We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Amanda Koger a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Amanda, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Do you think your parents have had a meaningful impact on you and your journey?

My parents instilled in me the value of reading and writing. They encouraged within me, the love of art and storytelling. My parents were both musicians and very creative people to be around. Anytime I needed help on an assignment, my mother was the key. She was an human dictionary. Anything musical, whether that was reading or writing music of my own, my father helped with it. They used to allow me to have puppet shows in the living room, or we would all play our own respective musical instruments on family night and sing together. Those are some of the best memories I have of them.

Amanda, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I started writing poetry as a class assignment, and it quickly turned into something I enjoyed doing. I was bored in class and started to drift into some kind of fantasy world. I wrote down whatever I felt and saw, and then, boom! There went a story. For those who have not read my work, I write urban fiction novels, children’s stories, and I’m working on a few other genres. I won’t talk about those just yet, but I’m very multi-faceted. I’m proud of my first book, “Another Hoodrat Story,” because it highlights a lot of turmoil I have seen in my own life and the life of others. It tells a drama-filled story with a comedic spin. I have plenty of those floating around in my head. You’ll see it on the screens one day, as well. I have many different pen names, so it’s possible that you may read one of my future books without realizing that I’m behind it. Stay tuned for the journey, I’m sure you will not be disappointed.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

I used to believe that failure was a bad thing. The fact of the matter is that when you fail, you actually learn and grow. There is no such thing as failure because there’s always a lesson behind it. Utilizing what you have learned from “failure” will enable you to succeed for the next go round. “Not yet,” doesn’t necessarily translate to “never.” I tried to publish a children’s book and it didn’t pan out the way that I expected it to. That dream was deffered, but this book, “Another Hoodrat Story,” was picked up first. My goal was to became a children’s author, but I had something else that was ready to be released first. I guess I can attribute that to timing.

Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?

I wish I knew that I could’ve joined forums or other apps to exhibit my short stories before I got to this point. I met Author Yatta Rose on social media. I sent her a prompt from my story and she was on board. She asked me to join the team, and I did so. With discretion, I wish I would’ve put myself out there a little more, but once again, everything is about timing. The right people saw me at the right time.

Contact Info:

• Facebook: Author Penelope Love