Interview with 'Fairly Safe' Deborah Ann Davis
DEBORAH ANN DAVIS has been writing since she was assigned to keep a
Journal in her 5th grade English class. She began to
look around for writing inspiration. Lo and behold, she found her world was
full of funny stories just waiting to be told. As she grew older,
occasionally she could manipulate one into some school assignment,
but it never occurred to her to pursue writing, not even when she discovered her
flare for telling stories at college parties.
After a string of college
majors, she realized she could have a captive audience EVERY DAY in the public
school system. As it turns out, teenagers love to laugh, and what could be more
entertaining than Biology, Earth Science, and Environmental Science? Then
there's the added bonus that once kids know you like to laugh, they want
to make you laugh.
Go figure.
In addition to Writing, she is
also an Educational Speaker and a Certified Personal Trainer. She taught for
25+ years, although somewhere in the middle of all that educating, she
stepped out of teaching for 6 years to do the Mommy Thing, and run the office
for their family construction company.
Even though they had followed
separate paths, Deborah reunited with, and married her childhood sweetheart,
twelve years after their first kiss. Together they coached their
daughter’s AAU Basketball Team, which swept States two years in a row. (Yay!)
Then, for several years their daughter and their money went to college.
They currently reside on a
lovely lake in Connecticut. She enjoys dabbling with living a sustainable life,
writing novels for her Love of Fairs series, dancing, playing outside,
and laughing really hard every day. She promotes increasing the amount of
movement throughout your day via Wiggle Writer posts on Merry
Meddling, her blog at www.DeborahAnnDavis.com. Follow her @DeborahAnnDavis.
Remember, you can do
anything if you set your mind to it— including becoming an author at any age—
but it’s way more fun if you are grinning back when the Universe smiles down on
you.
For More Information
- Visit Deborah Ann Davis’ website.
- Connect with Deborah on Facebook and Twitter.
- Find out more about Deborah at Goodreads.
About the Book:
When Mistaken Identity
collides with Secret Identity, who wins?
JACOB HAS COME A LONG
WAY FOR AN ORPHANED FOSTER KID. He has a mentor, a great job, and has
finally fallen in love. Granted, she mistook him for a stalker when they met,
but every
relationship has its little problems. Unfortunately, for the past few
years, as the object of his affection pops in and out of his life, she has
refused to share any personal info, like where she’s from, or her real name.
Regardless, Jacob is ready to take their relationship to the next level. Now,
if only he can locate her so he can tell her.
CASEY’S FAMILY IS IN THE WITNESS
PROTECTION PROGRAM. Safety has to be their only priority. Their cover has been
blown before, so Casey knows at any given time they could be forced to
disappear again. Obviously, a shy young man with hopeful eyes cannot possibly
be added to the mix. You cannot build a relationship like that. Now, if only
she can stop thinking about him.
JACOB’S AND CASEY’S WORLDS
UNEXPECTEDLY COLLIDE when Jacob inadvertently helps hide her family.
Exposed to their 24-7 vigilance, Jacob realizes he must come up with a plan to
keep them out of harm’s way, because this time if Casey disappears, she will be
taking with her Jacob’s heart, and his hopes of finally having a family of his
own.
For More Information
Q: Welcome to The Writer's
Life! Now that Fairly Safe has
been published, we’d love to find out more about the process. Can we begin by having you take us at the
beginning? Where did you come up with
the idea to write your book?
I was marooned on my couch
with the attention span of a gnat due to a bout of Lyme disease. Exhaustion and
pain made it impossible to do anything, even watch TV. I could pretty much
handle three-minute songs on the radio, although my mind would drift. And then
my imagination would take over. For example, That’s Not My Name, a song
by The Ting Tings, created an image of children jumping on a bed, singing the
song at the top of their lungs. As I grew stronger, I added a twist that would
contribute to the bed owner’s outrage at the jumpers. By the time I was able to
return to teaching, I knew how that situation came to be, and how it was going
to end. I wasn’t able to connect the two until summer arrived with its elusive
Free Time. I took full advantage, and when I returned to school the following
year, I had a rough draft of my first book, Fairly Safe, almost
completed.
