Awesome Author Interviews

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
When I’m not writing swashbuckling historical romances and playing medieval matchmaker, I’m a cartoon voice, the wife of a rock star, and the mother of two young adults. I’ve been a ballerina, a typographer, a film composer, a piano player, a singer in an all-girl rock band, and a voice in those violent video games you won’t let your kids play. I’ve published 14 books, and I do my best writing on cruise ships, in Scottish castles, on my husband’s tour bus, and at home in my sunny southern California garden. I love transporting readers to a place where the bold heroes have endearing flaws, the women are stronger than they look, the land is lush and untamed, and chivalry is far from dead!

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My newest release is MacADAM’S LASS, the second book of The Scottish Lasses series.

I sometimes get bored with reading about lords and ladies, and I decided I’d like to explore the world of the commoners who lived in the time of Mary Queen of Scots, people who may have brushed elbows with the queen, but who were regular salt-of-the-earth folks.

I found the perfect location for my Scottish Lasses series when I stayed at Roslin Castle with my best friend, author Lauren Royal. It wasn’t the magnificent castle or the famous chapel that inspired me as much as the beautiful, lush forest and delicate glens, the rugged coastline and the old cobbled streets of the medieval towns. Those are the landscapes that form the backdrop for my series.

In book one, MacFARLAND’S LASS, I wrote about a jeweler in sanctuary for a crime she didn’t commit and the huntsman who is forced to stand guard over her.

In MacADAM’S LASS, I decided to tell the story of Josselin Ancrum, the fictional daughter of a real-life legend, The Maid of Ancrum Moor, a brave lass who was cut down on a Scottish battlefield. A war orphan raised by strangers, Jossy vows to avenge her mother and enlists as a spy in the queen’s network. She meets her match in Drew MacAdam, who is not the carefree Highland golfer he pretends to be, but a deadly swordsman. Despite mistaken identities, misplaced loyalties, and warring queens, the two are drawn together romantically…until they discover the chilling secret that binds them and threatens to destroy their star-crossed love.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I have a tradition of buying a new coffee mug for each book I write. The cup has to have a design that somehow reflects the book and that calls out to me. I often write in trilogies, and so sometimes I’ll buy three similar mugs at once. I post photos of them at my website.

As far as actual writing, the only unusual habit I have is where I do my best work, which is on a cruise ship. It sounds odd, but there’s a good reason–there are no distractions. There’s no internet. There are no meals to prepare, no errands to run, no housework to do, no phone calls to answer. I go on cruises with my author friend, Lauren Royal, and we keep each other on task, rewarding ourselves with cocktails and a comedy show at the end of each day!

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I grew up on Howard Pyle, who sparked my love of all things medieval, William Shakespeare, who inspired my passionate nature, and Ray Bradbury, who taught me the joy of language. But my romantic heart was opened by Kathleen Woodiwiss when I was a teen, and after her, I fell in love with the books of Jude Deveraux, Julie Garwood, Deana James, and Penelope Williamson. My current favorite writer, however, is screenwriter Joss Whedon, whom I admire for his ability to always surprise.

What are you working on now?
I’m currently in the middle of a trilogy that’s a big departure for me–a series set in 19th century California. NATIVE GOLD was written as a love letter to my home town of Paradise, and it features a Native American hero and a white heroine during the Gold Rush. The sequel, NATIVE WOLF, is set 25 years later and features their half-breed son. I’ve spent a lot of time this year visiting the places I grew up, researching the history, and that’s half the fun of writing this series!

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
All of my promotion is done online, whether it’s Facebook posts, Tweets, newsletter mailings, giveaways, or email blast services like Awesomegang. One of my most effective tools is the author collective I belong to, the Jewels of Historical Romance. There are 12 of us, and we promote each other to our individual mailing lists and social network contacts, which helps spread the word.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
If you feel compelled to write, write. Don’t let anything stop you. There’s nothing more inhibiting to the creative flow than having a naysayer or a critic peering over your shoulder.

However…just because there’s no publishing gatekeeper is not a reason to rush to publish. Once you’ve finished a book, be sure your work is your very best, that you’ve done your editing homework, that you’ve let your writing ripen and mature. You don’t want to shove the bride down the aisle before she’s fully dressed, combed, and looking stunning!

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
I love my dad’s motto, which his mom passed down to him: “Do it while you still can.”

What are you reading now?
I’m reading two very different books! One is A MOMENT IN TIME, a time-travel by Deb Stover set in the 1800s. The other is THE EMPEROR OF ALL MALADIES, a non-fiction biography of cancer. When the cancer book gets too heavy, I take a break with Deb’s lighthearted romance!

What’s next for you as a writer?
I have so many projects lined up! Besides working on NATIVE WOLF and its sequel, NATIVE HAWK, I’m planning a third book in the Scottish Lasses series, MacKENZIE’S LASS, and a third book in my Medieval Outlaw trilogy, HEART’S THIEF. Eventually, I’ll write a second trilogy for my Warrior Maids of Rivenloch series, the Warrior Daughters of Rivenloch. I have a multi-author boxed set coming out in September called ROMANCE WITH A PURR-POSE to benefit an animal rescue, Tails of Joy. And I’m putting together a book of children’s poetry with illustrations by my daughter called THE DIRTY WORD. I’m going to be busy!

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
HOW TO GET OFF A DESERT ISLAND. Okay, just kidding. I suppose I’d like to have something really long that I could enjoy over and over again, so I’d go with THE COMPLETE WORKS OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, THE LORD OF THE RINGS, and THE STORIES OF RAY BRADBURY. For a romance fix, I’d also love to have Penelope Williamson’s KEEPER OF THE DREAM.

Author Websites and Profiles
Glynnis Campbell Website
Glynnis Campbell Amazon Profile
Glynnis Campbell Author Profile on Smashwords

Glynnis Campbell’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account
Pinterest Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am 19 years old and this is my debut novella. I am currently studying Film & TV production at York St. John University and I have just finished my first year.
I have been working on this book for eleven months now and I am finally ready to share the story.
I am currently working on the screenplay for this story. As well as being a novelist I hope to be a film director, screenwriter and photographer.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
This is my first book and the following picture inspired the story. I came across it as I was studying for my Russian history A-Level exams last year.
https://iconicphotos.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/4744.jpg?w=700

It is the third picture on the page.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Sometimes when I get an idea, I can sit down and right the rough first draft plot line in under an hour, but never the ending. When it comes to writing the ending of the book, I try to leave it blank unless I have a clear idea at the start, because I like to discover the ending as I am writing and as the story develops.

I also like to listen to movie soundtracks that fit the mood of the story and I try to write a chapter everyday.

I also like writing at night.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
John Steinbeck, Michael Morpurgo [my favourite childhood author], Ian McEwan, Suzanne Collins, J.K Rowling and all the classic authors – Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, the Bronte sisters etc.

– Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck is my favourite book.

What are you working on now?
I have finished my second novel ‘The Broken Poppy’ which is slightly longer than this book and it will be released on August 4th 2014. It is another historical fiction novel set right in the heart of WWI and it follows the live of the fictional character Private Thomas Millward. I chose the 4th August as its release date as it will mark the 100 years since Britain went to war. The story was also partly based on my great-great uncle Caleb and his brother Ted. Sadly Caleb died in the war, aged 21 but Ted survived.

I am also currently writing the first book in a YA fantasy series. There will be four books in the series and I am halfway through the first one. I hope to release the first one either in late December this year or early next year.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I am still discovering this, as it is my first novel, but I do think social media is crucial. I am also in the process of contacting a few local newspapers in order to promote the book.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
As a new author myself I would just say finish the book and keep rewriting until you are completely happy with it. Don’t give up.

– I did try the traditional route of sending query letters to agents, but after 20 rejections I became slightly annoyed more than anything, because I know my story is good and other people have told me that. So I decided to share my story through Amazon kindle and the ebook.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Writing a book is like climbing a mountain, but just keep the end goal in sight – you want to reach the summit.

What are you reading now?
At the minute I am reading Olivia Twist by Charles Dickens and I hope to read the Book Thief next.

What’s next for you as a writer?
To keep promoting myself and my books. Write more and release more novels, hopefully gaining some attention.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Of Mice and Men, The Secret Garden, Pride & Prejudice and The Great Gatsby.

