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Justin Haines 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m proudly Canadian. I grew up around Vancouver, B.C. but moved to Ontario six years ago. I was raised right on the American border and spent most of my summers growing up in the States, mostly around the Seattle area. I used many of my memories from summers there in my debut novel, Pender’s Death.

Pender’s Death is my first published novel, but I have written two more that will be available soon, so keep an eye out!

I’m currently living in Hamilton, which is just over a half-hour from Toronto. I live with my wonderful fiancee, Victoria, and our two dogs, Senator and Tungsten. My dogs are a wonderful help to my writing. Whenever I’m battling writer’s block, a long walk with them is the perfect cure. And when I’m in the zone and pumping out chapter after chapter, they cuddle me and keep me cozy in place.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My newest novel, Pender’s Death, follows Adam Pender in the aftermath of his mother dying. Her death brings the vultures circling as Adam tries to build on his family’s legacy and take over their business. It isn’t an easy task for him and several boardroom battles await.

All the while, Adam’s hunting for answers to the many questions surrounding his mother’s suspicious death. He’ll lean on his friends for help in the search and push them to their limits, but will he push them right out of his life?

The central question of the book: Can Adam keep his life together as everything falls around him, or will he and Pender Industries be added to the list of casualties?

It’s 500 pages of a thrilling mystery unfolding in corporate America.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I love writing on weekend mornings with golf on a TV in the background. I find something about the calm, monotone, announcers soothing and the greenscapes helps my creativity flow. It’s especially nice to see a warm, sunny, course down south when it’s rainy or snowing in Canada.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I’d say John Grisham thrillers have been my favorite for a long time and are the closest inspiration to the thrillers I write. More recently, I’ve been enjoying Friedrich Bachmann’s novels.

What are you working on now?
My next novel is another financial thriller. This one is more of a modern-day Robin Hood that follows a philanthropic hedge fund manager and a female reporter for a leading New York newspaper. Neither are as they appear and several twists follow. The hedge fund manager’s spiritual advisor and cult following provide some particularly interesting storylines.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Everyone finds different paths to success, but I find social media to be the most effective. If you can build a loyal following, freely promoting your own books can yield wonderful results.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Just write! It’s easy to get hung up on planning or editing but you need to trust the process. Your first draft doesn’t need to be good, you just need to finish it! There will be plenty of time later for revisions and many, many, edits.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Very similar to the advice I gave: Don’t think, just write. The thinking can come later when you’re editing and improving the quality of the book, but first, you need to have words on the page in front of you.

What are you reading now?
Right now I’m enjoying a non-fiction book called The Players Ball by David Kushner. It’s about the rise of online dating in the early internet between two men who fought over ownership of the domain name Sex.com.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I hope to launch a couple of series. While Pender’s Death is a standalone story, my future work will be more expansive. I don’t want to give any spoilers away for my next book, but one of the characters will certainly be followed in a sequel.

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, this is a tough one, only being able to pick three. The first that comes to mind for re-reading is Friedrich Bachmann’s A Man Called Ove. I would want to accompany it with a classic and S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders is always enjoyable. I would probably want to round the group out with a true classic like King Arthur. I’m sure these books would help pass the time.

Author Websites and Profiles
Justin Haines Website
Justin Haines Amazon Profile

Justin Haines’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Twitter Account

Alice B. Robinson 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Alice B. Robinson is an author who wants to show by example that cooking can be not only interesting, but also fast and easy at the same time. She started cooking since childhood. One of her first dishes was pancakes and pies.

Today, she is an experienced housewife who wants every woman to Shine with culinary masterpieces, having simple products at hand.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Oh My CookBook! Best Chicken Recipes: 50 Delicious and Easy Poultry Dishes

I was inspired by the upcoming holidays.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
No

 

Author Websites and Profiles
Alice B. Robinson Amazon Profile

Alice B. Robinson’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile

Annapurna Debnath 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
This is Annapurna Debnath, a 16-year-old from Kolkata, India. I’m an avid reader, listener, public speaker, Bharatnatyam dancer and classical singer. To me, writing it like painting the voice of the soul in a blank sheet of paper. 50 shades of silence which I’ve been nourishing since the last 4-5 years have today been painted with words, in the form of poetries, and here I come up with my self written book of 50 enchanting poems which have been published by Amazon, both in Kindle e-book and paperback edition and has gained a best sellers rank. ” January of 2017″ is the first ever poetry book of my life.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
January Of 2017- Overflow of grief one day turns into a poetry.
It was on my death bed in 2016, when I decided to scribble. Yes, you read it correct, I was struck by eosinophilic asthma and the doctors told me that I could die within 6 months or so. When my condition worsened, I was admitted to a hospital, rather a field where I fought with death for 5 days and gained triumph over it on the 6th day. On the very next day, I wished to listen to a voice, voice of a long lost, but I was refrained from doing so. I lost all ties with that voice, which served as the voice of my life on a cold winter night of January. And it was then, when I wrote my first letter. I wouldn’t lie, my English answer scripts were something to be mocked at, but my mom unfurled my hidden potential, motivated me, and today, I am the best speaker of my school. It’s been 4 years since I lost that voice, and I had been craving for it.
In the conclusion, what I would like to draw is, anybody can write and experiences are enough to turn a person into a poet. Writing is never a one man’s game, more than your vocabulary, it’s the vocabulary of your experiences which help you to weave words.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
No

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Khaled Hosseini anytime , Agatha Cristie, The Autobiography Of A Yogi

What are you working on now?
My book on monumental history.

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

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Writing is never a one man’s game, more than your vocabulary, it’s the vocabulary of your experiences which help you to weave words.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
WRITE YOUR SOUL OUT

What are you reading now?
India A History by John Keay

What’s next for you as a writer?
INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION

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?
Autobiography Of A Yogi, The House Without Windows, The Testaments by Margaret Atwood

Author Websites and Profiles
Annapurna Debnath Website
Annapurna Debnath Amazon Profile
Annapurna Debnath’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Dion Anja 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Hi, I’m Dion! A 21 year-old literature major and self-published author from Istanbul. I like reading, writing, cats, walking in nature and learning a lot. I have been writing since I was really tiny and I have finished a novel before when I was a teen, but it makes me cringe so hard now, so it is now covered in dust. I’m currently writing short stories but I just found the courage to publish something, so I have just one book out in the webiverse.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My debut and latest book is called “My Dawn Is Only Five Hours Away”. I started working on it when the first lockdown happened. I was feeling really lonely and words and feelings started to swell inside me. So, I poured my mind, soul, and heart into this collection. I tried to capture the turbulence of this pandemic with poems about love, death, anger, anxiety, and hope but as a literature major I had to include narrative poems as well! You can see poems about fairies and talking cats.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I sometimes get up at a very weird time to write down a line that reveals itself to me. Other than that, I pace the room really fast to try different combination of words.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
My narrative poems were inspired by movies like “The Corpse Bride” and “The Nightmare Before Christmas” as I loved their songs’ lyrics! Other than that, I am deeply moved by the romanticism and Gothic literature, and I think this is evident in my words too.

What are you working on now?
I am working on a series, actually! I planned a novella and a novel to tell a Gothic story. I am developing and trying different concepts so far, but I hope to get into the writing soon.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Goodreads and Twitter helped me a lot! But most of my supporters came from my Tumblr account, they helped me discover my strength a lot!

Do you have any advice for new authors?
If you want to publish that work, do not hesitate. Do it! It is truly an amazing feeling to be able to be open about yourself and your words. But if you need time, it is okay too. You are the center.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
“It is always darkest before the dawn.” This phrase motivates me a lot.

What are you reading now?
I’m reading Percy Shelley’s Selected Poems!

What’s next for you as a writer?
I hope more bold decisions and more self-confidence! I would love to be heard by many people, and make my writing as accessible as possible, so I’m working on that too.

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?
It is such a tough question when I have read so many amazing books! Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein”, Dante’s “Inferno”, and Wilde’s “The Picture of Dorian Gray” are definitely on the list.

Author Websites and Profiles
Dion Anja Website
Dion Anja Amazon Profile

Dion Anja’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Twitter Account

Harry Killick 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I have only written one book

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Lauras Christmasland adventure . I just had this idea for a long time and it’s inspired by old adventure stories

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Well I wanted kids to learn some new words by explaining the word I choose and describing what that means to them

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Roald Dahl is on oblivious choice but I had his distinct imagery in my head as I wrote and Lemony snicket as well which was my favourite book series growing up

What are you working on now?
I am currently working on a sequel to Lauras Christmasland adventure

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I am new to all this and I am discovering how to promote. I also encourage readers to write reviews on Amazon

Do you have any advice for new authors?
You have that idea just go for it you never know it could be the next Harry Pitter success

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
You can’t fail unless you try

What are you reading now?
I’m in between books

What’s next for you as a writer?
After the sequel I have some more ideas for new stories

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?
Any Harry Potter and lemony snicket or Phillip pillars dark materials

Donna Melanson 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m a yoga teacher, LIVE broadcaster, podcaster, and author of the book, A Yogi’s Path to Peace. 60,000 followers around the world tune in to my daily sunrise broadcast from the beach, and my weekly podcast the Silent Bit.

This is my first book.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
A Yogi’s Path to Peace: My Journey to Self-Realization, is a memoir about finding peace and happiness after years of being sad, overworked, and bitter to my perceived unfairness of life.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I journal as often as I can and I use the journal entries not only to write my book but to get a clear awareness as to where I am.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Autobiography of a Yogi had a profound influence on me. Parmanasa Yogananda detailed his journey and through his experiences, it expanded my view of everything. In a way it’s what I hope happens to others who read my book. That they get a glimpse of another way of looking at their life, giving it a different perspective.

What are you working on now?
Book just recently published, in a way still working on it, by recording the audiobook version. I still also host a weekly podcast called The Silent Bit and a daily LIVE broadcast from the beach helping people find peace with a short yoga session, conversation and guided meditation.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
linktr.ee/donnamelanson I’m new to book promotion, so this is where I’m starting.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Work on creating a community that will not only serve as a platform to help promote but they also become some of your biggest cheerleaders.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Keep it Simple.

We often want everything to be just so, but we can get lost in the details, and end up quitting before we begin. Write simply for the pure pleasure of writing. Promote what you have to say and don’t worry about what anyone is saying – keep going.

What are you reading now?
embarrassingly nothing, but I do have a stack of unread books waiting for me all yoga and spiritual based.

What’s next for you as a writer?
A companion workbook that will help guide people towards the life they are meant to live.

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?
If it’s been written –
How to survive on a desert island.
Edible Plants
and, Autobiography of a Yogi

Author Websites and Profiles
Donna Melanson Website
Donna Melanson Amazon Profile

Donna Melanson’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Sienna Poe 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
My name is Sienna, and this is my first book!
I am very excited to finally launch this book, first of my series “A Quokka’s Adventures”.
I am a world traveler with a wanderlust spirit.
After travelling the world for a few years, I decided to combine my love for kids and my knowledge about the world to teach children about today’s important values.
I am enthusiastic about educating kids on less known places in the world and all the different animals in it.

When I am not writing, you can find me exploring new places around the world and living new experiences to inspire me for my new books!
I also enjoy doing sports and cooking! Or let’s be honest, I enjoy eating and try new cuisines!

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The Beauty of Diversity!
It is the first book of the series “A Quokka’s adventures”.
My travels and the situation we are in right now inspired this book and the all series!
I want our little ones to grow up knowing more about the world that surrounds us. I would like for them to have the knowledge of different species of animals and less known corners of the world.
But what matters the most, are the values I want to transmit with my books. Diversity, equality, confidence, inclusion, acceptance….
They all are crucial topics in our lives nowadays and I hope my books will help children get familiar with these values in a fun and easy way.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I don’t think so. Just sitting down at my desk with a nice cup of tea. But I need to be in a room alone, with no noises or distractions.

