Q: When did you realize you wanted to be a writer?
A: I’ve always wanted to have “important stuff” to write, but never really thought I’d ever be a writer. When I was a kid, I’d copy down information from the encyclopedia because I thought it was so much more important and official than anything I could ever write. I had always admired others who wrote well, but never thought I was a particularly good writer because I had nothing original to say.

Q: How and when did you make this dream a reality?
A: I’ve been complimented on my writing ability my entire life. Quite frankly, the act of writing, while I was skilled at it, always gave me a massive headache. As I began to take a long, hard look at why writing was so painful, it occurred to me that I was always writing to adhere to someone else’s rules—the rules of an English teacher, the rules of a college professor, the rules of my boss, the rules of a client. It wasn’t until I made up my own rules—and started writing for me, in my own voice—that writing became a joy, rather than a chore.

Q: What’s the most important lesson you’ve learned so far in your writing career?
A: To let your own voice and own personality and own experiences shine through your writing. I write only non-fiction/how-to type information, which can be extraordinarily dry and boring. As a native Texan, I tend to weave my unique East Texan colloquialisms and stories into my writing. If that amuses you, you like me. If it bugs you, you go away and I never hear from you again. Either decision is okay with me. Fortunately, there are enough people out there who like what I do so I’m able to stay in business—LOL. As you relate your stories and your personality through your writing, you begin to connect emotionally with your readers—and it’s via that emotional connection that reader loyalty and appreciation develop—and remain.

Q: What are you working on right now?
A: I’m working on two how-to projects: one on article marketing as a website traffic-generation strategy and another on how to organize your online business.

Q: Name some authors or books that have influenced your writing life in a positive way.
A: For works of fiction, there’s nothing like a great southern female writer—I love Fannie Flagg, Anne Rivers Siddons, and Texas author Lisa Wingate. All have managed to take the southern (or Texan) experience and translate that in an understandable way to non-southerners. I become very nostalgic for the “good old days” when I read their works. For humor, I love Janet Evanovich’s murder by numbers series and her bounty-hunter character, Stephanie Plum. Evanovich is one of the few authors who can make me laugh out loud while reading. For non-fiction/self-help books, Life Coach Cheryl Richardson and her Life Makeover series of books has served as a model of how to incorporate story telling into non-fiction writing.

Q: What have you recently read or what are you reading right now that you would consider an outstanding work?
A: I just finished Evanovich’s Lean Mean 13 and Flagg’s Can’t Wait to Get to Heaven. Lean Mean 13 had me in stitches and Flagg’s book made me cry and caused me to think about my mom and what she’s thinking about her life and her mortality in her mid-70s. See what I mean about that emotional connection?

Q: What excites or ignites your soul?
A: Writers who have the ability to touch the emotions of readers and paint a vivid picture through words really ignite my soul. I recall having to write an essay in 10th grade about the importance of reading and books in my life. I wrote something along the lines that a good book could easily transport me to another life and another existence and make me feel that I had actually been there and lived that life, even though it had really only been in my head. What more could an author hope for?

Donna Gunter, author of Get More Clients Online: How to Get 95% of Your Clients from Internet Marketing and founder of OnlineBizU.com, is an Internet Business Coach and Online Business Manager who helps overwhelmed independent service professionals automate their businesses, leverage their expertise online, and implement Internet marketing strategies that work for service businesses. Donna opened her first online business as an online business manager/virtual assistant in 1999 and successfully built this virtual company from her small, rural, East Texas hometown using only connections made online and Internet marketing strategies. From 2000-2004 she trained women to create businesses as Virtual Assistants for a VA training company while also running her own business. After coaching and training virtual assistants for several years, she made the leap into professional business coaching and unveiled her coaching company in 2003, which has now been transformed into a membership website, Online Biz University. Visit Donna at www.getmoreclientsonline.net