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Lorne McMillan 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
First, I have been writing since I was old enough to know how. As an adult, I have completed five novel manuscripts, two of which are now available through Kindle and Kindle Unlimited. I have also written dozens of short stories, a few published in various periodicals. Some are available through Kindle and KU in Volume One of “The Devil’s Bedtime Stories.” I have enough short fiction to fill a few more volumes. Though I love to read all kinds of fiction, my favourite is horror with fantasy coming in a close second. My writing habits follow along those same lines.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest is “Dream Walker”, which is a YA fantasy. It’s the first book in a series. I’ve always liked the idea of the common man — or boy, in this instance — being taken out of his element and thrust into being something more than he ever thought possible. So I finally wrote the first book.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Not really, although I do tend to talk to myself in quite an animated manner when I’m really into what I’m writing. I sometimes speak to my characters like I’m watching them in a movie, instead of writing their actions on a screen.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Stephen King is who got me serious about writing and led to my love of writing horror, although, like King, my stories brush the lines of many genres. As for fantasy, Terry Goodkind’s Sword of Truth series hooked me for that genre. There are so many great writers thst I couldn’t possibly name all who influence me. Straub, Koontz, Sanderson, Jordan, Matheson. Good Lord, I have to stop.

What are you working on now?
I’m currently doing a few things. Editing and doing rewrites of completed novels and working on a two part new project. It is a very different take on a post apocalyptic story. That’s all I’m willing to say.

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

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Write every day. Don’t give up.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Write every day. Don’t give up.

What are you reading now?
I’m currently reading another Indy Author names Ron Ripley. His stories have drawn me in recently.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Keep plugging away and keep looking for success.

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 Stand by Stephen King. Ghost Story by Peter Straub. I don’t know, other than those. More King, I suppose.

Author Websites and Profiles
Lorne McMillan Amazon Profile

Lorne McMillan’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Kerri Cooper 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Im a mother of 4 little girls and i live in somerset in the uk. I havd written 2 books currently on my 3rd and im actuslly dyslexic

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is called Becoming. Its the 1st in The Isamcey series. Im a massuve lover of all things fantasy and magic so i just let my imagination go wild.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Well i write from page from 1 and just keep going i basically wrote the story as i tell myself it.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I love Robert Jordan, Terry brooks, Garth Nix as well as JK Rowling and Cassandra Clare

What are you working on now?
Im currently working on book two to my 1st novel Destiny Calls in The Night Walkers series

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
That is something im still learning

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Never give up it will happen. Its worth it in the end

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
My grandfather, he told me to just do it when everyone was saying i couldnt due to my dyslexia

What are you reading now?
Honestly im not reading anything right now run round by my 4 girls haha

What’s next for you as a writer?
To try and get my books seen by as many people. I always feel books take me to another world when i need it most. So if i csn do that for even just 1 other oerson then im doing good.

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?
Sabriel by Garth Nix
Any harry potter book
And a shanarah book

Author Websites and Profiles
Kerri Cooper Website
Kerri Cooper Amazon Profile

Kerri Cooper’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Diane Wilkie 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am a freelance writer and author based in Birmingham in the United Kingdom. My writing covers all areas including articles for various publications, as well as the Autobiography of Raj Jarrett published in 2006. My more recent published books include Run for your Life, Knocking on heaven’s door, Trouble in paradise, and Surviving Domestic violence (a simple guide to breaking free).
I write from the heart and draw on my own unique life’s journey, to offer inspiration and hope and added colour to my work.
I previously also worked with women and children who have survived domestic violence. It is an honour and a privilege to work with these real heroes of life!

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Surviving Domestic Violence: A Simple Guide To Breaking Free
I was inspired by the incredibly brave people who have experienced this terrible crime and wanted to write something that would help people to learn that they have options!

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I prefer to write late at night into the early hours of the morning because everyone is in bed and there are distractions!

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Francine Rivers and Sophie Kinsella are my favourite authors. I particularly enjoy biographies and autobiographies and this is what inspires a lot of my writing.

What are you working on now?
At the moment I am working on my autobiography.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Bookmarketingnetwork.com is a great site for authors, and I think getting reviews is very helpful too.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Stay true to yourself! Yes, it takes time to develop your own unique voice, but believe in yourself and know that the world eagerly awaits to hear what you have to say!

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
You are your creator’s original, so just be you and know that who you are is enough!

