Today I’m joined by Wilnona Marie and Brandy Miller. Wilnona is an Advocate Awarded poet known for her quick wit, ability to laugh at herself, and being a pop poet. She has contributed writings to eleven books or what she calls” literary life guides w/ pop poetry”: The And I Thought Series & The Miss-Fit Guides. Wilnona is a Co-Founder of the Inspirational Women in Literature Media and Journalism Awards, The Thoughtful Book Festival & Awards, the 25 Hottest Authors Magazine & And I Thought Literary Magazine. She co-host several podcasts including The Ladies Tales podcast. This is the most inventive podcast to date. Annually she tours the US and UK.
SS: What did you want to grow up to be as a child? Has that child’s desire appeared in your work?
WM: At five years old, I knew I wanted to be a neurosurgeon. Obviously, my childhood dream job didn’t work out. The medical field research turned up in my books because one of my characters was a mob doctor.
BM: I wanted to be a lot of things, but most of all I wanted to own my own business and become a great saint. Those two desires are something that tends to weave their way – subtly – into all of my work.
SS: How has Covid-19 affected your writing? Your future writing? Your life? Your family?
WM: I had so much time to write. Two books were finally finished and published. One of those books is Freefalling and Loving It. Covid was great for the brand expansion and for writing. The world events did have an impact on my writing.
DM: It didn’t really change much of my lifestyle habits. I always spent time a lot of time at home. However, this year it did throw a financial wrecking ball in my life and I’m working to recover from that.
SS: If you have children, does being a parent influence your writing? To what extent?
BM: Being a parent influences everything in my life, including my writing. It gives me a whole different perspective on life than I had when I was single.
SS: Did anything in your past push you to write about your book and the conflict(s) in it?
BM: I think it’s safe to say that it was Wilnona’s past experiences that led her to write Free Falling and Loving It, but it was my past experience with narcissistic abusive relationships that led me to connect with what she’d written and the characters in it.
SS: If you could have been the original author of any book, what would it have been and why?
WM: Any Jane Austen book. I want to create a book genre that everyone loves. It would be amazing to be considered the mother of mother day romance. I wouldn’t feel I was worthy.
BM: Great question. I would like to claim to have written Ender’s Game.
SS: What was the first book you fell in love with?
WM: Deep love for writing mysteries formed after reading Mickey Spillane’s Black Alley. Admittedly, I’m not the best for writing a mystery, but I did learn how to do a decent plot twist.
SS: What are you working on at the moment?
WM: My writing partner and I are putting the finishing touches on And I Thought I Knew You, a poetic murder mystery.
BM: I am working on developing a gaming platform for writers that facilitates writing as the primary function of the game.
SS: Hilary Mantel (Wolf Hall) says that a Catholic upbringing is the only qualification a writer requires. Can you relate to this idea? Do you have any similar writing qualifications?
BM: I think Hilary is onto something. As a Catholic myself, I tend to view the hero’s journey through the lens of Christ’s death on the cross and the sacrifices of the saints. After all, the biggest difference between the hero and the villain isn’t their goals and aspirations. It’s who they are willing to sacrifice to make them happen. The hero is willing to lay down his or her life so that others might live and so that the world might be a better place. The villain is willing to sacrifice everyone else—except themselves—in the name of the “greater good.”
Being Catholic also gives you a tool for doing the one other thing you absolutely must do in order to become a great writer—and that is a deep knowledge not only of the nicer parts of yourself but of the darkest parts of yourself. You have to be honest and real about your faults and your failings because those are the things that make for the best villains and the most authentic voices.
SS: What writer would you be most thrilled to hear wants to meet you?
BM: Orson Scott Card.
WM: I wanted to meet Nicholas Spark because I heard he looks wonderful, but if I’m going beyond the superficial, I would like to meet Janet Evanovich. Her books inspire to pursue humorous elements seamlessly being a part of a mystery. I have yet to capture the magic she has on page, but with every story I make it my goal. I’ve met my favorite living author and had the opportunity to give her an award.
SS: Which of your characters surprised you the most for the decisions they made?
