Interview with Abbie Emmons|100 Days of Sunlight Blog Tour

Hello, lovelies!

As you might know, I was chosen to be apart of the ARC team for 100 Days of Sunlight, Abbie Emmon’s debut novel. You can read my review here! I recently had the chance to interview Abbie as apart of the blog tour for, 100 Days of Sunlight.

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Hi Abbie! Welcome to the blog! If we were at a cafe, I’d order an iced mocha, piled high with whipped cream. What would you have?

An iced chai latte with coconut milk is my go-to order. So good!

Congratulations on publishing your first novel! I love the title of your book. How long does it typically take you to complete a “finished” novel, including editing, polishing, and graphics?

Thank you so much, Gaby! I’m really pleased with how it turned out. The whole process took about 2.5 years from the start of writing the first draft to the day of publication. 2018 was a year filled with editing and lots of planning, and first 6 months of this year consisted of publishing work, publishing work, and more publishing work. Of course, when you self-publish a novel, you can make the process as short or as long as you like. I found that my timeline of 7 months worked quite well for me. 🙂

What is your ideal writing situation? How about a more realistic writing situation? How many hours do you typically write a day?

An ideal writing situation is any writing situation where you are never disturbed by people, pets, and other random adult responsibilities. LOL. Obviously, this doesn’t happen a whole lot. A more realistic writing situation would be a quiet rainy afternoon indoors with a cup of hot tea and lots of creativity ready to burst out of my fingertips.

A lot of people are surprised to hear this, but I don’t write every day. I think it’s important to give yourself breathing room and space to be creative when you feel like it. It’s an awesome skill to be able to write on demand for the times that you need to, but I don’t think it’s necessarily healthy for your creativity to make yourself write every day if you don’t feel inclined to.

How do you juggle writing, music, and life (working, domestic stuff AKA chores)? Any tips to someone trying to do freelance work?

It’s definitely a lot to juggle at once. What I try to do is prioritize certain things in different seasons of life. So I’ll sit down and figure out what is my biggest priority in this season of life and then put other projects on the back burner for now. When in the middle of publishing a new book, I probably won’t be simultaneously writing a different book. So things like that.

Also, as I learn more about myself and where I want to take my career, certain projects will take on more of “hobby” status and less of a “job” status. Music, for instance, is something that has become more of a passion project – I do it because I love it, and I really don’t intend to make it into a business. So it’s important to really assess your desires and hopes for your future, and figure out the best way to accomplish those goals.

What is your favorite type of waffles? Do you take syrup or butter or both?

Both! I love any kind of waffles that involve real maple syrup, plus blueberries and strawberries and whipped cream. Waffles are just too much fun.

What’s your favorite under-appreciated novel? Most hated popular novel and why?

Favorite under-appreciated novel: The Blood Race series!! I mean, I’m partial because my sister wrote it but IT’S SO GOOD and every person needs to read it, even if you don’t normally read sci-fi/fantasy. As a contemporary fan, I can attest that these books go beyond genre and are just plain incredible.

Most hated popular novel: probably All The Bright Places. I really wanted to like this book, but honestly, I thought the message was toxic!! I was super disappointed, especially to see something so dark and misleading become really popular. 😦

What is the most difficult part of your artistic process?

Not sure if this counts as artistic, but the first round of edits after a first draft. Ugh! That’s definitely the trickiest part because it’s hard to know what to change and how to improve parts that just aren’t working. But even in editing, you need to get creative and have the patience to see the gold hidden underneath the mess.

Thanks for “sitting down” with me, Abbie!

Thank you, Gaby! It was so much fun chatting with you about all things writing. 😀

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Be sure to check out Abbie @ the following links: