Julia Vellucci - Published author at 17

Julia Vellucci, Author

Genre: Romance with a variety of subgenres (fantasy, teen fiction, adventure, mystery)

Publishing Type: Traditional

Publisher: Ukiyoto Publishing

Latest Book: "Woman by the Penthouse" (book 3 in The Love Tetralogy)

Upcoming Book: If the publishing company agrees to take it on, then "Man by the Oil" (book 4 in The Love Tetralogy)

I’ve wanted to be an author since I was a pre-teen. Back then self-publishing was not a thing and the closest you could get was vanity publishing. I didn’t have the money of course and my parents thought it sounded like a scam. I’m not sure, as a teen, if I would have had the confidence to self-publish anyway.

I was so impressed with Julia Vellucci when I discovered she was a published author at just 17 years old. Actually, we had several interactions before I found out her age and I was very surprised. Julia is a mature confident young woman who has published her fifth book.

Read the interview below to find out more about her.

Jennifer Franz Griffith: How did you get started writing books?

Julia Vellucci: At the age of 15, I discovered my love for creative writing in a high school book and writing club that I joined for the book aspect.  After a failed attempt at creating a comic using the app, Episode, I found such a love and passion for creative writing that I began to write my own books. I knew there was much more to the story that was beginning to formulate in my mind while trying to create the comic. I was also terrible at coding so I decided to put all the details into a book. This was my trial book. It was terribly written, but the plot was great, so I do plan on rewriting it in the future as I have grown so much as a writer since then. I noticed this when I was comfortable and happy with my writing style in my published books. But that club helped me find my passion for the written craft, creating unique worlds with wholesome themes and voices that reflect my own to some extent, so I wouldn't have it any other way.

JFG: What made you decide to publish them?

Julia: My instant passion for creative writing instigated my goal of having my books published as I immediately knew writing one book would never be enough for me, let alone keeping all of those powerful themes and relatable characters to myself.

JFG: What do your friends think about you being a published author already?

Julia: My friends are ecstatic for me and super supportive as they know that it has been a dream of mine to become a published author for two years now. I could only envision having at least one of my books published by the age of 20 if I was lucky, not five when I'm almost 18. It is definitely super surreal. I am beyond thankful for everything and they could not be any happier for me. They know how much work, determination, perseverance, rude comments, and rejections it took for me to get where I am today.

JFG: Do you plan to continue writing as a career or do you have aspirations as well?

Julia: I plan to study journalism in college next year and get into a career involving writing with that degree, possibly being an editor, reporter, content writer, copywriter, or journalist, the possibilities are endless. I'll still be writing fiction novels on the side of course as that will always be a big part of my life which I couldn't be any more grateful for.

JFG: What advice do you have for other young authors?

Julia: Many book ideas have been done, it's difficult to find something original, but it has yet to be written by you. Find a way to make it truly speak to you and to readers. Find your own way to make it unique. When it comes to traditionally publishing your book, if you choose to go down that route, it can be tedious, time-consuming, and torturing to some extent. However, once you find the right publishing company for your books, it will all be worth it in the end. If you are a young writer such as myself, age doesn't equal passion or good writing and messages, so don't let anyone tell you otherwise. I knew a 14-year-old with 15 published children's books, that could be you. Also, if you're like me and have a passion for creative writing, never lose that. Hold onto it and why you enjoy writing so much and any writing-related obstacle suddenly doesn't appear to be as terrible.

Find out more about Julia:

Author Website

Amazon US Link to View All Books:

Also available on Amazon of all countries

Instagram
Goodreads
AllAuthor
Bookbub
Tiktok

Katie Frey - Author and Mom

Name: Katie Frey

Author:

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Publishing Type: Traditional or Self - I took the jump to self-publishing!

Latest Book: Nearly Wed

Upcoming Book: Nearly Her

Last summer, I decided that I would start writing again. Writing has always been my passion and I have written off and one forever. Early this year, I decided I was going to self-publish. Now I have the writing bug and all I want to do is write.

I am fortunate to have a son, a husband, and a full-time job, but all of that makes it challenging to find the time to write. I end up writing early in the morning and late at night. Who needs sleep? I know I am not the only author in this situation.

I reached out to Katie Frey to ask her about being an author and a mom and the challenges that brings. Katie is a mom to two girls, Lucy (age 4.5) and Matilda (2), and the stepmom to Tim (17). She has a “day job” working in her family’s business, Great Pretenders. The business was started and run by her mom and she has worked there for 14 years. She designs dress-up for kids and all the fun stuff that goes along with that. She is also wife to Francois.

If you are an author (or anyone trying to do “all the things”). Read our interview below.

Jennifer Franz Griffith: What made you decide to become an indie author?

