Anita Horan

This week, I will be interviewing Anita Horan, one of the Indie Authors, I bonded virtually over Facebook.
1. Tell me about yourself.
I am 50 years old. I have two children, 15 and 20 and just celebrated my 25th wedding anniversary. I have had a number of careers, dental assistant, photographer, aged care worker and writer. I was raised in a fundamentalist religion and am now fascinated by group mechanisms, female power plays, psychology, sociology, faith, bullying and conformity.

2. Synopsis of your book in one sentence and is it a series?
Love and life in a fundamentalist religion, losing faith, losing my family and friends, losing my mind, being chronically bullied by other women and my search for identity. Yes it is a series, but each book can be read as a stand-alone.

3. What started you on writing?
I felt the issues of losing faith and adult female bullying were taboo subjects and I want to bring these conversations to dinner tables around the world, so other people don’t have to suffer in silence, like I did.

4.What message or lessons did you want your readers to take away from your books?
Losing faith is one of the most excruciating experiences someone can go through and they should be offered non-judgmental support. Be kind to everyone because you don’t know what their silent suffering is. And don’t deny someone is being bullied because it is more comfortable for you to pretend it is not happening.

5. Are you currently writing a book now?
I am currently editing part 3 and have book 4 mapped out.

6. If you are not writing, what are you doing in your spare time?
I love cooking and gardening, I find them therapeutic and productive. I love reading good books and walking in beautiful parks and spending time with my family. I am an environmental activist and spend quite a bit of time researching and sharing my knowledge. I recently learnt how to grow mushrooms and that’s quite a lot of fun. I love my social media pages and enjoy sharing my life interests there.

7. What’s your advice to emerging Indie authors?
First of all, make sure your book is fantastic, don’t rush, the goal is that it be spectacular and error free. Pay for a professional cover design. Before publishing a hardcopy, publish it as an e-book and ask readers to tell you if they find any typos, fix any they catch, then publish the hardcopy. I have found, though, that even if a book is amazing, it does not guarantee sales and it is almost impossible to sell your book. Try to build something people want to be part of, while writing, then use that audience when you are ready to promote your book. Beware of scammers who will offer to publish, review and promote your book for a fee. Try to build a network of authors that are a similar level of writing and personality to you.

8. As a writer, who’s your biggest influence?
Elizabeth Gilbert had a big impact on me because she broke lots of taboos in her book ‘Eat, Pray, Love’ and that made me realize I could write however I liked and don’t have to be boring. Lots of other authors have inspired me, Yeonmi Park, Kate Mulgrew, David Goggins, Howard Bloom and Hugh Mckay are some.

9. What are you reading right now?
Useful Delusions. I don’t usually read ‘information’ books but this was a gift from an author friend who knows I will love the subject matter, and she’s right, it’s brilliant, but I can’t read these kinds of books as fast as I read novels.

10. If you were a fruit or a vegetable, what would you want to be and why?
Oooh I think I would be a nectarine, the outside is smooth and nice to hold and the inside is delicious and healthy. I hope that on a lighter external level, and on a deeper personal level, I am a pleasure to be around.
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