Decadent Publishing YA Blog Stomp-Julie Campbell

Hi Everyone! I’m super excited to have Julie Campbell back again.. this time with an interview of her one of her characters!!

~Contest ended! Congrats to winner acm05!~

Welcome to Decadent Publishing’s Blog Stomp Young Adult book tour. This is also a stop on my blog tour for the release of my first novel, Senior Year Bites.  Jen thanks so much for letting me post here today. Stick around at the end for the contest details.

(Fun little detail. Right before writing this blog I got a shirt from Carol, my boyfriend’s step-mom, that says “Only vampires can love you forever.” What perfect timing.)

Interview with Meg from Senior Year Bites:

Thanks for stopping by my blog today! First of all, can you tell us a little about yourself?

Well, I’m a senior at Banks high school. I like math and I secretly dream of being a hero like my dad. Oh yeah, and minor detail… I’m a vampire.

Once you got used to the idea, what became your favorite part of being a vampire? Your least favorite?

Hmm, I’m not sure I’ll ever really be used to the idea, but I have to say the super strength is really fun. The least favorite part? When I’m thinking about it, drinking blood. Of course when the vampire part of me takes over, drinking blood is my favorite thing. How gross is that?

How hard was it to keep from others your change?

Hahahaha, I failed. So really hard. I only managed to keep it from my two best friends, Steph and Ann, for a short time. I didn’t manage to keep it from the guys for very long either. Alexander already knew – arrogant bastard.

For those who learned about you becoming a vampire, who do you think took it the best? The worst?

Steph took it the best. She’s all about this super hero idea. Ann took it the worst, and I’m still not sure why.

Is there anything you regret?

Yeah, a lot of things. Not getting to say goodbye to my dad properly before he died is a big one. That happened when I was much younger though, so it’s a distant ache. I regret spending the night in a graveyard.
If you could change the past- what would you change?

Truth or dare… just take the bloody Truth! Who cares if you have a crush on a boy? Admitting it is better than getting turned into a vampire.

Do you have any advice for those newly turned?

Don’t let yourself get hungry. You don’t have to kill people to feed, but if you let yourself get too hungry, you lose control. Who knows what you’d do then?

What are your plans for the future?

Um, future? I’m not sure I have one. Lurking in the dark maybe? I’m still too shocked to have plans, but I know Steph does. She’s working on something and I’m sure she’ll drag me along for the ride.

Everyone who comments today will be entered to win a Decadent title of their choice. You can go to http://www.decadentpublishing.com/ to look around. Please leave us a way to contact you so we can let you know you won. The winner will be announced tomorrow. Also, all commenters will be entered into the grand prize drawing. You can check out the details here: http://decadentpublishing.blogspot.com/p/contests_08.html.

Author Bio:

Julie writes fantasy novels. When she’s not out riding her horse, she can usually be found sitting in front of her computer with a cat on her lap and her dog at her side.

www.writerjacampbell.com.

Senior Year Bites Blurb:

Senior year is supposed to be fun: boys, dances and graduation.

It’s significantly harder to enjoy it when you’re dead.

Truth or Dare is supposed to be fun too. It’s not even close to dangerous, so playing
at Steph’s house didn’t seem like a bad idea. My dare? Spend the rest of the night in
the graveyard next to her house. It was only a couple of hours until false dawn, my
proscribed return time, so no big deal right? Right.

I survived the attack, but it took me a few days to figure out what was going on. I mean
vampires might stalk pop culture, but they’re just myths. Yeah. Not so much.

School is a lot more difficult when you’re a nocturnal creature of the night. I was
managing, but I couldn’t keep it hidden from my friends for long. After I managed to
accidentally save one of our cheerleaders from her drunk and ill-intentioned boyfriend.
Steph decided that we should be cool, like superheroes, and fight crime.

Only I’m a vampire, not a hero, and we live in a sleepy New England town, so crime’s a
little harder to come by. At least it is until a serial killer moves into the area. He’s got
the authorities stumped, but then again, the cops don’t have a teenage, blood-sucking,
non-hero on their team.

Four Tools for the Crafting of Truly Engaging Fiction by M. Todd Gallowglas.

Guest Post by M. Todd Gallowglas

First of all, I’d like to thank Jen for inviting me to guest post on her blog. I’m honored and humbled at the invitation.

The hardest part about this blog post was figuring out what to write about. There’s so much about writing that I have bouncing around in my head that sometimes, it’s really hard for me to sift through it all and get one thing separated from another. However, when we really think about what our goal as writers is, the end result of all the scribbling on paper and pounding on the keyboard is that we want to craft fiction that will engage our reader and draw them deep into the story.

Many writers will give you many different answers on this subject. Ask any three writers, and you’re likely to get at least seven different answers. I’ll give you four – four tools that I use once I complete my first draft and really start working on the crafting of my stories. These tools are:

• Solidity
• Specificity
• Mass
• Generosity

1) Solidity

“Begin in an experience, either real or imagined.” –Richard Hugo

The key word in this passage is “experience.” We’re talking about the physical aspect of human life on earth, or whatever world you happen to set your story on in the case of Science Fiction and Fantasy. We can get into theme, abstraction, opinion, irony, or any of the other ambiguous terms that people use to talk about writing later, but in the beginning, it’s all about specificity.

When I write, I have a sticky-note posted to the upper, left-hand corner of my laptop. It’s got all five senses on it. This is so I can remember to put at least (bare minimum) into any scene I’m working on. Now, I don’t just throw these senses in randomly throughout the scene; rather, I add them to enhance the flow of the story. Here’s an example from the prologue of my novel First Chosen:

“Even though it was the middle of the night when Kaeldyr arrived at the manor house, everyone in the household was wide awake. Servants scurried through the hallways. The lady of the house was with child, and her labor pains had started earlier that day. Even the barrier between worlds barely muffled the noise as her cries echoed through the halls. In the physical realm she must have been deafening.

Entering the birthing room, Kaeldyr looked down upon the lady. The sheets clung to her sweat-soaked body. Her eyes, deep gray, like a storm rolling in from an angry sea, blinked through the tears. A midwife sat next to the lady’s head. She whispered to the lady in a calming voice and dabbed the lady’s forehead with a wet cloth. Another midwife sat at the far end of the bed, swaddling clothes ready. Surrounding each of the midwives, Kaeldyr saw a nimbus of light, shifting and multicolored, revealing the strength and age of their souls. Despite the physical age of their current lives, both possessed relatively young souls. The oldest of them had only been reborn five times. The light of the lady’s soul was different, as her kind only had one life. Where the midwives’ souls were rainbows of bright, vibrant colors, the lady’s soul was shades of blue, gray, and white.”

We have sights (the easy part), sounds (also fairly), but I sneak in touch, with the sheets clinging to the body and tears rolling down the eyes. Even though the point-of-view character is not experiencing these sensations, the reader understands what those other characters are feeling.

 Now, to push Solidity to its next level we dive into:

2) Specificity

Okay, so we’ve got our characters experiencing the world around them with the five senses, and we’re doing our utmost to get three of those senses in per scene, now what? We make the details of those senses as specific as possible. These are the details that are going to make your writing stand out because you’re going to grab hold of the reader and force him or her to become a part of your story.

