Free Book Friday May 10: In Conversation With – Amy Marie Ayres

Leon Stevens

May 10

In Conversation With: Amy Marie Ayres

Today I have the pleasure of sitting down with author Amy Marie Ayres. Can I offer you anything to drink?

Do you have a Margarita on hand? If not, I'll settle for a Sangria.

It's a little early, but what the heck. I can do a Margarita. Oh, and you're getting it on the rocks, because, well, it's the only way.

I read that you have done some voice acting. Where might I have heard you?

Oh no, not at all. I used to do some acting in my younger years, I did radio and I did a few radio shorts, one where I created a cast of superhero characters who all had personality disorders and were named as such like Anti-social boy and Histrionic girl. It was just a fun passion project with friends. I've done voice over for tiny unknown B movies, like overdub and things like that. I'm not a professional voice actor! But I have acted with my voice. I have one friend Mike Sanguinetti who is starting to get his feet wet in the voice acting world. He's on https://www.voices.com/profile/energyman83 if other authors want to check him out.

Any other memorable acting roles?

Memorable to you? I would love to say yes. Everything was so indie and low budget they were never picked up by big studios, but I've played a fair share of characters both on stage and in front of the camera. I've always looked young for my age and because of child labor laws and since I did a lot of comedy I was often cast as a teen or a kid when I was in my 20's. It was interesting. Ironically people find out I'm a writer and suddenly I'm cast, but I'm suddenly also AD, or script-supervisor, or doing on set re-writes. I have supervised many-a-script. Also the overdubbing came out of "hey you can say this better, since you helped write it."

Have you always wanted to be a writer?

I think I can honestly say that as a kid I loved reading but had no concept of what it meant "to be a writer/author." But when I was in 5th grade I met Judy Blume at a special event my English teacher said I should go to. She gave a very kid-friendly talk about using her life in her stories and a light switched on inside me. I then started looking at the backs of books and seeing –oh yea there's a real person behind these characters and story. Then I thought, I might have characters and a story and even a life journey to tell about someday. As I got older I started journaling and the rest was history.

Since then I always fell into groups of musicians, comedians, creatives, people who think out of the box, even in academic settings. I feel that a necessary part of being a writer is not just seeing things people miss, but also seeing things differently. And I know that for me part of reaching my potential was being brave enough to break the rules that a lot of academic writing sets while still knowing what the rules are.

I also read about authors' and poets' lives in college and they fascinated me. Really awful stuff sometimes, but still, there was something about their personalities that felt familiar.

So, for me it goes beyond "I always wanted to be that". It was something I learned about myself over time. I consider myself a creative person who loves the arts so I've wanted to do it all (so to speak) and I have, but I always come back to writing because it feels like the deepest most authentic side of myself.

What is your biggest challenge as a writer?

I think I used to suffer from overwriting and procrastination and sitting on projects and not having the confidence to share or subject myself to an outside edit. I know—so naive! That took years to get over. I know that sounds odd that I would be "shy", but I always felt my writing was so personal I was afraid to be vulnerable in that way. But the more I do, the easier it gets. I think that's true of anything.

Now I have a whole new set of problems. I tend to easily connect with other writers and creatives, but I still think I struggle with finding people who consider themselves "just readers" and knowing exactly how to pitch myself and my writing to them. Only in the last year have I really tried to throw myself into the act of marketing myself. It's been a tough learning curve and I tend to still play small.

What books or authors influenced you?

Octavia Butler and Ursula De Guin are my sci-fi idols. Female sci-fi writers I think are the epitome of rule-breakers. But my inspiration for writing started young though so I have to say my writing sometimes feels like a cross between (L Frank) Baum and Lewis Carroll and Roald Dahl. I've read a lot of poetry too and that's probably why I started out as a poet. My influences come from many different places. I even have many playwriting and cinematic influences.

You're a poet. Did you know I'm a poet too? Would you like to share one?

