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Erika Crosse 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I have written and published three books, ‘Faith’, “A Knight’s Challenge’ and ‘Mirror Image’. I live in Southampton, England with my husband and three children.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is called ‘Mirror Image’. I’ve loved Jane Austen novels since I was a teenager and, after a visit to Highclere Castle a few years ago, I was inspired to write a novel that was split between the 1800s and the present day.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I don’t really have any unusual writing habits, apart from I often have to write with at least one of my twin boys on my knee, squashed into the corner of the sofa!

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Miranda Dickinson and Val Wood

What are you working on now?
I’m currently writing my first draft for my fourth novel based in the 1800s.

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

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Keep writing, even when you don’t believe you can do it! Try and forget what others might say and simply enjoy your passion… and don’t give up!

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
To believe you are a writer even before you’ve published anything…you write, therefore you are a writer.

What are you reading now?
The Hungry Tide by Val Wood

What’s next for you as a writer?
To continue writing stories that people love reading.

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?
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
It started with a kiss by Miranda Dickinson
The Bible

Author Websites and Profiles
Erika Crosse Amazon Profile

Erika Crosse’s Social Media Links
Facebook Profile

Ange Farouche 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
So far I wrote 2 books:
‘Heiress: The Beginning’ and ‘Heiress: The Strenth Test’
Currently working on the 3rd book ‘Heiress: Journey to the Green Star’ as well as on transformational novel-training ‘Do I Have To Say The Words?’
Writing always was my greatest passion, but my Ph.D. research was taking a lot of time. Now I am completely happy to be back to my calling and what I love to do.
For a while, I was writing to the table doubting my talent, but after I was introduced to the Sacral Matrix knowledge and realized that I have a strong Writer’s program in it, my life changed completely. I am planning to finish all books I’ve started. So far it’s 7.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The first one and latest at the moment is ‘Heiress: The Beginning’. I wrote at the age of 16 and forgot about it for the next 16 years. I was missing my dad, he introduced me to the world of fiction, leaving us he left all his fiction library to me. I think I just wanted my Dad to be proud of me reading one of my fiction books one day.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I prefer to write by hand, this way I can write for hours, sitting somewhere outside in a cafe with a nice view (sea-view would be the best). I am plotting what I am going to write about in my mind during 2 hours daily walk.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I would highlight Isaak Asimov and his books and Stanislav Lem with his ‘Solaris’
I am not a big fan of the detective genre, my preference is fiction, but I love all detective books by Boris Akunin for its elegant humor and share of mysticism.

What are you working on now?
I want to finish ‘The Wishes Map book’. It’s not fiction, but esoteric and it will help a lot of people to make their dreams come true. Later I am going to focus on the continuation of ‘Heiress’ or ‘Do I Have To Say The Words?’ it depends on feedback of my readers.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I am a complete newbie in this area. When I figure out, I will share this information with other authors. But I believe in karma and just planting seeds for my book to have success.
If you want to observe this experiment, inviting you to my Instagram: @ange_farouche, where I am giving more information about 4 steps to achieving any goal.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Just know that you are worthy and if you wrote something, definitely there will be people who need to read this. Don’t be afraid to share your talent.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Things are empty. And that was more than advice, that was a key to understand life.
Thanks to Michael Roach.

What are you reading now?
Lala Agni ‘I just want you to remember’ – a wonderful book about twin-flame journey soon will be available in English

What’s next for you as a writer?
Studying marketing and things. Writing a book is just as giving life to a baby. It’s only the beginning of the journey.

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?
Tough choice:
1. ’10 rules of living life on Earth’ by my teachers M.Khmelovskaya and A.Prosekin.
2. ‘Second Foundation’ by Isaak Asimov
3. ‘Cyberiad’ by Stanislav Lem
4. One of my books, because I am sentimental

Author Websites and Profiles
Ange Farouche Website
Ange Farouche Amazon Profile

Ange Farouche’s Social Media Links
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Sharif Khan 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’ve been writing on and off since I was a kid when I was using my father’s manual typewriter – with whiteout! – to write stories in the basement.

After I graduated from York University in Toronto with an Honours BA in Psychology, I managed a small bookshop on Yonge and St. Clair for five years and had the time of my life reading ARCs (Advanced Reading Copies) from bestselling authors, hosting book signings, and attending book conferences and parties. It’s around this time I started to have an inkling about possibly becoming an author.

I’ve always been interested in human development, personal growth, and psychology (my father had a PhD in Psychology and was doing human resources development training and so a lot of it rubbed off on me) and also in mythology, especially Joseph Cambell’s work around the hero’s journey.

And so, I took my years of self-study and research in the field (I actually had my first paper on the mind-body connection published in my high school library at Blair Academy, in Blairstown, New Jersey) and wrote Psychology of the Hero Soul, an inspirational book on awakening the hero within, which was mentioned in Reader’s Digest and the Toronto Sun.

I did a book and speaking tour on the book topic to various business organizations and nonprofits including the Toronto Police, Learning Annex, Human Resources Professionals Association of Ontario, the City of Toronto, etc.

After about a decade of that, in between freelance writing/copywriting gigs and sales consulting roles (writing and sales are my two main strengths; my father had me hawking candy/lemonade when I was a kid and later I did about two years of door-to-door sales to help finance my university education) I was itching to get back to my childhood joy of writing fiction.

During this time, I was also reading books on creative writing and taking writing workshops and courses, and so I finally went for it and wrote a dystopian epic heroic fantasy novel, Brave Fortune, which is now available in paperback and ebook on Amazon.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My debut novel is titled, BRAVE FORTUNE, which comes from the Latin proverb, fortune favours the brave…fortune or luck tends to favour those who are bold and take chances and risks.

The inspiration for the novel was really a continuation of my fascination with the hero’s journey, the alchemy of transmuting base metal lead into gold through the purifying fire of suffering, struggle and sacrifice, and taking the concept to the next level.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I sometimes act out the personas of my characters, especially relishing the villainous roles. I’m sure I’d scare a lot of people off if they stumbled into my room while I was pacing and howling and making strange faces.

I took a method acting course once with Jim Ross, founder of the Canadian Academy of Method Acting, and I believe it has helped me craft better characters.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
The vivid horror of Edgar Allan Poe, Thomas Harris, and Stephen King, Dostoevsky’s deep dive into the human soul, Hemingway’s dogged determination to write the one true sentence, Donna Tartt’s hauntingly gorgeous prose, the dystopian works of Atwood, Bradbury, Vonnegut and Orwell, the honest bravery in Mohsin Hamid’s lean lines, Michael Connelly’s Bosch and James Lee Burke’s Robicheaux detective series, and Cormac McCarthy’s sparse Southern Gothic have provided me with loads of entertainment and inspiration.

Additionally, renowned writing teacher, Pat Schneider, author of Writing Alone and With Others and founder of the Amherst Writers & Artists (AWA) workshop method has had a lasting impact on me. I was first introduced to her work as required reading for training I received as a creative writing facilitator volunteering for the Toronto Writers Collective where I volunteered for 10 weeks at Progress Place offering free writing workshops for people living with mental illness.

I learned to look at writing from an entirely different perspective; to temporarily put aside the critical/analytical eye and explore writing in communion with others through the lens of deep listening and honouring what’s strong and good and resonant in a piece in order to encourage voice and create a brave space to heal and be heard.

As Pat stated in her seminal work, “When we write, we create, and when we offer our creation to one another, we close the wound of loneliness and may participate in healing the broken world.”

Finally, last but not least, my writing mentor Giles Blunt has been a major influence. More about Giles later…

What are you working on now?
I’m currently expanding a novella into a novel. It’s a political issue-based thriller, a work of speculative fiction that posits an alternative reality set in contemporary Toronto around the lives of two characters that get romantically involved in the midst of a massive wave of hate crime targeting their community which escalates into a possible holocaust.

The two characters in love are caught up in this dystopian occupation led by a totalitarian regime and run into conflict with each other because of their opposing views: one of them believes in a peaceful MLK/Gandhi-style revolution, while the other believes in a Malcolm X-style armed resistance.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I’m most active on Facebook and Twitter to promote my books and share interesting musings. I also have a presence on Linkedin which has helped me connect with influencers.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Don’t avoid the dark night of the soul. Embrace it. Embrace the challenges and difficulties and doubts that plague new authors, and veteran authors for that matter. Strive to achieve on paper what’s in your imagination, even if you keep coming short. Do the hard work of promotion, even if no one seems to care. It’s the only way to test yourself and find out what you’re made of. It’s the only way to grow. Seeds don’t grow in the light, they grow in the darkness. Embrace it.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
A wise monk came up to me and smacked me across the head and said: Sharif, cut it out!

What are you reading now?
On the fiction side I’ve started reading Stephen King’s The Institute, while finishing up Daphne du Maurier’s novel, Rebecca, an eerie gothic romance that was adapted into a film by Hitchcock. I’m a big Hitchcock fan and really into dark psychological thrillers and noir.

On the nonfiction side I’m reading Fight of the Century: Writers Reflect on 100 Years of Landmark ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) Cases. I’m deeply disturbed by the erosion of democracy and constitutional freedoms in the West and around the world. The book explores landmark legal battles fought by underdogs to advance civil rights and social justice.

What’s next for you as a writer?
After writing Brave Fortune, I decided to make a big investment in my writing career and was accepted into the Humber School for Writer’s post graduate certificate program in creative writing, a 30-week correspondence program, one-on-one with a writing mentor, to work on a book length project.

My assigned mentor was screenwriter and novelist, Giles Blunt, whose Cardinal detective books got turned into a hit TV series. Giles guided me in developing a contemporary crime novel which is now complete but not yet released. I intend to publish it at some point. Here’s the book pitch:

BONFIRE OF THE VANITIES x THE WOLF OF WALL STREET
“When Adam is promoted in sales at a Bay Street investment firm, he doesn’t expect to be sucked into a scam of conning money from mega church pastors.

Now his life, love & rep are at stake—along with his very soul.”

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?
Oh, boy. They’d have to be big books to keep me occupied: The Collected Works of C.G. Jung, The Portable Nietzsche, and The Greatest Works of Dostoevsky.

Speaking of big books, I hope people will buy my epic fantasy novel, BRAVE FORTUNE, and leave a review on Amazon and Goodreads.

One reader described Brave Fortune as a page-turner – “Action adventure, dark fantasy, psychological intrigue…a treat for the mind.” ★★★★★

Author Websites and Profiles
Sharif Khan Website
Sharif Khan Amazon Profile

Sharif Khan’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Stephanie Acello 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
My first published book, Pour Me Another Cup: Mystical Writings to Illuminate Your Soul, came into circulation June 2019. Presently, I am working on two books: Balancing the Stones: Mystical Writings to Wake Up the Soul and The Ultimate Story: The Mystical Evolution of Our Life. The launch date will be in 2021.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
What inspired me to publish my book at this point in time, is I feel humanity’s consciousness is at a critical point in history, balancing on a very thin line of choice in deciding what kind of world we want to live in. Do we want to live in a world of fear and bondage or love and freedom? It is in our hands, individually and collectively. Pour Me Another Cup offers the opportunity to begin or reinforce a new shift of awareness by offering dynamic and profound insights on every page.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
My habits are writing early in the morning, usually 5am- 7am. I do spend a lot of time in nature for inspiration.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Many authors influenced me, from the ancient texts of Patanjali Sutras and the Tao to I Rumi, Hafiz, Kahil Gibran. Contemporary authors such as Deepak Chopra, Esther Hicks, Neal Donald Walsch, Joe Dispenza and many others are a regular read for me. I do read fiction books as well, but not too often.

What are you working on now?
Presently, I am completing my next book, Balancing the Stones:Mystical Writings to Wake Up the Soul. Hopefully, it will be ready for the editor by the fall. Also, the next book in line is The Ultimate Story: The Mystical Evolution of Our Life. This book is about 90% complete. My plan is for both books to have a launch date in 2021.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I promote my book through my website and business facebook. Also,
author talks to groups and libraries have been a big part of the book’s promotion.
I have accounts on Instagram and Linkedin and post events and quotes from my book and I have donated books to my local libraries and organizations.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
1) Make time almost everyday and write-no judgement, just write.
2)Journal writing
3)Join a supportive local writing group (or webinar group) to aid in accountability.
4) Have fun!

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Write every day!

What are you reading now?
Actually, I am ready two books: The Nature of Personal Reality-Seth
and American Dirt – Jeanine Cummins

What’s next for you as a writer?
When the Stay-At-Home order is lifted, I plan to continue to give author talks and classes. I may attempt to do an audio book and a video.

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?
Patanjali Sutras
Nature of Personal Reality
A couple of The Far Side Comic books

Author Websites and Profiles
Stephanie Acello Website
Stephanie Acello Amazon Profile

Stephanie Acello’s Social Media Links
Facebook Profile

Kristal Dawn Harris 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Hi everyone! Author Kristal Dawn Harris at the helm. I have nine books out. Five are through my publisher, and the other four I’ve self-published using Amazon KU. I’m an avid reader who grew up on those thick romance novels my mom kept lying around the house. I write paranormal, contemporary, and erotic romance in different lengths. I also write song lyrics and poetry. I was surprised to learn I won an award last year for The Burn. That book is up for the Rone Award in 2020.

I live in Ohio with my husband. We’ve been married 28 years. I have two grown children and a couple grand-dogs. I finished an Accounting Tech degree at Miami University, but quickly realized I love words more than numbers, so here I am with several books under my belt.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The inspiration for You Stole My Heart came from one place. While looking for a stock photo to use for a book trailer, I ran across the handsome man on the cover of this book. I immediately thought of a musician, and ran with the idea.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
The only unusual writing habit I have is I move all over the house. I drag my laptop from room to room, even outside. I don’t have a dedicated writing space. I did try it, but it didn’t work for me. Maybe I need a she-shed? lol

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I am a huge fan of Christine Feehan’s Carpathian series. I’ve read every book and even have a signed copy.

What are you working on now?
I am currently working on a vampire story with another author. This will be the first time I’ve co-authored a book, and I like the meshing of writing styles.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I promote my books on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Goodreads. Marketing is a must and a beast of its own. I can’t say one does better than the other. The market is supersaturated, so the more sites I can use, the better.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Write what you love and write it well, then promote it like there’s no tomorrow. If you’re self-publishing use a professional cover designer and an experienced editor. If you’re going the traditional route, learn the business. There is no “right” way nowadays, so listen to your gut and do what’s best for you.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Write every day, even if just one line.

What are you reading now?
Curse of the Dragon by Alyna Lochlan.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I have several more romance releases planned, but I would like to release a poetry book at some point. I’d also like to attend a few conventions.

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 Dark Prince – Christine Feehan
Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
The largest encyclopedia I could find.
The Bible.

