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Writer Q & A (Archived) > Q and A with author Carroll Bryant : June 10th-12th

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message 1: by A.F. (new)

A.F. (scribe77) | 1784 comments Mod
Please welcome to our Q and A forum writer Carroll Bryant, author of the book Children of the Flower Power.

Carroll started writing on his 18th birthday with songs and poetry, but soon wrote his first book. After that, his stories took off, with ideas coming left and right, but gave little thought to getting them published.

In 2001, he joined a songwriter's club and met a man by the name of Brian Preston, who had his own recording studio. Carroll eventually began the process of recording his songs and in the fall of 2010, finally realized a dream with his first music CD, "Rock That Country", a collection of country, country rock, country pop, pop and rockabilly.

It was in May of the following year, 2011, that he finally realized a second dream and published his first book, Children of the Flower Power.

Carroll’s influences are Lord Byron, Margaret Mitchell, Edgar Allan Poe, Elvis Presley, Rick Springfield, and John Lennon.


Just a note about the book Children of the Flower Power: due to an unforeseen error in the publication, the book is being temporarily withdrawn from shelves, but should return to full availability by early August.

Children Of The Flower Power by Carroll Bryant


message 2: by Natshane (new)

Natshane | 5 comments Hi! I have been wanting to read that book after I read the synopsis and I thought it was interesting considering I love reading books like this:)

Do you find yourself having writer's block when you wrote this book?
I love writing stories but I often found myself running out of ideas or couldn't seem to continue one. If you did, how would you overcome it?


message 3: by Natshane (new)

Natshane | 5 comments I have to agree, music is everything! Thanks for sharing with me your writing experience! :D

I often find myself inspired by songs and I practically listen to everything, from heavy metal to pop to oldies to indie, just as long as the lyrics makes sense and it's good. But I never managed to complete one book :(, maybe I should listen to more new songs. :P Thank you for the tip!

I'm really having high hopes for your book and I hope I'll manage to get a copy in the stores:)

If you don't mind me asking one more question, do you find yourself sometimes writing something cliche? (Because I do that all the time, :P)


message 4: by Natshane (new)

Natshane | 5 comments Thanks a lot for sharing with me, it's not every day I got tips from an author, haha:) I always wanted my stories to be real and detailed, I think I need to practice more....Thank you once again and it's great to have such an exchange of information with you!

And I'm really excited for your book, hope I would be able to get it soon:)


message 5: by Natshane (new)

Natshane | 5 comments Carroll wrote: "Natshane wrote: "Thanks a lot for sharing with me, it's not every day I got tips from an author, haha:) I always wanted my stories to be real and detailed, I think I need to practice more....Thank ..."

True! Be observant and a great listener. :)


message 6: by Angela (new)

Angela Smith (dandilyonfluff) | 86 comments Eagerly awaiting your new release date... what will you be working on next?


message 7: by Angela (new)

Angela Smith (dandilyonfluff) | 86 comments I will definately look for it! Thank you...


message 8: by Angela (new)

Angela Smith (dandilyonfluff) | 86 comments I feel special now :p Sounds like a great read! I will be excited to see it - all work for you from here on out... you can't keep us waiting.


message 9: by A.F. (new)

A.F. (scribe77) | 1784 comments Mod
Carroll, you have a varied list of influences. Do you find they all have something in common that appeals to you, or do they inspire different aspects of your creative process.


message 10: by Brenda (new)

Brenda | 3 comments Hi Carroll,
I enjoyed your story, but I did notice some problems. How did you happen to inadvertently publish an unedited version? I ask because I coach independent authors and I want to help them avoid making that mistake. Thanks for being so open and sharing that experience. I hope the new version will be well received when it's released.


message 11: by Sheila (new)

Sheila | 97 comments I'm interested that you pursued music first--probably because that's what my son is doing. Do you think having a music CD out makes you more saleable as an author? Or are all creative pursuits in the same basket when it comes to finding readers/listeners/etc.?


message 12: by A.F. (new)

A.F. (scribe77) | 1784 comments Mod
Carroll wrote: "A. F. wrote: "Carroll, you have a varied list of influences. Do you find they all have something in common that appeals to you, or do they inspire different aspects of your creative process."

I..."


I am familar with Byron and Poe has always been a favourite of mine.


message 13: by Brenda (new)

Brenda | 3 comments Carroll,
Thank you so much for sharing that story. I will certainly remind each author with whom I work to make certain that the file they send is indeed the one they think they are sending! I could so easily make that same mistake. I would love to have a copy of the edited version when it becomes available.

Editing errors are a problem for many, many independent authors. I know of someone who wrote a book on publishing and who leads workshops on publishing. Her book has a glaring error right on the back cover! Rest assured, this kind of thing can happen to the best of us.


message 14: by Sheila (new)

Sheila | 97 comments Thanks Carroll. And thanks for the wise (maybe even timely) reminder not to put off deleting old files! Hope your storm behaves itself.


message 15: by Baxter Clare (new)

Baxter Clare Trautman Hi Carroll- thanks for the great posts! Don't feel bad about the unedited version - I did the same thing with my first e-book!! ARGH!! And no one told me! I was out of town in a little tiny place with spotty wireless at best and didn't realize until a good two weeks later that the book was a wreck - about 20 typos plus my Mac Word formatting got messed up. Embarrassing, but the lesson was certainly learned:
1) I'm hiring an editor for the next one and 2) don't be out of town when your book finally uploads!
Thanks for pulling it and correcting it - I did the same with my mine.

Two questions:

What was the first thing you wrote and how old were you?

Do you have a day job, and if so, when do you write?

(I guess that's really four questions:)

Baxter Clare Trautman, The River Within
Web site: http://baxterclare.com
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/...


message 16: by Angela (new)

Angela Smith (dandilyonfluff) | 86 comments Carroll,

Don't feel bad... I had a similar experience with pulling back a book. I had first published mine a year before under the name The SilverJinx.

The main character's name is Mae. Someone was helping me edit it, and they corrected all the words "may" in the book to "Mae". I submitted it, and it wasn't until I started reading the proof (after approving it) that I realized the error.

One copy escaped and I pulled it. I had been getting ready to head off to Australia and get married, so you can imagine I was a little busy and didn't get a chance to correct and republish for awhile.

It was actually a writer's prompt on Gather.com that lit the fire under my behind. It was a "be cruel to a character" prompt so I copied and pasted the beginning of my book (the only corrected part)

Someone made the comment about it being May and the book title being End of Mae and I decided that was my goal... get it published at 'the end of May'. Otherwise it would still be languishing in my computer.

All that to say, you aren't alone with the publishing mistake... mine cost me a year. I'm glad now though, I made some changes and wrote new scenes in and now I love how it turned out. Before I had rushed it to have it done before I left the country.

Yours will be available at the perfect time too, when everything is aligned for a stellar release and you have an interesting 'release anecdote' to boot :D


message 17: by Angela (new)

Angela Smith (dandilyonfluff) | 86 comments I like that quote, how appropriate :D I always tell my kids that we are perfect in our imperfections. No humiliations, just good stories to tell later!


message 18: by Sheila (new)

Sheila | 97 comments Thanks for this Q&A. Really enjoyed it. Good luck with the books.


message 19: by Baxter Clare (new)

Baxter Clare Trautman Carroll - thanks for taking the time to answer all those questions - and thanks everyone else for asking them. It's always fun to delve into other writers' minds!


Baxter Clare Trautman, The River Within
Web site: http://baxterclare.com
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/566...


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