Author Interview: Millie Shepherd

Kathryn Hawke
May 28, 2023
7 min read

Updated: Jun 8, 2023

Hello Friends!

Today, we're doing an author interview with the wonderful Millie Shepherd!

Millie released her debut novel in the beginning of February and I'm so excited to present to you the interview I did with her. She is such a wonderful person that shares such wholesome content and I'm so blessed that she agreed to do this interview with me.

Without further ado,

Here's the interview!

Hello Millie! Could you please introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about yourself?

~ Hi, I'm Millie Shepherd, but my real name is Emily. I'm a twenty-year-old, second-generation homeschool graduate, and I was born and raised in West Virginia. Writing is my largest passion, but I have several other hobbies such as sewing, crochet, and reading, plus I occasionally dabble in photography and digital/graphic design. I love country music, and my top five favorite singers are Waylon Jennings, Brantley Gilbert, Johnny Cash, Montgomery Gentry, and George Strait. Old westerns and early 2000s rom coms are my types of movies, and I'm always up for an episode of Bonanza, Little House on the Prairie, Reba, or The Dukes of Hazzard. I typically only read historical fiction, but I'm trying to try out different genres this year, and I've discovered that I really like rom coms. If I could describe my personality in three words, I'd say that I'm snarky, quiet, and calm.

How long have you been writing?

~ I started writing when I was twelve and my very first story was actually a play about two girls on an orphan train that I had planned on performing with my cousin, which thankfully didn't happen. It was really really bad and I'm glad it has since vanished! I wrote off and on all through the rest of middle and high school, but I never finished anything, and practically every story I started was pretty much a very bad knock-off of whatever I was reading at the time. But at the beginning of 2021 I started watching Bonanza again, and a story idea about one of the main characters needed me to write it. I did and at a little over 20k words, it became my very first finished story, and I continued to write fanfiction until the end of the March of 2022. After that I picked up one of the stories I'd started in 2020 and never finished. That story was my debut novel, Before It's Too Late.

What got you into writing?

~ There was never one specific thing that got me into writing because I've always loved books and have been a storyteller. I remember laying in bed at night or sitting in the car on road trips and coming up with stories when I was a little. I was the kid with imaginary friends and who would come up with the most random things to play because my imagination was a bit wild at times. I've also always loved to tell people stories of things that happened to me and my cousins. I guess you can say writing is just something I was born and meant to do since God blessed me with storytelling talents and the passion to share them, and I'll forever be grateful to that.

What's your favorite thing about writing?

~ Oh, boy, that's a hard one! I think my favorite part about writing is probably getting to create new characters. My stories are always character driven versus plot driven, so I love getting to see the characters grow and become the best people they can be.

Could you tell us about your debut novel, Before It's Too Late?

~ Before It's Too Late is a closed door, historical western romance. It's set in the fictional town of Half Circle Creek, Nevada during 1865, and is the first book in a trilogy simply titled Half Circle Creek. BITL is a childhood friends to lovers story, but it's more than just a romance. It deals with true friendship, finding your own worth in the person you already are, overcoming insecurities, the meaning of true love, strong parental relationships, and that you don't have to change the person you are to be enough for people. Yet it also comes with some trigger warnings since the antagonist is a rapist and topics such as prostitution, gambling, drinking, smoking, rape, childbirth, and a death due to a postpartum hemorrhage are dealt with. But even with all of that, it's a PG-13 rated clean read. Being a western it had to have some action, so within its 323 pages you'll find things like fistfights, epee duels, saloon brawls, a person held at gun point, someone getting shot in self-defense, and much more. Now epee duels may or may not have stuck out to you since it's not something you typically see in a western, so I'll briefly explain this element of the novel. A side character by the name of Estelle Fabre--who just happens to be the town's dressmaker--was originally from New Orleans before she moved with her husband to Half Circle Creek. But not only is she just from New Orleans, she's a French Creole who knows how to fence with an epee. She gives the main character Bella and her best friend fencing lessons, and it becomes an important addition to the story once you get to the suspenseful climax. I know that epees in a western might seem a little out there to some people, but it was actually inspired by an episode of Bonanza called Marie, My Love. Marie, My Love is a flashback to when Ben Cartwright meets his third wife and Little Joe's mother, Marie. Marie is a French Creole from New Orleans who knows how to fence. I loved her character and wanted to incorporate something similar into BITL. And since I'm on the topic of Bonanza, I figure I might as well mention one more thing--I actually stuck Little Joe Cartwright, Sheriff Roy Coffee, and two other minor characters from the show into my novel. So, if you're familiar with the show, you might recognize Jesse Milton and Sheriff Dave Perry.

What prompted you to write BITL?

~ At the beginning of 2020 when I was seventeen this little scene kept floating through my mind and it wouldn't leave me alone. It was about a deputy, an outlaw, and the deputy's girl, and it was an epic showdown scene where the outlaw was holding the girl at gun point all the while threatening to shoot if the deputy so much as moved a muscle. Even though the actual climax in the novel isn't exactly the same as that scene, that's how Before It's Too Late was "born".

What's your favorite thing about BITL?

~ As cheesy as it sounds, Jack Klister. He's just all in all a great guy with his loyal, hardworking, protective yet tender, and gentlemanly ways, and I loved getting to bring his character to life.

What was release day like? Did you do anything fun?

~ Release day went really well! Actually, way better than I expected. I try not to get my hopes up so that I don't get disappointed, so release day pleasantly surprised me. I received so many kind and sweet comments and messages from my bookstagram friends. It's safe to say I felt very loved that day! As for doing anything fun, unfortunately I didn't. Besides not working on one of my many projects, it was a normal day with an extra splash of happiness thrown in.

What was the most challenging part of publishing?

~ I personally wouldn't say publishing is challenging, it's just a lot of hard work that can sometimes be time consuming and stressful. But even with that said, I'd say the most "challenging" part of publishing BITL was the editing. After my beta readers finished up with my very rough manuscript, I had to completely rewrite the last 3/4s of it. It was a lot since there were many plot changes I had to make, but it was all worth it because now I see the product of those hours staring at my computer and scribbling in notebooks.

What would you go back and tell yourself when you first started BITL?

~ If I could go back and tell myself one thing I'd say, "It's worth it." While I was drafting BITL there were many times that I was very close to quitting and deleting everything because I doubted it would be worth it. I got discouraged and questioned the whole thing more than once, and thankfully my parents talked me out of giving up. To be honest, there was one time it was really bad and if it hadn't been for them, I wouldn't be doing this right now.

Do you have any advice or lessons learned to share with other writers?

~ I've learned so much since I started drafting BITL, but probably the things that have helped me the most are these pieces of advice my beta readers and editor shared with me: "show, don't tell" and "write the slow parts fast and the fast parts slow".

Do you have any fun or exciting things happening this year in terms of writing? If so, what are they?

~ Yes!! I hope to release three more books this year, but obviously nothing is set in stone since life can change at the drop of a hat. I'm currently in the process of publishing the second novel in Half Circle Creek and I want to release it this summer, I just finished drafting a country rom com that I'm hoping to release at the end of this year, and if everything goes according to plan, I would like to release Half Circle Creek 3 in between them this autumn. It's a lot, but I think I might be able to do it. Well, actually, I should say hopefully I'm crazy enough to accomplish it!

Where can people find you and connect with you?

~ I can be found on Instagram at @millieshepherd.author and feel free to message me. I'm always up to meet new friends and talk about books or writing! And if anyone wants advice on self-publishing, I'm more than willing to share step by step how I do it.

Do you have anything else left to say or share with readers?

~ If you're writing and have dreams of publishing--don't give up, you can do this! Publishing seems so scary at first, but once you get into it, it's not as big of a boogieman as it seems. Yes, it's a lot of work, yet once you hold that book in your hands, it's more than worth it!