Author Alesia Holliday
Natalie R. Collins: Alesia Holliday, welcome to ReadersRoom.com. We're excited to have you here.
Alesia Holliday: I'm thrilled to be here!
Natalie R. Collins: Let's start off talking about your latest release, Blondes Have More Felons. Can you tell us a little bit about it?
Alesia Holliday: Blondes is the first of my new December Vaughn mystery series, starring an attorney protagonist. She is a big-city lawyer turned solo-practitioner in a small town, and she gets in lots and lots of trouble in the transition! As you may have guessed from the title, it is a pretty funny book.
Natalie R. Collins: It sounds like a lot of fun, and a little bit of a departure from what you have done in the past. What made you decide to write this book?
Alesia Holliday: I'm a trial lawyer. Practiced for 8 years in the field of class actions and mass torts, so I love to read legal thrillers. But what I missed most in the books I read was any sense of character development. It seemed like a lot of cardboard characters running through an action-filled plot. I wanted to read a book about a lawyer like me - one who had an actual personal life in addition to her job. One who had a sense of humor, AND a sense of justice. So I wrote a proposal for my kind of legal thriller. When my editor at Berkley read it, she immediately offered for 3 books to make it a series. I was thrilled!
Natalie R. Collins: That is exciting! So have you started on the next two books?
Alesia Holliday: Oh, no. I had two other books to write in between Blondes and the 2nd mystery.
Natalie R. Collins: Your schedule sounds like mine! So let's talk a bit about your other books.
Alesia Holliday: It's crazy.
Natalie R. Collins: You also write Chicklit, Teenlit, and nonfiction, correct?
Alesia Holliday: I also write romantic comedy/women's fiction/chicklit books. And I did a couple of teen books, but I have those on hold for right now. My nonfiction book was a one-off - I just really wanted to tell the world what being a military spouse today was like. And my new paranormal series about Atlantis will launch in March of 2007.
Natalie R. Collins: Wow, you are the queen of multi-tasking. Do you have a favorite genre?
Alesia Holliday: I have loved every genre I've written in so far. Each one works well with a different part of my personality.
Natalie R. Collins: Very good. Well, tell us about your new paranormal series.
Alesia Holliday: It's a dark paranormal/fantasy/romance/adventure (you can see I have a problem with genre-crossing!) about a time when demons are taking over the world. The Atlantaens have to fulfill an ages-old vow to protect mankind. Very, very fun to write!! The shapeshifters ate Ted Turner and took over CNN, for example . . .
Natalie R. Collins: It sounds fun to write! And I bet it will be fun to read. Now you are also writing a legal thriller, right?
Alesia Holliday: Blondes is the legal thriller, actually. Berkley calls it a mystery; it's actually rather a hybrid.
Natalie R. Collins: Oh, I see. Those publishers keep us guessing. Well, with all of the things you are writing, I have to ask... what is your schedule like?
Alesia Holliday: It's pretty crazy. Everything works perfectly if nothing goes wrong. Unfortunately, with 2 kids, something always goes wrong. The past 2 weeks were my "weeks off" so of course everybody in the family (including me) got very sick. So now I'm playing catch up on everything, including updating my website (www.mysterychick.com) which should have been done before now.
Natalie R. Collins: When do you get your best writing done? Do you have a set schedule?
Alesia Holliday: I generally have to write during the day when the kids are at school. But when deadlines approach, I write all the time. "Ask Daddy" is my mantra. Although I can write first draft stuff anywhere. My personal record is a couple of thousand words at Chuck E. Cheese's.
Natalie R. Collins: Well, you do better than me. I'm always telling my kids to be quiet! So, Alesia, you no longer practice law? I'm hoping, anyway, with your schedule.
Alesia Holliday: No, I write full time now.
Natalie R. Collins: So tell me a little bit about what YOU like to read. Do you have favorite authors?
Alesia Holliday: I have so many favorite authors it's ridiculous. And the longer I'm writing, the more it's becoming that most of my favorite authors are friends, too. Wow, that was seriously bad sentence structure. Where is that copyeditor?
Natalie R. Collins: But you're not going to name names?
