Barbara G. Tarn's Blog, page 193

Author spotlight: JoAnne Kenrick

I reviewed her book, and she eventually got back to me, so, Ladies and Gents, here's JoAnne Kenrick's interview.

Where do you live and write from?

I live in North Carolina, and I used to write snuggled up on a sofa with my laptop. I now have my very own office. Nothing fancy, mind you; a cool glass desk from IKEA, a walking machine, and a nice view of our gardens. But it beats having to use headphones with the volume pumped up to drown out the sounds of iCarly or Hannah Montana. Yes, I have kids. How did you guess?

When did you first become interested in becoming a writer?

I'd always wanted to be the next Virginia Andrews after having read Flowers in the Attic in my teen years. And I did try my hand at short story writing back then. Woman's Own magazine sent me a lovely rejection. And that was that.

Many years later, I wrote an article and set out to see if I could get it published. Well, I did, and with a very popular New Zealand magazine. Yeah, I was living in Australia at the time. I've moved about a bit. Don't ask me how many times, I've not got enough fingers to count that amount of moves.

Other articles followed in various other magazines from around the world. I loved playing with words. That became very clear. And one day, a short story spilled out of me. The plotting. The layering. It just fell into place for me and I knew. This is what I'd been missing out on. And so the creative fever began and I turned that short story into my first published novel, When a Mullo Loves a Woman.

What was the deciding moment for you?

I'm a creative soul, and am always crafting with the kids. Heck, I even did the whole performing arts school thing straight out of High School. But something had always felt missing from my life. But I had no idea what that something was until seeing my name in print for the first time upon getting my first article published. A sense of accomplishment that I'd never felt before washed over me, and it became addictive. I loved it.

But there was one major thing that I did not like about the world of writing articles for spiritual/psychic type magazines. They never paid much, if  at all. It wasn't important at the beginning because each new article added to my resume. That was enough. Until I realized I had a great resume, yet still no one was paying my worth yet they were making money off me. It had to change.

And thus begun the journey of getting my first book accepted by a publisher, and getting it out there for all to read.

Where do you find your inspiration?  Do you put yourself in your stories? (I sometimes do… ;-p)

Everywhere! It's all around me. A trip to the mall, and seeing a couple argue about which flavor ice cream to order can evoke sparks of a story in my head. Listening to a song on the radio while driving to the grocery store. And even doing the most mundane things such as laundry can set my creative mind in a whirlwind of plotting and planning. My brain is always seeking ideas to layer stories I'm already working on.

And with a background in acting, it's hard not to put myself in the story and play out a scene as the character. It helps bring the emotions alive on the page, I think.

What do you love most (and then least) about what you do?

I love that I get to express myself, and make up stories which I hope brings entertainment to others. As a reader myself, it gives me immense joy when I see a new review from someone who enjoyed my creation. It's an indescribable feeling. But what I love most about writing is getting to that HEA moment when everything falls into place. Such a sense of completion. I adore it.

I dislike… nah. Sorry. I can't say there is anything I really dislike about being an author. I used to think writing the synopsis was the worst part, but I even enjoy that now. This is my dream job.

When and where do you write? Do you have a specific routine?

In my office, and always at least an hour a day has to be spent on writing. Heck, that book isn't going to write its self. And I always light an orange candle to increase my creative and help relax me, and the tunes are always on. Spotify.com is perfect for that.

Do you have any other projects on the pipeline?

Yes. A great deal of projects. I have three books coming out this October, and a great deal more on my laptop screaming at me to finish them.

Coming Soon:

Sweet Irish Kiss, a Decadent Publishing 1 NightStand book — contemporary romance based in Knightsbridge, London.

Welcome to Bell's Irish Pub, where the Beamish is cold and the service is HAWT.

Dracula's Kiss, a Decadent Publishing 1 NightStand book — paranormal contemporary set in Cruden Bay, Scotland where a lass with a vamp fetish and a fascination with Dracula is about to get more than she bargained for.

Rock You Like A Hurricane, Sirenic Book One with Siren-Bookstrand — 80s rock romance set in Australia. Darling Harbour to be exact. A flashback in time with 80s hairbands, neon lycra and ghetto blasters.

www.joannekenrick.com

Here are my book trailers, which is another love of mine. When I'm not writing, I like to fiddle in iMovies!

