Allirea’s Realm, Coffee and Conversation with S.L. Baum

I am either getting really good at guilting authors into doing an interview with me, or they just feel sorry for me!  Anyway, up next is S. L. Baum.  Over a cup of coffee (well, I had coffee, you will find out in the interview about Sharon’s beverage of choice) we discussed anything and everything.

BIO 

I live in a house with 1 man, 3 kiddos, 3 dogs, and 2 cats… it is a busy place around here. So when I am not feeding an animal, or a person, or driving a child to school, an appointment, or a music lesson, I sit down with my laptop in hand and try to get the stories out of my head. I have had a love of sci-fi since I was a kid… watching Star Trek with my father.  I am such a junky for action packed sci-fi movies to this day… thanks Dad!  That love started to include the supernatural/paranormal as I reached my teens.  I will always thank Anne Rice and Lestat for introducing me to a whole new genre… and my love of vampire fiction was born.  When I began writing, I didn’t even consider the YA paranormal genre.  I started two previous projects that I couldn’t finish, and I never knew why.  But, when I started to write A Chance for Charity (The Immortal Ones) the story poured out of me and I loved every minute of the writing process!  I still have those other stories, and someday I plan to go back and finish them.

I am a crafter by nature!  This probably also explains my love of writing – it is in the creative family.  I scrapbook, sew, bead, etc… I love to create.  I have a room in my home dedicated to crafts.  Paper, ribbons, stickers, die-cuts, there is a whole mess of supplies!  At one time I was in the handcrafted wedding/party invitation business.  You should see my kiddos’ birthday invitations!

My other love is baking, although I don’t do a ton of it.  Because if I bake it, then I want to eat it!  Cookie creation is a fun process.  I like to see how many yummy ingredients I can cram into a recipe.  So far, my favorite cookie is an oatmeal, coconut, chocolate chip, toffee bit cookie – YUM! You can find that recipe on my blog. 🙂

How many books have you written in your career?

6 novels + 1 novella + finishing up another novel right now. 

How many have you published? 

If I finish it – I publish it. There are a couple of stories that I’ve started but never got past the first few chapters, those are still in my computer. The jury is out on whether or not they’ll be finished. 

What gets you out of bed in the morning? 

The fact that I have 3 kids to drive to 3 different schools each and every weekday – otherwise I’d stay in my bed MUCH later!

Have you ever gotten to the point that you wanted to quit writing? 

NO! After I self-published my first title, I was hooked. I love writing.

You write YA, would you like to write in another genre?

YES 

If yes, what? 

The next project I start will be New Adult. And there is a part of me that would like to try to write something a bit naughty, but I don’t know how successful I’d be at the descriptors. Coming from me, it might read more comical than seductive. 

Have any of your children read your books? 

My eldest has read almost everything I’ve written; she is one of those teens with a Kindle in her hand at every spare moment.

Name a US city that you would like to visit. 

Washington D.C. – for the history of it! 

How would you describe yourself in one word.

Accepting… I accept people for who they are and situations for what they are. I won’t try to climb a hill that seems insurmountable – I’ll just make my own path to the other side. 

Ask each of your children to describe you in one word.

Kiddo #1: Loving, Caring, Involved. – Clearly she doesn’t understand the concept of one word. “They are each one word.”

Kiddo #2: Mother. – She just entered her teens.

Kiddo #3: Awesome. – He’s 10.

Is it difficult to get into the heads of your young characters? 

Not really. I used to be a teacher; first in a Junior High, and later in High Schools. I was always able to relate to my students in a way that some of the other teachers were not. I cared about the music they listened to, the books they read, and what was going on in their lives. I made it a point to be someone who cared about them, and not just about the grades they were earning in my class.

Do you think there is such a thing as writers block? 

I know there is such a thing as procrastination – if I actually sit in front of my keyboard (without the wifi on) or put a pen and paper in my hands, something will eventually come to me.

What is your favorite color? 

In my wardrobe, black. In life, I love vibrant colors!

What is your favorite coffee drink?  Please don’t stab me in the heart and tell me you don’t like coffee. 

Your heart = stabbed. I can hardly stand the smell of it. But I just discovered Chai Latte, and I really loved it. That’s tea. I know. I apologize.

When you do interviews, what is one question you would like somebody to ask you?

Do you watch Cartoons? 

Would you mind answering the question?

I do… and with unashamed pleasure! Disney, Pixar, Dreamworks, etc… I’ll still watch them, even after my kiddos are grown! Plus the ones on television: Futurama, The Simpsons, Bob’s Burgers, Family Guy…

What character is/was the most fun to write? 

I absolutely adore my main characters. Charity (from The Immortal Ones) and Bluebell (from LUSH) are so easy to slip into. But I have to admit that while writing The Eve of Destruction, Barbie was tremendously fun. I would find myself with a silly grin on my face as I was writing any scene with her in it. She makes me smile.

What is your greatest extravagance? 

Travel. My husband and I have driven all over the state of Arizona. California beaches, Las Vegas casinos, and Colorado mountains are all regular destinations for my family. Visits to family in New York and vacations to Florida (once driving all the way through The Keys)… we’ve been on several cruise ships to the Caribbean and Mexico, and soon will sail to the Glaciers of Alaska. I’m always planning our next trip away.

What is your greatest fear? 

Loss: in any form. I fear it, but know that I’d be able to accept it and move forward. I lost my house to a fire in 2011… it turned out to be a blessing in disguise (but for the first few months I was overwhelmed and devastated).

If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? 

The ease in which I slip into procrastination.

If you could travel back in time, which one piece of advice would you give a younger you?

Well, let’s see… every single step I’ve taken has led me to the position I am in right now. It took all the missteps, all the heartache, as well as all the joyful moments and the steps in the right direction to get me here. So it’s kind of like The Butterfly Effect to me… telling my younger self something. I guess the only thing I would tell me is to realize that my most important task is to make myself happy, and to take care of me, because I am the only thing that I have any control over… It might have been nice to learn that lesson earlier.

What is the one thing that makes you crazy? 

There are lots of things that make me crazy, like closets that are not color coordinated, cups that are left all over the house, drivers that are constantly in a hurry to get to the red light before me… But one thing I really wish is for people to be who they are, say what they mean, and tell me the truth.

I see on Facebook where a lot of people call you Shazza.  How did you get that nickname?

That name is thanks to a little place called “Al’s Place” which is a thread in an Amazon Customer Discussion Forum online. The lovely Naomi Kramer (author of the Dead(ish) series and other lovely/naughty works) gave that name to me, the other people that also frequented Al’s Place started using it, and it just stuck. Eventually we all gravitated toward Facebook where we could talk more freely and share more of our lives with each other. Through Al’s I found writing advice, support, opinions, etc. etc. etc. – Those people are a sort of family to me.

Thank you, Shazza for giving me your time and answering my questions.  Best of luck to you in everything you do.

For more, visit Sharon’s (or is that Shazza’s) website.

Get her books at Amazon US, Amazon UK, Barnes & Noble, or Smashwords.