Q. What’s your best advice to other writers for overcoming procrastination?
A. Procrastination is unprofessional and a heinous habit…. A good strong reliable work ethic is what will make your publisher think of you as a worthy partner. If you are not a self starter or you cannot find it in yourself to show up for work on your own and deliver on time you should not pursue a writing career.
Q. Do you ‘get lost’ in your writing and for how long?
A. Yes. Unfortunately it never lasts long enough.
Q. Who or what is your “Muse” at the moment ?
A. Always the Lowcountry of South Carolina.
Q. When did you begin to write seriously?
A. When my mother died. I was forty-three.
Q. How long after that were you published?
A. Six years later in 2000.
Q. What makes a writer great?
A. Telling a great story in a way that’s never been told before.
Q. and the all important: What does the process of going from “no book” to “finished book” look like?
A. Hell. Thinking it up and finishing it are the most gratifying parts of the process. The rest of it is hell, except for the funny bits when you manage to find something amusing to hang on a character.
Q. How has your life experiences influenced your writing/stories?
A. In so many ways. I always think that if something is bothering me it might be bothering you. This includes all the issues of raising children, dealing with cranky in laws and philandering spouses, aging, illness or every variety, death and the general meaning of life. Or if something is interesting and new, you might think so too. Google Glass, lama farms, legal cannabis, home improvements, plastic surgery – on and on.
Q. Where/when do you first discover your characters?
A. Are you kidding? They’re a Greek chorus in my head always begging for a role.
Q. What inspired your story/stories ?
A. Loss. Joy. Second chances. Resurrections. Redemption. Deep and abiding love.
Q. Have you? Or do you want to write in another genre`?
A. No. This is enough for me. I write the occasional essay for different publications but I’m compelled to do only this really.
Q. Is there anything else you’d like our readers to know?
A. So many things. That my writing may not appear serious at first glance but that I am dead serious about what I’m doing. That I am deeply grateful to those who read my stories because it takes time to
read a full length novel and time is a finite commodity. And I love when my stories help us find common ground or get a conversation going about a difficult subject like domestic violence. Words have power and my goal is to use them wisely to entertain and inform.
Click here to read Part I of this Interview. Coming soon! My review of All the Single Ladies
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DON’T MISS UPCOMING BLOGS featuring INTERVIEWS with best-selling AUTHORS! Barbara Taylor Bradford was my May author. Coming Soon! The writing duo, Tamara Thorne and Allistair Cross, Jennifer Ryan and Julia London.
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