I'm pasting only one here, follow the link for the other two. B)

Rants and giveaway winner

Not following the Daily Prompt this week, as it's Unusual Week One. I have a short rant, a longer post on writing different races and the giveaway winner to announce.

Short rant: I received "article suggestion" emails – why? I blog daily without the daily prompts (courtesy of WordPress), do they really think I need content for my blog? Why are there people offering content to bloggers in the first place? I happily have guest posts from time to time (when I manage to swap or find someone willing to show up here), but unsolicited material… I'll be like The Gatekeepers: NO UNSOLICITED MATERIAL, thank you! (And NO, I'm not an editor either!) /end rant

I thought I'd expand a little more on the article on how to diversify races in your writing by telling my little history. In spite of growing up in a very international setting, I didn't really put anyone of a different color in my stories until the 1990s. The first Chinese characters were in the Moren Empire (soon to be rewritten to fit Silvery Earth), and they were more Mongols than Chinese, but they had the slanted eyes. The first black people arrived in the sci-fi stories of the beginning of the Millennium (soon to be rewritten and published one per year). Then I did the final world-building on Silvery Earth and decided I wanted many colors in my Humans over there too – hence the Islands Empire (based on Japan and China), the Southern Kingdoms (based on India/Persia and later on Berber and Saharian cultures) and the Black Empire (from the color of the skin of the dominant race, I'm not implying any evil here, as suggested by one beta calling it a "fantasy cliché" – it's not, because it's not based on a cliché). BUT it's not Earth, so I'm free to mix cultures or invent my own, which is why I love fantasy so much!

Now, to the Birthday Giveaway… the winner is… well, I had only two comments, so both win. Feel free to contact me, and I'll send you the coupon for the reading of your choice. You can also wait for Friday when my sci-fi (romance) novella comes out, if you're not so much into fantasy. So, looking forward to hearing from you!

Author spotlight: Prue Batten

I'm excited to have here a guest who was already featured on this blog (read her interview – part 1 and part 2), so I had to change my usual questions! I'm also very excited for her latest release as it's going to be one of the first books I'll download to my brand new Kindle (whenever it reaches me!), even if I read the first two books as printed versions. 

Anyhow, without further ado, please welcome back Prue Batten, creator of the world of Eirie!

So! 2010 – I "discovered" you when you commented on my blog and I bought the printed versions of your first two books on Amazon. What's changed in the making of the printed versions?

I don't think anything has changed in the making of the printed versions of my own books. I am still a strong supporter of POD and the POD print version of A Thousand Glass Flowers will be released close to Christmas. It will follow the same lines of distribution, making it available from major online sellers and for order from bricks and mortar stores via its ISBN. I was delighted the other day when a chainstore expressed interest in the print version. I think there will always be those readers who prefer to read a paper book and I am happy that my book will be available for them.

Wow, great news! I wonder if I'll ever get such a request (not in my home country, I'm afraid! ) It's 2011, the year of ebooks! I know you've started the Kindle conquest, care to share how? Was it hard for you to do the formatting et al?

The formatting for Kindle is extremely straightforward. As is the upload and publishing with Kindle. The explanations are very easy to follow and it's a fast, no-sweat system. Smashwords is a little harder. More hoops to jump through for premium catalogue status but I don't think there is any point in uploading to Smashwords if a novel doesn't secure premium catalogue status as that makes it available to almost all other reading apps.

As far as my Kindle sales experience goes, I have been fortunate to make friends with many other writers and we all help each other by publicizing something we believe in. I knew nothing in the beginning and those people have been very supportive. They still are. That said, the most important thing to remember is that the book has to be good enough to sustain a readership. And only time will tell if mine are.

I know you're the next Amanda Hocking (give yourself time, she had 7 books out when she started selling really well), so what is your next project about and when will it be out?

That's kind but I am just me. I'm not a prolific writer like Hocking, so I'm very slow to add titles to my list. I'm currently working on a historical fiction, my first ever and probably the hardest thing I have ever done. When it reaches second draft form, I'll send it to Cornerstones UK to see if it has any guts at all. If they see it has promise, there will be much work to be done and it could be much later 2012 before it goes to Amazon. I always wait until the assessors say it has commercial viability. Generally a two year process.

And the next?

I've written 70,000 words of a fantasy that deals with the next generation leading off from A Thousand Glass Flowers.

I'm wondering… what will happen after those two see the light of day? Will you continue with Eirie or historical novels?

