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Titz Joshua 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am a young ambitious woman who believes in the indescribable power of the mind, and that nothing is unachievable once you are focused on it. I am a prolific writer who discovered that writing connects me with the world and not only that, it connects me with my mind, my subconscious, my thoughts. I could never fathom the huge database of information bottled up in my head until I put a pen to a pad. While this may sound interesting and easy for some, it may be super difficult for some. I have written two books on how writing skills can be fine-tuned for adequate delivery and I am currently on the third one. Summarily, my books center on how both young and old, experts and beginners can connect to their world via writing and hence make an impact.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
How to Launch your writing Business. The book was inspired by the fact that if writing is my hobby why not commercialize it. I mean I get to enjoy what I am doing and I get to be paid for it.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
No

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Solomon Ternder

What are you working on now?
A book how to unleash the super power of your brain

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I am new to prromoting so I am trying out a few things

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Read my books and just start regardless

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
It can never be perfect, Just do it, then learn from it

What are you reading now?
Greater exploits

What’s next for you as a writer?
I want to read as much as I can so I will have more information to communicate with in my next book

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
World of no limits
Power of Possibility Thinking
Think and grow rich
The Intelligent Investor

Author Websites and Profiles
Titz Joshua Amazon Profile

Jason Gagne 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I can still remember the first time I went over to my friends house and his older brother was playing D&D with some friends. I was blown away and completely engrossed with the game. Borrowing the first edition box set rules I read everything in the box and then I read it all again for good measure. My obsession for anything fantasy was born. I joined multiple groups in the area and began role playing with friends. In my senior year of high school I thought how cool it would be to write my own adventure so with encouragement from my soon to be wife I hand wrote spiral notebooks full of story. At that time there was no Amazon and the internet was going through its growing pains so I held onto my work as life quickly took center stage. Now twenty plus years later at the age of 45 I have finally published my first book Creatures of Creation. The book is one of three in a series.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest and first book is Creatures of Creation. This writing is inspired by the stories I wrote twenty plus years ago. It’s a story about two extraordinary humans born with the gift of creation, and how each one uses that power.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I try to write two pages a day before I go to sleep no matter what.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Lord of the rings, the hobbit, dragon lance saga’s and druids of shannara to name a few.

What are you working on now?
The second book in the creation series titled Monsters of Creation.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Draft 2 Digital, Amazon, Facebook, and of course the Awesome gang.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
It’s a monumental undertaking and there is a mountain of stuff to learn so take it all in small manageable chunks. Burnout is not your friend so take time to still do things you enjoy. Set aside time to write.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
The world needs your story.

What are you reading now?
PC Gamer, no seriously at the moment I have all my time devoted to my book launch and a full time job.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Book two in the series and promote, promote, promote!

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?
D&D monsters compendium, The Stand, Druids of Shannara, and LOTR.

Author Websites and Profiles
Jason Gagne Amazon Profile

Jason Gagne’s Social Media Links
Pinterest Account

Simon Whaley 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Greetings from the UK! I live in a rural county called Shropshire (about 200 miles from London), having escaped from Greater London in the late 1990s.

I began writing articles in my late teens, and have since had over 850 articles published in magazines all over the world. In 2003, I was fortunate to have my first book published by Hodder & Stoughton. It was called One Hundred Ways For A Dog To Train Its Human, and spent three weeks on the UK’s Top Ten Non-Fiction paperback bestseller lists. (Lifetime sales now exceed over a quarter of a million copies.) A dream come true!

Since then, I’ve written over a dozen non-fiction books.

Like many writers, I’ve worked for a variety of organisations, including a high street bank in southwest London, a government development agency, and a local authority somewhere on the Welsh Borders. When not writing, you’ll find me out walking and taking photographs.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is my first novel, Blooming Murder, which is the first in my Marquess of Mortiforde series. It tells the tale of Aldermaston, who has recently become the Eighth Marquess, battling to help his local community of Mortiforde win the Borders Most Blossoming Market Town competition.

Unfortunately, this is no ordinary flower competition, because while the hanging baskets might look beautiful, they’re being used to kill people!

I was inspired to write it when I heard a news story of a nearby underground salt mine being used by a criminal gang. When I realised they were growing ‘illegal’ plants underground, it made me wonder what else you might grow underground!

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Not that I’m aware of. Especially as every writer drinks gallons of tea when writing their books, don’t they?

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I love MC Beaton’s books, particularly her Hamish McBeth and Agatha Raisin books, along with Richard Osman, Debbie Young and Robert Thorogood. I’m also partial to a thriller by Robert Goddard, and Robert Galbraith.

What are you working on now?
I’m just putting the finishing touches to book 2 in my Marquess of Mortiforde series. It’ll be called Foraging for Murder.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Websites like this are fantastic. Knowing that they’re read by readers looking for their next read is perfect.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Concentrate on your work, don’t worry about what anyone else is doing. They’re on their writing journey – you are on yours. They’re two different journeys. Just worry about yours.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Get it written, then get it right. Bash the first draft out. You can always sort it out afterwards. But until you’ve got a first draft, you’ve nothing to sort out!

