Nibi Soto grew up along the Wasatch mountains in the Great Salt Lake valley.  She has been called the quintessential Renaissance woman because of her wide variety of interests experiences and educational background.  She’s has three advanced degrees, has been a journalist, newspaper editor, professional athlete, certified athletic trainer, intercollegiate coach, professional musician, industrial designer, artist, educator, author, professional speaker, wife, mother and grandmother.

To her, life is not a rehearsal; it is the real thing and there’s no time to waste.  She has authored and co-authored several health and nutrition books under the EAT & Be Lean logo since 1986.  Her most resent adventure lies in the writing of a new time travel fantasy series for young adults called Beyond the Map’s Boundary.  Her blog is located at www.beyondthemapsboundary.com and more insider information about Nibi can be found at www.nibisoto.com.

Q: What compelled you to write your first book?

I’ve traveled all of my life and have always been fascinated with historical places and ancient things. As I strolled through old, dilapidated structures, I used to imagine how they would have looked when they were first built and what the people were like.  Over 20 years ago I began to imagine how wonderful it would be to travel back in time and be apart of their lives for just one day.  I entertained some ideas as to how I might do that and began jotting down notes in a book I carried around with me.  When two of my granddaughters started writing stories for school, I caught the bug myself.  I read the kids my first chapter to see what they thought.  To my surprise they loved it and wanted more.  As I started on the next chapter it was as if the book was already written and all I had to do was type it out the way I heard it in my own head.  I looked forward to writing in my free time and found it quite difficult to quit once I got started.  It wasn’t long before I fell in love with the characters and could visualize the magical scenes as they emerged.  It was becoming a movie to me and, being the visual person that I am, that made it almost impossible for me to tear myself away.

Q: Tell us briefly about your book.

Beyond the Map’s Boundary is the story of Mattie and Trevor, two teenagers that discover they are anything but average when she starts having visions of past civilizations and witnessing historical scenes appearing on particles of light.  Their easy going lives turn into a fast and furious chain of events as they stumble onto magical powers that they didn’t know they had.  These new abilities help them narrowly escape the onslaught of unexpected disasters that keep popping up.

Unbeknownst to Mattie, she was born into a family of time travelers.  Unfortunately, her mother, who would have been her mentor, was killed before she was able to prepare her daughter for her inheritance.  Trevor gets pulled into the family by necessity and finds himself living a much more exciting life, though it’s overwhelming for him at times.  With the discovery of the ancient rings of Prather Mendell, Trevor suddenly shares many of Mattie’s powers and grows to love it. Through a hit and miss approach they battle an illicit time traveler who will stop at nothing to possess their supernatural abilities and the unmatched powers of the rings. Together Mattie and Trevor try to foil his diabolical plan before it’s too late.  The future depends entirely on their ability to survive the learning process.

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

I’m working on the second book in the series.  It is turning out to be as exciting as the first book with the addition of a new character that’s quite unusual.  He talks in rhyme so it takes five times longer to write the chapters where he’s involved.  It’s a little tedious, but a lot of fun.

Q: Do you have a favorite character? Why is s/he your favorite?

I do have a favorite character and her name is Lila Graham.  She’s the bombastic aunt to my main character and is very proactive in her own life.  She’s intelligent, animated and knows exactly what she wants.  Lila is naturally a kind person, yet can be quite fiery when things aren’t as they should be.  I think she must be my alternate ego.  Through her, I’m able enjoy the satisfaction of being confrontational without restraint and I love that feeling, because I struggle with confrontation in my own life.  She’s quite the vision in my mind and I absolutely love her.

Q: How do you balance out the writer’s life and the rest of life? Do you get up early? Stay up late? Ignore friends and family for certain periods of time?

I get up before anyone else in the house and write like crazy until they get up.  I usually get in a couple of hours that way and sometimes more.   After that, my life is not my own.  I really believe that I was born to serve and as long as I keep that balance, my writing time is exciting and I’m generally a happy girl.

Q: What is your writing space like? Do you have a designated space? What does it look like? On the couch, laptop, desk? Music? Lighting? Typing? Handwriting?

