tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-56119564903274584422024-03-13T12:06:31.875-07:00My Journey Into WritingThis blog is about my journey into writing novels. My background, my experiences and my books.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12712678553941416352noreply@blogger.comBlogger33125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5611956490327458442.post-72789322011090734002015-11-20T03:28:00.001-08:002015-11-20T03:28:07.935-08:00Savannah's Thought Garden: STG's Month of Gratitude - Clair Plaisted Guest Bl...<a href="http://savannahsthoughtgarden.blogspot.com/2015/11/stgs-month-of-gratitude-clair-plaisted.html?spref=bl">Savannah's Thought Garden: STG's Month of Gratitude - Clair Plaisted Guest Bl...</a>: Thank you for joining me today, November 20th. Today my guest blogger is a lovely author from New Zealand. You might recognize her from b...Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12712678553941416352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5611956490327458442.post-74956475569497280812015-10-22T19:36:00.001-07:002015-10-22T19:36:11.496-07:00Savannah's Thought Garden: Author Spotlight ~ Claire Plaisted<a href="http://savannahsthoughtgarden.blogspot.com/2015/10/author-spotlight-claire-plaisted.html?spref=bl">Savannah's Thought Garden: Author Spotlight ~ Claire Plaisted</a>: Welcome and thank you for stopping by Savannah’s Thought Garden’s Daisy Chain - Author Spotlights. I’m so happy you could join m...Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12712678553941416352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5611956490327458442.post-82094293187069338382015-02-01T13:49:00.003-08:002015-02-01T13:49:35.112-08:00The Infamous Scribbler - Rachel Brune<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b>Please welcome the awesome Infamous Scribbler, the one and only Rachel Brune!</b></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyTNx6M4q5SWWjPz0ECTbguXR5MPFgT8wsodd_p-3rFEJ_RktcR6CMd_-b4cBqrxAnsrz4ap1FINJFouUJ2koel_Yvqjgy0hyphenhyphenEXqshfDDL-btUaxjosbWb1iy63z3CzN_68T8kIN_oxBpc/s1600/Rachel+Brune.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyTNx6M4q5SWWjPz0ECTbguXR5MPFgT8wsodd_p-3rFEJ_RktcR6CMd_-b4cBqrxAnsrz4ap1FINJFouUJ2koel_Yvqjgy0hyphenhyphenEXqshfDDL-btUaxjosbWb1iy63z3CzN_68T8kIN_oxBpc/s1600/Rachel+Brune.jpg" height="200" width="160" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Welcome to my blog, please te</b><b style="text-align: justify;">ll</b></span><b style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: justify;"> us a bit about yourself.</b><br />
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I am a former Army journalist and current
brand-new mom living in Fayetteville, North Carolina. I’ve been writing all my
life, but only in the last few years have I started getting serious about it.
In addition to writing and taking care of my two-month-old, my husband and I
also foster Basset hounds with the Carolina Basset Hound Rescue. I blog about
my adventures, and host interviews with interesting characters, at <a href="http://www.infamous-scribbler.com/">the Infamous Scribbler</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Congratulation on being a new mom - enjoy every moment of it :)</i></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>What brought
you to the world of writing?</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">First and foremost a love of reading.
There’s nothing I love better than to
lose myself in a good book, and when I write, it is my goal to give that gift
to my readers.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>What is your first book and what do you
think of it now?</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My first book was a sword-and-sorcery
fantasy entitled “Winter Skirmish.” I’m still in love with it, but not blind to
its flaws, and so one of my “someday” plans is to go back and re-haul it. I did
write a prequel for it during NaNoWriMo 2010, and the early chapters received
positive feedback at my writer’s group. I
would love to get back to it and whip the series into shape, but the time isn’t
right just now.</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhmSl7z-Kjd2dBaweSQUagszZbJMGOfqP3gHuhhhGLzmyPeIr4dZzEnCaBf16iT4ij0eYQlnRi2bvVbWvZKc-IS5oqwkWibe7OShckQ-K6jm2VKfUauDPwIMG7_3na47cpZfAfJs3st1Zj/s1600/Echoes&Premonitions+Cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhmSl7z-Kjd2dBaweSQUagszZbJMGOfqP3gHuhhhGLzmyPeIr4dZzEnCaBf16iT4ij0eYQlnRi2bvVbWvZKc-IS5oqwkWibe7OShckQ-K6jm2VKfUauDPwIMG7_3na47cpZfAfJs3st1Zj/s1600/Echoes&Premonitions+Cover.jpg" height="200" width="133" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhniJn7-ixJ8GMVfiCpAmX9XRQ_ex84xkGCNx0TEYRNV_UQlyYUlBEXhxyFYZGSgw_gQHyarztB4ljo6IqMzq2Hy1BzJxydbui7JWIJal4OYTF-ncofd-L0ahM0pNIZj-dmFOHn4lXhfaEq/s1600/Cold+Runsm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhniJn7-ixJ8GMVfiCpAmX9XRQ_ex84xkGCNx0TEYRNV_UQlyYUlBEXhxyFYZGSgw_gQHyarztB4ljo6IqMzq2Hy1BzJxydbui7JWIJal4OYTF-ncofd-L0ahM0pNIZj-dmFOHn4lXhfaEq/s1600/Cold+Runsm.jpg" height="200" width="125" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><br /></b></span></span></b></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>What type of books do you write and do they
fulfil your reader’s needs?</b><o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My books that are available are non-fiction
essays & photography (<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Echoes-amp-Premonitions-Rachel-Brune/dp/0557259495/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1422033379&sr=8-4&keywords=rachel+A.+brune">Echoes
& Premonitions</a>), action suspense/thriller (<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Soft-Target-Rachel-Brune-ebook/dp/B00CLF7WP8/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1422033396&sr=8-2&keywords=rachel+A.+brune">Soft
Target</a>), and shifter urban fantasy (<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Cold-Run-Rachel-Brune-ebook/dp/B00MBXVRB0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1422035255&sr=8-1&keywords=rachel+A.+brune">Cold
Run</a>.) I’d like to think they fulfil my readers’ needs, except they keep
asking for the sequels, and I haven’t written them yet…!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">How long does it take you to write your first draft?</b></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Sadly, I am not a fast writer. Also, the flash-to-bang from idea to finished novel is typically years. I tend to let an idea stew and stew until something happens to let me know that I’m ready to go. I’ll also do a lot of research, even for a fiction novel. When I actually sit down to write, it can take me from as little as a month (if it’s November!) to half a year to hammer out a first draft.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Do you plot or not, if so why?</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Yes, absolutely. I’ve tried pantsing it,
but I ran into trouble and lost track of where I was and had to stop and finish
plotting. I may start out with just a jumble of notes and an extra-large cup of
coffee, but somewhere along the way, I have to set up a structure and plan my
path forward.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Do you write in 1<sup>st</sup> or 3<sup>rd</sup>
person, or have you do both?</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I tend to write both. In Soft Target, as
well as the novel I’m working on now, I wrote in third person in order to move
around and give myself some freedom of perspective. In Cold Run, I wrote in
first person, because a lot of the information – and wisecracks – happen in the
main character’s head. I enjoyed clueing in the audience as he became aware of
things, and treating them to the snarky comments he makes at other people’s
expense.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>How do you edit your work? Do you leave your draft alone for a while or
edit as you write?</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I start a few pages back every time I sit
down to write, so that I can review what I’ve written and get back in the swing
of things. When I do, I can’t help but fix things that I see. After I’ve
finished the book, I have a few trusted beta readers. Also, I’ll workshop the
first few chapters with my writing group, to see if they pick up on any
patterns of editorial wrongdoing that I can go ahead and fix. Then, after I
revise with those edits, I’ll do a personal proofreading pass where I start
from the end of the book and read backwards. It’s amazing what you can pick up
when you’re not caught up in the story. Then, I’ll start to query it to
publishers, or if I’ve decided to go the indie route, hire a professional
editor. After receiving his/her edits, I’ll begin sending out ARCs, hiring a
graphic designer, planning the launch, and all the other stuff the indies need
to do to get their work out there.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiDfNsEQ-meFaWEUxb5mqBjrseXBh2FCyXU15KD5Xe3l8rBtLYB8nxqVhsiAhI0bze-JsjfvhhafvV5kMYz1IPowjsXJwbzhD8HvYVssPn045nVrRpF9HDPuSzjzez4G_msp3qw8V6TXZA/s1600/Soft+Target+final-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiDfNsEQ-meFaWEUxb5mqBjrseXBh2FCyXU15KD5Xe3l8rBtLYB8nxqVhsiAhI0bze-JsjfvhhafvV5kMYz1IPowjsXJwbzhD8HvYVssPn045nVrRpF9HDPuSzjzez4G_msp3qw8V6TXZA/s1600/Soft+Target+final-1.jpg" height="200" width="133" /></a></div>
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<b style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Would you like to feature a book, if so which one? Tell us about it?</b></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I’d love to feature Soft Target! This is a book that took me on a journey that taught me a lot about independent publishing. In fact, I think the lessons learned from writing, editing, hiring a graphic artist, starting a Web site prior to the launching, then launching, formatting the </span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">print edition … every step of the journey was a learning experience. Even after publishing with a small press publisher (Cold Run), I realized that every writer needs to learn these lessons and put them into practice. No one else will believe in your work as much as you do!</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> </span></span></div>
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<b style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">What type of people/readers do you market
your books to?</b></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Do you like to read? Excellent! Buy my
book. :D<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Do you self-publish or have you worked with
an Agent/Publisher</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Both! I find that both paths are rewarding,
and you can learn a lot from them. I would love to try finding an agent, and
perhaps submitting at a large, traditional house, but until then, I’ll continue
to hone my craft and hopefully people will enjoy the books I’m writing.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>How do you promote your writing? </b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I am a member of a number of Goodreads and
Facebook groups for readers, reviewers, and writers. I’ve also found a circle
of friends who enjoy my work and will share it with their circle of friends. I
try my best to get reviews, which as every writer knows, are the best things
EVER. And if anyone has any other ideas, I’m willing to try anything once!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Where can we buy your books?</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Amazon is your best bet! <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Echoes-amp-Premonitions-Rachel-Brune/dp/0557259495/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1422033379&sr=8-4&keywords=rachel+A.+brune">Echoes
& Premonitions</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Soft-Target-Rachel-Brune-ebook/dp/B00CLF7WP8/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1422033396&sr=8-2&keywords=rachel+A.+brune">Soft
Target</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Cold-Run-Rachel-Brune-ebook/dp/B00MBXVRB0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1422035255&sr=8-1&keywords=rachel+A.+brune">Cold
Run</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I also have a number of eBooks available
for reviewers.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Who are your favourite authors?</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So many! I love Ray Bradbury, Mercedes
Lackey, Jim Butcher, Robert Crais, Michael Connelly, Umberto Eco, Joseph
Conrad, Anne McCaffrey, Tanya Huff … I could go on, but these are my top faves
that I return to over and over again.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>I love you selection of authors, I have many of those on my own bookshelves.</i></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><br /></i></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Links</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://www.infamous-scribbler.com/">Infamous
Scribbler</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Rachel-A-Brune-Author/212995402108944">Facebook
Author Page</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://www.twitter.com/rachelabrune">Twitter</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Do you have any more information you’d like
to share with us?</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">In addition to being a mom-mom, I’m also a
rescue mom. We have a cat, Schnapps, a cattle dog, Brandy, and a Basset hound,
Captain. I’d have more, but my husband and city ordinances forbid it… </span><span lang="EN-GB">J</span><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">
<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>We have one rescue cat called Sylvia who I have nicknames "Fat Cat" and the other we inherited. She is known as Tilly or "Flat Cat." Polar opposites.....lol</i></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12712678553941416352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5611956490327458442.post-79787604215439094382015-01-25T13:55:00.001-08:002015-01-25T13:55:20.878-08:00Interview with Stephen Christiansen<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b>Please welcome Stephen Christiansen</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-eBhuSBuqVbu_D2pYRtDW-bHxG12m9mYziJzA_z6DkP263jCswXdLLePnS4FZavYPUXX5KEayS6i6_pMOrhAT1i-zchqmiM_GRYN7gq9FRasDkrt_bl5mKotC_Gtu1YpDPVxjczgP61II/s1600/Stephen+Christiansen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-eBhuSBuqVbu_D2pYRtDW-bHxG12m9mYziJzA_z6DkP263jCswXdLLePnS4FZavYPUXX5KEayS6i6_pMOrhAT1i-zchqmiM_GRYN7gq9FRasDkrt_bl5mKotC_Gtu1YpDPVxjczgP61II/s1600/Stephen+Christiansen.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Tell us a bit about yourself.</b></span></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 15pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I
am 45, married to a wonderful and beautiful wife. We just celebrated 17 years
of marriage. We have a lovely 13-year-old daughter. We live in Everett,
Washington and both work together in medical billing, for the same company. We
are very active in our community and help with Camp Fire USA.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 15pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="line-height: 15pt;">I
was a Navy brat for 16 years before my dad retired and moved to Camano Island,
Washington, so </span><span style="line-height: 20px;">I've</span><span style="line-height: 15pt;"> traveled a lot and got to explore the world. I feel very
fortunate to be able to see great landscapes, mountains, deserts, and forests.
I’ve seen ruins of ancient civilizations and some of the greatest cities of
today. I’ve seen the best and the worst of people and now I’ve been able to put
it all into a great storyline.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>What bought you to the world of writing?</b></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I’ve always loved reading. It let me go to
new, fantastic places and meet wonderful people in the realms of imagination. I
guess my mind has always been very creative and now I’m able to release that
creativity and share it with the rest of the world.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222;">When I think about it, I think it was a way to escape from the
traumas of my childhood. I wasn’t raised in the best of environments and
writing let me create a world that I could live in for a short amount of time.
