What
is your name, where were you born and where do you live now?
My name is Dallas Louis and I was born and raised in Austin,
Texas but now live in Houston, Texas...so between my name and the cities I’ve lived
in--I’ve got the major Texas metro-plexes covered! Please feel free to insert your own joke here
_____!
Do
you work another job as well as your writing work?
Besides chasing three kids, two dogs and trying to locate my
country-traveling husband?? Yes, I do.
I’m a speaker. I travel across
Texas and the country, speaking to Women’s groups and mom’s groups, and various
churches...leading their retreats and “keynoting” (is that even a word?) for
luncheons and ladies’ nights out.
What
can we expect from you in the future? ie More books of the same genre?
Books of a different genre?
I’ve been asked to write another Mommy Diaries: The Next
Generation for the middle school years, then high school, etc. I’ve got another volume of my first book
Girlfriends, Giggles & God ready to go, I just haven’t shopped it out to
any Houses yet. But, I really would like
to try my hand at fiction for the next go ‘round.
Do
you have plans for a new book? Is this book part of a series?
As a matter of fact, I am
working on a new book as we speak. This
one is unlike anything I’ve ever written about: it has suspense, intrigue,
mystery--maybe even murder...The pieces are slowly (painstakingly slowly)
falling into place. The ending is more
clear than the middle, and it’s a cliffhanger which leaves it wide open for a
sequel.
Where
do you get your book plot ideas from? What/Who is your inspiration?
My inspiration comes from a variety of different
places. For instance, for The Mommy
Diaries, the inspiration was quite obviously my family. Everything in that book came from real life,
hand-on experience. I needed very little
creative license to make the book flow.
The characters jumped off the pages all by themselves...and in some
cases, those actions were literal! See chapter
two: last paragraph, my daughter’s impressive swan dive!
Have
you ever based characters on people you know or based events on things that
have happened to you?
For my new project, the whole thing is based off of a
weekend retreat I went on, but didn’t particularly enjoy. However, my
real-life experience was nothing
compared to what my main character goes through! In other words, with my new project I use
liberal amounts of creative license to make my point.
Do
you have a certain routine you have for writing? ie You listen to music, sit in
a certain chair?
I love this question!
I am such a creature of habit that you could set your watch by my
routines! My husband and I just remodeled our house. We moved my office from the second story,
down to the first. Before the renovation
project, I spent very little time in my office--afterwards, it is my
sanctuary! I absolutely LOVE it! I have my desk, my cushy chair, and my fuzzy
rug...of course in order for me to stretch out on the rug, I have to move the
dogs! Because my house often plays host
to not only my kids, but half the neighborhood as well, my iPhone is my
BFF. I put in my earbuds and listen to
it rain...unless I’m writing something particularly creepy, then I listen to
the wind howl.
Have
you ever suffered from a "writer's block"? What did you do to get
past the "block"?
Writer’s block irritates me.
I once attended a writer’s conference, and the man leading one of my
sessions told us there was no such thing as writer’s block. I begged to differ. Staring at an empty computer screen is
horrifying. His answer to writer’s block
was three nouns, three adjectives, and two verbs. We shouted them at random, then he wrote them
on the board. We were given about five
minutes to construct a short story. It
was weird, but it worked. Now, I ask
each of my kids for one noun, adjective and verb each. That is enough to get my creative juices
flowing. They maybe flowing uphill, but
at least they are moving!
Where
can readers follow you?
Your
blog details? www.dallaslouis.com
Blog is in the upper left hand corner for now.
Redesign almost complete.
Your
web site ? www.dallaslouis.com
Both books are available through the website
Your
Twitter details? @DallasLouis
And
any other information you wish to supply? I
have an Amazon.com author page
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