Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m a New York Times bestselling author, a graduate of West Point, a former Green Beret (including commanding an A-Team), and the feeder of two yellow Labs, most famously Cool Gus. I’ve had over sixty books published, including the #1 bestselling series Area 51, Atlantis, and the Green Berets. Born in the Bronx and having traveled the world (usually not the tourist spots), I now live peacefully with my wife and my Labs at Write on the River, Tennessee.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Shit Doesn’t Just Happen: The Gift of Failure

Because of my background in Special Operations, we often dealt with catastrophic events (war can be considered that). I noticed a pattern to things like plane crashes, accidents, etc. None happened in a vacuum. It took six cascade events before the 7th final event, the catastrophe, occurred. So I’ve taken 7 great catastrophes in each book (such as Titanic, Flight 447, Challenger, Donner Party, etc.) and examined the six cascade events leading to the end. And I show how each could have been avoided.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I don’t think it’s unusual to have two lazy dogs sleeping under my desk. But I take my iPhone everywhere and use the record device a lot to note thoughts. Especially when driving my beast, my Jeep, around TN.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I like to read authors who are better than me. Kate Atkinson comes to mind, with Life After Life. Richard Russo, Larry McMurtry, Dennis Lehane. Just re-read a couple of Pat Conroy books to experience the way he uses words.

What are you working on now?
I am finishing up a book in my Green Beret series set in the Low Country of South Carolina. Lots of action, betrayal and interesting characters. I’m tying in another of my series, the Cellar, into this book and this is a trend as I’m cross-referencing characters and organizations from my various series in other series. Quite exciting!

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I have enough experience writing (almost 70 manuscripts) that I trust my subconscious more than ever. It’s really a matter of sitting there and forcing myself to keep pushing.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Set a long term goal and do whatever it takes to achieve it. No one can stop you if you truly believe.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.

What are you reading now?
Girl on a Train. Yes, going with the popular book, but it’s an intriguing use of point of view.

What’s next for you as a writer?
My Time Patrol series really excites me. In each book my team has to travel back to the same day in history; but in six different years. And complete a mission in order to keep our timeline intact.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
My own Green Beret Survival Guide to Surviving the Apocalypse, Zombies and More would be key.

Then a really, really thick book so I can use it for kindling. Joking, but also realistic.

Author Websites and Profiles
Bob Mayer Website
Bob Mayer Amazon Profile

Bob Mayer’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Twitter Account

Bob Mayer is a post from Awesome Gang

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Hello, I am Basi Malatji (JB) from the North West Province in South Africa. I am a training and development consultant and was previously a banker for 17 years with three major South African banks at different management levels. I have written three books to date, one novel, one business development book, and one personal financial development book. I am an Executive Consultant with a training company and an MBA graduate who is currently working on a model for the empowerment of managers at lower management levels.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My book is called “Financial Literacy: The Basic Requirement for Financial Freedom.” It is published by Createspace, an Amazon company. The newest edition of this book is self-published in December 2014 and is sold as an ebook through Payhip.com.
My job as a Consultant with junior managers, entrepreneurs and business owners and the realization of how many people were battling with personal finance management was the inspiration for my writing. Many of these people had opportunities to create wealth but did not know how. Financial literacy is one of the most neglected areas in our individual lives, people would prefer to entrust it to somebody else. It is the lack of it that most people are not doing well financially. I wanted to share my experience as a consultant, a manager, and an entrepreneur and raise awareness of the importance of acquiring basic financial understanding.
All those who aspire to turn a corner on their finances and those entrepreneurs aspiring to establish businesses need a basic command and understanding of this important financial and economic language if they are to make it in the economic space.
I believe that this book can offer a valuable addition to any reading undertaken by readers of personal financial management and development.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I tend to do most of my writing between 10.00 pm and early hours of the morning when it is quite and there are no distractions.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I have been personally influenced by Napoleon Hill, Rick Warren, Chantel Ilbury & Clem Sunter, and Stephen R. Covey.

What are you working on now?
Something that is not related to any of the books I have written, it is a research paper.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I am still figuring that one out, but I’m planning on developing an email list as my main source of connection. I would love to do public speaking over the anonymous digital publicity.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Write because you love to write. Write because you want to share something that you believe somebody out there needs to read it.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Follow your hunch, it is never wrong.

What are you reading now?
Games Foxes Play by Chantel Ilbury and Clem Sunter.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I am not sure yet.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
A collection of Shakespeare and Napoleon Hill’s work.

Author Websites and Profiles
Jacob Malatji Website
Jacob Malatji Amazon Profile

Jacob Malatji’s Social Media Links
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Jacob Malatji is a post from Awesome Gang

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Hello, I am Basi Malatji (JB) from the North West Province in South Africa. I am a training and development consultant and was previously a banker for 17 years with three major South African banks at different management levels. I have written three books to date, one novel, one business development book, and one personal financial development book.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My book is called “The Adventures of Mothupi: The Story of Determination, Courage and Hope.” It is published by Createspace, an Amazon company. The newest edition of this book is self-published in December 2014 and is sold as an ebook through Payhip.com.
My involvement with community projects and non-profit organizations for community upliftment and seeing the devastating effect of poverty and unemployment and seeing how hopeless often the people affected were, was the inspiration for my writing. Many of these people lacked the will to break the circle of poverty and unemployment. It takes understanding one’s purpose in life, determination, faith and courage to pursue one’s dreams. It is the lack of this awareness that most people are not doing well in many areas of their lives. These are stories that affect all people throughout the world. I wanted to share my observations.
I believe that this book can offer a valuable addition to any reading for fathers, tweens and teens readers for effective families.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I tend to do most of my writing between 10.00 pm and early hours of the morning when it is quite and there are no distractions.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I have been personally influenced by Shakespeare and DP Monyaise.

What are you working on now?
Something that is not related to any of the books I have written.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I am still figuring that one out, but I’m planning on developing an email list as my main source of connection. I would love to do public speaking over the anonymous digital publicity.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Write because you love to write. Write because you want to share something of value that you believe somebody out there needs to know

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Follow your hunch, it is never wrong.

What are you reading now?
Nothing related to the books I have written.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I am not sure yet.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
A collection of Shakespeare’s work.

