Anyta Sunday Talks about ’14, ’15 and CritShop
Guest Author – Anyta Sunday:
Ohhh, Guest post!
Thank you, Andy for giving me the opportunity to visit and share a few thoughts.
Seeing as its January and goal setting is an integral part of the month, I wanted to reflect a little on 2014 and the hopes for 2015.
Last year, I managed to pen three novels, each of which hold a special place for me. The first, Liam Davis & The Raven, was based in Pittsburgh, where I lived for a couple of years, and I had a ball slipping in details of the city into the story—makes me miss all those good times! And, of course, it makes me think of Andy and his lovely family, since we were close enough to visit! Sigh. What great memories this story brings back to me. http://liamdavis.anytasunday.com/
The second, Rock, was a story that took me by surprise. I think I’ve had this one simmering in the back of my mind for a few years, but I only had bits and pieces of it. Then I heard this song over the radio:
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guXUXX7ZBP8)
and boom, everything just came into place. Within a day, I had the outline for the story, and then I just had to write. I rode that emotion for 17 days straight to produce the first draft. Up early, in bed late, husband had to take care of everything, because I was in another world.
Of course, the editing took a lot longer to get the book into shape for reading! But wow, this was such a ride, and I really became invested in Jace and Cooper’s story.
Phoenixed, the last of my YA paranormal romance trilogy, was the toughest write of the year. This one took over six months to pen, and it was by far the most challenging story I’ve written yet. I found I’d written myself into a few corners with the first two books, and figuring it all out took a bit of work. But I loved it. Loved fitting that puzzle together! That book finally came out on the 31st of December—just in time, since I’d promised it to be done in 2014!
Part of what made 2014 awesome was all the great books I read! There are too many to name here, but feel free to check out some of my memorable reads here:
https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_posts/7603897-book-surprises-2014
So what’s in store for 2015?
I’m super excited to have a couple of fun projects and new challenges ahead of me!
In terms of novels, I am currently working on a fantasy involving seasonal kingdoms and dragon-shifter warriors—and plenty of romance (always). Then I’m working on a historical with Lynda Lamb, who has spent the last year doing crazy amounts of research, and which I would like to write into a novel this year. It will be loosely based on the story of James Annesley, whose life reads like a novel on its own. Of course, we are fictionalizing the story and there will be a HEA.
As well as this, I’ve been working on a new project, offering literary workshops for writers, with a focus on LGBT fiction. My new baby is called CritShop. Excuse the blatant plugging here, but I am very excited about this opportunity!
CritShop offers writers of LGBT fiction a stimulating, safe environment to exchange ideas and work on their stories. Our first workshop will be in lovely Berlin, my adopted hometown, and runs May 21st – 25th. It’s going to be a fun four days packed with writer Aleksandr Voinov running morning classes on the craft of writing, as well as one-on-one story-development sessions, and evening Stress Busters! A great opportunity to work on your story and meet other authors. You can find out all information, and sign up, via our website …
http://critshop.com/
So yeah, that’s what I look forward to working on this year!
About the Author:
A born and raised New Zealander, Anyta Sunday has been exploring the literary world since she started reading Roald Dahl as a kid. Inspired, stories have been piling up in her head ever since. Fast forward to her mid-twenties and jump a few countries (Germany, America, and back again), and she started putting pen to paper. When she’s not writing or chasing her kid around, she’s reading, hiking, watching a Joss Whedon series, attempting pilates, or curling up with her two cats. Updates on her projects can be found at anytasunday.com.
[…] you’d like to read an interview with me about my projects for 2015, head over to Andy’s blog who was so kind to host […]