Finding Purpose
1) What is your Author name; use your Pen name if you have one.
Ayla Cox
2) What is your genre and what drew you to it?
I write in romance, but I consider myself cross-genre! I was drawn in by the need to tell stories of people who look like my flying through the stars, living their best lives, and falling in love with people who love them back just as fiercely.
3) What is the best time of day for you to write?
Nighttime! I still have a day job and I find that my brain works best after a full shift, not before like some folks.
4) Which character of yours is your favorite and why?
Oh noooooo, I hate being asked about favorites! Okay. I’m going to say that today my favorite is Cleo. She’s Denise’s best friend in the Just a Taste series, and she’s getting her own book soon! I love what Cleo represents. Her strength and tenacity. The brash way she approaches challenges and her spirit just invigorates me.
5) What is your favorite way to connect with readers? (Social media, newsletters or something else)
I like connecting on lives on social media, but I really enjoy the random, silly stuff that I post on TikTok. A lot of the time it’s just me being me and I get to show the readers a different side of me.
6) Have you ever taken a course on writing or advertising? If so, which one(s) and how would you rate them?
I haven’t taken any courses, but I have done many trials by fire. After receiving my MFA in fiction and scriptwriting, I worked in marketing and advertising before settling into UX.
7) What is the hardest challenge in being a writer?
Keeping and maintaining a growth mindset. Rolling with each new challenge and learning and growing without letting that diminish your love of the art is incredibly difficult. But, the tenacity it fosters really does push us to be our best selves, and it makes all the lows worth it.
8) What is the one thing you wish you knew at the beginning of your writing journey?
Timing isn’t perfect. Hell, nothing you do will be. But that’s the beauty of art. It’s full of beauty but also imperfections. It’s human.
9) Where is your favorite place to read?
In a little folded up ball with a blanket covering me with my cats snuggled up close. As long as they’re nearby, I’m at home.
10) What book protagonist would you love to talk to if he/she/they were real?
I feel super cliché saying it, but Albus Dumbledore. One of my favorite scenes in Harry Potter (thoroughly ruined by the films) is when Harry is processing Sirius Black’s death. Harry is just destroying that office, and Dumbledore handles his grief so gently. I feel like we could all use that kind of calming presence when it feels like the world in closing in on us.
11) What is one book that is currently on your To-Be-Read list?
Eriq La Salle’s Law Martyr Maker series is on my shelf and calling my name as I type.
12) If you could live in any “book world” what would that be?
This is a rough one. If I had a bubble that could keep me safe, and I could enjoy just looking around at the world, The Magician’s by Lev Grossman. If I didn’t have a protective bubble, I think I could fend for myself in the Product of the Streets by E. Bowser.
13) What is the name of your book/series? Tell me a little bit about them.
The Just a Taste series - Tempted, Addicted, Insatiable:
Denny wanted one night. One night free of the weight of fixing it all. One night to choose herself and feel reckless passion with someone she cared for. But Hugh knew when he got her, he had no plans to let things go back to the way they were. This best friends to lovers romance is full of personal growth, passion, found family, and a lot of fuducking.
12 Nights:
Eden planned the perfect con: seduce the wealthy lord, steal his heirlooms, and disappear without a trace. What she doesn’t expect is to fall in love with Azreal. When she discovered the truth about the charming, enigmatic man she was deceiving—Eden ran. Two years later, Azreal is not letting her slip away so easily. This second chance romance in full of twisted justice, morally grey characters and a connection that neither of them can pretend to deny.
Love Me Not:
Have you ever crashed out so hard that you become a meme that pops up every Valentine’s day? Three years after an epic showdown on a Hollywood red carpet, Cass is given one last shot at reclaiming her image and career. Enter Malik—the tattoo artist who’s been quietly holding her together. He’s the only one she trusts to help her fake it until she makes it. As they fool the world, Cass begins to realize something terrifying: maybe it's not so fake after all. This friends to lovers fake dating slow burn is full of fun, witty banter, and smoldering moments that will make you want to throw your book.
14) Do you have a website? If so, what is it?
15) Where can we find and follow you? (Name your social media platforms.)
TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and Threads at aylacoxwrites.
16) If there anything important that you would want my readers to know about you?
I love love. Particularly, I love love for the people who don’t get the attention that Hollywood has given women that live outside of a specific beauty standard. I write characters that could exist, flaws and all, in the real world. I write for the version of me that wishes I’d seen these stories when I was devouring books. Back when I had to force the characters to look and feel relatable to me. We all deserve to see ourselves in art, and I’m happy that I get to bring that into the world with my gift.
“I stood at the border, stood at the edge and claimed it as central. l claimed it as central, and let the rest of the world move over to where I was.”
-Toni Morrison
Comments