Exposed Conversations w/ Kiexzia Rodriquez

1.Did you always have a desire to be a writer?

When I was younger I wanted to be a singer, I took lessons and all. When I was in High school I took journalism and that's when my love for writing began.

2.When did you begin to write?

After high school I got more into poetry and later when I was around 25 I began to perform a little and thought about a book. A lot of people used to tell me I should write a story about things I went through as a child.

3.Where did the story for Beautiful come from?

Beautiful was supposed to be my life story, but I could never really figure out how to tell it from my perspective with out hurting people, so I just wrote and this novel is what came about. It’s funny because so much changed as I went along, my first chapter became part of my last and I rewrote it so much I had to stop and just say it’s finished...

4.How long did it take to write Beautiful?

Oh wow it took me about 2 yrs. trying to juggle being a single mother of 4, work full time and perform occasionally, it was really hard. But I kept at it even when I wanted to quit and finally it was complete.

5.What is next for you?

Well right now I’m doing some acting in some local plays with "Inda Streetz" as well as trying to complete "Loves Seduction", which is the sequel to Beautiful. I am also a writer for Fuze Magazine in their review section, posting new books, music etc, weekly...

6.What do you want people to get from Beautiful?

I'm really hoping that a few messages get across, the main one being "if you don’t deal with your past your past will deal with you! You can’t bury your past, run from it, erase it, you have to face it and deal with it. Also that if you have someone you care for, love, want to be with you, you need to speak up or you may lose your chance. Its a kind of love store hidden in the drama of the lead characters one, hiding herself in her work and avoiding her past and the other afraid to speak up for fear of losing the friendship that’s already present.

7. Any advice for aspiring authors?
The main thing I’d say is to be true to yourself, to write about what you know and not what you don’t know. It should be fun, you should love doing it or why do it! and most important at least for me is you have to want it, because people, mainly the ones you think are going to have your back the most usually are the ones that try to talk you out of it. You have to be strong enough to do this even when everyone around is telling you your crazy. And then just find supportive people, where ever they are, even if it’s just a few lines over the internet...