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Thursday, September 13, 2012

Someday Stars: Meet Alexia Chamberlynn

What’s your name, and where are you from?
My full name is Alexia Marie Alderson Chamberlynn (a mouthful, right?). I usually just go by Alexia Chamberlynn or A.A. Chamberlynn. I was born in Tallahassee, Florida, and I’m still there. Though I have wanderlust like crazy and like to travel as often as I can.

How long have you been writing?
I’ve been writing since the age of 5 or so. I started with poems and short stories. The first I remember writing was when I was 5 or 6 and was trying to manipulate my parents into getting me a pony for Christmas. When I was about 12 I started on my first novel (also about horses). I started a couple fantasy novels in my teens as well, since that was what I loved to read, but never finished anything. When I became an adult and had work and kids and stuff to worry about, I quit writing for about 8 years, but in 2009 I came back to it and have no intention of quitting again.

What genre(s) do you write?
I still stick to fantasy. I don’t think I could write something without a little magic in it. At this point, I’ve written two adult urban fantasies, one middle grade fantasy, and a middle grade novella I wrote for my son. I have some young adult fantasy planned for the future, so I’m pretty flexible within the genre. I’m also intrigued by steampunk, so I could see myself moving into that at some point.

What’s your current WIP? Can you tell us about it?
I typically have more than one WIP at a time. My most current one is the middle grade fantasy, specifically for the upper middle grade ages (11 and 12-year-olds). I just finished the first draft and am working on edits. It’s set in a fantasy world of my creation, which has been fun, and is about a land whose inhabitants have been stripped of their ability to dream by an evil queen. My main character is the only person who retains the ability to dream, and she sets out on a quest to free the dreams.

I’m also querying an urban fantasy about a witch/vampire seeking revenge on her Maker while trying to save future Seattle from a demon invasion. My first adult urban fantasy about a witch who’s lived multiple lifetimes has been on the back burner, but I’m doing a major rewrite this fall.

What’s your current day job? How does it help or hinder your writing?
I work at an educational non-profit as a department director. I’m a person that works better with structure and pressure, so I think it’s good to have a full-time job and still find time to write. That’s weird, I know J I also enjoy the steady pay check, which most writers don’t have. During our busy season I have to work overtime, which can definitely hinder my writing because I get so tired sometimes I can’t even think about being creative. But overall I find a good balance between my day job and my writing.

Who is your favorite author?
I find that this evolves over time. But at the moment, it’s Neil Gaiman. He wrote Coraline and Stardust, which are more well known since they were made into movies, and also Neverwhere, American Gods, The Graveyard Book, and many more. He’s brilliant and utterly unique and reminds me of the pure joy of reading. He also has a total rockstar life and travels around the globe doing awesome stuff.

Favorite book?
This is practically an impossible question. This answer also evolves, and I sometimes love certain books for certain reasons that can’t be compared to other books. An all-time fave is definitely The Hobbit. I’ve read it about 20 times. One of my recent faves is The Graveyard Book.

What other hobbies or activities do you do outside of writing?
Reading, certainly. And as I mentioned before, I love to travel. I’m also a total foodie, so I love tasting new food and drinks. I have a couple horses, too, though I haven’t ridden regularly in years as busy as I am with everything else.

What is something unique about yourself?
Let’s see, you already know I’m a fantasy geek and I own horses. I used to be an equine massage therapist. I’m also a vegetarian and at work I started a string of random unicorn jokes. If I had my way, I’d travel around the world for the next couple decades and live in a number of different countries.

There’s plenty more, but I’ll stop there…

Do you have a blog, Twitter, and/or Website we can link to?
My main website is www.alexiachamberlynn.com
On Twitter you can find me at https://twitter.com/AAChamberlynn

I’m most active on my blog and Twitter, so you’ll have the best luck there, though I definitely connect through the other sites as well.

14 comments:

  1. Thanks so much for having me on your blog today! I'm super excited to be featured and meet some new blog friends.

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  2. Alexia, always happy to meet another Gaiman fan. He's coming to my town in a week or so. :)

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  3. Massaging equines? Lucky horses!
    Good interview, Alexia. Good luck with your querying.

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  4. Libby, I'm so jealous! Although I did meet him at World Fantasy Convention last year.

    Ha, thanks Alex!

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  5. I love Neil Gaimon, too! And I also love traveling. :) Thanks for the interview, Alexia and Charlie.

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  6. Thanks, Shallee! What's not to love about Neil and traveling? A great combination :)

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  7. You should definitely look into steampunk; there should be more MG/YA steampunk novels :)

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    1. Now that's an intriguing idea! Brain now spinning rapidly...

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  8. Great interview, Alexia. I know what you mean about being able to work well under structure and pressure. My last job was a bust because it mentally exhausted me but other jobs I had were fine in terms of being able to come home and just focus on writing. I like that I had to be disciplined with my time and work around the disruptions that the day job caused. It gave me something to look forward to while I was away at work.

    Jai

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    1. Yes, it is nice to be able to look forward to writing when I get home. I'm kind of a workaholic :)

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  9. Great to learn more about you, Alexia. Lucky you for living in Florida - sun sun SUN!

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    1. The warm weather and beaches are nice... but the humidity, and sometimes sweltering days are not. Hurricanes aren't too much fun either, but I guess every place has its token natural disasters.

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  10. Unicorn jokes sound cool... you'll have to share some with us Alexia:)

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  11. I love Neil Gaiman too!

    So cool learning more about you!

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