Complementing my interviews, today’s Author Spotlight, the two hundred and thirty-ninth, is of Young Adult novelist Maria Bradley.
Maria Bradley has worked at a variety of professions but has never released any of her writing for publication until November 2012. Her First book ‘Four’s a crowd’ was published by Feedaread in paperback and as an eBook on Amazon Kindle a couple of weeks later. She writes primarily for Teens and frequently states that her three young adult children are her inspiration. Although she is not primarily a poet, she has recently been placed as one of the runners up in a poetry competition with her poem ‘Manchester’; a cheerful rendition about her home town in England and it’s appallingly wet weather.
On 22 March 2013 she released her second Teen novel ‘Only Human’ in the spirit of the Twilight series and The Vampire Diaries. She is currently volunteering and writing the sequels to both novels full-time.
*
And now from the author herself:
I have always wanted to be a writer but have never really had the confidence to do it before now. Not that I’m in any way confident now, it’s just that I’ve realised that time is running out and my children are of an age where they can look after themselves to a certain degree.
I have worked as a Finance Clerk, Merchandiser, Sales Assistant, and Carer; more recently I’ve worked with special needs children and young adults. I love them all and continue to volunteer, but my real passion is for writing.
Writing a story opens up a world which is entirely controlled by the writer; it can be happy or sad, down-to-earth or mystical, heart-warming or terrifying. It is the most exciting and captivating use of time and is full of possibilities. A good story consumes the reader absolutely and leaves them bereft when they get to the end. I have read many stories like this and I hope that one day my stories will have the same effect. That is when I will feel that I have succeeded as an Author.
Now that I have finally ‘bitten the bullet’ and dived into the writing world, I can’t see myself doing anything else. I would say to any aspiring Author, and in fact, to everybody who is too shy or lacks the confidence to try and achieve their dreams, ‘Go for it! Don’t waste any time worrying if you are good enough or worry about what anyone else thinks, just do it now, you have nothing to lose and everything to gain!’
Only Human
I have always been a fan of Vampire novels and thought it would be interesting to write about a vulnerable teenage girl living secretly in a vampire-dominated world. Being a teenage girl is difficult enough without the added danger of being discovered and ‘eaten’ at any given point within your nightly life. Aecia carries this burden alone until her desperate loneliness creates ‘Amica’ a blonde, blue eyed and carefree human friend whom she writes to in her diary. When she becomes involved with a real friend ‘Garok’ her life takes a disastrous turn for the worst but as her terrifying fears are realised she discovers that maybe she is not alone; with each catastrophic morsel of her life exploding into chaos she finds that her own birth has been the catalyst to events that will shake the foundations of the tyrannous vampire world forever.
Four’s A Crowd
My first project is called ‘Four’s A Crowd’ and began with someone I met many years ago when my own life was in a very dark place. ‘Chairman’ was an elderly gentleman who had absolutely nothing. He occasionally lived in a boarded up house and sometimes slept on an old mattress in the back of a rusty old van; not the kind of person you would expect to speak with a ‘Made in Chelsea’ accent, but he did. He was also extremely charming, polite and very content with his life. I will never forget his optimism and vigour. ‘Jack’ is a mixture of all the wonderful special needs children I have been fortunate enough to meet and work with. Nature has a way of affording particular and spectacular gifts to those who might be disadvantaged in another way. ‘Sky’ is my daughter, plain and simple; spirited, fiery, impulsive, stubborn, beautiful and kind.
These three unlikely friends meet by chance and are hurled into a murder mystery complicated by Chairman’s true identity, Jack’s unique and fascinating gift and Sky’s search for her lost mother. They must battle the narcissistic ‘Dr Rhinehart’ as he attempts to control their minds and confuse them with illusion. Throughout their rollercoaster adventure they slowly discover that the truth of all their pasts will become the thread that ties all of their futures together.
**
You can find more about Maria and her writing via…
***
If you would like to take part in an author spotlight, take a look at http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/submission-information/opportunities-on-this-blog (the spotlights are option (a)) or email me for details.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.
I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
Tags: 5pm fiction, agent, Amazon, author, author interview, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, Barnes and Noble, biographers, biography, blog, blogger, blogging, books, characters, children’s, competitions, copyediting, copyeditor, copywriter, copywriting, cozy mysteries, creative writing, crime, crime series, crime thriller, crime thrillers, critique, critique groups, debut novel, editing, editor, erotic romance, erotica, exercises, Facebook, fantasy, fantasy horror, fantasy writer, feedback, fellow authors, fiction, fiction author, five senses, flash fiction, free verse, future tense, Goodreads, grammar skills, graphic novels, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, haiku, haiku poem, hendecasyllabic, historical, historical author, historical writer, horror novel, humorous, humour, iambic pentameter, indie, interview, interview with writer, interviewees, Jane Wenham Jones, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, Maria Bradley, memoirist, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mysteries, murder mystery, mystery author, mystery series, mystery suspense, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novelists, novels, open mic nights, pantoum, paranormal, paranormal romance, paranormal romances, past tense, pinterest, poem, poet, poetry, poetry collection, poetry collections, poetry exercises, poetry magazine, poetry slams, present tense, pseudonyms, publisher, publishing, query letters, reading books, red pen, rejection letter, rejection letters, rejections, rhyming, rhyming poetry, romance, romance fantasy, romance writer, romantic suspense, science fiction, scriptwriters, second person point of view, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, sonnet, story a day, Story A Day May, story author, story authors, story collections, story writer, submissions, suspense novelist, suspense thriller, tanka, terza rima, travel memoir, travel writer, triolet, Twitter, vampire, villanelle, Waterstones, western, western author, Wordpress, writer, writer interview, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing exercises, writing fiction, writing group, writing magazines, writing novels, writing poetry, writing prompts, writing workshop, YA, young adult novels, youtube
Complementing my interviews, today’s Author Spotlight, the two hundred and thirty-third, is of mystery / thriller and YA writer Michael Herr.
Michael Herr was born in Evanston, Illinois in December, 1942, and moved to California in 1946.
He received a Bachelor’s degree from St. Mary’s College, a Master’s degree from California State University, Hayward, and several teaching and administrative credentials.
Mr. Herr spent 34 years in education first as a teacher (San Francisco Unified, Mt. Diablo Unified) and then as an administrator (Vice Principal Mt. Diablo Unified, Assistant Director and Director of Adult and Continuing Education Martinez Unified).
He and his wife, Barbara, to Rossmoor, in Walnut Creek, California, in May 1998. Two years later, in January 2000, Mr. Herr retired. He has a son and daughter-in-law and two grandchildren who reside in Santa Cruz.
Michael’s wife, Barbara, was born in Honolulu. Her relatives can be found on every island in Hawai’i.
Michael and Barbara travel to Kau`i every year and spend three weeks at their timeshare.
Mr. Herr gave up writing when he began teaching and did not begin writing again until after his retirement. He published his first book, The Kaua’i Obake Bar, in March 2005. He published his second book, Is ‘Chicken Skin’ a Local Delicacy?, in November 2005. Mr. Herr published his first mystery / thriller, The Bones of the Kuhina Nui, in April 2006. He published, The Old Queen’s Murder, the sequel to Bones, in April 2007. The third book in what was now a series, The Old Queen’s Treasure, was published in March 2008. The fourth book, The Old Queen’s Guardians, was published in November 2009. The fifth and current book in the series, The Old Queen and the Maui Maiden, was published in 2011. The Kohala Coast Mystery series is set primarily on the Big Island of Hawaii, though much of the action in the latest book takes place on Maui.
Mr. Herr has also written a Young Adult book, set on Kauai, that is available only as an ebook at present.
All of Mr. Herr’s work is noted for its references to Hawaiian culture and cultural practices.
As of today Mr. Herr has sold over 7,000 copies of his books in both paperback and ebook format.
*
And now from the author himself:
Life is hardly begun before it’s over
I turned 70 in December, older than I ever dreamed I’d be, and began to wonder what, if anything I had accomplished.
Most of my life seems to have happened while I was looking elsewhere. I graduated high school, having avoided death from a ruptured appendix. During that same period I also avoided killing someone with my shotgun. But I lost my girlfriend, the only one I had ever had up until graduation. I went on to college and during my sophomore year I met the girl / woman who was to become the love of my life. Counting our college years we’ve been together for 50 years now.
Together my wife and I produced a handsome and intelligent son who, just as my hope was about to expire, found and married the love of his life. And they gave us the next love of our lives, our granddaughter and grandson.
The books I write are set in Hawaii because of my deep love for the islands. My wife first led me their while I was still in college and we were not married. The islands of Hawaii found a home in my heart immediately. We continue to return each year. The books I write are filled with my memories of these islands, and with all that I have learned about the islands over the years.
I started out writing humorous / spooky stories, but found that people would rather read stories filled with death and violence. I don’t write the violent stories that I read from more-famous authors, but my characters do encounter death quite often. My characters also encounter problems with which I am familiar — conflict with other family members, poor choices that lead to difficulties, and even diseases such as Alzheimers.
My Kohala Coast Mystery / Thriller series is currently five books long. A sixth book resides in my computer, waiting only for me to return and finish it. Following my publication of that book, I intend to do a crossover book. I will bring the characters from my mystery / thriller series back in time to interact with the characters from my first two books. I just have to figure out how to kill a ghost.
I love technology. The expansion of ebooks and ebook readers has allowed me to reach many more people. I hope that you can be one of them.
Mahalo and Aloha,
Michael A Herr
(no, not the Michael Herr who wrote Dispatches)
**
I just have to figure out how to kill a ghost”. I love it! Thank you, Michael. You can find more about Michael and his writing via his website: http://www.michaelherr.com.
***
If you would like to take part in an author spotlight, take a look at http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/submission-information/opportunities-on-this-blog (the spotlights are option (a)) or email me for details.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.
I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
Tags: 5pm fiction, agent, Amazon, author, author interview, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, Barnes and Noble, biographers, biography, blog, blogger, blogging, books, characters, children’s, competitions, copyediting, copyeditor, copywriter, copywriting, cozy mysteries, creative writing, crime, crime series, crime thriller, crime thrillers, critique, critique groups, debut novel, editing, editor, erotic romance, erotica, exercises, Facebook, fantasy, fantasy horror, fantasy writer, feedback, fellow authors, fiction, fiction author, five senses, flash fiction, free verse, future tense, Goodreads, grammar skills, graphic novels, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, haiku, haiku poem, hendecasyllabic, historical, historical author, historical writer, horror novel, humorous, humour, iambic pentameter, indie, interview, interview with writer, interviewees, Jane Wenham Jones, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, memoirist, Michael Herr, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mysteries, murder mystery, mystery author, mystery series, mystery suspense, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novelists, novels, open mic nights, pantoum, paranormal, paranormal romance, paranormal romances, past tense, pinterest, poem, poet, poetry, poetry collection, poetry collections, poetry exercises, poetry magazine, poetry slams, present tense, pseudonyms, publisher, publishing, query letters, reading books, red pen, rejection letter, rejection letters, rejections, rhyming, rhyming poetry, romance, romance fantasy, romance writer, science fiction, scriptwriters, second person point of view, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, sonnet, story a day, Story A Day May, story author, story authors, story collections, story writer, submissions, suspense novelist, suspense thriller, tanka, terza rima, travel memoir, travel writer, triolet, Twitter, vampire, villanelle, Waterstones, western, western author, Wordpress, writer, writer interview, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing exercises, writing fiction, writing group, writing magazines, writing novels, writing poetry, writing prompts, writing workshop, YA, young adult novels, youtube
Complementing the full interviews on this blog, which have now dropped to weekend mornings only, another new interview on my interview-only blog has been posted! The (670+) interviews from this blog are there as well so there’s plenty to read.
The latest interview on the new blog is with children’s author Jaquelyn Muller and can be read in full at http://morgensauthorinterviews.wordpress.com/2013/05/10/author-interview-with-childrens-author-jaquelyn-muller.
***
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 information. They do now (January 2013) carry a fee (£10 / €12.50 / $15) for the new interviews on this blog but everything else (see Opportunities on this blog) is free.
Alternatively, if you’d like a free Q&A-only interview, I now have http://morgensauthorinterviews.wordpress.com on which I’ve rerun the original interviews posted here then posted new interviews which I then reblog here. These interviews are Q&A only, so I don’t add in my comments but they do get exposure on both sites.
If you go for the interview, it’s very simple; I send you a questionnaire (I have them for novelists, short story authors, children’s authors, non-fiction authors, and poets). You complete the questions, and I let you know when it’s going to go live. Before it does so, I add in comments as if we’re chatting, 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.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.
I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
Tags: 5pm fiction, agent, Amazon, author, author interview, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, Barnes and Noble, biographers, biography, blog, blogger, blogging, books, characters, children’s, competitions, copyediting, copyeditor, copywriter, copywriting, cozy mysteries, creative writing, crime, crime series, crime thriller, crime thrillers, critique, critique groups, debut novel, editing, editor, erotic romance, erotica, exercises, Facebook, fantasy, fantasy horror, fantasy writer, feedback, fellow authors, fiction, fiction author, five senses, flash fiction, free verse, future tense, Goodreads, grammar skills, graphic novels, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, haiku, haiku poem, hendecasyllabic, historical, historical author, historical writer, horror novel, humorous, humour, iambic pentameter, indie, interview, interview with writer, interviewees, Jane Wenham Jones, Jaquelyn Muller, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, memoirist, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mysteries, murder mystery, mystery author, mystery series, mystery suspense, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novelists, novels, open mic nights, pantoum, paranormal, paranormal romance, paranormal romances, past tense, pinterest, poem, poet, poetry, poetry collection, poetry collections, poetry exercises, poetry magazine, poetry slams, present tense, pseudonyms, publisher, publishing, query letters, reading books, red pen, rejection letter, rejection letters, rejections, rhyming, rhyming poetry, romance, romance fantasy, romance writer, science fiction, scriptwriters, second person point of view, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, sonnet, story a day, Story A Day May, story author, story authors, story collections, story writer, submissions, suspense novelist, suspense thriller, tanka, terza rima, travel memoir, travel writer, triolet, Twitter, vampire, villanelle, Waterstones, western, western author, Wordpress, writer, writer interview, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing exercises, writing fiction, writing group, writing magazines, writing novels, writing poetry, writing prompts, writing workshop, YA, young adult novels, youtube
Complementing the full interviews on this blog, which have now dropped to weekend mornings only, another new interview on my interview-only blog has been posted! The (670+) interviews from this blog are there as well so there’s plenty to read.
The latest interview on the new blog is with children’s author Judy Pierce and can be read in full at http://morgensauthorinterviews.wordpress.com/2013/05/08/author-interview-with-childrens-author-judy-pierce.
***
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 information. They do now (January 2013) carry a fee (£10 / €12.50 / $15) for the new interviews on this blog but everything else (see Opportunities on this blog) is free.
Alternatively, if you’d like a free Q&A-only interview, I now have http://morgensauthorinterviews.wordpress.com on which I’ve rerun the original interviews posted here then posted new interviews which I then reblog here. These interviews are Q&A only, so I don’t add in my comments but they do get exposure on both sites.
If you go for the interview, it’s very simple; I send you a questionnaire (I have them for novelists, short story authors, children’s authors, non-fiction authors, and poets). You complete the questions, and I let you know when it’s going to go live. Before it does so, I add in comments as if we’re chatting, 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.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.
I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
Tags: 5pm fiction, agent, Amazon, author, author interview, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, Barnes and Noble, biographers, biography, blog, blogger, blogging, books, characters, children’s, competitions, copyediting, copyeditor, copywriter, copywriting, cozy mysteries, creative writing, crime, crime series, crime thriller, crime thrillers, critique, critique groups, debut novel, editing, editor, erotic romance, erotica, exercises, Facebook, fantasy, fantasy horror, fantasy writer, feedback, fellow authors, fiction, fiction author, five senses, flash fiction, free verse, future tense, Goodreads, grammar skills, graphic novels, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, haiku, haiku poem, hendecasyllabic, historical, historical author, historical writer, horror novel, humorous, humour, iambic pentameter, indie, interview, interview with writer, interviewees, Jane Wenham Jones, Judy Pierce, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, memoirist, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mysteries, murder mystery, mystery author, mystery series, mystery suspense, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novelists, novels, open mic nights, pantoum, paranormal, paranormal romance, paranormal romances, past tense, pinterest, poem, poet, poetry, poetry collection, poetry collections, poetry exercises, poetry magazine, poetry slams, present tense, pseudonyms, publisher, publishing, query letters, reading books, red pen, rejection letter, rejection letters, rejections, rhyming, rhyming poetry, romance, romance fantasy, romance writer, science fiction, scriptwriters, second person point of view, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, sonnet, story a day, Story A Day May, story author, story authors, story collections, story writer, submissions, suspense novelist, suspense thriller, tanka, terza rima, travel memoir, travel writer, triolet, Twitter, vampire, villanelle, Waterstones, western, western author, Wordpress, writer, writer interview, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing exercises, writing fiction, writing group, writing magazines, writing novels, writing poetry, writing prompts, writing workshop, YA, young adult novels, youtube
Complementing my interviews, today’s Author Spotlight, the two hundred and fourteenth, is of non-fiction writer and novelist Julie L Casey.
Julie L. Casey lives in a rural area near St. Joseph, Missouri, with her husband, Jonn Casey, a science teacher, and their three youngest sons. After teaching preschool for fifteen years, she has been homeschooling her four sons for ten years.
Julie has bachelor of science degrees in education and computer programming and has written four books. She enjoys historical reenacting, wildlife rehabilitation, teaching her children, and writing books that capture the imaginations of young people.
Julie has written four books, including:
- a non-fiction book about the problems with the public school system titled Stop Beating the Dead Horse
- a humorous novella titled In Daddy’s Hands
- a futuristic post-apocalyptic young adult novel titled Holt: Guardians of Hope (not yet published)
- and a modern-day post-apocalyptic young adult novel titled How I Became a Teenage Survivalist, which will be published by Pants On Fire Press in June 2013.
*
And now from the author herself:
I’ve always enjoyed writing, but I never attempted to write anything significant until I wrote my first book, Stop Beating the Dead Horse, in 2010 at the age of 49. After that, I was hooked and wrote three more books in quick succession.
