143: Rebecca Campbell - Author of Sandalwood

In this episode, we talk with Rebecca Campbell about writing her debut off and on for over a decade before finally finishing it and deciding to take control of the entire project, including interior formatting, cover design, and publishing it through KDP. Hailing from a small town in Australia meant primarily marketing her book online and we discuss the importance of virtual on-line communities to a writer like herself as well as how just mentioning the words "sexual desire" in her blurb was enough to get her ads booted from several venues. Rebecca Campbell is an amateur cook and non-practicing scientist living in the New England region of northern New South Wales with her husband, two stepsons, two cats and a dog. After studying and researching zoology, animal ecology, entomology, myrmecology and climate change for ten years, she realized academia wasn't for her and rediscovered her passion for creative writing. When she's not feeding people and sharing her love of food or favorite recipes, or blogging about homosexual necrophilia in the mallard duck and hyena clitorises, or recounting some of her best late-night, whisky-fueled arguments with people who were wrong on the Internet, Rebecca writes women's fiction. Her first novel, Sandalwood, touches on grief, sex, the power of scent, and confronting the past. Her second novel, Triptych, which she is currently working on, tells the interwoven stories of three vastly different women, and explores an age-hypogamous intimate relationship, forbidden love, and a non-monogamous marriage. After recording some very ordinary backing vocals on her husband's album, she now likes to think she's a little bit garage-punk and bluesy-swamp-rock when really she's a little bit more perfume and red lipstick. She needs you to know that myrmecology is the scientific study of ants, not mermaids. To learn more about Rebecca, click here.