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Preeti Singh 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am an Indian French interpreter, cinema artist, and international author of four books.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is a 3 book series called ‘In the Darkness: Lost in the Dark, Digging in the Dark, and Light in the Dark.’ It is a story of paranormal beings that move from darkness to light eventually in the series. It was a random thought that I thought to start a poetry collection. I was not sure where would it go as I believe the story guides us and we follow the flow.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I write on my phone as I hate being on the computer or a laptop for that matter.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Since childhood, I had a sweet spot for John Keats. I loved the way he wrote most of his poems. The words that he chose were direct and alluring and followed a story and not just some random thoughts.

What are you working on now?
It’s a collection of children’s stories, a horror-comedy, and a film script.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I am bad at marketing! Not my skill set.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Research well before you begin and also believe in yourself. There is nothing wrong with trying as you never know who might fall in love with your words. You wouldn’t find it until you try it out.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Write what you know!

What are you reading now?
I read a lot of mindfulness stuff here and there.

What’s next for you as a writer?
A film might be. Though I have already worked as a script translator for a feature film.

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 ones I have written.

Author Websites and Profiles
Preeti Singh Website
Preeti Singh Amazon Profile

Preeti Singh’s Social Media Links
Twitter Account

Janice Berliner 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Janice L. Berliner is a board certified genetic counselor with nearly thirty years of clinical experience in prenatal, pediatric and oncology clinics. She has met with thousands of patients, providing them with risk assessment, genetic testing information and interpretation, and supportive counseling. Now in academia, Janice is an assistant professor and the Director of the Master of Science in Genetic Counseling Program at Bay Path University, helping to train the next generation of genetic counselors. In 2014, Janice used her professional connections to gather a group of genetic counselors, compile and edit a book entitled Ethical Dilemmas in Genetics and Genetic Counseling: Principles through Case Scenarios published by Oxford University Press. Then, channeling her experience and energy into fiction writing, Janice published her first novel, Brooke’s Promise. This intricate tale starts out as a simple story of a couple struggling to conceive, and quickly evolves into a multigenerational saga of devastating family secrets. Thirty years after fifteen year-old Julia is misunderstood by her parents and sent to boarding school, her son pushes his wife into a pregnancy she isn’t wholly ready to undertake. When their beautiful baby girl displays a frightening failure to thrive, a series of medical evaluations diagnoses a devastating disease that reveals a world of secrets and threatens to unravel their marriage and their families. The tension mounts as two mothers are forced to uncover truths that they don’t want to face and discover a past that will have life-altering consequences for them and everyone they love. Brooke’s Promise is a bold and hopeful story about changing expectations, forgiveness and reconciliation. Janice lives in New Jersey with her husband of nearly thirty years, three adult children, two cats and a new puppy.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Janice Berliner’s latest book, Brooke’s Promise, was inspired by the author’s love of genetics, great story-telling and the element of surprise. Her two favorite authors, Jodi Picoult and Lisa Genova, provided unmatched examples of how to craft a strong and serious story with relatable characters and unexpected plot twists.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
…only that I write in any little spare bits of time I can find, as I have a more than full-time job.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Jodi Picoult, Lisa Genova, Lisa Scottoline, Andrew Solomon

What are you working on now?
My next novel will be the story of Aidan Sheridan, a talented and famous actor who develops a serious illness, and in the course of his treatment is betrayed by the people he trusted. He loses the love of his life, his private information is leaked for the world to see, and he must face his mortality much sooner than he ever would have thought. Meanwhile, Fiona grapples over whether to reveal what she knows about him. Doing so could save lives, but would go against everything she was ever taught about nursing ethics. As she struggles with the inner turmoil and her guilt, she forges a delicate relationship with Aidan that ultimately redeems them both.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
word of mouth, book signings, Facebook, and my website at janiceberliner.com

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Take every opportunity to promote your book. To friends, family, colleagues, local book stores, book groups, anywhere you can. Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there and sell yourself! If you’re talented enough to write the book, you deserve to market yourself!

What are you reading now?
Jodi Picoult’s Sparks of Light

What’s next for you as a writer?
I have several outlines started; I’ll probably write a sequel to Brooke’s Promise.

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?
Inside the O’Briens, Memoirs of a Geisha, Small Great Things

Author Websites and Profiles
Janice Berliner Website
Janice Berliner Amazon Profile

Janice Berliner’s Social Media Links
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Vanshdeep Madan 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am a technology enthusiast who has been helping everyone with their tech for what seems like forever! My editor is a cute wrinkly old pug named Paplu. He is very stern with his criticism for my books and is only happy when I give his treats. I have written “How to use WhatsApp?!” and “How to use Zoom?!” for my English audience and “WhatsApp Status Update इस्तमाल कैसे करते हैं ?!” for my Hindi reading audience

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is called “How to use Zoom?!” A friend of my inspired me to write this book. In fact, I wasn’t even planning on writing the book at all until my friend messaged me and told me I HAD to write this book because people were struggling with Zoom and could really use all the help they could get. I had seen how my previous book had helped people so I decided to start writing!

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Yes!! I cannot sit still for a long time at all. This makes long writing sessions next to impossible. So I essentially write in many many short writing sessions. I even make sure my draft is available to me any time online so that I can continue working on it even on my phone when I need to.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Honestly from whatever little I have promoted my book I have learned that Amazon itself is pretty great in getting your book out there. I am still discovering new things so this answer may change later on!

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Ya sure. I would say work on the overall structure or backbone of your book first. This would basically include your main theme and chapters. You can definitely change this along the way although it gives you direction while writing otherwise the task becomes a bit too daunting. Once this is done you can then start adding meat to the bone of the book by picking each chapter you want to write. So with every chapter you complete you get a sense of accomplishment which keeps you going!