Katie: As of two weeks ago, Nearly Wed was still in consideration with a big publisher. But I self-published anyway. I was spending all my time reading about it, and learning about it. I loved the challenge of trying something new (I'm an entrepreneur at heart). But the biggest reason? Control.

I have really poured so much of myself into this book. Nearly Wed is about Ellie, who survived multiple brain surgeries (as have I). Nearly Late, the prequel (which I wrote afterward), is about Jenny Dune, a character I saw even more of myself in. The thought of handing over these stories and having no control over the pricing/market, position/marketing plan, cover/blurb, distribution was too much for me. I'd rather be on a small scale and be authentic to exactly how I want the story told.

I don't know. Maybe I'm crazy.

JFG: As a mom with two small children and a day job, how do you find the time to write?

Katie: Finding the time to write is hard, but I'm quite sure this is something a lot of people face. I love my "day job" and I'm not trying to make writing a full-time money-making proposition, which I feel removes a lot of pressure from the work itself. So I'm grateful to be in that position, but I am faced with one reality: the more I write, the more I want to write. I'm driving my family crazy!

I am NOT a morning person, so waking up at the crack of dawn is not really something I have tried, although I haven't ruled it out. So far, I write with sprints and blitzes, kind of on a "reward basis". (Example: I'm going to fold and put away two loads of laundry, then I'm going to do a 20-minute sprint.)

I try and write an hour before lunch, spend about 30 minutes honing my newsletter (it's new so I'm really excited about it), then work on my "real job". Then at 17:30, I do another 30-45 minutes of writing if I can manage, depending on the kids.

On the weekend, I carve out at least 2 hrs to write (usually during Matilda's nap time). It doesn't seem like a lot when I write it all here, but if you add in the soccer games (I write while my husband watches soccer at night), it does add up. I've never been so excited for a Eurocup or whatever they are called, with matches all the time! I have to watch myself to make sure I'm still leaving time for Francois and my other "real person" friends. Otherwise, I could fall down the rabbit hole of talking to critique partners and friends I've met on bookstagram for hours.

Lastly, it feels weird to say it, but the lockdown has really helped my writing. We can't go anywhere or do anything, so I have more time to write!

JFG: Do you have any tips for aspiring authors who have children?

Katie: It was May 2020 when I made the decision to make writing a priority. I've wanted to be a writer since I was a kid. I'm an overachiever, so it was a goal I was afraid to say aloud. The chances of success were low, really low, and I knew it. If I didn't try, I couldn't fail. So the dream of writing was a dream just for me, tied up pretty in a bow.

Then I had a milestone birthday. I reread a few pages that I found on my laptop (saved down when I turned 30 omg). It was pretty good. I decided I'd had enough of "talking about being a writer". I gave myself one year to "be" a writer.

Until this point, I had a lot of reasons I couldn't write. I'm too busy. My job is hectic. I couldn't possibly take on one more thing (especially something frivolous). I was worried writing would be an expensive hobby (which so far it kinda is). But I had to try.

My biggest tip for people with kids who want to write? The one thing I did right from the start since making the decision to try?

ASK FOR HELP.

I couldn't have written and edited Nearly Wed (or the 3 other books I've written in the space of the year) without the support of my mom and husband. Francois is the one who takes the kids for a weekend so I can have a writing retreat. The one who steps up and cooks dinner more often than not so I can have a shot at living the dream. Doing this alone would be really hard.

The second tip?

GET AS MANY EYES ON YOUR WORK AS YOU CAN. I have had tremendous luck with an awesome team of Beta Readers, and I'm putting together an ARC team. I'm just starting on this journey, so I'm not too concerned with actually selling books. Right now, I'm concerned with making the best book I can, which means getting as many eyes on it as possible. Superfans of the genre. Avid readers. Professional Beta readers. I've done it all with no regrets.

Last Tip;

JUST START. Don't edit your first draft. I have a few writing partners that suffer from impostor syndrome. Worse, I have a few more that never get past the first three chapters because they polish every sentence to death. Get your first draft down. Find a partner. Workshop it. But remember, you can't polish what isn't there. No one needs to read your first draft but you. Just get it down.

JFG: How do you deal with the mom guilt we all feel sometimes?

Katie: This is a hard one. My kids are the light of my life (as I'm sure many of you would say). The girls are at such a cute age, it's hard to pull myself away. But I have to try. I have to believe in myself enough to make writing a priority. How can I expect my kids to believe in themselves if I can't do the same? So I'm writing. FOR my kids.

I also think I am a better mom because I'm happier. Every time a person sends me an email or Facebook message or IG dm, even with just a few lines (even something simple like "I almost finished your book sooo good), I'm excited. When "Mia" left her review on Goodreads I smiled so hard I nearly broke my face. I was so happy! I think when we are being our truest self we can be the best iteration of a parent, and for me, that means writing.

I can't feel guilty about being who I really am.

