I had the fantastic opportunity to interview one of my favorite authors. K.M. Weiland is an internationally published and award-winning author. She runs a website called Helping Writers Become Authors, where she mentors other authors with their writing process. Along with that, Weiland has written many books on the writing process, story structure, and several works of fiction.

Here is the interview.

“How did you get into this work?”

I started writing when I was twelve and published a small newsletter throughout high school. I independently published my first novel, the western A Man Called Outlaw when I was twenty. But I didn’t really take it seriously as a business until my next book, the medieval historical Behold the Dawn, came out three years later. And now, here I having published my fifth novel! Wayfarer, my gaslamp fantasy about a super-speedster in 1820 London, came out earlier this year.

“What do you like the most about it?

 I love every part of the process, even the parts I don’t love. My favorite part, easily, is the conception stage—when the story is full of perfect color and wonder in my imagination. Stories are like butterflies and when we pin them to the page, we lose a little of that life and vibrancy. As for the actual work part of writing, I probably enjoy the outline most, since the possibilities are endless and my inner editor doesn’t yet have an opportunity to carp at my prose.

 “What do you like the least about it?”

 Every book is its own adventure. Something that’s easy in one book can end up being surprisingly difficult in another. Major rewrites, when they’re necessary, are probably my least favorite part—but they offer their own rewards too.

“What are some things that help to revive your writing when you’re blocked?”

 Write every single day, whether I feel like it or not. If I’m absolutely stuck on a scene, to the point of banging my head on my keyboard, I take a break and stop thinking about the problem. Almost inevitably, my subconscious has things figured out by the time I return to the computer the next day.