Author interview no.60 with women’s and YA writer Karen Pokras Toz

Welcome to the sixtieth of my blog interviews with novelists, short story authors, poets, short story authors, bloggers, scriptwriters, autobiographers and more. Today’s is with YA author Karen Pokras Toz. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate the author further. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here.

Morgen: Hello Karen. Can you start by telling us how you came to be a writer.

Karen: Well – I wasn’t always a writer. I enjoyed reading as a child and had many stories floating around in my head that I wanted to write. Unfortunately, I was not very good at writing, or at least I didn’t think I was very good. Math was my subject. I always believed you were either a math person or an English person, and so I never pursued writing. In school I studied finance, accounting, and law. My writing was always with numbers. Thirteen years ago, I heard a news story on television and began creating a novel based around this single event – all in my head, of course. I’m not sure what made me decide it was time to put pen to paper, but at some point last year I began writing. I am now hooked!

Morgen: Me too, there’s nothing quite like it. What genre do you generally write and have you considered other genres?

Karen: My first book (which I am still working on), I suppose would be considered “chick lit”. However, I have discovered a true love for writing middle-grade fiction.

Morgen: I presented a 105,000-word chick lit novel to three agents recently and was told that it’s no longer a popular genre (although I can’t believe that people will stop reading it) so probably a good idea to have a back-up genre just in case (and children’s is always popular). I’m actually planning on splitting mine into short stories but with eBooks you can do what you like. What have you had published to-date? How much of the marketing do you do?

Karen: My debut novel, NATE ROCKS THE WORLD, was released in July 2011. This is the first book in the NATE ROCKS series, about a quirky young boy who draws cartoons that come to life. NATE ROCKS THE WORLD uses humor and adventure to show how everyone and anyone can accomplish great things. The book is geared toward 7-12 year olds. I do all of my own marketing, which was/is quite a challenge. However, the Internet is a wonderful place filled with endless resources. You definitely need to be focused to self-market – it requires a lot of commitment, time, and energy.

Morgen: You do your own marketing, do you have an agent? Do you think they’re vital to an author’s success?

Karen: While I did query a few agents, in the end I decided to self-publish. Self-publishing seems to be growing in popularity in this ever-changing industry.

Morgen: That’s a trend I’m seeing.

Karen: I do see the value in having an agent, but for me, I wanted more control over timing and other decisions.

Morgen: Me too, and although I’ve not ruled out looking for an agent in the future, I’m going the eBook route for now for those very reasons.

Karen: Do I think having an agent is vital to an author’s success? Hopefully not.

Morgen: Are your books available as eBooks? If so what was your experience of that process?

Karen: Yes! NATE ROCKS THE WORLD is available in many digital formats, including Kindle, Nook, Apple, Sony Reader, and others. I found the conversion to digital quite easy actually. Again – the Internet came to my rescue with many formatting guides and tips for a smooth transition.

Morgen: Ooh, maybe you’d like to do a guest blog on your experiences of it… Do you read eBooks?

Karen: I honestly have never read an eBook. I guess I am old fashioned, but I will probably give in at some point and pick up a Kindle or Nook or other type of reader. I am told that once you get hooked, you never go back to good old paper books.

Morgen: They say the same thing about going from a PC to a Mac (which I’ve done and totally agree with) but I don’t think pBooks (as they’re now called) will ever disappear – I read books at home but take my eReader with me on (rare) trips for convenience. What are you working on at the moment / next?

Karen: Well, right now I am working on getting my very first manuscript (the one that got me hooked on writing) ready for print. It is called invisible and is about a woman who finds herself suddenly famous and thrown unwittingly in front of the paparazzi. I also am working on book two of the NATE ROCKS series…

Morgen: Yay. Do you manage to write every day? What’s the most you’ve written in a day?

Karen: I do try to write everyday whether it be working on one of my books or posting on my blog. I find that morning is the best time for me to write … maybe it’s the coffee. I usually try to get up early, while my house is still quiet to write. Once the kids start waking up, I often lose my momentum. Multi-tasking is definitely not my thing.