JFG: With all the momming, wifeing, working, and writing, what do you do for self-care?

This is a big question. I do not like exercise. I have done a fair bit of it, but I don't like it. I've run a LOT. Half Marathons. Marathons. You name it. I even did the Marathon de Sables a few years ago (before I have kids). In all this time exercising, I never once felt the elusive "runner's high".

I've decided I don't even like people who say they've felt it. Those people are the worst. Seriously. Keep that shit to yourself, some of us are SUFFERING.

Since moving to Switzerland from central Canada (where things are more or less flat), my running has been an easy thing to take off the to-do list. But around the same time I started writing (May) I took up "runwalking" *yes, not a term, but my running is so slow I feel I need to add an asterisk. I try and go out 3 times a week, walking/running. I listen to the Outlander Audiobooks as I go (which are AHMAZING BTW). About 2 weeks ago I signed up for the conqueror challenges (they were spamming my IG feed), and I'm having fun with the "great ocean road" challenge. So who knows. Maybe I will also add "get mildly fitter" to the list of things to do this year.

I also spend a night a month singing karaoke with my neighbor (and by karaoke I mean sitting outside freezing on our terrace with youtube karaoke) and by once a month I mean I've done it once in the last 3 months but it was heaps and heaps of fun, and I plan to do it more to give my brain a break.

JFG: Anything else you would like to share?

Katie: What I write about?

It's not a secret that I write romance. But I find now, having written 3 books and 1 novella, that a massive theme in my writing is identity. It's funny when you write, how much of yourself can come out on the page. I find that I'm fascinated with lying. With love. With how honesty plays into love, and the things we do to justify desire. Central themes in my work are: 1) If you lie about who you are, when you assume your new persona are you actually giving yourself permission to be more yourself than you'd ever otherwise dare to be? When you remove your name from your identity, are you in fact more yourself? If you fall in love with someone while pretending to be someone else, and the love is reciprocated, is it real?

I find that when I add these same questions into different characters, the stories are so different, but it's a question I'm obsessed with.

Find me on IG: @romancceinthealps

Find me on Facebook: kate.freywrites

Follow me on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Katie-Frey/e/B08XZNS6RB/

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Katie-Frey/e/B08XZNS6RB/

https://www.amazon.ca/Katie-Frey/e/B08XZNS6RB/

Nearly Late Novella:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08X1716HY

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08X1716HY

https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B08X1716HY/

https://www.amazon.de/dp/B08X1716HY/

Nearly Wed:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08Y5C82YR/

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08Y5C82YR/
https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B08Y5C82YR/
https://www.amazon.de/dp/B08Y5C82YR/

Nicole Dixon - Writing Steamy Love Scenes

Name: Nicole Dixon

Author

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Publishing Type: Self

Publisher: Kindle Direct Publishing

Latest Book: Carlton Harbor Series: Mirror Image, Surprise Reflections, For Always

Upcoming Book: Starting Over

As a writer in the romance genre, I know the importance of a great love scene in a novel. A reader wants to feel the chemistry between your main characters. They want to feel the tension build and they want a Happily Ever After (HEA) or at least a Happy For Now (HFN) ending.

Romance novels differ in the details of a love scene. There are clean romances where there aren’t explicit sex scenes. There are closed door romances where the sex scene takes place off-page, but is implied. Then there are steamy romances which go into greater detail when describing a sex scene.

I interviewed romance author Nicole Dixon about writing a steamy love scene. Read it below.

Jennifer Franz Griffith: What makes a great love scene in a book?

Nicole: I like to believe that it has less to do with the words that you say and more to do with the emotions that you evoke from the reader. I want you to feel what I feel when I write the scene. I want you to be able to see it, like a movie but better because you’re actually there. If I’ve written the scene the way I intended to write it then you’re right there with me.

The butterflies are churning in the pit of your stomach in anticipation of what’s about to happen. You’re locked in, turning the pages but you don’t even realize you’re reading because you’re so tied up with the words that you’re breathing them.

JFG: How long do you make your readers wait before your couples get together?

Nicole: I develop a love story. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good steamy scene, but I am about relationships. Lust is easy, sex is easy, but love – love takes time. I set the foundation for you, and yeah, maybe I tease you a little along the way, but it takes me to about fifty percent in to get you all the way there.

JFG: What is your favorite trope? Why?

Nicole: Soul Mates, hands down. I’ve written different romance tropes but soul mates is by far my favorite. I think a lot of that comes from my personal experiences in life. I met my husband in high school, he was the handsome jock baseball star athlete, and I was the nerdy, Valedictorian.

We were best friends. He was actually the first writer in our duo. He would write me poetry and slip it to me in notes. It’s funny, he still writes me poetry even today, over fifteen years later. I find love letters in his car, the laundry, on his desk, everywhere. Little pieces of his heart he leaves for me, it’s adorable.