Author Websites and Profiles
Jacob Malatji Website
Jacob Malatji Amazon Profile

Jacob Malatji’s Social Media Links
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Jacob Malatji is a post from Awesome Gang

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
My paranormal romance Two Worlds Two Men is my first published work. I live in beautiful northern Michigan in the town of Traverse City. I guarantee our aquamarine colored water, quaint beach towns and growing culinary, wine and beer industries will surprise and delight you. I love the outdoors and spend lots of time walking my two dogs, Piggs and Diggs. Piggs is a chunky little Puggle and Diggs is the longest Corgi you have ever seen! In addition to the romance book I’ve also written a crime fiction and non fiction book.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Two Worlds Two Men is a paranormal romance that entails a love triangle. My heroine, Jocelyn Stewart, juggles two lovers between present day Edinburgh Scotland and medieval Scotland. While writing the book I was inspired to convey that love can come in several different packages. There is not necessarily a right or wrong relationship because each of us must find what works for us as individuals.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
None that really jump out at me though others may have a field day answering that question!

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I enjoy Patricia Cornwell, Dr. Wayne Dyer and Frances Mayes. I have such diverse reading tastes that it is almost a crime to only list a few authors, but I read based on my mood. I enjoy everything from a smoky romance to a self-help book.

What are you working on now?
A non fiction book about having the courage to pursue your dreams. I just finished up editing and plan on getting it published in the near future. My hope is to inspire others to push forward towards their own goals and not give up before they even started.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
My best investment towards promotion was a virtual blog tour. I highly recommend this to any author seeking an online presence and a desire to connect directly with readers of their genre. I started from nothing as far as an online presence and my blog tour gave me Good Reads and Twitter followers I may never had found by myself. Plus, I have an easily accessible profile online with the numerous interviews and guest posts that the blog tour required of me in order to participate. An added bonus is that I sincerely enjoyed myself and had lots of fun.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Be persistent and realize that it’s important to see yourself as becoming published in order to have anyone else believe it. Begin to see yourself as the person you hope to become and this causes the momentum to flow and doors to open.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
You must envision it and thoughts become things.

What are you reading now?
Nothing! I am in the process of moving again and my time for pursuits like reading have been very limited of late.

What’s next for you as a writer?
My non fiction book is next on my list to release.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
I would take anything written by Dr. Wayne Dyer because I can reread his books and interpret an entirely different message then the last time I read it. Every read is fresh and allows another perspective. That is important if one only has 3-4 books to read over and over.

Author Websites and Profiles
Joy Frawley Website
Joy Frawley Amazon Profile

Joy Frawley’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Twitter Account

Joy Frawley is a post from Awesome Gang

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I have an MFA in Screenwriting from UCLA, where I won the Sloan Fellowship for screenwriting, and the Gold Aurora and Bronze Telly for a PSA produced by Women In Film. While at UCLA, I wrote a TV Pilot called BOSTON METAPHYSICAL SOCIETY. It was suggested I turn that into a graphic novel which I did. (A six part mini-series.)

I was thrilled when the comic received an HONORABLE MENTION at the 2013 GEEKIE AWARDS and was then nominated for BEST COMIC/GRAPHIC NOVEL at the 2014 GEEKIE AWARDS. The comic has also been nominated for a 2012 Airship Award as well as a 2013 and a 2014 Steampunk Chronicle Reader’s Choice Award.

In addition to the comic, I have written a number of short stories and novellas based in that world. One of the novellas, Steampunk Rat, was nominated for a 2013 Steampunk Chronicle Reader’s Choice Award. There are seven stories total so far with the latest being The Secret of Kage House. My hope is to begin writing novels set in the same universe.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The Secret of Kage House – I wanted delve more into why Caitlin O’Sullivan became who she was by the time of the start of the comic.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
No more unusual than anyone else, I suppose. I like it to be quiet and I definitely have to turn off the internet.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Lois McMaster Bujold, Arthur C. Clarke, Ray Bradbury, John Scalzi and Elizabeth Moon, for starters.

What are you working on now?
I’m rewriting a middle grade fantasy novel.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Still learning about that, but I work a lot of Comic Cons for the comic and that has been the best way so far for me. For the novellas, social media seems to have worked the best. Though I do like websites like Awesome Gang and Book Goodies.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Get your butt in the chair and keep writing.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Allow yourself to write badly in order to write well.

What are you reading now?
Firefight By Brandon Sanderson

What’s next for you as a writer?
After the middle grade fantasy is ready to be pitched to publishers, I’d like to go back to focus on writing Boston Metaphysical Society novels.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Can I cheat and bring a series? No? Then I would go with Arthur C. Clarke’s Childhood’s End; Lois McMaster Bujold’s Barrayar and The Vor Game; Steven Pressfield’s Gates of Fire.

Author Websites and Profiles
Madeleine Holly-Rosing Website
Madeleine Holly-Rosing Amazon Profile
Madeleine Holly-Rosing Author Profile on Smashwords

Madeleine Holly-Rosing’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account
Pinterest Account

Madeleine Holly-Rosing is a post from Awesome Gang

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I was born in Uganda at the age of 23 I received JesusChrist as my personal saviour, in 1988 The Lord called into the ministry as a bible teacher in 1990 I started writing my first book called “Praising” and another one called “The five fold ministries” I had little knowledge about writing books and during the years that followed I did little about those books but when I came to UK I resumed my writing between 2002 and now I have written 14 books

I published my first book in 2014 November, and the second book called ” the broken engagement was published in 2015 January

They are the one I want to advertise now. I want to thank you for this chance God bless you hope to hear from you soon

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is called Praising , as a bible teacher that was the first message the Holy Spirit gave me when He gave it to me He asked me to take it to the nation and I started to do seminars teaching about praising God many miracles were witnesses some even saw angles. So in writing this book I am continue wing to spread the message

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Not one I know

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Joice Mayer

What are you working on now?
I am working on a book called”The last 48 hours on earth”

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Amazon

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Keep on writing until you finish your project

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Rise up and put your books on the market! My friends used to say

What are you reading now?
Jerusalem betrayed by Mike Evans

What’s next for you as a writer?
I will write until the last day of my life

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
The bible

Christine .M Kwagala is a post from Awesome Gang

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m a young adult contemporary author and so far I’ve published two books, am about to publish a third, and am in the middle of writing the fourth of the series.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is Skinniness is Next to Goddessness? Anna’s Story. I had an eating disorder in high school, and this may sound dumb, but I didn’t even know it. When I saw eating disorders portrayed in the media the situations always seemed so black and white and so bleak. You were either anorexic or bulimic. A person with an eating disorder would have to be consumed by it and their lives revolved around it. I know there are true life instances like this out there and my telling another side to the story isn’t a way of taking away from what’s out there, but adding to it. I just felt like there were girls like me (I cut my calories down to 200-300 a day while playing sports for a few months) that still hung out with their friends, went to the mall, and let their crushes on boys consume their every waking thought, that might enjoy hearing a different type of eating disorder story. Anna’s Story is the second in the series. She and four other girls are a part of a group called the Sunday Lunchers. They use their group to explore their “bad relationships” with food, but still have issues like trying to get accepted into Ivy League Universities and falling in love with their cousin’s baby daddy.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I need absolute silence in order to write which is near impossible with a rambunctious six-year-old and I usually think of all of my ideas in the shower.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Oh gosh. I am a product of the late eighties and early nineties so I’d be lying if I said I didn’t read The Babysitter’s Club or Sweet Valley High. But I did balance that out with Little House on the Prairie, all of the Anne books, anything by Madeleine L’engle, and, of course, Jane Austen.

