Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I spent my childhood on a farm in the highlands of Kenya which my mother ran while my father worked in Nairobi. With the nearest neighbor being over half a mile away, as an only child I spent a lot of time with my own imagination. Days outside either in the orchards, the tea plantation or climbing trees and imagining adventures. But, as with any farm, first came chores, yes, even from an early age and today these memories and the knowledge I learned help in my world creation for my stories.
In the evenings with no television, as a family, we read or created stories verbally from a sentence given. An interesting time.
Holidays in those early years were either occasional days going out into the bush, wildlife spotting or rock collecting. Occasional trips as a family to exotic places where my father, as an engineer was sent, or for his yearly holiday. So most of Africa, Middle East, Singapore, Mauritius, Japan, and the Mediterranean come to mind as particularly memorable even to this day.
Later when I married I moved to England, and it was here that I first started writing short stories for magazines, and, did have some accepted but at the time didn’t have the confidence to attempt to do anything longer. In those days there was no self – publishing.
Three decades ago, tired of living in an urban setting I, with my family moved to Spain, to a small piece of land with a two-roomed ‘house’ totally off-grid. We built our present home ourselves and have almonds, olives, and a few fruit trees as well as growing our own food.
I started writing again in early 2018. Now on my own, kids grown-up and lives of their own, and being self-employed it helped fill a space in my life. For me, writing is the easy part. I now have 5 books and some short stories out in the world. I am writing a fantasy series, well two. When I first published I had aimed the first book to cover All Ages, but then found this was not so easy to place. So I have created two series from the same characters, different adventures for each after the opening book, one for teens & y/a and the other general fantasy/fiction. Now, I am learning how to get them seen. The marketing, which for me is taking me into a totally new learning curve.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Feeling the Power is the name of my latest book. Book 2 in the Teen & Y/A series (Mission to Zor) being the second book in the general/fiction series.
What inspired it? This is where I may lose many readers, but, in truth, it is inspired by a personal spiritual journey.
I have always been a believer there is more to life and this world than we know. Most of my life I have been ‘gifted’ and once I opened myself to writing, then the floodgates opened. Quite simply the stories flow and there are times when I have to literally re-read simply to know what I have written and what the characters are up to. Some may label it automatic writing.
I know many authors use tarot decks to help guide them when they are stuck, I seem to simply have to ‘get out of my own way’ and let the characters free. The fight against evil is universal and timeless. The difference between Aisha and her story is that there is no blood and gore. Yes, there are battles, magic, dragons and for that matter etheric beings, but foes are stunned, frozen and encased in crystal cubes and sent back to Source to be given the chance to think on their deeds, if they refuse to change then they are simply re-absorbed, then their next incarnation, if they get one is started with a clean slate.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Not really. I have a whiteboard, and always have a pen and paper my favorite means of taking notes. Depending on if I have work for a client, or something specific that must be done on the land (as I am trying to set up my land for a small regenerative farming project) I go for a walk around my land, to clear my head and ground myself. Make a good strong black coffee and settle down to write. Usually put on some meditation music as a background. I don’t type fast, so try to set myself at least four hours a day to write. Sometimes it is considerably more, but seldom less. When I start a new book – Like most, I make a rough outline, but, because of the way this particular series is working, I have found it pays to only do a couple of sentences per chapter to just give me a line to follow. Any more than that and I find the book I have written is not the same as the outline I expected. Lastly, at the end of the day, I meditated and ask for guidance, then I know the pictures of the next part of the journey will flow all night. My notebook is always by me day and night and as I get an idea, a phrase, a new character, then I immediately note them for use later. I also spend time creating, sketching and words places, scenes, and ideas to help make the worlds I write about more realistic for the reader.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
Having had a traditional English education, Dickens, Shakespeare, Milton, Tennyson, and other classical writers and poets molded my early reading.