You first. No, I have a couple of old blogs floating around. I used to use a lot of pen names. I'm thinking of going back and putting something together to self-publish, just so more if it is out there. Poets' Digest (A subsect of Writer's Digest) published three of my poems in one of their Anthologies years ago. I also used to enter lots of contests and did pretty well with it, but that was another part of my former life. I'm old. The anthology is here if people are curious: https://www.amazon.com/Prompted-International-Collection-Ketover-Prilik/dp/1907375945

On that note, I recently met the author Wendy Van Camp who introduced me to the concept of speculative poetry. She writes what she calls astropoetry and scifaiku and it's like –Hello! Where has this been all my life?

In my first sci-fi collection I included some post-apocalyptic poems. Not sure if it was/is a thing, but it was a way to bridge the gap between my two genres.
What's the best part of living outside of Philadelphia other than the fact you don't have to live in Philadelphia?

I actually sometimes wish I lived closer to the city. Where I am now, if you want to go to the city you have to make a day of it and parking is a nightmare. But if you live in the suburbs, you can kind of escape the bustle, and there are a lot of cool spots to hit that aren't touristy. I think being on the edges of the city is almost better than the city itself.

Let's switch gears and talk about music. Do you have any favorite bands?

Again showing my age, but I will never turn down a chance to listen to any kind of Punk, Reggae, Hip Hop, Ska, (or any combination thereof) I love bluegrass/folk/irish-themed music. I'll take another left turn and sometimes listen to Twenty-One Pilots, 80's New Wave, the Smiths. I'm pretty open minded. On that note–

She's so little known but for a LONG time I was obsessed with Laura Marling (a Brit-folk singer songwriter who sometimes has a backup band). If you look into it you'll find she used to play with Marcus Mumford before Mumford and Sons were a thing, and I feel like she helped him get his break. Her talent is so underrated in my opinion. The music is lovely but her lyrics are just–chef's kiss!

I'll have to check her out.
Are you ready for the lightning round?

Let's go!

Ebook or physical?
Physical- I like to make notes and underline things.
Favorite outdoor activity?
Swimming
Food you like but others might think is just weird?
Oysters, tamale, putting avocado on everything or eating heart of palm
Favorite city?
Toss between Denver and San Diego
One item on your bucket list?
Visit UK (again)/Europe/Asia
Farthest from home you have been?
Ireland
Scariest animal you have encountered
Bear

This has been a pleasure. Thanks for chatting. Any links you want to share?

Sure I'm excited to share the ARC of my prequel to Star Sick, Star Lost and people can fill out this form if they wish to participate: Sign up here.

Find me on insta: https://www.instagram.com/amyayreswrites/

My website: amyayreswrites.com

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ARC sign up here!

The story behind Free Book Friday:

I've met many authors and readers during my time marketing, cross-promoting, and blogging. I think writers have a responsibility to inform readers about all the indie authors out there in the very crowded world of book publishing. You can't do it alone, and why would you when you have a supportive group available?

Readers don't just read one author - they stick with their favorite genres. Therein lies the power in cross-promotion. If one of my readers buys a book from an author I promote, then chances are there will be a reciprocal effect, or so is the hope. Do I want to boost sales? Of course I do. Do I want to boost other's sales? Why not. It's called karma.

Some free book offers require a newsletter sign-up, which is a small non-monetary price to pay to try out a new indie author.

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Review Copies (These are free!)

Review copies: Like reviewing books? Try my two poetry collections: Lines by Leon and A Wonder of Words

Leon Stevens is a multi-genre author, composer, guitarist, songwriter, and an artist, with a Bachelor of Music and Education. He published his first book of poetry, Lines by Leon: Poems, Prose, and Pictures in January 2020, followed by a book of original classical guitar compositions, Journeys, and a short story collection of science fiction/post-apocalyptic tales called The Knot at the End of the Rope and Other Short Stories. His newest publications are the novella trilogy, The View from Here, which is a continuation of one of his short stories, and a new collection of poetry titled, A Wonder of Words.

My new book page: http://books.linesbyleon.com/