We love getting to know our members at My Annapolis Office. This month we are highlighting our valued member Laura Kamoie, a New York Times bestselling author, former teacher, and full-time writer. We hope you enjoy getting to know more about Laura’s unique story as much as we have!
- Tell us about your company and what you do?
I am a New York Times bestselling author of over 40 novels in multiple genres: historical fiction, romance, and suspense. I have been a full-time writer since 2013 when I retired early from teaching history at the Naval Academy.
- How did you get started in your industry?
This is a strange-but-true story. In 2008, I suffered a mild traumatic brain injury and, as I recovered, I had a new and very strong creative urge. So I started taking guitar lessons and writing a novel, and luckily I was better at one of those things than the other. I finished the draft of that novel relatively quickly and then spent two years revising it, studying the craft of writing, and joining writers’ groups before I sold it to a publisher. After that book, writing became a part of who I was and how my brain worked and there was no turning back.
- What is something about your business that most people do not know?
Authors enjoy making fun of how they’re depicted in movies and TV, where they show champagne-soaked book launch parties (like Carrie had in Sex and the City) or where their publishers give them cars and their editors travel to their cities to help them when there’s a problem in the writing (as happened to the main character Temperance Brennan in Bones). Mostly it’s nowhere near as glamorous as that. Also: a lot of people are doing very well these days self-publishing.
- Where do you see your business in five years?
Doing exactly what I’m doing. And, since many of my historical novels focus on the Founding Mothers of the revolutionary era, five years from now is 2026, the sesquicentennial of 1776, so I’m hoping to find a lot of promotional opportunities amid those celebrations.
- Tell me about yourself?
I’ve lived in Annapolis since 2005, and before that lived in Arlington, VA, while I taught history at American University in DC. My husband, Brian, currently works at the Naval Academy on detail from FEMA, and I have two teenage daughters and a monster German Shepherd.
- Other than work, what are you passionate about?
Books and my family are my main passions. I also enjoy public speaking, doing events, and teaching workshops related to my books, history, and writing.
- What types of activities or hobbies do you enjoy outside of work?
I grew up in a family that would have crafting contests at the dinner table after the Thanksgiving meal had been cleared away, so I enjoy all kinds of crafting: floral arrangements, painting, jewelry-making, and making stained-glass windows.
- What is your favorite place to eat in Annapolis? Favorite dish there?
I cannot pick just one. I love the lobster ravioli at Carpaccio, the fried shrimp at Pit Boys, and the crab cake sandwich at Chick & Ruth’s, to name a few.
- Why did you choose My Annapolis Office and how has working here helped your business?
The pandemic changed a lot about my work life. I used to write with a friend at the Panera Bread Café in Edgewater, which closed a month into the pandemic. While I have a home office, I was finding it difficult to be as productive at home, particularly while everyone was still doing work and school virtually. It can be challenging for self-employed people to carve out a working life within the confines of their house, so having an office here gives me a professional and private space to be productive.
If you would like to know more about Laura, you can visit her website or connect with her on Facebook.