Let’s look at another piece from the same scene of First Chosen:

 “Pushing his finger through the woman’s abdomen, Kaeldyr touched the unborn soul. In all his centuries as a celestial being, Kaeldyr had never done such a thing. Touching this soul was like tasting sweetened fruit tea, smelling a rose, and listening to a mother’s lullaby – all through his fingers. As he probed the soul, he felt like it – no, not it, she; this was definitely a girl – she examined him in return. The sweetness that Kaeldyr felt turned slightly salty, though not enough to be unpleasant. She seemed to be asking, What are you?”

 See how again I put in multiple senses? Also these are very specific, and if I may be so bold as to toot my own horn, they evoke very specific images, especially when we shift from sweet to salty. I spent a lot of time on this one paragraph because this child is the main focus of the novel, which brings us to…

3) Mass

Now that we’re working with the five senses, and we’re using those senses to describe concrete, specific details, we have to choose what we want to describe. As writers, we can’t get it all in. There are too many details to stick in, so we have to determine the most important details for our story. As I said in the example above, the child I describe is the main focus of the novel, and so I give a bunch of details to draw the reader’s attention to her. The more time a writer spends describing something, them more important that person, place, or thing should be to the overall story. Here’s another example, this time from the first chapter:

 “Colette thrust her hands into the chest, drew out the knife, and handed it to Julianna. From tip to pommel, the weapon was just a hair longer than Julianna’s forearm. For the most part, it was a non-descript weapon. The hilt was a dark brown wood that nearly matched the dark brown of the leather sheath. The blade was sturdy Tsiatsu steel, with a blood groove the length of Julianna’s middle finger on one side – typical for all Tsiatsu weapons. The weapon’s only distinctive feature was a single word etched into the blade opposite the blood groove.

Kostota.

Julianna didn’t know what the word meant, but every time she looked at it, she felt that she should know. She’d once shown it to Uncle Alyxandros, and he had quietly suggested that she might want to keep the knife hidden away, or better yet, dispose of it entirely. Julianna could not do that. It was one of two things she’d received from her mother. The other was her eyes. Her deep, piercing gray eyes were extremely rare in girls born of Koma blood and nearly nonexistent in girls from other lands. It was the first of Julianna’s features that most men complimented, and in doing so, they earned the first coin of Julianna’s contempt. Complimenting her eyes was far too easy.”

 I put a lot into these two paragraphs about the dagger, the word kostota, Julianna’s eyes, and how they all tie back to Juliann’s mother. All of these things are very important, not just to the first novel First Chosen, but to the series as a whole. I put them into the first chapter and point an arrow to the careful reader, letting him or her know that these things are important by focusing on them so early during the narrative. I also refer back to them now and then in other places, just to keep them in the forefront of the reader’s mind.

On the other hand, if a detail is not so important, we shouldn’t spend a whole lot of time on it. We can give out little things about setting and secondary characters, but we don’t want to bog the reader down with too many details on minor aspects of the story. Save your best stuff for the things that really matter.

4) Generosity

We’re not looking to be nice to our characters, let them “win,” nor have everything resolve in a happy ending. This is about not taking the easy way out. We’re generous with our stories to the point of being hyper-honest and completely true to the story. It means letting go of our own preconceptions of the story, and really understanding that sometimes the story we originally sat down to tell is not what the story will eventually become. We may have beta-readers and proof readers, editors and agents, all of them giving us feedback and advice; but ultimately, we need to hold true to what the story wants to be. The story is the boss, and our characters need to have the freedom to live, and sometimes die, by their own choices. I’m not going to give any examples of this one, because it’s the most elusive of all the tools, and ultimately each story is different in this regard.

As I said at the beginning of this post: I only use these tools once I finish my first draft. Sure, I probably use some of them subconsciously while flying by the seat of my pants to get that draft out, but I never stop to think about the story that much. I’d get too overwhelmed. These tools are for when you can step back and see the forest through the trees and be able to tell what elements of your work need to be enhanced and which need to be cut back. So, the next time you finish a draft and go back to it. Take a glance over these tools. Maybe they can help you rework your story to engage the reader just that much more, enough so that he or she tells a friend or two and gets a snowball of word of mouth rolling.

M. Todd Gallowglas has been writing stories of one form or another since the third grade when he received his very first writing assignment. He had been a professional storyteller at Renaissance Faires and Medieval festivals for twenty years. In 2009, he received his Bachelor of Arts in English, with a focus in Creative Writing, from San Francisco State University. He is a regular fiction contributor for the Call of Cthulhu card game from Fantasy Flight Games Inc, and writes several semi-regular blogs and on-line columns.

Find M. Todd Gallowglas online at:

Blog: mgallowglas.blogspot.com

Facebook: facebook.com/bardscloak

Twitter: @MGallowglas

First Chosen:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0055I14BG

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/75569

YA? So What.

Greetings denizens of earth. It is I, Sean Hayden. I have yet once again seized control of the blog of JEN WYLIE for my own personal gain and satisfaction.

Bwa Ha Ha

So, you’re probably wondering what particular subject I shall be conquering today, right? Well, my blog title is a little deceiving. It looks like I’m trying to say,”Yeah, so what?” Right? Huh? Had you fooled! HAHAHA. Nope, I’m here to discuss something that’s been a botherin me for a while now. YA. Young adult. A whole slew of genres jam packed into one tiny little itsy bitsy teeney tiny weeney CATEGORY. You see, I wrote this novel called My Soul to Keep. Once I done did that I started querying agents. Have you ever done a search on sites that list agents? They’re broken down into categories too. Most of them are genre type categories. Such as Urban Fantasy, Horror, and Non-Fiction. Then there’s this whole star shpangled YA category.

Queried a few. “Oh, we only handle YA fantasy, not YA urban fantasy!”

Um, ok.

Kind of makes you wonder why we even have this whole YA thingy right? I thought so. Honestly, stop and think for just a moment. How many adults do you know that absolutely positively love to read “YA” books? Uh huh. Exactly. I bet you know twice as many adults as young adults who read things specifically labeled for young adults. What really bothers me is when you ask somebody what age group YA is designed for you will get answers ranging anywhere from 11 to 18. Uh huh.

Guess what

I haz a solution

Shocker, I know

I think we should let the genres speak for the books. If you have more than one, label them as such. BUT, we need to stop characterizing every book written with the intent for a younger audience as YA. Its BS. YA is BS. There. I said it.

So what I propose is do exactly what the MPA does. Lets start slapping labels on EVERY book that gives content warnings. Makes a little sense doesn’t it? I thought so.

Because I’m a kind and benevolent future world dictator, I’ve even decided to post my proposed novel rating scale so you can further “get what I’m saying”. I couldn’t leave you hanging.

Rated P for Pure-This rating shall be rarely given to novels and shall be reserved for Pennsylvania Dutch Cookbooks and Fluffy Bunny Picture Books that do not have any underlying drug or sex references.

Rated G for Golly-Golly as in I can’t friggin believe the main character’s mother just got shot.

Rated H for HMMMM-Hmmmm, did the main character just say, “Damn it?”

Rated U for UMMMM-If I were that main character’s mother…I would wash that boys mouth out with soap!

Rated O for OMG-She flashed her what? Oh no she diint.

Rated W for WOW-Aren’t they a little young to be doing that?

Rated B for Bad-Maybe you should wait a few years before you read this one, kid.

Rated S for Screw That-Oh hell no. I blushed when I read that one.