What are you reading now?
Bending time by Dan McCollam

What’s next for you as a writer?
Finish my autobiography and perfect the art of book promotion

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?
Piercing the darkness by frank peretti
The Bible
Redeeming love by Francine Rivers
Nine days in heaven by Dennis and Norlene Prince

Author Websites and Profiles
Diane Wilkie Website
Diane Wilkie Amazon Profile

Diane Wilkie’s Social Media Links
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account
Pinterest Account

Roberto González Rivera 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am an artist and author. I won my first regional writing award in seventh grade and I have been writing ever since. I also translate books and help other authors publish their work. I have taught at every level from Kindergarten to College in Venezuela, Puerto Rico, New York and Florida and I have been artist-in-residence in France and New York. So far I have published four books. My latest, Víctor Rojas: The Lifeguard of Arecibo, is the first in a series, The Caribbean Chronicles. I am now working on the next volume.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is Víctor Rojas: The Lifeguard of Arecibo. It is inspired on the real life story of a man who saved hundreds from drowning in stormy Caribbean waters during the last days of the Spanish Empire and of the terrible price he paid for his courage and compassion. He was from my home town and I grew up thinking I knew the story. Only when I started researching him did I learn the truth.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Unusual, no. I do a fair amount of dictation and I use Dragon to transcribe. I use Scrivener to develop my manuscripts until they are ready for other eyes to read them and give me feedback.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I don’t know about “influenced,” but I love books from Simon Winchester, Stephen King, H.G. Wells, Edgar Allan Poe, John Le Carré, Carlos Ruiz Zafón, Gabriel García Márquez, Francoise Sagan, Shirley Jackson, Joe Hill, Audrey Niffenegger …

What are you working on now?
I’m working on the next volume of my Caribbean Chronicles series, about a small-town officer who repels a British invasion of his island with a ragtag group of townspeople in the 18th Century.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
My advice for new authors is that writers write. Even if it’s just a few paragraphs at a time, it is important to develop a writing habit. Not an editing habit, mind you. That comes later. We must not get involved in editing until we have finished a first draft, in my view. That just slows things down.

What are you reading now?
Right now I’m reading Strange Weather, a collection of short novels by Joe Hill. I’m a big fan.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Coming up next is my next book in the Caribbean Chronicles series, and the next one after that.

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 sure this would change if I were asked the same question next week, but right now I would say, Don Quixote, The Count of Montecristo, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare and The Unconsoled, by Kazuo Ishiguro.

Author Websites and Profiles
Roberto González Rivera Website
Roberto González Rivera Amazon Profile

Roberto González Rivera’s Social Media Links
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account
Pinterest Account

Adrian Horn 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m a novelist and Cultural Historian with a varied background. At forty five I started a research PhD into Americanisation, Juke boxes and their cultural effects on youth culture 1945-60. It took me six years and my book Juke box Britain was the result. It was well received, and as I needed to speak at academic conferences as well as teach, it gave me the confidence to speak publicly. But more than that, it made me think that I might write fiction and become what I always wanted to be: a novelist. I have recently given up teaching with the Open University to concentrate on my writing.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Anaesthesia: a story of love, war and addiction. After my parents died, I found a box of old family papers in their attic. They were a revelation. Growing up, my grandfather on my mother’s side was never talked about and I had never seen a photograph of him. I discovered that my grandfather was the son of Swedish immigrants and fought in the Great War, and that his father was a successful timber merchant in London . It made me wonder, what terrible thing could a man could do to make his family erase him from their history? After reading more about the war, a possible answer came to me: morphine addiction!

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Dog walks in the local countryside but that probably isn’t so unusual. My best time for writing is from ten or eleven in the morning until about one or two in the afternoon. After that I do more practical things. I frame pictures and grow vegetables.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
There are so many: Ernest Hemingway, Isabelle Allende, Louis de Bernieres, Thomas Hardy, Daphne du Maurier, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Rebecca West, Pat Barker, Sebastian Faulks.

What are you working on now?
I’m working on a sequel to Anaesthesia that follows the seventeen-tear-old Lisa in 1936 from a dreary London suburbia up to Sweden and the town of Sundsvall. At the outbreak of WWII she is left with some big decisions to make.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
My website adrianhornwriter.com has helped as well as various promotion sites. But mostly by making myself known to local press, libraries, bookshops and book groups. Being available to give talks.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Yes, believe in yourself. All authors struggle with self-confidence issues and almost all authors are rejected at the beginning. The ones who survive stick at it.
Read as well as write. Learn about style. I found Hemingway’s book On Writing really useful. Don’t wait for inspiration to come, have a writing schedule. Avoid most adjectives.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
A first draft is usually rubbish but you have to write it. It’s normal to rewrite ten times before it looks OK.

What are you reading now?
Just finished Ingrid Bergman’s autobiography. I couldn’t put it down. Books by authors like Emma Smith’s, As Green as Grass, to give me an idea of what it was like for a girl to grow up in the years before WWII. Also an array of history books about Sweden’s role as a neutral in WWII.

What’s next for you as a writer?
To carry on with my present saga that will probably end in the 1950s. To enjoy my status as a writer and bask in the glory of a successful 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?
Seth Speaks by Jane Roberts, the Collected Works of Kahlil Gibran, Tess of the D’urbervilles by Thomas Hardy, House of the Spirits by Isabelle Allende.

