Hello and welcome once again to my new monthly feature: Author Spotlight. This month I have the pleasure of introducing you to Renee Grace Thompson. Renee, once upon a time, worked in health care. Now she has four children and an as yet unknown number of books on the way. She has recently been published in Valentine’s Day Anthology: Hearts and Handcuffs. Her first novel, Luck o’ the (non)Irish, is now available for pre-order.
Let’s start with an easy question. What is your favorite movie and why?
Wow. This is tough. Seriously. I don’t watch movies. Or TV. I may have seen most of Ironman with my son, but I couldn’t tell you which one. There are a couple, right?
Yes, there are multiple Ironman movies… so that wasn’t as easy as I thought. Let me try again. Do you ever get Writer’s Block, and do you have any tips for getting through it?
I feel fortunate in that I have never experienced what I would consider to be writer’s block. I feel sorry for writers who do deal with this, but it doesn’t occur for me. My head is full of about seven different stories going on at once, and for me it’s a matter of quieting six of those stories so I can concentrate on the one.
I have had times where it takes me a few days to work out the best way to get from point A to point B, but it doesn’t last long. Typically, I just sit down and start writing, even if it’s trash, and that’s when everything starts to fall into place. It’s as if having my fingers touching the keyboard is the magic connection. Everything just clicks, and it all comes flowing out.
Having many ideas at once just means you have more options. Or maybe more distractions. Is being a writer a gift or a curse?
Both, I’d say. A gift in that it allows me to create people I love and give them a happily ever after, and I can live in their world. I hope others will enjoy their stories as much as I enjoy writing them. But it’s also a curse because I never turn it off. My characters and stories are heavy on my mind every moment of the day, and I find myself not tuned into reality when I should be.
It’s hard when the characters won’t leave you alone, which brings me to my next question: When you develop characters do you already know who they are before you begin writing or do you let them develop as you go?
I have a pretty good idea of their personalities before I start. I would think it would be hard to write without knowing that, actually. But they do surprise me from time to time, just like people in real life. We all have changing moods and whatnot, and my characters seem to be the same way.
With all of that, I have to ask: Do you write full-time or part-time?
Well, I do have another job outside of the home, but I spend much more time doing my writerly work than at my job. Not necessarily writing, unfortunately, but all the things that go with it. Like studying the marketing trends and keeping up with social media, beta reading for friends, and revising my own work.
Renee lives in the Midwest with her husband and four kids. She worked as a Nuclear Medicine Technologist for over many years, but now manages her family-owned business. Her spare time is spent hovering over her laptop, trying to transcribe the romance novels playing out in her head. There are several going on at once though, so keeping up with them is hard. She hopes to have her first novel published sometime this winter.
Leave a Reply