P.C. Zick's Blog, page 36

Author Wednesday – #New Release of Glimpse of Sunlight

Welcome to Author Wednesday and something a little different today. In the year I’ve been posting Author Wednesday guest posts and interviews, I’ve never had an author not follow through with either the materials or a cancellation apology. It happened with today’s scheduled author so I suppose that’s better odds than I had as an English teacher on the days a major assignment was due!

Click on cover for Amazon page

As I was figuring out what to do, my friend and colleague Leona Bodie (see previous Author Wednesday post) posted the release of her new novel Glimpse of Sunlight, co-written with G.E. Gardiner. I had the pleasure of editing this book and am anxious to receive my copy to see the final version. Leona is also the author of the award-winning thriller, Shadow Cay, which I also edited.

Click on cover

 

Here’s the press release for Glimpse of Sunlight:

Legend and myth combine with historical fact throughout the pages of Glimpse of Sunlight, creating incredible adventures set during the golden age of piracy and sunken treasure ships. The characters are faced with moral choices that range from revenge and violence, to murder, greed, and sensual compromise. Even a voodoo priestess, a haunted house, and a secret attic room find a place in this action-packed novel. And best of all—it’s based on a compilation of historical people who lived and breathed and features Jonathan Dickinson, who shipwrecked near the St. Lucie Inlet in 1696 and whose name lives on in Jonathan Dickinson State Park, an 11,500-acre preserve near Hobe Sound that allows visitors to step back in time and see what this pristine area looked like.

Reviewers and fellow authors are delighted by Glimpse of Sunlight. Mackenzie Lucas, award-winning author of To Have and To Hold, states, “I fell in love with the characters…wonderfully compelling story.” Richard R. Blake of Reader Views says the novel is “sure to add new fans to the growing number of enthusiasts of the works of both authors.” These pirates are bound to steal your heart.

I hope you’ll take a look at this exciting book. From what I read during the editing stage, I know you won’t be disappointed.

About the Authors

Leona DeRosa Bodie is the award-winning author of the suspense novel Shadow Cay. After teaching high school English and a stint in private industry, she decided the novel churning in her brain for fifteen years really deserved her attention. So she left her job to sail and write full-time. Leona is the Florida Writers Association’s Regional Director and past VP.

G.E. Gardiner spent his first career founding and running several small businesses. In 1997, a hemorrhagic brain stem stroke put him in the hospital for more than six weeks. Seven years later, he began writing to strengthen his brain. G.E. also leads a Florida Writers Association group.

Please visit www.JonathanDickinson.org for more information.

Trails in the Sand – Indie Book Award

I woke this morning thinking today would be a day filled with nice things. I can’t say why I felt this way, but I did. A few minutes ago one of the many nice things happening today appeared in my inbox.

Sometimes when we just keep plodding along despite our feelings of failure and inadequacy, life will boost us back up and show us that we really are on the right path.

I’ve had a few weeks of feeling as if I wasn’t getting anywhere as an author. Whenever I felt most discouraged, I kept writing and I kept promoting my current works.

This award is just for a day, but the good it does to my heart, mind, and attitude will last far longer.

Check out the feature on Trails in the Sand: http://indiebookoftheday.com/trails-in-the-sand-by-p-c-zick/

Let this be a lesson for those of you out there pursuing your passion. Keep going and find the rewards for your work in the small satisfactions that sometimes come in small packages to fill the well of creativity.

Click on cover to purchase on Amazon

 

Book Review Friday – The Palaver Tree

Book Review Friday – The Palaver Tree by Wendy Unsworth

The Palaver tree serves as the heart of a community. It’s the place for discussion, decision-making, festive occasions, and the place for storytelling. In the hands of Wendy Unsworth, the Palaver tree becomes more than a literal tree. In her novel, The Palaver Tree, it becomes a figurative place, as well, for the characters in this suspenseful novel set in a fictional country in Africa. Literally, the tree is the gathering place for storytelling and decision-making. It also provides shade from the harsh sun and scalding temperatures in the poor landscape of a violent and unstable government. However, as this story goes from Cornwall and London to Africa, the characters must come together to communicate or all is lost.

