X is for X-ordinary Words on Books #AtoZchallenge via @trincarl @AuthorMilliGib #fridayreads

Author Milli Gilbert is interviewing today as part of my YA blog tour and also helping me out with my #AtoZchallenge (writing 26 blog posts within 30 days)

Milli's novel in progress Nerdgasm,  is an "adult" romance, and her first novel. It's about a waitress/engineering PhD student, and a video game programmer from London who looks/sounds like a celebrity -- and gets a lot of crap about it. It'll be released on Black friday of this year, in print and ebook.

And onto the interview...

Milli, is being a writer a gift or a curse?

Oh, it’s absolutely both. It’s a gift because I’m daring enough to be able to share it with others, and that I have the ability to tell a story. I have friends with me wherever I go, even when I’m alone. They keep me sane.

You mean the characters are like your friends?

Yes, and on the flip side, it’s  a curse because these are people who never leave me alone, show up at random, are demanding and needy, and the most inconvenient friends you can ever have - they wake you up at odd hours of the night to say,

‘hey! I’m Jack! Write my story! NOW!’

Or the Muse (his name is Matt, just FYI) will randomly go on vacation and not tell me he’s leaving.

FUNNY!!

Or where he’s going -- and the jerk never takes me with. He always comes back with this nice tan, so he’s going somewhere I want to go. Also never tells me how long he’s going to be gone fore. And then he comes back and throws a hundred new ideas at me.

But I love it, and even if I couldn’t, I’d find a way to write. It’s a bit of a sanctuary when I need out of the real world for a while, and it helps me get these people out of my head. It’s crowded in there.

Sounds like loads of fun. With all these characters coming and going and whispering in your ear, how do you relax?

Oh, so many ways. I have kids, so that helps a lot (also stresses me more, depending on the day and them!) But in all honesty, writing is very relaxing to me, even when it’s frustrating me. I just put my headphones on and put on my writing music. Otherwise, I like to take walks and play with my Legos. What can I say -- I’m a big kid at heart!

So,what’s your view on social media for marketing. And which of them have worked best for you?

Um… I’m probably the last person to be asking about social media and marketing. I use social media more for the interacting with people aspect of it, rather than advertising. I mean, sure, I put tweets out there from time to time, but I suck at remembering to do it, even when it’s scheduling tweets.
Part of it is… I’d rather interact with my followers than to flood my feeds and my followers’ feeds with advertisements. But I think I probably get more of of my blog than I do twitter. I don’t know if Facebook is better or worse than the blog, though.

Being that you are soon to be in the publishing side of things, what would you say are the main advantages and disadvantages of self publishing against being published or the other way around?

The main advantage of self-publishing is that I have complete creative control over the book in all aspects. The main drawback is that I need to find my own editor and do all the sucky stuff like cover desi… wait. I like puttering with cover design. So I guess the drawback is that I have to do all my own market…
Actually, it sounds like I have to have a marketing plan of my own, even if I go trad publishing. So… really, if I’m going to be doing all the work myself, I don’t see why I would potentially forfeit my book to someone else for a portion of the profits. I mean, even with self-publishing, I’m doing that, but it’s at least paying for storage space and a sales platform for my books.

Last question do you aim for a set amount of words/pages per day?

Nope. Just… words on the page. Some days are better than others, and any day that I get words down is a good day. During NaNo, I strive for wordcount, obviously, but otherwise? Not so much. Sometimes, the goal is to figure out a scene, or get it started, or finish it, but… I just do what needs to be done to get the story done.

Milli Gilbert can be contacted on Facebook, Google+, Pinterest or blog. She also is a writer for Happy Author's Guild.

Readers, with the advent of social media and things that keep us busy, what kind of things do you do to unwind and relax?  Let me know in the comments below.