Alice Catherine Carter’s Social Media Links
Twitter Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
To quote visionary writer John Waters, “I’m big, blonde, and beautiful!” Seriously – I am blonde, and I do heft more weight than the average chick, especially more than the average Los Angeles chick. And I like the way I look when I am just being me – comfy clothes, cozy socks, messy hair, no make-up. I want all women everywhere to love themselves and the way they look, no matter what TV, or magazines, or family and friends try to tell us. I want us all to feel beautiful and confident about exactly who we are – then we can do amazing things…like publish a debut novel, which is what I have just done. Though I will admit, hitting the New York Times Bestsellers List with my first short story was an added confidence booster – that I was confident enough to achieve in the first place. See? It is an amazing, fulfilling cycle, this liking yourself stuff.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My book is the romantic comedy She Likes It Tough. It follows the adventures of an urban scaredy-cat who decides that diving into feats of derring-do with an adrenaline junkie is the only way she is ever going to get a backbone. What inspired this topsy-turvy tale? Well, they say write what you know, and I am afraid of everything! (Except public speaking, oddly enough.) So, I wrote a book of pure fantasy fulfillment on my part: a shrinking violet takes the bull by the horns and COMMITS to conquering her fears. But my hero Lisa, like all of us, is not perfect, so she doesn’t exactly soar through with flying colors. She stumbles, she trips, she makes mistakes – something else I am very familiar with! Lisa is trying to shake up her old life completely, so I wrote a book from the fun and liberating perspective a main character who does not feel “hemmed in” by rules of “proper” behavior – and that’s what generates most of the book’s comedy.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Not really, but then, I’m a writer, so many of my working habits look strange to a lot of people. Writing is such hard, never-ending work, but I think many people who aren’t writers don’t see writing as work because of the working habits of writers – I’ll admit it – a lot of us look weird as we write! For instance, we often write in our pajamas, sometimes not having showered for days because we are under deadline, working through maniacal inspiration, or feeling frustrated and obsessive as nothing seems to be working. We’ll jot things on pieces of mail and the backs of receipts or wherever we can when an idea hits us. We will find it difficult to focus on the most mundane tasks until we can work out the ending to chapter 7. We’ll call someone just to say hi at 4 am, having no idea of the time or even of the day, depending how the writing has been going. So, maybe saying “strange writing habits” is a bit like saying “wet rain.”

What authors, or books have influenced you?
A few years ago, I struggled to write in my own voice. Could I be this wacky, this over the edge, this sincere? Could I mix it all together successfully and would anyone like it? I was sharing my concerns with my good friend Bruce and knowing something of my angst and what I liked to read, he said, “You should check out my brother’s books.” I started reading Almost Like Being In Love by Steve Kluger that day. And…Hallelujah! I could hear the angels singing! I found an amazing author who writes novels filled with love and zany antics and improbable but believable situations. He delivers a hell of a satisfying, toe-curling, tummy-tingling, feel-good kind of read that makes you laugh out loud really hard, tear up, cringe, cheer the characters on, and pull out your hair as you yell, “Noooooo! He’s the one for you, you idiot!!!” His novel My Most Excellent Year is hands-down one of the best books I have ever read. Steve Kluger is my favorite and most inspirational author because every one of his books entertains me and touches my soul. And because when I was a fledgling writer, reading his work showed me beyond a reasonable or incredibly irrational doubt that writing to the beat of my own drummer, no matter how strange the rhythm, is the best thing I could ever do.

What are you working on now?
I am currently writing my next chick lit novel Queen of the Universe due out December 2014. When a control-freak TV writer gets the chance to run her own show and has to hire her handyman as her leading man to avoid getting cancelled, she discovers that real live people aren’t as easy to manipulate as the characters she creates. In this book, the hero Lola Scott has a trajectory opposite to Lisa Flyte’s from She Likes It Tough. Whereas Lisa has to find out who she is and learn to feel good in her own skin, Lola has to learn to loosen up and to deviate from her strict definition of who she is and what she thinks she wants.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
So far…Awesome Gang Newsletter! No joke – you guys are the bomb. Like so many indie authors out there, every day is a struggle to promote my work so that readers who might like it simply know it exists. My 100+ reader and editorial reviews have been overwhelmingly positive, so I know that readers who like romantic comedy, a fast-paced read, a satisfying ending, something a little off the wall, might well be interested in my work – the trick is finding the readers. And Awesome Gang is…well, awesome at that. Actually, now that I think about it, my book generated the most sales in the month after its five free days on KDP Select. But let’s see if the Awesome Gang can help me beat that record!

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Watch the movie Julie & Julia. Before I published, my friend Len sent me the movie Julie & Julia and he told me that as a writer, I HAD to see it. What an inspiration! This movie tells the story of two women with writing aspirations who DON’T GIVE UP. After DECADES of effort, Julia Child finally published the book that would become legendary, Mastering the Art of French Cooking. And Julie Powell – well, she used to lead a life similar to mine- she had all these hopes and dreams about writing – and then she finally decided to do something about it! She stuck to her goals, didn’t quit, and eventually wrote the phenomenally successful Julie & Julia. These two women show us all what we can accomplish if we stick to our guns.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
I’m not even a USC fan, but living in L.A., I see this written on billboards all the time, and it fills me with such joy, hope, and terror – “No matter what, fight on.”

Now I am going to offer some advice of my own if I may: Always credit the writer. Not just the actor who said the line, or the movie or song the line is from – but the writer. Always credit the writer.

What are you reading now?
After Wimbledon by Jennifer Gilby Roberts. My book She Likes It Tough has just been selected to be in an Amazon KDP box set of summer reading with After Wimbledon by Jennifer Gilby Roberts and Mr. Right and Other Mongrels by Monique McDonell. As soon as I found out, I started reading After Wimbledon. I am loving it – the writer’s quirky voice, the way the story trips along without ever letting up – I am thrilled to be in a box set with it!

What’s next for you as a writer?
More writing, more promoting, more readers, more books. More more more of what I love love love.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
First of all, who is planning to strand me and giving me a heads up? What a terrible super villain! Such a miscreant would never make it into the Evil League of Evil. So I will take advantage of this serious lack of knavery and pack the following books:

The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare
Hits on all points. Everything pays off. Speare lets the story unfold, telling the reader nothing, but showing the reader everything. When I put this book down, the story keeps unspooling in my head as my imagination surges forth with the lives and stories of these vividly real characters – I don’t want to let them go.

Touch Not the Cat by Mary Stewart
Hands down, my favorite romance. Who the unexpected hero turns out to be, how he reveals himself and his love, and how the story progresses from there are so utterly delightful and spine-tingling that I need to indulge in this book every few years.

East of Eden by John Steinbeck
This is an excerpt from John Steinbeck’s dedication to Pat at the beginning of East of Eden: “Well, here’s your box. Nearly everything I have is in it, and it is not full. Pain and excitement are in it, and feeling good or bad and evil thoughts and good thoughts. And still the box is not full.” I think this means we are all infinite in our capacity for good and bad, sorrow and joy. And when I read East of Eden, I feel that infinity, all those unanswerable questions. And Steinbeck also makes me feel that all that uncertainty is okay.

Why Didn’t They Ask Evans?(The Boomerang Clue, American Title) by Agatha Christie
It’s British mystery at its best, but what really makes me pick this one up again and again is the burgeoning relationship between Lady Frankie and Bobby. The world puts them on opposite sides of the tracks, but their pluck and incandescent affection assures that they’ll do their bloody best to keep one another alive.

Thanks, Awesome Gang! This interview has been the bees knees!

Author Websites and Profiles
GVR Corcillo Website
GVR Corcillo Amazon Profile
GVR Corcillo Author Profile on Smashwords

GVR Corcillo’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I live in Washington State, I’m 20 years old and currently I have one Self published book out with two more in the series to follow. I am a student, working on my AA for psychology and when I’m not writing, I like to sing and watch tv.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is titled Live by the Sun, Love by the Moon. I gained inspiration from a quote I use to see a lot. I never knew what it meant, so I wanted to put some meaning into it. I used it and translated it to what I thought it meant.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Not really. I do like to write at night though. I think its because of the quite and my mind likes to race with ideas when it’s time for bed.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I love shakespeare. His writing influence me a lot. I love the tragedy and the comedy behind his work. also poety in general influences me because of the emotions that they hold in such a small amount of writing.