The good-hearted and generous people in a tightly knit community in Cornwall seek to help the hopeless children in Africa. Two women of some means, Elly and Diane, are eager to help, when they hear about the Hope Foundation run by Gabriel Cole. In London, the poor and gullible Tiffany runs the foundation and only wants to be loved by her employer and lover, Gabriel. The poor girls, Promise and Beauty, in Gabriel’s service in Africa bring him more than tea. Gabriel becomes the all-encompassing evil force in this novel rich in its beautiful description of the African landscape and its wildlife.

The novel is heartbreaking in its characterization of vulnerable and defeated folks, yet it soars with hope as dedicated individuals come together to form their own version of the “Palaver tree” to tell their stories and make decisions.

It is in these individual stories and connections that the human spirit fights for survival against some pretty awful odds. Unsworth tells this story using a wide variety of relationships to express the defeats and triumphs we all experience through marriage, friendship, and professional associations. She effortlessly weaves her story, and despite the wide-ranging lives of all the characters, somehow they all manage to find the universal denominators to form unwavering bonds.

In the beginning, a politeness exists between the characters, which prevent them from going to the “Palaver tree” to compare notes about the evil Gabriel. There exists in the good characters an unwillingness to believe in the corruption of their bank accounts and hearts.

To me, that is the lesson from The Palaver Tree. We become stronger when we gather to communicate, decide, and encourage in order to survive the worst of ordeals.

Through the exceptional storytelling talent of Wendy Unsworth, it is easy to believe in the words of Anne Frank, who wrote in her diary, “Despite everything, I believe that people are really good at heart.”

The “Palaver tree” bears fruit when those who visit walk away believing that goodness still exists in a world darkened by the few with dead hearts.

New Release! Bound by Time by A.D. Trosper

Bound by Time is a YA paranormal romance by A.D. Trosper, the bestselling author of the epic fantasy series,

Dragon’s Call. Once again, I have to thank Blue Harvest Creative for everything they do and for the incredibly beautiful book they have designed. From cover to cover, they outdid themselves.

Can he save her this time or are they bound to be separated for eternity…

Isobel Moore is looking forward to spending her summer break alone while her parents are overseas. Until she returns from college to find her home isn’t quite the welcoming place it used to be. The stained glass window her parents installed is more than just a beautiful piece of history; something sinister is sealed within the colored glass.

When Isobel meets her new neighbor, Damien DeLuca, she discovers the gorgeous and mysterious stranger has plenty of his own secrets. Including the knowledge of what’s happening in her home.

As her world spins out of control, she unravels a past that not only tests her limits, but also everything she thought she knew. The darkness within the window yearns to be free and it will do anything to escape—including killing Isobel.

Click HERE for a quick preview of the front and back covers and peek at the interior

Buy now in either E-BOOK or PAPERBACK or visit the AUTHOR PAGE

 

About A.D. Trosper

Writer, mother, ruler of the world inside her head.

A.D. Trosper is the author of the bestselling, award winning Dragon’s Call series. The first and second books are already out under the titles Embers at Galdrilene and Tears of War. She has also written a children’s book and has three books planned for release in 2014. A.D. enjoys writing in a variety of genres including epic fantasy, urban fantasy, and paranormal romance.

An avid lover of animals, she has rescued and rehabbed horses, goats, dogs and cats. When not writing, she spends time with her family and pets. She is convinced chocolate is a necessary food group and magic is real (not always the way we think it is, but real nonetheless).

You can connect with her at her

Blog

or on

Facebook

Author Wednesday – Wendy Unsworth

Welcome to Author Wednesday. Today I welcome Wendy Unsworth, a frequent visitor to Writing Whims. Wendy is the author of several children’s books and a novel, I recently finished reading, The Palaver Tree.  Watch for my review of the book on Book Review Friday. It’s a pleasure to meet so many wonderful writers through this blog, and so it is with pleasure I introduce to you this talented and versatile writer. Please take note, The Palaver Tree is available now through March 31 for .99 cents on Kindle.

Welcome, Wendy. I’ve so appreciated all your warm comments over the past year, and I’ve looked forward to having you be in the “hot seat” so we can all get to know you a little bit  better. Let’s start where I start most of these interviews. When were you first able to call yourself a ‘writer’ or an ‘author.’

Firstly, I would like to thank you for inviting me here today; I always enjoy this feature on your blog and am fascinated to learn what influences and ideas make other writers tick!