What are you working on now?
I’m writing the fourth book of the Skinniness is Next to Goddessness? series, Tina’s Story. I love Tina. She’s an outspoken front woman for an all boy country/rock band. Since I started the series somewhat knowing each girl, it’s been fun to really get to know her. She’s got plenty of secrets and I’ve really enjoyed uncovering them and figuring out who she really is.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
So far I’ve done little promotion since my books just came out a little over a week ago, but I’m enjoying Awesomegang so far

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Write because you love it. If you’re doing it to make money or to become famous, I’m not saying it won’t happen, but mostly likely, you’ll be disappointed. Research, learn, and get advice and then listen to your gut. No one knows what’s best for your book better than you, but make sure you’re as educated as you can be before that point.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Write because you love it. If I didn’t love my books, my characters, or writing, I’d have quit looong ago. It’s hard, but super rewarding.

What are you reading now?
Linger by Maggie Stiefvater.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I want to finish this series and maybe write a few novellas. A few of the girls stories didn’t seem complete after I wrote the words The End, so I’ll have to go back to them, maybe from the point of view of their love interests. I’m also writing Cinderella’s Asagao, the story of a young woman during WWII who lived in Japan.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Now that’s just mean, but I’ll play along. Pride and Prejudice, The Moon Dwellers by David Estes, A Wrinkle in Time, and Anne of Windy Poplars.

Author Websites and Profiles
Julia Keanini Website
Julia Keanini Amazon Profile

Julia Keanini’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Julia Keanini is a post from Awesome Gang

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am a writer, a yoga aspirant and a blogger. I started writing at the age of seven and had been voraciously writing till shortly after my 12th birthday. None of my books from that time were finished or published. I have written 3 books since and 2 of them are published.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The last one is Back To The Viper – A Time Travel Experiment. I am a fan of the TV show Being Erica’s first and second season and as a child I loved Back to the Future (though I didn’t watch it till the end – it was aired so late!). Time travel, fantasy and odd scientists have been part of my fiction world since I remember myself.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I like to outline and systematize the plot graphically on sheets of paper.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I loved Fight Club when I was a teenager and The Moon Stone by Wilkie Colins had been my favorite book for a decade; from the most recent books I loved A.G. Riddle’s Departure and I am planning to read her Atlantis series; books about writing: I loved Sean and Johnny’s bestseller Write Publish and Repeat; I am also reading right now Stephen King’s On Writing.

What are you working on now?
A paranormal-fantasy crime/suspense story. I was inspired by Woody Allen’s movie Scoop where a dead journalist materializes himself during a magician’s show to tell a journalism student about the scoop of the decade. I love Woody Allen and he is one of my all-time favorite directors.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I love Nick Stephenson’s site, also Joanna Penn’s thecreativepenn; Kboards is a must-go place, too.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
My advice is to be persistent, to write a lot and to try to improve with every subsequent project.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
To write and to read a lot, to tweak and experiment marketing strategies one at a time (to evaluate ROI) and to find a good mentor.

What are you reading now?
I am reading multiple books right now! I am one of those peculiar readers who cannot strain themselves from reading many titles at once. Wanted by Nick Stepehson’s, The Language of The Hoofbeats, The Beam, Sacrifice and many more

What’s next for you as a writer?
To publish my novel Alice in Sinland and to spread the word about it. After I finish the paranormal/crime story I am starting a dystopian sci-fi series set ahead in the future which will focus on virtues and vices.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
The Bhagavad Gita without a doubt! Then maybe a few spiritual books and a fantasy one like Harry Potter to ignite my imagination and hopes to escape the deserted island.

Author Websites and Profiles
Antara Man Website
Antara Man Amazon Profile

Antara Man’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account
Pinterest Account

Antara Man is a post from Awesome Gang

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I have written two books and am about to start researching my third. My first wasn’t meant to be a book, but my dissertation got published, pretty much as it was. It was entitled ‘Lost for Words: The Psychoanalysis of Anorexia and Bulimia’. I set up a centre for women with eating problems in 1989 and became very interested in why people get eating disorders and what can be done to help people.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
‘A is for Anorexia: Anorexia Nervosa Explained is my latest book and it was inspired by years and years of working with patients, not all eating disordered ones, but recognising that they are a greatly misunderstood group in the general population.

One anorexic I had known inspired to write the book, but I was really helped by Vic Johnson’s programme

http://ezee.info/cmd.php?af=1623300 which kept me inspired and productive all the way. It has led to it being number one best seller at Amazon in Medical Diseases.

It amazes me what the book turned out to be in the end. I learnt a lot in the process of writing it.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
The knowledge I can’t write at all makes it very difficult to start sometimes. I make myself do an hours writing a day regardless. Sometimes it is like getting blood from a stone. I am almost counting the seconds and other times it flies by. The more I do it, the more I like it.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Too many. As a reader Jane Austen, John Irving, Coetzee, William Gibson, William Boyd, Peter Carey, Paul Gallico, Roald Dahl – the first few that come to mind.

As a writer Adam Hochschild.

What are you working on now?
Marketing ‘A’. At the end of the month I aim to start on ‘B’ ; ‘B is for Bulimia: Bulimia Nervosa Explained’.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
The course I took with Vic goes through this all so thoroughly. I suspect it is how I found this website. For example, he helped one woman sell 241,987 copies of her simple eBook!

http://ezee.info/cmd.php?af=1623300

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Keep going.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Varies depending on my age. Recently ‘don’t sweat the details’ and one I have always liked ‘proper preparation prevents piss poor performance’.

One makes you work, the other makes you deliver.

What are you reading now?
Just about to start ‘H is for Hawk’ and

What’s next for you as a writer?
‘C is for Compulsive Eating: Binge Eating and Obesity Explained’ also trying to blog more on my website www.abcofeatingdisorders.com

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Bury the Chains by Adam Hochschild, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen and Stars and Bars by William Boyd.

