Here's a little bit about Annie: Annie Douglass Lima spent most of her childhood in Kenya and later graduated from Biola University in Southern California. She and her husband Floyd currently live in Taiwan, where she teaches fifth grade at Morrison Academy. She has been writing poetry, short stories, and novels since her childhood, and to date has published twelve books (two YA action and adventure novels, four fantasies, a puppet script, and five anthologies of her students’ poetry). Besides writing, her hobbies include reading (especially fantasy and science fiction), scrap booking, and international travel.
When
did you decide to become an author?
I’ve been
writing for as long as I can recall.
When I was seven years old, I had a sudden inspiration for what I
thought was an amazing story and decided then and there that I was going to
write a book and be the world's youngest published author. I ran to my room in great excitement,
found an old notebook and a pencil, and started in. Well, that first novel was never actually finished, let
alone published, but it got me started.
After that, I can't remember a time that I wasn't working on at least
one book.
Tell
us about your journey. How did you get your first book published?
Prince of Alasia, which I
started in college, was the first book I finished that I thought was worth
trying to get published. I looked
into traditional publishing and spent a long time trying to get an agent, but
to no avail. Finally I learned
about Kindle Direct Publishing and did it myself the indie way, eleven years
after I first started writing the book.
A few months later I added the paperback edition. It was quite a thrill for me to finally
fulfill my childhood dream! Now I’ve published a total of twelve books (two YA
action and adventure novels, four fantasies, a puppet script, and five
anthologies of my students’ poetry).
Was
there ever a point when you felt like giving up?
I got discouraged when my quest for an agent didn’t pan
out. But learning about the accessibility of KDP changed everything for me!
Is
there anything about being a published author that has surprised you?
Yes, the fact that marketing is harder than writing!
Any
advice you would give to a writer just starting out?
Don’t try to write a scene
perfectly the first time or get frustrated if it doesn’t turn out as well as
you hoped. Just get your ideas on
paper in whatever rough form you need to, and never mind selecting just the
right words or fixing any mistakes.
Leave the scene alone for a few days, and when you come back to it, read
through it and smooth out the obvious errors. Repeat several times.
If possible, read it aloud to someone; that will help you hear errors or
issues you may not notice otherwise.
I’ve found that it usually takes lots of passes before I’m satisfied
with something I’ve written. Trying to make it perfect the first time is
stressful and next to impossible, at least for me.
Is
there anything else about you or your books you would like to tell us?
I’d love to tell you about my most recent
series and the world it’s set in!
The Gladiator and the
Guard is the second book in the Krillonian Chronicles, the first one
being The
Collar and the Cavvarach. The
stories take place in a world almost exactly like our own. Although most
aspects of the culture are just about what they are currently on Earth, a few
sports are different, such as the martial art known as cavvara shil. The
main difference, however, is that slavery is legal there.
The
prevalence of slavery is probably what would stand out the most to visitors
from Earth. There are nearly as many slaves in the city of Jarreon, where
both books take place, as free people, and they are easily identified by the steel
collars they are required to wear locked around their necks. From each collar hangs a tag inscribed with the slave’s
name, their owner’s name, and a copy of their owner’s signature. On the
back of the tag is their owner’s phone number and a bar code that can be
scanned to access additional information.
To read more about the
culture of the Krillonian Empire, take a look at this post on my blog.
Here’s the
back-cover blurb for The Collar and the Cavvarach :
Bensin, a teenage slave
and martial artist, is desperate to see his little sister freed. But only
victory in the Krillonian Empire's most prestigious tournament will allow him
to secretly arrange for Ellie's escape. Dangerous people are closing in on her,
however, and Bensin is running out of time. With his one hope fading
quickly away, how can Bensin save Ellie from a life of slavery and abuse?
And the
blurb for The Gladiator and the Guard :
Bensin, a teenage slave and martial artist, is just one
victory away from freedom. But after he is accused of a crime he didn’t commit,
he is condemned to the violent life and early death of a gladiator. While his
loved ones seek desperately for a way to rescue him, Bensin struggles to stay
alive and forge an identity in an environment designed to strip it from him.
When he infuriates the authorities with his choices, he knows he is running out
of time. Can he stand against the cruelty of the arena system and seize his freedom before that
system crushes him?
Thanks for visiting my blog, Annie. Good luck with the books!