Author Websites and Profiles
Adrian Horn Website
Adrian Horn Amazon Profile

Adrian Horn’s Social Media Links
Twitter Account

Rick Novak 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
This is my very first book.

Starting as a cartoon animator for NBC, Nickelodeon, and Univision, I progressed to Fine Art. With an impressionist style, I sell my work internationally for such publishers as P.I. Creative, Eurographics, World Art Group, ATI, Circle Graphics, Marmont Hill, Leanin Tree, Metaverse and East Coast Graphics.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Eyes of an Artis.

As an art teacher, I have had many people suggest that I write a book about my vision. Artist have a unique perspective on life and its been my goal to help others with this vision.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I write from my perspective, with quirky dry humor to move my readers to better their lives.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Always a fan of Hemmingway, I write with the same direct approach.

What are you working on now?
My next book is titled “Slave, A history of injustice.”

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
As a new author, I am still finding my way.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Do not give up on your dreams. Write from your passions. If you have a story to tell, people will want to read about it.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
“Go in through the narrow gate, because narrow and cramped is the road to life”

Jesus Christ.

What are you reading now?
Indianapolis by Lynn Vincent and Sara Vladic.

What’s next for you as a writer?
To finish my new 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?
The Bible, Advanced Bushcraft, and Hemingways Short Stories.

Author Websites and Profiles
Rick Novak Amazon Profile

Rick Novak’s Social Media Links
Facebook Profile
Pinterest Account

Daniel Westlund 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
When I’m not writing, I’m a cyber-security engineer. I married my high school sweetheart and we have three perfect teenagers. This is my first book. I have a sequel in mind, but you never know if a book has legs until you start on it.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Stolen Shroud was born out of a crisis of faith. While I struggled with my faith, I had the following thought: if I pull out of this struggle, I’d like to write a novel in which the main character loses his faith, and then gets it back in the end. There are many novels where the main character becomes disillusioned. Not as many about becoming disillusioned, and then finding out that the original illusion was real all along.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
It took me just short of four years off and on to write this one, not counting the two years before I started while I sat on it, or the 37 years before that while I lived out some of the stories. I am fortunate to have many mornings free, so I write then. I wrote a little at night but found I wasn’t as sharp. Once my ideas are set, I can write pretty quickly, like a draft of a chapter a day, but it did take me four years to write it. I bet the next one will be quicker.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Orson Scott Card’s Xenocide. Frank Peretti’s The Visitation. David Mitchell’s Bone Clocks. If you count television, J.J. Abrams and all the LOST writers. I’ve never read Dan Brown’s Davinci Code, but this book would not exist without it.

What are you working on now?
Promoting this book. Book two is swirling around in my head, which is part of the process, but I won’t start on it until this book has been launched.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Remains to be seen, but Dave Chesson has been great (he gave me this site). I have his Publisher Rocket program and am ready to go.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Contrarian advice here. I would not look into publishing until you’ve written your book, and then reverse engineer your promotion campaign to what you’ve written. Write a dang good book. My favorite how to write books were James Scott Bell’s Plot and Structure (by far the most useful to me), Orson Scott Card’s Characters and Viewpoint, and Robert McKee’s Dialogue.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Orson Scott Card says when you think up a character, avoid the stereotype. It’s easy to make a nerdy IT guy have the hobby of collecting Star Wars dolls. What if instead he was obsessed with, professional wrestling?

What are you reading now?
I’m obsessed with Fredrik Backman. Maybe some Harry Potter. Also books about God and the Bible.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Ideally, starting a podcast. Writing a sequel. Maybe non-fiction at some point.

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?
Bible. Lord of the Rings. Complete works of Shakespeare. Would have to be tough stuff that I could reread over and over like an English professor, and Lord of the Rings for fun. And of course for my fourth, a book on how to build a ship.

Author Websites and Profiles
Daniel Westlund Website
Daniel Westlund Amazon Profile

Daniel Westlund’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Twitter Account

Styna Lane 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’ve currently published 6 books – 3 novels and 3 books of poetry (2 of which were under the name D.L. Hope.)
I started writing in 2012 when my health began to spiral, and I found myself physically unable to live the life of adventure that I had always lived before. So, I started living it on paper. In 2013 I published my first novel, and I haven’t stopped since.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is called ‘Well Wishes from a Sick Girl.’ It’s a book of poetry, and the first time I’ve brought my health into my writing in such a literal sense. In most of my work, if there are references to my health it’s usually in the form of a metaphor. Since I’ve been on a path of accepting my disability, it seemed like it was finally time to stop hiding it in metaphor.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I think all of our writing habits would probably seem unusual to non-writers! But I don’t know that mine are any more unusual than anyone else’s. One of my strange habits is that I always snack on red Tootsie Pops while I’m editing! Not the healthiest choice, but when your stomach is partially paralyzed your snacking options are limited lol!

