Mini Interview with Julie Kagawa

I'd like to welcome author Julie Kagawa to The Sweet Bookshelf. I'm a huge Iron Fey fan and was eager for The Immortal Rules. I'm even MORE excited about the new Iron Fey series coming out this fall. Let's get this sweet party started!

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SB: What is the best part about being a published author? The worst?

Julie Kagawa: My favorite aspects of being a published author is being able to do something I love every single day and to share that work with fans. It sounds trite, but I really would be writing whether or not it was my job. The fact that those stories are being read and (I hope) enjoyed by people all over the world is just… well, it’s incredible. There are days when I still don’t believe it.

There are lots of challenging aspects to being a published author. The biggest challenge for me is probably trying to juggle everything – writing (and meeting deadlines), interviews, signings, blog tours, etc… It’s funny, because I enjoy doing all of those things, but sometimes trying to do them all at once can get a bit overwhelming.

What are some of your favourite books?

I have too many to count! I’d say the author that’s influenced me most though is Neil Gaiman. I’d love to be able to write like him.

What does a typical writing day look like for you?

Average depends on whether or not I turn off the internet. J When I leave it on, I sometimes get distracted by the goings-on on Twitter. In general, though, I try and get at least 1,000 words per day. Sometimes it’s more, sometimes less, but that’s what I shoot for. If I’m doing something like NaNo (National Novel Writing Month), that jumps up to 1,667 words per day. And the business side of writing can make that number less sometimes… I love doing signings and marketing and interviews, but all of them take time away from the word count thing.

As for where I write, I have a home office. That’s pretty much where I do all of my writing. Sometimes I think about going outside to write, but the reality quickly outweighs the romance. Turns out, that’s where they keep all the heat and bugs. Who knew?

Can you share a little bit about your road to publication? If you weren't a writer what would you do?

I’ve wanted to be a writer since I was about 16. That’s when I started seriously trying to write novel-length manuscripts. Trust me, those early works were not things that should ever see the light of day.  Writing is a craft that takes a long time to learn and improve, and it took me fifteen or so years to get to the point where my work was of a publishable quality.

During that time, I pursued many different jobs… but most gravitated towards books or animals. Right before getting published, I was working as a dog trainer, and if I wasn’t writing, I would probably want to be training animals. All of my pets are trained (even the cats) and can do a variety of tricks in addition t the basic commands. Of course the cats only do what I want them to do when they feel like doing it… I think they have a little Grim in them.