Meet the Author: Karen J. Mossman!
Today's author is a very dynamic writer with a bubbly personality, and is someone who is incredibly active in the Indie community. If you ever need advice or support, she's the woman you want to go to!
I was lucky enough to get the chance to talk with her about her work and gain some more insight into the mind of this great writer. Please join me in getting to know Karen J. Mossman!
Tell us a little about yourself. What made you choose to be a writer and who are you when you aren't writing?
I've lived in Manchester in the UK for over 50 years and about to start on a new life in Anglesey, which is an island off the North Wales coast. Hubby and I have been married for 36 years and we have two children who are both married and one grandchild with another expected in May 16. I have a good extended family, too and that's an important factor in my life. I've always been writing and when I was made redundant from my full time job in 2013, I could write whenever I wanted. It wasn't until 2015 that I began to look at it as a job, which meant getting up every morning and writing. This constant routine helped me keep up the flow and
continuity. Who am I when I am writing? That's easy, I am always my main character, putting myself in her shoes and seeing where we go together.
What made you choose Indie publishing?
I had no idea how to get 'properly' published and I didn't think my writing was good enough. I met a writer called Stewart Blint on Twitter and he invited me to an event on Facebook, from there I found my way to The #Awethors group. I still didn't know what the term Indie was, even though I was one, because I had published three books. It was there that I learnt my 'trade' and now I embrace the fact that I am an indie author.
Tell us about your book! Also, if you had to pick a character in your story that you relate to the most, which one would it be and why?
At the moment I am immersed in my new book, which is called The Truth Will Out. I'm still
learning my trade and decided to write a thriller. I normally write romance/suspense stories, and this is still one of them, but for the first time I have introduced another element to the story.
Do you have any advice for new authors? Would you encourage them to look at self-publishing?
I would say learn your craft, there is much more to it than 'just' writing. Think about the books your read and what you enjoyed about them. Also, remember less is more. "She was angry", is far better than "She was extremely angry as she stood there, staring at us". You need impact with your words. Think of a sentence you have read in a novel that made you stop look up and go, wow.
Yes, self publish is certainly and option, but being an indie author and taking that route means that people will not know about your book unless you tell them. You have to spend equal amount of time promoting as you do writing and it is a real balancing act.
Is there anything else you'd like to tell us?
As I mentioned, I am still learning my trade and it really does take many years to learn. 2015 was
the year I was truly enlightened and as we enter 2016, I find I am still learning, about the indie writing world and about my own writing. With my last book, The Secret, I wrote about a dark subject and I wasn't sure that I wanted people to know it was me that had written it. I was embarrassed. But I realised it was a good story and I had to overcome my feelings and the feedback I have had from it was extremely good, better than I could have hoped. I discovered I liked writing in the first person, I liked my character to have a dry sense of humour and be quirky and amusing. This worked well in The Secret, as it tempered the darkness in it. My first novel was in the third person and she had similar traits. Now with my third novel, I've combined the two and I like having humour in my stories, as well as a serious side. After all life is like that, it's dark and serious and light and funny and that's how I want my books to be.
Thanks for spending the time to let us get to know you a little better Karen! I will be adding some of her great titles to my Awesome Indies page, so make sure to look for them. You can also find out more about Karen J. Mossman and her books on the following pages:
Karen J. Mossman Biography:
Karen J Mossman comes from a family of journalists with her grand father and uncle having been newspaper editors. Further back a great, great grandfather wrote for his local paper and also published a book based on those articles. Karen is the only one to have gone into the fiction market. Karen has been writing for many years, but had not pursued it professionally. However in 2013, she found herself redundant from her job and decided to write full time. "Putting together collections of short stories was exciting as I didn't think my writing would ever reach a wide audience," she said. She hopes to add to her short story collection and will have a novel available for kindle in the near future. You can read more of Karen J Mossman's work on www.karenmossman.co.uk.