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I would say Neil Gaiman is probably one of my biggest writing influences. His words never cease to leave my jaw on the floor. But, of course, I was born in 1990, so I’d be lying if I didn’t say Harry Potter had the biggest influence on my life. It was the first book that really pulled me in and made me enjoy reading, and it was a massive escape for me throughout my childhood and well into my adult years. It led me to a place where words became worlds, and I will be forever grateful for that.

What are you working on now?
I am currently working on the sequel to Yesterwary. It’s long overdue, and definitely time!

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
My method is to build up a community that’s more than just about books. I also live-stream my music on Twitch, I run a YouTube channel centered on chronic illness, and I’m very active on Instagram and Twitter. We’ve built up a community of all types of creatives who support each other, and it’s been so much better for my head and heart than back when I did nothing but run ads and hope.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
My biggest piece of advice would be, don’t get so caught up in the ‘what if’s’ that you stop yourself from ever getting there. There are a lot of things that could or could not happen, but you’ll never know unless you try. And step one will always be: Write.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
The best advice I ever heard was that if someone is that you’re not going to be able to make everyone happy. I have a habit of writing incredibly sad endings, and then rethinking that because I know the majority of people really don’t want to READ a sad ending. But if that’s what the ending is, then that’s what it needs to be. Some people won’t like what you write. You’re not writing for them.

What are you reading now?
I’m currently doing a bit of throwback and re-reading American Gods by Neil Gaiman.

What’s next for you as a writer?
After finishing the sequel to Yesterwary, I’d really like to focus on some work that brings disability into the spotlight. I touched on it a bit with my last book of poetry, but it’s time for a novel. There’s not nearly enough disabled representation in the media (and a lot of what IS there was written by abled people, and is incredibly inaccurate, often offensive). I have a couple ideas rolling around.

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 going to be clever here and say one of them would be a survival book, with a guide to the edible and inedible plants local to the island… and then, let’s see… American Gods, as it’s one of my favorites. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. And Misery by Stephen King. What a combination!

Author Websites and Profiles
Styna Lane Website
Styna Lane Amazon Profile

Styna Lane’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Maria Coll 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am from Venezuela, currently living in Chile. I have written a few books, publishing my first one, Powerful, a couple of years ago. I am currently working on the sequel to Powerful and a couple of other books simultaneously.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book, which can be found on Amazon and other mayor online sellers, is called Powerful. It’s a work of fiction and takes a lot of inspiration from people I have met throughout my entire life. I was motivated to write this story once the characters started taking form in my head and I began to feel that their story was one that needed to be told and shared with others.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Not that I am aware of! I guess the one thing is that I need to listen to music while I write. It helps me concentrate and sometimes inspires certain parts of the story to come alive.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I enjoy a lot of different book genres and writers, but my biggest inspiration probably comes from people like Dan Brown, JK Rowling, Dean Koontz and Iris Johansen. These are all authors I have grown up with and greatly enjoy digging into their books and learning from their different styles.

What are you working on now?
I am currently working on the sequel to Powerful, titled Unstoppable. In this new book I am able to continue the story that started off in the first one, give the characters more development and finish a lot of the unanswered questions.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I think the best outlet I’ve had to promote my book has been through facebook.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Simply to keep on writing. It’s never easy, specially not with all the rejections that we go through but the important thing is to write what we love and to never stop doing it. Someone out there will be grateful and glad with what you have to offer.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Regarding writing, probably to always focus on writing because you love it and because it allows you to express yourself in a way that few other things do.

What are you reading now?
I am currently reading Hunting Eve by Iris Johansen.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I am working on finishing Unstoppable and getting that published. Then, on to new stories and characters!

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 Harry Potter books, for certain!

 

Maria Coll’s Social Media Links
Twitter Account

Timothy Swiney 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I was born in a really really small time in the mountains of Southwestern Virginia. When I graduated high school I enlisted in the Navy. When I was discharged I returned to college and became a Respiratory Therapist specializing in Neonatology and Pediatrics. After nearly three decades in the medial field I adopted two young children and we moved our family to Punta del Este Uruguay when I began to pursue my dream of writing.
We returned to the United States in 2018 and currently reside in the Atlanta suburbs.

I have authored four fiction novels and seven screenplays.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is titled “Baby Mine”. It is a horror/thriller set in present day Atlanta. The story is about a young African-American mother-to-be who answers an online ad selling a jogging stroller. When the protagonist rushes out to make the purchase she arrives at the seller’s home and meets a mentally unstable woman who abducts her and locks her in a cage with the intent to take her unborn baby.

The novel is based on a my screenplay of the same title.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I have a few unusual writing habits. The first is that when I write I work on both a novel and a screenplay version both at the same time. That way, the movie and the book will be truer to the plot. Also, the screenplay serves as an outline when I’m writing the book.

The second writing habit is that I daydream the entire story before I start writing. I close my eyes and image that I’m watching a movie from beginning to end. This gives me a mental framework to begin writing.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Stephen King, Anne Rice, Ray Bradbury, Clive Barker, J.K. Rowling, George R.R. Martin … to name a few.