What are you reading now?
A book! (Sorry, about that!) I’m currently reading a new book by a writer-friend of mine, called Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, by Eleanor Harriet Loxley. It’s set in France during the second world war and tells the tale of two families.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Dare I say it – Book 3 of the Marquess of Mortiforde series? I’m just fleshing out my ideas now.

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?
They’d need to be big books to keep me going! (Mind you, the latest Robert Galbraith is nearly 1,000 pages!)

Author Websites and Profiles
Simon Whaley Website
Simon Whaley Amazon Profile

Simon Whaley’s Social Media Links
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Howard Gewirtz 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Don’t Kill Me Because I’m Beautiful is my debut novel, but I’m no (male) debutant! I’ve written and produced thousands of hours of television including shows such as The Simpsons, Everybody Hates Chris, The Larry Sanders Show, and even Bosom Buddies. I’m a multi-Emmy Award nominee as well as a multi-WGA Award nominee. I live in Los Angeles in a big house in Brentwood with my wife and a beautiful dog named Ollie whose a criminal that steals and eats things which aren’t his.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Don’t Kill Me Because I’m Beautiful is a thriller set in Hollywood which is really the only town I can write authoritatively about as I’ve lived and worked here for decades. Many of the characters in the novel were inspired by real people, even the awful ones. Mostly the awful ones.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Well before iPhones I’ve always walked around my neighborhood with a recording device and transcribe the recordings into text. Walking and talking aloud is the best way to shake loose the ideas I have for scenes, characters, and plot, but I write lime a normal person, at a desk on a computer.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Kurt Vonnegut, John Steinbeck, Gillian Flynn, Walter Mosely, Michael Chichton, and many others.

What are you working on now?
I’m just starting a YA novel about a 15-year-old boy who meets a girl, his soulmate at a residential mental health program for teens where neither of them belongs. They get caught up in a world where a nuclear war is started by accident and the fallout may end life on the planet. It’s both as grim as it sounds but also funny as hell satire.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I’ve found freebooksy to be both effective and too expensive. The Fussy Librarian is also excellent.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Be open to criticism and seek as much of it for your work as possible before publishing. Try not to be defensive and try to find beta readers who don’t know or care about you because they’ll be honest where your brother, sister, mother, and father will not be.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
No one in the writing business, whether it be TV or novels, is looking to give you a break, so don’t ask for one. They’re looking for you to give *them* a break by doing excellent work and delivering the goods.

What are you reading now?
Nevil Shute’s On the Beach.

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?
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut, A Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin, The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson,

Author Websites and Profiles
Howard Gewirtz Website

Howard Gewirtz’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile

Isobel Askew 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Hi! I’m Isobel and I’m an 18 year old lesbian poet from the UK. Alongside being a writer I am also studying to be a florist which I absolutely love and I am also a musician and an actor. I have only written the one book so far ‘Beyond The Darkness’ but I have been lucky enough to have been featured in various other anthologies such as The Beckindale Poetry Journal, The Cambridge Poetry Journal, From The Heart Poetry Journal, The 2021 Poetry Yearbook and The Top 100 Poems of 2021 for which I was honoured with elite writer status for the year.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The name of my latest book is ‘Beyond The Darkness’ and it was inspired by a draft of poetry I had written during a very dark year in my life. Whenever I feel low I always find myself turning to literature as a form of comfort and safety, I’m transported to this beautiful, magical place where I can be unapologetically myself without any consequence or oppressing views. This, in turn, inspired me to try and showcase the heart-breaking, realistic truth of how tough times can get but no matter how dark the night there will always be a way through and the sun will rise again. In this particular case, I wanted to make it known that beyond the sun and the stars, the brightest light of all comes from within every individual person. The brightest light is in you, you just have to find it.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I have many unusual writing habits! One of which is to turn on very loud classical music and dramatically recite my work out loud. If I believe it sounds Shakespearean enough, as I usually write in sonnet form, then I will keep a certain passage but if it isn’t dramatic or conveying what I want it to, it sit in my drafts folder until I reproach it later on. Another writing habit I have is simply to drink lots and lots of tea! But then again, that’s probably more a British quirk than a writing habit.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I have to say I am heavily influenced by classical poets and play writes such as Lord Byron and of course the man himself, Shakespeare. I found whilst reading their work that I was transported to a beautiful time full of tragedy and romance. This is something I always want to embody in my work so they are definitely my biggest literary influence.

What are you working on now?
Although I have only just published my first book, a writer never sleeps! That is all I’ll say for now but I do have some very exciting things in the works…

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
So far my best method has been on twitter! Over the last year I have been lucky enough to develop a writing fanbase on twitter as I posted little snippets of my work and opened up poetry commissions. So for any future authors, I definitely recommend!