 

Author Websites and Profiles
Vanshdeep Madan Amazon Profile

Vanshdeep Madan’s Social Media Links
Twitter Account

Eldon Kellogg 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I was born in Durham, North Carolina on November 8, 1951. I attended NC State University from 1969 to 1972, majoring in mechanical engineering. Two problems: first, the drinking age back then was 18; second, I majored in engineering because all my friends majored in engineering (I found out the hard way that calculus and I didn’t get along).
My mother’s comment was, “I don’t know what you’re going to do, but you’re not living here.” So I enlisted in the US Army in 1972, during the Vietnam War, and found myself in the Infantry. I was lucky. I was never sent to Vietnam. After two years, I applied for the Army’s Nuclear Power Plant Operator’s School, graduated in 1975 with a specialty in Radiation Protection, and spent the next year teaching math at the school (God does have a sense of humor). After spending three years in Honolulu, working at the Tripler Army Medical Center, I left the army in November 1979 with a wife, a two year old son, and no job.
I started working at Three Mile Island Unit 2 in February 1980, 11 months after the accident (that’s a complete separate novel). That started a career in nuclear power that lasted until 2012. I have written lesson plans, procedures and presentations galore (not exactly creative writing). Creative writing is different. You have to imagine a scene, place yourself inside it, and then describe what you are seeing in words (hopefully interesting words). I’m also a woodworker, a glazier and a sculptor. I have had work displayed in the Smithsonian in Washington, DC.
I’ve published six novels: FIFTY, HARRIS and FIRE & WATER, collectively known as the Detonation Series! They were followed by BROKEN UNION – War in the West, BROKEN UNION – War in the East and BROKEN UNION – Preserved, known as the Preservation Series! The six books in the two series are connected. The first series of three books follow Amanda Langford as she discovers a plot to blackmail the United States and attempts to save the country. Her attempts are partially successful but at great personal cost. The second series continues her adventures in a shattered United States and a world at war.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
BROKEN UNION – Preserved is the third and final book in the Preservation Series.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I’m a morning writer for the most part. I usually am up by 5 AM and write until the cats get up at 8:30. Sophie ‘assists’ me in my writing after that by adding a fresh coat of cat hair on the key board, selective editing as she sees fit and blocking my view of my twin screens.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Tolkien, Dan Abnett, Tom Clancy, Carl Sagan

What are you working on now?
I wrote six novels in four years. They were one long story. now, I’m working on three different plots. One is science fantasy, the second a religious thriller and the third a mystery. Ideas will pop into my head, and I’ll write a few pages or a complete short story. I’m not sure where I’m going from here.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Good question! Marketing/promotion is far more difficult than writing.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
1. Practice makes perfect (or at least better).
2. Develop a thick skin! Rejection is a constant part of this business.
3. Write with your heart. Facts are nice, but your characters have to have an emotional connection with your readers. Otherwise, what’s the point.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
To your own self be true.

What are you reading now?
Anything that will distract me from the pandemic/civil war that we’re going through.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Vacuuming cat fur off my keyboard!

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?
Lord of the Rings.

Author Websites and Profiles
Eldon Kellogg Website
Eldon Kellogg Amazon Profile

Eldon Kellogg’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile

Monique de Koning 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am a resident in the coastal area of a quaintly shaped country called The Netherlands and although I have a lot of interests, I’m most passionate about anything creative. Like designing, writing, photography, drawing & painting and thinking up & creating (not the most standard) miniatures. They often come togèther, which I enjoy even more. I also have a huge soft spot for animals & people and I love food, reading, music, series and movies, quite diverse genres.
As a result of long lasting, serious and quite extreme medical issues & conditions, my life has been very unusual for way too many years already and I’ve never been able to do much of anything. What I have done was in very small or even the tiniest steps once in a while and only possible at áll because of not very common solutions and kind of impossible choices. Simply because my passion for life & creativity is too enormous. It only makes me more proud of and excited about what I have created and managed to do.
I am not easily impressed by a challenge or things going differently than I expected or hoped, with also the ability to look at something from a new angle, again and again. Always seeing and believing in possibilities. I’m also known to be very positive, determined and crazy passionate.
I have written one and a half books so far, or actually one and two halves. While in the process of writing the one it all started with, the idea for another book came up. The one I intend to finish next. Neither is near complete and in the meantime I felt inspired to publish poems I had written the past years, my first book: Emerald Heart. When it comes to writing, I haven’t really chosen to become a writer. Writing chose mé, but I absolutely love it and it feels like we are a great fit.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest, also my first and only book so far is called Emerald Heart. It is poetry, but not in the traditional sense to me and I think ‘poetic love story’ describes it better. Like someone said to me ‘I’ve never been a huge fan of poetry, but yours are beautiful’.
I’ve actually never had the intention to publish them. I had written them through the years as a way of dealing with an amazing and very intense connection. Then one day I felt they should be able to be enjoyed by others.
Although I’ve always loved to write I had never written poems before. More importantly I was never even interested in most things romantic at all, just too down-to-earth I guess ;). Not that I wasn’t into love or didn’t know it. I had actually been in a wonderful 21-year relationship with a great man. He was the love of my life who I had to let go after more than two decades because of extreme circumstances, breaking my heart.
The man Emerald Heart is about changed all that. He not only turned my world and what I thought I knew completely upside down, but unknowingly awakened my real feminine side I guess. He is the inspiration and reason for this book. I am not the same woman I was before he unexpectedly landed in the center of my heart to never leave, which was only the beginning of all kinds of new and magical experiences.
My poems are chapters that together tell an intense, not very common love story. Mostly very different from each other and combined with a certain lay-out and font-types I think give it a bit of a unique look. It’s how I had made them for myself and wanted for the book as well. All the result of an attempt to put on paper what my heart & mind have never been able to comprehend. In doing so surprising myself with this for me new way of playing with words, how joyful it was for me to write them and what I’ve been able to create.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
No, not really I think. I mostly write when inspiration hits and it’s like I don’t even have a choice when I do. I almost only write based on sudden hunches and then immediately paragraphs and chapters flow through me, that way it practically takes no effort or thought at all. This does make it a bit challenging for me to work with certain writing tools, like outlines and such.
These hunches and inspiration present themselves at very random (inconvenient) times and it can also be an idea for something I’m not ‘officially’ working on, book or otherwise. But I have to let it out or it’s lost to me and impossible to get back. It does make it an ideal way for me, but I do have very little control on what I’m working on or how.
I do work more consciously on a manuscript too – I’d actually much more prefer to always work on one thing and finish that first, just not how it works with me apparently – just nowhere near as often as it takes more effort. When I do, it’s more about getting things going and to not be all over the place project wise, to create at least sóme kind of structure. But when I feel I can’t get in that zone, which is rare by the way, I’m not forcing myself either. I know and trust I’ll be treated to that flow of inspiration when the time is right for that. This has worked perfectly for me so far.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I don’t know if it’s because I’ve never really had the idea to be a writer but I can’t say I have any writers or books that have been of influence. Maybe or at least in part because writing is such an intuitive process for me. Also my first book is a collection of poems, not just a for me surprising ‘turn of inspiration’ so to speak but I also never really read poetry or liked it. So additionally I don’t have a frame of reference for that.
My work isn’t what you’d probably expect with poetry either but that doesn’t make it less valuable or enjoyable to read for the people I think are meant to find them, just different. I simply wrote what I felt and through the creative process of that and the one that followed I was able to turn them into the variety of poems I now published, a kind I really like.

