Interview with YA author Billie Kowalewski

Today’s special guest is young adult author Billie Kowalewski to chat about her new fantasy novel, Our Lives in Between.

During her virtual book tour, Billie will be giving away a $25 Amazon or Barnes and Noble (winner’s choice) gift card to a lucky randomly drawn participant. To be entered for a chance to win, use the form below. To increase your chances of winning, feel free to visit her other tour stops and enter there, too!

Buy the book for only $0.99 on Amazon!

Bio:
Billie Kowalewski grew up in a small town along the Connecticut shoreline. She’s always had a wild imagination and spent her childhood dreaming up stories. This would often lead her to the library or whatever bookstore where she would be combing the shelves for books that closely resembled what was in her head at the time. A lot of the time she would come close and would be satisfied with what she found. However, there was always this one story she could never find. It was in 2010 that she decided to write it herself. In whatever spare time she has left, she enjoys listening to pretty much anything that rocks, like 80’s hair bands, metal, etc. She also has a gift for finding the strangest movies and shows ever (according to her children) and loves spending time with her family.

Please tell us something about your newest release that is NOT in the blurb.
Every single action has a reaction. Harmony has a knack for getting information through the barrier to aid her in her lives on Earth. The masters have noticed. The masters are wise old souls that oversee everything in regard to Earth. Nothing gets by them.

Excerpt from Our Lives in Between:
The next few lives on Earth were more of the same thing. Kaleb and I would concentrate on finding each other before we would leave here. Then, after some years would pass on Earth, we would. Not once did we miss. Every first greeting was basically the same. The second we would get close enough to each other down there, that’s when the acrobatics would start. We would slam right into each other, bump our heads together, tripping and flipping over one another every single time. Always somehow causing one of us—mainly me—if not both of us, to die.

No matter how far apart they placed us on Earth, Kaleb and I would find each other. It was my guess that using my theory made us like magnets—accident magnets, as Gwen so kindly put it. We were hurdling toward each other like comets at light speed, coming at each other so fast that we were literally crashing into each other. We gave a new meaning to the phrase “bumping into each other” because we actually were.

It’s a unique feeling, being on this end of this odd little situation. I had been shoved out a second-story window, and then was lucky enough to snap my neck and be trampled by a horse I had spooked once when I hit the ground. In the next life, I was rolled onto a very highly active beehive and then stung to death (no, I am not kidding). Then, imagine the surprise I felt in the life after that one, when a certain someone was running with a wallet he had stolen, and then shoved us both off a train platform into the path of an oncoming train. I still don’t know if that person ever got their wallet back.

I am sure all of this must seem rather disturbing from where you are sitting. I know I would certainly feel that way if I were reading this from where you are. It’s quite an interesting perspective for me, being here, right now, knowing all that I do, versus being on Earth and having the limited knowledge that we were allowed. It really turns things around and sheds a different light on it—don’t you think?

With the knowledge of home blocked from our memory, life and death can seem so absolute from the human perspective. Death seems final, bringing with it fear of the unknown, and such anguish to the ones that are left behind.

You know what they say: hindsight is always 20/20. Imagine what Earth would be like if this knowledge weren’t blocked from our memory. It would certainly change the way we view our lives while we are there. Naturally, if some were armed with this knowledge, they would be much more adventurous, never taking their life seriously enough to truly learn anything. Life on Earth would take on less meaning. Then again, perhaps knowing our lives do go on would help some to live their life with less fear and appreciate their time there. Maybe they would strive to be better because they know. Isn’t having a little knowledge better than no knowledge at all? Something is better than nothing, isn’t it? To be able to utilize this knowledge might help propel us forward and help us gain a sense of purpose. If only there were a way to leak some of this knowledge somehow…

Do you have any tattoos?  Where? When did you get it/them? Where are they on your body?
I do have tattoos. I currently have two. The one on my hip I received when I was 19. It’s Felix the cat. The other one is on my ankle. It’s of a crescent moon. I got that one just after my daughter was born. I have no regrets and still think they are awesome.

Is your life anything like it was two years ago?
Thankfully not. I am living my dream more and more as time goes on. Each day is one more step towards it and I couldn’t be happier.

How long have you been writing?
I started writing in April 2010. So, 13 years ago.

What advice would you give a new writer just starting out?
This is one of those commitments that requires total faith for an undetermined amount of time. Each writer’s journey will be different both in story and in length. What you must decide is, how determined are you in reaching this goal? How bad do you want to be a writer? Are you willing to see this goal all the way until the end, however long that may be? No matter what may happen in the meantime? Are you willing to write around all of the events in your life? If you have answered yes to these questions, you have a good shot.

Links:
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