Do you have any advice for new authors?
I would say the most important thing is to stay true to yourself. It is so easy to get published and immediately start panicking and wanting to change who you are but you shouldn’t. I know it’s scary to publish a book for the first time but it is also so exciting, as long as you’re proud of what you’ve done, you will be amazing. Try not to let any negative review get you down either, unfortunately everyone has an opinion and not every one is nice but that doesn’t mean your work is any less brilliant. You just can’t please everyone.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
The best piece of advice I have ever heard has to be from my Dad, my Dad is a really wise man and he once told me that the only constant is that the sun will rise each morning and he’s right. After a bad day of writers block my Dad would tell me not to stress myself out because the sun will rise and I could have another go. So- I would and it helped massively.

What are you reading now?
I read so many books so I do find it hard to keep track sometimes! However I am currently reading Persuasion by Jane Austen and I am absolutely loving it! 10/10, highly recommend.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Next for me as a writer I think is doing what I always do which is writing my heart out. I do have some very exciting projects lined up for this next year now though, it’s a very exciting time.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
I would have to bring Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte (my all time favourite), I’ll Give You The Sun by Jandy Nelson, The Sky is Everywhere also by Jandy Nelson and I’d have to bring a Jacqueline Wilson book! You can’t beat a good Jacqueline Wilson book.

Author Websites and Profiles
Isobel Askew Amazon Profile

Isobel Askew’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Twitter Account

Amanda Dew 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Hi! My name is Amanda Dew, and I write young adult dystopian fiction. For now, anyway -wink wink-! I spent most of my life working in the statistics world, but after a creative reawakening 5 years ago, I’ve changed course to become a storyteller.

I am a stay at home mom to four adorably crazy kids: ages 10, 7, 5, and 1, and a wife to an amazing husband. I love the escape that writing gives me. I call it my therapy! Outside of writing and my family I also enjoy traveling, reading, eating, exercising, eating while traveling, eating while reading, exercising because of the eating, and well… you get the picture.

I have two novels that I self-published in September 2021: The Story Seer, and its sequel, The Truth Seer. These books are 2/3 of a dystopian trilogy set 20 years from now in a world where terrorists rule the weather, and a 21-year-old intuitive genius named Rory is the world’s best chance at stopping them.

Hopefully, if all goes according to plan, the final installment in the series will be released Summer 2022 -fingers crossed-!

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
I lump The Story Seer and The Truth Seer together since they came out only a week apart. The inspiration for the series came from my own life.

I love to read dystopian stories. In those stories, I feel like although the worlds and the circumstances are crazy, the relationships are real. I had the idea to take snippets from my own life, and my own relationships, and frame them in a dystopian world to see what happens. It’s been really fun to see my own real-life stories take center stage and shine.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I learned early on that with four kids and all the other crazy things life can throw at you, I was going to learn to write on the go. I would write in car pick up line picking up my kids from school. I would write on my phone with one hand while breastfeeding a baby in the middle of the night. I would write in a tiny twin-sized bed while my toddler napped next to me. Soccer practice, the park, dentists appointments–you name it, I’ve probably written part of my book there!

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I had a teacher in high school really turn me off from reading and writing for a long time. He made it seem like if you don’t like -these certain books- then you don’t like literature. For over ten years, I believed him.

About five years ago, my oldest child was learning to read. To encourage him, I decided to start reading again. Overwhelmed was an understatement, but I went to the bookstore anyway. I chose The Selection by Keira Cass because it had a sparkly cover featuring a girl in a big poufy dress. I figured, if this book isn’t for me, no book will be.

I devoured that book, and anything else I could get my hands on by Keira Cass! That was the book that unleashed the flood gates on inspiration!

Other books that I read soon after that also inspired me: Under the Never Sky by Vernonia Rossi, Rush by Eve Silver, Cinder by Marissa Meyer, These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman, Inside Out by Maria Snyder, Legend by Marie Lu, Pivot Point by Kasie West, and Ruby Red by Kerstin Gier, among many many others.

And of course, can’t forget my favorite “classics:” Twilight by Stephenie Meyer, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and Divergent by Veronica Roth.

What are you working on now?
I’m currently working day and night on book three in The Seer Series. I am hoping it will be ready for the world sometime in the Summer of 2022.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
When I figure it out, I’ll let you know! haha

Right now I’m trying the “throw the pasta at the wall and see what sticks method.” I’ve tried Facebook ads, Instagram ads, and Amazon ads. I also love to promote my work and connect with readers and other authors on Goodreads and Instagram. Oh, I’m going to try Tik Tok soon- fingers crossed!

Do you have any advice for new authors?
The advice I always give is: Don’t be afraid to fail! Often times, the fear of “doing it wrong” or “what if x, y, z happens?” stops people before they even get started! I don’t think I’m the greatest writer in the world (far from it!) but I do believe my super power is that I dive headfirst into things with the attitude of “I’ll figure it out as I go along!” This means I fail A LOT, but I’m not scared of that! I know failure is inevitable, but I don’t let it stop me. Because sometimes I do succeed, and along the way, I’m always learning! Don’t let fear stop you from taking the first step!

