Ask the Author: Lola Faye Arnold
Answered Questions (6)
Lola Faye Arnold
My greatest inspiration is that I want to make a difference in the world, and successful writing will make that possible. I have already said that I need very little in life to be happy, but when my work becomes popular, then my family will be able to enjoy the benefits. I am also deeply committed to humanitarian work, and this is a great motivator for writing. Writing also gives me the opportunity to speak out on social issues that I feel need to be addressed, and this will be clear to my future readers.
Lola Faye Arnold
I am not physically writing another book yet, but I have thoughts whirling all the time. I don't know whether it will be a sequel to OUT WITH THE TIDE or another work entirely.
Lola Faye Arnold
Write what you can at the time. I began writing mini-stories for my students thirty years ago. I can't tell you how many little stories were scratched out on restaurant napkins, bits of brown paper bags, or on the tiny pages of a notepad kept in my purse. Even now, I will come across something I wrote, but decided not to use on that particular day, and stuffed it inside a book. So I say, write when you are in line to pick up your children, while the clothes are in the washer, while you're in an airport, or while you get your pedicure. The more you write, the easier it becomes.
Lola Faye Arnold
I think the best thing about being a writer is that I can tell my story, not only for the present, but for years to follow. Far after I am gone, my progeny will have a part of me living on through my words. That is a comforting thought to me.
Lola Faye Arnold
When I first started to write, I put myself in total "lock down" so to speak. I had my little writing nook and could retreat, and I wrote consistently for months and months, making more edits than headway. I finally hit that "brick wall", when the book was finished in my head, but the words would not come. I traipsed off to Europe, solo, for 6 months and did nothing but enjoy myself and relax. It was almost a year later, when I came to New Zealand, when the "block" was finally removed and the book was finished.
Lola Faye Arnold
Oh, that is a rather tough question. I suppose you could say that the initial ideas came from my some of my experiences living in the Charleston area, when I was in graduate school in the early 80s; thus the setting of OUT WITH THE TIDE is around that timeframe. I say that because I was intrigued with some of the famous GHOST TALES of the area, in particular, the tale of Sue Howard Hardy.
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