Author Websites and Profiles
Kristal Dawn Harris Website
Kristal Dawn Harris Amazon Profile

Kristal Dawn Harris’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account
Pinterest Account

GK Jurrens 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I was rabid about the arts as a young adult. Then life happened.

I married my high school sweetheart as a teenager when Uncle Sam drafted me into the military for two years. Instead, I enlisted in the US Coast Guard Search & Rescue Teams for four. Two children magically appeared.

Suddenly, my child bride and I began a three-decade quest for the American dream. That quest carried me all over the world and damn-near killed me. When I retired early from this successful career in high technology, my creative alter-ego burst back onto the scene.

Once more unshackled, my wife Kay and I traveled almost non-stop. First we went to sea aboard a fat old pilothouse motorsailer. I like to think of “Sojourn” as our personal tramp steamer, our passport to adventure.

We reduced life to its essentials.

After many years, we moved ashore to a home with wheels. For most of the last four years we’ve lived and thrived in a magic bus. Kay plans our extended trips and navigates while I drive, write, paint & craft Native American style flutes out of indigenous desert plants. Together we meditate, conjure amazing vegan dishes, explore mountains and valleys on our motorcycles & celebrate life.

Now we’re in a crazy holding pattern in an insane world, magic notwithstanding.

I’ve written two non-fiction books (my literary training wheels) that sold maybe a hundred copies. I have a large family. I just recently finished and independently published two contemporary thrillers with two more near-future science fiction thrillers on the way in a few months. From there, nobody better get in the way of two-to-three more books a year, probably more near-future science fiction thrillers. How about a sci-fi cozy mystery? No bridge too far!

Not too long ago, I also published a seventy-four poem anthology complete with my original images and essays. I call it “A Narrow Painted Road – An Adventurous Collection of Provocative Poetry.” If you love metaphors but hate social injustice, you’ll adore this eclectic collection.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The book I finished recently, currently on pre-order at Amazon with a May 31st release date, is called “Fractured Dreams.” This is the second book in my Dream Runners series.

The first, “Dangerous Dreams,” is now available in ebook and paperback editions worldwide at all online retailers. They say the most fascinating characters originate from real-world experience, and those in “Fractured Dreams” are no exception.

By living for a few weeks to a few months in each of over forty US states in the last four years, we have met and made friends with so many amazing people or heard unlikely stories told by others. For example, have you ever heard of anyone living in a truck camper who mines antique bottles from the sites of nineteenth outhouses in the Pacific Northwestern US and considers himself a forensic archaeologist? Or a grandmother who lives in the deep desert in a Ford Focus with a 3×3-foot tent that doubles as her outhouse and her solar shower? How about a flute player who performs at a casino and tames rowdy tourists with his naked Native charm? I just couldn’t have infused that sort of authentic inspiration into my writing sitting at a computer in just one location.

Those stories became the genesis of the characters in “Fractured Dreams,” and the story lines continued from the first book, even as they evolved: large-scale intrigue, political conspirators attempting a palace coup within the White House, assassins foiled by underdogs, conflict with undertones of sexual tension, deep-rooted friendships between unlikely characters, and flawed players seeking redemption.

That is the soul of “Fractured Dreams.”

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I write from 4am to about 9am. That’s when Kay awakens. I write in the pre-dawn hours, when she’s sleeping, so when she gets out of bed we can do non-writing stuff together. Then I write for several more hours after she retires. The words must tumble onto the (digital) page, or this author doesn’t sleep. That isn’t odd, is it?

Living first in a boat, and then in a bus, every cubic inch of space has always been precious. So unlike many authors who use six-pound doorstopper reference books, index cards or post-it notes stuck to every vertical surface in their study or their den, or hoard stacks of paper journals or construct physical “murder boards,” I’ve adopted what has evolved to a paperless writing workflow.

My writing flows seamlessly between my iMac, my iPad & my iPhone. Some of my best ideas get recorded on my iPhone in the car while waiting for something or someone. EVERYTHING is backed up on the computer, & in the cloud, & on flash drives.

Nightmares of computer crashes or RV fires drove me to this extreme. When you live in a house that is regularly subjected to earthquake conditions for HOURS at a time, well, you take precautions that might seem unusual to most Earthlings.

Only final formatting is confined to my Big Mac but still backed up on DropBox “out there.” There just has never been any room for paper in the boat or in the bus.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
First, fiction: Any author who combines unlikely tropes in a single book influences me. For example, hints of supernatural or transcendental insights with military fiction. Huh? Yup, that floats my boat.

Or a touch of horror mixed with comedic tropes. When everybody else gets scared, I’m fascinated by authors who smooth the way between awful & scary& and funny & heartwarming & especially weird. The allure of the obscure.

Douglas Preston and Lincoln Childs and all their Pendergast novels: tragically hilarious.

Dean Koontz and his Odd Thomas series. A perfect character navigating twisted story lines.

John Sandford’s characters: Virgil Flowers, Lucas Davenport: big city police procedurals and rural hicksville deductive reasoning interwoven artfully. And they’re also tragically hilarious.

Dale Brown (military fiction), Dan Brown (religious legend) & Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (cosmic consciousness of Transcendental Meditation)

Brad Thor, Vince Flynn, Lee Child, Tom Clancy, Terry Brooks, and of course, James Patterson

Non-fiction: Chris Fox (all his Write Smarter, Write Faster series); Gary Provost (Beyond Style); Angela Ackerman & Becca Puglisi (their Writer’s Thesauri series); Nancy Kress (Beginnings, Middles & Ends); the list is endless… Tammi Lebrecque, David Wogahn, Derek Murphy…

What are you working on now?
My Mayhem series of near-future science fiction encompasses burning social issues of the day, like reckless technology proliferation, and the impact such issues play in unintentionally creating a dystopian future.

“BENEATH the Mayhem,” the first in the series,  reads like a collision between Dean Koontz and JD Robb but with less sex and more conspiracies.

My protagonist’s current caper sounds like a bad joke: an ex-Jesuit priest, a nun, a Chicago detective, a goggled and hooded telepathic girl who hides in a tunnel all partner with a storyteller named Zaya French who lives in a flying bus to solve a string of murders meant to look like accidents or suicides. Zaya and his new friends reveal a conspiracy of planetary proportions as they unravel this mystery. They will not be silenced. But will they survive? Will anyone?

Twenty-eight years later in the second book, “BEYOND the Mayhem,” you’ll meet another generation of telepaths, prescients, and a band of gifted vagabonds, not to mention a cabal of despicable villains you’ll love to hate. This alternative future seems defined entirely by technology but ultimately is still eclipsed by the astounding power of the human mind.

I’m also working on at least two non-fiction manuscripts, one of which may ultimately transform into a memoir of sorts. The other will be a writing and publishing guide for aspiring authors, likely focusing on sharing what I’ve learned about a paperless workflow for independent authors & publishers.

So many ideas, so little time!

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
In order to slowly ramp up my promotions to show the Amazon algorithms I’m on a slow burn rather than an anomalous sales spike, and since I currently have a relatively short email list, for this launch I plan to use a prelaunch sequence of 1) Fussy Librarian, 2) Awesome Gang, and 3) EreaderNewsToday. Circa launch day, I’ll hit as many of the free sites as possible from the Awesome Gang’s awesome resource list.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Gosh, where to start? Okay. NEVER QUIT! Plus don’t JUST focus on writing (like I did when I started out all shiny and enthusiastic). You need to think about other stuff too, like the business side of being an author. Now. Toward that end, this is what I do:

Accomplish one thing, every day, even if just a little, within at least two or three of the following five categories, but each week hit them all.

