Becca the Bibliophile: Houston Author Event Spotlight: Amanda Bennett

I am as the old saying goes... "Never judge a book by it's cover".... unless of course that cover is awesome:) No, in all actuality I have been fortunate enough to be a million different people in my stories and books, and I am grateful everyday that I get to do the thing that I love the most. I am a hopeless romantic at heart and I do believe in happy endings. I also believe that it takes a bit of bad experiences and rough roads to get you there, but in the end I strongly believe it is worth it. I am "THAT" person who does believe that everything happens for a reason:)

Amanda currently lives in Utah with her many men (her husband, two little boys, and two dogs). She is an avid San Francisco 49ers and Dexter fan. In high school she developed a love for writing and story telling, and in the past couple years has made it her passion, as she just released her ninth book.

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Before the Houston Author Event on April 5th - Ten bloggers were able to "Speed Date" with the authors of the event. I had so much fun talking with all of the authors and being able to ask them as many questions as possible in a 5 minute period...well some had 5 minutes, some were longer and shorter...but it was a fun time for all of us. Over the next two weeks I will be featuring a different author from the event. So today is Amanda!

Becca: Hi Amanda it is so nice to finally meet you! Are you ready because I have the hard questions.
Amanda: Oh great! Now I have to use my brain!

B: Everyone has been telling me I have the hard questions and I am not suppose to be this hard hitting, so here it goes. What was the one book that impacted your life the most?
A: Twilight. Well, if we are talking recent, then Twilight but if we are talking back to when I first started reading, then it would have been Withering Heights. But Twilight is what kinda pushed me to actually put my books out there and let people read them.
B: Yeah?
A: And I don't know why.
B: Really? You don't know why?
A: I loved Stephanie's writing and it kinda just hooked me from the start. My sister-in-law got me into them and she was like "Here you go, you have to read this book." And then I read it and you know what, I am just going to put my stuff out there. So I don't know...
B: So it was your launching point
A: Yeah
B: So it gave you the courage to say "I can do that"
A: Yeah, I guess I looked at it like if someone is willing to read more of the young adult genre and have it be more of a supernatural book, then I was like, you know, maybe people would like to read what I like too. That was kind my thought on it.

B: Ok, well out of all of your characters, which was the hardest for you to write or gave you the hardest time when writing.
A: Um, probably Dominick from Time to Let Go. He was based on an ex-boyfriend. It's probably about 85% of the book is based on truth, so it was really hard. And it was a really bad relationship, so that one was really hard. But it was also super cathartic. I wrote it and now I am done and over it.
B: And you got it all out...
A: Yes!

B: So then what was the hardest scene for you to write?
A: Oh, um. There is a...well it alludes to the fact that he raped her in one of the books, but I don't go into details, and its tough even though I didn't write out the whole scene, for it to be oh this is what happening.
B: And also treating it as this is what is happening...
A: Yeah and I got a lot of compliments about the way I handled the scene, that I handled it really well. I mean I had people say this has happened to me and you did a really good job in the way you wrote it all out. I didn't want to go into much detail but yeah that was hard.

B: In you writing process how do you like to write? Are you a person that has to listen to music..
A: I do listen to music. I have two kids and I have to lock myself in my bedroom and then I have playlists. I have playlists for everything. I write everything down and then type it. I am totally old school. I do a timeline of how I want everything to flow and then I start writing it down.
B: Do you write chronologically? Or do you skip around?
A: I will skip sometimes. It depends on what comes to me. So I will start at the beginning 90% of the time. Sometimes I will write the ending before I even finish the middle. Which throws me off because then I have to go back and re-read what I wrote and go oh yeah I need to add this...
B: Oh this is how they get together.
A: Exactly!

B: Ok last question, If there was one book out there that you recommend that EVERYONE should read. If they only had time to read one more book ever...what would it be?
A: Of mine?
B: Yours or of anyone. If there was one book and you were OMG you have to read this book!
A: I am going to go with... I probably should plug my own books, but I won't. But I would have to say Rebecca's Books.
B: The Breathing Series?
A: Yeah, the minute, like I didn't read for a really long time and then when her first book came out, I literally read it in like 2 hours. I am a speed reader, which can be a bad thing, because I go through the whole book and then usually have to go back to remember some things. But it seriously was like...it just pulled at every single emotion I had inside of you. I loved it...loved it.

Broken Series

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