M. Edward McNally's Blog, page 5

FKBT

Just a quick shout-out to Free Kindle Books & Tips for today’s listing of The Sable City, which remains FREE on all e-reading doohickeys for the time being.

Nook - Smashwords - Kobo

Ed’s Casual Friday: What NOT to say to book reviewers.

For today’s column over at Indies Unlimited, 15 writers offer up 15 things no writer should ever, ever, EVER say in response to a review. No matter how bad we might want to say it.

(the panda thing will make sense, trust me)

FREE! The Sable City, Volume I of the Norothian Cycle.

In my ongoing attempt to do the absolute minimal amount of self-promotion I can get away with while I work on Book V of the Norothian Cycle, Book I - The Sable City by M. Edward McNally – is presently FREE most everywhere e-books are sold, including from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, etc.

If you haven’t yet started following Tilda & Co.’s tale, please do feel FREE to do so. And if you have, please invite a pal to come along with you. Or heck, you can even invite people you don’t like.

Thanks, and happy reading.

- Ed

Today on Ed’s Casual Friday I break new literary ground r...

Today on Ed’s Casual Friday I break new literary ground right before Halloween by doing a parody of – you guessed it – The Raven.

Can you believe nobody has thought to do that before?

Ed’s Casual Friday: TGII & Book Five

Today on Ed’s Casual Friday over at Indies Unlimited, I ruminate a bit about why I am so happy to be working on Book V of the Norothian Cycle (shooting for an early 2013 release), sing the praises of Indie authorship, and generally frolic in my glee.

Ed’s Casual Friday – So you want to be an Indie…

Today on Ed’s Casual Friday over at Indies Unlimited, I ask if you are sure. I mean really, really sure.

And because

The Haunted Collection, Free Oct 5th and 6th.

 Hiya, Halloween fans.

Happy to announce that The Haunted Collection - the most recent short story compilation from the eclectic, cross-genre authors known collectively as The Eclective (see how that name works?) is FREE for Amazon Kindle this Friday and Saturday, (Oct 5th and 6th).

Just to explain a little bit about us: The authors of The Eclective write in a number of different genres, from epic fantasy to paranormal YA to contemporary to parody, and a ton of stuff in between. But we have come together to do some projects. Actually, we mostly came together to hangout on facebook and amuse each other, but we also have a “communal” website and page, and a few times a year we put out short story collections.

These are generally built around a theme of some kind, though everybody comes at it from their own direction, and does stories they feel like doing, without regard for what genre or classification they might happen to fall into. Our theory, inasmuch as we have one, is that the story is the thing. If a reader finds a story that they like, we tend to feel genre is at best a secondary distinction.

The Haunted Collection is the fifth we have done, and I am highlighting it specifically here at The Sable City blog as it is the second collection where my story is set within the world of the Norothian Cycle. In last year’s Halloween Collection, “The Village of Those Who Touch the Dead” featured the yakuza character Yu Pao Long, years before he had left the Farthest West and come to Noroth. In the Haunted Collection, my story is entitled “Empty Vessel,” the tale of a ghost ship adrift at sea. While it does not feature any of the characters of the Norothian Cycle directly, the Trade Houses of Miilark and the Musket & Magic setting will be familiar to fans of the series.

Me and my fellow Eclectivites hope you’ll check us out, and maybe find something that you like. Even if it is outside of your normal genre preferences. Oh, and in case I wasn’t clear before, we do make all the collections FREE everywhere as soon as we are able to do so. The first four are always free, on Amazon, B&N, Apple, etc.

The Pride Collection

The Celtic Collection

The Holiday Collection

The Halloween Collection

“…trying to find the shortcuts to happiness in life.” – Tag Line Tuesday with Susan Wells Bennett

Welcome to Tag Line Tuesday, home of the “Long Form” author interviews (I always feel like I should have questions written on a stack of blue cards when I say that). Let’s jump right in, shall we?

