18Q Ayn Hunt

Ayn Hunt (a.k.a. Ayn Amorelli)

1. Did you choose the writing profession or did it choose you?

A little of both I think. I wanted to be a writer long before I learned how to learned how to make letters in first grade. I think that’s my purpose in life.

2. What is your background (education, work, etc.)?

I went to college during two periods in my life (in the early 1970’s and mid- 90s) and have 254 accredited hours but no degree. As far as work goes, I’ve worked mainly in offices doing clerical work, which was a bad fit. Regarding writing ‘credentials,’ I took journalism courses throughout high school and my stint in a community college, and did my journalism internship at the Galveston Daily News in the late 1960s. When I got married, I dropped out of college in the 70s and worked as a freelancer, writing articles and short stories while raising my family and working in offices. Then when our daughter entered college, so did I for the second go-round. In 2001, I bought a computer for the first time ever without first telling my husband, then, after some health problems which kept me home, wrote my first novel, Unwilling Killers, and have been writing ever since, full-time.

3. When did you “know” you were a writer?

I’ve always known, as far back as I can remember. The problem was 1) learning how to form letters, and 2) fitting it in with ‘real life.’

4. How would you describe your style of writing?

In a review of my third published Gothic, The Haunting, the reviewer said it had the feel of an Alfred Hitchcock movie. And in another review of it, the reviewer tried to figure out how I made it so suspenseful without using explicit gore or violence.

I think what it boils down to is I get inside my characters, seeing, feeling, tasting, smelling everything they do, so my style is pretty realistic. I enjoy putting ordinary people into extraordinary situations, then figuring out how they’ll extricate themselves.

5. What is your writing process?

I adhere to a schedule of getting up at 4 a.m. and write till about noon, taking breaks only to see hubby off to work and having another cup of coffee.

6. What was your path to publication?

When I was in college for the second time, I wrote an autobiography on an old typewriter, which an editor at Atheneum was interested in. But then, after I sent them the second half at the editor’s request, the editor either quit or was fired (I never knew which), so the deal fell through. Then I put it in my bottom drawer of my desk, where it rests to this day.

I continued to write though, part-time on that old typewriter and kept sending out manuscripts only to have them rejected again and again. It wasn’t until I bought a computer and finished the umpteenth rewrite of Unwilling Killers on it that I started getting novels published.

7. What was your favorite self-marketing idea?

Regarding promotion? I’m not sure what works the most. I think it’s a combination of book signings, giving talks, writing articles for ezines, and networking that builds up name recognition. I have no particular favorite. I do them all. It’s part of my job.

8. What is the biggest surprises you’ve encountered as a writer?

The biggest surprise was of a personal nature, when someone I considered one of my best friends lashed out at me for being successful and realizing my dream. Then she admitted how she’d lied about me to our friends, and there was nothing I could do about it. I never realized how jealous she was.

9. How do you inspire yourself? What are your sources of creativity?

I’m inspired by watching the sun rise as I write and listening to CDs of sounds of the ocean.

10. What is your proudest writer moment?

Being told by the manger of Borders Bookstore, where I was signing copies of my first book, Unwilling Killers, that they had run out of my books...and there were people still lining up to buy copies of it.

11. What’s the best advice you were given about writing.

Show don’t tell. That’s my mantra.

12. What is your most embarrassing writing moment?

Being told by a lady who wanted her picture taken with me I looked better than my picture on my website then looking up at me quizzically, and not being able to think of a thing to say at the time other than ‘thank you,’ which sounded trite. I think she wanted an explanation, but I couldn’t think of one.

13. What business challenges have you faced as a writer?

None, at least not that I know of.

14. What is your writer life philosophy?

I think that luck is 60 percent of getting published, maybe more than that. So I’m never cocky about my success.

15. When you’re not writing, what do you do for fun?

Take long walks or go to the gym I just joined and hang out in their hot tub. I love the way that bubbling hot water feels.

16. Who do you like to read?

My favorite is still the Sherlock Holmes stories, even though I’ve read every one there is twice.

17. What’s your advice for new writers?

Never give up, and don’t expect everyone to be happy for your success when you get published.

18. What are you currently working on?

My fifth book, which is an historical romance, written under Ayn Amorelli. It’s my second Romance. My first, Contract Bride, is a contemporary romance which came out in May of this year and is a best seller at Fictionwise.

Ayn’s 18Q