Interview with Michael K Freundt

Published 2014-09-03.
Describe your desk
My desk sits under a wall of books and is cluttered but I mainly use it to compile. I write ideas, dialogue, and sometimes whole chapters on my ipad or phone, email the notes to myself, and then sit at my desk at my laptop and compile, edit, add, subtract, re-arrange all the emails I sent to myself. After each writing session I email a copy to icloud and my sister who files it under 'Michael's Stuff'.
Where did you grow up, and how did this influence your writing?
I grew up on a farm on the Adelaide plain about 100 ks north of the little, flat city. All my siblings were much older than me and I spent a lot of time on my own. I had a vivid imaginary life centered around a sand hill covered in mallee scrub, a very large peppercorn tree, and various falling-down farm sheds that contained all sorts of things. Writing has always been an acceptable way of talking to myself.
When did you first start writing?
After I finished reading my first book, Anna Sewel's Black Beauty. I wanted to be able to put words together to make pictures in my head: but that changed to being able to transfer the pictures in MY head accurately to the heads of other people via little black marks on a white-ish page.
What's the story behind your latest book?
See my blog, michaelkfreundt.wordpress.com
What motivated you to become an indie author?
When I stumbled across smashwords.com and saw the bi-line, 'your book your way'. I felt as if I had just crawled out from under a rock. However what I saw on the site, and other indie sites, was that my first book needed to be based on a 'commercial' idea.
How has Smashwords contributed to your success?
The word 'success' is a little premature. I've only sold 13 copies and I'm going to run out of family and friends soon. Breaking into the GP market is essential but challenging, to say the least.
What is the greatest joy of writing for you?
When you're in that maelstrom of creativity; your brain is running like an imax film camera; you can't make your fingers type fast enough, and time is irrevelent.
What do your fans mean to you?
I only have a few, family really, but i want my readers to take me seriously but to tell me when I slip up. I also expect them to read well: turn off the television, put the kids to bed, have a reading chair with a good light, and read 'into' the text, not slip over it.
What are you working on next?
I'm working on volume 2 of Veronicability (Veronica Spreads it Around); but also thinking of a coming of age story with major autobiographical elements. However there's a 3rd volume of Veronicability in the pipeline but I have to be prepared for my readers not needing, or wanting, volume 2, let alone volume 3.
Who are your favorite authors?
In no larticular order, ColmToibin, Christos Tsolkis, Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins, Virginia Woolf, Tim Winton, Ian McEwan, Henry James, Jane Bowles, John Williams, Alan Hollingsworth ...
What inspires you to get out of bed each day?
The stories buzzing around in my head.
When you're not writing, how do you spend your time?
I read or cook.
Smashwords Interviews are created by the profiled author or publisher.