tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-77289695734226386022024-03-13T15:14:27.985+00:00Burning the Candle. . . with David LeadbeaterAuthor of 12 Kindle International Bestsellers, 8 in the Matt Drake series, and 5 UK #1's - The Bones of Odin, The Tomb of the Gods, Blood Vengeance Chosen and Last Man Standing. Join my e-mailing list - davidleadbeater2011@hotmail.co.uk or see www.davidleadbeater.comDavid Leadbeaterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12413777525828197956noreply@blogger.comBlogger25125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7728969573422638602.post-59972092584238244102014-08-14T10:41:00.000+01:002014-09-03T22:48:01.909+01:00Where we're atI never realized it could pass so quick. I've been at this just over 2 years now and with the latest release - <b>Last Man Standing (Matt Drake 8)</b> on <b>Kindle</b> in July - have published twelve full length novels and 2 short stories. In that time I've sold over 250,000 copies, quit work to be a full-time author, and worked harder than at any other time in my life to sustain my dream.<br />
<br />
I started writing when I was 15; gained success at 46. That's a long time to wait so whilst it's here I intend to fight hard. With that in mind I have another novel - <b>Chosen 2 Guardians - </b>due September 3rd and am currently writing the new Drake spin-off for an early December release. After that it's straight into Drake 9 and 10, both of which will be available before June next year. A lot of work but it's <i>good, fulfilling </i>work.<br />
<br />
The Kindle world sometimes seems to change weekly. No sooner do you think you know what you're doing than everything changes around you. A book performing well for say six straight weeks in a row or, in the case of America, a series performing well for 8 months in a row, can suddenly plummet thousands of places and lose all visibility overnight. New incentives are introduced. Old ones are devalued. It's all about moving with the changes, I guess. And Marketing, branding, advertising. And professionalism in everything you do - nothing beats that.<br />
<br />
In particular, it's all about maintaining your visibility. This becomes harder every day as new books are published and new ideas implemented. But the fight is worthwhile and necessarily tough - if you have the will and the drive and work damn hard to rise to the top end of the pile you will.<br />
<br />
I've set myself more milestones, harder achievements, tough deadlines. The future for my readers will be a rollercoaster driven by our collective imagination. If we all survive who know's where we'll be next year, or in another two years time?<br />
<a href="http://www.davidleadbeater.com/">www.david leadbeater.com</a><br />
<br />
<br />David Leadbeaterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12413777525828197956noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7728969573422638602.post-63959339347198148872014-08-01T09:35:00.002+01:002014-08-06T16:29:59.496+01:00New release - LAST MAN STANDING (Matt Drake 8)<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkKRct3XuT7k3hPHmV31O96-gg8A5bPQDxmJqKzjI6orm8u7owaUmqDYZysS36pbaHVNQRSiFg7dXnGmKeMxpkFuH_F9AdvriDm9U1PvKICmonJnsd6Q1KiK2yAZ5FseNMNV8L28ajoDB4/s1600/last+man+800kb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkKRct3XuT7k3hPHmV31O96-gg8A5bPQDxmJqKzjI6orm8u7owaUmqDYZysS36pbaHVNQRSiFg7dXnGmKeMxpkFuH_F9AdvriDm9U1PvKICmonJnsd6Q1KiK2yAZ5FseNMNV8L28ajoDB4/s1600/last+man+800kb.jpg" height="320" width="200" /></a></div>
<b style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Last Man Standing (Matt Drake 8)</b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"> picks up where Blood Vengeance left off, with most of the book taking place over a twenty-four hour span. Drake, Mai, Dahl and Alicia find themselves pitted against eight of the deadliest assassins on the planet - forced into an extreme tournament where just one can make it out alive.</span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" />
<br style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" />
<br style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Only Matt Drake's greatest nemesis - Coyote - knows all the rules, and nothing will stop her from destroying everything he loves. Not the destruction of the unwitting town that hosts the tournament, not the demolition in combat of its biggest hotel, not the battle that rages on the edge of town. Amidst the annihilation of the Ninth Division and the emergence of the Pythians as a significant enemy, Drake and the team must fight for their lives against not only their deadliest foe, but an army of mercenaries and each other, to determine who will be. . .</span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">. . .the Last Man Standing.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">UK - <a href="http://t.co/g9mCNpvGFm">Click here</a> USA - <a href="http://t.co/CG6UmgtxVL">click here</a></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">See <a href="http://www.davidleadbeater.com/">www.davidleadbeater.com</a></span><br />
<br />David Leadbeaterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12413777525828197956noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7728969573422638602.post-73093423180926665412014-02-18T18:02:00.000+00:002014-02-18T18:02:38.606+00:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfoqswlW1q7B1c5fYXiMgLWzS-ynUnVS2h35a1BhWFGqBNaV0XnS3g0a2s-Yv9psHa6MljZgQArfGHrwzy09QA3-SK7Zcvn4z1LN65dKwZovy01-d3MvE4Hfv2Gpb1TFpQkxW8Jam1wwKA/s1600/Karen+Perkins.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfoqswlW1q7B1c5fYXiMgLWzS-ynUnVS2h35a1BhWFGqBNaV0XnS3g0a2s-Yv9psHa6MljZgQArfGHrwzy09QA3-SK7Zcvn4z1LN65dKwZovy01-d3MvE4Hfv2Gpb1TFpQkxW8Jam1wwKA/s1600/Karen+Perkins.jpg" height="320" width="297" /></a></div>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18.479999542236328px; text-align: center;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18.479999542236328px; text-align: center;">This weeks Guest Spot belongs to Karen Perkins, bestselling author of Dead Reckoning and Thore's Cross, and owner of Lionheart Galleries. If you enjoy Karen's interview check out her work here:</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18.479999542236328px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"> http://www.lionheartgalleries.co.uk/</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18.479999542236328px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">1. When did you start writing and was there any particular event
that drew you to the pen?</span><span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">In about 2005 I picked up a pen and just started
writing. I had injured myself sailing ten years before, which had pretty much
brought my life to a standstill. When I filled the first notebook I bought
another, and when I'd filled that I realised I was writing a book – I had the
bug and it was terminal, I cannot imagine not writing now. I'd always been a
bookworm, apparently I was a very easy child as I spent all my time curled up
with a book, yet it had never occurred to me that I would be able to write one until
I actually did. That first book took a lot of rewrites and a lot of learning
before it was fit to be published, in 2012, as <i>Dead Reckoning</i> and even then I'm not sure I would have had the
confidence to publish without the encouragement and support of my partner,
Peter Mutanda, also a writer and theatre director. We established LionheART
Publishing House together (</span><a href="http://www.lionheartgalleries.co.uk/"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">www.lionheartgalleries.co.uk</span></a><span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">) to publish our own titles (now numbering twelve between us) and also offering
publishing services to other authors – copy editing, proof reading and formatting.
Writing and books have given me a new future, and I'm very excited about
travelling this new road.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;">2. Do you have a favourite
character from another author’s book?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;">A difficult question – there
are so many! After much deliberation, I think I have to go with two. Charlie
Fox – Zoe Sharp's independent, stubborn and extremely capable body guarding
heroine and Stephen King's Carrie – I felt so sorry for her when I first read
the book aged fourteen, and still do.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;">3. Do you pre-plan your stories
or are you a take-it-as-it-comes writer?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;">I'm a planner. If I don't plan
I have to do a dozen rewrites, which can take years. I'll think about a book
for a year or two, jotting down ideas as they come, then, as I get closer to
putting pen to paper, I'll do an overall plan covering the main plot points.
