About Emily M Morgan:
Emily M Morgan is a single parent, author, trainer and speaker. Her philosophy consists of emphasizing positivity in daily life and endlessly learning in order to make the best decisions possible. She brings this philosophy to every aspect of her life and writing.
Emily writes non-fiction and inspirational books for parents, businesses and educators. Her journals and coloring books will inspire your creativity and her parenting books will help you understand and implement proven techniques for the best outcomes for your family.
Emily has a Degree in Medieval German and a Masters in Linguistics, focusing on language acquisition in children and communication theory. Language and communication are her passions and she speaks French, German, Italian and Japanese with greater or lesser fluency. Still on her list to learn are Mandarin and Russian, but there just aren’t enough hours in the day.
Emily lives in beautiful Tasmania with her daughter and son. She has travelled around the world but there are still plenty of amazing places to explore, both real and imagined. In fact, she has some fiction books coming out soon…
What inspires you to write?
My parenting books stem from my own experiences and the many interviews I have done with parents from all around the world. There are so many amazing, heartwarming (and heartbreaking) stories out there, I want to help parents understand that they are not alone and that there are other ways of living and being. Shared knowledge is such a precious thing, especially in today’s world of distance and indirect communication.
My journals and coloring journals are just so much fun to create and I love to design books that I would like to write in, with prompts that make you think and are a bit different from the usual.
As for my fiction – I have so many ideas every day! Anything that makes me stop and think, ooh, that’s interesting, that’s intriguing, is fodder for my fiction. I can usually find a place for it!
Tell us about your writing process.
Steven King said there are two types of writers, architects who plan everything down to the smallest detail, and gardeners, who plant a seed and let it grow as it will. When I write fiction, I think of myself as something in between – perhaps a topiary gardener, who starts with a seed and an idea of the shape, but lets the plant dictate if it wants to change direction and become a different shape in the end!
With my non fiction, things are much more carefully planned. I start with a concept, create the skeleton of the work (the contents, the chapters, the main points I want to cover) and then conduct research before writing each chapter. But I always allow time and space for other ideas or influences to appear – there’s always so much to include and just when you think you’ve finished, some more interesting information comes your way! I work hard to reach the end of a full draft before going back and editing – I’ve discovered over time that if you edit as you go, you never reach the end!
For Fiction Writers: Do you listen (or talk to) to your characters?
Actually, when I want to get into a scene or a character’s thoughts, I tend to take on the role of that character myself. I find myself talking to myself in that character’s voice, trying to get inside their head and shoes, if you like. Maybe I should be an actor!
What advice would you give other writers?
Always get to the end of the first draft, even if, as you’re writing, you think, oh this is rubbish, or that’s not going to work, or that doesn’t fit in with what I’ve done before. That doesn’t matter. Finish the first draft, write (minimal) notes to yourself separately if you must, but finish the first draft. Then wait. Then go back. It is far more satisfying to get to work on a more or less complete story, than to feel as if you haven’t even got to the end yet.
How did you decide how to publish your books?
It took a lot of thinking and research. I’m still not sure if I will do things differently for future books. You really need to find out as much as you can, first and then make a decision and not waffle around, unable to decide. If your decision is wrong, take it as a lesson learned and move on. Sometimes you can only improve through making a mistake. For now, I’m self-publishing through Ingram Spark, in order to have better distribution options and a single place to update my book if needed, rather than having to update in on all platforms. I have submitted kids’ books to trad publishers in the past, but now I’m thinking of self publishing them as well. We make so little money as authors, I feel that I should try to keep as much of it as I can!
What do you think about the future of book publishing?
I think it’s bright – there are so many sob stories about book sales in decline and how reading is less popular but that is just sensationalism. Book sales may be in decline, but people still need the written word in so many every day aspects of life. Therefore, there will always be readers, and where there are readers, there are people who love a good story. Children’s brain development studies are showing that children still need hard copy books instead of screens, to learn to read well. And a love of hard copy books lasts; I know many people who still want hard copies, or who have multiple copies of the same book for different circumstances: a hard copy for home reading, a digital copy for travel, and even an audio copy for commuting.
What do you use?: Professional Editor, Professional Cover Designer, Beta Readers
What genres do you write?: children’s, romance, speculative, parenting non-fiction, journals, coloring books
What formats are your books in?: Both eBook and Print
Website(s)
Emily M Morgan Home Page Link
Link To Emily M Morgan Page On Amazon
Your Social Media Links
Goodreads
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
LinkedIn
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.