What are you working on now?
I am currently writing the second book of my series. I am very excited for this one! Ally will be in a different place this time and she will meet many new interesting friends. The book will talk about confidence and how we all need to believe in ourselves and help who is in need.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Freebooksy has been working great for me. And of course, Awesome Gang

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Just start! If you have an idea, just start writing about it! Don’t overthink it!
The pig picture might seem scary at first, but if you break it into smaller pieces everything will be easier and manageable.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
“one day or day one – you decide”

What are you reading now?
American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins

What’s next for you as a writer?
I am going to keep writing about Ally’s adventures and educate kids about the world that surrounds us and its important values!

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Probably some books about how to survive on a desert island

Author Websites and Profiles
Sienna Poe Amazon Profile

Sienna Poe’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile

Poli B. 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m a first-time author of a novel, and Secret Faces of Darkness: LOST is my first novel. It’s a young adult vampire fantasy and the first of the Secret Faces of Darkness series. Apart from that, I to write started many novels in the past, but this is the first one I managed to finish, so there are many other ideas waiting for when I have more time and patience on my hands.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
I wanted to write a ‘realistic’ young adult novel involving vampires (if there can ever be any).
Originally, a ‘vampire’ was someone so strongly attracted to life and power over other people that they weren’t able to leave this earth. In the past, it was thought that such individuals could come back to haunt others.
On this basis, I tried to use vampires and what they symbolise as a metaphor for darkness that can be found all around us, among others in the human mind.
As mentioned elsewhere, such darkness, especially when connected to power over other people, can be strangely alluring.
I wanted to explore how we can face it, be tempted by it and how one might try to deal with it in everyday life, in the current global circumstances.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I like to write while I do other stuff with my hands, because ideas tend to flow more freely when you’re not forcing yourself to stare at the computer screen and write those 1000-5000 words you’ve set as your daily goal.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Terry Pratchett and his amazing Discworld series as well as his humour, Tolkien and The Lord of the Rings, and Neil Gaiman with all of his novels, but also many contemporary science fiction writers.

What are you working on now?
I’m going to start a blog, another book series, and I’m also working on the second book of my Secret Faces of Darkness series.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I’m still endeavouring to discover it. Awesomegang. com is awesome!

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Follow your dreams, that’s all we can all strive for, I guess, and be kind to yourself and other people.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Take life day by day, don’t dwell too much on the past or the future.

What are you reading now?
Re-reading the Metro sci-fi series by Dmitry Glukhovsky.

What’s next for you as a writer?
To try to succeed in the literary world.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Can I take an Ipad? Survival on a Desert Island Handbook, 500 Ideas to Escape from a Desert Island Including Building a Radio Station, The Tropical Cookbook, and a medical encyclopaedia.

Author Websites and Profiles
Poli B. Amazon Profile

Poli B.’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Henry Thomas 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I have an unquenchable thirst for knowledge and I am both an observer and participant in life. I have a tehnical educational background while still utilizing my creative side with writing on different subjects, playing the guitar, and designing things.

I have written 3 books so far. One on “Men’s Guide to being a Single Parent” and two poetry books. My next book will be on organizing family reunions.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My lasted book is called “Mental Streams: Poems of the Heart and Soul”. This collection was inspired by world events over the last year including the political & racial divide in this country, Covid-19, and things I have been thinking about over the years.

The love, family, and nature pieces in the collection were inspired by the wonderful emotions and powerful positive emotions I have experienced and observed.

The above topics resulted in a collection of poetry which is as diverse as I am and gives the reader a number of different pieces to satisfy their appetite.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Most of my poetry starts from an idea. An idea, concept, or emotion comes to me and that sets the theme for the peice. The outline from the piece comes quickly and I usally map out that outline quickly before I forget. I then follow-up with filling in the details.

This whole process can take 5 minutes or 5 days.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I am influenced by books which present an interesting point of view and which have strong messages. the subject matter varies all over the place and the gems of information can come from anyway.

What are you working on now?
I am currently working on marketing my latest book. In the new year I will start writing a book on planning a family reunion. I have been planning full week (7 day) family reunions to different locations including, Myrtle Beach, Orlando, Smoky Mountions, and Mexico for over 15 years and I want to pass on to others how to pull off a major event like these.

I will be walking you through all the detailed planning steps including lodging, transportation, activities, etc.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I have my own website which covers many different topics including a major tab for books. I promote my books in the book section of my website.

I also promote my books on Good Reads and Facebook.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
My best advice is ‘Just Do It’! Everybody has at least one book in them. You just have to get started. To help you get started there are a lot of how to articles on the web which will help.

First you want to write about something that you know. Think about what you what to write about and how your book will be different than othe books on that topic.

The key is for you to realize that you have a unique perspective on things because everyone’s experiences are unique to them. Take advantage of that uniqueness in your writings and you will be off to a good start.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Stay ture to yourself. You will never be as good a writer by trying to be someone else, as whomever you try to be like will always be better at being themselves.

It’s good to learn from other authors but take that knowledge and craft something that is unique to you.

What are you reading now?
I am currently reading guitar theory books.

What’s next for you as a writer?
To continue to observe and experience life and then put it on paper.

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?
1. Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species
2. Immanuel Kant’s The Metaphysics of Morals
3. Ernest Heminway’s The Old Man and the Sea
4. The Collected Poetry of William Butler Yeats

Author Websites and Profiles
Henry Thomas Website
Henry Thomas Amazon Profile

Henry Thomas’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account
Pinterest Account

M.L. Ruscsak 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
To date I have wrote 5 full length noves. One of which i have trasnlated into 9 languages. Plus written 4 novella’s.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Secret of the Sword is getting ready to come out here soon under the Trient Press publishing house. It is the first in a three part spin off of the Lite and Darke serires.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I tend to write the end first.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Anne Bishop is my biggest infuence as a writter.

What are you working on now?
Anyone that knows me, knows I’m always working on at least 3 WPS, on top of working within a publishing house. My biggest move right now is not that of a writter but that of of a office personal within Trient Press.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Surprisingly IGTV and Youtube are my biggest helps for promoting. But not because I’m promoting my books but because I’m using it to promote others first.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Have a marking budget. I does not matter if it’s $50 a month or $100. Go after the radio shows and podcast that cost money. Pay for that P.A. posting yourself on social media helps some but get your name out there.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Hire a great editor or work with a publishing house that offers editing.

What are you reading now?
I’m currently reading the entire Black Jewels collection again in preperation of the new one coming out in 2021

What’s next for you as a writer?
More books, screenplays, poems? The sky is the limit and I won’t limit myself to one thing.

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 Black Jewles as most of them are in one or two combined books.

Author Websites and Profiles
M.L. Ruscsak Website
M.L. Ruscsak Amazon Profile

M.L. Ruscsak’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile

Andre Camp 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
A bit more about myself. Yes, I am actually very shy and introverted person
I do like traveling and seeing new places.
But oddly enough I am much like a Gladiator type of person.
The people in the book thought I may wilt away… Sorry, I had a rude surprise for them waiting.
They thought their bunch of traitors can undermine me… yes, they did undermine me badly… But the wheel in life turns…(you know what the gladiator did…?)
Before I give away to much of the book, you should Get the ebook at https://secretsbookshop.com
Yes, I like to see the good in everybody and like to help people.
That is the reason why I wrote the book in the first place after my friend told me to write up everything I did to make a Fortune for my boss.
I looked at Schalk and said, Why would people buy it and read it?
Schalk answered and said: Because it will help other people to become successful like you.
So, I sat down and day by day wrote everything down, like Schalk said It will help you the reader.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Yes, this is a different one. There are several reasons in real life.
The big reason is that I used skills that were not available in business school or the Business degree.
I specially used every last knowledge and hack and more to set the results SKY HIGH…on purpose.
To explain this, you will get a book SECRET right here now
You see, the resort where I worked thought “It’s easy, let him word and then fire him for a BULLSHIT reason that is unlawful and the ride on the success he built up.

Yes, I knew that, So I Built up a business better and greater than they could imagine. I built it up so good and so high that they could not match it.
Well, the wheel turns, and when I was fired and thrown out onto the streets, the customers left in droves because I wasn’t there anymore. Ouch… That hurts…

So What is in plain sight but… a Secret. So I called it “How To Get SECRET MONEY By Offering Tent Camping.
Because, If you are ignorant, it is a secret to you, but when you read the book and learn the course specifially for this, The Secret yield AMAZING money and power in real life BECAUSE of specific skills you learned in the course.(The course will be released soon at https://secretsbookshop.com) So the title is How To Get SECRET MONEY By Offering Tent Camping.
.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Yes, maybe so. I usually carry just a piece of paper and a pen in my pocket. Sometimes when I see something that inspires me, I write it down. The late at night I write all my notes in a scrapbook. I then assemble these pieces together.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Several authors have influenced me for different reasons. It would be unfair to mention just a few. They are all great.

What are you working on now?
I am working on a new book showing people a better life. Oops, I may not say to much and give away the plot not, but it will help people like you and you and you.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I give everybody a chance, but it is up to them to prove thier worth to me if they want business again.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
This is really HARD work. Period. True. Just keep on going day by day. By a certain number of days, your book will be done.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Don’t Compare. I know everybody does. Don’t compare, remember, everybody has their story of what happen to then. Don’t talk bad. There is Good in everybody, just try to see it.

What are you reading now?
You see,sometimes a book open a new world to you. right now I am reading a book to improve more skills.

What’s next for you as a writer?
There is more SECRETS in the SECRETS books to be told. You will have to sign up at https://secretsbookshop.com to find out more.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
That is a tough question. That is everybody’s personal preference.

Author Websites and Profiles
Andre Camp Website

Anna Junker 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am a mother of 1-year-old twin boys and two older boys who are the illustrators of my first children’s book.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My first book is called “Shall we go adventure? A Journey To Being You!” The birth of my twins was the inspiration behind this book. It all started with a few words to make them smile and now is transformed into a beautiful bedtime story for all children.

In August, I took a program to write a children’s book in 5 days, and it was written by the end of day 3. I then continued on the writing journey with the author/publisher, and we had 5 weeks to complete and publish. I set myself a goal, being a mom of 4 boys, homeschooling, and homemaking and raising twins. It’s a busy life, but this goal, I was determined to accomplish my inspiration and my dream.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Trying to find the time to sit and write is a challenge. But you can sometimes find me hiding in the laundry room or during dinner prep, just starting to jot down ideas and start writing.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
My biggest influence has been Robert Munsch. He came to my school when I was in grade 1. I was 6 years old. He was telling his stories and making us laugh. He asked me if I liked reading and writing, and to answer him, I got the opportunity to give him a few of my stories and tell him I wanted to be a writer when I got older.

What are you working on now?
I am now working on a children’s book series with a similar philosophy to my first book.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I am still on the learning path with this one, but it appears Awesome Gang is a great place to start. I am a big fan of Kindlepreneur and learning a lot about the self-publishing world, and I will update more once I have learned a few secrets.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
When you reach the point of frustrations and question your abilities on this writing journey, my advice is to take a step back analysis and get support. Giving up at this point makes no sense, so push through and accomplish your goal. You can do it.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Never give up!