Then I'll plan out the first part in more detail, then each chapter. Of course,
no matter how much I plan, my characters often have different ideas, sometimes
taking me completely by surprise and the plan goes out the window . . .<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;">4. Where does your inspiration
comes from? What motivates you?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;">People. Writing novels is my
attempt at trying to work out motivations, why we do what we do, and also to
make sense of some of the horrendous things people do to each other. I'm on my
fourth novel now, and have no answers, I suspect the search will take a
lifetime.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;">5. Do you have a set schedule
to write to or do you grab the time as it comes?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;">A bit of both. I try to be
disciplined and write at least a chapter a day, and make a detailed plan of the
next chapter for tomorrow. However, if the words won't come, the words won't
come, and forcing it doesn't help me – forced chapters just end up deleted
after having caused nothing but frustration. The times I do have a break of a
few days, it usually turns out there's a reason – usually the next event in my
plan doesn't work and I've needed to relax and think about it some more. Once
I've worked it out, I usually embark on a bit of a writing frenzy and catch up
on the lost time naturally.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;">6. How do you take writing
interruptions?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;">Temperamentally. If I'm
struggling with a chapter, I'm grateful for the interruption and the
opportunity to blame my slow progress on the interrupter. If the words are
flowing well and I'm lost in my fictional world, I can lash out. I often write
in cafes and coffee shops and once came very close to burying my pen in another
customer's eye after one to many 'excuse me, can you pass me the . . .' Well,
ok, I just imagined burying my pen in his eye (the character I was writing was
a ruthless, bloodthirsty pirate who wouldn't have thought twice about maiming
someone, that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it), but something must have
shown on my face – he didn't interrupt again.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;">7. What do you enjoy and what
do you hate about writing?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;">I love that moment when
inspiration strikes, a new idea, a new character. I love starting a new book,
the possibilities and potential of all those blank pages. I love each chapter,
finding out what happens (despite my neurotic planning, I still enjoy those
moments why my characters surprise me). I love finishing the book, knowing I
now have some spare brain space ready to be filled with the next one. The one
part I don't enjoy is the first read through – spotting all those holes and
inconsistencies, but then I love filling them, fixing them and polishing until
the book is as good as I can make it. I love publishing the book, seeing it
there on amazon, the first sale (and all the subsequent ones), the first review
(and all the subsequent ones), well, you get the picture.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;">8. Mostly for our other authors
out there, what’s your advice as to how to handle a bad review?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;">Keep perspective – there is no
book out there which is liked by every single reader. Think seriously about
what the reviewer has said – is this an opportunity to improve as a writer? If
not, ignore it; everybody is entitled to their opinion, and to be honest, books
are more interesting when there is a mix of published reviews – I often buy to
see who I agree with. Whatever you do, don't engage into a defensive tit for
tat, it will only get worse, and can easily get out of hand – and in that case,
the only loser is the author.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;">9. What other projects do
you have on the boil? Are there any more books in the Valkyrie series to come?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;">I have a number of projects on
the go at the moment. I'm currently writing the next two books in the <i>Valkyrie Series</i> (pirates, love and
adventure), <i>Look Sharpe!</i> and <i>Ready About!</i>, both of which focus on one
of the secondary characters in the first two books<i>, An Ill Wind</i> and <i>Dead
Reckoning</i>. Henry Sharpe piqued my curiosity as I wrote the first two, and I
wanted to know more about him. I've since had emails and messages from readers
too asking about him. I had only meant to write his story in one book, but he's
very vocal and is insisting on two!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;">I'm also at the planning stage
of <i>Cultural Exile</i>, which I'm writing
with my partner, Peter Mutanda (a true test of any relationship!). It is about
a Zimbabwean family forced to emigrate to the UK and the challenges they face.
We take so much about our own cultures for granted, but different cultures
often clash in all sorts of unexpected ways. Then perspectives change, people
change, and relationships change, and it all has fallout.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;">I've also been so overwhelmed
with the way my historical ghost story, <i>Thores-Cross</i>,
has been received, I'm thinking about another one in the same vein. A dual
timeline with the past impacting on the present. No matter how hard we try to
leave the past behind, it is sometimes unwilling to stay there.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;">10. Do you have any
advice to offer other Indie authors about self-publishing?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;">Go for it. There has never been
a better time to self-publish and there are some great advantages, not least
control over every aspect of your book. But it is hard work, especially the
promoting and marketing side. It's also difficult to be objective about your
own work and many authors publish too soon – if you're not sure, get an editor
– there are good ones out there who do not charge the earth. Also have at least
two or three friends and/or fellow writers read your manuscript and give you
honest feedback. And I do mean honest – be as prepared to hear what doesn't
work in their opinion as what does. Lastly, listen to your peers; the majority
of Indie authors I have been in contact with over the last year have been
extremely supportive and genuinely helpful, and I have learned so much from
them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;">11. Does any particular
strategy work for you to boost sales?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;">I think my main strategy is
cross-sales. I have regular promos offering the first book in the <i>Valkyrie Series, An Ill Wind</i>, for free, not much of a
risk for a potential reader to try out a new author. If they like it, they will
buy my other books. If they don't, they won't. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-indent: 14.2pt;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;">In my
opinion, it is extremely important to not only write a good story, but also to
make your book as professional as possible – no spelling or grammatical errors,
consistency, clear and simple formatting (a must for eReaders). I do my best to
make the reading experience as pleasurable as possible for the reader; I don’t
want them to notice the words, the sentence construction, the formatting; I
want them to get lost in my story, visit my world, meet my characters, and want
to stay a little bit longer . . .<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;">12. Does social networking
improve your sales?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">It's difficult to know for sure, but I think
Twitter and Goodreads have been the most helpful – of course anything (within
reason!) to raise your profile and put you in contact with potential readers is
good – not only twitter and facebook, but podcasts, interviews, reviews by book
blogging sites, giveaways, competitions etc.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5tufALLoNsrTbb9jmud7JBLVs71Gy2Rd_r7hFP0HdGwFoSklno6hkwuMa0vTOhLiky4TMNfVzNJg_gtJNiyMZBuUeeMyFimgwq4iD_YknFGnB-0SGr8kCOoHQkEVzoOkoV4lFlHqkN3wO/s1600/Dead+Reckoning.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5tufALLoNsrTbb9jmud7JBLVs71Gy2Rd_r7hFP0HdGwFoSklno6hkwuMa0vTOhLiky4TMNfVzNJg_gtJNiyMZBuUeeMyFimgwq4iD_YknFGnB-0SGr8kCOoHQkEVzoOkoV4lFlHqkN3wO/s1600/Dead+Reckoning.jpg" height="320" width="213" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Links<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 38.25pt; text-indent: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0cm;">
Website: <a href="http://www.lionheartgalleries.co.uk/Karen--KA--Perkins.html">http://www.lionheartgalleries.co.uk/Karen--KA--Perkins.html</a><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0cm;">
Amazon link: <a href="http://viewauthor.at/KarenPerkins">http://viewAuthor.at/KarenPerkins</a><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0cm;">
Goodreads link: <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6571672.K_A_Perkins">http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6571672.K_A_Perkins</a><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0cm;">
Facebook: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/ValkyrieSeries">https://www.facebook.com/ValkyrieSeries</a><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0cm;">
Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/ValkyrieSeries">@ValkyrieSeries</a><span class="MsoHyperlink"> @LionheartG</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0cm;">
Email:
publishing@lionheartgalleries.co.uk<o:p></o:p></div>
David Leadbeaterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12413777525828197956noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7728969573422638602.post-33375445615113110242013-12-08T13:01:00.000+00:002013-12-08T21:35:03.202+00:00Holidays in Action and 2014!After last year's eye-opening December when all my titles dropped drastically down the charts but sales remained the same, then recovered their positions in January, I decided to try to retain at least a little visibility against the onslaught of 'big publishers' and their advertising campaigns by trying that solid old staple - the Christmas sale.<br />
<br />
The new Drake - The Swords of Babylon - is still in the top thirty in the UK, and the sale titles - The Bones of Odin and The Blood King Conspiracy - have jumped about thirty or forty places into the top forty as I write. The US fares similar. Who knows what the next couple of weeks will bring as the publishers increase their spending but at least it's a case of 'so far so good'.<br />
<br />
A milestone was passed this year. Over 200,000 copies of my books have been sold since March 2012 and I'd like to take a minute to thanks all the readers who have parted with their cash, all the fellow authors who have offered and shown support, and everyone else who has helped in any way. I hope I repay my readers with more escapist adventure in 2014 and my fellow authors with even more support.<br />
<br />
The Drake series, following numbers 7 and 8, which deal with the Blood King and Coyote respectively, will continue in a new direction. Yup, there are hints to where we're heading in Drake 7, but I feel constantly moving forwards is what helps keep a series fresh and fun, and will endeavour to do just that.<br />
<br />
To that end I have recently offered a FREE short story through my website. It's called THE NINTH DIVISION, and tells the story of how Matt Drake first met Alicia Myles whilst fighting a militant army in Africa. If you would like a copy go to my website and send me an e-mail.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.davidleadbeater.com/">www.davidleadbeater.com</a><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl9u6-nig1sBtyhDxjduAly2_POSAJqfTNxPNR121ZI32M93cVAjQGPHXaNdbwVVNByGanWF4zW2Rf8T44whXKWVQvx4eTCRUhGxWnldNxdr1XOqxPtttSegfIRv73_nQfRxaKf690Z-97/s1600/Ninth28k.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl9u6-nig1sBtyhDxjduAly2_POSAJqfTNxPNR121ZI32M93cVAjQGPHXaNdbwVVNByGanWF4zW2Rf8T44whXKWVQvx4eTCRUhGxWnldNxdr1XOqxPtttSegfIRv73_nQfRxaKf690Z-97/s1600/Ninth28k.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
In the new year my first release will be the much anticipated Blood Vengeance. Around January 14th, you will be able to see just what the Blood King has in store for Drake's team, the President of the US, and Washington DC. Who lives and who dies? Well, as Alicia Myles would say - <i>live it like you'll never live it twice.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
After that it's Disavowed 2 and Chosen 2 (at last!) and then Drake 8 - all hopefully released by July 2014 unless my fingers drop off from too much typing!<br />
<br />
So happy holidays to all. It's been a great year in the Leadbeater household with my oldest daughter starting school and my youngest starting to talk. The word 'magic' does not do it justice.<br />
<br />
Cheers all. The new cover for Blood Vengeance will be revealed soon!<br />
<br />
<br />
<i><br /></i>David Leadbeaterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12413777525828197956noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7728969573422638602.post-10741386418738573022013-09-15T22:07:00.001+01:002013-09-15T22:07:16.345+01:00<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYX9gK3ubimakxiRraA66zfrpYzwqxesaD9Vjj3b_Ya9Yvz92kO_Hq0KbIQrpY1g_HOxLV8_8wJ2XSHtcZB9ZwNjVKg1hnE8xBt7MqKzcZzgse5bqhnjGSdeQD_ul4gzaRMlqTpqEGMGce/s1600/Swords-of-Babylon-Final-Sml.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYX9gK3ubimakxiRraA66zfrpYzwqxesaD9Vjj3b_Ya9Yvz92kO_Hq0KbIQrpY1g_HOxLV8_8wJ2XSHtcZB9ZwNjVKg1hnE8xBt7MqKzcZzgse5bqhnjGSdeQD_ul4gzaRMlqTpqEGMGce/s320/Swords-of-Babylon-Final-Sml.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
<u>Available Tuesday 17 September:</u><br />
<br />
The New Release - <b><i><u>The Swords of Babylon (Matt Drake 6</u>)</i></b><br />
<br />
<div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0cm;">
<i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">A last stand is
coming – a battle of battles</span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.9pt; text-indent: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">Matt Drake and
the SPEAR team return in a brand new action-packed adventure!</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.9pt; text-indent: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">When Drake is
captured and sent to a remote Russian prison, little does he know that the last
remaining member of the Shadow Elite has already set in motion a reckless,
uncompromising plan to control or destroy all life on Earth.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.9pt; text-indent: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">The battle for
the survival of the human race begins in ancient Babylon, where Alexander the
Great discovered and warned of a second way to activate Odin’s doomsday device.
