Angela Haas

Tell us a little bit about yourself, your hobbies and interests.

I recently retired from teaching college level communication, media and business classes after 10 years and have decided to finally pursue my dream of writing full time. I'm a photographer as well specializing in sports photography, but now mostly I just take pictures of Arizona and Colorado landscapes and my dogs.

When and why did you start writing books?

When I was a kid there wasn't cellphones, social media or Netflix shows to binge. It was the 80s and I had a radio in my room. I'd snap in a cassette tape and would write stories in spiral bound notebooks when I was bored. Then, when I got the first Macintosh computer, I started to type them out. I've always been writing here and there, it was only during the COVID lockdowns that I started to pull out my old stories and see if I could make something of them. A couple years later, I published my first book and haven't looked back. Okay, well I do look back a lot. I have crushing imposter syndrome, but I somehow manage to keep moving forward.

What made you decide to tackle writing as a career?

It was when I started to get feedback from editors of my first book. They really thought I had something and encouraged me to push through the doubts and publish my first book. Then people started reading my book and whoa, many actually really enjoyed it. Being a published author was always something I wanted to tackle, but it was all the encouragement from people that loved my story that helped me finally take the plunge and make it a career.

Which one of your books or characters is your favourite?

I love Elliot my heroine's sidekick and Gary my emotional android. They both are my comic relief and I loved writing their dialogue.

Which one of your books was the hardest to write and stretched you the most as a writer?

Book 2, Seconds to Oblivion almost didn't happen. I felt pressure to make a good sequel, but there were so many issues with production starting with an editor who rewrote my book without track changes on so I had to scrap the nearly completed version and start over. I also struggled because I'm writing books that are soft science fiction. It's about the superheroes not the science for me, but I really had to push myself to add more accurate scientific details to satisfy the reader that will find me in the science fiction genre. I enlisted the help of a very special friend who devours all things hard science fiction and he was a tremendous help, but it was a stretch for me to incorporate more science than my first book had.

Who is your favourite author and book?

I love Douglas Adams. His books really inspired me to start writing. I love his cheeky humor. Mostly Harmless and Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul are my favorites of his. I've also recently switched genres and have written a couple romantic comedies. I've never really read much romance, but have recently fell in love with Emily Henry's books. Book Lovers is my favorite of hers.

What book are you reading right now?

Almost finished with Assistant to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer

Where do you get your inspiration for your books?

From movies and what I wish I saw in movies.

What do you enjoy doing in your spare time?

So I'm a boring nerd. I love organizing things and playing with my bulldogs. I also help my husband run our retail businesses.

Do you have any new books in the works?

Yes! Book 3 in my Keepers of the Universe Series. First Strike Audio book is in the works and due in January. I've finished a romance novel called My Plus One = You and have started writing a second one that should be out next year.