Alesia Holliday: Oh, there are really so many. Suz Brockmann, Chris Feehan, Susan McBride, Lani Diane Rich, Michelle Cunnah, and all the writers at my Literary Chicks blogsite, Terry Pratchett, Mary Janice Davidson, the list goes on and on and on ...
Natalie R. Collins: Okay, Alesia, how did you end up writing? Was it always a goal, or did it surprise you?
Alesia Holliday: I've always wanted to write novels, but felt I needed a "serious" job. So I became a lawyer. Right after 9/11, my husband was one of the first sent to Afghanistan. (He flies for the Navy). People kept asking me how I did it - work full time, two kids under 5, worry about who was shooting missiles at him. So I thought somebody should write a book which became, I should write a book. That first book was E-Mail To The Front and I did a cross-country media tour with it, since the Iraqi war started just when it came out. Then I realized if I ever wanted to be a novelist, the time was then, so I began my first novel.
Natalie R. Collins: Very cool. And you certainly haven't stopped yet. Alesia, our readers who are also writers are always looking for advice on how to get published. What one piece of advice would you give them?
Alesia Holliday: Keep writing and believing in yourself. Sounds trite, but nothing else will ever get you there.
Natalie R. Collins: What is your favorite thing about writing books, and your least favorite thing?
Alesia Holliday: Favorite is the plotting out of new stories, building new worlds, developing new characters. Least favorite is when the Muse gets blocked, and I sit in front of the blank screen wondering if I were insane to ever become a writer.
Natalie R. Collins: Okay, well, Alesia, before we finish here, do you have anything you want to say to your many fans?
Alesia Holliday: Thanks for the interview - it was fun! I have a special contest prize only for Reader Room fans - if they enter my contest at my website and put RRChat in the message, they'll be entered for a special prize package!
Natalie R. Collins: Wonderful, and your Web site is http://www.AlesiaHolliday.com, correct?
Alesia Holliday: And stop by http://www.mysterychick.com for a very cool movie-style book trailer!
Alesia Holliday: Yes, either address works. Thanks, Natalie!
Natalie R. Collins: Oh, yes, I love your book trailer! Thanks for taking the time to chat today, Alesia.
Alesia Holliday: Thank you, Natalie. Have a great weekend!
Alesia Holliday: I'm thrilled to be here!
Natalie R. Collins: Let's start off talking about your latest release, Blondes Have More Felons. Can you tell us a little bit about it?
Alesia Holliday: Blondes is the first of my new December Vaughn mystery series, starring an attorney protagonist. She is a big-city lawyer turned solo-practitioner in a small town, and she gets in lots and lots of trouble in the transition! As you may have guessed from the title, it is a pretty funny book.
Natalie R. Collins: It sounds like a lot of fun, and a little bit of a departure from what you have done in the past. What made you decide to write this book?
Alesia Holliday: I'm a trial lawyer. Practiced for 8 years in the field of class actions and mass torts, so I love to read legal thrillers. But what I missed most in the books I read was any sense of character development. It seemed like a lot of cardboard characters running through an action-filled plot. I wanted to read a book about a lawyer like me - one who had an actual personal life in addition to her job. One who had a sense of humor, AND a sense of justice. So I wrote a proposal for my kind of legal thriller. When my editor at Berkley read it, she immediately offered for 3 books to make it a series. I was thrilled!
Natalie R. Collins: That is exciting! So have you started on the next two books?
Alesia Holliday: Oh, no. I had two other books to write in between Blondes and the 2nd mystery.
Natalie R. Collins: Your schedule sounds like mine! So let's talk a bit about your other books.
Alesia Holliday: It's crazy.
Natalie R. Collins: You also write Chicklit, Teenlit, and nonfiction, correct?
Alesia Holliday: I also write romantic comedy/women's fiction/chicklit books. And I did a couple of teen books, but I have those on hold for right now. My nonfiction book was a one-off - I just really wanted to tell the world what being a military spouse today was like. And my new paranormal series about Atlantis will launch in March of 2007.
Natalie R. Collins: Wow, you are the queen of multi-tasking. Do you have a favorite genre?
Alesia Holliday: I have loved every genre I've written in so far. Each one works well with a different part of my personality.
Natalie R. Collins: Very good. Well, tell us about your new paranormal series.
