‘A stunning new journal with more instruction and extra tips about writing fiction, stage plays, and poetry.’ Midwest Book Review
The newest in a series of Journals/Handbooks. For new and experienced writers alike, this Journal offers more instruction,
tips and more hand-picked quotes by other authors, actors, playwrights, philosophers, and poets. Meant to inspire the creative mind. A handy size that will fit in a backpack or tote.
WHAT TO EXPECT:
How To Begin
How To Develop Exciting Characters
How To Tell A Story
How To Write a Stage Play
How To Write Poetry
How To Write Haiku Poetry
To purchase: click here
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MY BLOGS feature INTERVIEWS with best-selling AUTHORS! Did you miss the past few months? September: Dylan Callens. October’s author was Donna Kauffman. In November we say hello to Rita Avaud a Najm. In December we will be saying hello to English mystery writer, J.G. Dow.
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A new author, raised in Lebanon and France, writing children’s chapter books with a quirky twist. Some of her dialogue is in simple French phrases with definitions as a footnote. Introducing youngsters to French. These are charming little stories about Rita coming to America as a child. T.S.
Q. Where do you write? Do you have a special room, shed, barn, special space for your writing? Or tell us about your ‘dream’ work space.
RN. I don’t have a specific place. But I always keep a note book next to my living room seat to write any idea that comes to my mind. Once I gather my thoughts, typing and saving them on my laptop will be my next step. I usually keep it on my dining table where the lights are bright.
Q. Do you have any special rituals when you sit down to write? (a neat work space, sharpened #2 pencils, legal pad, cup of tea, glass of brandy, favorite pajamas, etc.)
RN. My note book should always be handy to look through my thoughts or my simple scribbles as a reference. My cup of tea is always there on my right side, yet many times I drink it cold since once I start writing, I don’t stop and keep on until I am tired, or hungry.
Q. Could you tell us something about yourself that we might not already know?
RN. Other than writing Arabic poetry and French stories, writing plays and song lyrics since I was 7 years old, I am a painter. This hobby helped with illustrating my two books. I also do crochet and knitting. All of my storylines have to do with something I’ve been through in my childhood or things I do or did. My memories make my stories alive.
Q. Do you have a set time each day (or night) to write?
RN. I prefer evenings. I know by then that my children did their homework, had dinner and the house is clean and the housework is done, for the day!
Q. What’s your best advice to other writers for overcoming procrastination?
RN. Some people procrastinate because they are lazy. Others are afraid of change and the heavy success, or they just fear failure and risk. “Someday I will,” keeps those writers who might have plenty of amazing stories to tell and a vivid imagination never known, and always living in the past. Go ahead! Start that project! Celebrate your success and live the moment when your hard work pays off!
Q. Where/when do you first discover your characters?
RN. Besides my “Petite Rita,” the little French girl who represents me, I was shy when I came to The USA because of my French-Lebanese accent, anything can be my character when I have the story. I can make a story about my cup of tea or my toothbrush… When you are creative with imagination, you can create and make any object or animal talk your talk.
Q. What first inspired you to write your stories?
RN. French Dual immersion programs in many public and private schools are the reason behind my main character to be a French girl, as well as the love of students to learn a foreign language. I decided to publish those two volumes first, before any of my other stories, because of their passion to read and to learn some common French words.
Join us for Part 2 of this interview. ‘Rejoignez-nous pour la partie 2 de cette interview.’ November 24th.
To Purchase Rita’s books: click here
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MY BLOGS feature INTERVIEWS with best-selling AUTHORS! Did you miss the past few months? September: Dylan Callens. October’s author was Donna Kauffman. In November we say hello to Rita Avaud a Najm.
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Available now! The latest short play in the playwright’s ShortN’Small series.
“G” rated for teens and the classroom.
Those who follow me and all my friends in theatre know that I have added to the
ShortN’Small short play series for years now. ‘G’ rated 10 minute plays that focus on issues impacting the teens of today.
Ranging from divorce to cutting, from running away to drug use, from date violence to bullying.
Synopsis: Emilee has reached the age where boys are pressuring her into sexual activities that she is not ready for.
In this ‘G’ rated, short play for the classroom we explore the peer pressure that comes to bear as young girls
try to navigate their teen years.