My first book is non-fiction and took a lot of research to back up my thoughts and ideas. I had been thinking about all those ideas for many years – since high school, as a matter of fact. It was very cathartic and affirming to finally get all those thoughts out of my brain and onto paper. The actual writing and editing of it took about six months. I had a group of peer editors who read each chapter as I wrote it and helped me refine my ideas and fix my grammar / typo errors.
The next book I wrote, In Daddy’s Hands, was just a quick, funny little novella inspired by actual events and took only a couple of weeks to write and edit.
I wrote my third book, a young adult post-apocalyptic novel called Holt: Guardians of Hope, in about three months with another month for editing, thanks to my friend Landi Quinlin, a terrific English teacher.
![Pageflex Persona [document: PRS0000039_00071]](http://morgenbailey.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/how-i-became-cover.jpg?w=98&h=150)
How I Became a Teenage Survivalist was my fourth book and it has a very interesting story of how it came to be. I started with just a few basic ideas about the story, such as the solar event, the names of the brothers, and that they would live on a farm, but other than that, I began the novel with no preconceived ideas. I had decided in October, 2012 to write this story for the NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) contest, in which you must write a 50,000+ word novel within the month of November to qualify. I began on November 1st, 2012 and finished on November 22nd with How I Became a Teenage Survivalist as the finished product. The story was so fun to write. Every morning I’d sit down at the computer, place my fingers on the keyboard and the story would just start pouring out of me; I had no idea where it would take me each day. It was like I was reading the story as it unfolded. I would pause only occasionally to research parts of the story to make sure it was as accurate as a fiction novel can be.
I self published the first two books. Self-publishing was a very enjoyable and creative process, but in order to sell books, you have to be good at marketing. I decided to try a traditional publisher to get some help with the marketing.
I found querying literary agents to be a tedious task. A writer needs an agent to land a contract with one of the “big six” publishers. After querying 20 agents and getting three requests for the full manuscript (which is good considering the average rate of requests is only about 2%), all of whom ultimately declined, I decided to try another route – indie publishers. While these are still traditional publishers (as opposed to self-publishing or vanity presses), they often take submissions from authors without agents. I sent my manuscript to three indie presses, all three of whom expressed interest in my story, and ultimately chose to go with Pants On Fire Press out of Florida.
My advice to new writers: just do it! Many new writers fear failure and rejection, so never really get serious about writing. My advice is to just write for yourself; write to clear the jumble of thoughts and emotions out of your brain. And when you’re through, if you like what you wrote, go back and make it better, word by word, line by line. When you’re really feeling confident about it, let someone else read it and see what they think. In time, you will gain the confidence to consider publishing your work.
**
You can find more about Julie and her writing via…
***
If you would like to take part in an author spotlight, take a look at http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/submission-information/opportunities-on-this-blog (the spotlights are option (a)) or email me for details.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.
I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
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Two of Linda Hays-Gibbs’ eBooks will be free on Kindle today, 29th April.
NB. This notification goes out at 5am UK time which will still be the day before in Amazon.com world, so you may have to wait a few hours for the offer to kick in.
Book one: Song of the Easter Bunny
Genre: Fantasy / children’s / religious
This is a simple story for children about the Easter Bunny. It is very short but gives a message about what Easter is really about. This Easter bunny had no choice but to give voice to his joy on that wonderful day. His song can’t be stopped.
Book two: Married by Morning
Genre: regency historical paranormal adult romance
This is a Regency romance with vampires and werewolves. The hero has a large family and obligations. His mother and sisters rule him. Suddenly his life isn’t so horrible anymore because a beautiful lady enters his home and his life.
He finds he can’t keep his hands off her and they need to marry with all haste. The problem is his family doesn’t want him happy. It’s funny and steamy with twists and turns but hopefully by morning things will be better.
*
Linda was born and bred in the south. She graduated from the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa. AL, home of the Crimson Tide. Linda is a big fan of football too. She has also traveled overseas.
Her great great great great grandfather was Daniel Boone. Linda knows this because she researched it herself. She was looking for her Cherokee and Chickasaw blood and found some Shawnee too. She said, Life is a treasure hunt and you always find gold when you dig.” Her favorite thing is writing. She loves poetry as well as fiction. Linda now has 12 books to her credit.
**
Both of Linda’s books mentioned are free today April 29, 2013 via the following links:
You can find out more about Linda via…
Thank you, Linda.
***
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.
I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
Tags: 5pm fiction, agent, Amazon, author, author interview, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, Barnes and Noble, biographers, biography, blog, blogger, blogging, books, characters, children’s, competitions, copyediting, copyeditor, copywriter, copywriting, cozy mysteries, creative writing, crime, crime series, crime thriller, crime thrillers, critique, critique groups, debut novel, editing, editor, erotic romance, erotica, exercises, Facebook, fantasy, fantasy horror, fantasy writer, feedback, fellow authors, fiction, fiction author, five senses, flash fiction, free verse, future tense, Goodreads, grammar skills, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, haiku, haiku poem, hendecasyllabic, historical, historical author, historical writer, horror novel, humorous, humour, iambic pentameter, indie, interview, interview with writer, interviewees, Kobo, Linda Hays Gibbs, LinkedIn, literature, memoirist, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mysteries, murder mystery, mystery author, mystery series, mystery suspense, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novelists, novels, open mic nights, pantoum, paranormal, paranormal romance, paranormal romances, past tense, pinterest, poem, poet, poetry, poetry collection, poetry collections, poetry exercises, poetry magazine, poetry slams, present tense, pseudonyms, publisher, publishing, query letters, reading books, red pen, rejection letter, rejection letters, rejections, rhyming, rhyming poetry, romance, romance fantasy, romance writer, science fiction, scriptwriters, second person point of view, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, sonnet, story a day, Story A Day May, story author, story authors, story collections, story writer, submissions, suspense novelist, suspense thriller, tanka, terza rima, travel memoir, travel writer, triolet, Twitter, vampire, villanelle, Waterstones, western, western author, Wordpress, writer, writer interview, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing exercises, writing fiction, writing group, writing magazines, writing novels, writing poetry, writing prompts, writing workshop, YA, young adult novels, youtube
Welcome to the two hundred and seventh in this daily series that is ‘5pm Fiction’.
Late April 2011 I discovered http://StoryADay.org and the project that is to write 31 stories in 31 days. Anyone who knows me or follows this blog, knows how passionate I am about short stories so my clichéd eyes lit up at this new marvel. And just a few days later there I was, breathing life into new characters. This went on to become (with some editing of course) my 31-story collection eBook Story A Day May 2011.
I was nearing completion of the 2012 project when I decided that I didn’t want to stop at the end of May so 5PM Fiction was born. I put a load of prompts on the 5PM Fiction page and today’s was to write a story from the mixed bag of Mrs Smith, toy bear, carriage clock, bicycle ride, busy. Below is my 698-worder, another children’s story (second in two days) and semi-autobiographical (my father presented me with the same wooden box).
I’m also doing Camp NaNoWriMo this month alongside this 5pm fiction slot. Although Camp’s minimum is 10,000, I’m aiming for NaNo’s 50,000… as well as these daily short stories – yes, a glutton for punishment!
In the first twenty-seven days of April, I’d written 32,559 words (against a target of 45,000) and at the time of posting this, 5pm Sunday UK time, the balance is now 39,454, so I’m catching up and have every confidence that I’ll get there.
Now on with today’s story…
*
Furry like a dog
Sydney was a little grey bear with a bright red bow around his neck. He was very handsome but quite shy. He’d been bought as an Easter present for Charlie Smith and they went everywhere together. Charlie’s bike had a basket on the front and wherever the family’s cycle rides took them, Sydney would be there, leading the way.
As winter approached, the weather got colder and they went out less. One Friday evening Sydney was sitting above the fireplace in the lounge. Charlie had gone to bed without him which was unusual, but Sydney didn’t mind because he would be there to greet him in the morning.
As Sydney sat against a carriage clock, he watched Charlie’s father putting together a big wooden thing. Mrs Smith was busy in the kitchen and the lovely smells made Sydney hungry. It was a very cold evening and the fire was so warm that he soon fell asleep.
The next day, Sydney woke to find the household rushing around like blue-bottled flies, too busy to pay any attention to him. It took him a minute to realise what was happening. It was Charlie’s seventh birthday. Sydney had heard Mr and Mrs Smith talking about it earlier in the week.
Charlie was now begging his parents to let him open his presents and they finally gave in. Sydney watched as streams of wrapping paper produced a plane model kit, a new cycle helmet and computer games. Sydney was grateful there weren’t any toys like him to take his place.
As Charlie’s father wheeled the final present into the lounge, Sydney recognised it as the wooden box. The back was plain but when it was turned round the front was covered with wire mesh and inside he could see something moving. Charlie gasped then clapped his hands wildly.
Sydney was too far away to see what all the excitement was all about and wondered what kind of thing could live in there. Maybe it was a dog. One of Charlie’s friends had a dog but he didn’t live in anything like this.
He watched Charlie open the door. There wasn’t just one thing in there but two. They were furry like a dog, but much smaller. Charlie leant forward and picked one of them out. It was grey, like Sydney, and was very handsome. For the first time in his life, Sydney was jealous. Charlie frowned and looked up at his mum.
“They’re guinea pigs, Charlie” she explained.
“Guinea pigs!” Charlie cheered as he dug back into the cage for the other fur-ball. This one was completely white with pink eyes. A funny looking thing, Sydney thought, not handsome at all.
Pigs? Sydney thought. The only pigs he’d seen before were on a cycle ride to Mr Parker’s farm where Charlie fed them. Whatever type of pig they were, Sydney felt happy they wouldn’t eat him.
Sydney watched as Charlie struggled to hold both of them.
Charlie’s mother took the white one. “They are very special guinea pigs, Charlie,” she said. “Auntie Lily has sent them all the way from Scotland for you. The grey one is a type called ‘Cinnamonrex’ and the white one is an ‘Ivorysatin’. They’re both boys so we have to be very careful they don’t fight.
“Don’t worry, Mum.” Charlie beamed. “I will stay with them ALL the time.” He looked the guinea pig in his hands. “I’ll call this one Lewis.” He then looked at white one which was wriggling in his mother’s hands. “And that one, Duncan.” Charlie’s mum smiled as she knew her sister would be delighted that Charlie had named them after his slightly-older cousins.
Sydney started to feel sad. What Charlie said about looking after his new pets meant that he wouldn’t have time for him anymore.
Charlie turned away from the cage and looked around the room until he spotted his best friend. “Look, Sydney!” Charlie said as he walked towards him, still with Lewis in his hands. “We’ve got some new friends. We can’t take them with us on the bike but we can play together in the house, wouldn’t that be fun?”
Yes, thought Sydney, that WOULD be fun.
***
Picture above courtesy of morguefile.com.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.
I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
Tags: 5pm fiction, agent, Amazon, author, author interview, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, Barnes and Noble, biographers, biography, blog, blogger, blogging, books, characters, children’s, competitions, copyediting, copyeditor, copywriter, copywriting, cozy mysteries, creative writing, crime, crime series, crime thriller, crime thrillers, critique, critique groups, debut novel, editing, editor, erotic romance, erotica, exercises, Facebook, fantasy, fantasy horror, fantasy writer, feedback, fellow authors, fiction, fiction author, five senses, flash fiction, free verse, future tense, Goodreads, grammar skills, graphic novels, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, haiku, haiku poem, hendecasyllabic, historical, historical author, historical writer, horror novel, humorous, humour, iambic pentameter, indie, interview, interview with writer, interviewees, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, memoirist, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mysteries, murder mystery, mystery author, mystery series, mystery suspense, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novelists, novels, open mic nights, pantoum, paranormal, paranormal romance, paranormal romances, past tense, pinterest, poem, poet, poetry, poetry collection, poetry collections, poetry exercises, poetry magazine, poetry slams, present tense, pseudonyms, publisher, publishing, query letters, reading books, red pen, rejection letter, rejection letters, rejections, rhyming, rhyming poetry, romance, romance fantasy, romance writer, science fiction, scriptwriters, second person point of view, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, sonnet, story a day, Story A Day May, story author, story authors, story collections, story writer, submissions, suspense novelist, suspense thriller, tanka, terza rima, travel memoir, travel writer, triolet, Twitter, vampire, villanelle, Waterstones, western, western author, Wordpress, writer, writer interview, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing exercises, writing fiction, writing group, writing magazines, writing novels, writing poetry, writing prompts, writing workshop, YA, young adult novels, youtube
Tonight’s guest blog post is brought to you by romance novelist Robin Leigh Morgan.
Changing Genres
Some of us who have chosen to write fiction come from a variety of places. And by a variety of places I’m not referring to a physical location, I’m referring to our writing experiences.
There are some of us who have enjoyed writing since we were a child, and each year by writing something in school it improved. For some of us, it continued until we graduated college and began working. Some of us entered the work force taking jobs which required us to write, whether it was procedures, handbooks/manuals, or news stories. But all of these are non-fiction, and each one has a set of “rules” which need to be followed to write something well enough to be acceptable.
As for myself, while my regular job did not require me to write, for eleven years I wrote articles [commentaries / viewpoints] of what was happening in my community and my feelings about it. When I started to write these items my writing skills were not honed, I didn’t have my ideas organized in a tight manner, although my writing had been informative. By the time I’d written my last item, I’d become quite adept at it.
When I started to write fiction, I somehow drifted to writing a contemporary romance story with a paranormal element running through the storyline, but after almost 9 years I still hadn’t completed it. That is, until someone suggested I should write for a much younger audience; which is what I did, cumulating in my first YA Paranormal / Time Travel / First Kiss romance novel, entitled “I Kissed a Ghost.”
Anyway, making the transition from non-fiction to fiction I’ve had to learn a new set of rules in how to write. Most of these involved dialogue, showing not telling; where before I just told. I now had to learn about the use of tags. I had to learn not to be overly descriptive of something, but allow my reader to create the image for themselves in their minds. In the beginning I found it hard to break my old writing habits. Now I’m finding myself with these habits essentially gone. The biggest issue I still have and am trying to get a good handle on, is POV [Point of View]. Regardless of what’s happening or being said it has to be in one’s character’s perspective, and you can’t flip-flop between two characters within a scene, there needs to be a transition from one character to another.
All these things have helped me mold myself into the author I’m today. I’ve also learned there are additional rules within a genre depending on the sub-genre you’ve decided to write in. These rules apply to the dialogue spoken which needs to be true to the time period you’re writing in, as well as how your characters are dressed, and their titles if any, as is the case with the regencies sub-genre of romance novels.
So as you can see writing is not mere a string of words you put together, there are rules which need to be followed if you’re to be well received by your readers.
If you have any questions, I’d love to hear from you.
*
Thank you, Robin Leigh. That was great.
And now a little about Robin Leigh herself…
Robin Leigh is a retired NYC civil servant with various job titles, the last one of which was in the Systems Analyst title series. She’s been married for 19 years with no children but has two cats, one adopted and one rescued.
She began to write back in June 1995, about eleven years over 450 commentary type items for a community newspaper. Along the way Robin Leigh decided to see if she could write something else. She didn’t own a computer back then, but did have access to one where she wrote her commentaries, and it was on this computer that she wrote about two pages a week. Once she got her own computer she began to write what she wanted to be a contemporary romance with a paranormal element running through, but never seemed to get the sense it would be good enough to be read by someone else.
Eventually, someone suggested she write for a younger audience, which how she came to write her first novel, a YA [Young Adult] Paranormal / Time Travel / First Kiss romance entitled, “I Kissed a Ghost”.
As far as Robin Leigh’s next book is concerned, she’s going to return to writing the romance manuscript she had started many years ago, and approaching it anew with the knowledge she’s gained along the way in writing “I Kissed a Ghost”. The reason she’s writing it is relatively simple; she’s always felt somewhat incomplete not having completed something she once had started out to do, and now wants to fill the void it has created in her life.
Morgen: I’m biased but writing does that for me. 
***
If you would like to write a writing-related guest post for my blog then feel free to email me with an outline of what you would like to write about. There are other options listed on http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/submission-information/opportunities-on-this-blog.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.
I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
Tags: 5pm fiction, agent, Amazon, author, author interview, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, Barnes and Noble, biographers, biography, blog, blogger, blogging, books, characters, children’s, competitions, copyediting, copyeditor, copywriter, copywriting, cozy mysteries, creative writing, crime, crime series, crime thriller, crime thrillers, critique, critique groups, debut novel, editing, editor, erotic romance, erotica, exercises, Facebook, fantasy, fantasy horror, fantasy writer, feedback, fellow authors, fiction, fiction author, five senses, flash fiction, free verse, future tense, Goodreads, grammar skills, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, haiku, haiku poem, hendecasyllabic, historical, historical author, historical writer, horror novel, humorous, humour, iambic pentameter, indie, interview, interview with writer, interviewees, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, memoirist, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mysteries, murder mystery, mystery author, mystery series, mystery suspense, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novelists, novels, open mic nights, pantoum, paranormal, paranormal romance, paranormal romances, past tense, pinterest, poem, poet, poetry, poetry collection, poetry collections, poetry exercises, poetry magazine, poetry slams, present tense, pseudonyms, publisher, publishing, query letters, reading books, red pen, rejection letter, rejection letters, rejections, rhyming, rhyming poetry, Robin Leigh Morgan, romance, romance fantasy, romance writer, science fiction, scriptwriters, second person point of view, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, sonnet, story a day, Story A Day May, story author, story authors, story collections, story writer, submissions, suspense novelist, suspense thriller, tanka, terza rima, travel memoir, travel writer, triolet, Twitter, vampire, villanelle, Waterstones, western, western author, Wordpress, writer, writer interview, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing exercises, writing fiction, writing group, writing magazines, writing novels, writing poetry, writing prompts, writing workshop, YA, young adult novels, youtube
Welcome to Flash Fiction Friday and the eighty-third piece in this series. This week’s is a 399-worder by YA, science-fiction, paranormal author and poet Kenna McKinnon. This story will be podcasted in episode 29 (with two other stories) on Sunday 14th July.
The Sea And His Guitar
The pain was electric music in his gut, placated by Morphine. He slept until the stranger and friend awoke him to speak with him.
“Your son… the boy you never knew. Your mother’s grandson and estranged. Sad.”
