Heidi Ruby Miller's Blog, page 73
April 9, 2011
Many Genres One Craft Virtual Book Tour - Kick-off
VIRTUAL BLOG TOUR
Today officially marks the kick-off of the Many Genres, One Craft Three Month Mega Virtual Book Tour (VBT).
Our VBT stops for today are:
Stop: Free Cotton
Providing discussion, tips, and marketing for education on all levels.
Host: Teffanie Thompson White
Teffanie Thompson White played with pen in hand. When pen was absent, she scratched words on ashen legs. She either taught class or wrote books, which she still does. Her picture book manuscripts, Bug Talk and For Tents and Ribbons, have been adapted into onstage ballets. Teffanie co-authors and co-publishes pictureless books.
Event: Educational Tips
Contributor: Matt Duvall
Stop: Seton Hill Writers
Three graduates of the Seton Hill University MFA program (Lesley L. Smith, Ann Laurel Kopchik, and Rodney Robbins discuss genre issues, give writing tips, and review books at their group blog Seton Hill Writers.
Host: Lesley L. Smith
Lesley writes SF and talks about the genre at conferences and conventions. Her latest novel is Multiple Possibilities.
Event: G is for Genre
Contributor: Jason Jack Miller
For upcoming stops, including more from Free Cotton and Seton Hill Writers , visit our VBT page : http://manygenres.blogspot.com/p/virtual-book-tour.html
There's still time to be a host. Email Heidi Ruby Miller at heidirubymiller@gmail.com for details!
To pre-order a copy of Many Genres, One Craft , visit:
Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Powell's Books
Books A Million
and other fine book sellers!
April 8, 2011
Heidi's Pick Six Interview with Trisha J. Wooldridge
HEIDI'S PICK SIX
Trisha J. Wooldridge
1. Which of your characters is your favorite?
2. Tell me about your travels.
3. Coffee, tea, or milk?
Coffee in the morning (with milk and/or creamer). Tea in the afternoon. Milk occasionally at night… with libation. (Bailey's Irish Cream, Disaronno Amaretto, Illy's coffee liquor…)
4. What else can you do besides write?
I make arts and crafts… and play with animals! (More on the animals with question 10.)
I drew my own logo for A Novel Friend Writing and Editing.
It's my impression of my current housepets: Loki the Bunny (the very, very old bunny) and Nylis the Cat. I've also done cartoons for online courses and illustrated my own poetry chapbook. I hand-make most of the gifts I give, too: wood-burnt plaques and ornaments, decoupage cards, paintings, and decorated gift baskets.
My art isn't good enough to make the comic I have mostly-written, unfortunately, but it definitely helps with the scripting.
On top of that, art is fun and relaxing. When we do our annual Myrtle Beach trip, I bring all my painting supplies and can usually churn out a few paintings of mediocre quality - but that I still love.
5. Who are you reading right now?
6. Pop culture or academia?
Both. Most of what we study in academia was pop culture at some point in time. Shakespeare was very much pop culture, for example. Most of the authors we study were popular icons of their time. The Gothic and Victorian writers? They would go on tour! So would Mark Twain. Sure, there were plenty of shut-in writers - where else would we get that cliché? But really, their stuff was getting read by the "cool" people, the rich people, the people in power, the people who talked about what was "in."
Even if you look at history, you've got pop culture. The people we study? They were the cool people, the winners, the ones everyone wanted to hang out with, be with, be seen with.
Outside of critics and criticism, most of the people we study in academics weren't writing (or doing stuff) for the sake of being studied years and years later. They were doing what they loved for their existing audience, culture, and people of their time.
If more academics realized this, they'd probably be able to inspire those students who "have to take the course" a whole lot more than they do now.
7. What is the toughest scene you ever wrote?
8. Where do you find your inspirations to write?
9. Food you could eat everyday.
10. Are you into sports or other physical activities?
I work with horses, too. For 6 years, I've volunteered at the Bay State Equine Rescue (www.baystaterescue.org), where I continue to learn a lot about training and caring for horses.
I've also recently adopted my own horse! Calico Silver is my baby - and my fitness project. Riding and training a horse is hard work. As she spent the first 12 years of her life as a foal-making slave of pharmaceutical companies and then the following 4 years upon being rescued just learning that humans can be Nice People who don't treat her like a senseless commodity, she has not had a lot of training. So, we're working together to get in shape for trail riding.
Our current goal, if you don't mind me doing a little begging here, is to raise $300 for the Susan G. Komen for the Cure ® foundation with Ride for the Ribbon - a 9 mile long trail ride. Up to 75% of the funds stay in Massachusetts to provide education, mammograms, and support to women with breast cancer. If any of your readers would like to sponsor me, Calico and I have our page here: http://komenmass.kintera.org/novelfriend
11. What kind of music speaks to you?
12. Do you outline your stories or do they just take you along for the ride?
Both. For a long time I defined myself as a "pantser" (writing by the "seat of my pants"), but the more I wrote, the more I found that I did a better job if I did some planning ahead - and that, in reality, I was doing a certain degree of planning already.
Before I even sit down to write, I mull a story in my head for months, if not about a year (for novel length). That mulling includes me visualizing many scenes and conversations in my head, teasing out the main plot and the sub-plots, and a whole lot of getting to know my characters. I also give myself a rough idea of the Beginning, Middle, End/Final Confrontation, as well as the transition scenes between those acts. This is something I've always done but never thought about because it rarely, if ever, gets written.
New steps for me now include more specific planning: I make myself an elevator pitch - a 1-2 sentence description of the book that summarizes plot, theme, and character and matches the "voice" of the work. About a third of the way through the book (and whenever necessary) I do major research and write down my notes, write character descriptions, write a timeline (usually that includes backstory and what might happen next). About two-thirds of the way through, I adjust all those notes I wrote a third of the way through and add bracketed notes for things I'll have to change in revisions.
Additionally, when I'm co-writing (like for all of the Bad-Ass Faerie (www.badassfaeries.com) short stories), my partner, Christy Tohara, and I do much more planning. We discuss plot and character in detail beforehand and set specific parts that each of us will have to write, which translates into a strong outline. We definitely play with it more as we write. Our big lesson has been the importance of pre-planning, though, because it's easy enough for one crazy author to lose track of a story; if two crazy authors are involved, you're in trouble!
13. Celebrity crush.
David Tennant, who played the 10th incarnation of the Doctor in Doctor Who. I pray that I can get movie deals on my still-to-be-published novels while he can still pull off playing several of my most beloved male characters.
14. Who are the biggest influences on your work?
15. Do you still watch cartoons?
Trisha J. Wooldridge is a freelance writer, editor and educator from Auburn, MA and the readings & events coordinator for Broad Universe ( www.broaduniverse.org ). Her experience ranges from Dungeons & Dragons Online to animal rescue public relations. She writes about food, wine, horses, haunted locations, education, and she interviews bands like Voltaire, Within Temptation and Nightwish. Her short story, "Party Crashers," co-authored with Christy Tohara , was in the EPIC Award winning Bad-Ass Faeries: Just Plain Bad (Marietta 2008, Mundania 2009), with a second co-authored short story in the EPIC Award winning Bad-Ass Faeries: In All Their Glory ( Mundania 2010). Visit her at www.anovelfriend.com .
Trisha J. Wooldridge
1. Which of your characters is your favorite?
2. Tell me about your travels.
3. Coffee, tea, or milk?
Coffee in the morning (with milk and/or creamer). Tea in the afternoon. Milk occasionally at night… with libation. (Bailey's Irish Cream, Disaronno Amaretto, Illy's coffee liquor…)
4. What else can you do besides write?
I make arts and crafts… and play with animals! (More on the animals with question 10.)
