In this episode of Last Word of the Week, I’m excited to speak with Maisie Porter. Maisie works as a wedding photographer in Australia. We should make it clear right now that she has neither abducted nor been abducted by any competitors (something that *might* happen in her novels…). Maisie is an author at Crooked Cat Books.
LWOTW: Hi, Maisie, it’s a pleasure to meet you. Can you tell us when you first realised that you are a writer?
Maisie: As well as writing, I work as a wedding photographer. In 2017, in between weddings, I began writing a story. At that time I had a desire to create something that wasn’t as fleeting as a photograph. So much work is put into creating visuals for social media (especially in the photography industry) that I was becoming disillusioned at the dispensability of photos. These days you can take a wonderful photo that has to be replaced immediately with another to feed the social media monster! So I started to write a story. It was a private and satisfying effort.
‘Something a bit more lasting.’ That’s a good explanation. As a writer, do you rely more on dreams, imagination, or planning?
All three! In that exact order, I dream up the story, imagine it as I am writing, and plan and organise all the parts so it all fits together.
That sounds quite organic. You’re a natural! What’s the highlight of your writing career so far?
The highlight of my career is my first book No Reception being published by Crooked Cat Books.
What are you most looking forward to at the moment?
I have just finished writing my next book, so I’m looking forward to when I dream up my next story.
That cover is quite chilling! If you could say one thing to aspiring writers, what would it be?
I would say, get your book written and find a good editor to look at it for you. Then get it out there; either traditional, small press or self publishing. But don’t get to hung up on writing the story because the hard work of marketing your book is still before you.
And finally: Who would you be if you were a fictional character?
Norman Bates.
Yikes! Now I’m truly scared 🙂 Thanks for speaking with us, Maisie, and all power to both your writing and photography careers.
Maisie’s Book Links:
Maisie on Twitter: https://twitter.com/eyeointment
Maisie on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/maisieporterauthor/