Interview and Excerpt: Down at the Golden Coin by Kim Strickland
Thanks to Kim for stopping by with a Q&A and excerpt from Down at the Golden Coin. Please visit her tour page at CLP Blog Tours for more information and a giveaway!
**Interview**
When did you know writing was for you? I feel like I’ve always known it. It was the first career I ever wanted as a kid. I even completed my first novel at the age of twelve! And although I took quite a few detours along the way, I never gave up on my dream.
How would you describe your books? My novels are a fictitious and humorous look at spiritual and New Age topics.
Why was Down at the Golden Coin a book you wanted to write?Because at that time in my life, it was the book I needed to read.
What is the hardest part of the writing process for you? Finding the time to sit in the chair, especially for fiction. It just takes a very, very long time. And the first draft. First drafts are always so hard for me. Once it’s finished though, then the following drafts just flow; they are so much easier.
What are your favorite genres to read? I love reading spiritual fiction, writers like Paulo Coelho, Dan Milman, Lynn V. Andrews or Richard Bach. But I also love a good mystery or thriller, or literary fiction. I guess I’m not too particular. I just enjoy good writing.
What do you want readers to take away from your story? I would love for readers to take away a sense they have control over their own realities and destinies. And if not that, then at least a sense they were entertained for a few hundred pages.
How important do you think social media is for authors these days? It’s not important at all; it’s crucial! The trick is getting heard above the din. So much of social media is soft-marketing anymore. It’s very hard to get noticed and market yourself without annoying all your fans, friends and followers. It’s a fine line. I try not to cross it, but it’s a challenge. I’m sure at times I do cross the line. Please buy my book.
What would be your advice to aspiring writers? Just write. Sit in the chair as often as you can and tell your story. You will hear and read rules about how to write everywhere, and while you need to know the rules,
**Excerpt**
The front windows are filthy, covered with greasy fingerprints and St. Patrick’s Day leprechauns, dusty and curled with age. A Vote Chicago! campaign poster for some alderman who didn’t get elected hangs crookedly in one corner. There’s a gang-tag spray-painted on the Coke machine that looks like someone at one time tried to scrub off, but then just gave up. A cobweb dangles from an actual payphone that still stands by the door. Two fans wobble on their mounts in the middle of the ceiling’s water-stained acoustic panels, having no affect whatsoever on the stagnant air in the room. I imagine they probably squeak, too, if we could hear them over the rumble of the washing machines and the Coke machine’s aging compressor. A broken clock, its hands perpetually stuck on eleven o’four, has a faded yellow face with an even more faded sign below it that says, “Thank you for doing your laundry with us!”“What I’ve learned in my forty-odd years on this planet,” I continue, “is that I’ve grown very tired of trying to make myself feel better about my situation by thinking about how much worse it could be. I know it could be worse. I just want things to be better for me. Now. Is that too much to ask? To be happy? To have happiness in its own right?”“Then be happy.” She says it with a shrug, before reaching into her laundry bag and pulling out a People magazine.I roll my eyes again. Then be happy. As if it were that simple. Be happy. Like life is just the same as some dumb Bobby McFerrin song.“It really is just that simple.” She’s looking up from her magazine now, staring into me with those dark eyes.And now I’m a little freaked out, because I think she just read my mind. I shift in my chair under her gaze, not knowing if I want to like her that much anymore. “Listen,” I say. “I read The Secret too. Hell, I even tried The Secret. Do you know what happened? I sat there loving my car, loving my eight-year-old Subaru Outback, imagining my brand new Lexus RX350, silver and gorgeous, parked in my garage and you know what happened? Do you know what I got? I got a nine-year-old Subaru Outback with a cracked engine block and a big empty space in my garage where a Lexus should be. All I want, all I ever wanted, is a little happiness. A little security. I worked so hard to get somewhere in this life and now I’m watching everything, all of it, slip right out from under me and there’s not one thing I can do about it.” She’s still watching me, her expression inscrutable. After a very long moment, she looks down at her magazine and releases a single page with her thumb. “If you say so,” she says while the new page floats down.“Happiness is not a choice. Don’t you think if it were a choice, everyone would choose it?”“Not everyone knows how to choose it,” she says, her eyes still focused on her People.*******************************************************************************Everyone who leaves a comment on Kim's tour page will be entered to win a $25 Amazon gift card! Anyone who purchases their copy of Down at the Golden Coin before December 3 and sends their receipt to Samantha (at) ChickLitPlus (dot) com, will get five bonus entries.**
Author Bio:
Kim Strickland lives in Chicago with her husband, three children, two cats and one dog. She also blogs as A City Mom at ChicagoNow. Down at the Golden Coin is her second novel. When she's not being a mom or a writer, she flies jets for a major airline, which means, every once in a while, she gets to eat an entire meal sitting down.
Connect with Kim!