Author Websites and Profiles
Em Farrell Website
Em Farrell Amazon Profile

Em Farrell’s Social Media Links
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account
Pinterest Account

Em Farrell is a post from Awesome Gang

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Well I’m a thirty year old gay man from Portland, Oregon; but I’m a transplant from Georgia. I’m a coffee addict, and believe that good beer is the nectar of the gods. I write full time, and live with my best friends and their kid, who is the most adorable baby this side of the international date line.

I’ve been writing since I was eight years old, but only started publishing at the beginning of 2015; I’ve published ten books, most of them erotica although my first novel, Rune & Claw, is LGBT urban fantasy. That one I’m expanding into a full length trade paperback after a bunch of fans browbeat me about it!

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
As of this interview, my latest book is All Grown Up. It was inspired by my own childhood; I had a cute step brother growing up that never really gave me the time of day. I took that idea and ran with it, and decided that two older brothers would have been even better than one!

I have been painfully shy and a little cynical pretty much my whole life, so most of my characters are inspired by that kind of social awkwardness. I love writing my characters as geeks, gamers, and social misfits of some kind.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I don’t know how unusual it is, but my favorite puzzle game is Pokemon Puzzle League – it’s not as old school as Tetris but still really old at this point. I take breaks from writing to play a few rounds to kind of switch which side of my brain I’m utilizing. It helps keep me focused during my ten hour writing days. I’m kind of a workaholic, and have to find ways to keep myself from getting exhausted or burnt out.

Also, it’s not quite a habit, but I am an entirely ‘out’ erotica and romance author. Most of the authors in this genre that I know keep it on the ‘down low’ and make sure it’s separate from their other work. I intend to write everything I publish under Simon Strange, and I’m very transparent with my readers about myself and who I am. Mostly because building a persona for a pen name is exhausting!

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Well the first novel I read was The Hobbit, by, of course, Tolkien. After I read it, I wrote a sort of clone that was about twenty written pages long about a kid that meets a wizard at school and is taken on an adventure beyond the playground and meets dwarves, elves, and a dragon (but, a nice dragon; I was kind of disappointed that Smaug was a bad guy because I loved the idea of friendly dragons). He also found a magic bracelet that let him walk through walls. I was eight years old, and from that day forward I always wanted to be a writer. That story wasn’t nearly as dirty as my work is now! But for an eight year old it was pretty good.

What are you working on now?
Currently I’m working on a series called Sodom’s Sons, while I expand Rune & Claw into a full length novel. Sodom’s Sons takes place in the same world and is about two lovers cursed by a sorcerer at the fall of Sodom; Roland is immortal, and his love interest, Ian, is his lover from Sodom who is reborn each generation for Roland to find – but when they find one another, Ian only ever has a year to live. In this story, they get the chance to change that when the sorcerer that put the curse on them turns up in modern day Atlanta. It’s going to be a serial series in a unique format, with seasons kind of like a television show. There’s witches, vampires, oracles, and all sorts of other fun paranormal stuff. It’s launching with a platform modeled after the TV series format, called Romance Unlimited, along with series from six other really talented romance authors; I manage the website content.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I get every single book I write onto The Naughty List (www.naughtylistbooks.com) and Newotica (www.newotica.com). Of course Sodom’s Sons and any other serialized romance I write will go on Romance Unlimited (www.romanceunlimited.net) and I just found Awesomegang, so I’m super excited about that. I also manage to drive a lot of traffic to my own website, and highly recommend having a full website for any author out there.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Get Hemingway and ProWritingAid, they are the most invaluable tools for self-editing that I have ever encountered and they will drastically improve your writing; not just by helping you edit what you’ve written, but also by passively improving your writing style to be more readable, crisp, and succinct. Between those two, a regular spellcheck pass, and a final read to catch weird errors like misplaced words and homonyms, you’ll turn out some really well edited work.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
A slew of authors much older and wiser than I gave me advice when I was deciding whether to quit my day job and start writing full time. I had only published one book but it was selling pretty well and getting positive reviews. When I told them I wasn’t sure if I should commit full time and get these books written or rely on a full time day job and write in my spare time. All the authors under thirty suggested playing it safe and publishing slowly, rather than risking failure by going full time and flopping.

Every author over fifty read my book and then commanded me to follow my passion and live my dream. They reminded me that I was still young, and had time to recover if the worst should happen – but that I would regret taking the timid, safe path when I was older and trapped in a job I hated.

It boils down to this, told to me in a variety of ways: Dreams and Passions are worth following, because those are what will light up your life and give you lasting happiness and peace. Then accept that joy, be grateful, and keep living it until the end of your days. Always chase your Joy, not security, because security is never secure but Joy will always feed your soul.

I quit my job and started writing full time, and have been very successful, very quickly.

What are you reading now?
I just finished reading Magic Breaks by Ilona Andrews. It was amazing! I drop everything to read their books (Ilona Andrews is a pen-name for a couple who write together). I will also drop everything to read any Dresden Files book.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Well I am of course expanding the first book of the Adam Saint Series to a full length (trade paperback length) novel, and I plan for that to be my first sort of ‘crowning achievement’. It’s an urban fantasy that features a gay hero whose character doesn’t revolve around him being gay. That’s way outside the typical mold for a hero in just about any genre and I got several hundred really inspiring emails and messages about it from readers all across the spectrum. So, I’m going to make that series the central focus of my career for the next few years. I’ll still publish lots of shorter romance and erotica, because writing that is definitely relaxing and fun, and of course I’ll be working with Romance Unlimited regularly for probably a very long time if it does as well as we all hope it will. But Urban Fantasy is my greatest love as a genre and I plan on shattering the mold of what a gay protagonist can be.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
I’m not super religious, but one book I would definitely bring is a copy of the Dhammapada – I can read passages from this Buddhist text over and over again forever and continue to get warm fuzzies from contemplating them.

I would take The Hobbit because even though I’ve read it hundreds of times since I was a child I can still enjoy reading it to this day.

I would take the first Adam Saint book, so that I could edit and re-edit and then edit again. By the time I left that island, or someone found my dead body, it would be a MASTERPIECE! Probably scrawled on palm leaves or something…

Finally… I would take Bear Grylls’ “Living Wild”. It’s an extreme survival guide. Seems smart.

Author Websites and Profiles
Simon Strange Website
Simon Strange Amazon Profile

Simon Strange’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Twitter Account

Simon Strange is a post from Awesome Gang

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m a British ex-pat that has been living in Guatemala on and off for the pass 18 years. During that time I’ve written six books.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The only book that I have published so far is called The Adventures of Jojo Smith and as I love sword and sorcery fantasy I decided to set it in a medieval world.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
No particular habits, just lots of coffee.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
The Once and Future King by T.H.White was the first fantasy book that I had ever read and that really impressed me. Next came Tolkien which just atsonished me. They are probably the big name authors that have influenced me the most in the past, but I have read many good books in different genres by little known authors that have impressed me too.