What are you working on now?
Now Emerald Heart is finished and all practical things around that almost over, I am aiming to continue the book I mentioned before. This is the story leading up to and about the connection with the man from Emerald Heart with the many aspects that that book doesn’t cover. So a regular book, a true story that reads like a novel that will also be inspirational, I hope and think.
Ideas and parts for other books – I have quite a list of titles and ideas that started popping out of nowhere recently – have kept coming in as well. When they do, like I said before, I need to get it out to not forget. Then I have also been creating an oracle deck at rare possible times, a fun project I plan to crowdfund when ready. For which I may have a bit of time and opportunity again now the publication process is behind me.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Well, this is my first publication with the official launch on the 17th of July, so I don’t know what my best method will turn out to be yet. It may also prove a bit tricky to market because Emerald Heart is neither traditional poetry nor a novel. I have used as much methods and websites I’ve been able to find and might work for my book. So several free promotion websites like yours, paid and free ones. One I really liked for concept and ease is the ‘Book Marketing Ebook Submission Tool’, to promote your free ebook to 25+ sites in 5 minutes. I’ve also posted a couple of dressed up samples of the poems on my personal Pinterest page with a link to my book as well as on my (miniature) blog. Both very small, non target-audience, nothing official and I haven’t been able to be active on them for quite a while either, but every little bit helps right? I’ve also offered a Youtuber I always liked to watch, who has a pretty good following for my target audience, a free paperback copy with the question if she’d be willing to promote it on her channel, which she is.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Being a new-born author myself without much experience in the field I wouldn’t really know. There is however advice I would like to offer that has really helped me in life (the reason I’m even alive today) but also what led to and has been an important part in the creation and publication of my first book. This is to do things from and following your heart as much as you can, so to do what feels right. Even when this might be (and often is) not necessarily what makes the most sense, to you or others. Like when you decide on a subject go with what makes your heart excited, not with what may be selling really well right now.
My experience is that following our heart is the easiest and best way in any area of life and even more so when comes to something creative like writing, which I think makes it more likely to be successful. I believe it’s because we’re most aligned with our true essence when we do that. One of a few quotes I’ve come up with over time is “The key to living is not to be motivated into action, but being driven by inspiration.” It’s how I have been living many years and I think also fits perfectly here.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
‘A journey of a thousand miles, begins with a single step’ – Lao Tzu. My favorite quote and life motto for as long as I can remember, applicable in all area’s of life. We can’t or have to do it all at once anyway, so we might as well leave that for when we get to a certain stage. Thinking about what’s needed to get to our end-result is or can be too daunting or even discouraging. We just need to know where we want to go or end up, take the first step in that direction and take it from there. Chances are – especially when you follow your heart and intuition – things will change or be added along the way that will only make it better. Or give you an idea for something else entirely. Something you otherwise may never even have thought of, considered or come across as an option, things you could never have foreseen. It’s how I believe the Universe works and also helped me throughout my life. Additionally keeping you from thinking or worrying about an aspect or step that might not even be relevant anymore somewhere along the way.
I most often have no idea how to do something or to get started even, but I never think or worry about that either. I just start with what I do know or can do, no matter how small or insignificant it may seem and build on that. Somehow the next step or inspiration I didn’t know yet always presents itself. Like a lantern guiding the next part of our path without needing to see what comes next.

What are you reading now?
Tell no one by Harlan Coben

What’s next for you as a writer?
To enjoy where this new adventure of publishing takes me and the unexpected interesting twists I might encounter along my way of finishing my first regular book, taking it one page at a time.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
The Discovery of Heaven by Harry Mulish
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez
The Secret History by Donna Tartt
Night Train To Lisbon by Pascal Mercier

Author Websites and Profiles
Monique de Koning Website
Monique de Koning Amazon Profil

Roger M. Kaye 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I was born, some time ago, in Buckinghamshire in the UK. After many years working as a physicist I have turned my hand to writing novels around my favourite pastime – skiing.
As an enthusiastic amateur skier for many years, I have always been fascinated by the increasingly complex cable cars that allow us to reach once inaccessible mountain tops.

My first novel, Snow Job, introduces Len Palmer, a ski lift designer.
My second Len Palmer story, Not My Job, continues Len’s adventures.

You can learn more about Len and his adventures at the website: lenpalmerbooks.com

You might meet me on the slopes of my favourite resort in France.
Look out for a red hat and a grey beard!

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest Len Palmer mystery is “Not My Job”, inspired by current developments in the Iranian nuclear weapons saga.

Len Palmer, an enthusiastic amateur skier, has seen his successful one-man business as a ski-lift designer collapse after the disastrous opening of the new mega-lift, the HiFly.
Asked by Henri, his father-in-law, to check out a strange new chairlift that has been built near Valtarant, he stumbles on a secret Iranian operation to produce weapons-grade uranium.

He, and his new wife, Brigitte find themselves helping the CIA and the Mossad in a desperate attempt to stop the Iranians that takes them from the mountains of the French Alps to the unfamiliar world of Japan.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I would like to say that I write with a quill pen while wearing a tuxedo but the truth is – no, I don’t do anything unusual. I sit at my computer and tap away.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I enjoyed and try to emulate the works of the long-gone great adventure writers – Hammond Innes, Alistair MacLean and Desmond Bagley.

What are you working on now?
I am writing the third Len Palmer Mystery – “Do Your Job”.

Len Palmer, an enthusiastic amateur skier, had a successful one-man business as a ski-lift designer, but is now desperate for work after his involvement in the HiFly cable car disaster.
When he is asked to investigate Tony Bladon’s disappearance while riding a chairlift, he reluctantly agrees.
His new job as a private investigator soon takes him, and his wife, Brigitte, half-way across the globe into new dangers.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Make sure you have a “real” job.
Authors need to eat ………

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Always ask one more question.

Heard at a lecture by Bill Gates – it worked for him!

What are you reading now?
Books by Catherine Coulter and Karin Slaughter.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Finishing third Len Palmer Mystery, then concentrating on marketing.

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?
Les Misérables (Victor Hugo)
How to Survive on a Deserted Island (Tim O’Shei)

Author Websites and Profiles
Roger M. Kaye Website
Roger M. Kaye Amazon Profile

Lisa Turner 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Hello everyone! Thanks for reading!

I’ve written four books and they are all designed to enlighten and inspire. I figure why be depressing when you can be uplifting?

