WRITER WEEK-FEATURED PATRIA DUNN-ROWE

Patria Dunn Rowe, author of The Gifts Vol 1 gave me the pleasure of an interview with her. I'm currently reading her book and will have a review up later this week.
SHE HAS GENEROUSLY DONATED HER BOOK FOR GIVEAWAY TO ALL COMMENTERS. SO COMMENT AWAY AND PLEASE GIVE ME A FOLLOW IF YOU HAVEN'T ALREADY:)

The Gifts Facebook Page


Read Now - http://bit.ly/l1eyHo  -For FREE! (first 5 chapters)


Excerpt from The Gifts: Trilogy books:
Prologue: The Color
Binding, however it may be, it is now a part of what makes me who I am. Yesterday's secret is today's
way of life, and I've come to the conclusion, that existing is simply impossible without it. Close your eyes
for an instant and imagine the way it feels to have that first fallen rain drop settle on your skin. So little a
change, it could be that it never even happened, but if you concentrate hard enough you'll feel it. Pores
expanding to accommodate the added moisture, temperature cooling for a millisecond in response to this foreign thing that has made itself a part of you. It sinks and disperses, adding itself in pieces to the unseen layers of what protects your inner self.  In this one instance, everything that you do in the next millisecond following is controlled by it. Without ever noticing, your veins have contracted to accommodate the flex of your muscles response to the nerve signals your brain has ignited in an effort to tell your arm, to tell your hand, to tell your fingers, to lift and wipe away the offending source of intrusion. It is in this one touch that change is created. This, is how best to imagine my color…involuntary, but welcomed.

First let me just introduce myself: 


My name is Patria Dunn-Rowe (author of The Gifts:Trilogy) and I'm super excited to be doing my second first author interview with Heather Powers! I’m a 29 year old mother of three children (ages 4, 5, & 7) from Louisa, Virginia. Writing, while it is my passion, and will hopefully be my full time career one day, is only a side hobby at this time. During the day I am a full time financial editor for Standard & Poor’s, in the afternoons I am a full time mom, friend, playmate, and mentor to my three beautiful children, and finally, once they are in bed (whatever time that may be- LOL-) I am a full blown full time writer!


My interest range from classic to unimaginable, and everyday I find that I've begun to live within my imagination instead of it within me. Reality is  becoming what I dream it to be and it’s amazing how liberating that is after finally admitting to myself that I was meant to be a writer. Now, while The Gifts: Trilogy is my first work, it certainly won’t be my last. Now that I’ve finally found my innerself, I’m never letting go! Other things many people don’t know about me is that I am also a Pianist, & Poet. I never look at my accomplishments as being my best because I always feel like the best is yet to come.


Do you listen to music when you write? And if you do what would be on your playlist?  


I don’t listen to music when I write. I like the house to be totally quiet when possible. Being a mother of three small children (ages 4,5 &7) that’s almost impossible in my little world. If I didn’t have a full time job, and had the luxury of just being a full time writer, then I would probably have music playing in the background sometimes. I love all genre’s of music, so if you were to check out my Ipod or any of my playlist, one minute you might be listening to R&B, the next country, soul, alternative, rock...whatever. I love music!


What do you do before you sit down to write? How do you get into the zone?? 


I’m always in the zone to write. I wake up writing in my head. When I’m at work or in the car I either keep a blank tablet or my phone handing just in case I need to jot down something important (even if I’m not working on that particular piece at the moment.) My day starts at 6:30 am every morning, getting the kids and myself up and ready for the day, off to daycare and then to work. After work, I’m picking up the kids, home for dinner, bath times, and homework. Finally after bedtime for them (usually 8:30 or so) I finally settle down at the computer to write. I only have a few precious hours each day to get down what’s been running through my head, so I take for hours very seriously. By the time my fingers finally settle on the keyboard, it’s already 9:00 pm and I’m focused on what I need to get done for the night. Writing time usually ends for me around 12:30 or 1:00 am. I’m usually in the bed by 1:30 and up at 6:30 am again the next morning to do it all over again.


Give your top 3 books and why you like them?


It’s hard to give my top three books, because I love, love, love reading! I started reading novels when I was around 11 or 12 years old, and there are so many that I love it would be hard to name just three. Welcome to the world of the indie author is what I have been telling myself, so I will instead tell you the top 3 indie books I have read and loved lately:


Birthrights (Vol 1 of The Awakening Trilogy) by Christine M. Butler
Saletti Blood: The Order by Vana V.
Effie at the Wedding by Tracy Marchini


These are must reads! If you haven’t heard of them, look them up. They are all well worth the few dollars in change you will spend to own them. Amazing stories!


How do you connect with your characters? In dreams? Inner monologues??


For months, I lived, dreamed and breathed my two main characters: Nahla & Gideon. I feel like they are a part of me now, because from the very beginning every thought included them. In my head I would almost ask them: “Okay, where are you going from here? What would you say? What would you do?” 


I make my characters real to me and personalize each of them, so that I’m not really writing from my perspective, but theirs. 


Oh...the conversations...we’ve had... in my head! HA! I could tell you some stories. They were the reason why I fell in love with the first book of The Gifts Trilogy, and they are the reason why there is even a trilogy at all.




What inspires your creations??