His solution was to forge seven swords of Babylon and connect them to the Tower
of Babel. Drake's team enter a deadly race to find and discover how to use these
swords to combat the catastrophically powerful weapon of the gods before it's
too late. If they fail and the doomsday device is activated, the world will
burn.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.9pt; text-indent: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">Through high
camaraderie, betrayal, and endless twists and turns, the team launch a rescue attempt
for Drake, then face skirmishes in Russia’<a href="" name="_GoBack"></a>s Red Square,
and fights among the ruins of Babylon until they come to a final desperate
battle where all three tombs and the darkest black hole in existence – the
ancient Pit of Babylon – have to be assaulted simultaneously.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">The fate of the
world hangs in the balance.</span><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
David Leadbeaterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12413777525828197956noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7728969573422638602.post-66805879752497379182013-08-27T09:02:00.000+01:002013-08-27T09:02:43.300+01:00Guest Author - Terry Tyler<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgieIaY7x2PiWJ1iTKP5khx3Yer5KLWtrO0owEwSlKVvoniYguAE75tjZLGIz-Uv_NYxMIKEZp8WiCZKwykVpIiyebVWdQOm0ccI7d14pqbx9KyTAEvmeho5X4ATOILRv8xtbAOQCsbdrcV/s1600/tt1.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgieIaY7x2PiWJ1iTKP5khx3Yer5KLWtrO0owEwSlKVvoniYguAE75tjZLGIz-Uv_NYxMIKEZp8WiCZKwykVpIiyebVWdQOm0ccI7d14pqbx9KyTAEvmeho5X4ATOILRv8xtbAOQCsbdrcV/s1600/tt1.jpeg" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
This weeks Guest Spot belongs to Terry Tyler, bestselling author of Nobody's Fault and You Wish. If you enjoy Terry's interview check out her work here:</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://terrytyler59.blogspot.co.uk/">http://terrytyler59.blogspot.co.uk/</a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<ol start="1" style="margin-top: 0cm;" type="1">
<li class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">When did you start writing and was there any particular
event that drew you to the pen</span></b><span style="line-height: 115%;">?</span></li>
</ol>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 18.0pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I seem to remember that I wrote stories as a child,
and I remember writing a fair few in my twenties, but there wasn’t a moment at
which I thought, <i>I want to be a writer</i>. Writing my first novel, which I did in 1993,
was just the natural progression from the short stories, I suppose, and started
when I happened to have a lot of time on my hands.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<ol start="2" style="margin-top: 0cm;" type="1">
<li class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Do you have a favourite character from another author’s
book</span></b><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">?<o:p></o:p></span></li>
</ol>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 18.0pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Impossible to pick just one, but here are a few. Gino Santangelo in various Jackie Collins
novels. Mr Wopsle in Great
Expectations. John Godwin in Susan
Howatch’s The Wheel of Fortune. Tyrion
Lannister in GRR Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series. Oh, too, too many. If I start thinking of all the characters
I’ve loved in books I would be here all day!
Those are the first that sprang to mind, though, particularly Gino. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">3. Do you pre-plan your
stories or are you a take-it-as-it-comes writer?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">My
novels are always planned out first. I
don’t start writing until I know the whole story and have a chapter plan
written out, at least for the first six chapters or so. I need to do this for the continuity, as my
books are very character driven, and I hate the sloppy continuity that you see
in some books, where people behave out of character just to get the plot to the
place the author wants it to be. All my
stories have ends that need to tie up for the last chapter, so I have to work
out the time lines very carefully before I start. I do tend to deviate as I go along, though,
and think of better twists or new sub-plots.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">4. Do you have set schedule
to write to or do you grab the time as it comes?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I
don’t go out to work, so writing is the focal point of my day. It’s my priority, too, aside from family
commitments. I fit other things around
writing, rather than the other way round.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> 5. </span><b><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">How do you take writing interruptions</span></b><span style="line-height: 115%;">?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 18.0pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Depends what they are!
I don’t get many. The people who
are likely to interrupt me know to ask if it’s a good time to talk. But I don’t start chucking my toys out of the
pram if someone interrupts me, even if it’s not particularly welcome. It’s not the end of the world.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">6<b>. What do you enjoy and what do you hate
about writing</b>?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I
love everything about it. If I didn’t
love it I wouldn’t do it. I don’t know <i>why </i>I love it. There’s nothing I hate about it. One of my favourite bits is writing ‘the end’
at the end of a first draft – I love the fact that the whole story is now
THERE, and my job is now to improve upon it.
I really, really enjoy the re-writing/editing. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> 7. </span><b><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">What’s your advice as to how to handle a bad review?</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 18.0pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Oh, I’ve written so much about this – a whole blog
post, and more! For a start off, you
have to expect them, and they don’t really matter, because we all have
different tastes. The only time I think
they DO matter is if you get several saying, for instance, that the punctuation
and grammar is bad, or that it needs a good proofread/edit. Then you know that it <i>isn’t</i> just personal taste, and you need to give the book serious
reconsideration. Happily I have never
had very many, I’ve only got about six bad ones out of the over 3 or 400
reviews I have scattered over various sites.
Some of the negative comments I agree with. I imagine most people who don’t like one of
my books just stop reading it, the same as I do if I’m not enjoying something. The first bad review irked me a lot, but you
have to get sensible about them. The way
I look at is is this: do you honestly think that everyone is going to love
everything you do? Are you so insecure
that you can’t handle a bit of criticism?
I think the best way to handle them is to read them, take in what
they’ve said, and move on!<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">8. <b>What other projects do you have on the
boil?<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Oh,
lots! I’ve recently finished novel
number 6 for Amazon, which I hope to have out there by mid September. I am currently putting the final touches to a
short story collection, which I hope to publish in about November. This will be free on publication, for the
first 3/5 days – I haven’t done a free promotion for nearly a year, and thought
I’d give it a whirl! I’ve got the plan
for the next novel, which I am DYING to start – I don’t usually start a project
until one is finished, but I just had to write the first two paragraphs of this
new one, because I have never been so excited about beginning a new book
before! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">This
week I have finished a short story which will be in a collection with proceeds
going to an animal charity. In the
autumn I will also be busy with my twice weekly pieces on entertainment site
The BizzNiz (I’m going to be commenting on Strictly Come Dancing!), and I have
lots of book recommendation posts lined up (in my head) for my weekly blog on
the UK Arts Directory. Then there’s my
own blog…. thank goodness I have an understanding husband and no children!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> 9. </span><b><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Do you have any advice to offer other Indie authors
about self-publishing?</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 18.0pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Far, far too much to put in an answer to an interview
question. I’ve often thought, who am I
to give advice? But I am coming to
realise that I do now have a fair bit of experience I can pass on. In my blog on the UK Arts Directory I am, at
the moment, writing a series of posts entitled ‘The truth about
self-publishing’, in which I’m aiming to tell people stuff they <i>really </i>need to know, that they probably
won’t read anywhere else. Candid
observations, if you like! But far from
all negative. I’ll put the link at the
end of this interview.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">10. Does any particular
strategy work for you to boost sales?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Not
one single one, no. It’s a combination
of everything I do – the tweeting, the blogging, the Facebook page posts. Sometimes I’ll do a 77p offer for a weekend;
these have varying success. I don’t know
if people buy my books as a response to some post I’ve made, on the
recommendation of a friend, or through finding them on Amazon – I expect it’s
equally spread over all three.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> 11. </span><b><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Does social networking improve your sales?</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 18.0pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Without them there would be no sales. End of story!<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> 12. </span><b><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Ever thought about branching out into a different genre?
