INDIE AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT: ELIZABETH TYREE

Elizabeth Tyree

Q: Elizabeth...what made you become a writer?

A: I think that the real reason I "became" a writer was that I couldn’t make myself stop writing. I’ve been telling stories for my entire life, blaming dragons for the mess in my playroom and writing poetry and story ideas on the edges of math papers. The moment I really remember as being pivotal, though, was in my 3rd (or was it 4th?) grade Reading and English class when Mrs. Keeling had us write a poem about bubblegum. I remember revising 7+ times before I felt ready to turn it in.

Q: What is your typical writing day like?

A: I have no typical writing day at this point because I have a toddler and I’m not teaching this year. I had routines for years…and they basically meant that I was writing any time I could possibly do so! Now that I’m focusing more on writing and have a toddler as well, it seems I never write! I try to use her rest times, but those are getting shorter now. Sometimes I can write while she’s playing, especially if she’s playing "writer games" in which she gets her notebook, draws a few pages, and makes me guess what she’s writing about. (Incidentally, one of her bedtime stories that she made up is currently being made into a picture book which we hope to release in October!)

Q: Do you outline? If so, how extensive are your outlines?

A: While the short answer here is "no," it isn’t entirely accurate. You see, I do three different types of pre-writing that are similar to an outline. I write everything by hand first, so my "first draft" becomes both outline and draft as I go to type up the story. I write lines that pop into my head, or sketch pictures, and jot notes beside them so that they are a mix of outlining and brainstorming. Finally, and most normally, I use note cards. Every character is given a note card and I must give their names, histories, and summarization of their parts in the story briefly enough to fit one (two at the most!) note card. If I cannot do that then I either don’t know them well enough, or they need more tweaking.

Q: How many revisions will you typically do on a novel?

A: The first book in the Stone Dragon Saga series is actually currently undergoing it’s 7th revision. I finished it 5 years ago, revised it 5 times before publishing, did another revision 6 months later, and still feel like there are areas to fix.  Books 2 and 3 will be getting the same treatment at some point. Conversely, my short story compilations have each only gone through a couple revisions. However, my novels generally get between 3 and 7 revisions depending on editing criterion and structure. 

Q: What is your best tip for editing a manuscript?

A: Let it rest for at least a few weeks before you start to edit, and make sure you are not the only editor! When you have just finished a story, the rush of endorphins and adrenaline is unreal. You won’t want to cut a single piece of that baby’s hair! So wait a few weeks, work on something else, move along in your writing world, and when you are separated enough from the feel of the story you can go back and work on the minutia. One pair of eyes will probably not be enough to fix every little mistake, because you won’t see them all. So find a few beta readers and/or hire a professional editor so that you can get the best product to put out there. 

Q: Which writing habits and/or tricks of the trade have made you a better writer?

A: I carry a notebook and colored pens with me everywhere. Anytime I have an idea or a jolt of understanding, I have something that I can jot that down in and with. Even if it is just on my phone, I keep a constant reckoning of my ideas and storylines. My aunt even got me an old school tape recorder with the mini-tapes so I would stop trying to write things down at the stoplight! I also still love to read, and I don’t just read in the genres I write in. If I only read YA non-romance fantasy with no cussing etc., I would be in a fairly small boat made of mostly retro wood. I know my trade and I do read those books; however, I also read any YA, MG, Children’s, NA, A, etc. Anything that catches my fancy. Doing that has brought me great ideas, new understanding of how to work with words, and even a new friend or two.

Q: Do you ever suffer through writer’s block? If so, how do you fight it?

A: All the time. Writer’s block is a horrendous and mean little monster. I sometimes try to struggle and write through it, then wind up kicking most of that out during revisions. If I’m not in that stubborn mood, I go do something else. I craft, play with my daughter, read, watch television, clean, or edit. Taking my mind off of the issue allows my characters to work through it without me.

Q: What drew you to write your preferred genre(s)?

A: My series began as a response to a writing.com contest. I wrote up my entry and just couldn’t seem to find a way out. So I kept writing and a YA fantasy was born. I’ve always loved Young Adult novels and fantasy has been a favorite for my entire life, so it just seems natural to me. My new picture book, Leonard the Lemur (currently available for pre-release) came about because I am a teacher and nature lover. Leonard goes on adventures, meeting new animals in new areas of the world, and the facts will be in the back of the book! As for Paulonious Punk, a children’s adventure book, My House, a New Adult/Adult novel, Vincent, a NA romance, and Sylvester, a NA fantasy/romance…I cannot even begin to tell you how those happened. They just popped up and I’m enjoying the genres, so I will probably continue on in them

Q: Do you utilize beta readers?

A: I am with the new children’s and picture books, though I have never completely done so before. Previously, I have just given outlines, character ideas, or tricky chapters to beta readers and asked for opinions.  

Q: In your most recently published novel, what’s one scene you really enjoyed writing—and why?

A: I loved writing the scene in Dragon on the Green where our main characters have taken the evil sorcerer captive…and then lose him again. The entire scene is full of sass and snark, and I just couldn’t help but to have fun being all of those different characters as I worked out the dialogue and movements.

Q: What makes the main character(s) of your most recent novel so special?

A: Both the most recently published novel and one of my current WIPs have Aliphonsore as the main, main character. "Al" is the only known fairy dragon in existence. He is the size of a choker necklace and has amazing powers that no other dragon has ever been able to boast. But his most special quality is his fierce love and loyalty for his friends and family. It is that love and loyalty that led him on a search for his family, who had been turned to stone and scattered throughout our world. It is also that love and loyalty that has caused the Fairy Queen to swear vengeance upon him, his friends, his family, and his King…her husband.

Q: What is your best advice for author self-promotion?

A: Just do it! Tweet, Facebook, blog…whatever it is you do, remind people a few times a week that you are an author! Include your book and author page links in your email signature, use background pictures with that information, create business cards with your name and book info, and leave random swag pieces for people…like bookmarks, t-shirts, jewelry…or just the cards.

Q: How do you deal with negative reviews?

A: I cry and then I check to see what other reviews that person puts out. If they are perpetually negative, I try to realize that it isn’t just my stuff. They are not happy with anything. Either way, I try to react positively. I thank them for their opinion and, if they haven’t given me any revisions etc. that could make it more enjoyable for them, I ask. Then I remember that I have a book that, so far, has exclusively 5-star ratings and I am worth good reviews!

Q: What is your favorite aspect of being an indie author?

A: Being able to make the decisions! I love having control over my ideas, my books, my blog, and even getting to make or order my own author swag.

Q: What is your least favorite aspect of being an indie author?

A: Being in control of everything! Because being in control of it all means that I have to remember advertising and interview dates and all that jazz. It is exhausting just to think about!