I guess this series is still an outlet of my younger years.</span><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>What is your first book and what do you
think of it now?</b></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My first book is the first book of the
Orbbelgguren Series called “Istobarra Commencement.” </span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgffDztcHLpxvmbS8uoT0SqxGw0lyoUtzcFMSgMteT5PitsokwLBRW9WbESWcGsIas7dUMzBjHOdQX9l-MoI-IL0f5zW76QoxMMjYmy6Cxf8bDOcjpWxJlR0fZ8rNmHohO6mTkjxTavXsEv/s1600/Stephen+Christiansen+Book+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgffDztcHLpxvmbS8uoT0SqxGw0lyoUtzcFMSgMteT5PitsokwLBRW9WbESWcGsIas7dUMzBjHOdQX9l-MoI-IL0f5zW76QoxMMjYmy6Cxf8bDOcjpWxJlR0fZ8rNmHohO6mTkjxTavXsEv/s1600/Stephen+Christiansen+Book+1.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It’s a little slower in the character development than some of the other books
of the series, but I didn’t want a several hundred year old female lead to
change her personality over night. I think the readers have been very pleased
with the book and it sets a good ground level for the rest of the series. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="http://www.lulu.com/shop/stephen-christiansen/orbbelgguren-series-book-i-istobarra-commencement/ebook/product-21593831.html" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">http://www.lulu.com/shop/stephen-christiansen/orbbelgguren-series-book-i-istobarra-commencement/ebook/product-21593831.html</a></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>What type of books do you write and do they
fulfil your reader’s needs?</b></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I write fantasy fiction, or high fiction.
It’s similar to Lord of the Rings or the Dr’zzt books by R.A. Salvatore. Yes,
many readers of high fiction have come to love the books.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Would you like to feature a book, if so
which one? Tell us about it?</b></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I would love to feature the 10<sup>th</sup>
book of the Orbbelgguren Series called “The Troll Wars” </span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2fJ79PTDtF9C3u6cqg1wE7ZXBJAvxGyBSYu1_y_0flc6oofEa6OHMVk2jytF_wOPydBKsOe7z1WxHWHcslRskgMp46ckb45dOf4eS_Ka6Y1HbkwJKOoXfIIFDmQAAMtaonK93LcfzvBtG/s1600/10+ebook+cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2fJ79PTDtF9C3u6cqg1wE7ZXBJAvxGyBSYu1_y_0flc6oofEa6OHMVk2jytF_wOPydBKsOe7z1WxHWHcslRskgMp46ckb45dOf4eS_Ka6Y1HbkwJKOoXfIIFDmQAAMtaonK93LcfzvBtG/s1600/10+ebook+cover.jpg" height="320" width="247" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This book looks at war in its entirety. It shows bravery and stupidity,
sacrifice and self-promotion. It looks at famine and disease. It talks about
financial, political and religious points of views. This will test
relationships and allies. In the end, every life that this war touches will
never be the same again. It’s very action packed and very emotional. I think my
fans will like it. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="http://www.lulu.com/shop/stephen-christiansen/orbbelgguren-series-book-x-the-troll-wars/ebook/product-21786152.html" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">http://www.lulu.com/shop/stephen-christiansen/orbbelgguren-series-book-x-the-troll-wars/ebook/product-21786152.html</a><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>How long does it take you to write your
first draft?</b></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I write about one thousand words a day so a
typical book of about 100,000 words takes about 3 months to write the initial
first draft. However, “The Troll Wars” is 120,000 words so it took 4 months to
write. Then, when the book is done, there is another month of editing. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Do you plot or not, if so why?</b></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I plot about half of the book. I know where
I want my characters to begin and how I want them to end. I also know some of
the middle of the plot lines. However, I leave room for the characters to
surprise me, as they often do. I find that good characters write themselves.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">On the other hand, the plot of the series
as a whole is complete. Each book is part of a great plot line, each plot is a
minor portion of a greater whole. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Do you write in 1<sup>st</sup> or 3<sup>rd</sup>
person, or have you do both?</b></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I usually write in third person, but now
that the question has been asked, I think I’m inspired to add some first person
perspective. There may be a point in book 14 to bring that into play. We shall
see.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>How do you edit your work? Do you leave your draft alone for a while or
edit as you write?</b></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I do some minor editing during my writing.
However, after my initial rough draft, I do a spell check and a first read
through. Then I put the story into the correct format and redo some of the
structuring. When that is done, I do a second spell check and my final read
through. I’m usually very happy with the results by then. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>What type of people/readers do you market
your books to?</b></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I market to a lot of geeks and gamers,
those who would be interested in Dungeons and Dragons, Lord of the Rings, and
dark elves. However, many of my readers aren't into these genres and have still
loved the series. I think readers have a way of surprising an author and a good
plot line reaches beyond its genre. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Do you self-publish or have you worked with
an Agent/Publisher?</b></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Currently I’m a self publisher through
Lulu. It’s not easy when I have to write, edit and then try to promote my own
books. I still have a family, home, and full time job, so there is a lot of
work to be done. An agent may be helpful, however that would start to get into
profit. I’m still bouncing around the idea if I should go with an agent
eventually or not.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>How do you promote your writing?</b></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I post to my Facebook page </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/OrbbelggurenSeries">https://www.facebook.com/OrbbelggurenSeries</a></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">my Lulu page </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/Orbbelgguren">http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/Orbbelgguren</a>, </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">blog on my Goodreads page </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/dashboard">https://www.goodreads.com/author/dashboard</a>, </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">and finally tweet as </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="https://twitter.com/maldev2002">https://twitter.com/maldev2002</a>.
<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Where can we buy your books?</b></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">You can buy the books on Amazon </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Stephen-Christiansen/e/B00M6H1JNM/ref=dp_byline_cont_book_1">http://www.amazon.com/StephenChristiansen/e/B00M6H1JNM/ref=dp_byline_cont_book_1</a></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> on B&N </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/c/stephen-christiansen">http://www.barnesandnoble.com/c/stephen-christiansen</a>, </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">and iTunes </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/stephen-christiansen/id824374500?mt=11">https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/stephen-christiansen/id824374500?mt=11</a>. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">But the lowest prices available are on Lulu </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/Orbbelgguren">http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/Orbbelgguren</a>.
<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Who are your favourite authors?</b></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My favourite author is Edgar Allen Poe. My
other noteworthy and influential authors are Stephen King, R.A. Salvatore, and
Silverberg. I think that readers will be able to see aspects of each in several
of the books.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Do you have any more information you’d like
to share with us?</b></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">There have been some </span><span lang="EN">shows that I used to watch that have contributed
to my inspiration. These include “The Outer Limits”, “The Twilight Zone”,
“Alfred Hitchcock Presents”, “Ray Bradbury”, and “Tales from the Dark Side.”
These have given me off-the-wall plot lines, twists, turns and different
perspectives. I think the reader will be able to see some of these influences
in the series and will be pleasantly surprised.</span><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">
<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Thank you for your time Stephen, we look forward to hearing more about your up and coming books.</i></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12712678553941416352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5611956490327458442.post-63894083539259468762015-01-17T23:35:00.000-08:002015-01-18T12:38:59.743-08:00Meet Author - C M Wilson <div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Introducing to you the lovely C M Wilson</span></b></div>
<b><br /></b>
<b><br /></b></div>
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<b style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Tell us a bit about yourself.</b></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I am C.M. Wilson. I like candle light
dinners, long walks on the beach… sorry… I always feel like I’m pimping myself
off for a date. I live in Michigan. I've lived here for most of my life and
base most of my books off of places from here, although Glow Stick was placed
in a fictional city in Michigan.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>What brought you to the world of writing?</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Honestly? Being an only child. My mother’s
answer to the problem of “I’m bored” was to give me a book and then have me
write a book report about the books I read. Sounds like torture, right? I liked
it. And from the books, I started thinking about the plots that I would do
different things with. More specifically, Sweet Valley High. The different
things I thought needed to happen to Sweet Valley High have been added into the
Northern Lights series.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>What is your first book and what do you
think of it now?</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Northern Lights Part 1. I have a love/hate
relationship with that book. That book has gone through 15 different
reincarnations since 1996. When my publisher said “I need you to look at it one
more time” I threw a temper tantrum that rivalled of a room full of toddlers
being told that they had to take a nap.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>What type of books do you write and do they
fulfill your reader’s needs?</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I write interracial romance (except for
Glow Stick) and I’d like to think so. Although a couple of my Northern Lights
readers say no, simply because the cliff hanger endings kill them. LOL<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Would you like to feature a book, if so
which one? Tell us about it?</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I keep talking about Northern Lights, so
let’s go with that one. It’s going to be a ten part series. The first book is
out now and the second one comes out in two weeks.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Carrington Levesque looks like she has it
all together. She’s rich, pretty and the apple of her daddy’s eye. A blond
hair, blue eyed beauty, with one flash of her pretty smile, and you’re sure she
could have the world at the tips of her fingers. But, looks can be deceiving.
Carrington’s issues have issues. Abandoned by her mother, she lives in constant
fear that everyone else will leave her too, especially if she isn’t perfectly
perfect. That is, until she meets Eli. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Eli Warren, a 19 year old 6’2” dark skinned
African American man from Detroit, is Carrington’s opposite in every way. With
a criminal record, and a brother who is convinced that crime pays, and pays
well, it seemed inevitable that Eli would end up another statistic. He spent a
lot of time feeling like he had no control over the direction of his life. Until
he meets Carrington, and then for the first time he wants to be in the driver’s
seat of his own destiny.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It’s been called the urban Sweet Valley
High. (As a side note: I screamed… and bounced… and cried… when it was deemed
that. LOL)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>How long does it take you to write your
first draft?</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">If it’s during National Novel Writing Month
(November) then a month. But generally about 2 – 3 months.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Do you plot or not, if so why?</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Yes. To the tee. I can be convinced to be a
little lenient as I’m going along but when I’m driving somewhere – I like to
know how to get there. I cannot just sit down and start writing. My brain doesn't work that way. There was a time where I didn’t stray from my outline.
Now that I know what I’m doing, my characters tend to look at my outline and
say “Isn't that cute… she’s trying to write the story…” and high jack it from
time to time. Or I’ll look at it and say “unless you’re trying to go in
circles, you don’t need that.” But for the most part by the time I start a
book, I know the beginning, middle and end. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Do you write in 1<sup>st</sup> or 3<sup>rd</sup>
person, or have you done both?</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I write in 3<sup>rd</sup>. I’m going to
attempt to write in 2<sup>nd</sup> person (journal entries) in one of the
Northern Lights spin offs.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>How do you edit your work? Do you leave your draft alone for a while or
edit as you write?</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I edit for grammar as I go write. And then
when I’m done, I read it and make notes about what I need to change (and take
out things that don’t need to be there) and then go back and fix the notes.
Then I read it one more time. Then I send it to the publisher and editor who do
their magic to it and then they make their notes and send it back to me and I
change those notes. LOL<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>What type of people/readers do you market
your books to?</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Anybody who will read it. LOL. I’m lucky
because even though I write Young Adult, a lot of adults read YA. Though I’m
trying to get Glow Stick into High Schools because it’s about bullying.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Do you self-publish or have you worked with
an Agent/Publisher</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I self-published a few years ago, but I am
published with BraveGirl Publishing now.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>How do you promote your writing? </b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Thru Facebook, I've done a few book
signings, I’m working on a blog tour now, I've done some interviews <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Where can we buy your books?</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Off of Amazon, BN.com, Kobo, Smashwords,
CreateSpace and BraveGirlPub.com<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Who are your favourite authors?</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I’m kind of old school in my authors, V.C.
