Beyond the Mind Maze

Category: Wip: Where How and Then What

  • A trip that changed it all – Lena Mikado (WIP Interview)

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    This week’s guest is an author with whom I have a lot in common: love for languages, translation experience, writing in our second language (English) and juggling motherhood, work and homemaking with writing. Ladies and gents, I present to you the beautiful and talented Lena Mikado.

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    Hello, everyone! I’m really happy to be here – Maria, cheers to you for inviting me to your beautiful blog. My name is Lena Mikado, and I am the author of My Journey to the Ocean – my debut novel and the first one of the All Colors of the Rainbow trilogy.

    Lena, thank you so much for being here. Before we talk about your WIP, why don’t you tell us a few things about yourself?  

    I’ve been so many things lately, I don’t even know where to start. First of all, I am mom to two little boys (they’re 5 and 2) and a happy wife. Secondly, I am a translator – foreign languages had been my love long before I became a mom and a wife, so… not sure – maybe I should have given priority to the languages 🙂. I graduated from Voronezh State University, Russia, with the Degree in Translation, Linguistics and Intercultural Communication. Oh – yes, I am Russian. 🙂 I moved to the United States at the young age of 22, but I like to think of myself as a citizen of the world. I absolutely adore traveling – to the point that I cannot imagine my life without it – and belly-dancing 🙂.

    MyJourneyToTheOcean-FJM_High_Res_1800x2700

    How did My Journey to the Ocean came to be?

    One day, my very good friend, who now lives in London, told me that we all should write a book about our first summer in the United States. When I say “we all” I mean “four Russian girls who came on a J-1 program to America in the summer of 2004 and who never got back to be the same people before their plane left the tarmac in Moscow”. Back then, I just had my first kid (which totally rocked my world – and I don’t mean it as necessarily 100% positive experience) and I was working for a corporation that was consuming me with all my sweat, blood and tears as corporations tend to. So at first I laughed a little bit and politely declined. But then I thought… and thought… and thought about it… And I realized that I did have a lot to say. I wanted my sons to know my story. After all, what do we really know about our parents? And I started writing. It took me 5 years – and now my third baby is here 🙂.

    There’s another thing we have in common. My little one also rocked my world in a non-positive way until I realized that going down the road she paved made me a better mom. What are you working on right now?

    I started working on the second book of the series – A Year in the Sky. The novel will be about traveling all around the world, while trying to deal with jealousy, insecurity and fear of losing that bright future that you already directed for yourself in your head :). I have to share a little secret with you. The full name of my 5-year-old son is Liam Ocean and the name of my youngest – Maximillian Sky ;). 

    That’s super sweet. Are you happy with the pace of your work? Do you aim at a specific word count each day?

    To be honest with you, I am constantly under the impression that I need to do more. I am trying to juggle my translation business with my writing career – and family life – and sometimes I feel like the ground is slipping from under my feet. My main goal in writing is to complete whatever I have started – when? Not sure about that. Perhaps, I will be able to stay more organized and deadline-oriented once the boys grow up a little.

    Plotter, pantser or both?

    More of a pantser 🙂. I do tie it all together when I write, but I don’t necessarily plan it ahead. I’m just constantly thinking about what I want to say throughout the day, sometimes I write thoughts that come to mind in a little notebook I carry with me. But I’m definitely – 85% of the time – surprised by what is coming out of me when I write 🙂. Like – wow, where did that come from?

    What’s your worst enemy in getting that first draft finished?

    Lack of time. I wish we didn’t have to sleep 🙂.

    You’re telling me. Have you ever experienced lack of inspiration or drive to write? If so, how do you motivate yourself?

    Yes, I have. I typically just sit down and write anyway. And the inspiration comes back.

    Could we take a look at your workspace? Is there a particular place you find inspiring for writing?

    Photo Feb 10, 12 28 28 PM

    This is the view from my window. 🙂 My office is at the marina. I don’t have the Ocean view, but I love looking at the boats. There is also a birds’ nest up top in the corner of the window, and we typically communicate with them through the glass 🙂

    Very interesting view! Now your view is pinned on my Featured Writers’ Workspace board on Pinterest. Apart from Word and Google, do you use any other writing or research tools and apps?

    I use a few websites that help me with synonyms and descriptive words – But generally I’m your Google/Word girl 🙂.

    How do you intend to celebrate writing “The End” on your draft?

    With a glass of nice Chardonnay. And a bath. Definitely a bath, because otherwise the kids won’t let me enjoy that glass of nice Chardonnay.

    Makes sense 🙂 Which book publishing processes are you going to outsource and which are you confident enough to undertake yourself?

    I hired an editor, Courtney Diles– since I believe that there always must be a second pair of eyes. Working in the translation industry, I know for a fact that we cannot write a piece alone. There is always room for improvement. Plus, Courtney helped me immensely with the formatting. I have also hired a book cover artist, Fiona Jayde – and she did an amazing job. She literally read my mind. As far as everything else goes – all done by myself.

    Do you have any marketing tips or favorite promotional sites you’d like to share?

    I’m really very new to all this. I like Twitter a lot. I managed to connect to a lot of very interesting people there. Besides, Twitter moves so fast that it offers you plenty of opportunities for marketing. I do some Facebook, Google Plus and Goodreads, but there is still lots for me to learn.

    Your blog is http://lenamikado.blogspot.com/. Do you follow a specific branding pattern with your posts or is it a free writing platform?

    Totally free! I’m trying to be myself, but that’s about it.  

    Is chick-lit the genre you will stick to or do you see yourself branching out in the future?

    I think I’m a chick lit author for life. 🙂 I’m pretty sure I will always be writing light and funny books. This life is too full of horrible things, and I like to create a happy reality. I’m not a fan of dark stuff. J

    Fun stuff now: Let’s do a rapid fire round.

    • Flavored sorbet or chocolate ice cream? Flavored sorbet!
    • Pizza or sushi? Sushi 🙂
    • Twilight or The Hunger Games? None 🙂
    • Ryan Gosling or Benedict Cumberbatch? Ryan Gosling… because I had to google Benedict Cumberbatch. I’ve seen the Sherlock Holmes show, but I didn’t know the actor’s name :).
    • Trek in the Andes or snorkeling in Tahiti? Both! As long as I don’t sit at home.
    • Ugg boots or red-soled designer stilettos? Stilettos. Definitely.

    Ah, there’s the chick-lit girl 🙂 Finally, please share with us links where we can find you and your work.

    Amazon Link – myBook.to/MyJourneytotheOcean

    Facebook Link – https://www.facebook.com/lenamikado?ref=hl

    Twitter Link – https://twitter.com/Lena_Mikado

    Goodreads Link – https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23698308-my-journey-to-the-ocean

    Google Plus – https://plus.google.com/u/0/+LenaMikado/posts

    Blog – http://lenamikado.blogspot.com/

    Thank you, Lena, and best of luck with your future projects!

    Thank you very much, Maria, for having me here. 🙂 I wish you the best of luck as well.

  • Daniel Dombrowski: Setting up a Sci-Fi anthology and more (WIP Interview)

    Dan (1)Daniel J. Dombrowski is an author, editor, and indie publisher. He recently founded 33rd Street Digital Press, an independent publishing company, and he has been working for the last several months on Nonlocal Science Fiction, a quarterly anthology that features short stories and serials from new and established authors from around the world.

    Dan, thank you so much for being here. Before we talk about your WIP, why don’t you tell us a few things about yourself? 

    Hi, Maria! Thanks for taking the time to talk to me. I never know where to start when people ask me about myself.  I’ve been on a bit of a crooked path for several years. I went to school for anthropology – archaeology, really. I graduated with a Master’s from Penn State in 2009. I think I thought I could be Indiana Jones or something overly romanticized like that. The reality is that archaeology is a lot of digging holes in the hot sun and finding nothing. It’s pretty miserable a lot of the time.

    I moved to Pittsburgh shortly after I graduated and married my high school sweetheart. I worked anywhere that would take me for the next four years as my wife finished her doctorate and two years of residency.

    We recently moved back to our hometown, Erie, Pa., and I’ve been able to work primarily on my own projects while my wonderful wife keeps things a bit more legitimate on the faculty at a school of pharmacy. I edit on a freelance basis for a self-publisher (about 500 pages per month), and for the last six months or so, I’ve devoted a lot of time and energy towards starting up my publishing company and launching Nonlocal.

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    What are you working on right now?

    The first issue of Nonlocal is mostly in the bag. I’ve received dozens of submissions since first putting out the call back in October, and I have what I think is a pretty stellar lineup of nine stories from authors spread around the globe + one of my own.

    My main focus at the moment is a Kickstarter to help launch the first issue in style. I have some big plans for the publishing company and Nonlocal, but it’s a one-man enterprise aside from the authors. I’ve boot-strapped everything to this point, and I’m ecstatic about the results.  I want to see it come to life in a big way, and a successful Kickstarter will make that possible.

    Let’s all pitch in then! Are you happy with the pace of your work? Do you aim at a specific word count each day?

    I’m thrilled at how quickly the first issue of Nonlocal has come together. I first put out a call for submissions in October, and I got 50+ submissions before the end of the year. It’s a bit nerve-wracking to wait for submissions. Will there be enough? Will any of them be any good? I think I’ve been more than a little lucky.

    As far as a word or page count, it depends on the project. When I’m editing for the self-publisher, I try to do a minimum of 50 pages per day, which depending on the project is either a few hours or a sun-up to sun-down proposition.

    I try to read and get a response out for submissions to Nonlocal inside a week, though I have been falling short on that a lot lately.

    Editing accepted stories is very individualized. Sometimes they only require a light polishing. Other times I’ve taken stories from rookie authors that I really believed in and have given advice for some pretty substantial rewrites. That part is fun for me. I love helping out new writers and transforming a rough piece into a real gem..

    As far as writing, copy for the website/blog is usually 2000-3000 words per week. On the odd day when I find time to work on my own fiction projects, I shoot for 3000 words if I can go the whole day on it, though that rarely happens.

    Plotter, pantser or both?

