Her pen sharpens spine-tingling tales of betrayal, lies,
consequences…and their fallout when the truth comes out. Fitting for her brand
of literary inspiration – shining the light in the darkness of deceit.
National Best-selling Author Michelle D. Rayford is a doting
wife, rocking mother and the dynamic CEO of Barrington Drive Publishing. The
seed for Michelle’s gift of storytelling was planted well before she was old
enough to drive…now this talented scribe is driven to INSPIRE. Her red-hot keyboard
has cranked out hits for several anthologies, as well as her soulful debut
novel – Moment of Truth and the chilling Not That Nice. Her latest book,
Settling Up, is scheduled to come blasting onto reading lists everywhere in
February 2020.
Michelle’s laptop is housed in the colorful south, where she
resides with her husband, who she’s spent half her life crushing on, and two
daughters who push her to keep the dream going. When she’s not reading, jamming
to her 80’s music playlist or playing NBA2K, Michelle is hard at work, hanging
out with her vivid imagination, developing stories about the messy parts of
relationships and the aftermath of declaring I do. She loves chatting with
readers and book clubs; reach out to her at mdrayford@gmail.com or through her
website - www.michelledrayford.com.
How can
readers get in contact with you?
Email: mdrayford@gmail.com
Mailing address: 4611 Hard Scrabble Road, Suite 109 #340,
Columbia, SC 29229
Tell us
about your manuscript to published author journey.
I've been writing since elementary school. I have a ton of
notebooks and scraps of papers with stories and poems dating back years. It
didn't become serious for me until around 2014 or 2015. I started taking every
class I could find online and around my city. It took over a year to get my
first book, Moment of Truth, finished and it was published in 2017.
What
inspired your book?
Like most of my books, ideas can come from anywhere and
usually start with a "What If" question. I was listening to the
Heather Headley song, “I Didn’t Mean It”. If you’ve heard the lyrics, it’s
about a woman whose affair is discovered. I took that and created a scenario
about it happening to my character. The story grew from there.
What did
you learn while writing this book?
One thing I learned is to be open to the creative process. I
had an idea for the direction of the story, and it took another turn. It grew
the characters more and made for a more engaging story.
What did
you hope to accomplish with this book?
Mainly, I want to give readers an entertaining experience.
What
would you like readers to take away from your book?
When they finish one of my books, I would love for the
characters to be real enough to linger for days and they have to tell someone
else about it.
Which
character did you have the most fun writing about?
Carmen, the main character, because she is so different from
me. Followed closely by Kayla.
What do
you believe makes your stories stand out?
I hope my stories stand out because they deal with real life
issues with relatable characters.
What are
three things you wish you’d known before you reached where you are now?
1. The amount of
time you will spend on marketing your book.
2. The importance of
the right cover image is to sell your book.
3. The amount of
money it will take to self-publish a book.
How do
you find balance with your writing and life?
Balance? What’s balance? This is something I’m still
struggling with. I’ve recently learned the need to schedule time everyday to
write. That also means sometimes I will have to take advantage of opportunities
of free time. For example, I carry my table and notepad everywhere. I write at
lunch, make notes on the voice recorder while driving, etc.
How do
you stay consistent with your book promotion?
This is an ongoing struggle. Once I’m able, I think the best
thing for me will be to hire someone to do it for me. I do try to post on
social media weekly.
What
advice would you offer to someone whose first book is about to be released?
Promote, promote, promote. Make yourself available to every
opportunity to talk about yourself and your book. Try to find a group of
writers with similar goals and work together.
What’s
are your favorite social media platforms and how are you using them for
promotion?
I really like Twitter but I don’t use it much for promotion.
You can get all the tea on Twitter. Instagram and Facebook are good too. I
mostly try to engage with people, so they get to know me and my books.
What
three literary events would you recommend a writer in your genre attend?
I’ve recently attended one event strictly for writers and
that’s the Red Ink Conference. It has a wealth of information.
What’s
the most interesting change in your life as a result of being a published
author?
I feel a sense of satisfaction. I’ve always dreamed of writing
and to have a book(s) out in the world feels right. It’s given me confidence to
continue.
What
about writing do you wish non writers would understand?
I would like non writers to understand how long it takes to
create, edit and produce a book. The number of hours to publish a complete
manuscript is insane. Something that can
be read in a matter of days, may have taken your favorite author months or
years to create.
Can you
give us one do and one don't for those writing the book in the heart?
Do write the book you want to write. Somewhere there is
someone that is waiting for it.
Don’t forget to have it professionally edited.
When you're
not writing, what do you like to do in your spare time?
You can find me reading, binge-watching Netflix shows, hanging
with my family or playing video games.
Oprah
always asks, what do you know for sure?
I know for sure that my gift is to write books.
Any last
words for our readers?
Thank you for taking the time to read about me and my journey.
I want to give a sincere shout out to LaShaunda for this opportunity.
A tragic accident took the life of Kelsee’s mother whose dying
words were, “Always save yourself first”. She kept that in mind until she met a
real-life hero, Officer Alex Williams. Their marriage wasn’t a fairytale but
Kelsee holds out hope that a child can save their union. But can the ultimate betrayal
cause her to lose everything?
Alex regrets being unable to save his mother from an abusive
relationship. He dives into a career that puts him in harm’s way on a daily
basis. Then he lays eyes on Kelsee and falls hard. Despite his family’s disapproval,
he sets out to make her his own. Can he live up to his “nice guy” persona or
give in to the demons in his DNA?
The couple struggles to conceive, and when Kelsee really needs
Alex, will he rescue her again or will she learn that he is not that nice?
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