“I met him at Brewsters and explained I couldn’t help it, the absences, the silence, they were imposed on me.”
“He knows that?”
“I don’t know. My son plays guitar, too. Electric. My mother bought him his first guitar.”
“Too cool.”
“The black acoustic and the Godin are mine.”
“You have three amps and one is real nice, a vintage 1960s Vox you got from Craig’s List.”
“No, I got it from Kijiji. I live in Alberta, Kijiji’s big here. I took the bus to the guy’s place, paid him cash on the spot.”
“Nice Vox.”
“I see the posters, can peek out the window at the street and the sun when the drapes are open like now.”
“You’re miles from the ocean but I see your favorite ocean videos on Netflix, Van Gogh and the Scream on your old wall.”
“Yes, I like the sea and the Scream. I like the stars. My sister lives in Vancouver. We went whale watching a couple of times; took a lot of great photos, and saw the Aquarium. The jellyfish were my favorites, beautiful colors and shapes.”
“Did you want to go back some day? Live there?”
“Too much on the fault line and too far from home. I’m a home body.”
“Too bad. The sea is our mistress.”
“Yes. Music is our mistress, too. The stars and the Scream.”
The cream colored Vox amp stood in the corner, unused by his son after he surrounded himself by the ocean; the wild dark sea and the music, dived into the night of the underworld and swam to the other side of the Universe where the stars blazed and the Scream was left behind.
“I have my memories,” his son said to the grandmother later, and declined a recent photograph of the handsome young man in his forties, face illuminated and eyes wise and humorous.
We all have our memories, the guitar still sang – his black acoustic instrument in particular – sang in the hands of a stranger and friend, who moderated the father’s celebration of life when the sea and the Light claimed him again, back to the bosom of Unconsciousness and no more pain.
*
I asked Kenna what prompted this piece and she said…
I wrote this story after my second son, 44 years old, died of esophageal / stomach cancer on September 21, 2012. He was a good man and a wonderful support to me all his life. He is dearly missed and loved. I know he is now in the Light of God and free of suffering. Rest in peace, Steve.
I’m sorry to hear about your son. Writing is very therapeutic so I’m sure it helps. Thank you, Kenna, for sharing your story with us.
**
Kenna McKinnon is a freelance writer / photographer and self employed businesswoman, and has lived successfully with schizophrenia for many years.
Her website is http://www.kennamckinnon.blogspot.ca and her poetry anthology ‘Discovery’ and novels ‘SpaceHive’ and non-fiction book ‘The Insanity Machine’ are available from http://www.amazon.com/Kenna-McKinnon/e/B008M9WITM and http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kenna-McKinnon/e/B008M9WITM.
***
If you’d like to submit your 1,000-word max. stories for consideration for Flash Fiction Friday take a look here or for the online writing groups (links below).
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.
I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
Tags: 5pm fiction, agent, Amazon, author, author interview, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, Barnes and Noble, biographers, biography, blog, blogger, blogging, books, characters, children’s, competitions, copyediting, copyeditor, copywriter, copywriting, cozy mysteries, creative writing, crime, crime series, crime thriller, crime thrillers, critique, critique groups, debut novel, editing, editor, erotic romance, erotica, exercises, Facebook, fantasy, fantasy horror, fantasy writer, feedback, fellow authors, fiction, fiction author, five senses, flash fiction, free verse, future tense, Goodreads, grammar skills, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, haiku, haiku poem, hendecasyllabic, historical, historical author, historical writer, horror novel, humorous, humour, iambic pentameter, indie, interview, interview with writer, interviewees, Kenna McKinnon, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, memoirist, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mysteries, murder mystery, mystery author, mystery series, mystery suspense, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novelists, novels, open mic nights, pantoum, paranormal, paranormal romance, paranormal romances, past tense, pinterest, poem, poet, poetry, poetry collection, poetry collections, poetry exercises, poetry magazine, poetry slams, present tense, pseudonyms, publisher, publishing, query letters, reading books, red pen, rejection letter, rejection letters, rejections, rhyming, rhyming poetry, romance, romance fantasy, romance writer, science fiction, scriptwriters, second person point of view, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, sonnet, story a day, Story A Day May, story author, story authors, story collections, story writer, submissions, suspense novelist, suspense thriller, tanka, terza rima, travel memoir, travel writer, triolet, Twitter, vampire, villanelle, Waterstones, western, western author, Wordpress, writer, writer interview, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing exercises, writing fiction, writing group, writing magazines, writing novels, writing poetry, writing prompts, writing workshop, YA, young adult novels, youtube
Complementing the full interviews on this blog, which have now dropped to weekend mornings only, another new interview on my interview-only blog has been posted! The (680+) interviews from this blog are there as well so there’s plenty to read.
The latest interview on the new blog is with romance novelist Robin Leigh Morgan and can be read in full at http://morgensauthorinterviews.wordpress.com/2013/04/10/author-interview-with-romance-novelist-robin-leigh-morgan.
***
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 information. They do now (January 2013) carry a fee (£10 / €12.50 / $15) for the new interviews on this blog but everything else (see Opportunities on this blog) is free.
Alternatively, if you’d like a free Q&A-only interview, I now have http://morgensauthorinterviews.wordpress.com on which I’ve rerun the original interviews posted here then posted new interviews which I then reblog here. These interviews are Q&A only, so I don’t add in my comments but they do get exposure on both sites.
If you go for the interview, it’s very simple; I send you a questionnaire (I have them for novelists, short story authors, children’s authors, non-fiction authors, and poets). You complete the questions, and I let you know when it’s going to go live. Before it does so, I add in comments as if we’re chatting, 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.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.
I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
Tags: 5pm fiction, agent, Amazon, author, author interview, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, Barnes and Noble, biographers, biography, blog, blogger, blogging, books, characters, children’s, competitions, copyediting, copyeditor, copywriter, copywriting, cozy mysteries, creative writing, crime, crime series, crime thriller, crime thrillers, critique, critique groups, debut novel, editing, editor, erotic romance, erotica, exercises, Facebook, fantasy, fantasy horror, fantasy writer, feedback, fellow authors, fiction, fiction author, five senses, flash fiction, free verse, future tense, Goodreads, grammar skills, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, haiku, haiku poem, hendecasyllabic, historical, historical author, historical writer, horror novel, humorous, humour, iambic pentameter, indie, interview, interview with writer, interviewees, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, memoirist, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mysteries, murder mystery, mystery author, mystery series, mystery suspense, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novelists, novels, open mic nights, pantoum, paranormal, paranormal romance, paranormal romances, past tense, pinterest, poem, poet, poetry, poetry collection, poetry collections, poetry exercises, poetry magazine, poetry slams, present tense, pseudonyms, publisher, publishing, query letters, reading books, red pen, rejection letter, rejection letters, rejections, rhyming, rhyming poetry, Robin Leigh Morgan, romance, romance fantasy, romance writer, science fiction, scriptwriters, second person point of view, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, sonnet, story a day, Story A Day May, story author, story authors, story collections, story writer, submissions, suspense novelist, suspense thriller, tanka, terza rima, travel memoir, travel writer, triolet, Twitter, vampire, villanelle, Waterstones, western, western author, Wordpress, writer, writer interview, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing exercises, writing fiction, writing group, writing magazines, writing novels, writing poetry, writing prompts, writing workshop, YA, young adult novels, youtube
Complementing my interviews, today’s Author Spotlight, the one hundred and ninety-eighth, is of YA novelist Nancy Pennick.
Nancy Pennick is the author of the young adult book, ‘Waiting for Dusk’. This is the first of her trilogy. ‘Call of the Canyon’ is set to be released next fall (autumn to us here in the UK).
After a great career in teaching, Nancy found a second calling as a writer. Working with children her whole life has inspired her writing and she draws from many of those experiences. Nancy has a Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education, teaching most of the primary grades during her school years.
She secretly wrote short stories as a child, typed them up and put them in a drawer. She’d give anything to see those stories one more time.
Nancy lives with her husband and their college-age son, plus a delightfully entertaining lovebird in Northeast Ohio. Ohio is her home but she loves to travel the U.S.
Her debut novel, ‘Waiting for Dusk’, was a surprise to her as much as it was to her family. Watching a PBS series on National Parks, her mind wandered to another place and that is where the characters of Katie and Andrew were born. The Swedish influences found in the book came from her mother whose parents emigrated from Sweden to the U.S.
*
And now from the author herself:
‘Waiting for Dusk’ is a fantasy romance novel for young adults. I didn’t set out to write it or any book. I recently retired from teaching and planned to live the simple, quiet life just like the cattle egret wished to do in a story read each year by my second graders. Little did I know this story of Katie and Drew would pop in my head and not leave me alone until I finished writing it.
I always enjoyed writing and kept journals and diaries as a child. I did like to write short stories but never thought of writing a book. As I grew older, I found I still liked to write things down in journal form but that was the extent of my writing.
When I was in grade school, I loved to read and tried to read all the fiction in our school’s small library. I loved Little Women and Beverly Cleary books—Henry Huggins, Ribsy and Beezus and Ramona. Biographies were another favorite. It was hard to find time to read while I was teaching and raising a family but I’ve gotten back to that. There are so many great books out there and only so many hours to read them!
The questions I get asked the most about my writing are: How did you think of your story? Did you make an outline? How long did it take to write it?
First, I’d like to preface all that with this answer. Everyone is different. There are no hard and fast rules for writing. Authors have all kinds of systems. Mine is mostly in my head.
How did I think of the story? I would say that the story just came to me. I began to think about it one evening and the next morning I was at the computer.
Did I make an outline? No, I didn’t write anything down except names and birth dates. The story evolved as I went along. I wanted it to be character-driven and sometimes I found the characters taking me in a different direction than I originally planned.
How long did it take to write it? The first draft was done in about four month’s time but was read over many times after that.
I drew upon a lot of my own history for this book. I wanted to pay homage to my Swedish roots so the character of Carl Johansson was born. The friendship between Katie and Lindsey is much like my friendship with my best friend. There are some elements from my past in there, too. I don’t think an author can write without doing a little of that.
My favorite part of being an author is hearing someone read your book and liked it. I was invited to a teen book club and the mom who invited me warned me that one of the girls never read the books. She came to book club but didn’t read. When I arrived on book club day, I was informed that the first one done reading was this girl. I was thrilled to hear that. Not so much that she read my book, but that she read a book. Being a former teacher there’s nothing better than hearing that news. I had a long conversation with this young girl and told her that she may be like me. I don’t like to read just any book; I want it to be a good book. There’s nothing wrong with being a discerning reader.
**
You can find more about Nancy and her writing via…
***
If you would like to take part in an author spotlight, take a look at http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/submission-information/opportunities-on-this-blog (the spotlights are option (a)) or email me for details.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.
I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
Tags: 5pm fiction, agent, Amazon, author, author interview, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, Barnes and Noble, biographers, biography, blogger, blogging, books, characters, children’s, copyediting, copyeditor, copywriter, copywriting, cozy mysteries, creative writing, crime, crime series, crime thriller, crime thrillers, critique, critique groups, debut novel, editing, editor, erotic romance, erotica, Facebook, fantasy, fantasy horror, fantasy writer, feedback, fellow authors, fiction, fiction author, five senses, flash fiction, future tense, Goodreads, grammar skills, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, haiku poem, historical, historical author, historical writer, horror novel, indie, interview, interview with writer, interviewees, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, memoirist, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mysteries, murder mystery, mystery author, mystery series, mystery suspense, Nancy Pennick, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novelists, novels, open mic nights, paranormal, paranormal romance, paranormal romances, past tense, pinterest, poetry, poetry collections, poetry exercises, poetry slams, present tense, pseudonyms, publisher, publishing, query letters, reading books, red pen, rejection letter, rejection letters, rejections, rhyming poetry, romance, romance fantasy, romance writer, science fiction, scriptwriters, second person point of view, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, story a day, Story A Day May, story author, story authors, story collections, story writer, submissions, suspense novelist, suspense thriller, travel memoir, travel writer, Twitter, vampire, Waterstones, western, western author, Wordpress, writer, writer interview, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing exercises, writing fiction, writing group, writing magazines, writing novels, writing poetry, writing prompts, YA, young adult novels, youtube
Complementing the full interviews on this blog, which have now dropped to weekend mornings only, another new interview on my interview-only blog has been posted! The (670+) interviews from this blog are there as well so there’s plenty to read.
The latest interview on the new blog is with new adult / young adult novelist Fleur Gaskin and can be read in full at http://morgensauthorinterviews.wordpress.com/2013/04/08/author-interview-with-new-adult-young-adult-novelist-fleur-gaskin.
***
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 information. They do now (January 2013) carry a fee (£10 / €12.50 / $15) for the new interviews on this blog but everything else (see Opportunities on this blog) is free.
Alternatively, if you’d like a free Q&A-only interview, I now have http://morgensauthorinterviews.wordpress.com on which I’ve rerun the original interviews posted here then posted new interviews which I then reblog here. These interviews are Q&A only, so I don’t add in my comments but they do get exposure on both sites.
If you go for the interview, it’s very simple; I send you a questionnaire (I have them for novelists, short story authors, children’s authors, non-fiction authors, and poets). You complete the questions, and I let you know when it’s going to go live. Before it does so, I add in comments as if we’re chatting, 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.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.
I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
Tags: 5pm fiction, agent, Amazon, author, author interview, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, Barnes and Noble, biographers, biography, blog, blogger, blogging, books, characters, children’s, competitions, copyediting, copyeditor, copywriter, copywriting, cozy mysteries, creative writing, crime, crime series, crime thriller, crime thrillers, critique, critique groups, debut novel, editing, editor, erotic romance, erotica, exercises, Facebook, fantasy, fantasy horror, fantasy writer, feedback, fellow authors, fiction, fiction author, five senses, flash fiction, Fleur Gaskin, free verse, future tense, Goodreads, grammar skills, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, haiku, haiku poem, hendecasyllabic, historical, historical author, historical writer, horror novel, humorous, humour, iambic pentameter, indie, interview, interview with writer, interviewees, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, memoirist, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mysteries, murder mystery, mystery author, mystery series, mystery suspense, new adult, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novelists, novels, open mic nights, pantoum, paranormal, paranormal romance, paranormal romances, past tense, pinterest, poem, poet, poetry, poetry collection, poetry collections, poetry exercises, poetry magazine, poetry slams, present tense, pseudonyms, publisher, publishing, query letters, reading books, red pen, rejection letter, rejection letters, rejections, rhyming, rhyming poetry, romance, romance fantasy, romance writer, science fiction, scriptwriters, second person point of view, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, sonnet, story a day, Story A Day May, story author, story authors, story collections, story writer, submissions, suspense novelist, suspense thriller, tanka, terza rima, travel memoir, travel writer, triolet, Twitter, vampire, villanelle, Waterstones, western, western author, Wordpress, writer, writer interview, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing exercises, writing fiction, writing group, writing magazines, writing novels, writing poetry, writing prompts, writing workshop, YA, young adult novels, youtube
Complementing my interviews, today’s Author Spotlight, the one hundred and ninety-sixth, is of children’s author and interviewee Armen Pogharian.
Unlike many authors, Armen was not an early reader. He can honestly say that he didn’t voluntarily read a book until he finished The Hobbit in sixth grade. After that reading became a vice as he ravenously devoured science fiction and fantasy stories. In addition to Tolkien his favorite authors included Piers Anthony, Arthur C. Clarke, Stephen R. Donaldson, Ursula K. Le Guin, and Anne McCaffrey.
Taking a more practical approach to college, he earned a BS in Electrical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where he was an Honorable-Mention All-American swimmer his senior year. Other than extensive lab reports, his writing was limited to crafting articles promoting the swimming and water polo teams for the school newspaper.
Commissioned as an officer in the USAF, he was assigned to a systems development position just outside of Boston, Ma. While volunteering to coach the base swim team, he met fellow Lieutenant Catherine Robertson, who was also an engineer. Less than two years later they were married.
Despite the fun of working on top secret ‘Area 51’ projects, where he never saw a single alien (dead or alive), Armen decided to leave the service. Both he and his wife earned MBAs from the University of North Carolina. In something akin to what people in the witness protection program must feel like, they spent a decade navigating through the dual career corporate life, with seven moves through six states. After the internet wave crashed, Armen’s environmental conscience led him to a brief stint in second generation bio-fuels, where a highlight was presenting ideas to jumpstart the industry to United States House and Senate staffers.
Unwilling to relocate an eighth time and looking for something new, he and his wife opened three franchised hair salons. In addition to grounding them in one place, he finally found time to write those stories that had been fermenting in his head since high school. As one might expect, his stories mix elements of science and history with a healthy dose of fantasy. He and his wife continue to swim and help coach the local YMCA team. When not writing he enjoys reading. Current favorites include anything by Jack McDevitt and historical fiction by Bernard Cornwell and Steven Pressfield. He lives outside of Rochester, NY with his wife and three children.
*
And now from the author himself:
Like my late introduction to reading, my writing career has a rather convoluted beginning. Part of the attraction of getting into the franchise hair business was the opportunity for personal growth. That meant more time with my children and a chance to explore my creative side. I didn’t start with writing, but with painting. I managed to produce a few mediocre (and that’s generous) landscapes. I realized I would quickly fill my house with paintings. Once you put one in each kid’s room and on a few unobtrusive walls, what do you do with them?
So I moved on to plan B, which was supposed to be learning to play the piano, but for a variety of reasons I never got started. I still intend to learn, but the strange combination of insomnia and my children’s distaste for writing sent me in another direction first. It had always bothered me that my children were such avid readers, but had shown little interest in writing. One night, unable to sleep, I wandered down into our basement and began typing. I wanted to write something they would enjoy reading. I’d read that Stephen R. Donaldson’s stories started with the intersection of two dissimilar ideas. I was always a fan of Arthurian legend and had recently read some articles about String Theory, so I decided to mix the two of them together. I wrote forty pages that night, of which maybe ten made it into the published version of Misaligned: The Celtic Connection. The rest is great background material, some of which I mined for the sequel Misaligned: The Silver Scepter.