I drew my own logo for A Novel Friend Writing and Editing.
It's my impression of my current housepets: Loki the Bunny (the very, very old bunny) and Nylis the Cat. I've also done cartoons for online courses and illustrated my own poetry chapbook. I hand-make most of the gifts I give, too: wood-burnt plaques and ornaments, decoupage cards, paintings, and decorated gift baskets.
My art isn't good enough to make the comic I have mostly-written, unfortunately, but it definitely helps with the scripting.
On top of that, art is fun and relaxing. When we do our annual Myrtle Beach trip, I bring all my painting supplies and can usually churn out a few paintings of mediocre quality - but that I still love.
5. Who are you reading right now?
6. Pop culture or academia?
Both. Most of what we study in academia was pop culture at some point in time. Shakespeare was very much pop culture, for example. Most of the authors we study were popular icons of their time. The Gothic and Victorian writers? They would go on tour! So would Mark Twain. Sure, there were plenty of shut-in writers - where else would we get that cliché? But really, their stuff was getting read by the "cool" people, the rich people, the people in power, the people who talked about what was "in."
Even if you look at history, you've got pop culture. The people we study? They were the cool people, the winners, the ones everyone wanted to hang out with, be with, be seen with.
Outside of critics and criticism, most of the people we study in academics weren't writing (or doing stuff) for the sake of being studied years and years later. They were doing what they loved for their existing audience, culture, and people of their time.
If more academics realized this, they'd probably be able to inspire those students who "have to take the course" a whole lot more than they do now.
7. What is the toughest scene you ever wrote?
8. Where do you find your inspirations to write?
9. Food you could eat everyday.
10. Are you into sports or other physical activities?
I work with horses, too. For 6 years, I've volunteered at the Bay State Equine Rescue (www.baystaterescue.org), where I continue to learn a lot about training and caring for horses.
I've also recently adopted my own horse! Calico Silver is my baby - and my fitness project. Riding and training a horse is hard work. As she spent the first 12 years of her life as a foal-making slave of pharmaceutical companies and then the following 4 years upon being rescued just learning that humans can be Nice People who don't treat her like a senseless commodity, she has not had a lot of training. So, we're working together to get in shape for trail riding.
Our current goal, if you don't mind me doing a little begging here, is to raise $300 for the Susan G. Komen for the Cure ® foundation with Ride for the Ribbon - a 9 mile long trail ride. Up to 75% of the funds stay in Massachusetts to provide education, mammograms, and support to women with breast cancer. If any of your readers would like to sponsor me, Calico and I have our page here: http://komenmass.kintera.org/novelfriend
11. What kind of music speaks to you?
12. Do you outline your stories or do they just take you along for the ride?
Both. For a long time I defined myself as a "pantser" (writing by the "seat of my pants"), but the more I wrote, the more I found that I did a better job if I did some planning ahead - and that, in reality, I was doing a certain degree of planning already.
Before I even sit down to write, I mull a story in my head for months, if not about a year (for novel length). That mulling includes me visualizing many scenes and conversations in my head, teasing out the main plot and the sub-plots, and a whole lot of getting to know my characters. I also give myself a rough idea of the Beginning, Middle, End/Final Confrontation, as well as the transition scenes between those acts. This is something I've always done but never thought about because it rarely, if ever, gets written.
New steps for me now include more specific planning: I make myself an elevator pitch - a 1-2 sentence description of the book that summarizes plot, theme, and character and matches the "voice" of the work. About a third of the way through the book (and whenever necessary) I do major research and write down my notes, write character descriptions, write a timeline (usually that includes backstory and what might happen next). About two-thirds of the way through, I adjust all those notes I wrote a third of the way through and add bracketed notes for things I'll have to change in revisions.
Additionally, when I'm co-writing (like for all of the Bad-Ass Faerie (www.badassfaeries.com) short stories), my partner, Christy Tohara, and I do much more planning. We discuss plot and character in detail beforehand and set specific parts that each of us will have to write, which translates into a strong outline. We definitely play with it more as we write. Our big lesson has been the importance of pre-planning, though, because it's easy enough for one crazy author to lose track of a story; if two crazy authors are involved, you're in trouble!
13. Celebrity crush.
David Tennant, who played the 10th incarnation of the Doctor in Doctor Who. I pray that I can get movie deals on my still-to-be-published novels while he can still pull off playing several of my most beloved male characters.
14. Who are the biggest influences on your work?
15. Do you still watch cartoons?
Trisha J. Wooldridge is a freelance writer, editor and educator from Auburn, MA and the readings & events coordinator for Broad Universe ( www.broaduniverse.org ). Her experience ranges from Dungeons & Dragons Online to animal rescue public relations. She writes about food, wine, horses, haunted locations, education, and she interviews bands like Voltaire, Within Temptation and Nightwish. Her short story, "Party Crashers," co-authored with Christy Tohara , was in the EPIC Award winning Bad-Ass Faeries: Just Plain Bad (Marietta 2008, Mundania 2009), with a second co-authored short story in the EPIC Award winning Bad-Ass Faeries: In All Their Glory ( Mundania 2010). Visit her at www.anovelfriend.com .
April 7, 2011
Heidi's Pick Six Interview with Barbara Mountjoy
HEIDI'S PICK SIX
Barbara Mountjoy
1. Which of your characters is your favorite?
I think my favorite is Jake Patrin, a recovering alcoholic in a book I have written, but have yet to publish. He’s caretaker at a conference/retreat facility in New Mexico, stays alone most of the time, works hard at his sobriety. He lost his family and his life to the drink. He’s working when a retreat-load of patent attorneys comes in for one of those "team-building" weekends, a freak snowstorm falls on the place in March, and a truckload of illegal Mexicans gets stuck in the snow and ends up in the conference center. He steps in to handle the situation in a flawed hero way that really warms my heart.
2. Tell me about your travels.
3. Coffee, tea, or milk?
4. What else can you do besides write?
I have a three-quarter time family law practice, where I especially help victims of domestic violence and parents of abused children—kind of a contradiction. I love to cook all sorts of ethnic foods. I grow and can fresh garden vegetables. I make patchwork blankets for my children and grandchildren and crochet sweet baby afghans for anyone who has a baby at the courthouse or in one of my husband’s computer classes. As for all the rest, I dabble a lot—Jill of many trades, as it were.
5. Who are you reading right now?
6. Pop culture or academia?
7. What is the toughest scene you ever wrote?
In a story about a victim of domestic violence, the young man the heroine thought loved her beat her viciously. Even though I tried to keep it in perspective, like through the eye of a filmmaker’s camera, it was still very hard.
8. Where do you find your inspirations to write?
I write a lot of stories about women lawyers, young and old. I think lawyers have a tremendous ability to help people, and when they actually care about their clients and not just the money, they can rise above the average person and do amazing things. I’ve seen it in my own cases and in the cases of my sister attorneys. Every good story needs conflict, and there’s plenty in the legal arena.
9. Food you could eat everyday.
A good guacamole, a little chunky, plenty of garlic and lime and the right addition of cilantro.
10. Are you into sports or other physical activities?
11. What kind of music speaks to you?
12. Do you outline your stories or do they just take you along for the ride?
13. Celebrity crush.
Hands down, Sir Sean Connery. Is there anyone else?