Morgen: Maybe it’s just called ‘life’. Do you plot your stories or do you just get an idea and run with it?

Karen: It depends. For NATE ROCKS THE WORLD, I just had an idea and sort of ran with it. But my first manuscript, invisible, was completely plotted out first. The NATE ROCKS book I am working on now is a combination of both. I have a very basic shell and am figuring out the details as I go along.

Morgen: What’s the most difficult aspect of your writing life?

Karen: Balancing. It is one of the reasons I get up so early to write. I don’t want to take away family time, although there are times where it can’t be helped – especially when deadlines are looming. At the moment, I am trying to find a comfortable balance between spending my time marketing and writing.

Morgen: Do you have any advice you could give aspiring writers?

Karen: The same advice I gave myself… dream big. I know it’s a cliché, but it is something I tell my kids all the time, so I figure I should follow my own advice, right? Just to be clear, I am not talking about money and fame. For me, success is not measured that way. You have to set goals – keep them reachable and then push yourself even further. Make as many contacts as you can: use the Internet, join critique groups, get a writing coach if possible, educate yourself, keep up with the industry, and just keep writing!

Morgen: I totally agree. Dreaming is good as long as you put it into action. What do you like to read?

Karen: This is always a tough question for me, isn’t that funny? Maybe because I love so many different authors! I’m mostly a fiction reader, although I do enjoy a good autobiography. My all time favorite book is TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD.

Morgen: I have it (and a text guide to it) and started it but it’s one of a few that sit near my bed whispering to me to pick up and continue.

Karen: I also enjoy reading what my kids are reading. One day while helping my daughter with her homework, I picked up the book she was reading for school, a historical novel about the potato famine, called NORY RYAN’S SONG, by Patricia Reilly Giff. After the first chapter, I couldn’t put it down. I stayed up for hours reading.

Morgen: The mark of a good book. Are you on any forums or networking sites? If so, how invaluable do you find them?

Karen: Yes – having an Internet presence is so very important! I can be found on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Goodreads, Shelfari, and more.  I also have a blog where I write about my daily life as a mom, writer, wife… basically it is just me rambling about whatever happens to be on my mind at any particular moment. Every week, I post a ‘Friday Five’ where I sum up what’s been going on in my little world.

Morgen: Shelfari… ooh, a new one on me. Where can we find out about you and your work?

Karen: My website is the best place to start: http://karentoz.com or my blog: http://kptoz.blogspot.com. I can be found on twitter (http://twitter.com/karentoz) and on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/karenptoz. Also, on my website are links for readers to purchase both print or digital copies of my book, as well as a free download of the first chapter.

Morgen: Is there anything else you’d like to mention?

Karen: Yes – The importance of encouraging young children to fall in love with reading is so vital. I hope all who are young at heart will experience as much enjoyment reading NATE ROCKS THE WORLD, as I did writing all of his adventures. Thank you so much for having me today!

Morgen: You’re very welcome. All the best with your forthcoming projects.

If you are reading this and you write, in whatever genre, and are thinking “ooh, I’d like to do this” then you can… just email me and I’ll send you the questions. You complete them, I tweak them where appropriate (if necessary to reflect the blog ‘clean and light’ rating) and then they get posted. When that’s done, I email you with the link so you can share it with your corner of the literary world. And if you have a writing-related blog / podcast and would like to interview me… let me know.

You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything… and follow me on Twitter where each new posting is automatically announced. You can also read / download my eBooks and free eShorts at Smashwords, Sony Reader Store, Barnes & Noble, iTunes Bookstore, Kobo and Amazon, with more to follow. I have a new forum and you can follow me on Twitter, friend me on Facebook, like me on Facebook, connect with me on LinkedIn, find me on Tumblr, complete my website’s Contact me page or plain and simple, email me.  I also now have a new blog creation service especially for, but not limited to, writers.

