Summer Bash - Day 13!

Today I have my good friend and wonderful author Krista D. Ball joining in the party. She's so much fun. So without further ado, here she is.

1: When did you first begin writing?

When I was 12. I was given a typewriter for my homework and discovered that I preferred to write stories than do homework.

2: Where do you get your inspiration for writing from?

It sort of just comes to me. Events and circumstances mash together in my brain, twist around, and then get spit out completely different than how the raw stuff went in.

3: Do you have any rituals that help you get in the mood to sit down and write?

I pee. There isn’t a bathroom on the floor where my office is located. It’s really hard to work with a full bladder.

4: Are you a plotter or a pantser when you write? Why does that work for you?

Both, neither, a mixture. These days, my time is limited so I don’t start projects without having made some notes of where the story is going. Sometimes, I have complete chapter treatment outlines. Other times, I have three scenes that I want to show up in the story and wing how to make them go together.

5: Who are some of your favorite authors to read when you are not writing?

My favourite authors list changes all of the time. Right now, I’m enjoying Jim Butcher’s Harry Dresden series.

6: Are you currently reading anything right now?

Ill Wind by Rachel Caine.

7: How do you deal with writer’s block?

I don’t get it. I get moments of not wanting to write. I get moments of wanting to work on something else. I don’t get writer’s block. I firmly believe it doesn’t actually exist.It’s like a surgeon saying she can’t operate because she doesn’t have the motivation. No, she sucks it up and does the surgery. That’s how I treat my writing.One thing I found very helpful was when I started writing for local magazines. I am given a topic and a deadline. I don’t always feel like it, but I have to do those assignments. Otherwise, I don’t get paid and I won’t get any more work from them. When I started treating writing like a career and a job, writer’s block went away and never returned.

8: What do you like to do for fun when you’re not writing?

Fun? What is this fun thing you speak of? Is it like that “real life” people are always talking about? I’ve always wanted to see this “real life” but it sounds scary. All that face-to-face interaction.

9: If you could go anywhere in the world where would you go and why?

I’m not much of a traveler. I’ve been to a few places but I’d just rather to stay home and look after my garden. I do enjoy heading back home to Newfoundland whenever I get the chance, however.

10: What advice do you have for new authors?

Don’t submit first drafts to publishers and agents. I read slush for a Canadian publisher and I see this too often. A lot of times, new writers do several line edits on their first drafts and nothing more, never realizing that the core of the story is still very much a first draft. Only submit after you have challenged and adjusted the plot, injected personality into characters, added the six senses plus body language and sensation, and then done your line edits.

11: Tell us a bit about your book. What’s it about?

Harvest Moon is based on a fictional First Nations tribe from the Prairie Provinces in Canada. Dancing Cat allows her desperation to override her good judgement and her actions anger a powerful ancestor. She struggles to weave a path around the obstacles of friendship, identity, and longing in order to survive her eventual return home to face even further punishment.


You can follow Krista’s blog at www.kristadball.com/blog

Harvest Moon will be released Oct 1.


-- Krista D. BallDancing Cat angers her Ancestor, whose harsh punishment teaches her that true strength comes from the spirit within. ~ Harvest Moon, Coming Oct 2010Read a free sample and enjoy the adventures of a fantasy writer at http://www.kristadball.com/Tweet me!

Thank you Krista for being here. I am so looking to reading Harvest Moon. I'm part Cherokee so this excites me.:-)