INTRODUCING
BECCA LYNN MATHIS
Hi there!
Hi hi! *waves*
Is my math right?Is it time we meet?
Yes! It is!
I want to hear all about this moving. Are you
writing during the process?
Right now? Yes
But mostly because my husband won't
let me pack until my draft is done.
Now THAT is supportive!
I am one lucky writer!
"Spousal Support" lol
lol exactly!
He and I close on the new house
on the 23rd, but we plan to take a
few weeks to actually get everything
moved.
That actually helps me to not feel like
everything needs to be packed.
I see you are a Ren Faire fan (me too)
I'm a pretty big fan of renfaires
As a writer-flautist-all around creative
haha - well to be fair I haven't played
my flute in like 20 years
[At the Ren Faire] do you make believe
you're actually back in time? Walk around
with a turkey leg like you're not going to bathe
for weeks?
ROFL Oh gosh no. When I
VISIT a faire as a patron I'm just
a person having fun
Well, damn, that makes me weird haha!
but when I'm with my stage combat group,
when we're performing, then I try to stay
in character.
WHAT?! Stage combat?!?!
That's rad.
Oh yea stage combat!
Our group does a living chess game
at our home faire
and we get hired to do stage combat
at other shows
That is the coolest!
(though we also get hired just to come
out and be family-friendly pirates as well)
I just walk around eating all
the food. Maaaayyyyybe do a craft.
I'm so impressed!
haha -- I love people watching at faire
and the shows
Last thing
If I am speaking to you
Are you Becca Lynn
Or becca?
Just Becca
Thank you for taking the time
to do this, Becca! Have a great day!
Thanks Shauna! You too!
STANDARD TWEEP TATTLER INTERVIEW
1) Where do you live?
1) Where do you live?
Coral Springs, Florida (Sunny South Florida!)
2) What is the first thing you remember writing?
I used to write stories about horses and unicorns when I was in elementary school. I don’t remember what the unicorns did, other than maybe look for rainbows? I remember them being there, and I remember making drawings to go along with the stories. My mom used to bring home colored paper from her office job so I could use them as covers.
3) Why do you write?
I have too many stories in me. I write because I must get these stories told. It’s okay if I’m not a bestseller, as long as just one other person likes my stories, then I have succeeded.
4) Have you published any of your work?
I have not published anything as of yet, as I plan to self-publish. My first novel, A Place to Run, will be available this July.
5) What are you currently writing?
I’m currently completing the draft for A Place to Run. It’s about a lonely woman who gets attacked by and, subsequently, turned into a werewolf. It’s got scary vampires and friendly werewolves. You’re gonna love it if you’ve ever wanted to be part of a pack.
6) Are you currently querying?
No. I plan to self-publish, though I’ve been told it would likely get picked up right away if I queried. Alas, I don’t have the patience for traditional publishing, and like the creative control self-publishing offers.
7) Finish this sentence (three lines or less):
IT WAS A DARK AND STORMY NIGHT…
Which, of course, meant that only their most devoted fans had actually stayed for their set at the outdoor amphitheater. And her. She didn’t make it to all their shows, but he couldn’t help but be drawn to her when she did. She would hold her own in the pit against greasy, sweaty rockers twice her size, but disappear into the crowd before their last song finished.
(Or, at least, that’s the idea I have to open the sixth book in the series I’m writing.)
8) Which activities do you like to participate in, in the Twitter writing community (VSS365, etc.)? I usually pick a monthly hashtag game and play along. Some of my favorites are AuthorConfession, sensationalWIP, HeroesAndVillians, and TheMerryWriter. I almost always retweet any poll that comes my way to increase its sample size, and I love to read the snippets that people post (I often post snippets of my own writing as well). I also like to do the occasional word sprint.
9) Do you have any formal training/education for writing?
I do not. I have taken a collegiate-level creative writing course, though it was mostly focused on contemporary fiction, and our professor discouraged fantasy in those assignments. I took a creative writing class in high school as an elective, and still have the note from my teacher, who read the beginnings of my fledgling sword and sorcery novel and encouraged me to finish it. I will someday, if only just for her.