Ed: Top of the [insert time of day here]! As I hear writers are creative people, please answer each of the following biographic questions twice, once with the truth and once with a lie.

Name?

SWB: Susan Wells Bennett / Cassandra Daniels

Ed: Where you from?

SWB: Phoenix / Chicago

Ed: Day job?

SWB: Writer / Actress

Ed: Dream job?

SWB: Successful writer / Oscar-winning actress

Ed: And of course the inevitable, Why do you write?

SWB: Because otherwise my head would explode / Because I am the only one who could possibly write a decent role for me to play.

Ed: You may now return to complete honesty if you feel like it, for THE LIGHTNING ROUND!

Quick! favorite:

Band – Bare Naked Ladies

Food – Ice cream

Game – Bethumped!

Album – Story of a Life

Word – acolyte

Color – purple

Animal – orangutan

Piece of clothing – the embroidered Mexican peasant top I bought in Mazatlan

Movie – Notting Hill

TV show – Breaking Bad

Drink – Pappadelicious

Song – “Green” by Edie Brickell

Line from a song – “We like to spy on the neighbors…”

Pizza topping – Onions

Crime – murder

Place – home

Quote – “Oh, Life is a glorious cycle of song, / A medley of extemporanea, / And love is a thing that can never go wrong / And I am Marie of Romania.” –Dorothy Parker

Ed: Finally, Three random things about yourself, please.

SWB: 1.) I am an only child – and it shows. 2.) I love dogs, especially pugs. Though I own a shih Tzu who makes me feel guilty for preferring pugs. 3.) I love zoos. I make Dan visit the zoos in every city we visit.

Ed: Now let’s get into the book-related stuff, starting with books you did not happen to write.

What’s the biggest consideration when you are deciding what book to read?

SWB:  The biggest consideration for me is whether the premise of the novel sounds promising. A good summary can win me over.

Ed: You are looking at the back of a book in a bookstore, reading on online blurb, or whatever.  What sort of thing makes you say “yes,” what sort of things makes you say “pass?”

SWB: Character-driven novels almost always get a “yes” from me. I like it when a writer creates a character who feels real to me. On the other hand, if there’s a scientific term in the blurb, I’m probably going to pass – I just can’t get into science fiction.

Ed: What genre do you enjoy most?

SWB: I’d have to say that’s split between Contemporary, Historical, and Supernatural.

Ed: What genre would you read only if you lost a bet?

SWB: Science fiction.

Ed: Do you have a favorite author, and do you think they influence your own writing?

SWB: I have two – John Irving and Margaret Atwood. I hope so.

Ed: Do you have a favorite book, and how many times have you read it?

SWB: Like Water for Chocolate, by Laura Esquivel. I’ve read it three times. Which means I’ve read my least favorite (Catcher in the Rye) and my favorite the same number of times. Hmm.

Ed: What’s the first book you remember buying with your own money?

SWB: A Prayer for Owen Meany, by John Irving. I doubt it was the first book I bought with my own money, but I know it was among the first.

Ed: Any books you have been told you should read, and know you probably never will?

SWB: Never say never.

Ed: Ever lied about reading, or not reading, a book?

SWB: I wrote a book report once on Tale of Two Cities. I never read it – I bought the abridged audio version and listened to it instead. Dickens puts me to sleep.

Ed: Ever read a book you were sure you were going to like, and not liked it?

SWB: Yes, John Irving’s latest, In One Person.

Ed: Ever grudgingly read a book, and loved it?

SWB: Yes, more than once.

Ed: What’s your favorite line from a book? (not your own)

SWB: This is a new favorite: “”Over time, I would give up the idea of having children, but it’s harder to stop wanting to have children.” – John Irving, In One Person

Ed: Now onto those books which you did write.

How, and when, do you tend to come up with titles?

SWB: Usually, the title is the last thing I write on a novel. I usually try to pick out some phrase from the book that captures the essence of it. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.