What are you working on now?
I have just completed both the screenplay and novel entitled “Baby Mine”. Currently I am promoting the book and in negotiations for the production of the Baby Mine film. My next writing project is a sequel to my epic fantasy novel entitled “The Between: Rise of the Hunter.”

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I promote my books across multiple social media outlets and have just recently partnered with a new publisher/edit called Skinny Brown Dog Media. I always find it helpful to schedule several books signings and attend book fairs.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Yes. First, don’t stop writing. Whether you are picked up by one of the big publishers or self-publish, every story has a place.

Second, every character must have their own unique voice; their own distinct character, personality and quirks.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Finish everything you start.

What are you reading now?
When I’m not writing, I do editing. I am currently reading and editing an unpublished inspirational book for an aspiring writer.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I have three writing projects on my to-do list. Next in line is the sequel to “The Between: Rise of the Hunter.”

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 first and most important would be an empty notebook so I can write. The next two books would be a thesaurus and dictionary. The final book would the “SAS Survival Handbook: The Ultimate Guide to Surviving Anywhere”

Author Websites and Profiles
Timothy Swiney Website
Timothy Swiney Amazon Profile

Timothy Swiney’s Social Media Links
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Janet (Jay) Ashforth 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
This is my first book, but I plan to write more. I’m a Writer, Health and Wellness Leader, Personal Trainer, and Massage Therapist with over 20-years of experience.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
“The Last F*cking Weight Loss Book You’ll Ever Need,” was inspired by our growing obesity epidemic and the confusion surrounding weight-loss. There are more products and services than ever, and we have access to more information than ever, yet people are getting fatter.

The weight-loss industry is a multi-billion dollar industry that promotes gimmicks and lies that don’t work, and it confuses people.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Yes. I set-aside uninterrupted blocks of time for writing. I turn off my phone, don’t look at incoming emails or notifications, and don’t surf the web.

It’s only unusual because most of us don’t work undistracted.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Too many to list

What are you working on now?
Promoting my eBook and Health and Wellness articles for different publications.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I’m just starting to promote my book, so I’m not sure yet.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Before you write your book, prepare an audience so that you can hit-the-ground-running when you’re ready to promote your book.

Edit, edit, edit.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Focus on the moment.

What are you reading now?
Articles on Medium

What’s next for you as a writer?
I plan on promoting my current book and speaking about the subject for quite some time. Then, I hope to start the next book in my series of “The Last F*cking ________ Book You’ll Ever Need.”

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?
Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts
How to Change Your Mind by Michael Pollen
The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle

Author Websites and Profiles
Janet (Jay) Ashforth Website
Janet (Jay) Ashforth Amazon Profile

Janet (Jay) Ashforth’s Social Media Links
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Gloria Casale 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
This is my first book. It received a First-place award from the Public Safety Writer’s Association and was a Finalist in the NM/AZ Book Awards.
This was my first novel. I have two books that will be published in 2020. The prequel to BIOTERROR The Essential Threat, and the first book of a mystery series, COUNTING DOWN.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
BIOTERROR was inspired by my specialized training in bioterror. After the terror attack in 2002, I knew the book needed to be written. The prequel has to do with the takedown of Noriega.

What are you working on now?
I am editing the first book in the Counting Down series, as well as the first book in my Spy Thriller series.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Don’t get discouraged. Write every day if you can. Learn how to write right.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Be yourself.

What are you reading now?
Joseph Badal’s latest book – Justice.

What’s next for you as a writer?
My bio. I’ve lived an unusual life. Not anything me, my friends, or family would ever have expected.

 

Author Websites and Profiles
Gloria Casale Website

Tower Lowe 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I published five short stories about Cinnamon and Burro investigating crime in New Mexico, and my readers asked for a novel. Two novels exist now in the Cinnamon Burro series: In Gallup, Greed and In Albuquerque, Abandoned. Next I started the Cotton Lee Penn historical mysteries. Two books start the series: Gone on Sunday and Premonition.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Coming soon is from Solstice Publishing, fraud investigator Molly Donovan escapes a boarded up house and avoids drowning in Cochiti lake. No Way Out is suspense-filled pleasure. A desire to add a little romance to my mysteries inspired this book, plus, like all my books, characters with disabilities appear as part of the plot, not objects of sympathy or heroes for not giving up on life.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I write in short bursts if I need to, I write on the patio in good weather, and I push to get 1500 words a day (but in the end, it varies a from 500 to 2000).

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Tana French, Ruth Ware and Tony Hillerman all influence me. I love all the mystery writers from Raymond Chandler to Agatha Christie to Walter Moseley and Elmore Leonard…and more.

