Hayley Rae Johnson Interview Published on: 30, Sep 2021

I was born in New Hampshire, but my family moved to a small town in Colorado when I was 1, so I like to say I am a Colorado Native. I grew up in a house my dad built. We lived just under 10,000 feet with solar power, no internet, no phone lines and our own well. My front and backyard was the mountain where I would run around barefoot playing "make believe", climbing the aspen trees, making tree forts, picking wild onions and berries and collecting scars. My childhood was magical.

I was constantly at the library when I was little. My parents worked later than my school hours and the library was on the same block as the school, so I would sit on the floor and read anything I could grab. Jack in the Green, by Allen Atkinson, was a book in my school library. I was probably 6 or 7 when I first read it, and I checked it out as often as I could. In 5th grade, my librarian gifted it to me because she saw I much I loved it. This book inspired me to become an author. All I wanted to do was live in a world of magic. I would run around the mountain pretending I was on adventures with trolls and fairies.

Secondly, The Fairy Ring. This is an old book full of dozens of fairy tales from all over the world. It is very rare now and my librarian (yes, this happened twice), gave me this book because I had checked it out so many times. I still go back and read this when I need inspiration. It has the oldest, original fairy tales and some things are so simple and authentic.

Oh gosh! I wanted to be Britney Spears for a while, but I cannot sing! Since I could write though, I always wanted to be an author. Writing stories has always been fun for me. I love changing my own reality. It's coming true!

I had a few teachers that encouraged me to write my own stories. I think it started as them giving me something to do so that I wouldn't be disruptive in classes when I was bored. My first and second grade teacher, Mrs. Berglof, read to us every day. We would have reading time to ourselves as well. I loved the book Gorga becasue you could pick an option then go to a different chapter depening on how you wanted that book to go. She had write our own. I believe a lot of students worked in groups, but I wrote quickly and I wrote several. I still have my little notebook from second group that I wrote all my stories in. My writing was very tiny and would start on the left but quickly the lines would get shorter and I would only have a couple of words per line by the end of the page! Mrs. Berglof sat down with me and taught me to keep my words on the left hand side and keep them between the margins. She, also, told me that I need to write large enough for people to be able to read it. Now, my writing style is very structured and neat. She taught us cursive writing by pouring jello powder on plates and we would swirl our fingers in it then eat it after. She made writing and reading fun and I loved it!

In third grade, my friend and I wrote our first book. The Adventures of Puma and Bella, it was called. Our teacher, Mrs. Smith, would have us sit in the hall while the other students had a group reading project, or something like that. We were advanced in our reading and writing so she said we could write our own book. And we did :)

Lastly, my mother always encouraged me to be creative. Growing up miles from any town and having to rely on the sun to give us electricity, our television time was limited. My mom is very creative and artsy so she always came up with something for us to do when bored. When I was bored and didn't want to write the story I was writing or read the book I was reading, she would pull something out of thin air for me to write about. It was like a daily prompt.

Blood of the Ràej was a story I've had in my mind since I was in middle school. Of course, it has evolved over the years. I had read so many fantasy books: J.R. Tolkien, J.K. Rowling, Tanya Huff, Anne McCaffrey, Mercedes Lackey, Juliet Marillier, Eoin Colfer, C.S. Lewis, Jonathon Stroud, Brandon Sanderson and, not quite fantasy, but I LOVED Brian Jacques. I wanted to make something different. And Pebble Pinching just came to be. I remember writing down PPM on the side of a paper - I didn't want anyone to know my idea - then when COVID started, I sat down and finally expanded on the idea. Sorcery is my favorite magic. But, I still wanted to use pebbles, so I created Omneth, the Ràej, the Binders and the war.

To be honest, Terhese was originally based off of me. I created her when I was 13 and I didn't grasp the nuances of character depth or even giving characters different personalities. She has been a character so close to my heart and I've always wanted to write this book, that I couldn't change her too much. Her character is now a little bit of me but with some exaggerations to make her plight more compelling.

NA? Young readers are not quite my market niche, but I do have spin-off ideas for a younger reader population that would focus more on Pebble Pinching and the other creatures of Omneth. In general, I think fantasy will always draw in younger readers, especially when the plot is fast-moving, easy-to-read and filled with magic.

The most crucial component when writing a romantic suspense is to keep the heat building! Look at Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series. Claire and Jamie are so love and you get some steamy sections, but they are almost never together. Those two characters are constantly being ripped apart and every time they get back together, there is a build up that you hold your breath for. Everyone wants that knight in shining armour to ride in on the white horse, save the day, and kiss the girl. Then, you have to do it again and again and again.

Balancing patience and risk. If you wait too long, you will be behind just because you were blinded out. As an author, my fear became If I don't write this, then someone else will.

One common error is thinking of what every single person will think of your book. What will my mother think of this scene? What will my siblings think? Cousins? Friends? Will someone throw it away if there is cursing? Will I get a bad review if I don't make it sound like Harry Potter? You cannot worry about what others will think. Not every one will like your book. Not everyone will give you a good review/rating.

Also, don't give up! People will write one book and expect to make hundreds or thousands of dollars in the first few months. That is, generally, not the case. That doesn't mean you stop! There are thousands and thousands of books out there and thousands being published every day. It will take time for your one book to be noticed. Go write another one! And another, and another.

Meh...I wrote the Blood of the Ràej during Nanowrimo, then I set it aside for a few months. After battling with the decidions of Indie or Trad, I chose indie, found an editor, and sent it to her at the end of April with a one month timeline and I announced a launch date of June 6th. After that, I realized my editing and launch date were WAY too close together. For book two, I didn't want to have a lapse and I wanted to kick my butt in to action, so I booked an editing date with my editor immediately for September and put the word out about a launch date in December. I am a fast writer so I can write a 100,000 words novel in a month, while working a 40 hour M-F job. I am an amazing procrastinator (my boyfriend knows I'll have a long night of writing when he sees me brushing the living room carpet of dog fur with a comb on my hands and knees or bleaching the hallway walls) and I thrive under pressure (those long nights usually turn into a 2 am bedtime), so I have found a timeline crucial for me. The accountability of announcing my book to the world and booking an editing slot keeps me in line as well.

Pay attention to those pot odds!

I really prefer writing in my notebook first. Sometimes my writing is neat and organized, then you'll see pages with things marked out, stars, circles and notes. I put dates on when I wrote something and I'll put a date when I typed it. When I'm in for a long-haul night, then I'll go straight to my laptop, but I hardly go anywhere without a notebook and pen.

Rise of the Ràej, book two in the Ràej series, will be with my editor tomorrow night! Then, I'll start book three.

I have been with AllAuthor since June 2021 and I LOVE it! There are so many other platforms out there but they are expensive and they charge for every tiny thing they do - hundreds of dollars for every tiny thing! AllAuthor has been amazing and I plan on using it indefinitely.