Author Spotlight: Marie Landry

We were very lucky to have a chance to interview Marie Landry, author of Blue Sky Days.

Marie Landry's Blog

Can you tell us a little about yourself?
Well, I’m from Ontario, Canada. I’ve been writing for as long as I can remember, and writing professionally was always my ultimate goal. I started freelance writing in 2009, and early in 2011, I decided it was finally time to publish one of the many novels I’d written, so I brought out Blue Sky Days, which I’d written seven years before, did a lot of rewriting and revising, added about 35,000 words, and knew it was the first book I wanted to publish.

Can you tell us a little about anything you're working on right now?
Right now I’m doing something completely different from Blue Sky Days (which is young adult contemporary fiction), and writing a story that would be considered women’s fiction/chick lit. I started it two days after Blue Sky Days was published, and I’m hoping to be finished by the end of April.

Do you get your inspiration for your characters from real life or are they completely made up?
I pull a lot of little character traits from people I know, but no character is based solely on a real person. I’m also an observer - I like to watch people, listen to conversations, and then pick out the best and worst and work them into my characters.

What is your favorite part of being an author?
The actual writing. Writing is my passion, and there’s nothing I love more than sitting down and letting the words flow. I’ve also really enjoyed interacting with readers, and this is where being a book blogger has been a huge thing for me. When I started book blogging, I made a lot of friends before Blue Sky Days was even published, so I had a lot of support going in. Through blogging, as well as through places like Facebook and Twitter, I’ve met so many incredible people, and I’ve gotten to work with them on blog tours, interviews like this one (thank you, Mel!), guest posts, spotlights, and other fun things. It still shocks and humbles me whenever people tell me they’ve read my book and loved it. It’s the most incredible feeling, and I’ll never take it for granted.

Do you have anything specific you'd like to tell your readers?
I’d like to thank them. If anyone has read Blue Sky Days, whether they bought it, received it for review, requested it, or whatever, I am truly thankful for the time they took to step into my world, and the world of Emma and Nicholas and their families. This story was very close to my heart, and I know it’s not something everyone will enjoy, but I’m still grateful to anyone who takes the time to read it.

What books have most influenced your life?
Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery - not only because LM Montgomery was a fellow Canadian, but because I related to Anne in so many ways. She had this boundless imagination that just couldn’t be contained, and I’ve always been the same way. Mind you, she got into much more trouble than I ever did! I’ve also been hugely influenced by JK Rowling’s Harry Potter series, and CS Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia, just because the writing is sheer brilliance, and I would love to write books that have that much impact on a generation. As a romance junkie, and someone who will always have a romantic element in her stories, I adore Nora Roberts’s books, and for contemporary young adult, I love Sarah Dessen’s books. Their books have influenced me not only as a writer, but also as a person.

Marie, again, thank you so very much for taking the time to chat with us!