Hello readers of Ananya’s Scribbles Corner! đź‘‹
This month, one of my favourtie authors, Natasja, has decided to snatch the podium on this blog and talk about her writing journey.
What I really admire about her is the pace at which she writes! Every year, she has a list of some 20 books set out to be released! I follow her on Twitter and also subscribe to her newsletter, so I know. Yes, I basically stalk her. I like her enthusiasm as a writer! We have a lot to learn from her!
Let’s go ahead and listen to what she has to say today!
My name is Natasja (pronounced “Natasha”) and I’m the author of over 30 books, novellas, and short stories. I write a variety of genres, including young adult contemporary, sci-fi romance, contemporary romance, and paranormal romance. My best-selling series is about body swapping and there’s a lot of romance in everything I write.
My writing “journey” really started as a kid because I was always making up stories. The first full book I ever wrote was called Less than Perfect (I’ll get back to that in a bit). But the first book I ever published, My Best Friend’s Brother/The Summer I Turned into a Girl, was a 2011 National Novel Writing Month winner. I published it in June of 2012 and really didn’t think about publishing for a while after that.
I got married and had two kids and was just busy taking care of them and working. But throughout my kids’ baby years, I had slowly been working on Knockout Girl and after a while I thought it might be good enough for publication. Traditional publishing is incredibly difficult to break into and I got several rejection letters for it. But I remembered how easy and fun it was to self-publish so, with a lot of encouragement from friends, I went for that. That’s when the Knockout Girl series was born, followed closely by sequels in the Swapped Lives series, and then the Onepian Chronicles which had been cooking for a while.
In 2021, after suffering a miscarriage, I returned to Less than Perfect because it had always held a special place in my heart. The book featured 14 teenaged musicians trying to figure out life together and was a mess of storylines. Finding that I had greatly improved my writing, I decided to rewrite that book, but stretch it out and make it a series. I started releasing the books in summer of 2021 and haven’t look back. It’s been healing and so much fun to watch these characters grow and change and I’m really loving it.
I don’t know how to describe my writing style. I’ve written in first person and second person points of view, present and past tense, and different genres. I try not to focus too much on my “style” and rather more on the characters and their stories. I always tell people all my books start with characters and then I just write down what they do. (Sometimes they veer wildly off-track but that’s a rant for another day). I like to write about topics of the heart (so yes, a lot of romance), and make people laugh but also feel things for the characters. At the end of the day, I want my readers to feel warm and fuzzy and relaxed after having read my books.
And now for the #1 question everyone always asks me: How do you write so much? Honestly, I don’t do a whole lot else in my free time. But here are some tips if you’re wanting to learn to write faster or just more. When inspiration hits me and I’m at work or out somewhere, I jot down quick notes to remember later. I daydream a lot so that when I sit down to write, I almost always have a scene in my head ready to go. I do not spend multiple hours a day making my house look immaculate. I work on multiple WIPs at a time, which doesn’t work for everyone, but it always gives me something new to do. Lastly, I’ve made it a habit to write every day. I’ve practised my own writing technique so that I hardly ever get caught by writer’s block. I don’t have a daily word count goal. As long as I’ve written something—whether it’s one sentence or one chapter—I’m happy.
So that’s everything about me and my writing! If you want to check out my 30+ works, you can go to my website. I have all my books and stories listed there, plus quizzes and a fun section about my Less than Perfect characters. You’ll also see my latest releases, Cheerfully Playing Quarterback/Carrying the Captain’s Reputation (September 19) and Less than Perfect Journey (October 17).
Natasja Eby
Thank you so much, Natasja, for coming to speak on my blog this month! I’m sure the audience is looking forward to reading your books now!
Follow Natasja on Twitter and Instagram!
You can read guest posts by other amazing indie authors here: Sylvia N Gould and Dr. Watson. More authors to steal the stage here, so stay tuned!
Ananya's Scribbles Corner 