What are you working on now?
Right now I am working on the second book of my trilogy. Titled Counting Stars. It contiues the story from Live by the Sun, Love by the Moon.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I have used a lot of different types of social media and other website to promote my book. I just try to find the best places that I think my target audience are.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
My advice would be, Never give up. It may seem hard or ever impossiable and it might seem like you can’t make it, but if you push through hard enough, you can.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
One of my aunts told me, “You are capable of more. More than you think, more than anyone thinks, so never give up.”

What are you reading now?
I am trying to get though serveal books. Right now it’s The fault in our stars.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Next for me is to just keep growing and learning about my craft and branching out to wider an audience.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Hard question. maybe the lord of the ring collection. Including the hobbit. I have only read the hobbit, but I love the movies so much, and I think they would be able to get me through the loneliness.

Author Websites and Profiles
J.T Jackson Website
J.T Jackson Amazon Profile
J.T Jackson Author Profile on Smashwords

J.T Jackson’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account
Pinterest Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Now, what can I tell you about myself? Well, I live in Bulgaria with my husband and son. I’m from the UK. And the more I live abroad, the more English I feel! But living in this part of the world has its advantages. For I love trees – and there are some wonderful trees here. I also love books, medieval manuscripts, and researching my family history – and I can read and research everything I need online. Isn’t that wonderful? I also love languages, words and their origins… and reading. And now I’ve finished my first book.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My novel is called The Mazer. A mazer is a medieval ceremonial cup made of wood and decorated with precious metal and stone. But this wasn’t the original inspiration behind the book. No – it was just one word which caught my attention one day as I was browsing an online version of an old English herbal – one of those medieval manuscripts showing the classification of plants.

The word that made me sit up was a herb called southernwood. And being somewhat of a tree-lover, I began to imagine a place with the same name – Southernwood. There would be Northernwood, too, of course. And Easternwood – and Westernwood! And so my island was born, and other woods and fields and rivers appeared in my mind and I drew my map, and imagined who lived there and what problems faced my islanders. What was the conflict? What would be my story?

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
One writing habit I have found to be of tremendous use is listening to music. (I am sure that this is not an unusual writing habit, but if you want to try your hand at writing a huge but difficult scene, I think this will help you.) Classical music is best. Or movie soundtracks – those rousing, orchestral monsters that make you shudder in your slippers as you’re bashing out words on your keyboard and crying into your cup of tea as you shake your head over the terrible decision your character has just made.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I have read many books by many authors but I am not sure how much they have influenced me. Oscar Wilde’s short stories spring to mind – his tale of The Selfish Giant is one that I imagine very vividly. Edgar Allan Poe’s A Descent Into the Maelstrom was terrifying. I loved it! The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett is a simple tale in many ways, yet wonderous, too. Narnia, Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings… what wonderful stories, what fabulous settings. These authors open a door to other worlds, worlds I can visit again and again through the written word.

What are you working on now?
I am writing my next book. It will continue the story of the island of Southernwood. The Mazer is not currently classed as a “series.” This is because there is no second book. (Or third, although I believe there will be at least three books about the Island of Southernwood.) But when my second book is written, I shall declare The Mazer to be the first of a series 🙂

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I am new to book promotion. I am a fairly quiet person, not at all used to blowing my own trumpet. I have found, however, that being myself is the best method when “marketing” my book. I cannot say, “Here, read this! What an amazing novel!” But I can say, “Here is my book. I am so happy about it. I love this story. Would you like to find out about it? Find out about my ideas, the places that inspired me, the funny things that happened as I wrote, the trees I met, the skies I saw, the sunsets that made me understand more about my world and what happened there?”

Do you have any advice for new authors?
I do have advice for new authors. And that is: do not worry about following anyone’s advice. Because you will probably try it, give up on it, do your own thing, then realize that you should have followed their advice in the first place. But – experience is golden. Do your own thing. Write *your* story. Don’t follow a formula. Give a part of yourself to the world – in words. You’ll be glad you did.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
“Write the best and most original book you can.”

What are you reading now?
I am reading three books at the moment.

I have just acquired Collins Tree Guide – a field guide to the trees of Britain and Europe. It is amazing. The Hungarian Oak. The Hornbeams and Hophornbeams. And the Paper-bark Birch.

My next book is called Crochet, Tatting, Teneriffe Lace…. etc… edited by Helen Crosier and published in 1953. Because I am a sucker for crochet and braidwork. As well as vintage books.

And on my Kindle (at last!) I am about to start reading Resurrection by Arwen Elys Dayton.

What’s next for you as a writer?
What’s next? Planning my next book. I have scenes in my mind. I know what happens. It’s just a question of something called Hard Graft. Ouch!

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
I would bring one of my tree reference books.

I’d bring a Bible.

And probably Lord of the Rings.

Oh – and my Chambers English Dictionary. And Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. And Roget’s Thesaurus.

I never was very good with numbers 😉

Author Websites and Profiles
C.K. Nolan Website
C.K. Nolan Amazon Profile

C.K. Nolan’s Social Media Links
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am a long-time book editor. I got my first job in publishing in 1980 after grad school, and worked for three major NYC publishers for over two decades. Then I started my own business. Editing is still my day job, and I love it!

Here is my official bio:

Leslie Wells left her small Southern town in 1979 for graduate school in Manhattan, after which she got her first job in book publishing. She has edited forty-eight New York Times bestsellers in her over thirty-year career, including thirteen number one New York Times bestsellers. Leslie has worked with numerous internationally known authors, musicians, actors, actresses, television and radio personalities, athletes, and coaches. She lives on Long Island, New York.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
I began writing Come Dancing in 2009, on the thirtieth anniversary of my arrival in New York City. I wanted to describe what it was like in the years 1979-1981, when Manhattan was still rough along the edges. When SoHo was still the domain of artists and galleries, and the occasional local bar or cafe. And when nightclubs like the Palladium, the Roxy, Danceteria, and the Mudd Club attracted a huge mix of people from many different strata of society.

Back then, you could go out dancing and run into just about anyone: actors, politicians, rock musicians. Celebrities weren’t surrounded by bodyguards; the assumption was that if you were allowed into a club, you were cool. No one was going to harass anybody; after all, this was downtown. And there were no cell phones back then. People didn’t walk around with a camera in their pockets 24/7—so if you were famous, you didn’t have to worry about being photographed every time you turned around. That made for a much more open atmosphere, where regular people rubbed shoulders with the glitterati as everyone cut loose on the dance floor.

I also wanted to write about book publishing before the advent of e-readers and computers, when we were all lugging home 400-page manuscripts every night. As with the music biz, the changes have been seismic. Unfortunately the salaries are pretty much the same, especially for assistants (when you account for inflation). I really did find those lavender shoes (that I write about in the novel) on the street, and I wore them until they fell apart.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I am a bit of an insomniac and a very early riser, so often I’m writing from 3 am to 7 am. Then I get my kids to school and start my day job, which is editing other people’s books!

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I love Lauren Weisberger’s The Devil Wears Prada and Jennifer Weiner’s Good In Bed, as well as Helen Fielding’s Bridget Jones’s Diary, Allison Pearson’s I Don’t Know How She Does It, and Alice Clayton’s Wallbanger. I also adore Nick Hornby’s High Fidelity, Jay McInerney’s Bright Lights, Big City, and Tom Wolfe’s Bonfire of the Vanities. I really like fiction with a sense of humor! But I would never suggest that I’m as good a writer as these authors — I just admire their work.

What are you working on now?
Right now I’m starting to write the sequel to Come Dancing.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I am such a novice at this that I don’t know the answer to this question yet. I do have a website, www.lesliewellsbooks.com, which has received some very nice comments. I put some bonus scenes on my site; I thought they would be interesting to people who read the novel.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
When revising your work, it helps to read your manuscript out loud; you’ll hear things that you missed when reading silently (word repetitions, for instance). And do ask a few beta readers for their input once you have made all of the edits that you can do on your own. Finally, always have someone copyedit your work, because you don’t want it to have typos or punctuation mistakes.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
“Don’t be afraid to ask.” With my Southern background, I was brought up to be very polite and not to ask for anything outright. But when I got to New York City, one of my friends told me that if I never asked for anything (a raise, a job, a recommendation), then I would never get it. “The worst thing they can say is no,” my friend told me. And I’ve found that, particularly if you ask nicely and respectfully, often people are happy to help.

