Susanna’s top tip: Write, write, write and then write some more. If you’re serious, finish your first novel and then write the next one because your second book will be much better than your first. And read. A lot. Most of all, enjoy it!
I met Susanna Rogers when we both joined a critique group organised by best-selling novelist Anna Jacobs, so it’s a particular pleasure to introduce her to you today. In January we’ll celebrate the 14th anniversary of our close-knit critique group and in that time I’ve seen Susy’s writing at all stages from initial concept and first draft to final polished manuscript. She’s one of the hardest working, most committed writers I know and I’m thrilled to see Infiltration out in the marketplace and available for an audience of teen readers, who I’m sure will want to keep turning the pages to find out what happens next in this gripping novel about an elite soldier from the future on a mission to change the past. 
Susanna Rogers is the author of kick butt books for young adults. She also writes romance and at one point moved to a life of crime – you might be seeing more of that. She loves writing young adult, partly because she’s an overgrown teenager and partly because she can write the kick butt heroines she adores. She’s also a kickboxer and dreams of empowering girls and guys around the globe to believe in themselves, to take care and follow their own dreams. Susanna believes in love and kicking ass and a little bit of murder here and there.
She would love to hear from you – susannarogers.com.
AUTHOR INSIGHT
Why do you write? I write young adult books because they’re fun and exciting to write. It was liberating writing my first YA book because I felt I could let rip with the ideas and also with the way I write. Travel to another dimension? No problem. Save the world from a virus that’s going to wipe out the population? Sure, I can do that. See what I mean about it being fun… For me, it’s a wonderful way to explore different characters and ideas.
What would you be doing if you weren’t a writer? A vampire slayer, for sure. Or a kickboxing instructor. No, hang on, I am actually a kickboxing instructor. The strange thing is that in some ways, I’d be happier if I wasn’t a writer because there’d be much less pain and frustration – but, then, I wouldn’t have the highs I get from writing. And I wouldn’t give them up for the world.
What’s the best aspect of your writing life? I couldn’t possibly name one ‘best’ aspect. There are too many things that I love about it. I like setting my own hours which often means going to the gym in the morning, then coming home, choosing some CDs for my background music and getting completely lost in my characters and story. My writing is at its best when I have no clue what CD is playing and no idea of anything else going on around me.
—the worst? Like a lot of people, I don’t handle uncertainty well and the writing world is full of uncertainty. Unless you’re JK Rowling or John Green, which I am not. I would like to have their problems of having thousands of fans and too much money.
What would you do differently if you were starting out now as a writer? I’d rather not think about that because it’s easy to be wise in retrospect. Besides, writing is a journey and you have to try different things, experiment and make mistakes or you’re never going to learn. Having said that, the one thing I would have done differently is that I would love to have written The Hunger Games before Suzanne Collins did. I was so jealous when I first heard the idea behind the book!
BOOK BYTE
Infiltration
Susanna Rogers
2120: A world ravaged by a devastating virus. Those healthy enough to live in New Nation lead a sanitized, orderly life where everything is tightly guarded by a brutal government. Lives, thoughts, information and emotions are all strictly controlled.
Now: Seventeen-year-old elite soldier Nicola Gray is sent back in time for an important assignment. She alone will stop the virus before it takes over the world – her mission, to gather intelligence, find the cause and stop the threat, whatever it takes. She is trained to kill.
But the past is not what Nicola is expecting. Overwhelmed by an alien world, she discovers feelings she can’t handle and a world with immense personal freedom and people who care for each other. She wants to stay. She wants to live. She wants a lot of things she can’t have…
LINKS
Author website https://www.susannarogers.com/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/Susanna-Rogers-Author-1142712475829701/
Kobo/Nook/other https://www.books2read.com/u/3L9dN5
In Their Own Write 