Emilee is torn between what her friends are doing and what she instinctively knows is not right for
her at this stage in her life. 1m. 5f.
No props, no sets, no costumes, just open dialogue!
MY BLOGS feature INTERVIEWS with best-selling AUTHORS! Did you miss the past few months? September: Dylan Callens. October’s author is Donna Kauffman. In November we say hello to Rita Avaud a Najm.
To receive my posts sign up for my On the home page, enter your email address. Thanks!
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DK. Always. It might take some time to sink into fiction world, but when I do, I’m gone until I surface again. Could be an hour, could be all day. One of the things I do to help “sink in” is re-read what I wrote the day before. It’s an easy way to start, as you’re not asking yourself to come up with anything new quite yet, but simply to review the work from the day before, get back into the scene you were working on, edit now that you’ve had the chance to get some distance from it and can be more objective, and by the time I get to the end of that I find the writing is flowing and I’m in without even realizing it.
Q. Who or what is your “Muse” at the moment?
DK. No muses for me. Other than the story and my characters and being compelled to find out what happens next.
Q. Do you have a new book coming out soon? If so tell us about it.
DK. I launched a new series this summer with the release of Blue Hollow Falls. It’s set here in the Blue Ridge Mountains, and is very special to me, finally getting to write about this place I love so much. The second in the series is a holiday e-novella, The Inn at Blue Hollow Falls, which will be out on October 31st.
Q. When did you begin to write seriously?
DK. I started when I was pregnant with my first son. I was twenty-eight at the time, and in my fourth trimester (do that math) so I was just desperate enough at that point to try anything as a distraction. Writing a book seemed like a perfectly normal thing to do. Then I (finally!) had my son, and the writing got put aside. I picked it up again when pregnant with my second son. I was twenty-nine at the time (do that math, too) and just desperate enough at the time to try anything as a means to get a little me time. I put that aside when son number two arrived, but along with him came the decision to stay home and raise my kids, and I decided to give writing more seriously a try. I did join that writer’s group then and I finished that first book.
Q. How long after that were you published?
DK. My youngest was two when I sold that first book and I’ve been continually published ever since. (My sons are 29 and 27 now and have been my biggest champions all along the way.)
Q. What makes a writer great?
DK. Gosh, I don’t know if I can sum that up. It’s such a personal relationship between reader and writer, each one unique. I guess, if I had to summarize, I’d say it’s a writer who tells the story he or she most wants to read, stays true to that ideal, and puts absolutely everything into each moment. If you’ve done the very best you can do, told the story to the best of your ability, it might not make you “great” in the eyes of others, but it does make you the best you can be, and I’ll take that.
Q. and the all-important: What does the process of going from “no book” to “finished book” look like for you?
DK. Anguish, self loathing, and doubt? Kidding. Kinda. It’s having all the optimism in the world that your new book idea is just the best idea ever, then finding a way to maintain that enthusiasm though all the ups and downs (and downs, and downs) of pulling that story out of yourself, one word, sentence, and paragraph at a time. Then editing all those words and sentences and paragraphs, tossing out chunks, rewriting chunks, tossing more, and writing some more, and then finally accepting that this is the very best you can tell that wonderful story you had in your head, and even though you’re relieved, proud, thankful, you still promise yourself that next time you’ll find even better words to tell that next fantastic story idea. But, for this time at least, you’ve done it, and it’s the very best you could do, and it’s time to put it out there.
Q. How has your life experiences influenced your writing?
more from the Wild LIfe Sanctuary
DK. I don’t write about, or include, specific life events or experiences into my fiction. However, life experiences, world views, the personal circle of life that swirls around you at all times, all inform who you are, and how you think, and what you know about life, and therefore how you imbue your characters with their world views and how they think, etc. I’m not sure how you would ever write a story that wasn’t influenced in some way by what you see, know, learn, explore, absorb, even though it’s mostly in the abstract. I don’t create characters to give voice to my opinions, but since I am creating my characters, I am the one giving them their opinions. So, even if they aren’t me, or aren’t anything like me, they still come from me, so it’s my ideas/thoughts/opinions on what a person like them would be like, that creates them. If that makes sense.
