Hello everyone! I got a wonderful chance to interview my dear friend, Addie Haley recently here on my blog! I hope you all enjoy getting to know more about her and her wonderful blog!
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- Tell us a little bit about yourself and your writing journey!
Howdy! I’m Addie Kate Haley, a crazy writer obsessed with pirates and gnomes from a little town in South Carolina.
I’ve always made up stories whether it was make-believe or writing down three sentence adventures onto paper. I wrote a few when I was little and as I got older, switched to writing on the family computer with many unfinished Harry Potter fanfictions.
Eventually I wrote my own story, inspired by of course the Harry Potter series and Warriors by Erin Hunter. It never was finished but it was something more of my own.
As time went on reaching 2022, my mama found the Young Writer’s Workshop through an online summit. Now, I’ve worked through several projects and am working on multiple novels
- How long have you been writing?
As I mentioned above, I’ve been telling stories since before I can remember, but I wrote my first story when I was seven. I didn’t seriously start writing until I was a teen and once I found YWW and learned what publishing actually looks like.
- Where are you in your writing journey right now? And what are you currently working on?
I’m on the part of actually finishing a project completely, as in polished and ready to be printed along with platform building.
I’m currently working on multiple things, from a high fantasy trilogy to a I-don’t-know-what-genre-but-it-might-be-fantasy story that includes a carnival/circus.
- What is your favorite quote from your writing?
I have several but my favorite from all time (so far) is from the second draft of a fantasy novel,
With a trembling hand I pulled on the latch to the doors and leapt away as it swung open. Two bodies fell to the ground with a thud. My blood froze and I stopped breathing.
That was until the bodies complained.
“Benny! GET OFF OF ME!” The older looking one growled. His dark red hair fell limply in his face, the curls weighed down by sweat. The younger boy, Benny, leapt up, his ginger hair bouncin’.
“I can’t ‘elp it if I was on top of ya while we were held captive in a coat closet! Go complain to the soldiers why don’t ya! Not me!”
- What is your favorite part about writing?
My favorite part about writing is breaking my characters. Which in all honesty sounds really bad but, hear me out. I do love to break my characters and make them be vulnerable but more than that, I love to break them so they will see the hope and light that is always there because of the Creator, our God most high. With so many YA books full of darkness, it’s my passion to bring stories that show the light in every darkness.
- Who are your favorite authors/who inspired your writing?
Authors who have inspired me along the way are S.D. Smith (my favorite author), Jennifer A. Nielsen but also a ton of young writers who haven’t been published yet.
- What is one piece of advice you would give other writers?
Keep heart. I know it’s hard and overwhelming. From planning, editing, drafting, and character arcs, it can seem impossible, but trust me, it’s worth it. Like my daddy says, anything worth doing is gonna be hard. Remember, Jesus didn’t go to the cross because it was easy.
- What is the most interesting thing that you have learned in your writing?
The most interesting thing I have learned is how often my mind blanks on names that aren’t, ‘Susan, Bob, Jim, Sam, etc.’. That’s why I’m often using name generators so all my characters don’t have the same name.
- What resources have helped you in your writing?
- Where can we find you online?
https://theunofficiallibrarian.com
- Anything else you would like to add?
Take it one step at a time. Looking at everything you have to do can be discouraging or frightening. Just focus on one thing at a time. How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. Treat writing, when it’s overwhelming, the same way.
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Until next time,
~A.J. Syngraféas
Aliya Gerow 
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