Thank you to everyone who commented on my whiney Insecure blog post yesterday. It is much appreciated 🙂

Today’s guest post is from Ayesha Schroeder who has a weekly post that lists agents Tweets. That’s how I stumbled across her great blog, after all, we all want to know what agents are Tweeting 😉 You can find my post of My Night with Chris Baty over on Ayesha’s blog.

How did you know you wanted to be a writer?
I knew I wanted to be a writer early on in life. It was what I was good at, however, I didn’t truly embrace writing as a career path until I was living on a 5 square mile island. That was where I completed two manuscripts and began blogging as a sort of therapy. It was lonely and I needed a way to communicate with those back home. Living on that island was when my story really took off.

What genre do you write in?
My genre is what I have coined “fictional slice of life,” meaning telling realistic stories. My stories don’t always have a happy ending, but they tend to carry morals and/or raise questions regarding society’s mores.

Do you have a writing schedule, your normal writing day?
Typically I’m up by 7am and out of the house by 8am. I write web copy for a living and do social media, so I’m always forced to be creative. Sometimes I’ll blog or add to my MS/WIP during my lunch or do it between 5 and 7pm, which is when my husband gets home from work. I try to balance life and work and sometimes do sacrifice writing time for cuddle time.

What’s the best writing environment for you – where you write?
When I write I like to have my husband and cats around me. Seen, but not heard. Haha. Right now, I write at the kitchen table or on the floor. We don’t have a bed or furniture (long story), so really the whole house is my writing space. On another note all of my ideas tend to come to me while eating or in the restroom. Go figure…

Who inspires you?
God, first and foremost. I’m inspired by His creation and the many paths that we all walk. Life and nature. Really everything I see fuels my writing. I love to go to the airport far ahead of the suggested 90-minute arrival window just to people watch. I wonder where they’re going, what they’re doing. People are weird and life is crazy so why not write about it and enlighten others?

If you were to be compared to another author, who’s work would yours most resemble?
I’d love to say Jhumpa Lahiri, because she is one of my favorites, however, I do have my own style, which may be characterized as darkly humorous and starkly realistic.

Tell us about your current WIP?
I’ve got two finished manuscripts that I am having a killer time editing. I’m too close to them and am thinking of hiring a freelance editor to look over them. Currently I’m writing a novel that looks at a prisoner’s life. He killed someone and is locked up. Like many in prison he found religion, but is struggling with the idea of being forgiven. The question really is whether he can forgive himself and believe that he is changed and what he does with his conclusion.

Thanks Ayesha 🙂

Don’t forget to nip over to Ayesha’s Blog to read my review of the night I met Chris Baty! 🙂

Ayesha’s favourite author is Jhumpa Lahiri, who, I must admit, I’ve never heard of. I’m always on the look out for great authors who I’ve never read before. So my question today is, dear reader. Tell me one of your favourite authors, one you think I might not have heard of? I just know I’m gunna regret asking that as my Amazon wishlist will now probably go off the scale lol.

By the way, one of my favourite authors you may not have heard of is Linda Gillard who’s book Emotional Geology is one of my all time favourites 🙂