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Hello fellow book lovers!
Today I have my Introverted Indies cap on. My fellow host Lucy A. McLaren and I have been busy chatting with so many fabulous authors. There are several written interviews on our websites here (Lucy) and here (me!)
As well as a selection of authors reading from their books and couple of video interviews on our Introverted Indies YouTube channel. There are lots more in the pipeline as well so please subscribe to keep up-to-date with the latest videos.
So without further ado, here is the latest interview by Lucy A. McLaren.
Lucy: Hi Penny! Thanks so much for joining us at Introverted Indies. I’m looking forward to getting to know you and your writing. So, to get things started, can you tell us a bit about yourself?
Penny: I was born and raised in central Alberta where. I survived a serious car accident when I was hit by a drunk driver, coming out of my coma I found my parents divorced and me on my own at sixteen. I met my spouse shortly after and at eighteen we rebuilt our lives together.
Eventually I balanced a successful career in real estate, with a loving relationship and family which included their two sons, their wives, 3 grandchildren and numerous animal rescues. Throughout it all, I found peace in writing and an escape in dreaming.
L: That must have been incredibly challenging, Penny. You noted that you eventually found a balance with your career and family, and that you found peace in writing, which is wonderful. How did your writing journey begin?
P: My writing journey began when I was very young. My mother had always taught me that writing was a way I could express my feelings, escape childhood bullying, and teenage peer pressure.
Whether it was a song or poem I made up while riding my horse or late at night when everyone in the house was asleep except me.
I found that each time I wrote, it eased the grip on my heart and my mind allowing me to experience a world that brought me peace. Somewhere I couldn’t be judged for the way I looked or smelled or spoke. As I got older it was a way for me to express the feelings I couldn’t show or say the things I couldn’t voice out loud.
L: It sounds like writing has always been very important to you then. It can be such a powerful tool to help process our experiences and feelings, and that certainly seems to have been your experience. You’ve mentioned writing songs and poetry—at what point did you decide that you wanted to write a book?
P: I really didn’t decide to write a book. It just happened. I wrote short stories for my kids while they were growing up and read so much I was going through multiple books a week, then after researching some disturbing reoccurring dreams, I was having, a series of events started to play out in my mind. My husband and boys went on a 2 week vacation I couldn’t get the time off work and after the house was clean and chores were done I sat and started to write. Before I knew it 3 months had passed and Linked was finished. Not polished mind you, but finished. That was 2004.
L: Ahhh I see, so you were writing short stories for a while and went on to write your first full novel, Linked. Can you tell us more about that?
P: When I was pregnant, in 1991, I would have this reoccurring dream. I would be driving down the road, along side a body of water. I would lose control of the car and it would plummet into the water. As the car was sinking I would manage to get out, go to the back seat and struggle to get my faceless child out of the car seat at which point I’d wake up never knowing if I had succeeded on saving the both of us or not. And never actually seeing the face or gender of my child just the overwhelming need to get us out of the water. I would always wake up completely unsettled and gasping for air. After my son was born I never had that dream again... until that is I was pregnant with my second child in 1997.
I finally opened up to my mom about the dream and how unusual that I could remember it with so much clarity when I could not remember any of my other dreams, at least not so vividly. She was the one to suggest there maybe there was some connection, some meaning as to why I was having it. I could not let that idea go, so down to the library I went, I checked out book after book on dreams and dreaming. I found the possibilities of the dream world fascinating. Not only the hidden meaning or meanings behind symbols within the dissected dream but also the various different types of dreaming and the connections to loved ones past, present, and future it fueled my mind with possibilities.
So what if someone, had a connection but did not believe? What would have to happen to someone to open a gateway? How far would someone fall, how much would they have to lose, before their mind would be willing to accept the unacceptable.
Emma, was the perfect character, hidden trauma of the past had turned her into a workaholic, buried emotions so deep, hiding away from family making sure to never let that memory surface, taking for granted all she had until, she didn’t have it. Her mind screamed for her to awaken, still she did not believe. After losing it all and drowning herself in a bottle of tequila she would escape in an alcohol induced slumber where she would dream. A dream that seemed to pull her deeper and deeper.
It wasn’t until Emma met Dan that she started notice the dreams she was having might just be something else entirely.
L: That sounds fascinating, Penny. It's evident that the research you did following your own dreams fed into the story you went on to tell in Linked. Did you plan the novel out, or did the story come together as you wrote it? It sounds incredibly intriguing, I must say, with lots of complex layers contributing to Emma's experiences.