Q: What is your current writing project? 

A: "Dragons in the Deep." The 4th installment of the Stone Dragon Saga in which we join a salvaging crew who have discovered an ancient Spanish Galleon, sunken in the Caribbean but still flying a pirate flag under the waves. Is there magic involved? Could this be where someone from Al’s stone family is waiting to be discovered and awakened? And why is there a giant Kraken keeping an eye on things?

"Leonard the Lemur." A picture book/levelled reader for ELA and Science in the K-3 classroom (approximately), "Leonard the Lemur" is an introduction to Leonard as he finds himself moving from a comfortable home with Ms. Patty, his human, into the Tanganyika Wildlife Park in Goddard, Kansas. We meet the various animals and learn a little about each one, and about the park. This book and following books will include Leonard’s adventures with Ms. Patty as we focus on the different types of animal friends he makes at the park. For example, Leonard loves lighthouses and will visit Florida (St. Mark’s) in an upcoming book. Along the way he will meet cousins to his albino alligator friend, and relay messages between them. Every book will end with fact pages for the students and teacher, and will be filled with fun story and bright illustrations for those just reading for the fun of it!

"Dragon Writing." A middle-grade novel in the same world as the Stone Dragon Saga, and using many of the same characters. This book is set 5 years after the final battle between Passiona (Fairy Queen) and Aliphonsore’s group. The majority of the story will take place in a 5th-grade writing classroom.

"Wishbone Tree." This story is still in its basic outlining stages (if I tell the illustrator I have another picture book for her to draw out, I won’t have an illustrator anymore!) but is an exciting idea for me to roll around in my mind. It has to do with a roasted chicken and old fairy tales.

"Paulonious Punk and the Search for an Adventure." In Pauly’s family, every new 7-year-old receives a trunk full of adventure journals and a blank writing journal for their birthday. They fill the journals with their adventures until the next Punk kid becomes of age…then they pass it along. There’s just one problem. Paulonious is 9 and his little sister turns 7 in two weeks, but he’s NEVER HAD AN ADVENTURE! Now he and his best friend are seeking out adventure before it’s too late.

Q: What are three of your favorite novels?

A: Only three? I’ll try: Alice in Wonderland, The Hobbit, Anne of Green Gables, the Narnia books, the Harry Potter series, Kelley Armstrong's Otherworld series, Rachel Caine anything...I’ll stop there, but there are more, so many more. I didn’t even get to put Tim Tingle, Rick Riordan down, or Nora Roberts. Pretend that’s only three…

Q: If you could have lunch with any novelist, living or dead, who would it be? What would you talk to them about?

A: I have no idea. I have thought about this question a lot more than I probably should have and I can’t choose. I would love to chat about writing and kids with A.A. Milne; writing and high fantasy and self-doubt with Tolkien; world differences with Kelley Armstrong; and who the characters in Alice in Wonderland REALLY are with anyone who would care to listen. In all honesty, I would rather have lunch with my great-grandmother one more time and tell her all about my books. I was always her favorite.

Q: What is your best piece of advice for budding authors?

A: Read and write, write and read. Then, oh my, WRITE MORE. The only way to get strong is to exercise. So exercise those writing muscles as often as possible. Give yourself, or have others give you, random and weird prompts to write to. Set a schedule, carry a notebook and pen everywhere, and people watch.

Q: What is your favorite inspirational quote?

A: Oh now you’ve done it! I have two full boards on Pinterest dedicated to quotes…but I will only give you one this time: "Creativity is just intelligence having fun." – Albert Einstein. 

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No witches, warlocks or vampires...

just a sexy tale about trying to live the Hollywood dream...

Luigi's Chinese Delicatessen by Jim Vines

INDIE AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT: J.D. CUNEGAN

J.D. Cunegan

Q: J.D....what made you become a writer?

A: When I was 11 years old, I read my first comic book – an issue of X-Men from the Chris Claremont/Jim Lee era – and it triggered this desire in me to not only take in these fantastic stories but to create them myself. I’d always been artistic as a child, but it wasn’t until I started reading comic books that I really considered the idea of being a writer. When I was 12, I started writing and drawing my own comic books; at that point, they were little more than incredibly primitive fan fiction, and they were admittedly terrible. But by the time I reached high school, I was to a point where I began creating my own characters and crafting my own stories. In that process, I created a female superhero when I was 16 called Bounty. She was a Baltimore homicide detective who doubled as a superhero, and I created her not long after discovering the comic book Witchblade. By that point, I had a male superhero and a female superhero, and I had designs on a career in comics. But when I went to college, I realized that studying art had sapped me of my love of art. So I had stopped drawing, and though I eventually moved on to a career in sports media – I’ve been a newspaper writer, a broadcaster, and a media relations professional – I never lost my love for writing, and as the years past I continued honing my craft to the point where last year I was finally ready to tackle writing a novel. The result? I turned Bounty into a novel and wrote it for NaNoWriMo.

Q: What is your typical writing day like?

A: That depends largely on how busy my day job keeps me. My line of work is extremely hectic from September through April, and there are days where I don’t get a lot of writing done. Sometimes I write late at night when I should be sleeping, sometimes I manage to sneak in a little writing at the office. One thing I learned while writing Bounty during one of my busiest work months ever was the ability to write whenever and wherever. Much of that book was written on the road. I wrote in hotel rooms. I had a four-hour layover in Chicago once; I wrote three chapters. On a three-hour flight from Chicago to Fort Lauderdale, I wrote three more chapters. Because of the nature of my work, I have to be flexible about when and where I write, and I try to write every day – even if it winds up being little more than a few paragraphs.

Q: Do you outline? If so, how extensive are your outlines?

A: I don’t outline, because I find it constricts me to the point where writing feels like a chore. I’ll come up with the general plot for a book, even a subplot or two, and I’ll jot down a few pertinent notes – like if I’m introducing a new character or there’s a particular action sequence that has to take place. But for the most part, I just sit down and start writing; the freedom of this approach makes writing much more fun, and I sometimes find myself surprised by what my characters do – which, honestly, is one of my favorite things about writing.

Q: How many revisions will you typically do on a novel?

A: I wound up doing four rounds of revisions on Bounty, but I have two others projects that are in the revision process that might take fewer rounds. It really depends on the project; sometimes, I’ll write something that needs little tweaking, while others I’ll churn out something that’s extremely rough and needs a lot of cleaning up. It’s definitely the sort of thing I play by ear from project to project.

Q: What is your best tip for editing a manuscript?