Unfortunately, as I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t review books but I have a feature called ‘Short Story Saturdays’ where I review stories of up to 2,500 words. Alternatively if you have a short story or self-contained novel extract / short chapter (ideally up to 1000 words) that you’d like critiqued and don’t mind me reading it / talking about and critiquing it (I send you the transcription afterwards so you can use the comments or ignore them)  on my ‘Bailey’s Writing Tips’ podcast, then do email me. They are weekly episodes, usually released Monday mornings UK time, interweaving the recordings between the red pen sessions with the hints & tips episodes. I am now also looking for flash fiction (<1000 words) for Flash Fiction Fridays and poetry for Post-weekend Poetry.

 

Author interview no.59 with poet and multi-genre writer Betsy Riley

Welcome to the fifty-ninth of my blog interviews with novelists, short story authors, poets, short story authors, bloggers, scriptwriters, autobiographers and more. Today’s is with multi-genre author Betsy Riley. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate the author further. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here.

Morgen: Hello Betsy. Can you please tell us something about yourself and how you came to be a writer.

Betsy: I have always written; poetry, fiction, essays, memoir, it didn’t matter. Words just flow to me and I have to write them down.

Morgen: Is there a genre that you generally write?

Betsy: Definitely mixed genres. In poetry I write both blank verse and strict rhyme and rhythm. In fiction I write fables, paranormal, thriller, humor/satire, and who knows what else.

Morgen: Yes, definitely a variety then. What have you had published to-date? If applicable, can you remember where you saw your first books on the shelves?

Betsy: The first piece of mine I saw in print was a short non-fiction piece (about how to remember the difference in stalagmites and stalactites) that was published on the front page of my hometown paper when I was twelve. I remember seeing one of my essays in print in junior high. My first paid piece was an invited non-fiction piece in The Office magazine in the early 1980′s. Up until this year my published work has all been non-fiction (http://brws.com/publications.html). I haven’t seen my first fiction book on the shelves yet, but have seen it on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.  The Comet, print version ISBN-13:978-0615475783, ISBN-10:0615475787, is available from Amazon.com and http://BlueDragonPress.com and my website http://brws.com. An epub version for the Nook Color is ISBN-10: 0983735603, ISBN-13: 978-0-9837356-0-1

Morgen: My family used to go to south-west of England (Devon, Somerset…) for our summer holidays and I remember going to a cave (possibly Cheddar Gorge or Wookey Hole) and my dad telling me that the stalactites were holding on to the ceiling very ‘tite’ly J and the stalagmites ‘mite’ reach the ceiling if they tried hard. It’s a time I remember very fondly. Anyway, back to business… how much of the marketing do you do for your published works or indeed for yourself as a ‘brand’?

Betsy: I do all of the marketing for myself and my book as I build my brand.

Morgen: Have you won or been shortlisted in any competitions and do you think they help with a writer’s success?

Betsy: I’ve won first place two months in a row in a monthly short story contest on LinkedIn.

Morgen: Ooh, I didn’t know there was one… I’m going to have to check that out.

Betsy: I don’t know that it has affected my success, other than making me aware I have a talent for short-short fiction.

Morgen: Apart from one poetry win, all mine have been short story successes so I know how you feel. Do you have an agent? Do you think they’re vital to an author’s success?

Betsy: No, I haven’t even looked for one. I may look for one for one of my more mainstream books.

Morgen: Are your books available as eBooks? If so what was your experience of that process? And do you read eBooks?

Betsy: Yes. It was a bit difficult since my first book is illustrated and needed a fixed format. I had to get someone (Amit De from India) to convert it for me since the auto-converters did not work well with illustrations. I don’t have an e-reader–I prefer paper. But I do have the Nook for PC emulator so that I can take advantage of free samples.

Morgen: What was your first acceptance and is being accepted still a thrill?

