I’m different. I believe my husband calls it “eccentric” but I know that I’m really just weird. I am moody, happy, sad, passionate… yes. Passionate. Or passionately moody? Yes. That.

What is the name of your current book?

Once Upon a Time… Rapunzel’s Story

What is your current book about?

It is about a horrid, awful shrewish princess. Her family and the servants want to get her married off, so they throw a ball and invite all the eligible men (just like their neighbor, Prince Charming, did!)

How long have you been writing? Writing? All my life, or at least as long as I can remember. This is the first book I've finished, though.

Why did you decide to write? Because I've always wanted to write and finish a book. I've especially wanted to write children's and teen's books.

Who inspired you to pursue a career in writing? My husband, beyond a shadow of a doubt. He not only inspired me, but he continues to keep me from curling up in a ball and freaking out at the idea that maybe in reality I really just stink at all this.

And my friend Jennifer, who has also become my editor and encourager.

What do you want to accomplish with your books? I want to encourage a love of reading. I want kids to be able to improve their reading abilities and know that they can read books, even with “big” words in them without being discouraged.

How long does it take for you to write a novel? This one took about... I don't know, less than a month for the first draft. Its been a couple of months worth of editing, though.

What are some of the tools you use for marketing? This time around, I wrote a play as well. We will be performing at our local community theater, where I will also have books available to sell. After I'm finished directing the play, I plan to visit schools and continue to volunteer at my local library just to get to know more kids... and possibly do some book signings.

What is your website? Www.outoftheboxpublishing.com

How can readers get in touch with you via email? byn@outoftheboxpublishing.com

Did you take any writing classes? Nope.

What motivates you to write? Inspiration, passion, I just get this story that starts roiling around inside of me until I can't ignore it anymore. I sit down and type as fast as I can to keep up with the flood of words that comes out.

How do you spend your writing time? I don't have scheduled writing time. With everything going on in my life at the moment, I just take any moment I can when I am feeling that spark of inspiration. I spend a lot of time in the car and lying half asleep in bed imagining new twists and turns in my current story.

What is your favorite genre of writing?

At the moment, fairy tale type stories, although the one I'm currently working on is very very serious and somewhat dark. A much more 'realistic' version of a fairy tale.

Where do you see yourself with your writing in five years?

Wow. I have no idea. Two years ago, I had no idea that I'd be getting involved in theater, now I'm directing my third play, that I wrote... and I'm on a roll suddenly writing a script and a novel, with more inside my head! I have come to really appreciate taking things a few steps at a time and reveling in the moment... although I always have numerous things going on, I definitely do not have a '5 year plan' or anything near it. I'm involved in things that need planning and thought RIGHT NOW and that's just about it!

I will say that I would hope that I can continue to write books for children, and especially for preteens and teens to give them an outlet where they can “escape” in a healthy way.

What advice would you give for aspiring writers?

Just sit down and start writing. Don't worry about doing it “right”. That's what editing is for. Just start letting the ideas flow until one catches...

Tell me a bit about your family. My family... Hmmm. Well, they are almost as odd as I am! I have a wonderful husband who is my other half. He is good and strong in the areas where I am weak, and vice versa. We make a fantastic team. We have five kids, ages 8 to 17, and honestly, they are the best kids. Fortunately, they are also extremely goofy and silly and therefor make great inspiration for the characters in my book! We watch The Cosby Show and talk about how we should have a show like that, as we very often feel like our life is a sitcom! We enjoy each other and are very close, all of us seem to come together and support each other through things... its a continual surprise, raising children and watching them grow into such different people than we were (Thankfully!)!!

When did you consider yourself a writer? “A Writer”... Not sure I do. I'm not sure that I have room for anymore labels on me at the moment! I guess I'll consider myself a writer sometime within the next few years. At this point, I still find myself surprised by the fact that I”m a parent, and my oldest is 17! I'm apparently a little slow when it comes to things like that.