If so which one?</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 18.0pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I don’t think about genres, I just write the story I want
to write, then try to decide what genre it is when I put it on Amazon! Although my books are all contemporary
fiction, they’re all slightly different genres; for instance, Nobody’s Fault is
a family drama, whereas Dream On is light-hearted rock fiction. However, the one that I shall be starting
soon – yes, the one that I am GAGGING to start! – will be different again. It will span a period of about 40 years, and
has elements of historical fiction, too, but I don’t want to say more at the
moment because it’s the best idea I’ve ever had!!!<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">13. And to finish - how
about giving us a few of your favourite songs, past and present?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Present? I haven’t known about modern music for
years! I remember Alexei Sayle saying
that a scientist had isolated a gene in the human body that made you go off pop
music at the age of 37….! I have to say
that when I hear pop music now I think it all sounds the same – ooh, Daddy, you
didn’t used to say that to me, did you??!
But my all time old favourites – too, too many to mention, I couldn’t
say one without thinking of ten more, and wanting to include them all. But I love most things by the following:
Aerosmith, Free & Bad Company, Al Green, Steely Dan, Thunder, Kate Bush,
David Grey, AC/DC…. I also love some old Motown (Roadrunner by Junior Walker
& The Allstars is one of my all time favourites), Miles Davis, Will Young,
Oasis, some early 70s ska, Deep Purple, mid 80s pop, some old 60s stuff like
Wichita Lineman by Glen Campbell and Windmills of Your Mind by Noel Harrison,
some punk, Debussy, The Lark Ascending by Vaughn Williams – look, I told you I
could go on forever, didn’t I? If I had
to choose one type of music it would be rock, but I like so much different
stuff. There’s even one song I really
like by Olly Murrs, but that’s about as modern pop as I get!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
David Leadbeaterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12413777525828197956noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7728969573422638602.post-28194856776438161852013-08-19T13:48:00.001+01:002013-08-19T13:48:36.861+01:00Guest Author - Micheal Rivers<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxfvPs9cskyLI_Qb2qvQb65TKY339MGq3fRSZiIWw2f3vx5a6rM81C6qUC8T4sFLJkTHNLmi8jflmeWsdxJDNyT83cNWHE4NiwvazkUAPbDMjvlYLiZ5teTUpwInOiyVxUOnkvvbi3wiA3/s1600/micheal+r1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxfvPs9cskyLI_Qb2qvQb65TKY339MGq3fRSZiIWw2f3vx5a6rM81C6qUC8T4sFLJkTHNLmi8jflmeWsdxJDNyT83cNWHE4NiwvazkUAPbDMjvlYLiZ5teTUpwInOiyVxUOnkvvbi3wiA3/s320/micheal+r1.jpg" width="230" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-pattern: solid white; mso-shading: white; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #444444; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-pattern: solid white; mso-shading: white; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #444444; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-pattern: solid white; mso-shading: white; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #444444; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-pattern: solid white; mso-shading: white; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #444444; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-pattern: solid white; mso-shading: white; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #444444; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-pattern: solid white; mso-shading: white; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #444444; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><i style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16.35pt; text-indent: -18pt;"> This weeks Guest Spot belongs to Micheal Rivers, bestselling Paranormal Thriller author of The Black Witch and Verliege among others. Micheal is also a paranormal investigator. If you're reading this with the lights down low, now's the time to turn them all the way up! If you enjoy Micheal's interview check out his work here:</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-pattern: solid white; mso-shading: white; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #444444; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-pattern: solid white; mso-shading: white; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #444444; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-left: 36pt; text-align: center; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #444444; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="http://michealrivers.com/">http://michealrivers.com/</a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-pattern: solid white; mso-shading: white; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #444444; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-pattern: solid white; mso-shading: white; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #444444; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-pattern: solid white; mso-shading: white; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #444444; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-pattern: solid white; mso-shading: white; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #444444; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-pattern: solid white; mso-shading: white; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #444444; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-pattern: solid white; mso-shading: white; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<i style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 16.35pt; text-indent: -18pt;">1. When did you start
writing and was there any particular event that drew you to the pen?</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-pattern: solid white; mso-shading: white; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #444444; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-pattern: solid white; mso-shading: white;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #444444; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">A:
I have been writing most of my life. There was always something about seeing
the words written in books that held a certain fascination for me. I was like a
lot of other children of my time and thought how great it would be to see a
book with my name on it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-pattern: solid white; mso-shading: white;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #444444; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">A
pen is like a magnet to me, always has been. I guess you could say there was
too much inside of my head to just leave it there. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; mso-pattern: solid white; mso-shading: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-pattern: solid white; mso-shading: white; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #444444; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;"><i>2. Do you have a favorite
character from another author’s book?</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-pattern: solid white; mso-shading: white; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #444444; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-pattern: solid white; mso-shading: white;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #444444; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">A:
Alexander Dumas’s characters are excellent. I would say his characters among a
host of others have a natural draw to me. I really can’t say one character in
particular could be called my favorite.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; mso-pattern: solid white; mso-shading: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-pattern: solid white; mso-shading: white; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #444444; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;"><i>3. Do you pre-plan your
stories or are you a take-it-as-it-comes writer?</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-pattern: solid white; mso-shading: white; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #444444; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-pattern: solid white; mso-shading: white;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #444444; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">A:
Good question, but a bit complicated. I would have to say the stories as well
as the characters plan for themselves and I figure out how to place them
correctly into the stories. The way my mind works sometimes I wonder who is
controlling who. It comes to thoughts of everyday living and how that
particular character or characters would handle what is happening with them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; mso-pattern: solid white; mso-shading: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-pattern: solid white; mso-shading: white; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #444444; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;"><i>4. Where does your
inspiration comes from? What motivates you?</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-pattern: solid white; mso-shading: white; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #444444; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-pattern: solid white; mso-shading: white;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #444444; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">A:
My inspiration comes from every breath I take. Motivation is a powerful tool,
but I would have to say the world itself motivates me in more ways than I care
to contend with at times. Look at the world, its history of mankind, and the
wonders and mysteries we cannot explain away in a single breath. Therein lays
all the motivation you could ever ask for.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; mso-pattern: solid white; mso-shading: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-pattern: solid white; mso-shading: white; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #444444; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;"><i>5. Do you have set
schedule to write to or do you grab the time as it comes?</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-pattern: solid white; mso-shading: white; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #444444; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-pattern: solid white; mso-shading: white;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #444444; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">A:
I write whenever possible. There are times when I have to get away from it just
to be able to collect my own thoughts in lieu of passing on the thoughts and
stories of all there is around us. I guess you could say I take small vacations
from it to visit with myself.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; mso-pattern: solid white; mso-shading: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-pattern: solid white; mso-shading: white; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #444444; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;"><i>6. How do you take
writing interruptions?</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-pattern: solid white; mso-shading: white; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #444444; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-pattern: solid white; mso-shading: white;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #444444; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;">A:
The reactions vary. For trivial things I ignore them while with others I ignore
them also if I am deep into something. At times I will get a little peeved
because I don’t want to derail my train of thought and lose something I feel is
important. Make a note concerning it. That is not the same as the flow of what
is happening at the time. There are times when you tie an emotion to what you
are writing and don’t want it to change until you are finished.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; mso-pattern: solid white; mso-shading: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-pattern: solid white; mso-shading: white; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #444444; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;"><i>7. What do you enjoy and
what do you hate about writing?</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-pattern: solid white; mso-shading: white; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #444444; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-pattern: solid white; mso-shading: white;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #444444; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">A:
I love everything about writing. I can write on walls, trains, the neighbor’s
cat, makes no difference. I do have some qualms concerning peripheral elements
of writing but it is a necessary evil we all have to contend with.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; mso-pattern: solid white; mso-shading: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-pattern: solid white; mso-shading: white; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #444444; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;"><i>8. What’s your advice as
to how to handle a bad review?</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-pattern: solid white; mso-shading: white; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #444444; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-pattern: solid white; mso-shading: white;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #444444; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">A:
Ignore it unless it is good advice. What you write is not going to be for
everybody so face the judge with a smile.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; mso-pattern: solid white; mso-shading: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-pattern: solid white; mso-shading: white; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #444444; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;"><i>9. What other projects do
you have on the boil? How about a brief line or two about the sequel to The
Black Witch? And can you give us an insight into the brand new action/adventure
novel you are currently writing?</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-pattern: solid white; mso-shading: white; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #444444; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-pattern: solid white; mso-shading: white;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #444444; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">A:
I have four manuscripts on the burner at this time. I am writing one out of my
genre based on an actual person, fiction of course. This will be a series. It
is action adventure and a host of other deviltry thrown in for good measure. It
involves world travel, intrigue, and world politics.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-pattern: solid white; mso-shading: white;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #444444; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
Black Witch has a sequel in the works and it involves the grandson and his wife
from the original characters of the book. This one seems a bit tricky but it is
coming along nicely. My favorite of the other two is titled <i>Scratch</i>.