Well I hope you like my plan. When I conquer the world and enslave the human race you won’t have a choice, but I thought I’d give you a heads up. Just sayin

Interview with Author Kimberly Gould

 Today I have the fabulous Kimberly Gould stopping by! Enjoy your read and check out her work too! Visit Kimberly at kimmydonn.com and kimmydonn.blogspot.com.

Check out her book Cargon at Amazon and Martinsisterspublishing.com

Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

I’m thirty-four, I’ve been married for nearly eleven years, and I’m the mother of one four year-old girl. One was enough. She’s darling, she’s amazing, she’s relatively well behaved and we didn’t want to risk the second one being anything but. Hehe. That’s my husband’s answer when people ask.

What do you do when you are not writing? Do you have a day job as well?

I have been an environmental scientist for ten years as well. My part-time hours there gave me time to pursue writing. We are a very small company – we just hired our third permanent staff this winter – focusing on native plants of Alberta and working primarily in the boreal forest. That means a LOT of mosquitoes. It also means a lot of driving time to get to work sites. Ideal imagination and outlining time.

How did you choose the genre you write in?

I haven’t completely settled into my genre. I love reading YA, Tamora Pierce is probably my favourite author, and have a taste for Fantasy/low Sci Fi. It made sense for me to write that for my first novel. However, my second manuscript is an adult contemporary fiction and my third is a YA paranormal. Yeah, I haven’t settled at all.

Where do you get your ideas?

Most often my dreams. I have a tendency to insomnia, and sometimes I’ll spend the entire night watching a story similar to how I would watch a movie, only with occasional voice overs from the characters… Sounds a lot like a book, doesn’t it? Yeah. I have had mornings where the first thing I do is scribble in a notebook for twenty minutes and still curse that I didn’t get enough of it down. I need some sort of memory recording device… Where’s that sci-fi when I need it?

Do you ever experience writer’s block? Do you work with an outline, or just write?

Most often, I just write. I occasionally get writer’s block, though I don’t think I’d put it quite the rigidly, more like writer’s slog. I’ll push through, write some stuff that doesn’t make a lot of sense or doesn’t seem to be going anywhere until the light bulb goes off, usually when I’m rereading that crap, and I’ll change the scene or add what I need and then rip out the junk. My outlines are very sparse, usually a sentence or two for each chapter. The outline is more to remind me where the story is going than to carve a path for it. It gives me that light in the tunnel so I don’t wander too far off the path. However, I find I like to give my characters freedom, so unexpected events do occur while I’m writing, and I don’t want to hinder that. Instead, I take the sudden swerve and try to figure out how I can still get to that end point.

Can you tell us about your challenges in getting your first book published?

I am an anomaly. I had almost no challenge in getting Cargon published. When I wrote the first draft over a year ago, I wondered if it was any good. I was writing fanfiction in the Twilight fandom at the time and through that found a contest for original fiction hosted by Jennifer Barry. It had an upper limit of 10K words, so I took the opening three chapters and pared them down to that, losing most of the first and about half of the second. I didn’t expect to win and was really looking for the judge’s feedback to help me improve my manuscript. However, I did win, and my excerpt was to be published in the second book of Jennifer’s Kingdom series. She ran into publishing difficulties and in the interim, buoyed by the win, I started querying agents. No agents bit, but Jennifer, in the midst of her publishing woes, found a pair of sisters forming their own company, Martin Sisters Publishing. Jennifer suggested that I submit my manuscript to them. I thought it was a fabulous idea and sent off the first two chapters with my query letter. They asked for a complete, then they offered me a contract. I still can’t believe how easily I found them. I’m their first novel as an independent publisher, so we’re both learning things (like if you hit the button on google books, there isn’t a pending period – it goes live!). As a result I’ve had a bit of a staggered release. The kindle version went up on Amazon and the preview on Google Books in the middle of June. The paper copies were available through Amazon a week later, but the distributor is still processing the book for wide-scale distribution. The average bookstore should be able to order it in now or by the first week of August at the latest.

If you had to go back and do it all over, is there any aspect of your novel or getting it published that you would change?

More pre-readers! I’m doing this with the second manuscript. I think I expected as part of the publishing/editing process that it would have more pairs of eyes looking at it than it got. I don’t think it suffered greatly for that, but I certainly will make sure future manuscripts are well read before submitting them to my publisher.

Can you tell us about your upcoming book?

My second manuscript is Thickness of Blood. It evolved from a flash fiction piece based on a picture of a girl with scraped up bloody knees for a ‘taboo’ themed contest. This led to a young man running down a girl while playing tag and assaulting her. It was very creepy, very disconcerting and not much worth on its own. As I mulled those stark images in my mind, I imagined this predator, James, had had other prey in his past. From this came George, the father of another victim. He’s seeking vengeance for his daughter. In his search he comes across Lila, the girl from the original short and feels responsible for not going to the police immediately and stopping James from hurting her. The story is about families, love, healing, and good and bad sexual experiences. After reading my first draft, one of my publishers suggested adding a third victim, someone who doesn’t get the happy ending that Lila and Daphne do. I created Patty and she slipped into the story very nicely. That’s with my last pre-reader.

Is anything in your book based on real life experiences or purely all imagination?

Thankfully, no. It’s almost entirely imagination. I based George a bit on my own father, and other characters may be similar to people I know, but none of the major plot lines are anything I’ve done or experienced.

What was your favorite chapter (or part) to write and why?

The moment Eve picks up the first piece. The whole story really pivots on that day. She starts looking at the world differently and sees so much more when she does. It also introduces the reader to Adam who is a super sweetie who loves her for her brain… awwww.

For Thickness of Blood, my favourite part comes right in the middle, right after George meets Lila and takes her in. She has a revelation in the kitchen that this was what love really was supposed to be. It was very moving.

Are there certain characters you would like to go back to, or is there a theme or idea you’d love to work with?

Yes! Yay for sequels! Cargon ends on a downer. That’s not a spoiler, it’s a warning. Don’t expect a happy ending. I’m hoping to include more of Adam’s young siblings. I’m sure Martina, his cousin, will make a reappearance, and I plan on bringing back most of Eve’s friends among the servants. In the second half of Honour & Priviledge she avoids her friends for the most part and turns down the High One’s offer to make one of them her personal servant. In the sequel, she will have to revisit these connections and will probably tap into those friendships, to her benefit as a leader. I also really liked Jasper, one of her suitors, and Evan was fun, too. They will probably pop in somewhere as well.

Do you have any advice to give to aspiring writers?

Let people read what you write. Yeah, they might not like it. They might tell you things that are hard to hear, but if you don’t let anyone read it, they miss out!

FUN QUESTIONS!

Chocolate or Vanilla?

Usually chocolate, though I prefer the vanilla Girl Guide cookies, go figure.

The light side or the dark side?

Light side. I require sunlight for survival. Also, I don’t imagine I’m good enough to be one of only a pair (as the Sith are) and would rather work in a large group. Finally, Yoda rules.

If you were a superhero (or villain!) what would your power be? Would you wear a cape?

Teleportation. As much as I use that time in the car, I would love to just get up, walk out the door and be at my job site. No cape.

What does your main character think about you? Are you best buds or have you tortured them so much you’d run if you actually ever met?

Haha, no I don’t think Eve would kick my ass. She’d probably challenge me to a game though, and then I would have to run.

