Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am a mom of five very active children! Jayson is a softball player, swimmer, and very involved in community service and dramatic arts. Hayleigh is my hockey player, as well as a swimmer, and also involved in drama! Collin just started playing softball and is also in Cub Scouts. Kimmy is about to bridge to a Brownie Girl Scout, and Madi is too young to be involved just yet.
When I’m not chauffeuring the children around to various activities, I work part time as a tax professional and struggling to find time to write!
I currently have eight books available and the ninth will be released next month!
My First Love series (Summer Love and Autumn Goodbye) is about a girl who calls in love with someone so completely wrong for her. As they struggle to make their long-distance relationship work, the characters learn a lot about themselves.
My Self Inflicted Saga (Self Inflicted, Scars Fade, Before the Scars, and Reopening Old Wounds) deals with many social issues that teenagers and young adults face every day. Aurora struggles to control her self-mutilation as she copes with the loss of her mother. She is a teen mother stuck in an abusive relationship that she keeps hidden from her friends.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book, Finding His Soul, is part of my Saving Avalon series and will be released in June. The Saving Avalon series was inspired by a friend of mine who basically begged me to write a fantasy novel. The first book in the series, Finding Her Wings, consisted of dragons, faeries, witches, elves, and demons, but Amanda wanted mermaids, so I included that creature in Finding His Soul. That mermaid is actually becoming one of the more important characters in the series!
Finding His Soul is ultimately about a demon who wants to turn his life around. He is tired of being lonely. He is tired of hurting and using others just to survive.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Everything I write (including this interview) is written out with pen and paper before I even touch a computer. I love seeing my stories written out in my own horrible handwriting!
I’m picky about how I write! It has to be in a multi-subject 9 ½ by 5 ½ inch notebook. I always start in the last section and work my way forward. I also use different colored pens every time I sit down and write. Not only does it make the pages more colorful, but it makes it easier to track how much I write in a given day!
What authors, or books have influenced you?
I could spend all day mentioning favorite authors and books. As a child, I loved the drama of Lurlene McDaniel books, even though I knew I was going to cry every time I picked one up. I loved RL Stine’s Fear Street books, but what kid in the 90’s didn’t?
I jumped on the vampire bandwagon and immediately fell in love with the Vampire Academy series by Richelle Mead as well as the Bloodline’s spin off series. Both series were hard to let go when they were over.
What are you working on now?
Procrastinating!
I should be working on a book three of Saving Avalon, but I’m having a hard time getting started. I’m not sure what I want to accomplish in this story, so I might have to come back to it. My mind keeps drifting back to characters from the Self Inflicted saga. I feel that there are more social issues that readers are struggling with. I feel the story isn’t finished. I have been told by more than one fan that that series makes people suffering from those issues feel less alone, which is the reason I had started them in the first place! I also struggled with a few of the problems that those characters face! I also really want to write something about eating disorders, which is something that my daughter has friends that are struggling.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Marketing is my biggest weakness as a writer. I’m still working n getting myself out there, so I have no advice for others in that category.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Focus on marketing from day one! It’s easy to write the books. It’s easier to edit and format the books. It’s also really easy to get discouraged when a book you have spent so much time on isn’t even seen by other because you were a slacker when it came to promotion!
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Don’t be afraid. Even as a child, I always had a notebook handy and I would disappear into my own worlds that I created. I was just too afraid to share any of my work. I didn’t want to be judged. I didn’t want anyone to tell me it was no good, because I had put my heart and soul on paper and couldn’t bear for people to hate it.
Some people probably will hate it, but others will love it. You can’t please everyone. If you are too afraid to try, you will never know.
Losing my grandma to cancer was what actually gave me the push to put myself out there.
What are you reading now?
I just started the fifth book in Rachel Higginson’s Star Crossed Series. I immediately feel in love with the series as soon as I picked up the first book. In the last couple of months, I have had to force myself to put the book down (or let my kindle die) to pick up my own work!
What’s next for you as a writer?
I’m not entirely sure. I have an idea for the next installment of Saving Avalon, but I’m not 100% committed to it at the moment. I have some ideas for revisiting Self Inflicted. I have some ideas for some freebies that will only be available to my email list. I have lots of ideas. I just don’t know which will hit the paper first!
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?
I have two books left in the Star Crossed series, so I would definitely have to bring The Relentless Warrior and The Redeemable Prince. I would also definitely need a blank notebook.
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Harley Turner Website
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