My very first author interview: Aubrie Dionne!

Aubrie Dionne is an author, flutist, and teacher in the New England Region. She uses visually imagery and fairy tales to teach music and make it come alive for her students. Over the years she has combined her two passions: music and story telling.

Her young adult fantasy novel, Dreams of Beauty, is published by SynergEbooks. Her work will be showcased in the fall issues of Niteblade and Silver Blade magazines, Wyvern Publications Dragontales Anthology, and Nightbird Publishing's Night Bird Singing in the Dead of Night Anthology. She currently teaches flute at Plymouth State University and a local community music school.

Hi Aubrie! Nebula’s Music is your first publication with Lyrical Press? How does it compare to your other publications?

Nebula's Music is my first venture into science fiction! I love writing fantasy, but I also love science fiction and I wanted to branch out and challenge myself as a writer.

I always like a challenge!!

Describe the feeling you had when you first got “the call” or “the email” for your first publication.

It was an email, and I didn't believe it. I had to read it three or four times and then get my husband to read it as well. Then, I thought it was fraud or spam and checked out the company to make sure they were legit! I'm still waiting for that agent call, and I query every book length novel I write for a chance.

LOL! I pretty much did the same thing when I got that email...just stared at it for a while! And I too am still hoping to snag a fab agent one day!

What was your inspiration for writing Nebula’s Music?

The character Data from Star Trek The Next Generation. I watched Star Trek growing up at 7pm and 7:30pm every night. Data was my favorite character (and my crush as well, but we'll get to that later) There was one scene where he plays the violin perfectly and I wondered if his playing would have any emotion in it and also marveled at the fact that he can take up an instrument and play it perfectly in minutes compared to a human that has to spend a lifetime perfecting their skills.

My character, Nebula, is made from human parts, and experiences human memories. She's more human than Data, but still primarily a cyborg.

Very interesting!

Did you always want to be an author? What started the desire?

My day job is teaching flute lessons. I work at a Community Music School and a University. I make up stories to go along with the music to make my students play more emotionally and bring the music to life. A few of my students said I should publish these stories, and here I am today!

Amazing how one little spark can put the idea in your head!

What do you hope to accomplish with your writing?

I'd love to get an agent and get widespread distribution of my books. The next full length novel that I'm writing is another chance at that, and so I'm taking my time trying to make every sentence perfect. It's about space pirates and a colony vessel traveling to a paradise planet three hundred years away. It's by far the most original writing I've ever attempted and if anything breaks into the agent circle, this one will!

What an awesome feeling! I wish you the best of luck!!

What are your thoughts about digital publishing? Do you own a DBR (Digital Book Reader)? Which one? And do you like it?

I love my Sony E reader! When I went on a trip I took it with me on the plane. Plane rides are so boring for me and I get really antsy in my seat. This time I had 300 books at my fingertips, and it flew (excuse my pun!) by in no time. When I got bored reading one book, I scrolled to another. I still like having real books at home, but I love the idea of being able to take them with me where ever I go.

I have a Sony Reader too and I really love it! Haven't used it on a plane yet...but I will be next month!

I will soon be celebrating the release of my first novel-length publication and to me, that calls for a party! Did you do anything special to celebrate your first novel?

I got a website! The whole journey seemed more real to me and I realized that I needed to promote the book on my end. Having a website makes it that much more professional!

Congrats! I checked it out....very very cool!

What is your best advice for aspiring authors?

Keep writing and find some critique partners to look at your work. My writing greatly improved after I had other people pick through it and smooth it over. Also, you may need to write three or four books before you write that "Breakthrough Novel" and that's okay. It took Stephen King multiple tries, and if it took that long for him, it may take even longer for me.

I agree 100% Just keep writing...the more you write, the better you get!

And just for something fun, it is well known that I am a HUGE New Kids on the Block Fan! Did you have any teen celebrity crushes when you were growing up? Spill!

Oh my goodness, I was a hormonal teen. I loved The cabin boy on TNT's Treasure Island, who grew up to be the very handsome Christian Bale. He's my all time crush. I had signed pictures in my room and wrote to his fan club. I must have watched that silly pirate movie thousands of times. And, of course, Data from Star Trek was another strange crush of mine. I also liked Jesse from Full House (John Stamos). And get this: when I was really young I liked Smendrick the magician from The Last Unicorn. He was my first crush ever.

LOL! I so love hearing about celebrity crushes!!

Thank you so much Aubrie...I truly enjoyed this interview!!! Bloggers out there, please take a look at Aubrie's site: www.authoraubrie.com, very cool! And check out her blog: authoraubrie. Nebula's Music released last week- buy it at the Lyrical Press website or on Amazon.

And don't forget...only one more day to enter for a chance to win one of three Chicken Soup for the Soul book giveaways!! Click here to enter!