Lacey Gordon interview

AUTHOR INTERVIEW

A little introduction:

Hello, my name is Lacey Gordon and I am known as Crazdwriter by many. My author's name is Lacey Crazd Gordon. I am a mother of two beautiful little girls, a mother to four sweet angel babies, a wife to an amazing husband who was medically retired from the Navy in 2021, a blogger, an author for Reading Gate Company (an ESL Korean publisher), and a published author as of this month.

I was born and raised in California, where I went to school until I graduated from Cal State University San Marcos with my BA in Liberal Studies and Arts in 2007. After that, I moved to live with my fiancée at the time, Ryan, on Oahu, HI, where we married. We will be celebrating our 15^th year wedding anniversary on September 22, 2022, and the launch of my new book, Pahulu Hale- Haunted House. This is my very first published book. I am still waiting for the children's books I wrote for Reading Gate to be approved and published, but I love working with Reading Gate and don't mind the wait.

While my husband was in the Navy, we lived in California, Hawaii, and Virginia. He also lived in Florida before we were married and while I was going to school. We met at Poway High School our freshman year and dated on and off throughout high school. We went our separate ways after we graduate high school where he joined the Navy, and I stayed to finish college. But as fate had it, we were meant to be together and still are, so we dated for two years' long distance before we could get married. I was a Preschool Teacher for 13 years and loved every single minute of it. I was sad to retire but also thrilled as I stepped into the role of expectant mother and a stay-at-home mother in 2013 with our first baby girl. We welcomed our second wonderful little girl in 2018. And even though my writing had all but stopped throughout the years after the birth of our first child, with the little time I could find, I kept writing.

When Ryan retired last year, we moved from California to our new home in Tennessee. We have lived here for a little over a year now and have loved every minute. We have a service dog for my husband, sadly because of all of his health and mental issues, 3 cats, chickens, guinea fowls, and ducks. Since the move, I have been writing more and it feels wonderful.

When did your love of books begin?

My love for reading began at an early age. Sadly, I was a victim of bullying as a child and my only escape was through the pages of books. I could not stop reading! I am still a bookworm, but sadly can’t read as much as I would like between my girls going to school, taking care of my husband when he is having a rough day, my job with Reading Gate, and writing my own books. But I do love reading almost every genre there is out there. I am not the biggest fan of Science Fiction or Romance, but if the book grabs my attention, then I will read it.

I did get in trouble for reading as a kid since I would read when I was supposed to be doing homework. I would hide a book in my desk and when my parents weren’t around, I’d pull it out and read. When I heard them coming to check on me or even when I heard them come downstairs since I lived in a two-story house, I hid it back in the top drawer and got back to work.

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

Even though I love to read, I never thought of writing my own books until Junior year of high school when I took a class called Writing Seminar. We wrote mostly poetry, but my teacher, Mr. McHeffey, had opened my eyes to a new world, a world I could create with pen and paper. His class threw a door wide open I never thought to open myself and I wasn’t about to let it close again.

But to become an author? That thought didn’t happen until I was in college while taking more literature classes. I wrote a few stories, but never thought they were any good. But I wouldn’t let it stop me from writing. I continued to write and worked hard, growing with each story I wrote. I decided I wanted to try to become published and share the world of readers my worlds I either imagined or dreamt. I started to research everything I could about becoming published and even though it seemed daunting, I was going to try. I did try to publish a book several years ago, but I only received rejections. It hurt, but again I wasn’t going to give up.

How have you found the process for becoming an author?

It has taken several years and a lot more writing, growing, and editing, before I searched for a publisher and agent again. I was growing frustrated and over the years, I wanted to stop writing all together because of how hard it takes to get published the traditional way. Ryan has been pushing me the entire time and then when we had our first daughter, I knew I couldn’t stop. I knew that no matter how long or how hard it would be, I was going to get published. I still wanted it for myself, but now I wanted it even more for her and then for our second daughter. I wanted to show them that with hard work and never giving up, your dreams would come true. And now that I am published, I have proof for them, as well as for myself, that hard work and never giving up, can make dreams come true.

I did contemplate self-publishing and hybrid publishing, but more than anything, I wanted to try to become published the traditional way. I met my now publisher, Stacy from Hear Our Voice LLC, through a group on Facebook called Moms Who Write. I was venting about how I felt and she approached me, giving me the link to her website. I was shocked and excited when I sent in my first chapter and summary to her. She and her husband have a small independent publishing company and I still struggle with the words of how I feel besides honored that she wanted to publish my book, Pahulu Hale. I have since sent in more books, another horror paranormal and children’s, and she has voiced her interest so in the next few years more of my books will be published by this amazing woman, publisher, and who I think of as my friend.

Tell us about your book/books:

Pahulu Hale- Haunted House is a horror paranormal book that takes place on Oahu. A young woman, Leilani, has been searching for her dream home, a two-story Victorian house. When her best friend and realtor, Nalani, finds her the perfect home, she cannot wait to jump at the opportunity to buy the house. She wants the house so much, she ignores the rumors and the stories of the murder that happened in the house 20 years ago to a military family. They had been brutally murdered by a crazed neighbor who was keeping his promise to his lover who had passed from cancer to not allow anyone who owns his lover’s house to move in themselves, but to only rent it out. She only wanted it to be rented out to others and only for a year, but all that had changed when the military family moved in.

Now Leilani owns the house and she can’t wait to invite family and friends over. But once she moves in, that is when things definitely go bump in the night. She finds old ragged and broken toys, her items are moved or go missing, she sees a shadow lurking in the corners, and is even sent horrifying pictures. She turns to a local paranormal team for help. But is it too late for them to help her?

What do you love about the writing/reading community?

I do hope others will enjoy reading this book as much as I enjoyed writing it. And I hope those who wish to become authors never give up on their journey. It will either be a short journey or a long journey with many rejections or 1-2 star reviews when you do become published. But don’t let any of that scare you or stop you. Let the world of readers into your worlds with open arms and never give up!

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

And to my readers, welcome to my crazy worlds. I do hope you enjoy this book and my future books when they are published. I hope you will take the time to read my blogs. And I must warn you now, don’t get too attached to my characters. They may, or may not, survive my pen strokes on paper.

Where can people connect with you?

If anyone is interested in reading other works by me, you can do so by going to my blog page https://bloggingwithcrazdwriter.com/.

You can also follow me on Twitter at crazdwriter1, on Facebook at Lacey Crazd Gordon- Author, and on Instagram at Crazdwriter. Thank you for taking time to read this. I hope you got to know me better. I hope you will take the time to find out more about me through my writings on my blog or through my books. And no matter what your dream is in life, don’t give up on it.

I also want to thank Feed My Reads on Twitter for reaching out to me to do this interview. It is my first interview as an author and I won’t lie, it was nerve-wracking. But I had a lot of fun doing it so again thank you. I am honored that you picked me to do this interview for you and your readers.