Kelli Sue Landon's Page

Cold Coffee Press Spotlight Interview With Author Kelli Sue Landon

Kelli Sue Landon is a mystery novelist and short story author. Her novels include Sudden Moves, Nightmare At Camp Forrestwood, Summer Shack: A Killer Vacation, and Stranded in Time. She is from Peoria, IL and works for the United States Postal Service.

Interview:

What makes you proud to be a writer from Peoria, Illinois? I like using the Midwest as my settings since we get all four seasons and other states around us really help with road trips for my characters.

What or who inspired you to become a writer? The idea of it being “fun” is how I started. I also like escaping into another world that I create.

When did you begin writing with the intention of becoming published? Not until I was halfway through my first novel, Sudden Moves. I just sat down and started writing it. My friends read chapters as I wrote and I was asked many times about publishing it.

Did your environment or upbringing play a major role in your writing and did you use it to your advantage? I started as a teen, living in a secluded place in the country. No neighbors or any way of riding my bicycle or walking to a friend’s house. I would take a blank sheet of paper and write stories for something to do.

Do you come up with your title before or after you write the manuscript? Usually in the middle. With Sudden Moves and Stranded in Time, the titles kept coming up in phrases through the books. That’s when I knew what title to use.

Please introduce your genre and why you prefer to write in that genre? Mystery/Suspense/Amateur Sleuth.  I read that genre, plus I love keeping readers guessing, just like I do when I read a suspenseful mystery. Agatha Christie is the author who I love reading when it comes to sleuths.

What has been your most rewarding experience with your writing process? When my short story, Pizza Night, was sold for $50 to a local Peoria magazine, Downstate Story. I was ecstatic that someone liked my story that much!

Have you had a negative experience in your writing career? If so please explain how it could have been avoided. A couple of book reviews, but they weren’t real bad, just not the reviewers cup of tea. I took them as a learning experience.

What has been your most rewarding experience in your publishing journey? Finding many people like International Book Promotion, KanDel Media, and Lynda Brown of Author Chat who promote indie authors or a low price and even throw free services in the mix. I am so grateful for people like this who give prompt service and help out indies.

What one positive piece of advice would you give to other authors? Never look down on independent publishing. I have known authors who lie and say they got accepted to a publisher, when really they paid for their publishing service. It’s a stepping stone to having an agent or even getting traditionally published. Never shy away from having your book in print, just because you did it all on your own. You should reward yourself for your hard work.

Who is your favorite author? Agatha Christie, Linwood Barclay, Dean Koontz, Janet Evanovich, Stephen King.

Is there anything else that you would like to share with us? One great way to stay motivated while writing, is to write scenes and send them to people who love to read. I did this with a few retired friends and they would email me back and tell me how much they enjoyed it. I kept writing more and more to send them and get their feedback. It really helped push me to get my books written.

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Stranded In Time – by Kelli Sue Landon

College student and art major Samantha Harper has been tracing her family tree for quite some time. Her mother, Rebecca, died when Sam was sixteen and she never talked much about her past. Samantha is thrilled to hear that she will be allowed to research her mother's past for a school assignment. Upon arriving in Rebecca's childhood neighborhood, Sam arranges to have a tour of her mother's grade school. She finds an area inside the school that had been damaged and at first, thinking a ghost was inhabiting the gymnasium, she accidentally crosses over into the year 1975; the year when her mother is in kindergarten. Fascinated and scared at the same time, Sam gets to witness her mother's childhood up front as she inadvertently gets involved in an old case of a young girl's accidental death. Little Josie Baker, a classmate of Sam's mother, died that year inside the school's gymnasium. But, was it an accident? After uncovering the dark secret surrounding Josie's death, Samantha wonders if she'll ever find her way back home where her father and best friend, Josh, have been waiting for her return. Will she return to the present or will she have to live the rest of her life in the past?

Genre: Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

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Author Kelli Sue Landon’s Published Titles:
Nightmare At Camp Forrestwood: A Young Adult Whodunit
Short Tales: Eight Thrilling Stories
Stranded In Time
Sudden Moves: A Young Adult Mystery
Summer Shack: A Killer Vacation

Author Kelli Sue Landon’s Website and Related Links:
http://www.kellisuelandon.com
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Kelli-Sue-Landon-Author/128375177223550
http://kellisbookreviews.wordpress.com/