Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I have written two novels. Patches of Grey was my debut and Matters of Convenience is scheduled to come out on November 15th of this year. I also wrote the novella Feeding the Squirrels which was published by SynergEbooks. And I am the author of quite a few short stories. Anthologies that contain my short stories are Proverbs for the People (Kensington Books), Role Call (Third World Press), The Game: Short Stories About the Life (Triple Crown Publications), Prose to be Read Aloud: Volume One, Ménage à 20: Tales with a Hook, Forever Travels, and IAI Short Story Compilation.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Matters of Convenience. You can find a synopsis and excerpt (first 5000 words) at https://kindlescout.amazon.com/p/33R345E7HDCNR
I wanted to explore love stories from a variety of angles. Unrequited love. Unbalanced love. Slow and steady time tested love. Fast burning deeply passionate new love. Illicit love. Love that is settled for and into. In Matters of Convenience I found a way to write of each of them among other varieties of devotion within the context of a single story.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
In 2016 is it now considered unusual to write longhand? If so then that is my unusual writing habit. Blog post length material is typically typed these days, but my first drafts of fictional pieces continue to come about by putting pen on paper. I don’t have a particular writing routine. My only rule is to always have a pen and some paper on hand just in case inspiration strikes.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
I am an avid reader and all of the books I have read over the years influenced me in ways I am mostly unaware of. The author I received the most blatant assist from was Judith Guest. I used her wonderful novel Ordinary People as a template to help me write my first novel. Studying it served as a writing course when I had an idea in my head and needed guidance on how to lay it out on pages.
What are you working on now?
I am working on a series of children’s books (The Absolutely Amazing Adventures of Ava Appelsawse) in collaboration with my extremely talented wife who is the illustrator. The first story has been written and awaits illustrations while I proceed with writing the second and beyond. My novel Matters of Convenience has been submitted to Amazon’s Kindle Scout contest. The link below will take you to an excerpt that went live 9/14 and will be up for 30 days. Please check it out if interested, and hopefully you’ll see fit to nominate MOC for a publishing deal from Kindle Press. Thank you very much in advance to those who show my book some love. If KP chooses to publish Matters of Convenience, everyone who nominated it will win a free copy.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I’m a big fan of GoodReads which I utilize to review books along with doing some promotion of my own prose. I use facebook and Twitter to promote my writing as well. All three sites are ones I would spend cyber time at whether that time could be used to market myself or not, so the promotional opportunities are a bonus rather than the primary reason for being there.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Regularly read plenty of varied material. Even if you have a favorite genre that you write and prefer to read, be sure to go outside your comfort zone from time to time. You never know where the next writing or life lesson may come from. Venture beyond the confines of your own literary neighborhood and explore. And keep your pen regularly moving. It’s harder to start back up after stopping than it is to continue going. One of the posts at my blog A Line A Day is “Advice for Aspiring Authors” – http://lineaday.blogspot.com/2010/04/advice-for-aspiring-authors.html
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Get over it. The advice was about a girl but probably can be applied to writing somehow.
What are you reading now?
Youngblood by Matt Gallagher. It’s about the war in Iraq.
What’s next for you as a writer?
I much prefer writing to marketing but the latter is a necessary evil. I have targeted 11/15/16 as the publication date for Matters of Convenience which means the writing of it is done, the hustling to get eyeballs on it barely begun. Full energy will be put into that while waiting for the plot of novel # 3 to reach my consciousness. If things work out for me with the Scout contest, Amazon’s Kindle Press will publish Matters of Convenience in ebook format while I put out the print edition under M.U.D. House Books. Once again I encourage readers to check out the excerpt from MOC at https://kindlescout.amazon.com/p/33R345E7HDCNR
While engaged in the Kindle Scout campaign I will also be working on the Ava Appelsawse books.
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?
The World According to Garp by John Irving. Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov.
Author Websites and Profiles
Roy Pickering Website
Roy Pickering Amazon Profile
Roy Pickering Author Profile on Smashwords
Roy Pickering’s Social Media Links
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