14. Who are the biggest influences on your work?
15. Do you still watch cartoons?
Barbara Mountjoy has been a published writer for over 35 years, including seven years as a reporter and editor at the South Dade News Leader in Homestead, Florida. Her list of publications includes the non-fiction book 101 Little Instructions for Surviving Your Divorce , published by Impact Publishers in 1999, stories in A Cup of Comfort for Divorced Women , in December 2008, and A Cup of Comfort for Adoptive Parents , in June 2009. Barbara's urban fantasy series of novels premiered in July 2010 with The Elf Queen ; The Elf Child has just been released, and The Elf Mage is expected in 2012. You can learn more about the Clan Elves of the Bitterroot series at http://clanelvesofthebitterroot.com .
Her first published romance novel, Secrets in the Sand , will be released by the Wild Rose Press April 20, 2011. She regularly writes tech articles/television reviews at Firefox News ( www.firefox.org/news ), and blogs on a variety of subjects, including autism, science fiction and life at http://awalkabout.wordpress.com . Barbara has been a Pennwriter about seven years, and is married to an absent-minded computer geek. Between them, they have a dozen computers, seven children, and a full house in northwestern Pennsylvania.
Barbara Mountjoy
1. Which of your characters is your favorite?
I think my favorite is Jake Patrin, a recovering alcoholic in a book I have written, but have yet to publish. He’s caretaker at a conference/retreat facility in New Mexico, stays alone most of the time, works hard at his sobriety. He lost his family and his life to the drink. He’s working when a retreat-load of patent attorneys comes in for one of those "team-building" weekends, a freak snowstorm falls on the place in March, and a truckload of illegal Mexicans gets stuck in the snow and ends up in the conference center. He steps in to handle the situation in a flawed hero way that really warms my heart.
2. Tell me about your travels.
3. Coffee, tea, or milk?
4. What else can you do besides write?
I have a three-quarter time family law practice, where I especially help victims of domestic violence and parents of abused children—kind of a contradiction. I love to cook all sorts of ethnic foods. I grow and can fresh garden vegetables. I make patchwork blankets for my children and grandchildren and crochet sweet baby afghans for anyone who has a baby at the courthouse or in one of my husband’s computer classes. As for all the rest, I dabble a lot—Jill of many trades, as it were.
5. Who are you reading right now?
6. Pop culture or academia?
7. What is the toughest scene you ever wrote?
In a story about a victim of domestic violence, the young man the heroine thought loved her beat her viciously. Even though I tried to keep it in perspective, like through the eye of a filmmaker’s camera, it was still very hard.
8. Where do you find your inspirations to write?
I write a lot of stories about women lawyers, young and old. I think lawyers have a tremendous ability to help people, and when they actually care about their clients and not just the money, they can rise above the average person and do amazing things. I’ve seen it in my own cases and in the cases of my sister attorneys. Every good story needs conflict, and there’s plenty in the legal arena.
9. Food you could eat everyday.
A good guacamole, a little chunky, plenty of garlic and lime and the right addition of cilantro.
10. Are you into sports or other physical activities?
11. What kind of music speaks to you?
12. Do you outline your stories or do they just take you along for the ride?
13. Celebrity crush.
Hands down, Sir Sean Connery. Is there anyone else?
14. Who are the biggest influences on your work?
15. Do you still watch cartoons?
Barbara Mountjoy has been a published writer for over 35 years, including seven years as a reporter and editor at the South Dade News Leader in Homestead, Florida. Her list of publications includes the non-fiction book 101 Little Instructions for Surviving Your Divorce , published by Impact Publishers in 1999, stories in A Cup of Comfort for Divorced Women , in December 2008, and A Cup of Comfort for Adoptive Parents , in June 2009. Barbara's urban fantasy series of novels premiered in July 2010 with The Elf Queen ; The Elf Child has just been released, and The Elf Mage is expected in 2012. You can learn more about the Clan Elves of the Bitterroot series at http://clanelvesofthebitterroot.com .
Her first published romance novel, Secrets in the Sand , will be released by the Wild Rose Press April 20, 2011. She regularly writes tech articles/television reviews at Firefox News ( www.firefox.org/news ), and blogs on a variety of subjects, including autism, science fiction and life at http://awalkabout.wordpress.com . Barbara has been a Pennwriter about seven years, and is married to an absent-minded computer geek. Between them, they have a dozen computers, seven children, and a full house in northwestern Pennsylvania.
April 5, 2011
Many Genres One Craft Available for Pre-Order
We have a new cover for Many Genres, One Craft: Lessons in Writing Popular Fiction , and it is available for pre-order at Amazon , Barnes and Noble , Books A Million , Powell's , and other fine locations.
From the back cover:
Romance. Fantasy. Mystery. Science Fiction. Young Adult. Horror. Picture Books. Suspense.
Many Genres, One Craft brings together award-winning authors, bestselling novelists, and hot new writers from all these genres to offer an amazing novel writing workshop in a book. Modeled on Seton Hill University's acclaimed MFA program in Writing Popular Fiction—where all of its sixty contributors have taught, studied, or been a special guest—this stunningly comprehensive guide for writers offers insights into crafting effective genre fiction of any kind, and provides an array of practical advice on selling novels in today's marketplace that you simply won't find anywhere, short of enrolling in graduate school.
Learn everything from beating writer's block to building suspense, making monsters to marketing mysteries, approaching agents to writing romance…all from writers who have actually done it.
--
You can read the introduction on scribd .
April 2, 2011
Heidi's Pick Six Interview with Roger Spires
Heidi's Pick Six
Roger Spires
1. Which of your characters is your favorite?
There were many wonderful teachers that I wrote about but did not name in my book. I’ll just pick one, Alan, an award winning inner-city teacher in a large city. Alan used hip-hop to connect to the classics. He had these high school students willingly remove their sweatshirt hoods to debate, write persuasive essays and make oral presentations. This is one of my favorites because he was successful with students that most people write off as a lost cause.
2. Tell me about your travels.
a. Every city I get to visit I say, "Oh, I could live here." However, I enjoy foreign travel most. A few years ago I enjoyed a ten day trip with World Neighbors in Oaxaca, Mexico. The city and the surrounding villages and countryside were a delight. I enjoyed this trip because I experienced the culture and day-to-day living of the average people and also visited some ancient Zapotec ruins.
b. Teaching ESL in Changchun University of Science and Technology for six months was a great learning experience. Traveling throughout China with one of my students increased the value of this trip. Now one of these students is an Associate Professor at the University of Southern California.
3. Coffee, tea, or milk?
I like coffee with a danish...one of my bad habits. I drink tea when I’m trying to be good.
4. What else can you do besides write?
a. Reading is a favorite pastime. For entertainment I read books that are thrillers. Stuart Woods, James Patterson, Vince Flynn and Lee Child are a few.
b. Trying to be artistic with my digital camera is wonderful therapy.
c. Walking nature trails gives me opportunities to relax and practice my photography.
5. Who are you reading right now?
The Mozart Conspiracy by Scott Mariani
6. Pop culture or academia?
7. What is the toughest scene you ever wrote?
8. Where do you find your inspirations to write?
My inspiration comes from my desire to share the joy of helping others learn, experience success, and have options when opportunities come their way. I want them to have goals but mostly I want them to be ready for opportunities.
9. Food you could eat everyday.
Pizza, but I try to limit it to two or three times a month.
10. Are you into sports or other physical activities?
Last summer I learned to sail and this winter ice sailing was something new for me. However, a long time activity is hiking in metro, state and national parks.
11. What kind of music speaks to you?
I enjoy almost any country and opera music. I do not understand the words for an Italian opera but these songs seem to touch my soul.