What are you working on now?
I am working on the second book in the Molly Donovan trilogy. Molly is a former fraud investigator in love with a New Mexico PI whose Spanish heritage leads him to follow after a distant cousin in Spain. Feeling abandoned, Molly falls for a Navajo FBI agent investigating a local kidnapping. Everybody hears drumming and nobody is safe.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
So far, for me, nothing works like promoting free or discount books through at least five promotion newsletters at once. I try to stay on the cheap, but when I have the money, I go with the big guys who charge $50-100. I use paid advertising with Amazon and Bookbub, but my budget has dwindled. Hoping my new book will add some promotion money to the coffers. Sales are a combination of work and luck. Once I sold a couple thousand copies in two months, but it was word of mouth and luck.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Write and don’t give up. Everybody says this, and it’s the only good piece of advice I’ve gotten. I did get a traditional publisher eventually, and that allows me to keep writing and have an audience — at least for now!

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Keep writing and don’t give up. Keep trying to publish any way you can and get an audience. It builds slowly, but it does build.

What are you reading now?
Standing in Another Man’s Grave by Ian Rankin

What’s next for you as a writer?
Traditional publishing is next. I am excited a publisher is willing to take a risk on me, but I am working on my own promotion, too. I try everything, waiting for luck to swing my way.

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?
Shakespeare’s works, a book of Emily Dickinson’s poems, and a book of Eudora Welty’s short stories. And anything by James Baldwin.

Author Websites and Profiles
Tower Lowe Website
Tower Lowe Amazon Profile

Tower Lowe’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Myrtle Brooks 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am a retired postal clerk in Brooklyn, N.Y., who has many second homes away from home (New York City). Through Black Rose Writing, a traditional small press publisher (who is growing), I have three published books: two are novels, one a collection of short stories. All are family-oriented (no profanities, no graphic sex scenes) and seasoned with more than a dash of fantasy.
Re: “second homes”: I love to travel and have found extraordinary beauty in nature and in national parks such as Yellowstone and Grand Teton where the two novels take place respectively (“The Geyser Girl of Yellowstone Park” and “Stories of the Mother Bear”). Being a roadie, I have driven cross-country to feel every inch of road beneath the wheel. But when I cross the Goethals Bridge or the George Washington and enter New York City, the ecstatic feel is always the same. Thus, I penned my love affair with the Big Apple in 10 shorts (“Songs to New York”) on miraculous events occurring to everyday people in the five boroughs.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
When I drove to Grand Teton National Park, it was at least 40 years since I had last visited there. But it was as though I had never left. I knew my way around. How else to describe it? From “Stories of the Mother Bear”:
“A little ways along the main road after the Teton entrance, I pulled
the bus over to the curb, opened the door and emerged to look around
me. The passenger’s side door opened soon after, followed by the rear
doors, and the family gathered around me. I embraced them all.
‘What is it, Daddy?’ Anna was first to enquire of me.
‘Did you see the bear?’ Susanna tugged at my sleeve.
I shook my head slowly. ‘It’s… that I feel I’ve been here my whole
life. As though it’s a place I’ve known for all time.’
‘Is it because it’s scenic?’ Jesse sought me eagerly.
‘It’s because… I’ve returned home.'”
I felt the land’s welcoming embrace. “Like a big old mother bear,” I remarked when I was back home. Followed by: “That’s it!”
The story took the form of a fictional autobiography of a journalist who embarks on a life journey after discovering his childhood vision of a mother bear in Teton was shared by others throughout history.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I’m a shape-shifter: sometimes I let the story lead me. Then I pause to outline another section. One story was so difficult that I had to plot out the “Act III” part. It was a murder mystery, a genre brand new to me.
But I much prefer my characters and circumstances to surprise me whenever I can.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
The Bible, foremost, which our family reads often. Have to chuckle, because it definitely showed in “Geyser Girl” which is written in poetic prose. Got this review on Amazon:
“I’m glad to see someone else saw that the book read like the King James version of Geyser Girl meets Dances with Wolves from nature’s point of view.” LOL
Daphne DuMaurier’s “Rebecca” has stayed with me, both for its lush, aromatic descriptions which transport the reader into her world, but for her ingenious way of showing, not telling.

What are you working on now?
Two new books of shorts: one, a second volume of N.Y.C. stories; the other, a collection of stories reflecting the human condition (the murder mystery is the first one).
I also wrote a stand-alone children’s story.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
My publisher likes days of Free Kindle. It garners much attention, which is what’s needed.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Don’t worry about how good your work is. That’s not writing; it’s editing. Write first. From the heart.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
The same.

What are you reading now?
“Throw-Away Faces” by gifted author Josef Alton. A shadowy, gruesome murderer knows how to confront and elude his pursuers at the same time.

What’s next for you as a writer?
In addition to the short stories, I have written 3 screenplays, one of which is a musical and expected to go into production end this year or so. The other 2 are supernatural horror. Actively looking for an interested party.
Also, after I finish editing my new children’s story, I will pursue animation.

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, a collection of Shakespeare’s works in their entirety, a dictionary and a book of children’s fables.