Please check out my web page for free deals and more inspiration: lisaturner.com

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Your Simplest Life. Find time to live!

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I like to sit by the creek!

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Robert Frost, Brian Tracy!

What are you working on now?
A biography.

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

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

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
The Pollyanna Principle . . . in Your Simplest Life.

What are you reading now?
The Secret Life of the Brain.

What’s next for you as a writer?
More books!

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

Author Websites and Profiles
Lisa Turner Website
Lisa Turner Amazon Profile

Lisa Turner’s Social Media Links
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account
Pinterest Account

Nicki Elson 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I took a long, curvy path to writing fiction. I first discovered my affinity for writing when working as an investment analyst. Eventually, I tried my hand at writing fiction, and then I was in love. I’d put off turning my daydreams into words for a long time because who has time for that? But when you love something, you find the time, and now I have six published novels as well as a bunch of short stories.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The premise behind my latest novel, Molly Unplanned, wormed its way into my brain while I was digging in the dirt of my garden. I’m always interested in unlikely pairs, and while pulling weeds, I thought it would be interesting to connect one such pair in a way that they couldn’t unconnect, no matter how much they might want to. The dirt, of course inspired the farm setting.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I’m a weekend warrior when it comes to writing. I see a lot of advice out there to write every day, but that doesn’t work for me. I need space and time to really delve into the work, and at this point in my life, I can only make that happen on weekends.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Jane Austen’s wry humor gets me every time. I love how she can make fun of her characters even when – or maybe especially when – they’re taking themselves too seriously. I strive to weave humor throughout my stories, but I don’t think I’ve quite hit Jane’s stride in being so sly about it.

What are you working on now?
Right now, I’m working on launching Molly Unplanned into the world. Once I get past the new release hubbub, I’ll focus on…something. I’m sort of torn between two ideas right now and need to settle on one. Then I’ll let it stew in my head for a while before making a game plan for putting it into words. No matter which direction I take, I’ll be veering off the Chick Lit/Romance path.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
The best method I’ve found is to occasionally set my books at promotional pricing (including at release) and then advertise the heck out of them through bargain book e-newsletters. I really appreciate sites like Awesome Gang that make it easy and affordable to promote my books.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
I’m honestly more of a hobby author than a career author, so I guess my advice would be to first decide which of those two you want to be. If you choose career author, find a successful career author in your genre – not a super, mega, household-word bestseller, but a consistently publishing and making-money-at-it author. e-Stalk her and see where she spends her time and money to promote her books (hint: consistently writing and publishing is a big part of her success).

If you choose hobby author – welcome to the club! The number one rule here is to enjoy writing and enjoy sharing your writing. Take in every bit of feedback you can get, even the bad, and continue to grow in your craft (same goes for career authors). Don’t let Amazon rankings get you down, but do explore promotional opportunities and take part in those that you enjoy. You see the theme here, right? Enjoy!

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
The best advice I’ve ever heard for writers who either have a manuscript out on query or a newly published book is this: start working on a different writing project. Querying and publishing are scary and at times depressing, and both require loads of time and work. But when you’ve done what you can do, step away and remind yourself of why you started this crazy writing thing in the first place – go create something new and wonderful.

What are you reading now?
I just started reading a history about the little-known end to the American Revolutionary War. It takes place in the Caribbean and is called The Sweetest Deal of the American Revolution by Gilbert Lewthwaite. I’m not a huge reader of non-fiction, especially historicals, but I like to shake things up, and this story involves lots and lots of sugarcane, so I’m in.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I’ll keep writing, and when I feel good enough about the results, I’ll put my stories out there. As I mentioned above, I’m itching to veer outside my usual chick litty romance genre. I’ll keep you posted on what happens.

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?
Gone with the Wind. Pride and Prejudice. The Hobbit. Because I love them all. And a Tale of Two Cities – because maybe being stranded on a deserted island would give me the time and patience to finally actually read it.

Author Websites and Profiles
Nicki Elson Website
Nicki Elson Amazon Profile

Nicki Elson’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Charity Shumba 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m a young woman aspiring to be an author. I’ve written two books. One is published and the other will be published soon.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Retribution was inspired by multiple books. Probably twenty books inspired it.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I write better just before I’m scheduled to do something important

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Tess Gerritsen, Agatha Christie, Kendra Elliot and Karen Rose.

What are you working on now?
My third book of the Calvary Haven Series and editing my second.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Have our own voice and don’t worry about perfection. Your work must be perfect to you.

What are you reading now?
Once Gone by Blake Pierce

What’s next for you as a writer?
More 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?
In 27 Days by Alison Gervais
Bred in the bone by Kendra Elliot
Rizzoli and Isles Series by Tess Gerritsen
The Bible

 

Arun Mathews 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Hi. I always wanted to write, and started at an early age of 7 yrs! However, I was too shy to make my work public. I seriously started to write a few years back and have published around 6 books so far on Amazon. Some of my books have been received very well by my friends and well-wishers alike.
Though I started off writing non-fiction topics, I find it a thrill to write fiction with equal panache as well.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is titled ‘ The Spider’s Web’ and the main character Aaron J Steele has been with me for a long time now! I just need him to start working on a case for me to publish! So, this is the first book on a series of Aaron Steele Mysteries I have in mind.
Right from my childhood, mystery books have always fascinated me! The Famous Five/The Three Investigators/ Nancy Drew to name a few. These books have always inspired me to think out of the box and use my imagination creatively.
The story of this book is about revenge, relationship (Bonding) between father and daughter, and of course there is a crime involved too.
The intensity of the crimes will increase in the future too. Aaron Steele is just getting ready!

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Well, I write whenever an idea pops out! And it can come in the middle of the night too!

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Alfred Hitchcock/The three Investigators/ The Famous Five

What are you working on now?
I am working on another Suspense thriller with an unusual twist to it.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Facebook and of course my friends and relatives have supported me! My fans love my website too and that’s something good!

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Sure. Just write for passion and enjoy the journey. Start small but make sure you start! Everything else will follow in time. Believe in yourself!

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Don’t worry about what other people think.
Personality begins where comparison leaves off. Be unique. Be memorable. Be confident. Be proud.

What are you reading now?
Nothing. I am deep in thought about my next novel.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I will continue to give my well-wishers books, to read, enjoy and forget all their temporary worries! These are difficult times we are going through, and they need a break!

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, Spiritual books, and a book on how to escape from the desert!