My blog:http://www.ChicagoNow.com/acitymom
My website: http://www.kimstrickland.com/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/DownAtTheGoldenCoin
Buy the Book!
http://www.amazon.com/Down-at-Golden-Coin-ebook/dp/B009YJKNWI/ref=la_B001ITYMH4_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1351781218&sr=1-2
http://www.eckhartzpress.com/Down-at-the-Golden-Coin.html
**Interview**
When did you know writing was for you? I feel like I’ve always known it. It was the first career I ever wanted as a kid. I even completed my first novel at the age of twelve! And although I took quite a few detours along the way, I never gave up on my dream.
How would you describe your books? My novels are a fictitious and humorous look at spiritual and New Age topics.
Why was Down at the Golden Coin a book you wanted to write?Because at that time in my life, it was the book I needed to read.
What is the hardest part of the writing process for you? Finding the time to sit in the chair, especially for fiction. It just takes a very, very long time. And the first draft. First drafts are always so hard for me. Once it’s finished though, then the following drafts just flow; they are so much easier.
What are your favorite genres to read? I love reading spiritual fiction, writers like Paulo Coelho, Dan Milman, Lynn V. Andrews or Richard Bach. But I also love a good mystery or thriller, or literary fiction. I guess I’m not too particular. I just enjoy good writing.
What do you want readers to take away from your story? I would love for readers to take away a sense they have control over their own realities and destinies. And if not that, then at least a sense they were entertained for a few hundred pages.
How important do you think social media is for authors these days? It’s not important at all; it’s crucial! The trick is getting heard above the din. So much of social media is soft-marketing anymore. It’s very hard to get noticed and market yourself without annoying all your fans, friends and followers. It’s a fine line. I try not to cross it, but it’s a challenge. I’m sure at times I do cross the line. Please buy my book.
What would be your advice to aspiring writers? Just write. Sit in the chair as often as you can and tell your story. You will hear and read rules about how to write everywhere, and while you need to know the rules,
**Excerpt**
The front windows are filthy, covered with greasy fingerprints and St. Patrick’s Day leprechauns, dusty and curled with age. A Vote Chicago! campaign poster for some alderman who didn’t get elected hangs crookedly in one corner. There’s a gang-tag spray-painted on the Coke machine that looks like someone at one time tried to scrub off, but then just gave up. A cobweb dangles from an actual payphone that still stands by the door. Two fans wobble on their mounts in the middle of the ceiling’s water-stained acoustic panels, having no affect whatsoever on the stagnant air in the room. I imagine they probably squeak, too, if we could hear them over the rumble of the washing machines and the Coke machine’s aging compressor. A broken clock, its hands perpetually stuck on eleven o’four, has a faded yellow face with an even more faded sign below it that says, “Thank you for doing your laundry with us!”“What I’ve learned in my forty-odd years on this planet,” I continue, “is that I’ve grown very tired of trying to make myself feel better about my situation by thinking about how much worse it could be. I know it could be worse. I just want things to be better for me. Now. Is that too much to ask? To be happy? To have happiness in its own right?”“Then be happy.” She says it with a shrug, before reaching into her laundry bag and pulling out a People magazine.I roll my eyes again. Then be happy. As if it were that simple. Be happy. Like life is just the same as some dumb Bobby McFerrin song.“It really is just that simple.” She’s looking up from her magazine now, staring into me with those dark eyes.And now I’m a little freaked out, because I think she just read my mind. I shift in my chair under her gaze, not knowing if I want to like her that much anymore. “Listen,” I say. “I read The Secret too. Hell, I even tried The Secret. Do you know what happened? I sat there loving my car, loving my eight-year-old Subaru Outback, imagining my brand new Lexus RX350, silver and gorgeous, parked in my garage and you know what happened? Do you know what I got? I got a nine-year-old Subaru Outback with a cracked engine block and a big empty space in my garage where a Lexus should be. All I want, all I ever wanted, is a little happiness. A little security. I worked so hard to get somewhere in this life and now I’m watching everything, all of it, slip right out from under me and there’s not one thing I can do about it.” She’s still watching me, her expression inscrutable. After a very long moment, she looks down at her magazine and releases a single page with her thumb. “If you say so,” she says while the new page floats down.“Happiness is not a choice. Don’t you think if it were a choice, everyone would choose it?”“Not everyone knows how to choose it,” she says, her eyes still focused on her People.*******************************************************************************Everyone who leaves a comment on Kim's tour page will be entered to win a $25 Amazon gift card! Anyone who purchases their copy of Down at the Golden Coin before December 3 and sends their receipt to Samantha (at) ChickLitPlus (dot) com, will get five bonus entries.**
Author Bio:
Kim Strickland lives in Chicago with her husband, three children, two cats and one dog. She also blogs as A City Mom at ChicagoNow. Down at the Golden Coin is her second novel. When she's not being a mom or a writer, she flies jets for a major airline, which means, every once in a while, she gets to eat an entire meal sitting down.
Connect with Kim!
My blog:http://www.ChicagoNow.com/acitymom
My website: http://www.kimstrickland.com/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/DownAtTheGoldenCoin
Buy the Book!
http://www.amazon.com/Down-at-Golden-Coin-ebook/dp/B009YJKNWI/ref=la_B001ITYMH4_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1351781218&sr=1-2
http://www.eckhartzpress.com/Down-at-the-Golden-Coin.html
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