Author Interview - Aisley Oliphant
Aisley Oliphant has been in love with writing since she learned how to hold a pencil, creating wild stories about mermaids and far-fetched adventures with her friends. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Creative Writing from Weber State University, became a writing tutor for the WSU Writing Center where she helped students one-on-one to self-edit and improve their writing. She went on to work as a writer and editorial assistant for Utah Business Magazine, and a freelance writer for her church, editing and publishing more than twenty-five articles in between them. In the summer of 2022, she graduated with a Masters of Publishing from Western Colorado University.
Currently, Aisley is preparing to start developmental edits on her debut fiction novel, and has also begun production on a graphic novel series. She was on the editorial staff for the Gilded Glass: Twisted Myths & Shattered Fairy Tales anthology by executive editors Kevin J. Anderson and Allyson Longueira, and republished The Elusive Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy in a new edition for the WordFire Press Classics collection. On the weekends, Aisley can be found running, reading, or geeking out about Spider-Man, dinosaurs, and Harry Potter. She loves snuggling her husband and cats, going on camp trips, cooking delicious dinners, and having a good time with friends and family.
Genre:
Non-Fiction, Booked to the Gills is a book about time management and work distribution for busy writers.
Q&A
Q1:
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Booked to the Gills: How to Crush Thirty-Day Writing Challenges for Busy People
I was inspired to write this book because I realized I had developed a strategy for winning NaNoWriMo even when I was doing a million other things, and it was something that I could teach other people.
Q2:
What’s your favourite and least favourite part of publishing?
My favorite part of publishing is being involved in every step of the process. I also like making decisions. The hardest part of publishing is also making decisions.
Q3:
What authors, or books have influenced you?
It’s so hard to pin down just a few! My current fiction WIP was influenced by Dan Well’s The Partials Sequence (the toxic wasteland he constructed was evocative!), but I’m also really inspired by Brandon Sanderson’s business sense.
Q4:
What is your schedule like when you’re writing a book?
When I’m drafting, I’m doing all I can to fit time in the cracks. I also try to have multiple projects going at once so I can take a break doing other steps in the process, such as researching or outlining.
Q5: What advice would you give to a
writer working on their first book?
Remember the first one is always the hardest. Keep pushing and work a little bit every day and eventually, you’ll finish. But you have to show up and you cannot give up.
Q6:
What do the words “writer’s block” mean to you?
To me, it generally means I need a break. When I hit writer’s block, I have to take a step back and do something else so my brain has time to work on what has me stuck in the background. Then eventually, I’ll feel fresh enough to go back and the problem generally has solved itself!
Q7:
What part of the book was the most fun to write?
In fiction, I love writing beginnings and the inciting incident.
Q8: How would you describe your book’s
ideal reader?
Bookedto the Gills’ ideal reader would be someone who has a desire to compete in a thirty-day writing challenge similar to National Novel Writing Month, but feels like they don’t have time to.
Q9:
What are you working on now?
Now that Booked to the Gills is finished, I’ll be revising my adult, post-apocalyptic science fiction book Demon Fall and the second prequel book in my YA fantasy graphic novel series, Guardians of the Umbra.
Q10:
What are you currently reading?
As
of this questionnaire, I’m rereading The Way of Kings, by Brandon
Sanderson. Next on my list is Not Even Bones, by Rebecca Schaeffer and Unnatural
Acts, by Kevin J. Anderson.
Website
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