Markie was born in Texas, grew up in Michigan and currently lives in Missouri with her family, dogs, and horse. She started her first novel in high school but did not publish until 2012. She hasn't stopped for anything since. When traditional publishing did not pan out for her, she self published Once Upon a Western Way through Smashwords in 2012.
In 2013 she was diagnosed with and survived leukemia. That apparently did not slow her down but rather gave her fodder for another book. In 2014 Markie published My Butterfly Cancer, her cancer memoir, as well as a practical horse care guide, Keeping a Backyard Horse. Then she founded Metamorph Publishing in order to publish her own books. She also works with other independent authors. She is currently working on a paranormal crime series called The Undead Unit Series. Book one, Fang and Claw will be out in 2015.
Here's her answers to my ten questions.
10 Questions with Author Markie Madden
- What made you choose to write in this genre? Well, I’ve written 3 books and they are three different genres. My first book was a novel I began in high school, a young adult romantic fantasy called Once Upon a Western Way. All my friends in school loved it, and I found myself passing sheets of paper all over class because they wanted to keep up with what was happening in the story! I published it in e-format in April 2012. My second book (actually the first one that became offered in print) is called Keeping a Backyard Horse, and it’s a self-help book on horse care that I usually offer as a permafree book or for just .99 cents. I wrote it because I’ve seen many a time where someone’s horse was left starving in their yard or stable, even one with plenty of food, simply because the owner didn’t know that they need periodic medication to rid them of intestinal parasites or that the older horse needs to have their teeth filed down to prevent mouth sores. Or the horse who had horribly overgrown hooves simply due to owner ignorance. I hoped to change that by writing a book that was simple for the average person to read, laid out the necessary steps of horse care with very little complicated jargon, and tips to taking care of a horse on a budget. My third book is My Butterfly Cancer and it tells the story of one year in my life, where I was recently fighting leukemia, a blood cancer. I hope to offer hope and inspiration to those also battling this disease, and help them through this difficult time.
- Who influenced you growing up? As far as writers, if that’s what you’re asking, Walter Farley of The Black Stallion series, Carolyn Keene of Nancy Drew Mysteries, and then later, the authors of the Star Trek series. Yes, I know I’m a nerd! ;)
- When did you know you were a writer? The first time I ever remember writing was in fourth grade. Our teacher would come and draw a squiggle of sorts on our paper, a different one for each student, and the assignment was to finish the squiggle into a drawing and write a story about it.
- What inspires you? Knowing that my husband and my kids are behind my writing 100% is the best inspiration I can think of! But also, my dreams…the ideas for my next four books have come to me as I drifted off to sleep.
- Do you have a process? If so, what is it? I don’t really have a process. I’m one of those writers who can just put fingers to the keyboard and stuff magically comes out. Here lately, though, with my bout with cancer and the resulting chemotherapy, my memory is very poor. I’ve purchased a writing software called Scrivener, and it has a really steep learning curve, but now that I’ve got the hang of it, the software allows me to keep notes in a small window while I’m typing, so I don’t have to remember what character A looks like (or re-read back in chapter 1!). This software will also allow me to take all those notes from this book and take them all over into my next book, which is real handy since I’m working on a series now.
- Beyond children’s picture books, what is the first real book you remember reading? Got to be The Black Stallion. Or one of the Nancy Drew books. I had all of each series, even one of the hard-to-find limited editions of The Island Stallion.
- What is the hardest part of the writing/publishing process for you? Marketing is just the worst. That and editing. I hate editing. I hate editing. It’s a very important step though, and a lot of authors want to zip through it so they can publish. But no matter how much you hate doing it, it takes time.
- What are you currently working on? My next book is the first in a series called The Undead Unit Series. In book one, Fang and Claw, the reader finds a world where vampires, werewolves, zombies, and a number of different supernatural creatures live and work among humans, and are socially accepted, as much as any other minority anyway. Main character Lacey is a detective with the Dallas police department, and she’s also a vampire. She’s been assigned to head a new unit made up of nothing but supernatural beings, a unit charged with solving crimes involving either Undead victims or suspects. She’s been partnered up with main character Colton, a were wolf with anger management issues whose ancestors killed Lacey’s family and left her for dead. Can they put aside their own feelings and solve the crime before their suspect strikes again? Or will the Undead Unit be doomed to failure? ;) Read it and find out.
- Do you have any advice for other writers? Please, PLEASE, never give up. I submitted manuscripts of Once Upon a Western Way to publishers, not even getting a rejection letter in the mail. I also took part of my tax return to hire an agent for a year, and still had no luck (though I’m not sure how reputable or successful he was). I finally learned about self-publishing through Smashwords by seeing other books distributed through them on my first Nook reader app on my phone. Never give up. If there’s not a way for you to manage publication now, just wait. You never know when an opportunity might catch up to you!
- What is one thing you would like your readers to know about you? I’m just a kind of down to earth person who loves to write, and I do my best to help other indie authors like myself. I love my pets like they are my children, and even though cancer nearly took my life in 2013, I’m still here. Guess that makes me a fighter!Find Markie Madden's books at Amazon , ITunes (ebooks), Barnes & Noble, Nook, Create Space, Google Books, Kobo Books, Versent Books and Smashwords. You can look her up on a number of links and at Metamorph Publishing. See her links below.Official Website http://www.metamorphpublishing.com/FaceBook http://www.facebook.com/booksbymarkieLinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/metamorphpublishingSmashWords http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/Naddya819Twitter https://twitter.com/naddya81975
