Meet Kameo Monson | Author & Editor

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

Hi Kameo, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
For me, the thought process behind starting my own business was two-fold.

As an author, I decided to self-publish my books because I wanted to control the creative rights to my work. That makes me sound a bit like a control freak, and in some ways, I am. I choose who I work with, how I market my product, and when my release dates are. I utilize beta readers (people willing to give feedback on my books before they are fully edited or published), hire an editor and a cover designer, and do my best to keep up with social-marketing trends. All of that is my job. I don’t have a traditional publisher deciding how to market my books or what the covers should look like. No one tells me which editor to hire. I decide all of it, and that is exactly what I want because then my success or failure comes down to the effort I put in.

On top of being a self-published author, I own and operate KMonson Editing Services. I’ve loved the English language for as long as I can remember. (To be clear, I mean the rules—grammar and punctuation, not necessarily “big” words.) As tricky and inconsistent as English is, playing with it makes me happy. I used to edit my high school and college friends’ papers and stories. I enjoyed explaining why they needed (or didn’t need) a comma—why a semicolon worked better than a period. Even the difference between words like effect and affect sent ribbons of excitement through me. Then, as a somewhat wiser adult, the more I wrote and edited for product-review blogs and later beta read for other authors, the more I realized my desire to become an editor. Much of that desire came and still comes from the joy that helping others perfect their manuscripts brings me. Of course, I also get to spend my days reading some fantastic books!

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.
As much as I’ve always loved writing, I struggled to accept the titles “creative” and “artist” for a long time, even when I’d feel the pull to write—to create. For several years, I put all that desire into product reviews that I wrote for a couple of blogs. Then, as I read a self-published book, the thought that maybe, just maybe, I could write my own book popped into my head. I had no expectation of publishing anything I wrote. I never expected it to be decent enough to share with the public. But that night, I wrote twenty pages (approximately ten thousand words). Then I left the file unopened for several months. I didn’t know how to get from point A to point “end.” Eventually, I wrote another five pages, then another ten. It took more than three years to finish my first draft, and I thought I’d written a romance novel. Several months later, I realized my story aligned more with women’s fiction.

Once I had that first draft done, I still had to figure out what to do with it. What it if was decent? What if people could enjoy reading it? After all, I liked the story. I found some online writing groups, and suddenly I was learning phrases like “show, don’t tell” and words like “head-hopping.” I knew how to form a sentence but still had to learn the finer points of creating a fictional narrative. And I wanted to do that. So, I spent a lot of time reading articles and considering what other authors suggested. Sometimes, I would go to bed and curl into my pillow, thinking about how I should give up. Instead, I chose to listen to those with more experience.

And I did it! I figured it out.

This year, my sixth book, Little Bird’s Lullaby, comes out on April 25th. I couldn’t jump any further over the moon. I’m excited about every release, but this one brings something a bit different to the table than my other books. It’s plot-driven. I take a family and place them in the West Clear Creek Wilderness in Arizona and force them into a survival situation. The theme of Little Bird’s Lullaby, however, deals with a mother-daughter relationship and their difficulty to connect with each other. It’s a theme not usually found in adventure stories. In a way, it’s like taking an apple and an orange and developing an oranple.

Women’s fiction regularly takes characters through some trying situations, many of which are emotionally based. My books are no different there, but my readers regularly comment on the twists and turns and varied directions that my stories take. While I create these turns, I also work hard to keep every situation possible. (That’s not the same as probable.) Everything from the words my characters speak to the actions they take fits who they are. Sometimes the characters’ natural instincts get them in trouble. Sometimes they get ME in trouble. Still, one of the best things anyone has ever said to me is, “I finished your book, and I feel like I have a new best friend. [This character] is so real to me.” The next best thing anyone has said is, “I hate you.” (I completely understood their sentiment.)

