Can you tell us a little about your most recent book?

Eve and the dashing Detective Horowitz grow ever-closer in this book, a carefully slow-burn romance that has been one of my favorite dynamics I’ve ever written, and I’m thirteen books into my career, so that’s saying something. I love these two more than I can say.

I was having a hard time when I sat down to write this series, I’d gone through a rather drastic rough patch creatively and I begged my characters to help pull me through the slump. I asked them to help me fall in love with them and they came through in shining colors. The greatest joy of this series so far is folks enjoying the characters as much as I do, feeling like they’re a part of everyone’s extended, found family.
What’s your writing process like?
I have multiple rotating freelance jobs so my writing process is to write whenever I can within and around all the rest of my obligations as a TV stage manager, an audio book narrator, a ghost tour guide, an artisan (I’ve an Etsy store: http://etsy.com/shop/torchandarrow), a guest lecturer, an actress touring a one-woman presentation about a 19thcentury designer, and of course most importantly, an author with at least one convention appearance a month and at least one new release per year. I try as best I can to make time for my writing above everything else, and all my freelance jobs know and support me as a novelist first and foremost
I’m a night owl so my best work is done at night. I put on atmospheric music, I adjust the lighting to something of a gaslit quality (I have several stained-glass lamps; my favorite visual touches) and always have a cup of tea or coffee at my side. I’m a pantser not a plotter but I’m trying to work out a better balance between the two. I find if I spend a lot of time thinking about the things the characters actively need to do, my characters always lead the way. I always have to watch that I keep them as continuously active and confronting obstacles as I can.
I tend to set my goals by word-count, aiming for between 500 to 2k words a day depending on the rest of my rotating work hours. No single week of mine looks like the next, so I have to remain adaptable and flexible with my process, while still making sure it’s at the forefront of my to-do list. I like the changeable nature.
Are you working on anything new?
Yes! In addition to copy edits for A SUMMONING OF SOULS(July 2020, Kensington) I’ve got several new projects in the works and I’m thrilled to be returning to my first ever publications via a new program and imprint! The Dark Nest Chroniclesare paranormal space opera novellas that Scrib’d will be reissuing alongside audio editions- with me narrating! It’s a dream come true. I’ll be continuing the Dark Nest saga in related novellas throughout 2020. Everything I do has a paranormal and/or psychic bent so this is a fun, full-circle return to the beginning of my career.
What piece of advice would you give to aspiring authors?
Persistence. Your desire to see your work out in the world has to be stronger than your fear of what will happen to it. Not everyone will like your work. My work has a very distinctive voice that is either a hit or a miss with readers. All I can do is be true to myself, my heart, my calling, my spirit. You figure out that guiding star for yourself and keep it in your sights. The industry is rough and full of ups and downs. It’s gotten more complicated through the years, but in many ways you have more options now. Study those options carefully and figure out what kind of career you’d like to have, then be tenacious about reaching for it. Tenacity is the key to staying in the business as there’s so much that’s out of our control as writers. I’ve faced so many setbacks but I’m still here. And I’ll be steadfast, writing the next book. Stay strong.
What are you currently reading?
I am currently near-finished with Heidi Heilig’s astounding AKingdom for a Stage, the sequel toher evocativeFor a Muse of Fire. I am a very, veryslow reader, a fact I don’t like to acknowledge. But considering so many of my friends are authors, I have to beg their understanding, patience and forgiveness as I want to get to everyone’s books but there are so many more on my TBR stack than I can manage quickly. But I love Heidi’s voice, I love this world, and I am so inspired by how she discusses passion, theatricality, depression, power dynamics, resistance, politics and deeply personal art- there’s just so much in this beautifully crafted saga. As someone who deals with depression myself, and a specific strain that is very relative to the series, her work is not only resonant, but healing. The way letters, music, script pages, playbills, headlines and gorgeous prose have entwined in this series- it is all my favorite things melding and merging in one clever, elegant story. She doesn’t just write a book here; she papers the walls of your mind with a mixed-media immersion. I can’t recommend her work enough.
Due to deadlines, I have to shift back and forth between fiction and non-fiction research so I’m also neck-deep in 1890s era research books for future projects involving more ghosts and feisty, quirky characters darting about Gilded Age New York streets!
Thanks for everyone’s time and I hope you’ll join me and my friendly ghosts for a spiritedadventure in 1899 Manhattan in the Spectral City series! I hope you’ll follow me on social media (I’m most active on Twitter @LeannaRenee) and let me know your thoughts!
Happy Haunting!
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