WM: Michael Prescott surprised me the most, because I wasn’t expecting him to be so involved with Haillie. The first two chapters I thought he would loathe Haillie Prescott, but his hate was tempered with jealousy and admiration. It was fascinating transcribing their tenuous relationship. Also, Brandon took an unexpected surprise turn, because he was interested in Haillie but had a messy pass with Virginia. It still leaves me in awe how much our characters drive our stories and not the writer.
SS: If you time-warped fifty years into the future and found that something you created has become a trope or buzzword, how would you feel? Would you feel cheated of royalties or vindicated as a genius?
BM: I would feel vindicated as a genius. The money isn’t the point. It’s just a metric for how much trust I’ve earned that I can deliver a given result and how much commitment those who are my fans have to getting the results I can deliver.
WM: If I found out something, I wrote was a trope, I would be thrilled. True, I would be upset I didn’t get to spend the royalties, but I would be excited for those I willed my literary and merchandising rights too.
SS: Have any particular rejections inspired or motivated you?
WM: Jade Dee and I had a particularly nasty review on our first book, and instead of allowing it to ruffle our feathers, we used it as inspiration to write our second book. If we hadn’t read that review, we wouldn’t have seventeen books or this women’s fiction book.
SS: What other authors are you friends with, and how do they help you become a better writer?
BM: Oh, the And I Thought Ladies are for sure but I also have Joylynn Ross of Pathway To Publishing and Norma McLauchlin of Chosen Pen Publishing and Ned Barnett of Barnett Marketing along with Tonya Todd and a whole host of writer friends. They all contribute to making me a better writer by challenging me to grow as I work with and alongside them on various projects.
SS: What advice would you give aspiring writers?
WM: Success comes in odd ways. When I started out, I thought I would be a poet. As I grew up, I was told poets don’t make any money so I wrote genre from 12 years old onward. My success came from poetry and to this day that surprises me. Be open to flexibility in your creativity and success is continuously redefined. Accepting it the way it is manifesting in your life right now is often the hardest part.
SS: Who do you most wish would read your book?
Brandy: For Free Falling and Loving It? Every woman who has ever been devastated by a husband walking out on her for a younger woman. For The End of Purgatory? Every young woman who is confused about love and is accepting counterfeits for the real thing.
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Free Falling and Loving It is available through Amazon.
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An excerpt from Free Falling and Loving It:
Chapter 6
Hailie woke to the blare of sirens. Her feet hit the floor, missing the quick access slippers she kept beneath the bed for just such occasions, but she heeded the call of urgency to leave her house and moved forward in her bare feet. Visions of plumes of smoke climbing the stairs in search of a resident to char triggered a fear that she was going to be roasted alive in her own dwelling…. The click of the Jazz-era, Harlem-style repurposed door helped a few fragmented thoughts settle into place as she stepped out into the safety of the open air and the breezy late summer coolness began to slip around areas best not shown in public.
A new fear displaced the fear of burning alive, dulling the ordinarily pleasant sensation of air drying her more private crevices, and she found herself mentally reviewing her nightly routine with a silent prayer that she had not actually forgotten to put on clothing in her haste to exit the building… Starting at the crown of her head, Haillie began patting the naturally curly mane, now brushed into a bun, down her neck and to her shoulders, and then onto – her breast and nipple. Naked. She was bloody naked!
The road clear, she bent down and blindly patted the stoop for the spare key under the fake rock in the giant planter on the left of her front step. The key was hidden between bushes in the flower box. She turned over the rock and the key fell down in the dirt next to the cement encased steps leading to the front door.
A sense of urgency filled her mind. There were already plenty of tidbits available for a morning matinee viewing and she had no desire to uncover the few pieces she could hide with her hand and forearms…. She heard a man’s voice coming from the sidewalk.
“Are you okay?”
She froze before sneaking a peek at the owner of the voice from between her knees. The six-foot-three-inch guide was talking to her two airborne cheeks.
What could he see? How much of her body bits were open to his view? Did she do enough exercise to be standing with her back end spread eagle? Was her full moon firm and her cellulite appropriately hidden? For the first time in her life, she considered the merits of bleaching her excrement orifice.
If she had to let her little moon shine, it might as well be in its full glory. She stood up, covering her breasts and lower area as she turned around to face him.
“I’m fine. Why do you ask?”
“You looked like you might need help.” His eyes took in the whole of her.
Having already began, she doubled down. “No, just air drying.”
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