Author Interview with Sarah Baethge.

Hello Sarah, pleasetell us about you, as a writer.
I have always liked Science-fiction and Fantasy, andwrite primarily to entertain myself. I admit this does result in the creationof many things that I never finish when I see that they take too much personalknowledge I am not willing to share in order to be fully understood, but Ifigure that if I could not be a fan of my own work, there is little point inspending the amount of time required so I feel like my story is fully told.
Your latest book is 'TheSpeed of Darkness'; perhaps you'd you give us some insight into it in a fewsentences?'The Speed of Darkness' –my combination of Sci-fi andwerewolves. The first book I've ever written fully enough that I was comfortablewith pointing to a spot and saying: The End.
Excerpt-   Sam closedand locked his door. With clear disgust on his face, he addressed Nigel.  "Nice," he said sarcastically. "Nice to knowyou could have just gotten away easily when I jumped in to help you." Nigel fidgeteduncomfortably as he tried to keep himself from meeting Sam's gaze, "It doesn'twork like-""You certainly wereable to do it at will just now!" Sam yelled, stomping up to him."But Bart-", Nigelbegan, gesturing as he spoke."Your psycho friends!"Sam thundered in anger as he raised his hands above his head. "Thanks! Can'tforget those two freaks are now after me too. All because I didn't want to juststand by and watch them cut up some little fruit like you on tape!"Now I find out that'swhat you wanted." With a sickened look he folded his arms and stepped away fromNigel, who simply looked confused."What..?" Nigel calledafter Sam, as he looked helplessly at the back of the other man, "I neverwant-""Oh, come on," Sam saidderisively, turning around and grabbing Nigel's shoulder. "Why would someone,who can –FOR REAL- just zip away, stand around and wait for his buddies come at him with a knife for avideo?" Nigel finally met Sam'seyes and said, (as if it explained everything)"Bart had a flashlight."

How did you come towrite this particular book?
A couple of silly ideas knocking around in my head started to buildthemselves into a story; as I wasn't doing much else at the time, I wrote itdown until I got sick of it and filed it away for 2-3 years. When I pulled itback out and read it again, I liked it just as much as ever.
Do you have afavourite character from the book? If so, who and why this particular one?
I like Nigel Hunter, my mad scientist who startedexperimenting on himself when others refuse to let him test on animals anymore. When I was trying to decide how he would react to different situations, Ilet him do what I would like to do, but wouldn't really dare to.
Where can people buyyour books?
Both are here:http://beta.iwritereadrate.com/books/search-results/?author=baethgeand you can get 1 chapter of the other FREE.http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Sarah+Baethge&x=0&y=0
What qualities does awriter need to be successful?
Imagination and determination
What's your workingmethod?
Do nothing until after lunch, Relax on weekends;don't get trapped within your own book.Finish EVERYTHING.Don't ever delete anything; just file it away where you canget back to it when you're no longer sick of it.Yes, I realize the last two rules are currently eating up waytoo much space on my computer, but hey :P my crazy laptop has a multi-gigabytehard-drive.
What's the singlebiggest mistake made by beginner writers?
Deleting anything. There is nothing worse than suddenlyhaving the idea to fix where your story flagged out, to only find it's nolonger on your computer when you go to fix it.
To what extent aregrammar and spelling important in writing?
If you don't write correctly, others will have adifficult time trying to determine what you mean.
How much do yourevise your MS before sending it off?
I go through it as many times as it takes for me to beable to go through it without making any changes at all.
As a writer ofSci-fi, to what extent do you think genre is useful in the publishing world?
You have to know the name of the genre that your intendedaudience will look for or you might prevent your future fans from ever findingyour work.
Many authors seemarketing as a bind. What's your opinion on this, and how do you deal with it?
I'm somewhat iffy on this, I know that without somemarketing no one will ever find my work; but because I'm so attached to what Iwrite, I  would almost rather have thatno one ever see it before I am tempted to change it for the sake of boostingsales.
What sort ofdisplacement activities keep you from writing?
Reading, movies, and video games
What support, if any,do you receive from family and friends, writing group, or dedicatedprofessionals?
As I am not working any 'real' job I live with my dad andstepmother. I receive emotional support from my mother, grandfather, 2 sisters,brother, stepsister, and a good sized list of friends and family online.
Is presentation ofthe MS as important as agents and publishers suggest?
Save a couple random short stories I'm only self-published, soI wouldn't actually know.
How long does it takeyou to write a novel?
The actual writing is probably only a couple of months,but to let the ideas accumulate might take years.
Who or what inspiresyour writing?
Artwork, real life, TVBasically anything andeverything
If there's a singleaspect of writing you find frustrating, what is it?
Pace; if I stick to writing too much I start to hate it,if I take too much time off I lose the flow and cant continue what I wasworking on.
Is there a particularfeature of writing that you really enjoy?
I like having the control to make exactly what I want tohappen, it's why much of what I write becomes too silly or embarrassing to everfinish.
Do you believecreative writing is a natural gift or an acquired skill?
I think it is a common natural talent that must bepracticed to enhance to a worthwhile skill level like running or swimming.
What are you writingnow?
I have a couple of modern-fantasy ideas chasing eachother round my head, but the question has startled them into hiding to thepoint where I'm at a loss to describe what the story's even about. Won't have acharacter named Sam though. I've had far too many of those.
Do you have a websiteor blog where readers can visit?
Closest thing I have toa website is here: https://profiles.google.com/u/0/doUreallyWant2seeyou can get to my blogoff of there
Given unlimitedresources, where would you do your writing?Right at my desk where I'm sitting right now... Somewherenew would just distract me, prevent me from writing at all.
Where do you actuallywrite?
A little desk in the corner of my room on a happy little 15acre donkey ranch in central Texas. Within easy screaming distance of thecockatiel that has something to say about everything I do...