Born and raised in Flint, MI, Porsha Deun (pronounced like Dion) began to take her writing seriously in 2015. She started with Love Lost while unemployed after graduating from Davenport University with a B.B.A. in Accounting. Three years and two accounting jobs later, her debut novel, Love Lost, was published. Since then she’s published the remainder of the Love Lost Series, Love Lost Forever and Love Lost Revenge, and her first novelette, Addict. While romance will always be the center of Deun’s writing heart, she is currently working on a children’s book and other projects.

• So I know you talk about it a bit on your IG but what drew you into children's books? How does that compare to the work you normally do?

  • The children's book came about from a conversation with my niece, who was 4 at the time. My hope is to release on her 6th birthday this year. The book idea didn't come directly after the conversation. In fact, it was about five months later while was brushing my teeth. The pages of the book turned in my head, so I had to write it down.

• What is it about? children's books are a completely different beast from adult novels

  • The title of the book is Princesses Can Do Anything. It little girl learning from her Tee Tee that princesses don't have to look or dress a certain way. They can do anything.

• What is a Tee Tee? 

  • Aunt. Tee Tee is what my niece and nephew call me.

• That's amazing. That was my guess as soon as I asked you (lol). I love this concept. We need more books like this. How far along are you with this project?

  • It's written. My illustrator and I are working on the last half of illustrations.

• Oooh that's exciting How did you find an illustrator?

  • She actually illustrated the covers for my debut romance trilogy. I founder her scrolling through Twitter one day. We've been working on projects ever since.

• Oh that's excellent! Are these children's book illustrations going to be in a similar style to your book covers?

  • Yes and no. Every artist has a certain style, so that will definitely carry over but these will be more kid friendly and much more detailed.

• Is this your first children's book? And will there be more? 

  • It is my first and yes, there will be more. My first one, I'm co-authoring with my niece. The second one I will co-author with my nephew.

• What was it like co-writing with your niece?

  • Fun. She picked out the cover art. I read the story to her and she gave some suggestions, told me what she liked and didn't. I made changes from there. The aunt and niece in the book look like the two of us, so she gets excited whenever I show her a new page.

• When are you expecting to release Princesses Can Do Anything? 

  • Towards the end of March (Princesses Can Do Anything drops TOMORROW!!)

• What are your other books for adults about?

  • My debut trilogy, The Love Lost Series is about a rekindled love that brings the best out of some and the absolute worst out of others. The Addict Series, of which book one is available now, is a fatal attraction thriller. The three remaining books in the series will be released this summer.

• When are you hoping to release the next Addict book?

  • The second book will come out sometime in May, with the two other books each coming out a month after the previous. I am also releasing a novel in October.

• So do you have the whole addict series drafted then? 

  • Yes. In fact, all of my releases for this year have been drafted. Books covers are done. Final touches of editing is all they need.

• Oooh that's so exciting. How long did it take you to get all of that ready?

  • The novel I've been working on for 2 years, but for the books in the Addict series, a few months. Addict was originally to be a standalone. However, after a few readers told me they wanted more on the men of the story, I obliged. Now they each will have their own book.

• How long is each book in the Addict series?

  • Less than 10K words.

• Is there a particular reason for that? I don't get to talk to a lot of other author's that also write shorts.

  • It just how that story went. I don't set word count goals for my stories. I write until I feel the story has been told in its entirety. The story determines if it is 10K or 80K.

• I love that philosophy. It's the way it should be.  Now tell me about the stand alone novel you are releasing in October.

  • It is titled Intoxic. It is a poly-romance that goes awry due to greed, in a number of ways.

• How long is Intoxic?

  • It's about 50K

• And what inspired all of these books that you've written?

  • Love Lost came to me in a dream and I ran with it. Intoxic was more of a daydream I guess. The children's books came from my niece and nephew. Intoxic was inspired by a conversation.

• How long have you been a writer?

  • I've been taking my craft seriously for almost 6 years now.

