About Olivia M. Lake:
Olivia M. Lake lives with her partner, their son and Marble, (their lively cat nick named ‘Pretty Bird’), in British Columbia–where she was born in 1975. She has also lived in Alberta and Olympia, WA. Olivia has accumulated many babysitting hours over her lifetime; and has volunteered as a teacher and a chaperon in Queretaro, Mexico and Victoria, B.C. She has attended several schools to study architecture and design, TESL, natural nutrition, photography and a little travelling Spanish. Olivia M. Lake enjoys designing and creating: shoes, clothes, art, recipes, books… She has written and illustrated poetry and activity books for children; cookbooks; and she also enjoys writing short fiction. Her published books include: HAIKU (chapbook), Foods That Work For You: Delectable and Gluten-Free (cookbook series), Parts That Belong (children’s lesson and coloring book), and Welcome to My Dinner Table (children’s food poetry book).
What inspires you to write?
Life experiences. Sometimes someone will say something (one or two words), or do something small and a whole poem or story will pop into my head.
Tell us about your writing process.
Sometimes I develop a character before writing the story or poem. My characters are sometimes based on personal experiences with people. I usually create character sketches in pencil and then refine the lines, darken them in with pencil or ink. Then I scan them into my computer and finalize the hand drawn images in a program.
I tend to have poetry and stories come to me when there is a physical or mental trigger, or a state of relaxation, usually when I am walking–and I hope I have something to write it down on. This usually ends up being a napkin or scrap paper, then I enter what I have written into the computer where it may go through several revisions.
For Fiction Writers: Do you listen (or talk to) to your characters?
The most recent fiction I wrote, was not spent talking to my main characters. As I start to draw my characters out in different scenarios it becomes easier to get to know their characters and roles in my stories. I also develop characters in my mind and as I begin to write they evolve and develop as the story does. I have also written out character profiles ahead of writing the story-line.
What advice would you give other writers?
I spend a lot of time researching, developing on paper and in my mind how I want something to turn out. I write down steps and draw out characters and plans. I do this with many of my design projects because I tend to work on a few projects at once. I would advise carrying a pocketbook and a pencil and pen at all times.
How did you decide how to publish your books?
Emerging as a new author; rejection; and enjoyment of the design process, led me down the road to self-publishing. I frequently send manuscripts out to publishers.
What do you think about the future of book publishing?
May it continue. With the latest pick-up in young people purchasing traditional books–this gives me hope!
What genres do you write?: Children, Poetry, Fiction, Non-Fiction, Cookbooks, Health
What formats are your books in?: eBook, Print
Website(s)
Olivia M. Lake Home Page Link
Link To Olivia M. Lake Page On Amazon
Link to Author Page on Lulu
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.
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