A: Make sure each pass-through has a plan. Every time I go to revise my manuscript, I go in with a plan. The first revision phase will simply focus on spelling errors, grammatical snafus, and typos. The second revision phase will focus on finding plot holes and cleaning up any continuity errors. By focusing each phase, I have an easier time going through the manuscript, and I don’t spend all of my time focusing on several things at once. Sometimes, having a pad of paper handy to note things for the next round of edits will also help.

Q: Which writing habits and/or tricks of the trade have made you a better writer?

A: Honestly, reading. I’ve committed myself to reading more frequently in the past couple years, and I can tell that I’ve improved as a writer because of it. Outside of writing itself, reading is the best way to become a better writer. Don’t limit yourself to reading things similar to what you write, either; read everything you can get your hands on. Even reading the newspaper can help you improve your writing.

Q: Do you ever suffer through writer’s block? If so, how do you fight it?

A: I don’t suffer from writer’s block nearly as often as I used to; years ago, it was almost crippling at times. But these days, if I find myself blocked, I’ll step away from whatever I’m working on. I find that giving myself a little space helps me un-block, and reading helps as well. Sometimes, I just wanna get away from my own words for a little bit and get lost in someone else’s. But with a novel already under my belt and a few other projects in the works, I find sometimes that it’s not writer’s block so much as burnout. This is also where the occasional step back is beneficial, and I find that if I sometimes give myself a day or two to recharge, I come back to my project and hit my stride again.

Q: What drew you to write your preferred genre(s)?

A: Hopefully, readers of Bounty will clearly be able to see how the comic book medium has affected me creatively over the years; even if it’s a work or prose instead of sequential art, Bounty is still very much a work inspired by comic books. The murder mystery element really adds to the character because of her day job as a cop, and though I’m relatively new to the genre, it really makes writing that character much easier. What’s interesting in that regard is, for the most part, I never had much of an interest in murder mystery – either in books or on television. I’m really not a James Patterson or Law & Order kinda guy. But last year, I discovered the TV show Castle and I’ve slowly dipped my foot in the murder mystery pool since.

Q: Do you utilize beta readers?

A: I did not for Bounty, but I’m looking to do that for future works – if for no other reason than having another set of eyes to look over my work. I can only read my own manuscript so many times before it all blurs together and become a bit…dull.

Q: In your most recently published novel, what’s one scene you really enjoyed writing—and why?

A: There’s a scene late in Bounty where my main character, Jill Andersen, confronts a character she once considered her ally about what she perceived as his betrayal. It’s a dark scene where she’s hiding in the shadows in his hotel room, and she walks this fine line of anger, hurt, and determination that makes the scene really intense. I didn’t know how she would react when I wrote it, and I’m really happy with the way it turned out.

Q: What makes the main character(s) of your most recent novel so special?

A: Jill Andersen is my baby; I created her almost 20 years ago, when I was still in high school, and to see the way she has grown and flourished as I have is tremendously rewarding. She’s brave and tough and resolute and badass, but she’s also incredibly compassionate and has a soft side, a vulnerability, that surprised even me. There are so many layers to her that I’m still discovering, even today, and it’s a treat writing her. In a lot of ways, Jill is the embodiment of all my favorite fictional characters. She’s part Buffy Summers, part Sara Pezzini, part Sydney Bristow, and part Kate Beckett, but she’s very much her own person. I love how she’s developed over the years, and I look forward to writing more and more of her adventures over the next several years.

Q: What is your best advice for author self-promotion?

A: This is three-fold: 1). Have patience. There is no magic pill, no easy fix, no surefire method. This is a process, a length one – especially for authors who have published their first work. The indie author market is a really large, really packed landscape, and it will take a long time to get noticed; 2). Communicate. Talk to other indie authors to see what’s worked for them. Websites like Goodreads are a great place to connect with other writers, and you can find them on Twitter and Facebook as well. In fact, there are several author groups on Facebook where you can chat with other writers. Finding out what they’ve done can help you decide what do when promoting your work – and more importantly, what not to do; 3). Just keep writing. Publishing more books can sometimes be your best marketing tool.

Q: How do you deal with negative reviews?

It depends on the tone of the review. If there is actual constructive criticism in the review, then I take that into consideration. It doesn’t mean I’ll necessarily take it to heart and take whatever advice is given, but if it’s genuine constructive criticism, then it merits consideration. If the reviews in incendiary and bitter, then you’re better off just ignoring it. Ultimately, it’s important to realize that whatever you write is not going to be everyone’s cup of tea. There will always be someone who doesn’t like what you wrote – and that’s okay. Even the millionaire bestsellers have their detractors. My greatest fear as a writer isn’t people not liking my work; it’s them not reading it in the first place.

Q: What is your favorite aspect of being an indie author?

A: The fact that there’s an avenue for me to get my work out to people without having to go through the lengthy, tedious, demoralizing process of going through traditional publishers. There’s a certain freedom in knowing that, and it frees me up to write my books without constantly worrying about whether or not anyone will actually be able to see them.

Q: What is your least favorite aspect of being an indie author?

A: Being so new, so unrecognizable. As I mentioned before, the indie author market is huge, and as a relative newcomer (my first novel’s only been out for two months), it can be hard to get noticed.

Q: What is your current writing project?

A: I’m putting the finishing touches on Boundless, a Bounty digital short that takes place two years before the events of Bounty and details Jill’s first night as the costumed vigilante Bounty. I’m also in the process of editing Blood Ties, the second novel in the Bounty series, which will be available in January 2016 in paperback and Kindle. I have two other unrelated projects in various stages of development, but those are a ways off yet.

Q: What are three of your favorite novels?

A: Angel Killer by Andrew Mayne; murder mystery meets magic in a fast-paced, mysterious case involving a serial killer named Warlock. FBI agent Jessica Blackwood is an interesting protagonist who has the potential to be one of the genre’s best.

Bones Never Lie by Kathy Reichs; I’ve always enjoyed Reichs’ books, but this one was easily one of her best. It kept me guessing far more than some of her other entries.

Heat Rises by Richard Castle; the Richard Castle books are, by and large, much better than I would’ve expected, and I think Heat Rises is the best of them. It was a surprisingly emotional read.

Q: If you could have lunch with any novelist, living or dead, who would it be? What would talk to them about?

A: I would say J.K. Rowling, just to pick her brain about what it was like creating such a vast, detailed, and fantastic universe. Not necessarily the characters themselves, but the world they all inhabited and how she managed to pack so much into her books without the books themselves ever feeling bogged down or overstuffed.

Q: What is your best piece of advice for budding authors?

A: Just write. It really is that simple…and that complicated. Focus on writing and worry about everything else later.

Q: What is your favorite inspirational quote?

This doesn’t exactly fit the question, but a few days ago, a longtime friend of mine whom I’ve always looked up to called me her hero because I wrote and published a book. To have someone I hold in such high esteem say that to me was a much-needed shot in the arm, and it gave me such a boost of confidence. The next time I’m looking at a depressing sales chart, I’ll remember her words.