12. Do you outline your stories or do they just take you along for the ride?
I have a habit of letting my stories or ideas just flow onto the paper. I have discovered that for me, it is the way I enjoy writing. However, in the long run, I have a much better product if I force myself to make an outline.
13. Celebrity crush.
Most of my life I have been head-over-heels in love with Sophia Loren.
14. Who are the biggest influences on your work?
Teachers from my elementary years where very influential. They had a love for teaching and their students. Teaching did not seem to be a job but an activity they enjoy doing.
15. Do you still watch cartoons?
No, I find cartoons boring.
Roger Spires began teaching in a rural school in southern Ohio. Later he taught sixth grade and remedial reading in several schools in Columbus, Ohio. From there he served as K-12 curriculum director, adjunct instructor and GED instructor. He considers his ESL teaching experience in Changchun, China as one of the highlights of his career. He hopes to do town hall style meetings to promote school improvement.
The Magic of Teaching is a glimpse into the tough world of a teacher and that of classroom teaching. Teaching has always been challenging. The Magic of teaching shows how teachers are meeting these challenges by giving students respect and offering them hope, joy and most important, excitement of mastering the skills they need. Even disenfranchised students can be rescued when they discover the joy of academic success.
Roger Spires
1. Which of your characters is your favorite?
There were many wonderful teachers that I wrote about but did not name in my book. I’ll just pick one, Alan, an award winning inner-city teacher in a large city. Alan used hip-hop to connect to the classics. He had these high school students willingly remove their sweatshirt hoods to debate, write persuasive essays and make oral presentations. This is one of my favorites because he was successful with students that most people write off as a lost cause.
2. Tell me about your travels.
a. Every city I get to visit I say, "Oh, I could live here." However, I enjoy foreign travel most. A few years ago I enjoyed a ten day trip with World Neighbors in Oaxaca, Mexico. The city and the surrounding villages and countryside were a delight. I enjoyed this trip because I experienced the culture and day-to-day living of the average people and also visited some ancient Zapotec ruins.
b. Teaching ESL in Changchun University of Science and Technology for six months was a great learning experience. Traveling throughout China with one of my students increased the value of this trip. Now one of these students is an Associate Professor at the University of Southern California.
3. Coffee, tea, or milk?
I like coffee with a danish...one of my bad habits. I drink tea when I’m trying to be good.
4. What else can you do besides write?
a. Reading is a favorite pastime. For entertainment I read books that are thrillers. Stuart Woods, James Patterson, Vince Flynn and Lee Child are a few.
b. Trying to be artistic with my digital camera is wonderful therapy.
c. Walking nature trails gives me opportunities to relax and practice my photography.
5. Who are you reading right now?
The Mozart Conspiracy by Scott Mariani
6. Pop culture or academia?
7. What is the toughest scene you ever wrote?
8. Where do you find your inspirations to write?
My inspiration comes from my desire to share the joy of helping others learn, experience success, and have options when opportunities come their way. I want them to have goals but mostly I want them to be ready for opportunities.
9. Food you could eat everyday.
Pizza, but I try to limit it to two or three times a month.
10. Are you into sports or other physical activities?
Last summer I learned to sail and this winter ice sailing was something new for me. However, a long time activity is hiking in metro, state and national parks.
11. What kind of music speaks to you?
I enjoy almost any country and opera music. I do not understand the words for an Italian opera but these songs seem to touch my soul.
12. Do you outline your stories or do they just take you along for the ride?
I have a habit of letting my stories or ideas just flow onto the paper. I have discovered that for me, it is the way I enjoy writing. However, in the long run, I have a much better product if I force myself to make an outline.
13. Celebrity crush.
Most of my life I have been head-over-heels in love with Sophia Loren.
14. Who are the biggest influences on your work?
Teachers from my elementary years where very influential. They had a love for teaching and their students. Teaching did not seem to be a job but an activity they enjoy doing.
15. Do you still watch cartoons?
No, I find cartoons boring.
Roger Spires began teaching in a rural school in southern Ohio. Later he taught sixth grade and remedial reading in several schools in Columbus, Ohio. From there he served as K-12 curriculum director, adjunct instructor and GED instructor. He considers his ESL teaching experience in Changchun, China as one of the highlights of his career. He hopes to do town hall style meetings to promote school improvement.
The Magic of Teaching is a glimpse into the tough world of a teacher and that of classroom teaching. Teaching has always been challenging. The Magic of teaching shows how teachers are meeting these challenges by giving students respect and offering them hope, joy and most important, excitement of mastering the skills they need. Even disenfranchised students can be rescued when they discover the joy of academic success.
April 1, 2011
PATHS TO PUBLICATION: Preston Black (Songwriter)
So, here's where I'm supposed to talk about how I got my record deal and all that, right? Well, then that means I got to go back to that show at The Stink with Katy on Valentine's. It's an old skating rink that they turned into a brewery, and we played to a full house that night. They had kids jammed in all the way back to the bar. I was nervous, seeing as how it was the first time I ever played any of my own songs to an audience. But Katy looked good, and she was really confident, so that helped. Also, playing when your soul's at stake is pretty good motivation.
Anyway, I played like I had hellhounds on my trail. For real. We squeezed blood out of that stage. Notes I never knew existed dropped out of the air like flies from a bug zapper. Some of those kids never even knew what hit them. After the show the label guys were all like, '...you've got a great look and backstory...' and I was like, "I'd like to think it had more to do with the songs I wrote and the way we knocked them out of the park just now." Right then and there they saw how they were going to package us and market us, but I didn't care because I was finally getting paid to do what I loved.
But the more I think about it, the more I think my path really doesn't start back at The Stink. In fact, the night I talked to John Lennon probably had a lot more to do with it than the show itself. He was all like, '...get off your bum' or whatever. I had a few drinks in me and can't remember specifics, but it was a pretty good speech. You can say what you want, but I was sober as a nail when I said goodbye to him and watched him walk down those stairs. And since all the stuff he said jived with the stuff Joe Strummer had been saying I kind of took it all to heart. That's when I started to look at music differently, I started to see it as a way out rather than as a prison. I figured, look, if John Lennon's sitting here telling me it can be done, then I knew it could be done.
But really, none of that would have happened if it wasn't for you-know-who. The old 'One who shan't be named.'
You can read all about it in this book, The Devil and Preston Black . I don't love the title, but I didn't have a say. The writer stretched the truth a little here and there and, in my opinion, left some important stuff out that may have made me look a little less foolish. Anyway, it's over now. And I'm not going to give any advice except to say a deal with the devil ain't really the easiest way to go about achieving success or whatever. If I had it to do over again, I probably just would've tried a little harder.
March 31, 2011
Heidi's Pick Six Interview with Darren W. Pearce
HEIDI'S PICK SIX
Darren W. Pearce
1. Which of your characters is your favorite?
That's a good question. I've got quite a few, but the character that's really my favourite is in a yet unpublished novel that's sort of on hiatus. He turns up in the webcomic that I do with my wife, Kalon Rhadon, an Inquisitor for the Church of Progession in a fantasy/steampunk setting that's based around a Renaissance kind of theme. Kalon starts out as a very no-nonsense, trained all his life by the church kind of character but develops further along the way and becomes much more than the sum of his parts. He plays a major role in events as a bad guy but when the church turns on him, he decides enough is enough and steps away.
You can find the comic here: http://hellionsart.com/Wyrden/. It can get NOT SAFE FOR WORK, so there's a warning.