Author Websites and Profiles
Arun Mathews Website
Arun Mathews Amazon Profile

Neboysha Saikovski 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am the author working on the Pink Panthers trilogy series, including the first novel “The Greatest Thieves in the World”, which was published globally in June this year. I am a logistics specialist having worked for large international organizations and corporations such as the United Nations, Halliburton/KBR, or DynCorp, being stationed for twenty years working in areas consumed by ferocious civil wars in Bosnia and Serbia or the occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq. I am an author who lived and worked in 4 continents and witnessed 4 wars, walking the paths of my characters, therefore being able to turn my extensive experience into inspirational and instructive fiction and non-fiction narratives. I am telling stories about paradoxes of the modern world where evil reigns while chivalry yet survives and write only about real-life stories which have it all, a powerful blend of real-life situations and crime thriller, shaking family experience and shocking war and political drama.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
This novel is the first part of a trilogy that deals with the socio-historical context of emergence, rise, and (temporary) fall of the famous and powerful international robber group, Pink Panthers. I have been writing my first novel “Pink Panthers: The Greatest Thieves in the World” for the last three years but I dreamt about writing it for the last 15 years since I read the reports of their first robberies. I considered them yet another gang of robbers who dare defy the society and its norms taking such risky steps. However, as time went on, I realized that all the risk that the Pink Panthers had invested in the robberies was very well calculated in the overall equation. I don’t even have to mention that the locations chosen by the Pink Panthers sounded bombastic as if from the best Hollywood production. Paris, London, Amsterdam, St. Tropez, Dubai! The ideas that the Pink Panthers introduced as a ‘patent’ in committing the robberies were more intriguing than even the greatest movie-minds could come up with. And I’m not just talking about disguising themselves as women, fleeing by speedboat and the like, but that all the robberies were committed without a single victim, and that’s what makes the Pink Panthers unique in the criminal world. With their imagination and extremely expressed audacity in carrying out their robberies, they left the world breathless, including me.

By personalizing the functioning of criminal cartels, the horrors of war, the violent discord of country and pitiful dissolution of a family, and showing the results of these bold events have on individuals is the general theme I tried to dive into with this novel. The light form of adventure drama shows the correlation of organized crime, social anomalies, wars, and interests of the great who ruthlessly manipulate and destroy the lives of the small, from individuals to nations. The background story shows the entire process of the diamond business, how diamonds come to jewelry stores, from relentless exploitation of rich deposits of poor third-world countries and inciting bloody civil wars in them, to the intertwining of the diamond business with drug cartels, human trafficking, interests of banks, corporate and military-industrial magnates and diplomatic-political machinations.

If you’re curious what it’s like to be a Pink Panther, read this book. If you have the courage, dare follow the steps of our heroes, embark on an action-adventure with the Pink Panthers, and personally experience the world’s most famous diamond robberies. Furthermore, find out how diamonds are made and come to that array of glittering shops, from the hot sands of Africa where greedy corporations exploit human and mineral resources in collaboration with corrupt politicians, through shining modern Europe all the way to Dubai. Get to know the dark world behind all that glitter and glow of riches, touch the blood, sweat, and tears that they represent in reality.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I obsess about my characters, as an infatuated lover, mixing up fantasy with the reality, my own experience, and reflections with ideas I mean to convey. I dream of them, I think of them day and night, observe them telling me their stories, talking and listening to them. I have a rich imagination and create whole dialogues and scenes, even chapters in my mind before writing them down. Then I add the narrative and descriptions according to my objective and themes I want to describe and convey.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I love the raw style and brisk observation of all the dark and decay in human nature and society as brilliantly portrayed by Bukowski of the modernists and Dostoevsky of the classics. I admire Dostoevsky as a writer with the natural talent of scanning through depths of the human mind, as well as skill to infect the reader with the lucidity and passion with which he writes of his views and ideas. I love Bukowski, the dirty nihilistic realist with unquestionable talent and an unrivaled passion for writing as sheer pleasure. Despite all of the ups-and-downs of his disturbed life, constant intoxication, loneliness, misogyny, and personal problems, Bukowski actually wrote. His novels and poems are so simple — simple words, sentences, and ideas — and yet so lively, deep and relatable. The writing style I tend to be developing is based on that premise – digging deep into characters and write lively and relatable true-life stories.

What are you working on now?
As for writing, I am working on the concept of the second and the third part of the trilogy. As for publishing activities, the first part of the trilogy was launched in the USA, UK, Canada, Brazil, Mexico, EU, Australia, India, and Japan, right now I’m focused on Bosnia and Serbia where it will be published in September this year.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I try to promote them equally on independent portals as wells as through Amazon Ad Services, Author Ads Network, and BookViral platforms. I am still learning about different marketing opportunities with Goodreads and BookBub.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Beauty comes from within. If you have a story inside you that you need to tell – just start writing, initiate the process with some ideas, and put them on the paper. Don’t worry about the grammar or dialogues, it will be done later during the editing process. Blank page can’t be edited, so just start doing it. It will be hard, but you can do it and you know that story must be told! So, just keep writing. If you do just one page a day – you’ll have your first draft completed in a year. One page by one page, your book will be completed, and you’ll be so proud of your accomplishment.

If you have a creative block – go back to editing previous pages. When it gets rough and self-doubt comes crawling up your spine – ignore it and go back to editing, dive in your previous work until it’s gone. It shall pass… then you move on, write on…

Also, don’t let rejection or lack of support stop you! I used to be shy about my writing, which I have been practicing as a hobby for some 25 years or so, writing essays and stories predominantly about the war experience. Then I was too absorbed with everyday life, family, and business, and couldn’t stand exposure to the creative side of my personality. Slowly, I’ve completed the novel and pitched it for almost a year with no success, nobody in my homeland in Bosnia and Serbia offered to publish it. But suddenly, in March, I found myself locked down, with nothing but time, a notebook full of notes and complete novel in Serbian language and a chance to make some sense of this crazy moment in time. So, I had it edited and translated into English and published it in the USA first before my homeland. Only after that, the publishing offers from my homeland started popping up. Nothing is impossible!

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Although it might seem a trivial or shallow phrase, it’s to try your best to live up your dream, don’t focus on obstacles and excuses instead. Love yourself so that you may know how to live with self-respect and self-care and only once you’ve become a healthy, strong individual, only then you can help others. Many have heard of the infamous Pink Panthers’ heist in Dubai when they crashed into the shopping mall with vehicles. Well, only the gang members and a few police operatives know, and this is well described in my novel, that the plan to ram that Audi sedan into the shopping mall and later into the jewelry shop, came into fruition only after the gang leader burnt out due to heat exhaustion and stress during the prep activities for that robbery, so the initial plan of robbing the shop and running towards the exit was not doable. There is a scene where one of the associates tells the leader after his burn-out: “You burned out,” Jacqueline reprimanded him. “You have to do better in self-care. Who’s going to take care of you when you get sick? You know very well that we have neither pension nor social security,” she said with a smile as she was giving him a sip of juice. “Remember what those flight attendants always say before a plane takes off, that in case of a plane crash, you have to put your oxygen mask to yourself first and only then to someone next to you?” she asked, looking into his tired, closed eyes. “You have to look after yourself so God will guard you then,” she said.

What are you reading now?
I’m reading “12 Rules” by Jordan Peterson. Love his quote ‘Without free speech, there is no true thought.’ He is a truth-telling sage who inspired millions and is needed now even more in this time of hypocritical ‘political correctness’ principle gone mad. Peterson is the most prominent, striking example I’ve yet seen of an unfortunate trend in modern communication. Lately, in the media, I only see criticism, very malicious. Obviously, there is something more to that criticism, as if there’s an agenda as if it were a witch hunt. Someone has to fall, some person, some big-name has to be the main culprit for everything. Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, and various news hosts all feature and reward this rhetorical technique. First, a person says something. Then, another person restates what they purportedly said so as to make it seem as if their view is offensive, hostile, or absurd as such. That’s what attracted me to him most, as his interviews have so many moments of this kind so you can’t help but wonder what drives the interviewers to keep inflating the nature of Peterson’s claims, instead of addressing what he actually said.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Currently, I’m focused on publishing activities in Bosnia and Serbia, as well as promotional activities in the USA and worldwide. In some months, I’ll start writing the second novel in this trilogy. The second and third part will show the further fate of the main characters when some members of the group try to start a normal family life in a tragicomic way before returning to what they actually do best, while the others “re-specialize” in their criminal career.

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?
War and Peace by Tolstoy… a thousand-page exposition on how people’s hero projects form the fabric of society and history, which is a theme I tried to dive into my novel as well.

Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s powerful meditation on meaning, morality, and faith, The Karamazov Brothers.

Ham on Rye, Bukowski’s novel, recounting the crude brutality of life growing up under the Great Depression; and partially explaining why Bukowski comes to reject mainstream culture and depict survival in a corrupt, blighted society.

The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho’s charming fable, will enchant and inspire an even wider audience of readers for generations to come. “My heart is afraid that it will have to suffer,” the boy told the alchemist one night as they looked up at the moonless sky. – Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself. And that no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of its dreams.”

Author Websites and Profiles
Neboysha Saikovski Website
Neboysha Saikovski Amazon Profile

Neboysha Saikovski’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile

Reid Bracken 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I have just released my debut novel SAVING KARMA. The first of a three part series

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
SAVING KARMA. I lived and worked in Asian for twenty years.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I run, read, write, then repeat.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Some many. Wilbur Smith, Authur C. Clarke, Michael Cordy, Vince Flynn, Lee Child to name a few.

What are you working on now?
Book two of my series. FIGHTING KARMA

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Kindlepreneur, Self Publishing formula, Dave Gaughran

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Travel

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
If it was easy, anyone could do it.

What are you reading now?
Anything on quantum computing

What’s next for you as a writer?
Get me second novel out

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?
TBD

Author Websites and Profiles
Reid Bracken Website
Reid Bracken Amazon Profile

R.B. Woodstone 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m a writer, educator, and musician living in Brooklyn, New York, with a wife, a child, and two nutty animals. I’ve written two books but published only the second one. (Maybe I’ll go back to that first one someday and edit it!)

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My new book is Chains of Time. I was inspired to write it because I wanted to create strong, smart, unusual black heroes and also to explore one of America’s earliest sins, slavery, particulrly how it continues to affect (and infect) our country today.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I like writing in public — on a park bench, in a cafe or restaurant (though those aren’t open in this COVID era).

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Too many to mention! But some that come to mind are Kurt Vonnegut, Ralph Ellison, Toni Morrison, Wally Lamb, Ian McEwan….

What are you working on now?
I’m working on the first sequel to Chains of Time… and also on a rock musical.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Frankly, I’m new to publishing, so I’m trying different outlets — such as this site! I’m also doing some advertising on Amazon.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Think of what moves you. Think of how it feels to be moved by something you read. Now think about how you can make your readers feel that way.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
1. Respect your reader. 2. Render the object; don’t assume that the reader can see what you see.

What are you reading now?
The Cement Garden by Ian McEwan

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?
Bluebeard by Kirt Vonnegut, Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger.

Author Websites and Profiles
R.B. Woodstone Website
R.B. Woodstone Amazon Profile

R.B. Woodstone’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile

Mark Brickwedde 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I currently live in Mississippi. I have written six books.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Heart of a Preacher
It was a great experience during the pandemic to be able to study the bible

What authors, or books have influenced you?
John Grisham , JB Garner, Derek Dykes, Rob Cerio, Kimberly
Richardson, Ernest Russell, and Jen Mulvihill

What are you working on now?
I just finished Heart of a Preacher. I am about to start book 3 of the Within the Mind Series.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I promote on Twitter and Facebook.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
The more you write the easier it is to continue writing.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Write something daily.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Book 3 of Within the Mind trilogy.

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?
Count of Monte Cristo, Great Expectations, The Bible.

Author Websites and Profiles
Mark Brickwedde Amazon Profile

Mark Brickwedde’s Social Media Links
Twitter Account

Neboysha Saikovski 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am the author working on the Pink Panthers trilogy series, including the first novel “The Greatest Thieves in the World”, which was published globally in June this year. I am a logistics specialist having worked for large international organizations and corporations such as the United Nations, Halliburton/KBR, or DynCorp, being stationed for twenty years working in areas consumed by ferocious civil wars in Bosnia and Serbia or the occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq. I am an author who lived and worked in 4 continents and witnessed 4 wars, walking the paths of my characters, therefore being able to turn my extensive experience into inspirational and instructive fiction and non-fiction narratives. I am telling stories about paradoxes of the modern world where evil reigns while chivalry yet survives and write only about real-life stories which have it all, a powerful blend of real-life situations and crime thriller, shaking family experience and shocking war and political drama.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
This novel is the first part of a trilogy that deals with the socio-historical context of emergence, rise, and (temporary) fall of the famous and powerful international robber group, Pink Panthers. I have been writing my first novel “Pink Panthers: The Greatest Thieves in the World” for the last three years but I dreamt about writing it for the last 15 years since I read the reports of their first robberies. I considered them yet another gang of robbers who dare defy the society and its norms taking such risky steps. However, as time went on, I realized that all the risk that the Pink Panthers had invested in the robberies was very well calculated in the overall equation. I don’t even have to mention that the locations chosen by the Pink Panthers sounded bombastic as if from the best Hollywood production. Paris, London, Amsterdam, St. Tropez, Dubai! The ideas that the Pink Panthers introduced as a ‘patent’ in committing the robberies were more intriguing than even the greatest movie-minds could come up with. And I’m not just talking about disguising themselves as women, fleeing by speedboat and the like, but that all the robberies were committed without a single victim, and that’s what makes the Pink Panthers unique in the criminal world. With their imagination and extremely expressed audacity in carrying out their robberies, they left the world breathless, including me.