Prepare to sleep with the lights on.</span><span style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 16.35pt;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; mso-pattern: solid white; mso-shading: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; mso-pattern: solid white; mso-shading: white;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #444444; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;"> <i>10. Does social networking
improve your sales?</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; mso-pattern: solid white; mso-shading: white;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #444444; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; mso-pattern: solid white; mso-shading: white;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #444444; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;"> A: Social networking is
very important for more reasons than just sales. It is a very good way to be connected with your readers and well as other authors. In answer to your
question, yes it does help with your sales.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #444444; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; mso-pattern: solid white; mso-shading: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; mso-pattern: solid white; mso-shading: white;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #444444; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;"><i>11. Please tell us one of
your interesting stories about your role as a paranormal investigator.</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; mso-pattern: solid white; mso-shading: white;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #444444; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; mso-pattern: solid white; mso-shading: white;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #444444; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;">A: I enjoy investigating
the paranormal as much as I possibly have time for. I had a friend come to my
house asking me to repair a toy teddy bear that belonged to her son. The bear
was not unusual in the way of toys in any form. It was small and held a
flashlight in its left hand. It was a comfort for a child in the dark who is
trying to fall asleep and keep the boogeyman at bay. If you pushed the button
attached to the bear it would speak and give the child a thrill knowing it
talked to him. The bear had stopped working entirely.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; mso-pattern: solid white; mso-shading: white;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #444444; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;">I have a lot of knowledge
concerning things like this because of building and working on animatronics for
an amusement park. So I checked it out and found it could not be repaired
without a great deal more than the toy was valued at. I removed the batteries
and told her the sad news. She had already replaced the bear with another, but
she had not given it to him as of yet.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; mso-pattern: solid white; mso-shading: white;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #444444; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;">I placed the bear in the
corner of the living room and continued our visit. Later that night we decided
to hold a session trying to see if any spirits were in the neighborhood who
wanted to connect with us, hoping to get some useful information. We got more
than we bargained for.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #444444; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> My home had a lot of
paranormal activity on a regular basis and that night did not disappoint us. As
we started to ask questions my equipment showed absolutely nothing out of the
ordinary. But, with each question the flashlight in the toy bear’s hand would
light on and off in answer.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; mso-pattern: solid white; mso-shading: white;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #444444; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Keep in mind the bear was
broken beyond repair with no batteries to conduct electricity and any other
means to make the flashlight work. The entity who was operating the toy bear
was a female child whose father also was in the room. His name was Clyde. We could
never get the child to tell us her name. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; mso-pattern: solid white; mso-shading: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; mso-pattern: solid white; mso-shading: white;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #444444; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Thanks David for having me
on your blog, wishing you much success with your future endeavors.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; mso-pattern: solid white; mso-shading: white;">
<br /></div>
David Leadbeaterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12413777525828197956noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7728969573422638602.post-55284439613819923732013-08-13T08:35:00.001+01:002013-08-13T08:35:35.593+01:00Guest Author - John Paul Davis<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAvg6f05zztt3G_TpzIRuFrm0ocMWNb2tr8LcXYBm_KJ8XILH4GzcmkaMD-Z7R49US0MpzJd3gEsPXDKE0cjty7rg5z7cL-pgNUVrzpzXhCHeUZ76Xgh6rSc1Q6TTiZwbXc-hXyvnZQb6E/s1600/jpd1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAvg6f05zztt3G_TpzIRuFrm0ocMWNb2tr8LcXYBm_KJ8XILH4GzcmkaMD-Z7R49US0MpzJd3gEsPXDKE0cjty7rg5z7cL-pgNUVrzpzXhCHeUZ76Xgh6rSc1Q6TTiZwbXc-hXyvnZQb6E/s1600/jpd1.jpg" /><i style="line-height: 16.35pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"></span></i></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; display: inline !important; text-align: center;">
<i style="line-height: 16.35pt; text-indent: -18pt;"></i></div>
<div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; display: inline !important; text-align: center;">
<i style="line-height: 16.35pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><i style="line-height: 16.35pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><br /></i></i></div>
</div>
<div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; display: inline !important; text-align: center;">
<i style="line-height: 16.35pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><i style="line-height: 16.35pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><br /></i></i></div>
</div>
<i style="line-height: 16.35pt; text-indent: -18pt;">This weeks Guest Spot belongs to John Paul Davis, bestselling author of The Templar Agenda and The Larmenius Inheritance. If you enjoy John's interview check out his work here:</i><br />
<div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; display: inline !important; text-align: center;">
<i style="line-height: 16.35pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><br /></i></div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.theunknowntemplar.com/">http://www.theunknowntemplar.com/</a></div>
<div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; display: inline !important; text-align: center;">
<i style="line-height: 16.35pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><br /></i></div>
</div>
<div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; display: inline !important; text-align: center;">
<i style="line-height: 16.35pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><br /></i></div>
</div>
<div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; display: inline !important; text-align: center;">
<i style="line-height: 16.35pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><br /></i></div>
</div>
<div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; display: inline !important; text-align: center;">
<i style="line-height: 16.35pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><br /></i></div>
</div>
<div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; display: inline !important; text-align: center;">
<i style="line-height: 16.35pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><br /></i></div>
</div>
<div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; display: inline !important; text-align: center;">
<i style="line-height: 16.35pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><br /></i></div>
</div>
<div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; display: inline !important; text-align: center;">
<i style="line-height: 16.35pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><br /></i></div>
</div>
<div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; display: inline !important; text-align: center;">
<i style="line-height: 16.35pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><br /></i></div>
</div>
<div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; display: inline !important; text-align: center;">
<i style="line-height: 16.35pt; text-indent: -18pt;">1.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">
</span></i><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 16.35pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><i>When did you start writing and was
there any particular event that drew you to the pen?</i></span></div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: center; text-indent: -24px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 21.796875px;"><i><br /></i></span></span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"> </span><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 16.35pt;">When I was young, I used to love making up stories; sport aside,
it was the best thing about school. I attempted writing a few short stories, both
in and out of the classroom, when I was about 10 or 11, but I didn’t keep it up.
I started again after graduating uni: I did a bit of travelling on my gap year,
which included trips to Italy and the USA. Rome in particular left me simply
transfixed. I’d read Angels and Demons a year earlier and several of Ludlum’s
in the past, many of which were set in Rome, and the real life locations really
struck a chord. The churches and museums of Rome, notably the Vatican, really
stimulated my imagination and later served as fodder for The Templar Agenda.</span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"> </span><i style="line-height: 16.35pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">2.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></i><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 16.35pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><i>Do you have a favourite character
from another author’s book?</i></span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"> </span><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 16.35pt;">You mean besides Matt Drake? In truth, I have quite a few. I’m a
huge fan of Ludlum and Grisham: their novels always have brilliant characters.
Jason Bourne is definitely one of the best, while Grisham’s Darby Shaw and Mark
Sway are also standouts.</span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"> </span><i><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 16.35pt; text-indent: -18pt;">3.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 16.35pt; text-indent: -18pt;">Do you pre-plan your stories or are
you a take-it-as-it-comes writer?</span></i></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"> </span><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 16.35pt;">I always pre-plan – these days I won’t even start writing the
book until I have the skeleton of a plot in place. When I started out, I took
it as it came: as a result, it took me five years to complete my first novel. I
think there has to be some leeway for exploring a book’s potential – not only
is it a natural part of writing a novel but it’s also half the fun. That said,
it’s important to keep the end in sight. As soon as you lose sight of the
destination, you become something of a hostage to fortune. </span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"> </span><i style="line-height: 16.35pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">4.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></i><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 16.35pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><i>Where does your inspiration come
from? What motivates you?</i></span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"> </span><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 16.35pt;">All of my books have been influenced by my real life experiences.
History and travelling are two of my greatest passions, and I would credit my
experiences in life as having the greatest impact on my writing. Where
possible, I try to visit every location I use in a book first – see the sights
through my characters’ eyes, so to speak. I particularly like to target
mysteries and enigmas, or else look into elements of history that aren’t well known.
As for motivation, being a writer is a dream job which I would love to sustain.