Keeping a daily journal helps to track how I can do each thing just a little better next time:

1. Write (“How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice!”)
2. Read (Too busy to read? Don’t worry. When you fail as a writer, you’ll have more time to read)
3. Learn (never, never, NEVER, NEVER stop learning about the craft or “the biz!”)
4. Market (What good are books nobody knows exist? An ebook doesn’t even make a good doorstop)
5. Business (To sustain a career in writing takes more than “just” writing & publishing, even though these are the launch platforms to greatness)

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Write at least a little every single day, and I’ll say it again: Never quit!

If you’re writing just for yourself, and not concerned about book sales, let ‘er rip. But if you wish to sustain a career as a writer, you need to sell books. Pick a genre you love, find a sub-genre within that genre that is underserved, and then write to the readers of that segment of the market. Give them what they want and write what you enjoy at the same time (credit: Chris Fox in “Write to Market”).

What are you reading now?
Chris Fox, “Ads for Authors Who Hate Math”
Tammi Lebrecque, “Newsletter Ninja”
Gary Provost, “Beyond Style – Mastering the Finer Points of Writing” (again)
Stephen King, “The Stand”

What’s next for you as a writer?
I’m going wide across as many marketing channels as possible. No longer just Amazon and just Kindle. I’m now using IngramSpark as my distributor to 40,000 channels worldwide (as well as KDP on Amazon).

In the process of learning as much as possible about independent publishing, I’ve established my own publishing imprint (company) called UpLife Press. Right now I have one client: GK Jurrens (me). Thank you for the guidance, David Wogahn.

“Amazon-brightness” is next. God bless Dave Chesson and Kindlepreneur.

Writing to market expectations within a genre I love (science fiction) will be another next turn of my evolutionary crank. They say what can be measured can be improved, so I’ll measure everything, test, and respond to the data, as dry as that sounds. If it works, great. If not, do something different and try again. Thank you, Chris Fox.

As part of my new diversification strategy, I’m learning as much as possible about email marketing on autopilot. This is an essential element in sustaining my author business.

By documenting and repurposing all I’m learning about writing, editing, formatting, graphics design, publishing & marketing, I plan to pull together a book useful to newer authors like myself before I forget what it’s like to be a rookie in this business. No new author should remain myopic and naïve for very long. I am fortunate to have both experienced mentors and devoted mentees in the author biz. But like all of you, I could always use more of both.

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
Bhagavad Gita
Bardo Thodol
Desert Survival Guide

Author Websites and Profiles
GK Jurrens Website
GK Jurrens Amazon Profile

GK Jurrens’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Jan Foster 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I have written lots but so far only published one children’s book – Mitch and Mooch Try Swimming. I am currently also working on the rest of the series – Mitch and Mooch Try Gymnastics is next up!
I am also writing a historical fantasy novel (for adults) based in Tudor England called Fleeing Destiny.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Mitch and Mooch Try Swimming – a story about first swimming lessons – https://www.bklnk.com/B084KK6QB7
Inspired by working with a local swim school as a business consultant and reading with children in schools, I wanted to write something which would help children face their fears about water. I talked to a lot of parents about what was holding their children back from trying new things and the series developed as a result. It seemed that trying a new activity was especially difficult for children who are on the autistic spectrum, so I wanted to include lots of hints and tips to help children prepare and learn about what to expect. This also includes a storyline about what NOT to expect, so hopefully they can assess the likelihood of this happening and realise they can use their own strengths and talents to help!

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I don’t know what is usual, so that’s a tricky question to answer! I write when I have time and/or inspiration, and that can be ANYTIME!

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I love almost all children’s picture books which have conversation starters included – for me, reading with my children isn’t just about the words or the story, I like to make sure they can think ‘around’ the book. This is so important for comprehension and also teaches them the subtle art of reading between the lines – in all contexts!

What are you working on now?
More Mitch and Mooch Try books and my historical fantasy novel.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I’m still learning! I taught myself how to write websites (www.mitchandmooch.com and www.escapeintoatale.com) and have to keep working at marketing daily.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Keep at it and don’t lose heart! Talk to people about your book – what they liked/didn’t like but remember it’s your vision, not theirs.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
She thought she could do it so she did.

And I did!

What are you reading now?
Endless books about Tudor times – Hilary Mantel, C.J.Sansom, etc and John Grisham for light relief!

What’s next for you as a writer?
Expanding my horizons and hopefully some visits to places which I talk about in my historical fantasy novel – NE England and the Orkneys.
Writing more Mitch and Mooch 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?
The Shardlake series – C.J. Sansom; Discovery of Witches series – Deborah Harkness

Author Websites and Profiles
Jan Foster Website
Jan Foster Amazon Profile

Jan Foster’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile

Bob Sharp 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Hi my name is Bob Sharp, I would love to tell you about all the books I’ve written but I can’t, I have only just completed my first. And I’m really rather proud of it. I came to writing late in life although I suspect the talent was always there. I remember at school being the one whose essays were always read out. However I was really a dreadful student and spent the fisrt few years of my adulthood floating from one job to another. A period of my life that has only good memories.
A bit later I decided I’d better do something more meaningful and returned to education and studied IT. I won’t bore anyone with the details.
After writing a few short stories I decided to tackle a novel.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The title of my novel is Alfred Jones and Son, Bros. it is a darkly comic fantasy tale of an inbred family of immortal travelling undertakers and soul traders. I was already struggling with expanding a short story into a novel when – and this is absolutely true- on a dark a stormy West of Scotland road I was driving home, squinting through the rain, on one side of me was a stormy sea-loch and on the other steep forested hillside. As I drove along I spied a crude hand painted sign that pointed into the forest and said simply Jones Bros. And so the seed was sown.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I don’t know, I don’t know what constitutes normal writing habits. Maybe all my writing habits are unusual, but I’m sure everyone continuously juggles skulls while writing.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Loads, too many to list but I will list a few. I remember reading my first ‘grown-up’ book, it was one of my father’s and it was by Wilbur Smith and it was called The Sound of Thunder. I suppose I was eleven or twelve and I was blown away by it, I never returned to Enid Blyton after that. Into adulthood I was/am a huge Iain Banks fan and his sci-fi alter-ego Iain M Banks. I am currently reading a lot of Carl Hiassen and enjoying his work very much.

What are you working on now?
A sequel to Alfred Jones and Son, Bros. once again inspired by a road sign. Without giving too much away this time it was a bright sunny Spanish spring day, and some lockdown restrictions had been lifted allowing me to go out for a walk, as it happened I was just working through a plot line for the new Alfred novel when I saw it. In spanish it said ‘Domingo y Hijo’s’, by the time I got home I’d dropped the plot I was working on and started building a new one based on the sign. I won’t do the translation here but if you’re interested it will give a clue as to where I’m heading.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
It is something I’m currently learning. It’s a minefield, while I didn’t expect to stick it up on amazon and sit back while the royalties rolled in, I didn’t realise just how complex trying to sell a novel can be. Perhaps in a few months time I would be better placed to answer, or alternatively I may just be wreck gibbering away in the corner.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Write every day you possibly can, I have a love/hate relationship with writing, actually sitting down and starting is always something I was good at putting off. But if you want to finish you need to be immersed in your project.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Don’t eat yellow snow.

What are you reading now?
An author I discovered called Tim Dorsey, the book is called When elves attack.

What’s next for you as a writer?
At the moment it’s a mix of wrting the next novel and publicising the first. It’s a bit of a balancing act as I’m having to put a lot of effort into just learning the mechanics of selling.