I write as I walk on my treadmill.  Being a woman, I have to multitask or I’m not happy.  I rigged a workshelf on my treadmill that has room for my mini-computer, book of ancestors, a pen and notepad and a box of Kleenex.  That’s everything I need to do my work as I walk, putting in a minimum of 2 miles a day at 1 mile an hour.  Generally, I do a cardiovascular workout following that and top it off with a nice, revitalizing stretch on a slant board.

Q: In my experience, some things come quite easily (like creating the setting) and other things aren’t so easy (like deciding on a title). What comes easily to you and what do you find more difficult?

Ironically, I knew the title of my first book before I even knew the story.  I wrote the book to explain the title.  I know that’s backwards, but that’s exactly what happened.  The title of the second book in the series just began to make sense as I wrote.  The titles seem to have a will of their own and don’t mind messing with my psyche or psycho (which ever fits best).  So, at this point, I’d have to say that coming up with a title is a no-brainer for me!  Creating the setting was a little more time consuming, but that was kind of fascinating.  It was like watching a movie in my own head.  The hardest part was transferring the images to the written word, which felt more like a game than a struggle.

Q: Do you have any book signings, tours or special events planned to promote your book that readers might be interested in attending? If so, when and where?

I’m doing a Virtual BookTour with Pump Up Your Book just for the month of June.  I’m also starting to take bookings at Elementary and Junior High Schools to do assemblies, book readings and book signings.  These will be mainly in the states of Utah, Idaho, Nevada and Wyoming through the summer and fall of 2010.  Schools can find out more about booking me on my website at nibisoto.com

Use this space to tell us more about who you are. Anything you want your readers to know. Include information on where to find your books, any blogs you may have, or how a reader can learn more about you and writing.

Nine Things About Nibi

1. I was the only baby girl born in a hospital full of baby boys.  The doctor insisted I was going to be a boy, too, but my mother objected to that.  She already had a boy and it was time to have a girl.  The doctor was not entirely wrong, however; I turned out to be quite a Tom Boy, much to my mother’s dismay.
2. At the age of five I wanted to grow up to be a cowgirl.  My neighbor owned a pair of old cowboy boots that came clear up to my hips when I put them on.  I felt mighty big in those boots and knew it was the rodeo life for me.
3. I was the only girl in the family, sandwiched between two brothers.  When I was 12, my parents brought home a little sister for me.  She was much prettier than I was and had a perfect built in tan.  We never fought; I repeat, NEVER fought.  Life with my family was nothing but fun.  I’m serious!
4. I used to play at Dad’s old desk in the garage for hours.  I’d pretend I was a businesswoman, so I did what I thought businesswomen did.  I wrote special notes on little scraps of paper and stuffed them into all the nooks and crannies I could find.  I’ll bet Mom and Dad had a good laugh when they moved the desk back into the house.
5. At 17, I was co-editor of the school newspaper.  My best friends were on that staff and we had a ball!  We went to BYU for a journalism conference and I won first place with the article I wrote using the information I gathered during the group interview with Vernon Law (the baseball player).  I didn’t ask him a single question.  It makes me laugh to this day.
6. In college I went by several names since my teammates were such a bunch of cut-ups.  As a senior I was selected as the outstanding athlete of the year and my name is still up on the wall of fame a hundred years later.
7. At the age of 38 I married into a family of five children ranging in age from eight to 18.  Within four years I went from being a newly wed, to a mother of five, mother of the bride and finally, a grandmother.  I caught up with my brothers and sister, passing them all up in one fell swoop.
8. To this day I hold the intercollegiate fast pitch women’s softball world’s batting title of .900 (That’s equivalent to 9 clean hits out of 10 attempts.)  I would have had 100% if I hadn’t gotten so cocky (a good lesson in life for me.)
9. I’ve authored and co-authored several health and nutrition books and started writing novels at age 55.   Writing fiction is more fun than I can express in words.  The cowgirl will have to wait!

My books can be ordered from any bookstore in the world, but it can also be purchased on the website at www.beyondthemapsboundary.com or my blog at www.nibisoto.com .   The audio book is available through Quality Books Inc. and also on the websites.

Be Sociable, Share!

•