At the moment, that’s all the motivation I need.</span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"> </span><i><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 16.35pt; text-indent: -18pt;">5.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 16.35pt; text-indent: -18pt;">Do you have set schedule to write
to or do you grab the time as it comes?</span></i></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"> </span><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 16.35pt;">I don’t have a set schedule but I do try to write every day – or
at least do something productive, like reading or research. When that’s not
possible, I’ll just make sure I’m back on it the next day.</span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"> </span><i style="line-height: 16.35pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">6.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></i><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 16.35pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><i>How do you take writing
interruptions?</i></span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"> </span><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 16.35pt;">At the end of the day they’re just a part of life. I always set
goals, and try my hardest to keep them in sight. As long as I meet my goals, interruptions
don’t worry me.</span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">
<i><span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"> </span><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 16.35pt; text-indent: -18pt;">7.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 16.35pt; text-indent: -18pt;">What do you enjoy and what do you
hate about writing?</span></i></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"> </span><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 16.35pt;">There is so much to enjoy – for me, it’s a dream job. I’ve
always enjoyed the role of storyteller; in my opinion that’s the best part of
being a writer. Whether I’m working on a thriller or a historical biography I
always write about the things that interest me, so I’m always doing something
I’m passionate about. It’s a great learning curve as well. As a non-fiction
writer, there are other perks as well: like being interviewed for a major
newspaper, or being asked to appear in a documentary. They’re more rare than
frequent, but they do happen.</span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">There’s nothing I really hate about writing. The editing stage
is probably my least favourite. It’s also the bit which takes me the longest.
For the biographies, this is particularly critical as it’s imperative that the
facts don’t get lost in translation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"> </span><i style="line-height: 16.35pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">8.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></i><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 16.35pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><i>Mostly for our other authors out
there, what’s your advice as to how to handle a bad review?</i></span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"> </span><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 16.35pt;">All you need are two things: their address, and a good hitman...not
really :D</span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">Every author gets bad reviews – usually the best get more than
the worst. Just look up Dan Brown, Robert Ludlum, Stephanie Meyer… The list is
endless. If your writing is original, it will take awhile for you to figure out
who your fans are. If you’re successful, the scrutiny will be big. But it’s
also a sign that you’re doing something well.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">I guess the important thing is to look for the trends. If some
people are criticising what other people like, the best thing you can do is
stay strong – long-term these people will become your core fan base, while the
critics will leave your future work alone. I agree with John Locke when he said
that the more hostile the review the further they are from your intended
audience. If, on the other hand, the trend is more negative, but also written
in a considerate way, then there might be something you can improve on. In
which case, swallow your pride. No matter how gifted an author, the art of
writing can never be mastered straight away.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"> </span><i><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 16.35pt; text-indent: -18pt;">9.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 16.35pt; text-indent: -18pt;">What other projects do you have on
the boil?</span></i></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"> </span><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 16.35pt;">I’m currently working on the next thriller, which should be out
within the next six months. I do have a couple of side projects as well, but
mostly I’m concentrating on my writing.</span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"> </span><i><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 16.35pt; text-indent: -18pt;">10.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 16.35pt; text-indent: -18pt;">Do you have any advice to offer
other Indie authors about self-publishing?</span></i></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"> </span><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 16.35pt;">In essence, decide what you want to write, persevere with it and
have fun. I find it extraordinary how many Indie authors seem to write one
novel and spend the rest of their time on Twitter spamming their followers.
Readers are much more likely to take a chance on your book if you have more
than one out there. Worse still, you could go to all the effort trying to get
people to buy your book, and even if you succeed, once they’ve read it, then
what? By the time you’ve actually got round to writing the next one, that
reader might have found a new favourite.</span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">I think the best advice, which personally I have found
invaluable, is to study the careers of authors who have already made it. What
did they do which worked so well? There’s a famous saying by Charles H. Fowler,
<i>The best teachers of humanity are the
lives of great men</i>. I think that statement is true for every skill/craft as
well. Who is your role model? If you don’t have one, find one. Take the time to
learn from the success stories.</span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"> </span><i style="line-height: 16.35pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">11.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></i><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 16.35pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><i>Does any particular strategy work
for you to boost sales?</i></span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"> </span><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 16.35pt;">At present, I’m still concentrating on writing rather than
marketing. The best strategy, in my opinion, is to come up with a book that
people want to read. Writing about a good subject is worth a century of daily
auto-tweeting. After that, people shouldn’t underestimate the importance of a
good title and cover.</span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"> </span><i><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 16.35pt; text-indent: -18pt;">12.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 16.35pt; text-indent: -18pt;">Does social networking improve your
sales?</span></i></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">Twitter has been great because of the connections I’ve been able
to make; and I’m sure that it has also helped me get my name out there, too. In
the early days it probably helped with a few sales, but not so much now. That
said, I am convinced that the John Lock strategy works so I haven’t given up on
it. At the moment, I only really use it for the enjoyment.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"> </span><i><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 17.3pt; text-indent: -18pt;">13.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 17.3pt; text-indent: -18pt;">You write both fiction and non-fiction. Which do you prefer?</span></i></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background: white; line-height: 17.3pt; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"> </span><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 17.3pt;">I genuinely love both.</span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background: white; line-height: 17.3pt; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">
<i><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 17.3pt; text-indent: -18pt;">14.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 17.3pt; text-indent: -18pt;">Both The Templar Agenda and The Larmenius Inheritance have been
successful on both sides of the Atlantic. Do you have any plans to develop
either book into a series?</span></i></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background: white; line-height: 17.3pt; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"> </span><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 17.3pt;">I have plans in place for well over 20 novels, most of which are
standalones. Personally, I prefer coming up with characters that fit the plot,
rather than putting the same character in the ‘right place at the right time’.
I love Ludlum and Higgins, in particular, in that regard because they only
wrote a series when there was a logical progression. I think it’s possible
Frei/Mãder and Anson/Stocker could have another encounter but only if I was
convinced it was in the best interests of the book.</span></div>
</div>
David Leadbeaterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12413777525828197956noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7728969573422638602.post-57867597538933191882013-08-05T14:12:00.001+01:002013-08-05T14:12:18.375+01:00<br />
<blockquote class="ecxgmail_quote" style="background-color: white; border-left-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15.454545021057129px; line-height: 21.81818199157715px; padding-left: 1ex;">
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 21.81818199157715px;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmtYI08z4Y-addzaXAHcTfA-B4Z9VXjWB3_HiQ10E8fveiCxqZyIi35CA2SoyCIubte68MVwZ57QJEMGCn2x2y6E2SVEK3XujqrlAQgS7vb52JTxTHBGDvadkcKeIEO7E8qdk3DzoKgy8y/s1600/Melissa-profile1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmtYI08z4Y-addzaXAHcTfA-B4Z9VXjWB3_HiQ10E8fveiCxqZyIi35CA2SoyCIubte68MVwZ57QJEMGCn2x2y6E2SVEK3XujqrlAQgS7vb52JTxTHBGDvadkcKeIEO7E8qdk3DzoKgy8y/s200/Melissa-profile1.jpg" width="133" /></a><div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 21.81818199157715px;"><b style="line-height: 21.81818199157715px;"></b></span></span></div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<br />
<br />
<i style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 21.796875px;">This weeks Guest Spot belongs to award winning Fantasy author, Melissa McPhail, If you enjoy Melissa's interview check out her work here:</i><br />
<i style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 21.796875px;"><br /></i>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://melissamcphail.com/">http://melissamcphail.com/</a></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="ecxgmail_quote" style="background-color: white; border-left-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15.454545021057129px; line-height: 21.81818199157715px; padding-left: 1ex;">
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 21.81818199157715px;">
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 21.81818199157715px;"><b style="line-height: 21.81818199157715px;">1. Do you have a favourite character from another author’s book?</b></span></span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 21.81818199157715px;">I'm a glutton for the anti-heros. Two that come immediately to mind are C.S.Friedman's Gerald Tarrant, the darkly compelling vampiric sorcerer of her Coldfire Trilogy, and Karen Marie Moning's Jericho Barrons, who is one of those indelible characters that lodge in your consciousness and tantalize you relentlessly thereafter. From a writer's perspective, I enjoy studying these characters to see what characteristics and traits drew me to them. There's a certain mysterious allure to characters who are both powerful and powerfully inaccessible. </span></span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 21.81818199157715px;"><b style="line-height: 21.81818199157715px;">2. Do you pre-plan your stories or are you a take-it-as-it-comes writer?</b></span></span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 21.81818199157715px;">I think I fall somewhere in the medium of these extremes. Writing epic fantasy, I've had to develop story arcs and plot threads that loop through five books, so some planning is definitely in order.Yet I find if I've spent too much time trying to plan out a character's thread, it loses some of the creative magic in the telling. I'm forever skirting that ethereal boundary between enough planning to keep the story cohesive and moving in the right direction and too much, which has the effect of stalling my progress completely. I've discussed this topic on my blog, actually. It's so interesting to hear about the many different processes writers use to find their creative nirvana.</span></span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small; line-height: normal;"> </span><span style="font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 21.81818199157715px;"> </span></div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="ecxgmail_quote" style="background-color: white; border-left-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15.454545021057129px; line-height: 21.81818199157715px; padding-left: 1ex;">
