Kara Piazza is a talented writer. Her website, thewritingpiazza.com , is full of short stories and invaluable writing advice. Her book, The Maladroit, will soon be released.  I recently spoke with Kara about her writing, those writers who inspire, and the challenges of publishing. Read what she had to say below.

When did you first realize that you wanted to become a writer?

When I was in 7^th grade, I had a teacher who was passionate about creative writing. He was the first one who really got me thinking about becoming a writer. I wrote short stories and poems. My first full length piece was a screenplay that I still think about to this day.

Sadly, I placed my writing on the backburner for a long time. I would think about it and write a little here or there. I had a few ideas for books on everything from Time Management to Party Planning but I never managed to complete a full manuscript.

Then I had my twin boys and I was looking for a book series to read to them at night once they were old enough to sit still that long. That’s when I finally picked up a clever little book called “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.” And there’s this great little quote by C.S. Lewis that says “Someday you will be old enough to start reading fairytales again.” And that really hit home with me as I read the whole H.P. series in about a week! I just knew my kids were going to love them and that made me enjoy them on such a deeper level. And I was right! That series was the first thing that got my fellas interested in reading. Being a huge reader myself, it was such a joy to my heart to see my guys fall in love with reading.

And that’s when I realized I wanted to be someone who wrote books that made a young person fall in love with reading. So when NaNoWriMo came around again, I jumped on the chance to get started. I’ve written a full manuscript and a novella along with most of a second full manuscript and the beginning of a sequel to my novella. It took me writing an actual book to really consider myself a writer and realize it’s what I wanted to do. Yeah, I’m a slow learner haha.

Under what genre do you write?

My full length manuscript is Young Adult and my novella is ChicLit. I’m also working on a short story for an anthology that will just be general literature under the topic of animal testing from which the proceeds will benefit the Beagle Freedom Project which is an organization that helps rescue animals from animal testing facilities.

What writers inspire you?

Well I think you already know the first one, J.K. Rowling. She’s the reason I want to become famous so we can be BFFs. I love her so much! And I am also inspired by C.S. Lewis, I read his Chronicles of Narnia when I was young and it grew my imagination by leaps and bounds. I think whenever I enter my imagination, it’s always through the secret door of a wardrobe. And the other author who inspires me is Charles Dickens, his writing always spurs me to want to be better. Because of him I always put more thought into my word and phrase choices when I write. He says things in such a unique and clever way, it always pushes me to not be lazy or cliché.

What challenges have you faced on your road towards publishing?

It’s a hard journey, whether you are self-publishing or going the traditional route. I am still trying to get my full manuscript published traditionally. That has been an uphill battle. I’ve stopped counting the number of rejection letters I’ve received. But I will keep trying. And in the meantime, I am self-pubbing my novella which has brought about its own set of challenges. From formatting and cover design to knowing how to upload it and marketing. It has been a nail-biting experience. But it’s helped to have supportive people in my life, my critique group and my supportive friends, and amazing people like you that I have met, who have been so incredible along the way!

Are there any of your personality traits that you give to your characters?

I’ve always been a strong person. Growing up, I heard a lot of people tell me I couldn’t do certain things because I was a girl. That just made me do those things just to prove them wrong. Now that I have this platform to speak (or rather write) from I tend to write my female characters strongly. They may have some inner conflicts, but outwardly they are brave and heroic. If I ever have a daughter, I want her to hear how she can do anything she wants, not that she can’t do something because she’s a girl. There are far too many girls out there who believe that nonsense so I want to be someone who tells them they can do anything!

What themes are reflected in your work?

Some themes in my work are the power of friendship, and courage to stand up for what you believe in, and of course the triumph of good over evil. I write to teach others that we should strive to make a positive impact on our world.

What advice would you give to aspiring writers?

Join a critique group of serious writers. Don’t be intimidated because they are better than you, go anyways and soak in every last suggestion they give you. That’s the best place to be is amongst writers who are better than you. You will learn so much! And we all started off writing stories full of cliché’s and things agents hate so don’t feel bad for a second, just grow!

Also, read blogs like this one (or you can come check mine out too http://www.thewritingpiazza.com/blog/) where there are interviews with other authors. You will learn so, so much from those interviews. There is a wealth of advice out there waiting for you to snatch it up. Never stop learning and just keep writing.

Are there any current projects that you can share with us?

I am hoping to have my first novella THE MALADROIT out this month! I can share a link for that once I get it uploaded to Amazon. I’m just waiting for the final copy of my cover to be finished and then for my formatter to put the finishing touches on my files. Then it will be available as an Ebook and in paperback. I’m super excited about that!

And I’m also working on an anthology of short stories, the one I mentioned earlier. I’m still looking for more submissions for that, if you’re interested you can check out the submission guidelines here: http://bit.ly/1P4e31X.