Andrews, Nicholas Sparks, James Patterson. Though I devour anything Sara
Shepard puts out.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Links</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">FB: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/conniemoniquewilson">https://www.facebook.com/conniemoniquewilson</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/BraveGirlPublishing">https://www.facebook.com/BraveGirlPublishing</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My Amazon Author Page where you can find my
books: </span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/C.M.-Wilson/e/B0058I00PE/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1">http://www.amazon.com/C.M.-Wilson/e/B0058I00PE/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Our website: <a href="http://www.bravegirlpub.com/">www.bravegirlpub.com</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Our blog: <a href="http://www.bravegirlpublishing.blogspot.com/">www.bravegirlpublishing.blogspot.com</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Do you have any more information you’d like
to share with us?</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Northern Lights part 2 drops very, very
soon. And my first adult, contemporary romance, The Wrong Side of the
Mississippi comes out in February.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12712678553941416352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5611956490327458442.post-41925522856919457742014-12-13T15:19:00.001-08:002014-12-13T15:19:04.925-08:00My Interview with Awesome Gang :)<nav class="nav-primary" itemscope="itemscope" itemtype="http://schema.org/SiteNavigationElement" role="navigation" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: url(http://awesomegang.com/wp-content/themes/eleven40-pro/images/texture.png); background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Lora, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px;"><div class="wrap" style="border: none; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 10px auto 0px; max-width: 1140px;">
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<li class="menu-item menu-item-type-custom menu-item-object-custom menu-item-home menu-item-352" id="menu-item-352" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; text-align: left;"><a href="http://awesomegang.com/" style="-webkit-transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out; border: none; box-sizing: border-box; color: white; display: block; padding: 2.2rem 1.8rem; position: relative; text-decoration: none; text-transform: uppercase; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out;"></a><a href="http://awesomegang.com/advertise-author-ad-network/" style="-webkit-transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out; border: none; box-sizing: border-box; color: white; display: inline !important; font-size: 1.4rem; letter-spacing: 0.1rem; line-height: 1.5; padding: 2.2rem 1.8rem; position: relative; text-decoration: none; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out;" title="author ad network"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 3.6rem; line-height: 1;">Claire Plaisted</span></a></li>
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<span class="entry-comments-link" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a href="http://awesomegang.com/claire-plaisted/#respond" style="-webkit-transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out; box-sizing: border-box; color: #016bb0; text-decoration: none; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out;">Leave a Comment</a></span></div>
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<div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 2.6rem; padding: 0px;">
<img alt="Claire" class="size-medium alignleft wp-image-183728" height="300" src="http://awesomegang.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Claire-218x300.jpg" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; float: left; height: auto; margin: 0px 2.4rem 2.4rem 0px; max-width: 100%; width: auto;" width="218" /><b style="box-sizing: border-box;">Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.</b><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />I grew up in Cheshire England. As an adult i travelled to New Zealand, fell in love and ended up moving here to marry. I live with my husband, three children and two cats.</div>
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I am a family history researcher of the Plaisted line; world wide. I put together family history books and reunions books for others. In 2012, during one lot of research I started to write a novel. It became a Regency Mystery Romance which is yet to be published. It was a good story, though badly written. With help and time I believe it will be published next year.</div>
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Since that time I have written two short stories and four books to an adult series. “Garrett Investigation Bureau” revolved around an agency and it’s new agents. With plenty of twists and turn. These are all published and for sale online worldwide, along with my first children’s story called “Zoe’s Journey,” which is aimed at 10yrs and up. I have eight books published.</div>
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<b style="box-sizing: border-box;">What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?</b><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />At present I am concentrating on a new series for young children based in the insect world. This was inspired by a friend who was looking for a book for to read to her young grandson. She suggested a Ladybug at the adventurer.</div>
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Girlie is a blue ladybug who journeys on adventures and quests to help save her friends. The first book is called “Girlies and the War of the Wasps.” This story is about finding the correct diet for a wasp hive so they stop kidnapping insects from the local villages.</div>
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<b style="box-sizing: border-box;">Do you have any unusual writing habits?</b><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Apparently I sometimes laugh when I write and I also talk, well whisper as I type. Other than that I let my fingers do the talking. Is this unusual enough….lol</div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 2.6rem; padding: 0px;">
<b style="box-sizing: border-box;">What authors, or books have influenced you?</b><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />I have no real idea. I have read so many different kinds of books over the years, some for research, others for enjoyment. I do have some favourite authors though. C S Lewis, A A Milne, Elizabeth Goudge. In the adult world i have enjoyed; J D Robb, Nora Roberts, Colin Forbes, Clive Cussler, Lee Child, to name a few.</div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 2.6rem; padding: 0px;">
<b style="box-sizing: border-box;">What are you working on now?</b><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />I tend to work on several drafts at once. I have a lot of editing to do and I am trying to concentrate of “Girlie and the War of the Wasps,” and my adult book “Mascosta’s Dreamgirl,” which is book five in my “Garrett Investigation Bureau Series (GIB)</div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 2.6rem; padding: 0px;">
<b style="box-sizing: border-box;">What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?</b><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />I use as much social media as I can, though I am still learning where I can submit books to share with readers.</div>
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I do have a website, blog, pinterest, linkedin, twitter and facebook. I also try and promote locally where I live. I have one book in a local bookstore and I will be having my first book launch at our local library next year</div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 2.6rem; padding: 0px;">
<b style="box-sizing: border-box;">Do you have any advice for new authors?</b><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Dont give up, stay strong and keep writing. There is nothing wrong with self-publishing and there is plenty of advice out there where you can get help.</div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 2.6rem; padding: 0px;">
<b style="box-sizing: border-box;">What is the best advice you have ever heard?</b><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Grab your dreams and hold on.</div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 2.6rem; padding: 0px;">
<b style="box-sizing: border-box;">What are you reading now?</b><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />I am looking at a draft from another author at present. I format draft manuscripts to eBook and Print standard so they can be uploaded online and or printed off and bought. It is a good story so far, by no means finished, so I can’t really tell you what it’s about.</div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 2.6rem; padding: 0px;">
<b style="box-sizing: border-box;">What’s next for you as a writer?</b><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Updating my website and learn better marketing skills. I would also like to see my first novel out there in the public eye.</div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 2.6rem; padding: 0px;">
“The Mystery at Crosswick Manor,” is set in the late Regency and early Victorian times. It tell the story of a young destitute widow and her first love. Showing how they reconnect and try to make each other fall in love, while around them a mystery deepens and a scandal brews.</div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 2.6rem; padding: 0px;">
<b style="box-sizing: border-box;">If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?</b><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />A notebook so I could write. A survivor’s handbook to help me create a place i’d need to live. A children’s book though I can’t decide which one. Lastly i’d find the largest most entertaining book I could find to keep me company.</div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 2.6rem; padding: 0px;">
<b style="box-sizing: border-box;">Author Websites and Profiles</b><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><a href="http://claireplaisted.wix.com/author" rel="nofollow" style="-webkit-transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out; box-sizing: border-box; color: #016bb0; text-decoration: none; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out;">Claire Plaisted Website</a><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00P26WF2I" rel="nofollow" style="-webkit-transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out; box-sizing: border-box; color: #016bb0; text-decoration: none; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out;">Claire Plaisted Amazon Profile</a><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><a href="http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/Rotosis" rel="nofollow" style="-webkit-transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out; box-sizing: border-box; color: #016bb0; text-decoration: none; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out;">Claire Plaisted Author Profile on Smashwords</a></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 2.6rem; padding: 0px;">
<b style="box-sizing: border-box;">Claire Plaisted’s Social Media Links</b><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/27755343-claire-plaisted" rel="nofollow" style="-webkit-transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out; box-sizing: border-box; color: #016bb0; text-decoration: none; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out;">Goodreads Profile</a><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><a href="http://www.facebook.com/Rotosis" rel="nofollow" style="-webkit-transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out; box-sizing: border-box; color: #016bb0; text-decoration: none; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out;">Facebook Profile</a><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><a href="http://twitter.com/rotosis1" rel="nofollow" style="-webkit-transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out; box-sizing: border-box; color: #016bb0; text-decoration: none; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out;">Twitter Account</a><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><a href="http://www.pinterest.com/rotosis/" rel="nofollow" style="-webkit-transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out; box-sizing: border-box; color: #016bb0; text-decoration: none; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out;">Pinterest Account</a></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12712678553941416352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5611956490327458442.post-77047970323078715702014-12-08T14:54:00.001-08:002014-12-08T14:55:42.490-08:00Introducing Author Akinyi Yimbo.<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Tell us a bit about yourself.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #0070c0;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">With pleasure, and
thank you for this fabulous opportunity, Claire.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0070c0; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">A P Von K'Ory is my
pen name for most of my fiction works. Why a pen name? Out of necessity, since
my own name is a mile long and just about impossible to pronounce for most
people. I’ve won six Awards from four continents, the last one being the
Achievers Award for African Writer Of </span><span class="textexposedshow" style="color: #0070c0; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The Year 2013 in the Netherlands. I studied
Economics, Literature and Journalism in London; Germanistics and
German-specific Economics in Germany. Finally, I studied socio-economics and
philosophy and now have a Ph.D. in sociology.</span></div>
<span lang="EN-GB"></span><br />
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="color: #0070c0; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<span lang="EN-GB">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><div style="color: #0070c0; text-align: justify;">
I also have six doctorates, some of which I got in my
late thirties and early forties - I regard knowledge as a lifelong quest of
learning something new. I live in Germany, France, Cyprus and Greece with my
husband, the Baron of Wimpfen, and our son and two grandsons. Writing is now my
full time joy.</div>
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<span style="color: #0070c0;"><br /></span></div>
<span class="textexposedshow" style="color: #0070c0;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
I was born in Kisumu, the capital city of Luoland,
Kenya, to the Luo royal houses of K’Orinda and Yimbo; sent to a public school (I
think Americans call this <i>private school</i>)
in Yorkshire, England, when I was too young to say “sod off”. I finally
graduated as a journalist - the London Schools of Journalism as well as an
economist - the London School of Economics. Love took me to Bavaria, Germany,
where I further studied Germanistics and German-specific economics. </div>
</span>
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<span class="textexposedshow" style="color: #0070c0;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
Writing entered my world when I was about five and
never left. In between doing other jobs (e.g. working as a cleaner in a mental
asylum in northern Germany – great plots there just waiting for me!) and as a
freelance journalist since 1980, I've become a grandy (that’s grandma up in
Yorkshire!) of two boys aged five and two. </div>
</span>
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<span class="textexposedshow" style="color: #0070c0;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
I give lectures and seminars in various German,
Austrian and Swiss universities, colleges and high schools on topics ranging
from socio-economy in Africa, Business English, African literature and the
socio-ethnological conflicts in the traditions of Africans and Europeans in
particular, and the West in general. I’ve published articles, papers, reports
that are too numerous to list here. My first (and favourite) book was the novel
in German: <i>Khiras Traum</i>. I’ve
continued this in the English language where it is now the <i>Bound to Tradition</i> trilogy-turning-into-Saga because I’m already on
the fourth and fifth books.</div>
<o:p></o:p></span></span></span><br />
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="textexposedshow"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #0070c0;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">There are loads of autobiographical stuff especially in my Bound to Tradition books. <i>Bound to Tradition: The Dream; Bound to
Tradition: The Initiation </i>and <i>Bound
to Tradition: The Separation.</i> I now have six romance books: <i>Secret Shades Aroused,</i> <i>Secret Shades Revealed</i>, <i>Dark Desires Obsession</i>, and <i>Dark Desires Aflame</i>. I’m working on <i>Dark Desires Gilded</i> at the moment. All
the books, including series are full books of between 78K to 135K words each. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0070c0; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The non-fiction book “Darkest Europe and Africa’s
Nightmare: A critical Observation of the Neighbouring Continents” was published
in 2008 by a New York publisher. Since then I’ve written three more
political/humanities and socio-economics non-fiction books.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #0070c0;"><br /></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #0070c0;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
I live in Bavaria mainly, but spend some months of
the year in Burgundy, Cyprus and Greece where we have family homes too. Have I
mentioned that already?</div>
</span></span><br />
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>What bought you to the world of writing?</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #0070c0;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Well, before I could
read and write, I always embellished the stories read to me, making the
characters nicer or nastier, inventing new beginnings, middles and endings. By
the time I could write, I put the embellishments down in writing -. <i>et voilà!</i><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>What is your first book and what do you
think of it now?</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #0070c0;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My first book was <i>Khiras Traum</i>
which I still love best. I elaborated on it and turned it into the <i>Bound to Tradition</i> series/saga. But
basically, in fiction, I’m in love with each book, laugh and cry with each of
my fave characters. I even feel sorry for the antagonist in the end.
Consequently, I’m the sort of writer who has to really, really shed buckets of
tears when I kill my darlings.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>What type of books do you write and do they
fulfil your reader’s needs?<o:p></o:p></b></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #0070c0;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The ones I enjoy writing most are of course the romance books. I
do sincerely hope that they fulfil my readers’ needs, of course. The
political/humanities and economics book are where I rant and rave to fellow
earthlings to get their shite together and behave like the civilised species
they claim to be. More or less.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Would you like to feature a book, if so
which one? Tell us about it?</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #0070c0;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Okay, I think right
now I’m very much in a hot courtship with my new series <i>Dark Desires.</i> Not only is the series my first erotic romance genre,
but I also feel more mature as a writer to tackle that (to me) sensitive genre. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #0070c0;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I didn’t want to take
the stereo-typical generalisation for my heroine and hero. Maybe I’m warped too
in my own way, because I prefer a bit of the aesthetic. Anyway, here’s the
brief syno for <i>Dark Desires 1: Obsession</i><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #0070c0; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 200%; text-indent: 36pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #0070c0; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 200%; text-indent: 36pt;"><i>Roman, a native of Hamburg, is cultured,
go-to-hell handsome, wealthier than is good for</i></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #0070c0; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 200%; text-indent: 36pt;"><i>anybody and nasty with it. But
he has strong principles: </i></span></div>
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<i><span lang="EN-US" style="background-color: white; color: #0070c0; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 200%; text-indent: 36pt;">He loves his parents, especially his mother; he is the
supreme commander-in-chief of his highly successful global businesses, which he
built himself from the ground up; while he loves the fact that he is “what I
am”, he adamantly refuses to be referred to as damaged; and he treats his
"reigning queen" exactly like a queen, draping her in priceless
gowns, jewels, and all the other accoutrements in exchange for her complete
loyalty and sexual devotion. He </span><span lang="EN-US" style="background-color: white; color: #0070c0; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 200%; text-indent: 36pt;">n</span><span lang="EN-US" style="background-color: white; color: #0070c0; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 200%; text-indent: 36pt;">ever two-times, not even for a one night stand, unless
it’s a ménage with a</span><span lang="EN-US" style="background-color: white; color: #0070c0; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 200%; text-indent: 36pt;">n</span><span lang="EN-US" style="background-color: white; color: #0070c0; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 200%; text-indent: 36pt;"> “e</span><span lang="EN-US" style="background-color: white; color: #0070c0; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%; text-indent: 36pt;">xpend</span><span lang="EN-US" style="background-color: white; color: #0070c0; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 200%; text-indent: 36pt;">able” third
party. In the bedroom, he's a nasty Taipan and only his rules count - but top
among the rules is complete satisfaction of the woman/women. He prefers
relationships that leave him the option to leg it when he wants to.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="background-color: white; color: #0070c0; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%; text-indent: 36pt;"> </span><span lang="EN-US" style="background-color: white; color: #0070c0; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 200%; text-indent: 36pt;">He never takes whips, floggers, chains and the
like to his woman as he believes strongly in “pleasure, not pain” for both
partners, and he has many varied and effective ways of extracting and
dispensing pleasure. Still, he thinks vanilla is something for the chef on the
Queen Mary. </span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<i style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 200%; text-indent: 36pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #0070c0;">Then Roman meets the Eve that will bring his Dominant
Adam teetering on the brinks of insanity... or maybe not quite. He’s suddenly
wedged between three women:</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<i style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 200%; text-indent: 36pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #0070c0;">Marie feels struck by thunder when Roman
suddenly ends their eight-month relationship at the blink of the eye via
telephone. However, she has an ace in her hands, which Roman does not know
about. Marie is dead sure her incomparable weapon will lasso Roman right back
to her.</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<i style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 200%; text-indent: 36pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #0070c0;">Alyssa, heiress to a bakery imperium, falls hard
for Roman at first sight. She believes she has found the love of her life and
the dominant of her dreams. Until she is confronted with the reality that Roman
is simply using her to get to her best girlfriend, Shana.</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 200%; text-indent: 36pt;"><i><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #0070c0;">Shana is not only Alyssa’s BFF (best friends
forever); the two are also lovers. Shana feels safer sharing love with a woman
instead of a man ever since a disastrous relationship in her younger years
turned her off all men forever – a secret she has shared with no one, but
Alyssa and Shana’s older sister. Then Shana meets Roman, who pursues her
relentlessly all over Europe. He is determined to make Shana his, and what
Roman wants, Roman gets. However, is Shana ready for a relationship with a man?
