Tag: best selling authors

Interview with Raymond Benson, best selling Author (1of3)

RaymondBensonAtWorkRAYMOND BENSON is the internationally-acclaimed author of thirty published titles. The third book in his most recent thriller series—THE BLACK STILETTO: SECRETS and LIES— was  released today.   He took out time to interview with me and generously talked at length about his writing process and world.

Q. Where do you write? Do you have a special room, shed, barn, special space for your writing?

A. I have an office at home, and it’s exclusively used for that purpose. It’s full of books and filing cabinets, artwork, trinkets, a CD player, and of course, my desk and computer. There’s even a lava lamp, although I don’t use it as much as I should! On my desk is a photo of my wife, an “action figure” replica of the black monolith from 2001: A Space Odyssey, and a pebble from the beach at Goldeneye, in Jamaica, the home where Ian Fleming wrote all the Bond novels. And a slinky, to play with during the times when I have to sit there and ponder.

Continue reading “Interview with Raymond Benson, best selling Author (1of3)”

Don’t Miss my Interview with Author, Raymond Benson this Tuesday!

Raymond and Black Stilleto
Raymond and Black Stiletto

Raymond Benson has been an award-winning and best-selling author, composer, computer game designer, stage director, film historian, and film genres instructor for over thirty years. He is also the fourth official author of the James Bond 007 novels.

Step inside and find out why Lee Child describes Raymond as “a top class thriller craftsman” and David Morrell calls him “one of the best thriller writers in the business.”

Continue reading “Don’t Miss my Interview with Author, Raymond Benson this Tuesday!”

New Year’s Resolution for Writers!

authors, writing, writers, interviewsOkay…here’s some tough love!   Get your butt in that chair and write something………..or finish something !!!      You’ve read my interviews with famous, best selling authors for about a year now.  And the recurring theme is DISCIPLINE!!

Forget what others might think of your scribbles…they’re yours and they’re PERFECT!  And what if they aren’t perfect?  So What!!??  If I thought I was going to get perfection when I first began writing, I would never have written a word.  All I hoped for was to grow as a writer and keep growing with every new project.  Still not perfect………….

Write a short story.  Write a poem in prose. Write a play.  Finish your novel.  WRITE SOMETHING!!

Now, here’s the tough part.  You have to be selfish to be a writer.  You have to tell your spouse, or kids or friends that you aren’t going to be available for a couple of hours.  And mean it!!   Then go lock yourself in a room and WRITE!!   Then tomorrow (or this weekend) do it again. Continue reading “New Year’s Resolution for Writers!”

Don’t Miss Part 2 of my Interview with Heidi Jon Schmidt

Heidi Jon Schmidt, best sellers, interviews,
Photos from Heidi’s album

Part two of this writer’s world will appear on my blog on Tuesday, Dec. 10th and the final installment on Thurs. Dec. 12th

DON’T MISS IT!  

 

Click here if you missed Part I

 

Heidi is a beautiful, thoughtful writer.  Her characters jump off the page and remind us that we are all so…so human. heidi.oyster Continue reading “Don’t Miss Part 2 of my Interview with Heidi Jon Schmidt”

How Do those oysters get to your Dinner Table? Interview with Heidi Jon Schmidt (1of3)

best selling author, interview, Heidi Jon Schmidt, Cape Cod     My Interview with best selling author,  Heidi Jon Schmidt

Q. Where do you write? Do you have a special room, shed, barn, special space for your writing?

A. I write in bed. It started during a chaotic childhood when my bed was pushed into the quietest corner of the house, a safe place to withdraw to and think, imagine, write. And now that I have my own house, family, garden, life….it’s still the place where I feel most connected to my imagination.

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. The minute my daughter walks out the door for school, I take a cup of coffee up the stairs. And I don’t do anything else until I’ve gotten a day’s work done.

Q. What is your mode of writing? (long hand? Pencil? Computer? Etc.) Continue reading “How Do those oysters get to your Dinner Table? Interview with Heidi Jon Schmidt (1of3)”

A Rebuttal….Wiz Kid encourages ‘Progress writing’. This author Doesn’t!

blogging, blogger, wisdom,interviews, author quotesPeter Armstrong, co-founder of LeanPub,  recently lectured on UTube about writing a book (in progress) on line….in a blog or on UTube or on your web site.  This is called ‘progress writing’ or ‘progress publishing’.   He claims you will get great reader feedback and gain traction for your final, finished book.