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
My mom used to call me “the creative one.” That’s not necessarily advice, but I like to remember that when things feel hard. Lean into your creative side and it will never steer you in the wrong direction.

What are you reading now?
I just started The Cure by K.A. Riley. I’m really enjoying it so far!

What’s next for you as a writer?
After I finish up the final installment in my debut series, I have another really, really exciting series idea in mind that involves time travel and the early 2000s. I can’t wait to get started on it!

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. Edenbrooke by Julianne Donaldson
2. Twilight by Stephenie Myer
3. A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas
4. The Story Seer and The Truth Seer (is saying my own books cheating? haha)

Author Websites and Profiles
Amanda Dew Website
Amanda Dew Amazon Profile

Amanda Dew’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Stuart Brogden 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I have served actively as a deacon and preacher/teacher of the Bible since being raised up to new life in Christ in 1994; have been married since 1978. I have collected and manage a digital library of mostly Baptist books that I give away to folks. I have written three books and published 13 other Christian books from our history, having edited them for the modern readers.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My most recent book is The Gospel in Romans; I was prompted to publish this after conversation with several brothers in Christ who wanted to know more about my view of this epistle from Paul. I have taught through Romans twice and this book is based on teaching I did in 2016-2017.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I like to have a movie on the TV while writing.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Charles Leiter – The Law of Christ, Hal Brunson – The Rickety Bridge and the Broken Mirror, Terrance O’Hare – The Sabbath Complete.

What are you working on now?
Trying to gather my thoughts for a book about the hand of God on His people during the Dark Ages and another book about what I call White Space Theology – when people get their theology from what’s not found in the Bible.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
This is where I need help. I mostly promote on Facebook.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Write what you know about and care about. Have someone else review it and edit it. Eliminate unnecessary adjectives and adverbs.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Act as if you believe God is watching.

What are you reading now?
The Resurrection Fact and The Sabbath Complete.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Hopefully diligence and a sound mind to get the history book together.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
the Bible, The Law of Christ, Who Is Israel? What Is a Jew? Where Is Jerusalem?: A Biblical Mandate for Prophetic Reformation in the Twenty-First Century, Pilgrim’s Progress

Author Websites and Profiles
Stuart Brogden Website
Stuart Brogden Amazon Profile

 

Scott Lothian 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am a clinical pharmacist and have practiced for over 40 years concentrating in solid organ transplant, oncology and pain management with the last 10 years being spent on the clinical IT side of healthcare. I have two published novels to date: Perfect Posture and Deep Waters. I write character-centric stories incorporating history while using both to drive plot twists and turns. Readers will always find characters who they will love to love or love to hate as well as a mix of levity and interesting history as the book spins to its exciting conclusion.

Deep Waters (historical fiction with an odyssey-like life arc storyline intertwined with a good vs evil thread that leads to a mystery-thriller ending): What is a man’s life? What does a man have control over as his life unfolds before and behind him? Life starts us out with endless possible paths, then narrows our choices from paths that are desired to those that are often forced upon us. Follow Jack as his life evolves from a high school football quarterback in Janesville, a small town in Wisconsin, to a crew member of the USS Indianapolis—the ship that delivered the nuclear bomb that helped end World War II and then suffered the worst open ocean disaster in U.S. naval history. Watch how his life is entangled in questions of a possible second bomb on the Indianapolis and whether it leads to the nuclear destruction of a beloved American city or helps to bring to light a 700-year secret known only to the descendants of a lone Knight Templar on a remote Japanese island. Follow the decisions Jack makes to survive and the paths he then has available to him as they narrow and lead him toward becoming a man he does not know. Find out if he will choose the right paths to survive a life not under his control. https://www.amazon.com/Deep-Waters-SCOTT-LOTHIAN/dp/B09BLRV5JR

Perfect Posture (a detective vs. serial killer crime thriller meant to create a palpable good versus evil tension in the reader much like that effected by Erik Larson’s classic Devil in the White City): A dead girl, clutching a stuffed toy elephant covered in political buttons, is found posed on a luggage carousel at O’Hare Airport. Chicago, oblivious to the evil that has gripped the city for the past two months, believes they have discovered the first victim of the errantly named “Patriotic Killer.” Only Lieutenant Jonathan Dearfield knows the truth: He must solve this case before the unimaginable happens. Perfect Posture takes readers inside the mind of a killer, while chronicling the lives of those committed to stopping the escalating carnage. This book is rich with Chicago area history, and filled with personalities and relationships—both dark and occasionally comical—that readers will grow to love or hate as they follow the non-stop action to a twisting catastrophic end. https://www.amazon.com/Perfect-Posture-Scott-Lothian/dp/151861227X

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My second novel is Deep Waters, which was published on August 2nd—the 76th anniversary of the heroic rescue of the surviving crew members of the USS Indianapolis. This is a story of a man’s life—from farm town quarterback to a crew member of the Indianapolis and on— and how he deals with a life not totally under his control. Deep Waters is very much a historical slice-of-life mystery—a combination of historical fiction with a good karma versus evil karma storyline that threads throughout and leads to the mystery-thriller possibly “atomic” ending.

