Happy Friday, my lovelies! Can you believe we’re already one week into July? The year is flying by.
This week, I welcome the lovely Nia Forrester to Fox Friday. I’ve been wanting to interview Nia forever, and she graciously agreed. She’s brought her latest masterpiece, The Lover, with her and there’s an excerpt!
I’m a big fan of Nia’s writing, and I wish more people knew about her. I’ll be giving away a digital copy of The Lover at the end of the interview, so read on.
Did you always want to be a writer? If not, what else did you want to do?
I always wanted to be a revolutionary. A social activist. And I found a way to do that through my career as a lawyer, so that’s been very rewarding. But I really believe my core identity is being a writer. I could probably walk away from being a lawyer tomorrow (though not from the activism) but I can never walk away from being a writer. And I know this sounds like a stock answer, but I honestly can’t remember not being a writer. I started with poems and was terrible at that and didn’t find it particularly interesting. And then later, I adapted and mimicked stories I read, by writers like Enid Blyton, to my context, which was a small Caribbean nation. So instead of little mischievous children playing in a meadow in Britain, I wrote about kids who looked like me, in a country like mine. Later, I was doing the same with stories from the Sweet Valley High series, and the Nancy Drew series. And as I grew older, I stopped looking to other writers and honed my own voice.
And we’re so glad you did! Your voice is unique and amazing. How do you celebrate each book release?
Y’know, I actually don’t celebrate my releases. Not really. I spend inordinate amounts of time thinking about what I did wrong with each book, and how I could do it better. And how I’ll improve with the next one. But, I do try to have a large glass of wine, do a lot of reading, and waste time on social media after a release. It always feels like I’ve been released from exile once a book is out there, because until it’s done, my body may be present in other places, but a significant part of my mind is always on the work in progress. [Read more…] about FoX Friday with Nia Forrester plus a giveaway!