Besides, Alyssa is head over heels in love with Roman, and the last thing Shana
would do is take the man Alyssa loves away from her beloved girlfriend. </span></i></span><i style="color: #0070c0; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 200%; text-indent: 36pt;">Roman’s biggest problem is that he has never had
a woman as a rival. How do you fight a female off the woman you want to be not
only your sovereign territory, but also yours forever? Certainly not with
fisticuffs. Even more challenging, how do you persuade the object of your
ultimate desire that you are just what the doctor prescribed for her?</i></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>How long does it take you to write your
first draft?</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #0070c0;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">That depends. Since I
always have to do elaborate research no matter what genre the book is in, I
need between six months to one year for a completed first draft. Of course I
tend to revise as I write (since I’m a pantser), chapter for chapter, page for
page or even paragraph for paragraph. Then I go through the completed work two
or three times before I send it to my editors.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Do you plot or not, if so why?</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #0070c0;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Yeah, Claire, why am
I a pantser. A good question. I think I love a challenge. Like, cooking is one
of my favourite hobbies, but I like turning a recipe into something a bit off
the chartered waters. Add coriander instead of parsley, ginger instead of
pepper. I like the hunt, the chasing of my quarry until I get them where they
take over and tell me where they want to go from there. Straight into the
boiling water or rather marinated overnight, browned in hot oil and then
wrapped in a foil for the oven. That’s my joy in the creative writing. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Do you write in 1<sup>st</sup> or 3<sup>rd</sup>
person, or have you do both?</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #0070c0;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Quite frankly, I
prefer the third POV. My adventurous inclinations, I suppose. I want to roam
the globe, have somebody going to bed in Sydney while another’s waking up in
London and the third’s going for lunch in Shanghai. My <i>Dark Desires</i> work is my debut with the first POV. But I reserve it
only for the protagonist, Roman. The rest of the characters are in third POV.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>How do you edit your work? Do you leave your draft alone for a while or
edit as you write?</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #0070c0;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">As I’ve said, I
revise as I write. After the six months to a year of writing, I leave the work
to “settle down” for one or two weeks. Then I revise/edit again; leave the
first and second edits to “brew” for between three and four weeks and go
through the work again a final time before I send it out to the editors. But
you bet the editors will still find typos and glitches. Always. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>What type of people/readers do you market
your books to?</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #0070c0;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I like to think that
my books are rather international. However, yes, I particularly aim for a
multicultural readership. I love readers who – like me – are curious about
other cultures and people outside their spiritual beliefs and/or ethnic groups.
Writing/reading such diversities in the romance genre is quite simply
exhilarating. I live in an inter-ethnic and intercultural relationship so I
guess I’m writing my romances from personal, not imagined, experience. I know
where the valleys, hills, mountains, rivers, lakes, oceans, the deep seas and
the heavens are!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Do you self-publish or have you worked with
an Agent/Publisher</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #0070c0;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I work with an
agent/publisher for my non-fiction books and my first novels. But since 2012, I
began self-publishing and started my own publishing company,
AuthorMeProfessionals Press, which is a member of the Author-me Group of Cook
Communications, USA. I’m particularly engaged in helping aspiring writers to improve
their works and get published by AuthorMeProfessionals Press. In today’s
writing and publishing world, where even certain agents who DO NOT ACCEPT
UNSOLICITED MATERIAL exist, emerging writers have it at least ten times harder
to get published.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>How do you promote your writing? </b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #0070c0;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">That’s where I’m
still totally hopeless. I have my Facebook page, joined appropriate Groups and have
Author pages, and I do my best with those. Then there are guest blogs and
interviews like yours. But I’m still pretty handicapped because one, I have an
inborn phobia with anything tech/IT, and second, I hate marketing something
that I love so much. It sounds crazy, I know, but I feel like I’m offering my
own flesh and blood babies for any willing buyer out there. But – psssst! –
please don’t tell my readers that. I said it already – hopeless.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Where can we buy your books?</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #0070c0;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My books are
available worldwide – Amazon.com, Amazon Canada. UK, India, France, Germany,
Italy, Spain, Brazil, Japan, Mexico and Brazil, in the main. And of course
Kindle. I’m still battling with Smashwords and all the others, but not very
successful in the tech side. I have to force myself to it personally or I’ll
never overcome my phobia.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Who are your favourite authors?<o:p></o:p></b></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListBulletCxSpFirst" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #0070c0;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I love the chic-lit of Marian Keyes, romances
from Nicholas Sparks, Kate Morton, Zadie Smith, thrillers from<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListBulletCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #0070c0;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">John le Carré, Frederick Forsythe, Nesbo, Lee
Child, Olsen Adler, crime from Val McDermid, Tana French – oh it's </span></span><span style="color: #0070c0; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">a long list. All I can say is that I read
tons from all sorts of genres but the horror and paranormal.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Links</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> </span></span><span class="sitb-font-size-3" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 200%; text-indent: 36pt;"><b><span lang="EN-US">Visit my websites at </span></b></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 200%; text-indent: 36pt;"><a href="http://akinyi-princess.de/"><b><span lang="EN-US">http://akinyi-princess.de</span></b></a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span class="sitb-font-size-3"><b><span lang="EN-US"> </span></b></span><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://authormepro.eu/"><b><span lang="EN-US">http://AuthorMePro.eu</span></b></a></span><span class="sitb-font-size-3"><b><span lang="EN-US"> <o:p></o:p></span></b></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span class="sitb-font-size-3"><b><span lang="EN-US"> </span></b></span><span lang="EN-GB"><b><span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://apvonkorybooks.co.uk/">http://apvonkorybooks.co.uk</a></span></b></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span class="sitb-font-size-3" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 200%; text-indent: 36pt;"><b><span lang="EN-US">Follow/Like me on my pages </span></b></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 200%; text-indent: 36pt;"><a href="http://facebook.com/AuthorAPVonKOry"><b><span lang="EN-US">http://facebook.com/AuthorAPVonKOry</span></b></a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span class="sitb-font-size-3"><b><span lang="EN-US"> </span></b></span><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://facebook.com/AWGADIN"><b><span lang="EN-US">http://facebook.com/AWGADIN</span></b></a></span><span class="sitb-font-size-3"><b><span lang="EN-US"> <o:p></o:p></span></b></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span class="sitb-font-size-3"><b><span lang="EN-US">Join my Groups and discuss </span></b></span><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://facebook.com/groups/AWITD"><b><span lang="EN-US">http://facebook.com/groups/AWITD</span></b></a></span><span class="sitb-font-size-3"><b><span lang="EN-US"> <o:p></o:p></span></b></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span class="sitb-font-size-3"><b><span lang="EN-US"> </span></b></span><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://facebook.com/groups/AfricRomance"><b><span lang="EN-US">http://facebook.com/groups/AfricRomance</span></b></a></span><span class="sitb-font-size-3"><b><span lang="EN-US"> <o:p></o:p></span></b></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span class="sitb-font-size-3"><b><span lang="EN-US">Chat with me at my FB pages </span></b></span><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://facebook.com/KOrindaYimbo"><b><span lang="EN-US">http://facebook.com/KOrindaYimbo</span></b></a></span><span class="sitb-font-size-3"><b><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span class="sitb-font-size-3"><b><span lang="EN-US"> </span></b></span><span lang="EN-GB"><b><span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://facebook.com/akinyi.yimbo">http://facebook.com/akinyi.yimbo</a></span></b></span></span><span class="sitb-font-size-3" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 200%; text-indent: 36pt;"><b><span lang="EN-US"> </span></b></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 200%; text-indent: 36pt;"><a href="http://facebook.com/Professionaless62bloggerP"><b><span lang="EN-US">http://facebook.com/Professionaless62bloggerP</span></b></a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span class="sitb-font-size-3"><b><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Follow me on Twitter @Apky11162 <o:p></o:p></span></span></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span class="sitb-font-size-3"><b><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> @AkinyiMe
<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Thank you Akinyi for participating in our Interview blog swap. If anyone else is interested you will find us on </span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">https://www.facebook.com/groups/859062540800300/</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12712678553941416352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5611956490327458442.post-61402030731989607032014-11-28T11:59:00.000-08:002014-11-28T11:59:06.546-08:00A Killer Interview with Cat Connor.<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9Ms07KrNlPfee6HzjcWJAaOB_DGzPFoY9M_LbP-zeD0uGtNcRYDT3JBij7Tz7lQTkEmBTHLnaZfqx21A_WkWgKTFOqgf-yLBy7MtOcpWn9CtXVFnBoUacLfV6l0PGyVCbZ30tf2b7sY9U/s1600/Cat+Connor+october+2014+cropped.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9Ms07KrNlPfee6HzjcWJAaOB_DGzPFoY9M_LbP-zeD0uGtNcRYDT3JBij7Tz7lQTkEmBTHLnaZfqx21A_WkWgKTFOqgf-yLBy7MtOcpWn9CtXVFnBoUacLfV6l0PGyVCbZ30tf2b7sY9U/s1600/Cat+Connor+october+2014+cropped.jpg" height="320" width="230" /></a></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Meet the wonderful, and rather scary Thriller author Cat Connor, from New Zealand.</span></span></b></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Tell
us a bit about yourself. <o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I’m Cat Connor. A Cantabrian who’s lived
most of her life as a northerner. Makes it a bit hard when the Crusaders play
the Hurricanes but apart from that it’s not too bad. I share my office with a
retired racing greyhound called Romeo who likes to be as close to me as
possible at all times. Luckily he likes Bon Jovi and doesn’t mind that I’m
rather noisy when I’m working.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I’m a member of The New Zealand Society of
Authors and International Thriller Writers. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></b></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></b></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></b></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">What
bought you to the world of writing? <o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">A pen, notebook, and a desire to kill
without doing time. A winning combination.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">What
is your first book and what do you think of it now? <o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Cat Among the Wolves. It’s a good story.
Very few people have ever read it because it was where I cut my writing teeth.
Kinda toying with re-writing in first person and maybe, just maybe, doing
something with it – like show it to my publishers or rip it apart and serialize
it (which just came to me now as an actual possibility …).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">What
type of books do you write and do they fulfil your reader’s needs? <o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Contemporary FBI thrillers that
occasionally border on horror or techno and sometimes have an element of
romance. As long as the need is entertainment, then yeah, I guess so.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Would
you like to feature a book, if so which one? Tell us about it? <o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I can’t make that choice. It’s like
choosing a favorite child. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The 6<sup>th</sup> book in the series I’m
writing was released in June and also, the first book in the series was
re-released with a brand new cover and fresh edit. So, I suppose, politically
it would be best to talk about the first book, Killerbyte and the sixth book,
Databyte.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-KyUysftr0vk5HWjT8-6kYr55PFxbcc6Qd-ytzK4BYplJAhn55N26z4kc7acQN95KEsHxqj25d4vn3U-4667OH8hSvTD8wuG7O22xRKhrlKENhSyLTkeqc0P0jEI53iifntT662rcmAPu/s1600/Killerbyte_Ebook+II+.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-KyUysftr0vk5HWjT8-6kYr55PFxbcc6Qd-ytzK4BYplJAhn55N26z4kc7acQN95KEsHxqj25d4vn3U-4667OH8hSvTD8wuG7O22xRKhrlKENhSyLTkeqc0P0jEI53iifntT662rcmAPu/s1600/Killerbyte_Ebook+II+.jpg" height="320" width="207" /></a><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Killerbyte (Book one of the Byte series):</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">A killer with a penchant for inventive and
macabre deaths challenges an FBI agent with an equally unusual imagination and
sense of humor.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">SA Ellie Conway works serial crime cases.
When someone tries to kill her, it becomes obvious it’s linked to her
after-hours pursuits in cyberspace. Matter become complicated when her
assailant is found dead in the trunk of her car.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Despite a plethora of crime scenes, no
evidence can be found to identify a motive or perpetrator. The death toll rises
and eventually includes those close to her. A chance remark provides the first
real clue to unraveling the killer’s twisted goals. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQea9RyEKwc3wcVbpM1DxNL5dNxrLKbM-whmE5rgYtVAMiVCUnelfIfbq77Qln9pVOg-tade63x_uqZMW39f3jhc_TVkZCLMA2dc12MfL_JJ8COqZqyQLD4hXmxmgL2YMZ8vFIWawhMSgB/s1600/databytecoverfinished.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQea9RyEKwc3wcVbpM1DxNL5dNxrLKbM-whmE5rgYtVAMiVCUnelfIfbq77Qln9pVOg-tade63x_uqZMW39f3jhc_TVkZCLMA2dc12MfL_JJ8COqZqyQLD4hXmxmgL2YMZ8vFIWawhMSgB/s1600/databytecoverfinished.jpg" height="320" width="207" /></a><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Databyte (Book six of the Byte series):</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">When information becomes misinformation,
how much of what you see should you believe?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Wanted for a murder she didn’t commit and
on the run from the FBI and Metro, Supervisory, Special Agent Ellie Conway has
to protect an actor with close ties to Delta A from a serious threat as well as
trying to clear her name.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Unwittingly, whilst staying off the grid,
Ellie stumbles upon a syndicate which has alarming connections to her
daughter’s death – and which abducts her team, with the intent of killing them
and Ellie.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">How
long does it take you to write your first draft? <o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Depends on how many interruptions I get or
how much I let myself become distracted.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Normal for me is 3-6 months for a ‘first
draft’ but in saying that there is no such thing as a first draft in my world. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I write it once - beginning to end. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I read. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Detail is added (because I’m more focused
on getting the story out in the initial writing phase than on the detail of
certain scenes and there is a certain amount of laziness involved too) and if
there is anything I need to run past experts in any given field this is when I
do that. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I read. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Loose ends are checked to make sure they
are tied up (or at least the ones I want to be tied up are – I found handcuffs
are pretty good although these days I prefer plasticuffs to the metal variety).