2. Tell me about your travels.
I'm not as widely traveled as I would like to be: I have been to France, Germany, Austria, Vienna, Scotland and Bulgaria. Bulgaria was extremely interesting since we ended up in Sofia working on a game called Knights of Honor (for the PC) on behalf of Sunflowers and Black Sea Studios. Both myself and Gill (my wife) were over there helping them with their English text for the game and some design elements. It was a very fun couple of weeks where we learned a lot about that culture and made a bunch of interesting new friends. I'd very much like to go to the US and attend one of the big gaming cons though, like GenCon or even E3...perhaps one day!
3. Coffee, tea, or milk?
4. What else can you do besides write?
5. Who are you reading right now?
6. Pop culture or academia?
7. What is the toughest scene you ever wrote?
8. Where do you find your inspirations to write?
My inspirations for writing can come from numerous sources. I might hear someone in conversation and think, you know what? There's a story in here somewhere. I can sometimes listen to a piece of music and I'm away in that writer's zone that basically helps me construct a tale. Sometimes it can just be a small tag line on something and I think, hmmm, now there's a basis for a cool short story. In the case of "Snow and Iron" for Bad Ass Faeries 3: In All Their Glory it was a line from the film Legend that talks about mortal hearts compared to those of the fae.
9. Food you could eat everyday.
10. Are you into sports or other physical activities?
11. What kind of music speaks to you?
I am very big on soundtracks, but I like a lot of music. My tastes range from heavy metal, light rock, through to classical, jazz and so on. I suppose you could say that my music list is very ecclectic. Recently I've discovered bands like Ghoultown and Clutch (Clutch being what they call: Stoner Rock). Ghoultown is an odd mix of rock and the wild west.
12. Do you outline your stories or do they just take you along for the ride?
Do I outline my stories? I do sometimes, it depends on the mood I'm in and what I'm currently writing for. There are times that I'll have this crazy idea like I did with "Snow and Iron," and I need to get it down without waiting to write an outline. Then there are times that I'll dip into my rpg designer roots and construct a story or world bible with everything that I need to create numerous tales in a particular setting. I love world building.
13. Celebrity crush.
14. Who are the biggest influences on your work?
15. Do you still watch cartoons?
I do indeed still watch cartoons. I love some of the new animated shows and I am a huge fan of Kevin Conroy et-al in the original Batman Animated series and Justice League. I also have a soft spot for Samurai Jack and the first couple of animated Clone Wars series by the same people.
Darren W. Pearce was born in 1969, in the West Midlands and since a very early age has always been interested in writing. He was immersed in fantasy and science fiction by his parents. He read virtually everything he could find, from Storm Constantine to Michael Moorcock, Tolkien, Adams and beyond. At 10 he was given the old red box D&D set by his parents and that started his downward spiral into roleplaying games. Little did Darren know that in 2000 he would get several opportunities that would see him work on computer games like Savage, Knights of Honor and Breed.
Let alone working in the roleplaying game industry and writing short stories and articles for magazines. He now lives somewhere in the West Midlands with his wife Gill, 4 cats and writes regularly for the likes of Dark Quest Games, Mongoose Publishing, Cubicle 7 Entertainment and has many other irons in that fire.
He really wants to write a Doctor Who novel someday, but contents himself working on the Doctor Who: Adventures in Time and Space RPG for Cubicle 7 for now. He has also written 2 books and a bonus adventure with Lone Wolf author: Joe Dever. Darren also works as the co-editor of a popular UK based online game magazine, Games Xtreme, where he writes articles and news/reviews.
He also has a couple of novels in the pipleline and at least one RPG setting (or two) for 2011. He has a number of short stories in various anthologies and 2011 will see even more!
Currently Darren works with Neal Levin and together you can find them in such anthologies as:
Vampire Dreamspell
Cat In a Dreamspell
New Blood
Barbarians At The Jumpgate
By Mind or Metal Fantasy Anthology
Zombonauts
Dreams & Screams
Bloody Carnival
BA Faeries 3
Wolfology: Tales of the Full Moon
Darren W. Pearce
1. Which of your characters is your favorite?
That's a good question. I've got quite a few, but the character that's really my favourite is in a yet unpublished novel that's sort of on hiatus. He turns up in the webcomic that I do with my wife, Kalon Rhadon, an Inquisitor for the Church of Progession in a fantasy/steampunk setting that's based around a Renaissance kind of theme. Kalon starts out as a very no-nonsense, trained all his life by the church kind of character but develops further along the way and becomes much more than the sum of his parts. He plays a major role in events as a bad guy but when the church turns on him, he decides enough is enough and steps away.
You can find the comic here: http://hellionsart.com/Wyrden/. It can get NOT SAFE FOR WORK, so there's a warning.
2. Tell me about your travels.
I'm not as widely traveled as I would like to be: I have been to France, Germany, Austria, Vienna, Scotland and Bulgaria. Bulgaria was extremely interesting since we ended up in Sofia working on a game called Knights of Honor (for the PC) on behalf of Sunflowers and Black Sea Studios. Both myself and Gill (my wife) were over there helping them with their English text for the game and some design elements. It was a very fun couple of weeks where we learned a lot about that culture and made a bunch of interesting new friends. I'd very much like to go to the US and attend one of the big gaming cons though, like GenCon or even E3...perhaps one day!
3. Coffee, tea, or milk?
4. What else can you do besides write?
5. Who are you reading right now?
6. Pop culture or academia?
7. What is the toughest scene you ever wrote?
8. Where do you find your inspirations to write?
My inspirations for writing can come from numerous sources. I might hear someone in conversation and think, you know what? There's a story in here somewhere. I can sometimes listen to a piece of music and I'm away in that writer's zone that basically helps me construct a tale. Sometimes it can just be a small tag line on something and I think, hmmm, now there's a basis for a cool short story. In the case of "Snow and Iron" for Bad Ass Faeries 3: In All Their Glory it was a line from the film Legend that talks about mortal hearts compared to those of the fae.
9. Food you could eat everyday.
10. Are you into sports or other physical activities?
11. What kind of music speaks to you?
I am very big on soundtracks, but I like a lot of music. My tastes range from heavy metal, light rock, through to classical, jazz and so on. I suppose you could say that my music list is very ecclectic. Recently I've discovered bands like Ghoultown and Clutch (Clutch being what they call: Stoner Rock). Ghoultown is an odd mix of rock and the wild west.
12. Do you outline your stories or do they just take you along for the ride?
Do I outline my stories? I do sometimes, it depends on the mood I'm in and what I'm currently writing for. There are times that I'll have this crazy idea like I did with "Snow and Iron," and I need to get it down without waiting to write an outline. Then there are times that I'll dip into my rpg designer roots and construct a story or world bible with everything that I need to create numerous tales in a particular setting. I love world building.
13. Celebrity crush.
14. Who are the biggest influences on your work?
15. Do you still watch cartoons?
I do indeed still watch cartoons. I love some of the new animated shows and I am a huge fan of Kevin Conroy et-al in the original Batman Animated series and Justice League. I also have a soft spot for Samurai Jack and the first couple of animated Clone Wars series by the same people.
Darren W. Pearce was born in 1969, in the West Midlands and since a very early age has always been interested in writing. He was immersed in fantasy and science fiction by his parents. He read virtually everything he could find, from Storm Constantine to Michael Moorcock, Tolkien, Adams and beyond. At 10 he was given the old red box D&D set by his parents and that started his downward spiral into roleplaying games. Little did Darren know that in 2000 he would get several opportunities that would see him work on computer games like Savage, Knights of Honor and Breed.
