Today we’d like to introduce you to Kim Conrey.
Hi Kim, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I’m an author, podcaster, and VP of Operations for the Atlanta Writers Club. Before my novels Stealing Ares and Nicholas Eternal, I was writing essays, short stories, and a blog about living with obsessive-compulsive disorder. I’ve been writing for most of my life. My early writing years started out as a way to deal with childhood trauma, a way to work through things, then it just became a way of life, everything. Later, much of my volunteer work centered around advocacy for children. As a result, many of the seeds that became my writing today started there and then ended up finding their way into nearly everything I write. In my sci-fi romance, my protagonist, Harlow Hanson, is an advocate for the people, and especially the children, on the forgotten Mars colony. In my urban fantasy, Nicholas Eternal, Nicholas and my female protagonist, Noory, both have a calling to help homeless and exploited children. So, even though these are fantastical worlds, what matters to me, matters to them, and I’m happy to say it has mattered to those who’ve read it as well.
However, I think all of this really came together when I found the Atlanta Writers Club. It has taught me to be a better writer through its meetings, conferences, and critique groups, I started gaining more confidence and getting short stories and essays published after joining this group and then moved on to longer works. Writing can be a lonely endeavor, and what we don’t know can certainly hinder us. The AWC offers a wealth of information about the craft and business of writing. That’s why I began volunteering and serving on the board years ago as the VP of Operations. I simply cannot imagine my life without it now. The Atlanta Writers Club is also the place where I met the women who eventually became the Wild Women Who Write Take Flight Podcast, where we interview authors and industry professionals with a primary goal of supporting women writers.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The road to publication has been a long and often heartbreaking journey. I don’t believe writers are as honest about this aspect of it as they should be, and this lack of transparency can lead to a real sense of isolation for struggling authors. Sometimes we hear these “overnight” success stories and our expectations get twisted. Writers need to understand that this is not the norm. Most authors struggle for years to write a manuscript, many more years to find an agent or publisher– if they go the traditional route. Even then, the book may only sell a few copies. Whether traditional or self-published, you’ll need to hustle day in and day out if you actually want the book to sell. That’s the reality for the vast majority of writers, really good writers. I searched for many years before finding my publisher. You simply cannot give up. Tenacity is key. Knowledge is key. You have to constantly be educating yourself. It can be intimidating.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
The Ares Ascending series, Book One, Stealing Ares, is available now, and Book Two, Losing Ares, will be available in October. Nicholas Eternal, Book One in the Wayward Saviors series, comes out June 20th. I’m also part of the Wild Women Who Write Take Flight Podcast, and I do book marketing presentations, but I’m perhaps most proud of being able to help other writers through the Atlanta Writers Club. Getting a book into the world can seem like such a massive undertaking, but we don’t have to do it alone. The network of authors at the AWC shares resources and encouragement and often gives each other that extra little push when we’ve grown complacent in our journey.
I’m also proud that my books tend to have some sort of advocacy at their heart. In Stealing Ares, the protagonist, Harlow Hanson, grew up with a speech and language disorder. As I wrote, that’s just what came out. I have a close family member who has the same issue as Harlow, and Harlow also fights for the people in her colony as well. In Nicholas Eternal, Nick and Noory, the two main characters, both have a passion for helping children. I never set out to write them this way. As I started writing, these characters organically took on these roles. Now, I’m not sure it’s possible for me to write without my passions finding their way in. This is what matters to me, and that’s okay.
What makes you happy?
I’m most happy when I feel like I have passion and purpose. I feel at ease inside when I have a sense of purpose. Writing helps me define exactly what that is. Fiction can do that just as well as nonfiction, maybe better. One of my fellow Wild Women Who Write podcasters, Kathy Nichols, always talks about how fiction often tells more about a writer than nonfiction because a fictional character gives us a safe space to say or do things that we couldn’t if we were writing about ourselves specifically or writing about someone else directly, but a character, that’s different. I can write about what really matters to me in fiction. I can say exactly how I feel, get it all out there, create a better world. I believe good writing changes things, challenges, moves us and makes a difference. That’s purpose, and purpose makes me happy. But it’s beyond happy, less fleeting. It’s perhaps even contentment, joy–it’s a little slower, softer, but it sinks all the way through to the soul.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://ares-ascending.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ares_ascending/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kim.conrey
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/kimconrey
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@kimconreyauthor
Image Credits
Author headshots courtesy of Cherie Lawley Photography
