Enchanting Authors: Jamie Sands

Welcome to my new series of authors writing fantasy fiction.

First up, we have Jamie Sands, an author who is based in Auckland and writes in a range of genres. Their latest release is a cozy story about a librarian witch. I’m so looking forward to reading this one!

1. Tell us a little about yourself.
My name is Jamie, I live in Auckland, although I grew up and spent most of my life in Wellington. I have been writing and publishing for two years now, and taking short term IT contracts as well – I’m a scrum master by day, which means I work with teams to improve their processes and encourage them to grow. I am genderqueer non-binary so I like gender-neutral pronouns and I’m married with a cat. 

2. Would you rather be able to speak any language or cook any meal?
Speak any language. I love being able to connect with people and get to know them, and a language barrier really hinders that. Being able to speak any language is my absolute dream.

3. What overseas country have you enjoyed visiting? 
Japan. I love it there, I’ve been three times and I want to go back every year. The food, the trains, the blossoms and the love of cute things, it’s all so great. I am somewhat seriously considering retiring there. My wife and I went there for our honeymoon and although it was an exhausting three and a half weeks, we missed it almost as soon as we returned.

4. Favourite quote from any book?

My go to quotes are usually from songs, but I am terribly fond of this bit from Neil Gaiman’s Anansi Boys:

“You’re no help,” he told the lime. This was unfair. It was only a lime; there was nothing special about it at all. It was doing the best it could.” 
and then because this book is absolutely hilarious, here’s a great moment from Red, White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston 

“The next slide is titled: ‘Exploring your sexuality: Healthy, but does it have to be with the Prince of England?’ She apologizes for not having time to come up with better titles. Alex actively wishes for the sweet release of death.”

5. Describe your writing space.
I didn’t really have a writing space before March 2020, I’d just write on the couch with my laptop on my lap. When I had to work from home because of shutdown I set up a desk (folding plastic table) in our spare room. I draped a recycled jeans quilt I made over the surface so it’d be nicer to sit at, bought a second monitor and a really nice supportive chair and now that’s my writing space too. There’s a snack stash on the left of my laptop stand, and a cat bed on the sewing table to the right so my cat can keep me company. It looks over the backyard, and in the early morning, I see waxeyes playing around in the hibiscus hedge. 

I myself am a bubbly extrovert, and I think we often get a bad rap for being too loud or annoying, so I like the challenge of making [my character] loveable and sweet.

– Jamie Sands

6. Do you like one of the characters in the book more than others?
I have a very big soft spot for Sebastian, my love interest/paranormal investigator. He’s a little bit based on a roleplaying character I played for a while in a game called Monster of the Week. I myself am a bubbly extrovert, and I think we often get a bad rap for being too loud or annoying, so I like the challenge of making him loveable and sweet. Plus, he has the life I want – rich parents who don’t mind paying for hotels while he travels around the country trying to film ghosts. 

7. What’s your favourite season and why?
Summer, I hate being cold and I love the smell of the sea air, so Summer and beach times is my favourite. 

8. What’s your favourite spot to visit in your own country?
I always love going home to Wellington, there’s something about looking at the harbour which feeds my soul. But more than any one place, I love to road trip on the North Island. There’s so much beautiful countryside, and some of it is so familiar from road trips of my childhood that it feels like I’m visiting old friends, even when I’m just driving past. 

9. What sort of witch would you be?
I think I’d be a garden witch. I love to stick my toes into the soil, and watch things grow and change. I am about to move into a proper house of my own with a garden, and I have big plans for flowers, herbs and vegetables. I may leave something out for the fae too, because I’ve always felt a bit of a connection to the fair folk. Perhaps I’d be a fae trained garden witch? 

10. How do you stop yourself getting distracted while writing?
Poorly! Lol, I find it quite hard to stay focused sometimes. Things which help are the right music (I have a particular play list on Spotify which helps me) 

I use a bullet journaling system to record how much I’ve worked and it divides my work time into hour lots. If I’m having trouble focusing I can just tell myself “it’s just 40 more minutes” or “It’s just half an hour” and then I can kind of set aside distractions and finish out. It’s a nice system because if I’m still not feeling it at the end of the hour I can just move on, but more often I find I have got into a flow and I can keep on writing into the next hour slot. 

11. If you had to describe your writing in 3 words, what would they be?
Oh, this is a hard one… monsters, love, jokes 
Monsters love jokes? There’s a story in that isn’t there? (Oh, it’s the end of Monsters, Inc) 

Book

Click to pre-order: Overdues & Occultism

Bio

Jamie grew up in Wellington and was a library devotee and constant reader of fiction from a very early age. Their fiction covers Romantic Comedy, Horror, Young Adult, Urban Fantasy and Cosy Mysteries. They published a Young Adult horror novel and have self-published a number of roleplaying games as well as queer romance under the pen name Jaxon Knight. They live in Auckland with their wonderful spouse and a cat called Mochi. Jamie has visited Japan three times and would like to move into Tokyo Disneyland.     

Do you write fantasy fiction? If you’d like to be part of this series, drop a comment below.