The Local Authors Book Fair is almost here! We’re so excited about our fabulous list of guests and hope all of you will come out to support our vibrant local writing community. We’re so fortunate to live in a place with so many talented locals!
To whet your appetite for the readings and book fair, we’ll be offering interviews with some of our guests across the next few days. Now, let’s meet Emily Buehler!
FOCPL: What should readers know before they pick up one of your books?
I’ve published two nonfiction books and written three fiction drafts, and they are all different genres. I’ve tried to describe them clearly online, and I plan to publish fiction under my middle name to create some separation. But I worry about readers picking up a second book by me, expecting it to be similar to the first—I hate to think of someone who wants more bread-making tips stumbling into the inner turmoil of my cross-country bike trip or a fairytale romance with magic and steamy love scenes. (Moving forward, I plan to focus on romance as I build a career as a fiction author… at least for now.)
FOCPL: Where do you write? Do you have a particular routine you follow?
I currently don’t have much routine, just a desktop computer stuck in a corner of the spare room and a laptop that wanders around the house. However, I recently made the switch to be 100% self-employed, so I plan to make some changes. I’ll bring home my standing desk from my former office job, and I’ll work part of the day on that, and part on my laptop in a different part of the house. I don’t have the details down yet, but I think I’ll do freelance editing work in the morning on the big screen, and switch to writing and business tasks. I also love going to the Cup A Joe in the afternoon; it’s a reward to myself for working hard all morning (I start early), and also around 3 PM is when the café empties out so that I’m not taking up a table when they are busy. The only problem is that that late in the day, I have to order decaf, which I always feel slightly embarrassed doing for some reason.
FOCPL: Do you have a favorite among your own works? Which is it and why?
I think the most recently written will always be my favorite. The older ones have been revised so many times that I get sick of them. But the newest—currently a contemporary, light romance that I wrote last year for National Novel Writing Month, and which is on hold as I focus on fantasy romance—still feels fresh and exciting; I still love the characters, and when I reread it, I’m surprised by it.
FOCPL: What do you dream about when it comes to your writing life?
I dream about being the campground host in a state or national park, and being able to write all day without distraction except for the occasional camper needing to buy firewood. I could also do my freelance editing work, to make some steady money. I’d make enough to support my partner, so he could quit his job and stay at the campground too. (He’s particularly good at building fires and campsite cooking. He also makes very good coffee in the wild.) Afternoons could be spent hiking or swimming with a beautiful mountain backdrop and fields of wildflowers.
FOCPL: What famous authors (dead or alive) would you like to visit with? Why?
I always thought I’d want to meet Thoreau, and when I read Walden, I was enthralled by it. But after considering, I started to see parallels to people I knew in the modern world. I thought, I bet Thoreau was like my cousin’s boyfriend, who lives “off the grid” and doesn’t give any money “to the man” but is always at her house showering, or hanging out on the sofa when the weather gets cold. Thoreau seems iconic now, but he might have been super annoying in real life. I worry it might be disillusioning to meet the authors of the books I most admire.
If I were going to risk it, though, I’d like to talk to Beatrix Potter, Emily Dickinson, Laura Ingalls (can I go back in time to before she was married?), and the Bronte sisters. It would be interesting to hear about the times they lived and wrote in.
