Pamela S Thibodeaux

I was born in Lake Charles, Louisiana (the SW corner close to the Texas border) to two loving parents. I went to school in a small town called Iowa and grew up in the country where I rode horses with my friends and played ball with my brothers, the neighborhood kids, and uncles in open fields.

Actually, my family and friends had no idea I wrote for several years. When I finally got the nerve to share one of my stories with them, my mother – an avid sports fan – read the entire thing during the Superbowl! My older brothers, readers too, also had good things to say. My (now deceased) husband was my greatest supporter. He would tell people everywhere that I was a published author and when they requested a book, he’d say, “The book is free, but the autograph will cost you.” We sold several like that LOL! More recently, my daughter, who was never a big reader said publicly how much she enjoyed the books and my son (who doesn’t read much at all) bragged about me on Facebook. Having my family’s support is the BEST!

Oh my, I’ve been reading with Dr. Seuss since I was a very young child. read the Little House books, Nancy Drew and virtually anything that got my attention. But the books I loved the most as a youngster were the Black Stallion series by Walter Farley.

When I began writing in 5-subject notebooks, I wrote every chance I got and had four full-length novels and numerous WIP’s before I even graduated to a typewriter. Once I started using a Word Processor then computer, it took about six months.

My Heart Weeps is one woman’s journey through grief into new life and possibly love and parallels mine after my husband’s death. Since the story was so close and so real to me, it took a long time to actually finish and publish the book. It actually released on the 11th anniversary of his death.

Now, this is a difficult one! I love each story for different reasons but if I had to pick one, it would be In His Sight. This is the first story I completed after my husband’s death, feeling if I didn’t, I would never write again. When I sent it to my publisher, the editor saw something in the story line I hadn’t intended, and this became my first romantic suspense.

That forgiveness, acceptance and letting go leads to peace. You may have a past filled with pain or find out about a betrayal decades after the incident, but in any case practicing the above will set you free. Accept the fact that you can’t change what happened. Forgive – everyone and everything. Let go of the bad memories and feelings and replace them with good ones and peace will follow.

Oh, my goodness, social media has overtaken the world and is the greatest time-suck out there! There are much better ways to spend your time. Now, I know many of us promote our books or businesses online, so scheduling that chore is necessary (scheduling being the key word here). If you must, set a timer to zing you out of the trance scrolling your social media feed puts you in.

My dream is to share God’s goodness with the world through my writing. Since my motto is every sale is a soul for Him, I achieve it each time someone purchases one of my books. That’s not to say I don’t want more sales and therefore, more souls for Him, but I pray daily to do my best and leave the results up to Him.

That depends on what kind of anthology you’re writing. If your stories have a thread running through them (common setting, inanimate object, specific holiday, or something of that nature), make sure you maintain that throughout each installment. Should your anthology simply be a collection of short, romantic or mystery or whatever type of stories, make sure that element is in each.

This depends on what kind of company you are starting. I created a writer’s group in my hometown area with a co-founder but just as easily could have done it alone. However, maintaining and growing that group was a joint effort with the members. Co-founders are great as long as you all have the same vision for the company.

Every author has their own time frame. I’ve written books in 6 weeks and others in 6 months. However, making time in your schedule to write is imperative.

When I started writing nearly 40 years ago, I had no clue what I was doing. Today there are all sorts of courses you can take to learn how to write to market or for profit etc. If your dream is to be traditionally published, start by formatting your document to 1” margins all around and double spaced text, 12 pt. Times New Roman font. Read the guidelines for whatever publisher(s) you’re targeting and adhere to them impeccably. Should you choose the indy-published route, you’ll still need your manuscript in a clean, clear font. Most use Ariel or Times New Roman. I like Georgia. 12 point font is still the best and makes for easy reading. All that said, the only rule to get started is just write! Everything else comes after the story is finished.

I recently completed a short, romantic story which I’ll be tweaking after comments and suggestions come back from my preliminary editing/writing reader/friends. After this one has found its home, I have a whole host of WIP’s to choose from next.

I heard about AllAuthor from friend and fellow author, Kathy Wheeler. I’m enjoying being a part of this great platform and I appreciate everything you do for authors.