Ed: How do your characters get their names?

SWB: Baby-name books and random name generators are my best friends.

Ed: Not literally, I hope.

If you could live in the world / with the people of one of your stories, which one would it be and why?

SWB: I would want to live with the characters of An Unassigned Life, primarily because most of them are writers and artists. I’d like to live next door to Easter and Arlo, my friendly neighborhood tattoo artists.

Ed: What do you think your books say about you?

SWB: That I have an unhealthy interest in religious cults? That I believe chivalrous men still exist? That I have a difficult relationship with my mother? I don’t really know.

Ed: Is there anything you have written which you would now like to change or revise, wish you had written differently, etc.?

SWB: In the second book of the Brass Monkey series (Charmed Life), I had my character Sondra buy a new, red convertible with four doors in the late Seventies. Any car buff will know that there weren’t a lot of convertibles being made at that time; in fact, only Mercedes offered a car that fit those specifications. Because of a later plot development in the third book, I sincerely wished I’d given her an American car.

Ed: Tell me about your favorite character.

SWB: Adam Ross-Wright is a former Las Vegas drag star who left the footlights to become a trucker with his soul mate. He is a big fan of scarves – long, rectangular ones that he uses to hide the age lines on his neck. He is flamboyant, dramatic, and a pushy bitch – ever since I created him in Circle City Blues, he’s been trying to suggest himself into every novel I’ve written. I finally gave him (and his husband) a small part in Charmed Life and Night Life.

Ed: Have your favorite character tell me about you.

Adam: Susan? Oh, honey, she has no sense of style. You should see the frumpy t-shirt dresses she walks around in! But, what she lacks in style, she makes up for in her typing abilities. Why, I can talk a mile a minute and she gets every word! Her fingers just fly!

Ed: Back to Susan now, What’s your favorite line which you have written?

SWB: “The living are always trying to find the shortcuts to happiness in life.” – An Unassigned Life

Ed: Now for some “process” questions about the way you write.

Plotter or Pantser?

SWB: I’m a Pantser who plots – just a little.

Ed: Best/Worst advice you ever got as a writer?

SWB: Best – If it makes you laugh or cry, your audience probably will too.  Worst – Write what you know.

Ed: Best/Worst thing about being a writer?

SWB: Best – I don’t have to leave the house and I spend all my time telling stories. Worst – Editing, without a doubt.

Ed: Why Indie?

SWB: I chose to go Indie after researching the book market in 2010. Traditional publishers aren’t willing to take a risk on many new writers anymore, and, when it comes right down to it, they don’t split the profits fairly with the writers they do select. Did you know that Big-6 writers make only $2.00 a copy on their novels, most of which are priced at more than $25.00 these days? In addition, traditionally published writers are usually left to their own devices when it comes to promoting their work. When I took all of that into consideration, I decided to self-publish and sell my novels for $2.99 apiece.

I’ve been with Inkbeans Press now for going on two years, so I’m not exactly Indie anymore – I’m an author working with an Indie publisher. They are fabulous, by the way – sort of like an agent, publisher, and publicist all rolled into one.

Ed: Is being a writer what you expected? How so or how not?

SWB: I dreamt of being a writer from the time I was eight or nine. I have always had a passionate affair with books – I wanted to touch other people with my words the way so many writers have touched me over the years. In many ways, being a writer is exactly what I expected: long hours in front of my computer and the joy of creating something new.

What I didn’t expect were the kind words that I have received from readers. You see, in all those years I never wrote a single fan letter. I didn’t think they would want to hear from some strange girl in the middle of the desert. When I received my first fan letter, I cried. I couldn’t believe that I had touched someone so much that they sat down and wrote…to me. It’s an amazing, incredible, mind-altering experience.

Ed: Have you, or would you ever, collaborate on a story?

