Interview/Giveaway: I WANT IT THAT WAY by Ann Aguirre

I’m so excited to be part of Ann Aguirre’s Blog Tour for I WANT IT THAT WAY, and have her as a guest today. Ann stopped by for an interview, so check out her fantastic Q&A below and be sure to enter the giveaway!

[Read the First Chapter HERE!]

Q&A with Ann Aguirre

In the length of a tweet (140 characters), tell us about your book.

Sometimes love has terrible timing, but it happens when it happens. You can’t know what you truly need until you stand to lose it.

Which authors have influenced you most?

In college, I discovered romance and fantasy could work together when I read Sharon Shinn for the first time. So clearly I can remember how I felt when I discovered her books for the first time. I was in a dungeon of a shop in Muncie, Indiana. I didn’t really want to be there because, frankly, they sold gaming stuff: Dungeons and Dragons, sourcebooks, dice, graph paper, and pewter miniatures. I wanted to be in a proper bookstore because I had a little money to spend. (My part-time job as a pharmacy tech paid all of $4 an hour.) But I had gamer friends (and I played too, but my great love has always been books), so I was hanging around the store, waiting for them. As I wandered, I eventually came upon a wire book rack. It mostly had TSR novels (Drizzt, Forgotten Realms, Dragonlance) and maybe a few White Wolf stories. I was spinning it listlessly when this fey cover art caught my eye.

Hm, what’s this? I asked myself, plucking the book from the rack. The Shapechanger’s Wife. I read the back and it sounded wonderful, so I bought it at once. While they finished shopping, I hugged the paper bag to my chest and couldn’t wait to get home to start reading. In short, I devoured that one in a few hours and then from that point on, I would buy whatever she released, even if I had to dine on ramen… or nothing at all.

The coolest thing about Sharon Shinn is that so many years later, I’ve had the pleasure of her reading my book for a blurb—and then I met her. After that, I cried tears of pure joy over a dream come true. It’s so wonderful when your idols turn out to be even more amazing than you dreamed. As of now, we’ve gotten together multiple times and I have the pleasure of calling her my friend.

Who or what inspired you to become an author?

When I was eight, I wrote a story for a school writing competition called The Mystery of the Gold Doubloon. This seminal, self-illustrated work was about two best friends who went to Florida on vacation and busted an illegal treasure hunting ring. I won the contest. I went to the state finals and met Shel Silverstein, who read to a bunch of us from Where the Sidewalk Ends. In that moment, sitting on my square of carpet, I thought, they pay him for his words. this is what I want to do. Later that same year, my teacher told me writing wasn’t a real job and I should pick something else. As it turns out, I am stubborn beyond the point of common sense, as I never did choose another career.

If you were not a writer, what would you like to do?

Writing is the best job in the world. I’m really not sure what else I would like to do since I’m already doing my dream job.

Tell us your most rewarding experience since being published.

Since it took me twenty years to get published, each time a reader reaches out to tell me they enjoyed something I wrote, or that my book spoke them? It feels like a miracle. Each email, each Tweet, is precious, remarkable. I’m the girl who grew up in a farming town, across from a cornfield, where people hoped for jobs in factories, on assembly lines or in the steel mills. Instead, I build worlds and spin dreams for a living. Can you imagine anything more wondrous? I can’t; I never once had another dream, not since I was eight years old and won an opportunity to hear Shel Silverstein read from Where the Sidewalk Ends.

But I suspect you want a specific anecdote. The story that sticks in my mind is an email from a young man, who had been arrested for a crime he didn’t commit. In his email, he said he had always been a good kid, and he kept thinking it was all a terrible mistake–that he’d be released soon. During that awful time, his dad brought him a copy of Grimspace. Which he read repeatedly, over and over, to keep him sane while he was incarcerated. He said he read it until the pages fell out. Eventually, the police found the real culprit, and this reader was released. He told me he ran to the bookstore and spent his last few dollars on Wanderlust because he was so invested in Jax; her struggles had become his. She (and I) kept him sane during the worst moments of his life. He’s now gainfully employed, engaged. Happy.

There’s nothing I can add to that. I only ever wanted to entertain a few people. If I’ve done more, if I’ve offered respite or comfort as well, then I am overwhelmed. I am so honored that a reader would turn to me to transcend his or her life for a little while.

But really, all emails move me. As I’ve said before, without my readers, I’m a woman alone with my keyboard.

Are you working on something new? Can you tell us what’s coming next?

Including I Want it That Way, I have 5 books releasing in 5 months.

Mortal Danger, the first in my new YA horror trilogy released earlier in August. Havoc, book 2 in the Dred Chronicles, will be out on August 26th.

The next two books in that 2B trilogy, As Long As You Love Me and The Shape of My Heart, will be out in September and November.

I’m currently writing the sequel to Mortal Danger, tentatively entitled Public Enemies.

Where is your favorite place to write?

Home. I write in my office, on the patio swing, love seat or in bed. Those are the best places for me.

How do you overcome writer’s block?

First, don’t call it writer’s block. There’s really no such thing.

If you’re stuck in a book or story, in my experience, it means your brain is telling you there’s something askew with what you’ve already written. If you can’t figure out what, then maybe it’s time to step away from this project and let it rest until you do know. Otherwise, you’ll just spend hours banging your head on a wall. I don’t recommend not working at all, however. The cure for not writing is writing.

The best cure is to write something else. It could be a poem, a short story, a project you’ve been dreaming about. The point is to rediscover the fun and passion. Most times, once you relax, and you’re enjoying your work again, your brain will then sneakily puzzle out what’s wrong with the other WiP, which you can return to when you feel like it.  Also, don’t be afraid to ask for help with your projects. Your friends and family members may be able to think of a solution to your problem.

About Ann Aguirre

Many thanks to Ann Aguire and InkSlinger PR for having me as part of the I WANT IT THAT WAY Blog Tour! I loved reading your answers, Ann. 🙂 Readers, enter the giveaway below and follow the tour for more chances to win.

Giveaway

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