<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The book is then sent to a few trusted
readers who (hopefully) will point out any missing words and inconsistencies to
scenes/story line/plot. Once I’ve collated all the comments I give it another
tweak and send it to my editor at my publishers to see if she likes it. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">That’s about when the panic sets in.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Do
you plot or not, if so why? <o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">No. I just write and trust my gut – it’s
pretty good at steering the ship so I let it.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Do
you write in 1st or 3rd person, or have you do both? <o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I write predominately first person. It’s
scarier that way, for everyone. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">How
do you edit your work? Do you leave your draft alone for a while or edit as you
write? <o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">See above comments about writing a first
draft. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I don’t think anyone is capable of editing
their own work successfully. Writers are too close to the action to be able to
do that. Editing is done by my editor at Rebel. She’s fantastic and loves Ellie
and Delta as much as I do. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">What
type of people/readers do you market your books to? <o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Anyone who can read (and think). People who
like TV shows like Criminal Minds, Person of Interest, and The Blacklist are
probably going to enjoy my books. People who read Tom Clancy, Lee Child, Janet
Evanovich, James Houston Turner, and Jeffrey Deaver will also more than likely
enjoy my books. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Do
you self-publish or have you worked with an Agent/Publisher <o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I’m published by Rebel ePublishers, USA –
I’ve been with Rebel since early 2009 and the 7<sup>th</sup> book in the Byte
series, Eraserbyte, will be out mid-2015. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I’ve also self-published a few short story
collections, a novella, and a poetry book over the last two years.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">How
do you promote your writing? <o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I’ve been known to do a few interviews. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I am pretty active on Twitter and Facebook
but tend to use those as social media not an avenue to smack people over the
head with an agenda. It’s a lot more fun talking to people than screaming “Buy
my books” every few minutes and annoying everyone. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Where
can we buy your books? <o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Worldwide from pretty much any online
retailer in both paperback and eFormats.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Who
are your favourite authors? <o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Alexandre Dumas, Ian Fleming, Jeffrey
Deaver, Lee Child, Janet Evanovich, Barry Eisler, James Houston Turner, Tom Clancy
… yes there is a pattern.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Links <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Website <a href="http://www.catconnor.com/">www.catconnor.com</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Twitter @catconnor<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Blog <a href="http://www.catconnor.blogspot.co.nz/">www.catconnor.blogspot.co.nz</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12712678553941416352noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5611956490327458442.post-75101576340292654632014-11-22T13:26:00.000-08:002014-11-22T13:26:09.411-08:00Author Interview - Meet Catherine Byrne<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>A huge welcome to Catherine Byrne, it has been an exciting time swapping author interviews. Anyway back to Catherine and our chat.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho-gqYA6riszOBaIxwL5VwPREeLhV3_MVaArRRqSRNLKAn4H7KTJ2XtL3hiLcbZKwXZCJO5mEvjE5YWzy8zBdumqrMG5tsXNZvT1ws2O8lpewui2BO1RYuscjzwkdgnBIK7_H6Xdo7R7XQ/s1600/Catherine+Byrne.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho-gqYA6riszOBaIxwL5VwPREeLhV3_MVaArRRqSRNLKAn4H7KTJ2XtL3hiLcbZKwXZCJO5mEvjE5YWzy8zBdumqrMG5tsXNZvT1ws2O8lpewui2BO1RYuscjzwkdgnBIK7_H6Xdo7R7XQ/s1600/Catherine+Byrne.png" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Hi Catherine, could you tell us a bit about
yourself?</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><span style="color: #222222;">I've always enjoyed
writing and painting.</span></i><i><span style="color: #222222; mso-ansi-language: EN-NZ; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> My
professional life however, took a very different path. I first
studied Glass engraving with Caithness Glass where I worked for fourteen
years. During that time I also worked as a foster
parent. After the birth of my youngest child, I changed direction,
studying and becoming a Chiropodist with my own private practice. At
the same time I did all administration work for my husband's two businesses,
and this continued until his death in 2005. However I
still maintained my love of writing, and have had several short stories
published in woman's magazines. My main ambition is to write novels,
and I have now retired in order to write full time.</span></i><span style="color: #222222; mso-ansi-language: EN-NZ; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #222222;"><i><br /></i></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #222222;"><i>I have three children all grown up now.</i> </span></span><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 19.2pt;"><span style="color: #222222; mso-ansi-language: EN-NZ; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I
belong to two writers' groups and attend a writing class. Well, there's always
some thing new to learn isn't there?</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 19.2pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: left;">
<span style="color: #222222; line-height: 19.2pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 19.2pt;"><b>What brought you to the world of writing?</b></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: left;">
<span style="color: #222222; line-height: 19.2pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i style="line-height: 19.2pt;">I have always wanted to be a writer, and began at the age of eight by
drawing comic strips with added dialogue, and later as a teenager graduated to
poetry. </i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">
<o:p></o:p></span>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 19.2pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>What is your first
book and what do you think of it now?</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 19.2pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><span style="color: #222222; mso-ansi-language: EN-NZ; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">My
very first book was a murder mystery, great idea but is full of mistakes and is
still languishing in a drawer.</span></i><span style="color: #222222; mso-ansi-language: EN-NZ; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: left;">
</div>
<div style="line-height: 19.2pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i style="line-height: 19.2pt;"><span style="color: #222222; mso-ansi-language: EN-NZ; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></i></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 19.2pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i style="line-height: 19.2pt;"><span style="color: #222222; mso-ansi-language: EN-NZ; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">My
first publishable novel was "Follow The Dove." Since I was born on the now
deserted island of Stroma, my fellow writers encouraged me to write
something about my homeland. It was a message from a lady in Canada who
was doing her genealogy that gave me the idea. She told me the sad tale of her
grandparents who had emigrated from that island, and I had my characters</span></i><span style="color: #222222; line-height: 19.2pt;">. </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #222222; line-height: 25.6000003814697px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #222222; line-height: 19.2pt;"></span></span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #222222; line-height: 19.2pt;"><span style="line-height: 19.2pt;"><b>What type of books do you write and do they fulfil your reader’s needs? </b></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #222222; line-height: 19.2pt;">
</span>
<i style="color: #222222; line-height: 19.2pt;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
<i style="line-height: 19.2pt;">My main interest was crime, yet my desire to write something incorporating the
history of my homeland prompted a trilogy. I have built up a base of loyal fans
who constantly demand another. It took me a long time to write my first novel,
there may be things I'd change now, but I still love it!</i></div>
</i></span><br />
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</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #222222; line-height: 25.6000003814697px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<span style="color: #222222; line-height: 19.2pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"></span></span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVg25jhtUVkGzcWY7lE8MKqB76MwmMAGGqRCODpcn6po6B4FdiaQTBstYwHQXcpqdIvlKl7uKRe66zJXgTJdff2IyCADCEegy9w2lxTGZizgwcGd5SdOzXLzgy21gHOo8vADRn3UQuDWkv/s1600/Follow+the+Dove+by+Catherine+Byrne.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVg25jhtUVkGzcWY7lE8MKqB76MwmMAGGqRCODpcn6po6B4FdiaQTBstYwHQXcpqdIvlKl7uKRe66zJXgTJdff2IyCADCEegy9w2lxTGZizgwcGd5SdOzXLzgy21gHOo8vADRn3UQuDWkv/s1600/Follow+the+Dove+by+Catherine+Byrne.jpg" height="320" width="206" /></a></div>
<span style="color: #222222; line-height: 19.2pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 19.2pt;"><b>Would you like to feature a book, if so which one? Tell us about it? </b></span></span></span></div>
<span style="color: #222222; line-height: 19.2pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">
<i><div style="text-align: justify;">
<i style="line-height: 19.2pt;">Starting with "Follow the Dove," yes. Most of the things that happen to Isa
and Davie are based on factual stories passed down from my grandparents, of
course I make them all happen in the space of five years!</i></div>
</i><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin: 6pt 0cm 0.0001pt 36pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><span style="color: #222222;">Fifteen years of age, Isa Muirison loves
her life working for the floating shops of Orkney at the turn of the 20th
century. But her happy family life is thrown into turmoil by her father’s
decision to immigrate to Canada, her sister’s illness and her own love for Davie,
a penniless whisky runner.</span></i><span style="color: #222222; mso-ansi-language: EN-NZ; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin: 6pt 0cm 0.0001pt 36pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><span style="color: #222222;">Despite her family’s opposition, she
follows Davie to his tiny island home where she is met by the fierce hostility
of his mother and his childhood sweetheart, Chrissie.</span></i><span style="color: #222222; mso-ansi-language: EN-NZ; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin: 6pt 0cm 0.0001pt 36pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><span style="color: #222222;">Alone among strangers, Isa’s unrelenting
determination gains acceptance and popularity in the close knit
community. </span></i><span style="color: #222222; mso-ansi-language: EN-NZ; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin: 6pt 0cm 0.0001pt 36pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><span style="color: #222222;">But no one could have foreseen the
tragedy that rips the heart out of that community and shatters Isa’s
security. </span></i><span style="color: #222222; mso-ansi-language: EN-NZ; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin: 6pt 0cm 0.0001pt 36pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><span style="color: #222222;">Meanwhile, Chrissie has found solace in
the arms of Davie’s violent brother Jack, only to discover a darkness in his
soul she could never have imagined. Events are set in motion over which
the two women have no control.</span></i><span style="color: #222222; mso-ansi-language: EN-NZ; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin: 6pt 0cm 0.0001pt 36pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><span style="color: #222222;">Will either of them ever find
peace? And in whose arms will Davie find solace?</span></i><span style="color: #222222; mso-ansi-language: EN-NZ; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin: 6pt 0cm 0.0001pt 36pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 19.2pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><span style="color: #222222; mso-ansi-language: EN-NZ; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"Follow
the Dove," won second prize in the Association of Scottish Writers general novel
competition in 2009</span></i><span style="color: #222222; mso-ansi-language: EN-NZ; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: left;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #222222; line-height: 25.6000003814697px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<span style="color: #222222; line-height: 19.2pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"></span></span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #222222; line-height: 19.2pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 19.2pt;"><b>How long does it take you to write your first draft?</b></span></span></span></div>
<span style="color: #222222; line-height: 19.2pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">
<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: left;">
</div>
<div style="line-height: 19.2pt; text-align: justify;">
<i style="line-height: 19.2pt;"><span style="color: #222222; mso-ansi-language: EN-NZ; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I
tend to edit as I go along, so my first draft takes about nine months. I am
growing quicker with every novel.</span></span></i></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #222222; line-height: 25.6000003814697px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<span style="color: #222222; line-height: 19.2pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"></span></span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #222222; line-height: 19.2pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 19.2pt;"><b>Do you plot or not, if so why?</b></span></span></span></div>
<span style="color: #222222; line-height: 19.2pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">
<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: left;">
</div>
<div style="line-height: 19.2pt; text-align: justify;">
<i style="line-height: 19.2pt;"><span style="color: #222222; mso-ansi-language: EN-NZ; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I
tend to know the beginning and the end. Getting from one to the other and
keeping the momentum is the hard part. I don't write a forward plan, but allow
my characters to do the work.</span></span></i></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i></i></span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><span style="color: #222222; line-height: 25.6000003814697px;"><br /></span></i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>
</i><span style="color: #222222; line-height: 19.2pt;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 19.2pt;"><b>Do you write in 1st or
3rd person, or have you do both?</b></span></div>
<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: left;">
</div>
<div style="line-height: 19.2pt; text-align: justify;">
<i style="line-height: 19.2pt;"><span style="color: #222222; mso-ansi-language: EN-NZ; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Up
until now I've written only in the third person.</span></span></i></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #222222; line-height: 25.6000003814697px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<span style="color: #222222; line-height: 19.2pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"></span></span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #222222; line-height: 19.2pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 19.2pt;"><b>How do you edit your work? Do you leave your draft alone for a while or edit as
you write?</b></span></span></span></div>
<span style="color: #222222; line-height: 19.2pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">
<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 19.2pt; text-align: justify;">
<i style="background-color: transparent; line-height: 19.2pt;"><span style="color: #222222; mso-ansi-language: EN-NZ; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I
edit as I write. I have tried to just write in order to get the bones of the
story, but I can't help myself and edit each chapter as I go. That way I
eventually get to the end.</span></span></i></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #222222; line-height: 25.6000003814697px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<span style="color: #222222; line-height: 19.2pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"></span></span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #222222; line-height: 19.2pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 19.2pt;"><b>What type of people/readers do you market your books to?</b></span></span></span></div>
<span style="color: #222222; line-height: 19.2pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">
<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: left;">
</div>
<div style="line-height: 19.2pt; text-align: justify;">
<i style="line-height: 19.2pt;"><span style="color: #222222; mso-ansi-language: EN-NZ; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I
write what I feel. I have never thought out a market plan, but I assumed
women who like family sagas would be my main readers. However, I have been
pleasantly surprised by the amount of young people and even men who have become
fans.</span></span></i></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #222222; line-height: 25.6000003814697px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<span style="color: #222222; line-height: 19.2pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"></span></span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #222222; line-height: 19.2pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 19.2pt;"><b>Do you self-publish or have you worked with an Agent/Publisher</b></span></span></span></div>
<span style="color: #222222; line-height: 19.2pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">
<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 19.2pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><span style="color: #222222; mso-ansi-language: EN-NZ; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">With "Follow the Dove," I received very positive reactions from agents and
publishers, however, although they showed some interest, they mostly spoke with
one voice, 'this genre is not in vogue at the moment.'</span></i><span style="color: #222222; mso-ansi-language: EN-NZ; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: left;">
</div>
<div style="line-height: 19.2pt; text-align: justify;">
<i style="line-height: 19.2pt;"><span style="color: #222222; mso-ansi-language: EN-NZ; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></i></div>
<div style="line-height: 19.2pt; text-align: justify;">
<i style="line-height: 19.2pt;"><span style="color: #222222; mso-ansi-language: EN-NZ; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Wanting
my mother to see my book in print, I went ahead and self-published with
Matador. Sadly my mother did not live to see the finished book. Since then I
have always self-published. I like being totally in control of my own work. The
only problem is the marketing side.</span></span></i></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #222222; line-height: 25.6000003814697px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #222222; line-height: 19.2pt;"></span></span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #222222; line-height: 19.2pt;"><span style="line-height: 19.2pt;"><b>How do you promote your writing? </b></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #222222; line-height: 19.2pt;">
</span>
<i style="color: #222222; line-height: 19.2pt;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
<i style="line-height: 19.2pt;">This is where I have problems. I advertise my paperbacks and do book
signings in my local area, find outlets and offer sale or return and
I have sold a lot that way. For ebooks I use the internet.</i></div>
</i></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: left;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #222222; line-height: 25.6000003814697px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<span style="color: #222222; line-height: 19.2pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"></span></span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #222222; line-height: 19.2pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 19.2pt;"><b>Where can we buy your books?</b></span></span></span></div>
<span style="color: #222222; line-height: 19.2pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">
<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 19.2pt; text-align: left;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i style="line-height: 19.2pt;"><span style="color: #222222; mso-ansi-language: EN-NZ; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">For
paperbacks, any bookstore, online or high street, will order them for you,
Alternatively go straight to </span></i><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 19.2pt;"><a href="http://www.troubador.co.uk/book_info.asp?bookid=1556" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-NZ" style="color: #1155cc; mso-ansi-language: EN-NZ; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">http://www.troubador.co.uk/book_info.asp?bookid=1556</span></a></span></span></div>
<span style="color: #222222; mso-ansi-language: EN-NZ; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"></span></span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #222222; mso-ansi-language: EN-NZ; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 19.2pt;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<span style="color: #222222; mso-ansi-language: EN-NZ; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 19.2pt;"><b>Who are your favourite authors?</b> </span></div>
<i><div style="text-align: justify;">
<i style="line-height: 19.2pt;">There are so many. Ken Follett, Barbara Erskine, Mary Higgins-Clark I could
go on forever. I also support Indie authors by buying books that appeal to me.
