The Bio:Wednesday Lee Friday was born November 24th, 1970 in Royal Oak, Michigan. She attended some public and some Catholic school, though she never formally practiced any one religion.
Wednesday went to college in Olivet, Michigan where she majored in theatre and broadcasting. She wrote and produced radio dramas for WOCR-FM and directed occasional performances at the Oaks Theatre. Much to her parent’s dismay, she intended to pursue a career in technical theatre.
She began working in professional theatre in 1993. She enjoyed it immensely until her paychecks started to bounce, forcing her to find work that would actually pay the bills. Wednesday worked many varied jobs including fast-food manager, reptile wrangler, cashier in a natural foods market, community organizer, video store manager, phone sex operator, violin sales professional, and concierge to name a few.
In 2004, Wednesday signed up for the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) to write the novel she had been meaning to write all her life: A Stabbing for Sadie. After its completion the following year, Wednesday began the long search for a publisher. She amassed many, many rejection letters until she finally received a positive response from Kris Stamp of StoneGarden.net publishing. She has since won five consecutive NaNoWriMo’s and has retired undefeated from the grueling and electrifying process of month-long novel writing.
In 2005, Wednesday began work on her second novel The Cat’s Apprentice, about a woman who believes her husband’s mischievous cat is trying to kill her. This novel’s completion was postponed by the untimely death of the real-life cat, Clarence. Eventually, this novel was picked up for publication by StoneGarden.net publishing as well.
Currently Wednesday lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan with her husband, graphic designer Hollingsworth Webster. She enjoys LOST, playing the dulcimer, The Simpsons, her two cats, and kettle cooked potato chips.
The Book: What are the titles of your books and where can we buy them?A Stabbing for SadieThe Cat’s ApprenticeBoth are available on Amazon and can be ordered anywhere books are sold. I’m also featured in several anthologies, most notably:
The Garden edited by B. L. Morgan and published by Stonegarden.net
Where do you get your ideas?
Plot ideas can come from anywhere, though most of them come from my real life or from people I encounter. Real life oddities transform into dramatic “what if?” scenarios while perfectly average things mutate into terrifying concepts. If I’m lucky that is…
Theme ideas usually come from fevered dreams, intoxicant-induced hallucinations, and the wonderful world of mental illness. Themes for me are all about figuring out why the story is important, what the reader gains from having read it. It’s a huge issue for me and I still struggle with it.
The Cat’s Apprentice is about my real-life cat, Clarence who I would sometimes swear was plotting my demise. I guess you might call this a chick-centric novel mostly because its themes are stereotypically associated with females: motherhood, husbands, mothers-in-law, empowerment. But it also deals with mental illness, magic, and how different people react to extreme adversity. Hopefully that has some broad appeal for readers.
What is a typical writing day like for you?
There are some preparatory things I do that I’ll spare you the boredom of. Then I collect all my idea notes and read them over. I read and quick edit whatever I’ve written the previous day, then continue the writing from there. Barring any stops for fact checking or error corrections, I write between 1200 and 2000 a day. Sometimes I do that once in the afternoon and again late at night, depending on what’s going on and when my deadline is.
Why did you choose your current genre?I write about things that scare people. Fear is primal. People have very little control over what scares them. With that in mind, finding out what scares a person helps you gain profound knowledge of that person. That’s really what I’m after, profound knowledge of as many interesting human beings as possible.
People tend to remember fear. We can all think of things that scared us years and years ago; the memories stay with us. I want my books to stay with people long after they’ve read them. I hope to achieve that by providing evocative characters, surprising plot developments, and by scaring the hell out of people.
What are you currently working on?
I just finished
Kiss Me Like You Love Me which drops February of 2010. It’s a fun tale about a serial killer and his lifelong friend. It is being edited now and I’m taking a few weeks off while I figure out which half-finished manuscript I’m going to pull out of storage and work on next. Could be zombies, or the erotomaniac I’ve been pondering, or maybe the security guard who finds a scary monster. Either way, it’s going to end up damn scary.
Do you have any appearances planned?In my home town of Ann Arbor, competition for a book signing is very stiff, and the book gods do not always smile on the horror writer. I am happy to sign books for anyone who sends them to me with an appropriate SASE. I am best found on the Internet, specifically:
www.wednesdayleefriday.com or
http://wednes.livejournal.comWhat advice would you like to give to other writers or anyone interested in becoming a writer?There are some great books out there on writing. There are even more terrible books on the subject. Everyone who wants to write should read
On Writing by Stephen King. They should also read how-to books specific to their genre. The HWA has an amazing compilation of author treatises on the craft. The point is to get as many varied opinions on writing as you can. The more you know, the more likely you are to discover what works best for you.
Then read. A lot. Read books even when you hate them just to see what it is that makes a book annoying and hateworthy.
The most obvious path to becoming a writer is to write. Don’t wait for NaNoWriMo, or the end of the semester, or for your kid to go to sleep, just write. All the time. Write when you’re angry. Write when you’re happy. When you’re sad, when you’re confused. Write it all down somewhere and keep it. Compare what you’ve written last week, month or year with what you wrote that morning. Then write some more.
Eventually, you’ll write something you want to share with the world. Sooner or later, if you don’t give up, you’ll find a publisher who agrees with you.
For more information about Wednesday Lee Friday, you can visit her website. The Cat's Apprentice is now available from Stonegarden.net, but you can win a free copy right here on Benston Blogs. Just follow or subscribe and I'll draw a winner at the end of the month!
2 comments:
Wow, what a post! Thank you, Rebecca! It goes to show you are really working hard at achieving your dreams! Putting your link up on Judi's tour page now...and thank you! ;o)
Hi Rebecca...just letting you know you're our 3rd featured blogger in Judi Moreo's "Achieve Your Dreams" special tour today!
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