What are you working on now?
I’m revising and cleaning up my second novel.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I have no best method. I’m new to the promotion game and I am learning as I go along.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
If you like writing, if it feels good, even if you aren’t getting noticed, carry on.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Listen to everybody, but don’t say much.

What are you reading now?
I just finished Before They Are Hanged by Joe Abercrombie.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Learning to promote and market the books that I have written.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings

Tony Duxbury is a post from Awesome Gang

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Born in 1946, I grew up in Arlington, Massachusetts, graduating from Arlington High School in 1964.

I attended Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, majoring in English literature. During my junior year, I studied English Literature at Oxford University.

After graduating in 1968, I enlisted in the Air Force one step ahead of his draft board’s invitation to join the army. I married Susan, my high school girlfriend, during leave between tech school and my posting to the Philippines at Clark Air Base. During my final two years in the military, my wife and I lived near Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington D.C.

Discharged from the military in 1972, I attended Boston University on the GI Bill for a Master’s degree in Broadcast Journalism. The following summer I was hired by the University of New Hampshire to script and film videotapes about government social programs for the elderly.

My videotape grant ran out in 1976, but luckily at that time, companies were eager to hire people for their IT departments. With no computer experience, I was hired by Liberty Mutual Insurance to attend their three-month training course. I learned later that the major reason I was hired was my writing and communications background. I’ve often said, “This goes to show you that an English degree is a valuable asset!”

During my 35 years in information technology, the industry evolved from mainframes to personal computers using the internet. “Computers have been very, very good to me.” I retired from Massachusetts Financial Services in spring of 2012.

My wife and I live north of Boston. Our daughter lives in Ireland with her husband. Our son and his wife are both pediatricians working in Rhode Island. We have four grandchildren.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Echo from Mount Royal, published in January 2015, is my first book.

Before going to work, I’d often meet an elderly Jewish woman in the coffee shop downstairs from my office. We talked ‘books,’ sharing a similar taste in fiction. When she learned that I was a writer, she told me many stories about her experiences growing up in Montreal before and after WWII. Her story about her engagement as an 18-year-old girl astounded me. She invited me to ‘write it up,’ thinking it would make an interesting short story. Over the next ten months, I gave her chapters to read. When the 300-page manuscript was finished, she hefted the pages laughing, “This weighs more than a short story!”

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I almost never write at home. I’m distracted by the telephone and I’m always thinking of something else I need to do before I start writing.

I hang out at a local coffee shop or the library. The sounds of customers become ‘white noise’ but when I need to come back to reality, there are other people around.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I love to read novels and short stories by Irish authors, such as William Trevor, John Banville, Sebastian Barry, Roddy Doyle, John McGahern, Colm Toibin, Jamie O’Neille, and Frank O’Connor. There’s nothing like an Irish storyteller.

What are you working on now?
Authors are superstitious about discussing their next project. They may discover after six months of writing that the novel or memoir isn’t working and abandon it. Inevitably, when people learn you’re a writer, they’ll ask, “Who’s your agent?” and “When will it be published?” and “Is it about anyone I know?” The writer often underestimates the time required to finish the work (I needed an extra year), then feels compelled to justify why the book is taking so long to complete. These discussions never end well.

Nevertheless I often ignore my own advice. I’ve started a fictional memoir based on the last years in the lives of my parents when I faced the fact that they will not be with him much longer. Watching them fail both physically and mentally caused me to confront my own mortality. The novel will explore how memories change over time to reveal my parents in a different light. Of course, there will be family secrets. I hope to show how memories both deceive us and encourage us to reexamine our lives.

And, no, I do not know when it will be finished.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I’m only just starting to promote my book so I don’t know what method will work best. I hope getting the word out about my free download from Kindle will help get the book read and reviewed

Do you have any advice for new authors?
When asked how she wrote so many books, Nora Roberts answered ‘Ass in chair.’ That’s the best advice for aspiring writers. Spend time each week and write. Not thinking about writing. WRITING.

Keep a journal to record thoughts and impressions. It’s amazing how those little notes can inspire you years later.

Edit, edit, edit. Don’t show anyone your work until you’ve gone over it carefully 5 times. Better yet 10 times.

Develop a thick skin. Don’t argue when someone offers criticism. Some of ‘my’ best ideas have been suggested by other writers.

Take writing classes at adult education centers. Join a writer’s critique group. You’ll learn as much critiquing others’ work as you will from their reviews of your work. Join Facebook and LinkedIn groups for writers.

Send out your work to websites that publish new authors — not to make money, but to get your work out there and gain self-confidence.

Never give up. Don’t panic if you think that you’ve got ‘writers block.’ Sit down and write whatever comes into your head. You are a writer as long as you write. Publishing doesn’t make you a writer.

Take time to live your life. You don’t know everything when you’re 25 or even 40. I’m still learning at 68.

Read, read, read. Everything. Never be without a book. Take two with you in case you finish one while you’re away from home.

Observe, listen, and daydream. Good luck.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Sit down and write. No matter how bad your writing seems to be today, it ALWAYS looks better the next day. Don’t correct spelling, punctuation, or grammar. Just write and get your ideas down. The book is created when you edit it.

What are you reading now?
I am reading the Booker Prize winner, The Luminaries. It’s a long book – 800 pages!

What’s next for you as a writer?
Learn more about social media. Hopefully an old dog can lean new tricks.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Something by Dickens, say Bleak House. House of Mirth by Edith Wharton. Amongst Women by John McGahern. Dubliners by James Joyce. Atonement by Ian McEwan.

Author Websites and Profiles
Dave Riese Website
Dave Riese Amazon Profile

Dave Riese’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile

Dave Riese is a post from Awesome Gang

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’ve been writing seriously for more than a decade now, and I have so many drawer books I’m not sure I could list them all. I have two published (one in a children’s series based on Edgar Allen Poe, and the other a Space Western), two more slated for publication this year (book two in the children’s series and book one in a Paranormal series) and six more that I’ve completed the first draft of. And then another six or seven as of this moment that exist as quasi-finished outlines and research folders.

I was born and raised in the mid-west, but for the last seven years we’ve lived on the east coast with a family of seven (the humans are outnumbered by the animals). Someday I will either acquire a pterodactyl or an armadillo. We’re still not sure which would be more dangerous.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Undiscovered Country is my first book, and also my most recent (it’s strange the way ebook and pub schedules line up, and the three month print delay has made it both book one and book three).

