Getting To Know Author Amanda Day

Hey everyone!  I'd like introduce you to Amanda Day, author of The Dark Side of Night (link will take you to my review). 

Amanda lives in Cornwall in the UK, loves young adult fiction, especially when magic and love are included, she day-dreams excessively, lives for cake, and drinks tea by the bucket. (bio provided by author)

Amanda was awesome enough to agree to an interview so let's get on with it shall we?

When you were younger what did you want to be when you grew up? Or did you always want to be a writer?

I actually wanted to be a vet for a really long time… until I realised blood was involved. After that I didn’t really have a set idea what I wanted to do until 18, which is when I had my first idea which grew and grew until I couldn’t hold it in anymore!

What is the first thing you ever wrote?

The Lands of the Hexagon House, which is being tinkered with and should be available before the Summer this year. I hope.

What do you find to be the hardest part of the writing process?

Motivation. Not because I don’t love it, but because I often want to go outside or watch TV in my pyjamas instead of sit at a desk and tune the world out. I am easily swayed to stop writing for things like sunshine and cake, which is bad bad bad.

Do you listen to music when you write? If so what are your 'soundtracks' like?

I do listen to music. I put together playlists for each book to help me get into the mood for a particular section. For The Dark Side of Night I listened to Closer by Kings of Leon a lot, Miserere by Allegri was my favourite to play when I imagined Cyan’s fighting scenes. In my head they were slow motion and beautiful to match the choir singing. I also listened to Snow Patrol - The City, Creed – My Own Prison and also Bon Iver – I Can’t Make You Love Me, a lot.

If you could be any character in any book, who would you be?

Clary Fray in The Mortal Instruments I think. Not just for her amazing powers, gorgeous red hair or brilliant best friend, but mainly because of Jace!

What book is currently on your nightstand?

Skulduggery Pleasant, Kingdom of the Wicked by Derek Landy. I absolutely love Skulduggery and Valkyrie Cain; they are the best and funniest magical crime fighting duo in my opinion. The books are bursting with awesome action and laugh out loud sarcastic humour, plus there are a lot of cool fights.

What are some of your favorite things or hobbies?

Practising Tae Kwon Do is my main hobby. Outside of that I read a lot, I like walking and painting. Mainly I just like to be out and about in the world, seeing what is happening and trying to learn as much as I can about this funny old life.

What are your some of your favorite t.v. shows, past or present?

One Tree Hill has been a firm favourite for a very long time. I loved Gilmore Girls. Currently I am super into New Girl, How I Met Your Mother and Big Bang Theory. Past shows include British comedy Absolutely Fabulous and the British BBC version of Sherlock Holmes with Benedict Cumberbatch (sorry if you don’t know these ones!). I am also into Girls at the moment as the second series has just started here. Generally, I like a mix of soft girlie drama and comedies.

If you could invite any 3 people to dinner, who would you invite?

Beyonce because she is the ultimate strong, independent and amazing woman, and we could potentially plot to take over the world together, or maybe just discuss shoes and dancing. Brian Cox (Brit Physicist) for a lot of space and universe talk. Finally, I would invite Patrick Rothfuss because he is my favourite author and very clever and funny.

What can we expect from you next?

Next up is a middle grade fantasy adventure called The Lands of the Hexagon House, then after will be the follow up to The Dark Side of Night. After that? Who knows. I have a mighty long list of ideas, but I am betting whatever I go with will involve lots of magic and love; my two favourite things!

Great big thanks go out to Amanda for taking the time to let us get to know her a little bit. Amanda is also a blogger and you can visit her blog by clicking here.