 

Author Websites and Profiles
Anna Junker Amazon Profile

Anna Junker’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile

Jennie Arnold 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
My name is Jenni Arnold and I have always been a writer. I just did not know it when I worked as a teacher, a banker, and a pizza cook. I have no plans to stop writing and see no reason to stop believing in imaginary friends.
You can learn more about me and my books on the website:
kingdomsbooks.webs.com

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My newest book is River Meets Ocean.
This story started when I was a child (every story I have ever written began when I was a child.) because my sister would not let me be the hero when we played. She wanted to be the hero and she was older. Logic like that makes sense only to the young. I figured that a story should have more than one hero. The bad guy has minions so the good guys should be a team too! My sister didn’t always agree but I have always been more stubborn than she. Each story needed a host of characters. As I grew the stories got more complex and often needed more characters.
The seven kingdoms got their start in my playroom and jungle gym but the stories stayed with me in college, when I started writing them down. Short stories were sent to different children’s magazines and some were published but most found their way into my desk drawers. I added to the short stories and ended up with a 60,000-word novel!
I hope to continue adding to the short stories from my playroom and writing many more novels.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I like to write outside and I outline everything in story web first.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
My favorite series are Riddlemaster by Patricia McKillip, the Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan, and Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson.

What are you working on now?
I am working on the sequel to River Meets Ocean. The title for now is Ocean Storm but that could change.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
There is a long list of websites that I use to promote books. Awesome Gang is one of the best.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Never be afraid to write. Put words on paper even when the words are jumbled.

What are you reading now?
I am reading the Rhythm of War by Brandon Sanderson. I’m on chapter 90 and I can’t put it down!

What’s next for you as a writer?
I am excited to work with Trient Press and I hope to publish the second novel in the series with them.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
I would take the biggest books I can find! I’m a fast reader and I hate being bored. The Wheel of Time, Riddlemaster and Stormlight Archive books would be at the top of the list.

Author Websites and Profiles
Jennie Arnold Website

Jennie Arnold’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Cate Murray 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I teach at a community college in Texas. I studied creative writing under Caroline Gordon at the University of Dallas and hold a Ph.D from Texas Woman’s University.

I just released OUTSKIRTS OF THE WOODS, and I am nearly finished with a fiction novel entitled JOSEPHINE’S JOURNEY, which shares the journey or a young woman through the 1960s.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
OUTSKIRTS OF THE WOODS is a collection of my eclectic writings over many years.
This collection illustrates the changes of a spiritual seeker: Vedantic to Christian, Pro-Choice to Pro-Life, and Bohemian to Settled.

BERTHA’S BUTTER CLUB, a one-act comedy, jabs at every person who thinks they have the formula to make others lose weight. DYSLEXIC chronicles my many and long attempts to seek a cure. Other essays compare convicted murderers Susan Atkins and Karla Faye Tucker, and uncover the tragic deaths of two abortive women.

Also included is an essay based on a Caroline Gordon short story, my creative writing mentor at the University of Dallas. OUT OF THE MOUTHS OF BABES: this one-act has a 13 year old pro-life debater who greatly loves her dad who performs abortions. The play is followed by DAUGHTER OF INDIA, a biography of my aunt, Sanskrit scholar Camille Svensson. At last comes poetry. One poem can hold a whole universe – finding love, losing love, reaching for God but touching a dark hole and discovering the true God.

This book covers forty years of love, disillusionment, and then finding love again.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I write whenever I am able. Due to my teaching career, my writing time can vary wildly.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Caroline Gordon holds a special place here, but there are and have been so many other great writers.

What are you working on now?
I am nearly finished with a fiction novel entitled JOSEPHINE’S JOURNEY, which shares the journey or a young woman through the 1960s. It should be published soon.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I must admit I am new to this side of writing. I can see that promotion is not an easy chore.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Just keep doing what you love.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Never give up!

What are you reading now?
Radical Son by David Horowitz, Avatar of Night by Tal Brooke, and Fire From Heaven by Maureen Flynn.

What’s next for you as a writer?
After JOSEPHINE’S JOURNEY, I plan to write a play I began five years ago, INTERSECTION.
It is loosely based on a murder in Hillsboro by the Clyde Barrow Gang in about 1932 (before Bonnie joined the gang). It is from the survivor’s pov.

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 Holy Bible
Jane Eyre (my favorite book of all time)
the collected works of W. B. Yeats

Author Websites and Profiles
Cate Murray Website
Cate Murray Amazon Profile

Cate Murray’s Social Media Links
Facebook Profile

David Tanner Lauka 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am married to my wonderful wife of 15 years and the father of 3 young boys and another on the way. I am a working professional and MMA practitioner who loves to express himself through writing. I’ve found the writing process to be incredibly therapeutic and healing and a way to reclaim and rewrite some of the challenging parts of my life. Sometimes it can be difficult to express myself fully in conversation and writing gives me the time and attention to express myself creatively to the fullest. To date I’ve only written one book but am halfway finished with my second book.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is Capturing the Ghost and is about my process of acknowledging and accepting the parts of my childhood that were too painful to believe or hold in my conscious memory. At around age 35 I began slipping into a mental breakdown as memories and flashbacks of my own childhood abuse overwhelmed my everyday life. It was at that time that I met a part of myself who stored up all the trauma from my past and knew everything that happened to me. Over the course of 2 years he showed me what really happened to me through regular flashbacks, body memories, and panic attacks. It is a story about finally accepting just how painful life can be but also an acknowledgment of how resilient and powerful a human being can be.

I decided to write this book as a therapeutic release. It was a perfect outlet for me to dive into my past on my own terms and make sense of it creatively. I decided to publish it as a means of finally owning my past and hopefully be an encouragement to others suffering from PTSD and childhood trauma.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I write off of pure emotion and it seems like the words just spill out of my brain. I only write when I’ve felt compelled to do so and when the mood hits me it can be very difficult to interrupt or postpone the writing process. I wrote the first draft of Capturing the Ghost in 2 weeks and it took me roughly another 3 weeks of editing before I sent it off to my copy editor. Carl Jung once said that the creative mind is never free and I believe that is definitely true for me.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Friedrich Nietzsche’s “Thus Spake Zarathustra” is a huge influence on me and is a book I reread regularly. Anything by Paulo Coelho is also a huge influence on me but most notably are “The Zahir,” and “The Alchemist.” The Bible is another book that resonates with me, particularly the works of the minor prophets. Jack Donovan and David Deida are authors whose works have shaped my view of the masculine journey.

What are you working on now?
I am working on a prequel to Capturing the Ghost which tells the story of my childhood abuse from the lense of a child. Whereas Capturing the Ghost is following my life as an adult reliving the past, my next book will be following my life as a child and understanding how I made sense of and survived the childhood trauma as it was happening. It will explore the power of the mind and the concept of disassociation and how suggestible a child can be without the guidance and support of capable parents. It will also convey how difficult it can be to accept life’s greatest tragedies and the propensity for people to create alternate stories about their lives to help cope with the pain of the truth.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I lean pretty heavily on Amazon at the moment. I am still getting familiar with the various ways of promoting my work and plan on expanding my network in the future.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Just do it. Start writing and don’t talk yourself out of it.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Always tell the truth. Once you start lying to yourself you begin rationalizing poor and destructive choices and can find yourself in situations you would have never imagined.

What are you reading now?
Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk.

What’s next for you as a writer?
To enjoy the creative process and write when I am so inclined.

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?
1. The Bible
2. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
3. The Last Temptation of Christ by Nikos Kazantzakis
4. Beginning to Pray by Anthony Bloom

Author Websites and Profiles
David Tanner Lauka Website
David Tanner Lauka Amazon Profile

Alan Hounshell 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Bingo Baby is my fourth novel. I have also written In The End (2016), Ancestry: Awakenings 2018), and The Witch Detective: The Fire And Brimstone Bourbon Trail Case (2019). My first two novels were written under the pseudonym Cullen Kit Alexander. I am a playwright and proud Trekkie living in Lexington, Kentucky. I graduated with a master’s in clinical psychology from Morehead State University. I have been happily married for over twenty one years to an outstanding social worker and I have four adult children. I strive to be a prolific writer. I currently have two new books in the works: The Antique Dealer and The Butcher, The Takers, and The Money Makers.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book was inspired by actually playing, observing, and watching people play bingo in Georgetown, KY. The characters were developed and given some traits of family members that I highly admired. In thinking of the story, I thought about what would happen if a child was born at a bingo hall that was responsible for her nickname and how her life would play out after retuning to a small town after a failed marriage.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I sometimes text myself when I think of a page to write for a book while sitting in a doctor’s office or another appointment waiting,

What authors, or books have influenced you?
James Patterson, Dean Koontz, and Nicolas Sparks.

What are you working on now?
The Antique Dealer – Lisa Joy inherits two things from a relative — an antique shop and the ability to travel back in time with objects connected to another person’s past. This is a fantasy novel set in the small fictional town of Swallow, TN.

The Butcher, The Takers, & The Money Makers – A black market for babies and young teenage girls that is controlled by an unknown group of powerful people who use a serial killer to dispose of young mothers face off against Paisley Hunter, a retired Chicago police detective.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I have utilized Facebook adds and FIVERR to help promote my book sales in the past and will continue to do so. Book trailers are helpful to pull attention to your book.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Ignore the nice rejection letters from literary agents. Continue to write and reach for the stars. These are your stories that you want to tell and enjoy the ride.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Write what makes you happy.

What are you reading now?
Cross by James Patterson. Trying to read all of his Alex Cross books in order of print.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Writing more books and after that — writing 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?
How To Survive On A Desert Island, Tropical Cookbooks, and Mary Ann’s and Gilligan’s Island Cookbook — you have to eat so you can write on palm tree bark.

Author Websites and Profiles
Alan Hounshell Website
Alan Hounshell Amazon Profile

Alan Hounshell’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile

DW Davis 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I have been a restaurant worker, a soldier, a snowmaker, an exterminator, a college student, a CPA, a middle school teacher, and now teach fourth grade.

I am a husband of 32+ years and a father of two young men who have grown to be successful in their chosen fields of endeavor.

I am also an indie writer. I have written and self-published 9 MG/YA/NA novels including the River Dream Series and the Buzby Beach Novels.

My books are based on my experiences growing up in my favorite part of the world – Southeastern North Carolina. The people I met, friends I made, and experiences I had while coming of age at the beach help shape my characters and my stories.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is BUZBY BEACH HOMECOMING. It was inspired by the idea of a soldier, estranged from his parents by his decision to join the Army, coming back to the island he grew up on and trying to pick up his old life. My own experience of coming home and readjusting to civilian life, trying to reconnect with friends and old girlfriends, gave me the idea.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I seem to write best after everyone else in the house has gone to bed. There is something about the quiet and the darkness that helps me get into the zone where the story flows more effortlessly.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I have an eclectic taste in books. When I was young, I read every Hardy Boys book there was. As I grew, I developed an interest in science fiction. Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov, and Robert Heinlein became three of my favorite writers. Asimov’s Foundation Series is one I have reread countless times. If there is one book that influenced me most as a teenager, though, it would be Heinlein’s STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND.

For a short while, I was heavily into reading Stephen King. He was the only horror writer other than Poe whose work I enjoyed. Other authors who influenced me are WEB Griffin, Larry Bond, Tom Clancy, and Brad Thor. More recently, books by young adult authors Sarah Dessen and Ally Carter, and novels by Wily Cash have influenced my writing for the better.

What are you working on now?
I currently have three projects in the works. This year’s NaNoWriMo project is about a military retiree who never married starting college as a freshman. The time is summer and fall of 2019, and the pandemic is just over the horizon and will impact my main character before the book ends.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Because I am a self-published indie author, my promotional budget is limited. Most of my promotion is done online via social media with the rest being word of mouth. So far, Facebook and Twitter (with the help of askdavid.com) have been my primary method of advertising my books. I am hopeful that Awesome Gang will become a successful part of my promotional efforts.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Keep writing. I know this is cliche, but cliches are cliches because they are usually true. Write what you want to read. Find a trusted friend or family member who will give you honest feedback. Never self-edit, always find/hire someone to proofread your work for conventions and content. Utilize betareaders and respect their feedback, even if you disagree with their comments and don’t follow their advice. Oh, and keep writing.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Honestly, never judge a book by its cover. In a much more global sense, get to know about something or someone before you decide how you’re going to feel about them. My father taught me that.

