PEA RIDGE -- With words of encouragement to people attending Pea Ridge Community Library's open house last week, author Karen Akins outlined her journey from the spark of inspiration to being a published novelist.
Akins' book, "Loop," grew from an idea that came to her in a dream in 2010: Time travel involving a 23rd-century girl "who meets a boy in our time who's in love with her future self and is keeping his own set of secrets." The book is aimed at young adults and older.
"I had a crazy dream about it and I started scribbling away," Akins said. With what she thought was a finished manuscript in hand, she found an agent, then a publisher, St. Martin Press, and an editor. That's when the real work began. The offer to publish came in 2012.
"Revising and rewriting, again and again," she said of what turned out to be a far more arduous process than she ever imagined.
That completed, the book was set to be released in the fall of 2013, but her editor moved to China.
"And I had a wonderful surprise pregnancy!" she explained about the arrival of her second child. "So I was able to enjoy the book and the book baby."
"Loop" finally hit the street Oct. 21, 2014.
"It was surreal: At that point I'd had a lot of delays, so finally getting it didn't really feel real," Akins said. What she finds odd is that what made the book feel real was seeing it in electronic form on an e-reader. "It was like it was more real than the book. Odd."
What she considers the most-special moment of seeing the book came when her oldest child, Henry, who is 6, saw the book.
"His reaction was priceless: 'Mommy, it's your book!' I began writing right after he was born, so he truly was there every step of the way," Akins said.
Now a novelist, she noted that it's not something she grew up dreaming about -- certainly not as a career option.
"I'm a girl from a small town in Arkansas (Siloam Springs), I didn't think about it as a career option," she said. "Now I tell people, 'Yes, you can be a writer, it's doable.'"
After graduating high school in 1996 she attended Hendrix College in Conway as a pre-med student. She quickly decided she did not want to be a pre-med student. She earned her psychology degree, then earned her master degree in Marriage and Family Therapy from John Brown University.
She's a counselor, but didn't do any private practice. She worked for Bethany Christian Services -- an adoption agency -- as the Northwest Arkansas director.
"I enjoy going into classes and talking about books and writing and what I'm passionate about; it's a lot easier than talking about pregnancy and adoption," she explained.
With one book under her belt, she's working now to get her second book, "Twist," to print. The book is a sequel to "Loop." It is slated to hit book shelves March 31, 2015. There won't be a third book in the plot line. She noted that the two books are "one big plot arc." She suggests that reading them in order makes for the best understanding of the plot.
"Writing a novel is a lot of hard work, especially now that I know how much hard work it really is," she said. "But having readers hopefully looking forward to my next book is kind of a carrot in front of my nose to keep me writing!"
She noted that a minor part of the book, an animal she created at the suggestion of her editor, to link the future to the present -- what she called a fluffy addition -- has caught readers' imagination and fascination.
"I made up a GMO animal -- a miniature flying cow called a pegamoo," Akins said. "It was a silly afterthought. People fell in love with the pegamoo! They make drawings and post them on my Facebook page!"
"Every email, tweet or message on my Facebook page," she said, "is inspiration to keep me writing."
General News on 12/17/2014