Rising Stars: Meet AJ Blanch

Today we’d like to introduce you to AJ Blanch.

Hi AJ, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I can still see the first book I wrote. A mess of yellow paper cut at odd angles and stapled together. Every page is filled with nonsense words written in blue crayon. When I handed that book to my mom, her face lit up with pride. She “read” it from cover to cover, gushing over my story—and a writer was born. I felt so proud of myself for creating something that made my mom happy. Later, I discovered I could procrastinate my math homework by distracting my mother with an original poem or story.

“What do you want to be when you grow up?” It’s a question all children are asked. In my mind, I remember thinking that being an author was like being an astronaut or the president of the United States—a dream so big that even if I wanted to do it, it could never happen to someone as lowly as me. When I was a kid, scarcity was rampant in my life. I remember shoving my little hand between the scratchy fabric of our couch—a furniture piece that my dad had picked up off the side of the road on trash pick-up day—my siblings and I were hunting for change and trying to come up with enough for mom to buy a loaf of bread so we could eat.

Fast-forward to seven years ago, when my husband and I moved our family 6 into a fixer-upper just south of Kansas City. I listened to many audiobooks while I worked on the house. At one point, I was listening to Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert, and I remember exactly the wall I was painting when something she said in her book flipped a switch in my brain. “The guardians of high culture will try to convince you that the arts belong only to a chosen few, but they are wrong and annoying. We are all the chosen few. We are all makers by design.” Suddenly, being an author didn’t seem like such an impossible dream, and I decided to pursue it obsessively. I spent hundreds of hours and a great deal of money studying the craft of writing. The art of building tension, creating snappy dialogue, and having the character drive the story instead of the plot. While I know that with each book I write, I will continue to improve, I cling to Elizabeth Gilbert’s wisdom (again from her book Big Magic): “A good-enough novel violently written now is better than a perfect novel meticulously written never.”

Eventually, I gave myself a deadline of one year to get my book into the world. If I didn’t make it, I told myself I would go to nursing school to help support my family. (I don’t do well with bodily fluids, so we’re all glad I got the publishing company off the ground.) There were some rough patches along the way. Primarily, I forged ahead with my publishing business, feeling like I didn’t know what I was doing, but taking action anyway and learning as I went. I had huge setbacks, including a lot of anxiety and following bad coaching advice—which ended up being a good learning experience of what not to do. My family and friends were so supportive that I could push through my attempts at self-sabotage and find the grit within myself to succeed. I didn’t make my one-year deadline with myself, but I was so close that I cut myself some slack. (I hate being late, but it’s better to show up late for myself than not at all!).

I based my first series in Kansas City because I love this area. There’s so much life and a rich community here. I wrote a heroine that normal people can relate to because we all have to overcome fear and step into our strength. Producing the audiobook was especially important to me because audiobooks make even chores fun! Audiobooks kept me sane when I was drowning in life with 4 toddlers! My stories will do that for other young moms. It’s almost like I’m reaching out through space and time, holding her hand and telling her, “It’s going to be okay. I see you feeding your kids cereal for dinner—again. I get you. You’re a warrior. And while you’re washing peed-on sheets, spilled milk, and working through that mountain of dirty dishes, I’ll take you on an adventure.” My stories are a gift to my readers—from my heart to yours.

We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Many of my struggles have been internal–overcoming massive anxiety and getting out of my head enough to let myself do the next step. And the next step. I fumbled through several drafts before finding an outlining technique that works for my brain and helps me stay productive with my writing time. There have been a lot of financial sacrifices along the way because producing a professional product is costly. Mistakes have been made, mainly on the technical end with files and formats and getting legal structures in place; the learning curve to starting a business has been steep.

Thanks for sharing that. So, you could tell us a bit more about your work.
I am an author. I write Urban Fantasy Romance (PG13: No on-screen sex and mild language). I currently have book 1 of a trilogy published, with the second book coming in the fall of 2023. My story starts in Kansas City, takes readers to another realm, and then back home again. My fans love the relatable characters and the amount of heart in the story. I set myself apart because I have dedicated hundreds of hours to consuming courses, books, podcasts, training, and learning everything I can get my hands on about writing good fiction to present entertainment that will satisfy and delight the people who pick it up.

Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
Recent developments in AI writing have a lot of authors on alert. I don’t fear it because I don’t think that AI will ever be able to duplicate the humanity and soul that a real person can bring to a story. Stories shape people and cultures; that human element is the heartbeat of all good fiction. We read to be entertained, but we also read for human connection, to live an adventure that resonates with who we are. So, the human touch will always be important in our stories.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.ajblanch.com
• Instagram: @author.ajblanch

Image Credits
Found in Embers cover: Covers by Combs