_+_So, I'm finally back to give you an amazing interview by CompulsiveWriter! 

1. You have completed A Knight to Remember, what are your plans for your writing now?  Do you plan to start uploading on one of your other three that are not completed?  Or are you planning something new you would like to tell us about?

      Last week I marked three books complete - 'The Watchers Wake', 'A Knight To Remember' PG13 version and the UNCUT R-rated version.  Now...?  Well, I have promised that I will complete ‘Can’t Catch Me!’ as a priority and I also want to have some fun with ‘Seriously, What’s Hot?’  I am limiting myself to that at the moment. 

      I struggle when I try to write too many books at the same time.  When I write the characters come to life in my head - it can get very crowded, then they start bickering and it just goes downhill from there.   So although I have many plot lines flying around my head, I will only allow myself to listen to a couple at a time.  And yes, insanity is a close and personal friend of mine.

2. Okay, I know that with A Knight to Remember, some said things about the fact that it was a little more ‘adult’ than other stories on here.  Why did you decide to write it that way? 

      I started writing A Knight To Remember because I had a problem.  I struggled to write hot, steamy... intimacy.  I didn’t know what was tasteful, how far I should go with it and I was just super embarrassed.  So I sat down and wrote the first twenty chapters of AKTR and crammed it solid with... well, you get it.   Once I got to Chapter 20ish I stopped.  I had done what I wanted to do, it had no story plan, no ending, and I wrote it strictly for my benefit - I never planned on sharing it or finishing it. 

      Many months later I started on Wattpad.  I joined wattpad simply to enter the Gatekeepers Competition with ‘Don’t Catch Me!’.  But wattpad grabbed me and pulled me in.  And so what did I do...?  I started to upload A Knight To Remember - the heavily edited PG13 version.   Why?  Because I fell in love with the characters.  I really didn’t expect it to gain a following because it was so much more mature than other stories on Wattpad. 

      At Chapter 4, when I was deleting vast chunks of text, I asked my readers if they would like to read the R-rated version.  And so, with a burning red blush, the UNCUT version was born. I can’t tell you how I hesitated each and every time, cringing as I hovered over the ‘Save and Publish’ button before finally thrusting my mouse button down and releasing it... (opps sorry...PG13)

      But I will tell you that it worked.  I now can confidently write and publish intimacy.  So from then on I uploaded the two versions - the PG13 version which was edited to include the romance and the plot and the UNCUT version which had that and stuff I can’t mention here in it. 

3. What is your favorite genre to write, and what is your favorite genre to read?

      I love reading just about everything - I read it all - although I don’t like horror or abuse stories.  When I read I transport myself into the story and there are some places I just don’t want to go!  

      Similarly I am still a new writer so I haven’t settled on a genre.  That is what Wattpad is all about for me.  I use it to challenge myself into writing new and different things.  That’s why my stories are so varied from ‘Don’t Catch Me!’ and ‘Can’t Catch Me!’ (Science Fiction/Adventure), ‘The Watchers Wake’ (Thriller/Vampire/Fantasy), ‘A Knight To Remember’ (Historical/Non-teen) to ‘Seriously, What’s Hot?’ (my first attempt at humor with a splash of every single cliché Wattpad has ever seen).

      However, I will tell you that I have discovered that I love writing action and I can’t write fluffy high school drama.  My plots tend to be on the epic side and I am addicted to plot twists and the occasional cliff hanger!

4. You’ve only been writing for a little over a year now, why did you begin writing?

      This is my second life.  In my BC life (Before Children) I was a professional with blinding ambition and dark side tendencies.  Now AD (Approaching Dementia) I have rediscovered my artistic side.  When my kids started school my ambition was to paint.  I am a closet artist - and that doesn’t mean I paint wardrobes.  However things didn’t work out for me on that score.  I moved into an extremely tiny house thinking it was short term (haha!) and I had no room to paint or swing a cat, let alone a husband, three children, two cat, one dog and a lifetime of clutter.  So I picked up a pen instead.   Yep, I wrote the first two drafts of my first novel long hand.  This was back in April/June 2010.  I joined Wattpad in Feb 2011 and here I am.

5. So, do you have any hidden talents you would like to share?

      Apart from being a kickass accountant, financial controller and administrative guru (opps suddenly I have developed a hacking cough)...  I also paint, read, draw, do a lot of volunteer work, read, fail dismally at being a housewife, read, yell-rant-pullout my hair (aka motherhood), and my alter ego is Dr. CompulsiveWriter. 

      That’s right, I have aspirations of being an evil dictator.  Dr Doofenschmirtz is my mentor.   Yeah seriously, I think evil dictators are sorely misunderstood.   I mean it is a huge step up from being a mother - there is respect, job satisfaction, it’s guilt free and people actually expect you to be grumpy!  And to top it all off - failure is classed as a successful outcome!   I don’t understand why more people don’t do it.  I am currently holding the icecream hostage but I have plans to attach lazer weapons to the flea collars of the cats so that they can terrorise the neighbourhood... which might work if I can figure out how to get the cats off the sofa. 

      I am currently recruiting hench men and women - we are equal opportunity these days - so feel free to apply - although I will lean towards hiring males that resemble my characters, just because I can.