What are you reading now?
Here a few books that I have read recently, and really liked:

The One Plus One by Jojo Moyes (engaging and funny story about the nature of family)

I’m a Stranger Here by Bill Bryson (the most hilarious nonfiction writer on earth)

Let’s Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson (so funny about her shockingly awful childhood)

The Flamethrowers by Rachel Kushner (very intense but beautifully written, great on NYC in the 70s)

I Was Told There’d By Cake by Sloane Crosley (funny material about present day life in NYC)

I just finished A Constellation of Vital Phenomena by Anthony Marra. I had never read a novel set in Chechnya; it was fascinating and also horrifying.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I am working on the sequel to Come Dancing.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Remembrance of Things Past by Marcel Proust (this is cheating because it has five volumes)

Ulysses by James Joyce

The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner

Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf

Author Websites and Profiles
Leslie Wells Website
Leslie Wells Amazon Profile

Leslie Wells’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
My name is A. L. Hearn and I live in the Atlanta, GA area. I am a self-publisher who recently launched her own self-publishing company called Dreamscribe Publications. I recently self-published my very first book which is a book of poetry. Following my dreams as both a writer and a therapist, I decided to merge both worlds into a body of work that blends personal growth, insight, and reflection which is what I would like my publishing company to be known for. I am originally from Jackson, Mississippi and I began writing poetry for my own enjoyment at a very early age and also began writing short stories and kept many journals prior to sharing my talent with those around me. In 2004 I began working and writing as a freelancer for various publications within my hometown of Jackson, MS. such as Jackson Free Press Alternative Newsweekly and the Metro Business Chronicle. After 4 years of being a freelance writer, although much more knowledgeable from my experience in the area of journalism, I decided that my passion aligned more with creative literary works.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The name of my first and latest book is “Becoming Me: Reflection and Insight Through Poetry and Prose”. It is a book of poetry consisting of 40 poems. I guess you could simply say that life inspired this book. My intent was to evoke a sense of vulnerability by expressing my own personal experiences with the hope that, through it, readers would connect with each piece as they also reflect on their own subjective experiences. I wanted to take my personal experiences and turn them into artistic literary expressions that could be felt intensely through the emotions.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Late at night, in my time of solitude after I’ve done a healthy amount of procrastinating of course, then I write. However, the “writing” usually consists of gathering the small scraps of paper lying atop my dresser drawers and deep down in my purses and my bags that I’ve collected with notes that I’ve jotted down usually during very inopportune times during the day. Usually thoughts and ideas for poems and stories come to me while I’m driving or in the shower and so I must inconveniently pull over or stop everything I’m doing at that moment to catch the thought in my mind before it slips away.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
There are many great authors that have influenced me such as Toni Morrison, Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, Maya Angelou, Anne Spencer, Gwendolyn Bennett, and even V. C. Andrews.

What are you working on now?
Right now I am working on a novel which is a fantasy. The story has a feminist theme. It is about the inner power, strength, and pain of a woman. It really speaks to the inner part of us as women who often bare so much on our shoulders in this society.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I promote my books on all three of my websites which includes my publishing website, http://www.dreamscribepublications.weebly.com, my personal website which is, http://www.alhearn.weebly.com, and lastly the website for my blog which is called The Enigmatic Perspective at http://www.enigmaticperspective.weebly.com.

I also promote my books on Goodreads which is a great source for authors! I can be found on Goodreads simply under my name A. L. Hearn.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
My advice to new authors is to write what is on the inside of you, even if it’s only bits and pieces of a story or a poem which at first might look like incomplete thoughts. At the very least, if you can get your thoughts down on paper, even if they are incomplete you will begin to capture the magic of your own story. You can organize, construct, and edit it later.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
The best advice I’ve ever heard is that the best way to counteract writer’s block is to keep writing. I find that to be true and it does in fact work to get my wheels spinning and my creative juices flowing.

What are you reading now?
Right now I am reading Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.

What’s next for you as a writer?
For me, the next thing is to finish my novel and to make it ready for release in the summer of 2015 and to continue studying towards my degree in Marriage and Family Therapy.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
I would take the following:

1.) Great Speeches by African Americans: Frederick Douglass by James Daley

2.) The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis

3.) I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

4.) The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes by Langston Hughes

Author Websites and Profiles
A. L. Hearn Website
A. L. Hearn Amazon Profile

A. L. Hearn’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Twitter Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I received a B.S. in psychology from Georgetown University in 1972 and a B.A. in 1980 from the now-defunct Oregon College of Art. I have lived in Alaska with my wife Alexis since 1973. We have two adult children and two amazing grandchildren. And of course there is my trusty assistant Watson, a cranky 18 year old cat who sits on my arm while I work at the computer. I have been a graphic designer and artist for almost 35 years.

I have written two books – The Secret Voice of Bartholomew Rabbit which I wrote and illustrated, and The Eleventh Ring, which is Book I of the Bartholomew the Adventurer series.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The Bartholomew the Adventurer series began with a short picture book I wrote and illustrated called The Secret Voice of Bartholomew Rabbit, about a rabbit who is searching for a mysterious something that is missing, but he can’t identify it or describe it. I have spent most of my life trying to understand the true nature of our existence. I have read extensively on metaphysics and physics, many of the world’s religions, and have practiced meditation for many years. I have also experienced many paranormal events, which I believe to be the result of quantum physics we currently do not understand. I have tried to integrate many of these concepts into the Bartholomew books. There are great liberties taken with the amounts of energy necessary for certain events to occur, so please keep in mind these are fantasy adventure books, not scientific journals. I am currently working on book two in the series, tentatively titled The Seventh Door.

The Eleventh Ring is full-length fantasy adventure novel chronicling Bartholomew Rabbit’s transformation from a sedate and naive country rabbit to Bartholomew the Adventurer, the most powerful shaper on the planet Earth. Set in the far distant future long after humans have vanished, this is a new world where rabbits and rodents have evolved to become the highest form of intelligence. If you like heroes, evil kings with villainous schemes, magic, science, metaphysics, ancient robots, infernal machines, dismal swamps, mystical islands, and true love – then this is the book for you.

Here’s the very short first chapter…

Chapter 1 – The Visitor

Bartholomew Rabbit was lost in the world of dreams. His room was all shadows, save for the light of a clouded moon filtering in through the faded curtains.

There was a blink of light at the foot of his bed, then rippling air, then a figure wearing a dark green cloak, a flowing hood concealing its features. The figure held motionless, staring silently at the slumbering rabbit.

A pale blue beam of light shot out from its paw, creating a soft glow around Bartholomew’s head.

“He speaks with her in his dreams but forgets their words.”

The visitor’s gaze moved about the room.

“There are no photographs of her to be seen.”

The cloaked figure stood for long moments in the echoing stillness of the room. A pink cloud emerged from beneath its hood and drifted across the bed. It gently enveloped Bartholomew and was drawn into him.

Bartholomew turned restlessly in his sleep, a frown appearing on his face.

“You must find it. It is yours and you must find it.”

A blink of light and the visitor was gone.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Nothing unusual, other than having a cranky old cat lying on my right arm while I write. Thank goodness I’m left handed! Writing is similar to painting (fine art) or wood carving, etc. You rough out the basic shape, or storyline, in the first draft, then edit, edit, edit, and edit. When you’re done with that, then it’s time to edit. Ha!

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I have always loved fantasy adventure books, beginning with H. Rider Haggard when I was a kid and then H.G Wells, Jules Verne, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Heinlein, Asimov, etc. Also metaphysical books. Some the first I read were Jonathan Livingston Seagull and Siddhartha. I have read hundreds and hundreds of books on metaphysics, quantum physics, life after death, world religions, etc. I have tried to incorporate many of these concepts in the Bartholomew series — in a fun fantasy adventure sort of way. Many of the books I have read can be very dry and difficult reading, but the concepts contained in them are extraordinarily exciting. I see the Bartholomew books as a way to gently introduce these concepts to people.

What are you working on now?
I am currently working on book 2 of the Bartholomew the Adventurer series, tentatively titled The Seventh Door

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I’m still learning about that, but I believe free book promotions are a great idea to get your book out there.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Don’t give up, don’t lose hope. Write about things you love and things that are meaningful to you. Write because you love it. We all have a secret city inside us that only we can see. Write about that.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Show, don’t tell.

Never use the word ‘suddenly’!!!!!!!!! Or more than one exclamation mark.