Let alone working in the roleplaying game industry and writing short stories and articles for magazines. He now lives somewhere in the West Midlands with his wife Gill, 4 cats and writes regularly for the likes of Dark Quest Games, Mongoose Publishing, Cubicle 7 Entertainment and has many other irons in that fire.
He really wants to write a Doctor Who novel someday, but contents himself working on the Doctor Who: Adventures in Time and Space RPG for Cubicle 7 for now. He has also written 2 books and a bonus adventure with Lone Wolf author: Joe Dever. Darren also works as the co-editor of a popular UK based online game magazine, Games Xtreme, where he writes articles and news/reviews.
He also has a couple of novels in the pipleline and at least one RPG setting (or two) for 2011. He has a number of short stories in various anthologies and 2011 will see even more!
Currently Darren works with Neal Levin and together you can find them in such anthologies as:
Vampire Dreamspell
Cat In a Dreamspell
New Blood
Barbarians At The Jumpgate
By Mind or Metal Fantasy Anthology
Zombonauts
Dreams & Screams
Bloody Carnival
BA Faeries 3
Wolfology: Tales of the Full Moon
March 30, 2011
Heidi's Pick Six Interview with Robert E. Waters
HEIDI'S PICK SIX
Robert E. Waters
1. Which of your characters is your favorite?
My favorite character is my assassin Nalo Thoran. He appeared for the first time in "The Assassin's Retirement Party" (Weird Tales #332). Since then, I've written several more stories of him, one of which has appeared in the online magazine, Nth Zine ("Heart of the Matter"), and another two which will appear later this year ("Thorns and Roses" in Hellfire Lounge 2, and "The People's Avenger" in Assassins). I'm also in discussions with a publisher about a full-length novel treatment of the character, which may appear as early as 2012.
I like Nalo because I consider him my "homage" to Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser and Michael Moorcock's Elric. The setting is pure Sword and Sorcery, and Nalo comes to his life's work as a killer under duress, but he does his job with as much aplomb and courage as he can muster. He was unwittingly corrupted by a Dark Lord who now forces him to serve up souls to fill his dark armies that fight endless wars on the ethereal planes, and Nalo does as much as he can to retain his humanity, while trying to thwart his master's evil schemes whenever possible. That constant inner conflict between doing what he must, and doing what is right, is fascinating to write about.
2. Tell me about your travels.
3. Coffee, tea, or milk?
4. What else can you do besides write?
As my bio suggests, since 1994, I've been in the computer and boardgaming industry, and I've been involved in the development of a number of board and computer games. I've had my fingers in many pies, namely wargames such as Sid Meier's Antietam/South Mountain expansion, Waterloo and Austerlitz (both based in Sid's Antietam engine), Sid Meier's Civilization 3: Conquests, and even Electronic Art's Battle for Middle Earth: Rise of the Witch King, where I was assigned the arduous task of scripting the first draft of the campaign. I've also helped to develop a number of boardgames during my time with The Avalon Hill Game Company. And, I dare say, I'm not too bad a miniatures painter, although it's been a while since I've gotten down and painted anything. As I grow older, my eyesight gets worse. It's hard to see all that tiny detail up so close.
5. Who are you reading right now?
There's a lot of authors that I read on a regular basis. I'm reading George RR Martin's Song of Ice and Fire Series (who isn’t?), Glen Cook's Garrett PI series, Eric Flint's Ring of Fire series, and Games Workshop's Horus Heresy Series. I find the Warhammer and Warhammer 40k universes to be rather excellent settings, and The Black Library to be an excellent media tie-in imprint for said novels and short story collections. I also read outside the genre as well. I'm quite fond of TC Boyle, Bernard Cornwell, and Steven Saylor whose take on the Roman Empire is quite compelling.
6. Pop culture or academia?
7. What is the toughest scene you ever wrote?
The toughest scene for me came in my story "Spirit of the Maya." This is a story that hasn't been published yet, but will appear later this year or early 2012 in Rogue Blade Entertainment's anthology Roar of the Crowd. The scene was a recreation of the Mayan ballgame, Pok-a-Tok, and it took days to write. Trying to get the feel of the game right was difficult because there is very little written about it. In some cases, I had to extrapolate quite a bit and create an image that seemed right for me based on references. The game itself was brutal, and could go on for a long time. But of course, in fiction, you have to pick up the pace, keep it going as strongly as possible and come to a reasonable conclusion eventually, or you lose your audience. I'm pretty satisfied with the result, and I hope others agree.
8. Where do you find your inspirations to write?
9. Food you could eat everyday.
10. Are you into sports or other physical activities?
11. What kind of music speaks to you?
12. Do you outline your stories or do they just take you along for the ride?
It depends on the kind of story I'm writing. If I'm writing a story steeped in history, such as "At the Grasshopper’s Hill" (Bad-Ass Faeries 3: In all Their Glory), based on the Mexican War of the late 1840s, I research as much as I can, and then write a detailed synopsis. Then I write the story and try to adhere to the synopsis as closely as possible. I find this to be a good approach when historical details are involved. If it's a science fiction or fantasy story with little or no historical details, then I usually just spec it out in my mind and then begin writing.
13. Celebrity crush.
14. Who are the biggest influences on your work?
My biggest influences have been Robert Silverberg, Clifford Simak, Robert Sheckley, and TC Boyle. After reading Boyle's Water Music, for example, I could not read anything for months afterwards. The sheer power and wonder of his prose in that novel was overwhelming; nothing I read for a long time compared and thus was diminished. But I came out of that experience with a determination to write, and so he’s been a tremendous influence. Sheckley's short fiction is some of the best science fiction ever written, along with Alfred Bester and Harlan Ellison. All of these authors have given me inspiration in one form or another, and continue to do so to this day.
15. Do you still watch cartoons?
Since 1994, Robert E Waters has worked in the computer and board gaming industry as technical writer, editor, designer, and producer. A member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America , his first professional fiction sale came in 2003 with "The Assassin’s Retirement Party," Weird Tales , Issue #332. Since then he has sold stories to Nth Degree , Nth Zine , Black Library Publishing (Games Workshop), Dark Quest Books , Padwolf Publishing , Mundania Press , Rogue Blades Entertainment , and Dragon Moon Press. Between the years of 1998 – 2006, he served as an assistant editor to Weird Tales. Robert currently lives in Baltimore, Maryland, with his wife Beth, their son Jason, and their cat Buzz.
Robert E. Waters
1. Which of your characters is your favorite?
My favorite character is my assassin Nalo Thoran. He appeared for the first time in "The Assassin's Retirement Party" (Weird Tales #332). Since then, I've written several more stories of him, one of which has appeared in the online magazine, Nth Zine ("Heart of the Matter"), and another two which will appear later this year ("Thorns and Roses" in Hellfire Lounge 2, and "The People's Avenger" in Assassins). I'm also in discussions with a publisher about a full-length novel treatment of the character, which may appear as early as 2012.
I like Nalo because I consider him my "homage" to Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser and Michael Moorcock's Elric. The setting is pure Sword and Sorcery, and Nalo comes to his life's work as a killer under duress, but he does his job with as much aplomb and courage as he can muster. He was unwittingly corrupted by a Dark Lord who now forces him to serve up souls to fill his dark armies that fight endless wars on the ethereal planes, and Nalo does as much as he can to retain his humanity, while trying to thwart his master's evil schemes whenever possible. That constant inner conflict between doing what he must, and doing what is right, is fascinating to write about.