I was inspired to write this book by the story of the Indianapolis, amazed that this heroic story went mostly untold for decades. I thought about a “what if” scenario: what would the life of one of these men be like having survived this terrible tragedy and what if there was more to the story.

I pictured the life of a man who went through the tragedy of the sinking of the Indianapolis—four days in the water attacked by sharks and worn down by hunger, thirst and the elements. What was his life like? What if his life was filled with tragedy, hardship and disappointment? How would he handle these setbacks and how would it shape him as a man? What if there were evolving good and evil strands twisting around his life story that he had no control over, but could prove to be his ultimate undoing? I then built people around him to support his life paths and decisions.

In Deep Waters, you get to know Jack (or Butch), a high school sophomore who is the varsity football quarterback and dating the head cheerleader, Candy. Life is good if he can avoid pissing off his father or getting beat up by his older brother. Then something happens that changes his life and he is forced to make his first big decision. I am very much a writer who holds to the contract of promise resolution, so any of Jack’s life decisions that may be second-guessed by the reader could have a different reality in the end.

The book takes place from 1945 through 2007 for reasons the reader will understand as they follow the story. The prologue starts in 2007 with the torture of a shipmate and friend of Jack’s, Chester, in an effort to find the rumored second atomic bomb on the Indianapolis and ends as two Knights Templar ships sail in opposite directions in the early morning hours of October 13, 1307. These two threads are the karma stories that unknowingly are twisting around Jack’s odyssey and come together to create the dynamic ending.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Like most authors, I research prior to starting a book, but I only plan out the arc points—start, stops and finish—not the entire script. I feel writing is like planning a vacation, you can plan the destinations and the stops, but you never know who you will meet along the way, so I let the story flow from me to the page and lead me to research those new experiences. If I need to get over a hump, I leave it and let my mind (OCD-ish) work its magic to get the story over and on to the next chapter (this can happen in the shower, while watching TV and, unfortunately, even while in a meeting).

Also, I like to have fun with the names I use in my writing and you will find this true throughout this book. The Gardener, Marino Danielson, is named after my favorite quarterback (Dan Marino – sorry Peyton and Drew, but you are tied for #2). Chester “Gerbil” Best is named after a fraternity brother’s nickname (Gerbil) and my oldest son’s hamster (Chester). And there are many other names where the reader might catch some hidden meaning. Most every name in the book has a story, though it certainly may not be the same as the character experiences in the book.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
My favorite author is Ken Follett and he did influence my second book, Deep Waters, which is in many ways a hybrid novel with a historical fiction odyssey-like life arc with a mystery-thriller ending. My first novel, Perfect Posture, aims to create a palpable good versus evil tension in the reader much like that effected by Erik Larson’s classic Devil in the White City and was also influenced by Stephen King.

What are you working on now?
Currently, I am working on a children’s book with a well-known midwestern etching artist and another novel-Daddy’s Girl.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I wish I knew. Indie artists are at the whim of bloggers and reviewers. Unless you can find a niche or get lucky with a review, you are basically on your own. Spending money on promotion sites is not always a win for authors. I respect those who write for life—I write as a hobby and for enjoyment, so I try not to get too tied up in the whole game. I know my readers have enjoyed my books and try to ignore those that blame the pants when they don’t fit—though I have been lucky with this thus far.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Follow your heart. Start with a story you would like to read and go from there. Enjoy the journey and be willing to take unexpected turns—if you are surprised, then so will your readers.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Dan Brown – always resolve main issues like a contract with your reader. Some aspects of the story are meant to mislead, but you cannot have a reader saying, “But what about the bloody wrench?” at the end of your book.

What are you reading now?
Column of Fire by Ken Follett (Queen Elizabeth I and Mary Queen of Scots era historical fiction)

What’s next for you as a writer?
Continue to grow to find styles and stories that are not just another version of the book before—the next monster of the week. My books may always have a connecting thread, but I would never list them as a series since they may be different genres and reading experiences.

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?
Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett)
The Source (James Michener)
Eye of the Needle (Ken Follett)
Perfect Posture (Scott Lothian)

Author Websites and Profiles
Scott Lothian Website
Scott Lothian Amazon Profile

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

Scott LaPierre 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I have been the senior pastor of Woodland Christian church since 2010. My wife, Katie, and I grew up together in the small town of McArthur in the mountains of northern California. As of 2021 we have nine children.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
I wrote Your Marriage God’s Way because I am passionate about this area of Scripture and life. God designed the family as the primary unit for every other segment in society, including the church. And marriage is the heart of the family. As a marriage disintegrates, the family disintegrates. As families disintegrate, churches disintegrate. As churches disintegrate, society disintegrates. When marriages are strong, however, families are strong. When families are strong, churches can be strong because strong churches are made up of strong families. As a pastor, I have seen many struggling marriages, but I have also seen couples find the solutions to their problems in Scripture. The truth of God’s Word has the power to heal and strengthen any marriage.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I became a writer when I started pastoring. Between emails, bulletins, announcements, and especially sermon notes, I spend more time writing than doing anything else in ministry.

