Author T.M. Kirk Interview

booktalkwithbookis
Jul 25
9 min read

Please tell us a little bit about your books:

My books, my books... hmmm...

Well, are we talking specifics or general? In general, my books are all either fantasy romance or romantic-comedy of the paranormal persuasion. Everything I write will always have some element of either the supernatural or fantasy realms because those are far preferable to this boring world we live in that has zero dragons or hot immortal vampires. And save for one YA book I have coming out this year through a publisher, my books will always be spicy because let's be honest, spice makes a good thing great. In my opinion, of course, nothing against fade-to-black as there are some really great sweet romance books out there.

Specifically what I have released so far is Don't Bite the Director which is a paranormal rom-com with... you guessed it! Hot immortal vampires! This is book one in an interconnected series of standalone books with a thread between them. So each book can be read on it's own, but there is an overarching storyline sort of happening in the background. In book one you meet a cadre of vampires and each subsequent book will follow a different member finding their mate. And in keeping with the theme of the series, they will all be facing a fated mate who has no desire to become a vampire for an assortment of different reasons.

My romantasy, The Diamond Palace, however does not have dragons but plenty of fantastical creatures of an equally awesome vein. This is book one in the Onyx Palace series which is a four book romantasy series with the book two releasing in July. There might be a novella in there as well since one of the characters has a backstory that needs to be told.

I have Dating the Devil's Daughter which is the YA paranormal rom-com I have coming out in October through Deep Hearts YA publishing. And I have A Fragile Spell which is a spicy, sapphic rom-com with witches that will be releasing in early 2026 through NineStar Press. That one will also hopefully become a series much like the Don't Bite series in that you meet a coven of witches in book one, and I would love for each of them to get their own 'magic gone wrong' story.

So yeah, three series and one YA standalone that I may or may not turn into a series depending on what the publisher wants. So four series, I guess. Some authors think I'm insane for taking on so much simultaneously, but honestly, I have three of four more series I want to write that are killing me to keep on the backburner, so it could be worse!

When did you start writing or know you wanted to be an author?

I'm a writer from waaaaaay back. I wrote my first chapter book when I was eight years old. Was it good? No, of course not, I was eight years old! But it's the oldest memory I have of wanting to be a writer. I can't remember a time in my life I didn't want to write books. I ended up going to college for writing and got my BFA, but then life happened and writing got put on hold for twenty years. It was only a year ago that I sort of hit that point in my life where I asked myself why the heck I wasn't pursuing my dreams. So I said screw it. I quit my job, threw my stuff in a truck so I could move to a more affordable city, and just committed to making this happen. Best decision of my life that I wish had made sooner.

You released two books this year and have a third releasing in July. How have you adjusted your release process as you gain more experience?

Oh boy did I learn about giving myself more time! I get so antsy, and I just want my stories out in the world but the truth is I need to be giving myself more time. I end up on a deadline for a self-imposed release date and start stressing out when something inevitably goes wrong. So I've decided for the future I'm not going to announce release dates until the book is fully completed and I have a good idea how long editing is going to take. Plus I also have to take into consideration pausing my own self-published books so I can meet my publishers deadlines since they aren't as forgiving as I am. So I have potentially five books releasing this year but I'm not sure I'll be able to maintain that pace. I might have to drop down to four books next year.

What advice would you give others who are also planning to self publish?

Well, aside from my aforementioned give yourself time, I would also recommend taking some time to consider therapy. Now bear with me because I'm sure that comment just confused or offended some people, but here's what I mean. Self-publishing is so hard on your mental health. Unless you are an extremely well-adjusted person (which let's be fair, most artistic types aren't) you are going to struggle with this. You have just taken a piece of your soul, place it into book form, and handed it to the world saying, "I hope you like this." The problem is you can't please everybody. So there will be criticism, and it will hurt. No matter how much you remind yourself that you can't be everybody's cup of tea, it still hurts at the end of the day when someone doesn't like your work. We're human and we have emotions so it's just inevitable. For some people, this can become too much. Being an author requires such vulnerability to share your work, but at the same time such resilience and thick skin. So I would ask anyone thinking about going the self-publish route, can you take the criticism? Can you take the harsh words? Because not everybody can, and that's okay.

What is the best part of self publishing and what is the most difficult part of self publishing?

The best and worst part are the same thing - I get to make all the decisions. There is a lot of freedom in being able to do whatever you want. Design whatever cover makes you happy, write literally whatever you want in the story, release it whenever you feel like... there's just freedom. But you also HAVE to make all the decisions, and it can be a lot. Choosing an editor, choosing a formatter or buying and learning formatting software, picking a cover designer and deciding what the heck you want to put on the cover... it can be a lot of decisions, and you're worried the entire time you might mess up.

