Guest Post: Coey Cain

One of my new best friends on Facebook - go ahead, ask her about the cannon on her property... I dare ya! - I'd like to introduce Coey Cain. Completely raw and real, Coey is an astonishingly wonderful woman and a really great writer. I hope you check her out - I know I did, and I LOVE LOVE LOVE her!

What are your greatest challenges in your writing career? 

Without a doubt, it's staying focused. I love being a writer, I always have. It gives me something to do with these images playing in my head. However, not all the images are from the same "movie," so to speak. I'll see a 'scene' that I can't get out of my head, but it's not for the show I'm writing. To make a long story short, I always feel like I've got a dozen movies playing at the same time.

When did you find out that you wanted to be a writer? What inspired you to put pen to paper?

I think it all boils down to having a God complex from an early age. I always wanted things to go my way and play out how I wanted it to, no matter how impossible or unlikely.

Of your published works, do you have a favorite? Why?

Well, currently, I only have one published book out there. I decided I was going to be a published author late in the game. I do have a favorite, and I'm sorry to say it's long gone. Lost forever. I consider it the unicorn of everything I've ever written. Unfortunately, I can't recreate it. I'm in a different place in life now, and I'm not the person I was. It reminds me of a Tenacious D jingle called 'Tribute'. It was the greatest book in the world... and I can't remember how it goes. lol.

What are your biggest pet peeves for other people's grammar? Are there any mistakes that you find yourself making regularly?

I'm irritated by Grammar Nazis. My grammar is decent enough, but I roll my eyes when I see folks correcting others, ad nauseum. I don't appreciate it when published authors don't know the spelling of 'simple' words. I see the same misspelling of the same word from them, time after time, and it's clear they don't have spell check or the inkling to try harder. I have all kinds of problems, that I'm well aware of, and it makes me crazy. Neighbor always comes out as 'neightbor' or 'neightborhood'. I have these redundant mistakes programmed in my autocorrect. My fingers really want that T in there. I'm guilty of accidentally switching your and you're. I always notice it, but it's too late to fix at times. Oh, and 'affect' and 'effect' make me insane. I never know which one is correct. Same as 'who' and 'whom'. Now everyone knows. lol.

Do you ever want to go back and edit an older story?

I'll edit myself until there's no story left, if given enough time.

How do you decide on character names?

I'm obsessed with names. Positively obsessed. I have thousands of them at my fingertips and I will spend weeks deciding on the main characters' final names. It has to be unique without being overused, (to my knowledge, anyway.) and it needs to fit the character and flow. At the same time, there are certain names I can't get away from, that happen to be overused. I try to reserve those names for secondary characters.

What's the worst thing that ever happened to you that you've incorporated into a story?

The worst thing that's ever happened to me is not in any of my stories. I have no interest in writing that down. (Yet.) I can tell you something about myself I incorporate that people might consider bad, and that's my gypsy nature. Most of the time, I'm writing about a woman in a new place, starting over in life or moving to another city or town. Fact of the matter is, that's all I know. I'm not running from anything, that's not what it's about. It's that I love being free. There's no greater feeling to me than that of having the freedom to pick up and go, whenever I damn well please. Now, don't get me wrong, I have a family out there who's going to read this and think, "What the hell do you mean, that's all you know?!" Because we never moved when I was being raised. To this very day, my mother lives in the house I was born and raised in, and I absolutely cherish the fact that, even at my age, I can still go home. I've tried to settle down somewhere, and it works for a while, but that urge to find a new place grows increasingly more powerful and I just have to GO.

How much of your life and the people you know end up in your work?

Without crucifying myself... a ton. But...

It's hard to say. I have a lot of experience in certain scenarios, which helps profusely in enriching the scene. However, when I start a novel with a new cast of charters, I have to get to know them as brand new people. My characters aren't going to respond the way I would, all of the time. They're unique and unlike me in many ways. There's a few select people in my life that always seem to show up, somehow or another, in all of my books. I pull from their personalities, reactions, their history, and their presence. I take traits from a plethora of people to create the character I need.

What projects are you currently working on? 

The cat's out of the bag, so I might as well. Aside from the work I write under a different name, I am working on The Elite II. A lot of people are waiting for that. I might disappear for a while to get that done. Right now, my main focus is on my current female assassin novel. Now watch as everyone jumps on that idea like stink on... never mind. lol. Luckily for me, I have my own special perspective on what a badass female is like, and you'll see for yourself when the time comes. There's a few real-life folks I'm ready to kill, been ready to kill, and she's the gal who's going to carry out the deed for me. Too bad it's fiction. Praise fiction.

What's your writing routine?

I have no routine, whatsoever. I'd give anything for some discipline, but as I've said a hundred times, I have a strong will and a weak won't. There's temptation and distractions around every corner and I never know where I'm going to get my next story. I could go on a writing hiatus tomorrow in order to add something to my bag of life experience.

Is there a character or story that's stuck in your head and won't leave, from either your work or someone else's?

I wonder if Writer's Schizophrenia is a thing. I have characters, like Joelie Baudelaire, who seem like real people to me at times. Perhaps it's because I've been telling her story for so long now, but scenes from her life are playing in my head quite a bit.

Talk to us about your domestic life; a favorite recipe, craft, your pets, children, house, or favorite set of socks.

Okay, haha. I live in a far-off place, in the middle of nowhere, on fifteen acres of land. I'm surrounded by woods, which is great for privacy, and...  ~dun dun dun~ I have twelve dogs. ::hysterical laughter:: Nope, I'm not some crazy dog lady. It started with having two females, one wasn't fixed, and she got herself in a "family way" with a neighbor dog. (See how I didn't write neightbor?) Anyway, here's where the 'crazy' comes in... I don't believe anyone should take a mother's children away from her. Plain and simple. Those who do, without valid reason or proof that the child is in danger, can burn in hell for the rest of eternity... and likely will. :) ::bows and winks:: I do enjoy being home nowadays. That hasn't always the case with me. Nor has it ever been the case with me before. I have a coffee addiction, love the stuff, and I do things like, "Going to town." Until I moved here, I never understood the saying.

Tell us three things about you that are interesting.

Depends on what you find interesting, frankly. Here we go...

1. I have been precision driving and racing cars since I learned how to drive, and that was before I had a license. I am an excellent driver, it's not just something I say because I want to believe it. To this day, I've never been driving the car in a real accident. (Now, everyone, please knock on wood for me.) If you knew the crazy things I've done behind the wheel of a car, you would know the real meaning behind that fact.

2. In 2004 I was hired on at a major national trucking company, as a truck driver.

3. I am trained in the skill of pole dancing. ;)

So, let's hear it for Coey... be sure to check her and her wonderful book out.

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