I made several other conscious decisions about the Misaligned series. First, I noticed that most of the really popular YA fantasy adventure stories feature male protagonists, so of course I went in the opposite direction and decided that Arthur would be a girl. Maybe I didn’t do the change justice, but it really wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would be. Second, as a child I always enjoyed learning new things. I’d pick up a volume of Funk & Wagnalls to look something up (gives you a hint on how old I am) and half an hour later I’d still be reading it. I wouldn’t have found what I was originally looking for, but I’d have learned half a dozen new things.
With that in mind, I worked several facts that I found interesting into the story. While history is the most obvious theme, with elements of Hammurabi’s Code, mentions of King Henry’s appropriation of church lands and an appearance by nineteenth century suffragette Matilda Joslyn Gage. I also sprinkled in a few other tidbits, the migration of the Monarch butterfly and the Black Book of Carmarthen, the oldest existing book written in Welsh. Finally, true to my inner nerd, I tried to use prime numbers wherever possible. I made exceptions for awkwardness, where I use a round number like 500 or 1,000 instead of the nearest primes (499 and 997), but as long as the prime number doesn’t detract from the flow, I use it. For consistency, and because I enjoy it, I used this same approach in The Silver Scepter, with a focus on Egypt including facts about the Pyramids, mummification, and Hatshepsut, the most prominent female ruler of ancient Egypt. Other areas include the creation myths of the Iroquois and an expanded role for the Monarch butterfly.
It took me almost a year to complete The Celtic Connection. While I had achieved my initial goal of raising my kids’ interest in writing (they all began writing their own stories and my eldest served as a story editor), during the process my goals expanded, and I began to seriously think about publishing. I worked up my courage and submitted to, and was promptly rejected by, more than a dozen agents. As per the norm there was no feedback, but I suspected something was wrong and decided to get a professional opinion. It only took me a few days on the internet to find Rosanne Catalano, a freelance YA fantasy editor with a working knowledge of Welsh, which I use to connect the story to the origins of Arthurian legend. She liked the story and thought it was publishable, but I needed to clean up a few things and cut 30-40,000 words. I chose to take that as good news and with her well annotated critique spent two intense weeks editing. After many rejections, I received two offers for publication. I chose Synergebooks, and eight months later Misaligned: The Celtic Connection was published.
During the publishing process and at the urging of my daughter I decided to start another series in a more traditional high fantasy setting. She really wanted me to write a straight High Fantasy, with dwarves, elves, and dragons. I’m a big fan of that genre, but it’s a very well-trodden field. I tried to come at it from a non-traditional angle. So I started with a question: What if a James Bond-like story took place in a High Fantasy setting? Magical items replace M’s high-tech gadgets and fantastic creatures and sorcerers serve as villains and Bond’s exotic allies. The result was The Warder series, with the first book, The Poisoned Princess, due out later in 2013. I’m currently outlining a second Warder book and noodling the possibilities for a third Misaligned story.
**
You can find more about Armen and his writing via…
***
If you would like to take part in an author spotlight, take a look at http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/submission-information/opportunities-on-this-blog (the spotlights are option (a)) or email me for details.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.
I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
Tags: 5pm fiction, agent, Amazon, author, author interview, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, Barnes and Noble, biographers, biography, blogger, blogging, books, characters, children’s, copyediting, copyeditor, copywriter, copywriting, cozy mysteries, creative writing, crime, crime series, crime thriller, crime thrillers, critique, critique groups, debut novel, editing, editor, erotic romance, erotica, Facebook, fantasy, fantasy horror, fantasy writer, feedback, fellow authors, fiction, fiction author, five senses, flash fiction, future tense, Goodreads, grammar skills, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, haiku poem, historical, historical author, historical writer, horror novel, indie, interview, interview with writer, interviewees, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, memoirist, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mysteries, murder mystery, mystery author, mystery series, mystery suspense, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novelists, novels, open mic nights, paranormal, paranormal romance, paranormal romances, past tense, pinterest, poetry, poetry collections, poetry exercises, poetry slams, present tense, pseudonyms, publisher, publishing, query letters, reading books, red pen, rejection letter, rejection letters, rejections, rhyming poetry, romance, romance fantasy, romance writer, science fiction, scriptwriters, second person point of view, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, story a day, Story A Day May, story author, story authors, story collections, story writer, submissions, suspense novelist, suspense thriller, travel memoir, travel writer, Twitter, vampire, Waterstones, western, western author, Wordpress, writer, writer interview, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing exercises, writing fiction, writing group, writing magazines, writing novels, writing poetry, writing prompts, YA, young adult novels, youtube
Welcome to the six hundred and eightieth of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, biographers, agents, publishers and more. Today’s is with crime / thriller novelist (Ernest) John Swain. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further.
Morgen: Hello, John. Please tell us something about yourself, where you’re based, and how you came to be a writer.
John: Hello Morgen. I’m a retired police officer having provided armed protection for most royals, many foreign dignitaries, worked with MI5 and briefly with the American Secret Service, specializing in protection and anti-terrorism. I now live on a small hill farm, high in the Pennines of the Derbyshire Peak District. I suppose I’ve been a ‘writer’ all my adult working life but that writing was all reports and file preparation for courts. Fiction wasn’t really an option, but I carried some wonderful material in my head that led to my story writing in my retirement. The dangerous situations I sometimes found myself in and the vile characters that I encountered simply cry out to be included in fiction writing.
Morgen: For the past eight years I’ve written a variety of genres (although most of my works have ‘bodies’ in them) but I’m now concentrating on crime and it must be wonderful to have that expertise and knowledge. I interviewed crime novelist Stephen Booth and he writes about the Peaks (I’ve also met him a couple of times, he’s a great speaker). What genre do you write and have you considered other genres?
John: We’re all told “write about what you know”, and so it is with me – I write crime / thrillers but with an element of a love story and certainly with a historical base. Yes, I do write in other genres, for instance I’ve written a children’s / young adult story of magical fairies and goblins but that still sits in my computer.
Morgen: Hopefully not for too long. What have you had published to date? Do you write under a pseudonym?
John: I’ve published two books so far. The first, ‘A Surprising Legacy’, (ISBN 978-0-9574852-0-4 Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com), and the second ‘The Lightning Tree’ (ISBN 978-0-9574852-2-8), (Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com).
Although everyone knows me as John, I write using my first Christian name Ernest Swain to avoid confusion with another author.
Morgen: Ah yes. It’s best to be independent. There’s a thriller author called Geoffrey Archer who I’m sure loses website traffic because his results get filtered in with Jeffrey Archer (I’ve looked). You’ve self published – what led to you going your own way?
John: Yes, both books are self published. Like most of us, rejections played a huge part in my decision. I know it’s a prejudiced view but to me it seems that most manuscripts that are submitted to publishers are rejected unread, due simply to the volume of submissions they’re faced with.
Morgen: If not unread then probably only a paragraph or so, although the larger publishing houses won’t touch an author without an agent. Are your books available as e-books? How involved were you in that process? Do you read e-books or is it paper all the way?
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: 5pm fiction, agent, Amazon, author, author interview, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, Barnes and Noble, biographers, biography, blogger, blogging, books, characters, children’s, copyediting, copyeditor, copywriter, copywriting, cozy mysteries, creative writing, crime, crime series, crime thriller, crime thrillers, critique, critique groups, debut novel, editing, editor, Ernest John Swain, Ernest Swain, erotic romance, erotica, Facebook, fantasy, fantasy horror, fantasy writer, feedback, fellow authors, fiction, fiction author, five senses, flash fiction, future tense, Goodreads, grammar skills, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, haiku poem, historical, historical author, historical writer, horror novel, indie, interview, interview with writer, interviewees, John Swain, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, memoirist, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mysteries, murder mystery, mystery author, mystery series, mystery suspense, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novelists, novels, open mic nights, paranormal, paranormal romance, paranormal romances, past tense, pinterest, poetry, poetry collections, poetry exercises, poetry slams, present tense, pseudonyms, publisher, publishing, query letters, reading books, red pen, rejection letter, rejection letters, rejections, rhyming poetry, romance, romance fantasy, romance writer, science fiction, scriptwriters, second person point of view, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, story a day, Story A Day May, story author, story authors, story collections, story writer, submissions, suspense novelist, suspense thriller, travel memoir, travel writer, Twitter, vampire, Waterstones, western, western author, Wordpress, writer, writer interview, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing exercises, writing fiction, writing group, writing magazines, writing novels, writing poetry, writing prompts, YA, young adult novels, youtube
Below is a list of writing competitions and writing-related events taking place next month. If you know of any others, please do email me.
COMPETITIONS
- Flash Fiction: Indies Unlimited hosts a weekly 250-word max. prompt competition – see Indies Unlimited. Also see ‘Short stories’ below.
- Flash Fiction: Writer Austin Briggs runs a monthly 55-word competition (different theme each month). It’s free to enter and you can win $55 (of his own money!).
- Flash Fiction: The NLG Flash Fiction Competition (that I am Head Judge of) is now open – see ‘June’ for full details.
- Mixed: Winchester Writers’ Conference has opened their 17(!) mixed writing competitions (deadline Friday 24th May). Details in their competitions brochure 2013. £7 per entry if attending, £9 if not.
- Mixed: Christian magazine Pockets has a different theme per month.
- Mixed (novels & short story collections): iWriteReadRate and Cornerstones Literary Consultancy (http://www.voteformyebook.com) are offering a monthly social competition to members of the community – see ‘Monthly’ towards the end of this page.
- Non-fiction: Elephants. You gotta LOVE ‘em! And can you WRITE about them? Let’s find out. We’re looking for FICTION (including but not limited to fantasy and humor) and for Narrative Non-Fiction, between 500 and 5,000 words.Prize for 1st place is $150 and 2nd place is $50. Plus, the top tales may be included in an anthology {ELEPHANTHOLOGY} with your name. See http://www.phylsbooks.com/#!contest/c1kbb. Submissions accepted from 1 April 2013 – midnight of 1 July 2013. Cost $10.
- Non-fiction: Nature Writer of the Year 2013. You could win a place on a research expedition to Madagascar. The judges are looking for a short piece of nature writing (800 words) that describes your experience of the wild. The winning story will also be published in BBC Wildlife magazine, closing date 30 April. Judges: Miriam Darlington, Ben Hoare, Rob Stringer, Kate Humble, Paul Evans. Open to all writers aged 18 and over, whether previously published or not,
http://www.discoverwildlife.com/webform/nature-writer-year-2013-call-entries.
- Novels: Novel Rocket runs an annual Launch Pad Contest: Boosting You Out of the Slush Pile. Entries will be accepted in all genres beginning mid-January. The deadline for submission is different for genre categories according to the following schedule. In each case, entries must be received by 11:59 PM EST on the 10th day of the month (April to September) listed on http://www.novelrocket.com/p/launch-pad-contest.html. They also post a new writing-related article seven days a week, from author interviews to marketing discussions to articles about the craft of writing.
- Playwriting: The 7th King’s Cross Award For New Writing. Up to two full-length plays may be entered per writer, unpublished and unperformed scripts only. £5,000 prize. Closing date 30 April. http://www.thecourtyard.org.uk/content/25/writers-group.
- Poetry: Poetry-Next-The-Sea Open Competition. Judge Heidi Williamson, max 40 lines, £100 first prize, closing date 6 April. http://www.poetry-next-the-sea.com/index.html.
- Poetry: UK’S First Bug Poetry Competition marking Buglife’s tenth year as the only conservation charity in Europe devoted to the conservation of all invertebrates, closing date 8 April.
- Poetry: Buxton Poetry Competition History and Heritage theme, all ages, judge Philip Wells, 40 lines max, closing date 8 April. http://www.derby.ac.uk/buxtonpoetrycompetition.
- Poetry: The Writers’ Forum Poetry Competition is a monthly contest for poems of up to 40 lines. Closing: Monthly. Entries arriving too late for one month go forward to the next. Prizes: 1st – £100. Runners-up – A Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. Entry Fee: £5 each, £3 each thereafter. Includes a free critique (sae required if entering by post). Comp Page: http://www.writers-forum.com/poetrycomp.html.
- Poetry: other poetry competitions include Nonsense Poetry & Flash Fiction (2014), Ver, Writing Magazine (WM: open to all theme: horror), www.poetrypf.co.uk, www.swconline.co.uk.
- Poetry & Short stories: Deddington Writers’ Group Open Writing Competition 2013 Short Story or Poem. Competition information and entry forms available from website end January, 2013 or send SAE to: 7, The Daedings, Deddington, OX15 ORT. 1st prize: £100, 2nd: £50, 3rd: £25, awarded in both categories. Closing date 13 April. See http://www.deddington.org.uk/community/arts/writing or www.deddingtonfestival.org.uk.
- Poetry: The Royal Berkshire Poetry Competition open to all, 40 lines max, 1st prize £200, closing date 14 April. http://www.glowmagazine.me/poetry-competition.
- Poetry: Poetry on the Lake International Poetry Competition has a theme of ‘metal’. Top prizes of €200, judges include Anne-Marie Fyfe, closing date 22 April. See http://www.poetryonthelake.org.
- Poetry: The Winter Poetry Competition has grown out of the exhibition, Ice Dance, which features the photography and poems of Rona Campbell. The exhibition is touring throughout Wales and England in 2013 and the winners of the ‘Winter’ Poetry Competition will be announced during her exhibition at The Greenwich Gallery, London, on Monday May 13th 2013.There are three prizes £100 £65 & £35.We are looking for original poems on the theme of ‘Winter’. The subject is wide ranging and can be tackled through any number of approaches, including landscape, environment, political, personal or any other idea you may have. Poems inspired by Rona’s photographs are also welcome, and these can be found on her website www.ronacampbell.co.uk. The Judges are Aled Lewis Evans and Peter Read. Rules: 1.Writers must be over 18 years old. 2. Poems must be your original work, unpublished and not accepted for publication. 3. Poems must be written in English and not exceed 40 lines. 4. Each poem must be typed, single spaced on one side of A4 paper, which must not bear the name of the author, or any form of identification. 5. The titles of the poem/s and name and address of the poet should be clearly listed on the entry form. 6. The entry fee is £4 per poem, or three poems for £10. 7. Receipt of entry will be acknowledged if a s.a.e. is enclosed with the entry. 8. A list of prize winners will be sent if an envelope marked Prize Winners is enclosed with the entry. 9. Copyright will remain with the author, but the organisers reserve the right to publish any of the winning or recommended poems, up to one year after the end of the competition. 10. The awards will be announced at The Greenwich Gallery, Linear House, Peyton Place, Greenwich, London SE10 8RS, at a special poetry event on May 13th 6.30 – 8.30pm. 11. The judges’ decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into regarding the results. The poems will not be returned. 12. The organisers reserve the right to return poems and entry fees if the need arises. 13. The judges will read all the entries. 14 Closing date: Friday 26th April 2013. Cheques/POs made payable to ‘Winter’ and send the completed poem and application form to ‘Winter’ Poetry Competition, 5 Salisbury Road, Wrexham, LL13 7AS.
- Poetry: Ver Poets Open Competition 2013. Judge Nick Drake, 1st prize £600. 30 lines max, closing date 30 April. See http://verpoets.org.uk/news/competitions.
- Poetry: Ware Poets Open Poetry Competition 2013. Prizes: £600, £250, £100. £100: The Ware Sonnet Prize. Anthology publication for winners and shortlisted poets (£3.50, post free: pre-ordered). Closing date 30 April. Informal prize-giving ceremony at Ware Arts Centre, 5 July 2013. Fee: £4; 4 poems for £12, then £3 per poem (in the same submission). Length: up to 50 lines. Sole judge: Susan Utting. Include contact sheet with usual details. Download flyer from website, or send SAE: The Competition Secretary, Ware Poets Competition, 21 Trinity Road, Ware, Herts. SG12 7DB or email: warepoets_competition@hotmail.co.uk and see http://www.poetrypf.co.uk/images/compware13.pdf.
- Poetry: Southport Writers’ Circle International Poetry Competition 2013 Final Adjudicator: Stephen Beattie. First Prize £150, Second Prize £75, Third Prize £25 A maximum of 40 lines per poem is allowed. Closing date 30 April. See http://www.swconline.co.uk/n1/?cat=5.
- Screenwriting: Canada-based Wildsound run monthly screenwriting competitions.
- Screenwriting: http://www.oscars.org/awards/nicholl/apply.html is a screenwriting competition with a late April deadline.
- Script: Royal Court Theatre’s 100-word plays and ’Ticket to Write’ 2013: competition for stage plays about The Beatles lasting 15 minutes, closing date 5 April. http://www.acedrama.co.uk/index.html
- Scriptwriting: The Nick Darke Award is open to all writers – stage play screenplay or radio play – prize fund £6,000. Closing date 29 April. http://www.falmouth.ac.uk/nickdarkeaward.
- Short stories: Elephants. You gotta LOVE ‘em! And can you WRITE about them? Let’s find out. We’re looking for FICTION (including but not limited to fantasy and humor) and for NARRATIVE NONFICTION, between 500 and 5,000 words.Prize for 1st place is $150 and 2nd place is $50. Plus, the top tales may be included in an anthology {ELEPHANTHOLOGY} with your name. See http://www.phylsbooks.com/#!contest/c1kbb. Submissions accepted from 1 April to 1 July 2013. Cost $10.
- Short stories: William Trevor / Elizabeth Bowen International Short Story Competition 1st prize €3,000, closing date 5 April. http://www.mitchelstownlit.com/index.html.
- Short stories & Poetry: Deddington Writers’ Group Open Writing Competition 2013 Short Story or Poem. Competition information and entry forms available from website end January, 2013 or send SAE to: 7, The Daedings, Deddington, OX15 ORT. 1st prize: £100, 2nd: £50, 3rd: £25, awarded in both categories. Closing date 13 April. See http://www.deddington.org.uk/community/arts/writing or www.deddingtonfestival.org.uk.
- Short stories: The Fowey Festival of Words and Music (formerly the Daphne du Maurier Festival) has announced the launch of the Short Story Competition for 2013. First Prize is £100 and Runner-up £75. Entry is £6.00 and entry form and full details at http://www.foweyfestival.com/the-du-maurier-festival-society-short-story-competition. The closing date is 19th April 2013.
- Short stories: Five Stop Story, Glimmer Train (different category each month), The Moth-Altun Short Story Prize, Nonsense Poetry & Flash Fiction (2014), Nottingham Writing Magazine (WM: open to all theme: horror / subscriber-only theme: food), www.francobritishcouncil.org.uk, www.west-linton.org.uk/content/pentlands-writers-group. Also see Deddington in ‘Poetry…’ above.