Edit your book from start to finish at least 8 times.

What are you reading now?
Too busy writing! But I love books that have magic and metaphysics and adventure in them.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I want to continue expanding the worlds of Bartholomew the Adventurer. It’s an amazing world and keeps growing.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Joseph Campbell Hero’s Journey

Arthur Conan Doyle Complete Sherlock Holmes (as an aside, my cat’s name is Watson and his vet is Dr. Holmes!)

Richard Bach Jonathan Livingston Seagull

Author Websites and Profiles
Tom Hoffman Amazon Profile

Tom Hoffman’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m a fourth generation South African, raised in Zambia before emigrating to America. My memoir Loveyoubye: Holding Fast, Letting Go, and Then There’s The Dog, published April 2014 is my third book. The other two are Young Adult novels: Monkey’s Wedding and Mine Dances,which take place in Zimbabwe and Zambia. I’ve received many writing awards and my short stories have been published in Writer’s Digest and Interstice, among others. I live in Laguna Beach, California where I hike the hills and canyons with my Staffordshire Bull Terriers, Fergie and Jake.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Loveyoubye: Holding Fast, Letting Go, And Then There’s The Dog.

I started writing Loveyoubye when my husband of twenty-five years started disappearing for weeks at a time without explanation or apology. I needed to make sense of it all. Meanwhile, back home in South Africa, my mentally impaired brother needed my help. Swamped by a lifetime of guilt over leaving my family to pursue my dreams, I return home to answer his call. I have an epiphany, but then I still have to face the beast back in my adopted country. I return and learn that our beloved dog has received a fatal diagnosis. Standing on the edge of the past and future I find the courage to face the future and forge a new life alone.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Whenever I get stuck, I hike the steep hill behind my house.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Enid Blyton, Barbara Kingsolver, Annie Dillard, Raymond Carver, Brian Morton, Ian McEwan, Tolstoy, Checkov

What are you working on now?
An audiobook for Loveyoubye and Monkey’s Wedding.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Facebook, twitter, Anneallenblogspot.com, We Love Memoirs Facebook page, The Book Designer

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Read voraciously.

Copy a reader you admire, literally, word for word, a chapter, the whole book. Get a “feel” for the way the author uses words. After a while you’ll find yourself rewording a word, a passage, here and there. Somehow it just didn’t “feel” right the way they have it. Great practice.

Write crap, over the top crap, be bold in how much crap you can write. Just keep writing.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Keep a daily journal. Make yourself write something every single day. It’s a great way to order your thoughts. Oh, and give yourself permission to cross out words–that was crazy hard for me to do, I’d always balled up the paper and started again.

What are you reading now?
Two books, Four Funerals And A Wedding by Jill Smolowe, and Mortals by Norman Rush.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I have a story I started for NaNoWriMo–that maniacal writeathon to complete a book in a month–that I’d like to explore. All I managed was 6,000 words after an incredibly stressful two weeks. I kept changing my mind about which direction I wanted to go. One of my goals in life is to outline instead of “feeling” my way through the story.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
William Meader’s Emergent Light, something by Plato, 2666 by Roberto Bolano, and something funny, maybe Screenburn, by Charlie Broker.

Author Websites and Profiles
Rossandra White Website
Rossandra White Amazon Profile

Rossandra White’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account
Pinterest Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I was born in Grayson County, Kentucky. After graduating from Western Kentucky

University with a Bachelors of Science in Education, I moved to Hardin County, Kentucky and went on to earn my Masters in Counseling.

I have always had a fascination with insane asylums, and began researching their

history. My research and interest played a major role in writing my novel Asylum. In the

book I focused on an insane asylum and the women within it, as well as women’s

rights and the Suffrage movement. I wove in the power of writing poems and journals, and

created characters who benefit from voicing their emotions and struggles on paper.

Asylum is the first book that I have written.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My second novel is titled Asylum 2: Locked Within. The first novel inspired me to delve deeper. People have requested more, more! That’s what I plan to deliver.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I am not so sure it is unusual, but I am only able to write well when I am sad or upset. It seems the more devastated I feel, the better I write. I eat and watch tv when I’m happy.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
The two authors who have influenced my writing the most are Charlotte Bronte and Stephen King. Quite a combination. Charlotte Bronte, with her novel Jane Eyre, influenced my style of writing, where Stephen King’s awesome creativity amazed me!https://awesomegang.com/money-marketing-mastery-successful-strategies-mastering-marketing-make-money/

What are you working on now?
My second novel takes characters from my first novel and digs deeper into their lives. Not only looking into the asylums women were committed to, but jails and prisons also.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
www.sherrylogsdon.com is my website and that should be where I promote my book the best. Trouble is I just have not been doing a great job with my blogging and keeping it up to date. Marketing is no easy feat. So for now I think I have done my best promoting through facebook.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Don’t get out of the habit of writing and never write with force. If it isn’t fun then it isn’t what you need to be writing.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Don’t fear failure, fear never doing enough.

What are you reading now?
Laurie R. King’s Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes series.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Speaking. I enjoy traveling and speaking about my book almost as much as I enjoyed writing it.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Can any author really answer that?

Author Websites and Profiles
Sherry Logsdon Website

 

Sherry Logsdon’s Social Media Links

Facebook Profile
Twitter Account
Pinterest Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
– I was born in Philadelphia, PA.
– For my first three years of school I attended Overbrook School for the Blind, a boarding school with classes for the “partially sighted.”
– I attended “normal” schools starting with fourth grade.
– When I was twelve my father joined IBM and we moved to Poughkeepsie, NY.
– When I was fourteen IBM transferred my father to Zurich, Switzerland where I attended Institute Minerva.
– When I was eighteen we returned to the U.S. and I started Lehigh University, majoring in Engineering Physics.
– I left school for a year in the middle of my junior year to work for Bell Labs in Whippany, NJ.
– I went to graduate school at Boston University and received a master’s degree in physics, then left after two years in their Ph.D. program.
– At 26 I moved to Los Angeles and changed my life. Between bouts of creativity I worked intermittently as a software engineer to earn a living.
– Along with the bouts of creativity, I strenuously pursued psychological and spiritual awareness.
– When I could, I retired and moved to Thailand to write full-time.

I’ve written two novels. The first still languishes in a desktop bottom drawer. It’s not yet ready to see the light. My second, however, is.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The latest is: Memoir of an Unlikely Savior

The inspiration for this book was a chain reaction.

In a 2003 writing class I wrote a “word portrait” of Rene Magritte’s The Mysteries of the Horizon, an interpretation of the person and setting of the painting. Then as a later exercise I wrote a “wrapper” story about the writer of the word portrait and how it reflected his life. I liked what I’d done and wrote more. I began to connect them into a set of linked short stories.

Then I read an issue of Time Magazine about autism and realized the autistic nature fit my protagonist. I read books that taught me more about the attributes of an autistic childhood and about how some were able to overcome their limitations.

By then the collection was becoming a unified piece, finding its own life probing the boundaries of social, psychological, and spiritual understanding and how they fit together. My goal became the expansion of these boundaries for the protagonist, the author, and hopefully the reader.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I don’t know that it’s unusual, but for me the writing process is essentially rewrite. I get the chassis down as quickly as possible, then starting with this die-cast toy car on which the wheels may not even turn, I take it apart and rebuild it over and over and over until I have what I hope feels like a two-seat sports car. (The risk is thinking I have the sports car when it’s still just a hay wagon.)

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I confess I’m too busy writing to read much. The latest to wow me was Hesse’s Steppenwolf.

What are you working on now?
The sequel to Memoir. It’s too early to try to describe.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I’m no good at that. Giving the book away on Amazon Select seems to give me the most hits. I give it away at the beginning of every month and every other month list it on all the sites I’ve found to list Amazon freebies.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
I hardly feel qualified, but if asked I’d say:
1. Sit down and write. Don’t struggle with the process and don’t care what comes out. Research what you need to research, take classes when that feels good, but mostly write.
2. Get as many people as you can to read what you write, have them give you their honest opinion of what you’ve written, and button your lip down hard while they give it. It doesn’t matter whether they know what they’re talking about or whether they’re right or wrong. Listen to what they say and it will make you think about your writing. And that will make you grow.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
If you want to write, write.

What are you reading now?
Nothing. I’m too busy writing.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Whatever feels right to do as I get to each day.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
It wouldn’t matter. Whatever I took I’d be tired of in a month.