One of the hardest things about being a self-published author is the dimming light in people’s eyes when they realize HarperCollins has not published any of my books. But it’s then that I am given the opportunity to explain that I’ve never submitted a book to an agent or traditional publisher. It’s then that I get to explain that self-publishing fits my dream better. I enjoy helping others to realize that, while some self-published books are not “professional” in nature, many are. With luck, my words and my books will help remove the stigma surrounding self-published authors.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
For me, Arizona is all about relaxing outside and reveling in the beauty of this God-given land. Whether I’m with someone who grew up in Arizona or with someone who has never visited the state, I want to be outside in the gorgeous weather. So, when I think about showing someone the sites, I rarely think about restaurants in the city or crowded shopping centers. I think about Lockett Meadow and the Inner Basin Loop and how velvety, green grass carpets the forest floor and delicate wildflowers dance in time with the quaking aspen. I think about West Baldy, Trail 94, and the sparkling waters of the freshly sprung Little Colorado River that zigs and zags past conifers and aspens, then meanders through meadows filled with perfectly petaled irises. I’d want to pick wild raspberries from one of the many thickets on the Mogollon Rim and fish at Willow Springs Lake. There is no question—stories of childhood mudpies baked on sun-warmed rocks would fill the air during that trip.

Hopes of afternoon rain showers that strike a tin-roofed porch gather in my mind as I think about relaxing and eating watermelon slices while visiting with my companion. I’d tell stories of catching horny toads and tarantulas—the way their tiny legs tickled my arm when I was a kid. Harry, the tarantula that traveled home with us after a visit to Payson and then lived in a five-gallon bucket in the backyard, would be one of those stories. Given the time, I’d visit memories of the old Tarzan rope at Apache Lake and the one that once hung in a tree at Havasu Falls—the first I ever swung on.

Since I still need some civilization in my life, my mind also turns to thoughts of museums and state and national parks where I’ve learned a little history. I find it fascinating that the original astronauts trained at Meteor Crater and that Clyde Tombaugh discovered Pluto at Lowell Observatory. Arizona even has an off-the-wall Bedrock City that has reopened (after being abandoned for years) near Williams. When my daughter and I traveled to the Grand Canyon in March, I was excited to stop and take a picture of Fred—after all, I wrote about him in I Daddy (download free from my website). Now I just need to go back and tour Bedrock!

There are so many other places in Arizona that I’d want to share with a guest: Mt. Lemmon and Summerhaven, Colossal Cave and Kartchner Caverns, the East Verde River, Ellison Creek, the Natural Bridge, Upper Canyon Creek and the fish hatchery, Tombstone and Bisbee. Of course, after writing a book that takes place in the West Clear Creek Wilderness, I should spend some time there—though I should probably get into shape first.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
When I think of the people who have helped shape who I am as an author and editor, anecdotal flashes pop into my mind. For instance, my mother telling me that my freshman English teacher, Mr. Smith, felt my writing was not yet at a level worthy of Honor’s English. Or my sophomore English teacher, Mr. Mangin, lowering the grade on an otherwise unmarked narrative because he didn’t understand that it was a dream sequence. Or when my senior English teacher, Mrs. Joice, encouraged me to continue writing and enter the school’s poetry contest. (No, I didn’t win.) I think about my grandmother, who would read my short stories and tell me how talented I was. (She was a bit biased.) Each of these experiences has shaped who I am today. Some helped me to understand the growth required to reach my goals; others encouraged me to keep going.

I have some great relationships within the writing community as well. Jessica Marie Holt is a fantastic indie author and friend. We often bounce ideas off each other as we work on our books. I have also loved getting to know authors like Jenny Rabe, Kimberly King, and M.L. Farb.

Of course, if you want to perfect a skill, it’s important to immerse yourself in the works of those who have perfected it already. As a child, I read books like Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls and The Great Brain by John D. Fitzgerald. Many other phenomenal authors have helped show me the power imagination gives to us. Some of those authors, like Gerald Lund and Blaine M. Yorgason, write for more niche audiences, while others are more widely known, like Tony Hillerman, Orson Scott Card, Dan Brown, C.S. Lewis, and Brandon Sanderson. Each has made a difference in my life.

Website: http://KameoMonson.com

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

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KMonson.author

Other: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/18249178.Kameo_Monson https://www.amazon.com/stores/Kameo-Monson/author/B07FPZLP4J