Colleen is a thriller writer who also dabbles in other genres and poetry. Yet, she has a much broader history than writing.
Please introduce yourself. Tell us about your personal life, family, education.
I’m a thriller author. I’ve also written short stories, essays, one short play, and some really bad poetry. I’m also a certified public accountant with a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting and I work tax season each year. I was born and raised in Wyoming and have spent most of my life here. I live in a small town with my husband, Rob, and I can’t imagine living anywhere else. I’m a US Army veteran, and I used the skills I learned while serving my country in my dystopian thriller, DAEIOS: 140 Feet Down.
DAEIOS: 140 Feet Down is about a young survivalist woman and her family who flee apocalyptic weather to an underground shelter called Daeios. Shortly after lockdown the Elders who run Daeios announce that they’ll breed with all fertile females age 16 and above to repopulate the earth. So, Shea knows that she’s going to have to breed with a sadistic, elderly man and bear his child, or fight, risking her life and the lives of those she loves most.
What do you like doing in your spare time?
We mainly spend our free time traveling. We go by plane, boat, car, and we are avid motorcycle riders. We ride two-up on a BMW and have traveled all over North America. One summer we rode 17,000 miles. I also like reading, going whitewater rafting, and going for long walks. I’ve done two walks to raise money for breast cancer, in memory of a dear friend I lost at the tender age of 38. The first was 60 miles in three days, and the second was a marathon the first day and a half marathon the second day. I’ve also done eight community theater plays with four lead roles.
If you are active in career fields other than writing, what do you hope for the future of that business? Describe your work or business activities in which you are presently active.
I’m a CPA, and I work tax season at a public accounting firm. I hope that this career field will continue to thrive and that more young people will choose accounting as their careers, even though most people don’t dream of being accountants when they’re young. It’s challenging and varied work, and there are lots of different opportunities for accountants, especially for CPAs. Business degrees and accounting degrees overlap a great deal, so getting both degrees opens up the opportunity for someone to go into business for themselves and do their own books and taxes, too.
What inspired you to write your first book?
My first book was actually a tiny little book I wrote and illustrated when I was seven. It was called The Rubber Ducky, and I sold it to a neighbor for a quarter, keeping all of my royalties. But I’d always wanted to write a novel. I didn’t feel like I had the time to juggle working full-time with numbers and with words in my minimal spare time, switching from left-brain work to right-brain work. My husband gave me the opportunity and his support. He actually included it in his proposal to me: hang out your own shingle as an accountant, write that book you’ve always wanted to write, sit on the couch eating bon-bons, or whatever you want to do. Of course, I chose to write the book, although I do eat a bon-bon from time to time.
As to why I wrote DAEIOS: 140 Feet Down, my dystopian thriller with overtones of The Handmaid’s Tale, I was concerned by major news topics such as climate change, abortion, assaults against women, drug addiction, mental disorders, and racial tensions. I took these subjects and imagined what they might be like in 2034 in worst-case scenario.
How do you decide on the title of a book?
I do lots of research. I brainstorm and write down all of the ideas I have. Then I plug them into Amazon to see how many hits that brings up. If a tentative title brings up any hits in the first ten pages, I go on to the next one. I search through Amazon in all categories as well as in the Books category. I want my book to be at the top of the search results and, preferably, the only result. If it passes that test, I Google the title. I’m looking for it popping up in search results here also, and I’m also looking to see if anything derogatory pops up. Again, I look at the first ten pages. I also look at the images on Google to make sure there’s nothing that detracts from the image I want my book to have.
DAEIOS wasn’t an easy title for me to conjure up. Everything I looked up had too many hits. For example, “Chosen” would’ve made a great title for my book, but it gets over 40,000 hits on Amazon in the Books category. Some of the words I looked up have derogatory meanings or had images that didn’t work for my book. The main setting of my book is a religious shelter run by a cult, so I figured they would use a religious word or something uplifting to name the shelter. After scrapping dozens of words, I looked at different languages in which God is Deus, Dios, Deios without the “a”, and Dyos. Since it’s an invented word I needed a subtitle, and Daeios is 140 feet below the earth’s surface. Thus, DAEIOS: 140 Feet Down.
Do you remember the first book you read?
I was only two when I started reading on my own, so I don’t actually remember reading it, but my family told me it was This Little Piggy.
Is there an author, past or present, you would love to meet? Why?
I would love to meet Margaret Mitchell. I love Gone with the Wind and have read it every year since my mother gave it to me when I was thirteen. I still have a hard time believing Ms. Mitchell was able to write such a long and prolific historical fiction novel without a computer. No word processor, it was all written on paper, and by hand. She had to research the history without the internet. And how did she edit it? I would also love to ask her about her writing process and what her inspiration for her characters was. I’d show her the movie and ask her what she thought of it, too.
When you see new authors struggling, what single piece of advice could you give them on a moment’s notice?
It takes as long as it takes to write a good story. Don’t rush it.
How do you want others to see you or remember you? Is it important to you?
It’s important for others to see me as a hard worker who makes things happen. I didn’t have the resources to go to college, so I served my country as a military police officer in the US Army to qualify for the GI Bill. This helped, but it wasn’t enough to pay for all of my education. So, I put myself through college working part-time during the school year and working two jobs during the summer. I paid for every penny of my education and was the first in my family to get a bachelor’s degree. I also wrote and published a book, which many people dream of doing, but I did it.
Do you have a blog or website viewers can visit for updates, events, and special offers? Include links to any and all of your sites.
I have a website at https://colleenecclespenor.com. While there, visitors can buy personalized paperback or hardcover books – they make great gifts for themselves and others, and I run free shipping promos throughout the year. Books come in a special box with a bit of bling. I also run other types of promos. They’ll also find my social media links, and can contact me on social media or via a form on my website – I love hearing from readers, writers, and anyone else who stops by.
Amazon: https://smarturl.it/daeios
Audible: http://bit.ly/daeios140feetdown
Barnes & Noble: http://bit.ly/DAEIOSBN
Buy personalized copies of my print books on the Books page of my website, https://colleenecclespenor.com, and also download a preview of eBook/print and listen to an audiobook clip there.
Author of DAEIOS: 140 FEET DOWN https://smarturl.it/daeios
Audiobook format: http://bit.ly/daeios140feetdown
Website: https://colleenecclespenor.com/
Amazon: http://bit.ly/ColleenEcclesPenor
Goodreads: http://bit.ly/ColleenEcclesPenorGRA
Facebook: http://bit.ly/ColleenEcclesPenorAuthorFB
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ecclespenor
LinkedIn: http://bit.ly/ColleenEcclesPenorAuthorLI
Pinterest: http://bit.ly/ColleenEcclesPenorPin
