Good morning everyone.  Today I am going to talk to a friend of mine named Maggie Thom. She is the author of a new book "Tainted Waters".  Click the link at the bottom of the page and get her kindle book today.  

Without further ado here is my interview with Maggie,

Tell us a bit about your family. I am lucky to be married to my best friend. We have twin, teenage kids – a boy and a girl. We live on an acreage in the country outside a small town. We have a cat and a dog.

What are you most proud of accomplishing so far in your life? Besides my family, for me I’d have to say where I’m at in life. Publishing my first novel, which took a long time and meant climbing over a lot of fear and overcoming a lot of limiting beliefs about myself.

What’s your favorite place in the entire world? To sit beside or hike alongside a flowing stream, creek or river, preferably near waterfalls. I love going to the Rocky Mountains and exploring nature there.

How has your upbringing influenced your writing? I think the freedom I had growing up. My siblings and I were always out hiking in nature, exploring and having wonderful adventures. I think that curiosity and love of exploring and trying something new all played into how I write and what I write about.

Do you recall how your interest in writing originated? No idea really. I loved to read and so did most of my family. I think it was curiosity to see if I could write something that I’d like to read. I’m quite sure though it didn’t come from my English class in high school, I always felt lost and 4 pages behind everyone else. Although I did run into my English teacher several years ago and told her I was writing, she was thrilled.

When and why did you begin writing? I’m sure it was curiosity and boredom that started me writing. I grew up on a farm, 15 minutes from town, so in winter when it was too miserable to be outside and I was tired of reading or playing games with my siblings, I wrote. I think that my interest in writing became stronger when I entered my teens, because most of my siblings were older and were doing their own things or were moving out of home and on with their own lives.

How long have you been writing? I started playing at it at a young age, preteen for sure. And I dabbled with it over the years, more for amusement for myself but about 18 years ago, I really decided that I wanted to write and so started exploring what that meant for me.

When did you first know you could be a writer? Such a tricky question, one that I honestly don’t know how to answer. I love to write. I have written everything from poetry, to children’s stories to adult stories and everything in between. I always said I wrote but not that I’m a writer. I’m not sure what that distinction means but let’s just say it took me a very long time to recognize the fact that I am a writer.

What inspires you to write and why? Everything. Everything that I see, hear, taste, smell, touch, triggers or can when I let it, a whole raft of ideas and scenes and story lines. Sometimes I just play with them for fun but other times I really like where it’s going and need to put it down on paper. Sometimes I just write to get some ideas out so that new ones will come in . Sometimes it is just a great way to pass the time. If I don’t have a book that I’m enjoying at the moment or I feel like doing something else, I write.

What genre are you most comfortable writing? I’d have to say suspense. I love reading it and have learned how to write it. I love crafting this tangled web that doesn’t unwind until you reach the end of the story.

Who or what influenced your writing once you began? I have had a lot of people influence my writing, from other authors and writer’s to friends, to family to readers. Beyond that I’d have to say that the writing courses and instructing that I’ve taken and the types of books that I like to read (suspense) all started to make sense and everything clicked so that I was able to write the type of book that I wanted.

Who or what influenced your writing over the years? The authors that I love to read definitely had an impact on how and what I write. An instructor that I had taught me a lot. But the biggest influence has been the people who kept encouraging me – my family and my friends. Because of them I kept working at being a better writer – reading, getting feedback, joining groups, etc.

What made you want to be a writer? I wanted to be a writer to do something with the ideas in my head. They had to go somewhere, my brain was getting awfully full. I love to weave stories, see where they will go, what can I create. I also wanted to take people on an adventure, a journey and pull them into the story and help them to forget their everyday lives, even for a short period of time.

What do you consider the most challenging about writing a novel, or about writing in general? Sometimes it’s just getting my butt in the chair to write and not be distracted by a hundred other things. It is sometimes very challenging just to sit down and do it. Beyond the writing, which in itself isn’t all that challenging, it’s the editing and the marketing and finding the balance to do all of it.

Did writing this book teach you anything and what was it? I know as a writer that I have lots of ideas and I know that I can write novels but I wasn’t sure until I finished writing Tainted Waters that I could write another suspense novel. And that I could make it different from the first book, Captured Lies and yet make it an exciting page turner as well. I think once every author finishes writing a book and publishes it and it is well received, there is a fear if can they do it again. Can they make the second book as compelling? As interesting? I know this was true for me.

Do you intend to make writing a career? Yes! I love writing and can’t imagine doing anything else. Tainted Waters is my second novel and my third Deceitful Truths will be out in the fall of 2013. I have so many ideas but nowhere near enough time to write them all down. I plan on continuing to write and to publish novels.

Have you developed a specific writing style? I tend to write and write and write. I try to write my whole manuscript before I edit. Or at least I try to. I didn’t used to. I used to stop and edit almost every page as I wrote it. This really stopped the flow of ideas. Now I write and try not to edit until I’m done. However if as I’m writing, I realize that I have put something in the story that doesn’t make sense or quite fit, than I will go back and sometimes I’ll edit but sometimes I’ll just mark it to be dealt with later.

What is your greatest strength as a writer? I think that I write really intriguing plots with lots of twists and turns and a tangled web that pulls the reader in and keeps them turning the pages, wanting to know what happens next.

Have you ever had writer’s block? If so, what do you do about it? Not really. If I’m ever writing and I don’t think something is working than I get up, walk away from it, mull it over and then come back to the story. This is usually very short term. I am finding with writing Deceitful Truths that it is a little more challenging. I have never written a sequel before and I have found it rather difficult to sort out the story with making it fresh and new but keeping some of the characters and settings from the first book, Captured Lies. I think I have it sorted out now but it was a different challenge for me.

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