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 short history of nearly everything by Bill Bryson. Probably my favourite non-fiction writer, I love the gentle humour in his books and for a geek this book is full of so many mind blowing facts. I don’t know how often I’ve read it.
I would need to have an Iain M Banks Culture novel with me, forced to pick one and without referring to my bookshelf I would say ‘Player of games’
I would need to have a copy of Harper Lee’s To kill a mockingbird. I just love this book, not really my usual thing but it is just a beautifully written book which addresses a really difficult issue.

Author Websites and Profiles
Bob Sharp Website
Bob Sharp Amazon Profile

 

Ruth Finnegan 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
How many books? Lots – lost count ( over 30 anyway)

Ruth Finnegan OBE, FBA, an anthropologist and multi-award writer, is EmerItus Professor of the Open University. With extensive experience of both secondary and tertiary education, currently her prime nterest, besides her continuing single-authored books, is as founder and general editor of the educational series ‘Hearing Others’ Voices’ designed to open young adults beyond exam-oriented curricula to the wider opportunities and knowledge in the world and the possibilities of an imagination, understanding and well-informed life in the future.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
‘The helix pearl, the story of the wine dark garrulous sea’. In psoired in a way by my orzo-winning novel ‘Black inked pearl’ as I wanted a different take in the same story ( this time it’s told from the SEAS)s oersoectvek very different) and above all by Homer.

But in a way by nothing, it just arrived in my sleep.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
For my academic books I sit down at my desk and gather my notes and look things up, and think, and concentrate ( try to) and organise myself. And then revise and rewrite a million times

Fir my novels and screenplays I – DO NOTHING, .pthey just arrive: from my unconscious? from heaven? from another time and place? Don’t know from

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Academic books: just about everything I’ve ever read, nit least Erasmus, Bible, Augustine, Vic Turner, Richard Bauman

Creative writing – Homer, Shakespeare, Rumi, Blake

What are you working on now?
Co-editing a wonderful series for young adults, ‘Hearing Others’ Voices, learning so much from it ( https://www.balestier.com/category/hearing-others-voices/)

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Reviews and/ or book awards with
Literary Titan
Author Marketing Services
Readers Favorite

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Don’t be too perfectionist ( deadlines help)

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
From my mother – keep it simple ( well, I really do try)

What are you reading now?
More ‘listening to’: I think beautiful words are to be heard, not seen. So – listening to Shakespeare sonnets, Rumi lyrics, Biblical,osalma, is an ‘Pride and Prejudice ’ fir the umternth time, always find something new in it ( you too I guess.,, )

What’s next for you as a writer?
I have to wait – the next thing will just ‘arrive’ unplanned.A novel I THINK -but who knows…

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?
Homer
Shakespeare
Rumi
and ( you won’t believe) Agatha Christie (any) or Georgette Heyer ( any)

Author Websites and Profiles
Ruth Finnegan Website
Ruth Finnegan Amazon Profile

Ruth Finnegan’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account
Pinterest Account

Andy Duerden 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m a curious mix of Musician, Lawyer and now writer. I studied Law in the 90’s but was then seduced by the dark side – Rock and Roll! I worked as a pro musician for some 20 years as a songwriter, session musician and teacher.

Later in life I returned to the books and qualified as a Lawyer and Mediator and now, virus aside, am carving out an existence which combines all of the the above.

I’m working on a novel with an accompanying soundtrack album but have just self published my first non fiction piece.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My new book is How to Write a Song and the spark came from the many people who I’ve met, taught or just bumped into who would love to write a song but don’t really know where to start. Bit like a novel… there’s a song in everybody and so my aim is to help those frustrated songwriters as best I can.

The book is really an elaboration of some workshops I did with underprivileged kids a few years ago. These were kids who were brimming with talent and vitality but had no exposure to proper music teachers or facilities.

So we gathered in a room and I simply talked to these kids and, much to their amusement, wrote down pretty much everything they said. But then they all sat up when I chopped, chewed and crafted their own words into a verse, then a Chorus. I sat at the piano and stuck a few chords to their words and in a couple of hours they were all up and gathered around a mic recording their own song.

It was great to see and the book takes that premise into a little more detail to help anyone and everyone vent their musical spleens.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
My computer sits in front of me and my synth directly to my right. If the words don’t flow on the computer I simply swivel the chair round and see if some notes might flow instead.

Hopefully this gives me at least some progress either in terms of music or words. It’s certainly interesting with the novel. As it progresses, various parts of the story jump out as being song material and so although I haven’t mastered working both kinds of keyboards at the same time, it moves everything along, slowly but together.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
In terms of the upcoming novel, without a doubt Stephen King. His book “On Writing” is a must read for any wannabe writer.

I recently re-read “It” and as well as being scared to death for the second time, I marvelled at the absolutely exquisite structure. That guy knows how to write!

With the non-fiction piece, I’ve read plenty of Law books over the last few years and some of them are duller than dull. I have a friend in New Zealand, Joe Bennett, who writes fantastic travel books. He manages to get a perfect balance of information and humour whilst letting his own non-fiction read like a story.

What are you working on now?
As I mentioned, it’s the slow moving novel with bonus album. It’s coming but I’m not beating myself up about the pace.

With How to Write a Song it really was a case of write what you know and although it is in itself quite a short piece of work, it came quickly and easily.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I’m new to this so it’s the usual social media sites first and I’m slowly exploring sites like Goodreads to expand the reach as it were.

Of course it helps that I have various music projects on the go at any one time and so I can merge the promo of the book with the music.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
As Mr King advised in “On Writing”….. just start. After that accept the bad days with zero words and move on.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Sorry… stuck record here. See above!

What are you reading now?
A mish-mash which includes Getting to Yes by Fisher and Ury – my attempt at keeping in touch with the Law/Mediation world while in lockdown.

Also on the go are Letters from an Astrophysicist by Neil DeGrasse Tyson and Dead Man’s Blues by Ray Celestin.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I’ll be chipping away at that novel and starting another non-fiction book. I’ve got lots to learn all round and so I guess I’m in it for the long haul!

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 like the all in one version of The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings please. I’m happily lost in that world and by the time you get to the end it’s no trouble to start again.

The Shining would have to be my SK selection and that alongside The Road by Cormac Macarthy would at least remind me that things could be worse.

Finally, I never read a Brief History of Time so I’ll squeeze that one in too if that’s ok.

Author Websites and Profiles
Andy Duerden Website
Andy Duerden Amazon Profile

Andy Duerden’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Francis Thomas 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I have written a total of 3 books and a bundle of poetry. Recently I wanted to take the plunge into non-fiction as I’ve been yearning to write something that can help people. I wanted to write a book that I needed when I was struggling and so I did.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The name of my latest book is Return to Yourself: A Guide to Building Better Mental Health. It is inspired by own mental health journey and recovery. I hope it can inspire others too.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I tend to only want to write when I’m sad as a way to get my emotions out. Usually when I’m feeling some sort of raw emotion that’s when I get the best product. I’m not a strict writer. Although I write everyday, I allow myself the breathing space to write until I feel like. Not under any sort of word constriction.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Great spiritual teachers and authors such as Eckhart Toll and Tara Brach have changed my life. The freedom that their words have to offer is something else entirely. It is so beautiful and humbling to read somebody else’s gift in this way. They’ve inspired me to take this emotive stance in my own work and be as truthful as I can.

