Author Spotlight no.80 – Patricia Gligor

Complementing my daily blog interviews, today’s Author Spotlight, the eightieth, is of mystery, suspense author and interviewee Patricia Gligor.

Patricia Gligor lives in Cincinnati, Ohio. She enjoys reading mystery / suspense novels, touring and photographing old houses and traveling, especially to the ocean to see lighthouses. She has worked as an administrative assistant, the sole proprietor of a résumé writing service and the manager of a sporting goods department for a local retail chain but her passion has always been writing fiction. Mixed Messages, the first novel in her Malone Mystery Series, was published earlier this month by Post Mortem Press and is available on the publisher’s website and Amazon.com.

And now from the author herself:

“If you can dream it, you can do it!”

Three years ago, my position as an administrative assistant for a large corporation was eliminated company wide. Literally, one minute, I had a job and, the next minute, I didn’t. At first, I was devastated. I’d worked there for eleven years and planned to stay until I was old enough to retire. I was making a decent amount of money and I had great benefits. Why would I leave? But, suddenly, I had no choice.

Except that I did have a choice. I could choose to wallow in self-pity, worried about whether or not I’d be able to make it financially considering the current economy, and I could resent my former employer or I could choose to make the most of the wonderful gift of time I’d been given.

I opted for the second choice and I got serious about my writing career. My dream had always been to become a published author and I’d written Mixed Messages over the course of more years than I care to say. It took that long because I’d let my job and other obligations get in the way of pursuing my dream.

So, for the first time in my life, I made writing a priority! I spent more hours each week writing than I’d ever spent at my full-time job. First, I went through Mixed Messages, rewriting and editing. Then, I plotted, outlined and wrote the second book for my Malone mystery series. At times, it was scary but I held on to the belief that “If you’ll do what you can, God will do what you can’t.”

And He did! He brought some very special people into my life. Sunny Frazer and the members of her Posse, an online marketing group, taught me the importance of establishing an online presence and guided me in how to do that. Catherine Hershberger, a member of the Queen City Writers critique group, gave me invaluable constructive criticism on the first three chapters of my novel, which greatly improved the book.

Then, a friend of mine, Jan Thomas, realizing that I was finally “serious” about my writing, went out of her way to tell me about a local event that a couple of small press publishers were scheduled to attend. I met Eric Beebe, the publisher of Post Mortem Press, that day and immediately sent him my query. Three months later, he sent me the contract to publish Mixed Messages! My dream had come true!

Morgen, I’d like to thank you for having me here today. I hope your readers will visit me at: http://pat-writersforum.blogspot.com.

Yes, folks, please do. You’re so welcome Patricia, it’s great to have you back here.

Patricia can also be found at http://www.postmortem-press.com/mixed.php and http://pat-writersforum.blogspot.com and her books are available from Amazon.com.

The blog interviews will return as normal tomorrow with short story author, article writer and 30-day challengee Christopher Starr – the three hundred and fifty-fourth of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, biographers, agents, publishers and more. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further. And I enjoy hearing from readers of my blog; do either leave a comment on the relevant interview (the interviewees love to hear from you too!) and / or email me.

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

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