Q. Have you or do you want to write in another genre`?
DK. The great thing about writing romance is that it lends itself to combining with pretty much any other genre. I’ve written suspense, mystery, paranormal, time travel, etcetera, but always with the relationship at the core of the story. That’s what drives my storytelling, so I don’t know that I’d want to explore a genre that didn’t have that at the center of it.
Q. Is there anything else you’d like our readers to know?
DK. I love hearing from readers and hanging out with them. You can find me online at www.donnakauffman.com and on social media at:
Did you miss Part I of this Interview? To Purchase Donna’s books
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MY BLOGS feature INTERVIEWS with best-selling AUTHORS! Did you miss the past few months? September: Dylan Callens. October’s author is Donna Kauffman. In November we say hello to Rita Avaud a Najm.
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TS. Fairly recently I discovered Donna. I ordered one book (Blue Hollow Falls) and quickly ordered the rest of her books. That’s always a good sign from this Blogger! Beautifully crafted stories!
Q. Where do you write? Do you have a special room, shed, barn, special space for your writing? (please provide a photo/s of your shed, room, closet, barn….) Or tell us about your ‘dream’ work space.
DK. I work any and everywhere. Have laptop, will travel! And I often do. I live in the Blue Ridge Mountains in southern Virginia, and though I do have dedicated office space in my house, I don’t think I’ve ever actually gone in there to write. Working where you live can, at times, provide a wealth of distractions to help procrastinate getting any writing done. At least a few times a week, I hop in my car and head up to the Blue Ridge Parkway, which is minutes from where I live, and find a quiet overlook, trail, picnic area, and work there. It’s inspiring and has the added benefit of no internet/cell/email/other distractions. I’ve written large portions of many books up there.
Q. Do you have any special rituals when you sit down to write? (a neat work space, sharpened #2 pencils, legal pad, cup of tea, glass of brandy, favorite pajamas, etc.)
DK. No rituals for me. I prefer it quiet (no tv, music, chatter) but I’ve written sitting in busy airport terminals and during my kids sports practices. I think sometimes you can get bogged down by placing too many “I have to have this in order to write” requirements. I’ve always been a “plant your backside somewhere and fall into the story already” type, mostly because I know if I started down the “I must have” path, I’d never get another book written.
Fox kits at Rescue Center
Q. Could you tell us something about yourself that we might not already know?
DK. I volunteer for a local wildlife center and a local wildlife sanctuary. I’m a dedicated hiker/outdoors person and photographer who loves animals, so it’s been a fascinating adjunct to that and I’ve learned so much about all the critters I’ve lived amongst for years. If I had the time, I’d love to get my wildlife rehabilitators’ license. Someday!
Q. Do you have a set time each day (or night) to write?
DK. No set time. My schedule and other obligations often create the blocks of time I write. Given a whole day with nothing else on the docket, I tend to get up and dive in before the world wakes up and gets in the way, and often times write all day until dinner. Then I’d likely sink back in again after the world goes to sleep. I’m both morning person and night owl, so that comes in handy!
Q. What’s your best advice to other writers for overcoming procrastination?
DK. That’s the single biggest obstacle to all writers. I think I can safely say we all do it. (And if you don’t, please share your trick with me!) I guess I’ve learned how to remove temptation from my immediate surroundings (hence the my mobile office pod, as I call it, aka my car.) If I can’t stop myself from getting up and doing laundry instead of tackling the next scene, or from scrolling through social media, then I take myself off somewhere where I can’t do either of those things. It’s an ongoing battle. Deadlines and knowing you’ve got bills to pay also help immensely.
Q. Where/when do you first discover your characters?
DK. I don’t know if I can pinpoint that. Story evolution is such an ephemeral thing for me. It comes at me from all sides, in all manners of unfolding. Some characters are part of the initial, ooh, this is a story I want to tell! And some come along as the story develops.
Q. What first inspired you to write your stories?
DK. Wanting there to be more books in the world that I wanted to read. I have broad interests in fiction and I’m very picky all at the same time. I like what I like. I have my favorite authors and am always on the prowl for new ones. (The library is a wonderful treasure trove for finding new authors. No investment risk other than a little time to see if they can pull you into their worlds…) I was having a hard time finding more of what I loved and kept imagining what story I would want to read, and one thing led to another, and I started putting thoughts to paper. I’d always been a writer of some kind or other, so it was a natural combination of putting my thoughts down in writing, then steering those thoughts into the fictional realm. When I got serious about it, I joined a local writer’s organization and immersed myself in learning more about the craft of writing as well as the business of writing. I knew immediately I’d found my people. (Fictional and non.)