Author Websites and Profiles
Peter VanDenBeemt Amazon Profile

Peter VanDenBeemt’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
My love of history lead to a career as a high school history teacher. I combined that with my passion for writing and have published 4 historical romances, with another coming out in Fall 2014.

My releases include: Music For My Soul, Outlaw Muse, A Game of Chance, and Written in the Cards.

I do a lot of plotting when I’m on my daily 5-mile walk. I also read voraciously, love to go to movies and sporting events, and travel when I can afford it. Some of my favorite places to visit are Maui, Italy, the Pacific Northwest, and Walt Disney World.

I love seafood and Mexican food (I make a mean tortilla soup and shrimp enchiladas), and I believe in eating dark chocolate every day.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
I’d read that Showtime was planning a new series called Penny Dreadful. Penny dreadfuls were the British version of American dime novels. I was in the mood to write a western historical romance, and so I though my hero could be a dime novelist. That’s when my heroine Maggie jumped up and demanded that she be the dime novelist. Many women authors wrote under a male pen name during the 19th century, so I thought Maggie was onto something.

I gave in and let her be the writer, and I turned my hero Ben into a Civil War veteran who became a gambler after a family tragedy. Maggie interviews Ben, believing him to be a cowboy, and she falls hard and fast–only to learn his true occupation and that he has a gunslinger bent on revenge hunting him down.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I keep a pack of gum nearby because I love to chomp on it as I write. The more intense the scene and action, the harder and faster I chew.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Stephen King’s On Writing really spoke to me and encouraged me to keep on writing and believing in myself. I always like that his characters are ordinary people thrust into extraordinary circumstances, and I try to do the same with the characters that I create.

What are you working on now?
I’m working on another western historical romance that has a Pinkerton detective as the hero. It’s set in Denver during the 1870s.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
My author website has blurbs and pictures of all of my books, and it also links to my personal blog. I think readers like to get to know an author beyond what he or she has written on the page. If they read my blog, they definitely get to know the real me.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Give yourself permission to write something that’s crap. Too many new authors want to wait and let their muse strike before they sit down. It doesn’t work that way. Usually, your muse is on vacation–which means you’ll never get any pages done. Ever.

So in the writing world we call it BIC – butt in chair. Sit down and write. Even if it stinks, you’re flexing your writing muscle, and practice will help you perfect your craft. It’s easier to go in and revise and do re-writes if you have something on the page. If nothing’s there, it’s a wasted opportunity.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
At the end of each day, give thanks for 5 things you’re thankful for. It can be small things such as being grateful for a pretty day or the rain that fell or the fact that you got the pair of shoes you’ve been dying for on clearance. It helps you re-visit your day and teaches you to be thankful for both the small and big things in life.

What are you reading now?
I just finished the latest John Sandford and Dorothea Benton Frank novels. They are two authors that are consistent and fun to read.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I want to continue publishing in the historical romance genre and eventually try my hand at romantic suspense.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
I read To Kill a Mockingbird every year, so that would be the first book in my bag.

The others would include The Stand and two random books so I’d be surprised!

Author Websites and Profiles
Lauren Linwood Website
Lauren Linwood Amazon Profile

Lauren Linwood’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Hi, I’m Aven Ellis and I am a romantic comedy writer. I have two books out now: Connectivity and Waiting for Prince Harry. Chronicles of a Lincoln Park Fashionista will be released in September, and I just signed a contract for Surviving The Rachel. Right now I’m working on my second hockey romance book, which I’m really excited about. I love hockey, so it’s like putting two of my loves together: writing and hockey players.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Waiting for Prince Harry was inspired by the idea of a young women who kept putting off things for the future because she was afraid to live in the present. I wanted to explore that feeling in this book and show the heroine, Kylie, growing and overcoming it-with the help of her own Prince Harry, ginger hockey star Harrison Flynn.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I have to write to a Spotify playlist I developed for the book. I also must be drinking coffee. Specifically, coffee with 1 tablespoon raw caco powder and 2 tablespoons of cream.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Sophie Kinsella was the first author to make me laugh out loud while reading a story. I knew I wanted to be that kind of writer, too.

What are you working on now?
Another hockey romance with the same team that is in Waiting for Prince Harry, the Dallas Demons, and the hero is a teammate of Harrison Flynn, the hero in my first hockey book.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Twitter has helped me the most. I’ve met a lot of amazing bloggers there who have been incredibly supportive of my work.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
This is a tough business. And sales won’t happen overnight. Have realistic goals and keep writing.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Write your brains out. Then write some more.

What are you reading now?
I just finished and advanced reader copy of One Hundred Proposals by Holly Martin and it was an absolute joy to read. Humorous, heartwarming, lush, romantic. I highly recommend it!

What’s next for you as a writer?
The release of Chronicles of a Lincoln Park Fashionista, a New Adult Chick Lit about a young woman navigating post university life in Chicago.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Holly Martin’s One Hundred Proposals, Sophie Kinsella’s Can You Keep A Secret, and Sammy’s Hill by Kristin Gore.

Author Websites and Profiles
Aven Ellis Website
Aven Ellis Amazon Profile

Aven Ellis’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account
Pinterest Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m Ashley Chunell and I’ve published four books; “Masterpiece,” a romance novel; “A Melody in Harmony,” “New Melody, Same Harmony” and “A Miracle Melody” – also known as the Noah and Ronan Series – of the GLBT genre.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is titled “A Miracle Melody.” It is the third book in my Noah and Ronan Series. It all started back in November 2013, I was working on proofreading “New Melody, Same Harmony” and once again, I just couldn’t stop writing these characters. The first book, “A Melody in Harmony,” focused on Noah and Ronan becoming boyfriends, falling in love and fighting for equality in their bigoted town. The second book, “New Melody, Same Harmony,” focused on marriage equality as Noah and Ronan prepared to wed. So, it was no question that the next book in the series would be about Noah and Ronan having a baby and becoming fathers. I’ve made it a point with my Noah and Ronan Series to focus on the major steps in a couple’s life and shed light on the challenges those of the LGBT community face. In “A Miracle Melody,” Noah and Ronan deal with dilemmas and challenges on their quest to fatherhood and of course, I put a lot of real-life situations into this book, much like the first two books in my series.

What authors, or books have influenced you?

Lately, Chris Colfer. I love how he adds so much real life into his writing – not so much in his books, but in his movie. He’s been such an inspiration that I actually named a character after him in “A Miracle Melody”!

What are you working on now?
Right now, I’m just working on promoting “A Miracle Melody.” I’m also always working on Noah and Ronan drabbles that you can find on my website!

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Definitely Twitter. Us Indie authors have each other’s backs on Twitter! haha

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Always write what you believe in and never write anything you don’t want to. Don’t write to please others, write to tell the story you want to tell.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
“Promote what you love instead of bashing what you hate.”

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?

Author Websites and Profiles
Ashley Chunell Website
Ashley Chunell Amazon Profile

Ashley Chunell’s Social Media Links
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account
Pinterest Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m a lifelong writer, working in spurts, and have written two complete novels, one of which is published.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is “Blue Hydrangeas,” an Alzheimer’s love story. I didn’t plan to write a book about Alzheimer’s, it just happened. I was working as a hospital nurse case manager when I met the couple who would become my characters Jack and Sara. What captivated me about them is that while she was definitely middle to beginning of late stage Alzheimer’s and quite confused (but also lovely and endearing), he appeared to be physically frail, and the two of them had just driven up from Florida to New York by themselves. I found it amazing they were able to complete this journey without any mishap. Unfortunately, when they got home she somehow fell and fractured her pelvis and was about to go to a nursing home/rehab. My job was to make sure these plans went smoothly, and I discussed this with them in the presence of their son, who said, “Please do not let my parents leave here without me. I plan to assist them in the admission process.” When I left for home later that day, I could not stop thinking about them and wondering: What would happen if somehow they left the hospital without their son? Where would they go? What would they do? My wild imagination took off and “Blue Hydrangeas” resulted. I do not have any personal experience with Alzheimer’s other than working as a nurse and nursing assistant in the hospital and in nursing homes. I had three aunts who succumbed to the disease, all beautiful and brilliant women. I dedicated the book to them, and to my husband’s grandmother, who also had Alzheimer’s and whom I never met.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I developed repetitive strain injuries from an inappropriate computer workstation at my job, so I have a pretty unorthodox writing style. I don’t (can’t) write everyday, a practice recommended by many authors. I have to respect my limitations or suffer pain and loss of function for days. So I work in spurts, constantly prioritizing my tasks, doing as much as I can to finish the novel I’m working on and promoting “Blue Hydrangeas.” I use a number of devices to assist me: iPhone, tablet, Dragon Dictation, laptop, PC, pen and paper, whatever it takes. It’s frustrating, but I’m managing to pull it off.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Elizabeth Berg motivated me to stop dreaming about writing and WRITE back in 2002. I was at the gym, laboring on the treadmill and reading the latest Good Housekeeping. I found an excerpt from her newest novel, “True to Form.” I loved it, and thought, “now that’s how I want to write.” I started “Blue Hydrangeas” shortly thereafter. I’ve since read all of Berg’s books; she has quite a backlist. I don’t know if my writing lives up to hers, but she’s a great role model. Anne Tyler is also a favorite of mine. I did my senior honors thesis on her work while a student at UMass Boston. I’m an eclectic reader. I’ll read anything. I might not finish it but I’ll give it a shot. I also read indies, because they need support. A lot of great writers go undiscovered, which is a loss for everyone.