And this might be right for you.  It may give you the stimulus, the poke in the rump that you need to either start writing or to continue writing.
Here’s how I feel about it:

‘Progress writing’ makes it too easy for someone to steal your idea/story.  Even if you have covered yourself with a ‘poor man’s copyright’ like I’ve told you how  to do or even if you’ve sent it partially written to the Library of Congress, your idea can be plagiarized and you may never know it.  And what if the person who took your idea for a story gets it finished before you do.  They are published and now you look like you ‘borrowed’ their idea. Continue reading “A Rebuttal….Wiz Kid encourages ‘Progress writing’. This author Doesn’t!”

The Grande Dame of Historic Fiction was so much More!

romance, historic, fiction, Barbara CartlandYes, the snobs of the literary world might have scoffed at her pink signature Chanel suits, her poofy hats, her Pekinese dogs, and her silly romantic stories.   But, they can’t quite get around her fifty plus years of writing, resulting in over 1,000 million books sold, or the fact that she spent her life  making the world a better place.

Her name was Barbara Cartland.  I know I must have started buying her books somewhere around 1972 because one of her letters to me was dated 1975.  So I have been reading her historic, romantic fiction up until about ten years ago.  Collecting hard covers when I could find them!  I would send them to her and she would autograph them and always, always send a nice note and a little gift back to me.  Most treasured gift was a gold-gilded oak leaf from an oak tree on Barbara’s property.   The “Deer Oak”, which is said to have been planted by Queen Elizabeth the First in 1550, at the spot where she killed her first deer, is on the estate.

Continue reading “The Grande Dame of Historic Fiction was so much More!”

‘Slainte, Prost, Cheers!’ Whatever the toast…..Part 2 An Interview with author, Patrick Taylor

Irish stories, best sellers, Patrick TaylorPatrick Taylor’s characters, Fingal O’Reilly, M.D. and his young protege, Dr. Barry Laverty play word games over a pint.  Trying to out do each other with trivia.  And my readers all know, by now, how much I love words.

Over a couple of whiskeys, at the end of a long day, Barry toasts Dr. O’Reilly, “Slainte”.
O’Reilly responds, “Prost!” and then continues, “Did you know ‘prosit‘ is the third-person singular present active subjunctive of the Latin verb Prosum or the Maltese prosit, meaning ‘bravo'”
“I did not know that.” Barry replied.  “How do you?”  O’Reilly chuckled, “I learnt the Latin grammar in school, and a good thing too, because when I was a student at Trinity some lectures were delivered in Latin.”

My Interview with Patrick Taylor

Q. and the all important: What does the process of going from “no book” to “finished book” look like?

A. You start with a blank screen. I have been writing a series for what seems like forever so I know my characters and the setting. Then I ask myself a question. What if characters A and B were faced with ??? and that is the beginning of the plot. Then I let the characters loose and see what happens Continue reading “‘Slainte, Prost, Cheers!’ Whatever the toast…..Part 2 An Interview with author, Patrick Taylor”

Sure’n It’s Off to an Irish Village, You’ll be goin’…an Interview with author, Patrick Taylor (1 of 2)

P    This blogger was in her home place of Ireland for a month….and each time I read  another ‘Country Doctor’ book by this author, I revisit the home of my heart.  Patrick has given me this opportunity to interview one of my top favorite authors!

AN INTERVIEW WITH AUTHOR, PATRICK TAYLOR

Q. Where do you write? Do you have a special room, shed, barn, special space for your writing?

A. In my study when at home. In rented accommodation when we winter in California.

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 usually sort out the admin stuff like e-mail then edit what I wrote yesterday and then get on with the new stuff.

Q. What is your mode of writing? (long hand? Pencil? Computer? Etc.)

A. Computer. I used to be a doctor. Nobody can read my handwriting—including me.

Q. Do you have a set time each day to write or do you write only when you are feeling creative? Continue reading “Sure’n It’s Off to an Irish Village, You’ll be goin’…an Interview with author, Patrick Taylor (1 of 2)”

Don’t Miss my Interview with author, Patrick Taylor! Begins this Tuesday!

Irish stories, best sellers, Patrick Taylor        This blogger was in her home place of Ireland for a month….and each time I read  another ‘Country Doctor’ book by this author, I revisit the home of my heart.  Patrick has given me this opportunity to interview one of my top favorite authors!

AN INTERVIEW WITH AUTHOR, PATRICK TAYLOR  begins this Tuesday, Nov. 5th in a two part Nov. 7th.


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