FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Q. What prompted you to write THE DOOR OF FAÇADE?
A. My college composition teacher encouraged me to keep writing after I turned in a thesis for the class on domestic violence and abuse. When I told her it was a true story, she encouraged me to keep writing, so I started the book. I worked on it as I attended college, and finished it December 31, 2003. I wept. A burden was lifted from my very soul.
Q. How long did it take you to write THE DOOR OF FAÇADE?
A. One year and six months. I finished it at 11 p.m., December 31st, 2003.
Q. Did writing the book help with healing and did it help you grow past it all and in putting it behind you?
A. When I went through the violence and abuse against me, it took me the longest time to realize it was not my fault. Yet, the flashbacks came and went. Time was my adversary and time gave me the essence of learning to make better choices. Back then, there wasn’t any help. I struggled for years to understand I could not fix the man that I loved from being so violent and abusive, nor the way my mother treated me. I did not understand why until many years later. As the years went by, I learned to grow and be more assertive and outgoing, discovering what love really was and is. This was a tremendous help in the healing process to some degree.
Q. Do you still have bad memories and are they sometimes painful and hard to get over?
A. There again, time and the love of a good and kind man, one who respects me as my partner in life helped tremendously with the healing process. The flashbacks and the painful memories have subsided and I have learned that I am not in that place anymore. I also had to forgive the young, naive girl of a long time ago. That was hard.
Q. What made you decide to write the sequel, A BETTER DAY DAWNING?
A. For one thing, many people who purchased the first book, wanted to know how I got to the place I am today. Therefore, I wrote the sequel to help other survivors know they can find true love and have a better life. It is a struggle, but it can be done. After writing the sequel, I could have reduced the pages so it was not so large. I just tell people, "It is my War and Peace" memoir novel.
Q. Do you plan on writing another book? If so, what will it be about?
A. Yes. I started writing another book. It is about half-way finished, but I have put it on hold for the summer. I will resume writing it in the fall or early winter. It is a book dedicated to survivors and also will have prose and poetry,and colored pictures of different scenes of nature. A coffee table book. Very uplifting, inspirational, and encouraging.
Q. How did you find a publisher for your books?
A. I searched the Internet for a publisher and decided to go with Infinity Publishing. They seemed to offer the best package and a better quality of printing, even though it is soft cover. Plus I own all the royalties to both books. I am considering another publisher for the third book, as I want it to be hardcover and with color photos I have taken. Infinity does not do this.
Q. Was it expensive?
Q. Who did your editing or proofing?
A. Not enough people on the first book, “first time experience” on that one. Until I had it revised, June 2006, there were three people who went over it and over it. Now I am pleased with the results and I feel it is pretty good reading and better quality. Still not the best, but the message is there.
Every time I had the book redone, it cost me hundreds of dollars. I think I had it redone at least ten times before the last revised printing in June 2006, which included the revised cover! And, even since then I learned at a seminar not to put the "Revised Date" on the cover, but on the inside. Another lesson learned!
Q. Do you make a lot of money by selling your books?
A. No, not really unless you sell thousands or millions of copies. If a publisher buys the rights and promotes it, that is a different story all together. If this is the case, then the author sits back and collects the royalties on the sales of the book (s), and doesn’t really have to do much except go to book signings!
If you have any questions for Becky Conrad, please let her know. She will respond as quickly as possible to your question (s). Email her at contactme@beckyconrad.com with any questions you might have about either book.
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