What is your “day” job if you are not a full-time author?
My first career was as a publications designer for magazines. I still work at it, and feel very fortunate to still get that sort of work. I also work as a subeditor and have worked as a journalist as a theatre and cultural critic and feature writer, and in my best gig ever, as a beauty journalist.
If you wrote a book about your life what would the title be?
I sort of already did? It's not about my entire life but deals with a life-changing section of it. I wrote Many Brave Fools: An Story of Addiction, Dysfunction, Codependency...And Horses which is about how I took up horseback riding as an adult after leaving my marriage to a substance misuser. Sounds like heavy subject matter, and it is, but it's also funny.
What is the hardest thing about being an author?
For me, it was getting to know my process and becoming comfortable with it. Authoring for me isn't about sitting in front of a screen all day. I get so much done when I go to the day job, for example. I really make those lunch hours count. I write by hand a lot to get ideas flowing. I walk and walk and sit on public transport and stare out the window, and that lets ideas come and go.
I still fight it though, still, feel like I'm not working hard enough or getting enough of a word count every day. In this respect, it's hard not to compare myself to other authors who are doing things differently or doing thngs that are measurable. It's hard to quantify how effective it is to scribble on the back of an old proofing printout serves my narratives, but for, it really is.
What is the best thing about being an author?
The absolute, hands-down best thing is, after I've respected my process and walked for miles and done sprints (that's writing really fast without stopping or allowing your inner censor to stop you) and scribbled ideas, I get into the flow. The flow, for example, took ages to set in on the last novel I finished but when it did, I wrote 20,000 words in one week. Getting into the flow of the story is the most wonderful thing ever, and it's worth all the (so-called) procrastinating and resistance.
Have you ever been star struck by meeting one of your favorite authors? If so who was it?
I didn't get to meet Grace Burrowes, who I admire boundlessly, in person, but I did reach out for a blurb for A Wolf in Duke's Clothing, the first installment in my Shapeshifters of the Beau Monde series (a mashup of Regency historical romance and Shapeshifters). She very graciously said yes and gave me great feedback and stunningly complimentary quotes. I was and still am beyond honored.
What book changed your life?
Every few years, a new book changes my life. The first time I was conscious of having my mind exploded open was when I read The Color Purple by Alice Walker. I read One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez and wished I could read it in its original Spanish. Both Gilead by Marilynn Robinson and Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro made me burst into tears. 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami is freeeeeaky and I could barely tell you anything about now, but when I was reading it, I was completely immersed to the degree I lost track of time and space. Books are amazing!
What were some of your favorite books growing up?
I had so many, and was so fortunate in my English teachers in elementary school. I had one who assigned us like, ten books in one semester, which was a challenge for almost everyone else but not for me; not boasting, I have always adored reading. So: The Chronicles of Narnia, A Wrinkle in Time, Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury... I still have my childhood copy of the latter with my name written on the flyleaf.
What books are currently in your to-be-read pile?
Reset by Sarina Dahlan, The Family Cross by Gabrielle Ash, and the first in David Slayton's series, White Trash Warlock.
Which do you prefer ebooks, print, or audiobooks?
I love ebooks and print and have been defaulting to ebooks because of the immediacy of them. They were a godsend during the pandemic. I am not into audio, I think because I listen to music all the time (yes, even when I write, this is divisive topic among writers) and am used to my mind wandering or turning its focus on something else, so the few times I've tried listening to a book, I couldn't keep my mind on it.
If you could live inside the world of a book or series which world would it be and why?
Despite my dislike of cold weather and snowy conditions, I would live in any Christmas romance, set in like a small mountain town with the usual cast of quirky characters. I read them year round. I have an idea for one in the Shapeshifters of the Beau Monde world and make notes for it whenever I need to take a break from the current work in progress. I wouldn't otherwise live in any of my own worlds because, well, I already have done and am always ready to move on to another.
Susanna Allen
Genre: Paranormal contemporary romance
Publisher: Ally Press
Date of Publication: October 01, 2021
ISBN Print: 978-1-953290-12-0
ISBN eBook: 978-1-953290-13-7
ASIN: B09G97RGZF
Number of pages: 326 pages
Word Count: 82,000
Cover Artist: Tamara DeStefano
Tagline: A heartbroken amateur witch is in over her head after casting a spell that actually works—will the handsome Irish artist she fancies come to her rescue?
