Author Interview: Komal Lewis

Today I am excited to have Komal Lewis, author of the recently released "Impossible", stop by the blog to let me pick her brain on such topics as if she's a dog or a cat person, how she's (potentially) related to Jennifer L. Armentrout, and why she decided to become a full time author! 

From Goodreads: "Ashton Summers is on her way to becoming the most popular girl in school and nothing—or no one—is going to stand in her way. Especially not Luca Byron, her freak neighbor, with his tattoos, loud music, and distracting green eyes.

Luca Byron has three goals in life: get through high school with a low profile, make sure his garage band becomes something more than a hobby, and try to forget about his insufferable ex-best friend, Ashton, who he can’t get out of his mind.

The last thing Ashton and Luca want to do is rekindle their friendship, but when Ashton takes a tumble down the social ladder, Luca—with his new makeover—is the only one who can help her rise up again by pretending to be her boyfriend. At first, being together is unbearable and annoying, but things start to change as Ashton and Luca discover the real reasons they drifted apart seven years ago.

Now, keeping their hands off each other seems impossible."

Describe IMPOSSIBLE in five words or less.

A childhood romance gone awry.

You're currently working on two series simultaneously, IMPOSSIBLE and RUNAWAY MORTAL, can you tell us a bit about the process of balancing two series at once?

It's hard work, but also a lot of fun. IMPOSSIBLE is a Contemporary Romance, and RUNAWAY MORTAL is an Urban Fantasy, so it's a lot of fun writing a romance and dealing with characters' emotions, and then jumping into a fantasy and create your own mythology.

Your RUNAWAY MORTAL series is a trilogy- how many books do you have planned for your IMPOSSIBLE series?

At the moment I have outlines for 6-7 books in the series. The second novel FALLING FOR HADIE will come out in March, 2013.

Fans of ___________ will enjoy my books. 

Fans of Abbi Glines and Jennifer Armentrout will (hopefully!) enjoy my books.

What are you currently reading right now?

Taking Chances by Molly McAdams.

How did you come to the decision to become a full time author?

Becoming an author was something I've wanted to do my entire life. I started writing at five, and I never stopped. The decision to do it full-time was because I have an amazing, supportive husband who pushed me into it.

How did you come to the decision to go indie?

At first, I was convinced that I would never go indie, but as I began to interact with indie authors and did more research on the subject, I changed my mind. I have never sent out a query to an agent or a publisher because I wanted the indie route to be my first choice, not something to fall back on. Also, I'm very impatient! I don't think I could wait for months, or years, to have my book published the traditional way.

Where did your inspiration for IMPOSSIBLE?

It came from the movie DRIVE ME CRAZY. I really love the movie and the characters in it, but wanted to create my own version of it.

IMPOSSIBLE was released on October 26, 2012- can you tell us a bit about what you're feeling? Are you nervous? Excited?

I am super nervous! My critique partners can tell you how nervous/scared I get about sharing my work. I am really self-conscious about other people reading my work, but I'm trying to get over it. It's part of the job.

How do you respond to maybe negative (or not-so-nice) critique from your critique partners?

I'm really lucky, because this has never happened to me. I have the best critique partners in the world! Erica and Michelle always give me positive feedback and constructive criticism. They know how delicate my feelings are, haha.

Any advice for aspiring authors?

You are going to have your good days, your bad days, and your very bad days, but it's important to never lose sight of what your goal is. Keep at it and don't give up!

This or That

Unicorn or Sasquatch? Sasquatch

Dogs or cats? My house is a balance between the two, but I'm a dog person.

Coffee or coke? Neither. I'm boring and only drink water.

Music while writing or no music? No music--it distracts me!

Typing on a computer or writing in a notebook? Typing on the computer

Reading a book or watching TV? Definitely reading a book!

About the Author: 
Komal Lewis is a full-time author who lives in Sydney, Australia with her husband, and one too many dogs and cats (although she never seems to think they have enough!).

She is overly enthusiastic about video games, comic books, Spiderman, Batman films, Byronic heroes, Cillian Murphy's creepy face, horror movies, baking, reptiles and pretty shoes.

Komal isn't embarrassed to admit that she loves reading Young Adult and, of course, writing it! She is currently working on her debut novel, WITH ME, a YA Contemporary Romance about a girl who will do anything to become popular and the rocker boy-next-door.

Komal also blogs over on A Dash of YA with some super cool authors/writers/bloggers. Stop by and check them out!