By personalizing the functioning of criminal cartels, the horrors of war, the violent discord of country and pitiful dissolution of a family, and showing the results of these bold events have on individuals is the general theme I tried to dive into with this novel. The light form of adventure drama shows the correlation of organized crime, social anomalies, wars, and interests of the great who ruthlessly manipulate and destroy the lives of the small, from individuals to nations. The background story shows the entire process of the diamond business, how diamonds come to jewelry stores, from relentless exploitation of rich deposits of poor third-world countries and inciting bloody civil wars in them, to the intertwining of the diamond business with drug cartels, human trafficking, interests of banks, corporate and military-industrial magnates and diplomatic-political machinations.

If you’re curious what it’s like to be a Pink Panther, read this book. If you have the courage, dare follow the steps of our heroes, embark on an action-adventure with the Pink Panthers, and personally experience the world’s most famous diamond robberies. Furthermore, find out how diamonds are made and come to that array of glittering shops, from the hot sands of Africa where greedy corporations exploit human and mineral resources in collaboration with corrupt politicians, through shining modern Europe all the way to Dubai. Get to know the dark world behind all that glitter and glow of riches, touch the blood, sweat, and tears that they represent in reality.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I obsess about my characters, as an infatuated lover, mixing up fantasy with the reality, my own experience, and reflections with ideas I mean to convey. I dream of them, I think of them day and night, observe them telling me their stories, talking and listening to them. I have a rich imagination and create whole dialogues and scenes, even chapters in my mind before writing them down. Then I add the narrative and descriptions according to my objective and themes I want to describe and convey.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I love the raw style and brisk observation of all the dark and decay in human nature and society as brilliantly portrayed by Bukowski of the modernists and Dostoevsky of the classics. I admire Dostoevsky as a writer with the natural talent of scanning through depths of the human mind, as well as skill to infect the reader with the lucidity and passion with which he writes of his views and ideas. I love Bukowski, the dirty nihilistic realist with unquestionable talent and an unrivaled passion for writing as sheer pleasure. Despite all of the ups-and-downs of his disturbed life, constant intoxication, loneliness, misogyny, and personal problems, Bukowski actually wrote. His novels and poems are so simple — simple words, sentences, and ideas — and yet so lively, deep and relatable. The writing style I tend to be developing is based on that premise – digging deep into characters and write lively and relatable true-life stories.

What are you working on now?
As for writing, I am working on the concept of the second and the third part of the trilogy. As for publishing activities, the first part of the trilogy was launched in the USA, UK, Canada, Brazil, Mexico, EU, Australia, India, and Japan, right now I’m focused on Bosnia and Serbia where it will be published in September this year.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I try to promote them equally on independent portals as wells as through Amazon Ad Services, Author Ads Network, and BookViral platforms. I am still learning about different marketing opportunities with Goodreads and BookBub.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Beauty comes from within. If you have a story inside you that you need to tell – just start writing, initiate the process with some ideas, and put them on the paper. Don’t worry about the grammar or dialogues, it will be done later during the editing process. Blank page can’t be edited, so just start doing it. It will be hard, but you can do it and you know that story must be told! So, just keep writing. If you do just one page a day – you’ll have your first draft completed in a year. One page by one page, your book will be completed, and you’ll be so proud of your accomplishment.

If you have a creative block – go back to editing previous pages. When it gets rough and self-doubt comes crawling up your spine – ignore it and go back to editing, dive in your previous work until it’s gone. It shall pass… then you move on, write on…

Also, don’t let rejection or lack of support stop you! I used to be shy about my writing, which I have been practicing as a hobby for some 25 years or so, writing essays and stories predominantly about the war experience. Then I was too absorbed with everyday life, family, and business, and couldn’t stand exposure to the creative side of my personality. Slowly, I’ve completed the novel and pitched it for almost a year with no success, nobody in my homeland in Bosnia and Serbia offered to publish it. But suddenly, in March, I found myself locked down, with nothing but time, a notebook full of notes and complete novel in Serbian language and a chance to make some sense of this crazy moment in time. So, I had it edited and translated into English and published it in the USA first before my homeland. Only after that, the publishing offers from my homeland started popping up. Nothing is impossible!

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Although it might seem a trivial or shallow phrase, it’s to try your best to live up your dream, don’t focus on obstacles and excuses instead. Love yourself so that you may know how to live with self-respect and self-care and only once you’ve become a healthy, strong individual, only then you can help others. Many have heard of the infamous Pink Panthers’ heist in Dubai when they crashed into the shopping mall with vehicles. Well, only the gang members and a few police operatives know, and this is well described in my novel, that the plan to ram that Audi sedan into the shopping mall and later into the jewelry shop, came into fruition only after the gang leader burnt out due to heat exhaustion and stress during the prep activities for that robbery, so the initial plan of robbing the shop and running towards the exit was not doable. There is a scene where one of the associates tells the leader after his burn-out: “You burned out,” Jacqueline reprimanded him. “You have to do better in self-care. Who’s going to take care of you when you get sick? You know very well that we have neither pension nor social security,” she said with a smile as she was giving him a sip of juice. “Remember what those flight attendants always say before a plane takes off, that in case of a plane crash, you have to put your oxygen mask to yourself first and only then to someone next to you?” she asked, looking into his tired, closed eyes. “You have to look after yourself so God will guard you then,” she said.