P: The story came together as I wrote, of course there were certain strategies I had to outline with regards to how the dreams wove together bringing all of the characters together, each couple with their own timeline and story making sure that it lead to a cohesive ending to both storylines.
How Emma discovered the depth of her dreams, her attraction and familiarity with Dan. How Dan was always aware of his dreams and found comfort and direction in them. The to find out that Dan’s dream character Daniel and Emma’s dream character Emily were linked in the same ways Dan and Emma were.
Delving into lucid dreaming and using those techniques to not only connect but to cross the barriers of time itself to protect a loved one and cause real change and affect in that time period.
L: I must admit, I've heard of lucid dreaming though I don't know much about it--but your premise sounds so interesting! What did you learn in your publishing journey for Linked? And did that help you at all when publishing your second book, A Widow's Kiss?
P: I have learned a great deal. Because my books sat on my computer from 2006 when my mom got sick and passed away, to 2019 when my son found them doing a recovery of my crashed laptop, I wanted to reach out to someone that would help me learn the ropes.
I research publishers, costs, and submission guidelines.
Self publishing houses seemed very costly and I would have to learn all aspects of the industry. Traditional publishing required an agent and most agents were either not looking for the genre or were not taking on new clients. So I decided on hybrid publishing they were less costly than the self publishing quotes I was given. They had designers to help me with the book covers I wanted, editors to help with content, and a marketing department.
Learning about cover letters, synopsis I sent out several submissions. And received a few offers back. The design process was great as I already knew the look I wanted. Editing was a little let down as I went with all changes proposed believing them to be the experts and not trusting myself and my judgement. So even today they are things I notice. Marketing was great as far as putting the book on Amazon worldwide and other bookstores but they did not really promote the book itself. I set up my Twitter (X), Facebook pages, Instagram accounts which I have managed to grow but it is still a work in progress.
With A Widow’s Kiss I went the same route but this time I pushed back at the editors and only went with the changes or adaptations that I needed. It made for a product I was happy with inside and out. Realizing working the hours I was, I would not be able to personally promote my book as I wanted. So after 27 years in the new construction industry I have changed careers to life insurance to allow me evening and weekends to write, and promote. I am still learning I would love to be at a point where I can self publish under my own brand. I have a series of children’s books I would like to put together, possibly a collection of adult poetry as well as sequels to Linked and A Widow’s Kiss.
L: It sounds like there was certainly a lot to learn during the publishing process for Linked—but that you were then able to apply what you learned when publishing A Widow's Kiss, which is great. Can you tell us more about that story?
P: A Widow’s Kiss is the first in regency period fiction novels. It is the first in a series of novels planned around the Danforth family. The main character is a strong willed beauty named Cara Danforth. Cara, eighteen, older sister to triplets eight years her junior she has had to be sister, mother, tutor, and protector. Her mother died in childbirth, her father disappeared from the family home, shortly after. A yearly visit, and the occasional letter came by the time Cara was thirteen and the triplets were three, the nursemaid and governess were let go and Cara was informed that she would be in charge of education. Money became more and more scarce. When her father was killed Cara, now eighteen took it upon herself to investigate where the funds had gone. Determined to replenish the coffers, she plots to take back all her father lost to the wealthy members of London’s elite. Little did she know that her success was garnering notice of the Home Office. Thinking her a spy, their top man was sent to capture and interrogate the thefts.
L: A Widow's Kiss sounds brilliant, and Cara sounds like a very headstrong, determined character (by necessity, given her situation!). What drew you to writing a series in the Regency period of history? And how did you research to prepare you for your stories?
P: Being a fan of the Regency period and writers like Virginia Henley and Jane Feather etc, I wanted to write a regency period novel that would bring me back to my home, Canada. So I knew the time line that it would need to follow for the last book to take place in Canada. Knowing that I did research about the period and about England through reading beloved authors and non fiction books on time and areas. Hoping the novel would be entertaining but believable enough to engage the reader.
L: That sounds great, so you had that interest anyway and have pursued writing your own regency period novel series. That's awesome. :)
Thank you so much for sharing your writing process and story, Penny. This feels like a good place to wrap up, and to ask where anyone interested can keep up to date with you and your future books?
P: I want to thank you so very much for the interest in interviewing me. I am currently working on more books, and websites etc.
However, for now, people can find my books Amazon Worldwide and they can reach out to me on any of these sites. I am willing to provider review copies to the first 25 people who reach out to me and would like to read and post a review on Goodreads and Amazon. (All names of posted reviews will be put in for a draw for a signed copy – giving away 3 soft cover books of each.)
L: Thank you so much Penny! 😊
Thanks for reading!
Lydia x
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