Q. What comes first to you? The Characters or the Situation?
DK. Could be either one. It really depends on the story. The trigger could be location, occupation, setting, conflict, or any combination of those. I’ve been writing small town fiction for a while now and so location is often the first thing that intrigues me. I want to set my fictional world in this place or that, and then occupations, conflicts, plot ideas start to percolate, and along with them the perfect people to tell that story, both main characters and secondary. Research begins, story begins, and folks just up and introduce themselves in the process.
Q. Do you ‘get lost’ in your writing?
Join us for Part II, October 27th of this fascinating Interview
To purchase Donna Kauffman’s books ~ Click here
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MY BLOGS feature INTERVIEWS with best-selling AUTHORS! Did you miss the past few months? September: Dylan Callens. October’s author is Donna Kauffman. In November we say hello to Rita Avaud a Najm.
To receive my posts sign up for my On the home page, enter your email address. Thanks!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Purchase here
Q. What comes first to you? The Characters or the Situation?
DC. In Interpretation, the situation came first. That wasn’t the case in previous stories, but for this novel it was. I was on a bus listening to students talk about science fiction movies and I began to word-doodle a dystopian world. After that, I started reading about weird psychological experiments and came across the work of Dr. Jose Delgado. He did a great deal of research on mind control devices. From there, I started to wonder about the extreme ends of such an experiment. And that is the central situation in the novel.
Q. Do you ‘get lost’ in your writing?
DC. Oh yes, absolutely. I get so lost, in fact, that if I read my work a day later, it’s like reading someone else’s work. I can only recall the ideas that I put on the page and to see what I’ve written, the specific words that I’ve strung together, it’s like I was never there. Sometimes that’s a good thing but sometimes I’m mystified at what I was trying to get at. That’s why I have a great editor.
Q. Who or what is your “Muse” at the moment?
DC. Right now, you’re my muse, Trish. These are great questions.
Q. Do you have a new book coming out soon? If so tell us about it.
DC. Yes, my new novel, Interpretation, was just released on August 1st. It’s about hope in the most desperate of times. It’s my ode to dystopian classics like Nineteen Eighty-Four and Brave New World with a very modern take. I’ve used Ray Kurzweil’s predictions about our technological progress, as well as Dr. Jose Delgado’s psychological experiments to create a world that I think forces us to consider our own humanity.
Q. When did you begin to write seriously?
DC. I think I started to take it seriously three years ago. After making slow progress on my first novel, I started to see that it could be finished. I only had a few chapters left so I pushed forward to finish it. After another year of editing, it was released.
Q. How long after that were you published?
DC. I self-published that novel in December 2015. Since then, I’ve written a collection of Fairy Tales, been in two anthologies, and I’m releasing my second novel. I’ve also started a small publishing company in that time as well. So, the last two years have been very busy.
Q. What makes a writer great?
DC. That’s difficult to answer. I think there are so many ways for a writer to be great. It could be something like the imagery Joseph Ferguson uses to tell his stories. Or the beautiful complexity found in David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest. There are so many things that can make a writer great.
Q. and the all important: What does the process of going from “no book” to “finished book” look like for you?
DC. Wow – to answer that question fully would require several pages of explanation. And I don’t think there’s a normal process for me. While I have certain rituals in terms of when and where I write, I don’t really have a straight forward process. I might research some stuff then outline. And then write a chapter, then outline some more. And do more research in the middle of writing a chapter. Then I might toy with a cover idea for a little while. I really wish I had a better answer but I’m not organized enough to have a definite process.
Q. How has your life experiences influenced your writing?
DC. I’m heavily influenced by my education in philosophy more than anything. My life experiences work their way into my writing in various ways but my imagination plays a bigger role. I’ve always been someone that sits around and thinks so I think that drives my storytelling more than any real experiences.
Q. Have you or do you want to write in another genre`?
DC. I have written satire and parody in the past. Interpretation is dystopian science fiction, which isn’t something that I thought that I would do. If I continue the current project that I have in mind for my next novel, I will get into literary fiction. I know that career-wise, it would be smart to stay within one genre but I don’t have the focus to do that. My stories aren’t genre specific.