- Short stories: Hayley Sherman runs a monthly short story competition for submissions on any subject up to 2,000 words. The winners are published on the website, promoted online and receive a £10 First Writer voucher. All entrants are also considered for publication in The New Short Story Annual at the end of the year. Deadline 25th of the month. Heather Marie Schuldt runs a similar contest, although 500-750 words max., but with the same deadline.
- Short stories: Young Writers’ Competition. The annual Young Writers’ Competition at Jane Austen’s House Museum is entering its fourth year and is now open for entries. Annalie Talent, Education Officer said ‘Next year is the 200th anniversary of publication of Pride and Prejudice and so we have made the theme of the competition First Impressions which was the original title of Jane’s best-loved novel.’ Entries should be short stories of 300-400 words and entrants can interpret the theme in any way they want. Entry is open to all UK school pupils in school years 7-11. There are two categories: years 7 and 8 and years 9, 10 & 11. The competition will be judged by Professor Kathryn Sutherland of St Anne’s College Oxford and the Museum’s previous Writer-in-Residence, Rebecca Smith.
Closing date 26 April. See http://www.jane-austens-house-museum.org.uk for details.
- Short stories: National Express / Little, Brown / Jenny Colgan are running a free to enter short story competition, max 2000 words. “We’re offering you the chance to become a published author. To enter, we would like you to write a short story no more than 2,000 words long with the premise of ‘take us on a journey’. You can use your own creativity to elaborate your journey into a literary masterpiece. The winning short story will be published in the back of Jenny Colgan’s, The Good, The Bad and The Dumped, e-Book edition. Closing date 28 April. More details here.
- Short stories: first Annual Sara Park Memorial Short Story Competition. Theme Journeying, max 2000 words, closing date 30 April. http://www.redsquirrelpress.com/SquirrelCOMP.html.
- Short stories: The 2013 James Plunkett Short Story Award for new and emerging writing talent, open to all writing in English who have not had a short story collection published. 1st prize €2,000, max 3000 words. Next closing date 30 April. See http://www.ireland-writers.com/index.htm.
- Short stories: 2013 Bristol Short Story Prize is open to all writers internationally over 16 years of age. Stories can be on any theme or subject and entry can be made online via the website or by post. Entries must be previously unpublished with a maximum length of 4,000 words (There is no minimum). Entry fee £8 per story. Closing date 30 April. 1st prize £1,000 plus £150 Waterstone’s gift card. 20 shortlisted writers will have their stories published in the Bristol Short Story Prize Anthology. See http://www.bristolprize.co.uk.
- Short stories: The 2013 Bristol Short Story Prize is open to all writers, UK and non-UK based, over 16 years of age. Stories can be on any theme or subject and entry can be made online via the website or by post. Entries must be previously unpublished with a maximum length of 4,000 words (There is no minimum). The entry fee is £8 per story. The closing date for entries is April 30th 2013. Prizes: 1st £1000 plus £150 Waterstones gift card, 2nd £700 plus £100 Waterstones gift card, 3rd £400 plus £100 Waterstones gift card, 17 further prizes of £100 will be presented to the writers whose stories appear on the shortlist. All 20 shortlisted writers will have their stories published in the Bristol Short Story Prize Anthology Volume 6. The winning story will, also, be published in Bristol Review of Books magazine. The 20 shortlisted writers will be invited to an awards ceremony in Bristol in October 2013 when the winners will be announced and the anthology launched. Any shortlisted writers unable to attend the awards ceremony will be sent their prizes. The awards ceremony will be part of the 2013 Bristol Festival of Literature. Judging panel : Ali Reynolds (literary consultant, former Random House editor), Bidisha (writer, broadcaster, critic), Anna Britten (author and journalist), Chris Wakling (novelist, Creative Writing tutor). Full details and rules at www.bristolprize.co.uk.
See this blog’s Competitions page for other competitions (in date / genre order).
EVENTS
- The Writing School Leicester April to August 2013 programme is now available.
- The London Writers’ Workshops latest programme is now available.
- A rare opportunity to get top tips on thriller writing from one of the best in the business is coming to Galloway. On Saturday April 6th, Lin Anderson will be leading a two hour workshop at the Creebridge House Hotel in Newton Stewart from 2pm. Lin is the author of the popular Rhona MacLoud series of crime thrillers which includes Driftnet, Picture Her Dead and Torch. She is the co founder of the Bloody Scotland Book Festival and is currently the chair of the Society of Authors in Scotland. The workshop is being held as part of the Dumfries & Galloway Rural Literature Development Hub and the cost to any writer living within the region is just £5. This price, which includes refreshments, also applies to any writer living outwith the region but who is a member of a Dumfries and Galloway writers’ group. The cost for anyone outside the region is £25. The event has been organised by the Wigtown based Booktown Writers group and spokeswoman Anni Telford said: “We are absolutely thrilled that Lin has agreed to come to Newton Stewart. This is a marvellous opportunity with one of Scotland’s leading crime writers but places are limited.” For further information or to book your place please contact Anni by e-mailing mail@booktownwriters.co.uk or telephone 07501 046501.
- Oxford Novel Courses is running a day-long conference of seminars at St. Hilda’s, Oxford (England) on 13th April entitled ‘Pitch your novel across the Pond and Beyond’. ”Learn from straight-talking agents, canny entrepreneurs and experienced authors amid the historic surroundings of an Oxford college.” (I went to St. Hilda’s for their crime-writing weekend last August, it is a lovely place) See http://www.oxfordauthorcourses.com for details. Cost £120 (discounts for members of professional societies).
- The yearly one-day (Saturday) Get Writing Writers’ Conference run by the Verulam Writers’ Circle, Hertfordshire, England has moved from their usual February schedule to mid-April (20th in 2013). They’re also on Twitter and Facebook.
- The yearly Chipping Norton Literary Festival runs every April (20-21st in 2013). You can also follow the festival news on Twitter.
- Cambridge-based Wordfest Spring Festival also runs every April and in 2013 is 12th-14th.
- THE LONDON BOOK FAIR 2013 runs from 15-17 April 2013, at Earls Court, London. The LBF has announced a partnership with book marketing and publishing consultancy Authoright, in the creation of a revamped AuthorLounge dedicated to unpublished authors at the 2013 fair. The LBF AuthorLounge will present new writers with an eclectic, compelling, cutting-edge, interactive and collaborative programme of events, seminars and networking opportunities designed to educate and inspire and mark the beginning of a new way of thinking about writing and publishing, providing a space in which authors can learn, create, have fun and, most significantly of all, take control. Already confirmed for the seminars are representatives from Faber and Faber, HarperCollins, Foyles, Kindle Direct Publishing, Matador, Andrew Lownie Literary Agency and Penguin. The AuthorLounge will bring together experts from all aspects of the publishing industry from editors, marketers, cover designers and booksellers to share their expertise and insights into the contemporary publishing landscape and, for the first time ever at the London Book Fair, unpublished authors will also be able to meet and network with literary agents. Find out more about The London Book Fair.
- http://www.chez-castillon.com runs a variety of courses by tutors including Jane Wenham-Jones with her ‘Is there a book in you?’ workshop from Saturday 27th April to Friday 3rd May 2013.
- Alt Fiction is a science-fiction, fantasy and horror weekend in Leicester and runs every April, although it’s on hold for 2013.
-
Oadby Library, Leicestershire, England is running a Get Creative Fortnight 13-28 April:
Saturday April 13 - 2pm-3.30pm £3 per child. Aesop’s Fables: the Lion and the Mouse Interactive storytelling from Lovers of Literature (LOL) with puppets and fun animal games for under 7s.
Monday April 15 - 1.30pm-3.30pm pricing to be confirmed. Poetry Workshop with John Gallas Leicester Writing School tutor John Gallas leads a poetry workshop.
Monday April 15 - 4pm-5pm £4. Roald Dahl Dance Workshop. Discover Roald Dahl’s classic books through the use of dance. A fun, enjoyable workshop for 7-10 year olds using props, materials and imagination to create journeys of movement through books such as James and the Giant Peach and The BFG.
Monday April 15 - 7.30pm £8 including refreshments. Author talk: Stephen Booth. The author of the successful Cooper & Fry crime series discusses his books and the creative writing process.
Tuesday April 16 - 5pm-7pm pricing to be confirmed. Short Story Workshop with Alison Dunn. Leicester Writing School tutor Alison Dunn leads a workshop focussing on the art of writing the short story.
Wednesday April 17 - 2.30pm-3.30pm £4 per child. Explorers Dance Workshop. A dance workshop for 3-5 year old exploring classic children’s literature such as The Gruffalo, through movement and imagination.
Wednesday April 17 - 6.30pm £8 including refreshments. Author talk : Lynda Page. The Leicestershire based saga author discusses her books and the creative writing process.
Thursday April 18 - 6.30pm £3.50 including refreshments. Author talk : Malcolm Noble. Local author talks about his series of ten crime novels and discusses the creative writing process.
Sunday April 21 - 10am-11.30am £4. Storytelling Workshop. What is a story and what does it mean to tell a story? This workshop looks at the connection between theatre and story and how the power of stories influences issues and facts into people and lives.
Monday April 22 - 2pm-3.30pm £4 including refreshments. Secret Leicestershire. Local history author Stephen Butt discusses the hidden historical gems that can be found in your area.
Monday April 22 - 4pm-6pm £5 per child. Under 12s Poetry Workshop. Using games and activities to explore different styles of poetry and techniques to create a poem.
Monday April 22 - 7.30pm £8 including refreshments. Agent & Authors Q&A Session. Children’s books literary agent Penny Luithlen talks about the do’s and don’ts for submissions, and authors Bali Rai and Dan Tunstall share their experiences of getting published.
Tuesday April 23 - 2pm-4pm £10 including materials. Book Making Workshop. Elizabeth Dyer leads a book making workshop. She specialises in handmade and altered books, ranging from simple folded paper books to more complicated book binding and book sculpture. For age 12 and upwards.
Tuesday April 23 - 7.30pm £8 including refreshments. Author talk : Alison Moore. Booker Prize shortlisted author of The Lighthouse discusses the craft of short story writing and reads from her new short story collection The Pre-War House and Other Stories, which will be available to buy ahead of publication.
Wednesday April 24 - 11am-12pm £4 including refreshments. Author talk : Margaret Kaine
Local award-winning author of romantic historical fiction discusses her novels and the creative writing process.
Thursday April 25 - 2pm-3.30pm £2.50 including refreshments. Self Publishing – The Opportunities and Pitfalls This session looks at the range of self-publishing options open to authors, how these choices can affect their chances of success, and some of the common pitfalls authors often meet.
Friday April 26 - 7pm £5 including refreshments. Author talk : Anne Zouroudi The popular author of The Greek Detective crime series of books discusses her work and the creative writing process.
Sunday April 28 - 2pm-3pm £4 per child. Bali Rai Workshop for Kids Local childrens author Bali Rai leads a workshop aimed at stimulating children creatively.
Also, we are open for submissions for the Get Creative Prize 2013, a creative writing competition. Write a short story or the opening of a novel aimed at children or young people. There are three categories:
Under 12s £2 per story (maximum 500 words)
Teenagers £3 per story (maximum 1,000 words)
Adults £5 (maximum 2,000 words)
Prizes include a £50 Leicester Writing School voucher and a critique from children’s books literary agent Penny Luithlen.
You can call in to Oadby Library at 10 The Parade, Oadby, Leicestershire to pick up tickets or call 0116 305 8763 to reserve your place at one of our events. Please note that tickets must be paid for and collected prior to the event. We have many other arts and crafts events, including jewellery making, calligraphy, streetdance workshops, the Utterly Butterly Ukulele Project and BBC Radio Leicester’s Down to Earth gardening programme broadcasting live from the library. There is something for everyone! Click
here for Oadby Library opening times and directions.
- Creative Coffee Club is where creative people meet fortnightly on a Wednesday at Screen Lounge at Phoenix Square Digital Media Centre, 4 Midland Street, Leicester LE1 1TJ (UK).
- Liars’ League run a series of short fiction readings held at ‘The Lamb’ pub in Lambs Conduit Street, London on the second Tuesday of every month.
- Loose Muse runs on the second Wednesday of every month. at the Poetry Cafe, 22 Betterton Street, London WC2 (closest tube = Covent Garden). This is London’s only regular event for women writers of all genres, with a generous open mike sharing session plus two featured writers each month. The night starts at 8.00 p.m. Cost: £5.00 / £3.00 concessions.
- Towcester Writers’ Group meets every third Wednesday of the month. 7.30-9.30pm. Cost £3 includes refreshments. Towcester Library, Richmond Road, Towcester, Northants NN12 6EX.
- Buxton’s Word Wizards slam poetry competition runs in the coffee lounge at the Buckingham Hotel, Buxton, Derbyshire, UK at 7:30pm on the last Tuesday of every month. Entry is £2.50. More info can be obtained by e-mailing Rob at: poetryslamUK@aol.com.
- BookSlam reports to being “London’s best literary club night” and usually (but not always) takes place on the last Thursday of the month.
- http://www.artsderbyshire.org.uk has various literary events throughout the year.
- Other events in April include: www.cheltenhampoetryfest.co.uk (late March / early April), www.sundaytimes-oxfordliteraryfestival.co.uk (early April), www.birminghambookfestival.org (early April), www.galwayartscentre.ie/cuirt.htm (mid April), www.scarboroughliteraturefestival.co.uk (mid April), www.stratfordliteraryfestival.co.uk (late April / early May), www.wenlockpoetryfestival.org (late April / early May), www.hexhambookfestival.co.uk (late April – mid May), www.shrewsburybookfest.co.uk (late April – mid May)
See this blog’s
Events page for other events (in date order).
***
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.
I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
Tags: 5pm fiction, agent, Amazon, author, author interview, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, Barnes and Noble, biographers, biography, blogger, blogging, books, characters, children’s, copyediting, copyeditor, copywriter, copywriting, cozy mysteries, creative writing, crime, crime series, crime thriller, crime thrillers, critique, critique groups, debut novel, editing, editor, erotic romance, erotica, Facebook, fantasy, fantasy horror, fantasy writer, feedback, fellow authors, fiction, fiction author, fiction competition, five senses, flash fiction, Goodreads, grammar skills, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, haiku poem, head judge, historical, historical author, historical writer, horror novel, indie, interview, interview with writer, interviewees, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, memoirist, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mysteries, murder mystery, mystery author, mystery series, mystery suspense, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novelists, novels, open mic nights, paranormal, paranormal romance, paranormal romances, pinterest, poetry, poetry collections, poetry exercises, poetry slams, pseudonyms, publisher, publishing, query letters, reading books, red pen, rejection letter, rejection letters, rejections, rhyming poetry, romance, romance fantasy, romance writer, science fiction, scriptwriters, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, story a day, Story A Day May, story author, story authors, story collections, story writer, submissions, suspense novelist, suspense thriller, travel memoir, travel writer, Twitter, vampire, Waterstones, western, western author, Wordpress, writer, writer interview, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing exercises, writing fiction, writing group, writing magazines, writing novels, writing poetry, writing prompts, YA, young adult novels, youtube
Complementing the full interviews on this blog, which will be dropping to weekend mornings from mid-March, another new interview on my interview-only blog has been posted! The (650+) interviews from this blog are there already so there’s plenty to read.
The latest interview on the new blog is with children’s writer Hazel Nutt (my youngest interviewee at two years old!) and can be read in full at http://morgensauthorinterviews.wordpress.com/2013/03/28/author-interview-with-two-year-old-childrens-writer-hazel-nutt.
***
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 information. They do now (January 2013) carry a fee (£10 / €12.50 / $15) for the new interviews on this blog but everything else (see Opportunities on this blog) is free.
Alternatively, if you’d like a free Q&A-only interview, I now have http://morgensauthorinterviews.wordpress.com on which I’ve rerun the original interviews posted here then posted new interviews which I then reblog here. These interviews are Q&A only, so I don’t add in my comments but they do get exposure on both sites.
If you go for the interview, it’s very simple; I send you a questionnaire (I have them for novelists, short story authors, children’s authors, non-fiction authors, and poets). You complete the questions, and I let you know when it’s going to go live. Before it does so, I add in comments as if we’re chatting, 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.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.
I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
Tags: 5pm fiction, agent, Amazon, author, author interview, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, Barnes and Noble, biographers, biography, blogger, blogging, books, characters, children’s, copyediting, copyeditor, copywriter, copywriting, cozy mysteries, creative writing, crime, crime series, crime thriller, crime thrillers, critique, critique groups, debut novel, editing, editor, erotic romance, erotica, Facebook, fantasy, fantasy horror, fantasy writer, feedback, fellow authors, fiction, fiction author, five senses, flash fiction, Goodreads, grammar skills, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, haiku poem, Hazel Nutt, historical, historical author, historical writer, horror novel, indie, interview, interview with writer, interviewees, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, memoirist, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mysteries, murder mystery, mystery author, mystery series, mystery suspense, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novelists, novels, open mic nights, paranormal, paranormal romance, paranormal romances, pinterest, poetry, poetry collections, poetry exercises, poetry slams, pseudonyms, publisher, publishing, query letters, reading books, red pen, rejection letter, rejection letters, rejections, rhyming poetry, romance, romance fantasy, romance writer, science fiction, scriptwriters, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, story a day, Story A Day May, story author, story authors, story collections, story writer, submissions, suspense novelist, suspense thriller, travel memoir, travel writer, Twitter, vampire, Waterstones, western, western author, Wordpress, writer, writer interview, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing exercises, writing fiction, writing group, writing magazines, writing novels, writing poetry, writing prompts, YA, young adult novels, youtube
Welcome to the six hundred and seventy-ninth of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, biographers, agents, publishers and more. Today’s is with science fiction / fantasy writer Peter F Hamilton. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further.
Morgen: Hello, Peter. Thank you for joining me today. Please tell us how you came to be a writer.
Peter: Almost by accident. It was one of those thoughts in the back of my head that I’d like to give it a try one day. So when I was 27 I did just that. It took another three years to get published, though.