What are you working on now?
My current work-in-progress is “Swim Season.” It’s a huge switch from “Blue Hydrangeas,” because my heroine is a high school senior, Aerin Keane, the new girl in school and a champion swimmer who challenges a long-standing school record. The story is about more than swimming, however, as Aerin also tackles issues related to her parents’ divorce, a pregnant stepmother, two stepsisters she doesn’t want, and her Army nurse mother’s PTSD and drug addiction following two tours of duty in the Middle East. Oh, and then there’s her best friend’s cute twin brother. My daughter was a high school varsity swimmer for six years and I always wanted to write a story about the girls and how their season unfolds. All of the special elements in this story serve to heighten the drama and the tension and it’s truly a blast to write.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
EReader News Today helps sell a lot of books. I also love Twitter for getting the word out and meeting other authors. It’s also helped me connect with people concerned about Alzheimer’s. I used it to meet some swimmers who allowed me to interview them for “Swim Season.” Facebook is not as useful; I find it hard to keep up with its constant changes. Other promotional websites I’ve used are Clean Indie Reads, Book Divas, IndieReader, Goodreads, and BookWorks. The Fussy Librarian and Story Cartel are also great for getting reader reviews.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Don’t give up. This is a long-term commitment; you will most likely not be an overnight success. If you’re going to do this you must be in it for the long haul. Utilize all resources for promoting your book, including social media and the internet, but also local resources such as your public library and independent bookstore. Spend your marketing dollars wisely. Figure out how you define success: sales? reviews? awards? and use that as a barometer to see how you’re doing. Don’t let others determine whether you’re successful or not. I offer additional advice in my blog post “Happy Birthday Indie Author! 7 Things I Learned My First Year.” http://mariannesciucco.blogspot.com/2014/04/happy-birthday-indie-author-7-things-i.html

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Don’t give up.

What are you reading now?
I just started “Father Joe” by Tony Hendra. My library’s doing a book talk on it. I’m also reading Ruth Reichl’s “Delicious,” which is yummy. I just finished “You Changed My Life,” by Abdel Sellou, the man who inspired the French film “The Intouchables.” Loved both. And I recently discovered Ann E. Burg’s novels in verse, “Serafina’s Promise,” and “All the Broken Pieces.” I said I was an eclectic reader.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I write family dramas with real medical issues and tend to juggle projects. In addition to “Swim Season” I’ve got one complete but unrevised novel on my desk, “Perfect Match”, the story of 14-year-old Jamie Diana who meets the father she never knew for the first time when he comes looking for a bone marrow donor for his daughter who has leukemia. I started the project in 2004 and it’s been waiting for its chance at publication for years. Now that I’ve had success with indie publishing it may make it. I plan to launch it sometime in early 2015. Still in creation phase is a special project, a fundraiser for the HEART School in Haiti, called “Akisse and Gaspard Go to School,” a day in the life of two schoolchildren, one in the US and one in Haiti. A good friend, Maria Blon, who is a strong supporter of this school, asked me to write this book and it’s been both a learning experience and a mission. The children are wonderful. I have actually met Akisse who lives nearby and know Gaspard through interviews, photos and videos. We will run a crowd funding campaign to raise the needed money to publish this book (written in English and Creole) and will need to find artists and formatters willing to collaborate with us for little to no payment. Interested parties can contact me at mariannesciucco@gmail.com.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
I’ve got a big, fat edition of “The Complete Novels of Jane Austen.” I’d like to get the same kind of thing for Jan Karon’s Mitford series. Anything Anne Tyler or Elizabeth Berg. And of course my Bible.

Author Websites and Profiles
Marianne Sciucco Website
Marianne Sciucco Amazon Profile

Marianne Sciucco’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
My pen name is unusual because I didn’t know if my “out there” hardboiled stories would be accepted. I have 4 published books and two more books accepted by publishers and in production.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
JUST SO YOU KNOW I’M NOT DEAD is a sampler of short stories put out so fans wouldn’t forget me while waiting for the next novel ddue for release this September by Blasted Heath.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I write over 15-hour days for weeks at a time. That’s the only way I get them finished.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Tim Dorsey, T. Jefferson Parker, John Kennedy Toole, Tom Robbins, Tom Wolfe

What are you working on now?
Book three in the HARD BITE series about a paraplegic turned vigilante who tracks down hit-and-run drivers in Los Angeles with the help of a deadly helper-monkey.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
BookBub and Twitter are helpful.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Be careful who you take criticism from and always make sure the person is a fan of the genre you are writing. Romance readers give lousy advice on crime novels and vice versa.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Don’t bother with what the other guys are doing and where they’re at. Run your own race. Your only competition is yourself.

What are you reading now?
The calorie count of mouthwash. I’m on a strict diet.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Long hours in a chair thinking up crazy stuff. Hopefully followed by lunch.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
FADE TO BLONDE Max Phillips

PINEAPPLE GRENADE Tim Dorsey

LOOKING OUT FOR #1 Robert J. Ringer

LA OUTLAWS T. Jefferson Parker

Author Websites and Profiles
Anonymous-9 Anonymous-9 Website
Anonymous-9 Anonymous-9 Amazon Profile

Anonymous-9 Anonymous-9’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Mark A. Lack is the Founder and CEO of The Peak Performance Club which is The Nations Preeminent Coaching Company for Young Adults and Entrepreneurs. Mark is an entrepreneur, author, speaker and peak-performance coach who specializes in helping young adults and entrepreneurs recognize and overcome their limiting beliefs, fears and sabotaging patterns holding them back from making their life and or business a masterpiece.

Having invested over $500,000 in his own personal and professional growth learning from the best experts in the world, today Mark shares his knowledge, strategies and proven success process to help young adults and entrepreneurs achieve their full potential and create extraordinary results in both their personal and professional life.

Mark is the author of the book SHORTEN THE GAP- Shortcuts To Success And Happiness, which has been endorsed by world renowned experts in the personal development industry.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My book is titled, SHORTEN THE GAP Short Cuts To Success and Happiness.

I was inspired to write my book because after investing so much in my personal and professional growth, I felt responsible to share with my generation all of the valuable information I had invested in learning. I want to make a major impact on the world and my book is one of many devices that will allow me to do that.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Not that I am aware of. However, what is unusual to me, may not be unusual to someone else.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Tony Robbins – all of his materials.

John Assaraf – Having It All, The Answer

Napoleon Hill – Think and Grow Rich

Darren Hardy – The Compound Effect

…many others!

What are you working on now?
Growing our business and expanding our product and service line so that we may impact more people’s lives.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Our website is www.ThePeakPerformanceClub.com

We use a variety of tactics when we do book promos. I do not have analytics on which method has been the most effective because of the tactics we have used. Certain things can’t be tracked. We are transitioning into more measurable promotional tactics as we begin to put more capital behind our promos.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Don’t worry about publishing right off the bat. That part comes later. Focus on creating extraordinary content, that is different and unique. Then focus on how to market it effectively, and get lots of high ranked reviews on Amazon where most people buy books these days.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
This is especially tough for me to answer because I live in the world of acquiring great advice. But since if I had to choose one piece of advice that has guided my life, it would be – “Always find ways to have constant and never-ending improvement in every area of your life.”

