GUEST AUTHOR - KACEY KELLS

Today I'm delighted to share my author interview with the lovely non-fiction author, Kacey Kells. I first chatted to her on Tweetables.com, where she did a brilliant interview with me back in 2024 - click here to read it (it's amazing!).

Kacey is one of the bubbliest authors out there, which is the exact opposite of the heavy topics she covers in her books. I think most people that follow Kacey fall in love with her energy. Personally I find it mind-blowing trying to comprehend everything she's been through, but let's meet her.

So Kacey, what was it that started you writing?

My first book, "KELLCEY", is a memoir. It’ s about being victim of a sexual aggression and the consequences. 

I started writing because I was absolutely unable to speak about what had happened to me, so my counsellor, my therapist and my mom said I should try to write something, Hence, I started writing, but in my mind it was only something like a diary. 

In any case, it proved to be helpful, a way to heal. One day, my counsellor asked my permission to read what I did, and it’s her who said I should try to publish it because it could be helpful to other victims and survivors.  

Jeez. I mean, jeez 🤯 Taking the decision to publish such a personal and traumatic experience is unbelievably brave. Apart from the fact you're amazing, have you ever been contacted by readers who have shared their own experiences, including letting you know how your book has helped them?  

Yes! And that’s what makes me happy. Several women contacted and told me that reading Kellcey had been helpful... others said they once shared the same experience and were happy that I did write and publish this. Even male readers see this book positively. 

That's phenomenal! I mean, for such a terrible thing to have happened, what an amazing way to handle it and move on. I can understand why you published this first book, but you've since written another. Can you tell me about that?

My second book, "(His)Story of Women", is something I had to do: I’m a feminist (not a misandrist!) and wanted to write something to detail the history of the process of objectification of women and explain its consequences. 

It’s an academic essay based on the research I did at university. It involves a sociological, anthropological, historical, economical, and genetical analysis with the purpose to show that both genders are indeed physiologically different but equal in skills and intelligence; hence, empowering women is not a question of ethics, or justice, but a cornerstone of social resilience, stability, and progress. 

Now that's very interesting. I guess a lot of people reading the blurb might think you're just fighting back, against what happened to you, but it's a fascinating idea to say hey, are we different and investigate that academically instead.

I'm guessing you compiled a load of data and then somehow had to translate that into being a coherent book? I can't imagine how you did that! Was it a case of planning chapters and then slotting in research, or was it more organic and you split up the work as you went? 

I would answer both. I, of course, had a scheduled plan, necessary because it was driven by the several disciplines I needed to go through to develop my analysis. Sometimes, however, new findings pushed me to follow a direction I wasn’t initially aware of. 

And how about how you published them both? Did you go down the traditional route or self-publish instead?

KELLCEY was first published traditionally, but when my contract ended, I decided to self-publish it with Amazon. Since I was happy with it I decided to do the same with (His)Story of Women which I self-published on the same format. 

Excellent. Okay, my final question, what does the publishing future look like for you? Is there another book on the horizon?

Yes! My next book will be different though: it'll be my first historical novel. 

Oohh, that's exciting! Tell me more!

It's the story of a young Athenian woman (Vth century BC). The idea is to give a critical description of the lives of women in ancient Greece. 

I already read several classics, like Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Thucydides, Plutarch... plus several academic essays and analysis, mainly about the Athenian society in the age of Pericles, but I still have plenty of reading to do to have a clear idea of what daily life was in ancient Athens. 

Because of the density of the research and reading I still have to do, and knowing that there’s little information about women’s daily lives, it will certainly take another year or two! But it’s a beautiful challenge! 

Wow, it sounds amazing. You obviously love research, and I get the feeling your prose is going to be so rich with everything you've learnt, but how about the story itself? Do you think you'll follow several different women and multiple point-of-views, or will it be one? And will this straddle into men too? 

There’s only one heroine, and her name is Kalista (meaning the ‘most beautiful’ in ancient Greek). I chose this name because it starts with a K, and it’s easier to identify with her! 

There are of course many characters (some real, like Pericles or Socrates...) and some not, but she’s the main character. We follow her, from her birth and childhood, to her marriage (age 14!), and later follow her life as a married woman in ancient Athens. 

I don’t know yet, but something in my head told me that, because she belongs to a noble and educated family, she’s fond of philosophy, like Aspasia (Pericles’ concubine) and find a way to escape the gynaeceum thanks to philosophy.... 

