's perplexing problems. My search led me into the metaphysical aspect of those questions and I earned a master's degree in Metaphysical Sciences. Along with that degree, the responsibility to teach and share what I had learned soon followed. And my first book was born to share those concepts. To date, I have almost as many nonfiction books published as fiction. I find that after writing a particularly dark character's story in the crime or supernatural suspense genre, it cleanses my palette by writing something uplifting and inspiring in the nonfiction genre.
As I followed what felt like a designated path to my writing career, I realized that I could share those same metaphysical qualities through the characters of my fiction stories. That knowledge spurred me to publish fiction stories about characters with supernatural or paranormal gifts as well.
Q: Does writing energize or exhaust you?
A: Writing energizes me. It is the promotion of my work that sometimes feels exhausting.
Q: Do you aim for a set amount of words/pages per day?
A: It depends on the book, but I usually break it down into number of pages that I want per chapter and the number of words in each chapter. Because my books are sold exclusively on Amazon and are in the Kindle Unlimited program, I set up my book formatting for Kindle versions from the very first page. It helps to keep me focused on my goals. For cozy mystery books, I usually want 36 chapters in that genre. If I write one thousand words per chapter, that give me a cozy mystery book of about 36,000 words that I can price at $2.99. Longer books are priced accordingly.
Q: Do you work to an outline or do you prefer to just see where an idea takes you?
A: For nonfiction books, I work with an outline. For fiction books, I already know the premise of the story and the characters, so I let the characters lead me on their journeys.
Q: Tell us about the cover/s and how they came about.
A: The covers come first for me. As soon as I know the premise of the story, I immediately design my cover for that book. It serves to inspire me as I go along with the writing process. Plus, I like to set my books up as preorders and you have to have a book cover to upload for that.
Q: Do you read your reviews and how do you feel about good/bad ones?
A: In the beginning of my writing career I read every review and rejoiced or cried over them. Now, I check the number of reviews and the star ratings and don't worry about it overly much. Yes, a particularly nasty review can still hurt my feelings but most of the time, I look at that person's other reviews to find that they are just nasty tempered and that temperament comes out in most of their reviews. As a friend once told me, "Some people would complain if you hung them with a new rope." The interpretation of that idiom is that some people are just complainers and find something to criticize no matter how good it is.
Q: What project(s) are you working on at the present time?
A: I am currently writing the eleventh book in the Becky Tibbs: A North Carolina Medium's Mystery series, A Medium's Tweet. It releases on March 30, 2022 and the story delves into the cruelty that can be exhibited by social media bullies and trolls. How will sweet Becky Tibbs's respond to such a personal attack? I also have a new psychological suspense series, Snapped, in the works and Alice's Anger is the first book in that series. It explores the reasons people snap or lose control of their emotions to do something out of character and out of the blue. Alice's Anger releases on March 1, 2022. Finally, I have a nonfiction book, A Beginner's Guide to Discovering Your Path, which is the third book in A Beginner's Personal Growth Series. With all of these WIP going on, the first quarter of 2022 will be a very busy time for me.
Q: If you could tell your younger writing self anything, what would it be?
A: I would say, "Chariss, don't fret about the things that interfere with your desire to write. Everything happens in its perfect time and you will begin your writing career when that time comes and not a second sooner or later. Just breathe."
Keep in touch with Chariss Walker at: Website: https://chariss.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CharissKWalkerAuthor
Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/Chariss-K.-Walker/e/B004QZNKRK