What sort of coffee would you order? Simple coffee, complicated soy-non-fat-extra-espresso-half-caff-nightmare?

I love black coffee. On the other hand I also love cappaccinos with just a little milk and lots and lots of foam. Mmmmm foam.

If you could live off of chocolate would you? What kind?

No, I like way too many other foods. If I could only have one chocolate though, it would be extra dark, probably with almonds.

Interview with Author Jennifer Rainey

Today I am interviewing author Jennifer Rainey. Read along and find out all about her and her work!

When did you first start writing and when did you finish your first book? I can honestly say that I’ve been writing in one way or another since I could hold a pencil. Or crayon, as the case might’ve been! But I didn’t really start to consider writing as more than a hobby until I was in high school and I won a state-wide writing competition with a short story about a recently-fired animator. I completely finished my first published book in 2010 and published it later that year.

Have you written a book you love that you have not been able to get published? It’s not published mostly because it was never finished, but there was this book I was working on that was a really twisted paranormal romantic comedy about a ghost who falls in love with a paranormal investigator. I don’t write a lot of straight-up romance, but I loved this story and these characters, and I’m a paranormal investigator myself (I promise I’m not crazy!). I might revisit the project some day.
 
Is anything in your book based on real life experiences or purely all imagination? These Hellish Happenings takes place in this very soul-killing, modernized Hell that uses offices and computers and such. I work as an office assistant when I’m not writing. Ahem, I think we can put two and two together, haha! But while I’m definitely inspired by real life experiences, most of the events in the book come out of my head. It’s a scary place in there.
 
What was your favorite chapter (or part) to write and why? I’m gonna try not to spoil anything, but Jack, my vampire protagonist, ends up romantically involved with another character in the book. Both Jack and his lover are immortal; they’ve lived forever, and they’ve become rather jaded to the whole emotional love scene. And so when they have this blossoming relationship, instead of your standard romantic set-up, they play these ruthless, analytical word games, and that’s how they sort of reckon out their feelings for each other. Those word games were definitely my favorite part to write; I adore the dynamic in their relationship.
 
What project are you working on now? Will you have a new book coming out soon? I’m about 80% of the way through the first draft of the second book in the These Hellish Happenings series. It’s tentatively called When Hell Freezes Over. I’m also starting work on a collection of loosely-connected short stories that take place in the same universe as my other books, though it’s not directly related to the These Hellish Happenings plot. It’s called The Souls of Iago Wick, and it follows this arrogant demon as he goes around and collects the souls of the recently-deceased in order to take them to Hell. It should be out later this year.
 
The light side or the dark side? Ooh, the dark side. I’ve heard wonderful things; perhaps I should get a summer home there.
 
What does your main character think about you? Are you best buds or have you tortured them so much you’d run if you actually ever met? Jack would probably resent me at least somewhat because he’s been through quite a lot of torture! Purely based on what I put him through in the eighteenth century, he’d probably never completely trust me, haha! But I’d like to think we’d get along. We could at least talk music since we’re both music snobs.
 
Is there any food you refuse to eat?  Cottage cheese. I find it absolutely repulsive!
 
What pets have graced your life? Which was your least favorite? What do you think the coolest pet to have would be? I have four cats at the moment; Bellamy, Lucy, Macca and Georgina. I’m a cat person, definitely, but hopefully not a Crazy Old Cat Lady-in-Training. I used to have two birds, as well, but I’m not sure I’ll ever do that again. They were tons of trouble. The coolest pet? I’d love to have a Mainecoon cat; those things are huge!
 
Do you have any advice to give to aspiring writers? Be patient. I know that’s hard, but it’s worth all the editing and rewriting and planning and waiting. At the end of the process, a product that has had that much time and care put into it is going to attract readers more than one that has not. It’s definitely worth it all in the long run.
 
Is there anything that you would like to say to your readers and fans?  Thank you so much for giving my bizarre little tale a try, and thank you for being so supportive! I have wonderful, very vocal fans, and I couldn’t ask for anything more. … Also, keep buying my books, haha!

BUY LINKS:
Amazon Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/These-Hellish-Happenings-ebook/dp/B004K1F8KM/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1295619680&sr=8-2
B&N Nook: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/These-Hellish-Happenings/Jennifer-Rainey/e/2940012372154?r=1&itm=1&usri=these+hellish+happenings&if=N&cm_mmc=VigLink-_-k244266-_-j12871747k244266-_-Primary

AUTHOR LINKS:
Website: http://www.jenniferrainey.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/THH_Series
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/TheseHellishHappenings
Blog: http://independentparanormal.blogspot.com

BIO:

Jennifer Rainey was raised by wolves who later sold her to gypsies. She then joined the circus at the age of ten. There, she was the flower girl in the famed Bearded Bride of Beverly Hills show until the act was discontinued (it was discovered that the bearded lady was actually a man). From there, she wandered around the country selling novelty trucker hats with vaguely amusing sayings printed on front. Somehow, she made enough money to go to The Ohio State University for a major in English.

Rhiannon Paille’s secret secret news . . .

that she’s not supposed to tell anyone, but she’s going to tell you!

Last time I visited with Jen it was for an interview about my first book, Integrated Intuition, a psychic development book and self publishing experiment. Needless to say, things with that book are still going as expected, but since the interview I’ve managed to pick up two new students!

And so after a few more months traipsing the blogosphere, reviewing books, querying agents, and subsequently acting like one of the thousands of hopefuls out there, I finally have some news.

This is the first blog the news is being posted on.

Actually, I don’t know if I CAN post this news yet, because there’s still some negotiating to do, but . . . I got picked up by a publisher!

You can go crazy if you want, or you can sit back and wonder if by publisher I mean createspace and if I mean negotiating I mean learning how to properly format my book for smashwords.

Thankfully it’s not a deal like the above, it’s more in the ring of a real deal, with the publisher acting as my agent, editor and publisher. We talked on the phone today and he was all, “I’ll send you edits and you can disagree with me if you want, but I’m always right.” I laughed, loved the candidness of his pitch. We talked about pretty much everything under the sun which included things like foreign rights and simon and schuster and the sweltering heat. We also talked comic con because I happen to organize the one his company sets up at every year, which was quite advantageous. You see, he’s not open for submissions right now, (you can check I’ll post a link) but because I’ve known him for a good four years now, he was willing to take a look at my stuff and sign me on account of my con organization skills.

My writing wasn’t bad either, I pitched him the story and he was really into it. He mentioned his need to break into YA because he mostly does superheroes and monsters.

My story is about monsters, sort of . . . actually my story is about The Ferryman and The Flame, their tragic love story that’s doomed by what they are. He’s an ambassador of death, and she’s a weapon that could cause the apocalypse. She’s being hunted, and he’s being called to his duty, and their relationship hangs in the balance.

Flame of Surrender (The Ferryman and The Flame #1) will be released by Coscom Entertainment on November 1st, 2011.

That DID make me a little nervous since it’s only 3 months away. Makes my brain go splat, but it’s really the best time to put the book out there since the comic con is on the weekend before November 1st. And if you’re in the area of Winnipeg, Canada you could potentially meet me, buy the book and have a lot of fun at this event. Links: www.coscomentertainment.com and www.c4con.com.

