@bowie
Bowie Rowan
@bowie · 0:53

#AuthorInterview | Let's talk magical connections with author Rebecca Ross

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When two young rival journalists find love through a magical connection, they must face the depths of h*** in a war among gods to seal their fate. Forever. Described as shadow and bone meets lore, rebecca Ross's divine rivals is an epic enemies to lovers fantasy novel so with hope and heartbreak and the unparalleled power of love. This is how divine rivals is described. And who. I get a little worked up just thinking about it. This novel is such a stunner

#books #amreading #fantasy #romanca #YA

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@bowie
Bowie Rowan
@bowie · 1:07

#writinglife

Beck rebecca, I absolutely loved learning more about your history as a writer and how you went from a voracious reader to having all of these incredible and interesting jobs, such as working on a dude ranch as a school librarian and a captionist, and how you finally dedicated yourself to writing even though it seemed intimidating, dating and becoming published seemed almost impossible. Looking back now, what is it like to have this novel come out after publishing so many others to such success? What have you learned in the process?
@bowie
Bowie Rowan
@bowie · 0:49

#writingadvice

We're we have a lot of lovely readers and writers here on Swell, many of whom are working on their first books and kind of trying to figure out their place in the world when it comes to writing. Do you have any writing advice that you either often give to folks who ask you or that you learned by working on this latest book after having written so many up to this point?
@Swell
Swell Team
@Swell · 0:15

Welcome to Swell!

@bowie
Bowie Rowan
@bowie · 0:47

#askafailure

One of my very favorite things to talk to anyone about, but especially writers and creatives and artists, is failure. I think almost every single person I know, no matter their background, has some story about how failure has informed or shaped their trajectory in a significant and often magical kind of way
@bowie
Bowie Rowan
@bowie · 0:50

#whyimobsessed

Well, lastly, I am so curious to know, and I know those listening on Swell would love to hear upon the release and celebration of Divine Rivals, what it is that you're currently obsessed with and why it could be another book you recently read, a new recipe, a TV show, a workout routine, a hike. Anything is available. Something that you're deeply loving right now that you could share with us and maybe even recommend if that feels right, too
@rebeccaross11
rebecca ross
@rebeccaross11 · 4:47

@bowie

It has truly been my one guiding passion of my life, where I feel like I have given 100% of myself to it, even when I was a teenager, writing stories by hand at my desk in my room, and still just holding on to this dream of one day being published. But, yeah, I had a moment in my life when I was, I think, 23, 24. I might have even been 25, but I was working the same eight to five
@rebeccaross11
rebecca ross
@rebeccaross11 · 4:18

@bowie

And you have to literally shut that voice down and turn your perspective toward this idea that I'm doing this because I love it in almost the sense that I can't not write right. I feel like that's why most of us write, because we just can't not do it. There's something in us that calls to us that we want to sit down for hours at a time and write stories and just how powerful that is
@rebeccaross11
rebecca ross
@rebeccaross11 · 4:56

@bowie

But I remember one morning I got to class early, and the red and the black, which is the school newspaper, was on the ground beside me. So I decided to read it as I was waiting for professor. And they had an article in there about Jackson Pierce, who is a young adult author who also went to the University of Georgia. And I think, like, her second book had just published
@rebeccaross11
rebecca ross
@rebeccaross11 · 2:03

@bowie

But the thing I really love about Dragon Age, or just being able to play RPG in general, is that it kind of gets me out of my own head in my own world and I get to experience someone else's in a different medium than just reading and words. Like, it's very visual, it's very cinematic and I love that how it just draws you in. I also love that you can romance anybody you want on the video game. I just absolutely love that
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