    I definitely aspire to be a plotter. I have all sorts of fancy calendars and spreadsheets and to-do lists, but I have so many plates spinning at once that I’m frequently forced to be a pantser, unfortunately. Maybe that will change someday soon, but I doubt it.

    What’s your worst enemy in getting that first draft finished?

    Second-guessing myself and trying to start editing and revising before I’m finished. I used to write with an outline, but I always found that the end product suffered and sounded very formulaic. I tend to write without a net anymore, but I often change my mind about some particular plot element or character and can’t resist going back and making the change immediately. This invariably leads to rewrites and revises of entire sections and chapters before the full story is even written.

    Have you ever experienced lack of inspiration or drive to write? If so, how do you motivate yourself?

    When I first started, I was pretty naïve. I expected quick success, and when my first attempts were rejected by magazines like Asimov’s and Analog, I walked away from writing for a bit. From beginning to end, that first period of writing, submitting, and getting a dozen or so rejections probably lasted about 18 months.

    I got back into writing by exploring some other paths. As I’ve already said, I started editing for a self-publisher, which has been a huge blessing. You learn a lot by reading and recognizing mistakes by others. It’s hard to get better if all you ever do is read polished novels by professionals and your own stuff all the time.

    I also worked on a couple magazine projects. One was a great regional human interest mag called Rustbelt Almanac. We profiled hip small business owners who were helping to breathe economic life back into cities like Detroit, Cleveland, and Pittsburgh which have all had to transform and move away from their manufacturing roots. Rustbelt, even though it never quite caught on, was a really high-quality publication, and it got me back into writing in a big way. I didn’t have stories of my own that I wanted to tell at that point, but I was able to help tell the stories of others. It was a lot of fun.

    Could we take a look at your workspace? Is there a particular place you find inspiring for writing?

    Here’s my current workspace:

    WorkSpace

    My desk is actually a shelf from under an old IKEA coffee table with four modular legs attached. I love having a big work surface, and the lack of drawers and shelves and all of that eliminates a lot of distractions.

    I have a dual-monitor setup for my desktop, which I find indispensible with all of the different projects I have going. You can probably see a microphone and a small mixing board. I’ve been dabbling with home recording, and I hope to have the first episode of a podcast out soon with general talk about indie publishing and interviews with authors from the magazine.

    On the walls, I have a bunch of different things, some useful and some more inspirational. Hanging on the wall to the left is a replica of the Declaration of Independence – a relic from my archaeologist/historian days, though still appropriate décor for an indie author/publisher. Over the desk, I have a picture of a young Isaac Asimov, my personal sci-fi author hero, a list of the 20 traits of a successful Guerrilla marketer, the masthead for Nonloccal, and a little sign that I made with the Latin phrase “Creatio ex nihilo” which means “Create something from nothing.”

    I love your detailed description. Now this image is pinned on my Featured Writers’ Workspace board on Pinterest.Apart from Word and Google, do you use any other writing or research tools and apps?

    My websites are all built on WordPress, and I do layouts on a publishing platform called Serif PagePlus. I keep track of blogs with Feedly, and I use the free version of Hootsuite for my social media post scheduling. As far as writing/editing references, I stick mainly to hard copies. I pull out The Elements of Style and The Chicago Manual pretty frequently, as everyone should.

    How do you intend to celebrate writing “The End” on your draft?

    I haven’t thought that far ahead yet. Probably with a nap. Maybe with a shot of bourbon. Perhaps both.

    Which book publishing processes are you going to outsource and which are you confident enough to undertake yourself?

    I connected with an awesome cover design company called Bioblossom Creative recently. They designed the cover for the first issue of Nonlocal on spec so that I could do a cover reveal during the Kickstarter.

    CoverReveal

    Other than that, though, it’s just me and the authors. I’m handling all of the publishing and the bulk of the marketing, including coordinating some collaborative marketing efforts with the authors.
    Do you have any marketing tips or favorite promotional sites you’d like to share?

    Be genuine and never stop trying new things. If you’re an indie author and you feel like you aren’t making much progress, it can be easy to just start phoning it in with nothing but scheduled “Buy my book!” posts on social media. But the second you stop actively engaging with your audience, no matter how big or small it is, you’ll lose all momentum and probably lose a lot of that audience that you’ve worked so hard to build.

    When I have a day when I feel like everything I’m doing is pointless and isn’t getting results, I try something new. I find a new social sharing tool. I seek out a new group on Facebook that shares a common interest. I come up with some new way to connect with people on Twitter or somewhere else.

    There’s no big magical secret that I’m aware of (other than maybe having a million-dollar marketing budget). It all comes down to who has the motivation to keep at it and keep trying new things until something works.

    Is science fiction the genre you will stick to or do you see yourself branching out in the future?

    As far as my personal writings, I don’t have much of a desire to expand out of science fiction. That could always change, but I doubt it.

    As for publishing, I’m starting in sci-fi because it’s a home base for me. I know good science fiction when I read it, and I don’t have to second-guess myself when I read submissions. That said, if the Nonlocal model is successful (and I haven’t even talked about the profit-sharing side of things, check the website for info on that), I’d like to expand into other genres. Whether I’ll be able to do that on my own or if I’ll need to find other editors remains to be seen.

    Finally, please share with us links where we can find you and your work.

    33rd Street Digital Press website: http://thirtythirdstreet.com

    Nonlocal Science Fiction website: http://nonlocalscifi.com

    Kickstarter: http://kck.st/1KORMlN

    Twitter: https://twitter.com/33rdStreetPress

    is Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/33rdStreetPress

    Dear readers, I’m sure you appreciate Dan’s effort with Nonlocal. Please consider helping his Kickstarter project. Thank you, Dan, and best of luck.

    Thanks so much for having me!

  • Meet your characters over a glass of wine: Savannah Morgan – WIP Interview

    Savannah Morgan, an author of ACR stories, immersed in danger and suspense is today’s guest. If you don’t know what an ACR is, Savannah has a neat explanation for you.

    Hello, I’m Savannah Morgan, author of the Sapphire Springs series. The series is labeled as erotic romance, and it is definitely for the 18 and over crowd as nothing is left out, but I dislike that genre label for my books. Don’t get me wrong, I read erotica and erotic romances but they tend to fall short on story adaption and character development and getting the couple to have sex as often and sometimes in as many places as possible seems to be the driving force. A friend of mine told me about a little known genre called Adult Contemporary Romance, or ACR. ACR books are more driven by the characters development and growth and the plot drives the story not the sex, even though there are some very steamy love scenes with no holds barred action and language.

    As for Sapphire Springs, it’s a fictional town set in Montana, USA where nothing is as it seems. Lies, secrets and betrayals can be found at every turn, but among those you will find passion, lust, and deep abiding love. The books of Sapphire Springs revolve around the lives and friends of the founding family, the Blackthorns. It is a complicated bloodline but I do my best to unravel those complications and provide a family tree at the beginning of every book to help you keep everyone straight. My goal as a writer is to bring you entertainment. My goal in writing Sapphire Springs is to bring you lifelong friends.

    Sapphire Springs Secrets_Master Cover_Long Hair_No Background

    Savannah, thanks for the distinction. In an ever-evolving market, it’s good to be familiar with the terminology. Before we talk about your WIP, why don’t you tell us a few things about yourself?

    Thank you for having me, Maria. This is quite an honor.  This is probably my most dreaded question of any interview, simply because I lead a relatively quiet and boring life. Lol

    I’m a wife of 26 years, this month, to a wonderfully supportive man. We don’t have children, but we do have our two adopted/rescued dogs; Madison – full blood Black Labrador Retriever, who will be 15 this July and Caleb – 1/2 Black Lab, 1/2 Australian Dingo, who will be ten this year. Madison came to us after having been severely abused and has turned out to be the best protector I could ever have. She has literally saved my life 3 times. Caleb came to us as a Katrina puppy. He was a product of his parents being left behind when their owners evacuated the coast of Mississippi before Hurricane Katrina hit.

    The stories of my dogs, is important in that two causes most dear to my heart is rescuing abused and abandoned pets and responsible pet ownership. An animal doesn’t ask a thing from humans other than to be loved and taken care of, in return they give us so much; companionship, humor, unconditional love, non-judgment of our choices good or bad, and in many cases, me especially, our lives.  I would like to see more stringent laws that would protect animals and punish those abusing them more accordingly. I’ll stop there, before I get up on the soapbox.

    I do not have a college degree but I have college courses behind me. I have been in the process of getting my degree for the last 20 years, but due to family needs I’ve had to stop at times to find employment. Something I’m sure many of your followers and my readers can understand. My motto is: It’s only too late when you’re dead. So never, ever give up on your dreams, big or small.

    As for hobbies, I like to read and write, but I guess those aren’t much of a surprise. I also love music and movies, but mostly I like creating. I design and make dreamcatchers, I crochet, I love being creative in the kitchen, and I’m also an amateur graphic designer. I even do my own cover art, promotional banners and photo teasers. Having, listed all of those indoor activities it might interest people to know that I’m also an amateur photographer and love landscape photography. I even love going out for a few days and camping out with just the husband and the dogs.

    As for quirks I imagine I have many but I suppose, if I’m going to be honest, I’m a bit of a control freak when I have something specific in my head. Since it’s sometimes a little difficult for me to explain a design or an idea that’s in my head I tend to take on too much and control the situation until I have it exactly how I want it. Another quirk I have is I don’t like a lot of noise, chatter or banging noises, but when I listen to music, usually head-banging rock and roll, I turn the volume up to dangerous levels. That’s a bit quirky isn’t it? LOL

    And you call that a boring life?! Exercise in lean writing: give us a synopsis of your current WIP in under 200 words.

    Irresistible

    Sapphire Springs Book 3

    Amara Davis is running for her life, powerless to prove her innocence or her sanity. For nearly two years she has led a quiet life in a small Oregon town. The signs are telling her there is change coming, but which path will take her to freedom?

    Duncan McKinnon has just been promoted to US Marshal, but he buried a brother and arrested his own mother for that gold star. Now he is on mandatory administrative leave while he awaits the trials he is the star witness in. Warned to stay away from active cases, Duncan heads home to Oregon wanting nothing more than a cold beer and to sleep in his own bed, but thoughts of the fugitive Amara Davis plague him. There is just something about the woman Duncan can’t shake.