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 21.81818199157715px;">
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 21.81818199157715px;"><b style="line-height: 21.81818199157715px;">3. What do you enjoy and what do you hate about writing?</b></span></span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 21.81818199157715px;">I've often pondered the difference between passion and addiction. I'm still not sure where that line is drawn as these words apply to artists. This passion I have for writing is so pervasive of my spirit and influential upon my mood that it often feels like an addiction. Perhaps it's callous to compare these ideas (and to any with actual substance-abuse struggles, I apologize for my impudence) and yet...if I were to try to stop writing? It's inconceivable. </span></span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small; line-height: normal;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small; line-height: normal;"> </span></div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="ecxgmail_quote" style="background-color: white; border-left-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15.454545021057129px; line-height: 21.81818199157715px; padding-left: 1ex;">
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 21.81818199157715px;">
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 21.81818199157715px;">Anatole France once said, <i style="line-height: 21.81818199157715px;">"To know is nothing at all; to imagine is everything." </i>The desire to write, to create, for me is the sublimation of all that is brilliant and all that is dark in life. To have a medium through which to draw forth these extremes, upon which to channel the emotion of life's heartbreaks and rejoices - this is both a gift and a responsibility, though never a burden.</span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small; line-height: normal;"> </span></div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="ecxgmail_quote" style="background-color: white; border-left-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15.454545021057129px; line-height: 21.81818199157715px; padding-left: 1ex;">
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 21.81818199157715px;">
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 21.81818199157715px;">Life is chaos. As artists we are able to take these confusions and tragedies and weave them into something that makes sense of them, even if only in our collective imagination. The Fantasy genre is a perfect medium for exploring some of humanity's most long-sought virtues - nobility, honor, trust, faith - as well as its secret hopes, its fears and its most compelling and dangerous vices. It's adventure, romance, treachery and rebellion, bravery, cowardice and confusion. Life is mirrored in fantasy - but in a way that feels distant, safe. It allows us to look deeply into human motivations without seeing too closely the reflection of our own lives. </span></div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="ecxgmail_quote" style="background-color: white; border-left-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15.454545021057129px; line-height: 21.81818199157715px; padding-left: 1ex;">
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 21.81818199157715px;">
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 21.81818199157715px;">These are some of the things I enjoy about writing.</span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small; line-height: normal;"> </span><span style="font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 21.81818199157715px;">The only thing I don't love about it? When I'm not writing.</span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small; line-height: normal;"> </span><span style="font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 21.81818199157715px;"> </span></div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="ecxgmail_quote" style="background-color: white; border-left-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15.454545021057129px; line-height: 21.81818199157715px; padding-left: 1ex;">
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 21.81818199157715px;">
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 21.81818199157715px;"><b style="line-height: 21.81818199157715px;">4. What’s your advice as to how to handle a bad review?</b></span></span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 21.81818199157715px;">This question reminds me of a quote from Shusha Guppy, who said, <i style="line-height: 21.81818199157715px;">"It is very important not to become hard. The artist must always have one skin too few in comparison with other people, so you feel the slightest wind."</i></span></span></div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="ecxgmail_quote" style="background-color: white; border-left-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15.454545021057129px; line-height: 21.81818199157715px; padding-left: 1ex;">
<div style="line-height: 21.81818199157715px;">
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 21.81818199157715px;">
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 21.81818199157715px;">I believe this is fundamentally true about anyone engaged in a creative enterprise. It's one of the tragic ironies that those with necessarily the thinnest skins are subjected to the most piercing criticism. It takes a definite maturity to receive another's ideas and views of your creative work with serenity and tolerance, without flinching or feeling an innate need to strike back. As artists, we've all developed those self-protection mechanisms - we've had to - and they necessarily extend to our creative works, which we adore and praise as our own children no matter how homely and ill-forged they are. Yet if a stranger approached you on the street and remarked, "That is the ugliest baby I've ever seen!" Would you stand there and argue with him about it? Or would you merely keep walking and continue on with your day, perhaps harboring ill tidings but hopefully realizing the absurdity of the interchange.</span></span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small; line-height: normal;"> </span></div>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="ecxgmail_quote" style="background-color: white; border-left-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15.454545021057129px; line-height: 21.81818199157715px; padding-left: 1ex;">
<div style="line-height: 21.81818199157715px;">
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 21.81818199157715px;">
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 21.81818199157715px;">Unsolicited criticism <i style="line-height: 21.81818199157715px;">is</i> somewhat absurd. How can anyone expect to critique something you poured your heart and soul into, something you lived and breathed and cried over for weeks or years? And how silly of you to care, knowing the inherent difficulty anyone faces in even trying to write a critique. Most importantly, the ones who slop around their malcontent in one-star reviews more often than not didn't try at all - neither to understand your work nor to critique it with equanimity. Those low-star critiques are the obnoxious man on the street. Take them in stride. </span></span><span style="font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 21.81818199157715px;"> </span></div>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="ecxgmail_quote" style="background-color: white; border-left-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15.454545021057129px; line-height: 21.81818199157715px; padding-left: 1ex;">
<div style="line-height: 21.81818199157715px;">
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 21.81818199157715px;">
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 21.81818199157715px;"><b style="line-height: 21.81818199157715px;">5. What other projects do you have on the boil? Is the third book in the series on the way?</b></span></span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 21.81818199157715px;">You really need your wits about you to write epic fantasy with any success. When I finished <i style="line-height: 21.81818199157715px;">Cephrael's Hand</i>, I had introduced six primary viewpoint characters. In <i style="line-height: 21.81818199157715px;">The Dagger of Adendigaeth</i>, that number grew to eight. In book three, I'm already looking at twelve and the story is barely begun. Add to this that I write rather long books - quite long compared to most indie novels out there. (I have my rationale for this, but that's a story for another blog.)</span></span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small; line-height: normal;"> </span></div>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="ecxgmail_quote" style="background-color: white; border-left-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15.454545021057129px; line-height: 21.81818199157715px; padding-left: 1ex;">
<div style="line-height: 21.81818199157715px;">
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 21.81818199157715px;">
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 21.81818199157715px;">At this point, with so many character threads and so much happening in the story spanning the globe, I really can't think about the process as writing a book - the task ahead becomes too daunting. I have to think of it as just telling a story. So, while I'm technically working on book three in my series, I'm really just trying to tell this story in a fascinating and entertaining way. </span></div>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="ecxgmail_quote" style="background-color: white; border-left-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15.454545021057129px; line-height: 21.81818199157715px; padding-left: 1ex;">
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 21.81818199157715px;">
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 21.81818199157715px;">Thank you so much for interviewing me, David. I appreciate and immensely admire your generosity in supporting indie authors.</span></div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15.454545021057129px; line-height: 21.81818199157715px; text-align: center;">
Melissa</div>
David Leadbeaterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12413777525828197956noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7728969573422638602.post-34295897708715485682013-07-29T13:38:00.004+01:002013-07-29T13:41:07.792+01:00<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcSjJQnoUhfAGKvkryfqmVeSTBKkU3jKE5cKQyCQldNeAhrydFLlmKY3ut9FwCmwtWQkNHiWkxe3dKCQhPH01MBRVUANq9JLUMiOi-X3tavvEldZ-ko3PFRJaXmW-fYmLPRznn_5ILAhJk/s1600/andylucas1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcSjJQnoUhfAGKvkryfqmVeSTBKkU3jKE5cKQyCQldNeAhrydFLlmKY3ut9FwCmwtWQkNHiWkxe3dKCQhPH01MBRVUANq9JLUMiOi-X3tavvEldZ-ko3PFRJaXmW-fYmLPRznn_5ILAhJk/s1600/andylucas1.jpg" /></a><br />
<i style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 21.796875px;">T</i><i style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 21.796875px;">his weeks Guest Spot belongs to Andy Lucas, author of the thriller, Race Amazon, and its forthcoming sequel, Skeleton Gold. If you enjoy Andy's interview check out his work here:</i><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><i style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 21.796875px;"><br /></i>
<i style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 21.796875px;"><br /></i>
</span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://andylucasbooks.com/">http://andylucasbooks.com/</a></span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #444444;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #444444;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #444444;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #444444;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #444444;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #444444;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #444444;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><!--[endif]--><span style="color: #444444;">1. When did you start writing and was there any particular event
that drew you to the pen?<o:p></o:p></span></i></span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #444444;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #444444;">I started
writing short stories, for myself, when I was about 12, encouraged by good
grades achieved in story writing at school.
When I was 16, as part of the painful process of young first love, I
remember penning some poetry for my girlfriend after some sort of dramatic break-up
or other. She loved the poems and they
served their purpose in getting her back.
More than that, she was very encouraging about my writing and urged me
to try something more serious. This was
the first time that anyone had been so enthusiastic about my writing so I
decided to have a try.</span><span style="color: #444444;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><span style="color: #444444;">2.<span style="line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: #444444;">Do
you have a favourite character from another author’s book?<span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #444444; font-size: 11.5pt;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My
favourite author is Clive Cussler, and his Dirk Pitt adventures captivated me
from the very first time I read one of his books. Dirk Pitt would have to rank as my favourite
character, however, in recent years I have really enjoyed reading Jack Higgins,
especially his Sean Dillon thrillers.