What are you reading now?
INFLUENCE by Dr. Robert Cialdini

AWAKEN THE GIANT WITHIN by Tony Robbins

What’s next for you as a writer?
I’m working on getting major national exposure this year with my manager who managed Mike Tyson, George Forman, Sylvester Stallone and many others.

I am working on developing and creating more products – books, audio programs, gamified education and workbooks.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
I would definitely bring:

1.) AWAKEN THE GIANT WITHIN by Tony Robbins

2.) Higher Self by Deepak Chopra

3.) The E-myth Michael Gerber

Author Websites and Profiles
Mark Lack Website
Mark Lack Amazon Profile

Mark Lack’s Social Media Links

Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am a former stealth and Predator pilot who now has four novels in print/audio—two from Berkley Books at Penguin and those books plus an additional two from Brilliance Audio. Though my career sort of pegs me as a military/espionage thriller guy, my favorite project was PIRATES: The Midnight Passage, a short novel now available from Brilliance Audio.

I earned my bachelors in Middle Eastern Studies from the US Air Force Academy. During my career, which is ongoing as a reserve Lieutenant Colonel, I flew the A-10 Warthog, the MQ-1 Predator, and the top secret B-2 Stealth Bomber, spending most of my time as a pilot liaison to the intelligence side of the house. I have been shot at, locked up with a surface to air missile and aided the capture of High Value Targets. Because of my experience and my clearances, everything I write about drones or stealth must get checked by the appropriate program security office before publication.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Shadow Maker came out on 3 June 2014. This is my opus, so to speak—the reason I started the Nick Baron series in the first place. I knew that this story would be a great challenge, and an even greater challenge to get published, so I held it back, waiting to build the characters and build my own capabilities before tackling it. I hope that my patience will now pay off for the reader.

The challenge I laid out in Shadow Maker was threefold:
1. Follow the trail of dominoes triggered by collateral damage from a CIA drone strike, no matter where it lead me. What I found was that trail leading me back to the source of the strike, with some pretty ugly consequences.
2. Incorporate not one, but four escalating attacks, each of a different type (conventional, cyber, etc.). That is a broad scope and a lot of action for one book. I worked hard to bring it all together.
3. Wrap all of this into a chess match—a figurative game as well as an actual, no kidding game of chess—between the villain and the hero. In this chess match, the villain plays at such a level of genius that the hero cannot win, and knows it.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I walk. I cannot create while sitting in front of a computer, so I will take my phone (with its voice recording app) and walk for miles and miles. I will even walk in the rain, but when it is storming so much that I can’t, I’ll wander aimlessly about the house like a zombie. My children call this “think-walking” and know that if they speak to me, I will only mindlessly nod in response. The youngest takes advantage of this to acquire cookies—”I asked Dad. He said I could have one!”

What authors, or books have influenced you?
The blunt, yet biting wit of Mark Twain had an early influence on me with Tom and Huck and the Connecticut Yankee. Then I drifted into fantasy with C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, never really drifting out again. I read both series from start to finish every summer during my late elementary years, and have returned to them many times since. In middle-school I became enamored with Tom Clancy—like many in the mid ’80’s. I loved his descriptions of the tech. I loved the Cold War intrigue. The Air Force Academy, with its heavy engineering course load, sucked away all of my pleasure reading time, but after graduation, I discovered Clive Cussler. I can’t imagine a better dynamic between two characters than that between Dirk Pitt and Al Giordino. For me, Clive Cussler revealed that an adventure doesn’t have to take itself to seriously.

What are you working on now?
That’s highly classified. I will say that one project is a completely new series and another is a Christian discipleship program. That brings to mind something I failed to mention about my writing. It is clean. The Nick Baron series is secular, covert ops fiction, but it is free of foul language and sex. I want my sons to be able to read my work, and I want my work—even my secular work—to be a ministry that brings glory to God.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I don’t think I have one. We all had Facebook, but it is rapidly going down the tubes. 3% of my fans see my posts as a baseline. If I get some likes and shares, that number bumps up, but not by much—maybe 10%. It is nothing like the good old days (aka less than two years ago). It used to be that you could run a photo contest or other promotion on Facebook and the natural traffic would boost your fan base and awareness of your book. Not anymore. You’ve got to pay for visibility no matter what, and even then my recent experience has shown that paid visibility goes to “like farms” despite demographic targeting to avoid them.

I am shifting hope, financing, and effort to the free Stealth Ops App. This is an app with great graphics that carries bonus stories that extend the books, character back-story, tech specs, mission maps, videos, etc. I want to give fans free content to expand the world of Nick Baron that I can’t give them in the books themselves. We’ll see what kind of response I get.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Keep writing. Keep seeking critiques from objective sources. Listen to them—even that extremely brutal review from a reader on Amazon or Goodreads. We can always, ALWAYS be better.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Matthew 6:33 – But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

We spend so much time in pursuit of what we want, rather than what we need.

What are you reading now?
The Mistborn series by Brian Sanderson.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Keep reading, keep writing. With Shadow Maker I completed a journey that I started more than a decade ago. Now it’s time to start a new journey, placing one foot in front of the other. Tolkien said it best: “It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to.”

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
You ask the impossible. I would rather wait for such an event to occur and then play the cards I was dealt than choose at this moment. I absolutely MUST see a series through to completion and there are too many trilogies I love to choose from.
Wait… What about just one solar-powered Kindle?

Author Websites and Profiles
James Hannibal Website
James Hannibal Amazon Profile

James Hannibal’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account
Pinterest Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
So far I have written two books in the “First Phase”: Anstractor, which is a 318 page SciFi novel about the rise of a hero during a terrible time in another galaxy; Lady Hellgate, tells the story of another hero who influenced the events in Anstractor – this book is only 134 pages long.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My last book was Anstractor, it was inspired by a number of short stories that I had written in the past and wanted to tell the full story of that world.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I’m an avid bathroom blogger… I also keep a hand-recorder in the car with me on my daily commute, so that I can speak out the ideas and situations that come to me when I’m there. It’s funny how ideas seem to pop up and the most inopportune times, so I keep the hand recorder so that I am not texting while driving, and with one button press, I can record my thoughts immediately.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Stephen King is a huge influence, as well as Terry Brooks, and Robert Beck. Beck’s book: Pimp: The Story of My Life, showed me a form of writing that made me want to tell stories as beautifully as he did. I am an avid reader, so there are plenty of influences. The ones I’ve listed are the ones that stick out the most right now.

What are you working on now?
I am working on two books currently. The first book is a true sequel to Anstractor and the second is a historical fiction about a black gang in the Tampa Bay area. I am well into the sequel for Anstractor so that may be out first, I am having a blast with the gang book.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Social media (especially Twitter) has bee a blessing. I have found that through my blogging and random, crazy tweets, I have developed a following that likes my writing and are beyond helpful in checking out my books, if not buying them. I do a lot of online marketing as well, which is tough to pull metrics from, but social media is king, as far as my reality has seen.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Do not take advice from one, or two, or even three sources. There is so much misinformation, and the blind leading the blind on forums and on blogs. You are going to be upset if you don’t do a lot of research. If you want to read something that will help you prepare then buy the book A.P.E. (author, publisher, entrepreneur) by Guy Kawasaki. It will put you in the right mind state to be a book marketer as well as writer.

If you have a budget (and you should), spend the money on a great book cover and editing. If you are not an expert in graphic design or editing, do not try to become one at the last minute. I spent the majority of the money I put aside for my books on a professional editor and it gave me the peace of mind that my readers will get a solid product. I didn’t hire a graphics person for my cover because I have a graphics background and could do it myself (I am very proud of Lady Hellgate’s look). DO NOT try to be a graphic designer if you aren’t, and do not get “a friend” to edit your book. Do it right, and market the hell out of it once it’s out there.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Ignore reviews, ignore critics, keep on writing, put out more books, and improve as a writer.

What are you reading now?
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley… I’m loving it.

What’s next for you as a writer?
More writing, and finding ways to improve my marketing skills so that each book has a better chance at reaching people.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
1984, Pimp: The Story of My Life, a book on learning Japanese, and a dictionary.

Author Websites and Profiles
Greg Dragon Website
Greg Dragon Amazon Profile

 

Greg Dragon’s Social Media Links

Goodreads Profile
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