Aleister Maclean, Desmond Bagley, Wilbur Smith, Dan Brown, Andy McNab, Dan Brown, Jeffery Deaver, David Baldacci, Tolkien are all favorites of mine to chill and relax. For me, descriptive writing that allows a reader to picture the scene, what is happening, has always been important to me and all of these have a beautiful balance of description, action and in many cases an understory below the main story that makes one think. The book (s) however that changed my life, are A Woman of substance and it’s sequel Hold the Dream by Barbara Taylor Bradford
What are you working on now?
At present, I am completing a short story to put forward to magazines, of failing that publish as a novella. I have also finished all my outline notes for Dragon Force Book 3 in the general Fiction Tales from Dragondom & Beyond Series. I hope to have this out around December 2019.
I am also working on the outlines and places for a children’s series – 12+ Three short novellas introducing the main characters for a new trilogy. Middleholm Academy of Magic & Cosmic Studies. The first of these is already published and is about twins from urban Croydon, outside London who go to stay with the strange aunts who live in an ancient cottage on the edge of the forest of Dean in the west country. This visit leads them to understand there is more to life than the internet, television and video games. They find the family has a secret…and The Magic Begins was born.
Having personally spent seven years in boarding school in the west country in England I have much to draw on for vivid memories. The hope is to find out from the novellas which of the characters is going to be the lead character, a girl or a boy. A dash of reality, a sprinkle of cosmic dust, a spoonful of magic and a dash of the paranormal all carrying a message…anything is possible if you believe in yourself.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
This is part of the journey as an author that I am just beginning. I wanted to have a couple of books in the series in print before I tried to bring in readers, giving them more than one, in my mind so there was a second available to read while the next was being written.
Over the last few months, I have built up a small but regular following on my FB page for the series and am still struggling to create a website that looks somewhere near good enough for people to look at.
Awesome Gang comes highly recommended and for someone who panics at coming out of my comfort zone and out of my cave, so to speak, it is friendly and easy to use. It has taken me several months to pick up the courage even to add an author page to Goodreads. I am afraid, as an Introvert, and basically a long-term hermit, I am having to take one small step at a time.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Yes, but it is probably the same advice as any author gives. It doesn’t matter how young or old you are if you enjoy writing or storytelling then you can write a book. Everyone has a story to tell. In writing, and writing, and writing you will get better. You do not need to be perfect to start, or you never will do it and also always remember you can not please everyone. Write for yourself and for those who enjoy what you write, that believe me is a beautiful feeling, even if its only a handful. The very first recommendations and star ratings I received for my first book did not come from family nor friends (they didn’t know I had published my book) they came from people who followed the excerpts I put up on my FB page, then bought the book. They have gone on to buy all the books I have published, both series. It is a good feeling.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
My late father used to say, “ You will never know what you can do unless you try.”
And an old mentor Roger Haywood – author. He told me that you have to believe in yourself for others to believe in you. Not always the easiest thing, but by adding these two sayings together Anything is possible, but, you also have to be open to learning from others. No matter how old you are, you can always learn from others.
What are you reading now?
Hold the Dream – Barbara Taylor Bradford.
Having just finished the first book A Woman of Substance for maybe the fourth time. They are books I can read again and again, every time I find new, hidden pearls of wisdom that give me courage.
What’s next for you as a writer?
The present Series I already have started Tales from Dragondom & Beyond and the Teen & Y/A Series Aishas’ Tales from Dragondom & Beyond each have 8 books in the first series. So these are the first priority, however, I have already signed up with a translation company to slowly translate them into other languages and thus expand the market. One is already available in Italian and a Spanish version will be out in 2020. I also wish to bring these all out in audio and hardback.
The Middleholm trilogy is also already on the list and again in a similar way. Various languages, audio, and hardback.
Then depending on the public response to Aisha, the Multiverse is a very large place, with many worlds to save… and of course at some point, once she has honed her gifts she can always return with the New Generation of Light warriors, to save humanity from evil, on Earth.
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?
A Woman of Substance – Barbara Taylor Bradford.
Blue Horizon – Wilbur Smith
Shakespeare – Complete works.
A Time to Die – Wilbur Smith
Author Websites and Profiles
Lesley Laws Website
Lesley Laws Amazon Profile
Lesley Laws’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile