Following Your Muse - The Evolution of a Writer

I’d like to welcome Leslie Ann Sartor.  We’ve been lucky to know each other for many years, and it’s been fun to watch our career’s grow. We have both written adventure fiction (I really enjoyed her Carswell Adventure Series), but are evolving and taking on new challenges. I don’t do interviews on my blog often, but I thought it would be a good way to find out what Leslie Ann (LAS) is up to while providing a little background for those who aren’t familiar with her work. So, here we go.

First, tell us how you started out writing:

LAS: I started writing as a child, really. A few things happened on the way to becoming a published author … specifically, a junior high school teacher who told me I couldn’t write because I didn’t want to study grammar.

That English teacher stopped my writing for years. But the muse couldn’t be denied, and eventually I wrote, a lot, some of it award winning. However, I wasn’t really making a career from any of this.

My husband told me repeatedly that independent publishing was becoming a valid way to publish a novel. I didn’t believe him because I thought indie meant vanity press. 

I couldn’t have been more wrong.

I started pursuing this direction seriously, hit the keyboard, learned a litany of new things and published my first novel. My second book became a bestseller, and I’m absolutely on the right course in my life.

Please come visit me at www.lasartor.com, see my books, find my social media links, and sign up for my mailing list. I have a gift I’ve specifically created for my new email subscribers. And remember, you can email me at Leslie@LeslieSartor.com 

 

What are your hobbies away from the computer?

LAS: I thought of myself as a musician until college. When really, I was a writer! With several careers happening before I rediscovered that love. However, for a hobby I’d play the piano every day, all by myself without an audience (I now play very sporadically) I love to sew garments, craft, garden and work on my photography skills. Traveling with my husband is one of my greatest joys, we often reminisce about our voyages together late into the night, the “Do you remember…”

If you could go and live anywhere in the world for a year to write a book set in that location, where would you choose?

LAS: Hawaii. I have Dare To Believe set there, as well as scenes from Viking Gold. I started Grad School there and loved being there, but I don’t want to live there. I got a severe case of Island sickness and came back to the mainland. However, spending a year traveling the islands and working on my Kahuna Group Series would be incredible.

 

If you came with a warning label, what would it say?

LAS: Fragile, Handle With Care. Really. I come across as strong, knowledgeable and with strong convictions. But deep inside, I’m pretty insecure about a lot of things. As I grow older, I also have a lot less tolerance for nonsense. So that would be my flip side of Handle With Care ~ Explosives Inside!

What are some day jobs that you have held?  If any of them impacted your writing, share an example.

LAS: My mother and I had a custom jewelry business for years. She is a Fine Arts Major earning a master’s’ degree in metalsmithing. When our family traveled (my father was an Atmospheric Scientist and often traveled the world both for research and lectures) Mom, my brother and I would go to museums and galleries, so there is much in Brushed By Betrayal that I have hands-on knowledge of. The rest is research, which I’m meticulous about.

Tell us a bit about your latest book.

LAS: Brushed By Betrayal began as Betrayal of the Trust. It was written a long while ago, won some contests, got some traction with agents. But by then I was immersed in screenwriting with contracts and put novel writing aside.

This book wouldn’t let me alone. So I pulled it out, read it and thought it was a great story, but horribly written for 2021. Many, many rewrites later, a new title and some new plot twists developed, Brushed By Betrayal is a book I’m incredibly proud of. I gotta tell you that I wanted to quit this book so many times, but I’m stubborn and now I’m hoping your readers will enjoy the mystery and suspense in the story.

Do you start a new story with the plot or characters first?

LAS: Plot. There is no doubt in my mind that I’m a plot-driven writer. I’m always going “what if a gem were stolen” vs “what if Jade …” That being said, character building is very important in all books. We want to love or hate the characters and be intrigued by the plot.

What projects are you working on at the present?

LAS: I’m starting a new genre for me. Cozy Mysteries. My first, Tick Tock Dead, will be out later this year. The Jenna Hart Jewelry Mysteries are set in the mythical ski town of Angelcroft. The first book is set a couple of days before Christmas. Again, I know jewelry making and I know how to create suspense. I’m learning how to write in first person and I’m really enjoying it.

What is the writing process like for you?

LAS: It’s so different now than when I began. I was a panster and I’d write for hours at a time. Then the next day revise and more forward, then repeat. It was slow going.

Now, I’ve learned that I’m a combo of plotter/panster. I have to have a strong Goal, Motivation and Conflict built for my characters. I use a new tool called Plottr (yes, there is no “e”) and it helps me keep on track with the story. But the rest of the time, I write with that information firmly in mind, but not to a rigid outline. That totally stifles me. I write faster, better, and I’m happier. Not a bad combo, eh?

My ideal weekday, which I’m trying to create more often, would be to get to my computer by no later than 10am. Then write for two hours (not having checked email yet). I write in chunks, and usually can get several chunks done. Then for a couple of hours in the afternoon 2 days a week, I’d wear my other hat, and work on blog posts, advertising, and other left-brain stuff. (Email is a killer of creativity. But I can’t do without it, so that has to be fit in somewhere.)

Those other afternoons, I’d craft, sew, play the piano.

Then at 4:30, I’d exercise, with either a walk, weights, and always stretches.

My dream would be to shut my computer down at 4:30 and not open it again unless it was my iPad to play a game.

Haven’t yet managed that, but I’m working on it.

Thanks, Leslie, for sharing your story. Her new release is currently on Amazon only, but by mid-May it will be available at all retailers. 

Social Media Links:

Website  (https://www.lesliesartor.com)

FaceBook Author page  (https://www.facebook.com/LASartor.Author)

Twitter  (https://twitter.com/LesannSartor)

BookBub  (https://www.bookbub.com/authors/l-a-sartor)

Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6535151)

Amazon Author Page       (https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B0091XR9VK/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_pop_1?_encoding=UTF8&field-author=L.%20A.%20Sartor&search-alias=books&sort=relevancerank)

 

YouTube Channel   (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeYEx2Ad2qSluFFbSgzuerw)