@ ShelleyDavidow on Her New Book 'Lights Over Emerald Creek' #YA #SciFi #GoodReads

How do you write – lap top, pen, paper, in bed, at a desk?

I write on my laptop or in my journal. I don’t have a private writer’s attic. I do things in the midst of life, in the gaps between supper and my late-night snack, in the afternoon while waiting for the washing to dry and I often write instead of watching TV, checking Facebook or taking a nap.

Where do you get support from? Do you have friends in the industry?

My biggest support is my husband, dearest friend and sharpest critic, Paul Williams (www.paul-a-williams.com). I trust his deep sense of what works and what doesn’t, and I return the favour whenever he asks.

How much sleep do you need to be your best?

I need 8 hours. I often don’t get more than 6 : (

Every writer has their own idea of what a successful career in writing is, what does success in writing look like to you?

Success to me would mean I could live off my writing and teach simply because I love it. I’m not quite there yet!

Tell us about your new book? What’s it about and why did you write it?

Lights Over Emerald Creek is a speculative fiction novel for young adults. Lucy Wright, sixteen and a paraplegic after a recent car accident that took her mother's life, lives in Queensland on a 10,000 acre farm with her father. When Lucy investigates strange lights over the creek at the bottom of the property, she discovers a mystery that links the lights to the science of cymatics to Scotland’s ancient Rosslyn Chapel. The book was inspired by some real people, notably a paraplegic pilot and a young cellist, as well as some unexplained real-life events like the phenomena of the Hessdalen Lights in Norway, and the hexagonal storm on Saturn. I wrote the book because I thought one of the most exciting things one can do with unexplained phenomena, is NOT to try to explain them, but to create the story that might be…the story that inspires and pushes the reader to exciting places.

When you are not writing, how do you like to relax?

I relax by walking on the beach, or jogging or climbing or swimming. Being out in nature is the most rejuvenating thing for me.

Do you have any tips on how writers can relax?

Writing is such a heady and lonely thing to do. I think being active and being with people you love is the best way to relax.

How often do you write? And when do you write?

I write whenever I can, as often as I can. Sometimes that’s every day, and sometimes weeks go by and I don’t write. When I have a deadline, I work every spare moment. When I finish a book, I try to take a break before embarking on a new project.

Do you have an organized process or tips for writing well? Do you have a writing schedule?

I believe to write well, you have to do it a lot. How that happens is unique to each individual, but like any skill, many thousands of words have to be written before a few emerge as gems. To write well, do it often.

Sometimes it’s so hard to keep at it - What keeps you going?

If I stop writing, or don’t write for a while, eventually a story or a character just ‘arrives’ and demands to be written. I can’t NOT write, so I guess that keeps me going.

Have you met any people in the industry who have really helped you?

I had a wonderful writers group in Oregon when I lived there, made up of some very prolific authors whom I deeply respected. They taught me how to pare things down to what was essential, and how to work slowly and carefully. We worked on poetry and that helped me become a better fiction writer.

Lucy Wright, sixteen and a paraplegic after a recent car accident that took her mother's life, lives in Queensland on a 10,000 acre farm with her father. When Lucy investigates strange lights over the creek at the bottom of the property, she discovers a mystery that links the lights to the science of cymatics and Scotland’s ancient Rosslyn Chapel.

But beyond the chapel is an even larger mystery. One that links the music the chapel contains to Norway’s mysterious Hessdalen lights, and beyond that to Saturn and to the stars. Lucy’s discoveries catapult her into a parallel universe connected to our own by means of resonance and sound, where a newly emerging world trembles on the edge of disaster. As realities divide, her mission in this new world is revealed and she finds herself part of a love story that will span the galaxy.