The inspiration was a large part fascination with the main character, Orion Bartleby, and panicked wagon circling three days before National Novel Writing Month was supposed to start. I was a regional organizer for NaNo at the time, and it’s a bit like being forced to plot with the world watching. So it all started with his internal dysfunction, and then just blew up from there.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Oh so, so many.

I speed-write, which can lead to entire books (or more than one) springing into being in a matter of weeks. Conversely, it also leads to A LOT of editing time. And it means I have to be harsh when it’s time to dig out the red pens.

I hyper-plot, and excessively over-think things that will never go into an actual book. And then at the same time leave myself half-formed messages as plot points with the assumption I will understand them months or years later. I do not.

And lastly, I tend to start with a single book idea in my head, but by the time I’ve written half of it it’s ballooned into a five-book plot arc that requires it’s own language, three detailed topographical maps, and an entire twelve-book set of source material.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
The first book I read that made me think I wanted to write something like it was by A Year and A Day by Virginia Henley. I read Jurassic Park for a solid four months straight as a seventh grader, and wrote myself into the story in every way imaginable. JK Rowling, John Scalzi, Piers Anthony, Stephanie Laurens, Lilian Jackson Braun, Robert Cormier, the list is epically long and that’s probably a good place to stop.

What are you working on now?
I am currently on final deadlines for the first book in a paranormal trilogy about monster hunters and witches and all kinds of epic craziness. The title is Guardian’s Circle: Book 1, Lost and Found and it’ll be available in early April 2015

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I feel like twitter gives you the most option to actually get somewhere with self-promotion. It gives you the most freedom and movement.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Don’t look at the market, don’t trawl the facebook groups, don’t spend valuable writing time psyching yourself out of writing.

Put your butt in the chair(bed, couch, floor, coffee shop) and write the book you want to write. Worry about the rest of it later.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Just keep swimming, just keep swimming, just keep swimming…

What are you reading now?
I’m supposed to be reading The Peace War by Vernor Vinge, but I’m leaning toward Dinocalypse Now by Chuck Wendig.

What’s next for you as a writer?
This may I’ll be at Awesome Con in DC with Golden Fleece Press, and trying to launch two of my own books and a handful of books for the press as well.

In the far future I keep thinking about a full Choose Your Own Adventure e-book that actually carries a multitude of story lines so it’s a different book nearly every time you read it, or a mystery series that spans an entire year in the detective’s life released one month at a time.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Jurassic Park–because dinosaurs.
Pride and Prejudice–because Elizabeth, mostly.
Old Man’s War by John Scalzi–because old people in space and boot-camp fic are my secret weaknesses.
And book four is either Dance with the Devil by Sherrilyn Kenyon or Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, depending on the mood I’m in the day I leave.

Author Websites and Profiles
J. M. Beal Website
J. M. Beal Amazon Profile

J. M. Beal’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account
Pinterest Account

J. M. Beal is a post from Awesome Gang

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m a science writer who’s worked at research universities including Caltech, MIT, Cornell, Duke, and the University of Wisconsin. I’ve written nonfiction books about the importance of fathering (Father Power, 1975), the search for the Loch Ness monster (Search at Loch Ness, 1977), and how scientists can communicate their work (Explaining Research, 2010). I’m now writing speculative fiction novels, including The Rainbow Virus, Wormholes, and Solomon’s Freedom. My novels seek to extrapolate real-world science into compelling stories that speculate on their ultimate implications.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest novel, The Cerulean’s Secret, had its origins thirty years ago, when an oddball question popped into my head: What if there were a blue cat? I suspect that notion arose because, at the time, as head of the Caltech news bureau, I was witnessing the beginning of the genomic engineering revolution. Caltech biologists were building the first “gene machines” to sequence and construct DNA and protein molecules. I believed that these machines would ultimately spawn an extraordinary technology for manipulating life. As the technology evolved, so did the story of my imaginary blue cat. I began crafting the novel some two decades ago, as genomic science fiction became science fact. And as with all my novels, I drew on that science fact to inspire my fictional adventure, to try to make it as realistic as possible. Being a science writer, I aim in my novels to extrapolate my stories from real science, which is sometimes even wilder than any science fiction. The Cerulean’s Secret was just such a novel, because as I wrote it over many years, many of the devices I envisioned for 2050—from robot snakes, to virtual-reality glasses, to quantum computers—began showing up as real-life technology. And, although I wanted to tell an exciting story, I also wanted to explore the critical moral and ethical issues raised by our growing ability to genetically engineer life.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I guess my most unusual writing habit is where I write. My wife and I live in a log cabin deep in the North Carolina mountains, a mile from the nearest neighbor. We live in the middle of nature, encountering deer, raccoons, hummingbirds, and even an occasional bear. It’s a great place to write, without the intrusion of the distractions of civilization.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I’m an old-school guy, who grew up reading the greats, like Isaac Asimov, Robert Heinlein, Arthur C. Clarke, Ray Bradbury, Philip K. Dick, and Frank Herbert. Their novels told great stories with great characters, and offered highly insightful previews of the impact of science on society.

What are you working on now?
My next novel is The Happy Chip, about a company called NeoHappy, Inc., which markets a sophisticated nanoelectronic chip that, when implanted, enables people to monitor the hormones that measure their own happiness with the people and products in their lives. At first, millions of people find the Happy Chip a pathway to more pleasurable choices. But the company begins to disseminate control chips that manipulate people’s emotions, and can even assassinate them by remote control. The protagonist is science writer Andy Davis, who is hired to co-author the biography of the company’s genius founder, Marty Fallon. What starts out as a dream assignment for him transforms into a nightmare that threatens to subjugate not just Andy and his family, but the world.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
By far, my most important promotional tool is my own web site. I strongly advise authors to get the URL “yourname.com.” If you don’t grab it, somebody else will. I had to wait years until whoever had my name finally let the URL expire, so I could obtain it. Other important promotional tools are a blog, a Facebook fan page, and author pages on Goodreads and Amazon. All are free. In fact, the most effective promotional tools are free or inexpensive; while the least effective, such as paid advertising, are those that cost significant money.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Write for the love of writing. And keep writing and trying to improve your writing, no matter what. And play the long game. That is, don’t assume that your first book will make your reputation, or even the fifth. You might have to write a dozen books to establish your brand, and even then you might not make it big. But if you write books that you are proud of, and that your readers enjoy—no matter how small the audience—you’ve fulfilled yourself as a writer. Finally, explore both traditional and self-publishing, and learn marketing skills. You’ll need them regardless of how your works are produced.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
There’s a delightful little book, For Writers Only by Sophy Burnham, that contains the best advice I’ve found for writers, as well as marvelous insights into the writing life. Burhnam tells stories of great writers and their tribulations, and also offers quotes from writers that have greatly encouraged and inspired me. My favorite quote, from Gloria Steinem, captures the compulsion and joy that every writer feels when immersed in their craft: “Writing is the only thing that when I do it, I don’t feel I should be doing something else.”