I write out my entire sermon, which is usually about four thousand words. I go over the material with Katie on Thursday nights (a wonderful family in our church sends over two their kids to watch our kids), and then again on Saturday. On Sunday I wake up early to pray and read my notes again. Each time I go over my notes I’m refining and polishing them, which creates a nice sermon manuscript that translates well into a book.

Because my books come from sermon transcripts, which take twenty-to-thirty hours of work per week, each book contains hundreds of hours of study in God’s Word.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
At the beginning of Your Marriage God’s Way I write, First, and of greatest importance, I am not asking you to trust me. Rather, I am inviting you to trust what God says in the Bible. This book is not a collection of my thoughts about marriage. God is the author of marriage. He designed the roles and responsibilities for husbands and wives. He knows what couples need so they can experience healthy, joyful, Christ-centered relationships, and He provided the instructions in His Word. My desire is to present that guide clearly and biblically in Your Marriage God’s Way I believe this communicates that the Bible is my greatest influence. I also regularly use commentaries from John MacArthur and Warren Wiersbe. These wonderful godly men have also greatly influenced me.

What are you working on now?
My next book, Your Finances God’s Way. There is also an accompanying workbook: https://www.scottlapierre.org/book/your-finances-gods-way/

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Amazon. Here’s my author page: https://www.amazon.com/Scott-LaPierre/e/B01JT920EQ/

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Don’t give up and don’t expect your first book (or even your second or third) to be a bestseller.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Continually pour over your writing. Each time you read it and refine it you will improve it.

What are you reading now?
Mostly commentaries for my sermons. I enjoy John MacArthur and Warren Wiersbe,

What’s next for you as a writer?
I’m hoping that my literary agent will successfully pitch my proposal on types of Christ in the Old Testament to a publisher.

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

Author Websites and Profiles
Scott LaPierre Website
Scott LaPierre Amazon Profile

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

Réal Laplaine 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Canadian born and raised, I moved to the United States when I was 21 and pursued a career there in recruiting, marketing and executive roles. I did a lot of travelling over a 30 year period, and while sitting in airports and hotels I read. One book, by my favorite author at the time, Richard Bach, entitled, The Bridge Across Forever, inspired my writing career. I finished that book, and penned my first short story. Over a period of 21 years, while working a full time career out of Hollywood, California, I wrote many novels and such, but it wasn’t until 2009 when I finally had the time to pen my first published work, The Buffalo Kid, a book inspired by real people I met while living in Los Angeles. LA, Tinsel Town or the City of Angels, as many call it, has a massive homeless population, easily 100,000 or more. I’d run into them constantly. Sometimes I’d talk to them, sometimes I’d give them money or food, but always, they left an indelible impression. The Buffalo Kid is a story inspired by them, a story about a successful business and family man who lost everything, including his wife and two newborns – and ended up on the streets penniless. After 31 years homeless, the man, now known as the Buffalo Kid, the oldest homeless man in Buffalo New York, gets a 2nd chance at life, a bizarre encounter which sends him down a thrilling road, a chance to change it all. It’s a very inspiring novel and readers have pretty much uniformly loved it.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is entitled L.I.N., the sequel to THE OTHER. L.I.N. is an acronym for Living-Intelligent-Network. In this two novel series, we follow Kaetlyn O’Sullivan, a young Irish woman living in the southwest of Ireland, who had repeated nightmares. A psychologist, using regressive therapy, helps her trace the nightly visions, and to their shock, they discover that the images are coming from her past life. One thing leads to another, and Kaetlyn soon discovers that she crashed landed and died 18-years before, and that she had a mission, a reason for coming to Earth – to intervene before global warming pushed humanity to an extinction event. The revelation sends her on a renewed mission. The story was inspired by many global warming activists, but in particular, Greta Thunberg, the 16 year-old Swedish girl who started a global movement to force governments and corporations to do something effective about global warming instead of just talking about it.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Maybe, not sure how other writers go about it, but I could mention two things. First of all, I NEVER lay out my plot line. Once I have a concept of the story I want to write, I just write and I let it develop as I go. My main measuring stick for whether or not the story is good, is whether I am committed to reading it. If I get bored, lose interest, I go back and rewrite. The story has to be compelling for me, and it has to be something I WANT to read and see the end to.
The second factor in my writing is that I visualize everything. I write words, but in my head, I see a three dimensional world, and I feel what my characters are feeling and sensing. Sometimes it’s such an adrenaline rush that my fingers simply cannot keep up with the pace of the movie unfolding between my temples.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Many. Richard Bach’s Jonathan Livingston Seagull and The Bridge Across Forever; The Hobbit; Orwell’s 1984; Walter Miller’s A Canticle for Leibowitz; Louis L’Amour…