Betsy: All my published work as an adult has been invited (non-fiction) or self-published. Getting that first check for a magazine article in The Office was definitely a thrill. Every invitation or acceptance is still a thrill.

Morgen: On the flipside, have you had any rejections? If so, how do you deal with them?

Betsy: I had lots of rejections when I was trying to publish poetry. With the advent of POD and e-books, I feel the whole submission process is a waste of the author’s time for a lot of material.

Morgen: Is there something specific that you’re writing at the moment / next?

Betsy: I’m working on a number of projects, so I’m not sure which one will be next. One is a zombie novel that does NOT involve a zombie apocalypse, which I consider a satire (although it has elements of horror, paranormal, and thriller). I’m developing a set of fables and nursery rhymes with a working title of “The Grimmer Goose”. I’m also working on a piece that is a combination of poetry and short stories that together tell a murder mystery.

Morgen: You said earlier about how difficult it is to find spare time, do you manage to write every day? What’s the most you’ve written in a day?

Betsy: Although I’m still working full time at my day job, I do find time to write almost every day. The most I’ve written in a day is about 10,000 words (on a weekend during NaNoWriMo).

Morgen: Wow. Mine’s 9,000-odd for the same reason; we could get together and do a novel in a week. What is your opinion of writer’s block? Do you ever suffer from it? If so, how do you ‘cure’ it?

Betsy: That’s the reason I keep multiple works in progress. When I get stuck on one, I switch to another. Sometimes I’ll switch from prose to poetry, or briefly switch to working on illustrations or web pages.

Morgen: With your prose, do you plot your stories or do you just get an idea and run with it?

Betsy: I’ve tried plotting, but my characters tend to take over and go places I had not planned.

Morgen: Don’t they just (that’s my favourite aspect of writing). Speaking of which, how do you create your characters, and what do you think makes them believable?

Betsy: I often base character descriptions on people I know, I think that helps with the believability. They have real quirks and habits to make them more dimensional.

Morgen: Do you have a first reader – who do you first show your work to?

Betsy: I have a private review group, made up of people I met in the AARP memoir forum. There are five or six of us that read and comment on each others’ work. We haven’t actually met in person, only on-line. I also send some pieces to my brother or show them to my husband.

Morgen: I’ve not heard of the AARP (good old Wikipedia tells me it’s ‘American Association of Retired Persons’). My brother’s a very good editor but unfortunately has a busy job and life (he’s as living and breathing Octopush – www.gbuwh.co.uk – as I am writing) so I’ve gone a different route, with an American lady actually. What is your creative process like? What happens before sitting down to write?

Betsy: I’m constantly thinking about “what if” and “then what”–the ideas stack up until I have to write them down before I forget them.

Morgen: Do you write on paper or do you prefer a computer?

Betsy: I generally prefer a computer for prose and paper for poetry.

Morgen: That’s interesting. They do say that screen / paper use different parts of the brain.

Betsy: But if my computer is not available, I always have pen and paper available.

Morgen: Me too, in every dog-walking jacket. What point of view do you find most to your liking: first person or third person? Have you ever tried second person?

Betsy: I’ve done some in first person, but generally favor third person. I’ve always wanted to do a prose piece in second person, but haven’t had the right project. I have used second person in poetry.

Morgen: You could try one of my second-person sentence starts (http://twitter.com/sentencestarts) . Do you have pieces of work that you think will never see light of day?

Betsy: Oh, definitely. Some of my memoir pieces are too personal to share outside of family and friends.

Morgen: I find writing personal good ‘therapy’. What’s your favourite / least favourite aspect of your writing life?

Betsy: My favorite part is the thrill of creating my own reality, and making the events fall the way I want them too. Another favorite part is hearing readers’ reactions to my work. The least favourite part is all the editing passes, and dealing with formatting glitches.

Morgen: I’d agree with that. If anything, what has been your biggest surprise about writing?

Betsy: How much my characters deviate from my plans for them, and how much readers like my weird characters and plots.

