Firstly Margay, can you tell us a little bit about your novel ‘Nora's Soul’?
Sure, here is the blurb from the book:
When angels of light and dark collide on earth…
Once he held a favored position in the heavens. But one moment of weakness casts Dante out and now he is cursed to walk the earth, collecting the souls of vulnerable women to buy his way into hell.
All hell breaks loose…
But standing in his way is Peter, an angel of light. Peter is everything Dante is not. Pure, above reproach. And determined to prevent Dante from achieving his goals. Peter will stop at nothing to protect the souls in his charge, even if it means achieving the impossible – leading Dante back onto the right path. And no one is safe from the fall-out. Nora Kendall believed in angels. Once. But then she lost her brother to cancer despite all of her prayers – and she lost her faith in all things angelic. Now, she is a lost soul who wanders through life like a sleepwalker, playing it safe and leaving the risk-taking to others. Kyle Cameron is one of those risks. Burned by a bad marriage, his only concern now is providing a stable life for his children, who are left motherless by the unexpected death of his wife. This means working overtime to grow his architectural firm into a viable business – and leaving the care of his children to the care of someone he trusts. Despite his past connection with Nora, Kyle isn’t certain that she’s the right person for the job. He also doesn’t want to reconnect with her and repeat history. But fate – and the machinations of two angels – has other ideas.
That sounds very interesting, what is your writing background up until now?
I have always pursued my writing dream, even as I worked through corporate America and have won some local contests for my writing along the way. Just before the publication of Nora's Soul, I entered the blogosphere with my own blog and have since expanded to writing for a few more, including Moonlight, Lace and Mayhem and Pop Syndicate. You can visit Margays blog here.
What inspired your idea for your currently published novel?
It actually came from two dreams I had in one night. The first was of this woman who was dancing the night away with a gorgeous man who, when she turned away to go to the bar for a drink, became quite...devilish. The second dream was of the same women, dressed in a more prim and proper way, moving into a garage apartment as she prepared to take on the duties of being nanny to a widower's twins. Separately, these dreams wouldn't have caused such a stir in me, but because they happened in the same night and with the same woman in them, I knew I had to explore them further. Who was she? And why did she present two such different sides to me? The result, of course, was Nora's Soul.
Do you have any specific daily writing routines you stick to?
I wish I could say that I did, but I don't. I write whenever I can. No set time, no set word limit. Just whatever comes before the body says it's time to quit for the night.
So now that you have published ‘Nora’s Soul’ are you planning a next novel we should be looking forward to?
I have so many books in the works and/or in various stages of the submission process! There is one with an editor now that I am waiting to hear about, cross my fingers!
After you completed ‘Nora’s Soul’ how difficult was it for you to land an agent?
I actually am still on the hunt for an agent. This is challenging because it takes time and perseverance to find an agent that likes your work and wants to represent you. I was actually published by a small press.
The moment you got a positive reply with an offer for representation, what were your initial thoughts?
Since I haven't got an agent yet, I can't answer that, but I can tell you that it was thrilling to get that email from the small press publisher telling me that he wanted to publish my book. I think my first thought was, "Finally!" I had been trying, with varying degrees of success, for many years to get published/find an agent, so this was just thrilling for me to know that I'd finally see my words in print.
How many rejections did it take for you to finally land that agent?
I am still getting rejections! I never counted, but it's safe to say that they are pushing the double digits.
Would you have any advice for aspiring writers?
Never stop honing your craft. Even when you think you know what you're doing, someone will come along and criticize your use of grammar, syntax, etc. So take those classes, rewrite those manuscripts, and get someone you trust to read them and give their input. And write.
Would you have done anything differently?
I think the one thing I would have done differently is to keep on going the first time I received a rejection, rather than not sending the book out to someone else. I let those first rejections get to me too much; I let them shake my confidence in my ability to write and it took awhile before I was brave enough to try again.
Thanks so much to Margay for doing this intreviw and sharing about her novel with us! You can check out her site at: http://margayleahjustice.com/ and if you would like to know more about her and Noar's soul click here.
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