Inspiration, for me, comes from everywhere and anywhere. I’m so glad that other people can’t read my mind because they would probably think me, certifiably crazy. My imagination runs wild throughout the day no matter if I’m at work, home, in the car, or even at church. One minute my mind is focused on the task at hand, the next I’m a new character in a not yet created story, living out a fantasy in my head!


Quite often I'm thinking of two things at once, writing out a major cliffhanger to a new chapter -I just thought to add-, while simultaneously cooking dinner, giving the kids a bath, and adding up the work I need to do at my full time job the next day. It's never ending!


One quote that has always stayed with me I actually heard spoken, first, by Whoopi Goldberg In the movie: Sister Act 2 when she quoted Rainer Maria Rilke –Author of Letters To A Young Poet-. “A fellow used to write to him and say: "I want to be a writer. Please read my stuff." And Rilke says to this guy: "Don't ask me about being a writer. lf when you wake up in the morning you can think of nothing but writing...then you're a writer."


It’s my inspiration, and it’s what keeps me going when I feel like I might as well just give up. I wake up every morning and I dream every night about the stories I want to write. I am inspired, and I am meant to be a writer.






If you could be any character in a book, who would you be and why?


If it’s not too vain of me to pick one of my own characters, then I would be Nahla: one of the main characters of The Gifts (Vol 1 of The Gifts: Trilogy) 


why: because even though her story is so much different from my own, I connected with her. I understood her thoughts and feelings. I’m sure we’ve all wondered at some point in time, what it would be like to walk in someone else’s shoes, and Nahla’s path is unimaginable. She inspires me to be more like her. 


When did you decided you wanted to be a writer? What path did you follow to lead you to your destination?


This question leads to a very complex answer for me, but I’ll try to keep it short!
In my heart, I think I have always been a writer, but I didn’t figure that out until about a year and a half ago. My eleventh grade year of high school, I had the honor of being in an advanced English class of one of the best teachers of all time (in my mind) –Ed Buhrer.


That first day I was terrified of what would be required of me, but English was a subject that I was most passionate about, and I was ready to give it my all. That first day I walked into the classroom there was a small 3x5 index card on every desk that read:


This is my daybook.
In it are my dreams, my imaginings and crazy, random thoughts. In here are 
recorded both my good and bad days; lurking in these pages are clues to my 
inner selves. THIS IS NOT MY DIARY; I do not have time to record what I ate 
for lunch, or why I failed that midterm I studied so hard for, and to be honest, I probably don’t care why a friend had a fight(again) with a boy/girlfriend. I care more about what that friend does. Someday, I will re visit these pages to discover how I have changed and what dreams and hopes and lives I wrote about today I still have to live.


This one little index card is what changed my life. I followed the instructions to a T and I began to write. From then on, through college, and up until I had my first child - I wrote what I imagined; I wrote what I felt; I wrote what I dreamed. I didn’t know at the time that what I wrote then, would later lead me to become a self published author.


A year a half ago I sat down and read the whole Twilight Saga in four days. I even took the fourth day off of work just so that I could finish Breaking Dawn! In the months that followed, Stephenie Meyer’s writing style stayed with me, and I knew that I could write something just as great, but I wasn’t ready yet. So…for months…I read other books, and thought about what I wanted my first book to be about. And then…it hit me!


From the very first sentence that I wrote of book one of the Trilogy, I became a writer. I’ve been writing ever since.




If you go travel in time where would you like to go and why?


If I were to ever be given the opportunity to travel back in time it would be all the way back to the creation of the earth. So many theories, so many questions. Why not settle it once and for all, ask God himself while it is happening....


Why: Because I want to know!?! Doesn’t every one? 


How do you see your books? In an outline, in chapters, in fragment?


I see my books in movies! I eventually see this trilogy becoming big enough to be made into a big screen movie -something that publishing houses will fight for, and something movie directors will argue over whose going to produce it-!


There is no girl next door in this story, and this would be an opportunity for African American, Hawaiian, African, Asian, Caucasian, and many other ethnic actors to come together in a powerful on screen production that could rock the YA & Adult book & film industry. All it needs is a chance.


If you had a million dollars what would you spend it on and why?


The first thing that I would do is give 10 percent of it to my church: Living Water Fellowship. Other than that, I would probably be very boring with my million dollars. I would by a house, probably keep the same car, quit my job (Of course!!!!) and put the rest in the bank to live off of while I continued to work at being a full time writer. 




Feel free to share any other thoughts that you would like to share with your readers.


First I would like to thank Heather Powers for interviewing me. It’s always a pleasure and an honor to have any sort of interest shown towards my work.


I would also like to thank every reader out there that has purchased and read the books of The Gifts: Trilogy, or plan to purchase and read them. You have helped me fulfill one of my lifelong dreams of becoming an author whose work is shared with, and read by many. I pray that this story has inspired you to read more of my books and support my journey to become even more than a self published author.


It is with most humble fervor that I give all glory to God for the many talents he has blessed me with.


I am looking forward to the journey that I have ahead of me, and I hope to include you all in my many adventures I have waiting in my imagination!


My books can be found at:


http://tiny.cc/qblh9  (Amazon.com)


http://tiny.cc/0ox0g  (Barnes & Noble)


Check out the Book Trailer here:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iC0ZSJCXM_E