What are you reading now?
I’m reading “12 Rules” by Jordan Peterson. Love his quote ‘Without free speech, there is no true thought.’ He is a truth-telling sage who inspired millions and is needed now even more in this time of hypocritical ‘political correctness’ principle gone mad. Peterson is the most prominent, striking example I’ve yet seen of an unfortunate trend in modern communication. Lately, in the media, I only see criticism, very malicious. Obviously, there is something more to that criticism, as if there’s an agenda as if it were a witch hunt. Someone has to fall, some person, some big-name has to be the main culprit for everything. Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, and various news hosts all feature and reward this rhetorical technique. First, a person says something. Then, another person restates what they purportedly said so as to make it seem as if their view is offensive, hostile, or absurd as such. That’s what attracted me to him most, as his interviews have so many moments of this kind so you can’t help but wonder what drives the interviewers to keep inflating the nature of Peterson’s claims, instead of addressing what he actually said.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Currently, I’m focused on publishing activities in Bosnia and Serbia, as well as promotional activities in the USA and worldwide. In some months, I’ll start writing the second novel in this trilogy. The second and third part will show the further fate of the main characters when some members of the group try to start a normal family life in a tragicomic way before returning to what they actually do best, while the others “re-specialize” in their criminal career.

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?
War and Peace by Tolstoy… a thousand-page exposition on how people’s hero projects form the fabric of society and history, which is a theme I tried to dive into my novel as well.

Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s powerful meditation on meaning, morality, and faith, The Karamazov Brothers.

Ham on Rye, Bukowski’s novel, recounting the crude brutality of life growing up under the Great Depression; and partially explaining why Bukowski comes to reject mainstream culture and depict survival in a corrupt, blighted society.

The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho’s charming fable, will enchant and inspire an even wider audience of readers for generations to come. “My heart is afraid that it will have to suffer,” the boy told the alchemist one night as they looked up at the moonless sky. – Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself. And that no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of its dreams.”

Author Websites and Profiles
Neboysha Saikovski Website
Neboysha Saikovski Amazon Profile

Neboysha Saikovski’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile

Ali Igor Kaptanoglu 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I took Dramatic Writing education in Turkey as a license education. From childhood to adulthood, i have always found strength and lessons within tales. What i aim is to share these precious values; not to mention make a living of it.

I have been working at advertising sector while writing my stories and daydreaming a lot. Eventually i felt the urge to change my occupation, therefore i started to learn details of self publishing.

I wrote a few theatre plays (one staged), tv shows and stories. I also have some poem attempts. Currently I am working on an ethnic, scinece-fiction-fantasy tale.

Thank you for your time!

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Fables: Part 1 is my freshly published book. It mostly consists of my works during Dramatic Writing education. I like fairy tales which has a word or two about real world. Therefore i am trying to write that way. I thought that obvious name would be Fables…

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Whenever i don’t write i feel like i left the fridges door open.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
That’s big… Dostoyevsky, Erich Fromm, Tolkien, Aristophanes, Margret Weiss, Ursule K. , Adalet Agaoglu, Muzaffer İzgü, Orhan Pamuk, Sartre, and so on…

What are you working on now?
Currently I am working on an ethnic, scinece-fiction-fantasy tale.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I am kind of learning that.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Just do it and be patient.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Just do it.

What are you reading now?
Orhan Kemal – Cemile

What’s next for you as a writer?
Currently I am trying make a sustainable income so that i can focus my energy to writing. That, unfortunately demands bills to be paid. If i can create a good reader audience, I will keep try to do my best touch peoples souls and make a difference. Small or big.

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?
Q’uran, Divina Commedia, Art of Love (Fromm), and a blank note book with a pencil.

Author Websites and Profiles
Ali Igor Kaptanoglu Amazon Profile

J.P. Mooney 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
J.P.Mooney is the independent author of contemporary poetry and romantic thriller. Originally from Seychelles, she graduated with a BA in English Literature with Media Writing in 2014 at university. It was not until 2017 that J.P.Mooney decided to publish her work. J.P.Mooney has now written four books.

J.P.Mooney strives to help readers get through the grittiness of life with laughter and raised eyebrows, as they attempt to make sense of the reality she stretched and portrayed in her books.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The name of my latest book is Isabella: Crime has never looked this fabulous and was inspired by the hustle and bustle of central London. I’m a city girl and enjoy people watching , so this book is a mixture of the people I have met and added fantasy for the drama.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
My writing habit can be neurotic. I’m an extremely organised person however, when it comes to my writing I like to take notes when i’m out and about. But sometimes I do it so quickly that it almost doesn’t make sense yet, when I come back to it after some time, it works out.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Quite a few, it’s difficult to narrow it down. I read most genres however, I would say contemporary romance and erotic thrillers.

What are you working on now?
I am currently working on book two in the series.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Social Media and trusted network all the way.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Sometimes the process seems endless but keep writing. Dedicate time to write and stick to it. Also, remember to have fun!

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Plant seeds now and watch them grow.

What are you reading now?
I just finished Sea Sores: A Brightonian Book by Nick Wood. Love it!

What’s next for you as a writer?
I am focused on creating more books and creating poetry for my blogs.

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?
Never let me go- Kazuo Ishiguro
One night in London- Sandi Lynn
Toni Morrison- A Mercy

Author Websites and Profiles
J.P. Mooney Website
J.P. Mooney Amazon Profile
J.P. Mooney Author Profile on Smashwords

J.P. Mooney’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Twitter Account
Pinterest Account

Morgan Wopara 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Morgan Wopara is a subject matter when it comes to educating and coaching students on how to improve on their academic performance.
He has mentored quite a number of students in this area which is the major aim of writing this book.
He is a Petroleum Engineer by profession with Bachelors with First Class and Master Degree in Petroleum Engineering from Niger Delta University and Imperial College London. He has interests in reaching out to young people to make positive impact in their lives.
Exhibiting Academic Excellence is my first nonfiction title.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Exhibiting Academic Excellence is my first title. I am passionate about sharing the tips and techniques to enable student improve on their academic performance.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I usually write most in the early hours of the day.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I have followed authors like T.Harv Ever, and I love his book titled Secrets of the Millionaire Mind.

What are you working on now?
Lately, am taking some courses in financial education.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I love Amazon KDP. It helped me to self publish this book before finding out about Awesomegang website.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
I believe dedication and focus is very important for any one aspiring to leave am imprint in the minds of the audience through writing.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Never lose focus. Consistency is the key to perfection.

What are you reading now?
Currently reading one the title Secrets of the Millionaire Mind by T. Harv Ever, I can read it over and over again because it’s very inspirational.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I am looking for to writing another inspirational and educational title that will positively impact the readers.

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 Secret of the Millionaire Mind
The Alchemy
Think and Grow Rich
Rich Dad Poor Dad

Author Websites and Profiles
Morgan Wopara Amazon Profile

Morgan Wopara’s Social Media Links
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account