Morgen: Oh indeed. What advice would you give aspiring writers?

Betsy: Never stop writing! The lottery folks say “you can’t win if you don’t play”, well, you can’t publish if you don’t write.

Morgen: Absolutely. What do you like to read?

Betsy: My tastes are very eclectic. I read thrillers, westerns, sci-fi, even romance.

Morgen: Are there any writing-related websites and/or books that you find useful and would recommend?

Betsy: The various writers groups on LinkedIn (http://linkedin.com) have been very helpful.

Morgen: In which country are you based and do you find this a help or hindrance with letting people know about your work?

Betsy: I’m in the United States.

Morgen: Are you on any forums or networking sites? If so, how invaluable do you find them?

Betsy: I’m primarily on the AARP forum and on LinkedIn. Both are valuable. AARP is where I found my critique group. LinkedIn has provided scads of useful tips and contacts for writing and publishing. I highly recommend it.

Morgen: Where can we find out about you and your work?

Betsy: My website is http://brws.com. It links to my blog “Just One Thing . . .”, and my Twitter account.

Morgen: What do you think the future holds for a writer?

Betsy: I think the future holds unprecedented opportunities for writers by removing barriers to publication. Unfortunately, with that comes the challenge of marketing amidst a flood of new authors.

Morgen: Do you have an extract of your writing you’d like included?

Betsy: Yes please…

Tom heard the crackling of the torches before he turned the corner. Down the block was a chanting crowd waving signs bearing two overlapping capital A’s, in a sloppy red font that looked like dripping blood. They had crosses marked on their foreheads in gray smears that looked like ash. And most of the crowd was carrying torches. Torches! Who carried torches anymore? And where would you even get a torch? Were they sold next to the pitchforks at Home Depot or something? He made a mental note to check.

Tom was dialing 911 when the sound of the crowd changed. They’d been chanting ‘Abolish the Abominations’ — not the easiest slogan to chant in unison. The crowd quieted to face a man in a pale pink suit, with the pompadour hairdo Tom associated with Southern preachers.

Standing on a small crate, the preacher could see over the heads of the crowd through a gap left between the signs on the right and torches on the left. Tom gave a wry smile; at least they’d learned not to put the torches too close to the signs. He wondered how many accidents they’d had before they figured out that safety tip.

Morgen: Thank you Betsy. They say you learn something new every day and my nugget today is AARP.

If you are reading this and you write, in whatever genre, and are thinking “ooh, I’d like to do this” then you can… just email me and I’ll send you the questions. You complete them, I tweak them where appropriate (if necessary to reflect the blog ‘clean and light’ rating) and then they get posted. When that’s done, I email you with the link so you can share it with your corner of the literary world. And if you have a writing-related blog / podcast and would like to interview me… let me know.

You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything… and follow me on Twitter where each new posting is automatically announced. You can also read / download my eBooks and free eShorts at Smashwords, Sony Reader Store, Barnes & Noble, iTunes Bookstore, Kobo and Amazon, with more to follow. I have a new forum and you can follow me on Twitter, friend me on Facebook, like me on Facebook, connect with me on LinkedIn, find me on Tumblr, complete my website’s Contact me page or plain and simple, email me.  I also now have a new blog creation service especially for, but not limited to, writers.

Unfortunately, as I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t review books but I have a feature called ‘Short Story Saturdays’ where I review stories of up to 2,500 words. Alternatively if you have a short story or self-contained novel extract / short chapter (ideally up to 1000 words) that you’d like critiqued and don’t mind me reading it / talking about and critiquing it (I send you the transcription afterwards so you can use the comments or ignore them)  on my ‘Bailey’s Writing Tips’ podcast, then do email me. They are weekly episodes, usually released Monday mornings UK time, interweaving the recordings between the red pen sessions with the hints & tips episodes. I am now also looking for flash fiction (<1000 words) for Flash Fiction Fridays and poetry for Post-weekend Poetry.