Morgen: You clearly enjoyed writing enough though to persevere. There’s a Wikipedia page about you (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_F._Hamilton), which says you’re best known for writing ‘space opera’, could you please explain that genre.
Peter: Space Opera tends to be about huge conflicts in the far future, which an accurate enough description. I don’t like the idea of trying to classify everything in the genre, though.
Morgen: Me neither; I write a bit of (almost) everything. Have you considered other genres, perhaps under a pseudonym?
Peter: I’ve just finished writing three children’s fantasy books, and they’ll be published under my name.
Morgen: It is hard enough getting established in one name so I don’t blame you. You have had 18 novels, a novella and over 20 short stories published to-date, do you have any favourites or your books / stories or characters? If any of them were made into a film, which actors would you choose?
Peter: The favourite is always the current one. If any of the Commonwealth universe books were filmed, I think Grace Parks would make a great Paula Myo.
Morgen: I’d not heard of Grace so Googled her (thank you Wikipedia – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grace_Park_(actress)) but then I’ve not seen the programmes she’s been in, which doesn’t help. You’ve written series and standalones, do you write any of the series books to be read as standalones?
Peter: My trilogies are effectively one story that has to be split into three volumes from practical reasons. I don’t think it’s a good idea to read the second without reading the first – that’s also why none of them have ‘what happened before’ sections at the start.
Morgen: I know it’s not the same but I never used to read prologues until I was involved in a prologue / epilogue debate so read the prologue of the next book I started and it did make the book feel more complete. Are your books available as eBooks? Do you read eBooks or is it paper all the way?
Peter: I think most of them are available in ebook format. And my UK publisher (Tor / Macmillan) has them as DRM free, which was a great step forward. I do have a Kindle, but my reading is split 50 50 with paper and ebooks right now.
Morgen: Very few of the authors I’ve interviewed have said they only read eBooks and the split for most is about the same as yours. There’s an announcement on your website that your book ‘Great North Road’ (which one of your website guests has said “blends sci-fi with crime, horror, doomed romance, and a bit of political / action thriller”) is available as an audiobook on Audible. Were you involved in that at all?
Peter: Several of my books are on Audible. Apart from helping with pronunciation (where I can) my involvement is minimal.
Morgen: You have various fan sites dedicated to you / your writing (some listed on your http://www.peterfhamilton.co.uk/index.php?page=Links page), are you involved in them at all?
Peter: They’re run by fans, which is very kind of them to spend so much time looking after them. I help to a small degree.
Morgen: They clearly enjoy doing that. Authors can be quite easily anonymous. Have you ever been recognised when you’re not at a literary event?
Peter: Thankfully not.
Morgen: <laughs> Have you ever been tempted to self-publish anything you’ve written that’s not yet been traditionally published?
Peter: That day might well come. There are some ideas for books that aren’t quite SF that I’d like to get out there. The trouble is finding the time to write them.
Morgen: That’s the trouble with being an author these days; there are so many aspects to life that means we never have enough time for the actual writing. You were at the London Expo Comic Con in October 2012, how important are live events to you as an author?
Peter: I enjoy meeting readers at conventions. I do use Facebook but a face to face (or interview like this) is more is more personal.
Morgen: I’m delighted to accepted my invitation, and of course I appreciate you taking the time to talk to me. The next three questions are actually from one of your readers, Kevin Machin, (a writing friend who asked me to invite you actually). Thank you, Kevin…
Kevin: In your Confederation and Commonwealth sagas, for example, how do you keep track of the huge casts of characters? Do you ever get them mixed up between the different universes?
Peter: Not between universes – not yet anyway. I have extensive notes and chapter outlines which prevents me from mixing them up, and if I do the copy editor usually saves me.
Kevin: When creating a multi-volume story, do you plan the entire thing out first, or is it more of a write-by-the-seat-of-the-pants thing?
Peter: I have to have it planned out. I spend months developing the worlds and characters before actually starting the book.
Kevin: What would be your number one piece of advice for a wannabe SF writer?
Peter: Develop your idea as much as you can, you have to know what you’re going to say. And don’t try to write what you think other people want, this is your book.
Morgen: Absolutely. Thank you, Peter. Artwork for your genre is famously stunning, how do the artists that you work with translate your writing to graphic art?
Peter: I have no artistic ability of my own whatsoever. So I usually provide them with a section which I think will make a good visual, then answer questions about small details. After that I stand back and admire what they produce.
Morgen: ‘Admire’ for sure. You have different cover artists for different countries (UK, France, US etc), is there a reason for this?
Peter: Different publishers. It’s that simple.
Morgen: Do you choose the titles of your books? How important do you think they are?
Peter: The titles are all my own. They’re important, but not critical.
Morgen: What are you working on at the moment / next?
Peter: I’m doing the editing on the children’s books, and finishing the notes for The Abyss Beyond Dreams, which is book one (of two) of the Fallers – set in the Commonwealth universe.
Morgen: I’m sure Kevin will be looking forward to that one when he reads this interview. You mentioned one of your characters, Paula Myo, earlier – do you have a method for creating your characters?
Peter: Not a conscious one, they develop in tandem with the plot.
Morgen: You’ve said that you’re currently editing your children’s books – do you do a lot of editing or do you find that as time goes on your writing is more fully-formed?
Peter: I revise on a daily basis. But I always need editing.
Morgen: I think every author does, although I would imagine it must get easier having so many books under your proverbial belt. Do you have to do much research?
Peter: If there’s a technology or idea which features heavily in a book, I’ll research as much as I can. The trick is in knowing about the subject without letting those details flood the book, the reader doesn’t need to know the tiniest components of everything.
Morgen: They don’t and I’ve heard some say that they’ve read books where it feels as if the author has “shown off” with all the superfluous detail they’ve included. What point of view do you find most to your liking: first person or third person? Have you ever tried second person?
Peter: I prefer third, and all my books have been written in that so far. Some shorts have been in first person. I’ve never tried second, because none of the stories have required it, yet.
Morgen: As a fan of second person, I’m delighted to hear “yet”. Do you have pieces of work that you think will never see light of day?
Peter: A lot of the old short stories are now are safely buried. I don’t think there’s anything there that will ever be resurrected.
Morgen: What a shame. Although “safely buried” does sound as if it’s the right thing. Have you had any rejections? If so, how do you deal with them?
Peter: Not recently, thankfully. I do have the obligatory drawer-full of rejection slips from when I was beginning. When you get one, you learn what you can from it and move on.
Morgen: It’s the best way to approach them. Do you have an agent? Do you think they’re vital to an author’s success?
Peter: I have had the same agent for twenty years. I wouldn’t be without one, but I know some authors are perfectly happy to go it alone.
Morgen: We are, although I’d never say never. As well as your website (http://www.peterfhamilton.co.uk), you have a Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/PeterFHamilton) and you’re on Twitter (https://twitter.com/PeterFHamilton1). Do you have to do much of the marketing for your published works or indeed for yourselves as a ‘brand’?
Peter: The twitter account was set up by someone to feed from my facebook page, (which is apparently bad form) I don’t tweet myself. I try and post something every couple of weeks or so, but I don’t blog. Promotional tours are an accepted part of being an author. It sounds glamorous travelling round from city to city, but trust me, it’s not.
Morgen: I rarely travel but in the past couple of weeks I’ve been to Scotland (crime writing workshop) and London twice (doing a talk on blogging then as a guest on one of Brendan Foley’s seminars (journalism, it was fantastic)) and, although I had a great time, that’s enough for me for a while. You have a new (US) trailer for Great North Road (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrOv7qXog6I). How important do you think trailers are?
Peter: That’s the first one a publisher has done for me, and it’s very cool. How effective? I’ve no idea. Time will tell.
Morgen: It is a great trailer. Which authors did you read when you were younger and did they shape you as a writer?
Peter: The classics, Clarke, Asimov, Niven, May. Everything that came out in the 70’s and early 80’s. I was inspired rather than influenced, I’d say.
Morgen: What’s your favourite / least favourite aspect of your writing life?
Peter: Sitting down for years at a time writing one project can be a bit of a slog by the end. But I work from home and get to see more of the kids than a lot of dads, so it’s hardly something to moan about.
Morgen: I’ve been home-based (no day job) for just over a year and it’s fantastic. I have to rent out two of my bedrooms to pay the bills but it’s definitely a fair exchange. If you had to choose a single day from your past to re-live over and over, what day would it be and why?
Peter: The day I first met my wife.
Morgen: Ahh… Is there a word, phrase or quote you like?
Peter: Niven’s: “Think of it as evolution in action.” It’s one of those I wish I’d said myself.
Morgen: I love it. What do you do when you’re not writing?
Peter: Surfing is my mid-life crisis. And my daughter is already better than me.
Morgen: <laughs> Children are usually miles ahead in terms of technology. I get away with it because I don’t have any, although my dog thinks he’s a child so I’ve learned not to let him anywhere near my gadgets. What do you think the future holds for a writer?
Peter: We’re all waiting to see where ebooks go. Personally I hope we don’t wind up with author playlists bundled with the content. I don’t think mine would impress anybody.
Morgen: Oh dear. I’m sure there are plenty of readers who would disagree. I have high hopes, certainly for the independent author, but as you said earlier, time will tell. Thank you very much, Peter, for joining me today, and thank you, Kevin for asking.
***
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 information. They do now (January 2013) carry a fee (£10 / €12.50 / $15) for the new interviews on this blog but everything else (see Opportunities on this blog) is free.
Alternatively, if you’d like a free Q&A-only interview, I now have http://morgensauthorinterviews.wordpress.com on which I’ve rerun the original interviews posted here then posted new interviews which I then reblog here. These interviews are Q&A only, so I don’t add in my comments but they do get exposure on both sites.
If you go for the interview, it’s very simple; I send you a questionnaire (I have them for novelists, short story authors, children’s authors, non-fiction authors, and poets). You complete the questions, and I let you know when it’s going to go live. Before it does so, I add in comments as if we’re chatting, 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.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.
I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
Tags: 5pm fiction, agent, Amazon, author, author interview, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, Barnes and Noble, biographers, biography, blogger, blogging, books, characters, children’s, copyediting, copyeditor, copywriter, copywriting, cozy mysteries, creative writing, crime, crime series, crime thriller, crime thrillers, critique, critique groups, debut novel, editing, editor, erotic romance, erotica, Facebook, fantasy, fantasy horror, fantasy writer, feedback, fellow authors, fiction, fiction author, five senses, flash fiction, Goodreads, grammar skills, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, haiku poem, historical, historical author, historical writer, horror novel, indie, interview, interview with writer, interviewees, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, memoirist, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mysteries, murder mystery, mystery author, mystery series, mystery suspense, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novelists, novels, open mic nights, paranormal, paranormal romance, paranormal romances, Peter F Hamilton, pinterest, poetry, poetry collections, poetry exercises, poetry slams, pseudonyms, publisher, publishing, query letters, reading books, red pen, rejection letter, rejection letters, rejections, rhyming poetry, romance, romance fantasy, romance writer, science fiction, scriptwriters, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, story a day, Story A Day May, story author, story authors, story collections, story writer, submissions, suspense novelist, suspense thriller, travel memoir, travel writer, Twitter, vampire, Waterstones, western, western author, Wordpress, writer, writer interview, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing exercises, writing fiction, writing group, writing magazines, writing novels, writing poetry, writing prompts, YA, young adult novels, youtube
Complementing the full interviews on this blog, which will be dropping to weekend mornings from mid-March, another new interview on my interview-only blog has been posted! The (640+) interviews from this blog are there already so there’s plenty to read.
The latest interview on the new blog is with YA author Brynna Gabrielson and can be read in full at http://morgensauthorinterviews.wordpress.com/2013/03/13/author-interview-with-ya-writer-brynna-gabrielson.
***
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 information. They do now (January 2013) carry a fee (£10 / €12.50 / $15) for the new interviews on this blog but everything else (see Opportunities on this blog) is free.
Alternatively, if you’d like a free Q&A-only interview, I now have http://morgensauthorinterviews.wordpress.com on which I’ve rerun the original interviews posted here then posted new interviews which I then reblog here. These interviews are Q&A only, so I don’t add in my comments but they do get exposure on both sites.
If you go for the interview, it’s very simple; I send you a questionnaire (I have them for novelists, short story authors, children’s authors, non-fiction authors, and poets). You complete the questions, and I let you know when it’s going to go live. Before it does so, I add in comments as if we’re chatting, 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.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
Tags: 5pm fiction, agent, Amazon, author, author interview, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, Barnes and Noble, biographers, biography, blogger, blogging, books, Brynna Gabrielson, characters, children’s, copyediting, copyeditor, copywriter, copywriting, cozy mysteries, creative writing, crime, crime series, crime thriller, crime thrillers, critique, critique groups, debut novel, editing, editor, erotic romance, erotica, Facebook, fantasy, fantasy horror, fantasy writer, feedback, fellow authors, fiction, fiction author, five senses, flash fiction, Goodreads, grammar skills, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, historical, historical author, historical writer, horror novel, indie, interview, interview with writer, interviewees, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, memoirist, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mysteries, murder mystery, mystery author, mystery series, mystery suspense, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novelists, novels, open mic nights, paranormal, paranormal romance, paranormal romances, pinterest, poetry, poetry collections, poetry slams, pseudonyms, publisher, publishing, query letters, reading books, red pen, rejection letter, rejection letters, rejections, rhyming poetry, romance, romance fantasy, romance writer, science fiction, scriptwriters, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, story a day, Story A Day May, story author, story authors, story collections, story writer, submissions, suspense novelist, travel memoir, travel writer, Twitter, vampire, Waterstones, western, western author, Wordpress, writer, writer interview, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing fiction, writing group, writing magazines, writing novels, writing poetry, writing prompts, YA, young adult novels, youtube
Complementing the full interviews on this blog, which will be dropping to weekend mornings from mid-March, another new interview on my interview-only blog has been posted! The (640+) interviews from this blog are there already so there’s plenty to read.
The latest interview on the new blog is with children’s author Goldie Alexander and can be read in full at http://morgensauthorinterviews.wordpress.com/2013/03/07/author-interview-with-childrens-author-goldie-alexander.
***
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 information. They do now (January 2013) carry a fee (£10 / €12.50 / $15) for the new interviews on this blog but everything else (see Opportunities on this blog) is free.
Alternatively, if you’d like a free Q&A-only interview, I now have http://morgensauthorinterviews.wordpress.com on which I’ve rerun the original interviews posted here then posted new interviews which I then reblog here. These interviews are Q&A only, so I don’t add in my comments but they do get exposure on both sites.
If you go for the interview, it’s very simple; I send you a questionnaire (I have them for novelists, short story authors, children’s authors, non-fiction authors, and poets). You complete the questions, and I let you know when it’s going to go live. Before it does so, I add in comments as if we’re chatting, 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.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
Tags: agent, Amazon, author, author interview, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, Barnes and Noble, biographers, biography, blogger, blogging, books, characters, children’s, copyediting, copyeditor, copywriter, copywriting, cozy mysteries, creative writing, crime, crime series, crime thriller, crime thrillers, critique, critique groups, debut novel, editing, editor, erotic romance, erotica, Facebook, fantasy, fantasy horror, fantasy writer, feedback, fellow authors, fiction, fiction author, five senses, flash fiction, Goldie Alexander, Goodreads, grammar skills, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, historical, historical author, historical writer, horror novel, indie, interview, interview with writer, interviewees, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, memoirist, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mysteries, murder mystery, mystery author, mystery series, mystery suspense, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novelists, novels, open mic nights, paranormal, paranormal romance, paranormal romances, pinterest, poetry, poetry collections, poetry slams, pseudonyms, publisher, publishing, query letters, reading books, red pen, rejection letter, rejection letters, rejections, rhyming poetry, romance, romance fantasy, romance writer, science fiction, scriptwriters, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, story a day, Story A Day May, story author, story authors, story collections, story writer, submissions, suspense novelist, travel memoir, travel writer, Twitter, vampire, Waterstones, western, western author, Wordpress, writer, writer interview, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing fiction, writing group, writing magazines, writing novels, writing poetry, YA, young adult novels, youtube
A bit late this month but below are the competitions from my Competitions page which have March 2013 deadlines.
Also listed on the calendar are regular competitions e.g. weekly, monthly, quarterly, ongoing and of course competitions with other dated deadlines including one I’m Head Judge of, the NLG Flash Fiction Competition which has a 30th June deadline (500-word max, £2 / three for £5 to enter) but entries already welcomed.
MARCH
- Children’s: Academy of Children’s Writers, Crystal Magazine.
- Flash Fiction: Indies Unlimited hosts a weekly 250-word max. prompt competition – see Indies Unlimited. Also see ‘Short stories’ below.
- Flash Fiction: Writer Austin Briggs runs a monthly 55-word competition (different theme each month). It’s free to enter and you can win $55 (of his own money!).
- Flash Fiction: Flashbang 2013 is now open to entries: http://flashbangcontest.wordpress.com. Sponsored by CrimeFest. £2 entry free. 150 words maximum. Deadline 1 March 2013. First prize is two free passes to CrimeFest. Shortlisted and winning stories published online. Judge is bestselling crime writer, Zoë Sharp. Full details are here.
- Flash Fiction: Erewash has a free flash fiction competition. Deadline noon (UK time) Thursday 21st March 2013. Full details here.
- Mixed: Words for the Wounded (W4W) is a new charity that raises money via writing prizes and donations for the rehabilitation of wounded servicemen and women. All proceeds will be passed to projects such as Battle Back, funded by Help for Heroes, which uses sports rehabilitation to help wounded service personnel gain independence and confidence. W4W is launching its first writing prize on Armistice Day, November 11, and is calling for all non-writers, aspiring, and experienced writers to enter. Entries can be up to 400 words, written in poetry or prose, fiction or life story tale. Winners will receive a small cash prize and their entries will be published in the monthly writers’ magazine Writers’ Forum (http//writers-forum/com). Entry costs just £3.50 and the deadline is March 11 2013, winners will be announced on 6 June (D Day). Oscar-winning screen writer and author Julian Fellowes and his wife Emma are among W4W’s patrons. Julian says: “Emma and I feel strongly that we must never forget the debt we all owe to these brave men and women. We are honoured to be involved in this wonderful charity.” Other patrons include Rt Hon Lord Ashdown, Lt. Col J. Dryburgh, authors Katie Fforde, Katherine McMahon, Louis de Bernieres , Sarah Challis and Mark Hodgson, Daisy Goodwin, paralympian Ann Wild OBE, Taryn Lee QC, artist Rowena Hampton, extreme sportsman Hugh Williams Preece, Lt Ian Thornson and Founder/Director of the Winchester Writers’ Conference Barbara Large. For more information, see www.wordsforthewounded.co.uk or follow us on Twitter @Words_4_Wounded.