What are you working on now?
Right now I am working on promoting my new book ‘Return to Yourself: A Guide to Building Better Mental Health’.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Awesome Gang is obviously good. I also find Reddit a fine cheap way to promote your book and using social media. I think the main that you can do is trust in the process and believe that your book will sell.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Don’t be disheartened if you get a bad review or don’t sell many copies. It’s all a learning curve. You are on the right track.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
You are not your thoughts.

What are you reading now?
Right now I am reading articles about the power of the universe and the law of attraction. Honestly, I’m yet to be convinced. I’m hoping something sticks out for me.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Probably going back to fiction 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 Power of Now
Radical Self-Acceptance
The Daily Stoic
Becoming

 

Steven Forester 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’ve written ten works of fiction and published them independently and collectively. I’ve also written and published two short political works.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest publication is called Adult Short Stories and it is the complete collection of all the short fiction I’ve written over the past five years. I was inspired to do this by the desire to have my first full length book out there for people to enjoy.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I will start writing stories and developing characters with no fixed idea on how I will end the story. I never begin the creative process with a fully fleshed out narrative in my mind.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Anthony Burgess’s A Clockwork Orange is one of my favourite stories. I’m also a big fan of Chuck Palahniuk. I enjoyed his latest work Adjustment Day.

What are you working on now?
I’m putting together a dairy recording my time in isolation during this global pandemic. It’s called Killiney Corona Diary. Not sure when I will publish it.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I’ll let you know when I find it. When it comes to promoting my works I would not be the person to come to for advice.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Don’t worry about style. Don’t fear constructive criticism. Stay humble and recognize that you are on a learning curve. Besides this, just write freely. If you love what you do that’s what matters most.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
A former employer telling me the simple truth that I shouldn’t be overly concerned with other people’s opinions.

What are you reading now?
I find myself trying to stay away from the news cycles for days at a time while reading short fiction on reddit.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I won’t know until it comes to me.

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 Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
Choke by Chuck Palahniuk
Carrie by Stephen King
The Hellbound Heart by Clive Barker

Author Websites and Profiles
Steven Forester Amazon Profile

Steven Forester’s Social Media Links
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Wade Peterson 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m a fantasy and science fiction writer for about ten years, and have published two books, two short story anthologies, and the occasional short story in Encounters magazine.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is Badlands Cursed, the sequel to Badlands Born. Both stories were inspired by a youth misspent watching B-grade movies and listening to way too much hair metal. It’s both a love letter and a break-up note to those fantastic heady times and the dark stories of those who lived the party lifestyle but couldn’t sustain it.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
When I need to write high-energy scenes, I crank up the music as loud as I can. It drowns out the inner critic and just lets me get in the flow. I call it metal meditation.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I’m a big fan of classic sci-fi like Dune, the Foundation series, and Starship Troopers. In fantasy the Book of Swords series and the Belgariad were huge influencers. Now, I re-read Elizabeth Moon’s Paksenarrion trilogy and Neal Asher’s catalog at least once a year.

What are you working on now?
I am working on Badlans Born book 3, which will be coming out in late 2020.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
The people who subscribe to my reader group newsletter, who are readers who have either signed up from the back of my ebooks or have downloaded a Badlands Born short story.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Stay in the chair and write. There will be good writing days and bad writing days but in the end, your readers won’t notice the difference so keep going.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Everyone’s writing methods are different. Try everything and keep what fits, discard what doesn’t.

What are you reading now?
The Human by Neal Asher.

What’s next for you as a writer?
After Badlands Book 3 I’ll be writing book 1 in a new series before going back to the Badlands.

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 Deed of Paskenarrion by Elizabeth Moon (because a 3-book omnibus only counts as one book), Anathem by Neal Stephenson, Shogun by James Clavell, and Dune by Frank Herbert.

Author Websites and Profiles
Wade Peterson Website
Wade Peterson Amazon Profile

Wade Peterson’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account
Pinterest Account

Paul Sating 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am an ex-military guy who only ever wanted to be a published author. The demands of military life required that I shelved my dream–it’s difficult to write when you work long weeks, are constantly deployed and/or moving, and have little stability in your life. So, once I left the service, I dove back into fiction. After a few years of writing absolutely horrible stuff, practice made ‘better’ (I will never be a perfect writer).

After publishing my first book (a suspense adapted from one of my audio drama–fiction–podcasts) in 2018, I’ve published nine other works.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My upcoming release is called Bitter Aries, and it represents a seminal moment in my author career, because it is a dramatic shift.

Up until now, fans of my books and podcast have known me as a thriller/horror/suspense writer. I gave them a heads up in 2019 that I would be moving toward my first love–fantasy. Thankfully, they have been understanding and supportive.

And I’m kicking off this new course in my author journey with this book, which is the first in a much longer series. The entire project is new for me. I’ve never written in a series or published in fantasy, and now that is happening (Bitter Aries is book 1 of The Zodiac series). The first four books in the series will be published, one each month, starting in July 2020.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Aren’t all authors ‘unusual’ in some respect?

Actually, I’m very structured. I write at the same spot in my house, at the same time, every day.

I do have to have my coffee warmer (all writers need one of these!) and I also place a cool knick-knack my wife bought me in front of my screen when I’m editing a novel (the knick knack is a porcelain that says “Write without fear. Edit without mercy.”).

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Clive Barker, Sue Grafton, Jim Butcher, Stephen King, George RR Martin, Piers Anthony, and Christopher Moore come immediately to mind.

What are you working on now?
Right now I’m working on getting ahead of my publishing calendar (finally) by working on the audio books for the first four novels in The Zodiac series.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Using my Audio Fiction with Paul Sating podcast. It’s my loss-leader. Yes, I use perma-free novellas to find readers, along with ad services, but I’ve had a number of fans find me after first discovering my podcast.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
First, determine your writing goals. Not everyone aims for the same thing. Establishing that first will help you focus, reduce stress and wasted effort, and help you understand where you need to invest your energy, time, and money.

The reason we see arguments amongst writers on social media is not because ‘the other’ is a jerk; it’s because we all have different goals which require different actions.

I cannot stress this enough; figure out WHAT your writing future looks like and then, and only then, start figuring out what you need to do to get there.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Hemingway said to always stop your writing session at a “good spot.”

Don’t write all the way through the scene or the chapter to stop for the day. Stop at a good, juicy, exciting spot in the story.

It makes picking up the next day so easy–it really, truly does.

Think about it, you stopped at the end of the chapter. You walk away from the computer and then try to pick up the next day or three days later. You’re in a fresh spot in the story. Your brain goes a thousand miles an hour to figure out how/where to start again.

Compare that to this:

“Gene looked at the man she hated more than anyone in the world. He lunged for her, but not before she brought the gun up and”

And you stop there, right at the word “and.”

Do you feel that?

Yeah, that’s your imagination fully engaged. You’re thinking about all sorts of possibilities and it’s not even your story! Imagine when it is.

Always stop every writing session in one of those “good” spots.

What are you reading now?
Jim Butcher’s “Blood Rites” and Howard Zinn’s “A People’s History of the United States.”

What’s next for you as a writer?
As soon as the first four books in The Zodiac are completely packaged to be published (ebook, paperback, and audio), I’ll be outlining a fantasy trilogy that is a mix of The Witcher and Conan.

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?
Clive Barker’s “Books of Blood”
Christopher Moore’s “Lamb”
Stephen King’s “IT”
Robert Jordan’s “The Eye of the World”

Author Websites and Profiles
Paul Sating Website
Paul Sating Amazon Profile

Paul Sating’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account
Pinterest Account

John Gillen 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I hate boring expected answers to questions like these. It’s easy to tell you that American Blasphemer is my debut novel but it’s not so easy to, “tell you about myself.”