What are you reading now?
At the moment, I am reading THE MARROW OF TRADITION by Charles W. Chesnutt about the November 10, 1898 coup against the duly elected African-American leaders of Wilmington, NC by a group of white supremacists.

What’s next for you as a writer?
In the next year, I want to branch out and write more directly about social issues and their effects on the students I teach.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
The first book I would want with me is the US ARMY SURVIVAL MANUAL.
A copy of STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND would be next.
A Bible.
A Spanish/English dictionary so I pass time learning another language.

Author Websites and Profiles
DW Davis Website
DW Davis Amazon Profile

DW Davis’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account
Pinterest Account

Joyce Holt 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I have published 8 novels. The two early ones were science fiction, but my deepest passion is historical-fantasy. A stand-alone novel unfolds in 9th century Norway, while my 5-book series starts in the mountains of northwest England half a century after the time of King Arthur.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Minstrel’s Staff wrapped up my series, the Tapestry of Cumbria. I had stumbled onto a local legend about the brigands of the mountains outwitting Norman forces, spoiling their intent to conquer all of England. About the same time, the Normans tried to establish a textile industry on the coast, but the weavers brought in from Flanders complained about the “barbarous” locals. A simmering situation perfect for my heroine!

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I need solitude and silence. Writers block at the keyboard? Pen and paper and a long bus ride do the trick.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Tolkien swept me away! Peter S Beagle and Patrick Rothfuss spin words like magic. Connie Willis does fantastic mash-ups of comedy with tragedy, science fiction with medieval. Philippa Gregory opens a window into history, tinted with magic. Guy Gavriel Kay, Ursula K Le Guin, too many more to name!

What are you working on now?
I’m doing a dramatized history of my ancestors in Norway, imagining details to fill in the blanks between names, dates, and places. It’s a cozy read compared to the high tension of a novel, but it has its share of stress and disaster: many trials in the early 1800s with drastic climate cooling, crop failures, and financial woes as the industrial age ramps up.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I’ve tried Facebook and Pinterest, but have yet to find the route that works for me. I need to spend more time on my blog, and network from there.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
– Most accomplished creators have a success rate of about 1 out of 5. Four paintings, meh. The fifth grabs your eye. The same goes with writing. Most of what you write won’t be fit to publish. That’s okay! Go ahead and write the lackluster stuff. It’s the only way to get the good stuff to appear.
– When you’ve finished a wonderful piece of writing, celebrate! Then put it away and work on something else for a while. When you come back to the masterpiece later, flaws will show that were invisible before. Pick the worst ones, fix them, and repeat.
– In my case, writers block means there’s something off with the writing or structure just previous, so I compare the basic elements of plot and character against the template I like: “The Writer’s Journey.” I don’t write by formula, but formula comparison helps find flaws.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Six vital steps to becoming a compelling writer: Read. Read. Read. Write. Write. Write.

What are you reading now?
I just revisited Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card, science fiction published 25 years ago. His “desks” sound a lot like smartphones! I have a book on hold at the library by Connie Willis, sequel to one of my all-time favorites.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I need to change hats and dig into promoting, although some readers want me to get back to my sci-fi trilogy which has been waiting a long time for the third book.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Desert Island Survival Skills (does such a book exist?), seafood cookbooks, and blank journals!

Author Websites and Profiles
Joyce Holt Website
Joyce Holt Amazon Profile

Joyce Holt’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Pinterest Account

Harry Killick 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I have only written one book

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Lauras Christmasland adventure . I just had this idea for a long time and it’s inspired by old adventure stories

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Well I wanted kids to learn some new words by explaining the word I choose and describing what that means to them

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Roald Dahl is on oblivious choice but I had his distinct imagery in my head as I wrote and Lemony snicket as well which was my favourite book series growing up

What are you working on now?
I am currently working on a sequel to Lauras Christmasland adventure

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I am new to all this and I am discovering how to promote. I also encourage readers to write reviews on Amazon

Do you have any advice for new authors?
You have that idea just go for it you never know it could be the next Harry Pitter success

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
You can’t fail unless you try

What are you reading now?
I’m in between books

What’s next for you as a writer?
After the sequel I have some more ideas for new stories

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?
Any Harry Potter and lemony snicket or Phillip pillars dark materials

 

Eden Wilder 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I got married young and had kids right away, fell hard into the green-hippie mom rabbit hole. I love it, I still am a hippie, but it really took over my life, trying to be this perfect mom who only fed her kids organic and no plastic and cloth diapers and everything…

I love fiction to the core of who I am, but I kind of forgot that in the midst of reading all the how-to-be-a-perfect-mom books. When I found fiction again after about 5 years into my mothering, it was like a breath of fresh air. A few years later, I started writing, and romantic fiction was the only option for me. I love it so much.

I’ve written two novellas so far, One Magical Place released in October 2020 and Stuck Together is releasing December 2020. I’m starting to brainstorm the third book, it’ll be a 4-novella series following all four Sullivan brothers.
There’s a full-length book in my “graveyard drawer”. I’m not sure if that one will ever see the light of day. I wrote about 10 different versions of it and it got to be kind of a Frankenstein situation.
Once I decided to try my hand at writing novellas, the writing really took off for me. I’m kind of a perfectionist so it helped a lot to be able to do *my best* at something but then be done with it in a relatively quick period of time. I also think it helped me understand each story element and go deep with the characters without getting overwhelmed. Especially since I worked on that longer novel for about 5 years without seeing the fruit of it. After the pandemic is over, maybe I’ll hand “Frankenstein” over to my beautiful surgeons, my editors, and see if they can help it live.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
One Magical Place. It’s about a bookstore owner and a yarn shop owner who fall in love. I actually had this as a business idea, that you’d have all your favorite introvert stores in one place. Buy some yarn, read a book with a cup of coffee or tea… sit on an antique couch. I quickly realized I wouldn’t want to actually deal with all the inventory and interacting with customers everyday, because I’m extremely introverted myself. So I decided to write a book about it. I get to have all the fun of imagining it and designing it and none of the work of keeping up the actual store.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Hmm… I’m not sure if they’re unusual. I like my cheap yellow office notepad, sometimes when I feel like I have writer’s block I’ll make myself write with pen and paper.

I can write anywhere kind of quiet if I have my AirPods and my playlist. I write to Indie Folk for Focus on Spotify and I turn it up really loud. Like I said, I have four kids, so if my husband is taking care of them, I can write just about anywhere comfortable.

I like to write in my bed, but sometimes I have to make myself go to a coffeeshop, because then I *know* I’ll get work done and not be as distracted by housework or Netflix.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Oh man. Penny Reid is a big one, I love how she didn’t just write stories but really created a community around nerdy romance. My hope is to do that with what I affectionately call modern “hippies”. We’re the quirky, attachment parent, natural remedy, green-minded counterpart to her nerdy scientist community.
Also Katherine Center is one of my absolute favorite writers. I love how she writes positive stories of people overcoming hard things. And they’re just gorgeous to read, they feel like friends.

What are you working on now?
I’m working on novella # 3 of the Sullivan brothers series. It’s about the second oldest brother, Teddy. Just like he sounds, he’s sweet and squishy and lovable, but struggling to overcome depression.
The heroine is a quirky realtor, who uses her intuition to help people connect to their homes.
I’m also dedicating this to the daughter of a friend, a beautiful girl who died this year by suicide, so it’ll touch on mental health a bit more than my other books.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
edenwilder.com You can sign up for my newsletter there, and I’ll be sending Stuck Together out for freeeee to those who sign up for the newsletter. That will be sometime in the next two weeks, definitely before Christmas 2020! So super excited about that, go sign up for my newsletter! Stuck Together is a light pandemic romance, so perfect for right now.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Keep writing. Read lots of fiction. Save the Cat was amazing for me to understand story structure (although sometimes I still can’t wrap my brain totally around it!) but just remember that writing is storytelling. It isn’t just about making words and feelings, it’s about the big picture of what’s happening, the underlying themes. I think a lot of us start with Bob waking up and walking from room to room, but it gets frustrating when you’re not sure how to move beyond that. So big picture *storytelling* was the thing I needed to understand in order to move forward.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Keep writing. We get distracted, us writers. We like *having written* but we don’t always want to sit down and do the damn thing. So read fiction, read a few helpful books and articles, but the only thing that’s really going to make a difference is to sit down and write something. If it doesn’t change anyone else, it always changes you.

What are you reading now?
I picked up a few Christmas romances on kindle unlimited. One is The Christmas Fix by Lucy Score. It’s cute so far. I’m trying to be better about reading instead of watching tv before I go to sleep, so I at least fit in a few minutes a day doing that. When I’m not actively writing I obviously read a lot more, and then I read less in seasons of creativity. I’m also alpha-reading for my lovely friend and editor, Kristina Suko.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I’m excited to finish this 4-part novella series and then see what’s next. COVID has definitely made it challenging to plan. When I have more “brain space” I’d like to try writing something longer and see if I enjoy that, but I’m not ready to commit quite yet. Maybe I’ll keep writing novellas. I’ve got a chiropractor story knocking around in my brain for after the Sullivan brothers’ stories are finished…
I’m also trying to learn about marketing and how to use my instagram for readers, how to create that community feeling and things like that. So just widening my skill set.

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 man, that’s such a mean question!
How to Walk Away by Katherine Center
Truth or Beard by Penny Reid
Renegades by Marissa Meyer (Or Heartless if I was feeling dark and twisty that day…)
The Shack by William Paul Young
Ask me again tomorrow and I might have a different answer.

Author Websites and Profiles
Eden Wilder Website
Eden Wilder Amazon Profile

Eden Wilder’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile

Grahame Shannon 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m a Canadian living in North Vancouver, BC. I have had many careers, and started several successful businesses and many failed ones. My longest career was as a Naval Architect and yacht designer. Among over 100 boats I designed is the Walker Bay 9, the world’s most popular dinghy. It is also the smallest boat I ever designed.

I began writing short stories on a long cruise to Australia in 2009. Every night I would write a short story about my adventures, some real, some imagined, and email them to my wife. Writing stories became a hobby.

In 2016 I combined several of my short stories and much new material into Tiger and the Robot, my first full length novel, and the bfirst one published. It proved popular and generated roylaties which in a good month bought me several cups of coffee. Since then I have finished annother book, and I am part way through a third. It is becoming a series, which I call the Bay Mysteries. I wrote the last book in the series first.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Bay of Devils is my second published book. The main characters are all based on people I have known. The book was inspired by two events. One was a news story in 2018 about the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the liner Princess Sophia, known as the Titanic of the Pacific, The second event was a personal cruise to Alaska with my wife aboard our yacht Tangleberry in 2008. On that voyage we visited Thomas Bay, aka the Bay of Devils, which is reputed to be haunted. I put the two events together in one book.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I am what is called a “seat of the pants” writer. I don’t write an outline, I just start with the briefest of ideas, then write. I often dream about the story I am writing. The last three chapters of Bay of Devils came to me in a dream. I got up in the middle of the night and wrote them down.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I am a fast reader, and for years I read a book a day. That was in an era when I had no TV and the internet did not exist. These days it takes me a week or more to finish a book.

As a child I loved Robert Louis Stevenson and Jack London. Later I read Mickey Spillane and Agatha Christie. I also like more literary authors such as Thomas Pynchon and John Barth.

