April Brown

If you're a writer, you know that it takes a lot of dedication and determination to finish the novel that's in your head. It's so easy to get distracted with the things of life and just toss the novel aside for a while. Yep, I'm guilty of that.

April Brown, whom I interviewed a while back, has had more determination than anyone I've ever known. Read the interview to find out why.

AJ: Tell us about and a little about your background that led you to be a writer.

AB: Even as a teen I wanted to be a writer. I finally destroyed that first book when I reached 30, and was stuck in the workaholic cogwheel world, unable to find a living wage even with a college degree.

A few years later, I wished I still had it. I was in a new home, new relationship, and my physical health had deteriorated to the point I could no longer work. By that time, I had had more than a dozen former

employers and supervisors tell me to quit working, write a book, and I'd be rich and famous in no time.

So, I dipped back into re-learning how to read. And write. My first book, a 40,000 novella took five years to write. Even 250 words was a challenge. As my writing improved, my hearing left, and then my vision clouded over. So now, I'm a deaf-blind writer, and fine most of the time. Except when my body doesn't even want to walk, eat, sleep, or anything else. I'm still writing, when not marketing.

AJ: How many books have you written?

AB: Depends on how you count it.

Amazon says 17. However, My Coffee, Tea, and Gluten Free: The Cookbook was once only one book. However, to print it, I had to break it into 3 - hence - Desserts and Grains, Meats, and Vegetables. And on Instafreebie, there is a companion Resources only book.

Trails 5 is complete. However, it won't be published until I finish Trails 6. Sister novels tend to needs a little wrap editing to make them work together before they are published.

I also made boxed set pairs of Trails 1and 2, and a second box of Trails 3 and 4.

I have a eBook of three paranormal short stories. However, they may eventually be folded into the book with the rest of my short stories that I have worked on more this year. If I can stop coming up with new ones!

Oh, and I once wrote a Memory Loss book that I kept for me, and shared with Fibro friends. I pulled out the workbook, and made it into Journey Through Life Lists.

AJ: In what genre would you classify your works?

AB: The Coffee, Tea, and Gluten Free group are all specialty cookbooks. Coffee, Tea, and Gluten Free: Learning to Live Gluten Free and Crosswinds: Past, Present and Future combine are closer to coming of age tales.

Journey Through Life Lists is self help - memory loss. Voice-over With the Brailliant Braille Display is self help, specialty computer training for the newly deaf-blind.

The Trails Series is post apocalyptic with geologic and social implications; The Stork Mis-Delivered - Twice and Bending the Bars sister novels of abuse survival.

My short stories run the gamut - paranormal, science fiction, and maybe one fantasy.

AJ: Do you work from an outline, or do you prefer to see where the story leads you?

AB: Generally, the story finds me, and I am simply putting the words on paper. It may percolate for years.

AJ: Do you have any interesting writing quirks? If so, how does it help your writing?

AB: Organization. If it's not organized, I can't focus on writing. I had a great system for years. After I lost my vision, I moved to Scrivener.

AJ: What do you like to do when you’re not writing?

AB: I also have cats and dogs, like to cook, sew, quilt, garden, and go for long walks in the park.

AJ: What’s your favorite book by your favorite author? And, why?

AB: Charles Dickens - David Copperfield. After my brain injuries in my 20's, I had lost the ability to read or write much and all of my editing knowledge. Now, when I was 15, or so, I read David Copperfield in three days. Without sleep. I did not feel fully ready to call myself a writer again, until I could read it. I tried two or three times. I cried over words I could no longer pronounce. The book that I had once been able to recite from was like a distant memory. Finally, I made it through. It took almost a month.

AJ: What do you do to get book reviews?

AB: I haven't had much luck with reviews. I haven't had many sales either. Except to a few close friends.

AJ: Have you been able to travel for your writing? If so, what was the most exciting place you visited? If not, what would be one place you would choose to visit and write about?

AB: Not really. On a trip to the in-laws, we stopped and took a couple of pictures for a book cover. One trip though was to a horse park. I used a lot of information from that tour in Coffee, Tea, and Gluten Free: Learning to Live Gluten Free.

AJ: How can readers discover more about you?

AB: My books live on dedicated to UncoveredMyths sites - Uncovering the societal myths we hide behind.

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