Amanda Meredith
About the Author
I’m a wife, mother, amateur zoo-keeper, author, blogger, and wanna-be Betty Crocker from Central Illinois. I love to write, specifically romance, though I am working on a children’s picture book series. I’m also addicted to Pinterest, but who isn’t? My blog consists of writing tips and advice, author interviews and reviews, and other random bits of awesomeness. This year I plan on releasing my children’s book, attending my first major author event, and welcoming our third child into the world. I’m not sure which of those is going to be the craziest thing I do in 2016.
When and Why did you start to write?
I started writing in the second half of first grade. Before that, I was going to get held back because I just couldn’t read and write. But thanks to an amazing teacher who devoted a lot of time to finding the right ways to get me to WANT to read and write, I became one of the best in the class. I ended up writing my first story for the Young Author’s contest that year and won runner up out of the entire school (K-6). Since then, I’ve been writing and reading like it’s the only thing I CAN do. 🙂
Now, writing is a way for me to help others find that place where they discover a book (or genre) that takes them to another world, helps them forget about their problems, makes them happy, changes their life. If anything I write does that, for even one person, I consider myself a success.
What authors do you always read or suggest to others?
My list is endless. I’m a big supporter of finding the books or genres that speak to you personally. A lot of kids have problems, or no interest, in reading because they are forced to read books they aren’t interested in. My son loved to read books on dinosaurs at an early age. He didn’t have much interest in anything else. So that’s what he got the most of. I kid you not, he was reading paleontology books from the adult science section by nine years old. And he loved it. He’s now moved on to chapter books spanning multiple genres from Diary of a Wimpy Kid to Harry Potter. He loves to read. And part of that comes from being able to read what he enjoyed from a young age.
I was the same way as a child. Horse books were my epiphany. Marguerite Henry especially. But once I hit Jr High, I had moved on to JRR Tolkien, CS Lewis, even Nora Roberts (don’t tell my mom I read romance that early, lol).
Now I stick to genres instead of authors, so I know I’m not missing out on any hidden gems by new/unknown authors. I used to read specific to romance, but now, I don’t limit myself to any one category, and I suggest other authors and readers do the same. You never know what you’ll find or what inspires you.
What is the most surprising thing you have found out with the writing process?
It moves at its’ own pace. There’s tons of websites and books, even a whole month of the year, devoted to writing a novel, in a short period of time. But I’ve found that deadlines and expectations can create forced writing and forced writing is not good writing. I’m a firm believer in writing what you feel and you can’t invent feelings if you just aren’t having any. I’ll sometimes go weeks without inspiration to write, then all of a sudden it hits me and I can’t stop. I’ve written 50K words in the span of a few days before. And when I read back through it, it felt natural and right. I’d rather take as much time as I need to write a novel that flows naturally, then force myself to write a certain amount of words a day and find half of them to be lacking in everything that makes a novel good. Which is also why I chose self-publishing. I make my own deadlines, which are usually non-existent, and have all the time I need to create my story without anyone breathing down my neck. The freedom of it keeps those creative juices flowing.
What are you working on now?
I’m the type of person that has too many irons in the fire… all the time. My next project due out is a children’s picture book that will be in the Zoo Adventures Series. The first story will be Manda Panda’s Tummy Ache, which is a remake of the book I wrote way back in first grade. I’m also working on two different contemporary romances, and a historical romance.
If I don’t feel like drawing, but I’m on a historical kick, I get out my historical romance. If I’m inspired by something in the now, I’ll pull out the contemporary romance. If I feel like not writing at all but want to be artistic, I pull out the children’s book. Add to that, I have a dozen notes on my iPhone of book ideas that popped into my head. I write them down so I can go back to them later.
When writing are you a pantser or plotter?
Definitely a panster. I tried writing a general outline for my Irish Treasures Saga and gave up before I’d gotten the first book plotted out. It took all the fun out of writing for me. It was hard enough doing character charts/family tree/relationship tree to help keep track of the plethora of characters.
I write when I feel it. So that means I might write the end of the story before I’ve even started the beginning. I might have the middle all written out with nothing on either end. I might skip from one thing to another. It sounds crazy, and if you’re a plotter, you’ll definitely be wondering how I manage to write anything to completion, but it works.
Write the way that works best for you. Everyone’s brain work in different ways. Find the way that speaks to you and go for it. 🙂
Social Links
Website http://www.authoramandameredith.com/
Blog http://authoramandameredith.blogspot.com/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/authoramanda.meredith
Facebook Author Page https://www.facebook.com/AmandaMeredithAuthor/?ref=tn_tnmn
Twitter https://twitter.com/AuthorAMeredith
Google+ google.com/+AmandaMeredithAuthor
Pinterest https://www.pinterest.com/AuthorAMeredith/
Flickr https://www.flickr.com/people/124160955@N03/
Tumblr https://www.tumblr.com/blog/authoramandameredith
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/authorameredith/
Deviant Art http://authoramandameredith.deviantart.com/
Author Central http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00DQQ9FWY
Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/httpAuthorAmandaMeredith
Shelfari http://www.shelfari.com/o1514702115
Buy Links
You can find print and eBook versions on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00DQQ9FWY
You can order print books straight from the printer from Createspace https://www.createspace.com/pub/simplesitesearch.search.do?sitesearch_query=1394803&sitesearch_type=STORE
You can also order print from Barnes & Noble http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/%22Amanda%20Meredith%22?Ntk=P_key_Contributor_List&Ns=P_Sales_Rank&Ntx=mode+matchall