What are you working on now?
A new soft science fiction entitled, THE OBLIVIOUS GODS.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
My site, www.reallaplaine.com

Do you have any advice for new authors?
If you love writing, just keep writing. Don’t get dismayed if the sales aren’t astronomical. Just write, promote and keep selling.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Write what YOU want to read – not what readers want.
It’s entirely a matter of perspective of course. If you want to write because YOU want to write, then write what YOU want. If you want to be a commercial success, then write what readers want, what is popular, whatever. It’s a gray zone, not black and white, but for me, my purpose for writing is to express myself and to help change the world in a positive sense by inspiring people.

What are you reading now?
Just about to start Andy Weir’s new book, Hail Mary.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I am putting several of my books in audio format – that’s a winter project.

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 library card with internet service.

Author Websites and Profiles
Réal Laplaine Website
Réal Laplaine Amazon Profile
Réal Laplaine Author Profile on Smashwords

Réal Laplaine’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account
Pinterest Account

Amos O’Henry 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I write under a pseudonym, well at least I did for my latest book, mainly because it involves big companies and real people. I live in Australia in the Blue Mountains, a particularly rugged and beautiful place, but before that I have lived and worked in many different places and jobs. At present I work 500 kms north of Broome in far northern Western Australia, out in the ocean, far from home.
I have written and I.lustrated two children’s’ picture books, published by Fremantle Arts Centre Press, and now the latest book, a memoir of sorts.
My real name is Kim Grace, Amos O’Henry is a mish mash of my Grandfather’s name, a true and brave man.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Eat Beat Sleep Repeat: a FIFO Life
Inspired by the strange world of fly in fly out that I work in, and the people I work with. I call them my FIFO Family. We live, work, laugh and suffer together, it makes for the sort of friendships you usually only see and experience in the military or emergency services, both of which I have worked.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Yep, I like trance music while writing in a quiet, sometimes freezing cold room by myself and a cuppa. I also hand write it all, not always in the order it ends up. The other thing I do is promise myself a reward at the end of a writing session e.g. a walk with the dogs, a session on the PS4 or a dirty great big chocolate bar.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Roald Dahl was a true eccentric and genius, Tolkien, and Herge the creator of TinTin. I also love Tim Winton and Bill Bryson. Whether they influence me is neither her nor there.

What are you working on now?
Hmm, struggling with a story based on events that happened when I was 16 and growing up in Tasmania. It was a very strange time. Not sure if I am writing a novel or a screenplay, maybe both.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
For this latest book I have used Facebook, word of mouth, and my FIFO brother/sisterhood network. Also LinkedIn has sold a few books and made a few enemies.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Finish what you start, and as someone else said on here, get it down first, then worry about refining it.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Always wear clean undies.

What are you reading now?
Researching UFOs, and a hilarious book about Australia called Girt

What’s next for you as a writer?
I have a lot of ideas, most roughed out, but it is important to finish what you start, procrastination is born of playing around the edges, so I am committed to this next story which I feel is a good 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?
The Hobbit by Tolkien
A Short History of Almost Everything by Bill Bryson
The Ascent of Rum Doodle by W.E. Bowman
A book about getting off a desert island by anyone

 

Amos O’Henry’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile

Chris Warren-Dickins LLB MA LPC 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am a psychotherapist, and I provide a psychotherapy service that serves people in New Jersey (USA) and the United Kingdom. I love to help all sorts of people with all sorts of problems, and I tend to work on the following areas: Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing therapy (EMDR) (an approach commonly used for trauma), Affirmative LGBTQ+ therapy, and “Men’s therapy” (in other words, how to survive the male label).

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Since the pandemic, mental healthcare has become inaccessible to many, and this has hurt certain people more than others (whether that is due to gender bias, racism, transphobia, biphobia, or homophobia). Untreated depression, anxiety, relationship conflict and anger, and trauma pose a risk for all of us in society, so I wanted to write this Survival Guide to provide essential tools for anyone who needs to tackle these threats to emotional and physical well-being.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Since investing in a stand-up desk, I love to dance to Madonna, Kylie, Whitney, and Britney. Tragic, I know. It keeps the blood pumping, and reminds me of pre-kids days dancing at Popstarz (Scala, London, UK)!!!

What authors, or books have influenced you?
A wide range of non-fiction and fiction, including Robin DiAngelo, Bessel van der Kolk, Irvin D. Yalom, Viktor Frankl, Yann Martel, Haruki Murakami, Arundhati Roy, Zadie Smith, and Khaled Hosseini.

What are you working on now?
Beyond the B… Another non-fiction self-help, but in terms of more details… You will have to wait and see!