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INDIE AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT: IAN MILLER

Ian Miller

Q: Ian...what made you become a writer?

A: It all started a long time ago when I was in my first year as a student at the University of Canterbury. It was in the middle of winter, and a few of us were in a room in a woman's hostel. (No prizes for guessing why.) Anyway, the inevitable (at the time) arts versus science debate started, with the women all being arts students, and I came out with the point: all the arts students do is learn to criticize. Science students learn to do something, which, I added with a grin, is clearly superior. This caused consternation, with the eventual retort directed at me, "Well, you couldn't come up with a plot for a novel." "Of course I can," I replied with a superior look. "Well? Come on!" What I then did was to beg for a day to think on it. So the next evening, I came up with a plot. To my surprise, they seemed impressed, and insisted I write it. So, I wrote little notes, and in my summer "vacation" – working in a freezing works by day, typing by night – I wrote Gemina. Three rejections later, I decided that maybe I didn't have what it takes. However, a dozen years later I decided to have another look at the [manu]script, and decided the beginning was awful, but it got better. I rewrote it, but the publication world was going through a slump. I had been promoting a chemical venture, and...I decided to self-publish. However, when the books arrived, I got an offer on the chemical venture I could not refuse, except that I had to refuse all publicity. Selling a book when you cannot advertise or take a public position proved to be a problem, and I lost money on it. But when the chemical venture tanked for other reasons, and the 1980s slump was in full swing, I had spare time, so I decided to start writing again.

Q: What is your typical writing day like?

A: Right now, I start the day with about two hours on promoting the books I already have out there, then I do other things. Then in the afternoon, I spend about an hour on scientific theory, and an hour on the next novel.

Q: Do you outline? If so, how extensive are your outlines?

A: I have a list of characters and their relationships with others, and a statement as to why they are there. Before writing anything, I have in my mind a theme, and a sequence of scenes through the proposed novel, and I sometimes write down a plot that links these scenes, but as often as not I just follow my nose. The key scenes really fix the plot, as does the theme (or themes). For me, theme and overall purpose is critical.

Q: How many revisions will you typically do on a novel?

A: I don't count them. I typically revise the start several times while I am writing, often restarting. Some of my novels actually include more than one "start," with later starts put in front. Once I have written the whole thing, there are usually no major revisions, but there are a considerable number of editing cycles. You might call them revisions.

Q: What is your best tip for editing a manuscript?

A: Leave it alone for some time, and start the next one. When you restart editing, do the best you can, and when satisfied, use the spell check and grammar tools. If there are very few changes required, then you know you have been reasonably accurate. If there are a lot of changes required, then you have real problems. It is important early on to make sure the characters remain consistent with what they are supposed to be, and when something important happens, make sure you can explain from the text why it is happening.

Q: Which writing habits and/or tricks of the trade have made you a better writer?

A: Persistent writing (i.e., experience) and frequent reference to Fowler.

Q: Do you ever suffer through writer’s block? If so, how do you fight it?

A: I never have "block" as such, but sometimes I do wonder where a scene ought to go, or how am I going to get it where I want it to go. At moments like that, I just go away and do something else, think about it, and come back later.

Q: What drew you to write your preferred genre(s)?

A: I am a scientist, so I guess SF was an obvious choice. I have also had an interest in ancient life, and I have managed to include some Roman history into two of my novels.

Q: Do you utilize beta readers?

A: No. I don't want to sound antisocial, but where I live there don't seem to be any writers that write the sort of things I do.

Q: In your most recently published novel, what’s one scene you really enjoyed writing—and why?

A: Let me have two. The book is Miranda's Demons and one scene involves a trek in giant transporters from Hellas Planitia to an excavated cave complex in the Valles Marineris (so as to be protected from space attack). My wife did not like this scene at all; she said it was just too grim, with too much unpleasantness, but that was the whole point. The second scene was where Haruhiko looks down onto Argyre Planitia from the Bosporus Rupes. My sister thought this scene was almost poetic, and that pleased me.

Q: What makes the main character(s) of your most recent novel so special?

A: In one sense, this is the hardest of your questions because there are so many of them. My latest book, Miranda's Demons is my attempt at a War and Peace, but it covers different social problems. Gaius Claudius Scaevola comes from Roman times, was abducted by aliens, had been the equivalent of a Galileo, and was extremely capable militarily. Natasha Kothchetkova is his promised "ugliest woman in the world," he uses alien technology to heal her, but then she refuses his attempts at love, and is annoyed that she will have to surrender command of the Earth forces, when Earth is under threat from aliens Scaevola has defeated previously. (The Gaius Claudius Scaevola trilogy shows his history.) Harry Lansfeld, despite a stellar time at University, has turned his back on physics to become a space pilot, only to find himself critical to the Earth defense, despite a tangled love affair, and he has to grow up fast. But then he finds himself on an alien space ship, and he has to try to work out the physics behind their technologies. However, one of the characters I am proudest of here is Karl Groza. He is a very minor character, and he plays a role similar to the fools in Shakespeare. He makes cutting comments, rubs everyone up the wrong way, but the comments often carry inconvenient truths that everyone else would rather sweep under the carpet.

Q: What is your best advice for author self-promotion?

A: This is difficult too, but in a word, persist. You have to make yourself known, which means you have to do what you can to make an impact on the web to people who might be interested in your thoughts and writing. Of course, local speaking, etc. is important, but the world is a lot bigger market than anything local, no matter where you are.

Q: How do you deal with negative reviews?

A: Generally, I ignore them. I will read them, and I would take notice of anything constructive, but the review, "I don't like this sort of book" merely means that perhaps a little more effort is required on the book description.

Q: What is your favorite aspect of being an indie author?

A: The freedom to write the way I want to. My original attempts at finding an agent of a publisher for Miranda's Demons was doomed to fail because they want 70,000 – 100,000 words, and my attempts were rejected in the first line – the work is far too long for them. I can understand the reason. The costs of printing are linear with length, but the sales are likely to be independent of length, and given that most first author publications fail, they want to minimize the downside. However, the cost of eBooks is independent of length (other than the time spent writing).

Q: What is your least favorite aspect of being an indie author?

A: Trying to get the marketing done. When you don't live in the center of things, it is very hard to get your message across, and there are literally hundreds of thousands of others out there doing the same as you are. It is hard to make your impact.

Q: What is your current writing project?

A: My current work will be called (tentatively) "Ranh." The concept is that about 65 million years ago, some advanced aliens took Cretaceous life from Earth and put it on a terraformed planet (Ranh) around Epsilon Eridani, a star that is too young for life to have evolved significantly. I am having fun devising a culture for the Ranhynn.

