Penny Benjamin interview

AUTHOR INTERVIEW

A little introduction:

My name is Penny Benjamin, I was born and raised in central Alberta. I grew up on my parents farm west of Drayton Valley where we raised the largest herd of buckskin horses in the world. At 16, I was in a car accident. I suffered two collapsed lungs and a torn spleen and was unconscious for two weeks. Upon waking I found myself on my own until I met my partner. At 18 we moved in together and raised two great boys who are now starting families of their own.

When did your love of books begin?

I know my parents always had books in the house, we read and sang. I always had a love of books, from the time I was 7 or 8, Nancy Drew, Trixie Belden, and Hardie Boys Mysteries were my life. As I got older, my reading interests branched out, fantasy, sci-fi, paranormal, and romance.

When did you start to have the wish to become an author?

My mother always taught us that reading, and writing was an escape. I wrote songs and poetry and short stories mostly for myself, but some were for contests and subsequently published in the local newspaper. Around 2004-2005 I wrote two novels, my mom read and edited them and encouraged me to get them published. That was the first time I thought of myself as a writer.

How have you found the process for becoming an author?

Trying to find an agent was one of the biggest stumbling blocks I had ever encountered. To publish, you needed an agent. Agents in Canada charged you a fee to read, and most of Canada didn’t have a focus on fiction. The agents in the USA read for free but required sometime 3 months in which you could send it to anyone else to allow them time to read. It was a vicious circle, and I ran it like a hamster until my mother died in 2006. Then my wheel stopped. In 2019 with the encouragement from my boys, I tried again. I researched ways to get published. I knew I didn’t want to get back into the hamster wheel, so traditional publishing was out. I was terrified to self-publish, make mistakes, etc., and most of the companies wanting to help charged around $10,000.00 which I didn’t have. I research hybrid publishing and thought that if I could get one of them to accept me, I could learn what they did and garner the confidence to move forward. I was accepted by 3 or 4 out of the 10 or so I had queried. I decided on Austin Macauley publishers because they had offices in most places and an office in the USA which although not Canada was closer than any of the rest.

What would you say to those wanting to become an author?

Write. Draw. Do what you love, even if in the beginning it is only for yourself. Some of the best drawings and stories may never even be shared. They may be secreted in the hearts of their creators. If you can find solace in doing what you love, then there will be a time when you want to share what you love with the world, no matter how terrifying and difficult it may be. Never give up, and always remember you did it for love.

Tell us about your book/books:

What do you love about the writing/reading community? Linked In was released on Jan31, 2022, and is a romance that ties together contemporary and historical storylines through dreams. I researched lucid dreaming, shared dreams, and past lives for the book. I currently have a historical romance ‘A Widow’s Kiss’ in editing at Austin Macauley hopefully to be released sometime this year and I am working on a sequel to each.

If you could say anything to your readers what would it be?

Escape. Escape the mundane, escape the stress, lose yourself in a character and if I in some small way I have given you a tool to do that by writing my story, then I have done what I set out to do and you have made it all worthwhile.

Where can people connect with you?

Instagram @pennybenjaminromance //  Twitter @RomancePenny //  FaceBook @PennyBenjamin-Romance I believe they can also contact me through Goodreads and Amazon, although I am still learning.