Lastly, I actually started a BETA READER CONTEST on July 3rd, not thinking that before it was even finished I’d have an official publishing deal on the table, but you know, now I guess it’s my first ARC Contest! Head over to my blog to enter! Link: rhiannonpaille.blogspot.com, link to the giveaway is on the left sidebar at the top. You really can’t miss it, since it’s under the “GIVEAWAYS” heading.

And while you’re at it, you should head over to the book’s page on goodreads, http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11841693-flame-of-surrender and add it to your favorite lists including your tbr lists!

I hope to be able to put out a better, more wide spread press release soon, once I get the go ahead from the publisher, but for now, you can be the first to know about the things happening with me.

You’re right, I haven’t even posted this on MY blog yet . . .

And any questions you have you can shoot them over to rhiannonpaille at gmail dot com.

SQUEE! I did it!

Oh and FYI: Ferrymen are sexy.

Namaste,

Rhi

Interview with Author Darcia Helle

Today I have the amazing author Darcia Helle on my blog! Check out her interview and her books too!

Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

This question always gives me pause. What do readers want to know? I don’t lead a particularly entertaining lifestyle. I’d love to say that I have super powers, hang out with rock stars and save endangered tigers in my spare time. The truth is, I’m wife to a great guy, mom to two unique young men and grandmother to a gorgeous baby girl. I have a major soft spot for rescue animals and currently have three dogs and two cats that rule our home. Chronic, late-stage Lyme disease wreaks havoc with my life but also allows me to be home to do what I love most, which is writing.

How did you choose the genre you write in?

I don’t think I actually choose anything I write, whether that be the genre or the particular plot. My first six books are various forms of suspense, from romantic to straight suspense to dark comedy. My new novel – Into The Light – is not as easily defined. It’s completely different than my usual writing, perhaps a paranormal mystery though that genre is not exactly a comfortable fit, either.

Human nature fascinates me. In my writing, I explore what drives our behavior. Why does one person choose to kill, while another, in a similar situation, does not? When faced with difficult choices, what drives our decisions? Much of this takes me in the direction of a suspense novel, though genre is never on my mind until the book is written and I need to decide how to label it for marketing purposes.

Can you tell us about your upcoming book?

My newest release, to be published in July, is called Into The Light. As I mentioned earlier, this is a bit of a diversion in my typical writing style. Max, the main character, popped into my head one day with a story to tell. I expected that story to move in one direction but Max took it down a different path. That’s one of my favorite things about being a writer – those moments when characters come alive and lead the way. Here is the blurb:

Max Paddington refuses to go into the light until he finds his killer. This presents a dilemma, since Max is even less competent as a spirit than he was as a live person. No one sees or hears him and he can’t manage to get anywhere or do anything on his own.

Joe Cavelli is a private investigator, living an ordinary life. Then one day he walks across a parking lot, gets yelled at by a ghost, and his life only gets stranger from there.

Max and Joe team up to find Max’s killer. In the process, they form an unlikely friendship and change each other’s lives in ways they never expected.

Is anything in your book based on real life experiences or purely all imagination?

Most of my books are entirely fictional in content, though bits and pieces of my life and people I know are woven in. I don’t think it’s possible to be a writer without drawing from personal experiences from time to time.

That being said, my sixth book, The Cutting Edge, has a large amount of content that is drawn directly from my life. The book is about a hairstylist in a small town, whose job and clients are pushing her close to the edge of sanity – and toward murder. I was a stylist for fifteen years, in a small salon in the same small town I set this story in. All of the clients are based largely on real clients from my real salon. And almost all of the incidents and conversations truly did take place within that real salon.

One reviewer accused me of inventing such annoying clients that the story was ridiculous and impossible to believe. That made me laugh. I could never have invented these people. I only changed names and minor facts to protect the innocent and hide the guilty. This is a case when truth is indeed stranger than fiction.

What was your favorite chapter (or part) to write and why?

My favorite chapter to write is always the first. That’s when the story is being born for me, the characters and, eventually, the readers. At that point, I’m just getting to know the characters and finding a path through the endless possibilities. I think I’m addicted to that adrenaline rush, which might explain the drawer full of “beginnings” I have yet to complete.

Are there certain characters you would like to go back to, or is there a theme or idea you’d love to work with?

Is it terrible to admit that I fall in love with all my characters? I even love the bad ones! For the most part, I let them go when I set their books free in the world. But there are a few I’d like to revisit at some point. On the top of that list is Vinnie, a minor character from my novel Hit List. He began as a character of convenience, one that popped in to help with some background and add a little flavor to the story. While his part remained relatively small, his character, to me, is huge. There is much about Vinnie that is waiting to be explored.

As for themes and ideas I’ve love to work with, yes, there are several. These plot ideas bang around my head but have yet to find traction. I am not able to write from a plot outline and I can’t grab and issue and decide to write about it, no matter how much I’d like to. Characters always come first in my writing. The plot has to fit the character and the character, for me, leads the way.

Chocolate or Vanilla?

A combination of both! When forced to choose, chocolate almost always wins out.

The light side or the dark side?

Definitely the dark side! I enjoy inspirational stories and stories that are fun and make me laugh. But I’m drawn in by the shadows and the darkness.

What sort of coffee would you order? Simple coffee, complicated soy-non-fat-extra-espresso-half-caff-nightmare?

I don’t drink coffee at all and never have. When I was younger, my mother used to tell me that I’d develop a taste for it. That never happened. I’m a tea drinker. If you see me at Starbucks, I’d be ordering a chai soy latte. (I like it better with soy milk, though I do occasionally use regular cow’s milk.) At home, I love to start my day with a double dark chocolate mate latte.

What pets have graced your life? Which was your least favorite? What do you think the coolest pet to have would be?

Over the years, I’ve had dogs, cats, birds, fish, guinea pigs, hamsters and gerbils. I’ve never disliked any of our pets. If I had to choose a least favorite, that would probably be the guinea pigs only because of the constant cleaning and their musky smell. I will always think that dogs are the coolest pets to have.

Web Links:

Website: http://www.QuietFuryBooks.com or http://www.DarciaHelle.com (Same site.)

Blog: http://www.QuietFuryBooks.com/blog

Message Board – for readers and writers: http://www.BestsellerBound.com

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/darciahelle

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/darcia.helle

 Buy Links:

 Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/Darcia-Helle/e/B002LTMF7O/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_8

 Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/DarciaHelle

 Also available on Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Sony’s Reader store, Diesel and Apple’s iBookstore. Signed copies and purchase links available on my website.

Interview with John Rakestraw of BlogTalkRadio and Unbridled Editor

I’m super excited to be interview the amazing John Rakestraw! Not only do he and his wife Toni run Unbridled Editor he also does a fantastic BlogTalkRadio show! Be sure to check it out!

First of all, can you tell us a little about yourself?

I’m John Rakestraw, My wonderful wife, Toni, and I, run an online editing company called Unbridled Editor, http://unbridlededitor.com/. Our goal is to help writers be the best that they can be. I have worn many hats in my day. Actor, hydro-ceramic engineer (dishwasher), computer sales, retail employee, office worker, food services, phone rep and all kinds of customer service. My day job now is being a school bus driver.

