Hello fellow book lovers,

Is it raining? Is it 21c and I’m boiling? Are we still in summer or has autumn hit? Who knows! Anyway, I hope everyone had a good summer and that it was full of books!

Today, I have the pleasure of chatting with V. Walker about her book, The Fragile Humans We Are.

Lydia x

Indie Author Insights Chats with V. Walker
Author of The Fragile Humans We Are

Hello! Great to have you here V. Walker. Can you introduce yourself please?

Hi! I’m V. Walker, a poet, indie author, and indie interactive fiction developer. For fiction, I like to write romance alongside fantasy, historical fiction, and adventure. With my poetry, my overarching themes are the human experience - grief, loss, love, mental health, and more. I'm from the USA, though I married an Englishman. We currently live in the States. I started writing from a young age as I was a lonely only child.

Fabulous. Poetry is such a wonderful outlet for emotions. Can you tell me more about your book?

Currently, I'm publishing my poetry work. My first book, "The Fragile Humans We Are" came out on Feb 1st, 2025 and is short poetry collection that highlights how the human experience is affected by how fragile we are. But also by how resilient we are.

Some of the poems are over a decade old and others are more recent. But I originally decided to publish this book back in 2021, during the pandemic. 2020 and 2021 were incredibly different years for me - two surgeries (one that caused a complication) and I lost my grandfather to covid. The title came to me first. The pandemic really put a spotlight on the fragility and resilience of people. The themes are grief, loss, mental health, and love. Some possible triggers could be illusion to abuse and assault (though nothing graphic), heavy themes of depression and anxiety.

I’m so sorry to hear about your Grandad. Covid was a strange and difficult time. I’m sure a lot of people can identify with that.

And are you working on anything else at the moment?

As of right now, I’m currently working on my second poetry collection, "What I Know of Love I Learned From Grief." It’s larger than my debut "The Fragile Humans We Are: Volume One." This WIP is about all the different ways that people grieve - not just death. Grieving who you were, the life you could have had, the person you loved, the time in your life you can’t get back, and so, so much more.

It tells stories of grief through my eyes, through the eyes of others.- both what I've observed from people I know and what I've imagined. The collection is close to being finished and I'm currently working with my illustrator.

Being an author has its highs and lows. Can you tell me about the best moment in your author career and how you overcame any lows?

My best moment so far has been the moment I held my first author copy in my hands. I spent over a decade thinking that my work wasn't good enough to see the light of day. And then, there's this feeling in your stomach of, what will people I know think? But when I had the copy in my hands, I knew that my words mattered. What I had to say could touch people. But more importantly, I knew that I had reached the level of healing where I no longer self-rejected - I no longer told myself no before giving it a chance.

As for lows, they come and go, just like the wins. When I feel low, I pick up my book and read it, and remember that I did that. I brought that into this world. And I also focus on what's next. I've spent too much time in my life with doubts. I might get upset and grieve whatever is happening but then I close that door and walk to the next one. Time is fleeting, we are always dying - I refuse to spend multiple times lingering in the darkness. I won't do that again.

The biggest fight is often within ourselves isn’t it? Well done for overcoming so much and bringing your book into the world. How do you go about marketing your book? Do you have any tips for other authors?

Launching my first book has been a learning experience for sure. One thing I've learned is that it's important to find the right platforms to focus your energy on. For me, I saw a lot of success from Threads. I also saw success from Substack, Bluesky, and Tumblr. I think experimenting is important. What works for one book and one author, isn't necessarily going to work for you.

Something else is authenticity. I grew to 500 followers on Threads in a month and I spent a lot of time sharing my thoughts, congratulating others, and sharing my work when appropriate. Give more to the reader and author community than you take and it will pay off.

If you could give your past self some advice what would it be?

I would tell my younger self to not self-reject. As I mentioned, this is something that prevented me from publishing my work earlier. If you don't believe in yourself, why would others? If there's anyone out there who's on the fence, just remember there are BILLIONS of people in the world. There is an audience for your work.

When you’re not writing, what else do you enjoy doing?

When I’m not writing or reading, I love traveling, playing RPG and simulation games, and doing creative activities. While I enjoy nature and find it beautiful, outside of travel, I’m very much an introverted homebody. I prefer comfy pillows, green tea, and curling up.

It’s be great chatting and learning more about you and your book. Is there anything else you’d like to add before we finish?

I just want to mention that I run a completely free Patreon for authors and writers. I publish advertising case studies, marketing trends/tips, editing posts, spotlight authors, discussing branding and so much more. It's located here 

Thank you so much for joining me at Indie Author Insights, V. Walker. Best of luck with all your writing.