So I am finally going back to my Indie Awesome series where I talk about other awesome Indies. Problem is that there are so many awesome Indies that it’s hard to know where to start. So…I started locally, with a woman I consider myself lucky to have met this past year.
I’d like to introduce you to Olivia Wildenstein, a friend from the Geneva Writers’ Group. She is not only a YA author but a mom three times over who (somehow) makes time to write. Olivia writes with a freshness that is surprising and fun. In my opinion, she is definitely an Awesome Indie, because not only does she take pride in her craft, she also has a great sense of how important it is for Indies to support each other. She’s generous and innovative and not afraid to take a risk. She’s recently released her YA suspense novel, The Masterpiecers. I got to read the ARC, and let me tell you, I devoured the thing. It was a great ride that kept me guessing throughout.
So…I asked her to tell us five things we most likely wouldn’t know about her. And I found out that the two of us have a couple things in common, (cooking aside)…
5 THINGS YOU MIGHT NOT KNOW ABOUT ME
BY OLIVIA WILDENSTEIN
1. PEN OVER WHISK
My childhood dream was not to write books; it was to write menus. I wanted to open a restaurant, and not a bistro-style one, I wanted the 3-star, 28-Zagat rated sort of restaurant with glitzy tableware and glamorous customers.
My father, who has a passion for food, organized for me to meet Maguy Le Coze of
Le Bernardin(which is one of the best restaurants in New York City). It was a pivotal moment in my restaurateur ambition…for it eradicated it. I walked out of there
knowing that the food business wasn’t for me. Why? Because to have the
best restaurant, you had to work at all hours of the day and night, and you had to forget about having a family—or at least, about raising one. I was 16 at the time. Even though it would be another nine years before I felt the call of motherhood, I wasn’t ready to swap my freedom for a wooden spoon and chain. Little did I know that ten years later, I would choose a profession where I would work at all hours of the day and where I would strive to obtain those coveted stars (5 instead of 3 in the book business). The difference was, that in the end, I got my family, which has made the choice of pen over whisk entirely worthwhile.
2. EMOTIONAL DOWNPOUR
I cry at least once a week. I bet this is why my husband has chosen a job that involves traveling and why my kids don’t make a fuss when I drop them off in school. 😉 I’m a very sensitive person. I cry when I see a YouTube video of a woman giving birth, when I listen to a song that reminds me of someone, when I read a sad book. I cried when I wrote
Ghostboy, Chameleon & the Duke of Graffiti.
I believe I’m genetically engineered to be overly-sensitive. When I was younger, I would dream of growing tougher skin so that I could be that cool kid in high school who just didn’t give a crap. I actually tried to bargain with God: I told Him/Her that I would stop complaining about having microscopic cleavage if He/She made me less susceptible. I must have caught Him/Her on their day off because that never happened. So I went back to asking for bigger boobs. Which never happened also. Which leads me to item #3 on the list of things you don’t know about me.
3. INEQUALITY IS UNFAIR
I’m agnostic. And not because my superficial prayers weren’t answered, but because I just have trouble believing we are someone’s puppets on some giant game-board where horrific things happen right along extraordinary ones. If there was a God, then why isn’t that person punishing people who sexually exploit children? Why are there still gaping inequalities in our world? Why do some bad people get away with it? Yes, this inspires authors, but I would rather answers than writing material.
4. IN THE CLICK OF TIME
I change my mind at least twenty-seven times a day. This is the reason I published my first book,
Ghostboy, Chameleon & the Duke of Graffiti—if I hadn’t I would still be tweaking it. This is also the reason why I set up a pre-order for
The Masterpiecers. Without a deadline, I endlessly write and rewrite every sentence. I work much better under pressure and with a deadline. I completed my paranormal mystery novella,
Rose Petal Graves, on the day I had to hand it in to the wonderful Poppy Lawless to be included in the faerie anthology she put together:
Enchanted: The Fairy Revels Collection.5. THE MASTERMINDS
I’m sure you now find me a riveting person, but what truly matters, is that you find The Masterpiecers riveting, so that you’ll read the sequel, The Masterminds. Instead of Aster & Ivy narrating the story, there will be two spanking new narrators…drumroll…Brook & Josh. You’ll get to see their sides of the same story, like in the TV show The Affair; you’ll get a stop-your-breath plot twist you never saw coming in Book 1; and last but not least, you’ll get your no-more-loose-ends ending. How great does that sound?
Now I really should go back to writing it to have it done by October 15th. Yes. I voluntarily gave myself a deadline. 🙂
Thank you, Olivia!
Check out Olivia’s WEBSITE for more info and fun.
Get THE MASTERPIECERS on Kindle.
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