What are you reading now?
This may sound weird, but I’m going back and reading my first novels. It’s not an ego thing; I want to look back with some perspective on what I’ve written, and how I might have written it better. Sometimes I’m pleased at what I’ve written; sometimes frustrated.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I will continue writing speculative fiction—that is, drawing on real science, both current and future, to tell stories that make people think about the impact of science and technology. For example, my next book after The Happy Chip is The Neuromorphs, about the coming impact of artificially intelligent robots. The latest research on neuromorphic computing and “deep learning,” will enable such machines, and there is serious debate and concern about how they will affect the human species.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Probably a couple of the great general novels, like Moby Dick and War and Peace, and a couple of the great sci-fi novels, like Fahrenheit 451 and Stranger in a Strange Land.

Author Websites and Profiles
Dennis Meredith Website
Dennis Meredith Amazon Profile

Dennis Meredith’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Dennis Meredith is a post from Awesome Gang

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
“Green: The First 12 Months of Modern American Marijuana Reform,” is my first published book. I have written several before but never found publishers. I just decided, given the huge advances in the ebook industry, from every level, that now was the time to do it. This is a subject that is also perfect for the market in several ways, from rapid turnaround, to series production. So far, I am finding it very interesting.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
“Green: The First 12 Months of Modern American Marijuana Reform” is not only the topic of the book but my inspiration. I have been involved in the advocacy movement for a long time. I was also a medical patient. This is a book that looks at the significant events and implications of the year. It is written for people who really want to know what this is all about. People who already support reform will find this both entertaining and informative. The “other” 48% will find it an interesting look into a fascinating world.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I don’t know. I am a writer. We are a bundle of unusual habits, starting with the writing one.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Too many to list. I was the child of well known literary people, so this of course influenced me. I was surrounded by the classics, the cutting edge, and just about everything I could get my hands on. I read the canon (most of it in first edition) by the time I was 13. I have improvised from then on out.

What are you working on now?
Green is actually a series. I plan to write a yearly book about ongoing events at least through 2016. I am also starting to write another book about suriving the process of becoming a medical marijuana patient.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I don’t have one method. When you are promoting your books, you also can’t rely on one method. Web outreach is one way (website, social media, etc.). Interviews are really important. So is the timing of them. I was super lucky in the first week of book release. I was interviewed on Russ Belville’s internet radio program the day that the new Senate bill to reschedule pot was introduced. We did not plan that obviously, but now I have a great vimeo interview that I can post everywhere and also gives me ongoing legitimacy. I have found good giveaway sites, there are some tools that I am using to promote. But it is a full court press.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
1. Write.

2. Write about what you write about. I.e. keep a blog

3. Learn how to create a website and about social marketing.

4. Etc.

There is a ton of stuff to do as a new writer. But the first thing to do is overcome your fear of writing and just write.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
“If you want to be a writer, you have to write.” That was from my dad.

What are you reading now?
Too many things to list. I am also an expat and currently learning German, so even things like street signs and the advertisements on the side of buses are fascinating reads.

What’s next for you as a writer?
The next book.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Actually, I would just bring a hotspot and a waterproof ereader.

Author Websites and Profiles
Marguerite Arnold Website
Marguerite Arnold Amazon Profile
Marguerite Arnold Author Profile on Smashwords

Marguerite Arnold’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account
Pinterest Account

Marguerite Arnold is a post from Awesome Gang

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I have gone from research to anti-poverty programs to university professor to business owner to software project manager and to writing in search of meaning in life. I have found it in the writing.

I just finished my second book for the public: American Amazons: Colonial Women Who Changed History. The first was: Pilgrims To Patriots, A Grandfather Tells The Story. They are the first two in my Grandfather Series. Prior to those, I wrote over 100 books, manuscripts and technical manuals for a variety of clients.

My wife and I have been happily married for over 50 years. We have two children and two grandchildren, all of whom are successful as people and in their careers. I have a Bachelor’s (Political Science) and Master’s (Public Administration) from the University of California at Berkeley. I grow roses, play golf when I can and try to keep up with current events.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
I wrote American Amazons because women achieved great things during the Colonial American period but weren’t being recognized. In researching my last book, Pilgrims To Patriots, I came upon stories of such women and I included some of those in that book. But, there were others and, the more I researched, the more I found. I had to tell their stories.

Some of these women are familiar to us, but, there are far more who rarely get recognition outside of the small circle of women’s historians, and not even then with several. Abigail Minis? Mary Crouch? Elizabeth Key? They’re not exactly household names, but their stories all deserved to be told. To me, they’re all American Amazons.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I write on my computer. I refer to primary sources for most of my research and most of those are online. So, I often have five or six sessions open to various primary source websites in addition to my manuscript. I also have books and handwritten notes open all about me. My wife calls me the Mad Writer thumbing through one book or another, clicking this site or that, with my hair sticking out in every direction.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Robert B. Parker comes first, believe it or not. All of my history is written in dialogue – a grandfather tells his grandchildren the history of the colonial period in a series of story times. The simplicity of Parker’s dialogue has taught me to pare down the conversation.

Milton Erickson helped me to understand how human emotions work. I am after feelings, as much as the transmission of history. By the middle grades, grandchildren have started to turn their attention away from their grandparents, and parents, for that matter. I aim to provide the means by which grandparents and parents can strengthen the bonds.

David McCullough and Ron Chernow have modeled good story telling for me. They weave carefully and thoroughly researched events into tableaus that speak to the human spirit. And, they provide as neutral a treatment of the times as any, not appearing to place agenda before honesty.

What are you working on now?
I am researching for the next volume in my Grandfather Series. I also have three or four other projects in various stages of development, depending on how you count. Until I have completed the research for a particular work, my choice of project on any day is a feelings thing. My gut tells me what to do and I listen. Once I have finished the research, more or less, I concentrate solely on that project until it is done. Occasionally, I “see a squirrel” and run off in pursuit of it.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I have found that I do best at personal contact but it is exhausting for me and I have had to reduce the frequency of that sort of thing (I dress in period costume, bring sound effects and a cobbled together cannon).

I am still learning about digital marketing. I have a blog – Freedom’s Foundry – but I seem unable to figure out how to make the most of it. My grandchildren think of me as a Luddite and, for the most part, they are right. I am somewhat active in social media, but I fear that I am not joining in to their full extent, either. Except for Twitter. I have yet to think that anyone would care what I have to say at any given moment. I know, I don’t get it.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Write.

