#ElizabethGilliland

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Special Guest - Elizabeth Gilliland - Author of The Portraits of Pemberley (Austen University Mysteries) #AuthorInterview #Giveaway - Great Escapes Book Tour

The Portraits of Pemberley (Austen University Mysteries) by Elizabeth Gilliland

  I am so happy to welcome Elizabeth Gilliland to Escape With Dollycas today!

Writer Elizabeth Gilliland was photographed in Mobile, Alabama. Hi Elizabeth, Tell us a little bit about yourself. Hi! I’m Elizabeth, a teacher, Dr., mom, and writer. I grew up reading and loving many different kinds of books, but mysteries have always held a special place in my heart. I remember going to the local library and checking out every mystery book I could find and being excited whenever I guessed whodunnit before the ending. (I still feel that way, come to think of it!) What are three things most people don’t know about you? 1 - I won my first writing contest in the 4th grade (prize was a trip to McDonald’s with the teacher). The book was a fanfiction of Star Wars combined with Star Trek. 2- I grew up in a rural area and had a lot of random pets, including chickens, ducks, rabbits, goats, dogs, cats, snakes, and a hamster. 3 - The fastest I was ever clocked in a typing test was an average 90 words per minute, which came in handy when I briefly worked as a transcriber for a closed captioning company. What books/authors have most inspired you? I really love the classics and felt like they shaped me a lot as a reader growing up - my favorites included L.M. Montgomery, Louisa May Alcott, Agatha Christie, and of course, Jane Austen. More contemporary writers that I love come from all different genres and backgrounds, but some of my current favorites include Tana French, Peter Swanson, E. Lockhart, Mhairi McFarlane, Grady Hendrix, Emily Henry, and Sally Thorne.

What kind of research do you do, and how long do you spend researching before beginning a book? I think I’m kind of weird in that I usually wait to do heavy research until after I’ve written the book. If it’s something small that I can answer in a quick Google search, I might do it while I’m writing, but otherwise, I try to serve the story first and just keep track of questions that I have as I write to go back to later. For example, this book I researched a few things that I can’t reveal without spoiling too much, and one thing that didn’t make it much into the final version of the book (stuff about Title IX). Do you ever suffer from Writer’s Block? I don’t really have writer’s block where I can’t think of anything to write. My problem is more “writer’s distraction,” where I have about half a dozen ideas always fighting for my attention and I have to really work to stay focused on one thing at a time. What advice do you have for someone who would like to become a published writer? Writing is a really weird combination of being both incredibly confident in your abilities but also being willing to be open to feedback and criticism. You have to be malleable enough to listen to the feedback that will help you get better but also shut out all the intrusive, negative thoughts that no one will like your work, you’re a terrible writer, you’ll never be as good as ____ (fill in the blank). It’s a really strange tightrope walk of being your own biggest cheerleader and also the person most aware of where you need help/improvement. When you are not writing what do you like to do? Sleep. (Ha!) I have a four-year-old and I’m a teacher, so there’s not a lot of time outside of those things beyond writing, but I do like to read for fun, go to the beach, ride my EasyRoller, watch good TV, watch some bad TV for fun, and spend time with my family. If you could travel anywhere in the world where would you go and why? There are a lot of places I’d like to travel, but in the last few years, I’ve really wanted to go to Iceland. I’d love to see the Northern Lights and just just experience a totally different culture than anything else I’ve encountered. What is next on the horizon for you? In addition to writing my own books, I’m also an editor for Bayou Wolf Press, and we have a great title coming out in October - Foxfire by Rowan Hill! Other than that, I’ll be working on the next Austen University novel and will also be diving into romance writing in 2024 with a title out through SmartyPants Romance under the pen name Lissa Sharpe.

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