On today’s Author Q&A, I bring to you Brianna Cash. Author of several books and a World Indie Warrior, we are turning up the heat with her Stars in the Sand series. It is February and the month of love after all!
Brianna Cash is living out her own Happily Ever After in central Pennsylvania with a husband who doesn’t give a shit what anyone thinks, including (most of the time) her. Together, they spoil their four dogs rotten.
She works a regular day job and comes home to play with her puppies, talk with her husband, and get sucked into her own little world for the remainder of most evenings by reading or writing. Occasionally, she’ll also do a load of laundry or pick up take-out.
Getting to Know You
What motivated you to become an indie author?
I’m incredibly stubborn and didn’t want anyone to dictate what happened in my characters’ stories. Going the traditional publishing route sometimes means changing major themes or arcs within the book, and I can’t even dictate what my characters will do. When I try, they stop talking to me and I become stuck, unable to move forward with writing the story.
When you’re not writing, how do you spend your time?
If I’m not at my day job or writing, I’ll most likely be playing with my dogs (I have four), visiting with family, drinking coffee, or reading.
What is the greatest joy of writing for you?
Finding out how the characters get their happily ever after.
The Writing Process
What is your writing process?
I’m a total pantser, which means I don’t outline beforehand and have no idea what’s going to happen in the story. I go in blind, with only a general idea of who the characters are. They reveal themselves to me as I write, so I don’t know what the general conflict of the story will be, how they’ll overcome that conflict, how it will affect them… Writing is like reading to me, just a much longer process. Getting to the end is usually as much a surprise to me as it is to anyone else reading the story, and I’m often amazed at how well everything fits together.
How do you get inspired to write?
A character will start teasing me with little pieces of who he or she is. To get to know them, I have to dive into their world, and, basically, write their story. The hardest part for me right now, is finding the time to sit in my office and discover these characters. I have two puppies who have a lot of energy and need a lot of attention, so being able to dive into these other worlds is harder to do. At least, if I still want my house to be in some sort of order when I come back from the zone, that is.
What’s your advice for aspiring writers?
Keep writing. The more you write, the better you’ll get. Don’t worry about what happens after you’re done writing, because if you don’t finish that manuscript, you’ll never need any knowledge about those steps. (And they can be overwhelming!)
Reading
What are your five favorite books, and why?
My favorite genres are contemporary romance and apocalyptic books. It’s impossible to narrow down my favorites to five books.
One of my all-time favorites is Alessandra Torre’s The Ghostwriter, because it totally sucked me into the story and made me feel ALL the feels. It’s a book that I recommend to anyone who reads fiction.
Jewel E. Ann’s Jack and Jill’s series is fantastic for that same reason. Tracey Ward’s books—that aren’t romance—areamazing, and an absolute 1-click for me. (Her romance books are sports oriented and still a good read, I’m just not a sports fan.)
Almost any Harlen Coben book if I’m in the mood for a good mystery, or Dean Koontz if I’m in a sci-fi mood.
Sarah Lyons Flemming’s zombie books were my introduction into zom-poc genre, and a common reread for me. Start with Until The End Of The World, but make sure you have a lot of spare time, because you won’t be able to put it/them down.
How do you discover the books you read?
Recommendations from reading groups, Amazon’s “since you liked” recommendations, recommendations from authors I love, etc.
What books are on your reading list this year?
I don’t make a reading list. My tastes vary too much, so I just read whatever I’m in the mood for that week. Although, I would love to read Jewel E. Ann’s latest duet that I haven’t had the time to read yet. Also, BB Easton’s Group Therapy. Oh, she’s another favorite author… Like I said, too many favorites to ever pick just one. 😊
Her Perfect 10
Sadie comes from a broken home and believes falling in love will only lead to pining for someone she’ll never be able to keep. Soshe formed an equation to help her find the perfect guy.
If he actually exists.
Owen is a struggling perfectionist that never quite meets any of his goals. Especially since his biggest one is to get his mother’s approval, and she’s always comparing him to his can-do-no-wrong sister.
But even he knows that love has nothing to do with math, and it’s rarely ever perfect.
They’re thrown together for an online creative writing course, and they both start questioning their beliefs. Like if they’ve been looking for the wrong things all along.
When one night shatters the illusion of how perfect their relationship can be, will Sadie revert back to her equation? Or will Owen get her to start thinking with her heart, and prove he’s her perfect ten?
Her Perfect 10 – Brianna Cash
What inspired you to write Her Perfect 10?
This book was inspired by my husband, actually. He’s the person I bounce ideas off of when I’m stuck on something, and his advice (even when it’s not at all helpful) is always to describe the penis. While my books do contain explicit sex scenes, I don’t normally describe the characters’ genitalia. But his relentless advice to describe the penis made a character come to life inside my head, who not only describes the penises she comes in contact with, but also rates them and their performances. Sadie was a very fun character to converse with, and this book turned into a three-book series about the same couple because we had so much fun together.
Is there going to be a follow up to Her Perfect 10?
The second book in the series is His Flawed #1, and the third (and final) book in the Stars in the Sand series is Every Last Second. Also, the next series—coming out later this year—features their kids and how they find love. That series is called Love is Magic and is a spin off of the Stars in the Sand Series.