🏰 AUTHOR INTERVIEW: 'I Can Find You' Joss Landry

Joss Landry has worked as a consultant for more than twenty years, writing copy for marketing firms and assisting start-up companies to launch their business. She recently made the switch from composing copy and promos, to writing fiction and prose. She is developing her style through courses and the support of other writers and is presently working on honing three other novels for publication.

Blessed with four children and six grandchildren, she resides in Edmonton, Alberta with her husband, a staunch supporter, and enjoys spending time biking, rollerblading, playing tennis, and swimming. She loves creating stories as she says they fulfill her need to think outside the box.

Her latest book is the urban fantasy/paranormal, I CAN FIND YOU (Emma Willis Series #2).

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About the Book:

Title: I CAN FIND YOU (Emma Willis Series #2)
Author: Joss Landry
Publisher: Book Beatles Publishing LTD.
Pages: 372
Genre: Urban Fantasy/Paranormal

    Emma just turned fifteen. Her powers have spiraled to include unusual magic, and she gladly relies on Hank and Christina’s friendship to mark the way. Thomas Carson’s feelings for Emma have changed, her aunt Franka tells her—a young man her aunt describes as a young buck whose testosterone plays a big role in his life. 

    New friends around Emma surprise her. They appear to be like nothing she could have imagined, and their goals stir more disturbance than their presence until she bumps into the scourge of her existence: entities who wish to control what humans do and say. She learns they are powerful, vindictive and will stop at nothing to obtain what they want. Will Emma be able to protect the people she loves?

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As a book bloggin’ and book luvin’ Princess, I’m always curious to find out how authors got the ideas for their books.  How did you come up with the idea for your book?

Yes. I was following another author’s weekend training of: “Writing a Novel in a Weekend.” The training came in a box during the week, and that weekend, I was alone with the course and followed it to the letter. It demanded that I give it 48 hours without any other distraction, which I did. Well, I mapped out my heroine, her parents and family, and my villain while listening intently to the author’s guidelines. When time was up, I already had four chapters written of I Can See You, the first novel in the Emma Willis Series.

Can you tell us what your book is about?

The book I Can Find You is the second book in the Emma Willis Series. The book is an urban fantasy with some paranormal sneaking in now and then as well as, I hope, some inspirational tendencies. I like to convey messages through the fiction I write. So my stories are all grounded in reality while giving rise to phenomenal occurrences that give hope and a means to accept and be grateful for all the strange possibilities this world offers.

Can you tell us a little about the main characters of your book?

Emma Willis is 15 years old in I Can Find You, and her powers have grown to include some wonderful possibilities. OBE is one of them, and conjuring is another. She can also read people’s mind, and she can transport herself physically from one place to another. Most of her life she has had to hide these tendencies, and only a few friends and her immediate family are aware of some of the things she can do. Emma’s friends are Amelia, who goes to school with her, Tommy who is the one friend her age who knows about her powers, and her fifth-grade school teacher, Christina Tyler and the chief of police, Hank Apple who has relied on her over the years. In this second book, Emma comes into her own and discovers new friends, some of them not even human.

If you could tell your younger writing self anything, what would that be?

I believe I would tell myself not to wait until the children are older, but to start writing immediately. We often put it off until later, and I now understand that the delay can be detriment to a writing career. I have four children all very close in ages, so this kept me busy over the years. Still, writing back then would have been soothing and helpful.

What would you say is one of your interesting writing quirks?

Well, aside from defining my characters and the location, I would say one of my quirks is when I hold the vague idea of a story in my mind, I begin to write and the plots and subplots, the twists and turns, wind their way into the story. In other words, when someone reads the first ten chapters and wants to know what is going to happen next, I can’t tell them. The characters are living out their life, and I report on what it is they are doing.

Do you hear from your readers?  What do they say?

Yes, well I hear from my readers with the reviews I receive. I also hear from others who liked or loved the book, but who don’t always have the time to write a review. Generally, I would say that the comments are good to excellent.

What is the toughest criticism given to you as an author?

I haven’t been around long enough to write about the toughest criticism yet. I guess I will have lots of those as I mosey along, but for now, I can’t pinpoint any. I’m not someone who focuses on criticism. I’m mostly positive in my work, and in my stories. And so, if someone doesn’t find the book interesting, I will move on.

What has been the best accomplishment?

I have obtained excellent Kirkus reviews for the two books I submitted, and I Can See You also won the New Apple Book Award for best fantasy, a medal of honor, and also for the Best Overall Fiction for 2015.

Do you Google yourself?

I’m not quite sure what this question means? Do I look up my name on Google? That might be fun to do. Thanks for putting the idea out.

How many unpublished and half-finished books do you have?

I would say I have five completed, unpublished novels. I will have them edited and published them some day. But for now, I have six published books or soon to be published. Four are published. I Can Find You will make five and What About Barnum? will make six.

Do you have anything specific that you would like to say to your readers?

Sure. “Party on dudes,” from the movie Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure. I loved that film. It sported a little fantasy, a little supernatural tendency and conveyed a bright, positive message for future generations. Keanu Reaves starred in it—the same actor who starred in The Matrix. Coincidental? I think not.

Mostly, I wish all my readers an enjoyable ride and an enlightened journey. May you find clarity within the pages of your choice of books, as I believe most fiction novels will awaken us along the way and lead us home.