Do you do anything special to celebrate writing/publishing milestones?

I mean, everything is a milestone, right? When I got my Goodreads account verification, that was a milestone. Finishing my first book, heck releasing my first book! When I got my very first review from an ARC reader. When I sent out my first ARC copies! It's just a non-stop rollercoaster ride of milestones, and that's what makes the journey so exciting.

I love vampire books and enjoy seeing how authors make typical lore unique in their stories. Where did you get the inspiration for the apple? Will apples come into play in the next book?

Excellent question! I can say that yes, apples will come into play in future books and will actually be a key component of one book in particular. As to where I got the inspiration, it comes from the whole Christian biblical story of Adam and Eve, which as you know is a huge part of the lore in this series. Lilith who was Adam's first wife became the first vampire, forever feeding on the humans that were her ex-husbands people. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned! And apples are of course the forbidden fruit in that tale, so I couldn't help but make it the same forbidden fruit for the vampires. It's their garlic, their kryptonite if you will.

I loved reading Don't Bite the Director! When can we expect a sequel? Is there anything you can tell us about the next book?

Hmmm.... how much to tell. Decisions, decisions. See this is back to the whole I have to make my own decisions thing! I can say that I would like to release book two this December. I am NOT putting that on the record, I learned my lesson the hard way not to make promises before the book is done, but I would like to be do that. If not December than maybe January or February. I'm not ready to divulge what it's about, but I can say that it will be Tressa's story. I had debated doing Baylin's story next, but I think I want to have some more fun with him as a solo guy before I torture him with a mate.

When I asked about something unique in your writing process, you said that you "actively try to write a horrible first draft". What is the reason behind this?

One of the biggest things that slows writers down is the desire for perfection. The concept that your first draft needs to be good. Because if you're not feeling motivated or inspired, then you end up not writing at all. If you tell yourself the first draft is going to be horrendously bad, then you can write even on days when the muses aren't speaking. You're just getting words on the page and shaping the story. You can turn a hunk of clay in a beautiful statue, but good luck sculpting that statue from the ground up trying to keep it perfect as you go. So I just throw a hunk of mud on the page, then start refining it through multiple drafts. This allows me to produce books faster because I never have a day where I'm not being productive.

You recently had your sapphic witchy rom com, A Fragile Spell, picked up by indie publisher NineStar Press. How is working with an indie publisher different from indie publishing on your own? Is there anything more you can share about A Fragile Spell?

Working with an indie publisher is a ton of fun because it's kind of the best of both worlds. You get to have input with them, and you get to contribute to the decision making, but at the same time, they're the ones paying for everything and making the hardest decisions. You don't have to choose a cover designer, but you can let them know your ideas for the concept. Things like that. You make a little less on royalties, but they handle all the upfront production costs. You do give up some of the expediency that comes from self-publishing since it's usually a year or more before your book comes up on their docket, so it's not the road for everyone, but overall, I enjoy both types of publishing.

As for what I can share... I don't think I can say much more than I did earlier. It's witches, it's magic gone wrong, it's sapphic, it's spicy... beyond that, I hope people that don't typically read sapphic romance will give it a shot because it is still my same sarcastic banter style of writing that I know a lot of people enjoy. I love writing rom-coms because it's just who I am flowing onto to the page, so that should give some idea of what it will read like.

You have such a positive online presence and you're constantly cheering on other indie authors and spotlighting their books on Threads. Why is it so important for you to uplift other indie authors?

Because I know how hard it is. I will never understand any author that has been through these trenches and doesn't feel the need to champion others along the same difficult road. It's like a mom who meets someone that is pregnant for the first time. You know the hell they're going through, so of course you want to offer advice and cheer them along. Granted, I'm not a parent, but I assume that's how it works. Regardless, I just know that I survived my early days through the support of some really amazing individuals, and if I can be that for someone else than heck yeah, I want to support them all. This is a tough, tough industry and self-published authors have always been looked down upon as being "ones who couldn't get an agent." That hasn't been the case for many years now if ever, and some of the best books are being self or indie published. By lifting up my peers, I help lift up the overall indie author community, and I think that if we all did that, we might be able to make some headway or convincing the bookish community as a whole to consider our books more often.

Is there anything you would like to add or include that wasn't previously asked about?

I definitely think I deserve a cookie for keeping my snarky level to a minimum with these questions. Anybody who follows me on social media knows both how snark I can be as well as how much value I put on cookies. ;)

I am going to end on a sincere note and because I would just like to say thank you to everyone who has given my books a chance. I understand that time is the most precious commodity we have. It's limited, it's non-renewable, and we never know how much of it we have left. So when someone takes their extremely precious time to read one of my books when they millions to choose from, that is a truly incredible feeling. So thank you very much.

You can find the author's website here

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