Thursday, August 9, 2012

Interview With Deanna Sletten, Semi-Finalist for Best Indie Book of 2012

Deanna Sletten, Semi-finalist in The Kindle Book Review's Best Indie Book of 2012, has been a writer for twenty years. While working and raising two kids, Deanna managed to find the time to write two of her novels. Now that her children have grown up, she's free to follow her dreams of being a full time author. Deanna has written three books:

Memories is about a vet who's readjustment to civilian life isn't without it's troubles. His inability to cope has repercussions, for the other people in his life.

Widow, Virgin, Whore follows the lives of three women from different walks of life. They come together under one roof, deal with one's terminal illness, and all find love in the most unexpected of places.

Outlaw Heroes is a story about a twelve year old boy who has to deal with the new man in his mother's life. On a trip to see his great-grandmother, Will suddenly finds himself in the Old West with Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid.

Deanna is another author that belongs to http://www.worldliterarycafe.com. It is a website that promotes good literature. Authors an readers can come together to promote books, find great authors, and interact.

And now, a quick ten questions with Deanna Sletten:


Tell us a little bit about yourself.

I grew up in southern California and moved to northern Minnesota in my late teens. I majored in accounting in college and worked at various part-time jobs over the years while also being a full-time mom to my children. At the same time, I was active with writing for print media and then websites. I also wrote my first two novels while my kids were younger. Now, with both children grown and on their own, I am able to write full-time and I'm enjoying every minute of it. I love traveling, baking chocolate-chip cookies (for some reason this relaxes me), walking the wooded trails around our home with my beautiful Aussie and relaxing on the lake in our boat with my husband.

How did you manage to find the time between a part time job and raising kids to write your first two books?

It's amazing where you can find time to do something you love if you want to do it bad enough. I spent a lot of time in my mini-van driving my kids to and from school and sports, so I always kept a folder and notebook with me so I could write whenever I was waiting. I'd then transfer what I'd handwritten onto the computer when I was at home. I pretty much finished both novels in the van and sitting at baseball practices. I also chose many times to skip sleep and write late at night. It wasn't always easy, but it was the only way I could do what I loved to do.

Favorite way to procrastinate?

Wandering around the internet! When I sit down to write, I usually start by checking my emails, checking my Goodreads, Twitter and Facebook pages and basically just reading random things I see. I may even play around on Pinterest for a while. Then I finally force myself to close out of the internet and start writing.

You've had quite the prolific writing career: Print media, internet, and now books. Which was your favorite?

I love to write, so I enjoyed every phase of my writing career. Of course, if I had to pick a favorite, it would be novel writing. I've been writing books for 25 years, I just wasn't able to share them with others until recently. I have several novels started, some far along and others only an outline, so I have plenty of ideas to keep me busy in the years ahead.

How do you feel about indie vs. traditional publishing?

I love the whole indie publishing phenomenon right now. When I started writing novels and tried publishing them the traditional way, the door wasn't opened very wide for newcomers. But indie publishing changed all that. Having the opportunity to share my work with others and, hopefully find some success at it, is wonderful.

Who are you reading right now?

I am reading "The Phantom Student" by Ann Swann. I read book one in the series, "The Phantom Pilot", and loved it so much. Ann has a beautiful writing style that keeps you so engrossed in the story you literally don't want to put it down. And the best part is that these two stories are perfect for kids through adults.



Do you have any new projects you'd like to tell us about?

I am currently finishing up my fourth novel titled "Sara's Promise". It is a Romance/Contemporary Fiction novel. I plan to have it available in December, 2012. To learn more about it, readers can visit my blog and click the tab with the book's title at the top of the page.

Favorite food/indulgence?

Wow – there are so many! Anything chocolate is on the top of that list. Second is a nice, fat doughnut with sprinkles!

If you weren't a writer you'd be...

Unhappy! I went to school to become an accountant and I've worked at many different jobs throughout the years. I even owned a gift shop for a few years. But through it all, my goal was always to be home full-time and write novels. That dream has finally come true and I wouldn't want to do anything else.

Would you like to tell us about the award you're up for?

My romance novel MEMORIES is a semi-finalist in the Romance category of The Kindle Book Review's Best Indie Novels of 2012. The next step is to try to make it into the top five books of my genre (cross fingers). The judges are judging the books by quality of writing, plot and formatting. Considering I started my indie author journey less than a year ago, I am honored to have already been chosen in the first round of this contest.


Books/Links:

Memories
Genre: Contemporary Fiction/Romance
Link: http://www.amazon.com/Memories-ebook/dp/B007DCBI7C/ref=zg_bs_158568011_64

Widow, Virgin, Whore
Genre: Women's Fiction/Family Drama
Link: http://www.amazon.com/Widow-Virgin-Whore-ebook/dp/B006LXJBUK/ref=sr_1_cc_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1323889135&sr=1-1catcor

Outlaw Heroes
Genre: Children's-Middle Grade Fiction/Action/Adventure
Link: http://www.amazon.com/Outlaw-Heroes-ebook/dp/B006M9WSOO/ref=ntt_at_ep_edition_1_3?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2

How to find Deanna online:

Blog: http://www.deannalynnsletten.com

Twitter: @DeannaLSletten

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/#!/DeannaLSletten

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/555634.Deanna_Lynn_Sletten

2 comments:

  1. Hi Olivia,

    This looks great! Thank so much for the interview.

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    Replies
    1. You're welcome! I was happy to do it. 😃

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