Q: What are three of your favorite novels?

A: I don't have favorites, as they change from day to day. There are too many out there. However, three very significant ones for me are Lord of the Rings (Tolkein); War and Peace (Tolstoi) and The Kraken Awakes (John Wyndham). The last one was perhaps the more significant contribution for the direction and style of my early writing.

Q: If you could have lunch with any novelist, living or dead, who would it be? What would talk to them about?

A: One option might be Michael Crichton, another author from whom I have read a lot.  He was born about the same time I was, and it was just a few years after I had failed with Gemina that he succeeded with The Andromeda Strain. I stayed more focused on science, he stayed with writing. It would be interesting to compare how life had treated us.

Q: What is your best piece of advice for budding authors?

A: Persist, and be your most intense critic.

Q: What is your favorite inspirational quote?

A: From Carl Sagan: "We live in a world exquisitely dependent on science and technology, in which hardly anyone knows anything about science and technology." One of the objectives of my novels is, buried deep within, to illustrate the scientific way of thinking, so this quote reflects part of my approach to writing.

Another one, which I have seen attributed to Marcus Tullius Cicero (obviously in a depressed mood): "Politicians are not born; they are excreted." I do not guarantee the attribution, but this fits with some of my personal experiences with some politicians, and it has inspired one or two politicians in my novels.

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INDIE AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT: GERONIMO BOSCH

Geronimo Bosch

Q: Geronimo…what made you become a writer?

A: My earliest ambition was to become a writer. It must have been my second year at school when we were encouraged to write stories and provide illustrations, so really from being taught how to pick up a pen and write, I enjoyed creating characters and settings and running with them. By the age of ten, when given writing exercises, it was not unknown for my efforts to fill a couple of exercise books/jotters. Often these tales would be extremely gory with a high body count and characters suffering particularly gruesome deaths. Naturally, parents and teachers became concerned for my psychological well-being. But I wasn’t about to let their concern worry me. In TV, film and literature, I was always drawn to the macabre. This is a theme which has persisted with me, even through moving into writing science fiction. By eighteen, I was attempting to write my first novel. More than anything, this showed me that I was lacking the requisite life experience to draw convincing narrative arcs for my characters. Also, at this stage, I hadn’t found my voice. While continuing to write shorts and beginning another novel which I knew I’d abort, I resolved to live a little, see what life threw at me and write to completion a novel for publishing by the age of forty. It may sound trite, but the idea of working towards one day being able to call myself a writer has informed many of the decisions I’ve made in life, as well as being the ruin of more than one romantic relationship along the way.

Q: What is your typical writing day like?

A: Due to a recent change in my circumstances, I’m currently in the process of working out a new and productive routine. In the last year, I started suffering from hypoglycemic migraines. This means my day is now centered around eating at regular intervals. Where I used to think nothing of settling in to write for lengthy sessions, I now have to take a break every 90 minutes or so to eat something. On top of this, I have to fit in daily exercise sessions, which means I’m healthier but less productive in terms of writing. I’m a slow writer, averaging 1000-1400 words a day. I have more productive days, though these usually occur in the home stretch of a piece. When completing my novel, Fool’s Sacrifice, a final fourteen hour stint reaped a little over 5000 words and remains, largely, what you will read in the published version.

Q: Do you outline? If so, how extensive are your outlines?

A: I wouldn’t dream of embarking on a novel-length work without first outlining. Even if the route I’m taking changes as I write, the destination remains the same. I find it helpful to break a novel into three acts. From there, I will sub-divide each act into roughly three parts. This provides me with signposts, or reference points, as I go. It helps keep the word count on track and cuts down on time-consuming digressions too. Having definite sub-divisions also enables me to see more clearly where the narrative requires injections of pace, action, etc. For me, outlining enables an increase of depth in plotting and allows for use of foreshadowing. It probably also sets the scene for a greater number of "happy accidents" of inspiration to occur. A writer whom I greatly admire, James Ellroy, is said to produce outlines which often exceed the length of his novels. While I wouldn’t go to these lengths, it is easy to see how this extent of groundwork and preparation enable his dense plots to zip along, unfolding at pace.

Q: How many revisions will you typically do on a novel?

A: As I write quite slowly and outline extensively, I would hope to do no more than one complete revision of the text. This would usually entail fleshing out scenes by adding additional detail. Occasionally, I might find cutting a scene altogether helps with the flow, though this would be a rarity. You should definitely be prepared, though, to cut extensively within scenes. Some of what you’ve written in the first draft is you explaining to yourself how to get from A to B; that’s got to go. It all comes down to how you feel about sections and their place in the whole; how they fit. If something keeps nagging at me, I’ll go back and work on that part a little more and sleep on it. Then I’ll see how I feel about my revisions on the next read through.

Q: What is your best tip for editing a manuscript?

A: Write slowly to begin with! It does help, but it has to be the only advantage to writing at the pace of a tortoise on Mogadon. Failing that, my other tip would be to shack up with a partner who possesses an astounding vocabulary, faultless spelling, an impeccable sense of grammar and the ability to read at inhuman speed. I’m lucky in that respect.

Q: Which writing habits and/or tricks of the trade have made you a better writer?

A: Being largely self-taught, I tend to use my own terminology when talking writing. A technique I find useful is Zoom In/Zoom Out. This serves to slow down/speed up the pace of the narrative by taking time to focus on the minutiae of a situation or, conversely, taking a step back, once removed, for an overview. How does this work? Well, if you’ve been describing breathless action for a sustained period, find a reason to give your characters pause for thought. Similarly, if the narrative has been slowed up for extended periods with a narrow focus on developments, don’t be afraid to zoom out and hit your reader with a sequence of rapid reveals. It’s Light & Shade, essentially, providing different rhythms to your prose. If you do both well, you’ll have the reader eating out of the palm of your hand and you might even leave them feeling breathless, which is something worth striving for!

Q: Do you ever suffer through writer’s block? If so, how do you fight it?

A: Thankfully, I only get creative block in the days following a migraine. This can last for up to 3 days, but it isn’t really writer’s block; it’s more a case of being unable to fire up that part of my brain which thinks creatively. If I medicate during the onset of a migraine this usually means a swift recovery and in most cases I’m good to write again the next day. The best way to combat instances of writer’s block is just to start writing. I’ve been amazed, at times, at the quality of work which can be produced when really not feeling in the mood. If you find yourself genuinely stumped as to how to proceed with a scene/plotline, I find it helpful to write around the situation. I’ll write backstory for the characters concerned, fleshing them out in my mind. Usually, before you know it, inspiration will strike and you’ll know exactly how to progress the story.

