I would like to thank S.M. for taking time to answer the following questions.  I would also like to thank Mark My Words Book Publicity.

S.M. is the author of Unusual Awakening, which is the first book of Rylee Everley series.

You can find out more about S.M. on her site.

1) What inspired you to write your first book? I have always loved writing and wanted to write something my daughter could read.

2) What books have had an influence on you and your writing? Many books have had an influence but more recently it has been the of Witches and Warlocks Series by Lacey Weatherford.

3) What 3 words would describe you as an author? Introvert, busy, sometimes a little nuts 🙂

4) Do you have a specific writing style? I haven’t really settled on a specific. I am learning a lot while I write.

5) Do you have a regular writing routine? My goal is 1000 words a night but with children, that doesn’t always happen.

6)What’s the BEST writing advice you ever received? Just write!

7)When did you first consider yourself a writer? When I started writing my first words. We are all writers in one way or another.

8)If you could be any character from any book, who would you be? In a way, I’m very similar to Rylee.

 Author Bio

S.M. Knowles was born in Elmira, New York where she was swept away in a whirlwind to the Land of Oz–Independence, Kansas. Her parents were relocating for working opportunities and decided that this would be the perfect place to start new roots. Little did she know that this place would contribute to the inspiration for the first book she wrote in her Rylee Everley Series.

While growing up, S.M. would travel the roads around her house while imagining she was somewhere else. Her imagination would take her everywhere, making the long hot summer days seem shorter throughout her fantasies.

At the age of twelve, she decided to write her first book. Filled mostly with dialog, she filled up one-hundred pages, front and back. After taking the book downstairs to show her mom, and persuading her to buy her more paper, she excitedly ran back to her room. As she barreled through the door, S.M. tripped over items left on her floor, and her papers came raining down in her room. Discouraged, she stood there in tears, picking up her papers and throwing them in the trash. Her work had no organization, no numbers on her pages, just a child fulfilling a joy that she would put down and not pick up again.

When she became older, she joined the military for something different. In that time, she was able to explore many places and even met her husband in Iraq. After coming home, she started her family in Arizona and went back to school, earning a Master’s degree in Adult Education and Training.