Friday Night Reads: Sarah Angleton

This week I'll be hosting my twenty-first #FriNightReads! It's where I read the first chapter from an indie author, live on my author Facebook page. This Friday I'll be live-reading from Sarah Angleton's Launching Sheep & Other Stories. It's a quirky journey through often hilarious historical footnotes. Now, here's more from this week's indie author...

How did you first start writing?

I think I started to take writing seriously in the third grade. That’s when I wrote my first award-winning story,

“The Secret of Devil’s Eye Canyon,” as a teacher-required entry into the Illinois Young Author’s Competition. The story was, well, maybe not brilliant, but also maybe not bad for a third grader. I became a state finalist, which meant I got to attend my first ever writing conference (for kiddos) on the campus of Illinois State University. Of course, I thought I was pretty big stuff. And I fell in love with the craft.

My mother, an avid reader and a demanding editor, encouraged me to read literary fiction starting when I was pretty young, and never let me turn in a paper that hadn’t been critiqued at the sentence level. I loved the reading. I didn’t always love the editing. But I did grow to appreciate it as I got older and discovered that not only was this writing thing more than just a passing phase, it was also hard work. And it was worth it.

Why do you love it?

There are probably a lot of reasons I still love it. The biggest is that I have never lost my love of reading. Just getting wrapped up in the lives of well-drawn characters or imaginative settings, or even diving into the mind and passion of a nonfiction author for a while, really feels like a wonderful privilege. I love to be able to provide that experience for others. And, more selfishly, while reading a book takes a little while, writing a book takes a good long while. I really enjoy every single step in the process of bringing characters and stories to life because I get to spend so much time with them. I even enjoy the painstaking, sentence-level editing. (Thanks, Mom!)

More on Sarah:

Sarah Angleton is the author of two historical novels, Gentleman of Misfortune and Smoke Rose to Heaven. She is also the author of the humor collection Launching Sheep & Other Stories from the Intersection of History and Nonsense, which is a very silly book based on her very silly blog. When she’s not digging through history to discover great stories and ridiculous punchlines, she spends her time with her husband, two sons, and one dog at their home in St. Louis. Catch up with Sarah at https://sarah-angleton.com.

#FriNightReads is a collaborative live-read author Ryan P Freeman hosts each Friday at Titlewave Books. The goal is to help bring talented indie authors into the spotlight where they can enjoy the exposure and delight they deserve. To watch this celebration of talented indie authors, simply pop over to Ryan's author Facebook, Friday nights at 7p MT.

Want to have your own book read on the show or help sponsor #FriNightReads?

- Just message me, Ryan P Freeman, HERE!