Angela Hausman Author Interview

Good morning! I hope you’re enjoying this nice Fall day. To kick it off, I’d like to introduce apocalyptic thriller author: Angela Hausman! She has been an avid writer her whole life, and she has a passion for what she writes! Her ideas just come to her, and she enjoys watching documentaries, which aid in writing certain types of scenes in her books. If you would like to learn more about Angela Hausman or her books, then follow her on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Below are her books that are currently out, and the last one Danger on your Doorstep is in progress!

Are you an indie author or a traditionally published author?

 I’m an indie author of 4 books. The 5^th is in the works

Tell me a little about your writing journey, thus far.

 So, I started writing in about 7^th grade with a series of sci-fi short stories. I always say they got critical acclaim from teachers, family, and fellow students. One of my teachers even had me develop a screenplay, then rehearse with other students and put on the play for the entire class. Very heady stuff. I took a couple of writing courses in college and learned some of the tricks I use today. Ultimately, I went on to get a Ph.D. in marketing and only wrote journal articles for the next 20 years until I again felt the class to return to the keyboard and write. I surprised myself with how much I enjoyed writing and found I missed my characters once I finished a book. That’s what keeps me writing. I need to find out what my characters are up to now. 

What genre do you write and why? 

I write something I call apocalyptic thrillers. The thriller is because they’re page-turners that folks can’t wait to finish. Apocalyptic because, except for the 1^st book, there’s not just one murder, but a threat to the entire planet at stake. My more recent books dealt with cyberterrorism, bio terrorism, and a serious threat to the electrical grid. Any one of these could have changed the face of the world as we know it. Fiction? Maybe, maybe not?

What are you currently working on? 

My current book, entitled Danger on Your Doorstep, follows a psychopath who’s pulling the strings of several hate groups, trying to overthrow the US government. As with all my novels, it’s a little dark.

What inspired you to write your books? 

I’m not sure where my ideas come from. Certainly, my passion for Michael Crichton accounts for much of it. I also watch a lot of documentaries and find them a rich source of material for my books, not only in terms of plots, but police and FBI procedures, and characters.

What does literary success look like to you?

 Right now, I’m just happy selling some books, meeting fans and other authors, and interacting with them. I love to learn, and I learn something valuable from everyone I’m connected with. Ultimately, I’d love to have an income from my books that allows me to write full time. 

How many hours a day do you write? What is your writing routine? 

I’d like to say I write every day (5 days a week), but that’s not all novel writing. I’m a marketing professor, so I still have a lot of research writing to do, as well as writing lectures, etc. My goal is to write 2000 words a day. Some days I make it, most I don’t. I do sit at my computer from about 9 to 5 every weekday and work (except for the days when I’m in the classroom). I’m pretty serious about keeping that schedule unless I’m sick or something. Otherwise, I work a regular day, just that my days often see people die.

I’m a pantser, meaning I don’t develop an outline before I start writing. I have an overarching idea, such as writing a book about bio terrorism. Then, I start writing. I keep a notebook beside my computer, and I add character names and their descriptions, places where scenes take place, and other bits as I write. I also stop to research whenever I feel I need to add more depth to a scene or when I need to add realism. For instance, I have a master’s degree in biology from before I switched to business, but I still had to do research for Azure’s Revenge to understand recombinant techniques, kill rates from various bacterium, etc. Hence, I might spend hours writing, but have little text to show for it because I’ve stopped to find character names or places. 

I tend toward being a visual writer. So, if I’m stuck on something, I use Google Images to find something that looks like what I have in mind, then describe that place, person, event in my novel. 

What advice would you like to give to aspiring authors?

 Find the meanest English teachers out there and learn everything they have to share. I read so many indie authors who have trouble developing characters and scenes, have plot holes big enough to drive a Mach truck through, or even have grammar errors that I find annoying. Then, recognize that writing is hard work. Pumping out a bunch of crappy books won’t help in the long run as you’ll get a reputation for crap. And don’t give up. It’s really hard to make in today’s publishing landscape, even if you’re traditionally published. It takes hard work, sustained over a period of time to reach your goals. 

To help, I got together with Carole P. Roman (who writes children’s books) and Julie Gerber to write a book entitled Marketing Indieworld, where I provide step-by-step directions and screenshots on how to marketing your book. This follows Carole and Julie’s book called Navigating Indieworld, which focuses on the business of publishing for the indie author. Marketing Indieworld comes out on May 17, while Navigating Indieworld is available on Amazon.