Thanks for coming back for week seven of Indie Author Spotlight by The Edifying Word, and welcome to all of you who are newly following me! I’m really loving getting to read so many new indie authors and introduce them to you. I would love it if you would support their writing, and tell your friends about them! My list of authors is growing, so look out for more, and a continued variety of genres. Today I’m talking to Reina Williams, who writes sweet, cozy fiction.
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True to plan, I read one of Reina M. Williams’ books before writing up this post, and it was a fun, enjoyable read. Being “new” to California and living just outside the Bay Area, I selected one of her California Fairy Tales Series, and it was a lot of fun to read a story set in this general area and see how many places I could recognize. Please read on to learn about Reina and her writing!
Your website says, “cozy, sweet reads.” Can you expand for us on what genre you write in?
I write sweet, kisses-only romance, both contemporary and historical. Works in progress also include cozy mystery (historical), historical fiction, and children’s fiction. My hope when I write is to tell sweet, heartwarming, uplifting stories that leave us all with a smile.
Certain Sure definitely left me with a smile, even if I was super frustrated with some of the characters at some points of the story! Where do you get your ideas, and do you outline or plan?
Stories come to me and want to be told, so I write them; I’ve been writing since I was a child, but I only started writing novels in 2009. I don’t plot – I’m definitely a panster, though I wish I could be a better plotter!
How do you fit writing into your life?
Often, I don’t fit writing in. After ten years of indie publishing, it’s become more challenging, especially with the state of the world, my personal life, and my two sons’ challenges as they’ve transitioned to their teen years. As a single mom, I strive to put my sons’ needs first (alongside my own health and well-being), which means writing gets pushed down the priority list often. Writing also, practically, has to come behind more steady paying work, though right now I’m only working as a freelance editor, and homemaker, aside from the business of being a writer. Incorporating tiny habits into my life (like just committing to write for fifteen minutes a day) is something that has kept me writing and works best for me as a working single mother.
Despite the difficulty of fitting it in, you’ve been quite prolific – your Goodreads author page lists 20 books! I assume there are more to come; can you tell us about them?
Books four and five of The Montana Matchmakers, a contemporary sweet romance series, are in progress and will be out this summer. Return to Pemberley, an early-Victorian set Pride and Prejudice/Sense and Sensibility trilogy that follows the children of the characters from those novels, will be out at the end of 2020.
Do you enjoy reading in the same genres you write in? Do you have any favorite books you’d recommend we check out?
I have too many favorites to name! Mostly, I read sweet romance, Christian romance and fiction, gentle fiction, cozy mystery, YA, children’s fiction, and nonfiction. Favorites from 2019 include: Unmarriageable (Kamal), Other Words for Home (Warga), A Hope Divided (Cole), There’s Something About Sweetie (Menon), I Wanna Be Where You Are (Forest), Some Places More Than Others (Watson), Sugar Lake series (KM Jackson), and the Lady Sherlock series (Thomas). Also, my current favorite rereads are Jan Karon’s Mitford series, Miss Read books, and Susan Wittig Albert’s Cottage Tales.
So, where can we get your books?
My books are available on Amazon, Apple, Kobo, Barnes and Noble—most of the ebook retail sites. Some are also available in audio on Audible, and you can request print and ebook copies from your local bookstore or library. I love libraries!
Learn more about Reina M. Williams or buy her books at the links below:
Books 2 Read (all other sites)
Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Pinterest
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Would you like to be featured, too? Please contact me at kristin@theedifyingword.com!
Kristin Houlihan, Writer 