SWB: I’m not a good team player, so I doubt I will ever do that. However, Nikki McBroom and I have tentative plans for a children’s book – I’ll be writing the story and she’ll be illustrating it.

Ed: If you were starting to write for the first time, what would you do different?

SWB: I’d start sooner.

Ed: What is the most important thing you have learned about writing?

SWB: Storytelling is the gift. Writing is the skill. You must hone your skill in order to share your gift.

Ed: That is about as well as that has ever been said here.

Finally, What’s the moral of the story?

SWB: If writing isn’t challenging, you’re not doing it right.

Ed: In the home stretch now, all that is left is some REAL answers to HYPOTHETICAL questions.

Your computer is smoking, wheezing, and sparks are shooting out of the back. You can save one thing off the hard drive.  What is it?

SWB: My work-in-progress, of course! Everything else is backed up in three-to-five locations.

Ed: You have one perfect day of free time, no obligations, needs, or responsibilities.  What do you do?

SWB: Are we talking summer or winter here? In the summer, I’d probably sit in my office and play Civilization V. In the winter, I’d head to the zoo and sit in the orangutan house for a few hours.

Ed: Spoken like a Phoenician. Summer is for staying indoors.

Someone “in the business” suggests you change something you feel is a critical part of one of your books, and guarantees it will increase sales. What do you do?

SWB: I would re-read my work with a critical eye. This actually happened to me – my mentor told me that the first part of my first novel, The Thief of Todays and Tomorrows, was dragging on way too long. At first I was angry – how could she say that? Then I re-read it – and cut around 10,000 words from the first section.

Ed: You are offered just enough money to live comfortably for the rest of your life, if you will just stop writing.  What do you do?

SWB: Reject the offer and write another book.

Ed: What question do you wish I had asked?

SWB: Are you certifiably insane? Mainly because I’d like to point out that I’m not…

Ed: Thanks much for stopping by, Susan. Stay cool in the desert.

—————————

Please do consider perusing some of what Susan has to offer, listed here along with the five word synopsis I ask all writers for, only because I know how much they hate writing them.

A five word synopsis

Circle City Blues – “A heartbroken trucker seeks happiness.” http://www.amazon.com/Circle-City-Blues-ebook/dp/B004CFBIIC

*

An Unassigned Life – “Writer has a post-mortem idea.” http://www.amazon.com/An-Unassigned-Life-ebook/dp/B004O0U232

*

The Prophet’s Wives - “Infertile prophet impregnates three wives.” http://www.amazon.com/The-Prophets-Wives-ebook/dp/B004J4X8HU/

*

Forsaking the Garden – “Daughter of polygamists runs away.” http://www.amazon.com/Forsaking-The-Garden-ebook/dp/B0051PCHPA

*

The Thief of Todays and Tomorrows – Mother sacrifices everything for son. http://www.amazon.com/The-Thief-Todays-Tomorrows-ebook/dp/B004FV58RK

*

The Brass Monkey Series – Book 1, Wild Life “Bored retiree meets youngish widow.” http://www.amazon.com/Wild-Brass-Monkey-Series-ebook/dp/B005KLSCRW

*

The Brass Monkey Series – Book 2, Charmed Life“Rivalry leads to suspected murder.” http://www.amazon.com/Charmed-Brass-Monkey-Series-ebook/dp/B0068UWABS

*

The Brass Monkey Series – Book 3, Night Life “Ethan’s family threatens Sondra’s happiness.” http://www.amazon.com/Night-Brass-Monkey-Series-ebook/dp/B007JLXY2Y

Ed’s Casual Friday 9/28/12 – Antiheroes

Today over on Ed’s Casual Friday, I offer some ruminations about Antiheroes, past and present. While getting in a reference to It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, of course.

“Nimbly, she let her fingers have their way.” – Tag Line Tuesday with Jacqueline Hopkins

Today, Tag Line Tuesday sits down with the author of Wilderness Heart, who I will now allow to introduce herself.

