Five Questions with Sydney Aaliyah Michelle

On February 2nd, Valentines Pets and Kisses, a boxed set of sweet romances, will be released. As part of our campaign, we, the authors, thought it would be a nice idea to give readers a chance to get to know a little bit about us. So here we go.

Purchase links for Valentines Pets and Kisses:

Amazon US

Amazon UK

Barnes & Noble Nook

Apple iBooks

Google Play

Kobo Books

 

Five questions with Sydney Aaliyah Michelle

(1)        How did you come up with the idea for this particular novella?

I spent two weeks in New York and fell in love with Brooklyn. The people, the places, the vibe, everything about it inspired me. It was the perfect setting for Your Biggest Fan and I have a few other stories ideas set in Brooklyn that I hope to get started on later this years.

(2)        If you had to choose, which writer would you consider a mentor?

I would love to be mentored by Stephen King. Not because I secretly want to be a horror writer. I love writing romance. He has an amazing work ethic when it comes to his craft. He reads and writes every day. My writing would benefit from that kind of discipline. Also, I think he is an amazing storyteller. When I read his books, I am fully immersed in his world (scary). I would love to learn how to write a 1,000 page story and have people be sad that the book came to an end.

(3)        Where do you get your information or ideas for your books?

The ideas for my books come from a lot of places. I am inspired by songs, movies, people, but lately from places I've traveled or used to live. Your Biggest Fan was inspired by my recent visit to Brooklyn, New York. I have a series coming out later this year that was inspired by my life when I lived in DC during law school. I also have a set of short story ideas that take place in the countries I visited while living in Asia.

(4)        What are you working on right now? Tell us a little about it.

Right now, I'm working on a novel set in New Orleans (another city I lived in and love). It's the story of a Leah Jones. She is a recluse dealing with trauma from her past and falls in love with Austin Ware, first round draft pick for the New Orleans Saints. Austin is a sweetheart, whose larger than life personality and newfound fame may be too much for Leah's safe and secluded world.

 

The New Orleans Project (tentative title) is a sweet and sexy adult contemporary romance about two people who have survived on their own, but must put their trust in to each other to thrive and find love with each other.

(5)        Tell us what your writing schedule is like.

I read a blog post recently about writing schedules and I am adopting the habits in that post for the new year.

 

Step One:  Wake up and reach for your computer or journal, write 250 words. Anything you don't have to think about too much. Blog post, journal, list, just get the brain and the fingers moving.

 

Step Two:  Eat something nutritious and that taste good. Wake up your body.

 

Step Three:  Writer for 45 mins in your WIP, then close the computer for 15 mins. Stand up, stretch, do a load of laundry, if you have stairs, walk up and down them.

 

Step Four:  Repeat step three until you reach your word count goal for the day. My goal word count varies depending on whether I'm on deadline or not. Some days, I only need to do this once, other days, I could repeat about three or four times.

 

Step Five:  Do everything else. Edit, social media, errands, workout, etc.

 

It's only been a couple of weeks, but the schedule is going well, so far.

Where can readers find you?

            Blog: http://sydneyaaliyah.com

            Newsletter: http://bit.ly/1um7D5g

            Facebook Page: http://on.fb.me/1C235oR

            Goodreads Pages: http://bit.ly/Rjx9WO

            Amazon Page: http://amzn.to/11OTDoR

            Twitter: http://twitter.com/sydneyamichelle

            Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/sydliyah/

            Instagram: https://instagram.com/sydneyamichelle/