Please Welcome Author Tammara Webber

Today, along with Never Too Old for Y.A. Books on Goodreads,  I am honored to welcome author Tamarra Webber to The Cover Contessa for an interview!

I write romantic Mature Young Adult / New Adult fiction.

Reading was one of my first and earliest loves, and writing soon followed. My first book was about a lost bear, but my lack of ability as an illustrator convinced me to abandon that effort and concentrate on passing 3rd grade. I wrote sad romantic poetry in high school and penned my first half-novel when I was 19, for which I did lots of research on Vikings (the marauders, not the football team). It was accidentally destroyed when I stuffed it into the shredder at work.

Addictions: coffee and Cherry Garcia frozen yogurt. Also baby carrots, but not with coffee or frozen yogurt, because that would be disgusting. I love shopping for earrings, because they always fit - even if I occasionally forget to work out. I'm a hopeful romantic who adores novels with happy endings, because there are enough sad endings in real life.

Tammara's Blog

Tammara on Goodreads

Tammara on Facebook

Tammara on Twitter

And do you know Tammara's books???

    

 Click on the book pictures for their Goodreads summaries :)

And now, without further ado, let's hear what Tammara has to say!

When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?

When I was very young (8/9), I knew I wanted to be an author.

How long does it take you to write a book?

That depends on many factors - how much research is involved and what point you begin counting, for instance. I'm brainstorming, jotting out short scene descriptions and doing research for my next book now... but I haven't started writing it. Many times I overlap the editing of one with the beginning of the next. From the moment I really get down to writing, I average about eight months.

What do you think makes a great story?

For me a great story speaks to me on a very personal level - it connects with something I've experienced or felt. It puts words to my emotions about that thing.

What is your work schedule like when you're writing?

Erratic. I write best in the mornings, but I also have tons of messages to answer and the "business" end of being an author to keep up with. Once I'm in the final three months or so of a book, I spend 50-70 hours a week in front of the computer, writing or staring at the screen.

How do you balance family and writing?

Frankly, not well. People get ignored unintentionally, I spend too much time writing or thinking about writing, I have to make myself leave the house and interact socially, and my normally structured way of handling life's requirements - paying bills, making and remembering doctor appointments, seeing to the car and home maintenance - goes out the window. I'm still adjusting to that at the moment.

Where do you get your information or ideas for your books?

Ideas are from everything - dreams, life experiences, life experiences of people I know or come into contact with or see on the news. Information - research. I do a LOT of research. No one understands that until they begin writing a novel. Details have to be known, even if they aren't directly used.

What was one of the most surprising things you learned in creating your books?

How much research goes into each one, and how much time that research takes. I had a scene with a character looking out of an airplane window, landing at an airport I'd never been to. It took me over an hour to know what he'd see... and then I ended up cutting that scene.

How many books have you written? Which is your favourite?

I've written seven - six if we don't count the first one, which wasn't finished. I didn't publish #2 or #3, and will not. My favorite is Good For You, though I'm most proud of Easy. I connect to GFY as though someone else wrote it.

Are your characters based on anyone you know?

There's no such thing as creating a character who doesn't resemble someone. That said, none of my characters are based on one person. They are all meshes of several, sometimes many people. The closest character to a person I actually knew was Buck in Easy.

Do you have a favourite place you love to write?

In my study at home. I need privacy and quiet. I usually can't write in a coffee shop or outside, although one time I wrote for several hours in a hotel bar. I was visiting Austin for research with a friend, and I woke up with a big, detailed scene in my head. We were supposed to go kayaking and have lunch, and then leave, so we had to check out. We turned in our room keys and I sent her off without me, and then I found a plug for my laptop in a booth at the bar and wrote for four hours while she was gone. It was morning, though, so it was pretty quiet, and the bartender left me alone but kept me supplied with Diet Coke.

How hard is is to get published?

It's extremely difficult to get an agent, and that doesn't guarantee you a publishing deal, because after agent revision, then your book goes out on submission to publishers. I know more than one writer who had a book out on sub that was never accepted for publication. I opted to self-publish, where your "gatekeepers" aren't agents, they're readers. Traditionally published writers face the same thing - but their final gatekeepers are readers, while my only gatekeepers are readers.

What do your family and friends think about your books?

They're no different than anyone else, except they know me, which is often weird - more for them than for me. I don't ask anyone to read my books, except my husband - and he doesn't just read them when they're done, he helps me brainstorm and work out plot details as I'm writing. He's been incredibly supportive from the moment I first decided to make writing a career. I don't care what anyone else thinks, compared to his opinion. One of my friends asked me a couple of weeks ago, "Wait. You wrote a book?" I said, "Um, yeah."

What do you like to do when you are not writing?

I love to read. Unfortunately, I don't get the time to do enough of that. I've become very busy with the business end of an author career. I used to read 8-10 books a month, and now I'm lucky to get through 1-2. VERY annoying.

Do you have any suggestions to help aspiring writers better themselves and their craft? If so, what are they?

Write. A LOT. Do not expect to ever write something brilliant right out of the gate. I've known one writer, personally, who can do that. ONE. And no, I'm not telling you who she is. Just trust me - the rest of us rewrite, rewrite, rewrite, and we get critiques from our critique partners and then we rewrite some more. And also - while we're on the subject - get a critique partner or two.

As a child, what did you want to do when you grew up?

Write. Or be a vet. Until I got to 9th grade biology and had to dissect a worm, and then I decided the vet idea could take a flying leap.

What are your favourite books and which authors inspire you?

If I had a favorite book, it would probably be Pride and Prejudice. It's perfect and timeless.

For an aspiring writer what do you feel are certain do's and don’ts for getting their material published?

I wouldn't know. No one would publish my first book (Between the Lines). I self-published it digitally. I didn't query the rest; I wrote them to the best of my ability, and I self-published them as well.

What are you working on now?

'm still in launch mode for Easy. I've promised a fourth Between the Lines installment... and I have an idea for another college-set book, as well. I'll probably try to do both, and see which emerges first.

I want to thank Tammara for stopping by The Cover Contessa today. It was so great having you here!