One of my favorite quotes is from Flora and Ulysses, “She wrote about love because she had love.”

I write about love because I feel love every single day, my husband is still my very best friend. Doesn’t hurt that he’s amazing in bed and has made it his life’s mission to keep me rolling in new material for my books. He likes to take credit for a lot of my steam, and honestly, he’s got rights – the man knows what he’s doing.

JFG: How do you make sure the couples in each of your novels are unique?

Nicole: This isn’t something that I have to think about, it just kind of happens. I don’t plot out my novels, my characters are alive to me. In my mind my couples are just as real as you or me, and maybe that makes me a little bit crazy, but all the best people are – right?

Each couple that I write grows and develops every time I sit down at my laptop to type. They like to speak to me when I’m driving down the road, or on the treadmill. They have different personalities and form their own relationships. Half the time I’m surprised with a twist or turn my book takes. I fall in love with each and every one of my couples just like you do.

JFG: Do you ever feel nervous when you think about other people (especially people you

know) reading your steamy love scenes?

Nicole: Like most writers, I’ve been writing much longer than I’ve actually been published. Initially, I was nervous about publishing my work, and if a writer tells you that they weren’t they are lying. Putting yourself out there to be judged by others, no matter what you’re doing takes bravery. Throw in explicit scenes and men with filthy mouths and you can multiply that times ten.

I made the decision to publish my work when I decided that it meant more to me that I showed my children to never give up on their dreams than what people might think about me or the things that I write. At this point in my career, I’m confident in my work, and when my children grow up and recover from the shock of finding out their mother writes romance and not “scary” books, I think they will be proud of me. I followed my dreams, and no matter what challenges I face I refuse to give up.

JFG: Anything else you would like to share?

Nicole: Follow your dreams. Be weird. Do your thing. No matter what that is. The only thing holding you back is YOU. Feel free to include your website, social media, links to buy your books, etc.

Website: www.nicoledixonauthor.com

Follow me on Instagram: @nicoledixonauthor

Facebook: nicoledixonauthor

Amazon Author Page: Nicole Dixon

Carlton Harbor Series:

Book 1: Mirror Image

Book 2: Surprise Reflections

Book 3: For Always

Book 4: Starting Over

My books are available on Amazon and Kindle. Paperbacks can be purchased through Amazon.

Reach out to me on Facebook or Instagram to purchase signed copies.

Teydon Rae - Children's Book Author

Author: Teydon Rae

Genre: Children

Latest Book: Spallenzairek and the Three Little Monsters

Publishing Type: Self

Publisher: Sunny G Publishing

It is so important for children to start reading and be read to at a young age. There are many initiatives to promote children’s literacy - Summer Reading and 1000 Books Before Kindergarten to name a couple.

Teydon Rae took the time to share her experience as a children’s book author with me. Read more about her below.

Jennifer Franz Griffith: What inspired you to write a children's book?

Teydon: I actually wrote both of my books in 4th grade! I had an amazing teacher who integrated bookmaking and writing stories into her curriculum. I absolutely loved it! My mom saved them and I pulled them out a few years ago and decided to get them ready to publish.

JFG: How did you find an illustrator and how did you know that they were the right fit to illustrate your book?

Teydon: I was told by a fellow author to try Upwork to advertise for an illustrator. I gave a description of my character and asked for them to submit a sample. I had quite a few to choose from so I asked teachers and children to pick their favorite. It was a fun process and I love how it turned out!

JFG: What impact do you think your school and library visits have on children?

Teydon: I like to think that my visits to schools and libraries leave kids feeling inspired to become authors and illustrators themselves. My theme is 'Unlock The Magic Within'. I tell them how my stories came to be and I show them my original art work, stories and books. It's fun to see lightbulbs go off and their eyes get big just thinking about their own possibilities.

JFG: How have you been able to book events?

Teydon: I have booked events by sending out marketing material to schools, libraries and boutiques. I have recently learned how to boost this with social media so I'm excited to implement what I have learned.

JFG: How have you been able to pivot your live events during the pandemic?

Teydon: Live readings, Zoom and social media have been the key for the pandemic.

JFG: What would you say has been the most successful way to promote your book?

Teydon: I would say getting a distributor has been the best way to promote with coaching available as needed. However, ultimately, social media and word of mouth were the necessary sparks and flames.

Any thing else you would like to add?

My first book, Kami Koala Goes to the Zoo, was published by a vanity publisher. It was my first experience and it was exciting at first but I was not as pleased as the process progressed. Unfortunately, I didn't know how to market and I didn't receive the guidance needed so it hasn't been as successful. I am grateful that I have been able to experience both vanity and self publishing to know what I want for my books.

www.TeydonRae.com

www.instagram.com/TeydonRae

www.twitter.com/AuthorTeydonRae

www.facebook.com/AuthorTeydonRae