On networking as an author
Episode 13
Interview with Savy
Leiser
Moving from Antwerp to
London is difficult. A lot of you will call me crazy and tell me that I’m
wrong, but I will miss the beautiful city by the river Schelde, with its misfit
cathedral, hundreds of the world’s most awesome classical Flemish paintings and
my favourite Museum, Plantin Moretus. It’s weird to pack the last 5 years in
cardboard boxes, throw out 80% of your shoes and give away all your books because
you simply can’t take them… But I’m following my heart and the love of my life
so I guess it will all be okay in the end…
Yes, I know! I sound
like some young adult character nagging about her first world problems… And no,
I don’t want to look down on Young Adult at all. Young adult is my favourite
genre and one day I even hope to write a novel in that genre. Today I’m talking
to Savy Leiser, a 23 year old writer living in Chicago. She graduated from North
Western University in 2015 and released her book The Making Of A Small Town
Beauty King in February 2016. The
book is a contemporary young-adult comedy about a boy who wants to win a beauty
pageant, a girl who wants to destroy the pageant, and a small town that gets
turned upside down.
Savy talks about going to events and how to network as a writer. Not
everyone is cut out for networking. It can be scary and even overwhelming to
step into a venue or hall, all by yourself with the sole purpose of making
contact with other writers, with editors, agents and publishers. Savy explains
how she overcomes this fear and how she uses the networks to her benefit like
getting a signing in a book shop.
As you may know, I’m not the kind of person to sit still. Even though I
crawl into bed every night, have 70+ emails to answer and am stressed about not
getting the deadlines for my podcast, I can never fully relax. During the time
I was in “no signal land” AKA “ The in-laws”, I tried to make a book that can
help all of you with building your characters and giving them the depth they
need and deserve. I just published this new book called 100 questions to ask
your main character. If you would like to get a PDF copy for free, you can always