• How long had you been writing before taking your craft seriously?

  • Since I was a kid. I dabbled in poetry and short stories.

• What made you decide to take your work seriously?

  • I was unemployed for months after getting my bachelor's degree. Deep down I knew I would end up not working in my field, as I longed for something that satisfied my creative spirit. I just didn't think it would be so soon. Love Lost came to me in a dream and I wrote the first 6 chapters in two days. It was thrilling. I loved the feeling of seeing the wild story in my mind come alive on paper. Well, actually my phone. My laptop at the time was down so I started writing the story on my phone.

• That's beautiful. How long did it take to get that first LoveLost book out into the world?

  • Three and a half years. I kept stopping and restarting. Though I loved writing, imposter syndrome had a strong hold on me then.

• It's rough getting over that initial hump for sure. When did you finally publish?

  • Love Lost was published in November 2018, just before Black Friday. The second edition of the book was published last May.

• Was it always intended to be a series?

  • Gosh no! The first two books were written as one. The document was so large that Words started to glitch so I split it in half to make it easier to work in. After several revisions, I realized I had two books. The idea for the third book came to me as I was publishing the first and editing the second.

• How long is each book in the love lost series compared to the Addict series?

  • The Love Lost Series is a novel trilogy, whereas the Addict series is made up of novelettes. Each book of the Love Lost Series is at least 60K words.

• Dang! Do you prefer one over the other (novels over novellettes)?

  • No preference. I stick with whatever a particular story calls for.
    Though, the novelettes are faster to turnaround!

• What is your editing process like?

  • I handwrite everything first. The manuscript gets its first round of edits as I type it up. Then I print it off and leave it alone for at least two weeks before I start to work on it again. I make edits and rewrites on the print out and make the changes & additions on the digital version. I do this over and over again until I feel that the story is fully fleshed out. At this point, I send the story to beta readers. Once I get the feedback from them, I make any necessary changes. I leave it alone for at least another two weeks, then give it an audio edit but having Word read it to me. This helps to catch grammar and pacing issues I or the betas may have missed. I actually do this step twice. At this point I send it to either a different group of betas or an editor, depending on availability.

• How long does that process take from top to bottom? Being indie is so much extra work but that much more fulfilling at the end!

  • It depends on the length of the book. The last book of the Love Lost Series, Love Lost Revenge (I'll use this one because it the one of three that I did not take an extended break from) took me a year and a half from idea to publication. Addict took me 4 months. Now, I am also one of those writers who have at least 3 active WIPs at any given moment. Currently, I have 6, including the 5 to be published this year.
    I suppose if I was the type of writer of who focused on only one project at a time, I might get through them faster, but my brain doesn't work that way. I have to work on whichever story is talking to me the most at the moment.

• Do you ever feel like that is a distracting tactic? (I am the same way so I totally get it but for those readers who DON'T think that way lol)

  • For me, no. It is the sole reason why I can have 5 releases in a single year. When I had only one book to work on, I struggled. If I was blocked on Love Lost, I had no way to work through that block because I didn't have, or at that point didn't allow myself, something else to work on that would allow the words to flow.

• So then, what is your advice for beginning authors and writers?

  • Simply, write. Write whatever story is in your heart no matter how unusual, out-the-box, or even repetitive it may seem. You offer something different and that itself is valuable enough.
    Also, don't put so much pressure on yourself. Analyze if the daily, weekly, or even monthly word goals you set for yourself are actually helping you or are the root to your writer's block.

• That last one is the most beautiful advice I've heard. Are you still working a side job on top of writing or have you flown out of the cage and into the universe of true independence?

  • I haven't flown that far yet, but it is definitely the goal!