I have a kindle full of titles yet to be read.</i></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<i style="line-height: 19.2pt;"><br /></i></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<i style="line-height: 19.2pt;"><b>Links</b></i></div>
</i><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 19.2pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://www.catherinebyrne-author.com/" target="_blank"><i><span lang="EN-NZ" style="color: #1155cc; mso-ansi-language: EN-NZ; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">www.Catherinebyrne-author.com</span></i></a></span><span style="color: #222222; mso-ansi-language: EN-NZ; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: left;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<span style="color: #222222; line-height: 19.2pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"></span></span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #222222; line-height: 19.2pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 19.2pt;"><b>Do you have any more information you’d like to share with us?</b></span></span></span></div>
<span style="color: #222222; line-height: 19.2pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">
<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><span style="color: #222222;">I am at present
working on a contemporary novel set in the Scottish Highlands and inspired by a
photograph of my granddaughter and an eagle. Haven't yet got a title, but I
would like to dip my toe in the supernatural. Thank you very much for agreeing
to interview me.</span></i><span style="color: #222222;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12712678553941416352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5611956490327458442.post-24187123798003412382014-11-20T14:55:00.001-08:002014-11-20T14:55:23.275-08:00The Journey Continues - NaNoWrioMo<div style="text-align: justify;">
What a month I have had, At the beginning I was meant to have a Virtual Book Fair, only to be let down by the company. The same weekend National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) started and I took the plunge.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
For me the challenge was to write 50,000 words for one draft, rather than bouncing around different books. Well I'm pleased to say I did, and I am still writing it. Been a prolific write the word count was easy, however the staying on one topic wasn't, especially when I was suddenly given dates for the Virtual Book Fair, for last weekend. It was a whitewash, very few people came to chat, though I did have some company thanks to my friends. The promise of 10 - 20 people just didn't happen. This put me off track with NaNo, though luckily I'd already hit my word count.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuOY4zFEwIPDN-Hxuyegm9Ag1TdnSvFdOnhHHnb3Cky98eX0rIs1K2DKbJGu_lwj0dzHI7XOCk5X0XNpwpgTHpZ6ZiWwWBEQX_mT8DU9-NUolEHImOT05cU3SUooAq8ytx6ui32GchYpLj/s1600/Patrice+the+Dark+Lord2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuOY4zFEwIPDN-Hxuyegm9Ag1TdnSvFdOnhHHnb3Cky98eX0rIs1K2DKbJGu_lwj0dzHI7XOCk5X0XNpwpgTHpZ6ZiWwWBEQX_mT8DU9-NUolEHImOT05cU3SUooAq8ytx6ui32GchYpLj/s1600/Patrice+the+Dark+Lord2.jpg" height="320" width="225" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
I have no idea of the title yet, It started off as "Renegade Jones," now it is "Patrice, The Dark Lord." Neither really fit properly. Yes, I have a book mock up of a book cover, though I'm not sure it will be used, or if something different will eventuate.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The novel is book 6 in my GIB series. It is about a man who think's he is a double agent, not realising there is much more to his life then he ever knew. Jones rides a Harley and keeps a keen eye on Maggie Carrington, who is important to his other boss Mr Patrice, a dark dangerous shadowy person who's more powerful than even his twin brother realises.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The twists and turns, with a slightly paranormal issue makes this book totally different from all my others. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
It involves most of the characters, joining three together in a way which surprises them all. I am looking forward to finishing the writing and getting it published in the new year. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
First I have to get "Mascosta's Dreamgirl," (Bk 5) and "Girlie and the War of the Wasps," out before christmas.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Next week I will be holding my first Book Sale at Rotorua Library, selling my own books and maybe some of my clients books as well. During that week one of my clients Captain B M Commons has a book launch, so the excitement mounts as christmas draws closer.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Don't forget to support your Indie-Authors, there are some great writers out there.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
LATE NOTE.....Book Title is now "Jones the Reluctant Hero."</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12712678553941416352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5611956490327458442.post-81326185384158087452014-11-16T12:28:00.000-08:002014-11-16T12:28:11.272-08:00Interview with Author Mel Martin<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 19px;"><i>Let me introduce you to the lovely Mel Martin from England. A poet and social history author who was a delight to interview.</i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIoI9swX9aFBXwRd3gaxHRme6hFhjwf8ub3HhAIv6fQT6mik2Txq7SSPp_5jalBPuQGrs6DVKA4tXtI2QvXHwNRet_5Wrf0KCYFGrS88hWupo8NNHyd7X5kbmlIj3gpON5jWkFAetaeZ_i/s1600/Mel+M.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIoI9swX9aFBXwRd3gaxHRme6hFhjwf8ub3HhAIv6fQT6mik2Txq7SSPp_5jalBPuQGrs6DVKA4tXtI2QvXHwNRet_5Wrf0KCYFGrS88hWupo8NNHyd7X5kbmlIj3gpON5jWkFAetaeZ_i/s1600/Mel+M.jpg" height="200" width="200" /></a><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Tell us a bit about yourself.</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My name is Mel Martin. I am a mother of
three, almost grown up children. I live in Colchester in Essex, UK, though
I am originally from Dudley in the Midlands, UK. </span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I work in a local high school
helping kids to reach their potential. I see this as more of a calling than
a job. I have a passion for history, particularly family and social history and
love all things nature. I also make homemade cards and research family history
for others.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>What bought you to the world of writing?</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I have always wanted to write but have
never had the confidence to do so. I had learning needs when at school and
struggled with basic literacy skills and grew up thinking I was never going to
be good enough. I love the English language and the use of techniques such as
metaphors and similes. I have written my
poems down for years and some time ago decided I may share over the great
resource of the internet, people who read them said I should try to publish so
with the help of a friend (also a writer), a girl I grew up with, I sent off my
first book to be published. This was for me rather than for anyone else. It was
at this point I realised people wanted to buy and read my poetry. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>What is your first book and what do you
think of it now?<o:p></o:p></b></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The first book I wrote was called “My
Poetry Corner” and was published on 1<sup>st</sup> April 2014. I still love
this book it will always be dear to me as it was almost a platform for
everything that has come since.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>What type of books do you write and do they
fulfil your reader’s needs?</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I have written 5 small volumes of poems,
these have been a considerable help to others and I know that some carry them with them when they take a journey or a few days away. I have also written a
book on short stories passed down through the family and a novel (in Black
Country dialect) based on someone I discovered in my family tree. Both of these
have received a lot of interest, mainly because some of my characters are
remembered by others and also because they could be stories about anyone
else’s family. I have also written 2
research books, which I put together for families to preserve their heritage
and continue their legacy.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Would you like to feature a book, if so
which one? Tell us about it?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Yes, I love all of my books but the one
closest to my heart has to be “The Black Sheep” – the story is set in the heart
of the Black Country in Victorian England. It is essentially the life of
William Loundes and young man seemingly disowned by his family and left to take
life’s journey alone. The reader is drawn in the question of who the Black
Sheep is and what they have done to make them so. The book leaves a lot of
questions for the reader to think on and helps them consider what legacy they
may leave behind in life.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1GV488nP5nLlZhFH818tf_Kz2fBs1rdSIrbaXgIeVY3oHS_NKxCPTP5z_1jQqys8DSyf8UfYA-u1giu-UQEU36nYvYHD8sunDwEZtlTt3hxv41BfqEByMSwbk6OR_0ieoabXr0Q2cjfss/s1600/Black+Sheep.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1GV488nP5nLlZhFH818tf_Kz2fBs1rdSIrbaXgIeVY3oHS_NKxCPTP5z_1jQqys8DSyf8UfYA-u1giu-UQEU36nYvYHD8sunDwEZtlTt3hxv41BfqEByMSwbk6OR_0ieoabXr0Q2cjfss/s1600/Black+Sheep.jpg" /></a><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>How long does it take you to write your
first draft?</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">When I wrote the Black Sheep it took about
6 months for me to draft and to get it right. It took some time longer to do
the justice I felt my character deserved. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Do you plot or not, if so why?</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Yes, although it was reasonably easy in the
case of the Black Sheep as I had the story of his life mapped out before me
through research it was just a case of getting everything to flow fluently. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Do you write in 1<sup>st</sup> or 3<sup>rd</sup>
person, or have you do both?</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I tend to write in the third person as I
tell a story from my characters viewpoint.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>How do you edit your work? Do you leave your draft alone for a while or
edit as you write?</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I tend to edit my work as I go along and
then at the end also. I write about persons who have lived before,so write and
re-write and then re-write again till I feel its how they would have wanted it.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>What type of people/readers do you market
your books to?</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I try to write books that would appeal to
people of all ages. A lot of my market audience for my novel has been family
and persons local to where the book is set, whereas, my poems have a wider
audience.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Do you self-publish or have you worked with
an Agent/Publisher</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I self-publish which gives me a greater
freedom of expression. I edit my books myself though occasionally I will ask
someone to look them over if I am not completely satisfied.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>How do you promote your writing? </b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I generally use the internet to promote my
books I have recently set up a blog and am working on that to show others my
work; I also make good use of the facebook community.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Where can we buy your books?.</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">All of my books are available through
feed-a-read.com<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Who are your favourite authors?</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Charles Dickens, The Brontes, Jane Austin,
Lucy Maud Montgomery and contemporary writers such as Ruth Calder Murphy, Anne
Murray and Meg Hutchinson<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Thank you Mel for letting us get to know you better, good luck with your books.</i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Links<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://www.feedaread.com/search/books.aspx?keywords=Mel%20Martin">http://www.feedaread.com/search/books.aspx?keywords=Mel%20Martin</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/outamytree?fref=ts">https://www.facebook.com/outamytree?fref=ts</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Enjoy-the-Journey/866811573335094?fref=ts">https://www.facebook.com/pages/Enjoy-the-Journey/866811573335094?fref=ts</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://enjoymyjourney.weebly.com/">http://enjoymyjourney.weebly.com/</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Homemade-Christmas/1878238365648471?fref=ts">https://www.facebook.com/pages/Homemade-Christmas/1878238365648471?fref=ts</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Do you have any more information you’d like
to share with us?</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I would like you to take a look at my links
and enjoy my journey. Thank you.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">
<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12712678553941416352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5611956490327458442.post-32167749551586004472014-11-08T01:28:00.000-08:002014-11-08T01:28:12.273-08:00Author Interview with Trish Jackson<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Hello everyone. Welcome to my second interview with American Author, Trish Jackson. A lady who certainly has stories to tell.</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Trish, tell us a bit about yourself.</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">Hi
Claire, it's wonderful to be featured on your blog. I grew up in Zimbabwe (it was called Rhodesia
then), and moved to the US in 1990 with my husband and three wonderful children</span><span lang="EN-GB">.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>What bought you to the world of writing?</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My mother
is a published writer and she always encouraged me to write. From time to time
I submitted my stories to publishers, but that was in the days when publishers
were the muckety muck and writers were the lowest of the low until they had
proven themselves, and rejections were the norm. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>What is your first book and what do you
think of it now?</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My first
book, '<i>Way Out of Line'</i> was published
by a print-on-demand publisher before the Internet became part of our everyday
lives. They didn't offer any help with editing, and more recently, when my
second book was accepted by Uncial Press, I realized what a huge difference a
good editor can make. My seven-year contract with my first publisher had
expired at the time, and I submitted the manuscript to my new editor, Jude, who
made exponential changes and whipped it into something so much better than the
version I first sold.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>What type of books do you write and do they
fulfil your reader’s needs?</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I write
romantic suspense/thrillers and romantic comedy. They all take place in country
settings, and I always feature animals in them, which is fun. I also work hard
to make them extra emotional. My readers are down to earth, outdoorsy animal
lovers -- not the type who want to read about jet-setting millionaires fast
cars, and glitzy places.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Well that certainly shows you know your readers.</i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Would you like to feature a book, if so
which one? Tell us about it?</b></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8bsl6pjGQrVMlM0nISYouizb04dgG8OerSyaO2y0acO0fJgvJaKG_IjZlepqv0fYZ1xiCBg1LA6QchGvzr-75lUEtKikOpNk1HJfD6thboLek3PImGn52mKgxivf0pl1fQ4S_Yh2TK_LK/s1600/backwood_2x3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8bsl6pjGQrVMlM0nISYouizb04dgG8OerSyaO2y0acO0fJgvJaKG_IjZlepqv0fYZ1xiCBg1LA6QchGvzr-75lUEtKikOpNk1HJfD6thboLek3PImGn52mKgxivf0pl1fQ4S_Yh2TK_LK/s1600/backwood_2x3.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">My romantic comedy, '</span><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Backwoods Boogie'</i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> is about to be released
on November 14th. It's the third book in my Redneck P.I. Mystery Series, about
Twila Taunton, who is proud to be a redneck, her tangled love life, and the
cases she solves as a private investigator in small town USA, together with her
Harley-riding, hard-drinking Great Aunt Essie and her dog, Scratch. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In '</span><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Backwoods Boogie'</i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> she is determined to
get the British tea shop owner off a trumped-up murder charge. She brings in
computer hacker and farter of note, Gasser Cunha to access certain computer
information.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In the course of her
investigation, she discovers an illegal puppy mill, where a bunch of dogs are
being abused. She calls on her long-distance lover, Harland to help rescue
them. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I am an animal
advocate, and although the book is written in fun, it carries a series message
about animal abuse. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This series is such a
blast to write, and I often find myself chuckling at the quirky characters and
new bizarre scenarios.</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: 29.35pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>How long does it take you to write your
first draft?</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My first
draft usually takes about three to four months. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Do you plot or not, if so why?</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I don't
plot. I get an idea and I just start writing. If I get stuck, I go for a long
walk and think it out, and usually I can continue when I get back to my
computer. I've tried to plot, but I don't seem to be able to follow the plot. The only thing I do write down is the timeline, because it's so easy to forget
the sequence of events.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Do you write in 1<sup>st</sup> or 3<sup>rd</sup>
person, or have you do both?</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I have
written in both. I like to include as much emotion in my stories as possible,
and it's a lot easier to do so in 1<sup>st</sup> person.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>How do you edit your work? Do you leave your draft alone for a while or
edit as you write?</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Once the
first draft is complete, I leave it for at least two months and start working
on another book. When I get back to the first book, it's no longer fresh in my
mind and I am more easily able to see the flaws in it. Then I start fleshing it
out. I am blessed with wonderful editors who have taught me more than I could
have learned about writing in two years of college.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>What type of people/readers do you market
your books to?</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Romance
and thriller readers enjoy my serious books, but they are a little too harsh
