Pick Six Author Interviews are occasional features on A Slice of Orange. We send a bunch of questions to the author who then picks just six of the questions to answer. This month we are featuring a Pick Six Author Interview with Celeste Barclay.
1. How did it feel when your first book got published?
It was utterly surreal. I remember uploading it onto KDP and thinking, “okay, now I need to figure out what I’m doing.” I had a story to tell, and I did. It wasn’t until after I wrote and published it that I realized I needed to figure out how to market it and all that goes with it.
2. Did you celebrate your first book? If so how?
I celebrated by staring at my screen for a good long while in disbelief that it was done and really for sale! I hadn’t told a soul what I was doing (fear of failure and rejection is mighty powerful), so I celebrated when my author proof arrived. I took a pic and sent it to my best friend captioned, “So I did a thing.” I believe at least one glass of wine was involved too.
3. Do you start with a plot idea, a character or a theme?
All of the above. For years, stories have pranced, or is it scampered, through my mind as I’m trying to fall asleep. Usually, it’s a scene somewhere in the story, not always the beginning, and that begins to give me an idea for characters and plot. From there theme and trope materialize. If my mind comes back to it for more than one night, I know I have a story to tell.
4. What kind of writer are you? A page a day or a burst writer?
I would like to be a daily writer, but I’m not writing full time (yet), so it’s usually weekend warrior bursts or nighttime writing. I’ve churned out as much as 20,000 words in one day, but average between 5,000 and 10,000 on a good weekend day.
5. What does a perfect vacation look like?
One where no one is asking anything of me! I prefer the beach even though I live near one. The Caribbean and Mediterranean are my favorites, but I wouldn’t turn my nose up at Bali or Tahiti. I admit I’m still a sun worshiper, so time spent in the water is what I look forward to, or time in a lounge chair reading.
6. Do you keep a diary?
This one makes me laugh. Why would I keep a diary? All my innermost thoughts are shared with my readers through my stories! I write to escape reality as much as I write to offer others an escape, so stories have flashes of my fantasies or memories which are things many people fill their diaries with. Mine just happen to get published for the masses.
We hope you enjoyed this Pick Six Author Interview with Celeste Barclay.
Books by Celeste Barclay
Books on sale or free
Featured Books
UPROOTED: THE JAPANESE AMERICAN EXPERIENCE DURING WORLD WAR II
A Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year, A Booklist Editor's Choice
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FOUR CUTS TOO MANY
Sarah Blair gets an education in slicing and dicing when someone in culinary school serves up a main corpse in Wheaton, Alabama . . .
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THE OTHER SIDE OF THE RIDGE Gettysbury, June 27th 2013 to July 2nd 1863
Gettysburg, June 27th, 2013 to July 2nd, 1863: Will Dan Rodin change the course of the Civil War?
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BEYOND THE FORTUNETELLER’S TENT
When Petra Baron goes into the fortuneteller’s tent at a Renaissance fair, she expects to leave with a date to the prom.
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It is an incredible feeling to put that first book up! I can’t wait for the 2nd. I’ve never done 20,000 words in a day, that’s incredible. I have a new goal. Thank you for sharing Celeste!
It is an amazing feeling, but I also find it rather nerve wracking. I liken it to sending your child to a new school and wondering if they’ll have anyone to sit with at lunch.
Best of luck to you!
Happy reading,
Celeste