Today we’d like to introduce you to Monica Walters.
Hi Monica, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today.
I began writing poetry as a teenager. Writing has been a part of who I am for a long time. Poetry led to songwriting and eventually turned into short stories. In 2011, I was penning what I believed would be a short story, but there was too much there to end it. That story became my first novel. I sat on it for three years, not knowing what to do with it.
When I learned of Kindle Direct Publishing in 2014, I’d already penned a second novel. My journey over the next four years was tedious. I loved writing and would sacrifice sleep to do it. While working a full-time job, and being a wife and mother of three, I penned thirteen more novels. However, my readership wasn’t anywhere I knew it had the potential of being.
I prayed hard about what to do next, and after turning down one independent publisher, I decided on another. B. Love Publications was just what I needed to take my career to the next level. B. Love is a teacher, author, and publisher. Her goal isn’t to just make money, it’s to groom authors for the literary industry and help them to be able to stand on their own. She was just who I needed.
With my husband’s encouragement, I took a leap of faith and quit my full-time job. I signed with B. Love Publications in 2018 and under her guidance, I published fifty-six more books, some under the publication and some independently. This was where I got the title, Queen of Country Hood Love Stories, after penning stories about black cowboys. After fulfilling my contracts, and evolving into the author she groomed me to be, she released me to publish independently full-time in 2022.
Also in 2022, I signed a three-book contract with Carl Weber’s Urban Books. Two books have now been released through that publishing company as well. The books that have changed everything for me is my latest series, the Berotte Family Series. This set of books is independently published and has fourteen titles, book fourteen to be released on May 12, 2023.
All of what I’ve accomplished has taken faith, hard work, dedication, discipline, and confidence. I have been releasing a book a month, sometimes two a month, for nearly five years and have been on this publishing journey for nearly nine years. I currently boast eighty-seven published works.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
The road was extremely bumpy at the beginning of my career change. 2019 was the hardest year for me. I’d quit my job in September 2018, and I was working on building my platform and readership as a full-time author. Financially, we were barely getting by. That took a turn for the worst toward the middle of the year when I fell ill and ended up in the hospital for ten days.
It was extremely hard to remain productive, but I pushed myself. I had my laptop with me, and I released a book from my hospital bed and was writing the next one. I couldn’t let up if I wanted to get to where I knew God destined me to be. He allowed me to push through the pain, stress, and adversity, and now, I’m reaping the benefits of that.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am a romance author, and I write in the subgenres of erotic romance, urban romance, and contemporary romance, sometimes fusing them all into one story. My books also fall under women’s fiction as well. I write about everyday people with a little razzle-dazzle. LOL! Most times, my stories depict real-life situations from a fictional standpoint, but love and forgiveness are always the focus or themes.
What set me apart were my country hood love stories. In 2019, I penned a book titled 8 Seconds to Love. It was about a black bull rider. While other authors have penned country stories, I took a different approach, showing readers that these black cowboys could be just as hood as black men in the city. The idea to write it came to me by way of my husband. He used to ride bulls.
These cowboys didn’t walk around in boots and Stetsons all day. They were just as inconspicuous as anyone else. They just had country occupations and hobbies and lived in rural areas of Southeast Texas. From these stories, fellow authors began calling me the queen of country-hood love stories, and I’ve carried that title with me ever since, penning eighteen more of these stories with even more to come.
We love surprises, fun facts, and unexpected stories. Is there something you can share that might surprise us?
People tend to think because I write a lot that I must be a fast typer and that I outline my books. They would be surprised to know that I can’t type. LOL! I literally peck out about forty words per minute but manage to publish a book every month.
I also freestyle nearly every story. Unless it’s a series, the words literally fall from the sky to my brain to the computer. The only planning that I do involves the development of my main characters, and I always know how the story will end. How I will get to that ending is mostly always a mystery to me when I start writing.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.authormonicawalters.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/authormonicawalters
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/authormonicawalters
- Twitter: www.twitter.com/monlwalters
Image Credits
Charis Solutions Photography
