I am so freaking excited to have Erica Cope stop by my blog today! As y'all know, she is one of my critique partners and also a very good friend, and I have been super excited about her debut novel, Lark, for a very long time.
Erica Cope lives in Missouri with her husband and their three children. She has been writing short stories and poetry since childhood, but LARK is her first novel. She enjoys knitting, pretending she knows how to play her guitar, and reading pretty much anything you put in front of her.
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For those who are unfamiliar with
Lark, can you briefly tell us what the story is about?
It’s a story about a completely
ordinary girl who thinks she has a pretty good life. Then her world is
completely turned upside down when she discovers that her real dad (who
abandoned her before she was born) is actually the king of the Light Elves and
that nothing is as she thought it was.
What was your inspiration behind the
story?
I actually, as cliché as it sounds,
woke up from a dream that I couldn’t get out of my head. I laid awake for hours
before I finally just got up and wrote the whole thing down. I fell asleep
after that but the next day I started thinking about what would have happened
before and after the scene I dreamt. After that I started writing.
Describe your main character in five
words.
Independent, caring, courageous, but
also a little short-tempered and impulsive.
She, like most teenagers, doesn’t
always think things through but her heart is the driving force in her decision
making.
Holy Jacoby! I am seriously in love
with him, though Greyson is pretty awesome too. What can you tell us about this
love triangle and the inspiration behind the love interests?
I think most people “fall” for more
than just one person while they are in high school. Mia is no different in that
sense, but what is different is that while both Greyson and Jacoby serve a role
in Mia’s life, only one of them is “right” for her.
However, she doesn’t spend the entire
book contemplating which one! LOL I wanted to show that as Mia learned more
about herself that she would ‘out grow’ her crush, which would then open her up
to something more.
What has been your biggest challenge
of being a self-published author?
I’ve been incredibly lucky to have so
many people offer me advice and to answer all of my questions but a lot of it I
still had to learn for myself. I guess my biggest challenge was the decision
making part of it all. I didn’t want to make the wrong decision about something
as simple as trim size or cream vs white paper, pricing and then end up
regretting it or worse, forgetting to do something important! Like adding page
numbers to my paperback…yeah…that happened. Whoops!
What do you love the most about being
an author?
My most favorite thing is hearing all
the positive feedback from readers. I love it when someone tells me they read
it, loved it and can’t wait for the sequel…those days I’m pretty giddy and I
walk around with a huge smile on my face.
I know you are super busy juggling
three kids. How do you find the time to write?
Oh gosh! When I was writing LARK I
would start writing as soon as I put the three Blondies to bed and I would
often write until 3am without even realizing how late it was! I was in the
zone! But when your kids wake up around 7am, that’s not much sleep! I survived those
months by drinking a lot of caffeinated beverages!
I try to squeeze in writing whenever
I can, sometimes I’ll get something stuck in my head so I’ll have to jot down
some notes on a piece of paper and type it up later that night. Which in theory
is a great idea but usually I write my notes so quickly that I can barely read
my own handwriting!
What are you currently reading?
The Indigo Spell by Richelle Mead. I
adore Adrian!
Do you have any upcoming projects
that you can tell us about?
I’m about 75% done with the first draft of a
contemporary romance I started last fall and I’m also currently writing the
sequel to LARK. Ideally, I would like to have one of the two ready to be released
by this fall.
Do you have any advice for aspiring
authors?
I would encourage aspiring authors to
pick good crit partners! I’m immensely grateful for mine!
- FUN FACTS -
Human
or elf? I could totally be an elf.
Jacoby
or Greyson? I can’t say. ;) Don’t want to
be unfair to my guys by picking favorites!
E-book
or book? I love the convenience of ebooks
but I love the smell of the real thing!
Amazon
or book store? For shopping, definitely
Amazon, but I could spend hours browsing a book store and sipping on coffee.
Pen
or keyboard? Definitely a keyboard.
Sometimes I can’t even type fast enough for my thoughts so when I do write them
down I have a hard time deciphering my chicken scratch!
Thank you so much for stopping by, Erica! It was wonderful having you here!
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You can find out more about Erica at the following social network sites:
Twitter - EricaCope3
Lark can be purchased in the following places:
Great interview. Great author!
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