    Will Duncan find Amara first and make the arrest, or will he destroy his promising career with the US Marshal Service by protecting a fugitive?

    Can Amara trust the signs she’s been seeing at nearly every turn and are those signs really pointing at the handsome US Marshal? Can she make Duncan see the truth, or will he betray her for his badge?

    Are you happy with the pace of your work? Do you aim at a specific word count each day?

    Actually, I don’t really have a writing method down. Since I’m a stay at home wife I tend to write when the characters talk to me. That could be at 6:00 AM, Noon, in the evening or waking me up at 3 in the morning. I write when it’s there, so I don’t really have a word count that I strive to hit every day.

    Plotter, pantser or both?

    I would have to say I’m both. Since I have a huge cast of Characters in both series I am writing, Sapphire Springs and the upcoming first release of Deadly Flowers, I have to be a plotter. I utilize a massive multiply worksheet spreadsheet in Excel to keep everyone straight. Now let me explain the character development process first. My characters come to me fully formed with a story to tell. There is like this room in my head that has two chairs, a small table and a fireplace, and depending on my mood the character and I visit over a cup of coffee or a glass of wine as they tell me all about them. From that point the beginning and the ending come to me….usually days, sometimes weeks apart. Once I start writing though I become a pantser. I sit down and my keyboard and type out the plotted beginning and then once that is down I write as the story unfolds in my mind. The amazing thing is only minor details change in the ending from the time it comes to me and the time it is actually written, months later.

    That’s a really interesting process! What’s your worst enemy in getting that first draft finished?

    Starting it. Once I make up my mind and actually sit down and write it, so far, seems to flow seamlessly. But the actual sitting down and doing it is my greatest issue. When I have a story bubbling in my head, dying to get out, it seems as if everything hits me at once and I don’t have time to sit down and get it down. That’s why I carry a digital recorder with me everywhere I go, and make certain those batteries are fully charged. I don’t want to miss a thing while I’m dealing with real life demands.

    Have you ever experienced lack of inspiration or drive to write? If so, how do you motivate yourself?

    I think every author deals with this. Truthfully, the answer to the question above is the answer to this one too. Real life demands tend to pull my focus and inspiration from writing. The only way I can motivate myself is to work through the real life issue and get it done with. At that point my mind opens up like a floodgate and the story is, thankfully, still there. I pray it is always that way.

    Could we take a look at your workspace? Is there a particular place you find inspiring for writing?

    10856169_1585397598370635_1179482092_o

    My husband and I have transformed one of the bedrooms of our home into a joint office. Our computers are nearly side by side. LOL I don’t have anything really captivating in front of me, just a blank wall as you can see in the attached picture. It’s not good to distract me with too many things, say like sunshine, because I’ll be grabbing the camera and the dogs and going out for a walk instead of writing. LOL

    I’d do the exact same thing. Now your workspace pic is pinned on my Featured Writers’ Workspace board in Pinterest. Apart from Word and Google, do you use any other writing or research tools and apps?

    Yes. I have an extensive home library filled with books on subjects such Celtic Deities, Catholic Saints, weaponry, explosives, Native American culture and beliefs, Myths and legends along with reference material such as a dictionary that has nearly every word in the English Language and its origins and when it became popular. LOL I also utilize experts, such as military members, police, and even my own husband who is a network security engineer. If it or they have knowledge I need I will seek it out as quickly as possible.

    Oh my, you’re fully equipped! How do you intend to celebrate writing “The End” on your draft?

    The funny thing is, is I don’t celebrate writing “The End”. I actually have never typed those words at the end of a book. I think I might be a little superstitious. A small part of my mind tells me if I type those words I may never write another book. LOL Silly I know, but there it is. As for celebrating the completion of a book, I never really thought of that as a celebrating point. I mean, yeah, it’s done, but really it’s just beginning. You have edits, and rewrites and then formatting (which is my least favorite thing to do) cover photos to look through, a cover to create, photo blurbs to make, you know the list is almost endless. LOL I celebrate on release day. I share with my friends and have a nice glass of wine, or a cup of coffee.

    Which book publishing processes are you going to outsource and which are you confident enough to undertake yourself?

    I’ve sort of already answered this, but in a nutshell, I do it all except editing. I let someone else edit for me.

    Do you have any marketing tips or favorite promotional sites you’d like to share?

    I’m still so new to all of this I’m still learning the marketing ropes, along with everything else. But I’ve fallen in with some wonderful bloggers who have been such a blessing at helping me get the word out, like you and you doing this interview on me.

    Promoting Authors, Book and Reviews – Patches Brazillion

    Naughty Librarians Playground – Jennifer Zamora

    Not Another Damn Blog Blog – Krystal Fahl, and sometimes Jordan Marie the founder turned author comes back and helps out, as she did for my release party this past Tuesday.

    Booklover – Chastity Leaphart Gregory

    Booklove 4LifeBlog – Amber Smith

    Paranormal Romance Trance – Tina Bell

    Naughty Books and Bits – Samatha Jones

    Tempting Sexy Thoughts – Julianne and Leeann

    And the list goes on….LOL

    Is adult contemporary romance the genre you will stick to or do you see yourself branching out in the future?

    I’m so glad you asked this, because my next release is a straight contemporary suspense/thriller romance, titled ‘Dakota’s Autumn. It is actually the first book in the Deadly Flowers series. I will have another book from Sapphire Springs releasing late this summer, and then I will be releasing my very first PNR title around October, and then I hope to have the 4th title in the Sapphire Springs series out by December. As you can see I have a full year of writing ahead of me.

    Fun stuff now: Let’s do a rapid fire round.

    • Flavored sorbet or chocolate ice cream? Chocolate Ice Cream, but it has to be dark chocolate. lol
    • Pizza or sushi? Haha, Pizza.
    • Twilight or The Hunger Games? Books? The Hunger Games Movies? Twilight, Oops I think I might have cheated on this one.
    • Ryan Gosling or Benedict Cumberbatch? I’m embarrassed to say I had to look them both up, LOL. Since I don’t know  either of them I can only go on looks, so it would have to be Ryan Gosling, and I think I’ve seen him a couple of movies.
    • Trek in the Andes or snorkeling in Tahiti? Ugh, do I have to choose? Both. One after the other. I’d take next day if I could get it. lol
    • Ugg boots or red-soled designer stilettos? Ugg boots, because I have this thing, hubby calls it a compulsion but I disagree, for boots, but the stilettos would be equally nice.

    Finally, please share with us links where we can find you and your work.

    I’m moving everything over to Amazon.com, but you can still find Dreams on BandN.com and Smashwords.

    Here is where you can find me.

    Website: http://www.author-savannahmorgan.com/
    Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00GU0J4WE
    Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7853656.Savannah_Morgan
    Facebook: http://tinyurl.com/praot6y
    FB Author Page: http://tinyurl.com/nsxeq9m
    Google+: http://tinyurl.com/onagba8
    Twitter: https://twitter.com/AuthorSavvyM
    Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/smorganauthor/
    TSU: https://www.tsu.co/SavannahMorganAuthor
    Are: http://tinyurl.com/pc22uxj
    Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdEO886VR1Sf_CdhP9QFTEg
    Authorgraph: https://www.authorgraph.com/authors/AuthorSavvyM
    Ello: https://ello.co/savannahmorgan

    Thank you, Savannah, and best of luck with your future projects!

    Thank you for having me. And good luck with all of your projects too.

    Bye everybody.

  • Between Canada and the Caribbean: Susan Toy – WIP Interview

    author picSusan Toy has been a bookseller, an award-winning publishing sales representative, a literacy teacher, and is now a published author, publisher, and promoter of fellow authors and their books. Born and raised in Toronto, after completing a degree in English Literature at Queen’s University in Kingston, she moved to Calgary in the late 70s and immediately found a job in a bookstore, beginning what has become a life’s career working with books and their authors.  She’s the author of Island in the Clouds, a Baquia Perspectives mystery novel.

    Susan , thank you so much for being here. Before we talk about your WIP, what else can we know about you?  

    I’m retired from paid work and now move back-and-forth between Canada and the Caribbean. I have always read voraciously and was fortunate to have enjoyed a career working with others who also love books and writing. I met so, so many great authors along the way – too many to count – and have become friends with most of them. I have always been their champion or cheerleader, in a sense, so carrying on with author promotions on my blog, Reading Recommendations, is a way of staying connected and paying them back, in a sense, for writing so well. Aside from reading, I love to cook and am constantly experimenting with food and recipes.   I share a house in the Caribbean with four cats and one partner/property manager who has never found a dead body floating in a pool.

    That’s good to know! What are you working on right now?

    cover susan full colour jan2012 - largeI’m rewriting and editing a second novel in the Bequia Perspectives series. This, and the next two, were written about a decade ago, before I knew what I was doing. Since publishing Island in the Clouds, I now have a better idea of the direction I’m moving in with these books.

    Are you happy with the pace of your work? Do you aim at a specific word count each day?

    Are we ever happy with the pace of our work? I tend to be the Queen of the Procrastinators so am easily distracted from what I should be doing, and … Oh, look! Another author to promote or a blog post idea to write up!

    If you’re the Queen, then I’m definitely applying for a position as the lady-in-waiting. I do belong in the procrastinators’ court! Plotter, pantser or both?

    Definitely a plotter. I know exactly what’s going to happen, who does what to whom, and the timeline the story covers before I begin writing. I don’t write any of that down. It’s all in my head, but it’s definitely plotted before I begin writing. That’s not to say I don’t make changes after the fact. For instance, this new novel was written more than ten years ago directly after Island in the Clouds, including following the time in which it’s set, a few months after Island ends. Some of the same secondary characters recur in the second novel, but I recently decided to make a number of drastic changes to those characters and am introducing new ones into this next story. I’m essentially keeping the original scenes and action I’d already written, but new characters will be involved and I’ve added another plot thread to what I already had written.

    What’s your worst enemy in getting that first draft finished?