Q. Is there anything else you’d like our readers to know?
DC. In Interpretation, there are inkblots at the top of each chapter. My kids made those inkblots specifically for the novel. We had a blast making them and I’d just like readers to know that. So, if you something strange in the blot, just remember: my kids did that to you.
Available www.amazon.com and other fine book stores
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MY BLOGS feature INTERVIEWS with best-selling AUTHORS! Did you miss the past few months? In August we say ‘hello’ to Cheryl Hollon. September: Dylan Callens and October’s author is Donna Kauffman.
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TS. A quirky, relatively new author who takes us into a sci-fi, dystopian world, with his new book, Interpretation
Q. Where do you write? Do you have a special room, shed, barn, special space for your writing? (please provide a photo/s of your shed, room, closet, barn….) Or tell us about your ‘dream’ work space.
DC. I have a spot in basement. There is this lumpy old couch where I need to sit. It wrecks my back but I can’t help it – the words just flow there. It’s the center of calm for me, even if there is chaos all around. I’ve used the same space for so long that I’ve ruined the cushion but I just can’t give it up.
Q. Do you have any special rituals when you sit down to write? (a neat work space, sharpened #2 pencils, legal pad, cup of tea, glass of brandy, favorite pajamas, etc.)
DC I typically need half an hour to look at dumb things on the internet. I might play a Twitter hashtag game or stare at Goodreads for a while. It doesn’t really matter what but I have to have that time to settle into the words.
Q. Could you tell us something about yourself that we might not already know?
DC. I am really good with a yo-yo. There was a time when I considered focusing on that instead of writing. I thought about entering the world of competitive yo-yoing. I know that sounds like a joke, but there is such a thing. Ultimately, I think I made the right choice to continue writing.
Q. Do you have a set time each day (or night) to write?
DC. Most of my new ideas are generated in the morning. When I’m working on a new project, I tend to get up between 4 and 4:30 AM to write. However, I can’t edit in the morning so that usually happens either sporadically throughout the day or in the evening, after about 7:30.
Q. What’s your best advice to other writers for overcoming procrastination?
DC. When I first started writing I procrastinated a lot. When I reflect on why, I don’t think it was because I was lazy but because I was afraid that in the end, what I wrote wouldn’t be good enough. So, I put it off. When I finally finished my first project, Operation Cosmic Teapot, I discovered a few things. First, I spent about six years on a project that should have been done in less than one because I procrastinated. Second, I had a lot to learn about writing and marketing a book. Third, that despite the mistakes in the book, I’m pretty good at it. And fourth – most importantly – the only way I could have failed was not to finish it. I think that’s what important to overcome procrastination. To realize that the only way to fail on a project is to not do it. Even if the book only sells a copy of copies, you can learn from that experience and apply it to the next project.
Q. Where/when do you first discover your characters?
DC. I wish I could say that they came to me in a dream, or something profound like that, but they don’t. Sources of inspiration for characters come from all over the place. In earlier writing, I was inspired by philosophers and gods. In my new novel, Interpretation, the main character was sort of assembled together after I completed a Myers-Briggs personality test. That was a really fun exercise. I answered profile questions in a way that I wanted the character to respond to those situations. Once I understood his personality, I could understand his motivation throughout the novel. My next novel might be based on me – but that’s kind of a frightening thought.
Q. What first inspired you to write your stories?
DC. I’m greatly inspired by philosophy and psychology. While in university, I wrote a novel that underlined the principles of phenomenology. It was as good as it sounds. I completely trashed the manuscript. It is rotting away in a dump somewhere. (You’re welcome, humanity.)
The first novel that I completed arose from the same place, though. I was teaching Nietzsche’s madman parable in a philosophy course. That is the story where Nietzsche says, “God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him.” In the middle of that lesson, I kind of chuckled at an idea – what if Nietzsche was God’s boss and tried to fire him? I began outlining the story from there. It was an ‘ah-ha’ moment for me.
Don’t miss the conclusion to this Interview. Click here
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MY BLOGS feature INTERVIEWS with best-selling AUTHORS! Did you miss the past few months? June: Mehreen Ahmed. July: Janet Macleod Trotter, author of Tea Planter’s Daughter and in August we say ‘hello’ to Cheryl Hollon. September: Dylan Callens
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Robert B. Parker’s Jesse Stone is back! Beleaguered and grief riddled but still standing….except, that is, when he’s falling down drunk.
This is a very layered plot. It’s a murder mystery for certain but layered with the disappearance of a master reel of an album. The artist, Jester, was right up there will the Bee Jees, the Beatles and the Beach Boys. The team had just finished his best album, in the studio, when the master went missing. For forty years.
Readers continue to fall more in love with the tiny police force of Paradise. Molly Crane, Luther ‘Suitcase’ Simpson and some new additions like Alisha. But, this time around, I found myself being a little annoyed by Jesse Stone’s eternal angst. Okay, I get it. He’s had some tough breaks, brought on mostly by himself and….Johnny Walker. Stop repeating your mistakes and suck it up, Jesse!
In spite of my irritation, the story is good and entertaining. You won’t be disappointed! It still astounds me, as a writer, how these wonderful authors can so successfully speak in Robert Parker’s voice.
On Sale: September 12th To purchase
Did you miss my Interview with Reed Farrel Coleman?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ MY BLOGS feature INTERVIEWS with best-selling AUTHORS! Did you miss the past few months? In August we say ‘hello’ to Cheryl Hollon. September we host Dylan Callens and Oct.’s author is Donna Kauffman.
Q. Do you have a new book coming out soon? If so tell us about it.
CH. The next book in the Webb’s Glass Shop Mysteries, ETCHED IN TEARS, releases on November 28, 2017. It’s available for pre-order now. Here’s the back-cover copy:
When a famous glass artist is found murdered at his own exhibit, deadly secrets are put on display, and it’s up to glass shop owner Savannah Webb to
Me at my Kiln
see through a killer’s cover. . . Celebrated glass artist Dennis Lansing is returning to St. Petersburg, Florida, for an exhibit at the world-renowned Salvador Dali Museum. His unique style of embedding document images in his art is at the vanguard of contemporary glass-work. But as Savannah’s first boyfriend and a former apprentice to her father, Dennis’s return home has her reflecting on the past–a trip down memory lane that takes a dark turn when Dennis is found murdered at the museum with an old reference letter from her father in his pocket. A search through her father’s records sheds new light on Dennis’s history, but it seems his present life wasn’t so transparent either. Now, with a gallery of suspects to consider, it’s up to Savannah to figure out who fits the mold of a murderer.
Q. When did you begin to write seriously?
CH. The first step I took to establish writing as my new career was in April of 2005. I attended the Malice Domestic Conference. It is an annual fan convention in the metropolitan DC area that celebrates the traditional mystery, books best typified by the works of Agatha Christie. I found my tribe! The authors were friendly, sociable, and helpful to aspiring writers. I never looked back from that conference.
Q. How long after that were you published?
CH. My first book was released in September of 2015. A mere decade was all it took from my first writing attempts to holding my first book in my hands. I’m now on my second contract with Kensington Books and that means that there will be at least six books in the Webb’s Glass Shop Mystery Series.
Q. What makes a writer great?
CH. A great writer provides a great reading experience. I continuously aim to improve my writing skills by taking classes, workshops, and participating in critique groups.
Q. ……and the all important: What does the process of going from “no book” to “finished book” look like for you?
CH. The first thing I decide is where the body will be found, who will find it and what is the cause of death. After that, I begin sketching out the main events that eventually expands into a synopsis of about 12-14 single-spaced pages. This gets submitted to my publisher as part of my contract. Next, I break up the synopsis into a scene-by-scene outline that I document in an Excel spreadsheet. Each scene is a chapter in my manuscript, so I spend some time noting the time that will pass, the location of the scene and the point of view character for each chapter.
At this point, I am usually itching to start the first draft. From this point on, I update the spreadsheet as I go. Even though I am a confirmed outliner, I leave creative room while I’m writing to take advantage of those flashes of inspiration that occur while I’m laying down that first draft. After I type ‘THE END’ and enjoy a glass of bubbly, I immediately start a revision pass from the notes I written during the first draft. Then I share the beginning chapters with my in-person critique group and start another round of revisions. Then I send the manuscript to my literary agent as well as an independent editor for a development edit.
When I’ve received their comments, I revise for at least three more passes and then it goes to my editor at Kensington. She will also have great suggestions for making the story stronger and I incorporate them. The next step is to work with a copy editor to make sure that there are no technical errors or plot inconsistencies. I’m forever leaving someone in the next room and then they magically appear in a conversation. The last step is when I received the hard copy galley images for a final check. This is where I use a ruler to check every single line of print in the book. There’s no turning back after that – in a few months I’ll be holding it in my hands.
Q. How has your life experiences influenced your writing?
CH. The Webb’s Glass Shop Mysteries are set in St. Petersburg, Florida. I’ve lived here since 1975 and am considered nearly-native. The arts are a big part of the culture of this city as well as outdoor cafés and magnificent museums. Many residents live, work and entertain themselves by walking the charming streets of the waterfront downtown area. I’ve also been working in the glass arts with my husband for over twenty years. He’s the craftsman. I am the designer. We have a small glass studio in a building behind our house. I have a workbench of my own for my jewelry making efforts. I’m also in the middle of creating a lampshade. These skills are the basis of my character’s teaching efforts in her shop.
Q. Have you or do you want to write in another genre`?
CH. I’m working on a proposal for a historical novel series. In 1954, Harriet Buchanan graduates with a PhD in Physics from Georgia Tech. However, the only job she can get in her hometown of Marietta, GA is secretary for the Simulator Training department at Global Aircraft Corporation. She doesn’t merely type technical reports – she understands and corrects them. Christine uncovers a fatal flaw in an engine algorithm, but her boss doesn’t believe her. She pairs up with test pilot Andy Anderson to prove her theory to prevent a crash of the C-130 aircraft on its first flight. Hopefully, the series will find a publishing home soon – I can’t wait to write about Harriet’s challenges.
Q. Is there anything else you’d like our readers to know?
CH. You can reach me at my website: www.cherylhollon.com also on my Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/cherylhollonwriter
The best writing advice I’ve ever been given: Finish the book!
Did you miss Part 1 of this Interview?
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MY BLOGS feature INTERVIEWS with best-selling AUTHORS! Did you miss the past few months? June: Mehreen Ahmed. July: Janet Macleod Trotter, author of Tea Planter’s Daughter and in August we say ‘hello’ to Cheryl Hollon.
JD Robb, aka Nora Roberts, has been pumping out this series since 1995 and Echoes in Death is the latest in a long line of excellently crafted murder mysteries. When I began reading this series (22 years ago) with book #1, Naked in Death, the futuristic setting seemed far, far away. Today the vertical capability of vehicles, the stun guns, the ‘autochefs’ in her stories don’t seem very far fetched. While entertaining it never gets in the way of a solid cop versus killer story.
NYPD Lieutenant Eve Dallas, a veteran murder cop, and her billionaire husband, Roarke, stumble upon a naked, dazed woman wandering incoherently down a Manhattan street. After identifying her Dallas soon discovers her husband has fared much worse. A pattern soon evolves when similar cases begin to pop up. But what could connect these bizarre cases?
Most people know I’m all about the writing! I’m not fond of ‘spoilers’ (when reading or reviewing) and am very careful not to give my readers cliff notes on the whole story. Fans of JD Robb already know that this book will be just the latest in a saga of solid mysteries. Set in New York City, and woven with great characters that fill Dallas’ life and job, it’s a foregone conclusion that Echoes in Death is more like the ‘next chapter’ of the ‘.…in Death‘ BIG book. No question readers will find the plot intricate, the characters fascinating and growing with each book, and the story compelling. Each book/story stands alone but you must consider, after reading “Echoes…”, to start at the beginning. Highly recommended I give it five quills!
Nora Roberts/JD Robb
Here’s a bit of trivia for you: 27 Nora Roberts/JD Robb books have sold every minute of every day. We writers of lesser fame (tongue in cheek) can only dream of this kind of popularity. But it’s well deserved; this author has honed her craft to a razor sharp tool, especially for the “....in Death” series.
MY BLOGS feature INTERVIEWS with best-selling AUTHORS! Did you miss? July: Janet Macleod Trotter, author of Tea Planter’s Daughter and in August Cheryl Hollon. September’s author will be Dylan Callens and October, Donna Kauffman.
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