Do you have any hints or tips that you have found in marketing?
Ah, marketing. For me, it's the most difficult part because it involves presenting the work in a way which taps
into the market and that requires
some modification of identity in many cases. The simple answer is that I don 稚 do much. I would love for my work to be successful, but it is not as important to me as it is to be my authentic self. Luckily my authentic self-needs to write, and write a lot because it's therapeutic for me. So I have a pretty sizeable following on my blog which accounts for a great deal. And I also connect with others like yourself, where I can speak honestly as myself. I have the regular social media accounts facebook pages and twitter but I have to use these in moderation because they can serve as escapism and denial from my reality. I'll never make that mistake again. What was your most amazing moment in writing your book?
I wrote the 'top story' about the holiday in Barbados when I was twenty-six just for a laugh because the company I was working in was going bankrupt and I had a lot of time on my hands. But the back story of the abusive relationship was written in as flashbacks later and it was when I wrote that part around fifteen years later, that I only fully realised how abusive my situation really had been. Such a revelation.
If your novel was to be made into a movie which actor would you like to play the leading role?I am a stickler for non- appropriative representation.
The actress that should play me would need to have experienced trauma first hand. And there are many of them! Charlize Theron, for example, has trauma in her past and so many more. It's important to me that this pain is respectfully and authentically treated. No one who hasn't been through it, in my opinion, would be able to portray it accurately.
I read so many books by authors who use abuse and trauma as convenient plot points is if they know the complexities they entail! That pisses me off. I can usually tell if an author has been through what I have been through and when they are lying.
You can find Louisa on Facebook: louisaleontiadeswriter On Twitter: asklouloria and her website:
louisaleontiades.com Her books are available on
Amazon.com
PHF Magazine January 2017 5
Is there a sequel forthcoming or any new book in the works?
Yes, several! As already mentioned, the immediate sequel is called 'World in Us' and the third in the series is 'Necessary to Life'
The one sitting with the editor right now is what they call a 'macroquel' It starts before Some Never Awaken
and finishes after Necessary to
Life. It's called The Deforming Mirror - A memoir of lost identity and found intimacy. A fifth, named 'A Kind of Death' is still being written and my publishers are waiting for it. I値l leave it to you to find the relevant quotes from Anais Nin!
Do you have an inspirational, motivating, or funny anecdote you would like to share?
I wrote a note to myself on my blog recently and printed it to stick on my office wall. This is it. At your wit's end, is an expression your mother used. You've copied it and used it. But you were never aware of what it meant until now. To be at the end of your mental and emotional limits, to be over them. Because you've found that there is an infinite and painful abyss beyond your limits. It's that time you start sinking, drowning. It's when your power starts to drain.
It's when it's too late
to stop it. Your limits are otherwise known as your boundaries, they're what you use to protect your power, to govern it responsibly. They're what allows you to interact healthily with others. And if you cross them, everyone suffers.
You have a tendency to rush to the rescue for some obscure desire to feel better about yourself. That's not great, but it's okay if you also remember you need to keep your reserves for yourself. They are there for you. Note to self: Support others but never forget that you also need support.
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