for some of my romantic comedy readers, so I have two similar but distinct
markets.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Do you self-publish or have you worked with
an Agent/Publisher</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I have
two publishers, and the only gripe I have about them is that it takes a long
time for them to get my books published, so I am at a crossroads where I might
self-publish my next novel. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>How do you promote your writing? </b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Promotion
is the most difficult part about writing. Most of us don't want to be bothered
with marketing, but we have to, and I try to make myself spend 50% of my time
marketing and 50% writing. I also have a four-day-week job, so I have to take
that into account.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Where can we buy your books?</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My books are
available on Amazon at the link below in both electronic and print formats, and
if you prefer print books, you can get them here in New Zealand -- <a href="http://www.fishpond.co.nz/c/Books/a/Trish+Jackson">http://www.fishpond.co.nz/c/Books/a/Trish+Jackson</a>
<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Who are your favourite authors?</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">James
Patterson, John Grisham, Michael Connelly, Lee Child, Anne Rice, Janet
Evanovich, Catherine Coulter, Patricia Cornwell, Kathy Reichs, Nora Roberts,
Danielle Steel. I could go on.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Do you have any more information you’d like
to share with us?</b></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">My other series, the
Zodiac Series is seriously scary and sexy romantic suspense. Each primary
character or heroine belongs to a different star sign in this series, and
exhibits the typical traits associated with her sign. Capricorn Cravings was
the first, and the second book in this series, Aquarius Addiction will be
released in January 2015. I have just
completed the third one, Virgo's Variant and it has been accepted by the Kindle
Scout program, whereby readers get to review the first 5000 words, and nominate
the books they like. If the book gets enough nominations to be published by
Amazon, the readers who voted get a free copy. Here's the link to my book,
which goes live on November 7<sup>th</sup>. </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="background: white; color: #00a8c6; font-size: 10.5pt; text-decoration: none;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/r.html?C=131N5G3Z8RDWF&K=A2CW9Y8HPE2GI5&R=10P1H02X0HNNN&T=C&U=https%3A%2F%2Fkindlescout.amazon.com%2Fp%2F1JKUU4V1XP5OL%3Fref_%3Dpe_886810_121879880&A=SKPNBMWF5L0EZUVCJ1MIPEDQSVGA&H=MCHIRSWTL2AKTOWN3P3L184OLIEA" target="_blank">https://kindlescout.amazon.com/p/1JKUU4V1XP5OL</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I also offer free downloads of short stories on my website.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Links<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://www.trishjax.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #196ad4;">www.trishjax.com</span></a><br />
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/redneckpi" target="_blank"><span style="color: #196ad4;">Facebook</span></a><br />
</span><a href="https://twitter.com/trishajauthor" target="_blank"><span style="color: #196ad4;">Twitter</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://www.pinterest.com/trishjax/" target="_blank"><span style="background: white; color: #196ad4;">Pinterest</span></a></span><span lang="EN-GB"><br />
</span><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Trish-Jackson/e/B004ZZG55K/" target="_blank"><span style="background: white; color: #196ad4;">Amazon</span></a></span><span lang="EN-GB"><br />
<span style="background: white;"><a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/+TrishJackson/posts" target="_blank"><span style="color: #196ad4;">Google+</span></a></span><br />
<span style="background: white;">Follow my Blog: <a href="http://romancerambleandbookbabble.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #196ad4;">http://romancerambleandbookbabble.blogspot.com/ </span></a></span></span><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>BIO</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0txXWByo8pawfuxs0MMlA-MAz56P0_fYqcOB8lpQQvOkIh0s6tuYSPLFi7wSKt7zG1SyqQQQzmsH9N8UpPy1AKckFYtzLg42BlRFE5Fk7252WEacPVuWC41lAehCYp3OykF31Gf5Wpfny/s1600/me.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0txXWByo8pawfuxs0MMlA-MAz56P0_fYqcOB8lpQQvOkIh0s6tuYSPLFi7wSKt7zG1SyqQQQzmsH9N8UpPy1AKckFYtzLg42BlRFE5Fk7252WEacPVuWC41lAehCYp3OykF31Gf5Wpfny/s1600/me.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Trish Jackson grew up on a farm in Zimbabwe,
Africa, which sparked a love of adventure and suspense. She moved to the U.S.
in 1990 and currently lives on 81/2 acres in Florida.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Trish
writes provocative and poignant romantic thrillers/suspense and politically
incorrect romantic comedy, focusing on animals, astrology, and the passions,
dreams, and tragedies in the lives of country folk in small towns. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">She loves country living, horse riding, chocolate and all animals.</span></span><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12712678553941416352noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5611956490327458442.post-91884614948200584062014-11-01T14:00:00.000-07:002014-11-01T14:00:03.166-07:00Author Interviews. Meet Marguerite Maddan<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I’d like you to meet Marguerite Madden, an author whose's books cover different genre’s<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I'm a 39 year old
married, mother of 2 (6 if you count fur babies), and I'm a type A personality.
Well, I used to be. A bout with cancer took care of that for me last year, and
I've been trying to figure out what to do with myself now.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Marguerite self-published her first eBook in April 2012
through Smashwords. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“Once Upon a Western Way,” is a romantic fantasy written
while she was still at high school. In September this year it was released in print through CreateSpace. During
this time her books “Keeping a Backyard Horse,” and “My Butterfly Cancer,” were
also released in print. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Marguerite’s sole purpose with her novels, is to entertain,
however, “Backyard Horse,” was inspired by years of living around (supposed)
horse people and watching their animals suffer from neglect. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I love to read, and
have some medical background, but I noticed in the “horse care” section of the
book store, books were huge and overly detailed. So I wrote a book about the
simplest way to care for a horse without spending a fortune but keeping the
health of the animal in mind. And it's narrated by my horse (who's on the
cover) and laced with her anecdotes.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My Butterfly Cancer, is m</span></i><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">y cancer memoir. It was
intended to inspire anyone who has to make a major comeback, like I did, and
goes into some detail about self-publishing.</span></i></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">All Marguerite’s books can be purchased through Amazon,
Barnes and Noble, and they're currently Kindle exclusives, they'll be back on
Smashwords soon. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Marguerite presently has two novels in progress. The first
is “Triple Heist,” A crime novel involving Allison, head of security for the
Federal Reserve Bank, and her plan to rob the facility of millions. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">“Fang and Claw,” is a crime/paranormal intended to be Book
One of the Undead Unit series. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Lacey is
a detective with the Dallas police department. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">She's also a vampire. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In a world where supernatural creatures are,
if not socially accepted, at least tolerated.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Lacey’s put in charge of a squad put together to deal with special
circumstances of crimes committed involving the Undead (vampires, werewolves,
zombies, and more). She is partnered with a Wolf, whose ancestors were responsible
for decimating her coven of origin. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Can
they work together?</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Marguerite uses all types of social media to help promote
her books. She has even had retweet
contests where she give away a free book to the winner! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Hopefully this
interview exchange will rock! <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">If you wish to participate please view Marguerite’s blog for
Interview questions.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Marguerite is a member of GoodReads, Shelfari, and
Scribophile. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">You can find Marguerite Madden on <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Twitter @naddya81975<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Facebook: <a href="http://www.facebook.com/booksbymarkie">http://www.facebook.com/booksbymarkie</a>.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My blog is <a href="http://writermarkiemadden.blogspot.com/">http://writermarkiemadden.blogspot.com</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Website and Amazon author page are in her email signature. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">You can also find her on Reddit and LinkedIn. These book links
will redirect to the correct Amazon store from anywhere in the world.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My Butterfly Cancer <a href="http://geni.us/3Xdr">http://geni.us/3Xdr</a>
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Keeping a Backyard Horse <a href="http://geni.us/47ot">http://geni.us/47ot</a>
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Once Upon a Western Way <a href="http://geni.us/26Fb">http://geni.us/26Fb</a>
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Email naddya81975@gmail.com</span><o:p></o:p></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12712678553941416352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5611956490327458442.post-12793557024720659062014-08-29T23:56:00.000-07:002014-08-29T23:56:02.725-07:00Tables & Text Boxes in eBooks<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Tables and Text Boxes are apparently a huge no go area for eBooks. This could cause considerable pain for for some authors, and I would hope their is a way around it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Apparently tables and text boxes are to complicated so of course being me; set off on another journey of discovery and research to see what I could find to alter two text boxes and a table so they would would and the book be approved for online publication.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Where to go, how to look, someone must know something and google generally has the answer. I typed in the search page "Why don't Tables and Text Boxes work in eBooks?" Well it didn't answer the why, though it did show a way which may work. One I had sort of used, though of course I had to be slightly more complicated.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Turn the table or text box into an image (jpeg) Eureka I cry. Well no actually I just thought, well typical, as I said I'd already done this sort of with the text boxes, though not brilliant I now know the correct way to do them. "Take a Screen Shot."</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Now for the next learning curve...How to take a screen shot, i've never been sucessful yet, though with my sheer determination I will this time. No more problems for me, just make sure things that don't work in eBooks are images and ..........yay.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Last Question</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I re-inserted an image that wouldn't open in e-book format (epub & mobi) Now it has disappeared altogether, guess I may have to re-draw the picture and then do a screen shot. Grrrr.</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12712678553941416352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5611956490327458442.post-59975145299382024682014-08-28T19:19:00.001-07:002014-08-28T19:19:16.985-07:00Girlie and the War of the Wasps<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Time to share again.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This is my latest work, a book for young readers or parents to read to their child. It depends on the ages, though I have also aimed the story to be enjoyed by adults as well. After all there is a child in all of us.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Girlie is a bright blue ladybug, not the usual red. One thing I have discovered with this story is the many different colours of ladybugs, green, yellow, orange, blue, purple and even pink. I wonder what they think when they meet up.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Anyway Girlie is a young blue ladybug who is walking through the village green with her family, since she loves to look at everything, Girlie gets left behind. A sudden buzzing noise makes her hide, a scream and over her head flies a nasty wasp with her best friend in it's clutches. Poor Grassi.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The adventure begins. Will Girlie save the day and her friend, Who will she meet along the way, will they all be friendly or not.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I look forward with sharing more of this story with you.</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12712678553941416352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5611956490327458442.post-83315039872080774772014-08-05T00:25:00.001-07:002014-08-05T00:25:14.293-07:00Then Business BloomedWelcome to my blog. I thought it was time I told you all about my latest venture which I have been building on over the last 10 weeks.<br />
<br />
As you all know I love to write, hate to edit, love to format and publish. <br />
<br />
During one of my sessions at the local writers group I got to introduce myself and tell them what I was doing, what I was writing. It was very exciting for me to share my experiences with everyone, including handing out my writing business card. It was great and I think I may start doing some talks with various groups at some stage.<br />
<br />
One of the other participant later contacted me and asked if I would format their book for them. Well why not I thought, I can do this. From that moment on my business was born. Not that I knew it then.<br />
<br />
Welcome to Plaisted Publishing House Limited :D<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidIoMhOxbXt-1Vg66zRhZQGEudE_ykmSw4Z84D9zO7OY6TtYXg00_744hkqU33030ZMENDGYBP-MA3zvk_wAJa2uUVlzBfl42AifLsodPdBxsfSEZXwyecAAzqyPvCtCM_3d3O6ctRwf_z/s1600/Poster+PPH.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidIoMhOxbXt-1Vg66zRhZQGEudE_ykmSw4Z84D9zO7OY6TtYXg00_744hkqU33030ZMENDGYBP-MA3zvk_wAJa2uUVlzBfl42AifLsodPdBxsfSEZXwyecAAzqyPvCtCM_3d3O6ctRwf_z/s1600/Poster+PPH.jpg" height="320" width="226" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://plaistedpublishing.wix.com/self-publish-service" target="_blank">http://plaistedpublishing.wix.com/self-publish-service</a><br />
<br />
The book was formatted, an article in the local paper. Two weeks later I had my own article in the paper and I can honestly say I've not looked back only forward. I have had around 12 contacts in the past 8 weeks. I have 8 clients, several who are soon to be published at online book stores world wide. Most are local to where I live in Rotorua, the other is in Gisborne.<br />
<br />
The most frustrating thing so far though is the lack of cheap Print on Demand (POD) in New Zealand, it is slowly getting here though still extremely expensive. At present I print overseas. <br />
<br />
The best thing is helping others to achieve. My daughter is doing a graphic design paper and my proofreader is part way through her training to. It is all go.<br />
<br />
My clients are delighted with the work so far and are getting excited about holding their own books. My next learning curve is Marketing. HELP<br />
<br />
Until next time!<br />
<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12712678553941416352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5611956490327458442.post-51513539001138327032014-06-17T14:14:00.000-07:002014-06-17T14:14:02.911-07:00To Plot or not? When writing your novel.<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The day is dull, though the excitement of writing grows steadily within me. What will happen next? Where will I go with all the twists and turns? Why don't I get lost and repeat myself.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Friends and acquaintances often ask me how I write my books and how I plot them out. To tell the truth I've never really plotted any of my books so far. I am a prolific writer who generally opens a word document and just writes. If I get stuck on a story I will go on to a different draft, which is probably why I have so many unfinished book drafts on my computer.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Maybe I'm lucky that the words just seem to be there. I do work with ideas, I always tend to know where the story is going and who it is about. I just never know how I'm going to get there until it happens.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My latest book is called "Mascosta's Dreamgirl." It is the fourth book in a series about Garrett Investigation Bureau. All I knew when I started writing, was it was going to be different from the other three books. Mascosta is an agent for G.I.B and his dream-girl is an assassin.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">What are the advantages of Plotting. I know one is the character sheet to make sure your characters always have green eyes or blonde hair etc. Yes I have tried to learn to plot, even a good friend; who is also a writer couldn't understand how I worked, though he has certainly helped me with my development of my writing skills.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Do you plot your novels, if so how?</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12712678553941416352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5611956490327458442.post-17769389253986308532014-04-27T22:59:00.000-07:002014-04-27T23:01:48.431-07:00Steep Learning Curve - how not to do a Print book out of an E-Book<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Well as the title says it is really difficult to turn one into the other if you are using a Style Guide for E-books. Talk about frustrating myself changing the documents. Nothing would go right especially the Page Numbers, you know those ones which start about six pages into the actual book.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I have learnt how to style each part of my books as I write now. Book Title, Author Name, Indent or no Indent for the body of the text as well as doing the same for centered and italics. I have made a template for my e-books and I will be setting up one for my print books so that i can add page numbers without a problem. I have realised that I can put page numbers into a template though as yet I have not quite worked it out. So my job for this week.