Q: What drew you to write your preferred genre(s)?

A: I’ve always enjoyed the sense of freedom inherent to science fiction. Let’s face it: Anything can happen! And frequently does! I was fortunate enough to grow up in the UK during the heyday of comics (this probably occurred 10-20 years after the heyday for the US comic scene) and was introduced to a comic called 2000 AD when I was eight or nine years old. I continued to read this particular comic religiously for the next decade. As such, you could say that it was a formative part of my youth. Many of the stories have stayed with me to this day. In Judge Dredd, I was probably shown my first anti-hero; a fascist arbiter of dystopian authoritarianism. Jonny Alpha of Strontium Dog was a cyber punk before William Gibson ever coined the term. Rogue Trooper provided a savage critique of the armed forces. Add to the mix the genius of Alan Moore, going quietly about his business of corrupting young minds in the healthiest way possible; i.e. making them think, and it all made for quite the heady brew. Unbeknownst to me, thus began my political education. It was pretty difficult to grow up during the Cold War and be oblivious to the threat of all-out nuclear war, but 2000 AD never shied away from such subject matter. Other weighty themes of the day to be depicted or lampooned within its pages included over-population, competition for resources, automization of the workplace, genetic engineering... the list goes on. Years later, when deciding upon a genre in which to try my luck, this is one thing that appealed to me; the ability to discuss weighty themes in a heightened, or hyperreal, fictional environment. And I had years of research to fall back on! I would add though, that when embarking upon writing Fool’s Sacrifice, I had only a vague notion of what constitutes cyberpunk Sci-Fi. I simply set out to tell a tale from the viewpoint of an underdog in a dystopian society who finds himself at the mercy of the pace of technological developments. The realization that I had written a cyberpunk novel came later, when starting to think of how to market the finished product.

Q: Do you utilize beta readers?

A: I haven’t so far. I’m trying to write original and innovative Sci-Fi and I don’t feel that Decision by Committee is the best way to achieve the results I’m looking for. However, if I was trying to write for the best-seller market, then I definitely would.

Q: In your most recently published novel, what’s one scene you really enjoyed writing—and why?

A: Fool’s Sacrifice was intended as a wild, wild ride with many opportunities for me to let my imagination run free, so picking one scene out of the full-throttle craziness of it all is hard. The entire middle section is episodic and fantastical and was a lot of fun to write; at that time I would write in 8-10 hour sessions through the night and there were often occasions where I would wind up finishing at 4 a.m., buzzing from the thrill and amazement at what I’d just produced, such that I would lay in bed unable to sleep for hours because my heart was racing so fast. Many of these sessions, by their very nature, have seemed to blur into one. Because of this, if I was pushed to pick a scene, I’d have to choose writing the climax of the novel which I remember much more vividly. Why did I enjoy writing this scene so much...? It was a scene which I’d had in mind for the duration of the novel, without ever quite pinning down how it would be executed and it was just a real thrill experiencing how all of the elements of a dense and winding plot came together before my eyes. I thought I might have bitten off more than I could chew, but, when the going got tough, I was able to take it to another level. I guess you could say that I even surprised myself - which is a great feeling. That session wound up as a 2 a.m. finish from a midday start. I sank a few celebratory beers afterwards and now, whenever I drink the same beer, I smack my lips at the taste of victory. Henceforth, that beer; McGrath’s No 2, is known to me as the Breakfast of Champions!

Q: What makes the main character(s) of your most recent novel so special?

A: Aside from being an underdog, my MC in Fool’s Sacrifice, Lee Lazarus, aka G-Boy, aka Brother Gnome, aka Dominion’s Most Wanted, is as stubborn as they come. Despite his perilous circumstances, he refuses help until it is thrust upon him, believing he can scope the game on his own and without putting his trust in anyone. His arrogance and naivety lead him, however, into a rash of bad judgement calls and it’s a good thing there are people looking out for him. So, he has a lot to learn, but, valuing his independence, he isn’t going to learn those lessons easily. And therein lays the fun of it all. Lee Lazarus is a cocksure kid flung into a nightmare scenario and he deals with it by employing the sort of gallows humor you’d expect from someone who’s a product of the tough Dominion underworld. Oh, and did I mention that he’s also a flying, car-stealing, graffiti artist of the future?

I have Lee teamed up with a strong female lead, another young car thief called Spider. She’s one tough cookie, even more of a closed book than Lee, but that’s the nature of the Skidz, as the auto theft trade is known; they keep it on a need-to-know basis. Spider is the tech wiz and seems as sharp as a razor, forcing Lee to question much of what he takes for granted. How does Spider know so much about the state of play...? Well, that would be telling... One thing is for sure; Spider can mix it with the best of them.

Zoot is their gangland boss; part man, part machine following the accident where he was hung out to fry on the perimeter fencing at the Yeltsin. The dude is a genius and he provides, but can he be trusted...? Could it be that he has compromising links to shadowy organizations? Might those shadowy organizations include the most clandestine of them all, the elusive group known only as the Long Hedz Inc., the Inc. being for Incommunicado...? Need I say more?

Q: What is your best advice for author self-promotion?

A: I haven’t cracked it yet, so I’m still at the stage of taking advice rather than giving it. Not having a complete aversion to using Facebook (as I do) would probably help. But I’m not yet at the stage where I’m willing to dance with the devil. Consider every option available to you; some are more worthy of your time than others. Be wary of the sharks out there: there are plenty of opportunities to throw money at self-promotion with questionable returns; if in doubt about a particular avenue for promotion, join a forum for indie authors of your genre and run it by the experienced types you find there; the advice you receive might prove invaluable. Be prepared to spend many hours and for it to be a slow burn before you see any traction in sales. [If you] get discouraged – because you will - try not to stay discouraged for long. Indie authors who become an instant smash are but a tiny percentage of the many who eventually achieve some success. For most, it takes years of plugging away, growing your back catalog and building brand awareness. This is where I’m at currently and I hope that taking time to do author interviews and the like, such as this, will help. It’s a long road, but a better road for it being one you chose to travel.

Q: How do you deal with negative reviews?

A: I’m lucky, in that I haven’t received any thus far. That is simply because I haven’t received a great many reviews as yet. I’m sure I’ll receive my fair share, given time. The best thing to do with negative reviews, I imagine, is to take them on the chin. Under no circumstances should you respond and become embroiled in a slanging match. How easy it is to manage this restraint, though, remains to be seen.

Q: What is your favorite aspect of being an indie author?

A: Without a shadow of a doubt, it’s that nobody tells you what to do...

Q: What is your least favorite aspect of being an indie author?

