K. A. Cross presents...
Lauren Hogue
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1. Do you ever base your characters on people you know?
Surprisingly, yes. But I think all writers do to some degree. I, myself, just take bits and pieces of people I know and add them to the characters in my stories. For instance-- a personality quirk, a phrase they often use, or sometimes a physical that stands out to me, will be put mashed into one of my characters, making them more life-like and real to me. Just don’t ask me for the real people I base them off of, that’s a secret.
2. What do your friends and family think of your books?
So far I’ve gotten positive feed-back from them all but since I’m a realist; I have a hard time believing it to be true. I have this underlying feeling that they have to say they like my work.
3. Do you plan out your books or just go with the flow?
Ha! This one is and always will be tough for me because I’m such a “planner.” I always start my work with some kind of foundation but then life gets in the way, or I just can’t seem to make ends meet in my story, or I just get bored with my “plan” and I end up going way off track. To date, none of my books have started or ended the way I originally wanted them to but hey, it always works out beautifully in the end.
4. What’s your favorite genre?
I think it changes with time and seasons. Obviously right now, my favorite is YA but if you’d asked me five years ago I would have said the Classics, and even further back at ten years ago I would have said Children’s Lit, specifically anything with magic and wonder.
5. What’s next for you?
Well, I’m currently working on the second book in the Protectors series and I still have at least one more to write in that series before I wrap it up. I’ve also started another series that is a little more dark and serious, dealing with Sex trafficking industry the US. I want my writing to bring awareness, to spark conversation (and hopefully action), and to ultimately connect with people. On the lighter side, my eldest daughter has asked that I write a children’s story for her to read.
6. What advice would you give to someone just starting out?
When you sit down to write, don’t worry about grammar or editing, just write! Speak it out loud if you need to, listen to the melody of the words, and the rest will come naturally. Oh and read as much as possible, whenever you can. You can only better your writing if you push yourself to read other’s.
7. What’s your favorite movie?
I had to answer this question because my daughter has been asking me this for the past two days. Is it ok to say more than one? Ok, good. Here they are in no particular order. The Hunger Games(all of them) Pride and Prejudice (with Kiera Knightley), LOTR trilogy, The Hobbit trilogy, Pitch Perfect, Wreck-It-Ralph, Brave, God’s Not Dead, all of the Narnia movies….this list just keeps going. I really am a big movie buff.
8. What’s your guilty pleasure?
Eating cake or chocolate or cookies for breakfast. I justify it with, “Oh, I have all day to work off those calories,” yet that hardly ever happens…I hate working out.
9. What’s your favorite season and why?
Hands down, I’d have to say Spring. When I was a teenager, I lived in the upstairs bedroom of our house and every morning I would wake up to the sun shining through my window and the sound of the birds chirping from the branches that surrounded it. It was the most peaceful, beautiful way to wake up and it only happened in the spring and early summer. I love the soft greens of sprouting grass and budding leaves, I love the sweet, whistling language of the birds, and I love not sweating to death at eleven in the morning.
10. Do you have a nickname?
All of the (adult) family members on my husband’s side have a nickname that the children call us by. Mine happens to be Aunt Ren, ergo I go by Ren, or LauRen, or RensPen on twitter.
11. How do you handle writer’s block?
I do a lot of fist pounding to the forehead and numbly staring ahead at nothing. But the thing that’s worked the best for me is taking a break from that particular story, stepping away from it all together. The ideas will come when you least expect it, like when you’re working or sleeping.
12. What’s your favorite writing snack or drink?
I usually have a creamy, sweet cup of coffee sitting next to my laptop while I’m writing.
13. How do you cope with distractions?
Since I’m a mother of two, I deal with distractions all the time. The best method for me is to seclude myself in a quiet room (sometimes it’s the bathroom) and to have a set schedule that my kids are accustomed to. That way they know, from such and such time, mommy will be writing. Other than that, I try to avoid distractions so that I can focus on my writing. People talking doesn’t bother me, so I can sit in a public place and write, but if the TV is on, I find my eyes sneaking over to the screen every few seconds or so—that’s something I avoid. Screens.
14. If you weren’t a writer, what would your dream job be?
I LOVE to travel, so any job that had me exploring the world (safely) would be my dream job.
15. If you could go back in time what one piece of advice would you give yourself?
Relax! Everything’s going to be fine, enjoy your time RIGHT NOW.
16. Do you believe in fate?
I believe in God. I know that’s not the same, but knowing in my heart that He holds my life in His hands, that He’s constantly watching over me and my family, and that He knows exactly where we’re heading is what “fate” means to me.
17. What was the last thing that made you cry?
Fear.
18. For many of us, writing is not a full time job. What is yours?
I’m a licensed Cosmetologist, so I get the happy pleasure of making women feel beautiful all day long. It’s very rewarding.
Normally Leah Hawthorne’s premonitions allow her to see the things that she needs to correct or fix but when her latest one shows her risking her life to save herself, and possibly her whole apartment building from an intruder, her older brother and guardian, JOHN, freaks out. Leah, feeling trapped by John’s new rules, reaches out to the Protectors—a group of earthbound angels who share her gift of seeing into the future and use it to guard the human race from the demonic army. Leah’s rebellious action to join the Protectors not only causes strife between her and John but puts her directly in the war path of the high commander of the demon army, DONOVAN.
When Leah’s first mission as a Protector ends with John being kidnapped and held as leverage by Donovan, she turns her back on the Protectors and sets out on her own to right the wrongs that she’s made and get her brother back.
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