    Myself. My time-wasting habits. (I actually haven’t written a new first draft in a very long time, because my files are full to over-flowing with first drafts and manuscripts in various states that I have never gotten around to finishing. Many of those were written for contests. Entering contests proved to be the best means for me to complete a first draft quickly. Deadlines also seem to work – although not self-imposed deadlines. See, Maria, how I managed to get these interview answers back to you in a timely fashion?)

    I totally empathize. Have you ever experienced lack of inspiration or drive to write? If so, how do you motivate yourself?  Could we take a look at your workspace? Is there a particular place you find inspiring for writing?

    Always. All the time. I have never imposed a strict work schedule on myself, mainly because I know I’d never adhere to it. (See above.) I don’t even have a particular work place where I write. When I’m in Canada, I find I can work quite well in coffee shops or at the library. I’m also not on an agenda to write and publish X number of books in Y length of time. I think by doing that to themselves, many (not all, but many) authors run the risk of producing less-than-perfect work. I’ve assisted authors who were extremely agenda-driven and, rather than taking the time to really hone their craft and enjoy the process, creating something of which we could all be proud, they were self-centred, miserable, and blamed everyone else for their lack of progress and success by insisting on following this rigid agenda of theirs. Remember, haste makes waste! I would hate for a drive like that to ruin my own life, so I try not to worry about the whole “motivated to write” thing. I did, however, manage to write for the 3-Day Novel contest sitting in this chair while looking at this view.

    Susan view

    A slice of heaven! Apart from Word and Google, do you use any other writing or research tools and apps?

    I wrote the first drafts of three novels using yellow legal pads and a pen. I transcribed that into Word and have been editing using Word ever since. (I took a few editing courses and learned how to use that system.) Now I may make a few notes by writing them into a notebook with a pen, but I always begin any new manuscript on my computer, in Word. I actually didn’t know of any other tools or apps.

    How do you intend to celebrate writing “The End” on your draft?

    That’s never been a celebration for me, because I know the fun part is over and the really hard work has only just begun.

    Which book publishing processes are you going to outsource and which are you confident enough to undertake yourself?

    Even though I have a great deal of experience in publishing books and I have published the work of other authors, I always bring in the professionals, at every stage of the process (editing, cover design, formatting, ePublishing and print publishing). The more eyes there are on any manuscript production the better to uncover potential problems and create a perfect book. I work with a Canadian eBook formatter who not only produces the various eFiles I require, but also looks after listing with online sales sites, including Overdrive which sells to libraries, and collects revenue from them all for the authors she represents. Every month I receive an email funds transfer of royalty payments. No fuss, no muss. It doesn’t get any better than that.

    Actually, the one area I do always look after myself is promotion, but that’s because I know of no one else who can promote books as well as I do. 😉

    Do you have any marketing tips or favorite promotional sites you’d like to share?

    I am constantly posting marketing tips and ideas of my own, and reblogging those of others, to my blog.  One thing I will say here though is that authors should know who it is they’re writing for, who their target market is, and really aim for that group specifically in whatever promotion they do. Build up a fan base from that target market and let those fans do the promotion to their friends for you.

    Is mystery the genre you will stick to or do you see yourself branching out in the future?

    I kind of fell into mystery with my first novel because, at the time, it was the best way I could imagine to tell the story of Bequia. I prefer reading literary fiction and that’s the genre I’ve written in for all my non-Bequia stories. The mystery part of these Bequia novels was kind of meant to be a hook to get readers interested in what I’m really writing about in this quartet, which is Bequia. I do believe though that the story we have to tell decides the type of genre in which it best needs to be told. I don’t ever want to be slotted as a writer of one particular genre. That’s so limiting – for me and for my readers. I hope readers enjoy my writing enough to want to read anything I publish, no matter what the genre, or even the form.

    Fun stuff now: Let’s do a rapid fire round.

    • Flavored sorbet or chocolate ice cream? Chocolate. Always chocolate.
    • Pizza or sushi? Sushi, as long as someone else is making it. (We make our own very fine pizza, but sushi, while we can also prepare it, is another matter because of availability of ingredients and finickiness of preparation.)
    • Twilight or The Hunger Games? Ummm, neither? (Won’t read them or watch the movies. They’re just not my thing.)
    • Ryan Gosling or Benedict Cumberbatch? Ummm, neither? (Much too young and inexperienced. Give me Sean Connery any day!)
    • Trek in the Andes or snorkeling in Tahiti? Sitting on the verandah of my house on Bequia.
    • Ugg boots or red-soled designer stilettos? Neither again. Running shoes or barefoot.

     Finally, please share with us links where we can find you and your work.

    My main blog, Books: Publishing, Reading, Writing (https://islandeditions.wordpress.com/), includes links to my bio, published novel, Island in the Clouds, publishing imprint, IslandShorts (where I have published one novella, That Last Summer), and the author promotion blog, Reading Recommendations (http://readingrecommendations.wordpress.com/).

    Thank you, Susan, and best of luck with the sequel to Island in the Clouds!

     

  • Jessica Cale: Music beats writer’s block (WIP interview)

    Jessica Cale

    I’m quite busy promoting Fate Accompli, and writing Fate Captured, so I have stopped actively seeking out authors for the WIP column. But when I saw the cover of Jessica’s debut novel, I just wanted it on my blog!

    Jessica Cale is a journalist and author currently based in North Carolina.  She is the author of Tyburn, her first novel for Liquid Silver Books. Tyburn is a dark historical romance set in Restoration London and is the first book in her new series, The Southwark Saga.

    Jessica , welcome to MM Jaye writes. Before we talk about your WIP, why don’t you tell us a few things about yourself? 

    I’m originally from Minnesota, but I lived in Wales for seven years and earned a BA in Medieval History and an MFA in Creative Writing at Swansea University. My husband and I both studied history in Swansea and we met when I crashed a beach party there back in 2005. Now we live in North Carolina with our Welsh rescue cats and life is good. I have a full-time day job as well as writing, but it’s for a great non-profit organization and I work with a lot of lovely, supportive people, so I’m very lucky in that respect. I collect tea cups, history books, and I bake macarons on the weekends. I’m always trying to come up with new flavors!

    *Ignoring the saliva influx in my mouth*Exercise in lean writing: give us a synopsis of your current WIP in under 200 words.

    Lady Jane Ramsey is ruined.

    Valiantly rescued from her kidnapping by a gorgeous highwayman, she thanked him as enthusiastically as her imagination allowed, only to find her marriage prospects greatly reduced when she returned home. She doesn’t mind. All she can think about is her highwayman, and she is determined to find him again.

    As the daughter of an earl and one of the wealthiest heiresses in England, she is expected to make the best match possible before her reputation is damaged beyond repair. Her father accepts an offer from the repulsive Lord Lewes and expects Jane to comply.

    Jane has other plans.

    tyburn (2)

    Intriguing! And isn’t that cover a study in perfection? Compelling! What are you working on right now?

    I am working on the second book in The Southwark Saga, which picks up immediately where Tyburn leaves off. This book follows Lady Jane Ramsey, a supporting character in Tyburn. It’s nice to work on something so close to Tyburn because I’m still so immersed in that world, and I can spend more time with the characters. It’s great to be able to check in on Nick and Sally, too.

    I know exactly what you mean. The best part about writing a series is that you can interact with all the characters you’ve nurtured in every book. Are you happy with the pace of your work? Do you aim at a specific word count each day?

    I’d like more time to write. I work full-time, but I start unbelievably early in the morning (you don’t want to know) so I have more time to write when I get home. I usually work on writing, editing, research, or promotional things until I have to go to sleep for the next day. I don’t get time off, and I don’t get a lot of sleep. It’s still worth it, and my husband and friends are very supportive. On a good writing day, I’m happy with anything over 1,000 words. On my best writing day, I made it to 9,000. That was a long day. I ended after midnight and went downstairs to find my husband and friends having a party. I hadn’t even noticed it was going on. I was still pretty energized, so I made everyone crepes!

    IMG_20140309_003955

    And we have the picture to prove it! Plotter, pantser or both?

    I plot the absolute heck out of everything. I have a notebook for ideas, and about a thousand post-its stuffed into it from when I thought of something away from the house! It’s difficult to plot on demand, though, so the books evolve slowly over time in pieces. They usually start with a scene or two, and I try to fill in everything else from there.

    What’s your worst enemy in getting that first draft finished?

    Time and work. I get so into it that I don’t want to stop, but of course I have to. The ideas keep coming, though, and that’s where the Post-Its come in…

    Have you ever experienced lack of inspiration or drive to write? If so, how do you motivate yourself? 

    Definitely. When I was doing more journalism in the UK, I went for a few years without writing any fiction, just because I didn’t have time between the journalism and working in the day. I was doing mostly music journalism then, so I’d work all day and then have shows to review at night. It was crazy. I didn’t want to give it up, but it was either that or fiction, and fiction is what I’ve always wanted to do. It was a little tricky getting back into fiction after the break, but music helped. Music continues to be a great way to beat writer’s block for me. When I’m thinking of ideas for a book, I imagine the whole thing in vivid scenes like watching a movie, I cast the characters, and the songs are the soundtrack. it’s not the lyrics themselves, but the mood. There’s something about music that taps into that creative part of my brain and makes everything work a little bit better. If I’m really having trouble or a project just isn’t working, I’ll write something completely different, like horror or satire, just to switch things up a bit. That usually works, too.

    That usually does the trick, yes. Could we take a look at your workspace? Is there a particular place you find inspiring for writing?

    IMG_20140601_084125

    One of your Welsh rescues I presume? Now your workspace pic is pinned on my Featured Writers’ Workspace Pinterest Board. Apart from Word and Google, do you use any other writing or research tools and apps?

    I actually really like using Pinterest as a sort of idea board. I have secret boards of photos and pieces of research for future stories, plus fun public boards for possible characters, locations, and costumes to help readers to picture the Restoration world. This is a work in progress, but it’s a lot of fun. I also use Google Sheets to organize my characters, chronology, research, and outside commitments and obligations. I color code everything, because things are less intimidating when they’re in pastel.

    Google Sheets as an organizing tool is definitely something I’ll have to look into. How do you intend to celebrate writing “The End” on your draft?