• So tell me about your marketing process. Being an independent [author] is crazy complicated sometimes lol

  • Marketing is the least fun part for me, especially as someone who if it not for this business, wouldn't be on Facebook or Instagram. But once I've finalized the book covers, I hire a graphics specialist to create mockups. I then use the mockups to create my images in Canva, where I add texts and images. Because I do not like social media, most of my posts on Facebook and Instagram are schedule. I spend an hour or two a couple days a week scheduling posts. I try to give a mix of promotion, behind the scenes, something personal, and something funny. It can be very daunting but in the time which we live, it is necessary.

• What program do you use to schedule posts? I'm the same way about not liking social media and I'm sure some of our Goddesses feel the same as well. PLUS that's just good work ethic, all the pros schedule posts

  • I use Facebook Business Suite. You can manage both your Facebook and Instagram business pages with it.

• Oh neat. Is that a paid service?

  • No. The app is free and so are its features.

• Have you noticed an uptick in sales since automating your process?

  • Yes, when I stay on it.

• How long had you been published before getting involved on social media?

  • I had been on it, I simply had not been active for a number of years. Even still, the accounts I am active on are business accounts. I've not used my personal business page in some time. I started using the business pages a few months prior to publishing, so that I could begin promoting my first book, Love Lost.

• Oh beautiful! That's a step a lot of Indies forget to do. How has the pandemic and everything affected your craft and your process (if at all)

  • If anything it has given me much more time to write and to study my craft more. I was able to really think about where I want writing to take me, the various stories I want to tell, and the mediums in which I want to tell them.

• And what are your plans going forward? For this year and 2022.

  • Outside of publishing 5 books this year, I'm getting into screenwriting. Actually, I'm in the middle of writing the screenplay adaption for my Addict Series. I'm writing that one as a movie. The Love Lost Series I want to do as an episodic series, so I will start on that later this year. I'm also writing the first draft for a novel to release in 2022. As I wrap of some of the projects I'm working on now, I will start writing more for the releases of the next two years.

• Oah that's exciting. Can you tell me a bit about the screenwriting process from an indie perspective? I know you're just starting but how do you take an indie project from paper to people's screens?

  • Well, I'm still figuring that out! I know the first step for me was writing the script since I want to have a seat at the writer's table for when the opportunity comes. I'm also taking a training on film and television production. I keep going back and forth between doing it as an indie film or trying to get the attention of a studio. If I had my choice of studios, it would be Shondaland, especially with her Netflix deal. But, being an indie author there is something about the notion of staying indie with the film version that thrills me. We'll see when the time comes.

• Any idea how the process varies for indie film artists versus getting the attention of a studio? (Still getting used to the fact that Netflix isn't indie lol)

  • In some ways, I guess it would be similar to how the process varies for indie authors versus traditionally published authors. The studio would have budget for editing, filming, marketing, and overall production. They would build that team. For an indie filmmaker, all of that is on thr filmmaker. I would be funding it myself and/or with the help of grants. I would have to build the team of assistants, camera crew, other writers, editors, boom holders, hair & makeup, wardrobe, not to mention scout for locations and warehouses in which to build a set. Still, that's not covering it all.

• Woof. And I thought that indie authors had it bad lol. What keeps you going for it despite it being such a daunting task?

  • Why not go for it? I want to see my books on the screen but I don't want to be another author who just sold the film production rights and maybe gets consultation fees during the filming process. I want to be in the rooms where the film magic happens (Hamilton pun intended)! Also, for the Love Lost Series especially, I want to see what else I can add to it or do differently without rewriting the books.

• That's a beautiful way of looking at it Goddess. To close out, what words of wisdom do you have for any women reading who feel overwhelmed by their dreams or discouraged about their dreams?

  • It's okay to feel overwhelmed, anxious, or even a little scared of your dreams. I'd be worried if you didn't. That means you are dreaming BIG! Don't let any of that stop you. Let it power you to make those dreams a reality and to surprise yourself along the journey. You won't regret it.

• Porsha, you are amazing. Thank you for your time. It is truly an honor. How can our readers stay connected with you, your work, and your journey?

  • Thank you! This has been a great discussion! The honor is mine.
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