Welcome to the Literary Library Lounge where I interview fellow authors. Today, I am chatting with Andrea Roach who writes under the pen name Andrea Roche. Andrea comes from 
a “small village called Middle Village in the Big Apple (New York).”
Thanks for joining me, Andrea. Please take a seat and make yourself comfortable.
How long have you been published? What titles have you published and with which publisher? Have you self-published any titles? Please give details.
Nights Arose is my very first published novel. It is out with Solstice Publishing. I am excited that you and I were discovered by Solstice during the Pit2Pub Twitter Challenge this July. You are like my publishing sister!
Indeed, Andrea. I also live on Long Island which is not very far from you.
Tell us a little bit about your books — what genre you write, if you write a series, any upcoming releases or your current work-in-progress. If you have an upcoming release, please specify the release date.
- Nights Arose is a Historical Paranormal Romance, this is my very favorite genre. I love anything Fantasy really. I am making a second addition for this story which takes place several months after the first book ends. The first book ended with a happily for now kind of feeling. Not quite a cliffhanger but it leaves the reader wishing to learn more. Where does her story go from here? What will happen to the happy couple? I love that in books, and is integral for any series.
- Nights Arose is releasing today, November 28, ready for download after the pre-sale which began November 18, 2016. It’s opening on Cyber Monday. I’m hoping readers will discover the story and scoop it up with the flurry of sales that are happening today.
I wish you luck with that, Andrea. Maybe this author spotlight about you will help.
Describe your goals as a writer. What do you hope to achieve in the next few years? What are you planning to do to reach these goals?
- My goal is really to entertain readers with a great story. I want them to delve into the world I have built within Nights Arose and enjoy the wild ride my MC, Arose, has.
- In the next few years, I hope to be wearing sunglasses and a big floppy hat in Tuscany. Lunching in a quaint brocherie next to a cobblestone street.
- To make this come true I hope to capture the imaginations of readers who aspire to be like Arose. Strong and capable but at the same time sweet and worthy of such love and admiration.
Sounds like you’ve created an interesting main character.
What type of reader are you hoping to attract? Who do you believe would be most interested in reading your books?
- My writing is almost lyrical. I hope there are people who enjoy reading a story in prose. Writing fantastical stories, the story will attract people who enjoy stories of spirits, magic, dragons, enchanted stones and the Astral Plane. I hope to appeal to young women who need a hero that is themselves. I want to make them their own hero! Trust in their own strengths, and overcome their own fatal flaws, as my MC does.
I think that story will have wide appeal among today’s young women.
What advice would you give other authors or those still trying to get published?
- Read, write, sleep, dream with your eyes open then write some more. Never give up learning, polish your skills. We are in a field where there are no masters, we are constant students always learning, always writing.
- That is so very true and why writing is so challenging and yet so rewarding.
What particular challenges and struggles did you face before first becoming published?
- My story from its inception did not fit the mold of the typical romance story. There are some beliefs that there is some kind of formula for a romance story. Most times the POV would be in the male hero’s, mine’s not. The femme fatale. Perfect body, weak and in trouble. My MC is far from the shrinking violet, but she learns how to trust and work together with the man she loves for her happily for now ending. I have been told by so called experts the story line is not what they are used to, didn’t fit the formula. I thought it was time for something fresh, maybe something never seen before can be a new trend.
- It’s great to experiment with your writing. I believe authors should follow their own voices and not feel they need to conform to anyone else’s style.
Have you taken any writing or publishing classes? If so, please provide information about them and if you feel they helped you further your professional skills.
- I have a Bachelor’s Degree in Business with a concentration in Marketing and English Literature. Strange combination, I know. But I always needed to write and in college took so many writing classes I qualified for English Lit for my degree minor.
My first creative writing class was in the fourth grade. My teacher suggested to my parents I take a special class. Being old school my parents expected it to be extra help. They were very disappointed in me. I was thrilled! Then I realized my classmates were some of the brightest students I had ever met. They dressed like me, talked about strange subjects like I did, and thought freely, just like me. I realized they were no different than I. It helped to boost my self-esteem greatly, making me brave enough to let my thoughts flow onto the paper. I have been hooked since.
I was an English major myself. Your Marketing courses will serve you well in promoting your books.
What are your hobbies and interests besides writing?
- I love to cook. I have been cooking since I was tall enough to reach the kitchen table. Every time my mother started cooking I insisted on being next to her watching everything she did. I actually added some cooking references into Nights Arose. Describing meals with such intense detail it makes your mouth water.
- I’m not much of a cook, but people have told me they enjoyed the scenes in my Cobble Cove mysteries in which my characters dine out or eat at home. They also liked the special PB&J sandwich that is one of the character’s secret family recipe. In my recent release, Between a Rock and a Hard Place, one of my readers won a prize for including a tasty PB&J sandwich, but it isn’t the secret recipe from the book.
What do you like most and least about being an author? What is your toughest challenge?
- I love writing as a whole– writing and having written. My toughest challenge though is dealing with critics that are deconstructive rather than constructive. What do you get out of a critique of “You can’t put two words together to make a sentence,” what is that supposed to do but discourage a writer? I would like to say it gave me the “Thicker skin” as some people tell you to have, now I laugh at myself for letting them get to me and allow myself to think they were better than me.
- I will continue to write no matter what happens, even if I never get my lunch at the brocherie by the cobblestones, in my wide brimmed hat and sunglasses I will keep writing and learning.
- Good for you. Determination and thick skins are both important qualities for authors to develop.
Please list your social media links, website, blog, etc. and include some book cover graphics and author photos if possible.
Available on:
Websites:
www.blogspot.com/AndreaRoachAuthor
See the Video on You Tube:
Thanks so much for the great interview, Andrea, and I wish you lots of luck on your debut release today and your future books.
Ruff Drafts 