We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Piper Punches. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Piper below.

Piper, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today If you could go back in time do you wish you had started your creative career sooner or later?

My creative career started in the summer of 2013, although I’d been writing since childhood. I’d always had creative aspirations and dreamed of becoming a published novelist. Yet, as cliche as the story is, I’d always put it off for one reason or another: I had little kids. My writing needed to be better. I didn’t have a publisher interested in the story.

So what made summer 2013 different? Well, to begin, my younger cousin had recently self-published a romance novel. Second, because I’m competitive, and she was my younger cousin who, by birth order alone, hadn’t had the dream of writing as long as I had (I mean, I think I came out of the womb desperate to tell stories). I knew it was time to write my story.

And so I began writing my first published novel, The Waiting Room, a small-town mother/daughter story about forgiveness, second chances, and hope. It’s been almost ten years and four adult fiction books later (and two children’s books) since I decided I didn’t need anyone’s permission or a publisher’s advance to write a book and share it with the world.

Do I wish I had started earlier?

Not at all, because I believe life, something greater than ourselves, sets the pace of our lives. Sure, years ago, I lamented that I wasn’t achieving my goals, but there were numerous reasons, some self-imposed and others unavoidable. I came into my creative career when I was most ready, and I continue to remind myself that life’s pace isn’t always under my control.

There are career milestones I haven’t hit—yet. Each time I develop a new story, publish a new book and meet new readers, I feel confident that sooner or later, I’ll reach those milestones. Each step in this journey prepares me for the next, and trusting in the process, instead of wishing for different outcomes brings me closer to my ultimate goals.

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 the author of the bestselling fiction books, The Waiting Room, 60 Days (Missing Girl Series Book 1), Missing Girl (a novella), and The Murder Lawyer. I’m also the author of two children’s books, Brave Hearts (The Lavender Fairies, #1) and Fixing Christmas (The Lavender Fairies, #2), and a children’s journal, You Are Magical.

My adult fiction books do two things: entertain and inform. As a writer, it’s my job to tell stories and give my readers varying perspectives. Some of my favorite novelists, like Jodi Picoult and Khaled Hosseini, do this so well, and I’ve taken inspiration from them when choosing the stories to tell. My most recent novel, The Murder Lawyer, does this by telling the story of a young criminal defense attorney with an unswerving belief in justice who defends people accused of the most heinous crime: murder. In this novel, I challenge the ideas of justice by learning more about the people who committed the crimes. What happened? What were their motivations? Are they really guilty of what they’re accused of?

English writer, Jeanette Winterson, says, “Writers are not here to conform. We are here to challenge. We’re not here to be comfortable—we’re here, really, to shake things up. That’s our job.”

I couldn’t agree more!

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

I am so fortunate to have such a fantastic support system of friends and family not in the publishing/entertainment industry who stand by me along this journey. Yet, people still make assumptions about what it’s like being in a creative field.

The funniest assumption is when people see me in a coffee shop with my computer out and think I’m writing the next great American novel. The reality is I’m usually daydreaming, procrastinating, making playlists to go with the books I’m behind on writing and getting to my editor, and constantly doubting myself. Or, I’m writing for someone else because I’m still climbing that mountain where only MY books provide for me financially.

I love that people still believe in overnight success stories because it means anything is possible. It gives people hope. But the truth is that success, however you define it, comes in bite-sized pieces. It takes years for people to become an “overnight success.” So, if you have a creative in your life, continue to share their work because the most effective ingredient in the recipe for success isn’t the best story ever written or accolades and endorsements. It’s truly a combination of word-of-mouth and luck!

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

We’re taught conformity and that there’s only one way to do something from such an early age because we sure don’t want our children to flail about in the wind, directionless and penniless. So, society’s created a system of nicely cleared paths for us to reach specific destinations. The assumption when people begin walking these paths is that what’s at the end of the journey is certainty and security in their jobs, relationships, life.

But I’ve learned that there’s no one way to achieve your goals. I might still be waiting if I subscribed to the idea that the only way to get published was to wait until a publisher wanted to publish my writings.

While some paths seem to offer a sense of protection and certainty, the truth is that nothing is certain in life. Be a trailblazer! If a path doesn’t exist to the career—or life—you want, blaze it.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://piperpunches.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/piperpunches/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/piperpunches
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/PiperPunches
• Other: Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7348889.Piper_Punches Amazon Author Profile: https://www.amazon.com/Piper-Punches/e/B00GI4D450/ref=dp_byline_cont_pop_ebooks_1 Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@piperpunches

Image Credits
Lance Tilford Photography