Thank you, Carlyle,
for inviting me to guest on your blog today, it's great to be here.
My name is Alison
Pensy and I am the author of the Custodian Novels series, a young adult urban
fantasy series set in England (and several other realms). I also write New
Adult romance under the pen name of Adrianna Blakeley. I chose to use a pen
name for my adult books because I didn't want my younger readers accidentally
downloading a book that was inappropriate for them. I'm originally from England
but now live in the Mid West United States with my hubby and various
four-legged friends.
I started my writing
journey back in 2006, although, the idea that I wanted to write a book stemmed
all the way back to 1989 after I had backpacked around Australia for nine
months at the age of twenty. I wanted to write a book about my adventures in Oz
but didn't want it to be a memoir, who would want to read that? So, the idea
was shelved for a long time until I had a light bulb moment and realized I
could write a romance novel using my adventures as a back drop…which I did.
I self-pubbed that
book back in 2006 and sold a few paper copies (it was just before the e-book
revolution) but soon after, I took the book off sale and filed it in the back
of a draw. In 2012, I re-wrote it, gave it a new title and published it as an
e-book. By this time, I had been bitten by the writing bug. In 2009, I had the
idea to write a fantasy novel, drawing the inspiration from an urban legend
surrounding an old church in the village where I grew up. From this blossomed
four books, so far, and another is in the works.
From what I have
read, I'm not your typical author. I have read so many articles and blogs by
authors and 'professionals' who say you have to write every day. At first I
tried to do this, feeling incredibly guilty and lazy if I didn't, but after a
while I realized that this way of writing just wasn't working for me. If I
tried to force it, nothing came and what did transfer to the page sounded
forced. Also, I was writing as a hobby, something to get me out of the real
world, not put me under even more pressure…running my own tax & accounting
business was capable of doing that all by itself.
I decided to give
myself permission to write when I wanted to write and not force myself to put
words on a page every day. There have been times when I've gone months without
writing a word in my WIP, then I will get a spark of inspiration and my fingers
will fly across the keyboard for days. As with a lot of authors, my writing is
helped along by music. I have a huge playlist of songs I've downloaded over the
years to help me write various scenes, everything from light pop to heavy
classical depending on what I'm writing.
One of the craziest
things that has happened on my author journey is that the characters I created
have taken on lives of their own. If I weren't an author, I'm sure the men in
white coats would have taken me away by now. I find myself thinking about them
as if they are real people. They talk to each other in my head, so much so, I
sometimes feel bad for eavesdropping. Mostly though, I just grab a pad and
pencil and jot it all down to be used in a scene later.
Another thing I have
learned in my journey is to create a series bible. I didn't realize how
important this was until book 3. It gets complicated after adding more
characters as the story progressed and then trying to remember what eye color a
certain character had or whether a certain character had facial hair or not. I
found myself having to read through my own books to figure out who did what and
when so I could keep everything consistent. This was not something I'd thought
to do in the beginning and I paid the price by book 3.
This is just a
glimpse into my writing world. Every author has a slightly different way that
works for them and I have to admit to being a tad envious of the author who can
sit her bum in a chair and write every day. Maybe, one day, that will be me,
too.
If you would like to
know more about me and my books, please check out my website:
My books are
available at most e-book retailers including these:
THANK YOU FOR STOPPING BY!