Author Websites and Profiles
Myrtle Brooks Website
Myrtle Brooks Amazon Profile

Myrtle Brooks’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Owen D Hill 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I have written two books of poetry with a third in the works. I am also trying my hand at screen writing, anting to tell the story of an ancestor that was a passivist but then fought in the revolutionary war.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
I have always written, poetry off and on, but never felt I should release any of it. I have been working on my environmental start-up which was going along slowly. With that uphill battle I found myself needing an artistic outlet as something different from my day to day…the book came together as a result. In fact I put together two books in the time frame.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Not terribly…maybe I can be a bit rude when I am clamoring to write down a thought before I forget it. I feel like that could be a common thing though.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Corso, Nietzsche, Bukowski, Wallace, Rossetti, Aurelius, and many more…but those are the wise old men and woman I go back to time and time again…

What are you working on now?
A third collection of poems and a few screenplays mulling around. I have other screenplays in mind beyond the one mentioned in the previous question. I find the film script timing can be a form of poetry when read actually.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I’m only getting started, so I feel I have no real answer for this. I am enjoying the Awesome Gang experience so far though.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
I feel as though I am not qualified to answer this…but here is a life though that may be applicable to some. Write and share…give your voice room to breathe. Don’t be afraid to touch on subjects that are tough… Prejudice, persecution, and privilege are always in a constant state of context.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Be kind be safe be human…lend a hand and smile.

What are you reading now?
The Universal Guide to the Cosmos by Brian Cox

What’s next for you as a writer?
Always observe…and speak truth to power. I am not one to suffer fools, but I will engage in almost any conversation that holds merit or my curiosity. Even if I don’t always understand the merit my curiosity may hold fast.

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?
on the spot I would say…
1. Camping & Woodcraft by Horace Kephart
2. Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
3. Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky (because I have never read it)

Author Websites and Profiles
Owen D Hill Website
Owen D Hill Amazon Profile

Owen D Hill’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Bradley Poole 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am a lifelong oddball who loves fantasy, sci-fi, mythology, and a Traditional Latin Mass (I’m a practicing Catholic). I enjoy reading, watching anime, playing video games, and spending time with my wife, my 1 year old daughter, and our two dogs and three cats. I’m a new author, so I’ve only published one book so far, but I’m working on many more.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Cain: Son of Adam: A Gothic Tragedy. It’s a mythological retelling and expansion of the story of Cain and Abel, portraying Cain as a Classical Hero (like Achilles or Hercules). The idea for the story came to me almost a decade ago, when I was still at University. I was part of a bible study that frequently strayed off topic to speculate about the first chapters of Genesis, and at the same time was just learning about Rene Girard’s Mimetic Theory.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Not really. I have mad ADHD, though, so I have to listen to calming music or bi-aural beats so I can focus enough to write. I’m also a bit of a perfectionists: I outline a lot before I start writing, just so I don’t have to revise more than necessary.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
J.R.R. Tolkien is the biggest one, along with George Lucas (do movies count here? Lol). Stephen King’s book On Writing was one of my biggest influences when I got it into my head to be an author.

What are you working on now?
The first book of a sci-fi/urban fantasy series, involving Greco-Roman gods, vampires, and Crusading Werewolves.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I use Amazon ads for most of my promotion. My blog helps too.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Count the cost. If you really want this book written, be sure you are ready to put the time and effort into it. Same with publishing it.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
The hardest job is the one that’s never started

What are you reading now?
Lord of the Rings. I make a point of reading it and the Hobbit once a year.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Hopefully some fame and a modest income. Either way, I’m not going to stop writing.

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 Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarilion.

Author Websites and Profiles
Bradley Poole Website
Bradley Poole Amazon Profile

Bradley Poole’s Social Media Links
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Shannon Eggleston 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am a single mother to three children. My book was initially inspired by the adoption of my children. I had planned to cover a lot of what they had gone through early in life and how even the earliest of traumas can have a lasting impact.

I discovered that was too hard for me emotionally. So, I turned their story into a psychological thriller. There are some key points that are real, but I will leave it up to the reader to decide what those might be.

I have published two books. One is a children’s book that is only available on Kindle- Angel and the Fox.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is entitled One Phone Call. My children were my inspiration for this book. I would often go into work and tell stories about some of the things my children had done. People kept telling me I should write their story. I started writing my book fresh on the heels of what was an amicable, but still emotional divorce. I was now a single mom with an eight, ten, and twelve year old and I worked odd hours because I was a 911 dispatcher.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I don’t think I have any unusual writing habits. I do currently have about six different Google docs started for different writing projects. Whenever an idea strikes me, I make sure to write it down.

Sometimes I will have an idea for a much later portion of my story so I will make notes further down on the document. I think probably the strangest writing habit is that when I get a thought I have to record it whether it’s by writing it or voice recording it.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Kristin Hannah has been a huge influence on me. I love her character development and the way she sets a mood. James Patterson has also been a great influence on me.

