This blog is a meeting place for authors and others in the arts .... each week as others are directed to our door or just stumble on by, they come and leave information about themselves - telling about their new books or drawings or photos or to tell us about their new blogs. ****PLEASE be sure your comments are appearing on the latest most timely blog insuring your inclusion in the sending off to Google plus land at the end of the week.*****
Here is the link to Gwen’s site: http://indieauthornetwork.weebly.com/ , a site which I am closely affiliated.
As I am wont to say {as does Facebook}, our site is free to comment and share and always will be free. This is a great site to join and to become interactive with guest blogging. It gives you a chance to step out of your box and be whatever you wish.
Another blog that I have a close tie is CRYPTO and CO. Please pop over and check out all their pages.
I have been off doing business and my blogging, unfortunately, falls by the wayside. There is so much news to tell and swamping tends to cross eyes and brain fog off... so only a few links on today's news.
If we thought last month was busy, this month got off to a plunge into new adventures of editing, writing, publishing, promoting, and social interaction.
The Rain Cloud's Gift written for Children's Charities by our group The Peacock Writers' is on it's way to the NYC BOOK FAIR at the JACOB JAVIT'S CONVENTION CENTER. No mass books or signing, just books displayed for industry professionals, stars, editors, publicists, publishers, and acquisition teams for the movie industry. Gwenna D'Young has an Angel who was so impressed with the book, and has given us the money and backing to have the book appear in the line up. We are also in the process of releasing a full, pictures included, limited edition.
Our next book in this series will celebrate the fall season and we are recruiting writers {1 each} from India, Japan, and Philippines - America has Halloween and Thanksgiving, Great Britain has Guy Fawkes - we would like stories that reflect fall traditions or holidays for these other cultures as well. The stories would remain the sole property of the author and their use as a donation would only occur for the book collection for Children's Charities. The story is to be written on a level where a child could either read it or have it read to them - our age goal for readers is 0 through 12. Please contact me at https://www.facebook.com/paula.shene if interested in being considered.
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Saturday June 9 2012 we have a fascinating man who does it all - do check out his links at the end of this interview with Mark Woodland ~
What inspired you to write?
-I think it's my native creativity looking for every outlet it can find. I'm also an actor, singer and musician, but in writing there are things that you can do that you simply can't do otherwise. Plus, you have full control over the process and result. Much of my inspiration comes from "real life", but more of it comes from "how life could be".
Do you have anyone you show manuscripts to and get advice from or are you a loner doing it all yourself?
-Mostly a loner at this point. It also depends greatly on which project it is. I'm very apt to share poetry and short stories, but reluctant with my book series, which is my main concern. I have shared excerpts (including on a web radio broadcast), but no one has gotten to read large portions of it yet. I just don't feel "ready", and I think it's because the series and the characters are so dear to me.
What genre do you normally write in? Also, is there a genre you've always wanted to write in, but don't feel you could pull it off?
-Book-wise, I'm deeply into a project that would fall into the fantasy category. Shorter pieces tend to be humorous, but my short stories and poetry also travel all over the place. I'd like to tackle non-fiction once. The category where I feel like I'd fall on my face in is romance. I've never really read a great deal of it (and, to be honest, a lot of it is just bad), and I'm unsure of whether or not I could capture the right qualities in a romance book. However, the book series is kind of changing my mind. There are romantic subplots, and I have so much backstory on some of the characters, they could merit books of their own. I guess I'm going to be trying, and I'll find out. I think that's a good thing.
Do you ever base your characters on people you know?
Definitely! Most often, they're based only in part on someone I know, who resonates with an important aspect of the character. Sometimes, I've broken them up into pieces and used them in the same storyline. I suppose the biggest "borrowing" that I've made is the main female character in the book series (called "The Price of Legend"). She is based greatly on someone I know, and much of what she says and does is consistent with her personality. The real person knows I'm doing it.
What advice would you give to someone who was just starting off in writing?
-Write your fingers off, and don't make the mistake I've made of stopping something or tossing it out because it's "not good enough". In EVERY art form or genre, you have to fight your way to technical skill and to master the fundamentals before you can create successfully. Save the work and learn from it. The other piece of advice: Always tell the truth of it.
Do your stories tend to have morals, or special messages, included within them?
-They tend more to leave the reader with questions they have to answer on their own. That's always something that is tackled in the story (especially the books), but I like to leave the reader to conclude for themselves what the answers are. For instance, the two large questions that the book series asks are 1) How far will one person go in the name of love?, and 2) What do you do when you find your soulmate, but he/she isn't what you expected?
This question was posed by a fellow author and I loved it so much I decided to throw it into the mix ~
Oh no! One of your characters has escaped. Luckily, I have caught them! I will interrogate them with the help of a lie detector.
Welcome!Take a seat, make yourself comfortable. You will be returning to your book once this is over. What's your name, where are you from and what is your role in the book?
-My name is Daphne O'Connor, and I'm from Captiva Island, Florida. My role? I'm the principal female character, and I have several goals. The first is to escape from the trap I find myself in against my doing and my will, but in the end I cannot. So I must go forward and try to find a way out. Second, I must deal with situations and people that I hate (at least, initially). Last, I have to find a way to deal with my terribly confused feelings of love for someone I shouldn't even like, and who represents so much of what I am not and don't want to be. I have so little control over all these things, don't know the answers, and don't know what I'm going to do about them. I think that my role, overall, is to find the truth. I just need to know.
Tell us why we would enjoy reading your books?
-I try to tell a good, compelling, and honest story. Perhaps the larger themes are familiar or archetypal, but it all lies with the characters. My greatest hope is that the reader will come to care about them as much as I do, and want to find out what happens to them next. I think that each of the major characters has something that can resonate with different kinds of people, and each of them has a flaw or need that people can relate to.
Links for books and/or sites
-Wow! I have too many that I can think of to possibly list them all ot choose the "best". I am on Goodreads and enjoy it (it'sunder my name, people can look me up); I love sharing about books and seeing what other people read and hearing what they think. I ought to write more reviews than I do... I've made a lot of friends there, readers and authors alike. Many authors have blog/personal sites that are great to read, and I must have links to a couple of hundred of them. Not only do you find out what work of theirs is out there, but you hear about what they have in development, read excerpts, see some of their shorter pieces of work, and you can learn a lot about how they market their work. Many of those finds came through Facebook, where I've been able to link up with many authors and publishers. If you make the effort, it can be a great networking tool.
Thanks for allowing me to participate!
Thank you Mark for granting the interview and for all you interested - check out Mark Woodland here:
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