10) Do the people in your life know that you write? Yes, I am far from shy about telling people I’m writing a book.
11) Tell me about the people in your life. Family? Pets?
Oh my goodness, where to start? Well, I’m married. Between my husband and I, we have four kiddos and two dogs. I have an 11-year-old son. He has three daughters aged 19, 15, and 13. His two youngest live with their mom in California most of the year, but come stay with us over the summer. His oldest is going to college about an hour away and lives on campus. We have two hound-mix dogs: Dante, a 9-year-old, 56-pound lug of a basset hound mix (with extra toes on his back paws to boot), and Tank, a 4-year-old, 25-pound nervous wreck of a beagle mix. Dante is my laid-back, super chill old man. Tank is afraid of just about everything.
That said, we do summertime like most families do Christmas. Our house is usually just my husband and I, plus my son and two dogs, with an occasional weekend visit from the eldest. At summertime, our house swells to four kiddos, plus my husband and I, plus our two dogs. On top of that, his mom usually comes to visit us, often with her husband and dog. So we feasibly have as many as four adults, four kids, and three dogs all under the same roof for a couple of months in the summertime.
12) Where do you wish your writing to take you?
My dream is to have some random stranger stop me on the street because they recognize me and love my book. But if that never happens, I will simply be happy if someone loves it. I actually get chills just thinking about the fact that it’s possible that some day, someone is going to love my book so much that they are going to call me their favorite author, or say that my book is their favorite. Gah! It’s pretty exciting to think about!
13) What did you expect when you joined the Twitter writing community? Did it turn out as expected? Honestly, I didn’t have a lot of expectations. Twitter is generally a raging dumpster fire most days, so I was just hoping to make some connections with some writer folks and maybe we could do word sprints together. Instead, I found a shining beacon of goodness on the internet, and I have said on MANY occasions that WriterTwitter is the best place on the internet.
14) Where do you write?
I mostly write sitting in front of my computer, tapping away on my keys while some awesomely epic non-verbal background music plays. I keep my draft backed up on Dropbox and have my outline in paper form. I carry the outline and a notebook with me anytime I leave the house for an extended period so I am ready to work on my book wherever I am.
15) How much time do you dedicate to writing, weekly? Not enough, sadly. But to be more specific, I usually only dedicate a handful of hours each week to writing (maybe as much as five). As I get closer to a deadline, however, like I am with my current project, I tend to spend a lot more time. These days of finishing up the draft for my novel, I’m spending closer to twenty or so hours each week.
16)Do you have other talents?
I do. I can sing (here’s my old YouTube channel, where I sang along in my car to some of my fave songs: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCutM4d5aaC1B-w02RjRpxdw ), and I used to be able to play the flute (I suspect I still can, though I don’t have a flute anymore to find out for sure). I also have a strange talent: I am pretty amazing at packing a car full of more things than should reasonably fit. This is also true for packing boxes. (It comes in handy because I actually really like moving! I love packing all of my things in as few boxes as I can, and I love unpacking them all in the new place. Literally the only thing I don’t like about moving is the physical moving of boxes and furniture from one home to the next.)
17) CHOOSE ONE:
- I do not mind when other writers ask for advice. (#WritersHelpingWriters)
- I’d rather keep to myself!
Born and raised in Texas, Becca Lynn Mathis has been writing since she was a little girl, and could often be found sitting among the branches of the tree in her front yard, reading a book. Today, she is a graduate of Lynn University in Boca Raton, FL, with her Bachelors in Psychology. On weekends, she plays Dungeons & Dragons (or Pathfinder) and trains with the Royal Chessmen stage combat troupe, who perform at renaissance festivals and pirate faires all across Florida.
(As a bonus, another interview Becca's done as an author
It's good to meet you, Becca! Best wishes as you come down the home stretch with A Place to Run.
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