Allison Williford is a Women’s Fiction author, blogger, and all around nerd. She is the owner and operator of The Sentranced Writer, a blog dedicated to helping other writers.

Welcome Allison and thank you for joining us for 10Q’s. I’ll jump right in…

If you had a choice to live anywhere in the world where would it be and why?

Madrid, Spain. I hear it’s beautiful there. Spanish is my second language (not totally fluent like I am with English, but enough). Somewhere in Italy would be a second choice. I’m half Italian from my dad’s side (Irish on my mom’s side). Italy is somewhere that he and I have always wanted to visit together, just the two of us. Plus, it’d be a good opportunity to learn a third language. For now, though, I’ll settle for living at the beach!

What is your writing process?

In the early stages of a WIP, it tends to be all over the map. I’m a “pantser” in the beginning of a work. I’ll usually start with writing out whatever scenes pop into my head until I start forming a rough idea to actually start working on a novel. Then, once I actually have enough I can start molding into a storyline, I work up a loose outline and take it from there, adding in or moving around scenes as needed.

Describe your journey as an author so far.

I first got into writing when I was in seventh grade. I wrote a shorty story for our school’s literary magazine put out by students. Then I wrote a ton of bad fan-fiction when I was in high school, but I enjoyed it. I got away from writing when I was college, during which I was going through a rough time with bad manic episodes that involved a lot of drinking. After I got my proper diagnosis, got stable, and got a few years of sobriety under my belt, I started getting back into writing during NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) 2012. I wrote my first novel-length story during a NaNo, but for now, that one is locked up in the metaphorical vault of my flash drive. Within a year, I was in the very early, baby stages of Waiting for You. And now, here we are!

How do you stay motivated?

One of my ways for staying motivated is by reading good books. Sometimes I have to step away from a WIP if I start getting frustrated, and I’ll read. Reading good writing helps me get back on track.

I’m also a Municipal Liaison for NaNoWriMo and a member of Rave Reviews Book Club. Both have helped me connect with some amazingly talented writers, and just connecting with other writers helps keep me motivated.

What has been your biggest obstacle while writing and how have you overcome it?

I’m extremely self-critical (but I think most writers are) of my own writing.   It’s hard to turn that off when I’m working on a first draft. It’s also nerve-wracking to let people I’m close to read my work. It’s pretty much on the same level of just stripping down to your birthday suit in a crowded room and yelling, “Hey! Look at me!” (Disclaimer: I have never actually done this, but that’s how I imagine it feels.)

The best way I’ve found to overcome my insecurities to actually put my work out there.

I even let my husband read my work! That was weird. I’ve had friends and coworkers who actually want to read my work. But it helps to get feedback. There have been parts of my work that I thought were absolute crap, but found that a lot of people liked it. On the flip side, there have also been things that I’ve thought weren’t so bad, but other people thought wasn’t so good.

Why did you write this book?

When I set out to write Waiting for You, the only thing I knew was that I wanted to convey human emotion. I knew I wanted the story to be character driven. So much of life is determined by how we, as humans, react to things that happen to us.

I cycled through a bunch of different ideas for the plot itself. At one point, I thought about making it about depression At the time, though, that hit too close to home with my own illness. It would have been too hard for me to not make Kylie a replica of myself.

I also knew that I wanted my characters to feel very real. I hope readers are able to identify with Kylie and Adam on a personal level.

What do you hope readers would take away from this book?

There are a few things I hope people can take away from Waiting for You. The most important, I think, is that you can’t let the past haunt you. At some point in our lives, we will all go through difficult times. There will be hard choices we have to make. We will all lose someone or something important to us, and it will hurt. But we can’t allow our scars it to dictate our lives and hold us back.

Another is that you’ll never know what you’re capable of unless you try. Yes, you might fail. You might stumble and fall. But you might succeed. You might win. You won’t know unless you try.

How long did it take you to write this book?

Once I had a loose outline and a fairly firm idea of the overall story, it took me about a year and a half. That includes my endless rounds of editing and tweaking, and working with an editor and beta readers. I had been hospitalized twice during that time, but even in the hospital, I had a notebook with me and would write by hand. The very first scene of Chapter Four, “No, Mom, I know who Yo-Yo Ma is”, was written entirely while I was inpatient.

What’s next for you?

I’m currently bouncing back and forth between two WIPs, both of which are extremely rough right now. One is a sequel to Waiting for You, a few years later. At the moment, it focuses on Cat. The other is a memoir of my life with bipolar disorder and how I came to be an ECT patient, and how I’ve learned to live well with my illness.

What genres do you read?

A variety of genres, actually – YA, Dystopian, and Mystery are what I read most. I do read contemporary Women’s Fiction and Romance. The only genres I really don’t read are action/blow-‘em-up type stories and erotica.

About Allison 

Originally from upstate New York, Allison now lives in coastal North Carolina with her husband and their dog, Wilson. In addition to writing, Allison is a mental illness awareness and suicide prevention advocate.

When not glued to her writing or with her nose in a book, Allison enjoys free time at the beach, boogie boarding, copious amounts of coffee, romps in the yard with her dog, and also saying hello to every dog she meets.

Connect with Allison: Website.

Title: Waiting for You by Allison Williford
Genre: Women’s Fiction

Synopsis

This day would always be burned into her memory, an ugly brand leaving its scar. 

Losing a loved one to death will always leave a gaping hole in our hearts — something 23-year-old Kylie Lewis knows all too well. But do we allow it to destroy us, leaving us terrified of ever loving again? Or do we force ourselves to pick up the pieces of our shattered hearts and continue with our lives?

Kylie’s quiet, rote life — working as a columnist at the Charleston Herald, hanging out with her best friend, Cat, and downtime with her mother — is soon turned upside down. Cat drags her to a concert, where she meets Adam Bell, an aspiring musician with a history of his own loss. Shortly after, her mother receives a devastating diagnosis of terminal breast cancer.

Stricken with the fear of her inevitable loss, Kylie struggles with her budding relationship with Adam. But with the help of Adam’s empathy, can she learn to grieve her mother without shutting out the world, as she once did after her father’s death? Can she learn to love in spite of her losses?

Waiting for You is a story of loss, grief, and love.

Purchase Waiting for You on Amazon.

Click to read an excerpt of Waiting for You.