A: The marketing side doesn’t come easy, but I’m learning to have fun with it. I’ll let you know when I get there! My main bone of contention with it is that it takes up time that could be used for writing. Now you’ve heard that from me and every other writer! On the plus side, it helps your work reach a wider audience. This is obvious, but you do need to keep reminding yourself of it from time to time.

Q: What is your current writing project?

A: I’ve just started writing the first draft of the next novel in the Dominion City Blues Series. This picks up where Fool’s Sacrifice ended, but from a different character’s perspective. I’m hoping to complete that by around November and whip it into shape for publication early 2016. At the same time, I’m writing a horror short which will also be set in Dominion City, to enter into Halloweenpalooza. This event is run by Wendy Potocki throughout the month of October, featuring a different author for every day of the month. Wendy just happens to be a distant relative of the author of one of my favorite novels of all time (listed below). I can’t say I really know her, other than that this is one of the happy accidents that occur in the Twitterverse. There are three accompanying novellas to Fool’s Sacrifice in the Dominion City Blues series which fill out the back stories of characters found in Fool’s Sacrifice and the horror short I intend to write will spin-off from one of the novellas, Zoot’s Roots.

Q: What are three of your favorite novels?

A: In terms of Science Fiction – Alfred Bester, The Stars My Destination (1956). I’m a fan of classic era sci-fi and this is a book which stands the test of time rather well. We join the hero/anti-hero, Gully Foyle, as he’s floating in space, clinging to the wreck of his ship and on the brink of death hoping to be rescued. The experience has sent Foyle to the brink of insanity; all he remembers is the name of the ship responsible for his predicament, Vorga, and his lust for revenge is all that keeps him alive. But the intensity of his desire for vengeance warps his character beyond all limits of decency; he really will go to any lengths to gain his satisfaction – The Count of Monte Cristo has nothing on Gully Foyle! Apart from an astonishing MC, what Bester has achieved here is to create a real page-turner with a thoroughly modern feel. The author is an expert at crafting scene and setting with impressive economy, so that many of the set-pieces will stay with you long after you’ve put the book down. Once Bester has introduced his main concept and MacGuffin, you’re off, being dragged along with Foyle on his quest for vengeance at breakneck speed and the pace after that never drags. Some of the character’s names seem a little improbable by today’s standards, but I’ve a feeling people will still be enjoying this story fifty, one hundred years from now. Aside from the opener with Foyle floating in space, a scene which sticks with me is a break-out from a fiendishly ingenious prison – the culmination of that particular chapter is a joy to behold! Give this beauty a whirl... it’s a real headspin with a satisfying and amazing conclusion.

Umberto Eco, Baudolino (2000). I’d read anything by Umberto Eco, in my eyes, the world’s greatest living novelist. He’s one of the few authors I trust to take the conceit of the Unreliable Narrator and make with it something worth reading. Many have tried and many have failed. The problem I have with unreliable narrators is that, unless the author has a definite idea where they are going with the concept, plots meticulously and sticks to the plan, things can unravel quite quickly. Then, you’re left with something that’s as worthwhile reading as a story which ends... it was all a dream. However, with Eco at the helm, you’re in for a treat. The story begins in 1204, during the sacking of Constantinople by the Knights of the Fourth Crusade. Our hero, Baudolino, a self-confessed teller of tall tales who seems to have led the most incredible life, is ready to recount his life’s story and who better to tell it to than a famed Byzantine historian? The tale he proceeds to weave tells of many adventures in the court and retinue of Frederick the Great. These include: seducing and falling in love with Frederick’s wife, the Empress Beatrice; being educated in Paris where he gains the friendship of a number of historical figures; embarking on a great quest to far-flung lands known only in myth and legends. Along the way, he finds, loses, and finds again the Holy Grail, before realizing it possesses only the power of all holy relics, that of a symbol. With an author as erudite as Eco, you learn a fair amount as you go and you also learn to question what you learn. This story is a thoroughly modern takedown of religion and all forms of authority, in the guise of the oldest form; that of the autobiographical account. Plus, it comes filled with humor and all manner of mythological beasts!

Jan Potocki, The Manuscript Found in Saragossa (1847). This novel is a mystery locked up inside an enigma. First published over thirty years after the author’s death in mysterious circumstances, the work was compiled from collected manuscripts and translated into Polish from the original French composed by Potocki. The original manuscripts having since been lost, we will never know if we are reading the tale as intended to be told by the author. This seems fitting given the nature of the text. The story is presented as a found thing: a document detailing the adventures of Alphonse van Worden, an officer of the Walloon Guards, as he journeys through the mountains of the Sierra Morena in 18^th-century Spain. Van Worden’s account begins with an overnight stay in a purportedly haunted taverna where he is visited upon by two Moorish princesses, before waking the following morning underneath a gallows some distance away and beneath the corpses of two hanged bandits. This is just the beginning of the strangeness. Over the course of the next sixty-six days, van Worden recounts the tale of the people he encounters, including gypsy thieves, noblemen, cabbalists and mathematicians, and the tales told to him by this varied bunch of raconteurs. This multi-layered narrative blends the gothic, the romantic, the picaresque and is a celebration of the oral tradition. It invokes the debates over science versus religion, passion versus reason, liberty versus social order, and marrying for love over marrying to improve one’s social status. This book deserves more recognition as a classic of its time that was way ahead of its time. The breadth of Potocki’s ambition is awe-inspiring.

Q: If you could have lunch with any novelist, living or dead, who would it be? What would talk to them about?

A: At the risk of sounding weird, I suppose it would have to be a naked lunch with William S. Burroughs, though how happy he’d be at being summonsed back from the dead by me is anyone’s guess. I’d ask him about his views on the relationship between art and magic; whether death had in any way altered his thinking on the predestination of our universe; and I’d also ask him how he was enjoying his immortality. And I’d hope that he was in a good mood, or I might be in trouble...

Q: What is your best piece of advice for budding authors?

A: With the writing process there are no rules. In how you go about it and what you put on the page, you have complete free reign. There are a great many people out there giving advice, much of it conflicting, and trying to make out they know the do’s and don’ts, but at the end of the day you need to trust your instincts and do what feels right for you. The clue is in the name: novels should possess an element of novelty. Read widely and pay attention to how different authors achieve their desired effects. This piece of advice is often given, but you can’t go wrong with it because the conclusions you draw are your own. On a personal note, I would also say to avoid writing courses/classes like the plague. You don’t need them and they could slow rather than speed your development. Write, write some more, persist with it and keep hold of your efforts, however embarrassing they are, so that you can refer back to them and see how much you’ve improved over the years. Enjoy the learning curve...

Q: What is your favorite inspirational quote?

A: I paraphrase: “It takes a thousand little failures to create success...”

