We were lucky to catch up with Olivia Stibbe recently and have shared our conversation below.

Olivia, appreciate you joining us today. What do you think it takes to be successful?

Jumping into the world of romance writing showed me one guarantee in life: success and risks are inseparable. We can’t have one without the other. So, even though it’s scary, the risk is what will ultimately get you to your end goal.

When I was gearing up to drop my first novel at 23, I was drowning in doubts. What if my writing sucks? What if nobody likes the book? What if my dream crashes and burns? I remember having a full-on breakdown the night before it was published. But I pressed on. I needed to find out for myself; I knew I would always wonder about the “what if” if I didn’t.

Fast forward – I self-published not one but two books in a year. And guess what? I landed a literary agent in that same year (just turned 24)! I had messages and comments and reviews from readers who loved my writing, and I am in a place that I nearly gave up because I was worried the risk wasn’t worth it.

I’ve heard it from others before me, but we’re never really ready. There’s always more planning, more growing, more, more, more that we can do. But the key is to do it anyway. Do it scared. Do it nervous. Do it now. Take the leap and see where you land. You can always tweak your path along the way. The good stuff is just over the hill of risk you’ve built up in your head.

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?

My name is Olivia Preya and I am a romance author.

I was an avid reader growing up, and when I graduated from university I felt a little…lost (as most new grads do). I was fortunate enough to be in a position where I got to speak with well-established romance authors and only then did I realize it was a career, a life, that was possible to pursue. Despite reading so many books, I hadn’t been able to envision myself as an author until I spoke with some.

The encouragement from the established authors was one of the biggest things to move me toward my own writing path. I had dabbled in writing, a few scenes here and there, but I hadn’t put a book together. It seemed so impossible. But I’ll never forget hearing being told that we can work with a first, crappy draft but we can’t work with something that doesn’t exist. That was the kick I needed to write my first draft of my first book.

It was bad. It was so, so bad. But it was done. I had completed an entire book. The next step was to edit. And I edited for months. I ended up with four drafts of my first book and it was almost unrecognizable from the very first draft. But I was only able to get to the final product because I had the first, really bad version.

Now, I’m on my third book and the process stays the same. I begin by writing something so bad I question my own writing abilities. And then I tweak, mould, and build from there. It’s a long process but it genuinely excited and invigorates me,

Writing romance is something I do both for me and for my readers. I write stories I want to see. I write historically underrepresented characters (notably, Black women), and help other women of colour see themselves as a leading lady.

Why romance? Romance is for everyone who wants it. It’s a happily ever after (HEA) we all fantasize about. It’s a way to escape the hustle and bustle of the day and sink into a story where you know things are going to work out. Because real life is hard–we need to know things work out sometimes. And I love writing these stories.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect of being a creative is the community. On some level, we create for ourselves. We actualize stories and art that WE enjoy. But a small part of us (okay, maybe a large part) wants other people to enjoy our work, too.

And the reality is, they will. You will find people who are drawn to your particular style.

My favourite thing is receiving messages from readers who say they loved my story/stories. Hearing that something I love, created out of love, is loved by other people is one of the most rewarding feelings I’ve ever felt.

Especially when it was so scary to start, when the first jump seemed impossible, I love realizing that I brought value to other people’s reading.

And we all know how vulnerable it is to put out a piece of art. It’s a piece of you. And it’s so scary to share it with the world.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

It’s not a particular goal or mission, but rather a mantra/statement:

I’m driven by the “What If.”

Growing up, we all seem to fantasize about what could be or what could have been.
– What if I went to X school instead of this one?
– What if I said yes instead of no?
– etc.

We daydream while in our current situations, oftentimes unhappy. The amount of times “what if I…” goes through our mind on a daily basis is immeasurable, it fuels our daydreams and helps us temporarily escape the dread of reality. I was like this. “What ifs” stayed in my head.

But now they guide my actions.

Each “what if” that passes through my mind is a guiding light to what I should further explore. My dream of being a romance author began as “what if I wrote a romance novel?” It was that question that propelled me to seek people who had already done it, and eventually do it myself.

But this works for any question. Sure, there are steps to take in between the question and the final result, but you only get to the final result by exploring the question.

So the next time you think “what if,” take a moment. Take a step back and actually ask yourself, what if I did?

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.oliviapreya.ca/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/oliviapreyaauthor/
• Other: https://www.amazon.ca/Cusp-Darkness-Olivia-Preya/dp/B0BSQV9G9Q

Image Credits
Photo by Julie Marchand Photography- @juliemarchandphotography