Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Alex Kiester. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alex, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

I’ve wanted to be a writer since the age of, like, seven. Some of my earliest memories, in fact, are of wandering around my neighborhood barefoot while narrating fictionalized versions of my life in my head. All my old diaries are full – not with writing of my childhood – but made-up stories.

While I always dreamed of becoming a novelist though, I didn’t know how to get there. I graduated from Rhodes College in Memphis, TN with a degree in creative writing along with a few hundred dollars cash from bartending and promptly moved back into my childhood room in my hometown of Austin, TX. Eventually, I got a job as a copy editor then book editor at a boutique romance publishing house, and as I worked on book after book that I had not authored, I increasingly felt that I could work on one that I had. So, during my lunch breaks, I began writing my own. While it was pretty bad, by writing a novel, I’d proven to myself that I could. And by then, I had the bug.

Over the next few years, I worked a slew of jobs to bankroll my novel-writing habit, from Zumba instructor to casting assistant and eventually, writing coach. And then, after years of writing and multiple manuscripts on the shelf, I finally got the phone call I’d been waiting for: Audible wanted to publish my book. My debut, In Her Skin, came out as an Audible Original in October 2019 and I worked furiously to follow it up with another. My next, The Truth About Ben and June, came out from Park Row/HarperCollins in June 2022.

Alex, 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 write books with heart and teeth. My latest novel, The Truth About Ben and June, explores the complexity of a modern-day marriage when a new mother vanishes one morning and her husband must retrace the events of their recent past to bring her home. Called “strikingly powerful” (Authorlink) and “touching” (Booklist), The Truth About Ben and June has a thread of mystery and a whole lot of heart.

My previous novel, In Her Skin, is a psychological thriller about an anxiety-ridden author who is so terrified to go on her own book tour, she hires a small-time actress to go in her place. Called “pulse-pounding” by Audible, it is available exclusively at Audible.com.

In all my writing, I strive to balance page-turning plots, thought-provoking stories, and compassionate perspectives.

Have you ever had to pivot?

When I showed the first draft of my latest novel, The Truth About Ben and June, to a handful of trusted readers, I got the overall feedback that one major plotline wasn’t working. I’d spent many long months on the draft and I was not only devastated, I had no idea where to go from there. I had no solution to the problem they pointed out.

I stopped writing and proceeded to think for the next five months. I thought and thought and researched and cried and brainstormed and thought. I even did the Artist’s Way—the program designed to reinvigorate creativity. Eventually, that, coupled with my research, helped me to come up with the storyline I have in the book today. At the time, those five months seemed endless, like I’d never come up with the way forward. Now, I recognize them for what they were–a necessary step in shaping the final novel, which is, incidentally, far better than my original conception ever was.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

By the time my first book came out, I had been writing seriously for about six years. I had two previous manuscripts collecting dust and too many collective rejections to keep track of. While it seemed as though I had a history solely of rejection, I realized that throughout it all, I’d also had a smattering of small victories–I’d won a few writing competitions; I’d gotten some encouragement from literary agents and then publishing houses. Looking back, I realize these small victories were getting bigger and bigger and that all the rejection and work on my craft was making me better.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.alexkiester.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alexkiesterwriter/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AlexKiesterWriter/

Image Credits
For my headshot, and images 3 and 4, the photo credit is: Holly Cardiff Thomas.