What are you working on now?
I am currently working on a thriller that involves a single mother of two. Her son is in a long-term psychiatric treatment facility that forces her to move to a small town in a very rural area of North Carolina. When she moves to the small town she learns just how scary mental illness can be.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
So far I have only published on Kindle Direct Publishing. I am still working on book promotions, but Awesome Gang does an amazing job getting books in front of readers! I would definitely recommend signing up with them!

Do you have any advice for new authors?
If you want your work to be seen, you need to understand that the hard work is not the writing. The hard part doesn’t start until you begin to market your book. Have a plan. The old adage: If you fail to plan, you plan to fail, is so true. You can have the best book on the market, but unless you can get it in front of readers it won’t go anywhere.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Rock Thomas says, “When you change your words, words create your world.” As a writer, words are my world. It is so very important to make sure that world is a good one!

What are you reading now?
Right now I am reading two books: Stephen King’s Dr. Sleep, and Victor Methos’s A Killer’s Wife.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I plan to keep writing. I have a children’s book that I am collaborating on with my sister. She is an incredible artist, so I have asked her to create the artwork for me. It should be great! The book is for my nephew and was inspired by his love of llamas.

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?
That’s a really hard question. How do you narrow it down to three when there are millions to choose from? I think the first book would have to be Little Women. I have loved that book since I was nine. The second book would be One Child by Torey L. Hayden. It was published in 1980 and tells the story of an amazing teacher who works with special needs children. Hopefully I will have a copy of some type of DIY book that teaches me how to be MacGuyver and build a seaworthy boat/raft out of whatever is handy.

 

Vanessa M. Chattman 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I have written several poetry books and a 12 book poetry series.
It’s called
The Poetry Series listed on Amazon
Barns & Noble
and Goodreads.com

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The Black Sea of Roses: A Novel ( Book 1)

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I have journalistic writting habits.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
All of Stephen King’s books.

What are you working on now?
The Black Sea of Roses: A Novel ( Book 2).

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

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Never give up, keep motivating yourself and stay focused.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
If you don’t read then you can’t write.

What are you reading now?
Under The Dome by Stephen King.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I’m working The Black Sea of Roses Octology Book series.

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 will bring my own book, The Black Sea of Roses: A Novel ( Book 1)
Then I would bring Stephen King’s books
Under The Dome,
Knight Shift
Pet Semetary

Author Websites and Profiles
Vanessa M. Chattman Website
Vanessa M. Chattman Amazon Profile
Vanessa M. Chattman Author Profile on Smashwords

Vanessa M. Chattman’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Cory Scott 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I have 2 novella’s and one book so far, I have 9 WIP novella’s as part of a series, and one WIP novel that should be done this year.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The name of my latest book is God’s in the Garden. This was inspired actually at the death of my mother who was a very religious woman. I didn’t realize how much control she had over what I believed when it came to God. So, I took a three-year journey stripping away all that was not real to me to see if anything remained. It became very painful as I dug into deep hurts from abuse and other injuries that I refused to face. Through the entire process, I came to see personal truth, I found freedom, and I found unbelievable healing.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Yes, I walk 10-15 miles every night. I process during this time and record my thoughts and feelings. I also work on scenes and review what I have written through an audio program that reads back what I wrote that day. It is weird but it works for me.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
This will sound strange, but, Stephen King’s ability to spin a tale has had a huge influence on me. Also some of the older works like Ulysses by James Joyce and not as old works by Robert Jordan all the way to Author C. Clark, then more recently I have enjoyed Charlie N. Holmberg. I could go on and on and none of them would seem like authors I would read from what I write, but they have all impacted me in so many ways.

What are you working on now?
Marketing, but I steal away to write on a project called The Avaricious Flower which is my exploration of early trauma and separation anxiety through the life of a seedling and its mother flower who won’t let it go and all the horrors that pursue.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I am just now figuring all that out, I am relatively new to this, I would say this site since this is my first attempt to do this. I also am new to social media but I have been fortunate to have over 6000 followers on twitter which is strange to me since I just got on it three months ago.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
It would be strange to give advice, I am a recently published author but I have been writing for years, I just never thought I could do this and I put it off too long. I guess if you want advice from a newbie, it would be, don’t wait so long to become a newbie.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Its work, you have to work at it, so stop whining and get to work.

What are you reading now?
Smoke and Summons by Charlie N. Holmberg.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I guess, sell more books, figure out how to get my work out there.

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 like to get lost in books and I like long books so they would be, in order, Time out of Mind, the lives of Bob Dylan by Ian Bell, The Stand by Stephen King, Any of the Frank Herbert Dune books, and finally, The Winds of Winter by George RR Martin just to ensure that I will never become stranded on a desert island.

Author Websites and Profiles
Cory Scott Website
Cory Scott Amazon Profile

Cory Scott’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account