One of my biggest passions was, and still is, live theatre. To take a character that is written by a playwright and bring it to life on stage is one of the greatest creative things I have ever done. Being creative has helped me get through many of the tough times in my life. I have occasionally hidden from my problems in life by doing a show and escaping into that make believe world of the stage. How theatre has helped me in my life is the way that we have to reinvent ourselves from time to time. When you create a character for the show you are in, you have the framework the playwright has set forth; from that you build your unique outlook for this person. That is how I look at my “real” life, I have a framework to start from, my past, the things I’ve learned and the many people I had the great fortune to have worked with and who have enriched my life. These building blocks are your base, from there the sky is the limit. I think it’s a shame that we make 16 to 18 year olds decide what a 40 year old should be doing with their lives. We need to give ourselves the green light to grow and explore the possibilities that are open to us and have the strength and wisdom to know that the path is still wide open for us to delve into.

You have a blogtalkradio show- what’s it all about?

It’s about 30 to 45 minutes long… ;-} No, seriously! John Rakestraw, host of his own BlogTalkRadio.com show… The Platform! I bring you a 1/2 hour course in being a published writer by interviewing real authors. I show you their process in the craft of writing: how they get all those words on the page, their passion, how they got published and the magic of it all. I do the show live at 10:30 AM West Coast Time on Saturdays and Sundays. Interview archives for your listening pleasure are on our blog, Unbridled Editor.

How did the show come about? Why a radio show? Have you been in radio before?

The last Presidential election, in 2008, got me thinking. I’d been a political junkie for a long time and I hated that so many talking heads were telling each other what we think, how we look at the issues and I got tired of all of them talking for the rest of us. So, finally, in March of 2010, my wife told me about BlogTalkRadio. I thought, well here is my chance to tell the world my view on all the issues out there. My oldest daughter came up with the name, Shut Up and Think! I started doing my political talk show and started blogging about it. I thought I could start a dialogue between the different sides and pull us all together so that we could work on the real issues. By May of 2010, I found that the sides didn’t what to listen to each other, didn’t care to have dialogue at all. What I got was… Shut up and who gives a crap what you think! So, I stopped… What I did learn was that people were really hurting, angry and needed hope. Lost jobs, lost income and loss of homes. We needed someone to step forward with a plan. I thought what the hell, I will be this person! By the summer of 2010, the US of A had lost over 8 million jobs. I found a company that offered people the chance to make money just by changing stores. No, not Amway… It was called Melaleuca. I figured I could get 8 people to change stores; they could all get 8 people and so on and so on… My great plan was by the end of summer, 2010, I could have 8 million people working for themselves having an income and a healthier, wealthier and wiser life style. Well, it didn’t happen. Great company, great products, but people didn’t want to sign up. I turned my BlogTalkRadio show into a place where I helped people become independent, have their own income and we would control our destiny. I sucked at it. I would tell people too much, give them too much info and they never showed up. By November of 2010, I went back to my roots… acting! My wife, Toni, who, as luck would have it, is one fantastic editor and proofreader, started talking about starting a company to do all of that. I once again changed the BlogTalkRadio show. We would talk about editing, self-publishing and I would do dramatic readings of the classics. By December of 2010, I had to have an hernia surgery, which slowed down my output of shows. I did Sherlock Holmes, O’Henry, Twain, A Christmas Carol and a few shows about writing. By February 2011, I had no idea where to go with the show, I thought about talking about cloud computing. I did a few YouTube videos and some radio shows. Nothing was clicking…then my wonderful wife reminded me that I had promised to interview this writer. I thought, okay I’ll do this and get it out of the way. So, I got ahold of the writer to see if she was still willing. I read her book and looked at her blog. She wanted to know what I was going to ask, she wanted the questions beforehand. I came up with the some quick questions:

1.      Are you an outliner or a seat of your pants type writer?

2.      How did you get published/ What is it like working with a small publisher?

3.      Do you set a time to write or do you play it by ear?

4.      Do you write on a computer or do you use a pen and paper?

5.      Why do you write?

6.      What are you passionate about?

Finally, at the end of March, Toni made me do the interview. I kept thinking, WHY? But, since we said we would, I felt I should…

Now, I’m a performer. I hate to look and sound bad. I remember watching some of the Actor Studio interviews with James Lipton. I wanted the interview to be okay and make the author happy that we talked. I would do this just once, show my wife that I was a waste of time at this, and go back to just talking to the air.

I didn’t want the author to just pitch her book and run. Instead, I hoped that we could talk about the process of writing… the craft itself. Have a dialogue between us and maybe the listeners. Maybe I would finally get that dialogue thing going, just once.

That day was March 22^nd, 2011: “Your host John Rakestraw has the great pleasure of interviewing the author of Expectations, Liz Borino! Expectations, released by Lazy Day Publishing, is her debut ebook, depicting the struggle between what we desire for ourselves and our familial obligations.”

I started the show, not knowing how I was going to make it work. I read the story. It was good and I liked it. It was good writing, great characters and I cared about them. I gave Liz a good intro and we started to talk.

Now up to this point, I had only talked to one other person on my show. Nice guy, he had paid for the air time to promote his book. It was a long commercial for his product. He has a great message and people do need his product. But, it wasn’t a dialogue.

Liz Borino and I had a talk; we had a dialogue between us. I learned about how she writes, how she got published and I found out about her passion. I found the one element missing from my show… the dialogue!

I found my passion while asking someone else about theirs. Five minutes in and I was hooked. I found my calling. If I had it all to do over again, I would have done talk radio. So, in a way, my whole life has led to this moment. All the theatre and public speaking I’ve done has brought me to this show. The Platform; http://www.blogtalkradio.com/johnrakestraw.

I have haven’t worked on any radio station. I have been interview on a live radio show for a play that I was doing at the time.

Toni Rakestraw

How do you find authors to interview? Are there any special requirements?

My wife Toni is the one who has found 95% of all the writers, through her connections as an editor and blog tours, and then there is word of mouth from author to author. Twitter has been a great area to connect and meet other writers. Social media is a fantastic tool for starting the dialogue with the indie authors and traditional authors out there.

No, there are no special requirements. I will talk with anyone who has a passion about their craft, whether it’s writing, publishing, photography, acting, art, singing, song writing, playwrights, etc and etc. I would love to have a dialogue with as many artists as possible. At this moment we are booked for the next 3 months with interviews. If you are interested in being on our show, just go to the following link and pick an open date. We would be happy to pencil you in. http://unbridlededitor.com/radio-interview-schedule

To date, what has been your most memorable interview?

This is really hard… I have had the pleasure to not only talk to all these wonderful writers, I have also been blessed to be able to read their words, meet their characters and live in their worlds.

One of the many people who have allowed me into their “real” world is Sean Hayden. What makes him stand out is the fact that he writes some of his stories with son. They have enough of a relationship between them to create four books together. That is just beautiful.

Morgan Gallagher is another remarkable interview; as a family, we have had the pleasure to edit, format her eBook and print book and create her front and back cover art.

Then there is A. T. Russell, a fantastic man, who I had the pleasure of having as my second person to interview, plus I’ve had him on the show twice. He doesn’t have a book out in publication, yet! His first book should be out in early 2012. Yet, he is still the most popular interviewee.

I must apologize to all my interviewees… each and every one of you are remarkable, I wish I could talk about each and every one of you here. You have all brought such passion and wonder to my show. I call it a Master Class in Writing from the Masters themselves… the Writers.

What is next for the blogtalkradio show?

I’m really looking to make the show a place where you go to hear writers talk about the craft of writing.

I would love to put together round tables with a group of writers talking in depth about the wonders and issues of being published, marketing, putting all those words to the page, self-publishing and the thousand and one other topics that writers want to talk and know about.

