We recently connected with Tina Capricorn and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Tina, thanks for joining us today. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?

My mother likes to tell me that my first word was “book”, so of course I wanted to grow up and be a writer. I wrote my first chapter book in fourth grade and have been writing ever since. I wrote and drew cartoons for my high school newspaper, and also began my first fantasy book then (which I did not finish! And it’s lost to the sands of 90s computers and floppy disks) In college I wrote mainly poetry, and some fiction. I was planning on double majoring in Creative Writing and Fine Art but I ultimately chose to only major in Art which I do regret.

After college I started several novels and never finished them, and the dream of being an author and an artist dimmed out for a while. I worked a demanding day job and was too exhausted to create. It was when I was burnt out at my job in 2014 that I began writing my first novel more as an escape than anything. That was the first time I wrote with the idea of publishing it. And that project, my first novel I wrote to completion. It took me six years and several massive rewrites to create The Anchor of Time. I wrote before work, after work, on lunch breaks, every spare moment I could. They say your first book you learn how to write a novel and that was so true for me. I think at one edit I just chopped off the last 50,000 words and rewrote the entire ending. I had given it to beta readers and no one understood what was happening, ha!

I remember letting go of those 50,000 hard fought words was emotional. But the words that came after were magic. Then I started looking for local classes on writing, and luckily in my area of Western North Carolina there are a lot of people in the craft and I took a twelve week fiction course that really reawakened my spark, and for the first time I was introducing myself to other people as a writer–not a mom, or a wife, or my day job. That was a big moment for me too.

If I could change anything, I would have completed that double major in creative writing. I invested so much of my first few years as a reawakened writer just learning & relearning how to write–through in person classes and online classes and many, many books. It was job training really! I wanted this passion to be a career, and the first step in that is treating it like one. I think understanding grammar, punctuation, spelling, are the scaffolding but there is so much more to learn than that when it comes to deeply understanding story and being able to express it with words.

The only thing I could have done to speed up my process was quit my day job, which was not possible. Writing is free but everything else with publishing costs, as well as the normal day to day bills! When I wrote my second book, Shadowglass Time-Magic, Blood-Magic writing was more like a part time job, but that’s because it was during Covid lockdown and I made time for it. Last year I had a short story published in an Anthology and this year I am about to release my third novel, Lightbreaker. This one has only taken me four years!

Which brings me to the most essential skills. Balance is a big one! As with all things, being an independent author has a high rate of burn out. Knowing when to take breaks, when to rest, when to get up from the computer and move, drinking enough water–these are essential! I was not used to a sedentary task like writing at a computer, my old day job I was always on my feet so this was a big learning curve. Also, knowing my definition of success. Maybe not an essential skill but an essential understanding: success is subjective. Don’t compare yourself to other authors, your journey is your own. And lastly, celebrate your achievements, every little one. To create something tangible that was only just an idea is an indescribable feeling. Celebrate it!

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I am Tina Capricorn, indie author & artist. I write sci-fi/fantasy time travel books with a romantic twist. If you enjoy titles by Karen Marie Moning and Deborah Harkness, you will probably enjoy my books!

I am an indie author so that means I am involved in all facets of my book production, including character art! I create all of my own character art, as well as format the interior of my books. I love the intersection of science and magic and love to debate that threshold within my work.

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

I love education in all its forms and I think as an indie author most of the gig is self-taught or experimentation–even the business side.

Some great resources that have helped guide me along the way are The Self Publishing Formula with Mark Dawson. The Creative Penn podcast with Joanne Penn–she has amazing up to date info for indies on AI and I can’t recommend her enough. I also utilize Inkers Con with Alessandre Torre and several of her educational products.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

Carl Sagan said a book is proof that humans can work magic, and I tend to agree with this philosophy. I love the miracle that is creating something out of nothing. From idea to reality, that process is so absolutely magical and addictive. Every time I don’t feel like writing I remember that every moment dedicated to it creates a story–creates a book, eventually. The same with art–thousands of brush strokes create a painting, create an image but it all starts with an empty canvas, an empty page.

The human creative ability never ceases to amaze me. I really subscribe to the idea of “You are an aperture through which the universe is looking at and exploring itself.” (Alan Watts) and with that in mind the creative process becomes even more miraculous. The wonderful thing about creating art–in whatever form–is that the process as well as the end result are a means to transcend reality, space and time for the creator. A painting or a book can move or touch someone whom the artist has never met–or will never meet because art survives us. It is a finite and timeless gift and is arguably humanity’s greatest legacy.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.tinacapricorn.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tinacapricornwrites
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tinacapricorn
• Other: https://books2read.com/anchoroftime https://books2read.com/time-magic

Image Credits
The character artwork is original, I created the, as well as the graphic designs with the book covers featured on them. The cover designer for my books is Bukovero Cover Design.