This week, my Gentle Readers, we have Chloe Hammond, author “Darkly Dreaming: Vicious and Quirky Vampire Literature for Grown-Ups (The Darkly Vampire Trilogy Book 1)” As usual we will put  my questions/comments in BLUE and Chloe will be GREEN.

First off, Thank you for stopping by Chloe. I always like to hear what brought an author into the literary world. Is there a specific person that turned you onto reading?
I grew up without a T.V, so books were my best for of entertainment. Despite having a T.V now, reading is still my favourite pastime. Ok, I admit it, I’m addicted!

As far as addictions go, reading is a pretty safe one I guess. What genre or genres are you addicted to?
I love literary fiction, and I read it from all eras and countries.

Literary fiction huh? What made you cross the line from reader to writer?
I always planned to write- life just got in the way. Then I found myself losing my joie de vivre, and I was diagnosed with anxiety and depression. I needed to completely change my life, and I needed to be open about my diagnosis. Usually very self-sufficient, I refused to give the depression the isolation it craves. I feared judgement, but instead discovered gentle compassion and support. I finally made time to write again. Writing soothes and grounds me; exhilarates and stimulates me.

Writing can be very cathartic. I am glad that you found your center through writing. So tell us about your published works.
I’ve only published the one book so far, and I’m busily beavering away at book 2 of that trilogy, but even just with the one book I’ve managed to straddle several genres. Darkly Dreaming seems to appeal most to readers who don’t usually read vampire novels and I’ve taken to describing it as vampire literature, as dark fantasy doesn’t begin to sum up the depth of exploration into my characters.

Finding your niche is definitely a good goal. How did you go from finding your center to published author? 
A couple of years ago I started developing quite acute anxiety symptoms, and part of that was experiencing some vicious nightmares and I also suffered insomnia. Now, I could either crumble, and let them take over my life, or I could take the incredibly vivid scenes I was dreaming, and all the extra time I gained from the insomnia, and write the book I’ve wanted to write since I was seven.
Which is what I did. I soon realised that the dreams could fit together into a story I cared about. And as I hit my stride the story took over, and the writing soothed the anxiety.

Dreams often give us some of our best stories. When you aren’t writing, what do you like to do?
I have just felt well enough to get back to working full time with homeless teenagers again after a year and a half of only an occasional shift while working full time at a wholesalers. I am also a wife, dog bed, and cat slave which also consumes a lot of my time, although I can combine those roles with my passion for a good T.V series like Game Of Thrones, Walking Dead, and Mr Robot.

Sounds like you have a full schedule. Did you have anything else you would like to share with my readers?
I just want readers to understand how important reviews are for authors. As well as the assistance they offer to encourage other readers to take a risk on an unknown writer, and the way every 25 reviews prompts Amazon to increase their promotions of the writer, reviews offer another vital role. I know I am not alone as a writer in having ‘dark nights of the soul’ when we completely doubt our own abilities. When these fears haunt me, what I do is scroll back through my reviews, to reassure myself that people have enjoyed what I’ve done. You may have written your review a year or more ago, and you may only have given a star rating and a sentence or so about how the book made you feel, or what you liked best. I promise you, if you’ve reviewed my book I have read that review a lot more than once. So thank you.

Wonderful sentiments. I agree that reviews are critical. Thank you again for stopping by. For all of you looking to find more information on Chloe, here is a list of websites where you can find her and her book.

Website
Facebook Page
Twitter @Chloehammond111
Goodreads
Facebook – Book Page
Tumblr
Linkedin
Google Plus

Small independent online bookstore Mineeye for non-Kindle users:
http://www.mineeye.co.uk/shop/fiction/darkly-dreaming/

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