I don't plan that far ahead. Better to concentrate on one novel at a time and make it the best it can be.

What have you enjoyed the most so far, writing fantasy or historical novels?

I like writing historical fiction because of the challenge and the depth of research that takes me back to my university days. But equally I like fantasy because it represents a challenge as well. The same but different. My historical world attains it veracity because its backed by fact. My fantasy world must be acceptable because of the strength of the writing. Hopefully in A Thousand Glass Flowers I have pulled that off.

Thank you for your time, and happy writing!

Thanks very much for having me here, Barb, and good luck with your own work.

Happiness is…

Six Sentence Sunday

Again from Books of the Immortals – Water… the meeting between Keira and Morgan. And yes, the subject of the conversation is Kahnee.

***

"It doesn't matter, because I'm not selling him," Keira pouted.

Morgan smiled at her with sympathy. "You fell in love with him?" he asked. "Do you know he has a heart of stone?"

"Yes, he told me," Keira answered, hostile. "And he told me also about you, and your obsession for him."

***

Water is available on Kindle, Nook and Smashwords. Thanks for any comment you'd like to leave or simply for stopping by. If you'd like the chance of winning a free download of one of my novels, check my birthday giveaway.

Now hop back to the official blog for more six sentence goodies. Have a great Sunday!

WoW Saturdays

Both "writers on writing" and "words of wisdom" can be shortened with the same word. Thus, welcome to WoW Saturdays, June to September 2011. Enjoy this collection of writers quotes throughout the summer.

l don't buy that the people don't have enough ideas. It is hard for me to imagine how someone can go through the whole day and have talker's block, I have never met anyone who woke up in the morning and had so little to say they were mute until they went to bed that night. People don't get talker's block, so why do we get writer's block? We get writer's block 'cause we are afraid, it's easy to talk because you can deny it later and it disappears, but once you write it down, that's when the fear comes from. That's where you say I don't have any good ideas and all I do is write like I talk. If I have something interesting to say, I say it and then I write it down, it's not that hard. I think that the art here is in chopping down the wall, the barrier between what you want to say and what you are afraid of, and letting people hear your best stuff.

- Seth Godin

"The role of the writer is not to say what we all can say, but we are unable to say."

- Anais Nin

"Every story should have a beginning, a middle, and an end…but not necessarily in that order."

- Jean-Luc Godard

This is from Rough Canvas by Joey Hill.

"Sometimes being an artist, obsessed with his art, was like being an alien. There was no one to really talk to about it, who wanted to talk about the minutiae involved in creation that was so amazing and miraculous–to the artist alone."

Among my family and friends, I often feel like an alien or a changeling. No one I see on a regular basis understands the thrill of getting a new idea or finding new and interesting ways to describe things.

- J. Leigh Bailey http://www.storiesofthedrakon.blogspo...

Linky Friday

The next two weeks will be a little unusual – meaning there won't be the "normal" features – because I have a couple of author interviews coming and then the first week of September I'm off Day Job and hope to spend some time with my nephew, so I'll be scheduling a series of musing. I'll get back to links and reviews afterward. So here's the last links collection for the summer or something!

The Impulse to Create from the dailypost WordPress blog. Excellent musings on what pushes us to write.

I've joined Ladies who Critique (and it's not only for ladies, BTW, last count I read 3 male names, Matthew, Joseph and Erick, but I'm sure there are more, especially in the YA or sci-fi/fantasy or mystery groups) and I'm already making new friends (and might have found a couple of brand new crit partners). Anyhow, I also discovered (or rediscovered, as one of them is also a Six Sentence Sunday participang) a few new and interesting blogs so here are more links – in no particular order, old and new blogs (I'm probably following the alphabetical order on my blogroll, LOL).

Elizabeth Poole on how to make cliches work for you.

Erika Marks on tension in scenes.

Melissa Wright on dealing with bad critics – we've all been there. I think those bad critics are actually the jealous authors mentioned by Ruth Ann Nordin.

Mike Finn on the Tao of not doing Twitter or Facebook. I'm not twitting and I facebook my own way. But then, I'm a rebel, I don't like to follow rules!

Dave "Noobcake" Farmer on tags and how to use them properly, especially on WordPress. How many tags do YOU use?

Prue Batten on being indie and Shaina Richmond on tips, tricks and rants on the same subject – two different approaches to the same matter. I stand somewhere in the middle, I think!

