Interview: Imogen @ Gossiping with Dragons

One of the first people to welcome me into the blogging world was Imogen @ Gossiping with Dragons. Ever since then she's been a great friend and source of idea. So I'm really excited to be sharing her interview today!

 

How would you describe yourself and your blog?
Me, I'm a fantasy loving writer with an addiction to books, music, and copious amounts of tea and chocolate. I prefer the peace and quiet of my house to parties, though I always love making new friends, whether in real life, or on the internet. I have a habit of quoting movies constantly and randomly breaking out in song at odd moments. Overall I would describe myself as more than slightly weird, but completely harmless.

My blog, it's my little writing cave on the internet, a place for me to connect with other writers and hopefully give them a couple of ideas for their own writing. It's where I frequently mix music and writing, share my excitement for books and occasionally wail at the unfairness of editing.

How long have you been blogging for?
I've had my current blog for about nine months, but I've actually been blogging for about four years. I don't think that makes me very experienced yet, but I at least have a few things worked out, and the best thing about having blogged for a few years is that I've had time to meet some amazing people and discover some awesome blogs (like Kat!)

What would you say your biggest hobbies are?My biggest hobbies are reading, writing and music. My love of reading and writing go hand in hand, and are my two biggest passions, as you can probably tell by the fact I have a blog about reading and writing. Music is another great love of mine. I both play the piano and sing, and love doing both. These three hobbies of mine pretty much run my life most of the time.

Do you want to follow any of your hobbies up as a career?
Yes indeed. Writing is my main hobby, and it's a passion that I would like to make my career, either as a writer or an editor, or both. I'm actually studying writing and publishing in university as my degree, which is amazing. It's not only taught me an awful lot about writing, and forced me to write in some genres that I otherwise might not have tried, but will hopefully give me a better chance of working as a writer. I'm very lucky to have the chance to make my hobby my career.

Who/what is your biggest inspiration?
I don't think I have any one person as my inspiration, but I can name a couple of sources of inspiration. Peter Hollens and Pentatonix are both musicians, and they both perform acappella music. It's not normal, and they might have been scared of following their own unique way of making music, but they didn't and as a result they now make amazing music on YouTube that I can enjoy. People like them inspire me to do what I want to do without worrying that it might not be popular. Other writers in general also inspire me. They're an awesome group of people who dedicate themselves to writing their books with single-minded focus and are always willing to help each other out. In particular writers Stephanie Morrill and Jill Williamson inspire me. Though they are both very busy writing and looking after families, they also make time to help a huge community of young writers. They inspire me to keep writing and to try and help other writers wherever I can.

What is your best blogging advice?
My best blogging advice is: blog like yourself. I really love Cait from 'Paper Fury's' blog. I love her writing style, her amazing posts, and the community she's built up. But if I blogged like her, I wouldn't have the same success. There's already one 'Paper Fury'. I need to write like Imogen from 'Gossiping with Dragons': Learn from other blogs. See what other people are doing and what might work for you, but blog like yourself. Don't waste your time writing with someone else's voice. Trust me, your own voice suits you so much better.

Do you have a favourite author? If so, who?
Oh, I find it so difficult to pick just one favourite author. I like Rick Riordan for his humour, Jane Austen for her elegant writing and witty dialogue, and Juliette Marillier for her creative fantasy worlds that suck me right in. So it's very difficult to pick an overall favourite. At the moment however, my current favourite author is a tie between Marissa Meyer, author of the Lunar Chronicles, and Maggie Stiefvater, author of the Raven Cycle. Hopefully you'll forgive me for cheating and naming two.

What’s your favourite TV show?
I have to admit, I'm not a big TV watcher, so I don't have a lot of favourite TV shows. I am a fan of Dr Who. Doctor No. 9 is my favourite. At the moment however, my favourite TV show is Marvel's Agents of Shield, which we just bought the season one box set for. Not only is it epic fun to watch, but it's giving me lots of superhero inspiration. Too bad I'm working on a fantasy book at the moment...But it's an excellent TV show, and definitely worth watching, if you haven't seen it already.

Have you ever published a novel?
Sadly, though I've written 17 novels so far, I haven't yet gotten to the stage where I could publish one. I'm still on the journey towards that goal, and learning much about the special skill it takes to be patient through the editing process while I'm at it. One day though, in the not too distant future I hope, I will see my name on the front cover of a book in the shops. In the meantime, I'll just keep working, being patient, and sharing my journey with other writers and bloggers.

I hope everyone isn't getting bored with interviews, because there are still more to come. But when I have a free moment, I'll bulk them out with a post of my own. I just need to get some free time. Term is back and I have no free time again! Thanks Imogen for the interview, it's been amazing. I've learnt so much!

-Kat