2. Tell me about your travels.
3. Coffee, tea, or milk?
4. What else can you do besides write?
As my bio suggests, since 1994, I've been in the computer and boardgaming industry, and I've been involved in the development of a number of board and computer games. I've had my fingers in many pies, namely wargames such as Sid Meier's Antietam/South Mountain expansion, Waterloo and Austerlitz (both based in Sid's Antietam engine), Sid Meier's Civilization 3: Conquests, and even Electronic Art's Battle for Middle Earth: Rise of the Witch King, where I was assigned the arduous task of scripting the first draft of the campaign. I've also helped to develop a number of boardgames during my time with The Avalon Hill Game Company. And, I dare say, I'm not too bad a miniatures painter, although it's been a while since I've gotten down and painted anything. As I grow older, my eyesight gets worse. It's hard to see all that tiny detail up so close.
5. Who are you reading right now?
There's a lot of authors that I read on a regular basis. I'm reading George RR Martin's Song of Ice and Fire Series (who isn’t?), Glen Cook's Garrett PI series, Eric Flint's Ring of Fire series, and Games Workshop's Horus Heresy Series. I find the Warhammer and Warhammer 40k universes to be rather excellent settings, and The Black Library to be an excellent media tie-in imprint for said novels and short story collections. I also read outside the genre as well. I'm quite fond of TC Boyle, Bernard Cornwell, and Steven Saylor whose take on the Roman Empire is quite compelling.
6. Pop culture or academia?
7. What is the toughest scene you ever wrote?
The toughest scene for me came in my story "Spirit of the Maya." This is a story that hasn't been published yet, but will appear later this year or early 2012 in Rogue Blade Entertainment's anthology Roar of the Crowd. The scene was a recreation of the Mayan ballgame, Pok-a-Tok, and it took days to write. Trying to get the feel of the game right was difficult because there is very little written about it. In some cases, I had to extrapolate quite a bit and create an image that seemed right for me based on references. The game itself was brutal, and could go on for a long time. But of course, in fiction, you have to pick up the pace, keep it going as strongly as possible and come to a reasonable conclusion eventually, or you lose your audience. I'm pretty satisfied with the result, and I hope others agree.
8. Where do you find your inspirations to write?
9. Food you could eat everyday.
10. Are you into sports or other physical activities?
11. What kind of music speaks to you?
12. Do you outline your stories or do they just take you along for the ride?
It depends on the kind of story I'm writing. If I'm writing a story steeped in history, such as "At the Grasshopper’s Hill" (Bad-Ass Faeries 3: In all Their Glory), based on the Mexican War of the late 1840s, I research as much as I can, and then write a detailed synopsis. Then I write the story and try to adhere to the synopsis as closely as possible. I find this to be a good approach when historical details are involved. If it's a science fiction or fantasy story with little or no historical details, then I usually just spec it out in my mind and then begin writing.
13. Celebrity crush.
14. Who are the biggest influences on your work?
My biggest influences have been Robert Silverberg, Clifford Simak, Robert Sheckley, and TC Boyle. After reading Boyle's Water Music, for example, I could not read anything for months afterwards. The sheer power and wonder of his prose in that novel was overwhelming; nothing I read for a long time compared and thus was diminished. But I came out of that experience with a determination to write, and so he’s been a tremendous influence. Sheckley's short fiction is some of the best science fiction ever written, along with Alfred Bester and Harlan Ellison. All of these authors have given me inspiration in one form or another, and continue to do so to this day.
15. Do you still watch cartoons?
Since 1994, Robert E Waters has worked in the computer and board gaming industry as technical writer, editor, designer, and producer. A member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America , his first professional fiction sale came in 2003 with "The Assassin’s Retirement Party," Weird Tales , Issue #332. Since then he has sold stories to Nth Degree , Nth Zine , Black Library Publishing (Games Workshop), Dark Quest Books , Padwolf Publishing , Mundania Press , Rogue Blades Entertainment , and Dragon Moon Press. Between the years of 1998 – 2006, he served as an assistant editor to Weird Tales. Robert currently lives in Baltimore, Maryland, with his wife Beth, their son Jason, and their cat Buzz.
March 28, 2011
MGOC Contributor News: Jason Jack Miller's The Devil and Preston Black
Jason Jack Miller 's debut novel The Devil and Preston Black is out!
Here's the synopsis:
You'd think finding a song named after you on an old record would be kind of cool. But that's not how it goes down for Preston Black.
What starts out as a search for his old man turns into a quest for an original version of "The Sad Ballad of Preston Black". Turns out the song is about his deal with the devil, a deal Preston doesn't really remember making.
When the devil decides it's time to cash in things get really interesting. People he loves get hurt, and Preston starts to wonder if a long fall into an icy river is his only way out.
Lucky for Preston, he has help. A music ethnographer with connections in some of Appalachia's darkest hollows convinces him that his salvation can be found in the music. Preston can buy that. It's the hexes, curses and spells he has a hard time with.
And it's the ghost of John Lennon who convinces Preston to do something about it.
"With this new book, Jason Jack Miller has single-handedly cornered the market on Appalachian Noir fiction, and deservedly so."
-Michale A. Arnzen, four time Bram Stoker Award winner
"With the photographic clarity of a beat poet's metaphor and the soulful twang of a bluesman's axe, Jason Jack Miller draws the reader down a trail of folksong breadcrumbs to the haunted backwoods of Appalachia, where the worst devil of all may be the one that stalks our hopes and dreams."
-Christopher Paul Carey, co-author of The Song of Kwasin
Heidi's Pick Six Interview with Misty Massey
HEIDI'S PICK SIX
Misty Massey
1. Which of your characters is your favorite?
2. Tell me about your travels.
3. Coffee, tea, or milk?
I'm a terrible coffee snob, and prefer coffees from Africa or Asia best. My favorite is an Arabian Sanani--it's rich and sweet, and reminds me of good black rum. But I'm also a lifelong fan of milk. Whole, skim, I love it all, In the last few months, my family has been drinking raw milk purchased locally. Raw milk is exactly what it sounds like--milk that goes from cow to me without all that chemical treatment in between. It isn't for everyone. If you're immuno-compromised, for example, you'd want to talk to your doctor first. But we love it!
4. What else can you do besides write?
I dance! I've been studying Middle Eastern dance since 2003. At first, I was too shy to dance even a second in front of anyone, but in 2005 I screwed my courage to the sticking place and tried out for a local troupe, the Beledi Beat Dancers. I've been dancing with them ever since. We've performed at cultural events all over the Charlotte, NC area and the upstate of SC. I also dance as a member of the Jewels of the Caravan, an award-winning troupe from the Carolina Renaissance Festival every autumn. Dancing frees my mind from day-to-day worries, and lets my creativity flow without hindrance. Some days, when I realize I've been staring at the computer screen forever without producing actual words, I pop the iPod onto the speakers and dance until the words start flowing again. I don't claim to be any sort of master at it, but dancing makes me feel awfully good about myself, even when there's no one watching.
5. Who are you reading right now?
At the moment, I'm enjoying Richard Kadrey's second Sandman Slim novel, Kill the Dead. It's a noir fantasy thriller featuring James Stark, a magician who spent eleven years fighting horrible creatures in Hell's arenas, but who has clawed his way back to Los Angeles to hunt down the people who sent him to Hell in the first place. It's dark, gritty and profane, and I love it. But of course, there are other books in the pile waiting their turn at my attention - Kalayna Price's Grave Witch, Tim Akers' Horns of Ruin and Matthew Sturges' Midwinter, to name a few.
