#Interview with Helen Johnston ( @HelenJohnstonIL )

 Welcome to The Writing World. Today we have Helen Johnston with us for an interview. She's the author of Innocence Lost which can be found on Amazon. Please read on to learn more about this author:


1. Please tell the readers a bit more about you.
I grew up in my family’s home in the county of Hampshire in England. My childhood dreams were to be a dancer when I grew up. I was an only child but I never felt alone, my years were spent with my vivid imagination. I met and married my husband not long after finishing school and soon our son was born. Our family was made complete when our two cats joined us, who are completely spoiled and run the home.

My life consisted of my home life and jobs in the retail industry and my vivid imagination refused to stay quiet. So combined with my love for all things vampire and erotica I decided to try my hand at writing and has never looked back.

2. What types of books do you write?
I write erotic paranormal.

3. Who's your main audience?
Adult women, but I do have a few men who have told me they have enjoyed it too.

4. When it comes to writing- what are your strong points? What are your weaknesses?
My strong points, or so I've been told, are the descriptive parts of the book. I think my weaknesses are dialogue.

5. What do you think of this term- Writer's Block? How do you overcome it?
So far, I've been lucky and haven’t had to deal with writers block. If and when as I've no doubt one day I will have to deal with it, I think I would have to walk away for a little while. Take a break then come back to it with a new perspective.

6. How many books have you written?
There are three books in the Journeys of Innocence series, and I'm now writing a new series, the first book to that is nearly finished.

7. How many are published?
The first two are Innocence Lost and Innocence Reclaimed.

8. Are you self published or traditionally published?
The first two are self published, but I've recently just signed to a publishing house. They will be re launching them both and the third one in the series, Innocence Reborn.

9. What's the hardest part of the writing process for you?
Finding the time to write, with a family and full time work away from the home, time to me is a quality I could use a lot more of.

10. What type of books do you enjoy reading?
I do tend to stick to paranormal.

11. Who's your favorite Author?
There are so many amazing authors out there, at the moment I’d have to say Lora Leigh.

12. What's your all time favorite book?
Just one? Again there are so many to name one is difficult.

13. How long does it take you to write a book?
I wrote my Journeys of Innocence in about five years, but the new one I've only been writing for about six months and it’s almost finished.

14. Out of all of your characters, which is your favorite? Why?
Blake, he is my favorite as he has been with me since the beginning, I am the one he chose to tell his and Siobhan’s story through.

15. What is one of the most surprising things you've learned as a writer?
That I can do it. with my lack of school


16. What does your family think of your writing?
I didn’t tell anyone, not even my husband to begin with. This was when I very first started and was doing everything longhand. Then I was bought my first computer, which I didn’t have a clue how to work. But I struggled on. They are all totally supportive of what started out as a hobby and grew.

17. What does your writing schedule look like?
I don’t really have a schedule, with a family you have to just grab it when you have five minutes peace and quiet.

18. Do you manage to write every day?
I try to, even if it’s only a paragraph.

19. What's the latest news you'd like to share?
I’m taking part in my very first Blog Tour! Which I'm really excited about.

20. Do you have any advice for new writers?
My mantra is “Keep moving forward.” You can spend far too long worrying about what you wrote yesterday, last week... keep looking towards the end of whatever you are writing and don’t look back until you finished it. Then you can spend your time editing or re reading.

LINKS:
Amazon link for Innocence Lost:

http://www.amazon.com/Innocence-Lost-Journey-ebook/dp/B008N2V63M/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1362992582&sr=8-1&keywords=Helen+Johnston+Innocence+Lost

Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/helen.johnston.391?ref=tn_tnmn

Twitter:
https://twitter.com/HelenJohnstonIL

Personal Blog:
http://helenjohnston123.blogspot.co.uk/

Blog Tour with GMTA Publishing:
http://greatmindsthinkaloud.blogspot.co.uk/p/helen-johnston-blog-tour.html

Pinterest:
http://pinterest.com/helenjoi/