Book Description:
What was the point of being a witch if Annabelle Walsh couldn’t manage a spell to fix her broken heart? As a dedicated dabbler in all things esoteric, she figured she could speed up her healing process when she’s dumped out of the blue by her boyfriend... but nothing’s working.
An idle wander into an unfamiliar new age shop adds the bit of magic in her life that she’d been looking for: an interfering, mischievous Pooka called Callie who’s determined to turn Annabelle’s life around— mostly by turning it upside down.
Suddenly, Annabelle’s too busy to brood, and her writing career begins to take off; in fact, it’s during a brainstorming session for an off-off-off-off Broadway theatre production that she meets tall, dark, and handsome Jamie Flynn, an Irishman in New York who seems to be keen at first sight, if not in love quite yet. As Annabelle gets her life back on track, she starts to see the difference between a real life, a real career, and a real man… and all it took was a little magic mischief.
Excerpt:
Annabelle lit candles and sat down on the floor. She tried deep
breathing for a few seconds, and feeling slightly calmer, took her tarot deck
out of its wooden box and shuffled the cards. She let her breath flow in and
out; it lulled her, cleared her head, calmed her down, and the smell of the
burning wax soothed her, as she tried to formulate a mature, non-attached-type
question. Not: Will Wilson come back to me, please, please?
Her breathing hitched. Yeah, definitely not that. “Okay. The issue is…
Wilson. Um. Do we have a future together?”
She turned over a card. The Knight of Pentacles, reversed.
“Damn it.” Reversed, this Knight meant carelessness, a standstill in
affairs. “Okay, so if things are at a standstill, that means they can move
forward again, right?” She turned another card.
Three of Swords. Sorrow due to loss. Well, duh, Annabelle thought, and
then winced, as if she’d said it out loud. As if the cards could hear.
She turned over the next card. The Wheel of Fortune. Not always a good
sign, though, as it could mean an unexpected loss rather than a gain, even when
in the upright position as it was now. “I don’t know what any of this means,”
Annabelle mumbled, knowing full well what it meant. This was all about the now,
and she didn’t like the now.
At moments like these, Annabelle found it was usually a good thing to
stop pulling cards.
Queen of Cups. She shivered. That was her court card. Good natured,
intuitive, a loving female figure, one whose imagination often outweighed her
good sense.
Strength. The beautiful woman grasped the lion by the jaws, symbolizing
the power of the human spirit to overcome any obstacle. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
The Sun. “Summertime? Two months from now? I’ll be better in two
months?”
Annabelle gathered up the reading and returned the deck to its box.
She continued to sit. She tried to go back to the deep breathing but
got bored. She thought about how she’d never had much luck reading Wilson’s cards.
Maybe it never worked because it was almost always post-coital, the only time
he was ever mellow enough to entertain the idea. She could never make sense of
his configurations, none of the images seemed to relate to the others, she’d
pull card after card and make a spread that was meaningless, confused. He would
lose interest and patience. She would feel as though she’d failed. Ugh.
She’d like to blame it all on him, but she supposed her own muddled
thinking got in the way as well; always hoping he was asking about the future
of their relationship, whether she would marry him, whether she would like an
emerald-cut diamond in a platinum setting, as opposed to a three carat
marquis-cut in white gold.
Someday, maybe, she’d find that remotely amusing.
But not today. Rising, she left the candles burning and got some
incense going as well.
Lavender: soothing, healing. She wanted healing. She
wanted that fistful of pain out of her chest. She wanted all her lessons
learned in a six-week correspondence course, she wanted a whole, strong heart,
she wanted Wilson back, she wanted all the sadness to leak out of her pores,
she wanted her life back. Herself back. Now.
Susanna is a graduate of Pratt Institute with a BFA in Communication Design and counts The Village Voice, New York Magazine, and Entertainment Weekly as past design experiences. Born in New Jersey, she moved to Ireland for twelve months—in 1998. She is the author of the Shapeshifters of the Beau Monde series, published by Sourcebooks: A Wolf in Duke’s Clothing, an Amazon Editor’s Best Book of the Month, is available now; A Most Unusual Duke debuts in December 2021.
Writing as Susan Conley, she is the author of Drama Queen and The Fidelity Project, both published by Headline UK; Many Brave Fools: A Story of Addiction, Dysfunction, Codependency…and Horses is available from Trafalgar Square Books. Susanna is living her life by the three Rs—reading, writing, and horseback riding—and can generally be found on her sofa with her e-reader, gazing out a window and thinking about made-up people, or cantering around in circles. She loves every minute of it.
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