This month’s guest author is H.M. Gooden who writes young adult, fantasy and paranormal novels. Her first release was Dream of Darkness. She is a full-time worker bee, mother and writer by the wee hours of the day. Even with her busy life, she still finds time to write her trilogy and beyond, Let’s learn more about that and welcome H.M. Gooden to the blog!
Thank you for joining us H.M. Gooden, can you give us a brief introduction to yourself?
Thank you for having me!
I am a married mother of four children, the oldest just turned 16 and the youngest just turned 4, I work full time in the health field, which I love, but can sometimes be draining.
I started writing again after a very long break during my education and early career and family years, and picked it up again after my youngest was born. I had been saying I would write a book “one day” and maybe it was being up at all hours of the night that made me just crazy enough to start but I did, and now here I am, loving every moment of it!
Since your first novel release, Dream of Darkness, you have a total of ten books. Impressive! A lot of writers struggle to find time, how do you balance writing with life?
It is more of a juggling act or a teeter-totter than actual balance haha! I sometimes can’t squeeze in even a free second, and other times I find my brain is too full with all my responsibilities. Mostly, I do at least 15-30 min of writing a day in the “edges” as it were. Either very early, very late, or while driving.
Can you share a bit about your writing process that allows you to write so effectively?
Dictation has been a life saver or perhaps has made my life crazier, I’m still unsure which it is! I can now easily get through a first draft in about a month or so, as I do it during my commute and can sometimes get 5-10,000 words in if things are flowing. But the problem of course is I still don’t have more time to complete the edits, and that means I have about 10 more books I need to finish edits and final drafts for!
Tell us about your latest novel, The Raven and the Witch Hunter: Honeymoon and Full Moon Blues?
This book was fun to write. It combined two of my favorite characters with France, a country that I love. I used real events from history that had a spookiness I enjoyed and created this as a consequence. What is better than a Honeymoon in France? Fighting supernatural evil of course!
You currently have three series, do you have a new one in the works or will you keep developing these storylines?
Oh, I have three in the works right now. One series is a spin-off from book 4 of the Rise of the Light, which will hopefully launch this fall. I’ve also drafted out another two series that take place in the same original town as my Rise of the Light series. I hadn’t planned to do it, but it seems as I’ve created a world of my own.
Back to the writing and time, what pushed you to take your writing from just a draft, to where you are at today?
My strongest motivation was likely that I would be one of those people who regretted not doing something when I died. I like to think that I can do anything I put my mind to, and writing is one of those things. I don’t want to sit back and say one day anymore- I’m far too busy to put it on the tomorrow to-do list these days, and regret is too time consuming. In my line of work I see too many people who have died full of sadness over the things they’ve never tried, and very few full of regret for trying and failing.
Let’s thank H.M. Gooden for joining us again to the blog!
You can find her work on her website, amazon, and the various links below:
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