A.S. King Rocks her Dust of 100 Dogs

About a year and a half ago I discovered a great site for writers, where the published and non-published share ideas and writing excerpts, debate, and support each other as we travel the long road toward artistic growth and possible publication. One of the more vocal and lovable members there was this cool gal named Amy (A.S. King,) who was world traveled, a great writer, and seemed to have a great heart, too.


Amy and I got to know each other over time. All the while I thought she was in Ireland, since she mentioned living on a self-contained farm there where she and her husband raised chickens and grew their own food as she honed her writing skills (they didn't call her the Crazy Chicken Lady for nothin'.)


Then one day Amy mentioned her home state, and I realized we both live in Pennsylvania. We private messaged each other, and lo and behold, this totally coolio, interesting person with a great heart was virtually my neighbor. We live about five miles from each other, in rural Pennsylvania.


That was almost a year ago. Since then I've finished my book and Amy has had her first book published. It's called The Dust of 100 Dogs and it's incredible. It's got everything ~ it's well-written and contains adventure, romance, humor, fun facts about canines, and an ass-kicking female pirate with a heart as big as Amy's. I hope you'll buy this book and if you do I'm sure you'll love it as much as I do.


Here's Amy at a recent book signing at Border's in the Berkshire Mall. Below, she kindly agreed to be interviewed for my blog.
P.K.: You're a mom of two young children and have a busy life outside of your writing studio. How organized is your writing life?


A.S.K.: This is not the week to ask me this! It's a mess. Really. A mess. I have no idea how I manage to do this half the time. I'm lucky in that my husband and I run a business ourselves, so we don't have to fit 9-5 hours into our lives. But we also have a toddler who's still at home during the day, so one of us has to be here as the primary caregiver. Usually, that's my husband. He's amazing, really. Any time he's here, he tries his best to get me into the office and working. But it's not at all organized. Some weeks (like last week) are marked out to be all mine, but by the time Friday comes around, I've barely had one full day in the office. In a few years when the youngest is in school, I will be so happy to have a 9-4 writing schedule again. *sigh* That is the stuff my dreams are made of.

P.K.: You've been writing for fifteen years and have had success with some of your short stories being published, but this is your first published novel. What was your motivation for writing during the lean years?


A.S.K.: I write because I love writing. I don't write in order to publish, though I do hope to continue publishing books, and eventually make a living at it.** But I've never seen it the other way around. My priority is writing, not business. With this in mind, then, there were no 'lean years' and my only motivation for writing is loving writing.
** "Making a living" at writing is a lot harder and takes a lot longer than most people think.


P.K.: You wrote seven books before this one finally got published. What are your other books about, and do you hope to have them published?


A.S.K.: The first four novels were practice. They were about silly things, and they didn't work, and were full of cliches, flat writing and hundreds of thousands of extraneous words. I cringe just thinking about them. I do hope to rework the 5th (a YA book) [young adult] later this year, and sell another YA I finished in January. And my agent is hard at work trying to sell my adult fiction, as always. I really don't mind the idea of four or five books that won't get published. I still write duds. I tossed about 50k worth of a novel twice in the last 2 years.

P.K.: Have you read your Amazon.com reviews and how do you cope with negative reviews? (By the way, your reviews are Fabulous ~ congrats!)

A.S.K.: I do read some reviews. Amazon is one place I'll check from time to time. I'm also am a member of Goodreads, which can be dangerous for writers, because readers there do not hold back! Some people will always love or hate my books because I take risks. I sometimes get bad reviews because of swearing or other realistic content. I also get reviews from people who truly didn't like (or get) the book. Again--I've read many books I didn't like, so I knew a long time ago that reading is a subjective thing. I appreciate every fan letter I get, and every person who takes the time to say things about my book. But I'm a very detached person in regard to taking outsiders' reviews too personally. By the time a book gets on a shelf in a book store, so many publishing professionals have read it, I'm pretty solid in my belief that I'm not the worst writer in the world. I think the best way to cope with negative reviews is to not pay too much attention on ANY reviews--good or bad. I realize you're wondering if I'm part Vulcan now, right?


P.K.: I loved the "dog facts" excerpts in the book. Besides giving the reader interesting info about the psychology of dogs, you offered some interesting insights about human behavior, and you managed to do it without sounding preachy. Were your observations inserted intentionally, or did they develop organically during your writing?


A.S.K.: A bit of both. I tend to write very organically. I remember writing a few Dog Facts one day when I was supposed to be writing some Saffron chapters and thinking, "Hmm. These seem to want to be written," Once I wrote a few, I stuffed them away in the stack of notes on my desk and during revision, after I'd ironed out the other parts of the book, these Dog Facts seemed to fit perfectly. I could see where they worked, and noted it, and then wrote whatever came naturally from there. So they were written during the process organically, and then inserted themselves quite intentionally.


P.K.: One of your two main characters, Emer, is a very feminist pirate. Did you find stories about real female pirates while doing your research for the book, and can you recommend books that can help your readers learn more about them?


A.S.K.: My favorite feminist-pirate research book was called Women Pirates and the Politics of the Jolly Roger by Ulrike Klausmann, Marion Meinzerin & Gabriel Kuhn. The book covered women pirates on the China Sea, Mediterranean, Atlantic as well as the Caribbean. Fascinating! I read a bit on Anne Bonny & Mary Read and other popular Caribbean pirates, too.

P.K.: Where did you find the inspiration for the despicable Fred Livingstone?

A.S.K.: I have no idea. He just showed up one day without warning. (Don't guys like that always show up without warning?) At best guess, I was sick and tired of meeting creepy men who mistook any woman who talked to them (me) as 'women who want me.' Bleh. Outside of personal experience, I suppose I drew inspiration from the comparisons between how men saw women in the 17th century and how men see women now, and how some parts have changed...and some parts, sadly, have not changed.

P.K.: I'm sure you've heard this before, but Dust would make a phenomenal movie! In your fantasies, who would play the main characters? Have you had any nibbles for film rights?


A.S.K.: I have no idea about nibbles. My very capable film agent is working on that right now. The sad part is: I don't have these fantasies at all. I have no idea who would work in the roles of Emer or Saffron or Fred or Seanie. I figure that's what friends (you) are for!


P.K.: Thanks, Amy, for being a guest interviewee on my blog. You rock! (this means you)