What are you working on now?
Bay of Angels is my third novel, second in the Bay Mysteries series. It features Sean Gray and Cindy Lu, who were introduced in Bay of Devils, and Sean’s five-year-old son Chandler, Chan for short. What starts out as family sailing vacation in the remote island’s of BC becomes an action packed adventure.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I wish I knew. In my business career I developed the philosophy that “nothing works but everything works.” What I mean is that there is no single magic bullet, but if you do everything you can, somehow the result is ultimate success.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Don’t be in a hurry to quit your day job.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Don’t listen to people who tell you what you can’t do.

What are you reading now?
Circle of Bones by Christine Kling.

What’s next for you as a writer?
The Bay Mysteries series will have ten books. That should be enough writing to keep me busy for the rest of my life.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
I would choose them by size. I would bring books I have on my shelf but haven’t read yet. Authors include Conrad, Faulkner and Melville.

Author Websites and Profiles
Grahame Shannon Website
Grahame Shannon Amazon Profile
Grahame Shannon Author Profile on Smashwords

Grahame Shannon’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile

Patrick Heller 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Next to being an author of two books, I consult and coach organizations to become (even) more responsive and agile in order for them to succeed in today’s fast-changing markets.

No matter the technology, in the end, success is all about human behavior, cooperation, and communication. I find a great deal of satisfaction in guiding professionals to a higher level of (co-)operating with and within their organization.

My special interests go out to Leadership and Psychology. I find the (social) psychological aspects of coaching more and more intriguing, and that is the reason I’ve been expanding my knowledge in these areas with great passion by doing online courses at Cambridge, Yale, and the University of Toronto.

I’m proud to call myself an author of two books. My first publication was a booklet named, “Agile Essentials for Modern Leadership”, available on Amazon. My second book is a 300+ page work named, “Essential Psychology for Modern Organizations”, available worldwide through most outlets that sell books.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is called, “Essential Psychology for Modern Organizations”, and I wrote it because I felt an urge to share some of my newfound knowledge in the field of psychology. Since a couple of years I’ve been diving deeper and deeper into the world of psychology to figure out how to apply scientifically proven psychology at work. There aren’t that many books dealing with this interesting cutting-edge between proven psychology and your everyday workplace – so I just had to write it…

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Since I didn’t quit my day job, I have to do all my writing in the evenings or in the weekends. This includes many very, very late nights in which I barely get any sleep at all.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I’m a huge fan of Christopher Hitchens, the late, great, contrarian – whose most famous book is named, “god is not Great”. I admire his style of writing – and speaking – for its unapologetic brutishness in combination with a civilized flair that induced a critic to say that Hitchens couldn’t write a dull sentence if he wanted to.

What are you working on now?
After writing two business-oriented nonfiction books, I’m returning to finish multiple fiction books that have been lying on shelves – half-baked – for years. I also started a new book – what you could call a mystery – that I think I’ll finish first.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Since I’m quite a newbie at this book promotion thing, I’m not sure yet, trying out different things and figuring it out along the way.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
For any new author: finish one book first and try out publishing it, promoting it, selling it – all the way from A to Z. That way you will know what’s coming and what is really necessary and what not.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Use a tool like Grammarly to correct your spelling and writing in general. It really, really helps a lot. Not that I take every piece of advice it gives, but at least it makes me think about it.

What are you reading now?
Currently, I’m reading Mythos by Stephen Fry, a superb writer.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Since I have my book “Essential Psychology for Modern Organizations” out only recently, I will continue to promote it for the coming months. In the background, I will work on the fiction books which I would really like to finish one by one.

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?
Certainly “god is not Great” by Christopher Hitchens would come along to a desert island, as well as George Orwell’s “Nineteen Eighty-Four”. “The plot against America” by Philip Roth is another favorite, and – to top it off – I’m truly enjoying “Mythos” by Stephen Fry, so that one I’ll take as well.

Author Websites and Profiles
Patrick Heller Website
Patrick Heller Amazon Profile

Patrick Heller’s Social Media Links
Twitter Account

E.R. WHYTE 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Hi! *waves* I’ve been writing since I could hold a pen and make letters, but have only been publishing for the past year. Writing well was always a skill that I loved possessing, but it was always a means to an end rather than something I did just because I loved it. Finally, I realized how silly I was being and gave myself permission to pursue this passion.

Since January 2020, I’ve written and published four books, two slow-burn new adult romances and two sweet and clean novellas.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My last project was a new adult duet with a hefty dose of suspense, Say You Love Me and Say You’ll Be Mine. They tell the story of a young woman to whom family is everything, especially after a tragic accident takes her mother’s life and gravely injures her younger brother. She willingly changes course in her studies, graduates early, and lands a teaching job that doesn’t inspire her just to retain guardianship of her brother and take care of him. In order to pay his staggering medical bills, though, she ultimately has to moonlight as an exotic dancer.

This creates a problem when her brother’s best friend—one of her students—sees her dancing. It doesn’t sit well with him. She was once the girl of his dreams and now she’s taking her clothes off for strangers.

She wasn’t looking for a hero, but he’s determined to save her, anyway.

This wasn’t particularly inspired by anything, to be honest. I love taboo romances and stories of forbidden love, and thought it would be fun to switch up the age-gap a bit. I had fun writing this.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I don’t know how unusual it is, but I’m pretty old-school. I have to compose by hand initially, and then begin editing and revising as I input my manuscript into the computer. I also nearly always have company while I write in the form of a 16 year-old chihuahua and a cat or two.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I’m a former English teacher, and as such, love a good book. Any good book. I’ve been moved to tears by such books as Family by J. California Cooper and enthralled by the mystery of The Count of Monte Cristo. Romance, though, has been my go-to for sheer entertainment and escape since I was 13 years old. I love the tried and true greats such as Nora Roberts and Sandra Brown. I equally love the new greats such as LJ Shen, Ilsa Madden-Mills, and Parker Huntington.

What are you working on now?
My current WIP is titled Remember Me and is the story of a young woman who develops amnesia in a car accident. When she awakens post-accident, she discovers a fiancé she’s forgotten, a life she doesn’t remember, and a pregnancy that shakes her to her core. I think I saw a movie once about a woman losing her memory and that must have inspired me.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
To promote, I use the standard social media sites, with excerpts and teasers and giveaways.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Read your genre. WRITE, even when you don’t feel like writing. Study your genre conventions and understand that publishing a book is more than just writing a story. That’s the easiest part!

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Don’t compare yourself to others. It’s so easy to look at XYZ and think, “they’re doing so incredibly well; I’ll never measure up. I’ll never get there.” Everyone’s experience is unique, and everyone’s path is different. Just keep your eye fixed on the goal ahead, and eventually you’ll get there.

What are you reading now?
I’m currently reading Meagan Brandy’s new and final installment in the Brayshaw Boys series, Break Me. It’s amazeballs.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Next! After my current WIP, which is due for release December 28, I will be collaborating with another author I adore, Jennifer Hartmann, on the start of a fun, albeit dark, new anti-heroes series. I cannot wait!!

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, no, really? That’s like choosing a kid! I’d bring my exceptionally well-charged Kindle, with absolutely everything downloaded ahead of time, lol.

Author Websites and Profiles
E.R. WHYTE Website
E.R. WHYTE Amazon Profile

E.R. WHYTE’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Austin Ring 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Hey! My name is Austin Ring, but my pen name is Augustus Ring. I am currently 22 years old and a full-time college student studying Mathematics, but am also a bestselling indie author on Amazon.

I’ve written 2 books–one published on August 1, 2020 and the other will be released on November 27th, 2020–both of which are anthologies in a trilogy. The name of each are: Legends of Araroth: a Collection of Short Stories. The name speaks for what kind of books they are, with each short story packing a punch in your imagination, and expanding with worldbuilding and original storytelling.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The latest book I’ve written is the Legends of Araroth: A Collection of Short Stories, Volume 2. It is a Christian-fantasy anthology with allegorical storytelling leading back to God. Not in a preachy way, but in a manner that fascinates and awes, while bringing Him Glory.

I would say that a LOT of things inspired the series, but I can say with confidence that known Christian fantasy such as Narnia or Lord of the Rings had a large role in my construction of it. When I look around on the market for good fantasy that is clean, I am more or less stumped. I wanted to be a part of the solution for creating moral and meaningful stories without stepping into the grimdark genre.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Yeah sure, I can’t find a time of day to write consistently that suits my daily college life! Normally, I would wake up at 7AM and write until 9AM, then exercise and start my academic day. However, college places a large strain on your body, mind, and strength, so sleeping in has become something of a pleasure/necessity of mine recently. Can you blame me?

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Narnia, LoTR, The Name of the Wind, Adventurers Wanted series, Harry Potter, Eragon (especially Eragon!)

I just love good fantasy!

What are you working on now?
Currently, I am gathering the scraps of several stories for my third and final anthology within the Legends of Araroth. It would be the third volume of the series, though I hesitate to call it a trilogy only because each book is a collection of smaller “books.” Can a three-anthology series justifiably be called a trilogy? Anyone know?

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I mostly use Instagram, however, I have dabbled with promotion on other sites such as Amazon Ads, and my own blog.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Dont. Stop. Writing…

But at the same time, what’s the rush?

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
I assume this has to do with writing, so I’ll give one from that context:

Don’t stop writing. And when you do, don’t edit while writing. It slows the process WAY down and disrupts flow.

What are you reading now?
The Name of the Wind again!

What’s next for you as a writer?
Publishing my third anthology in the Legends of Araroth series! After that, I would like to attempt a Novella before tackling a larger project like a novel.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
I freaking love this question!

1.) The Bible
2.) “How to Survive on a Desert Island”
3.) Three Musketeers, by Alexander Dumas
4.) The Count of the Monti Cristo, by Alexander Dumas

Author Websites and Profiles
Austin Ring Website
Austin Ring Amazon Profile

Austin Ring’s Social Media Links
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account
Pinterest Account

Kim Vermaak 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am a medieval fantasy author based in Johannesburg, South Africa. I love the complexity and intrigue of the medieval period with all its intrigue, danger, adventure, politics and drama rolled into one.

I am writing a medieval fantasy series called the Chronicles of Nadine. Book 1 (The Last of the Silver Wings) and Book 2 (The Fire Within the Storm) are available on Amazon. Book 3 is due for release early in 2021 and I am about 14 000 words into book 4.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The Fire Within the Storm is part of the Chronicles of Nadine series, was inspired by my daughter. She is feisty and determined and sometimes people misunderstand her, but despite her struggles for independence, she is a gifted and caring person. I believe that a lot of strong women are incorrectly labelled by those who do not know how to deal with them.

Within each book, I deal with a social issue many people still face in the modern world. Each book has a different sub-theme. I can’t give too much away without having a spoiler, but the sub-theme in book 2 is something that has affected some special friends of mine. Too often we judge people when we have no understanding of what they are going through.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I have a writing routine. I get up around 03h00. I drink a glass of water to rehydrate my brain. I then eat a protein-based snack, usually egg. I do a few cross midline exercises to get my left and right brain to connect and I listen to medieval, spy or other mood music on YouTube while I am writing.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I read a number of different genres and like different elements from them. I used to read a lot of Wilbur Smith and I love his series where you could track a family lineage over time, although eventually some of the violence was too graphic for me. I enjoyed the complex world-building of Terry Pratchett in the disc world series. I love the drama and moral fibre of Francine Rivers. And finally, I enjoy the clean read adventures of Clive Cussler.

