Introducing: YA Author Angela Carlie interview & giveaway (YA Feature #7)

Hey this week's YA to feature on the blog is Angela Carlie, author of Dream Smashers, Lands of Corn Chips and upcoming novel, Loramendi's Story. Please welcome Angela to Reading Away The Days by commenting and if your interested purchasing a copy of one or both of her awesome novels!

A short description of Dream Smashers:

Dream Smashers, a YA contemporary (March, 2011), is for mature readers. It's a coming of age story about a girl struggling with destructive relationships in her life. Specifically, the relationship with her meth addicted mother. Dream Smashers is also a story of first love and lasting friendships.

A short description of Land of Corn Chips:

Land of Corn Chips is an action packed novel for ages 8 and up (May, 2011). Eleven-year-old Nate Hansen never believed in dragons before an eccentric man with a purple-feather hat kidnaps him. Spirited to the Land of Corn Chips on the back of a mechanical yellow dragon, Nate must find a way to avoid being ground into compost. His only hope of escape is to earn the friendship of the local wrestling gang and zombie kids, and to believe in a parent he no longer trusts.

A short description of Loramendi's story:


A YA urban fantasy eBook, Loramendi's Story, will be available in August. It's the first book in the Lords of Shifters novels. Lora wants nothing more than to be the wind behind sexy windsurfer Chance's sails. But fulfilling that wish just became...complicated. After seventeen years of normal life, someone wants Lora and her family dead. And the attempted massacre isn't nearly as strange as the reason behind it.

Angela's writing journey so far:

My life is a constant struggle with ideas. I love them. The idea of having a beautiful garden, of being a super-star mom with a handful of kidlets, and the idea of cooking scrumptious meals every evening. The fact is, I hate gardening, I'm an average parent of one child, and cooking and I don't get along.

I've also always been in love with the idea of being a novelist and have tried to write full-length novels several times in the past and then gave up halfway through the process. It wasn't until 2008 that I actually finished one of those novels. Of course it wasn't truly finished and went under several rewrites and has been edited and critiqued by many groups of peeps. That book may never be read by the public, but it gave me the motivation to write more novels.


*Where did you get the idea for Dream Smashers?

Of all the stories I've read dealing with addiction, they always portray the addict as the victim or are told from the addicts point of view. But what about the other victims? The people who don't have a choice in the matter, the family, friends, children? I wanted to write story for them, especially for the children of addicts, to show them that even though it may not feel like they have a choice in the matter, they do. Sometimes letting go is the hardest thing to do, but sometimes it's all you can do. And that's okay.

My family has had its fair share of addiction. A close relative in particular has been a meth addict for over twenty years. This helped shape the idea of writing Dream Smashers and who my target audience should be.

*Dream Smasher's is part love story! I love, love stories in novels.  Do you think a love story is essential in any good read or not?

That's kind of a deep question. ;) I think all stories have a love story in them. It may not be the type of love you're talking about here, but essentially all human relationships involve love. So, I guess, the answer would be yes.

*Where did the idea for The Land of Corn Chips come from?

I originally wrote Land of Corn Chips for my son. He's not a big reader and I had hoped that if I wrote a story with elements he was interested in, he'd enjoy reading it. He did!

The idea came from so many different sources: sitting through pee wee football practice day after day, watching WWE every Monday and Wednesday nights with my son, and previously working at a chip factory are just a few of the inspirations for this novel.

*The Land of Corn Chips is very different to Dream Smasher's! Do you like to write different genres and mix it up with each book?

I do enjoy challenges, but love writing fantasy type novels even more. I hope to spend time writing in this genre in the future.

*Are you working on any other projects at the moment?


Yes! I'll be working on the other novels in the Lords of Shifters series along with another YA urban fantasy series that will be released simultaneously with Lords of Shifters. More information on that will come in the near future. It's going to be a blast! I can't wait to share it.

*What is the hardest thing about being an author?

Time management. Working full-time, raising a son, and all the other normal everyday responsibilities leave very little time for writing let alone editing, critiquing, networking, marketing, and every thing else required of an author who wants to reach out to an audience.

*Do you have any advise for aspiring authors?

The one thing I'd recommend is to get involved with a critique group of some kind. Have your work read by every willing writer/editor type person you can find. You don't have to take the advice given, but listen to it and acknowledge that there are different ways to tell your story. If the same issues come up with different readers, definitely take those issues into consideration.

Finally some quick fire questions:

*Summer or Winter?Winter
*Night or day?Night

*Movies or Music?Movies

*Fiction or Non-fiction?Fiction

*Favourite colour?Hooloovoo

*Favourite place to write?Earth

*Favourite holiday destination?Maui, HI and Leavenworth, WA

*Favourite book?There are too many to have one favorite.

Land of Corn Chips is available now as well as Dream Smashers

For more information on Angela's novels please visit Angela's website and blog: http://angelacarlie.blogspot.com/ or http://angelacarlie.com/

You may also visit DarkSide Publishing for other great reads: http://darksidepublishing.com/

Giveaway

Angela has kindly offered an Ebook of her YA novel Dream Smashers!

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-Giveaway Ends: 15th July
-Giveaway sponsored by Angela Carlie