About Amy D. Brooks:
Amy D. Brooks is a memoirist and fiction writer. She has been a published author since age nineteen and has sold over a hundred thousand copies in twelve different languages. She is currently sober, stable, and living in San Diego, California.</p>
Brooks has been influenced by contemporary poets and authors and also writes poetry. She is inspired by Christian literature, specifically that which emphasizes the role of women in the faith and church. She is an avid traveler, having visited forty-seven American states and thirty-three foreign countries on four continents. She is an outspoken advocate for mental health awareness, a marathon runner, and a student of transcendental meditation.
What inspires you to write?
Writing inspires more writing. Do I have spontaneous moments of inspiration? Yes, but they are not common. The primary source of inspiration is sitting down and getting words on a page. I use the daily exercise of writing a thousand words and have rarely found myself stopping at one-thousand. I come across some element that inspires me to take a certain direction and follow it.
Tell us about your writing process.
Chaos. Recording feelings as they come and organizing later. This lets me take advantage of that raw artistic calling that can take me over sometimes and worry about the logistics later.
For Fiction Writers: Do you listen (or talk to) to your characters?
Absolutely. While I am writing a fiction piece I feel that the characters become figures in my life for a bit. I find myself musing how, “Tom would think that was hilarious”, or “this is something Sara would do.” You get to know them and maybe they get to know you.
What advice would you give other writers?
Never stop. Failure is a part of the process. Not everything is going to be great, not everything is going to work, just keep writing anyway. For too long I internalized each of the shortcomings I had in writing as evidence I wasn’t really a writer and let that hold me back. Ironically, that was the biggest mistake I made as a writer.
How did you decide how to publish your books?
I looked for the best routes for me and my books. Not every book is the same. Some markets are just not accessible without a publisher, some are. The biggest lesson I have learned is that if you aren’t comfortable putting yourself out there and promoting not only your work but you as its author, you won’t be able to make it far down the path or publisher distribution or self-publishing. Writing is a courageous pursuit and you have to have thick skin.
What do you think about the future of book publishing?
It is a vastly changing industry that will probably be entirely transformed within a decade. The focus has shifted much more to the author and moved away from the times of limitation by publishers. I feel this has created a more intimate connection with the stories of authors and engaged readers more. I don’t see the expansion of availability to content as a negative.
What do you use?: Professional Editor, Professional Cover Designer
What genres do you write?: Memoirs, science fiction, short stories
What formats are your books in?: Both eBook and Print
Website(s)
Amy D. Brooks Home Page Link
Link To Amy D. Brooks Page On Amazon
Link to Author Page on other site
Your Social Media Links
Goodreads
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
All information in this post is presented “as is” supplied by the author. We don’t edit to allow you the reader to hear the author in their own voice.