I can't wait to read this! If you'd like to find out more about Kacey then please visit her website here where she also has a great blog and the links to her socials (please note, her X account has been hacked, so don't follow her there!). 

If you enjoyed this post, then press here to get all the latest updates emailed directly to you via follow.it (You can unsubscribe at any time). Thank you!

GUEST AUTHOR - THADDEUS ARJUNA

This month's guest author interview is with Thaddeus Arjuna, who is a multi-genre author with two murder-mysteries, a sci-fi trilogy, a biography, spiritual odyssey and book of poetry, odes, short stories and rants! That bio alone has to whet your appetite!

He says of himself, I write almost entirely eBook novellas. I feel that an eBook is a living, breathing entity. It is a medium that allows me to make changes whenever I want, add, redact, re-edit, and breathe new life into the story! And I can honestly say that almost all of my books have evolved continuously over the last 10 years. #ReadAndReview

How interesting to see a digital version of your books in that way, it's a good point, but with such a diverse portfolio of work, how do you choose what to write when?

Initially, I had a plan to write three books. My parents had a printing press company, and they had several author friends, like Walter Farley, Yan D'Hartog, and John D MacDonald. They were at our home regularly when I was growing up, and Mr. Farley inspired me.

My first book was "Something is Wrong with Janet." She was my mother and also an institutionalized manic depressive. It was a difficult book to write because I got a lot of pushback from family members.

My 2nd book was "The Mansion at Peacock Gully." It was the first book I published. A true crime story. The first 3 books were about events or experiences I had growing up or earlier in my Restaurant career.

Gosh, that sounds tough to write a book about your own mother, particularly with such a challenging medical diagnosis, and obviously not everyone in the family approved which must have added to your pressure, I'm so sorry to hear that but well done for tackling it.

Let's talk about your writing style and preparation next. What do you do?

I usually jot down a few things I want to write about in a story, and have a mental outline of how I want it to flow. I have only written one book in the first person, although I usually use one of the characters as a first person too.

But I do have a problem with choosing names. I struggle with it. If I am writing a true story, I will use the same names, changing a letter or two. Nowadays I do searches for names, Sci-fi, Civil War, Asian Hindu names ( For Vishnu's Tears). Creating the characters is tough, too, but I enjoy the process immensely.

I love researching names too, thank goodness for the internet 🤣 What about your characters' language style - do you allow swearing?

I swear all the time, so in most of my books, the characters do too.

That's interesting, because I struggle to use swears in my prose, I've no idea why! And how about purple prose - is that an issue for you?

The only books that I can be accused of purple prose are my Poetry book, "The Beautiful Sadness," and my Romantic Fantasy, "The Siren's Red Tide Diary." And that would be debatable. I think both books are beautiful.

I think poetry makes it more allowable somehow! Now lets move onto publishing. Indie or trad?

I know how hard it is to traditionally publish. I self-publish because essentially, I am writing for myself. I retired 10 years ago, and I needed something to do. I never had any delusions of making a living from this. I just wanted it to fill a void. And maybe I would learn something about myself.

I'm indie too, but mainly because I want the control (too many years being self-employed has done that to me!), but also I'm impatient 😂 What about the editing side of things - what do you do there?

Because I write e-books exclusively, I do regular editing. I feel an e-book is a living, breathing thing. You can always make it better. I use grammarly and I just bought the pro Grammarly.

And what about your process pre-publishing, such as sending out ARCs, deciding on a cover, etc?

I frequently give away my books for free. If they write reviews they are my beta readers. If not? Oh well.

And my friend Carol Marrs Phipps has done all of my book covers but one. She has also done all of my banners.

Okay, seeing as you've mentioned reviews and the poor uptake of readers leaving some sort of feedback, can we talk about the trickier side of writing. What things do you consider your nemesis?

I am horrible at promotion, and I struggle with every single word. With writing, I know when a book is flowing well because the writing comes easy. But I can say that as I get older, that is almost never.

I also need to improve marketing, but I have really been hurt because I lost access to a much larger account on X/ Twitter (24K followers), and I don't trust marketers (because their are SO many scams on Twitter.) I just started with Cathy (Cathy's Promos) and she turned me on to you.

Well thank you to Thaddeus (and to Cathy too!) and if you'd like to find out more about Thaddeus and his work, then please click on his Amazon author page link here or his X link here. If you enjoyed this post, then press here to get all the latest updates emailed directly to you via follow.it (You can unsubscribe at any time). Thank you!