1. For those who might not be familiar with you, would you be a dear and tell the readers a little about yourself? How did you get your start in the writing business?
(AY) I’m thirty-five years old, and I run my father’s accounting firm. I’m something like a cross between an office manager, a clerk, a secretary, and I don’t know what else. I just do whatever needs to get done in that office, and I make sure that everything stays operating to the best of my ability.
I also train in Tae Kwon Do under Grand Master Heung Taek (Ben) Hur. I’ve been training with him for over twenty years, and am a Third Dan black belt, currently preparing to test for my Fourth degree.
As for writing, it began in school. I’ve been writing since I was in elementary school, but I started writing science-fiction at some point in sixth or seventh grade. What eventually became Codename: Winterborn and its universe got its first beginnings in doodles and short stories I wrote sitting in high school literary magazine meetings.
2. Do you ever suffer from writer’s block? If so, please share how you handle it.
(AY) Well, I know that the best way to get out of “block” is just to keep chipping away at it, but that doesn’t seem to work all that well for me. I guess I have to look around at other types of writing and get interested in them – for example, once, when I was bored with the story I was writing, I started working on a screenplay just as a writing exercise. It helped me out a bit.
3. Contrary to what some people envision about a romance writer’s life, it’s not all glitz and glam. Well not for the majority of us. With that bubble sadly busted, when you’re not writing, how do you spend your time?
(AY) Outside of work? It depends on the time of week. Sometimes, it’ll be training at my Tae Kwon Do dojang, and other times it might just be playing some video games, watching a movie, reading something, or sometimes just writing. It’s important to stay relaxed and healthy.
4. I know many writers keep their pastime/career a secret. Do those close to you know you write? If so, what are their thoughts?
5. Will you share with us your all-time favorite authors? If you’re like me, it’s a long list so give us your top ten.
** David Eddings **
(The Belgariad/Malloreon as well as the Elenium/Tamuli)
(Sword of Truth series)
(The Hitchhiker’s Guide, of course…)
(though after the Dark Tower fiasco I was more than a little perturbed at him… we were waiting for an ending… not another loop through.
(I, Robot… amongst his other works…)
(The Complete Maus)
(Batman: The Dark Knight Returns)
(The Seventh Sword Saga)
(Incarnations of Immortality)
and, as number ten…
(Hunger Games…) and before anyone says anything, yes I know it’s a young adult novel… but my wife and I read it to each other out loud, so it has something of a special meaning to me)
6. If you could choose one book to go to the big screen, yours or otherwise, which book would you choose and whom would you love to see cast in the parts?
For example, I think Stephen Amell (currently on Arrow) would make for a good Kevin Anderson. At one point, we thought Mia Kirshner would have been great for the character of Mandy, but that was a while ago.
8. Where can we find your stories, and is there a particular reading order?
9. Would you please share how your present and future fans can contact you?
10. Before we conclude this enlightening interview, do you have anything else you’d like to share? The stage is all yours.
(AY) Oh, great… now I have stage fright! I guess I would like to add that working through the process of writing this novel has been somewhat a labor of love. I’ve been at it for what seems like an incredibly long time, and to finally have it published – to have the book in my hand is a heady, intoxicating feeling. Was it a pain at times? Yes. Were there moments where I would have liked to just scrap the whole thing? Sure. Did I doubt we would get there? To the point where the book is in my hand? Yes. But was it worth the pain, the doubt and the headaches? Oh yeah. If you’re a writer, go for it! Don’t let anyone stop you until you are satisfied with your work.