    I probably won’t. By the time I finished Tyburn, I was already halfway through Jane’s book (the result of a lot creative exercises to beat writer’s block — they are worth doing!), and then I was worried about editing and pitching it right away. I edit everything I write several times before I’ll show it to anyone, so I never really feel like I’m done. I did celebrate signing the contract by going out to dinner with my husband, his parents, and our friends, and that was great. There’s just so much to do and it’s such a continuous cycle of work that it’s hard to pick one time to stop and celebrate anything. I’m usually too busy! The first draft of Jane’s book is done, but now I’m working on rewrites. Maybe I’ll celebrate when that one gets published!

    Which book publishing processes are you going to outsource and which are you confident enough to undertake yourself?

    I’m very lucky to have a fantastic publisher and they help so much with the editing, layout, cover, and marketing. Apart from that, I undertake a huge proportion of the promotional duties myself. I’m doing the line edits and layout for the print version myself, and if I could physically print and assemble the books myself, I probably would. I would be a lot happier if I outsourced more, but I come from a very DIY background (I published an independent zine for ten years), so I tend to just do things myself if I know how, and if I don’t, I figure it out. I would get a lot more sleep if I could learn to outsource!

    Do you have any marketing tips or favorite promotional sites you’d like to share?

    I’m very new to the whole marketing side of things, so I’m still learning. From my very limited experience, I would recommend befriending other authors (of any genre/subgenre) and learning from them as much as you can. Be nice to each other — you’re all in the same boat! — and thank people for their time and help. Be grateful, and be mindful of others: when someone helps you, return the favor. Also, be on the lookout for new opportunities. The Marketing For Romance Writers Yahoo group is a fantastic source of continuous opportunities for networking and promotion. I would definitely recommend checking it out.

    I’ll second that. MFRW has taught me so much in such a little time. That’s how we got in touch! Is dark fantasy the genre you will stick to or do you see yourself branching out in the future?

    Tyburn is very dark, but Jane’s story has a completely different tone — it’s almost a comedy! The third one will have more of a mystery element to it, but the whole series will still be historical romance. Someday I’d like to branch out to try some other things, but for now, I’m very much rooted in the seventeenth century.

    Fun stuff now: Let’s do a rapid fire round.

    • Flavored sorbet or chocolate ice cream? Chocolate ice cream! My favorite is So Delicious chocolate ice cream made with soy milk.
    • Pizza or sushi? Pizza with anchovies, olives, and capers. Yum!
    • Twilight or The Hunger Games? The Hunger Games.
    • Ryan Gosling or Benedict Cumberbatch? Benedict Cumberbatch
    • Trek in the Andes or snorkeling in Tahiti? Trek in the Andes. I love a great view.
    • Ugg boots or red-soled designer stilettos? I have a pair of black Converse ballet flats I wear everywhere. They go with anything! (I’ll have to Google these!)
    • Jane Eyre or Wuthering Heights? Wuthering Heights
    • London or Paris? London
    • Beatles or the Rolling Stones? The Rolling Stones!

    Finally, please share with us links where we can find you and your work.

    My website is http://www.authorjessicacale.com

    You can find Tyburn as http://www.lsbooks.com and http://www.amazon.com/Tyburn-Southwark-Saga-Book-1-ebook/dp/B00PQV6H9Q/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1416519139&sr=1-1&keywords=tyburn+jessica+cale

    You can also find me here:

    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorjessicacale

    Twitter: https://twitter.com/JessicaCale @JessicaCale

    Google+:  https://plus.google.com/u/0/+JessicaCaleWrites

    Tumblr: http://authorjessicacale.tumblr.com/

    Pintrest: http://www.pinterest.com/rainbowcarnage

    Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/Jessica-Cale/e/B00PVDV9EW/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0

    Thank you, Jessica, and best of luck with your future projects!

    _________________

    Fate Accompli is now out on Amazon in two heat versions. The links below will take you directly to your Amazon store.

    Fait Accompli - Spicy version

    Fate Accompli Spicy: getBook.at/FateSpicy

    Fate Accompli Clean: getBook.at/FateClean

    If you’d like to read the first chapters of Fate Accompli, they’re available on Wattpad. (3,000 views and counting…)

  • Sandra Danby – On adoption dynamics and work process (WIP interview)

    Sandra Danby Author - photo Simon CooperWhen Sandra Danby contacted me for an interview, my first move was to check out her site and book covers. I ended up spending about an hour that I did not have there, drawn by the power of simplicity and her strong theme. Therefore, it’s with great pleasure, I feature Sandra and her work today.

    Sandra Danby’s debut novel ‘Ignoring Gravity’ is just published and she is now writing the sequel ‘Connectedness’. Both novels examine how a person’s sense of identity is affected by adoption.

    Sandra, thank you so much for being here. Before we talk about your WIP, why don’t you tell us a few things about yourself?  

    If I could, I would write all day every day. And when not writing, I would be reading. It’s always been that way. I grew up on a small dairy farm at the bleak edge of East Yorkshire where England meets the North Sea. So I am a proud Yorkshire woman, tea drinker and tennis fan. When I am not writing, which I can do while drinking tea, I can be found reading a book or watching tennis on television.

    Ignoring Gravity by Sandra DanbyExercise in lean writing: give us a synopsis of your current WIP in under 200 words.  

    ‘Connectedness’ – the second book in the series about ‘Rose Haldane: Identity Detective’ – features controversial artist Justine Tree. She is a Marmite artist: some love her emotional honesty, others say she is attention-seeking. Disapproving critics say her work could be done by primary school children with empty cereal boxes, fingertips and potato prints. Fans say her work has an emotional freedom that 21st century society could learn from, that she has unbuttoned the British stiff upper lip. But are the emotions Justine puts into her collages real? Truth or Lies: only Justine knows how and why she manipulates the truth.  So when she confronts her past and asks journalist Rose Haldane to find her lost baby, two strong personalities clash. Rose tries to untangle truth from lies in order to find Justine’s daughter who was given up for adoption when Justine was an art student. Justine, who has never told anyone she had a baby, is desperate to find her daughter but ashamed of the truth, desperate to have her daughter’s love but terrified she will find hate.

    Connectedness will be published in late 2015.

    This will make an interesting read! Are you happy with the pace of your work? Do you aim at a specific word count each day?

    At the moment my writing has halted temporarily as I concentrate on promoting ‘Ignoring Gravity’, but I plan to return to ‘Connectedness’ in January 2015. I am a disciplined writer, which comes I think from 35+ years as a journalist. Writing is my job. I don’t have a specific daily word count and I don’t have a target word count for the book. My first draft of ‘Ignoring Gravity’ was 140,000! Through re-drafting and polishing, that finally came down to 99,000. I hadn’t targeted 99,000, I just polished the manuscript until it felt right.

    Plotter, pantser or both?

    Plotter, always a plotter. That’s the journalist in me again. But I have learned to plot loosely and let the story develop.

    What’s your worst enemy in getting that first draft finished?

    Easy, social media. Essential today for writers to promote their work. But it sucks the minutes out of a day.

    Hear, hear. And if one is not as disciplined as you (that’s me!) then the writing time goes out the window. Have you ever experienced lack of inspiration or drive to write? If so, how do you motivate yourself?

    Nope, never not wanted to write, never had writer’s block. I think my journalism training knocked that out of me years ago. When writing is your daily job, and you have a deadline and an empty page to fill, excuses don’t count.

    Could we take a look at your workspace? Is there a particular place you find inspiring for writing?

    Sandra Danby - where I writeThis is my desk in the attic of our house. I have no view as the loft windows are higher than my desk so all I can see is sky. I am the first in the house to know it is raining. My desk faces the wall and I have a huge whiteboard to which are stuck photos of my characters, inspirational notes and photos of locations. All my books are here, the bookcases are bulging and books are beginning to form piles on the floor. There is a sofabed as my study doubles as a bedroom for visitors, but I rarely sit on it. I did entertain ideas of sitting there, reading… but that has never happened. What else? A floor-standing fan as the room gets stifling hot in the summer, and a small electric radiator to keep me warm in winter. And my CD collection, I couldn’t do without my music. As I write this, Mozart is playing gently in the background. I always write to classical music – Mozart, Verdi, Karl Jenkins, Elgar, Holst – as I find lyrics too distracting.

    Lots of wonderful light there! The concept whiteboard is a great idea! Now your workspace pic is pinned on my Featured Writers’ Workspace Board on Pinterest! Apart from Word and Google, do you use any other writing or research tools and apps?

    I have read a lot of adoption/family history, books, mostly requested from my local library or in the Reading Room at the British Library. For ‘Connectedness’ I researched art, again lots of reading but also visits to art galleries in London. My favourites are Tate Modern, Tate Britain, The Royal Academy, and the Victoria & Albert Museum. I also watch specialist television programmes. Two key TV series for me are ‘Who Do You Think You Are?’ and ‘Long Lost Family’ have been enormously helpful. And the BBC has excellent arts coverage.

    How do you intend to celebrate writing “The End” on your draft?

    No celebration planned, the end of the first draft is the beginning of the next stage of the writing process for me. I find it useful to take a break from the work in progress though, so at the end of the first draft I will write shorter fiction, perhaps some flash fiction, and get out more. Go to art galleries and the theatre! It’s also a great time to research the next book. I am always thinking ahead.

    Which book publishing processes are you going to outsource and which are you confident enough to undertake yourself?

    I am a writer, that is what I do best. I outsourced copy editing, manuscript formatting, front cover design, book trailer production, website design and e-mail marketing.

    Do you have any marketing tips or favorite promotional sites you’d like to share?

    Network like mad: blog, tweet, Facebook and share. Don’t bore people with constant requests to buy your book, social media is swamped by repetitive messages like that. And don’t just retweet other people’s original thoughts. Find an original way to communicate, tweet your own ideas and support other writers. There is a great network of mutually-supportive writers out there to tap into.

    True words! Your blog can be found here. Do you follow a specific branding pattern with your posts or is it a free writing platform?

    My writing blog has transferred in the last few weeks to a website promoting my books, but the content and purpose of my blog remains the same. I’ve been blogging on WordPress since February 2013, my new website is WordPress too. I blog about my thoughts on writing and the world of books. What other writers are saying and doing, I review books [new releases and classics] and publish some of my own short fiction. Writers’ BLOCKbusters is an occasional series offering solutions to get the creative juices started.