What are you working on now?
My editor has just started reading the first draft of book 3 in my series, so I am expecting the rewrite suggestions within the new few weeks. I have started writing book 4 in the series. In this book, I will introduce my Emerald Forest Dragon, who is meant to train the Silver Wing Dragon Whisperer. It will not be a simple task as he is as reluctant as she is. I somehow have to transform this traumatised dragon to reclaim his purpose. People sometimes believe that living according to purpose is easy, but many who achieve great things have had to endure more than we can ever imagine stepping into their destiny.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I belong to a number of Facebook groups and have had some success on Instagram. I have grown my newsletter subscription base using Storyorigin.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Find a routine that works for you and stick to it. Even if you do not feel like writing, do research or something else related to books in that time slot, it will help you to perform better.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Simple does not equal easy. Just keep moving.

What are you reading now?
I am reading a non-fiction book, by Alan C Walter. It is a personal development book.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I will finish the Chronicles of Nadine series which will be 6 books. Then I will write a series from a different character in the same world.

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 practical book on how to build shelters and prepare meals on an Island. I will have to research that. Then “The One Minute Millionaire”, which is a novel and self-help business book rolled into one and one of Francine Rivers Mark of the Lion Series.

Author Websites and Profiles
Kim Vermaak Website
Kim Vermaak Amazon Profile

Kim Vermaak’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account
Pinterest Account

James (Jim) Gault 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Semi-retired (from the sea that is) and enjoying a coastal lifestyle whilst writing bits of history (unpublished non-fiction) and now on third contemporary piece of fiction. I keep myself occupied with a local volunteer fire brigade and tend to relax in front of the the laptop or out in the fresh air harassing garden weeds.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Flawed Silver is something of a sequel to Flawed Diamond, with the main characters still in play although a quite different story. Still plenty of action and in a regional tropical setting but is seemed a shame to “retire” the characters that were having so much fun (not!). The key inspiration in terms of the theme lies in current events such as drug supply and modern slavery which constitute the underbelly of our “civilization” and warrant more airing.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Our Covid-19 pandemic has forced more time at home with travel so constrained and with evening television so universally tacky and banal I tend to write in the evenings.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I love reading historical fiction. It has been difficult to go past Bernard Cornwell in that genre although his works are getting a bit expensive and I have taken to reading (and enjoying) Hector Miller and KM Ashman.

What are you working on now?
At the risk of being regarded as predictable – which is an element I try hard to avoid in my story-lines – I am attempting a piece entitled “Flawed Gold”. Some of the previous characters may become involved but I sense a greater danger arising to them!

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
My books are too newly published for me to have a good handle on the promotional aspects yet.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
To kill time, try working it to death!

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

What are you reading now?
“Pendragon” by James Wilde.

What’s next for you as a writer?
With life so unpredictable I wouldn’t dare forecast more than a day or so ahead – and even that seems risky these days.

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 Anglo Saxon Chronicle, The Histories (Herodotus) and maybe an omnibus of George Orwell.

 

Whitley Cox 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Hey there,
I’m Whitley Cox. I’m a mom to two precocious little girls (2.5 and 5.5) and I write steamy erotic romance and romantic comedy. I live in Canada on beautiful Vancouver Island and have written thirty books. I hit publish for the first time in 2017 and haven’t stopped since. Writing is my passion, my pleasure and has now become my job. Don’t they say if you love what you do you’ll never work a day in your life?

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
I just finished writing Doctor Smug. It’s sort of a standalone but not really. I wrote Snowed In and Set Up which had the couple (Daisy and Riley) from Doctor Smug already married in it. I also wrote Hot Dad, which was the book after Snowed In and Set Up and it also had a married Daisy and Riley in it. But readers have been asking for Daisy and Riley’s story, so I decided to write it. I guess you could call it a prequel. It was fun to write as it was on the lighter side and a true rom-com. My readers inspired me to write it, and I also wrote a bonus sexy bedtime story for it. The link to that will be at the back of the book when it releases January 16, 2021.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
My laptop sits on my kitchen counter, so I write when I have time. Sometimes, when my kids are school or on the weekend when my husband takes the parenting helm I can sit down and write for a longer period of time, but mostly I piecemeal. I write when I can. Five minutes here, five minutes there. I’m proficient, prolific and organized so I can get a lot written in a short amount of time.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I love Sylvia Day. I read the first three books in her Crossfire series three times while I was backpacking with my husband for our honeymoon. I’m also a big Rebecca Zanetti fan. Although I can’t wrap my head around PNR world building, she does it fabulously and I devour her books. Jeanne St. James is another author I draw inspiration from, as is author Ember Leigh, Cora Seton, Kathleen Lawless, Nancy Warren, CJ Hunt and Odette Stone.

What are you working on now?
Right now I’m working on book 2 of my Harty Boys book, Lost Hart. It’s been a long time coming since I published book 1 over three years ago. Other projects just skipped the queue and poor Chase’s story was shoved to the back. But, after working through some plot issues with some close writer friends, I’m finally over the hurdle and I have goosebumps I’m so excited about where I plan to take the book.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Goodreads is a fabulous resource and I’m trying to be more active there. It’s where the readers are, and although some authors call it a hellhole because it can have trolls, I’m learning to look past those random people with nothing but negativity in their hearts and thank my fans and readers for their lovely reviews.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Learn how to market BEFORE you hit publish. Learn how to network BEFORE you hit publish. Have three books ready to go BEFORE you hit publish. If you’re looking to make money and NOT just have the “prestige” of being able to say you’re a published author, you need to understand the industry. It’s a beast unlike any other and it can be competitive. If you put your first book baby out into the world without a drop of promotion or a second book link in your backmatter, you better have a bushel full of horseshoes up your butt, because without the promotion or the link at the back people will not find you. If they do happen to find you, once they finish your book, they will forget about you because you had no further call to action.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
If you don’t ask the questions, you’ll never get the answers.

What are you reading now?
Wrecked by Rum by Lucy Lakestone

What’s next for you as a writer?
I’m working on a co-writing project with another author, I’m working on the Harty Boys series and I hope to wrap up my Dark and Damaged Hearts Series by reworking Raw, Fierce and Awakened Parts 1 and 2. I wrote those books years ago, so they need to be fixed up before I can release them into the wild.

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 because it’s huge and I can use it to start a fire.
The complete collection of Winnie the Pooh by A.A Milne (don’t judge, even grownups love Pooh)
I heart my little A-holes by Karen Alpert.
The Dark Protectors Series by Rebecca Zanetti

Author Websites and Profiles
Whitley Cox Website
Whitley Cox Amazon Profile

Whitley Cox’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account
Pinterest Account

Katrina Jack 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
My family have always been avid readers and one of my greatest joys, as a child, was either
My family have always been avid readers and one of my greatest joys, as a child, was either receiving a book I really wanted or being given a book voucher. My favourite genres are: fantasy, historical and murder mysteries. That said, fantasy is my absolute favourite and the genre I write in is YA urban fantasy. Some of my favourite authors are: Jim Butcher, Robin Hobb, Jack Vance and Dean Koontz.

I began to write when I was fourteen, mostly short stories, then I joined a writers’ group and graduated onto writing novels. I love the challenge of world building and creating characters that evolve as the story progresses. I endeavour to paint pictures with my words that will draw the reader in and enable them to live and breathe the environment I’ve created and empathise with the protagonist and despise and loathe the antagonist.

Although writing takes up most of my time, I also collect time pieces, watch films and, of course, read, read, read… and read some more!
If you want to know more about me and my work, please contact me at: About-contact | United Kingdom | Kate (katejackauthor.com)

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is called Elawyn and is the first in the YA urban fantasy series, The Songstress Trilogy. I was inspired to write it after I completed my first trilogy, also urban fantasy, The Silver Flute Trilogy. Elawyn was first introduced in book II of that series and she evolved so strongly, I was inspired to make her the main protagonist in the ensuing series. This was new for me, as hitherto, all my main protagonists had been male.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I tend to write best in the wee hours of the morning, about 2am to 3am, sitting in bed, with my laptop balanced on a tray on my knees. Now that I’m retired from my 9 to 5 job, I can do this without falling asleep at my desk, as I used to

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I read a lot of different genres, but fantasy, particularly urban fantasy, is my absolute favourite. Some of my favourite authors are Jim Butcher, reading his Dresden Files books inspired me to go down the urban fantasy path. Then there’s Robin Hobb, a superb crafter of tales. Jack Vance is another favourite of mine, particularly Lyonesse, which is a classic fantasy epic.

What are you working on now?
At the moment I’m concentrating on getting The Songstress Trilogy published on Amazon. Once I’ve finished that, I’ll be moving onto my next book, which is currently fermenting in my brain.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I find websites like this are an enormous help. I also have my own website/blog, which features The Silver Flute Trilogy and I’ll soon be adding The Songstress Trilogy as well. It can be found here at: https://www.katejackauthor.com/

Do you have any advice for new authors?
It’s very tempting, when you first start out, to give up when you run into brick walls in terms of getting your books out there and persuading people to read them. But never give up, keep plugging away and one day it’ll all come good. I don’t think there’re many writers who’ve had an easy ride, when it comes to selling their work, be it indie authors or traditional publishing, but persistence is the key.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
The best advice I’ve ever heard is write, write and write some more!

What are you reading now?
I’m currently reading Wind in the Willows, by Kenneth Grahame. It’s an absolute classic children’s book and I’ve read it numerous times and even now, as an adult, love it to bits.

What’s next for you as a writer?
My next move is to begin drafting out the novel that’s still all in my head. Before I can begin, however, I have to have a title first, so I’m currently mulling over a few possibilities.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
That’s easy. I’d take Terry Pratchett’s Discworld novels, featuring the redoubtable Commander Sam Vimes.

Author Websites and Profiles
Katrina Jack Website
Katrina Jack Amazon Profile

Katrina Jack’s Social Media Links
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Chris Lewando 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I trained as an English teacher, but the planned storyline drifted off-track. I landed in an office, producing management statistics – a different kind of fiction. I have been writing for many years, with quite a few mainstream genre novels and short stories published while working full time. A divorcee with two grown-up children, I finally discovered my real partner. We made the life-altering decision to live broke but happy in rural South West Ireland. Here, we walk the dog, canoe off the coast, play Irish traditional music, and, respectively, study the landscape, and write action-adventure novels. I’ve written in many genres while exploring writing, including literary offerings (I took a Creative Writing MA). YA, thrillers, sci-fi, fantasy, romance & erotic (latter two mainstream published). All my stories have an adventure element, something to take readers away from 9-5 reality.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
‘The Silence of Children.’ Free to anyone prepared to review… https://dl.bookfunnel.com/3eqoqyzsaz. This was an experiment into writing a first-person action-adventure, and is wrapped around a vigilante-type hero who isn’t trying to save the world, but save some individual, endangered children. He can’t save them all, but hopes that his actions will have the butterfly effect, and change the future for some. So far comments on this book have been overtly position, including many requests for follow-up stories.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Writing is simply a compulsion. I love investing my time into fiction, and have to tear myself away to visit the real world from time to time. I love editing most of all. I have the bare bones of a concept, and write ‘by the seat of my pants’ then go back an edit and tighten until everything falls into place. No clichés, no coincidences, just solid, logical story progressions.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Too many to name. As an introverted and shy child I read anything that came my way, from my Mom’s collection of classics, to my Dad’s westerns. Most of all I simply love adventures that I can lose myself in. The writing has to be strong enough to envelop me. Psychological thrillers and storyless literary offerings leave me cold.

What are you working on now?
Planning a sequel to The Silence of Children. It might become a trilogy, or more. That depends on my readers. But also I’m planning a series of stories based on the ancient Irish stories discovered in the Yellow Book of Lecan. Cuchulain is well known, of course, as is Deirdre of the Sorrows, but my favourite character is Fergus, known as The Horse for his, um, large manly attributes. He is the king who lost his crown, not for the love of one woman, but many. A great character, both hero and anti-hero.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Promotion is a mystic art. I am dragged there fighting and screaming. It’s also a money-pit. I have a website, and do dabble in Facebook and Twitter, but have no great ability with social media. I am hoping my books will sell themselves…

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Write, write, and keep writing. Oh, and read books about writing in between. Don’t expect your first book to be publishable. Stuff sticks gradually. Writing gets better with practice. Get my book ‘Waymarks for Authors’ free from Smashwords.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
There is no best advice. So many people with so many amazing views. Listen, read, write, and find your own path.