It’s impossible through words to convey a sense of oneself to strangers but I’ve found that, much like creating a character in a story, it’s best to show, not tell.

My name is John Gillen. I’ve read the Bible thirteen times, but I don’t go to church. I’m obsessed with Bob Dylan and I’ve seen Raging Bull over forty times. It’s 4:19 a.m. and I haven’t decided if I’m going sleep tonight or not.

Once I publicly accused the Chief Clerk of The United States Supreme Court of participating in Satan worship and he told me to go fuck myself.

I’ve been stabbed three times in my life and I know a lot about recreational and psychedelic drugs but have never done any myself.

Once I sat naked in the woods in Manhattan’s Central Park during a thunderstorm and screamed Bible passages and Johnny Cash lyrics at the dark.

I haven’t really figured out who I am or why I’m here.
I guess maybe that’s why I wrote this book. Maybe you can figure it out.

Anyway, I’m John Gillen.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The title of my novel, American Blasphemer, comes from a line in David Lean’s Lawrence of Arabia.

Major Lawrence discovers that one of his men has been lost in the desert while riding through the night and Lawrence rides back into the desert to save him. Sherif Ali, Lawrence’s friend and Bedouin ally, gets angry at him, believing that Lawrence is committing suicide.

Sherif Ali claims that the lost man’s misfortune was destiny, divine providence. Sherif Ali says that, “it is written.” To which Lawrence replies, “Nothing is written.”
Lawrence rides into the desert and Sherif Ali and yells “Go back then, English blasphemer!”

I’ve always thought this was one of the most marvelous turns of language I’ve ever heard. Ali’s saying that Lawrence is defying God by trying to save a life. He’s also calling Lawrence English to disown him, and what he’s doing.

As for what inspired the content of my novel, I refuse to answer on the grounds that it may incriminate me.

Life is full of formative experiences that no one talks about. Things happen to us, or we meet someone, and it changes our lives, but we never speak about it. There isn’t space in normal daily life to stop what you’re doing and tell the stories that really matter. Stories about knife fights and sex addicts. Stories about what it was like in NYC after 9/11 or watching your brother do acid at Christmas. After accumulating a lot of these stories, I realized that I needed somewhere to put all of them because they were too important to ignore and couldn’t exist in the normal world. Out of this urgent chaos came, American Blasphemer.

Lawrence saves the man, returns to face Ali, and again says, “Nothing is written.”

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Writing is my unusual habit.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
This answer is limitless, but I will list a few in no particular order.

Bob Dylan, John Ford, Martin Scorsese, George Carlin, Solomon, Johnny Cash. Hank Bukowski, Hunter S. Thompson, Flannery O’Connor, The Coen Brothers, John Steinbeck, The Three Stooges, Walt Whitman, Keith Richards, Paul, Ezra Pound, Woody Allen, The Prophet Isaiah, and whoever wrote The Book of Job.

What are you working on now?
I’m working on producing an audiobook of American Blasphemer and then I plan to resume work on several film making projects.

I intend to produce and direct a feature film once the apocalypse is over.

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

Do you have any advice for new authors?
On the gravestone of Charles Bukowski are the image of a boxer and the words, “Don’t try.”

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
“Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.” – Ecclesiastes 12:13 KJV

What are you reading now?
I’ve mostly been reading and giving feedback on screenplays lately. I’m in 2nd Kings Chapter Five. I’ve also got a book called Blitzed about drugs in Nazi Germany and American Kingpin about The Dread Pirate Roberts. I’m not sure what all of this I’ll get time to read, but that’s what’s been going on with me.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I’m going to write a feature screenplay called Kitchen about a series of failed relationships that all take place in one room. I’m going to steal a lot of stuff from Jules and Jim, Frances Ha, Slacker, and Stranger Than Paradise and see if I can produce and direct the whole bloody thing myself too.

I’d like to do a book of poetry soon. I write tons of poetry and have enough to fill volumes.

I’ve got a completed draft of a nonfiction book on the work of David Lynch called touching Blue Velvet which I’m thinking of publishing.

I’ve got some other writing projects going as well but nothing worth mentioning here 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?
The Bible, The Brothers Karamazov, How to Build a Boat on a Desert Island, and Moby Dick.

Author Websites and Profiles
John Gillen Website
John Gillen Amazon Profile

John Gillen’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Twitter Account

Carl Hare 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
My life and career have changed several times. I was born in Edmonton, awarded the Rutherford Gold Medal in English for my BA in English Honours,; have an MA in English (Shakespeare), both from the University of Alberta. I have taught at three different universities in English, Philosophy, and Theatre; trained as an actor at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London; later went to the Laban Art of Movement Studio and Ecole Jacques Lecoq, and have acted and directed professionally in Canada and acted in England. Because of Company One Theatre, which I created, I was invited to teach at the National Theatre School for three years.

What has the above to do with my writing? When I was in the Department of Drama at the University of Alberta in the ’90s, inspired by my wife’s Norwegian ancestry, I wrote a play about Henrik Ibsen and his wife Suzanna called The Eagle and the Tiger—their nicknames for each other. But in studying Ibsen, I found that until he was forty, he had written in poetry—plays, poems, even letters—and so I decided to write the play poetically. But you don’t just start to write poetry; I had to learn the craft, and I wrote all sorts of occasional poetry for weddings, births, deaths, occasions, and then other poetry, and then wrote the play. And I have continued to write poetry ever since.

Books I have written or have poetry in A Weathering of Years
On the River of Time:
Book One: Odysseus
Book Two: Spenser
Book Three: Archer (forthcoming)
Recollections of Malcolm Forsyth
Other works: six children’s poems set to music by Malcolm Forsyth
Commission for a poem for Forsyth’s Ballad of Canada

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Spenser: Book Two of the trilogy On the River of Time
The inspiration for this book—and the other books of the epic trilogy—took place twenty-seven years ago. My son and I were touring the Fringe festivals on the prairies with a one-man production of the first two books of the Iliad, translated by the English poet Christopher Logue as Kings. We had just arrived in Winnipeg when I discovered that I had run out of science fiction to read. I went to an old bookstore near the Fringe and by accident discovered The Collected Poems of Edmund Spenser, and a forty-year-old tinge of guilt afflicted me—I had bits of Spenser’s poetry when I was in English Honours, but had avoided as much of his epic The Fairie Queene as I could manage. And so I bought the book and I read the epic. But I also read his biography and discovered to my horror that when he was writing the epic, which deals with the virtues, simultaneously he was writing a treatise essentially advocating the genocide of the Irish. Here was one of the greatest English poets, speaking with the tongue of angels, who was holding the virtues and genocide in his mind together.
And the last twenty-seven years have been spent trying to figure out why, and how to write about it. The poetic epic trilogy is what has been created as a result. The three books cover 3,000 years, from the time of Odysseus to the last four months of Spenser’s life in the sixteenth century, to Ray Archer, and actor/director of this century, and their journeys and struggles. Odysseus was published several years ago, and Spenser is the latest one published. The third is still in draft.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Oh yes. I do have a desk. But I have written in hotel rooms; in bedrooms where I stay in my children’s houses; on their kitchen and dining room tables; on a bench outside a restaurant at Disney World, waiting for my family to come; in the stands, while watching my grandchildren skateboard; on the ledge of a window in the vestibule of a cinema. When the need is there, you fulfill it.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Shakespeare, of course. But there was one incident when I was a teen that I have never forgotten. It was a week or so before I wrote my Grade XII provincial exams, and I happened to read a play by George Bernard Shaw. It astonished me with the power and imagination of his language, of his sense of irony, and of his extraordinary gift for words. I was enchanted by the beauty of the words, the power of the vision, and I immediately got and read, night and day, all fifty-four of his plays. I don’t know how I passed the exams. But it taught me the beauty of the sound of words, their arrangement, what they sprang in the mind. And that has stayed with me to this day.

