On the Sixth Day of Christmas, Place of Reads Interviews Alexis Mills

On the Sixth Day of Christmas, Place of Reads Interviews Alexis Mills, Author of  Mica Elizabeth, Military Brat: Desert Secrets


PoR:  Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?  


AM: I've always been a little different than most people and a bit of a loner. I'm very passionate about trying to eat healthier and eating locally. Most of the food I buy is from local farmers use natural practices. Every day I really try to be a better and more patient person. I don't always get it right but I keep trying! 


PoR:  What do you do when you are not writing? 


AM: Besides chasing little ones around, I love canning and baking. In the spring I hope to start a nice organic vegetable garden, even though I am horrible with plants! I also am raising chickens and a Great Pyrenees puppy that is now six months old and over fifty pounds! 


PoR:  When you were a kid, did you want to grow up and be a writer?  Or was there something else you wanted to do? 


AM: I've loved to read and write as long as I could remember. Sometimes I would dream that I was a writer but mainly I wanted to be an archaeologist. I really just wanted to see parts of the world outside my little Midwestern town and thought that becoming an archaeologist would send me to exotic places. 


PoR:  In your book, the main character is an army brat, were you one? 


AM: No, I actually grew up in the suburbs and my mom still lives in the same little house her and my dad bought when I was two! 


In your book, you write about Area 51.  What interests you about it? 


AM: Area 51 has always been surrounded with mystery. It's fascinating for me to think about top secret military bases that are out of the public eye. We have no idea what is going on in these bases. I'd like to believe that things are being created for the greater good but I do worry, too that sometimes we create things that we don't fully understand what the repercussions will be.


PoR:  Is anything in your book based on real life experiences or purely all imagination?  


AM: I feel that Mica is a combination of the teen I was, along with the woman I am and so much more. As a young adult I finally got the chance to move around some and see parts of this country that I dreamed about as a teen. Many of the places that I write about are places I've been or would like to go.


PoR.:  What was your favorite chapter (or part) to write and why? 


AM: I really liked developing the relationship between Mica and her dad. My birth dad died when I was ten and though I was a daddy's girl, I never fully got to develop that relationship. The relationship created between Mica and her dad is a tribute to my own dad. 


 PoR: How did you come up with the title? 


AM: Honestly, it really isn't very exciting. The name just seemed to fit. I knew I was writing a mystery and it takes place in the desert. Hence, Desert Secrets. I wanted people to know that it was a series about a female military brat and decided to use the Mica Elizabeth, Military Brat as the series name. 


PoR: Random Question Time!  What is the one thing you can’t live without at Christmas time? 


AM: Besides family, I love the lights! It's so fun to bundle up the family and drive around looking at Christmas lights while listening to holiday music and drinking hot chocolate!


PoR: Do you have any advice to give to aspiring writers?  


AM: Words mean so much and the words you publish can often define you. Think carefully about how you want to portray yourself and never be ashamed to be a kinder and wiser force. 
Also don't be afraid to take a chance. I don't have a degree and have no formal writing training. One day I woke up with an idea for a book and a book series. Now here I am :o)

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