TUESDAY TALKS

SPOTLIGHT AUTHOR:    J U L I E    A C H T E R H O F F

Before we get started talking about your books, tell us a little about yourself.  Where are you from?  What is your occupation outside of writing?

I’m originally from a small town in Michigan right on Lake Muskegon. Now I live behind the “Redwood Curtain” in Humboldt County, California.  It’s about six hours north of San Francisco on the coast. I don’t have a profession outside of writing.

 Would you describe yourself as an introvert or an extrovert?

I think of myself as an introvert, but I can be an extrovert when I need to be!

Do you have any pets?

I have a multicolored kitty named Rajah.

What are your favorite books to read?

I love dipping into just about every genre, but I do love thrillers and historical epics. I guess it’s good writing I look for when I choose a book.

Where is the most unique place you have traveled?

Europe. It’s just so incredibly ancient compared to the U.S. They have buildings that are hundreds of years old, whereas we only go back a few hundred years here. Europe has such a sense of history about it.

Aside from your successes in the writing industry, what in your life has given you the greatest sense of accomplishment?

I used to be a homebirth midwife, delivering babies at home. Nothing can ever compare to that.

How many books have you written and how many of those are published?  (Please list the names of your books here)

I have four published books, plus a few I started but haven’t finished. They’re titled: Native Vengeance (novella), Quantum Earth, Deadly Lucidity, and Earthwalker- Earth can be Hell for a Vampire.

Do you have one particular genre that all your books fall under (i.e. suspense, romance, etc.)  or do you write in many different genres?

I’ve been told that my writing is pretty unique. For one thing they’re hard to pin down as to genre. All of them have something to do with the paranormal, and there’s always a fear factor involved. I’m a multi-genre writer I guess.

How much character and plot detailing do you plan out before you begin writing a novel, or are you a “pantser” (fly by the seat of your pants) ?

I pretty much dream up a story I think I can live with for the duration, create a main character or two, and just let everything else just come to me. My stories seem to write themselves after that.

Prior to becoming a published author, how many rejections did you receive?  How did you handle the rejections?

I got many, many rejections before I snagged a couple of publishers who vied for Quantum Earth. That was crazy! I knew ahead of time that it takes a lot of rejections before you find a publisher that believes in your book enough to actually publish it. They get loads of queries from people all the time, some hundreds each month. I just kept telling myself that with every rejection I was just getting closer to getting published.

How and when do you write? Do you keep yourself on a schedule or do you work while the muse is with you?

I write almost constantly when I’m working on a book project. My muse is pretty cooperative once I’ve found something that excites me.

If you have a new release coming out, tell us about it.

Earthwalker- Earth can be Hell for a Vampire is my latest release. It’s about a woman who’s going through a lot of emotional turmoil and heads to the mountains to be alone. Well, she’s not alone for long. A loud crashing noise in the night wakes her up and she goes out to investigate. She finds a man badly hurt next to a small spaceship. Of course she’s terrified, but he convinces her that he won’t hurt her if she helps him. This is the beginning of a very rocky romance, full of thrills and chills, not to mention passion. It’s a hard story to describe without giving away too much. I will say that the vampires involved are very different from what you’re used to. I wanted to create a world that was fresh and exciting.

Out of all the books you’ve written and the characters you’ve created, which is your favorite character and why?

I think it would have to be the female protagonist in Deadly Lucidity. She’s got to deal with this crazy nightmare world she’s trapped in, going from one dream to the next in a heartbeat. It really makes her character have to evolve throughout the story, which I really enjoy.

If you could give one piece of advice to writers trying to get published, what would that advice be?

I never go with the obvious one about expecting lots of rejections. I tell them something I was totally clueless about, which is don’t think the work is over once you’ve gotten your book published. That’s only the beginning if you want to sell books. You’ve got to learn how to market yourself and your book. Publishers just don’t do that anymore for the most part. That’s one reason I self-published my second two books. For $500 I was able to get everything I got when I was with a publishing house, plus I get a much larger cut for all my hard work. There is a lot of great free info on marketing for writers on the internet. Do your research and market till your fingers bleed!

Anything else you'd like to share with my blog readers?

I’m offering a free pdf file of Earthwalker to anybody who would like to write a review of it on amazon and goodreads. Just contact me at erthwkr@gmail.com if you’re interested. Happy reading to everyone!

Where can we read more about you and your work?

You can search my name on Google or any other search engine, or you can visit my blog at http://earthwalker.tk

There are lots of reviews on amazon, too. If you’d like to purchase my books with free shipping, go to http://julieachterhoff.tk

Thank you so much for sharing your work with us Julie, and best wishes for a prosperous and adventurous new year!