BIO:
Hannah Herrera (Cir. 1993) is a young author who specializes in poetry, short horror stories, novels, and women’s rights. She was born in Jacksonville, Florida and has been a Florida native her entire life. For four years, she attended college to obtain her Nursing degree but dropped out when she heeded the call to pursue the writing career she has coveted since she was a child. She has a huge love for animals, especially cats. Her hobbies consist of gardening, Marvel movies, cooking and creating new recipes, writing, and slapping paint against a canvas. When she isn’t doing these things, she’s spending time with her son and husband.
AUTHOR Q&A:
- When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?
HH: I would always make up stories inside my head when I played as a child. While I was growing up, I did well in reading and English classes in school; it was my best subject. I started writing short stories for my English college professor, despite going to school full time to be a nurse. During clinicals, I would spend hours with the elderly listening to their stories and that’s all I wanted to do – tell stories. After a lot of stress during nursing school, I eventually dropped the program and started writing while working at a local Wal-mart.
2. How long does it take to write your book(s)?
HH: It depends on how invested I am in a story. If I am writing a short story or a poetry book, it will take about a month or two. If it’s a novel, it takes around 6 months.
3. Where do you get your ideas or information for your book?
HH: I like to travel to new places, eating at new restaurants, or enjoy nature. I feel that constantly changing my environment while interacting with different people is a good thing for me. It helps keep the creativity flowing. Rich experiences often produce rich writing results.
4. When did you write your first book?
HH: The first book I wrote was back in 2018. I have written several short stories but never had them published. Publishing this story sort of made everything feel more official to me.
5. What do you do when you’re not writing?
HH: I love to garden, it is my go-to hobby to unwind. There’s something peaceful about having your hands in the dirt. I also like creating new recipes and cooking them in the kitchen for my family to try. I like to go to movies together with my husband and son, or go out to new places for new experiences. I also paint in my spare time and play with my cats.
6. What does your family think of your writing?
HH: My husband is 100% supportive of my writing journey. He is so encouraging and has seen the good and the bad when it comes to writing and publishing books. I have other family members that I have told about my writing career and they didn’t support me like I feel families should. Not a lot of them understand my fascination with writing poetry or horror but that’s okay. I have my husband and my immediate friends, they are my biggest cheerleaders and I can’t spend my time wondering why I don’t have the support of most of my family. I like what I do and that is all that should matter. So I just wanted to say thanks to Nathan, Shannon, Mason and Michelle, you guys are the best if you’re reading this.
7. What was the most surprising thing you learned in creating your books?
HH: There is a lot of editing and a lot of work that goes into publishing a book. I self publish, so I have to do everything from being my own editor to being my own publicist. It gets crazy and stressful sometimes but I enjoy doing it. People who do this professionally for a living need more credit.
8. How many books have you written? Which is your favorite?
HH: I have written five books and several unpublished short stories. The book I recently published, The Lovely Wild In Me, is my favorite piece of work that I have written so far. It’s a piece of my soul wrapped up in two-hundred pages and it was quite the journey to write it.
9. Any tips/suggestions on getting started?
HH: Just write, don’t listen to others especially yourself. There will be times when you will be too hard on yourself and will want to edit things out all of the time. Don’t do this, just write to your heart’s content and get the story out there first.
10. What do you think makes a good story?
HH: The ability to make someone feel the emotions that you want them to feel makes a story a great story.
11. As a child, What did you want to do when you grew up?
HH: I always wanted to be a writer. I diverged from my path a bit because I listened to the negativity of others but coming back to writing is like coming back home after being gone for so long. I am the happiest I have been in years.
LINKS:
https://www.hannahherrera.com
twitter: @hnnhherrera
instagram: @hannah_herrera_
goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/19084684.Hannah_Herrera
Amazon Author account: https://www.amazon.com/Hannah-Herrera/e/B07Q5KMBRY%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share
PUBLISHED WORK (RECENTLY):
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