6. Your username is an interesting one.  Why exactly did you choose CompulsiveWriter?

      CompulsiveWriter - Compulsive describes my writing style because my characters compel me to write.  When I write the characters come alive for me.  They possess me.  I become obsessive with my writing.  They refuse to let me clean the house or sleep.  I wrote ‘The Watchers Wake’ in one month and over half of ‘Don’t Catch Me!’ in two weeks (55,129 words - for the Gatekeepers Competition deadline).  So when I joined wattpad I thought it was an apt name for myself.

7. What has been your favorite thing about wattpad so far?

      It is said that to be classed as an ‘expert’ at anything you need to devote 10,000 hours to it.  So if you want to be a world classed author and have no skill at it, but you do have 10,000 hours up your sleeve to allocate to practicing, then taaadaaa! 

      I am working on my 10,000 hours!  I figure that if I average 8 hours a day seven days a week for 50 weeks a year it will take me 3.5 years to achieve!   Whether the number of hours is accurate or not, I believe the theory is sound - to be good at something you must devote time and effort to it.  You will never be good unless you try.   Even natural talent will only get you so far.

      So Wattpad is the place I practice.  I truly believe my writing has measurably improved since I joined in February.   I also use it to push myself in directions I might not otherwise go.  There is no point writing something safe and easy.  Nah, writing something that pushes me and challenges me is so much more interesting. 

      But the other side of the coin is that Wattpad has made me focused on chapters rather than the whole novel.  It is almost like each chapter is an episode or a mini-novel - and I haven’t worked out if this is a good thing or not yet.  Also I have become so reliant on Wattpad that I have not pushed towards polishing and publishing my completed work.   I have lost some focus on what I really want - which is of course seeing one of my books in print. 

      So I have to find time to have both, ohh yeah and my kids, my husband, my vacuuming (where did I hide that creature again) and somewhere in my day I do like to get 5 hours sleep.

8. You reply to your comments and messages.  Why do you feel that it is important to stay in contact with your readers?

      Let’s face it wattpad is a learning environment - so from that point of view - feedback is more important than votes.  I want people to question and disagree (constructively) with my writing.  That’s what this is all about for me.  So I do try to encourage people to think about what I have written - my answers are often questions as I try to push the reader to think about the plot in a different way.

      On top of that, you might not have noticed, but I also like to waffle on a little and I really like my characters.  I can’t write them unless they exist for me.  And they only exist when I know them inside and out with a clear understanding of their motives.  So I love it when a reader asks a question about why something happens, vaguely mentions a plot device or just writes two (‘upload soon’) or three (‘I like it’) words -  it gives me leverage to go on and on and on about some trivial detail.   I am positive that my readers roll their eyes at me and sigh loudly when they see the 'CompulsiveWriter has replied to your message...' notification.

9. Last question!  Is there anything you would like to tell your fans or any advice you would like to give them?

      I get a lot of people writing to me for advice.  The biggest piece of wattpad related advice I have is ... Don’t Compare!  I am guilty of this myself.  You look at your story and compare it to others.  You start saying things like - “How come they have more reads?” - “Why do they have more votes?”... Don’t do it.  Just don’t.  It’s not productive and it will only lead to depression.   Each wattpad story is different as is each reader.  You just have to write the best story you can and learn from it.

      Write for yourself first.  If you don’t like your story no one else will.  It is all practice and unless you make an effort then you will never improve.  So just go out there and have fun!

      And to readers...

The only currency wattpad writers accept is votes.  Be generous with yours!  If the story is good - don’t be afraid to vote for it - no animals will die, global warming won’t change, and world peace will not be affected - but you will make some poor starving Wattpad author smile.

      So - writer or reader - go out there and enjoy yourself - don't take yourself too seriously - because at the end of the day when you look in the mirror it will still be you who looks back.

_+_Loved it :) and am slightly jealous at how great the answers were, haha.  Okay, off to the next part. Here is a great poem done by a very awesome person: Are days are full of hellos and goodbyes by elizersjoy. 

http://www.wattpad.com/2164319-are-days-are-full-of-hellos-and-goodbyes

_+_ Now, here is an undiscovered gym.  Hope you check it out :)      

      What do you do when all hope is gone? When everything and everyone you knew and loved is no longer there. Who would you turn to for help? How could you find the way to make things seem right again, or would you? Tara Lakely is just about to find out how hard the real world is; now the only question is how is she going to handle it? With the death of her family she leaves to stay with her grandmother that she never knew about… now with her having to leave all she knows behind how will she handle it in a small town know as ‘Shipley Hollow’ or will she get more than she ever would of bargained for when she finds out that not everything there is what it seems or who they seem to be. This story will have many twist and turns that will have readers at the edge of their seat wanting more, this spell-binding novel will leave you breathless and addictive, so hang on tight, it’s going to be a ride that you want forget.

_+_Like the description?  Check it out!  Here is an undiscovered jewel by Blissfullyyours.  Deadly Secreats and Beautiful Lies:

http://www.wattpad.com/2297485-deadly-secreats-and-beautiful-lies

_+_See the bookcovers on the side?  Aren't they amazing?  If you were wondering who made them, it's xFallKiss  Really love those covers :)

_+_Okay, last but not least, the reader of the week goes to edgerheeder.  Amazing person whose read the majority of my stories and told me exactly what they thought about it!  So, thanks so much to edgerheeder!

Try not to become a man of success but a man of value.

                                   ~Albert Einstein