Today I'd like to welcome author T. L. Clark, tell us a little about yourself.
I’m a British author writing
heart-racing, tear-inducing tales of love.
My aim is to explore different kinds
of love in the hopes I’ll discover some answers to its mysteries.
I live in the south of the UK with my
hubby and spoiled cat.
And go through life as if it were a
gauntlet of catastrophes, using coffee as my fuel to get me through.
What brought about the idea for this book?
Self Love is actually inspired by
(but not based on) my own weight loss journey.
I lost 2.5 stone (35lbs) and realised I was working in the inside as much as the outside of me.
As a holistic therapist, I am very
good at encouraging others, but terrible at self-love. But it’s so important to
take care of and respect ourselves.
Like Molly in my book, I need to
silence my inner critic.
I think that's something a lot of us have problems with. It's a lot easier to love others than to love yourselves. T.L, where do you see yourself in five years?
My dream is to own a farmhouse. The
aim is to rescue horses, who in turn, will help heal frazzled souls who come to
my holistic retreat. I also plan on running writing retreats too, knowing how
important it is to have calm surroundings to apply one’s craft sometimes.
Currently, what are you working on?
In my ongoing quest to explore love
from different angles, I am currently writing a Regency romance. Despite being
British and a huge fan of Jane Austen, this task is still proving challenging.
A lot of my time is being taken up
with researching whether a particular word or phrase was used in 1814. I’m
writing it with a modern spin though, whilst being true to the period i.e.
trying to keep the flowery language to a minimum so it’s easier to understand.
It's amazing how much time can be spent on research. What has been the best compliment you have received?
I’ve been blessed with so many lovely
comments. Love Bites was just awarded a bronze medal in the Readers’ Favorite
International Book Awards, which was awesome.
But the one which really made my
heart sing and tears spring forth was the reviewer who said that Love Bites
reminded her why she fell in love with reading <3
That's so nice! How do you promote your books? Any tips you can share?
I’ve tried so many things in my five
years of being an indie author. It’s really challenging, and as soon as you get
the hang of one thing, the goalposts change and you have to learn another.
But so far, the most effective things
I’ve found are AMS (Amazon Marketing Services) and Facebook ads (the paid ones
from the dropdown, NOT boosted posts which are different).
And there’s a fab company called
ItsyBitsyBookPromotions who help spread the word on social media. There’s a
small fee attached, but they are superb, and help save me a lot of time: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ItsyBitsyAuthorServicesandpromotions/
Who designed the artwork for your cover? Or did you
design it yourself?
She has the patience of a saint! I
can often start off very vague and unsure what the cover should look like, but
she always helps to guide me until we agree the final version.
How do you handle criticism when it comes to your writing?
Many authors will tell you not to
read reviews. But I’m always eager to see what people think about my books;
whether they love them or if there’s anything I can improve on. Life is a
learning journey, and therefore so is my writing career. I learn new things all
the time, and fashions change.
I’m not going to lie, sometimes
people are plain spiteful and rip you apart. When there seems to be no
justified reason for this (e.g. trolls) this is really upsetting and
frustrating. I think people often forget how much time and effort goes into
books, and that there’s a human author at the helm. I have feelings!
In the main, I try to shrug off the
bad stuff. As long as most of my readers are happy then I’m happy.
You can never please everyone. I think that's a good philosophy. Which do you find more challenging inventing the hero or
the villain? Why?
My dark elf in Love Bites Hard (2nd
part of the Darkness & Light Duology) was my most challenging character to
date. The nasty little devil lead me a merry dance, I can tell you! He ran me
right into a dead end at one point, and I had to fight him to write myself out
of it. Git!
But generally, they’re all as easy
and hard as each other. Have you heard others refer to their characters as
imaginary friends? It’s true. Mine talk to me, and I am a mere conduit for
their tale. They often take twists and turns I had not planned, but I dutifully
follow and it usually leads to a fabulous plot line.
Any last words?
Thanks so much for having me here.
Please do check out my full range of books. There’s contemporary,
inspirational, paranormal and humorous romances.
And give me a follow on social media.
I’m most active on Instagram at the moment, where you’ll find random stuff,
recipe ideas, inspirational quotes and pics of Pusskin (my cat).
No comments:
Post a Comment