Interview with Leah Clifford

Leah Clifford currently lives in Ohio with her (mostly) blind cat and her roommate, who she's been friends with since sixth grade. In her spare time she loves to travel and has been known to drive over two hours to get kickass quesadillas. So far for jobs she's sold corn at a roadside stand, been a pizza delivery girl, a camp counselor, an extreme cave tour guide, a flight attendant, a waitress (x3), a grocery store clerk and a writer. Out of all of them, writing has been the most fun. She's pretty sure she's gonna stick with it. Here is her twitter

1. What is Reapers about?
This is the query letter I sent out to agents. Right now I'm in the process of doing a rewrite, so the title will be changing but other than that it's pretty much the same.

Death isn't what Eden expected. Where the hell is her release? Her quiet ending? Not that Eden remembers the details of her final hours, but one thing is for sure--being trapped between life and death was definitely not part of the plan. Now, there's no way of telling what will happen when Eden's fingertips graze human skin. The power that builds inside her, Touch, strips away morals and logic. Some people only feel a high; others are overcome by their darkest thoughts. But Eden has no time to worry about her effect on mere mortals. She’s got her own drama. Somehow, word’s gotten around that her Touch can kill her own kind. The last thing Eden needs is the rumor to spread. Especially since it's true.Eden's gift can be used to save souls – or steal them. Her devil-may-care attitude isn't getting her as far as it used to. Because the devil does care – and The Fallen are closing in. Realizing her potential, their leader, Luke, starts turning on the charm. Luckily, Eden knows the tricks The Fallen can use, and the dangers of giving in to them. Hell, she'd been in love with Az once, and he'd been one of them too. But when Luke starts hinting that Az might have played a part in her death, his “lies” start making an awful lot of sense.Now Az has returned. Working with the Upstairs, he’s determined to beat Luke and win back more than just Eden's loyalty. She may already be dead, but Eden will be damned, literally, before she lets him off the hook that easily.

2. What is the hardest part of getting published?
Edits. Writing the book is only the beginning. There are usually two edits I do myself before I send it out to my critique partners. Then I edit after I get it back from them. If you land an agent, he/she will most likely want some tweaks. Edits suck, but in the end they're worth it because they make the book better.

3. Where do you find your inspiration for writing?
A lot of my inspiration comes from the teachers I've had over the years. I really believe that a good teacher can make all the difference.

4. What is a normal writing day for you?
For me, I have two kinds of writing days. If I'm working my day job, a usual shift runs from 2pm til 10pm, which means I settle down for writing time at about 11pm. Usually I try to work until at least 2am. Sometimes later. If it's a day off, I try to spend half the day writing. Of course though, all this time isn't spent writing. Sometimes I use a day for research. When I'm starting a new project, I'll spend a few days looking for music. I use a "soundtrack" when I'm writing to keep my head in the story. When I really get into a story though, I tend to go full throttle, which means I do little else but write. Everyone's different though.

5. What odd jobs on the road to getting published?
Honestly, writing is the oddest job I've had on the road to getting published! Think about it. The hours are crazy. You work alone, most times late at night or early in the morning, and you don't get paid. But for the stranger of my "normal" jobs? I've worked as a flight attendant, an extreme cave tour guide and when I was younger I sold corn at a roadside stand. Right now, my book is in submission and hasn't sold, so I'm working at a grocery store.

6. If you could be in any time era, which one would you choose?
I love this question! I'm gonna have to go with the Wild West. People back then had to be tough, and they are just fascinating to me. All that land was up for grabs and you could pretty much just claim it, build a cabin and start a new life. I'm sure I'm romanticising it JUST a bit - I mean, sure, cute cowboys and all but they couldn't have smelled very good - but it seemed like every day was an adventure.

7. Is there anything that you would like to add?
I'd just like to add a Thank You to you, Sarah, for the interview. For more information, you can go to http://www.leahclifford.com/