What are you reading now?
Shades of Magic, Victoria Shwab. I love her imagination. I read another book every couple of days. I go to sleep on fiction… new authors, new fiction. The mainstays of the thriller world are getting tired. And I’ve discovered recently that books recommended by John and Judy are often tedious, middle of the road, or boring.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Keep writing, keep promoting, keep trying to discover a true readership base.

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?
Huge escapist compilations. I cannot imagine wanting to read the same book more than three times, though as a child I did read Lord of the Rings more than that.

Author Websites and Profiles
Chris Lewando Website
Chris Lewando Amazon Profile
Chris Lewando Author Profile on Smashwords

Chris Lewando’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Karen Petersen 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
‘Coming Out Coming Home’ is my memoir, which I hope will inspire people to find their authentic selves and come home too. Since then, I’ve written a practical self-help book, ‘It’s Never Too Late: Life lessons in Overcoming Obstacles’ for women who are in transition.
I live in Johannesburg, South Africa, with my wife, Tracey and we love to travel and spend time with our kids and grandchild. I love cooking plant-based meals and we’re currently researching tiny home living in South Africa.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
‘Coming Out Coming Home’ is my story. I was the pastor’s wife who fell in love with a woman after 24 years of marriage. Of course, there’s a lot more to it, with adventures of smuggling Bibles into China, running a women’s shelter, being held up, and more. My inspiration was finding my truth and finding a place of contentment, which is extremely under-rated.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
No, just the usual fight with distractions of all forms

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I love the redemptive writing of Khaled Hosseini in ‘The Kite Runner’, the poetic beauty and rawness of Helena Kriel’s ‘The Year of Facing Fire’ and the gripping tale from Diane Setterfield, which I could not put down – ‘The Thirteenth Tale’.

What are you working on now?
I am currently working on ‘Coming Home’ – something of a self-exploration.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I’ve found Facebook to be invaluable to promoting my books and am busy looking for other ways as I have exhausted my poor Facebook network.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
I still consider myself to be a new author, however I would advise all aspiring authors to never ever give up. Not only in writing, but also in getting your book out there.

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

What are you reading now?
I’ve just finished ‘Where the Crawdads Sing’ by Delia Owens, which I adored and didn’t want it to end and have just started Brene’ Brown’s ‘Braving the Wilderness’.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I’m putting together a talk and a workshop on ‘Coming Home’ (and maybe a book) and then I have a novel in mind.

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 Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron, any of Brene’ Brown’s books, Ekhart Tolle’s ‘A New Earth’ and a journal to write in.

Author Websites and Profiles
Karen Petersen Website
Karen Petersen Amazon Profile

Karen Petersen’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Sue Marie St. Lee 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I hale from Chicago, have lived in Canada, Arizona and Oklahoma. I have always written stories from the time I learned how to construct a sentence. Prior to the written word, I told stories. My imagination is very fertile.

I feature in many horror anthologies which are available through my Amazon Author Page.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
“Michael, A Mother’s Memoir” is the book I am working on currently. The untimely death of my thirty-seven-year-old son inspired this writing. It is a recollection of courage, regrets, strength, loss, and survival.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Yes, I am sure that I do have unusual writing habits but, I cannot name them because, to me, they are normal, and I typically do not have an audience when I write who could tell me of my peculiarities.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
James Michener, Stephen King, Edgar Allan Poe, Kurt Vonnegut, Taylor Caldwell, Kahlil Gibran, Leon Uris, William Golding, John Knowles…

What are you working on now?
The memoir of my son and some short horror stories.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I have not yet figured out the best method to promote my books.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Write! Edit. Edit. Edit. Edit. Believe. Edit. Edit. Edit. Publish.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
I have not yet heard it.

What are you reading now?
Trinity, by Leon Uris, a classic!

What’s next for you as a writer?
After my son’s memoir is complete, I will be writing more fantasy/inspirational stories.

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 Prophet by Kahlil Gibran, Back to Basics: A Complete Guide to Traditional Skills, The Bible, and, Surviving the Shipwreck, a book yet unwritten by me during my isolation on the deserted island.

Author Websites and Profiles
Sue Marie St. Lee Website
Sue Marie St. Lee Amazon Profile

Sue Marie St. Lee’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile

Chuck Huckaby 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’ve written several books already across a number of genres. They all reflect in a way my own journey… so they’re not some expert looking down at you and saying “believe this or else, do this or else”. They’re more along the style of a real person like my readers investigating something for themselves or standing in wonder about some subject. At least those are the books I’ve written so far.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My most popular book so far has been on exercise: Strength Endurance: Reflections on the Legacy of Dr. Leonard Schwartz – creator of “Heavy Hands”, “Panaerobics”, “Longstrength” and “IsoTonOMetrics”… it’s a “how to think” by someone struggling to adapt and apply the information he’s found (and which otherwise doesn’t seem to be available) and help others think about it themselves. I’m not just some muscle hunk hired to promote a book and pose as directed. I also write about habits… as someone whose seen my own “Atomic Habits” crash and burn! … And what to do to over come the shame and get back on building life changing habits.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I like lots of subjects so my main “unusual” habit is to 1. write in the “short reads” category and 2. write about things I’m learning myself as a fellow learner.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I go in fits and starts. For fiction I read through everything I could find by Stephen Hunter and then Lee Childs. The same for my exercise book. I read everything I could find on the theories of Dr. Leonard Schwartz, even patent applications. The difference is I actually wrote about him.

What are you working on now?
Part of the issue of fitness for most people who aren’t full time actors, athletes or other folks paid to keep in shape is how to do something that fits their schedule. My first research was on the most effective way to do that for myself personally … then it was finding ways to integrate it into an insanely busy schedule. So that gets to the area of habit formation and maintenance which I’m working on now with several short reads in the self help genre.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Awesome Gang has just what authors new to promoting their own work need to get started. An acquaintance recommended it to me and you can beat the price and exposure a $10 sponsored promotion brings. I’m sure it will be part of an ongoing mix of ways to reach new readers and help faithful former readers get new information.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Now that you can publish short reads on Kindle, there’s no excuse not to dip your toe in the water and get started sooner rather than later. In some fields self-publishing smacks of desperation but I wasn’t writing in those fields. I didn’t know if my Strength Endurance book would sell but it’s been a steady seller. I wish I’d done that sooner.

I’d also say “begin with the end in mind” which I didn’t. Figure out a way for your books to promote your other books. Also find a reasonably priced way to stay in touch with people by email and/or other methods so that your readers can remain in touch with you when your next book comes out.

So I guess my last bit of advice is to think in terms of multiple books from the start instead of trying to write one huge “perfect” book. I’m not sure they exist.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
I’m too old to search my memory to tell you. But I haven’t gone wrong by cultivating the habit of reading the Bible every day (often the Gospels) – just a short segment often – and not putting it down until I can answer this question “What did I read that amazed me today?”

What are you reading now?
I’m research work on habit formation as it relates to exercise but also in relation to the topic of “what do you do when you fail the first time?” That seems to be where I and others need the most help.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Trying to create a useful family of books to help people with daily life issues that I’ve encountered myself, and serve that readership some how with other related 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?
That’s a tough question. I would bring the Bible with me… and whatever other books I’d need to make it off the island! Jules Verne’s “Mysterious Island” would offer lots to read in that genre!

Author Websites and Profiles
Chuck Huckaby Website

Julianna Drumheller 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I have always been a voracious reader, and started writing and illustrating stories when I was very young. But despite my love of books, I’ve always found it difficult to find ones that hit all of the right notes. I enjoy fantasy, but quickly grew tired of the typical “hero finds a magic sword and saves the day” type of stories. I wanted the magic of the fantasy genre, but also craved the pace and introspection of coming-of-age and “family drama” novels. The fantasy genre has become so much more diverse than it was when I first started reading back in the ’80s and ’90s, but at the time, I didn’t believe it was possible to publish the sort of books I wanted to read. This was before self-publishing was a viable option.

So I pursued other creative ventures. I went to college for fine arts, and ended up becoming a potter. I spent over a decade traveling around to art shows, selling my work from an EZ-Up tent. But in the evenings, I would write. At first it was just for my own self-expression, but after getting some initial feedback from friends, I realized I wanted to write novels and reach a wider audience. I wrote three novels before deciding I was ready to publish. I have one published novel now, called The Maiden Tree. It is the first in a trilogy, and I plan on writing a second trilogy that follows it.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
It sounds funny, but the main character of The Maiden Tree was originally inspired by the music I was listening to in my studio–mostly neoclassical darkwave and gothic/operatic metal bands. The Norwegian band Tristania was a big influence, in particular. The haunting female vocals of their earlier releases, combined with the harder metal edges, seemed to tell a compelling story. I was also running a Dungeons & Dragons game at the time, and got inspired to explore the relationship between magic and music in my game. Amardine, my main character in The Maiden Tree, was originally a minor character in that game, but I grew more and more interested in her backstory. She is the daughter of a famous opera singer and wants to follow in her late mother’s footsteps, but doesn’t understand the price her mother paid for her unusual talents.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I don’t know how unusual this is, but I tend to grow my books draft by draft, trimming what doesn’t work and adding more material as I go. My first drafts are usually very short (maybe 10-20% the length of the finished manuscript). I do work from an outline, but each draft gets a new (and more detailed) outline. I work in a similar way with my drawings, by starting with the bones and then fleshing out details as I go. By the time I’m done, I don’t have a lot to cut out.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I remember reading Kushiel’s Dart by Jacqueline Carey, around 2000, and feeling like it broke a lot of the norms for the fantasy genre at the time. I loved her writing style and the fact that her protagonist was not the “typical” young male hero or virginal princess. I remember feeling the very first twinge of “maybe I can tell the stories I want to write, too.” But it was a good ten years before I really started getting into the craft of writing in earnest.

What are you working on now?
I am working on the sequel to The Maiden Tree. Fortunately, I have a good head start on it because I wrote multiple drafts of the manuscript on-and-off while I was writing The Maiden Tree. It definitely helps when you’re writing a series to be a bit ahead of the book you’re currently working on.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I am very new to promoting my books, so I don’t feel like I can give an informed answer to that at this time. When I was a potter, I got about 90% of my sales from art shows and hand-selling my work. It’s a pretty grueling lifestyle but it was pretty much a necessity for the medium. I would still love to do some shows to promote both my book and to sell my prints inspired by my book, but I’m glad there are more viable online options for authors!

Do you have any advice for new authors?
This is more aimed at writers who are just starting out trying to write a novel, not published authors, but I would advise that you not get caught up in endless first chapter revisions. Write all the way to the end of your manuscript, no matter how “bad” you think it is. You will learn so much about how to construct a novel by writing a beginning, middle, and end. Also, don’t be afraid to completely overhaul your first draft! Revision isn’t just changing a sentence here and there or getting rid of some adverbs. It is literally the practice of re-adjusting your vision of the story.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Don’t argue with readers on Goodreads.

What are you reading now?
I am re-reading Madame Bovary, and enjoying it even more the second time. I love the depth of characterization, and even though it takes place in a very different time and place, I can definitely see people I know in some of the characters!

What’s next for you as a writer?
I am going to continue working on illustrations for The Maiden Tree, while diving back into writing the sequel.