6. Pop culture or academia?
7. What is the toughest scene you ever wrote?
Recently I had to write a scene for the sequel to Mad Kestrel, in which a character I was extremely fond of died. It was grueling, because not only did I like the character, but he was important to Kestrel, and his death shook her world to its foundations. I honestly sat at my desk crying while I wrote it, and it felt as if part of me was trying to avoid writing the final sentence, as if I was killing off a real, living person. Of course, our characters become so real to us, I suppose that's exactly what I was doing.
8. Where do you find your inspirations to write?
9. Food you could eat everyday.
10. Are you into sports or other physical activities?
11. What kind of music speaks to you?
12. Do you outline your stories or do they just take you along for the ride?
13. Celebrity crush.
Right now, I'm working on a steampunk/Weird Western fantasy, and the character in my head looks like actor and singer Christian Kane. Since that character's story is always on my mind, I'd say Christian's my celebrity crush at the moment. A delightful friend of mine went to LeverageCon last year and had Christian pose for a picture with a sign that said "Hi Misty!" That picture sits on my desk where I can glance at it if I need to. I wish I could have met him myself, but having the picture is pretty nice, too.
14. Who are the biggest influences on your work?
I'm a huge fan of Tim Powers, and I've always harbored a secret desire to write densely layered, historically based fantasy like the stories he creates. His work is stunning, and I hope some day to produce art as marvelous as his. But my strongest influence has to be Faith Hunter, author of the NYT bestselling Jane Yellowrock series. We met in 1995, when I attended a meeting of the South Carolina Writers' Workshop. Faith was already a published thriller writer then, and she took me under her wing, encouraging me to write and rewrite my work until it was good enough to get a publisher's attention. She's still one of my closest friends, who keeps me moving and focused. I often tell people I never would have even started a novel without Faith pushing me along.
15. Do you still watch cartoons?
Misty Massey has always been a voracious reader. It was no surprise to anyone when she began writing. Her first attempt was a story based in the world of her favorite television show, The Wild Wild West (they call that sort of thing "fanfic" nowadays. She had no idea she was starting a trend.) She dabbled with short stories for years, even publishing a few in small press magazines, until she found and joined a writing critique group, and tried her hand at writing novels. The rest is history. Misty is the author of Mad Kestrel ( Tor Books ), a rollicking adventure of magic on the high seas which was nominated for the 2010 SCASL Book Award , and is one of the featured writers on the Magical Words blog ( www.magicalwords.net ).
A number of Misty's blog posts from the first two years of Magical Words appear in the recently released How To Write Magical Words ( BellaRosa Books ). Her short fiction has appeared in Rum and Runestones ( Dragon Moon Press ) and Dragon's Lure ( Dark Quest Books ). A sequel to Mad Kestrel, Kestrel's Dance, is in the works.
Misty Massey
1. Which of your characters is your favorite?
2. Tell me about your travels.
3. Coffee, tea, or milk?
I'm a terrible coffee snob, and prefer coffees from Africa or Asia best. My favorite is an Arabian Sanani--it's rich and sweet, and reminds me of good black rum. But I'm also a lifelong fan of milk. Whole, skim, I love it all, In the last few months, my family has been drinking raw milk purchased locally. Raw milk is exactly what it sounds like--milk that goes from cow to me without all that chemical treatment in between. It isn't for everyone. If you're immuno-compromised, for example, you'd want to talk to your doctor first. But we love it!
4. What else can you do besides write?
I dance! I've been studying Middle Eastern dance since 2003. At first, I was too shy to dance even a second in front of anyone, but in 2005 I screwed my courage to the sticking place and tried out for a local troupe, the Beledi Beat Dancers. I've been dancing with them ever since. We've performed at cultural events all over the Charlotte, NC area and the upstate of SC. I also dance as a member of the Jewels of the Caravan, an award-winning troupe from the Carolina Renaissance Festival every autumn. Dancing frees my mind from day-to-day worries, and lets my creativity flow without hindrance. Some days, when I realize I've been staring at the computer screen forever without producing actual words, I pop the iPod onto the speakers and dance until the words start flowing again. I don't claim to be any sort of master at it, but dancing makes me feel awfully good about myself, even when there's no one watching.
5. Who are you reading right now?
At the moment, I'm enjoying Richard Kadrey's second Sandman Slim novel, Kill the Dead. It's a noir fantasy thriller featuring James Stark, a magician who spent eleven years fighting horrible creatures in Hell's arenas, but who has clawed his way back to Los Angeles to hunt down the people who sent him to Hell in the first place. It's dark, gritty and profane, and I love it. But of course, there are other books in the pile waiting their turn at my attention - Kalayna Price's Grave Witch, Tim Akers' Horns of Ruin and Matthew Sturges' Midwinter, to name a few.
6. Pop culture or academia?
7. What is the toughest scene you ever wrote?
Recently I had to write a scene for the sequel to Mad Kestrel, in which a character I was extremely fond of died. It was grueling, because not only did I like the character, but he was important to Kestrel, and his death shook her world to its foundations. I honestly sat at my desk crying while I wrote it, and it felt as if part of me was trying to avoid writing the final sentence, as if I was killing off a real, living person. Of course, our characters become so real to us, I suppose that's exactly what I was doing.
8. Where do you find your inspirations to write?
9. Food you could eat everyday.
10. Are you into sports or other physical activities?
11. What kind of music speaks to you?
12. Do you outline your stories or do they just take you along for the ride?
13. Celebrity crush.
Right now, I'm working on a steampunk/Weird Western fantasy, and the character in my head looks like actor and singer Christian Kane. Since that character's story is always on my mind, I'd say Christian's my celebrity crush at the moment. A delightful friend of mine went to LeverageCon last year and had Christian pose for a picture with a sign that said "Hi Misty!" That picture sits on my desk where I can glance at it if I need to. I wish I could have met him myself, but having the picture is pretty nice, too.
14. Who are the biggest influences on your work?
I'm a huge fan of Tim Powers, and I've always harbored a secret desire to write densely layered, historically based fantasy like the stories he creates. His work is stunning, and I hope some day to produce art as marvelous as his. But my strongest influence has to be Faith Hunter, author of the NYT bestselling Jane Yellowrock series. We met in 1995, when I attended a meeting of the South Carolina Writers' Workshop. Faith was already a published thriller writer then, and she took me under her wing, encouraging me to write and rewrite my work until it was good enough to get a publisher's attention. She's still one of my closest friends, who keeps me moving and focused. I often tell people I never would have even started a novel without Faith pushing me along.
15. Do you still watch cartoons?
Misty Massey has always been a voracious reader. It was no surprise to anyone when she began writing. Her first attempt was a story based in the world of her favorite television show, The Wild Wild West (they call that sort of thing "fanfic" nowadays. She had no idea she was starting a trend.) She dabbled with short stories for years, even publishing a few in small press magazines, until she found and joined a writing critique group, and tried her hand at writing novels. The rest is history. Misty is the author of Mad Kestrel ( Tor Books ), a rollicking adventure of magic on the high seas which was nominated for the 2010 SCASL Book Award , and is one of the featured writers on the Magical Words blog ( www.magicalwords.net ).
A number of Misty's blog posts from the first two years of Magical Words appear in the recently released How To Write Magical Words ( BellaRosa Books ). Her short fiction has appeared in Rum and Runestones ( Dragon Moon Press ) and Dragon's Lure ( Dark Quest Books ). A sequel to Mad Kestrel, Kestrel's Dance, is in the works.
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