Author Interview – Samantha Warren ~ Reading My Addiction

What other jobs have you had in your life? Aside from milking cows? I sat in the drive-thru at Mickey D’s (the grease totally eats at your shoes), I was a professional babysitter (that job was pretty awesome. Miss you Felicia and Sam!), I was an editor at my school’s newspaper, and I did customer support for a company that developed software for auction houses.

If you could study any subject at university what would you pick? I actually have a Bachelors in English. It took me several tries to get there. Chemistry, Early Childhood Ed, Secondary Ed, Computer Science, and somehow I finally got the right one. If I could go back, just to take random classes, I would want to improve my French.

If you could live anywhere in the world where would it be? My dream is to retire to England and live in a little village somewhere outside of London. I want a house that looks like Kate Winslet’s in The Holiday and I want to be known as the crazy American lady who makes great cookies.

How do you write – laptop, pen, paper, in bed, at a desk? I get my best writing done on my laptop, curled up in bed.

How much sleep do you need to be your best? Any less than 7 hours and I’m a total zombie. But if I sleep too much, then I go through the day in a fog where all I can really do is stare at the screen and be unproductive.

Is there anyone you’d like to acknowledge and thank for their support? Jennifer L. Oliver and Merry Farmer are both very close friends and crucial supporters in my writing career. They’ve kept me sane, and I like to think I’ve helped them do the same. Jennifer writes dark fantasy and Merry writes historical romance. Both are fantastic writers.

Every writer has their own idea of what a successful career in writing is, what does success in writing look like to you? I want to be able to live off my writing. I don’t mean I want to be rich, but I want to be able to pay all my essential bills with a little left over without worrying each month if I’m going to make ends meet. Though it would be really awesome to have one of my books made into a movie. I would consider that a huge success.

It is vital to get exposure and target the right readers for your writing, tell us about your marketing campaign? Most of my marketing is what I call “passive promotion”. Talking to people, getting to know them, chatting on Twitter, Facebook, etc. People are more willing to check out your books if they know that you’re a decent, fun person to begin with.

When you are not writing, how do you like to relax? All writers I know relax by reading. You can’t be a good writer without being an avid reader. Nothing is more relaxing than curling up in a comfy chair (or my prefered hangout – the hammock) and reading a really really really good book.