Mary Dean (Weekly Author Spotlight 15 March 2021)

AUTHOR BIO

Mary Dean is a wife, step mother, blogger and author from Orange County, California. She has been a bookworm since she learned to read at a young age. Her lifelong
dream was to share her stories and enjoy them with others as she is also a fan of so many authors. When she isn’t writing she can be found with her nose in a book, enjoying time with her family and friends, trying to stay active, watching a movie or rocking out to music preferably a live concert. She is also a blogger for Rabid Readers Book Blog. She loves to interact with other reading fans.

QUICK INTERVIEW

Where are you from?
“Orange County, CA USA”

When did you first realize you wanted to be an author?
“When I was in grade school. My friend and I used to make comics that told a story. As I learned how to write with more structure, writing was an escape for me.”

What is your favorite genre to read/write?
“I love paranormal romance. Any chance I get to use magic I am in. Young Adult is also really fun to write. With YA I can be a kid again and not have to make it so emotionally heavy. But I do love writing my adult romances. Who doesn’t love a good book boyfriend or girlfriend?
As for reading I love it all to be honest. I can read a romance one minute then switch to a horror then go to a cozy mystery.”

Tell us about your first published book? What was the journey like?
“The Secrets Within is my first novel, which was published in 2019. That was a story that I had in my head for years. I always knew I wanted the characters to be Nix and Alex. And they would be friends to lovers. But I never envisioned the magic aspect of it until I started to read more paranormal romance growing up and then when I sat down to really write it, the story just took over. I always wrote for fun thinking that publishing a book was just a dream. Then I became friends with author Stephanie Nichole and I actually let her read what I was writing. She told me it was good and suggested I submit it to Kingston Publishing Company. I sent them my manuscript and they loved it. I still can’t believe it sometimes. It’s a crazy thing to achieve something you have wanted since you were a child.”

How many books have you written? Which is your favorite?
“Right now I have published 4 books of my one, 1 co write, 2 of my own short stories in 2 anthologies, and 1 co write short story in an anthology. I am currently finishing writing my 6th book and it will be with my editor in a few weeks and set to publish in July. I will have 3 more books this year after that too.
My favorite has to be my book baby, The Secrets Within. There is so much of me in Alex. But there is a little bit of me in all my main female characters to be honest. Which is funny because I love to write male POV the most.”

Who/What inspired you to write Embracing Water?
“Embracing Water is a standalone in the multi author series Coven Queens put out by Kingstone Publishing Company. The book before mine in the series is Redeeming Air by Stephanie Nichole. I loved it so much and I had already planned to write in the series because a magic academy is right up my alley. Stephanie let me use her supporting character Hardy and I made him a main book boyfriend. Talise was one of my favorite characters to write. She is damaged and flawed, but so strong and real at the same time. It is a story I just love and I would love to revisit these characters again.”

What was your hardest scene to write?
“The hardest scene for me to write was the sexy scene in Embracing Water. There are a couple because my publisher said make it steamy and I delivered! But I had o put myself in the place of a twenty something year old virgin woman and an experienced twenty something year old man. I think it turned out beautiful, but there were a lot of restarting of scenes. While I am pro sex scenes, I like to make mine more about the heart and emotion than the details.”

Is there any new release we can expect in 2021 or in the future?
“As I said before, this year I’ll have 4 more. There will be two more in Cliffhaven Coven Series and as of right now it’ll end the series. Then I have a young adult ghost hunting book. And my first full length contemporary romance. The writing cave is where I am this year!”

What do you think makes a great story?
“I think heart and soul make a good story. You have to really believe in your story and part of you needs to be in it. You can write characters that are complete opposite from yourself, but still a part of you is with them. And you have to be proud of your story. If you can’t be proud of it and love it with all your heart, you can’t expect readers too. And trust me, it shows in your writing.”

What advice can you give to an unpublished author?
“Just do it. Write it out. Don’t second guess yourself. Just write it and edit later. Then let someone you trust read it if you are second guessing yourself. And send it off either to publishing companies or self publish. Everyone’s story deserves to be heard And trust me, you will find readers to give it a chance.”