Moving is for the young, both of heart and back. When you downsize at the same time after being in the same place for twenty-five years, what was "important" and "special" is viewed in a different manner as you grow older. High school yearbooks have comments from people you haven't seen in decades, and sometimes from people you never knew very well then and definitely don't remember now. The nicky-knacky stuff accumulated through the years looks just as good in a picture than taking up space on a shelf. The possessions we treasure shift from the physical to the spiritual. The memories we cherish are now of family we have been blessed to create as well as of friends we've met long after high school ended.
Major shifts in one's life always causes reflection. It forces one to reorder life. Refocus. On the things that matter most. Then, when you add global events, like COVID, it just adds another layer of eternal introspection and inspection.
For those of us who write, becoming a "published author" is a dream all writers have. It's a process many people say they want to complete but never do. To type the words "The End" is the first major hurdle. But there is so much more to follow after that moment. Editing and re-editing. Finding and agent. Finding a publisher. Attending writing conferences. Growing in the craft to become a better writer. Marketing. Etc. Etc. So many people never get to "The End." SO, when a person does, and then he or she begins the walk toward publication and finally accomplishes that, it is a major one, to be sure. Many manuscripts, although finished, never make the cut.
That's why I like doing what I do on this blog, introducing you, the reader, to other authors you may or may not have heard of before. They've persevered. They've spent the time and resources to get to this moment in time.
Amy, let's kick this off Florida Front Porch style. Give us a quick bio. In fifty words or less, who is Amy Anguish?
Christian, wife, mommy, author, preschool teacher, preacher’s daughter, Bible class teacher, book reader, tea drinker, crafter, gardener, cat-lover, Southerner, wearer of fun socks who sometimes has pink streaks in her hair.
What makes you cringe?
Rude drivers (think here of people who speed in a school zone or pass in a non-passing zone putting others at risk).
Also, people who use “I” instead of “me” or vice versa where
it should be the other. Really, any grammatical error makes me cringe a bit, so
social media isn’t always the best place for me to spend time. 😊
I should probably go back and fix the sentence that ends in a preposition, huh? Eh, we're informal here on the front porch.
Everybody seems to have a bucket list. Do you? If so, what’s on it? If not, why not?
I
don’t know that I have an official bucket list, per se, but I do have some
things I would like to do if possible. I’d love to take a cross-country train
ride, do a road trip from one end of Route 66 to the other (Chicago to
California, although the road doesn’t even exist all the way anymore). See all
fifty states (and we’re not just talking the inside of an airport). If
possible, see at least a little of Europe, although that dream is becoming less
important with age. Finish the quilt I started back in high school that keeps
getting set aside for other projects (for the record, I’ve made multiple quilts
since I started that one).
We want to do the Route 66 trip too. I want to hit all the bar-b-que places along the way. So, if we do it, I should probably walk Route 66 instead of drive. Ha!
Besides storytelling, what talents do you have?
I like to call myself a Jill-of-all-trades, although it’s not completely true. I am super crafty, though. My mom, aunt, and grandma made sure I had all sorts of ways to be creative. I can sew, embroider and cross stitch, crochet, quilt, paint, make jewelry, scrapbook/stamp, and have even come up with my own patterns for a few things. My poor husband has to give up half the bedroom and a big part of the garage for all my supplies.
Based on the different personality profiles out there (Meyers-Briggs, etc.), what profile was the latest one you took, and what were the results?
I am one of the few people who hate personality
profiles. I’ve been around a lot of friends lately who are obsessed with which
number personality they supposedly have, but whenever I try to take one of the
tests, I second-guess myself and never trust the results. Did I make the
results say I was that number by choosing what I thought was the right answer,
or is that really who I am? Plus, I find my personality doesn’t fit perfectly
into just one slot, but has aspects of several of the numbers. Maybe I’m a
rebel. 😉
Of all the stories/books you have written, which one is your favorite? And what compelled you to write this story?
I’m going to cheat and tell you about two, because each of them means a lot to me for how it worked through different struggles.
My book, Faith & Hope, was written while I was in the
middle of an infertility struggle and wasn’t sure we’d ever be able to have
children (we have two now). By writing my character Faith going through a
similar circumstance, I was able to tie in some of my own emotions and
struggles and insecurities, and not only create a moving story, but also
release some of those problems into my writing.