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I have another print book to finish formatting and another to put on my e-book template. After this My main aim is to finish "Ryan's Madam," "Mascosta's Dream Girl" and "Girlie and the War of the Wasps," which of course is a young childrens book. I am hoping this one may have a few pictures in it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">All but Zoe's Journey has been updated in print form now. My e-books are on Smashwords and the Garrett Investigation Bureau Series are all on Createspace for print. These books are available all over the world on the online stores. I do hope to get them into actual books shops at some stage.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Places they are available from are:-</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Mighty Ape, Ebay, Amazon, Createspace, Smashwords to name a few.</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12712678553941416352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5611956490327458442.post-58412495831990194262014-04-19T14:12:00.000-07:002014-04-19T14:12:01.317-07:00Style Writing<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Style Writing seems to be an on going learning curve. One moment you think you have it and then you find there is something else which is needed. I will recommend anyone who is going to format an e-book to use the free e-book about Style Writing from Smashwords. Once you get your head around it, it is really good. Easy to navigate and use though you may need to forget some of the things you think you already know about Microsoft Word.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Yesterday I realised I could implement different styles of writing how I wanted them to look rather than what was already set up by Word. With this said I now have different styles for Book Titles, Author name, Chapters, Centered, Italics, Indents, No Indents etc. Each have their own specialties making my typing automatic when I click on that particular style. It is brilliant.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Two things I learnt yesterday was how <b>not</b> to use Tabs and Page Breaks. This wonderful book even shows you how to get rid of Tabs without trawling through your document.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Today I will be re-learning how to do Linked Contents Pages, for some strange reason I can't get my old ones to work properly and you really need to have linked chapters so your reader can read anywhere they please.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Don't forget most e-books don't have page numbers!!</span></div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Style writing has also taught me a few things about how to set up a book for printing, some of the styles you use are the same, the major difference is page numbers and generally no links though printed books will have websites where you can look for other reading material by the same author.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Good look and have fun :D</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12712678553941416352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5611956490327458442.post-66249478598958098122014-04-03T15:43:00.002-07:002014-04-03T15:43:47.596-07:00My printed books :)<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Hey everyone I now have my books in print :) I have received my copies today they look awesome and I hope when or if you buy that you enjoy the stories. Thank you everyone for your support over the last few months it is much appreciated.</span><br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12712678553941416352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5611956490327458442.post-67968210132906472432014-03-15T14:16:00.000-07:002014-03-15T14:16:13.723-07:00Crosswick Family Tree<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Since I am re-writing my Crosswick book I thought I'd look at the family tree I created for the story. Well wow it certainly shows some twists and turns and even though you will read about them in the story I think the impact will be quite big when you first see the Family Tree which will be included in the front pages of the book.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I have been studying and researching the regency period with many thinks to Jane Austen's blog</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://janeaustensworld.wordpress.com/social-customs-and-the-regency-world/" target="_blank">http://janeaustensworld.wordpress.com/social-customs-and-the-regency-world/</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This blog is full of fantastic information and has been brilliant for a beginning like myself. Though I have always loved history along with researching the social history it has been a hard slog to get information correct. yes we have artistic licence though personally I think a book sounds much better if the historical background is closer to how life actually was.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Not that I am saying I will get everything right, because I won't. My writing is for those who enjoy a good read. I do hope this book will be one you can't put down especially due to the fact that it is the first one in the Crosswick series.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I would leave you with an example of the family tree though this may ruin the book. So here is an excerpt instead:-</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This work is copyrighted©Claire Plaisted 2012</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Several
hours later a pounding on the front door startled Gregory awake.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“Worthington,
what the hell’s going on,” he shouted.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“I
will find out sir,” with the dignity Gregory always found slightly amusing,
Worthington quickly slipped out of the library to the front door.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Gregory
hated interruptions especially late at night. Why people could not wait until
morning he never knew. The library door was flung back, rebounding off the wall
making him jump up he turned in shock to see who would dare. Gregory’s eyes
widened at the sight. An old man could do all this noise, nearly waking the
dead. Grinning at Worthington he waved him away as he started to laugh.
Laughter was just what he needed. A good distraction, this was going to be
after all.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“Father,”
he said with much amusement, “What on earth are you doing here?”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">He
shook his fist at Gregory with fury.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“Worthington,
please a fresh pot of tea for my father; he must be cold.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“Yes
sir. Would there be anything else?”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“No
thank you Worthington, just take his coat if he’ll let you.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">His
father, still did not utter a word, he straightened his back like the soldier
he used to be walking over to the other chair opposite his son by the glowing
fire. Rubbing his hands, he sat. Gregory quietly sipped his whiskey waiting for
his father to make the first move. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Talking
to his father was like a fine game of chess, picking your moves carefully to
get the best results.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“Gregory,”
his father sighed. “Gregory, what were you thinking?”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Shaking
his head once again, he looked his son in the eye. Thinking deeply about what
he should tell him; what he could leave out was the hard part. Gregory knew his
father was not talking about his whiskey so he waited, the game had begun; if
he interrupted too soon his father would close up. A knock at the door a maid
entered with a tea tray and a plate of biscuits. Placing it on the table between them, she
turned leaving quickly, Worthington closing the door behind them.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“Gregory,
why are you doing this?”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“Father,”
he said questioningly<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">He
looked up at Gregory his eyes as sharp as ever. “You interfere in things when
they are best left alone; I only heard today that you bought the old Crosswick
place.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“How,
who told you?”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">“It </span>doesn't<span style="font-size: small;"> really matter, you should have let the past stay the past son,” he said
tiredly. “Why do you think I sent you overseas to your uncles? It was to help
you forget, then the first thing you do on your return, was to buy the damn
debt and set things back into motion which will no doubt end badly.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“What
things are you on about father?” he asked puzzled.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“There
was much trickery around Matilda’s marriage, I didn’t find out until it was too
late, or I would have told her father. Remember he was my best friend for many
years.” He said sadly.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“Yes
father, I know, though I don’t understand about the trickery, what was it you
saw, you never told me?”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“In
the morning my son, in the morning, I’m too tired from my journey, I’m not as
young as I was,” he sighed. Gregory knew he’d get no more from him this night.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“Please
ask Worthington to escort me to my room, my valet should already be there,”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">He
turned walking out of the library, leaving Gregory with a mystery he knew he
could not solve. With a puzzled frown, he paced the library before retiring up
to his own room. It would be many hours until he slept, tossing and turning
thinking about what his father said. Sleep finally claimed him fitfully in the
early hours, though restful it was not.</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Hope you enjoyed the read. :)</span></span></div>
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12712678553941416352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5611956490327458442.post-71549623040585689462014-02-25T14:50:00.000-08:002014-02-25T14:50:08.678-08:00Horse Ride and Overnight Stay Info now sorted.<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Thank you to all my lovely friends, family and fellow researchers for helping me solve my details of historical and journeying in the 1830's. I know I have artistic licence to do as I wish when I write my book, however as Mel said it is a nicer read if it is based on factual information.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">A solo horse rider from London to Gloucester would take more than half a day, even with an Arabian. When I first wrote my "Crosswick" draft I just wrote and didn't overly think on some of the major details at the time. Now is the time to fill in those details and one of the major ones is of course the Horse and Rider episodes. There will be quite a large re-write due to the fact that a horse and rider would have an over night stop on the way for rest and recuperation.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Well like in my last post I have the horse timing is all sorted now, the next part was where in his journey to stop over night. The question went to my family, friends and researchers I know and some I don't know. The information was wonderful.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I have decided to stop at Newbury (thanks bro) in Berkshire for one trip. A lovely gentleman from Rootschat Website gave me a heap of information about Newbury for 1835 and beyond. Newburychap told me about the trains and the coaching inns. The one I had chosen to use was not actually a place a gentleman would stay (another thing i'd not thought about), he advised me to use the Pelican instead of the Bacon Arms. He also told me who was in charge of the inn during the time my rider stays overnight, including that Charles Dickens staying there the same year. It wasn't until 1847 when the trains finally took over from the coaching inns to the extent many inn's ended up closing down. I never realised how big these places were either, some had stables which housed 300 horses. WOW</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It is going to make a good read with this extra info, I am now looking forward to working out Gregory's overnight visit to Oxford.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Thank you Mel, Keith, Mark, Keeley and everyone else who made suggestions and gave me factual information. x</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12712678553941416352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5611956490327458442.post-83933615319532719062014-02-21T16:51:00.001-08:002014-02-21T16:51:08.119-08:00Travel Times by Horse - Regency Era<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Well bother, all I can really say is thank goodness my book is a work of fiction. Apparently I have my horse and rider going from London to Gloucester in half a day instead of two days. Must admit it is one way to extend the story line. So do I leave it or do I go into more depth of finding a hostelry for my hero and evil man to stay in at a halfway point? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">As a future reader of my Regency Novel it would be great to have some feedback. I don't know much about horses, though I do know that some horses have more stamina than others. I also appreciate roads were very different. There again are they. From photographs I have seen recently on Facebook it seems they have as many potholes now in a road as they probably had in Regency times.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">If I change it to fit time wise, it will mean re-drafting quite a few different parts of the story which could cause chaos. Though I like chaos in my books, I'm not sure if this is the best route.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Still humming and haring over what to do :D</span></div>
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<a href="http://animal-backgrounds.com/file/1372/600x338/16:9/arabian-horses-black-beauty-wallpaper_17437793.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://animal-backgrounds.com/file/1372/600x338/16:9/arabian-horses-black-beauty-wallpaper_17437793.jpg" height="255" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Thought this looked a bit like Demon the Black Arabian Stallion in my book</span></div>
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<a href="http://animal-backgrounds.com/files/Arabian%20Horse/Arabian%20horses%20black-beauty%20Wallpaper.jpg">http://animal-backgrounds.com/files/Arabian%20Horse/Arabian%20horses%20blackbeauty%20Wallpaper.jpg</a></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12712678553941416352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5611956490327458442.post-77022428699613757872014-02-06T00:17:00.001-08:002014-02-06T00:17:21.697-08:00Page Numbers<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Well what a frustrating way to begin a day. Actually that's not quite true. I started to try and put in page numbers in a book manuscript a few days ago and gave up wanting to yell and scream. Instead i calmed down and went to do something different.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Cup of tea in hand I sat on the comfy couch with my laptop and decided to try again. Opening the document I though I can do this it can't be as hard as it was the other day. Next I Googled how to number pages into word documents after the first page.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Oopps I think this is why I got a little bit tied up. An hour later and it still wasn't working even though I was going through the guidelines step by step. Sheer frustration. Lucky for me I ranted and raved a bit on Facebook to my lovely friends. Harrold came to my rescue with two web links one which confused me and the other I seemed to have more luck with.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">By the time my daughter came into the lounge I was very grumpy, it still wasn't working and I knew I hadn't missed any steps. Then right at the bottom of the second link Harrold gave me i noticed something and wondered if it would work. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Well I did something right, straight after a nice long scream post on Facebook. You know what I still don't know what the heck I did so I suppose there will be more frustration with my next book for print.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Here's the link for you all just in case you need it at some stage</span></div>
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<a href="http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/10-things/10-steps-to-setting-up-page-numbering-in-word-sections/">http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/10-things/10-steps-to-setting-up-page-numbering-in-word-sections/</a><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Right I'm off to go see i can do my next book :D</span><br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12712678553941416352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5611956490327458442.post-8821882521091695332014-02-03T22:05:00.000-08:002014-02-03T22:05:13.066-08:00First book in print <div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I have finally done it. I have my first book printed, it's my fifth work and my first teens book. Even so I'm really pleased. I even had a glass of wine to celebrate. All I have to do now is sell them.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Who knows anything about marketing? </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I have read numerous items to spread the word, blogs etc and have come to the conclusion I'm doing all the right stuff. I have this blog, I am designing a website I celebrate my success on Facebook, LinkedIn, I tell friends and relatives and still it seems I need more marketing.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Where do I go from here?</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Well I need followers on this blog for a start, I know people look though it i just don't actually have followers. Is my blog boring, do I say the wrong things, well I don't know unless someone says something or leaves a comment.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Customer feedback on Amazon from those who have bought and read my novels would also be good.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Maybe I should email everyone in my contact list with a generic email telling people about my novels, where they are to be found etc. Another idea is sending an email to the local paper, though I'm not sure I'm brave enough for that yet.</span></div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Whilst my web page is under construction I can't do a business card, though it will be sorted once my webpage is set. Once again I'll need feedback so I can improve what I've done so far.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Oh I almost forgot the book that you can now buy in print is called "Zoe's Journey," it's about a teen who find out who she really is. Along the way she meets many mythical creatures of which she'd always assumed were fairy tales.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFiZTfNDaOwNWzScGRzoNZM8cG5KTx2oEONyYCJ3XFrW4HkPDgp9gUwZCoPeuWokAkji0VJPl9QYn2GOuBT2PmiB6L3eUAivxPNaPlHzxGOkPVCjjkvM8sXfAlpnzk4qV81jYoTeBr3I1p/s1600/Zoe's+Journey.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFiZTfNDaOwNWzScGRzoNZM8cG5KTx2oEONyYCJ3XFrW4HkPDgp9gUwZCoPeuWokAkji0VJPl9QYn2GOuBT2PmiB6L3eUAivxPNaPlHzxGOkPVCjjkvM8sXfAlpnzk4qV81jYoTeBr3I1p/s1600/Zoe's+Journey.jpg" height="237" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Well back to my writing, if you buy one of my books thanks, and enjoy the read.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">:D</span></div>
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12712678553941416352noreply@blogger.com0