    Is contemporary women’s fiction the genre you will stick to or do you see yourself branching out in the future?

    Who knows what the future will bring. At the moment I am concentrating on the ‘Rose Haldane: Identity Detective’ series, with storylines planned for books three, four and five. Beyond that, I have ideas for two standalone novels set in Yorkshire.

    Fun stuff now: Let’s do a rapid fire round.

    • Flavored sorbet or chocolate ice cream? Strawberry ice cream
    • Pizza or sushi? Sushi
    • Twilight or The Hunger Games? The Hunger Games
    • Ryan Gosling or Benedict Cumberbatch? BC of course.
    • Trek in the Andes or snorkeling in Tahiti? Trek in the Andes. I have flown over them, on the way to Santiago, Chile, and they look amazing.
    • Ugg boots or red-soled designer stilettos? Scruffy blue Converse

    Finally, please share with us links where we can find you and your work.

    Amazon: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ignoring-Gravity-Haldane-Identity-Detective-ebook/dp/B00O3D2PFI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1415632368&sr=8-1&keywords=sandra+danby

    Website: http://www.sandradanby.com/

    Twitter: https://twitter.com/sandradanby

    Facebook: www.facebook.com/sandradanbyauthor

    Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/sandradan1/

    Watch the book trailer for ‘Ignoring Gravity’: http://youtu.be/jpzWKR4gx8I

    Thank you, Sandra, and best of luck with your future projects!

     _____________

    Fate Accompli is now out on Amazon in two heat versions. The links below will take you directly to your Amazon store.

    Fait Accompli - Spicy version

    Fate Accompli Spicy: getBook.at/FateSpicy

    Fate Accompli Clean: getBook.at/FateClean

    If you’d like to read the first chapters of Fate Accompli, they’re available on Wattpad. (Almost 2,000 views in one week!)

  • Heather Hill writes: WIP Interview

    This week I’m hosting a lady from the enchanting “land of the free, home of the brave”, who knows how to make people laugh. Heather, welcome aboard!

    Hi all! I’m a mum of five (not the band) and recently became a grandmother for the first time. Four years ago, I began a quest to become a comedy writer after humble beginnings tweeting jokes and one-liners which seemed to get a great response. As my follower list and favstars increased, so did my need for that drug known as ‘the power to make people laugh’. What a high! I was hooked.

    So, I wrote a sitcom and at the same time, joined the professional networking site, LinkedIn. Then things really got interesting.

    I managed, just through making a conscious effort to chat to people rather than just ‘collect contacts’ to get my work read by several of the UK’s top producers. I didn’t get a commission for my work, but I did get some fantastic feedback. People thought my work was funny. But I couldn’t actually sell it. So, from there, I went to writing my comedy novel for women, “The New Mrs D”.

    Before we talk about your WIP, can you clue us in some more about your life?

    I’ve been someone’s mum for the past twenty three years and during that time, held down a pretty diverse collection of jobs, from barmaid, to nursing, to managing social housing stock and finally, to a half and half job of fixing computers and carrying out admin tasks for a HR department. The last one was the straw that broke the donkey’s back. One day, I was photocopying 400 job application forms for my employer – twice – whilst day dreaming about all the better things I could be doing with my life. I’d already started using Twitter by that time and was getting a buzz from the people liking and sharing my jokes. I even saw people pinch them and call them their own at time. That day, I literally looked at my life from standing over a photo-copier and said, ‘you know what? This isn’t what I’m supposed to be doing.’

    That week I quit my job, in a recession, to find myself. And don’t get me wrong I did find myself, but I was a lot hungrier than the previous month when I had a monthly pay cheque.

    Good for you! (Not the hungry bit, but managing to turn your life around.) What are you working on right now?

    A comedy novel with a ‘working title’ I rather hope I get to keep. It’s called, ‘I Hate That You Bloody Left Me’ and it’s about three widows that meet in an online chatroom and decide to go together to see a famous psychic medium, who is doing his last ever show before retiring, in the hope that they might get a message from their husbands.  When none of them do, they follow him to his holiday home in the Scottish Highlands to beg him for a private sitting and end up accidentally kidnapping him. The rest of the novel is a series of hilarious misunderstandings and mishaps, but the magic in the ending is that the three women find they are linked in ways they never knew and that perhaps their meeting wasn’t by chance at all.

    That sounds highly readable! Are you happy with the pace of your work? Do you aim at a specific word count each day?

    My first novel, ‘The New Mrs D’ had to be self-published in the end, even though I managed to get an agent to represent it, so I have ended up spending more time on trying to market this novel than I am on writing, which is a shame. I know even published writers have to market, but when you have very little money to live on, you end up torn between dreaming up ways to sell the first book and that sense of urgency of getting the second book out. Plus, I have to be funny while the wolf is at the door! All of this has meant progress is much slower than I’d like! But every piece of advice I read from other authors screams, ‘get that next book out!’ So, I know I really have to pick up the pace.

    I’m not a perfectionist when it comes to the first draft, because I now know that it is never perfect and is always going to need heaps of rewrites and changes. I think stopping to edit yourself is a big barrier to getting to the end. You just have to keep writing!

    Say it so I can hear it. I have to learn to do this myself. Plotter, pantser or both?

    Plotter. Most definitely. I have a beat sheet that someone gave me and I’ve used it to map out sections for the entire novel where certain things are supposed to happen. Things like, ‘in the beginning, life is like this for your protagonist…’ and then, ‘in the middle, you took her life and turned it upside down! Oh no, what will he/she do?’ It reminds me to keep it a page turner for the reader.

    What’s your worst enemy in getting that first draft finished?

    Time spent marketing when I wish I was writing! And, being self-published there is that awful, niggly naggly doubt of ‘is this going to work? Am I good enough?’ I spend a lot of time talking myself round from that last one, as I think a lot of writers do.

    Could we take a look at your workspace? Is there a particular place you find inspiring for writing?

    Haha! I am a fan of longhand and write lying on the floor, in front of the fire. This brings its own little problems…. Like battles for space…

    I can see that! Now your photo is pinned on my Featured Writers’ Workspace board on Pinterest. Apart from Word and Google, do you use any other writing or research tools and apps?

    Not at all. I just write and when a question on something arises, I Google. I have, however, contacted many professionals on particular issues like in The New Mrs D when I had to write a chapter about my protagonist setting off a mass volcanic eruption scare on a Greek Island. It’s funny, because I thought I was writing something quite far-fetched, but on speaking to a couple of volcanology professionals, I found that it had actually been done in some very amusing circumstances!

    Was that the scene where you asked for help on Greek words from me? That’s how we connected on Twitter! How do you intend to celebrate writing “The End” on your draft?

    Same as last time – with my favourite nip of Bruichladdich whisky. Sounds like hard liquor, but it really is lovely! You should try it!

    Overlooking a loch? Most definitely! Which book publishing processes are you going to outsource and which are you confident enough to undertake yourself?

    I’ve learned a huge lesson with this first book, as I went with Amazon owned Createspace and then found I couldn’t distribute the book to the UK or Australia – where my ebook charted at No1 overall bestseller for a time. It has really hampered my efforts as I contacted all the book stores over there, saying, ‘look, my ebook is riding high in the charts. Would you consider stocking the paperback?’ Then after getting a few positive responses I have had to backtrack and publish a second edition – with Ingramspark – who DO distribute to the UK and Australia. I will go straight to Ingrams next time. It is a little harder to format the book, but worth the effort.

    Oh my! That must have been frustrating! Do you have any marketing tips or favorite promotional sites you’d like to share?

    I’m not going to lie, marketing has been (and is) very, very difficult. I was lucky that my ebook was randomly chosen by Amazon for a one day Kindle Daily Deal which sent it soaring to the top of the humour and women’s fiction charts. But keeping it there is very hard when no one knows who you are.

    I have contacted as many book bloggers as I could find and only manage to get reviews on a handful of sites. It is difficult, but there are some lovely folks out there who will review your book for you. You just have to persevere.

    I don’t recommend paid adverts through social media. But I wholeheartedly recommend networking kindly and helpfully. Just be yourself. Don’t permanently send out ‘buy my book messages’. I don’t know ANYBODY who doesn’t hate that.

    Your blog is hell4heather.com. Do you follow a specific branding pattern with your posts or is it a free writing platform?

    My blog is a free platform where I write random thoughts, advice to writers, updates on my progress and post pictures of cows and sheep that have broken into my garden for the umpteenth time this year. I do have the occasional guest post, but they are few and very far between. It’s a platform for my own musings really. I’m not really a great sales person, (she says, with one blog post entitled, ‘BUY MY BOOK! BUY MY BOOK! BUY MY BOOK!’) so I don’t like to make it about selling – it’s about being me really. Just myself, reaching out to readers in the hope that maybe they’ll see something they’d like to read more of.

    Is it comedy you intend to write more of?

    For sure! My first novel was rejected by thirteen publishers, many of them offering a commonly themed feedback line: ‘the humour is too crude and close to the bone.’ So, I tried to discipline myself to write something more marketable and ended up with ten chapters of a really unfunny book that I don’t like at all. I’m not sure if I’ll ever go back and rework it, but I had to put it aside and be myself again to begin, ‘I Hate That You Bloody Left Me,’ which is definitely in my signature crude humour and chatty writing style.  Whatever you do, you can’t please everyone and comedy is subjective, there will always be people who don’t get the joke or hate your writing style. But then, I don’t know about you but I want to read something edgy and different. And you will never get edgy and different if everyone tried to conform to what is already out there.

    Hear, hear! Fun stuff now: Let’s do a rapid fire round.

    Flavored sorbet or chocolate ice cream? You said chocolate. If any of the options have chocolate in them, it’s always that. Chocolate toilet seat, Heather? YES PLEASE!

    Pizza or sushi? WHY DO PEOPLE EAT RAW FISH?!? I once tasted oysters. Urgh.. like jellied sea. Don’t, just don’t…. PIZZA!

    Twilight or The Hunger Games? I’m forty three and watch very little TV. So I’m thinking Twilight because that’s when it’s all lovely and sundownie in the sky.