My upcoming release, No Place Like Home, is sort of my
“could have been me” story. It’s about a preacher’s daughter who left the faith
when she moved away. She chose the opposite of me, but it would have been very
easy for me to do the same, and it’s a way I worked through some of the
remaining emotions and hurt from some things that happened with my family
growing up.
Do you ever receive negative reviews from readers? If so, how do you respond when you see them?
I haven’t had any really negative public reviews,
but in the comments of one judge from a contest I entered years ago, I saw
“characters go to church A LOT.” It made me blink, for sure. I mean, my
characters were Christians, so I’m not sure what she was expecting. I didn’t
have them attending services any more than I do myself.
Tell us about what project you are currently working on.
I am in the middle of multiple projects. I’m working
on a proposal for a novella to be in a collection with three other authors, all
in a different season. Think small-town main street festival with a Hallmark
feel.
I just finished writing a book set in college where a girl
has reserved the wedding chapel, but doesn’t have a groom. I’ll edit it down
the road sometime.
And I’m getting ready to write another book in a few months
which will be the third of a trilogy I’m calling Road Trip Romances. Hoping to
hear back about my proposal for that soon.
As a writer, what is “success” to you? And has that “definition” changed over time as you have traveled down the writer’s path?
I never knew how amazing it would be to have someone tell me I made them cry. Sounds crazy, doesn’t it? But the first time someone mentioned that their book made them cry, or that they stayed up until the wee small hours to finish reading it because they couldn’t put it down...my heart sang! Because it meant my story had sucked them in and entranced them as much as it did me when I was writing it. Success is being able to weave God into stories that do that, and show His love through my fiction.
If you had one person you could meet (think outside the Bible here) and could spend as much time as you wanted with that individual, who would it be?
Jane Austen. To be such an amazing author in a time period when it was not easy to be published as a woman. Or even as a novelist, because a lot of people considered novels to be frivolous and wasteful back then. Man. I’d love to talk to her and ask how she kept up the courage and didn’t get discouraged.
What’s the craziest thing you have ever done?
I lead a fairly tame life. My craziest thing to do was put hot pink streaks in my hair a few years ago. And now I try to do it again every few years, because not only do I love it, but my husband does too.
When you are looking for a book to read, what are the things that are important to you?
I discover a lot of authors through freebies, and I’ll be honest, the cover doesn’t always draw me in. Sometimes, the title catches my eye, but most often it’s the blurb that helps me decide if I’m going to read them or not. If I like their stories, I’ll go read more. The story has to be well-edited, and make me want to keep reading, in order for me to go looking for more of their books. Otherwise, I’ll move on to another author. I find having gone through the editing process several times now has ruined me to read without having an eye for catching mistakes. It’s a blessing and a curse.
Isn't it? Same goes for watching movies or TV shows. I don't know how any times I sit there and say, "That would never happen..."
Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers about you, or anything we didn’t cover?
I have a tendency to give my characters pieces of myself, as I’m sure most authors do. A lot of the tendencies seem to be about food—whatever that means. My first heroine in An Unexpected Legacy drank chocolate smoothies, no fruit included. I love Tex-Mex like the younger sister in Faith & Hope. I dip my fries in gravy like my characters in Saving Grace. In Writing Home, I gave her my love of Christmas lights and snow. In No Place Like Home (coming in Dec. 2021), my character loves old movies, especially Meet Me in St Louis, my favorite.
I've not heard of that movie. I'll have to check it out.
Amy, thank you for spending time with us today.
Dear readers, if you wish to connect with Amy and her writing, you can learn more at the following locations:
http://abitofanguish.weebly.com
http://www.facebook.com/amyanguishauthor
https://twitter.com/amy_r_anguish
Learn
more about her books at https://www.pinterest.com/msguish/my-books/
And
check out the YouTube channel Amy does with two other authors, "Once Upon a Page" @ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEiu-jq-KE-VMIjbtmGLbJA
Kevin
PS - We also have a special announcement! Kevin's latest novel, The Letters, was recently announced as a finalist in the 2021 BRMCWC Selah Awards in the Speculative Fiction category!
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