I want to push the Master Class idea and work with writers, publishers and editors to make more in depth recordings. These wonderfully talented people have a lot to offer each other out there.

What else are you and your wife doing online these days?

All day long it’s nothing but Angry Birds and Farmville… kidding! ;-}

Actually, we are always working on new things and finding better ways to help writers out there. Our whole thrust in life is to help writers be the best that they can be! Which in turn makes us be the best we can be for you. We are constantly reading books and articles about the craft of writing so we can keep on top of the trends in the market. We offer full service editing, proofreading, book covers, and formatting for both ebooks and print. We are constantly upgrading our skills in the different formats out there so we can do our best for our authors.

For fun, we use the internet to supply us with our nightly entertainment, and we love using Netflix and Hulu. The kids keep us up to date on the latest cool YouTube videos and what’s going on in the video game world.

Tell us about the Unbridled Editor. Have you always been fascinated with writing?

Writing and publishing has been a major through line in our lives. Toni would always correct the street signs and ads we’d see along the road. She would even correct her English teacher’s handouts and hand them back to him!

Every writer needs an editor. An editor provides fresh eyes, experience with grammar, syntax and format, and encouragement when you need it most. The writer–editor relationship is symbiotic; the writer provides the text and the editor brings out the best in the writer.

Do you have a manuscript that needs polishing? We are happy to work on fiction or non-fiction manuscripts. We also edit websites, articles and documents. Our rates are reasonable and you have your choice of basic proofreading, copy editing and proofreading, or substantive editing that may lead into rewriting. If we find that your project needs more work than originally estimated, we will bring this up to see if you want to upgrade accordingly. Get ahold of us at http://unbridlededitor.com/.

Toni has a built-in passion for editing; she subconsciously edits everything from the time she wakes up until she goes to sleep. She has spent time honing her craft so she can follow your style sheet or apply Chicago or AP style to your project as you wish.

She has edited several publications over the years and has helped several writers polish their manuscripts. Toni is happy to help you as much as possible to make your work as good as it can be.

Our other staff members can meet your needs by cleaning up digital graphics or by formatting your book in the proper styles for the most popular e-readers on the market. Let us know what you need and we’ll do our best for you.

We have always had books in our lives, Toni and I would drive from theatre to theatre in the Seattle area, just to go get bread was a 45 minute trip. Because of this time going from place to place, we bought books for Toni to read out loud for us. We still do that to this day, we are more home bodies now, but Toni reads out loud to the whole family.

What do you hope to accomplish over the next year?

I hope to win a huge lottery and move to Great Britain! I just have to remember to buy the lottery ticket, which I never seem to do! ;-}

We have taken on a huge job being the PR wing for a gentleman we know, who is marketing his How to Fight Foreclosure and learn about the misrepresentation and fraud caused by the banks and Wall Street. This is a great opportunity for us. We are going to learn how to best market and build a platform. It will be huge amount of work, but well worth all the great effort.

We want writers out there to think of us as the main place to have your book edited, formatted and get cover art.

I also hope to be one of the first stops for authors to promote their books and to talk about the magic of writing and publishing.

Interview with Author Arthur Wooten

 

Today I’m pleased to share an interview with amazing writer Arthur Wooten! Check out his work!

Arthur, when did you first start writing?

My initial project was a television series created back in the mid-80s. (How old am I?) It was called A New Leash On Life – a sit-com about a New York City dog walker. Then I segued into writing plays and screenplays. And it wasn’t until 2005 that I wrote my first novel, On Picking Fruit. That was followed by it’s sequel Fruit Cocktail in 2007 and just recently, Birthday Pie.

Wait. I just lied. Recently, my mother found a children’s story that I had written and illustrated when I was maybe five-years-old. A story about ants called Skinny Malinky Long Legs and Umbrella Feet. Hmmm…maybe that will be my next project.

Can you tell us about Birthday Pie?

Birthday Pie is the story about Lex Martindale, a New York City writer who travels home to North Carolina to celebrate his birthday and say goodbye to his dying father. But Lex has a life-threatening health issue of his own and struggles with whether or not to share the recent news with his family. From all parts of the country, the eccentric family members convene and in less than 48 hours we travel through decades of their colorful and unpredictable lives. It’s a tragic story filled with hope and humor. A portrait of the all-American family, in all its glory and dysfunctional-ism.

Is Birthday Pie based upon real life or is it all imagination?

It’s fiction. Having said that, I have to admit, that situations and scenarios have been taken from real life and then patched together. But the characters, themselves, are fictional.

You’re a writer and you live in New York City, is Lex based upon you?

OK Jen, you caught me. It’s autobiofictional. And Lex is loosely based upon me. But I’m just as much the 85-year-old grandmother, Anastasia Battles, 10-year-old Miss Malaprop, Mattie Lee or even 65-year-old Trudy Lee, the exasperating matriarch of the family. I love these characters, warts and all, passionately.

Where did you come up with the title Birthday Pie?

Throughout the story, Trudy Lee is baking her son, Lex, birthday pies and the funny thing is that I never explain why it isn’t a cake. Personally, I HATE cake. I can’t swallow it. I love pie.

Do you write full-time?

I’m writing almost full-time now. But as you know, marketing and working the social networks gobbles up tons of minutes of every day, too. But I’ve been a full-time shiatsu practitioner for 27 years. (And how old did we figure out I am?) Shiatsu, for those who don’t know, is a Japanese form of bodywork. Like acupuncture without the needles and wonderfully problem solving. Doing shiatsu for me is like deep meditation. It’s a very complementary career with the writing. I write for a couple of hours, then I squeeze a few necks. Nice balance.

What is coming up next?

On Picking Fruit and Fruit Cocktail were with a publishing house called Alyson Books. The printings sold out and the rights reverted back to me. So I’m gloriously republishing them through Galaxias Productions, my own company. Paperbacks of both novels and their eBook editions have all just launched.

And On Picking Fruit and Fruit Cocktail are about…?

Curtis Jenkins, a middle-aged gay writer, searching for his soul mate. Think gay dates from hell with a lot of heart. And eager to help Curtis on this quest is his irreverent mother, incorrigible best friend and unethical shrink. It’s FICTIONAL! 

Switching gears a bit, favorite/least favorite food?

Love lobster. I could eat it morning, noon and night. And being a New Englander, I’ve been known to. Hate lima beans. Eating lima beans is like gnawing on wet wool.

Drink of choice?

My smart cocktails of choice are:

Wine – Pinot Grigio

Liquor – Maker’s Mark – chilled and served in a martini glass with a long stem cherry

 Author Bio

Arthur is the author of the critically acclaimed novels On Picking Fruit and Fruit Cocktail and the short story, A Stroke Of Luck.

Also a playwright, his works include the award winning Birthday Pie, which had its world premiere at the Waterfront Playhouse, Key West, FL. His one act plays, Lily and The Lunch, have been produced Off-Off Broadway.

For two years he has been the humorist for the London based magazine, reFRESH.

Arthur grew up in Andover, MA and now resides in New York City.

Stop by his website for more about Arthur and his work (and where to get it!)

Interview with Author Johanna Nield

Today I’m super excited to have author Johanna Nield back again! See what’s new and exciting with her!

Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
I’m Welsh, a long way over 21 but very young at heart, happily married. I have a wide and very diverse circle of friends both local and abroad, and a close but entertainingly dysfunctional family.

What do you do when you are not writing? Do you have a day job as well?
I work for a British children’s charity, as a Business Support Officer. It’s challenging and demanding, and often emotionally draining, but I love it. My hobbies include writing, reading, photography, web design, online social networking, and collecting ‘Doctor Who’ merchandise.

When did you first start writing and when did you finish your first book?
I’ve been writing for my own pleasure since the age of ten, when I won two ‘Creative Writing’ competitions in school. At that time, I wrote short stories and poems, and during my teens I also wrote what would today be recognised as fanfic.
I wrote my first novel in my late twenties, attempted another in my thirties whilst continuing to write short stories and poems, and rediscovered fanfic in my forties. For the last three years, I’ve concentrated almost exclusively on my current project, a fictional trilogy.

How did you choose the genre you write in?
I didn’t plan on writing romance, but I seem to have ended up here! I never set out to write a particular genre of story: the characters and their journey are far more important to me, particularly at the beginning.

Where do you get your ideas?
With this particular story, the twist of fate was inspired by real events, all but one of the locations are real places, and a lot of the background incidents are based on real life, but the crux of the story came from my imagination. I spent a lot of time researching certain aspects of the story, to ensure accuracy.

Do you ever experience writer’s block? Do you work with an outline, or just write?
I suppose I do, but I don’t acknowledge it as such: I simply see it as taking a break from writing, because I can usually find something else to do and it’s often while doing other things that my inspiration will return.
At the start of a project, I write whatever comes into my head. Once I have an idea of where it’s going, I will write an outline but it’s not set in stone and I don’t fret if the characters take me in a different direction.

Is there any particular author or book that influenced you in any way either growing up or as an adult?
I’ve been passionate about reading all my life, but I can’t say that any one book has influenced me in any way.

Can you tell us about your challenges in getting your first book published?
I’m not yet published in the traditional way, so the challenges keep coming!
Last year I won the monthly poll at Night Reading; that resulted in my being offered a publishing contract for ‘New Beginnings’which they have now published via Amazon.
In the meantime, I’m still pursuing publication via the traditional publishing houses, and looking for an agent. I began by researching agents and publishers online, and selected those that had worked with similar books and would accept online queries. I then bought The Writers Handbook and went through the same selection process before sending out written queries; I’m about half-way through both lists. I’ve revised my pitch several times, and I feel that it’s an ongoing learning process.
I’ve also self-published my book in digital format via Amazon Kindle, and in paperback via Lulu, and I’ve found both processes extremely simple.

If you had to go back and do it all over, is there any aspect of your novel or getting it published that you would change?
I’m old-fashioned and wish that I’d found an agent, and then a traditional publisher, before going down the self-publication route, but I’ll be very happy to go about it the other way around!

How do you market your work? What avenues have you found to work best for your genre?
I make the most of the popular social networking sites and have profiles on Twitter and Facebook, as well as my own website and blog, and writing sites such as Night Reading, Goodreads, etc

Have you written a book you love that you have not been able to get published?
My first novel, “Loved and Lost”, will always be dear to my heart, but I’m not sure that I’ll ever have the time to update and rewrite/edit it – or to type it out from the long-hand original – in order to present it to a publisher for consideration.

Can you tell us about your upcoming book?
‘New Beginnings’ began as a temporary title for part one of the trilogy, but it seems to have stuck!
The story is presented in blog form, from the point of view of Tasha, a young woman in her thirties who has a crush on her married boss. A twist of fate brings them together, but there’s no ‘happily ever after’ because of the circumstances.
Books two and three chart their relationship through a series of further life changes, and both are complete. Ideally, I’d love to publish the whole story in one volume but at over 270000 words, I recognise that that would be a very heavy book!
I’m working on three other projects at the moment. Two are linked to the trilogy – one is the same story from a different point of view, the other is a sequel – and the third is a totally new story, probably a short.

Is anything in your book based on real life experiences or purely all imagination?
The twist of fate was inspired by real events, all but one of the locations are real places, and a lot of the background incidents are based on real life, but the crux of the story came from my imagination. I spent a lot of time researching certain aspects of the story, to ensure accuracy.

What was your favorite chapter (or part) to write and why?
The middle of book one, because everything changed and it was interesting to take the characters on that journey.

How did you come up with the title?
It was suggested by a reader, in the early days while I was still editing it, although at that time it was only ever intended as a temporary working title. The trilogy now has three titles, which link to each other.

What project are you working on now? Will you have a new book coming out soon?
I’ve just finished editing and fine-tuning books two and three.

Are there certain characters you would like to go back to, or is there a theme or idea you’d love to work with?
Yes: the ideas for books three and four came from my reluctance to leave those characters behind. I really miss them when I’m not writing about them, and they don’t seem to want to get out of my head!

What has been the toughest criticism given to you as an author? What has been the best compliment?
I’ve been extremely fortunate in that I’ve only received lovely comments and compliments so far. The closest I’ve had to criticism was from someone who didn’t understand the blog format, but I didn’t take that as criticism per se.

Do you have any advice to give to aspiring writers?
Keep writing. Have faith in yourself and your story. Be prepared for disappointment and a very long wait. Listen to advice and constructive criticism. Don’t give up the day job!

Is there anything that you would like to say to your readers and fans?
Thank you for your encouragement and support – it is very much appreciated
FUN QUESTIONS!

Chocolate or Vanilla?
Chocolate

The light side or the dark side?
Light

If you were a superhero (or villain!) what would your power be? Would you wear a cape?
I’d want the ability to fix life’s problems for people. The cape would be optional.

Do you have deep dark secret? How about a shallow grey one?
I have a dark grey one that has haunted me for over 25 years and will never go away.

What does your main character think about you? Are you best buds or have you tortured them so much you’d run if you actually ever met?
I like to think that Tasha would see me as an older cousin, or aunt, but I think she’d be mortified if she realised how much I know about what goes on inside her head

What sort of coffee would you order? Simple coffee, complicated soy-non-fat-extra-espresso-half-caff-nightmare?
Black, no sugar, or cappuccino (no sugar, but with chocolate on top)

Is there any food you refuse to eat?
Offal

Drink of choice?
I drink a lot of hot water, but also like black coffee or very weak black tea

If you could live off of chocolate would you? What kind?
Yes – anything from the Cadbury range

What pets have graced your life? Which was your least favorite? What do you think the coolest pet to have would be?
As a child, I shared my secrets with two dogs, countless goldfish, rabbits and guinea pigs, a couple of mice, and a hamster. As an adult, I’ve shared my home with a dog, and now a cat. My least favourite were the goldfish: they were very aloof and not great conversationalists. My idea of a cool pet would be an axolotl which I hope to have one day

If you could visit any world ever written about, where would you go?
Gallifrey

Want to know more?

Short author bio http://johannanield.wordpress.com/about/

 Web links (website, blog etc)

http://www.johannanield.co.uk/

http://johannanield.wordpress.com/

http://www.facebook.com/pages/NEW-BEGINNINGS/118185924886870

http://twitter.com/JohannaNield

http://about.me/johannanield

Buy links (where book(s) are available for purchase)

http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/Gail_M

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003RITJJU

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B003RITJJU

http://www.amazon.de/New-Beginnings-ebook/dp/B003RITJJU

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/62875