    Ryan Gosling or Benedict Cumberbatch? Colin Firth! Oh wait, that wasn’t one of the choices. Okay, Ryan Gosling played by Colin Firth. There is no room in my private fantasy life for anyone else. There, I said it.

    You won’t find me arguing about Colin Firth! Trek in the Andes or snorkeling in Tahiti? I absolutely love hiking, so it’s trekking, hands down. My husband is always dragging me up Scottish munros and I swear at him all the way up because I’m exhausted and he bullies me like a drill seargent to get me there, but I feel a great sense of achievement when we get to the top and the views are always spectacular. It’s another world up there. Of course, a little break in Tahiti afterwards would be nice.

    Ugg boots or red-soled designer stilettos? Ugg boots. I hate stilettos. I’m five foot nothing and a little – ahem – top heavy. So stilettos turn me in to the human Leaning Tower of Pisa. Ooh, pizza!

    LOL! You’re funny! Finally, please share with us links where we can find you and your work.

    Web  http://www.hell4heather.com

    Facebook  https://www.facebook.com/HeatherHillComedy

    Twitter & Instagram @hell4heather

    Amazon http://www.amazon.co.uk/Heather-Hill/e/B00FF6G602/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1

    Pinterest: http://uk.pinterest.com/hell4heather/

    Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/+HeatherHill/

    Thank you, Heather, for being here today, and good luck with “The New Mrs D”.

  • Quanie Miller: WIP Interview

    This week’s author guest is a beautiful southern girl, Quanie Miller. Hi Quanie!

    Hi Everyone! My name is Quanie Miller and I’m the author of It Ain’t Easy Being Jazzyand
    the southern paranormal novel, The New Mrs. Collins,now available on Amazon. You can find me blogging at quanietalkswriting.com. Thanks for stopping by!

    Thank you so much for being here. Before we talk about your WIP, why don’t you tell us a few things about yourself? 

    I’m a married mother of one and love to spend my time making traditional Louisiana dishes like jambalaya and pralines. I probably watch more television than I should and think obsessively about my writing.

    collins_promoBy the way this is a fantastic cover! Excellent branding! Exercise in lean writing: give us a synopsis of your current WIP in under 200 words.

    When Leena Williams suspects that there’s something other worldly about her son’s new stepmother, she goes digging for answers and discovers a little too late that some secrets are better left buried.

    That certainly is gooseflesh-inducing! What are you working on right now?

    Well, right now I’m really focused on promoting The New Mrs. Collins.
    And when I’m not doing that, I’m tinkering with an outline for a novel that feels like it’s going to be paranormal. Without giving too much away, it looks like it’s going to be about this girl who, after a traumatic experience, learns something shocking about herself.

    Are you happy with the pace of your work? Do you aim at a specific word count each day?

    Generally, yes. Some days are better than others. I don’t aim for a specific word count because what matters to me is, “How good is this particular scene when I leave the computer?” Sometimes a hard scene can take up pretty much my entire writing session. And I do try to stick to a writing schedule: the first two hours when I get up in the mornings.

    Even after the arrival of the little one? I admire you! Plotter, pantser or both?

    Plotter! I outline extensively before I write. I have to know where I’m going before I start writing. But even with an outline, there are plenty of surprises along the way. Characters really know how to surprise you!

    What’s your worst enemy in getting that first draft finished?

    Fear that what I’m writing isn’t good enough so why even finish it when the work is going to be terrible? I battle with this the entire time I’m writing. I don’t think it ever goes away.

    Have you ever experienced lack of inspiration or drive to write? If so, how do you motivate yourself?

    I think that happens when something I’m working on feels like a chore (when it’s a work in progress, that’s how I know that something about the story isn’t working or that it’s a story that I probably need to abandon). I get over this by giving myself some tough love: your writing career is your responsibility. Now get your behind in gear and write!

    Quanie Miller - WorkstationCould we take a look at your workspace? Is there a particular place you find inspiring for writing?

    My writing desk is in front of two windows that overlook our front yard (but sometimes, I’m guilty of just opening the blinds and daydreaming as opposed to writing!)

    I can totally understand why you choose the blackout! Now your workspace pic is pinned on my Featured Writers’ Workspace board on Pinterest! Apart from Word and Google, do you use any other writing or research tools and apps?

    I don’t. I’ve considered using Scrivener but haven’t gotten around to trying it.

     How do you intend to celebrate writing “The End” on your draft?

    With a nice big glass of wine!

    Which book publishing processes are you going to outsource and which are you confident enough to undertake yourself?

    Oh, wow! I am definitely going to outsource the book cover (if I did my own book cover it would look like something a kindergartener did, or probably worse!), the proofreading, and definitely the formatting. The only thing I’m confident about is my ability to tell a story!

    Do you have any marketing tips or favorite promotional sites you’d like to share?

    I’m no marketing expert but I think it helps if you actually tell people you wrote a novel. For some reason, I was so shy about telling people that I was a novelist! Not sure why that is. And blogging is a great way to meet other authors and potential readers (but building those relationships takes time. It’s not an overnight thing).

    Your blog is quanietalkswriting.com. Do you follow a specific branding pattern with your posts or is it a free writing platform?

    Not at first. I kind of just started blogging because I read that all writers should have a blog, but lately I’ve been trying to tackle issues that all authors deal with, but in a humorous way. I try to talk about issues that are conversation worthy so that they encourage people to either comment or share the content.

    Is paranormal the genre you will stick to or do you see yourself branching out in the future?

    I also write comedy. Initially, I thought I needed to choose between paranormal and humorous fiction since they’re polar opposites but I imposed those boundaries on myself. I don’t think people care about genre as long as the story is entertaining.

    Fun stuff now: Let’s do a rapid fire round.

    • Flavored sorbet or chocolate ice cream? Dude! Chocolate!
    • Pizza or sushi? Pizza, of course, (although, I do get a craving for a California roll or tempura every now and then!)
    • Twilight or The Hunger Games? The Hunger Games!
    • Chiwetel Ejiofor or Idris Elba? Idris. Hands down! Oh, yes!
    • Trek in the Andes or snorkeling in Tahiti? Oh, Lord. Ummm…I’ll say snorkeling since this seems to imply warm weather.
    • Ugg boots or red-soled designer stilettos? I’ll say stilettos, but hopefully they’ll have a low heel! Yeah, gimme a pair of those! 🙂

    Finally, please share with us links where we can find you and your work.

    Book Purchase Links

    Amazon (US) http://www.amazon.com/New-Mrs-Collins-Quanie-Miller-ebook/dp/B00OAC362I

    Amazon (UK) http://www.amazon.co.uk/New-Mrs-Collins-Quanie-Miller-ebook/dp/B00OAC362I

    Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/483357

    Social Media Links

    Twitter: @quaniemiller
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/QuanieMillerAuthor
    Blog: http://www.quanietalkswriting.com
    Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/QuanieMiller
    Website: quaniemiller.com
    Email: quanie@quanietalkswriting.com

    Quanie, thank you so much, and good luck with The New Mrs. Collins!

  • Flamingcrystal: WIP Interview

    My author photoThis week’s guest is a wonderfully giving lady who, although sharing my time zone, lives and writes in the opposite hemisphere—South Africa.

    Hi Marlaine!

    Hello Maria, thank you for inviting me to your blog, and doing this interview with me. Greatly appreciated. I am Marlaine Lloyd writing under my fantasy pen name Flamingcrystal. I am the author of Dejavu, Destiny, Fatal Fantasy, Ghost Portal, Geeste Portaal, Die Minnaar and Dejavu & Destiny : Book 1 and book 2 of the Dejavu Series.

    Before we talk about your work process, why don’t you tell us a few things about yourself aside of your writing credentials.  

    I am a widow and have 2 beautiful daughters. We are currently living in a very small town, Pongola in Kwazulu Natal in South-Africa. I’ve studied Retail Marketing at Unisa many moons ago (pssst whispers, a woman should always be mysterious about her age – I would love to have a magic wand that could keep me in my mid thirties, although I’m past that age already…) I have a day job working in the retail fashion sector, as senior Store Manager. I recently sustained a serious spinal injury at work, resulting in 2 spinal operations within 3 months of each other, but the bright side of this is that it gave me ample time to write and get my books published, in the time that I’ve being at home. If everything goes as planned I would be returning to work by December 28th, 2014. Writing, sketching, cooking, and  chatting on Twitter and Face Book are my most beloved hobbies.

    ECOVER DejavuDestinyYou sure know how to make delicious homemade lemon juice out of the lemons that piled on your doorstep! What are you working on right now?

    I am currently working on book 3 of the Dejavu Series, but this time the POV will be that of the 16 year old, supernaturally gifted twins that are on a mission to create havoc.

    Are you happy with the pace of your work? Do you aim at a specific word count each day?

    I aim at 2000 + words a day or at least to write every 1st draft within 70 days, and done that with all my previous books…but with my current WIP it will be much longer than that, as the first two weeks after the spinal operations I’m sleeping way too much…

    You’d better listen closely to what your body needs… Plotter, pantser or both?

    Pantser mostly…. I don’t have the patience to plot out every single detail of my story. Once started, the story sometimes takes on a life of its own, but I never lose sight of my initial outline and the goals each of my characters need to achieve, to keep the readers on the edges of their seats… and where I want to create ‘peak’ stages in the story.

    That’s exactly my M.O.! What’s your worst enemy in getting that first draft finished?

    I have to admit, I just love Twitter and Face Book, but it is such a delightful distraction.  

    Is there a particular place you find inspiring for writing?

    The tree was the inspiration for Ghost Portal
    The tree was the inspiration for Ghost Portal

    I love to look at the view outside my window or to think about the view on my folks farm, the latter always inspires me to write. (Picture attached – the view at my folks farm.)

    Now this image is pinned on my Featured Writers’ Workspace board on Pinterest! Apart from Word and Google, do you use any other writing or research tools and apps?

    I find this cover creator website very handy http://www.ebookcover.pro/

    How do you intend to celebrate writing “The End” on your draft?

    I intend to celebrate with my daughters and their boyfriends at a restaurant that serves the biggest platters of seafood.  