Through my life, I have always been a ‘scribbler’ of stories, poems and travelogues… anything really. I am a dedicated list-maker! For me, any experience or idea seems to engender a desire to ‘put it down on paper’ (often virtual paper, these days!) However, seeing my own book in print and online finally made me feel that I could call myself a writer.

I’m glad you enjoy these posts. Seeing a book in print does wonders for making it all real. How does your immediate family feel about your writing life?

I think they are proud of me. My husband, in particular, has been my great supporter, most especially in his recognition that I am actually ‘doing something’ when I may look far from it, glued to my screen or staring blankly into space! Oh, and he is a stalwart tea-maker.

That’s funny. My daughter can always tell when I’m eavesdropping on a nearby table at a restaurant. She says I get “that look.” Do you have any particular messages or themes  you try to convey to your readers?

In my novels, I like to focus on ordinary lives and then ask myself, “but what would happen to them if. . .?” In real life, extraordinary events, both good and bad, have a habit of crossing the paths of ordered lives. My interests lie in the strength and abilities ordinary people can summon to cope with the situations that they least expect to happen to them.

What am I trying to convey? That these inner qualities are there, and whether or not they ultimately lead to the outcome we would wish for, we have an incredible fortitude and the willingness to fight for what we believe is right and for those we hold dear.

My children’s titles are written for fun, no bones about it! My quirky, main character, Kellie Culpepper and her madcap family of explorers, witches and pets, which include a giant African snail and a dragon, have lots of unusual adventures. However, along with the laughs, I hope I convey the importance of strong family ties and of caring for the ones we love.

Those are all very noble messages. What are you working on these days?

At present I am writing the second book in my ‘Berriwood’ series. The book is entitled Beneathwood. I anticipate there will be four books in this series. Each book centres on the life of an individual resident of the Cornish village of Berriwood, living their quiet, country existence. Of course, it doesn’t stay that way for long!

In the first of the series, The Palaver Tree, the protagonist, Ellie Hathaway, finds herself far away in central Africa, volunteering at a remote school where daily existence operates on a knife’s edge and many things are not what they first seem. Ellie needs to push her wits and courage to the limits to survive.

In Book 2, Beneathwood (at present in the editing stage) has a more quietly sinister feel. Gordon Carroll has spent the first two years of his retirement renovating the old house that he inherited. He says it will make a wonderful home for himself and wife Beryl, and a roomy place for their daughter Olivia and her family to visit. But Olivia hates the old house and stubbornly refuses to say one good word about it. She urges her parents to sell and buy a nice, safe, village new-build. For once, Beryl Carroll is standing up for Gordon. She would do anything for her daughter but Beneathwood has been in the Carroll family for three generations; all that can’t be dismissed just because batty old Auntie Edith died there. Of course, as it turns out, it might have been a good idea to sell the house but I hope that I manage to keep the reader guessing about the real menace that hangs over the Carroll family with this story!

As a complete contrast, Kellie Culpepper is due for a new adventure at the end of April. This time her Aunt Kitty, who is also a ‘sometimes-cat’, goes missing.

You certainly have a broad expanse of writing genres. I look forward to reading Beneathwood. What’s the best thing said about one of your books by a reviewer?

I loved this, because it is entirely what I am trying to achieve in my writing: “The characters are cleverly drawn with flaws as well as strengths, which makes them more interesting, as well as realistic. The ending will leave you gasping and pondering the human condition.”

I am so thankful whenever someone takes the time to engage with me and others about my work. Thank you, again, for inviting me to your lovely blog today, and I would like to wish you and your readers a belated Happy New Year!

Thank you, Wendy. Happy New Year to you, too. I can tell you’re going to be very busy. I’m so glad you stopped by today.

About Wendy Unsworth: Wendy was born and raised in Lincolnshire, England. Her passions are her family, travel, beautiful gardens, and reading and writing stories. Wendy lived in Ndola, Zambia and Nairobi, Kenya throughout the 1980s and early ’90s before returning to the U.K. to acclimatise back to the English weather in a draughty Cornish cottage close to Bodmin Moor! Never one to let the grass grow under her feet, she is, at present, spending a year in Portugal.

Links to Goodreads:-

The Palaver Tree

Kellie at Come-alive Cottage

Danger at Come-alive Cottage

On Amazon:

The Palaver Tree

Kellie at Come-alive Cottage

Danger at Come-alive Cottage

Twitter @WendyUnsworth

Book Review Friday – Dying to Know

Christina Carson writes important books with huge messages. After I read Suffer the Little Children, I thought about her deft portraits of human despair when a life is lived without connection to others.

Living a life in balance and without judgment recurs once again in Dying to Know. In this novel, Ms. Carson uses health as the vehicle for expressing her themes. She also examines the way we hide our true feelings in check, even from those closest to us. There are times when communication on the very basic and level playing field of childhood friendships doesn’t work unless both sides are willing to come forward with the masks removed.

Dying to Know showcases five friends who’ve been together since ten years of age. They’re now “thirty-somethings” and know very little about one another until the main character, Callie, explores her own mortality, and the way she views herself and the world around her.

Her call to conscious living brings discord to the group. Through their various reactions, Callie is able to assess her relationship with them. Three of them are annoyed and then angry with her decisions and acceptance of her dis-ease with herself. Most of them are narcissistic, but Callie doesn’t see this side of them until she begins questioning her view of the world. One of the members of the group, Sue, is unable to hear and accept Callie and in that closing down, Callie is able to walk away.

I read once that there are certain people who will pass through our lives for a specific reason, but they may not linger with us for life or any set time. They will pass out of our lives when the reasons for their presence disappears. This occurs in Dying to Know. Callie is in turmoil about Sue until she stops and examines her gut. Her gut tells her what is the right thing to do.

The setting of Vancouver, British Columbia, brought back fond memories of a few days spent in this lovely city. But Carson also goes deep into the landscape of Canada drawing pictures of a majestic natural world. Making the main character, a photographer and illustrator of inspirational books made for a perfect vehicle to express the messages in the book.

The group of childhood friends continues and expands as each member finds his and her own way to the truth. I bookmarked so many places in Dying to Know, it’s difficult to choose the most important one. The messages stayed with me after I put it down and remain etched in my brain days after finishing it.

The book reminded me of a way to live that incorporates living in balance with nature and the world swirling around me. We act from fear whenever we go into imagining what could happen or what could go wrong, leaving us immobilized to move forward.

Perhaps this statement from Dying to Know expresses the most important gift I received for reading this novel, “Judgment is the servant of fear; the heart of love has no interest in comparisons.”

See Christina’s guest post on Author Wednesday. She gives more insight into her writing choices.

Author Wednesday – Christina Carson

Welcome to Author Wednesday. Today I welcome Christina Carson, author of Suffer the Little Children and Dying to Know. I featured Christina in 2013 and reviewed Suffer the Little Children. I love reading her blog, and recently I had the pleasure of reading Dying to Know.

Click here

My review will be published later this week. I’ll only say that the book resonated with me, and I’m walking around the house spouting some of her wonderful insights.

Welcome, Christina!

The Backdoor Writer by Christina Carson

I’m what I call a backdoor writer. I didn’t write from the get go, using my first crayon to craft a story. I didn’t study literature but trained instead as a scientist. I didn’t think of myself as a writer until I was almost 50. And I didn’t start writing to become a writer, but rather to record a period of my life that had meant everything to me, but was over and would never replay. I wrote to document the stories of that time, the people who filled them and capture the love, hilarity, and true friendship I knew there.

I was a product of the civilized establishment of east coast United States before I left home and ended up in a “frontiersy,” wild, northern Alberta settlement to raise sheep. I stumbled into a life I never knew existed, hard but poignant, rough but tender, comical and real. The life exposed me to the good and the ugly of who I was. When I put the stories of that time on paper, I realized not only could I write, but I also loved doing it, and it was then my life as a writer began.

Long before my farming years, I had become disgruntled with day-to-day living. Too much of how I’d been taught to live didn’t make sense. I began looking for something I couldn’t even name that might bring meaning and purpose to a life that felt increasingly empty. My fifteen years of farming intensified that drive, for its demand for honesty and resiliency gave me a different taste of life. What haunted me most, however, were the big questions: who are we; what are we; why are we here? I called my endeavors human cosmology, for rather than religion, truth was what I sought to know.

Today I write books that reflect my continuing desire to explore life. I write fiction because I’d like the reader to live the story as if it were true life for them too, give them an opportunity to journey along with the characters and garner their own insights. Characters fascinate me. When readers include my characters in a conversation and talk about them the way they would an old friend, I feel I’ve succeeded.

Take Dying to Know, for example. Callie Morrow is a 36-year-old professional photographer who, having never challenged herself in any area of her life, suddenly sees it could now be over before it even began. Having watched her mother die of cancer using the traditional route of treatment, when Callie is diagnosed with the disease, she uncharacteristically takes a stand against that route, tentatively offering, “There’s got to be another way.” She shocks her childhood group of friends and disturbs all around her with her seeming irrationality, except for her Chinese friend Mary Chang and her Inuit artist friend Joe Kuptana. With the help of the worldviews these two people bring to her life, she starts a journey for which she had no map or sense of direction.

It took me three years to write this book so that it would offer a realistic portrayal of someone coming to understand health and well-being from a completely different paradigm yet continue to make sense to a reader who might not have entertained such concepts prior. My characters had to be thinkers in their own right, but unexposed to alternative views of the nature and laws of life. They also had to represent the reactions my readers might have toward Calli and her quest:  amazement, disgust, curiosity, resistance, intense fear and abandonment. I wanted to make a place where each reader could fit in, move along with the group and perhaps make discoveries for themselves.

I am a writer. I don’t write to entertain; I write to inspire. I don’t encourage spectators. I want the reader to root for themselves as much as for the protagonist and experience new ideas, uncommon relationships and a deep sense of possibility before one of my novels comes to a close. For 40 years, I’ve been exploring life. My novels give a reader the opportunity to do the same in the company of friends.

About Christina Carson: I am 68 years old and  have worn many caps and walked many roads. I started in research as a scientist even before graduation, then taught in nursing for a number of years, owned a masonry contracting business with a mate and worked at that and building houses. I went on to farm. I am a creature of the land and love animals. That life was a dream until it ended. I then went on to become a stock broker, which I hated, and then the aimless period began with intense doubt and chaos. I was there for years making it up as I went along and spending a great deal of time afraid and despairing.

I will forever consider Canada my home, but I returned to the states in 1996 after 30 years in Canada to marry a man I met in Vancouver where I lived for five years.  He and I are perfectly suited to one another in intent, direction and integrity and as for the rest, we play that by ear.

Book Info: I end up in the genre of literary fiction by default. I don’t come close to fitting into any of the other proffered boxes. Adventure and philosophy – when are they going to stitch that together in a genre?

Christina, I so agree with you about the genre types offered. I made up my own–environmental fiction–but usually end up in literary or contemporary fiction. Thank you so much for offering us an insight into how and why you became a writer. Your passion for the craft is evident as well as your intent of showing your readers there are other paths.

Links:

Amazon Author’s Page: http://www.amazon.com/Christina-Carson/e/B006PM2QMM

Twitter: @CarsonCanada

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/

Venture Galleries: I write for them and am a member of their Authors Collection

http://venturegalleries.com/

Blog Sites:

            Books that Entertain and Inspire: http://christinacarsonauthor.com/

Asked and Answered: http://christinacarson-blogging.blogspot.com/

Google +: https://plus.google.com/u/0/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChristinaCarsonAuthor

Writer as the Main Character

The main characters in most of my novels share at least one characteristic. They all write for a living or aspire to be writers. In my latest release, Trails in the Sand, the main character is an environmental writer. The choice of career is no accident on my part, and as an author, I’m not an exception for creating characters who write.

Pat Conroy’s Beach Music is the story of travel writer Jack McCall who escapes into his work to lose the past. In Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, Jo March’s passion for writing fuels her until she marries the professor. Thanks goodness, we’ve come a long way since the novel’s publication in 1868.

In Trails in the Sand, environmental writer, Caroline Carlisle, writes about the wildlife impacted by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The wildlife experts in Florida choose her as the only reporter allowed to cover the sea turtle nest relocation project, which involved digging up nests and moving the eggs to the Atlantic coast to save them from the oil. She’s able to observe the momentous event firsthand. Much to her surprise, she begins to uncover secrets about her family in the pursuit of the sea turtle story. Caroline’s status as a reporter allows her special access, which helps unfold the plot.

I use writers as main characters because they are perfect observers and can go into situations where the average character couldn’t or wouldn’t go. On the television show, Castle, Richard Castle writes murder mysteries using a New York City detective as his main character. As a result, Castle researches his novels by going to murder scenes with the detective and helps to solve cases. Far-fetched maybe, but it’s enjoyable. His status as a writer allows him latitude to observe and write realistic, yet fictional, plots

Writers uncover information and find ways to expose culprits. In the novel I’m currently writing, a minor character is a newspaper reporter. The main character relies on him, not only for information about her husband’s murder, but she also gives him information in hopes he can help solve the mystery.

Writers are resourceful with contacts in high places, which can help move the plot along. Most reporters, in the real world, keep their sources close. In the case of Trails in the Sand, Caroline Carlisle speaks directly to wildlife officials, receives press releases, and enjoys loyal, established relationships with her sources, which brings her into the inner workings of government during the crisis. She also knows how to do research, which again is a plus for plot movement.

There’s another reason for a writer to use a writer as a character. Research makes up a large portion of my life when I’m working on a novel. Even though the author makes up the plot details, the details still need to be accurate and plausible. When I wrote about sea turtles and their habits in Trails in the Sand, I needed to research how long they lived, where they nested, how they made a nest on the beach, how long the eggs incubated, and what happened after the hatchlings emerged from the eggs. It took me days to research the details to write one scene where a sea turtle comes ashore to lay eggs as two teenagers watch on the beach.

I didn’t need to research the life of a writer because I’ve lived it. I’ve been a journalist. I’ve traveled for the job. I’ve worked with scientists, and I’ve interviewed many people in very strange situations – a man who owned a pack of hairless dogs he kept at his home in a rusty and remote trailer in north Florida comes to mind.

Some of my favorite people are writers, and they qualify as “characters” by many standards. I might as well use them in my stories. They make good company in a rather isolated career.

Caroline tries to explain to her mother that she wants to be a writer when she’s sixteen. I think I wrote this scene because I wished I’d been brave enough to tell someone I wanted to write at that age. Instead, I did the acceptable thing and became an English teacher. From Caroline Carlisle on writing in Trails in the Sand:

“You can’t be a writer,” Momma said when I was sixteen and told her of my career plans. “You need a profession you can count on to support you. You can’t depend on a man, especially the way you act.”

“I want to be a writer,” I said. “Who says I can’t be the next John Steinbeck?”

“I certainly hope not, young lady. Isn’t he that writer who killed himself a few years back? Is that the kind of life you want for yourself?”

“Of course not, Momma, and you’re thinking of Ernest Hemingway. Steinbeck wrote The Grapes of Wrath. I want to write a book like The Pearl – so brilliantly poignant and symbolic. The Grapes of Wrath is all right, but somehow I think if you can get the message across in fewer words, you have truly mastered the art of language. He uses ants and oysters to tell his tale.”

Momma stared at me as if I’d lost my mind. And I guess in the world of Calico, Florida, I did stand out as a little odd. I spent long summer days down on the riverbank reading, writing, or observing the world around me. Nature became my home, and the turtles, frogs, and birds of the Calico River that bordered our town were my friends.

“Where did you come from, child?” Momma asked. “How do you know these things? Sometimes you talk just like Alex.”

“Uncle Alex? He liked to write?”

“He loved nature, absolutely loved everything about it, and talked about it like you do.” Momma was no longer staring at me; she was gazing out the kitchen window into the back yard. “He loved chasing fireflies, too, just like you.”

“I wish I’d known him, Momma. What if I study marine biology? Is that a substantial subject?”

“It’s something,” she said as she turned back around. “At least you’ll be able to teach. You’ll need something to do with your life.”

Available on Kindle, paperback, and Barnes and Noble

 

Author Wednesday – Geryn Childress

Welcome to Author Wednesday. Today I welcome Geryn Childress, author of several children’s book and the recently released historical romance, Lou & Jigger (True Love is Inseparable series).

Welcome, Geryn. I’m happy you could stop by and chat today. I love to find out when authors first know they’re writers. Tell me about your discovery.

I  discovered my talent by mistake. My mother was the most talented writer I knew, so maybe it was in my genes. One day while taking care of the kids, I  noticed some of the silly things they were doing and saying to each other. Then it was like a light bulb went off in my head. I thought, “Hey! That would make a great book!” and the rest is history, as they say.

When did you discover this career was going to stick?

As soon as I started writing my first children’s book I knew this was my calling in life. It was very strange because I just knew. When my first book became a best seller on Amazon there was no turning back, and I was hooked. The thing that really let me know I was on the right path in life was when the kids would laugh and laugh at my books. They kept asking to hear the stories again. They have the final call.

 You write both adult fiction and books for children. Is there a particular theme that emerges in all your writing?

My message is simple:  enjoy life.  I think adults can complicate things too much. The majority of children book authors are always focused on trying to convey this message or that message to kids through their books, and I think most kids find them rather boring. I know I did and do. So the books I write for children are strictly for the entertainment of both the child and the parent.  I want adults to have just as much fun reading my books as their child. I try to show that it’s OK to laugh and be silly sometimes.

 Do you have any particular writing rituals?

After cooking dinner, I put the kids in bed. I usually tell them some ridiculous story that I make up about an imaginary super hero I call “Super Negro.”  After the kids have their “Super Negro” story, I go downstairs have a glass of red wine, and then I write.

  Who has most influenced your writing?

Other than my kids, it’s my mother Marilyn Childress.  She lost her battle to cancer in 1998 but still is my guiding angel. I often summon her spirit when I write, and it’s like she’s in the room me helping. I definitely wouldn’t be a writer if it wasn’t for my mother.  I’m standing on the shoulders of a giant.

That is very sweet. I sometimes feel that those who’ve gone before drive me forward in my writing as well. Now that you’ve written a novel and children’s books, do you have a form of written expression you’d like to try?

Glad you asked that question. I typically write children’s books, but I’ve recently branched off into other genres.  The book I’m promoting today is my first attempt at writing a historical romance, called Lou & Jigger.  I heard about Amazon’s Kindle Singles platform and wanted to write a short story specifically for the program to test the waters. I’m happy to say it’s become a best seller on Amazon. I still have about two weeks before they let me know if the book is accepted as a Kindle’s Single so I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

About Geryn Childress: Geryn was born in Ypsilanti, Michigan, and shortly thereafter moved to Shreveport, Louisiana, with his mother and older brother. He played a doctor on the television show Angels Of Mercy with Blair Underwood and Vivica A. Fox, and started his own production company, Melanin Productions. In 1993, he moved to Paris, France. He spent the majority of his teenage years in Pontiac, Michigan, which he still considers his hometown. In 2011, he teamed up with The Water Project, a charity that builds wells in poor communities throughout Africa. He is truly thankful for the all ways God has blessed him.

His current work Lou & Jigger is set in the deep American South during the early 1900s. Lou & Jigger is currently being made into a screenplay. The work of fiction takes the reader on a journey into life growing up in the deep South of Sheveport, Louisiana

Links

http://childresschildrenbooks.com/about/

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Geryn-Childress/402496639841021?ref=hl

http://www.amazon.com/Geryn-Childress/e/B00BHU1T66

Hazy is Not Spam

I call her Hazy; she calls me P.C. And we call each other friends.

Thankfully, she contacted me recently to ask me a question. She thought it strange that I had not been responding to comments she left on my blog. She knows me well and knew something must be amiss if I wasn’t responding. We finally figured out that her comments of the past few weeks were being sent to my WordPress spam folder, along with all the strange symbol-names and foreign-language comments.

Her likes appeared just fine, but for some reason, her comments did not. I featured Hazy on Author Wednesday a few months back, and her post received more spam comments than any other posts to date. We’re not sure if that’s what set off the spamming of her comments or not. Thankfully, I was able to pull her comments out of the dead-end file and respond to them in my usual manner.

I’m sending out this post for a couple of reasons.

I respond to every legitimate comment on my blog. If at all possible, I respond within hours. I enjoy every single comment and want those who take the time to respond to know how much I appreciate them.
I hope if you’ve left me comments, and I haven’t responded,  you’ll let me know so I can search through my folders.
If you feel your comments to other blogs go unanswered, you’ll make the effort to ask why.
 Finally, if you miss a regular commenter on your blog, you’ll check into the situation.

Thanks to Hazy for bringing this situation to light.