Meet Greta Kelly | Author, The Frozen Crown, The Seventh Queen & The Queen of Days (2023)

We had the good fortune of connecting with Greta Kelly and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Greta, have you ever found yourself in a spot where you had to decide whether to give up or keep going? How did you make the choice?
Looking back on my journey, and trying to untangle all the threads that led me to this point, what really struck me was the influence of two, almost opposing but at the same time inescapable factors: luck and stubbornness.

I can’t give you much advice on about luck, because so often it’s out of our hands. But stubbornness? I know about stubbornness—and not just because I have 2 toddlers at home. Everything I have ever achieved in my life; I owe to stubbornness.

I dreamed of becoming an author ever since high school, but trying to make a dream become reality is a terrifying prospect. Because you might fail. Well, that’s not entirely true. You will fail. A lot.

I know that I did. I’ve written a ton of stories that will never see the light of day (including an DaVinci Code fanfic that could charitably be called a crime agains the English language). And the pressure for perfectionism can be overwhelming. Crippling even.

But you have to fight it. You have to out stubborn your own doubt. Sometimes it’s going to feel like there is an entire world full of people telling you that you aren’t good enough.

Don’t be one of them.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
There is a truism in publishing that everything takes time. And by time, I mean everything takes forever! Even for established authors, the lead time between drafting a novel and seeing that book in print can take years. Years in which you toil alone. Years spent trying to avoid negative reviews, and jump up and down on the social media trampoline just trying to stay relevant. On some days, it can be a huge struggle.

But it all comes back to the writing. It’s the writing that sustains me, excites me. It’s the writing that makes me hop out of bed in the morning and tackle the day, because the only way to survive the endless wait, is by looking forward.

For me, that means working on my forthcoming novel, THE QUEEN OF DAYS, which is a fantasy adventure story about a band of thieves who must steal an ancient statue from their city’s governor before he can use it to resurrect a vengeful god.
Writing that book has been a joy because it is a love letter to all my closest friends, my favorite games of D&D, and my love of SFF books and tv (looking at you Firefly) It won’t hit shelves until next year, but the wait, my friends, will be worth it.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I recently had the best vacation of my life at the Boulders Resort in Scottsdale. My husband was there for a conference and asked if I wanted to tag along. Seriously? I’m at home full time with two toddlers, of course I wanted to go! I had my sights set on relaxing by the pool all day, hiking the trails and spending some quality spa time– just unwinding in general. And that’s what I did. But it’s not all I did.
Somehow while my body rested, my mind came alive. A book that I had been working on sprang to the forefront of my brain and all the pieces I was struggling to put together simply fell into place. It was the most magical– and productive– three days of my entire career.
I can’t promise you that staying at Boulders will spark a creative epiphany, but I can guarantee you will leave it feeling more refreshed and relaxed than you have in years!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
One of the intensely frustrating things about writing a book is that there is no one ‘right’ way of doing it. There’s what is right for you in this moment, and with this book, but the process changes with each attempt. The same is true of editing a book. When I finally finished my first draft of The Frozen Crown, I was in love. But it wasn’t a blind kind of devotion, I knew the book was flawed, I just didn’t know how to fix it.

Enter editor extraordinaire, Rebecca Heyman of Rebecca Faith Editorial. She not only broke down each issue she saw in The Frozen Crown, she showed me how to go about fixing them and gave me the tools I needed to edit my own books going forward.

She has a truly incredible eye for storytelling and such a genuine, honest approach to giving feedback. I simply cannot recommend her services more. I even met my first literary agent at one of her conferences!
For the writers in the crowd facing the prospect of editing their manuscript, consider giving Rebecca a try!

Website: www.gretakkelly.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gretakkelly/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/GretaKKelly

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gretakkelly

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrKu0DUbvRXhsuTtuioC9gg?app=desktop

Image Credits
these are all my photos