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
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

  • Fairly Safe is available at Amazon.
  • Discuss this book at PUYB Virtual Book Club at Goodreads.


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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