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I am not sure I have found one. I love to connect with people, so I get a thrill any time someone interacts with me, whether that is a comment on social media, or someone stops me in the street to mention some aspect of Beyond the Blue that helped them.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Plan things a year in advance, and set up a launch date to keep you focused.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
You are not responsible for the healing your parents refuse to engage in.

What are you reading now?
White Fragility, for the second time

What’s next for you as a writer?
See above! To recap: Beyond the B… Another non-fiction self-help, but in terms of more details… You will have to wait and see!

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 God of Small Things (the intricacy of the descriptions send me!), The Hours (chilling), Love’s Executioner, and The Body Keeps the Score (transformative for my professional practice, but also my personal journey).

Author Websites and Profiles
Chris Warren-Dickins LLB MA LPC Website
Chris Warren-Dickins LLB MA LPC Amazon Profile

Chris Warren-Dickins LLB MA LPC’s Social Media Links
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Katie Weaver 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Im a mama to FIVE children (yes, I know that’s a lot) and a wife. I told this story to my three young sons when they were afraid of a thunderstorm one night. My (now) 3 yr old wouldn’t hear any story that didn’t include dinosaurs, so naturally, my first book HAD to have dinosaurs. One night, over dinner, it occurred to me that I should publish that story…and because I said it out loud to my children, it didn’t matter how hard it was to complete: I had to. I worked on my first (currently only published) book throughout my 5th pregnancy. I wrote it and then spent 6 months illustrating it myself. I worked on it at night while my children slept (8:30p-1 or 2am every day). I finished it 3 days before my only daughter was born and sent it off to the printer! I hope that children love my book. I also hope their mamas know that it’s possible (and OK!!) to chase their own dreams… even if it means burning the midnight oil.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
When The Sky Roars – my children, their fear of thunder and love of dinosaurs inspired this book!

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Yes. I have to write it all in one sitting. For this book, it meant 14 hours straight. The reason being… I can’t always rhyme! I have to be in the right mood to naturally hear the stressed and unstressed syllables. My bio took me 8 hours to write in rhyme. But, I work best that way – laser focused. I wish the illustration weren’t so time consuming!

(The book was edited by a professional, still, of course!)

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Oh, there’s not enough time to properly answer this question. I love children’s books – they’re my favorite and if there’s one near me, I’ll read it even if my children are in another room. I’m active in the author community-I design and format children’s picture books for other authors. I illustrated one other book – Oodles and Oodles of Noodley Noodles by Cindy Ninni Grant (and I’m working on illustrations for her second book right now) and I just fell in love with the whole publishing process. The kid’s book community – and the friendships Ive made in it – are truly something special.

What are you working on now?
I’m working on Cindy Ninni Grant’s second book – My Bumpy Lumpy Belly Button (illustrations) and I’m currently having two new books of my own professionally edited (its an extensive process. Lots of revisions and editing!)

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I really love to connect with readers…. I, personally, love in-person events and school visits!

Do you have any advice for new authors?
It’s hard. But absolutely worth it.
It’s expensive to self-publish. Don’t cut corners. Hire professional editors, a good illustrator and a good book designer – it makes the difference between a book that will sell and one that won’t.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Everything is hard but you get to choose your hard. My personal motto is being “relentlessly productive”. I try not to waste even a second of my day.

What are you reading now?
Oh, goodness. I’m in the market for a new book – have any recommendations for a “big kid” book?

What’s next for you as a writer?
Working on two new books which will, hopefully, be coming out in 2022!

 

Author Websites and Profiles
Katie Weaver Website
Katie Weaver Amazon Profile

Katie Weaver’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile

Thomas Heffernan 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am an Australian author and speechwriter. I have written two published works, The Interior People (2020), and Fabel (2016). Fabel was shortlisted for the 2017 ACT Writing and Publishing Awards. I have also written an epic fantasy trilogy, Black Banner, available for free on Wattpad.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The Interior People was inspired by the loss of two people very close to me. It is a ghost story, a love story, and a thriller, and a work I am very proud of.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I’d say Neil Gaiman’s style has influenced my own, but as far as the writing process, and what inspires me to pursue writing in general, would be Ernest Hemingway, Cormac McCarthy, and Jack London, and Hunter S Thompson, to name a few!

What are you working on now?
My third novel, an ambitious, sprawling epic, an unofficial sequel to The Interior People.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I’ll tell you when I’ve found it!

Do you have any advice for new authors?
You don’t need to take Stephen King’s advice and write every day – sometimes taking a break can be just as useful and powering through. Writer’s block is real – don’t always feel you have to fight it, just go and do something else you enjoy. Inspiration can come from anywhere, at any time.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
It’s not the hours you spend at your desk, it’s what you do with them.

What are you reading now?
The Grand Dark, by Richard Kadrey

What’s next for you as a writer?
A fun side project to put a few of my older unpublished works on Wattpad.

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?
None; I’d take blank paper and write my own.

Author Websites and Profiles
Thomas Heffernan Website
Thomas Heffernan Amazon Profile

Thomas Heffernan’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile