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?
Long before I moved to Savannah which is just a hop and skip down the road from Dorothea’s ‘low country’ I was reading her extraordinary stories of women in the south. This author draws you in, seduces you with her heroines’ triumphs and challenges that any woman can relate to. That’s why I was particularly pleased and honored when she granted me this interview.
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.
A. I write in my office in my home in NJ or in my office in my home in SC. My dream work space would be to occupy my little office in SC full time. This cruelty of this past winter’s plummeting temps, deep snow and black ice has cured me of any desire I may have had to remain in NJ. It’s not that I have anything against NJ. I have had many wonderful years here. It’s that I’m trapped indoors for months. But check back with me in a few years when I finally do reside in SC and hurricanes have me Continue reading “Interview with Dorothea Benton Frank * Blockbuster best Selling author”
FREE!! Have you got a child, grandchild or great grandchild under the age of ten?? FREE audio-book of “Bertie the Bookworm and the Bully Boys” (Five lucky winners and One per family)
And I would like to share this with you…..first come, first serve. Sign up for my blog and leave a comment on my site Code: ‘Bookworm’. and I will send you the code and the instructions on how to get your copy.
Bertie, the bookworm is the fabled forest’s elder and teacher. Every week he has a spelling and reading circle where everyone is welcomed. Slam, the badger and his gang of bully boys are forever teasing, disrupting, and bullying Bertie and the group of faeries and woodland creatures. Continue reading “FREE Audio Book: “Bertie the Bookworm and the Bully Boys””
Rape, pedophile, shit, faggot, nig–r,….now those are ugly words. You can taste the filth in your mouth if you say them. You are repulsed when you hear them. ‘Slavery‘ doesn’t sound ugly enough. The word is bland, safe, and doesn’t make us sick in the way that other words do. Dear Reader, please understand that I’m not writing about what the word represents….I’m talking about the actual word. What happened in this country, during the 1800’s, when a whole people were enslaved is emotionally unimaginable…..unless and until you read, The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk-Kidd. Available now.
A Review 5 out of 5 quills
The story is of the Grimke sisters; Sarah and Nina, high born, white, plantation girls. Based upon a true story, the author tells how the slave owner’s lives intertwine every day with their slaves. The very slaves who are a part of the family if you talk to the owners. A prison full of punishment if you were to speak with the slaves. Continue reading “Slavery Isn’t Such an Ugly Word….”
TS: More than a treat, it’s a honor to interview this illustrious author with such a body of work!
Q. When did you begin to write seriously?
A. When I was ten years old, I was encouraged by my Mum to enter a short story contest with a magazine in England. It was about a young girl who desperately wanted a pony. Amazingly, long after I’d forgotten about it, I received a postal order with a small amount of money and a note that I was one of the winners in the competition. Seven years later, I joined the Yorkshire Evening Post as a typist. Within a year, I had become a reporter for them. I’ve been a journalist ever since.
Q. How long after that were you published?
A. My first novel, A Woman of Substance was published in 1979. I had tried to write four earlier novels that weren’t working for one reason or another. But all along, I was still a published journalist. I had a syndicated decorating column in the US throughout the 1970s. I also wrote and had published several decorating books in the 70s. Prior to that, I was a Women’s Page editor on Fleet Street with a handful of newspapers and magazines in England. Continue reading “Interview (part 2) with best selling Author, Barbara Taylor-Bradford”
A long time favorite author of mine, it’s such a delight to get an interview with Barbara Taylor Bradford!
Q. Where do you write? Do you have a special room, shed, barn, special space for your writing?
A. I have an office in my apartment, which is really a converted bedroom. It’s got a cream colored sofa, a glass coffee table, several bookshelves lined with my published novels, and two desks. The first desk has a computer on it for my research. The second has an IBM typewriter, which is still what I prefer to use when writing my books.
Rating: 5 out of 5 quills! ‘The Cavendon Women‘ by Barbara Taylor Bradford A Review
In preparation for writing this review, I first read Cavendon Hall (a real pleasure) so that I would understand the full dynamic of this family. This story is Downton Abbey on steroids. So if you are a fan of this historic era (WWI & the early 1900’s) you will love both books!
Set in the countryside of Yorkshire, this old, aristocratic family must move with the times or be destroyed. The ‘downstairs’ Swann family has sworn allegiance to the Earl of Mowbray’s family for close to two hundred years and their families have intertwined for centuries. Continue reading “Chick-Lit At Its Finest! A Review”
Don’t miss Part I of this Interview! Jodi is a masterful story teller. I am a huge fan and love to sit down with her wonderful books!
Q. Do you ‘get lost’ in your writing and for how long?
A. Of course. Harmony is as real to me as any town I’ve ever lived in. I lose sleep worrying about my characters.
My sons are afraid I’ll name one of my characters in the will.
Q. Who or what is your “Muse” at the moment ?
A. Right now I’m writing about ranches and canyons. I’m loving going out to a friend’s ranch and driving around.
Q. When did you begin to write seriously?
A. When I was 35. I realized in five years I’d be 40 and I wanted to be a writer, but I’d never really worked at it. I turned 40 at an autograph party for my first book. There is no big secret to being a writer. A WRITER WRITES. If you want to be a writer then write. Keep a long. I do. Somedays I only get one page done, but I’m moving forward.
This author is one of my current favorites. Rich stories with believable characters, it’s a pleasure for me to be able to interview Jodi Thomas.
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.
A. I write all over the place. I have a great office at West Texas A&M University with all my covers on the wall. I have an office upstairs in my home with one wall of bookshelves and three walls of windows and I have a tiny office out back off the garden where I’m putting together the plot for a new series.
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.)
A. No. I tend to work in two to three hour time periods. I get up to refill my drink every hour—diet coke if it’s warm, hot tea if it’s cold. I always open with what I worked on the day before. If I have to be away from my work more than four or five days, I start from the beginning. Usually spend at least half my time rewriting before I start writing.
Q. Could you tell us something about yourself that we might not already know?
A. I named my youngest son Cole after the hero in ASHES IN THE WIND. Don’t tell him.
Q. Do you have a set time each day to write or do you write only when you are feeling creative?
A. Hey, I could zone out of reality at any moment and write. Don’t believe in ‘feeling creative’. I think of creativity as more like a muscle than a talent. The more you use it
Another favorite!
the more creative you become.
Q. What’s your best advice to other writers for overcoming procrastination?
A. Hardest part of writing is getting your butt in the chair. It’s not easy. I sometimes tell myself, “just 15 minutes tonight, I’m tired’ Three hours later I look up. Once I’m in the story, I’m in the story and don’t want to leave.
Set goals—-5 pages a day 5 days a week.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ DON’T MISS UPCOMING BLOGS featuring INTERVIEWS with best-selling AUTHORS! April’s author is Jodi Thomas. Coming Soon! Authors Barbara Taylor Bradford and Dorothea Benton Frank. To receive a free audio book and my sign up! On the home page, enter your email address. I love comments! Take the time to write one at the bottom of the post. Thanks!
A. Someone who makes you forget you’re reading a book, whose writing makes you care about the characters and what happens to them, sometimes so much so that you ignore plot holes and stay up half the night to finish it and then feel sad because there’s not any more book left.
Q. and the all important: What does the process of going from “no book” to “finished book” look like?
A. For me, writing a book (and I’m referring to series now, so I already have a cast of characters and a place) starts with an “aha” idea. I see or hear or read something, somewhere, and it just clicks. It can be as little as a single word, but it’s the core idea that drives all the rest. That doesn’t mean I jump on it immediately and start writing. Usually I’ve got a couple of books at different stages (draft, revisions, edits, proofing), so I’m busy.
But then there’s the moment when the characters for the new book start speaking their lines, and you know the book is coming alive. Sometimes that comes at an inconvenient moment (like when I have a deadline for something else), but I’m a strong believer in the subconscious, which is busy churning away even when I don’t know it.
Of course, it’s still a long slog to get all the words on paper. I may have a fuzzy idea of the story arc, but like many people, I often have a panic moment in the middle when I think that I don’t have enough story to fill up all those empty pages before the end. So far I’ve muddled through.
Then I ship it off to my editor and forget all about it until he or she tells me that I have to change any number of things and I can’t remember why I said them in the first place. Editing is not my favorite part of the process, even though I know it’s necessary.
Q. How has your life experiences influenced your writing/stories?
A. I’ve had a career no one would describe as linear. I have an undergrad degree plus a Ph.D in Art History, and an MBA in Finance, and you’ll notice I’m not working in either field. But almost everything I’ve done, from providing advisory services to a major city, to working as a fundraiser for a library/museum, to being a free-lance genealogist, has found its way into one book or another. I think it makes a difference to a reader’s experience with a book if you can insert authentic details. Anybody can do research, but it’s the little things that make a story feel real.
Q. Where/when do you first discover your characters?
Sheila Connolly
A. Sometimes I borrow from real people (some but not all of whom know it). For example, the main characters in the Orchard series are based on a woman I worked with for several years, and who is still a friend, and the guy we bought a house from in Pennsylvania, who continued to be a neighbor for years. That may sound a little odd, but the first possesses a wonderful sense of calmness even in the fact of difficulties, and the second was one of the nicest guys I’ve met—he’d do anything for you, and he was sincere about it. In the Museum Mysteries I had to use another amazing woman I worked with, because her history and her knowledge of Philadelphia are essential. She’s in on the secret now and is one of my biggest promoters. On the other, the hunky FBI agent in the Museum Mysteries is my own invention—and my ideal man (as I may have mentioned to my husband a time or two). Sometimes for the protagonist I use myself—a smarter, younger, better version of me.
Q. What inspired your story/stories ?
A. Places, mainly. The Orchard Mysteries are set in a house that one of my ancestors built, in a small New England town where I have multiple generations of those ancestors—I stumbled on it when I was looking for a bed and breakfast in the area. I worked in Center City Philadelphia in a major institution, and I thought people would enjoy seeing what goes on behind the scenes (the Museum series) while my sleuth goes about solving murders. I also wanted to try setting a traditional mystery in an urban setting. And for
Pub in the village
Ireland…it’s a challenge to portray it without making it too cute, but there is a strong sense of community and connection there that works very well in solving mysteries.
Q. Have you? Or do you want to write in another genre`?
A. I started out trying to write romance, because I knew it was the largest market, but I wasn’t very good at it. A few years ago I tried my hand at a rather tongue-in-cheek romantic suspense, Once She Knew, that I self-published. That was fun to write, with a lot of snarky dialogue and a plot that involved saving the First Lady’s life. Then in 2013 I pulled a book off from one of those dusty shelves that most writers have—something I’d written years ago, a romance with ghosts, set in an area I know well and featuring a heck of a lot of my dead relatives. I self-published it as Relatively Dead. It sold well, so my agent said, why not do another? Which became Seeing the Dead, last year. Now I’m working on a third one in that series, which looks at the Salem witch trials from a different perspective (and yes, I have a number of ancestors who were accused of witchcraft in Salem).
Q. Is there anything else you’d like our readers to know?
A. I love what I do. It’s like I’ve been preparing for this all my life, but it took a long time before I thought I had something to say. I can’t believe I get to do this for a living, because it sure doesn’t seem like work.
Click here to read Part I of this interview
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DON’T MISS UPCOMING BLOGS featuring INTERVIEWS with best-selling AUTHORS! To receive my posts sign up for my On the home page, enter your email address. I love comments! Take the time to write one at the bottom of the post. Thanks!