Alesia Holliday: It's a dark paranormal/fantasy/romance/adventure (you can see I have a problem with genre-crossing!) about a time when demons are taking over the world. The Atlantaens have to fulfill an ages-old vow to protect mankind. Very, very fun to write!! The shapeshifters ate Ted Turner and took over CNN, for example . . .
Natalie R. Collins: It sounds fun to write! And I bet it will be fun to read. Now you are also writing a legal thriller, right?
Alesia Holliday: Blondes is the legal thriller, actually. Berkley calls it a mystery; it's actually rather a hybrid.
Natalie R. Collins: Oh, I see. Those publishers keep us guessing. Well, with all of the things you are writing, I have to ask... what is your schedule like?
Alesia Holliday: It's pretty crazy. Everything works perfectly if nothing goes wrong. Unfortunately, with 2 kids, something always goes wrong. The past 2 weeks were my "weeks off" so of course everybody in the family (including me) got very sick. So now I'm playing catch up on everything, including updating my website (www.mysterychick.com) which should have been done before now.
Natalie R. Collins: When do you get your best writing done? Do you have a set schedule?
Alesia Holliday: I generally have to write during the day when the kids are at school. But when deadlines approach, I write all the time. "Ask Daddy" is my mantra. Although I can write first draft stuff anywhere. My personal record is a couple of thousand words at Chuck E. Cheese's.
Natalie R. Collins: Well, you do better than me. I'm always telling my kids to be quiet! So, Alesia, you no longer practice law? I'm hoping, anyway, with your schedule.
Alesia Holliday: No, I write full time now.
Natalie R. Collins: So tell me a little bit about what YOU like to read. Do you have favorite authors?
Alesia Holliday: I have so many favorite authors it's ridiculous. And the longer I'm writing, the more it's becoming that most of my favorite authors are friends, too. Wow, that was seriously bad sentence structure. Where is that copyeditor?
Natalie R. Collins: But you're not going to name names?
Alesia Holliday: Oh, there are really so many. Suz Brockmann, Chris Feehan, Susan McBride, Lani Diane Rich, Michelle Cunnah, and all the writers at my Literary Chicks blogsite, Terry Pratchett, Mary Janice Davidson, the list goes on and on and on ...
Natalie R. Collins: Okay, Alesia, how did you end up writing? Was it always a goal, or did it surprise you?
Alesia Holliday: I've always wanted to write novels, but felt I needed a "serious" job. So I became a lawyer. Right after 9/11, my husband was one of the first sent to Afghanistan. (He flies for the Navy). People kept asking me how I did it - work full time, two kids under 5, worry about who was shooting missiles at him. So I thought somebody should write a book which became, I should write a book. That first book was E-Mail To The Front and I did a cross-country media tour with it, since the Iraqi war started just when it came out. Then I realized if I ever wanted to be a novelist, the time was then, so I began my first novel.
Natalie R. Collins: Very cool. And you certainly haven't stopped yet. Alesia, our readers who are also writers are always looking for advice on how to get published. What one piece of advice would you give them?
Alesia Holliday: Keep writing and believing in yourself. Sounds trite, but nothing else will ever get you there.
Natalie R. Collins: What is your favorite thing about writing books, and your least favorite thing?
Alesia Holliday: Favorite is the plotting out of new stories, building new worlds, developing new characters. Least favorite is when the Muse gets blocked, and I sit in front of the blank screen wondering if I were insane to ever become a writer.
Natalie R. Collins: Okay, well, Alesia, before we finish here, do you have anything you want to say to your many fans?
Alesia Holliday: Thanks for the interview - it was fun! I have a special contest prize only for Reader Room fans - if they enter my contest at my website and put RRChat in the message, they'll be entered for a special prize package!
Natalie R. Collins: Wonderful, and your Web site is http://www.AlesiaHolliday.com, correct?
Alesia Holliday: And stop by http://www.mysterychick.com for a very cool movie-style book trailer!
Alesia Holliday: Yes, either address works. Thanks, Natalie!
Natalie R. Collins: Oh, yes, I love your book trailer! Thanks for taking the time to chat today, Alesia.
Alesia Holliday: Thank you, Natalie. Have a great weekend!
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