Meet our guest, Emma Carolan!
Good afternoon, Emma. Where are you from?
Dundalk, Co. Louth,
Ireland.
What inspired you to
write your first book?
Not really sure if I am
honest. It was something that was in my
head and needed to come out it was driving me mad.
I know what you mean. Sometimes the words just demand to be written! So, do you write full-time
or part-time? How do you balance your writing life with your family/work life?
Part-time. I have a full time job. I see my family at
the weekend and I write mostly in the evenings and at night time.
What jobs have you held
that influence your stories?
I worked in a company
called Dunnes Stores for a while when I was 17 and then when I was 18 I worked
in the Vodafone call center for 5 years. I was made redundant in January 2012
and in March 2012 I worked for a company called Emerald Isle Collections, they
are a debt collection company, in January 2013 I started with a company called
Arvato and I worked in the debt collection team there and Currently I am
working in a call center for eBay. I have only been there for about 4 weeks
now.
Do you have a specific
writing style?
I just go with the flow
and see what comes out if I like it I keep it if I don’t I delete it. If I don’t know what’s going to happen next
hopefully my readers wont either.
How did you come up
with the title?
Well for ages it had
the amazing tile of ‘Working Title’ and then I called it ‘Green eyes’ (You’ll
have to read it to see why lol) and when I was going over it and editing it
‘Leap of Faith’ just seemed right. I seemed to fit with the story.
It's a great title! Is there a message in
your novel that you want readers to grasp?
Life is not easy. You don’t
always get what you want. Just because
someone looks happy and smiles does not mean that they are happy and most of
all money is not everything, money is nothing without love.
How much of the book is
realistic?
I would say about
80%-90% of it is, hopefully.
Are experiences based
on someone you know, or events in your own life?
No way! Really my life
is nothing like that at all. I have had a really good life and if it was based
around my life it would be all sunshine and rainbow and its not at all. There
is a big romance in it but its not all sunshine!
What books have most
influenced your life most?
This is going to sound
a bit silly, but I started to read them when I was 13 and before they got
popular, Harry Potter, I loved J.K
Rowling's writing and I loved been taken into a different world one where magic was a real thing and not just
something in my minds eye.
That's not silly at all! Harry Potter is quite addictive. Tell us, if you had to choose,
which writer would you consider a mentor?
W.B. Yeats. I love his
poems and his works, I actually have a collection of his poems in my hand bag right now. Lol
What book are you
reading now?
Well at the moment I
have not started one as I am waiting for one to come in the post and I don’t
want to start one and have to put it down.
I am waiting for the new Sylvia Day book Entwined With You.
Are there any new
authors that have grasped your interest?
I like Sylvia Day’s
style of writing.
What are your current
projects?
Book two of ‘Leap of
Faith’ is in the works.
Name one entity that
you feel supported you outside of family members.
A friend in America
that I emailed random notes to, Elizabeth, She seemed to enjoy my randomness
and the fact the she did not know me too well made it that bit better because
she was not just saying that she liked my work to be nice, she really liked it.
Do you see writing as a
career?
No. The day that I
write for money (as a career) is the day that I will stop writing, I write
because I love to write I don’t want it to become a chore.
If you had to do it all
over again, would you change anything in your latest book?
I don’t know if I would
have the courage to do it again, I mean send it away for someone else to
approve of it. I suppose I would try and
get a bit more sleep and not sit up until 3am typing most nights.
Do you recall how your
interest in writing originated?
I always had an
interest in writing, when I was 7 or 8 years old I entered a writing
competition in primary school, I remember it was a story about my family and I
had to draw a picture at the back of it, well I won that competition and the
story was on display in Trinity College in Dublin for a week, its probably in
the archives now, I can’t remember what I wrote in it.
Can you share a little
of your current work with us?
Well here is a poem
that I wrote a few days ago, its just a little something that popped into my
head:
The Muse Whispered in my ear.
The muse whispered in my ear, she sways my thoughts, persuades
my dreams
The muse whispered in my ear, she showed me what I could be
She showed me that I could float above a sky and shin like a
star
She whispers in my ear to tell me how great I can be.
If only I could believe in me as much as she believes in me
If only my fear was not greater than by belief
The muse whispers in my ear, she sways my thoughts, persuades my
dream
She can see beyond my time, she can see how great I could be
She sing like an angel in my ear, she sings like an angel in the
night
If only I could show her to the world, she could show them what
I could be
If only I could show her to the world she could sway their
thoughts of me
The muse whispers in my ear, she sways my thoughts, persuades my
dreams
She is part of me, if only I did not hide her from the world,
then they could see how great I could be
If only I did not lock her in a cage as soon as people saw
she was me
If only I could set her free, she could show the world what is
inside of me
She stays by my side, day and night, never leaving my sight
The muse she whispers in my ear, she sways my thoughts, persuades
my dreams
She show my what I could be, if only I could believe in me as
much as she believes in me
She sings like an angel in the night, she soars high above the
sky, she shines bright in the dark of night.
If only my fear was not stronger than my belief, I could be what
I am meant to be
She is part of me, if only I could free her from the cage that
she sits patiently
If only I could show her to the world, she could show them what
I could be
She could sway their hearts, persuade their minds
The muse she whispers in my ear, sways my thoughts persuades my
dreams.
The muse she is part of me. She is me.
Lovely! Thanks for sharing, Emma. Is there anything you find particularly challenging
in your writing?
Yes. Stopping when I start. I forget that I need to
sleep sometimes.
Who is your favorite author and what is it that
really strikes you about their work?
I don’t really have a favorite, but I like it when
an author can take me into their world and get me to think the way they think.
When I am glued to a book and can’t put it down, Love that.
Do you have to travel much concerning your book(s)?
At the moment no. Not at all.
Who designed the covers?
The team at Creative Flight Publishing and I worked
together as team to come up with the cover.
What was the hardest part of writing your book?
Finding the time to write it.
Did you learn anything from writing your book and
what was it?
Yes. That I love writing.
Do you have any advice for other writers?
Don’t give up. Keep going. If at once you don’t
succeed try, try, try again. Never give up on your dreams.
Do you have anything specific that you want to say
to your readers?
Hopefully they will enjoy reading it as much as I
loved writing it, hopefully they will fall in love with the characters as I
did.
What were the challenges (research, literary,
psychological, and logistical) in bringing it to life?
Well to be honest it was all just in my head and it
needed to come out, I did not not do much research at all.
What do you think about
e-publishing versus technical publishing?
I think its good to have
both the options, but I love having a really book in my hands, I love the smell
and fell of new book and the first crack of a new spine is just so divine.
Do you have an agent or
publisher? How did you go about finding one?
I have a publisher, no
agent, I done a search online and I came across a few and I sent the book to a
few places in Ireland and a few places in the U.S.A and Creative Flight
Publishing got back to me and said they were interested we talked via email, I
liked what I heard and then they sent me over a contract I printed it out and
sent back and here we are today.
If you could live
anywhere, where would it be?
Miami. Sunshine all the time.
That's funny! I'd like to live in Ireland. Let's switch! If you could have any
super power, what would it be?
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