Be open to the truth about your writing.

Get an editor – one who will tell you the unvarnished truth and who will charge you for it.

Do what your editor tells you to do.

Expect to make your own decisions about where all this might take you and do your own work in getting there. The publishing industry isn’t what it used to be, if it ever was. Each of us has to promote ourselves in the ways we think best.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Always get up again.

Make the most of every day.

What are you reading now?
I would be reading Robert B. Parker, if he were alive. Sadly, he took his brilliance and his characters with him. I still have feelings of grief for all of them from time to time. The ersatz doesn’t do it for me.

I am always reading primary source materials, mostly 17th and 18th century stuff. Two of the most comprehensive sources are:

National Archives (The “Rotunda”)

http://www.archives.gov/museum/visit/rotunda.html

On-Line Library of Liberty http://oll.libertyfund.org/#founders

I choose my secondary sources carefully. An interesting one that I just finished is Between Two Worlds – How the English Became Americans, by Malcom Gaskill – a Brit. He describes the Colonial Period from an English viewpoint. It is extensively researched and assesses the history in terms surprisingly close to ours.

What’s next for you as a writer?
To write for as long as I am able. Other than the projects I have in the hopper, I’ll wait for inspiration from the Muse.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
The Bible

Parker’s Western Series or maybe Jesse Stone

Any really thick coffee table book – one with pages that would burn hot and bright and long.

Author Websites and Profiles
Alex Bugaeff Website
Alex Bugaeff Amazon Profile

Alex Bugaeff’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile

Alex Bugaeff is a post from Awesome Gang

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I love to write and create stories, whether they are for young children or young adults. In total, at this point I have written thirteen children’s book/middle-grade/YA books.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
I am working on a project right now, titled: “It’s up to You.” – Several experiences have inspired this story. The main one being the indirect bullying that exists in schools today, and how peer-pressure often prevents kids from doing anything about it. Sometimes going to a teacher or adult is a good plan, but often it only stops the bullying at a surface level.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Yes – I often write for about ten to twenty minutes a time. This is not recommended by most experienced authors, but it seems to work for me.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I would say I was inspired to write since reading “The Body” by Stephen King, which later of course was turned into a movie titled, “Stand by Me.”

What are you working on now?
I’m working on completing “It’s up to You.” In addition, I’m hoping to push the sequel to “Remembering Kaylee Cooper” to my publisher. This sequel is titled, “Alex was Here.”

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
www.francisart.com

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Yes, always write…don’t stop. Accept criticism as constructive. Learn, learn, learn…

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Don’t tell the reader what is happening….show the reader.

What are you reading now?
A fantastic story by Matthew Cox titled, “Emma and The Banderwigh.”

What’s next for you as a writer?
Working towards writing more of a ‘fantasy’ style novel for young adults.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
I’d take and “Asterix” book, as well as the “Maze Runner” series.

Author Websites and Profiles
Christopher Francis Website
Christopher Francis Amazon Profile

Christopher Francis’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account
Pinterest Account

Christopher Francis is a post from Awesome Gang

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am a new author and have written five books. They are all non-fiction. My first two books tell the true stories of miracles that I have been blessed to be a part of while yielding to God’s guidance, and watching Him work through me. Book three of miracles will soon be added to that series: The Art of Charismatic Christian Faith. I also started another series: The Art of Charismatic Christian Living. I have three books in this group. I will soon be writing my first novel.

I grew up in Covina, California, in a small house with my parents and two sisters. We moved to Claremont near the colleges in my freshman year of high school. I attended Mt. Sac College and Rio Hondo College. At the age of nineteen, I became a print model and commercial actress and moved to Santa Monica. Later, I bought a home near UCLA, married, and had two amazing sons. The best part of my life has been motherhood. At that time, my husband, Peter, and I became part owners with NBC of television shows for children and teens. One being, ‘Saved by the Bell.’

While my children were growing up, I started to paint with oils on canvas, which landed me into national galleries and a contract with Winn Devon Publishing. I was a prolific painter, and now have become a prolific writer. My desire is to encourage others with my stories and ministry within my writing. And to finish well.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is, “Staying on Your Toes – 7 Steps to an Excellent Performance.” I was inspired to write this book while viewing a painting I had done of the feet of a ballet dancer on her toes wearing satin slippers. Then the idea came to me to use ballet terms and marry them with biblical terms. The motive was to encourage women to dance with Jesus through their lives, enabling them to feel they finished well as they humbly bow when the final curtain closes.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
During the day, I will get many ideas, while scribbling them down on any paper I can find. By midday, I have small notes all over my desk. I’ve learned to keep a pen and paper by my bed as well. Once I have an idea, I can’t sleep until I write it down.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
When I was growing up, my favorite book was “The Thornbirds,” by Colleen McCullough. Her descriptions of nature were amazing. I also loved “To Kill a Mocking Bird,” by Harper Lee. Her writing kept me on the pages with anticipation, hope and wonder. I love true stories, as The Hiding Place, by Corrie ten Boom. Her bravery encourges me.

What are you working on now?
I am now working on my third book of miracles. Combining true modern day stories with Bible stories. One in particular grips at my heart when my grandmother, Ida Golen, was healed of polio at the age of sixteen.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I usually publish a new book and price it at $0.99. I wait for reviews, then do a free promotional using websites as yours. Once the promotion is ended, I go back to the price I feel it will sell well at.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Yes. To write with their hearts.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
To use wisdom from God in all that you do.

What are you reading now?
The Holy Spirit – Amazing Power for Everyday People, by Susan Rhorer

What’s next for you as a writer?
I’m excited to get into fiction, and have started my first novel.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
The Bible, The Holy Spirit – Amazing Power for Everyday People, and a book on poetry by Mary Oliver.

Author Websites and Profiles
Connie Bryson Website
Connie Bryson Amazon Profile

Connie Bryson is a post from Awesome Gang

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
i am starting on my 3rd book

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
i am finishing an instruction book about

HOW TO MEMORIZE THE NOTES ON A GUITAR FRETBOARD FOR LIFE

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
YES

no punctuations

What authors, or books have influenced you?
none

What are you working on now?
finishing the guitar fretboard notes memorization

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
your site

Do you have any advice for new authors?
yes

just wing it
no rules

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
from myself

if you love someone
tell them so
before its too late
or you will have to live with it

people are the most important
thing in life
nothing else really matters

What are you reading now?
nothing

What’s next for you as a writer?
more books

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
probably

books of famous artists

buddy fong is a post from Awesome Gang