- Mixed: Christian magazine ‘Pockets‘ has a different theme per month.
- Mixed: www.helenwhittaker.net/phpBB2 (shorts & poetry).
- Mixed (novels & short story collections): iWriteReadRate and Cornerstones Literary Consultancy (http://www.voteformyebook.com) are offering a monthly social competition to members of the community – see ‘Monthly’ towards the end of this page.
- Novels: Novel Rocket runs an annual Launch Pad Contest: Boosting You Out of the Slush Pile. Entries will be accepted in all genres beginning mid-January. The deadline for submission is different for genre categories according to the following schedule. In each case, entries must be received by 11:59 PM EST on the 10th day of the month (April to September) listed on http://www.novelrocket.com/p/launch-pad-contest.html. They also post a new writing-related article seven days a week, from author interviews to marketing discussions to articles about the craft of writing.
- Novels: Rubery Book Award First Prize is £1,000 and the winning book is guaranteed to be read by a top London literary agent from MBA Lit. Second and third prizes are £200 and £75 respectively. The books should either be published by an independent press or self-published. All genres welcome. Visit www.ruberybookaward.com for more details. Deadline 30th April.
- Novels: other March-deadline competitions include Dundee International Book Prize and The Next Big Author.
- Playwriting: Windsor Fringe Kenneth Branagh Award for New Drama. and www.sohotheatre.com (Verity Bargate Award).
- Playwriting: Cambridge Theatre Challenge: Would you like to write a one act play for the stage and enter it in a competition where short listed plays are given full performance, judged by the audience, considered for publication and given a written assessment by a publishing company? The winning playwright will also receive a cash prize of £200. Every play will be read in its entirety by a minimum of two judges and entrants will receive two lots of feedback on request, at no extra charge! A shortlist of up to ten plays will be drawn up and posted on the Sky Blue website. Local actors and a production team will be assembled by professional directors to rehearse the plays for performance at the Junction Theatre in Cambridge 6th / 7th July 2013 where the audience will vote for the winner. Closing date for submissions is 30th March 2013. Plays must be submitted on line and full details can be found on our website http://skybluetheatre.com/newplaywriting.php.
- Poetry: The Writers’ Forum Poetry Competition is a monthly contest for poems of up to 40 lines. Closing: Monthly. Entries arriving too late for one month go forward to the next. Prizes: 1st – £100. Runners-up – A Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. Entry Fee: £5 each, £3 each thereafter. Includes a free critique (sae required if entering by post). Comp Page: http://www.writers-forum.com/poetrycomp.html.
- Poetry: other poetry competitions include Cardiff International, Fish Prize for Poetry, Literature Wales, MAG, Michael Marks (pamphlets), Northern Writers’ Awards, Writing Magazine (WM: open to all theme: creative acrostic mini), www.davidburlandpoetryprize.com, www.treehousepress.co.uk (Three-in-One), www.towerpoetry.org.uk, www.firebirdpoetry.com, www.scottishbooktrust.com/familylegends.
- Screenwriting: Canada-based Wildsound run monthly screenwriting competitions.
- Scripts: www.euroscript.co.uk.
- Short stories: Calderdale, Chapter One Romantic, Dark Tales, Exeter Writers, Fish Prize for Flash Fiction, Five Stop Story, Glimmer Train (different category each month), Meridian Writing, Mslexia, Northern Writers’ Awards, Rider Haggard, Writing Magazine (WM: open to all open: 750-words max / subscriber-only theme: last line ‘Out she walked with a spring in her step.’) and www.exeterwriters.org.uk, www.bristolprize.co.uk, www.greenacrewriters.blogspot.com, www.wyvern-publications.co.uk/competitions.
- Graffiti Magazine Short Story Competition Rules: *For crime stories* 1. Closing date March 16th 2013; 2. Entries must be in English and be the writer’s own unpublished work. They must not be on offer for publication or entered in any other current competition; 3. Maximum length 1,500 words; 4. Each piece of work, with its title, must be in clear type on one side of A4 sheet(s). Details of the writer must not appear on this sheet; 5. The name and address of the writer and the titles of all entries should be typed on a separate sheet of A4 paper; 6. The prize-winner will be notified by post, if SAE provided, or by email if email address is provided; 7. Entries are only accepted by post. Please keep a copy of your work, as entries will not be returned; 8. The fee is £3 per story. Cheques / Postal Orders in sterling only, should be made payable to ‘Catchword Writing Group’; 9. All entries that arrive on time will be considered by the adjudicator, whose decision is final. No correspondence will be entered into concerning the result. 10. Competitors wishing to be informed of the results should enclose an SAE marked ‘Results’ or provide an email address. Send entries to: Graffiti Magazine Writing Competition, c/o 33 Sandford Leaze, Avening, Glos. GL8 8PB (UK). Prize: £25 The winning entry and up to five of the short listed stories will be published in Graffiti. For more information: graffiti.magazine@yahoo.co.uk.
- Short stories: Hayley Sherman runs a monthly short story competition for submissions on any subject up to 2,000 words. The winners are published on the website, promoted online and receive a £10 First Writer voucher. All entrants are also considered for publication in The New Short Story Annual at the end of the year. Deadline 25th of the month. Heather Marie Schuldt runs a similar contest, although 500-750 words max., but with the same deadline.
- Short stories: The Bath Short Story Award is now (October 2012) open for entries. This new international competition welcomes stories of up to 2,200 words on any theme or subject from published or unpublished writers. Prizes are as follows: 1st £500, 2nd £100, 3rd £50, and an additional local prize of £50. The competition closes March 30th, 2013. For further details see our website www.bathshortstoryaward.co.uk.
- Short stories: Writers’ Village runs a quarterly short story competition which attracts entrants worldwide. Click here for the rules… and every entrant receives invaluable critique! Their spring deadline is 31st March.
- Short stories: Exeter Writers is pleased to announce that the prizes in its 2013 Short Story Competition have all increased in this fifth annual Competition. The first prize is £500, 2nd and 3rd are £250 and £100. There is also an additional prize of £100 for a writer living in Devon so please pass on this information if you know writers who live here. Stories can be in any genre except for children, they can be up to 3,000 words and the entry fee is £5 per story. The closing date is 31st March 2013. Rules of the competition and an entry form can be found on our website: www.exeterwriters.org.uk or you can send a stamped self-addressed envelope to Competition, 4 Albion Place, Exeter EX4 6L.
- Short stories: Five Stop Story runs a quarterly short story competition (end March / June / September / December). Membership to the site is £25 but you get to enter up to five stories in each competition. Further details at http://www.fivestopstory.com/write.
***
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
Tags: 5pm fiction, agent, Amazon, author, author interview, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, Barnes and Noble, biographers, biography, blogger, blogging, books, characters, children’s, copyediting, copyeditor, copywriter, copywriting, cozy mysteries, creative writing, crime, crime series, crime thriller, crime thrillers, critique, critique groups, debut novel, editing, editor, erotic romance, erotica, Facebook, fantasy, fantasy horror, fantasy writer, feedback, fellow authors, fiction, fiction author, five senses, flash fiction, Goodreads, grammar skills, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, historical, historical author, historical writer, horror novel, indie, interview, interview with writer, interviewees, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, memoirist, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mysteries, murder mystery, mystery author, mystery series, mystery suspense, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novelists, novels, open mic nights, paranormal, paranormal romance, paranormal romances, pinterest, poetry, poetry collections, poetry slams, pseudonyms, publisher, publishing, query letters, reading books, red pen, rejection letter, rejection letters, rejections, rhyming poetry, romance, romance fantasy, romance writer, science fiction, scriptwriters, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, story a day, Story A Day May, story author, story authors, story collections, story writer, submissions, suspense novelist, travel memoir, travel writer, Twitter, vampire, Waterstones, western, western author, Wordpress, writer, writer interview, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing fiction, writing group, writing magazines, writing novels, writing poetry, writing prompts, YA, young adult novels, youtube
Complementing the full interviews on this blog, which will be dropping to weekend mornings from mid-March, another new interview on my interview-only blog has been posted! The (640+) interviews from this blog are there already so there’s plenty to read.
The latest interview on the new blog is with children’s author and novelist Blaize Nolynne and can be read in full at http://morgensauthorinterviews.wordpress.com/2013/03/06/author-interview-with-childrens-writer-and-novelist-blaize-nolynne.
***
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 information. They do now (January 2013) carry a fee (£10 / €12.50 / $15) for the new interviews on this blog but everything else (see Opportunities on this blog) is free.
Alternatively, if you’d like a free Q&A-only interview, I now have http://morgensauthorinterviews.wordpress.com on which I’ve rerun the original interviews posted here then posted new interviews which I then reblog here. These interviews are Q&A only, so I don’t add in my comments but they do get exposure on both sites.
If you go for the interview, it’s very simple; I send you a questionnaire (I have them for novelists, short story authors, children’s authors, non-fiction authors, and poets). You complete the questions, and I let you know when it’s going to go live. Before it does so, I add in comments as if we’re chatting, 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.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
Tags: 5pm fiction, agent, Amazon, author, author interview, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, Barnes and Noble, biographers, biography, Blaize Nolynne, blogger, blogging, books, characters, children’s, copyediting, copyeditor, copywriter, copywriting, cozy mysteries, creative writing, crime, crime series, crime thriller, crime thrillers, critique, critique groups, debut novel, editing, editor, erotic romance, erotica, Facebook, fantasy, fantasy horror, fantasy writer, feedback, fellow authors, fiction, fiction author, five senses, flash fiction, Goodreads, grammar skills, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, historical, historical author, historical writer, horror novel, indie, interview, interview with writer, interviewees, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, memoirist, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mysteries, murder mystery, mystery author, mystery series, mystery suspense, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novelists, novels, open mic nights, paranormal, paranormal romance, paranormal romances, pinterest, poetry, poetry collections, poetry slams, pseudonyms, publisher, publishing, query letters, reading books, red pen, rejection letter, rejection letters, rejections, rhyming poetry, romance, romance fantasy, romance writer, science fiction, scriptwriters, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, story a day, Story A Day May, story author, story authors, story collections, story writer, submissions, suspense novelist, travel memoir, travel writer, Twitter, vampire, Waterstones, western, western author, Wordpress, writer, writer interview, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing fiction, writing group, writing magazines, writing novels, writing poetry, writing prompts, YA, young adult novels, youtube
Welcome to the six hundred and sixty-third of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, biographers, agents, publishers and more. Today’s is with children’s author, Flash Fiction Fridays contributor and spotlightee Joe Means. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further.
Morgen: Hello, Joe. Please tell us something about yourself, where you’re based, and how you came to be a writer.
Joe: Hello Morgen, My name is Joe Means and I currently live in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. I am from the United States and grew up on a farm in western Ohio, where I worked in our family garden and tended our animals and did chores. It was a great time in my life and as much as it seems there is always work to be done, there is plenty of time to relax and enjoy a good book.
At the time of my early years, the space program was full bore and every boy wanted to be an astronaut. Television was full of the mysteries of space and Science Fiction writers in full bloom. My heroes were John Glenn, and all the astronauts. Also my love for reading brought me into contact with wonderful timeless writes like; Isaac Asimov, Robert Heinlein, Arthur C. Clark and all the others. I was rarely seen without a paperback in my back pocket.
From these books, the imagination of a small town country boy grew. I needed an outlet to let some of the ideas running freely in my head, and short stories and letters (yes, we actually wrote letters and posted them snail mail back then).
Eventually, the invention from Science Fiction to Science Fact emerged and we have the modern day computer. TaDa! I wrote many stories (some good, some not so good), but the NEED to write never diminished.
Finally, I wrote my first story that my wife said needed to be published. The second book flowed quickly onto the paper, followed by a third. I hope to finally quit my job and continue writing full time within the near future.
Morgen: I love that you say you ‘need’ to write. I feel exactly the same. You write children’s books, was there a reason to choose this genre?
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: 5pm fiction, agent, Amazon, author, author interview, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, Barnes and Noble, biographers, biography, blogger, blogging, books, characters, children’s, copyediting, copyeditor, copywriter, copywriting, cozy mysteries, creative writing, crime, crime series, crime thriller, crime thrillers, critique, critique groups, debut novel, editing, editor, erotic romance, erotica, Facebook, fantasy, fantasy horror, fantasy writer, feedback, fellow authors, fiction, fiction author, five senses, flash fiction, Goodreads, grammar skills, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, historical, historical author, historical writer, horror novel, indie, interview, interview with writer, interviewees, JD Means, Joe Means, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, memoirist, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mysteries, murder mystery, mystery author, mystery series, mystery suspense, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novelists, novels, open mic nights, paranormal, paranormal romance, paranormal romances, pinterest, poetry, poetry collections, poetry slams, pseudonyms, publisher, publishing, query letters, reading books, red pen, rejection letter, rejection letters, rejections, rhyming poetry, romance, romance fantasy, romance writer, science fiction, scriptwriters, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, story a day, Story A Day May, story author, story authors, story collections, story writer, submissions, suspense novelist, travel memoir, travel writer, Twitter, vampire, Waterstones, western, western author, Wordpress, writer, writer interview, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing fiction, writing group, writing magazines, writing novels, writing poetry, writing prompts, YA, young adult novels, youtube
Complementing the full interviews on this blog, which will be dropping to weekend mornings from mid-March, another new interview on my interview-only blog has been posted! The (640+) interviews from this blog are there already so there’s plenty to read.
The latest interview on the new blog is with multi-genre author Linda Osmundson and can be read in full at http://morgensauthorinterviews.wordpress.com/2013/03/03/author-interview-with-multi-genre-writer-linda-osmundson.
***
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 information. They do now (January 2013) carry a fee (£10 / €12.50 / $15) for the new interviews on this blog but everything else (see Opportunities on this blog) is free.
Alternatively, if you’d like a free Q&A-only interview, I now have http://morgensauthorinterviews.wordpress.com on which I’ve rerun the original interviews posted here then posted new interviews which I then reblog here. These interviews are Q&A only, so I don’t add in my comments but they do get exposure on both sites.
If you go for the interview, it’s very simple; I send you a questionnaire (I have them for novelists, short story authors, children’s authors, non-fiction authors, and poets). You complete the questions, and I let you know when it’s going to go live. Before it does so, I add in comments as if we’re chatting, 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.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
Tags: agent, Amazon, author, author interview, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, Barnes and Noble, biographers, biography, blogger, blogging, books, characters, children’s, copyediting, copyeditor, copywriter, copywriting, cozy mysteries, creative writing, crime, crime series, crime thriller, crime thrillers, critique, critique groups, debut novel, editing, editor, erotic romance, erotica, Facebook, fantasy, fantasy horror, fantasy writer, feedback, fellow authors, fiction, fiction author, five senses, flash fiction, Goodreads, grammar skills, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, historical, historical author, historical writer, horror novel, indie, interview, interview with writer, interviewees, Kobo, Linda Osmundson, LinkedIn, literature, memoirist, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mysteries, murder mystery, mystery author, mystery series, mystery suspense, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novelists, novels, open mic nights, paranormal, paranormal romance, paranormal romances, pinterest, poetry, poetry collections, poetry slams, pseudonyms, publisher, publishing, query letters, reading books, red pen, rejection letter, rejection letters, rejections, rhyming poetry, romance, romance fantasy, romance writer, science fiction, scriptwriters, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, story a day, Story A Day May, story author, story authors, story collections, story writer, submissions, suspense novelist, travel memoir, travel writer, Twitter, vampire, Waterstones, western, western author, Wordpress, writer, writer interview, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing fiction, writing group, writing magazines, writing novels, writing poetry, YA, young adult novels, youtube
Welcome to the six hundred and fifty-ninth of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, biographers, agents, publishers and more. Today’s is with children’s / YA author Kathy Petrakis. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further.
Morgen: Hello, Kathy. Please tell us something about yourself, where you’re based, and how you came to be a writer.
Kathy: Hi Morgen. I’m an Australian living in London and publishing her first book. I moved to London without a definitive plan except to enjoy all London has to offer. I never thought I would be publishing a book! I worked in banks and insurance companies all of my twenty year working career but always loved the performing arts – dance, music, theatre and hence the theme of my book. My mother used to always nag me to write more but I never gave it another thought. And then, I decided to write a novel and here I am. Now, I just going and hope to keep on going!
Morgen: Things just have a way of working out; I went to a creative writing evening group at my local college in January 2005 to meet new people (as I’m not from Northamptonshire originally) and was hooked on writing, and am still in contact with most of the group as I ended up taking it over when the teacher, crime writer Sally Spedding, moved away). You write children’s books, was there a reason to choose this genre?
Kathy: My book would definitely be in the young adult genre, aimed at probably the 15 years plus category. To be honest, I didn’t even know the category existed at the time when I wrote the book – it was just the story I wanted to write. As it happened, I discover that it fitted into this young adult category.
Morgen: What have you had published to-date? Do you write under a pseudonym?
Kathy: Passion and Pain (Dancers and Divas) is the first book I have published. Actually, it’s the first anything I have published! At the moment I write everything under my real name but depends on where I go in the future, there may be a need for a pseudonym.
Morgen: Some writers use a different name if they’re known for one genre but it’s tough enough being known for one that I’m sticking to one, although I’ve always written a variety of genres so that helps. What age group do you write for?