Where are you from? Southeast Iowa. In amongst several moves – I went to 13 different schools growing up) I mainly grew up in an extremely small town, Lockridge.

What is your professional and educational background? I graduated from high school after having focused on every possible writing, reading and artistic class I could. I then went to a finishing school... but I dropped out after a couple of months. I always found it quite ironic that I was so bad at finishing things that I quit a 'finishing' school! Professional? I direct children's theater and teach drama classes... and I'm a homeschooling mom of 14 years. That's about as professional a I get, as far as anything pertaining to writing. I did spend a couple of years living on the road with my husband and children traveling around and painting on motorcycles at motorcycle rallies. I really need to write a book based on those years!!

What keeps you writing while struggling with writer’s block? Music. If I can find a soundtrack or a composer whose music fits the mood of the story, that will often get me off to a running start. If I get really stumped, I'll start joking around or talking with my kids about what I COULD do with the story. I make up outrageous things to write about, until something actually clicks and I am “off” with my story.

Do you use certain tricks to help prevent you from straying from your goal? The only thing I have found that keeps me from straying from my goal is to tell everyone I know what I”m doing and when it will be finished! If I just waited until I got around to it... or finally felt it was 'perfect', I would constantly talk myself out of it.

How long will we wait for your next book? What are your current projects? I am working on a much more serious story at the moment. It is still very loosely 'fairy tale' based, but it is a much more realistic story, deeper and a little darker. There is a lot more passion and emotion in this story. It seems to come in spurts, so I'm not really sure how long it will take to finish it... and even then, there is so much more of “me” in it... it may take a while before I feel comfortable being able to really share it!

I've also got a bunch of notes for a sequel to “Rapunzel” that focuses on Prince Awesome finding his 'on true love' and a fairy tale play that I want to produce this summer.

Do you use any set formula when writing a book? Absolutely none. I don't do well with formulas. I get so tied up in perfecting my formula that I do nothing else. I just sit and write... that's about it.

How do you come up with ideas for your writings, and why do you feel you choose some over others? How did you come to set your goals?

How much time do you devote to marketing your book? What kind of marketing do you recommend? I am spending a lot of time on it at the moment. Mainly working on getting my website up, getting the play ready to go (directing a play that also happens to have the same story line as the book is a pretty big marketing step too!) and writing up lesson plans to go along with the book are my first projects. I've also made coloring pages with some drawings of the characters from the book that I plan to leave as fliers at our local libraries and elsewhere with book ordering information on them. That's it for the moment, although directing the play is pretty much taking up most of my 'extra' time at the moment.

Where do you hope to take your writing in the future? I want to do it all. Well, not ALL, but I do have a desire to keep up with the lighthearted comedic style books and continue to offer reading lesson plans and whatnot, because I really believe that the ability to read and comprehend and enjoy reading is an invaluable tool. Playwriting is something I loved doing this time around, too, so I'm sure I'll do more of that!

I also have some more intense fictional stories that I'm developing as well, probably for older teens, young adults. At some point, I would like to figure out how to put my own struggles and trials in life into a book form. I think that putting my own struggles out there in some form or another, be it through fiction or non fiction could be of help to people who have been through similar trials.

What dreams have been realized as a result of your writing? Any special memories you would like to share? Well, I'm on the very beginning leg of this journey, so I guess I don't have any 'realized' dreams yet. Just finishing a book and getting it in book form is enough of a dream for me at the moment!

How do your friends and family feel about your writing venture in general? My husband and my mother have been endlessly supportive and encouraging. My friend Jennifer has been an amazing blessing with her encouragement. My kids, well, they don't seem to think anything is terribly out of the ordinary. To them, it is not at all unusual for me to have taken this on. This isn't the first time that they've watched me develop and interest in something... and then just tackle it because I wanted to give it a try.

What do you do to unwind and relax? Watch tv shows, do sudoku, solitaire or crossword puzzles and eat sunflower seeds. All at the same time, or its not as relaxing. I need to be able to actually keep most areas of my brain from thinking about what else I should be doing.