Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
My first children’s book – Scooter and Friends Take a Vacation – is at the printer, about to be released.
I wrote a lot of “technical” things in my career before I retired. 1) In personnel at the Lawrence Hall of Science on the Berkeley campus, I wrote – for the Director to present to the Chancellor – a procedure for the advancement and promotion of non-Professor Series Instructors. This procedure was later incorporated into the University’s Academic Personnel Guidelines; 2) as a private contractor, I wrote the original Personnel Manual for the Pacific Science Center in Seattle; 3) as Personnel Manager wrote original Personnel Manual for Seattle law firm of Karr, Tuttle, Koch, Campbell, Mawer and Morrow; 4) When at American DEsign and Mfg in Seattle (a company my husband and I owned until 2000) I received a grant for ESL in the workplace, and wrote a Buddy System to accompany ESL. My Buddy System won an award for its innovative approach to employee relations from the Association of Washington Businesses.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Scooter and Friends Take a Vacation – children’s picture book. Inspired by my love of my grandnieces and nephews, and the adventures I had taken them on, and by my love of books that have animals as their main characters. My story is written in rhyme because I have always loved to rhyme, as in writing my own lyrics to known music for years. (The first poem I ever read was The Night Before Christmas, which I had memorized by the time I was four years old – or so my mother told me)
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I don’t think so. I get my ideas while I’m sleeping, (or more ‘when I can’t sleep) and then get up and start writing.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
As an impressionable teenager my favorite author was Leon Uris. I read everthing he ever wrote, and while I’m not Jewish, I was so taken with Uris’s stories I “decided” I was an honorary Sabra 🙂 A bit later, Jane Austen became my favorite; and after that – it was international intrigue, Tom Clancy, Vince Flynn, and Brad Thor topping my list. Thanks to belonging to various book clubs, I have, over the past several decades, become enamored with all manner and shape of best-selling authors. I ‘m ashamed to say I remember the titles of books I have loved, but have forgotten the authors’ names. A few recent examples of my favorites are The Guilded Hour; The Whistling Season: News of the World; The Hunger Games trilogy; early Harry Potter books – later ones got a little dark for my taste.
What are you working on now?
A sequel to Scooter and Friends Take a Vacation
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Since this is my first go at it – I can’t yet say. But I’m taking a marketing class, and as a result of this class, I’m trying to get involved in a few social media sites – Facebook and Instagram – and Goodreads and PNWA are at the top of the list to get more active on/with, but waiting until I have my first finished product in my hands before pushing these too much
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Follow your heart. And don’t get discouraged. There are so many resources out there now that new, and aspiring, authors can take advantage of. Whether it’s needing help with editing or copywriting, or appraisals, or marketing, or a myriad of other types of assistance, there are experts out there who can help. When I found ALLi – the Alliance of Independent Authors – I realized that I wasn’t alone. There is a lot of help to be had, and I tell people about the ALLi site whenever I can.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Work hard – no one else is going to do it for you.
What are you reading now?
I barely have time for my book club books – our current book is Defending Jacob by William Landay. It’s not a great book, not by a longshot, but it raises an interesting question about the role genetics plays in crimes.
What’s next for you as a writer?
as above, the sequel to Scooter and Friends Take a Vacation
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?
Pride and Prejudice (like in Fahrenheit 451 – this is the book that I would want to be)
The Wind in the Willows (ditto Fahrenheit 451 – can you be 2 books?)
since I would have the time to memorize both of the above, can that count as 4?
I have loved books like The Art of Racing in the Rain – but more because I loved Enzo than because I loved the book
This question to too hard 🙂
Author Websites and Profiles
nancy strom Website