Ed: Hola! As I hear writers are creative people, please answer each of the following biographic questions twice, once with the truth and once with a lie.

Name?

JH: Jacqueline Hopkins. Jackie Collins (well I can wish can’t I?)

Ed: Where you from?

JH: I’m a displaced Okie who has lived in many places. Retired, living in Hawaii.

Ed: Day job?

JH: In-home health care for my mother. TSA Security Screener at LAX

Ed: I shall now turn my head and cough. Dream job?

JH: Big 6 Publisher/Editor. Forensic Pathologist, but I can’t handle blood and guts…I’d be in the corner somewhere puking my own guts out. *SHUDDER*

Ed: And the inevitable, Why do you write?

JH: Because I like to, the money and the fame and glory. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. I enjoy letting people know about other places they may not be able to get to in person; they can hopefully learn about new places from reading my books.

Ed: You can go back to full honesty (if you want) for THE LIGHTNING ROUND! (zap. boom)

Quick! favorite:

Band – Journey

Food – any kind of seafood – crab, shrimp, halibut

Game – Texas Hold’em Poker

Album – any by Alan Jackson

Word – persnickety or vacillate, can’t decide

Color – Purple

Animal – hmm, dog or cat, which one shall I choose. Any that can stay small, cute and cuddley..oh wait that’s not a word, is it. I like to cuddle with soft furry things.

Bird – Hummingbird

Piece of clothing – I hate clothes, they are so uncomfortable, but if I have to choose, it would be what I am currently wearing – a black and dark purple free-flowing Hawaiian dress

Movie – The Abyss

TV show – CSI, NCIS, forensic shows, Rizzoli and Isles, The Closer (can’t pick just one)

Drink – Kahlua and cream with splash of coke

Song – “Let’s Make Love” by Faith Hill

Line from a song – Let’s make love all night long until the sun comes up

Pizza topping – Candian Bacon

Crime – hmm, not sure what you mean by this one…favorite crime to read about or write about in a book? I like guns and am a good shooter. Does that answer the question? Oh, and I have a story about my husband and my 20 gauge shot gun if you ever want to hear it.

Place – any beach along an ocean or lake or river with mountains all around

Quote – “You only live once and you are as young as your mind thinks you are.” (These are mine…or did you mean you wanted one from my book or a book I read, lol. I like mine.)

Ed: Three random things about yourself, please.

JH: 1.) I love to travel, 2.) I like history and studying maps, and 3.) I am undecided if I like the Oxford Comma.

Ed: Now onto the “Book Chat” portion of the proceedings, beginning with books you did not happen to write yourself.

What’s the biggest consideration when you are deciding what book to read?

JH: Genre first, book cover has to be striking for me to even want to read the blurb, then author might play a role in it.

Ed: You are looking at the back of a book in a bookstore, reading an online blurb, or whatever. What sort of thing makes you say “yes,” what sort of things makes you say “pass?”

JH: To get me to say yes to reading a book it has to have that mystery, that intrigue about it that pulls me in, it has to have a good cover. If the blurb is very bland, not exciting writing, boring I’ll say no. And of course, I’ll say it again, the cover has to grab me.

Ed: What genre do you enjoy most?

JH: Probably murder mysteries.

Ed: What genre would you read only if you lost a bet?

JH: Steampunk I guess.

Ed: Do you have a favorite author, and do you think they influence your own writing?

JH: Yes, Tess Gerritsen for her murder medical thrillers and June Lund Shiplett (RIP) for her time travel historical romances. They might, but I haven’t analyzed if they influence my writing other than I wish I could write like them.

Ed: Do you have a favorite book, and how many times have you read it?

JH: No, not really and I rarely read a book a second time unless I read it a long time ago and can’t remember what it was about because I like to read and read a lot.

Ed: What’s the first book you remember buying with your own money?

JH: Don’t remember the name, but it was probably one of those bodice ripper romances back in the 1970s by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss (RIP) or Johanna Lindsey or Penelope Neri.

Ed: Any books you have been told you should read, and know you probably never will?

Jac: Yes, lots of them since joining Goodreads and Facebook, but when I am writing it is hard for me to read for pleasure having been a technical editor/writer. Although I do go to bed reading something.

Ed: Ever lied about reading, or not reading, a book?

JH: Probably in school when I was supposed to write a book report.

Ed: Ever read a book you were sure you were going to like, and not liked it?

JH: Yes, but I don’t feel comfortable mentioning whose or which one. It’s funny. You meet people on facebook or Goodreads, think their books will be great, but when you start to read it, it doesn’t do anything for you. But I am sure there are people out there that feel the same way about my book.

Ed: Now let’s move the Book Chat stuff over to those books which you did actually write.

How, and when, do you tend to come up with titles?

JH: Most of the time, the titles come to me before I begin to write the book. But my current WIP I am totally stuck on for a title. I might have to run something on my blog for the readers to help me come up with a title. I am totally clueless on this one.

Ed: How do your characters get their names?

JH: Sometimes, I use a name book, but most of the time I play with names I like of people I know and mix and match them, see how they sound or make up my own. Sometimes I even use celebrity last names.

Ed: If you could live in the world with the people of one of your stories, which one would it be and why?

JH: Probably in the western days where my current WIP partially takes place, and the other half in modern days.

Ed: What do you think your books say about you?

JH: That I like history and like to give people a place to go from their current reality in life.

Ed: Is there anything you have written which you would now like to change or revise, wish you had written differently, etc.?

JH: No, not really. Perhaps my first book I published, but we can’t keep going over and over our books to make them perfect (that word should be stricken from the dictionary because nothing and no one is perfect) for ALL readers because not all readers are going to like what we write so I need to move on to my other books and hope readers will like them and see that I have learned and made my writing better.

Ed: Tell me about your favorite character.

JH: Don’t really have one…yet.

Ed: What’s your favorite line which you have written?  

JH: “ Nimbly, she let her fingers have their way.”

That’s from the WIP. You can interpret that as I am writing a time travel historical cowboy romance or I’ve changed genres and names and writing an erotic romance. You can decide.

Ed: Now on to some aspects of your own writing “process.”

Plotter or Pantser?

JH: Both, I start out knowing my characters and sort of an outline, then write by the seat of my pants.

Ed: Best/Worst advice you ever got as a writer?

JH: Best is to write what I know and what I like to read.

At the moment I can’t think of the worst advice I got. If I think of it, I’ll let you know

Ed: Best/Worst thing about being a writer?

JH: Worst is having to spend a lot of time promoting myself and my book(s).

The best is not having to try to please a publisher and dictate what I write according to their interpretation of what the masses like to read.

Ed: Why Indie?

JH: I tried the traditional route way back in the late 1980s, went to a writer’s convention, pitched my book (the one I published), was a member of RWA, started the Aloha Chapter of RWA in Hawaii and belonged to a critique group, but none of that got me anywhere except how to hone my writing—hopefully for the better. And yes I was rejected. Then life got in my way – raising kids, divorce, a move, 911 hit, unemployment, another move, verge of bankruptcy, another move, employment, major neck surgery, married and back into my writing, and I didn’t want to try the traditional route this time. With a little research about publishing in today’s market and inspiration from editing my niece’s novel, I picked up the one book I did have finished and decided to try publishing it on my own.

Ed: Have you, or would you ever, collaborate on a story?

JH: Yes, I’d love to and am doing that now with another author. I think it will be fun if it turns out super in the end.

Ed: If you were starting to write for the first time, what would you do different?

JH: Study more about social media and promotion so that I can sell thousands of books immediately. Also study how something goes viral so mine would do the same. Isn’t that what we all are striving for?

Ed: What is the most important thing you have learned about writing?

JH: To first self-edit your book, then let about three beta readers read it and give you feedback and then hire an editor. If you can’t hire an editor, find another author you click with and edit each other’s work or hire an editor for trade. What I mean by that is I edit books and instead of charging an author for my editing services, I do a trade with them. For instance, one author is promoting my work for me on Facebook, Twitter and other avenues the author uses to promote her own work. I may be imaginative to write a book but not to promote it and I am not a salesperson. I hate getting spammed with ‘buy my book’ from other authors and I won’t do it to anyone else. You or anyone who knows me, will rarely see me post about myself and my books. I have a hard time doing it.

Ed: What’s the moral of the story?

JH: As you know and have seen everywhere in the social media indie authors are getting a bad reputation for putting out poor work. I know I am sounding like a broken record, but I am going to say it anyway. Hire an editor and get it as near perfect (there’s that word again) as possible. And don’t be in a hurry to publish. If an editor sends you back suggested/recommended edits, make them if you agree, make sure you understand what the editor suggested/recommended and send back to the editor for a final once over if you feel it is needed. Some editors charge for repeat lookovers but I don’t. If an author is going to put my name in their book as the editor, I want to make sure the book is the best it can be and if the author didn’t follow or make the suggested/recommended changes, it will not only make the author look bad but the editor as well.

Ed: All good advice. :-)

Finally in closing, some real answers to HYPOTHETICAL questions.

Your computer is smoking, wheezing, and sparks are shooting out of the back. You can save one thing off the hard drive. What is it?

JH: All my writing documents I usually store in one folder.

Ed: You have one perfect day of free time, no obligations, needs, or responsibilities. What do you do?

JH: Go visit my kids or grandkids.

Ed: Someone “in the business” suggests you change something you feel is a critical part of one of your books, and guarantees it will increase sales. What do you do?

JH: Think long and hard about it, see how the story reads without it or with the requested change, and it depends on this ‘someone’s’ standing in the business. Does he/she really know what they are talking about, how long have they been in the business, does their knowledge just come from having gone to University or college for their knowledge without experience themselves in the publishing industry, their experience in publishing (how many books do they have or are they new), and do they have stats to show me it will increase my sales?

Ed: You are offered just enough money to live comfortably for the rest of your life, if you will just stop writing. What do you do?

JH: I might consider it but in the end negotiate for more money to live better than just survive. If they aren’t willing to negotiate, then no, I wouldn’t stop writing. No seriously, I don’t think I could stop writing, doesn’t matter if I have anything else published or not.

Ed: What question do you wish I had asked?

JH: What nationality am I? I am of Choctaw Native heritage and according to genealogy records I have searched thus far, we are also part Irish and who knows what else. I think we are all a Heinz 57 mix.

Or have you ever thought about writing a screenplay for tv or movie? My answered would be yes, I’m doing that too. So much to write, so little time!!!!

Ed: Thanks for stopping by, Jac.

—————————

Jacqueline describes her novel Wilderness Heart, via the short-short blurb I ask all writers to offer (because I know they hate doing so), thusly –

“Can a female hunting guide survive working in a man’s world?”

Wilderness Heart

Amazon: http://amzn.to/rFdoOg

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/45556

Xinxii: http://www.xinxii.com/en/wilderness-heart-p-328804.html

Superereads: http://super-e-books.com/2011/12/wilderness-heart-by-jacqueline-hopkins/

PublishMyBook: http://www.publishmybook.ie/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=22&products_id=304

Jac herself can be found on facebook https://www.facebook.com/Author.JacquelineHopkins

and Twitter https://twitter.com/jacquehopkins

Additionally, the chili recipe in Jacque’s book has been chosen to be part of the Passionate Cooks Cookbook which will be available for FREE from All Romance Ebooks, available on Oct 1, 2012: http://www.allromanceebooks.com/storeSearch.html?searchBy=title&qString=Passionate+Cooks