Alternatively, here’s one of my own, an excerpt from Fool’s Sacrifice: “The best way to know the truth is not to look it in the face. You must go right round, behind the truth and look instead through its eyes; then, you will know if it is the truth it claims to be...”

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No witches, warlocks or vampires...

just a sexy tale about trying to live the Hollywood dream...

Luigi's Chinese Delicatessen by Jim Vines

Follow Jim Vines on Twitter!

INDIE AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT: LORI BEASLEY BRADLEY

Lori Beasley Bradley

Q: Lori...what made you become a writer?

A: I started writing almost as soon as I started reading. I loved to read and devoured everything. I started writing stories in the third grade. I was that kid the teachers hated. I wrote stories page by page and passed them back until they'd gone around the whole class. If I wasn't writing, was reading with a book hidden behind my textbook. I loved reading other people's stories and aspired to having people want to read mine.

Q: What is your typical writing day like?

A: I get up, read and answer my e-mails, check my Facebook, and then begin writing.  I try to write 2500 words a day or about one chapter. Some days I do more and some less depending on my mood and if the characters are feeling chatty.

Q: Do you outline? If so, how extensive are your outlines?

A: I have tried it both ways. My first book, The Legend of the Swamp Witch, was not outlined. It was a seat of the pants project. I'd told the story as a campfire tale many times and knew it pretty well. With The Ruby Queen, Book 1 of my Soiled Dove Sagas, I did a very detailed "Snowflake" outline and it made the writing go very quickly. Book 2, The Queen of the Cow Towns, went quickly too because I'd basically outlined the complete series when I conceptualized the project. Sweet Rewards, the erotic-romance novel I wrote on a dare, I also outlined thoroughly. I'd never written a romance novel and knew they had to be done to a very specific formula. I Googled it and come up with an outline to that formula.

Q: How many revisions will you typically do on a novel?

A: I generally write about a dozen chapters, rereading and revising after each one. Then I begin presenting a chapter per week at my critique group, The Central Phoenix Writers' Workshop. I listen to the critiques of my fellow writers, take their marked up copies home, study them, and revise accordingly. Now that I'm working with a couple of traditional publishers I have to revise according to their desires as well. If a novel is 30 chapter there may be 30+ revisions.

Q: What is your best tip for editing a manuscript?

A: Read it out loud. It is the best way I've found to catch a plethora of mistakes.

Q: Which writing habits and/or tricks of the trade have made you a better writer?

A: Joining the critique group was probably the best thing I've done for my writing. Hearing their opinions of my work and being open to having them point out my shortcomings has improved my writing 3000%.

Q: Do you ever suffer through writer’s block? If so, how do you fight it?

A: All writers get it from time to time. I fight it by having two or three projects going at any one time. I get hung up on one project, I go to one of the others. After writing a horror story for a few chapters I can pick back up where I left off with the other, refreshed.

Q: What drew you to write your preferred genre(s)?

A: I have always been a history buff. I grew up with the TV westerns and loved them. I spent 25 years doing costuming for Medieval and Renaissance reenactors. I studied the clothing, the people and the food of the periods. It only made sense that I'd choose to write in historic settings. 

Q: Do you utilize beta readers?

A: Yes. I have my critique group that acts in that regard and I have a close friend who reads my work for continuity issues as well.

Q: In your most recently published novel, what’s one scene you really enjoyed writing—and why?

A: In The Legend of the Swamp Witch I wrote a chapter about a serial killer. It is bloody and scared me after I reread it. I thought, "Lori you must be a psychopath. That came out of you way too easily!" I watch a lot of true crime, but I've never actually killed anyone.

Q: What makes the main character(s) of your most recent novel so special?

A:  In The Ruby Queen, Mattie Wallace and Roxie North are women ahead of their time. It is 1870, only a few years after the end of the Civil War when women have no rights and are the property of their husbands and fathers. In order to become free women they go into prostitution. Prostitutes have been disowned by male relatives, but gain a freedom no women of the era possess. Most people don't know it, but prostitutes of the era set up social programs for the disadvantaged when there were none. They sponsored schools, libraries, and soup kitchens. Prostitutes began the equal rights movement for women in this country, but their efforts have been covered up or ignored completely. Roxie and Mattie, while not social reformers in my books, stand up for themselves and other women in a time when men ruled the day.

Q: What is your best advice for author self-promotion?

A: Never shut up about your work. Explore every avenue. Pass out business cards to anybody who'll take one. Get your books in every small shop who'll take them. Send them out to people who do reviews. It takes money to make money. Don't be afraid to give away a few books to get reviews. I have mine in one store and donate the funds from the book to the owner whose son is fighting cancer. I don't care that I'm making no money from the sale. The work is getting out there and if the buyer likes it maybe they'll go to Amazon and buy the next one.

Q: How do you deal with negative reviews?

A: Reviews are a learning experience. How does a writer improve if she doesn't know what she's doing wrong? Joining the critique group helped me to weather bad reviews. When you hear something bad about your work you have to use it to improve. I beg for reviews good or bad. How do we fix what we're doing wrong if nobody tells us?

Q: What is your favorite aspect of being an indie author?

A: I'd have to say that my favorite thing about being an indie author is not having to deal with the time involved in traditional publishing. As an indie I can have my book edited, upload it to Createspace and—voila!—I'm published. The traditional route takes months and months.

Q: What is your least favorite aspect of being an indie author?

A: As an indie I pay for everything. I have to find and pay for an editor. If I choose not to use Createspace's cover design app I have to pay a cover designer. Then there's the marketing. As an indie I have to do all the marketing, though it is much the same when you're dealing with small presses. The majority of the marketing falls to the author.

Q: What is your current writing project?

A: I'm working on Crown Queen, Book 3 of my Soiled Dove Sagas. It is the third book in the trilogy and sees the women ending their careers as prostitutes. I'm also playing around with getting into the business of writing personal romance novels. I would meet with clients have them answer a questionnaire about their relationship, pick a time period to set the story in, a heat level, and then for a price, write them a story wherein they are the main characters.

Q: If you could have lunch with any novelist, living or dead, who would it be? What would talk to them about?

A: Marion Zimmer Bradley. She wrote the Darkover fantasy series and was one of the players who started the Society for Creative Anachronism, the Medieval reenactment group I belonged to for many years. Her work was an inspiration when I first thought about writing seriously back in the late 70's. We corresponded and she was very kind to a young fan. I'd like to thank her.

Q: What is your best piece of advice for budding authors?

A: Never give up on your dream, buy books about grammar, editing, and outlining, join a critique group, and write. Never stop reading and listen to critics of your work with an open mind.

Q: What is your favorite inspirational quite?

A: “Live fast, die young, and leave a beautiful corpse!” Don't ask me why, but that line has stuck with me ever since I heard it in a movie.

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