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: 5pm fiction, agent, Amazon, author, author interview, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, Barnes and Noble, biographers, biography, blogger, blogging, books, characters, children’s, copyediting, copyeditor, copywriter, copywriting, cozy mysteries, creative writing, crime, crime series, crime thriller, crime thrillers, critique, critique groups, debut novel, editing, editor, erotic romance, erotica, Facebook, fantasy, fantasy horror, fantasy writer, feedback, fellow authors, fiction, fiction author, five senses, flash fiction, Goodreads, grammar skills, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, historical, historical author, historical writer, horror novel, indie, interview, interview with writer, interviewees, Kathy Petrakis, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, memoirist, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mysteries, murder mystery, mystery author, mystery series, mystery suspense, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novelists, novels, open mic nights, paranormal, paranormal romance, paranormal romances, pinterest, poetry, poetry collections, poetry slams, pseudonyms, publisher, publishing, query letters, reading books, red pen, rejection letter, rejection letters, rejections, rhyming poetry, romance, romance fantasy, romance writer, science fiction, scriptwriters, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, story a day, Story A Day May, story author, story authors, story collections, story writer, submissions, suspense novelist, travel memoir, travel writer, Twitter, vampire, Waterstones, western, western author, Wordpress, writer, writer interview, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing fiction, writing group, writing magazines, writing novels, writing poetry, writing prompts, YA, young adult novels, youtube
Complementing the full interviews on this blog, which will be dropping to weekend mornings from mid-March, another new interview on my interview-only blog has been posted! The (640+) interviews from this blog are there already so there’s plenty to read.
The latest interview on the new blog is with children’s author and publisher Kathryn Starke and can be read in full at http://morgensauthorinterviews.wordpress.com/2013/03/01/author-interview-with-childrens-author-and-publisher-kathryn-starke-part-2.
***
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 information. They do now (January 2013) carry a fee (£10 / €12.50 / $15) for the new interviews on this blog but everything else (see Opportunities on this blog) is free.
Alternatively, if you’d like a free Q&A-only interview, I now have http://morgensauthorinterviews.wordpress.com on which I’ve rerun the original interviews posted here then posted new interviews which I then reblog here. These interviews are Q&A only, so I don’t add in my comments but they do get exposure on both sites.
If you go for the interview, it’s very simple; I send you a questionnaire (I have them for novelists, short story authors, children’s authors, non-fiction authors, and poets). You complete the questions, and I let you know when it’s going to go live. Before it does so, I add in comments as if we’re chatting, 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.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
Tags: agent, Amazon, author, author interview, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, Barnes and Noble, biographers, biography, blogger, blogging, books, characters, children’s, copyediting, copyeditor, copywriter, copywriting, cozy mysteries, creative writing, crime, crime series, crime thriller, crime thrillers, critique, critique groups, debut novel, editing, editor, erotic romance, erotica, Facebook, fantasy, fantasy horror, fantasy writer, feedback, fellow authors, fiction, fiction author, five senses, flash fiction, Goodreads, grammar skills, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, historical, historical author, historical writer, horror novel, indie, interview, interview with writer, interviewees, Kathryn Starke, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, memoirist, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mysteries, murder mystery, mystery author, mystery series, mystery suspense, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novelists, novels, open mic nights, paranormal, paranormal romance, paranormal romances, pinterest, poetry, poetry collections, poetry slams, pseudonyms, publisher, publishing, query letters, reading books, red pen, rejection letter, rejection letters, rejections, rhyming poetry, romance, romance fantasy, romance writer, science fiction, scriptwriters, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, story a day, Story A Day May, story author, story authors, story collections, story writer, submissions, suspense novelist, travel memoir, travel writer, Twitter, vampire, Waterstones, western, western author, Wordpress, writer, writer interview, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing fiction, writing group, writing magazines, writing novels, writing poetry, YA, young adult novels, youtube
Welcome to the six hundred and fifty-fifth of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, biographers, agents, publishers and more. Today’s is with children’s and non-fiction author Anne L. Terio. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further.
Morgen: Hello, Anne. Please tell us something about yourself, where you’re based, and how you came to be a writer.
Anne: I’m retired from the U.S. Foreign Service and reside in Alexandria, VA. I wrote a children’s book in my 20s, but life got in the way. Had one rejection then and put writing aside until I retired. Then I re-edited this children’s book and had it published.
Morgen: Was there a reason to choose children’s books?
Anne: I’ve written two children’s books and two nonfiction adult books. I haven’t limited myself to one genre. I wrote children’s books at first because I have children and later grandchildren. I was always making up bedtime stories for them, and they were easy to make into books. Later I wrote a nonfiction book about our dog Caesar Augustus who travelled with us wherever we went. This books is for adolescents and adults. We loved that dog, he was so smart and sweet. My Mother is 96 yrs. young and I wished to write a short book about her Park family.
There is so much history there, and since it is the 150th anniversary of the War Between the States, I decided to write a memoir during this time period. I used a diary, family Bible etc. to write this book for her.
Morgen: What have you had published to-date? Do you write under a pseudonym?
Anne: I write under my name: Anne L. Terio. I have self-published four books: Two with Authorhouse and Two with Xlibris.
- “The Adventures of Edward the Clown” published in 2007
- “When All the Planets Came Together! Easter Came to the Polar Bears” published in 2007
- “All Hail Caesar! An International Dog” published in 2008
- “Southern Memories During the War Between the States” published in 2011
Morgen: What age group do you write for?
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: agent, Amazon, Anne L. Terio, Anne Terio, author, author interview, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, Barnes and Noble, biographers, biography, blogger, blogging, books, characters, children’s, copyediting, copyeditor, copywriter, copywriting, cozy mysteries, creative writing, crime, crime series, crime thriller, crime thrillers, critique, critique groups, debut novel, editing, editor, erotic romance, erotica, Facebook, fantasy, fantasy horror, fantasy writer, feedback, fellow authors, fiction, fiction author, flash fiction, Goodreads, grammar skills, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, historical, historical author, historical writer, horror novel, indie, interview, interview with writer, interviewees, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, memoirist, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mysteries, murder mystery, mystery author, mystery series, mystery suspense, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novelists, novels, open mic nights, paranormal, paranormal romance, paranormal romances, pinterest, poetry, poetry collections, poetry slams, pseudonyms, publisher, publishing, query letters, reading books, red pen, rejection letter, rejection letters, rejections, rhyming poetry, romance, romance fantasy, romance writer, science fiction, scriptwriters, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, story a day, Story A Day May, story author, story authors, story collections, story writer, submissions, suspense novelist, travel memoir, travel writer, Twitter, vampire, Waterstones, western, western author, Wordpress, writer, writer interview, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing fiction, writing group, writing magazines, writing novels, writing poetry, YA, young adult novels, youtube
Complementing the full interviews on this blog, which will be dropping to weekend mornings from mid-March, another new interview on my interview-only blog has been posted! The (640+) interviews from this blog are there already so there’s plenty to read.
The latest interview on the new blog is with children’s author Gregg Seeley and can be read in full at http://morgensauthorinterviews.wordpress.com/2013/02/25/author-interview-with-childrens-writer-gregg-seeley.
***
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 information. They do now (January 2013) carry a fee (£10 / €12.50 / $15) for the new interviews on this blog but everything else (see Opportunities on this blog) is free.
Alternatively, if you’d like a free Q&A-only interview, I now have http://morgensauthorinterviews.wordpress.com on which I’ve rerun the original interviews posted here then posted new interviews which I then reblog here. These interviews are Q&A only, so I don’t add in my comments but they do get exposure on both sites.
If you go for the interview, it’s very simple; I send you a questionnaire (I have them for novelists, short story authors, children’s authors, non-fiction authors, and poets). You complete the questions, and I let you know when it’s going to go live. Before it does so, I add in comments as if we’re chatting, 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.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
Tags: agent, Amazon, author, author interview, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, Barnes and Noble, biographers, biography, blogger, blogging, books, characters, children’s, copyediting, copyeditor, copywriter, copywriting, cozy mysteries, creative writing, crime, crime series, crime thriller, crime thrillers, critique, critique groups, debut novel, editing, editor, erotic romance, erotica, Facebook, fantasy, fantasy horror, fantasy writer, feedback, fellow authors, fiction, fiction author, flash fiction, Goodreads, grammar skills, Gregg Seeley, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, historical, historical author, historical writer, horror novel, indie, interview, interview with writer, interviewees, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, memoirist, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mysteries, murder mystery, mystery author, mystery series, mystery suspense, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novelists, novels, open mic nights, paranormal, paranormal romance, paranormal romances, pinterest, poetry, poetry collections, poetry slams, pseudonyms, publisher, publishing, query letters, reading books, red pen, rejection letter, rejection letters, rejections, rhyming poetry, romance, romance fantasy, romance writer, science fiction, scriptwriters, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, story a day, Story A Day May, story author, story authors, story collections, story writer, submissions, suspense novelist, travel memoir, travel writer, Twitter, vampire, Waterstones, western, western author, Wordpress, writer, writer interview, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing fiction, writing group, writing magazines, writing novels, writing poetry, YA, young adult novels, youtube
Welcome to the six hundred and fifty-fourth of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, biographers, agents, publishers and more. Today’s is with memoirist and children’s author Ellen Schecter. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further.
Morgen: Hello, Ellen. Please tell us something about yourself, where you’re based, and how you came to be a writer.
Ellen: Hello, Morgen, pleased to meet you. I’m a widely published author in print and on the web. I live in New York City and write every day—looking out over the every-changing Hudson River in New York City. I commute from bedroom to living room, keeping office hours, about 10 to 5 every weekday.
I’ve been writing since kindergarten, when my first story was published, and that did it: it’s in my blood. I get hives if I don’t write. The sign above my computer says, “Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working.”
Morgen: “commute from bedroom to living room” I love it! You write non-fiction, how do you decide what to write about?
Ellen: So many things fascinate me, and I write about what fascinates me most: Many of my children’s books were inspired by my children and their classmates, who once said: “Why aren’t there any African-American queens and princesses?” So I wrote about the Queen of Sheba. But I also write fiction: many of my children’s books are fiction. I’m particularly interested in re-telling stories from other cultures, which introduce strong girls—which is important for both girls and boys to read. My latest book, Fierce Joy, a memoir, is non-fiction. That’s the one I’d like to talk about most.
Morgen: We’ll have to chat again about your children’s books. What have you had published to-date? Do you write under a pseudonym?
Ellen: I’ve published over twenty children’s books, and only two were written under a pseudonym. I wrote them with my friend, Doris Orgel—a wonderful writer—and the publisher said they had too many books from us, so we created a fictitious name to please them. I don’t want to tell you, because I don’t want to blow our cover.
Morgen: Your secret is safe with me. Are your books available as eBooks? Do you read eBooks or is it paper all the way?
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: agent, Amazon, author, author interview, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, Barnes and Noble, biographers, biography, blogger, blogging, books, characters, children’s, copyediting, copyeditor, copywriter, copywriting, cozy mysteries, creative writing, crime, crime series, crime thriller, crime thrillers, critique, critique groups, debut novel, editing, editor, Ellen Schechter, Ellen Schecter, erotic romance, erotica, Facebook, fantasy, fantasy horror, fantasy writer, feedback, fellow authors, fiction, fiction author, flash fiction, Goodreads, grammar skills, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, historical, historical author, historical writer, horror novel, indie, interview, interview with writer, interviewees, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, memoirist, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mysteries, murder mystery, mystery author, mystery series, mystery suspense, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novelists, novels, open mic nights, paranormal, paranormal romance, paranormal romances, pinterest, poetry, poetry collections, poetry slams, pseudonyms, publisher, publishing, query letters, reading books, red pen, rejection letter, rejection letters, rejections, rhyming poetry, romance, romance fantasy, romance writer, science fiction, scriptwriters, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, story a day, Story A Day May, story author, story authors, story collections, story writer, submissions, suspense novelist, travel memoir, travel writer, Twitter, vampire, Waterstones, western, western author, Wordpress, writer, writer interview, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing fiction, writing group, writing magazines, writing novels, writing poetry, YA, young adult novels, youtube
Complementing the full interviews on this blog, which will be dropping to weekend mornings from mid-March, another new interview on my interview-only blog has been posted! The (640+) interviews from this blog are there already so there’s plenty to read.
The latest interview on the new blog is with YA, short story author and poet Susan Moffat and can be read in full at http://morgensauthorinterviews.wordpress.com/2013/02/24/author-interview-with-ya-short-story-writer-and-poet-susan-moffat.
***
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 information. They do now (January 2013) carry a fee (£10 / €12.50 / $15) for the new interviews on this blog but everything else (see Opportunities on this blog) is free.
Alternatively, if you’d like a free Q&A-only interview, I now have http://morgensauthorinterviews.wordpress.com on which I’ve rerun the original interviews posted here then posted new interviews which I then reblog here. These interviews are Q&A only, so I don’t add in my comments but they do get exposure on both sites.
If you go for the interview, it’s very simple; I send you a questionnaire (I have them for novelists, short story authors, children’s authors, non-fiction authors, and poets). You complete the questions, and I let you know when it’s going to go live. Before it does so, I add in comments as if we’re chatting, 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.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
Tags: agent, Amazon, author, author interview, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, Barnes and Noble, biographers, biography, blogger, blogging, books, characters, children’s, copyediting, copyeditor, copywriter, copywriting, cozy mysteries, creative writing, crime, crime series, crime thriller, crime thrillers, critique, critique groups, debut novel, editing, editor, erotic romance, erotica, Facebook, fantasy, fantasy horror, fantasy writer, feedback, fellow authors, fiction, fiction author, flash fiction, Goodreads, grammar skills, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, historical, historical author, historical writer, horror novel, indie, interview, interview with writer, interviewees, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mysteries, murder mystery, mystery author, mystery series, mystery suspense, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novelists, novels, open mic nights, paranormal, paranormal romance, paranormal romances, pinterest, poetry, poetry collections, poetry slams, pseudonyms, publisher, publishing, query letters, reading books, red pen, rejection letter, rejection letters, rejections, rhyming poetry, romance, romance fantasy, romance writer, science fiction, scriptwriters, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, story a day, Story A Day May, story author, story authors, story collections, story writer, submissions, Susan Moffat, suspense novelist, Twitter, vampire, Waterstones, western, western author, Wordpress, writer, writer interview, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing fiction, writing group, writing magazines, writing novels, writing poetry, YA, young adult novels, youtube
Complementing the full interviews on this blog, which will be dropping to weekend mornings from mid-March, another new interview on my interview-only blog has been posted! The (640+) interviews from this blog are there already so there’s plenty to read.
The latest interview on the new blog is with children’s and short story author and spotlightee Katherine L Holmes and can be read in full at http://morgensauthorinterviews.wordpress.com/2013/02/23/author-interview-with-childrens-and-short-story-writer-katherine-l-holmes.
***
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 information. They do now (January 2013) carry a fee (£10 / €12.50 / $15) for the new interviews on this blog but everything else (see Opportunities on this blog) is free.
Alternatively, if you’d like a free Q&A-only interview, I now have http://morgensauthorinterviews.wordpress.com on which I’ve rerun the original interviews posted here then posted new interviews which I then reblog here. These interviews are Q&A only, so I don’t add in my comments but they do get exposure on both sites.
If you go for the interview, it’s very simple; I send you a questionnaire (I have them for novelists, short story authors, children’s authors, non-fiction authors, and poets). You complete the questions, and I let you know when it’s going to go live. Before it does so, I add in comments as if we’re chatting, 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.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
Tags: agent, Amazon, author, author interview, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, Barnes and Noble, biographers, biography, blogger, blogging, books, characters, children’s, copyediting, copyeditor, copywriter, copywriting, cozy mysteries, creative writing, crime, crime series, crime thriller, crime thrillers, critique, critique groups, debut novel, editing, editor, erotic romance, erotica, Facebook, fantasy, fantasy horror, fantasy writer, feedback, fellow authors, fiction, fiction author, flash fiction, Goodreads, grammar skills, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, historical, historical author, historical writer, horror novel, indie, interview, interview with writer, interviewees, Katherine L Holmes, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mysteries, murder mystery, mystery author, mystery series, mystery suspense, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novelists, novels, open mic nights, paranormal, paranormal romance, paranormal romances, pinterest, poetry, poetry collections, poetry slams, pseudonyms, publisher, publishing, query letters, reading books, red pen, rejection letter, rejection letters, rejections, rhyming poetry, romance, romance fantasy, romance writer, science fiction, scriptwriters, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, story a day, Story A Day May, story author, story authors, story collections, story writer, submissions, suspense novelist, Twitter, vampire, Waterstones, western, western author, Wordpress, writer, writer interview, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing fiction, writing group, writing magazines, writing novels, writing poetry, YA, young adult novels, youtube
Maria Bradley has worked at a variety of professions but has never released any of her writing for publication until November 2012. Her First book ‘Four’s a crowd’ was published by Feedaread in paperback and as an eBook on Amazon Kindle a couple of weeks later. She writes primarily for Teens and frequently states that her three young adult children are her inspiration. Although she is not primarily a poet, she has recently been placed as one of the runners up in a poetry competition with her poem ‘Manchester’; a cheerful rendition about her home town in England and it’s appallingly wet weather.
I have always been a fan of Vampire novels and thought it would be interesting to write about a vulnerable teenage girl living secretly in a vampire-dominated world. Being a teenage girl is difficult enough without the added danger of being discovered and ‘eaten’ at any given point within your nightly life. Aecia carries this burden alone until her desperate loneliness creates ‘Amica’ a blonde, blue eyed and carefree human friend whom she writes to in her diary. When she becomes involved with a real friend ‘Garok’ her life takes a disastrous turn for the worst but as her terrifying fears are realised she discovers that maybe she is not alone; with each catastrophic morsel of her life exploding into chaos she finds that her own birth has been the catalyst to events that will shake the foundations of the tyrannous vampire world forever.
My first project is called ‘Four’s A Crowd’ and began with someone I met many years ago when my own life was in a very dark place. ‘Chairman’ was an elderly gentleman who had absolutely nothing. He occasionally lived in a boarded up house and sometimes slept on an old mattress in the back of a rusty old van; not the kind of person you would expect to speak with a ‘Made in Chelsea’ accent, but he did. He was also extremely charming, polite and very content with his life. I will never forget his optimism and vigour. ‘Jack’ is a mixture of all the wonderful special needs children I have been fortunate enough to meet and work with. Nature has a way of affording particular and spectacular gifts to those who might be disadvantaged in another way. ‘Sky’ is my daughter, plain and simple; spirited, fiery, impulsive, stubborn, beautiful and kind.
![Pageflex Persona [document: PRS0000039_00071]](http://morgenbailey.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/how-i-became-cover.jpg)