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?
Fingersmith (Sarah Waters), I Capture the Castle (Dodie Smith), and Gone Girl (Gillian Flynn).

Author Websites and Profiles
Julianna Drumheller Website

Julianna Drumheller’s Social Media Links
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account
Pinterest Account

Lori Ann King 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I began blogging in 2014 but it was in 2016 when I whispered my heart’s desire to be a best-selling author. I always thought my first book would be about life lessons from the bike or cycling shorts (stories) but that book remains in incubation while others rise to the forefront based on the seasons of my life.

Over the years I’ve written about all sorts of wellness topics, which I categorize as the Wheels to Wellness. The main four themes that have emerged are True Health, Love, Laughter, and Freedom.

I have written one book (so far).

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Come Back Strong, Balanced Wellness after Surgical Menopause was not the first book I thought I’d write. It’s not even the second or third that was on the list. After an unexpected surgery dumped me into surgical menopause, I needed an outlet and a release. I began writing about my experience, along with the tools I found to minimize and eliminate my symptoms. The more I wrote, the more I released anger, anxiety, sadness, and overwhelm from my heart and body, and let in more light in the form of forgiveness, peace, joy, and ease. Writing was therapeutic. Almost two years after my hysterectomy, I was still seeking balance. So were other women. I continued to write and publish about my recovery while connecting with women from all over the world who were struggling just like me. My writing took a turn toward awareness, education, and empowerment for women everywhere. Writing became about doing service.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
My creativity begins with pen and paper and moves toward the electronic further down in the process.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Glennon Doyle, Rhonda Byrne, Charles F. Haanel

What are you working on now?
I’m working with a traditional publisher! Evolve is about the lifetime evolution of an athlete as told through my husband’s journey. It’s about staying in touch with your passions. It’s about recreating yourself, turning setbacks into comebacks and growing beyond your initial dreams, and re-imagining your assets and talents.

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

Home

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Commit. Commit to start and commit to finish.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Develop the discipline of writing daily.

What are you reading now?
The Power (The Secret Book 2) by Rhonda Byrne
Road to Reality ( Road Series Book 3) by Natalie Ann
The year of the Introvert (Michaela Chung)

What’s next for you as a writer?
I’ve been slowly exploring memoir and intend to write and self-publish more books. A few “working” titles include 16 Week Success, Wheels to Wellness, Cycling Shorts, and Journey to Purpose.

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?
1. A Beginner’s Guide to the Universe: Uncommon Ideas for Living an Unusually Happy Life
by Mike Dooley
2. A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of “A Course in Miracles”
by Marianne Williamson
3. Untamed by Glennon Doyle

Author Websites and Profiles
Lori Ann King Website
Lori Ann King Amazon Profile

Lori Ann King’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account
Pinterest Account

Claire L. Fishback 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Hello! My name is Claire L. Fishback. I’ve been writing since I was around six years old, but really dove into horror around age 11 when I got inspired by the Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark books. I currently have three books out: two short story collections (LUMP and THE DOLL ROOM) and one novel (THE BLOOD OF SEVEN). I am working on the sequel to the novel right now!

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is called THE DOLL ROOM AND OTHER STORIES. I suffered a concussion in January 2020. As a result I couldn’t look at screens for about four weeks. I listened to a lot of podcasts, specifically the No Sleep Podcast. I wanted to write a story to submit the them, so I started writing short stories by hand. One turned into approximately 35, most of which made the cut in the book.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
What, like sacrificing a goat under the full moon every month? No… nothing like that… I either listen to the Bo7 playlist I created on Spotify or white noise that has underlying Alpha waves for creativity, but that doesn’t seem unusual to me.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Alvin Schwartz’s SCARY STORIES books for sure. As a writer, a lot of things influence me. Right now I’m being influenced by Liane Moriarty and her amazing characters and the way she handles them. In the future it could be someone or something else.

What are you working on now?
I’m feverishly working through the first draft of the sequel to THE BLOOD OF SEVEN (which I call Bo7-2). Hoping to have the first draft completed by December 31st!

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Awesome Gang! This is the first place I’ve done any marketing other than word of mouth or social media. Fingers crossed!

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Keep writing. Just keep at it no matter what anyone says to you or tells you. Even if you think your writing is crap, just keep at it, because eventually it won’t be. And read. Read everything you can get your hands on, especially in the genres in which you want to write.

What are you reading now?
Right now I’m reading Liane Moriarty’s THE HUSBAND’S SECRET, and also a couple of writing books, DARK THOUGHTS: ON WRITING and THE EMOTIONAL CRAFT OF FICTION.

Author Websites and Profiles
Claire L. Fishback Website
Claire L. Fishback Amazon Profile

Claire L. Fishback’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile

Jan Payne 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I write suspense fiction with characters who live on the Navajo Nation. I have one book published, Rabbit Moon, and am working on the next!
I grew up in Navajoland, near the Four Corners area of New Mexico, Arizona, Utah and Colorado. I am not Navajo, and my heroine, Marin Sinclair, is Anglo–though there are many Native American characters as well. The stories I tell are mine to tell through my life and experiences there.
I am a member of the organization “Western Writers of America” as I consider myself to be a writer of the American West.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My book is called Rabbit Moon, and it was inspired by the ‘rabbit in the moon’ outline that one sees during a full moon.
Many Native American cultures see differing shapes in a full moon, not only the ‘man in the moon’ image, and the rabbit is a familiar motif as a symbol of rebirth or a totem for facing one’s fears. The crafty rabbit must be clever and swift to avoid becoming prey to those who are larger and more dangerous, as Marin Sinclair must be to avoid the dangers in the world in which she lives.
The book I am working on now is called Rabbit Hole.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I have one that I’m not sure is unusual…perhaps it’s just not often shared in public! Anyway, my ‘habit’ is that I often write in bed, propped up by big pillows, with my two big dogs, Rudi and Kai, lying next to me. It’s warm and, with a laptop, is usually much more comfortable than sitting all day at my desk.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Too many to mention! I have always been an avid reader of almost every genre…it’s something I think every writer should do if they wish to write…read, read, read.
Of course, growing up where I did, I read all the Tony Hillerman books, as his books are based on the Navajo and Hopi reservations, and all the Louis L’Amour book as well.
As far as writing is concerned, I think the best book I ever read was Stephen King’s “On Writing”.

What are you working on now?
The next book in the Marin Sinclair series, Rabbit Hole.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I have an author’s website at jandpayne.com where I promote and sell, and I write a blog that is published there. I advertise on Facebook, Twitter, and Amazon. I also do book signings and sell books at local bookfairs. I do speaking engagements when I am asked, as in libraries or churches, etc.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
As I mentioned above, read, read, read! Other than that, I think it’s important to expand your worldview as much as possible by visiting or living in cultures other than your own. Since leaving the reservation, I’ve lived in a lot of different places–including Mexico, St. Paul Island (a small Aleut island in the Bering Sea), mainland Alaska, and Canada. I’ve lived in the South, on both the East and West coasts, in the Northwest, the Midwest, the North and the West. I can vouch for the fact that every place differs in viewpoint, beliefs, and culture, and every place you live will offer insight for stories and characters you create.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Don’t fall in love with your first draft.

What are you reading now?
Maybe this is terrible, but I don’t read while I’m in the middle of writing a book, as I tend to start using the voice and the sentence structure of the author instead of my own! I even dream in the cadence and language of whichever book I’m deep into at the time, so I have to be careful.
Otherwise, I read constantly. The last book before I went down the rabbit hole of writing was “Big Sky” by Kate Atkinson and “The Hour of Our Death” by Philippe Aries. I also read lots of mysteries, westerns, and urban fantasy!

What’s next for you as a writer?
I want to continue writing the Marin Sinclair series, as well as a non-fiction book I am writing on death and dying in the United States.

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 bring my Kindle with it’s 1500 downloaded books and pray for electricity!
Or maybe “Boat Building in Your Own Backyard, Written for the Amateur” by S.S Rabl…

Author Websites and Profiles
Jan Payne Website
Jan Payne Amazon Profile

Jan Payne’s Social Media Links
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Nisha Manek 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m a medical doctor, specializing in rheumatology (arthritis and immune conditions). Bridging Science and Spirit is my first book. In this book, I lay out 7 pillars of the bridge that joins science at one end, discuss consciousness (spoiler alert – it’s not the brain), look at the stunning data of Stanford University’s William A. Tiller’s work on Intention in the middle pillars and verify his work to Spirit at the other end. His work grabbed me (literally) and I realized that here was science that is closer to the Truth of what we are as humans and gives an amazing new medicine: Information Medicine.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
I don’t think I can ever adequately explain the magic of Tiller’s work which distinguishes him from all the giants of science. In my estimation, he will be remembered towering above the likes of Newton and Einstein. Tiller created new materials with his intent alone. Just imagine the implications that a human can achieve such phenomena in a physics lab. What possibilities open up? His data are a complete triumph in history of science. To me it’s remarkable he is so little known.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I cannot call it unusual habit. I show up at my computer and write. One sentence after the other.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Too many to mention. I love science writers like Harold Morowitz and Lyall Watson. Recent works include books by Dr. David Hawkins, MD, PhD.

What are you working on now?
The magnificent relationship of one man – a physicist, Dr. Bill Tiller and what he called “The Great Unseen.” What does the “Unseen” mean, what are the attributes of the Divine that show up in science? It’s fascinating and one realizes that the power of Love truly operates in all life and why not science?

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Word of mouth. My readers love Bridging Science and Spirit. I believe Awesome Gang will too. My website: https://nishamanekmd.com/

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Enjoy the ride. Discover your unique voice and share it. The world is waiting for just you!

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Consciousness Beats Lifestyle

What are you reading now?
The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

What’s next for you as a writer?
Finish my book two which dives into the singular aspect of my first book Bridging Science Spirit: the special relationship between Dr. Bill Tiller and The Divine (Unseen)

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?
Bhagavad Gita
A Course In Miracles
Power vs. Force by David Hawkins

Author Websites and Profiles
Nisha Manek Website
Nisha Manek Amazon Profile

Nisha Manek’s Social Media Links
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

J. Day 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I have always loved writing and reading. Language is a powerful form of not only communication, but expression and creation. I have written 5 books, though 3 are no longer in print as they were yearly journals. Last year I published “Why isn’t it working for me? Law of attraction and the missing pieces.” My newest title will be available on December 12. 2020. “Dear Single woman – Messages of Inspiration and Self Love.”

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
“Dear Single woman – Messages of Inspiration and Self Love.” I have been fortunate to be surrounded by incredible women, both married and single. That being said, we live in a society that pushes the idea that to be happy and fulfilled, you must be married and have children. I do not agree, I think that there are many paths to happiness and marriage is one of those paths, but not the only.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I will of weeks to months where I write every day, then will spend months in creative hibernation. Not writer’s block. It is more of an incubation period, where everything begins to take shape before it is written.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I love books with a strong Female, Ann of Green Gables, Pride and Prejudice, Jane Eyer. I also love poetry by Maya Angelou, Emily Dickinson, and John Keats.

What are you working on now?
I have a book on mindfulness in the works and 3 novels that are running around in my head. I am excited to delve into the world of fiction!

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Facebook and word of mouth!

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Do not under estimate the importance of beta readers, they will find things that you are not objective enough to see. It is better to be critiqued, before the book is published. Do not be afraid of bad reviews, learn from them and remember that every successful author has them in spades.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Write for love, not for money.

What are you reading now?
I have been on a Nora Roberts bend. I really like her thrillers.

What’s next for you as a writer?
More writing, delve into the world of fiction and focusing on my newest release.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Any of the Dan Brown books, Love Walked In, Eat Pray Love, and an empty journal.

Author Websites and Profiles
J. Day Website

J. Day’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile