Mya from Meankitty.com

Mya from www.meankitty.com thinks answering questions is tasty business.

Random Trivia

I like to kill brown recluse spiders. Really, what purpose on this Earth do they serve that cannot be served by a spider that doesn't rot your flesh off if it chances to bite you?

QUESTIONS FOR THE WRITER

Q. How long does it take you to write a book?

That depends on the story. I wrote my first book, according to my mom, in a single afternoon, complete with illustrations. I remember writing a book in high school called "Earl the Pearl and the Skating Rink Skeeves" in about two days, also complete with illustrations, binding, and an extensive readership of 5.

Since then it's been a downhill slide, but on the bright side, my readership has increased.

Q. Did you always want to be a writer?

Yes.

Q. How do you find time to write with kids?

Next question, please. I don't have time to answer this one.

Q. When are you going to write the sequel to...?

There's a sequel?? Nobody told me that!

Q. I just loved Character Z in your [insert book title]. When does his or her story come out?

See answer above.

Q. What order should I read books X, Y and Q in?

You can check out the Series and Connected Titles list here, but nearly everything I write stands alone. The one exception is, possibly, the Fey Realm series, and the current reading order for that is #1 Survival of the Fairest and #2 One Thousand Kisses.

Q. Will you send me a free book? I don't have any money/can't get to the bookstore/don't want to spend money on a new author/love free stuff.

You are welcome to contact me and see what types of things I currently have in my promo arsenal. If you want a test drive, I have plenty of free fiction and excerpts on my site.

Q. What are your favorite books?

Besides the ones I wrote myself? I enjoy a ton of authors and genres -- everything from Clyde Edgerton to Sharon Shinn to Jennifer Crusie to Sandra Boynton. There are so many books I've enjoyed, it would take up too much space to name them and their authors.

Q. Where do you get your ideas for stories?

From your waste basket.

Q. You should tell my life story. I'll give you half the proceeds when we get it published.

Didn't I tell you? I already put you in a book. You're that one who does that stupid thing that nearly gets everybody killed in that scene I had to cut.

Q. What's up with the freaky photos in the header?

There's a reason why my earlier, self-illustrated books will never see the light of more than 5 readers. My creativity extends only to the written word and wacky crochet projects. The photos in the header represent the apex of my artistic ability, which is to collage nice things someone else created.

Q. Did you make those crocheted gnomes yourself?

Sadly, yes.

Q. Are you trying to pervert young people, putting your erotic fiction on the same site as your regular stuff?

Actually, I'm trying to pervert old people. The secret is the fact that my regular stuff is much more subversive than my hot stuff.

Q. Why would anybody want to read an ebook instead of a real book?

First off, ebooks are real books. They are printed in real electrons. They involve an equal amount of work on the part of the author, and electronic publishers work just as hard at design, editing, marketing and promotion as other publishers.

Many books published by all sorts of publishers today have an ebook version and are greener than paper books. My sister is an environmental education professional, so we've been converted. I myself love to read ebooks on my Kindle because I can hold it in one hand, but I recognize not everyone wants to curl up with a computer or other device. Because I understand this, I am not prejudiced against them, and I hope they aren't prejudiced against me.

It is my hope that within the next 10 years, a standardized digital format for electronic books and book readers will appear on the market like the digital music revolution. I don't want paper books to disappear, but neither am I a Luddite.

Q. If I buy an ebook, isn't it mine to share with anyone I want, just like a paper book?

Tricky question, but not exactly. When you have a paperback, you can only share it with one person at a time, and they can only share it with one person at a time, and while the sharing happens, the book is no longer in your possession. There is one copy and eventually it will die a much-loved papyrus death after continued handling.

With an ebook, you could technically share it with 128,790 people all at the same time and they could do the same thing. The ebook file, while you could lose it in a computer crash if you don't back up, never deteriorates and is always available for more sharing.

Do you see the problem here?

I don't know what the solution to ebook piracy aka "sharing" is, but I know that I'd much rather a few of those 128,790 people pay money to read my work. If having a writing career means I make zero dollars, or negative dollars if you take into account marketing and promo costs, I can't afford to devote my time and energy to it. I love writing, but I also love money, my family, crocheting, www.meankitty.com, thrifting, reading, watching TV & movies, and so on and so forth.

Here's a little poem I came up with. It's my MFA degree at work, y'all.

Time is precious
Time is money
Ebook piracy
Isn't funny.

Nor is it legal.

Q. How much did it cost you to get those books published?

For most of my books, I contributed nothing but time. Samhain, Carina, Amber Quill and Red Sage (my current publishers) are traditional, royalty-paying entities. If you contribute money towards the publication of your book, it's considered self publishing, vanity publishing or subsidy publishing, depending on several factors.

That being said, an increasing number of authors have been dipping their toes into self publishing since, oh, 2010, myself included. You can visit Meankitty Publishing for more information about that.

Q. When are you going to write a real book?

When the fake ones go out of print.

Q. Romance! I don't read that stuff.

That is not a question, so I don't feel obliged to answer it.

Q. How do you handle it when people diss the romance genre to your face?

Stare at them and ponder ways to blame the decline of manners and society on reality TV or global warming. Or maybe pirates & ninjas.

Q. Why do you have cat pictures all over your dang site?

Because I like cats better than dogs.

Q. Have you considered doing your book signings accompanied by one or both of your cats?

I considered it and quickly discarded it since the cats tend to yowl and puke while in their cat carriers, which would frighten away potential buyers or, worse, cause them to call the Humane Society. To stop the ruckus, I'd have to free the cats from their plastic prisons, and I can't imagine it would be safe to let them roam the aisles of the bookstore. I wouldn't want to endanger the shoppers like that.

Email me more questions jwallace[at]meankitty.com

Interviews & Guest Appearances by Ms. Wallace: