Andrew Clawson's Blog, page 4

Non-paranormal interview

I was recently fortunate enough to be featured on the interesting website hosted by Laurie, who offers her insights and opinions on all things literary. Laurie’s quirky blog title is what originally grabbed my attention…she actually hosts two blogs, one for all things paranormal (vampires and werewolves and whatnot), and a second for every type of work that doesn’t contain supernatural elements.

My thanks goes out to her for hosting me on her site. The interview is unique to such a distinct site, humorous and insightful. If you’ve got a second, check it out. You won’t be disappointed.

Thanks again for stopping by, and I apologize for the brief post. My time has been consumed with revisions lately, as I’m moving forward with the editing phase of my second manuscript, which I hope to have published before the leaves turn. Stay tuned for any updates.

Cheers.

My Australian friend

Today I’d like to point your attention to a blog that comes from halfway around the world (literally). Pete Abela is a fantastic Australian author who was kind enough to allow me to share his blog for a day, during which I was able to share the story of exactly how long it took to complete my first novel.

I’ve never really expounded on the lengthy process, and I have to thank Pete for asking all the right questions to flesh out the more interesting of the details. As anyone who has ever written knows, putting pen to paper is a lonely endeavor, and I was thrilled to share this experience with a kindred spirit who knows exactly what a person goes through as they attempt the daunting task of completing a novel.

I hope you enjoy the story, and thanks for stopping by.

New review on Gina’s Library

Gina is a fellow Pittsburgher who loves to read and writes excellent, in-depth reviews. I had no idea she was from our fair city when I asked her to review my work, and thank goodness she enjoyed it, or my name would have sunk even lower (if that’s possible) around here.

This review offers a fresh take on my work, focusing on the historical aspects of the story that in my opinion really make it click. As you may have guessed, I am a huge fan of all things historical, so when these themes resonated with Gina, I was pumped.

I believe it was Napoleon who said that “those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it”.

Ok, I just checked and I was totally wrong. It was actually a man named George Santayana who said “those who ignore history are bound to repeat it”. Woops.

Regardless of my faltering memory, check out Gina’s website. She offers great advice on what books you should (and should not) pick up to fill your evenings as summer rolls on.

Another 5 star Review with Chapters and Chats

Just to prove that some people’s kindness knows no bounds, the wonderful blog Chapters and Chats has been kind enough to review my book, and for some odd reason the incomparable Jodi liked what she saw. Her in-depth and articulate review of my work can be found here, and after you check it out take a few minutes and look around her blog. Jodi clearly loves to read, and offers great advice as to what book you may next want to invite into your life.  Many thanks to her for the kind words.

 

Blending History with Fiction

As mentioned before, I am fortunate enough to be featured on Donna Galenti’s blog today, with a guest post I wrote talking about mixing two of my favorite things, history and writing, to eventually produce A Patriot’s Betrayal. You can find the post here. Donna is a fantastic author in her own right, and after bouncing a few ideas off her, I think we came up with a rather interesting and informative post about the process of writing a novel.

My next post is set for July 18th, and I’ll be sure to link that as soon as it goes live. This next post I’ve created goes into the nearly decade long experience of completing the book, with a humorous twist on all my stops and starts. It’ll be interesting and hopefully make you laugh a bit as well. Hopefully.

New reviews and upcoming guest posts

Part of what I’ve done to promote my debut novel has been reaching out to various blogs in search of reviews. I would do a little homework on the blog, poking around to get a feel for what the blogger was like, see if they would be a good fit for my style of writing. During my search, I was amazed at the quality and talent level of many book reviewers and bloggers on the web. It was with more than a smidge of trepidation that I contacted these individuals, hoping that for some reason they may want to review my scribbles.

Much to my surprise, nearly every person I reached out to not only responded, but was interested in reading my work. One of the first of these wonderful people was a wonderful woman named Karen, who reviews various works over at thebookendsreviews.com. Her reviews are well thought out, informative, and interesting. As for my work, she was kind enough to write a review, which you can find here.

I’ve also been fortunate enough to be allowed to do a guest blog post with author Donna Galanti on July 9th, which I’ll post as soon as it’s published. After that, I’ve done an interesting piece on how long it took to write A Patriot’s Betrayal that will be posted on July 18th on the blog of Australian author Pete Abela.

Both of these authors have written some fantastic novels, so check them out if you get a chance. Thanks for stopping by.

Major site changes

Alright everybody, welcome to my revamped site. I’m sort of learning as I go here, so if there are any hiccups along the way, I apologize in advance. I decided to incorporate this blogging format so that I can more easily share the journey with everyone else. As of right now, I’ve got two guest blog posts and three interviews scheduled in the next five weeks. All the links will be posted to this site for convenience’s sake.

I’ve got high hopes for the second half of 2012. My first draft of the second Parker Chase thriller is finished and being edited (though there are at least two more edits to go), and I’m making progress with a third manuscript, also a thriller with some familiar characters. Summertime, with all the sun and fun, isn’t conducive to plopping my butt into a chair and writing all day, but things are moving along and I plan to finish this new work before the leaves start to fall.

I’d like to thank every single person who purchased my book or took time out of their day to read it and offer feedback, whether personally or in the form of a review. It means the world to me that people would give my scribbling a chance, and I only hope you weren’t too disappointed. If by some chance you actually enjoyed it, there’s more on the way.

Cheers.