Anouk Beale

Age 41

Ireland

Romelia: WHAT IS THE MOST VALUABLE PIECE OF ADVICE YOU’VE BEEN GIVEN ABOUT WRITING?

Anouk Beale: The funny thing is that I wrote this book based on what I did to improve my health.

Romelia: HOW MANY HOURS A DAY DO YOU WRITE?

Anouk Beale: I come up with ideas throughout the day even in dreams.

Romelia: WHEN YOU ARE WRITING AN EMOTIONAL OR DIFFICULT SCENE, HOW DO SET THE MOOD?

Anouk Beale: I try to feel myself how the character would feel.

Romelia: WHOM DO YOU TRUST FOR OBJECTIVE AND CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM OF YOUR WORK?

Anouk Beale: Either my husband or a writer friend in America.

Romelia: HOW DID YOU BECOME INVOLVED WITH THE SUBJECT OR THEME OF YOUR BOOK?

Anouk Beale: I did research to improve my own health.

Romelia: WHY DID YOU CHOOSE TO WRITE IN YOUR PARTICULAR FIELD OR GENRE? IF YOU WRITE MORE THAN ONE, HOW DO YOU BALANCE THEM?

Anouk Beale: I made notes on the research I did to improve my health. I thought that the information I found could help others, I then combined the notes into a book.

Romelia: WHAT CULTURAL VALUE DO YOU SEE IN WRITING?

Anouk Beale: I think if your open to picking up any new information, yes there is a lot of cultural value in writing.

Romelia: HOW DOES YOUR BOOK RELATE TO YOUR SPIRITUAL PRACTICE OR OTHER LIFE PATH?

Anouk Beale: It helped me to be where I am today.

Romelia: WHAT WERE YOUR GOALS AND INTENTIONS IN THIS BOOK, AND HOW WELL DO YOU FEEL YOU ACHIEVED THEM?

Anouk Beale: My primary goal was to improve my own health, I share my achievements for it to help others.

Romelia: CAN YOU SHARE SOME STORIES ABOUT PEOPLE YOU MET WHILE RESEARCHING THIS BOOK?

Anouk Beale: Being in a wheelchair and not being able to go out I done all my research online at home. In books I read they often spoke  about what to do but never about how their lives while they done it.

Romelia: WHAT ARE SOME OF THE REFERENCES THAT YOU USED WHILE RESEARCHING THIS BOOK?

Anouk Beale: Mostly websites and some books.

Romelia: WHAT DO YOU THINK MOST CHARACTERIZES YOUR WRITING?

Anouk Beale: Easy, simple and fun was to improve your health.

Romelia: WHAT WAS THE HARDEST PART OF WRITING THIS BOOK?

Anouk Beale: Editing it.

Romelia: ARE THERE VOCABULARY WORDS OR CONCEPTS IN YOUR BOOK THAT MAY BE NEW TO READERS? DEFINE SOME OF THOSE.

Anouk Beale: I tried to use simple words that are easy to understand.

Romelia: ARE THERE UNDERREPRESENTED GROUPS OR IDEAS FEATURED IN YOUR BOOK? IF SO, DISCUSS THEM.

Anouk Beale: There are maybe some not known ideas in there like how music can improve your health.

Romelia: ARE THERE MISCONCEPTIONS THAT PEOPLE HAVE ABOUT YOUR BOOK? IF SO, EXPLAIN.

Anouk Beale: I don’t think so. It is filled with simple cost effective ways to improve your health.

Romelia: WHAT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING THAT PEOPLE DON’T KNOW ABOUT YOUR SUBJETC/GENRE, THAT THEY NEED TO KNOW?

Anouk Beale: Exercise and food are big things to improve your health but there are other actions as well.

Romelia: WHAT INSPIRES YOU?

Anouk Beale: Improving a person’s health and lifestyle.

Romelia: HOW DID YOU GET TO BE WHERE YOU ARE IN YOUR LIFE TODAY?

Anouk Beale: Perseverance, resilience and love for life.

Romelia: WHO ARE SOME OF YOUR FAVORITE AUTHORS THAT YOU FEEL WERE INFLUENTIAL IN YOUR WORK? WHAT IMPACT HAVE THEY HAD ON YOUR WRITING?

Anouk Beale: I don’t have one author I like. When I was still able to read, I read a wide variety of stories.

Romelia: WHAT DID YOU FIND MOST USEFUL IN LEARNING TO WRITE? WHAT WAS LEAST USEFUL OR MOST DESTRUCTIVE?

Anouk Beale: I found it most useful to learn about thesaurus and to search for words with the same meaning and fit better in the written scene.

Romelia: ARE YOU A FULL-TIME OR PART-TIME WRITER? HOW DOES THAT AFFECT YOUR WRITING?

Anouk Beale: I am a full-time writer, providing me with the time to focus solely on everything to do with writing.

Romelia: WHAT ARE SOME DAY JOBS THAT YOU HAVE HELD? IF ANY OF THEM IMPACTED YOUR WRITING, SHARE AN EXAMPLE.

Anouk Beale: Due to bad health I could no longer work.

Romelia: HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT EBOOKS VS PRINT BOOKS AND ALTERNATIVE VS CONVENTIONAL PUBLISHING?

Anouk Beale: I think ebooks are the current hype to be taken over by audiobooks. I think print books will be around for ever. What I learned is that a lot of the promotion are done by the author whether you self publish or not. It is difficult to get accepted by a conventional publisher.

Romelia: WHAT DO YOU THINK IS THE FUTURE OF READING/WRITING?

Anouk Beale: I love writing, it gives me energy and I will keep doing it for myself.

Romelia: WHAT MAKES YOUR BOOK STAND OUT FROM THE CROWD?

Anouk Beale: It is filled with not so common ways to improve your health.

Romelia: DO YOU WRITE MORE BY LOGIC OR INTUITION, OR SOME COMBINATION OF THE TWO? SUMMARIZE YOUR WRITING PROCESS.

Anouk Beale: This book was written with a bit of both.

Romelia: WHAT IS YOUR ROLE IN THE WRITING COMMUNITY?

Anouk Beale: Right no I try to be supportive of other writers.

Romelia: WHAT PROJECTS ARE YOU WORKING ON AT THE PRESENT? WHAT DO YOUR PLANS FOR FUTURE PROJECTS INCLUDE?

Anouk Beale: I have planned on publishing the first book in a historical fictional series. I wrote another children’s chapter book that I need to promote, Getting big.

Romelia: describe yourself in a few sentences. Tell us something we do not know about you and something you hate about the world.

Anouk Beale: I am a cheerful person that majority of time looks at the glass being half full. I was diagnosed with two incurable auto immune illnesses at 22. I had three miscarriages before giving birth to two healthy children, I lost my ability to walk and I am losing my eyesight. I still love life and everything in it.