GREETINGS, BOOKWORMS! I’m Aisha Kandisha, Head Librarian at Kandisha Press. Join me in the dusty stacks of the library I will never leave again as I chat with some of my favorite Women in Horror. Today we feature author Harriet Everend!
What made you want to become an author? Did you have an “Aha!” moment when you knew you were born to write? Or perhaps a beloved book inspired you?
It was a school assignment that started my love for writing. I believe it was 7th grade (12-13 years old), and my class had to do this short story writing assignment. In retrospect, my piece was way too dark for someone of my age, but yet, the teacher loved it and said there was potential for me to pursue this down the road. I hadn’t given it much thought prior to this assignment because I had always wanted to be a detective or a meteorologist prior. After this assignment, I found the love for writing and began doing it in my spare time (as well as reading more books). While no book inspired me to write, I did get my pen name (first name) from a beloved book – Harriet the Spy.
What do you believe are your strengths in writing? And when you feel you need to improve on a particular writing skill, how do you go about it?
I feel my dialogue in stories is realistic and comes off as genuine (as in, people would really have those conversations and/or that is how they would sound); I also feel I’m excellent at providing strong details with how characters look and dress. Some areas I know I could improve on are not mixing up past/present tense in a story (this has always been an issue for me) and using certain words too much in a story (example: just, like, said, etc).
What are your thoughts on the book industry today, or more importantly, about the book community? Do you feel it is getting harder or easier to make it as an independent author these days?
As much as I love the indie community and want to see those of us in it thrive as much as the bigger, well known authors (whether they’re traditionally published or made it successfully as a “smaller” author), I will admit there are some people who should reconsider or maybe take the time to develop their craft more before putting something out there for the world to see. I also wish to see people be more supportive of one another both within their respective genres and as a whole. There is too much infighting and trivial bullshit that comes up, and it seems to be getting worse with each passing week. Unfortunately, I think it’s going to be harder for people to make it as indie authors, unless you get that one huge sell that could make it possible for you to either make it a part time thing (where you’d have to drastically cut on other things in your life) or get you noticed by a big enough publisher to make it so you can get advances and do it full time. I work a regular 9-5 and while it pays decent enough, I wish I didn’t have to do it and write and market others’ works full time. When I’m not working my regular job, I’m trying to do all I can with book related things and there are days where it becomes very draining. What I’m trying to say is that if this is something you really want to pursue, get ready to be in it for the long haul and take into consideration all the things you will have to either do yourself or hire someone else to do for you. There are more costs than what most consider when being an indie author.
Tell us about your work. What story are you most proud of?
Currently, I have two novels, a poetry collection and a handful of short stories in various anthologies out for people to read (I have plans to release a short story collection and another novel within the next year). As much as I want to say I’m proud of my debut work, ‘Cursed Legacy’, the story I’m most proud of is The Summoning as that took a lot of work, planning and effort for it to come out as incredible as it did. (It was a collaboration novel involving Jessica Huntley, Shantel Brunton, Alice Stone & Stuart Knott).
What are your upcoming works and plans for the future?
As previously mentioned, I have a short story collection coming out sometime this year (before October is the plan), as well as a novel in 2025. There is another anthology coming out soon (a charity anthology where proceeds will be going to Take Back the Night). For the time being, however, I will be focusing on my small press I started last year (January Ember Press) and getting the authors who signed with me ready for their upcoming releases. There will be a zodiac series coming out once a month starting in 2025 for the full year, so things are busy and looking up!
KANDISHA PRESS 
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