Q: How hard was it to write a
book like this and do you have any tips that you could pass on which would make
the journey easier for other writers?
Who knew writing a book was so
easy/hard? As a Science Geek, it never occurred to me to consider writing… easy
for the creative types…hard for me. Surely the overly dramatic stories I used
to make up to songs when I was a kid didn’t count. As it turned out, it was
easy to create Fairly Safe. However, it was my editor, Kate Richards
from Wizards in Publishing, who made me regard the crafting and polishing of
prose as skills, and like any skill, had to be learned. She completely
challenged my concept of what good writing was. That was hard because I already
questioned the audacity of my deciding to write a book in the first place.
My advice to new writers is to
go for it, but keep your old, unpolished work. It’s a testament to your
evolution as a writer. I look at my original manuscript, with all its
corrections, and think, “Look how far I’ve come.” It’s a great feeling.
Q: Who is your publisher and
how did you find them or did you self-publish?
I self-published Fairly
Safe after taking a class on self-publishing from www.authorems.com. Who knew publishing is so
involved? ISBNs. Copyright. Hiring Freelancers. They covered it all. I
just followed their instructions. Self-publishing is not a sprint. It’s a
marathon.
Q: Is there anything that
surprised you about getting your first book published?
One of the reasons I
self-published Fairly Certain, my first book, was because my
traditionally published friends told tales of having to wait 18 months for
their book to be released. I’m not so good at waiting. I figured I could have
my book ready to go in a couple of months. Oh, I was so naïve. I spent so much
time getting my book published and trying to figure out marketing, without
realizing it I had stopped writing for almost a year.
Q: What other books are you
working on and when will they be published?
I have two projects currently
(I’m making up for lost time). Fairly Obvious is the third in my Love
of Fairs series. Fairly Safe and Fairly Certain have been so
well received that I’m quite excited about it. All three books contain
different characters, all of which are combinations of my teenage students,
that wonderful quirky blend of vulnerability and bravado.
My students also gave rise to
my second project, Girl’s Guide To Good Guys: The Power Of Being Patient And
Picky. This workbook for teenage girls is a tool to help them realize their
own value. They get stuck in a negative loop because they’re afraid to be
alone, afraid of being unpopular, and afraid they’ll never find a good guy. The
series of challenges in the workbook help teenage girls become
self-appreciating and independent, to become comfortable with being single, to
live their lives more fully, and to be patient and picky until they are ready
for a healthy relationship. Got teen girls?
I hope to have both Fairly
Obvious and Girl’s Guide To Good Guys: The Power Of Being Patient And
Picky out in 2016.
Q: What’s one fact about Fairly
Safe that would surprise people?
The story of Fairly Safe
spans quite a few years. To orient my younger readers about the way people
lived before their time, there’s a section in the back called What Was It
Like Back Then? that contains random factoids, including minimum wage and
types of phones. For my adult readers, it will be a peek down Memory Lane.
Q: Finally, what message (if
any) are you trying to get across with Fairly Safe?
Relationships are everything.
Jacob manages just fine by himself, but he doesn’t really come into his own
until he forms relationships…with his mentor, with other students, later with
his staff, and especially with Casey. However, it’s not until he is faced with
losing these same relationships that he truly understands and acknowledges
their importance.
Also, as a former
Environmental Science teacher, my books always carry a little plug for
recycling.
Q: Thank you again for this
interview! Do you have any final words?
My advice to everyone, readers
and writers alike, is to become Life Long Learners. If you are a writer, take
class after class after class on honing your craft. You will never know it all,
and inspiration can come from any direction.
If you would like information
on when my books are coming out, visit DeborahAnnDavis.com where you can sign
up for my newsletter, Merry Meddling.
Thank you for this
opportunity.
Deborah Ann Davis
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