Aspiring Author Interview with Rachel Morgan

Okay guys, today is a special interview, because it's my first one with a writer from 'across the pond'.  Today is with Rachel Morgan of Rachel Morgan Writes.  Yep, I have no idea what time it is where she lives, but it's definitely not 8 am.  Which it is here.  In the US.  Which is not where Rachel is from.  She is from South Africa which is WAY far away and sounds like a whole other world.

Which means she kinda lives in the future.  Because I'm writing this post at 7:45 pm on Wednesday night and it's 3:45 am Thursday morning for her.  WHOA.  That totally  just blew your mind, didn't it?

Anywho, you'll also experience a little deja vu when you click over to her blog.  I won't tell you what it is, but I think you'll get a kick out of the little glitch in the matrix you'll encounter when you look at her page.

Rachel is a very dedicated blogger, teacher and writer.  She blogs every day of the week (I have no idea how she does it with a full time job!) and teaches math at a high school.  I know, a writer that teaches math- total oxymoron.  But so cool!

Here is her wonderful interview (plus some super cool buttons she gave me for you to clicky.  Please clicky on them because I am attempting to put the codes directly into my html thinger and that's some pretty crazy computerizing for me)

1. Tell us the scoop on how you got into writing novels.

Well, (wait for it, surprise, surprise...) I’ve always wanted to be an author :-) But by the time I reached my teens I had kinda told myself that it wasn’t a sensible option for a career. Writing books, I decided, was something people did in their spare time/when they got old and retired. So it took me all the way until doing my masters in Biochemistry to figure out while reading TWILIGHT(!), “You know what? I don’t actually want to be here. I can totally do this YA-paranormal-love-story-fantasy-novel-writing thing!” So I quit the masters, found a job to support myself, and here I am (still plodding along, but getting there slowly...).

2. What genre do you write?

YA fantasy and YA paranormal romance (and I recently discovered that another genre I want to write for actually has a name – New Adult :-))

3. What authors inspire you?

My top two are JK Rowling (duh!) and Cassandra Clare. I read their books not only for enjoyment but also as “manuals” on how to write epically awesome novels!

4. How often do you write?

*guilty before even answering* Ok, I wish I could say every day, but I’m a teacher and sometimes there is just too much marking/lesson prep/other random teacherly stuff to be done. So... then I’ll try and at least get some writing done on the weekend!

5. Are you a plotter or a pantser?

Um... 60-plotter-40-pantser! I have a rough plan for most major scenes and then along the way the others just kind of... happen (and I like to jump around sometimes and write whichever scene I’m in the mood for, even if it’s not in order).

6. Where do you write best, and do you listen to music while you write?

Sitting on my bed with my laptop on a tray on my legs :-) (and a good storm outside would make the setting even more perfect!) I find music to be an incredible inspiration and specific songs have inspired scenes and characters and stories, but I just can’t write while it’s on. So if I need inspiration I’ll stop writing and put on a song, but then it has to go off again so I can write!

7. What is on your TBR pile?

CITY OF FALLEN ANGELS (Cassandra Clare) is at the top, top, top! Then there’s also ANNA AND THE FRENCH KISS (Stephanie Perkins), ANGELFIRE (Courtney Allison Moulton), ABANDON (Meg Cabot) and WARPED (Maurissa Guibord).

8. If Stephanie Meyer and JK Rowling got in a cat fight, who would win?

Come on. JK all the way! She has gotta have WAY more tricks up her Hogwarts robe than Steph has!

9. What is your “day” job?

Maths teacher :-) (and despite my love of writing I NEVER want to teach English!)

10. What can you not leave home without? (cell phones are off limits)

Um... clothes? No, wait, the only thing I absolutely have to take when I leave home is the remote to open the gate and the garage (although I did climb over the wall once when the electricity was down so I guess that isn’t entirely necessary either...)

11. Mac or PC?

PC. Though I have admired Macs for a long time now :-) So preeeeettttty.....

12. Favorite dessert?

Definitely something with chocolate. So either that peppermint crisp pudding (with the layers of biscuit and cream mixed with caramel and peppermint chocolate) or that floating chocolate pudding (the chocolate cake type thing floating in chocolate sauce).

13. Favorite desert?

Desert? Seriously? Like the large expanse of dry sand? I... um... never really thought about having a favorite before! Off to Google...

Hmm... Ok. Inga Nielsen’s desert looks like the perfect fantasy desert!

photo credit

14. Where is your dream vacation?

Well, there are many places (I would absolutely love to visit the Northern Lights one day) but the first that springs to mind is a cruise around the Greek islands. *sigh*

15. Finally, link us to your website, blog, fb, twitter and anything else you might like to shamelessly plug for yourself J

Woohoo! Shameless plugging, here I come!

Blog: http://rachelmorganwrites.blogspot.com

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/RachelMorgan13

Facebook: 

And thank you SOOOO much to Abby for having me here. I feel honoured to be considered aspiring enough for an aspiring author interview!