Interview With Author Aria McDow
Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Hello! My name is Aria McDow. Many readers who do not know me by this name know by another from my years and years of involvement in fandom, writing fanfiction, creating illustrations for fanzines and vidding.
My interest in writing started long before then. In elementary school I was enthralled by certain tv shows and my little child’s imagination was on fire with the stories inside my head. The only trouble was that I tried and tried to put words to paper and I never could. I resigned myself to the lie that writing was not for me. And I believed that lie way into my adult years until 2002 when a miracle happened – well, truth be told, a series of miracles happened. To make a long story short, I was so obsessed with a certain book that was made into a film that I dreamed about it, thought about it nonstop. And then I discovered I was not alone. There were others like me, who were equally obsessed and started writing this thing called, “fanfiction”. Long story short: A story came to me in a dream and all of a sudden, the inability to write became an experience of a lifetime in which the story flowed from my mind to my keyboard, almost effortlessly.
My life for two decades was fandom, until the day it no longer was.
I went through an entire military career. Put kids through college and became a grandmother.
Fast forward to 2023 and I decided it was time to move my life in a different direction. I discovered there were other tales to be told. To date, I have published a total of seven books and I think the one I had the most fun in writing was “Grumpy Bad Boy Santa”. There was something about that story that was for me, so easy to write.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is entitled, “Billionaire Silver Fox Baby Daddy” and what inspired it was a tv commercial I saw one day as I was channel surfing. This commercial was by a jewlery company called, Christopher Designs. When I saw the couple, I nearly fell off of my couch because I said, OMG, that’s my couple, Alex and Elana! If anyone is curious all they have to do is Youtube the company.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I don’t think so, but then again, I wouldn’t know. I don’t really discuss my writing with other people.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
The authors who have absolutely had a permanent influence on me are some of the best, undiscovered talent from the world of fandom. These are people who write the most amazing, professional-level stories. I keep their works safe on my hard drive and backed up because they are too precious to lose.
What are you working on now?
I’m working on a contemporary romance novel that uses the sport of hockey as a backdrop.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
First, I cross-promote my books to other newsletters for free using BookClicker. Next, I’ll look for low-cost paid promos from the same source. Lastly, I have acquired a wonderful list of reliable, low-cost promo sites and combined those folks with others I found on sites like Fivverr.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
LOL – “prune your words!” That and LISTEN to your story via a text-to-speech reader with natural-sounding voices. If your story doesn’t sound good, then it’s not.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Want to write better? Then READ the works of bestsellers. Don’t just read, analyze sentence structure, pacing, dialogue and plot.
What are you reading now?
A story called, Dangerous Mine.
What’s next for you as a writer?
To keep learning, honing my craft so that I can continue to give my romance readers the escape that they are looking for.
If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
The Bible
The Lord of the Rings
A complete Sherlock Holmes
Long Walk to Freedom
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Aria McDow’s Social Media Links
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