Meet Author Liz Bullard

Liz Bullard is a passionate multi-genre author and coach.

Her current published works include The Prophecy Series, a gripping fantasy saga that follows the Chosen One as she navigates her newfound powers to thwart an impending threat upon the eclipse of two suns, and the Lira Somers Mystery Series, featuring a prickly female sleuth who has dreams about those in need.

Praised for their fast-paced plots, high stakes, vivid characters, and immersive settings, Liz's stories captivate readers from start to finish.

As a coach, Liz helps creatives find clarity, overcome creativity-limiting beliefs, and develop effective organizational skills to achieve their goals.

When she's not writing or coaching, Liz enjoys cooking, gardening, and spending time with her beloved corgi, Preston. An avid reader herself, Liz often curls up with a good book to unwind.

Meet Liz Bullard:

What’s one piece of advice you wish you’d known when you first started writing?

There's no perfect way to write a novel; you just have to figure out what is the best way for you to create your story, so try everything. Try to outline.

Try to pants. Try writing out of order. Try it all until you figure out what works for you, and that may not be the same for every story. For example, in some of my stories, having a music playlist was really essential; for other stories, it had no effect.

So play around with how you create stories, and that's going to be the thing that helps you have a sustainable career, because if you try to use someone else's method, you're going to make yourself frustrated.

What do you do to unwind from stress?

During nice weather, I like to take mindful walks with my dog Preston. He’s a corgi who loves to sniff every tree and blade of grass. His leisurely pace helps me transition from the busyness of my day. At first, I may find myself rushing him, but then I remind myself that there’s nothing else to be done today; we can take our time.

These mindful walks allow my brain to shift from an analytical mindset to a more creative and playful one. They are a great time for me to discover new stories or figure out how to move to the next scene, as I’m in a relaxed state rather than focusing on completing tasks.

What’s your favorite show to binge-watch?

I love The Blacklist with James Spader. It is essentially everything I want in a thriller-type show; you have great main and side characters. The side plots are really intriguing.

I never know what's going to happen next. The action is adrenaline rushing, and then you have this criminal mastermind who you're never really sure if he's all the way good or all the way bad.

I just love complex characters. Shows like this are probably why I'm gravitating toward thrillers right now, and I'm really excited about telling some of those stories.

I would really love to create a complex criminal that you love to hate, so hopefully I can craft something like The Blacklist one day.

What is something that you’ve learned and grown from over the last year? 

I think for me this last year, a growth point was accepting that my business and my creativity are my own. Meaning, I think sometimes I can over-compare to make sure I'm doing something right or that I'm on the right track, but this comparison can be very limiting. Both as an entrepreneur and as an author, my stories get to be uniquely my own, and my business has to be uniquely my own.

I was trying to find direct comparisons, but the issue is no one else has my exact skills, so their businesses, their books, their styles are going to look very different. I had to be comfortable with sometimes feeling different or alone in my own path, but I've also seen much more growth in accepting that I get to be exactly who I am.

I get to tell my stories exactly the way I want to tell them, and that has been freeing and liberating; it has opened my mind to a lot of different ideas in the way that I want to tell stories and how I want to grow my business.

What’s the best way to tackle challenges?

I think the best way to tackle challenges is to figure out how you problem-solve. For me, I like to do one of two things: one, I'm a brain dumper, so I love my mom because sometimes I'll be like, "Can I just brain dump?"

And I will pour out everything that's on my mind—everything I'm anxious about, the different things that are coming up—Everything! Through pouring out, I'm able to figure out what I want to do or my next steps because now it's out of my brain, and I can see everything. The other thing I like to do is something quiet.

When I am not thinking, like  I'm on a walk or a long drive, the pieces will start to fall together because I'm not hyper-fixated on trying to find a solution. Sometimes when you allow your mind to wander, everything will make sense.

So, to figure out how you tackle a challenge, explore what helps you find clarity and make those behaviors a priority when you are struggling.

You’re a new character in the town you’re currently writing, who do you meet first and how do they react to you? (How do you react to them?)

So this is a really fun question, and it made me think of my mystery novel Chasing Nightmares: Book 2 A Lira Somers Mystery Novel.

Lira has dreams about people in need, and part of me thinks that if I were in her world, we would meet in a dream. I feel like we would butt heads because she has a tendency to do that with everyone she meets; she is very prickly.

I think it would be a slow-to-warm-up relationship, but after we got through the initial angst and arguing, she'd be really cool and might keep me out of trouble—or maybe I would keep her out of trouble, hopefully.

What is your loftiest goal you’d like to reach as a writer?

I really sat with this because I wanted to give you an honest answer, and I didn't want to minimize my dream. I really thought about this question. The loftiest goal that I have as a writer is that I would like to be on the world's richest authors list.

I looked at it a couple of years ago, and out of the top 10 authors, there is not a Black woman on that list. I would love to be the first Black woman on that list, letting people know to dream big and set great goals.

I want to remind others that people want to read stories about our Black and brown characters; they resonate with everyone. People of all ethnicities and genders connect with our characters.

I hope to be a trailblazer who inspires others to dream big, act inclusively, and be kind humans.

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Want to learn more about Liz Bullard?

IG & TikTok handle @LizBullardWrites

​Website: LizBullardWrites.com

Or buy her books at:​ https://books2read.com/ap/nm5KbE/Liz-Bullard

What would you like to learn from other authors? I'd love to know your questions! More authors are signing up for the Meet an Author Monday series daily.

Are you an author or writer? Would you like to be part of the Meet an Author Spotlight? Let me know, and I'll send you some questions so we can get started.

Looking forward to hearing from you soon!

All the best,

Kara