Interview with Cherie Reich (Once upon a Nightmare Blog Tour)

I am so honored to have the awesome Cherie Reich over. Welcome, Cherie!

 An Interview with Cherie Reich, author of Once upon a Nightmare: A Collection

What is a typical day in your life as an author like?

I wake up and get ready to go to work. I’m a full-time library assistant at a small academic library and also assist with our testing center. As soon as I arrive at work, I do my work-related work first, which usually includes checking testing sites to see if we have new registrations. If we do, then I add these to our calendar. I also respond back to emails and phone messages. Once I finish that work (about 1-2 hours into the work day), I open up my author email and social media sites. I respond to important emails and posts. Then, I start editing or writing something. I answer phone calls and emails as the work day goes on as well as assist any library patrons that need help. Midday, I have lunch and watch some old TV shows on Amazon Prime—lately those are episodes of The X-Files on my 1-hour lunch days or Batman: The Animated Series on my 30-minute lunch days. After lunch, I check what emails have come in both work-related and author-related. I may visit some blogs then as well as some more social media. I may write or edit more or read. A couple hours before I leave work, I check the testing sites again, add new registrations to the calendar, and send out the testing schedule for the next day. Usually toward the end of the day, I try to finish up all emails in my inbox. I rarely have the energy to do author-related work in the evenings. Then, it’s time to go to bed, sleep, and start the next day doing much the same as the day before. A glamorous life, right? *laughs*

How do you balance being an author along with other aspects of your life?

Balancing author-life with everything else can be difficult. Personally, it helps I’m single and childless. I can’t imagine how people work full-time jobs and take care of children, a spouse, and a house/apartment as well as find time to write. For me, the key to coming close to balancing everything is to set goals. I try to keep my monthly goals as much as possible, but it’s also good to be flexible too.

What do you do to relax?

I read and watch TV, often with a cup of hot tea nearby.

What is your ideal comfort food?

Pizza, bread, and pasta. I may be a pescetarian, but deep down, I’m a carbivore. It’s terrible, I know.

Do you have any advice for other aspiring writers?

Read. Read in your chosen genre. Read outside that genre. Read books for research, on writing, for fun. Read, read, read. Writing is very important too, of course. Writing is what writers do, but reading will teach you about the rhythm of words, plot techniques, characters, themes, and so much more.

A monster hunts us. After hibernating for a decade, it’s ravenous. We long to stop this nightmare, but the end of the road is far. There is no waking up once a legend sets its sights on you.

Purchase Once upon a Nightmare: A Collection by Cherie Reich at Amazon. From June 22-28, the collection is only $0.99!

Cherie Reich is a speculative fiction author and library assistant living in Virginia. Visit her website and blog for more information.