I can’t say what other authors or their books have influenced me. Over the past thirty years, I have read more poetry, from the Greeks up to the present, and before that, I was deeply affected by the plays of Sean O’Casey and Bertolt Brecht and Ibsen, and the poetry of Yeats and Seamus Heaney.

What are you working on now?
On the third book of the trilogy, Archer. This one has been the hardest to write. In the first part, Archer takes his company across the country performing King Lear in a mask, and while he goes he finishes making notes for a huge production that will portray the entire history of this country; in the second part, the work is finished and performed again across the country; and in the third, it is invited to be performed in Irish festivals, where things happen. It is almost finished. A few revisions, some possible cuts, and it is done.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I do have a website (www.carlhare.ca) and a Facebook page. I also do readings for Book Clubs and other organizations.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Whatever your idiom, work in its craft until imagination can have a form in which to express.
Let your eyes watch, your ears hear, taste, smell, touch. Be sensitive to your inner self. Explore deeply that about which you wish to speak. Work until you can find your own voice, which may not come at first, but be patient.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
It was not something I heard, but something I saw. I had written a paragraph to introduce an essay. My professor, using his red pen, stroked out most of the words to expose the one sentence that was needed there.

What are you reading now?
Between the many other things enveloping my life, The Greek Poets: Homer to the Present.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I have three books at various stages of completion.

Sleepywing and other poems for younger children is waiting for my artist to finish the wonderful pictures he has created for the poems.

Crannies of my Folded Days is a book by my wife about a Norwegian immigrant family on a prairie farm that I am editing.

Clara: Life, Death, Love is a book about my late wife and our lives.

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 Plays and Poems, and whatever I fancied before I was stranded.

Author Websites and Profiles
Carl Hare Website
Carl Hare Amazon Profile

Carl Hare’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Cheryl Meyer 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I have now written 4 books. It Feels Good to Feel Good, Learn to Eliminate Toxins, Reduce Inflammation and Feel Great Again is about how I got autoimmune disease, didn’t want a life of pain and pill, learned to control my stress, and eliminated hundreds of toxins from my life returning me to relative wellness. My second book is a Victory Journal and Gratitude Log so that I can write down my daily victories since I first got sick, the books I have published, I have been a guest on 150 podcasts, I went back to school at 67 and became a health coach, I am a speaker and have now participated in 17 summits. I then published a desktop guide to 2-3 minute stress busters to do through the day to let the steam off. Its a mini guide to keep close to improve productivity and relieve stress before it becomes chronic. My latest book published May 18, 2020 and it Feeling Good, Living Low Toxin in Community and Everyday Life with all my tips in maintaining a low toxin existence.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Feeling Good Living Low Toxin in Community and Every Day Life. It is never too late to start making health-conscious choices.
Take care of your body and teach your child to follow your example so that you all have a happy place to live.
Both of my books are available at Heavenlytreepress.com. They are also both available on Amazon. https://heavenlytreepress.com/ https://bit.ly/cherylsbooks
Looking for the magic pill in the time of the Pandemic
I understand that you are scared that your body will not be able to resist the virus. I understand that you terrified that your family might get this disease.
Are you already immune vulnerable? How frustrating it is to feel lousy all the time and have pain and be scared. And now, in this time, are you losing hope that there is a solution?
Imagine finding the “magic” pill that will erase your misery and keep you and your loved ones safe. Imagine feeling great and knowing that you are living a life that best protects you and your family. Imagine not worrying anymore about your health.
Is there a magic pill?
It is not a pharmaceutical. It is not an over the counter drug.
Protect your body and your family by implementing the tips in a new book Feeling Good Living Low Toxin in Community and Everyday Life. Boost your immune system today so that you and your family have a healthy defense system and feel great.
What creates health?
You will discover that Its eating whole organic foods of all the colors of the rainbow and you will learn why. Its eliminating processed and fast foods from your diet. Whether you cook at home, go out to restaurants, go to friends or family’s homes, or travel, its staying true to low toxin real food and a low toxin life.
This book will show you how.
It is lowering your stress with short exercises and finding joy through gratitude. Its practicing daily self-care.
It is raising healthy children in a country where over 50% have chronic illness. It is keeping them safe from disease.
Its discovering how to be a great pet guardian in a toxic world.
Try my tips for 90 days and feel the difference.
Health must start with healthy habits.
Utilizing these tips will allow your body to return to feeling good and then to celebrate. As you learn to listen to your body, it will make implementing these tips so worthwhile. And living a healthy life solves a multitude of health issues and gives your body a strong foundation to thrive. These tips will boost your defense system and keep you, your children and your pets healthy.
If you have a chronic illness, incorporating healthy habits will be a giant step towards wellness. Implementing these tips will fortify you and your family against pandemic diseases and chronic illnesses. And best of all, you will start to feel great again.
Do you want to grow old with dementia and illness and pain, or do you want to thrive until the end? These tips will allow you to grow old with grace and to prosper.
I have a chronic illness, and these are all keys to health that I discovered and implemented to return to health.
My first book, It Feels Good to Feel Good, Learn to Eliminate Toxins, Reduce Inflammation and Feel Great Again pulls the curtain open and exposes where all the toxins that are ruining our health exist and what to replace them with. That book has won 14 awards.
But living low toxin is more complicated. We do not live in an isolated bubble; we live in a community. We do not choose the ingredients used in restaurants, and we want to enjoy socializing with friends and family who are still eating the Standard American Diet. We travel and have choices for food that we did not prepare and do not control.
Feeling Good, Living Low Toxin in Everyday Life gives you the blueprint to maintain a healthy life.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
If I run into writers block I set that chapter aside until a later time, and continue forward on a different chapter

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Dr. Joseph Pizzorno, the definitive expert on toxins. Deanna Minich, PhD, and her spectrum of information about eating the rainbow, Suzy Cohen, a pharmacist with an Ask The Pharmacist National column who is also a functional practitioner, Dr. Mark Hyman, one of the leading functional MDs.

What are you working on now?
I just started my own podcast on Voice America It Feels Good to Feel Good Futureproof Your Health, and I just opened my own publishing company Heavenly Tree Press and also have a website to support it in addition to my health coaching website, cherylmhealthmuse.com

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
HeavenlyTreePress.com Facebook pages and groups, Instagram, Pinterest, Linked In

Do you have any advice for new authors?
If you want to write a book, sit down and just start to write. Its not written in stone and you can go back and revise it to be the words you are looking for to tell your story and message.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Own your own life, whether its your business, or your health, you have the power. Don’t give that away to anyone.

What are you reading now?
How Not to Die by Michael Grieger

What’s next for you as a writer?
I want to do a cookbook, It Feels Good to Eat the Rainbow, and I want to put together a childrens program. I am concerned that 53% of our children have a chronic illness.

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?
Far Pavillions, anything from Dickens, any good mystery

Author Websites and Profiles
Cheryl Meyer Website
Cheryl Meyer Amazon Profile

Cheryl Meyer’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account
Pinterest Account