Kalan Chapman Lloyd’s You Can Leave Your Boots On tour

Author Interview

1. At what point did you decide to be an author and what was your path to publication?

I ran out of things to read. I was a junior in college, studying for the LSAT and I got to the end of all my favorite authors and all the classics and I was complaining to my grandmother and she promptly, without much sympathy I might add, told me to write a book. A lot like Ryan to Michael in The Office. I had always written fan fiction in my head while walking down the street, but I’d never put pen to paper (and had almost failed a Creative Writing class the semester before. I believe the word for my work was “tripe.”). I picked my favorite genre (chick lit) and got to work. And then got stuck when I couldn’t make the romance work. My sister suggested I “kill someone” to make it a mystery and I went into my second favorite genre (female sleuths) and it mixed and melded. By the time I was in my first year of law school, I had a book. A really bad book.

 

Self-publishing was a new thing (and not considered all that legitimate) and Amazon had just launched the Amazon Breakthrough Awards. I submitted my book and managed to become a finalist. I got an agent out of the deal, but it didn’t work out and the book got shelved. Several years later, I got enough confidence to hire the right kind of people to help me execute a good product and we relaunched the book and jumpstarted the series.

 

2. What do you do when a new idea jumps out at you while you’re still working on a book? Do you chase the squirrel (aka “UP syndrome”) or do you finish your current project first?

Chase that squirrel! Kind of. In the past, I’ve been terrified that if I didn’t capture an idea or a brilliant collection of words, I would lose them forever. But now that I know the work that writing takes, I’m more comfortable with not perfectly chasing. I try to corral the squirrels and let them know they have a home for the winter. I always capture the ideas but don’t feel compelled to finish it. It’ll be there when I need it.

 

3. Who is your favorite character to write, and why is that person your favorite? If picking a favorite character would be like picking a favorite child, which character seems to be the most demanding or your attention and detail as a writer?

Cash Stetson. Hands down. He’s the one that everyone loves to hate and hates to love. My series is first person and it’s all from my protagonist’s perspective. So I was so excited to get to turn around and write from Cash’s perspective in Loser’s Road.

 

4. Have you been able to incorporate your previous experience in [jobs/education] in your writing?

Absolutely. I am a small town girl turned international legal consultant turned small town lawyer and you literally cannot make this stuff up. Every time I worry I’m going to run out of ideas, my small town says, “here, hold my beer.”

 

5. Do you identify with your main character or did you create a character that is your opposite?

Lilly Atkins is a lot like me. With crappier decisions and better hair. I call her my alter ego. The great thing about writing about a character hell-bent on justice is that you get to right a lot of wrongs literarily, that wouldn’t happen literally.

 

6. Describe the [book/series] in 10 words or less for people who are just learning about it.

Badass friends, sexy men, crazy small town, zany heroine

 

7. What has been the toughest criticism you have received as an author? What has been the best compliment?

You put too much God in your books. You put too many cuss words in your books. Meant as criticisms, but my characters are contradictions and I’ll take them as compliments.

 

8. Share some advice for aspiring authors. What advice would you give to your younger self?

Just write. Write about hard things. Be willing to write crap. All writing can be fixed. No writing cannot.

 

9. What is your favorite line from your book?

“Don’t get therapy, get even.” – These Boots are Made for Butt-Kickin’

 

10. What is your take on book boyfriends? Do they actually exist? Or do they set the bar for “real life men” impossibly high?

Ha! This is the best question. Full disclosure, Susan Elizabeth Phillips is my favorite author, hands down. When I was in college I wrote her a letter asking her if her heroes existed, because I thought I’d found one and wondered if he was in the throes of finding himself and if I should be patient. She actually wrote me back and kindly called me an idiot and said something to the effect of there was no such thing as the guys she created (bad boys who just needed the love of a good woman) and I needed to move on with my life.

About five years later, I was actually engaged to the best guy and he took me to meet her in a Barnes and Noble in a snowstorm and sat through the whole thing (only dude in a mile radius) actually interested. I got the opportunity to tell her that he was better than anything she could have actually created. And tall too!!

Because of that, and because I’m an INFJ and shift between a 3 and a 4 on the Enneagram and I FEEL all the things I’m actually very careful to make my men as human as possible. Some of them have very interesting jobs and are sexy as hell, but I am very careful to make sure readers get that the awesomeness is all in the perspective. I think about my 18 (lets be real, 21) year old self and while it’s not a cautionary tale, I am mindful. I think people are all interesting, and it’s all the details that make us cool, even mundane.

 

 

 

Title: You Can Leave Your Boots On: The Misadventures of Miss Lilly Volume 1

Author: KALAN CHAPMAN LLOYD

 

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