    Do you have any marketing tips or favorite promotional sites you’d like to share?

    Gary is such a sweetheart, he is always promoting authors on his website at http://look4books.co.uk/bestindieauthor

    I also love author alliance

    http://www.authoralliance.net/category/promote-your-book

    Clive Eaton has a list of websites that authors could use for free book promotions

    http://www.cliveeaton.com/freebookpromotions.html

    Authors also could tweet their free or bargain book with link & include RT @WordSatSpangalo  

     

    Thank you for the awesome tips! Are Mythology, Paranormal, & Contemporary Romance the genres you will stick to or do you see yourself branching out in the future?

    Dejavu is my only mythology/romance with 50 Shades of Blushing Pink *just teasing*  honestly it only has 3 really -oehhh aahhh – very romantic scenes. I love mythology and always getting goosebumps while writing about anything supernatural. I’ve recently published my first Young Adult supernatural book and I thoroughly enjoyed every moment writing that…so I think I’m now hooked on YA!  

    Fun stuff now: Let’s do a rapid fire round.

    • Flavored sorbet or ice cream? Chocolate mint ice cream.
    • Pizza or sushi? Spare-rib pizza. Whaaaa?! Not only I’ve never had one (and God knows I’ve had all kinds of pizza, but I can’t even picture this! J)
    • Twilight or The Hunger Games? Both but *whistle/howl* Jacob from Twilight is sexy, if I was younger…*sigh*
    • Ryan Gosling or Benedict Cumberbatch? Benedict Cumberbatch.   
    • Trek in the Andes or snorkeling in Tahiti? Snorkeling
    • Ugg boots or red-soled designer stilettos? I love both, but stilettos are dangerous in more ways than one *wink-wink*

    Finally, please share with us links where we can find you and your work.

    My webpage is http://www.flamingcrystal.com

    I am on Twitter @FlamingCrystal1

    My Author page is at Amazon Author Central  http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00HMJYX8M

    Thank you, Marlaine, and best of luck with your future projects!

    Thank you for featuring me here Maria, and best of luck with all your books too! I am looking forward to reading your romance ‘Fate Accompli’, with its Greece setting and Greek gods.

  • Nina Lemay: WIP Interview

    An extra perk of hosting authors for virtual book tour companies is connecting with awesome writers. After reading  and reviewing Shameless, a not for the faint of heart, edgy but very well written NA romance, set in Montreal, I sought the writer out, knowing that she would give me a great WIP interview. I was right. Nina, in her twenties, is the youngest writer featured here so far. Nina, you’re on:

    Hi! I’m Nina Lemay, aka that girl who wrote that feminist stripper book, aka Shameless (available now on Amazon). The rest of the time, I write YA and adult speculative fiction. I’m an indie author with hybrid aspirations.

    Nina, thank you so much for being here. Before we talk about your WIP, why don’t you tell us a few things about yourself outside writing.

    I’m (almost) fully trilingual, having moved to Montreal at a young age. One of these days I’ll write an epic Montreal-set novel en français, but until then, I’m working on my BFA in Creative Writing in English. Like a number of writers (as it turns out), I’m somewhat socially awkward and am way more comfortable in front of a keyboard than in front of people—which is why I’m hoping to work as a full-time writer or freelance editor once my degree is finished. Yay pajamas!

    What I loved about Shameless was its location. I’ve been to Montreal, and it’s a beautiful city. My husband has also spent twelve years there. Can you talk your city up a bit?

    plateau balconiesMontreal, I find, is outrageously underrepresented in books. Regardless of genre. And I have no idea why, it’s a really cool place with a rich history to rival New Orleans. The Catholic and French roots of Montreal (and Quebec as a whole) mean that it looks quite different from a number of North American cities. It has a more European feel—which doesn’t always work in our favor, for example, those pretty outdoor winding staircases probably look wonderful in the south of France, but here they’re basically an ice-slicked deathtrap eight months of the year.

    But what really sets Montreal apart is the mindset. It is a little bit hedonistic, with rich food and entertainment and yes, there really is a strip club on every block on Ste-Catherine. The drinking age is 18 but really just a suggestion, and the nightclubs are open till three AM. There was a project this year to allow them to stay open till 6, but it was shot down due to public safety concerns.

    Despite of the woo-hoo-party mindset, Montreal is a really safe place to live. I can walk pretty much anywhere at any hour, with headphones on, and have no fears for my safety.

     All these elements are well portrayed in Shameless–one of the book’s features I enjoyed. Exercise in lean writing: give us a synopsis of your current WIP in under 200 words.

    Our heroine is supposed to be in college, having the time of her life with her popular, beautiful friends and boyfriend. Instead, she’s stuck repeating her senior year. Other teens whisper behind her back, her parents took the door off her room, and instead of parties she attends AA meetings.

    Then, at one meeting she runs into the new guy at school. He’s the only one to treat her like a human being after what happened last winter. He’s the only one who seems to understand her. But what is he really doing at her school, and what does he really want from her? And how is he connected with the anonymous threats she’s been finding in her locker ever since he appeared?

    Intriguing! Are you happy with the pace of your work? Do you aim at a specific word count each day?

    I try to aim for 2000-3000 words. But during the school year those words are often essays, so I try not to be too hard on myself if I fall behind.

    Plotter, pantser or both?

    Plotter! Enthusiastic plotter. That word makes me giggle because in French the word plotte means something else J But yeah, I like to outline thoroughly, chapter-by-chapter. I keep “idea books” where I jot down my brainstorms and outlines. Some people find it a little obsessive.  But for me that’s the only way to finish a book in a month, so…

    A Book in a month?! I’m so going to ignore that that’s your time frame, What’s your worst enemy in getting that first draft finished?

    The doubt. Who the hell wants to read this? Nobody cares about your stupid stories, change majors and get a job. It’s kind of tough pushing past it, but sometimes you just gotta stick your fingers in your ears, shut your eyes and go la la la… that makes it kind of hard to type though.

    That’s the attitude! Have you ever experienced lack of inspiration or drive to write? If so, how do you motivate yourself?

    This has to do with the last answer… doubt is the worst. Inspiration might be there, but when you’re paralyzed by doubt, it doesn’t help much.  And to say I’ve faced some adversity in my writing journey (I really hate that phrase, writing journey. There’s never an end. You never “arrive”. You’re only as good as your current WIP) is to say nothing at all. I’ve faced rejection on Books of my Heart, from both agents and editors. I’ve faced crappy reviews. I’ve had phases where it feels like I’m beating my head against a concrete wall, hoping the wall will crack before I do (these odds are not in my favor). I’ve almost given up writing altogether. But you know what, writing makes me happy. I may not write trendy things on trendy topics, but I believe in my books. I believe I’m talented, I believe I’m a good writer. And I believe my stories will find their way.

    In danger of repeating myself, that’s the attitude!! You bet you’re a good writer otherwise I wouldn’t seek you out. It’s as simple as that. Now, could we take a look at your workspace? Is there a particular place you find inspiring for writing?

    photo (1) (1)I used to live in horrible, tiny studios on the Plateau where my bed was three feet from my fridge. Now I finally gave up on the Plateau and I have an actual office, for the first time in my life! It has no windows, but it’s a start.

    Very … bookish! Now your workspace pic is pinned on my Featured Writers’ Workspace board on Pinterest. Apart from Word and Google, do you use any other writing or research tools and apps?

    Scrivener is nice, but it got to be too much clicking around for me and I went back to Word.  And have I mentioned that I loooove notebooks? I’m a texture freak. I love the feel of pen on paper. The ideas just flow. I rely on my journals and idea books. Without them I’d be lost.

    How do you intend to celebrate writing “The End” on your draft?

    Go for a poutine! Just kidding. Or am I?

    I had to look up the fries/gravy/cheese curds dish up. Calory-infested yumminess! Which book publishing processes are you going to outsource and which are you confident enough to undertake yourself?

    I will never be able to format anything by myself, ever. Nor design a cover. I’m computer-illiterate, unfortunately, so all the webby stuff will be outsourced. However, I do (almost) have a degree in English, and I have good betas. So my manuscripts only need the lightest touch of professional editing, mostly just proofreads.

    Great job you did on Shameless, if it was not professionally edited. Do you have any marketing tips or favorite promotional sites you’d like to share?

    Itching For Books do GREAT blog tours and promo services. And with the next release I intend to give Netgalley a shot. Everyone says it’s pricey but worth it. We’ll see!

    I’ve been thinking about Netgalley myself. Your blog is ninalemay.com. Do you follow a specific branding pattern with your posts or is it a free writing platform?

    I’m terrible at blogging! I just needed a semi-official-looking site (everyone says you have to have those or you’re not a real author, or something).

    Interesting. No blogging effort there. I’ll come back to you later to ask you if not having a blog as a pillar of your author platform affects your sales outreach. Is contemporary romance the genre you will stick to or do you see yourself branching out in the future?

    Oh my. It actually took me a really long time to get my a** in gear and write a contemporary romance. I’m a genre writer at heart. Give me paranormal elements and weird powers and supernatural creepiness! My current YA projects are all of the speculative variety, or thrillers. There WILL be a New Adult SFF novel in the not-too-distant future. *mysterious face*

    Fun stuff now: Let’s do a rapid fire round.

    • Flavored sorbet or chocolate ice cream? Sorbet. I’m a rebel.
    • Pizza or sushi? Sushi.
    • Twilight or The Hunger Games? THG! Ugh, Katniss over Bella any day.
    • Ryan Gosling or Benedict Cumberbatch? Cumberbatch, of course. (See? I’m not a normal NA writer…)
    • Trek in the Andes or snorkeling in Tahiti? Museums in Paris. But the trek in the Andes is a close second.
    • Ugg boots or red-soled designer stilettos? Doc Martens. Or Converse.

    Finally, please share with us links where we can find you and your work.

    My website (where I try to keep things up to date on a semi-regular basis): http://ninalemay.com/

    My Twitter: https://twitter.com/NinaLemay

    My Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Nina-Lemay/335772423239892?ref=hl

    Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8298989.Nina_Lemay

    Thank you, Nina, and best of luck with Shameless and your future projects!

    For more great WIP interview by an array of interesting authors click here.