Life & Work with Regina Sirois of Olathe

Today we’d like to introduce you to Regina Sirois.

Hi Regina, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I grew up a third-generation Kansas Citian on an untamed plot of Missouri woods. My childhood was spent in creeks and trees, dreaming of what I would learn and become. The first dream was an archaeologist trekking through the Amazon, searching for Mayan ruins. The next was a veterinarian, then a painter, a historian, and, to be utterly conventional, a ballerina. And all along, everyone told me I’d be a writer. My teachers were in elementary school, high school, and college. My parents. My grandmother. You will write stories, she told me, unaware of my disappointment in that pronouncement. I wanted stages and jungles, wild animals, and galleries. Not a desk with a lifetime of assigned essays. Except, the words kept coming. Poems. Metaphors. Flashes of scenes. People I wanted to know after glimpsing them for just a moment in my mind. I could not put down my history books; There were people in there! I majored in history at Missouri State University. And because the words grew louder, I minored in creative writing. It was the right fit—a world of characters already provided and the knowledge of how to record their stories on paper. After graduating, I worked on my personal history, marrying my high school sweetheart and having two incredible daughters. When they went to school, I picked up my laptop and decided it was time. My first novel won the international Amazon Breakthrough Novel of the Year Award and was published by Penguin. I’ve written my last three novels with my friend and writing partner, Jaima Fixsen, under the pen name Audrey Blake. They have gone on as USA Today best sellers and have been translated into several languages. I haven’t yet explored the Amazon. I don’t have toe shoes. My work doesn’t only hang in museums. But I do write. They were right about that one.

It wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
There wouldn’t be anything to write if it had been a smooth road. I remember my first horrible reviews and the tears I cried through my husband’s sweatshirt, soaking his shoulder. I laugh about it now, utterly impervious to reviews. I’ve grown that shell I never believed I could. When I get a glowing review from a national organization, it affects me as little as when I get a bad one from a stranger. All opinions aside, I’ve learned the work is exactly what it is. And each time I write, I strive to get more right than I did last. But that all came after the early heartbreaks. The rejections from agents and agencies. The unanswered emails and unanswered dreams. I gave up many, many times. But my husband never did. He believed my voice was unique and valuable and my gifts genuine. If there is a hero in my story, it is he. A quiet hero hovering in the background, rarely venturing forward, but the hero is all the same. I wrote while my small children took naps, trying to meet deadlines around classroom parties and laundry. I still wake up and get to work before 6 am to make time for writing and all the other obligations of my life. And no matter how fast I write or how hard I work, readers can read much faster than I can create. There is an endless feeling of falling behind and choking on my dust.

Thanks for sharing that. Please tell us more about your work.
I am an author specializing in young adult and historical fiction literature. I started with a dream to write stories I would want my daughters to read. My devotion to classical literature and the beauty of crafted words sets me apart from most modern books. I enjoy literature that is clean, focused, and lovely. And even as I say that I freely admit I write stories about surgeons before anesthesia, and the horrible deaths suffered before modern medicine. There is a rawness to the reality of what people have endured in the past, and it is at times gory and ugly, but it is always inspiring in some way. I only want to write about what encourages us to become braver, better, wiser, or kinder.

What would you say has been one of the most important lessons you’ve learned?
Do not write a book for the masses. It will be unfocused, unclear, and ungenuine. When I write, I concentrate on one person and write for that person only. Many others will feel the same if one person truly loves a book.

Contact Info:

• Website: audreyblakebooks.com reginasirois.com
• Instagram: audreyblakebooks

Image Credits
Justin Sirois