Kenra Daniels on how to diversify the races in your fiction. I write fantasy set in a world similar to Earth but not Earth, but I was stuck with caucasian protagonists for years… I think I will covered this in another post, though.

Also Kenra does reviews of romance books, so if you are a writer of adult fiction in any romance subgenre, check her guidelines.

The Coverage Ink newsletter shows how even screenwriters can DIY nowadays (except me because I'm a megalomaniac who wants to make expensive movies, mwahahahah!). It's a wonderful brand new world for creators these days!

I Love Smashwords on the tsunami of crap, or actually a musing on readers. What reader are you? I want to be entertained, I'm certainly not of the literary type – neither as reader nor as writer…

Joe Konrath on sex in writing, which goes well with Kenra Daniel's post on the same topic…

Passive Guy on IP and contracts and all that law stuff. Gives me a headache only reading about it.

Ruth Ann Nordin on Amazon reviews – compared to Smashwords. But, like she says, Mark Coker is Mark Coker and Amazon is… well, Amazon. BTW, here's the update of the Amazon/Smashwords deal…

Finally, Indian writers beware… I wonder what will happen when Kindle starts selling to India!

Have a great weekend!

Birthday giveaway

Last year I celebrated with my first post on Serial Central. The multi-authors blog is now (permanently?) on hold, so I had to find something else this year. I issued a sort of challenge a couple of weeks ago, and waited. No reminders, nothing… just waited.

So, here we are! Thank you all for allowing me to reach the goal…

Except I'm so happy this year, I'd have probably hosted the giveaway anyway! That's because I ordered my own birthday present:

Delivery estimate: Aug. 26, 2011 – Aug. 30, 2011

1
"Kindle, Wi-Fi, Graphite, 6″ Display with New E Ink Pearl Technology [Includes USB Cable for Charging. For International Shipment]"

Electronics; $139.00

In Stock

Sold by: Amazon Export Sales, Inc.



1
"Henry's Crime"

Keanu Reeves; DVD; $16.99

In Stock

Sold by: Amazon Export Sales, Inc.

 

So while I wait for Amazon & Poste Italiane to deliver, here's the announced giveaway:

ONE lucky commenter

will be randomly chosen to have a Smashwords coupon for a free download of one of my novels on Smashwords. You can enter until Sunday (and only comments on this post will be considered) all day all over the world. The winner will be announced next Wednesday (Aug.31).

Now I better rush to read all those PDF's I've downloaded so far… before I go digital. But not completely, as the TBR dead-tree pile is still quite high! (I'm not showing the spines because 1) some of those are in Italian 2) some are non-fiction, which I don't review and 3) just in case I don't like a title – you know my policy of NOT reviewing what I didn't like )

13 books + 2 on my night-stand...

So glad 15 is my favorite number after 5, sigh! And I'd rather not count the titles in my Smashwords library or Kindle wish-list yet…

Happy reading!

Daily prompts and an update… or two

OK, daily prompt digest.

Topic #225: if I could control the weather, considering that the heat I was spared in July is here now, I'd have "cool" weather now. Possibly snowy, mwhahahaha!!! OK, I'll move to the North Pole, sometime!

Topic #222:  Do I prefer to lead or to follow? Mmm, good question. That's probably why I could never find that "perfect team"… I don't want to lead (in spite of being a Virgo, i.e. logical and well organized), but I don't want to follow either. Like fashions or trends (in any field, not just clothes): either I discover it (book, movie, record, celeb, whatever) on my own or I don't follow a trend just because everybody else does. If you wanna be a leader, check Ollin's post on how to be one. Personally, I hate to be at the center of the attention, so I'm just going back to my hermitage… if you'll excuse me…

Topic #220: I blog with my real first name, but never liked my family name, so I picked up "Tarn" way back in the 1990s when I was doing my photocopied zines. Then I put the "G." back in (initial of my real family name) when I started writing in English 10 years ago. And I have a short list of other pen-names I might use in the future to write in other genres.

Which includes the historical novel with British spelling. For which I have an update. I have completed a first draft I'm not very happy with. It's too short (around 70000words), but I have no idea of how to improve it at the moment.  I have masses of material and lots of things going on, but I probably skimmed through most. Except in my fear of info-dumping and boring myself and the readers, I have no idea of where I should go deeper or expand. I cover 15 years at the moment, but the climax of the main conflict is after less than 10, and I'm not sure if I should continue with the main characters like I intended to do – unless I find another conflict beyond the struggles with King John (my knight was faithful to Richard, so this is already a good conflict, as the two Plantagenet brothers kind of hated each other).

I still think it's too much historical facts and not enough fiction… So instead of doing more research, I'll do some more reading of historical novels, to see how other authors do it. I was fascinated by Elizabeth Chadwick's Akashic Records, so I might check some of her titles (she writes in my time period anyway). And I just found a new online non-fiction  resource for the Middle Ages (but there are all historical periods, I just bookmarked the one I'm interested the most!), so maybe I only need to take some distance from my story. As to how much fact/fiction… I still don't know, but I've followed the thread on Goodreads just like Prue (that's where I discovered Elizabeth Chadwick).

So, as I'm not having fun with it anymore, I'm going to shelve it until I find a volunteer who can help me tear down the walls that block me at the moment, and will go back to writing my fantasy stories that are so much more fun. I'm way late on my schedule in starting writing the books that should come out next year anyway! And I'm coloring SKYBAND8, dear reader, just to keep you updated (you know who you are! ).

As announced a few days ago, I'm wandering the blogosphere this week. Saturday Katelina interviewed Starblazer on Amarantyne nights. Today I should be the Writer Wednesday  at JC Martin's blog, so make sure to check both those amazing blogs. See you tomorrow for the birthday bash!

Musings on reviews

Someone on the Kindle Author and Readers forum on Goodreads asked "Should authors review each other?" which led to a three people discussion (I jumped it at some point, but apparently it was useless, and I got called an amateur) about the fact that apparently it's unethical.

My post: uhm… just wondering if reviewing fellow author novels is really unethical? I mean, every writer should also be a reader, so he/she can appreciate also other people's works, right?

I mean, whenever I read something that I like, I always review it on my blog (and here and on Amazon) – did it with Prue and other authors – what's wrong with it?

I swapped manuscripts only once so we could each write a sort of endorsement for each other's book (I have no idea if she used mine, I put hers on the back cover of my second book of the Immortals, Fire) and I admire Prue for having found two mainstream authors who did it for her.

So what's the big deal? Just wondering… thanks for explaining your POVs to me…

OK, please note that in the rush to reply to the drama, I didn't express myself very well – which probably prompted the "amateurish" comment – I did not swap manuscripts with Prue for endorsment, but with another author. I'm adding this note here, leaving the original post as it was – apologies for having come out as amateurish, next time I'll think twice before posting in any forum.

Not that I'm going to swap manuscripts again – it was something I did because I had just published Air and had found someone on Six Sentence Sunday who suggested it – but that's apparently the unethical thing to do, which leads to fake reviews and stuff.

Now, I'm obviously against fake reviews, but I'm sure there are plenty of genuine ones as well. So OK, the manuscript swap is unethical, or whatever. But the original question is "should authors review each other?" and I think the answer is "yes!".

Because to be a good writer you must also be a reader, and what's wrong with telling the author if you liked his/her work? You know my review policy is not to review what I didn't like – you won't even know I read it – but I do want the author to know if I enjoyed his/her work. What's unethical about this? The book is out and anyone can review it, why not another author?

Unless we're talking about those endorsements (like the one I got from my manuscript swap), but that's different. I don't think it's a review. Actually it was mentioned as "writing each other's book blurb" (and for me the book blurb is something else, but when I discovered it, it was too late). And if someone can pull it off like Prue, kudos, she had the balls even if she's a lady to contact mainstream authors, and I bow to her. In my eyes she's a professional writer, and she did the right thing. And no, I'm not going to ask her to read my books only because I loved hers, I think the offer should come spontaneously, but that's shy me!

By the way A Thousand Glass Flowers is due for Kindle release at the end of this week, and it's on my ToBuy list. Hopefully I'll even have a Kindle then – I plan on ordering mine soon after my birthday. So stay tuned for more stories of Eirie!

Oh, boy, this is so complicated to explain… I hope I'm making sense! I don't like some of the discussions going on in the Goodreads forums (bickering between two or three in a group discussion sounds… amateurish! ), but I guess it's my natural dislike of forums themselves (and I even joined another one, yikes!), the reason why I don't go to Kindle Boards and why I want to be a hermit! So I don't know when I'll actually be an interactive Goodreads author and will be able to find my readers there… or when and where I'll be able to get reviews of my books by someone, anyone, really!