Kacey Lee, bestselling author of paranormal and fantasy romance
The Creative Council
Welcome to The Creative Council, where I interview creatives about their lives and work and the ups and downs of being a creative soul.
Today’s interviewee is Kacey Lee!
Bestselling author Kacey Lee specializes in paranormal and fantasy romance filled with sassy heroines who fall for faithful, dominant men. She loves writing and reading all things enemies to lovers, forced proximity, hidden identity, and he falls first...always with plenty of spice!
A foodie at heart, when not writing, she can be found at farmers’ markets and trying new foods. Then chasing her son around to burn off all those calories.
Connect with Kacey directly on Instagram or her Facebook Group, Kacey Lee’s Thirsty Readers.
The Interview
Hi Kacey! Welcome to The Creative Council… Are you ready to share some of that writerly wisdom?
· When did you start creating? Do you remember what pulled you in?
Like many authors, I started young. My very first short story I wrote when I was six years old about a cat that grew too big from eating too much. After that, I wrote about a girl who could talk with dolphins at ten, a haunted house at twelve, a vampire romance at fifteen, and onwards.
I started my publishing journey in 2020 with new adult fantasy romance. Fantasy has always had my heart and what I’ve loved to read, so it is also what I love to write. I have had an active imagination since a kid, dreaming of fairies and running through the woods of my childhood backyard, and that never ceased as I became a diver and dreamed of mermaids or a traveler that dreamed of fae.
· When did you start pursuing your current craft for real? As in, when did you begin to take yourself seriously as a creator?
I took myself more seriously starting in 2020 when I realized indie authoring was the real deal and an actual option. I started it actually in the hopes of it helping to offset childcare for my first kid, which is does. I would say I took it even more seriously starting 2022 when I started this pen name and thought of it even more as a business rather than a fun hobby.
· So, are you still having fun? If yes, how are you making sure it stays fun?
Absolutely! The thought of not writing feels impossible these days. The number of notes on my phone with quotes, random ideas, or detailed worlds is probably a bit much for most people. I daydream in high fantasy worlds and focus on expanding a universe with a multi-series collection filled with cameos that can be read in any order (what I’m actively working towards now).
It stays fun because creating the love stories, the trials, the characters that feel real, and the worlds they come from is honestly addictive. This is my creative outlet even if it’s now an official ‘job’.
· What has been your biggest ‘mistake’ thus far, and what would you tell people about to make that same mistake?
I’ve bounced around a lot with what I’ve wanted to write, which made it difficult to narrow down my ‘brand’. I still am looking towards the day I write a slow-burn high fantasy (with spice) because that has my heart as a reader, but it doesn’t fit my current brand, which feels more modern.
My biggest advice for other writers/authors is read what you write, that’s how you become an expert and know what people want from the genre because you’re a reader yourself. And my favourite saying that has pushed me past mental blocks is ‘You can’t edit a blank page.’ Even if it’s just 200 or 400 words in a day, that’s 200 words you didn’t have before.
· I’ll say amen to that! OK, of all the milestones you’ve reached thus far, what has been your favourite? How did you celebrate it?
Holding my first printed book in hand. I cried. I wasn’t expecting the swell of emotion. I remember when the newest Little Women came out in 2019, and I was sitting in the theatre watching Jo hold her book. Everyone I went with, a bunch of English teachers, had cried during the film and I was sitting there inspired. I thought to myself, ‘I want that. I want to hold my own book.’
One year later and I did.
I opened the box and cried, and I’m not a crier, and I will never ever forget that moment.
· What do you struggle with most as a creative person?
Life is busy. I’m a teacher, a mom, a wife, an aunt, a daughter… I wear so many hats, as many of us do, and finding the time to sit and allow myself to write instead of daydream can be a challenge at times. Also, I hate the editing phase. It’s needed, but it is definitely my least favourite part of the process.
· Have you always had that struggle, and what advice would you give creatives dealing with the same?
Time management is hard and has only gotten harder as I became a mom. You do need to work harder to carve out time, whether it’s getting up early or establishing days with your partner in advance to take over bedtime duty so you can write. It’s finding the new routine and incorporating writing time that makes it easiest instead of waiting for a moment here or there. Of course, take those if they come up! But don’t rely on those.
Editing has never been my favourite, and my biggest suggestion is to find people you trust. I found some golden editors and beta readers whose advice I trust thoroughly so I only need feedback from 1–2 people I know I can utilize rather than trying to pull together from 3–5 different people and the process becoming more convoluted.
· What do you do to stay inspired?
I read. Sometimes, as I read, I will think of a fun plot twist they could utilize, and then when they don’t, I write it down. I let my mind wander as I hike or at the beach, imagine the fae lurking in the foliage or the mermaids under the waves. Just because I’m an adult now doesn’t mean I need to lose my childlike wonder or creative mind.
· Fuck fear, yes or no?
I sold everything I owned at twenty-one and moved out of the country. Lived in England, Indonesia, and Belize knowing no one then pursued a master’s degree while living in Hawaii before moving to California to pursue a second master’s degree. I started an entire author business and kayaked through a squall thirty-six miles out in the open ocean to go meet my boyfriend, now husband, on a private island. I skydived for my thirtieth, and got engaged after six months, having just celebrated my tenth wedding anniversary. I have scuba dived with eleven different sharks and teach high school.
I am definitely a ‘fuck fear’ kind of person.
I am very determined as well so when I set my sights on something, I rarely back down. I live my life with the idea of when I’m old I want to talk about all the things I did do rather than all the things I wish I had done. One regret, I was scared of starting a family. I come from a broken home and the thought of having kids and reliving that a second time, but this time as a parent, terrified me, even though my husband and I are great. So, I put off having kids, and now I have a twenty-month-old and I am OBSESSED with him. I so greatly wish I started having kids younger so it was easier to have more without age plaguing me.
· What is the biggest compliment you ever received about your work?
I love when I hear readers cried while reading my novels, or that my plot twist actually surprised them. I love foreshadowing, which can be picked up on, but I’m thoughtful about it and when an avid reader is surprised or it stirs such strong emotions they outwardly respond… there are no words for how amazing that is.
· What’s the best creative advice you ever received?
I already said it, but, ‘You can’t edit a blank page.’ That has gotten me through so much. When pursuing this with a career rather than hobby-focused mind, I cannot always wait for a muse to strike. This helps me push through those times where words don’t come as easily.
· As you might know, I’m pretty woo-woo. On a scale of 1 to ‘I was burned at the stake in a previous lifetime’, how woo-woo are you? And how does that express itself in your life and/or your creative practice?
Ghosts-have-made-themselves-known-to-me-multiple-times level of woo-woo. And when I was eleven, I got books on wicca and would go to crystal shops. At twelve, I got my first tarot deck. I think all of this inspires my love for fantasy that much more. One series I have planned for this universe is a more intricate witch series who is a side character in my Demon Pact series. Her name is Kyla and she is a total bad ass, and I definitely plan on delving into the woo-woo for her character and I cannot wait.
· OK, now I need to know about that card deck. And how many you have. And whether you can share any pictures.
My first tarot card deck was a unicorn deck I got when I was eleven or twelve from a small shop in a little town in Vermont, which, funnily enough, my series Solstice Shield is partially in. Now I believe I own about three. I found one I really really liked that read well for me and I haven’t tried to find any new ones since.
You can find Kacey and her work by following this Linktree or by checking out her Instagram or TikTok.
Kacey’s Kickstarter campaign for the deluxe omnibus of her Demon Pact series — which was funded in twenty-seven minutes! — still accepts late pledges until 1 November. If you like spicy fantasy romance, go check it out.
Enter an urban spicy paranormal romantasy filled with forced proximity, hidden identity, morally gray characters, & a murder to solve…
Are you a creative and would you like to be interviewed next? E-mail me at marielle@mswordsmith.nl and we’ll make it happen!