The two characters are very different but both keep me glued to the page
(or screen) until the final sentence.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #444444; font-size: 11.5pt;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-left: 36pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<i><span style="color: #444444; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 21.796875px;">3.</span></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Segoe UI', sans-serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 16.35pt; text-indent: -18pt;">Do
you pre-plan your stories or are you a take-it-as-it-comes writer?</span></i></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Segoe UI","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #444444; font-size: 11.5pt;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Both. I pre-plan the basic idea but then the
stories tend to develop in ways I could not have envisaged at the start. I start with a couple of characters and a
main idea but the additional characters and sub-plots seem to quickly develop a
life of their own. Although sometimes it
does feel a little chaotic, I really enjoy the writing process and threading
all the different elements together without dropping any balls!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #444444; font-size: 11.5pt;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><span style="color: #444444; font-size: 11.5pt;">4.<span style="font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--></i><span style="color: #444444; font-size: 11.5pt;"><i>Where
does your inspiration comes from? What motivates you?</i><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #444444; font-size: 11.5pt;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I am
inspired both by the great writers I have read, such as: Sir Arthur Conan
Doyle, Desmond Bagley and Hammond Innes, among others and by a desire to write
the books that I have never yet been able to find. My motivation is to be the best writer I can
be. I want to write books that will give
the same level of enjoyment to readers that I enjoy every time I open a great
novel.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #444444; font-size: 11.5pt;">5.<span style="font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: #444444; font-size: 11.5pt;">Do
you have set schedule to write to or do you grab the time as it comes?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Time is
always my enemy. With two teenage boys
and a three year old daughter, plus a full-time job, there is never enough time
in the day to write. I would love to be
able to set aside writing time but currently I am a writer who grabs writing
moments when I can. I am sure this
situation will be familiar to a lot of writers!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<i><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 16.35pt; text-indent: -18pt;">6.<span style="font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 16.35pt; text-indent: -18pt;">How
do you take writing interruptions?</span></i></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 16.35pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With good
humour and a wry smile…usually! I expect
interruptions and am more surprised when they don’t happen than when they do.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #444444; font-size: 11.5pt;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><span style="color: #444444; font-size: 11.5pt;">7.<span style="font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--></i><span style="color: #444444; font-size: 11.5pt;"><i>What
do you enjoy and what do you hate about writing?</i><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #444444; font-size: 11.5pt;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I enjoy
getting the movie that is playing in my head written down as clearly as
possible, and of watching characters develop; to feel a story coming together. I don’t really hate anything about writing;
it is ingrained within me and it is who I am.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #444444; font-size: 11.5pt;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><span style="color: #444444; font-size: 11.5pt;">8.<span style="font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--></i><span style="color: #444444; font-size: 11.5pt;"><i>What’s
your advice as to how to handle a bad review?</i><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #444444; font-size: 11.5pt;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It is human
nature to feel wounded by a bad review.
I defy anyone to say that it does not hurt initially, even just a
little. As a reader, I have read books
recommended to me that I have hated and others I have thoroughly enjoyed. Same writer, same book, different
reader. That is how I look at
reviews. There will always be people who
enjoy what I write and others who do not.
It isn’t personal, although it feels that way at times because it is a
negative comment about something very precious to us authors; our work. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The only
comment I would make is that I believe it is vital for writers to be true to themselves. Write what you want, the way you want. By all means listen to the comments and
suggestions of reviewers but I think it is a dangerous game to start changing
your writing style and content to fit a reviewer’s view of what makes a great
writer. You could end up losing yourself
and trying to please everyone else, which is impossible. To develop as a writer, I prefer to read more
widely, but others will hold a different view, I’m sure.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #444444; font-size: 11.5pt;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><span style="color: #444444; font-size: 11.5pt;">9.<span style="font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--></i><span style="color: #444444; font-size: 11.5pt;"><i>What
other projects do you have on the boil?</i><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #444444; font-size: 11.5pt;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I am
writing the sequel to Race Amazon at the moment, called Skeleton Gold, as well
as re-writing a science fiction thriller, called Underworld. I am also writing a script version of Race
Amazon, as time permits.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #444444; font-size: 11.5pt;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><span style="color: #444444; font-size: 11.5pt;">10.<span style="font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--></i><span style="color: #444444; font-size: 11.5pt;"><i>Do
you have any advice to offer other Indie authors about self-publishing?</i><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #444444; font-size: 11.5pt;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt;">
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Be patient, don’t expect
miracles overnight but most importantly, be prepared to promote your work. If your book isn’t sitting on the shelves of
W H Smiths or a similar book shop, regardless of the rise in the importance of
e-books, you will remain unknown to the majority of the book-buying public
unless you go out and shout about it!
Social media is a great tool for this purpose.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #444444; font-size: 11.5pt;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><span style="color: #444444; font-size: 11.5pt;">11.<span style="font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--></i><span style="color: #444444; font-size: 11.5pt;"><i>Does
any particular strategy work for you to boost sales?</i><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #444444; font-size: 11.5pt;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I haven’t
found a golden strategy. Promoting on
Twitter and sites like Goodreads can work well, especially if you have a
promotion to run. Word of mouth and
attracting local media coverage is also effective i.e. the local paper will
often run an article on a new author and it might be read by several thousand local
people.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #444444; font-size: 11.5pt;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><span style="color: #444444; font-size: 11.5pt;">12.<span style="font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--></i><span style="color: #444444; font-size: 11.5pt;"><i>Does
social networking improve your sales?</i><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #444444; font-size: 11.5pt;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #444444;">Definitely. Just be prepared to put in a substantial
amount of time to get the message out.
It is also important to understand the need to read and review other
writers’ work too, when using social media.
It is all about ‘give and take’.</span><span style="color: #444444; font-size: 11.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background: white; line-height: 23.2pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #444444; font-size: 11.5pt;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background: white; line-height: 23.2pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><span style="color: #444444; font-size: 11.5pt;">13.<span style="font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: #444444;">You write both
fiction and poetry. Which do you prefer?</span><span style="color: #444444; font-size: 11.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background: white; line-height: 23.2pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #444444;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background: white; line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Fiction is my passion and I consider myself
to be primarily a fiction author. With
poetry, I just sometimes get the urge to pen a poem, or two, which is more
about filling a creative need in me rather than <i>wanting</i> to write the poetry.
I just tuck them away until I have a few and then put them together, as
I have done in my Baker’s Dozen…the first batch anthology. I never plan to write poems and have no
timeline for writing my next one…it will pop into my head when it is good and
ready!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background: white; line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 36.0pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><span style="color: #444444;">14.<span style="font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--></i><span style="color: #444444;"><i>You have a sequel
coming to Race Amazon. Could you tell us a bit more about it and when it might
be published? Also, do you plan to make this an extended series?</i><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background: white; line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Skeleton Gold is the sequel
to Race Amazon and it is going to be an extended series. It follows the continued adventures of James
Pace and a group of his associates, who all work for the McEntire
Corporation. This is a legitimate,
internationally successful company which also operates on behalf of the British
government, working in the shadows to proactively, covertly, deal with any
threat to national security. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Skeleton Gold begins with
the discovery of the body of a long-dead submariner in the desert sands of
Namibia, lost with his entire crew aboard a K-Class steam-powered British
submarine in the early days of WW1. In
his possession is a diary that gives tantalising clues to a secret operation, a
lost shipment of gold ingots and chilling hints at an experimental weapon. Skip to the modern day and when people start
to mysteriously die in the villages along the infamous Skeleton Coast, the
McEntire Corporation is called upon to find the answers.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The book leads James Pace
through numerous countries and on searches for the sunken submarine, an
unimaginable amount of gold and through a web of deceit, espionage, murder and
intrigue. A fitting sequel to Race
Amazon, and I believe it will be better than the first book by the time I’m
done.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Due for publishing this
year, the book is going well but a few delays have pushed publication back to
the end of the year. It will definitely
be released in time for Christmas.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
David Leadbeaterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12413777525828197956noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7728969573422638602.post-84121498643994412402013-07-22T10:08:00.001+01:002013-07-22T10:08:25.664+01:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_-WjNKPpi2-Ul47Xh7jkITH_4BaVVGmyC8CxJIVczrDhYk1k_yUZy6smCyRCzsA17d58an8FOFLrCEYYMmKYXRgi5LHOjPGdW3UVXFhhGm6BHS2JrWY-WcOeQbbFqCfe6unAuWLawQDE1/s1600/martha.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_-WjNKPpi2-Ul47Xh7jkITH_4BaVVGmyC8CxJIVczrDhYk1k_yUZy6smCyRCzsA17d58an8FOFLrCEYYMmKYXRgi5LHOjPGdW3UVXFhhGm6BHS2JrWY-WcOeQbbFqCfe6unAuWLawQDE1/s320/martha.jpg" width="224" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #444444; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #444444; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #444444; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><i>This weeks Guest Spot belongs to Martha Bourke, best selling author of the Jaguar Sun and New Breed novels. If you enjoy Martha's interview check out her work here:</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #444444; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #444444; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://www.marthabourke.com/">http://www.marthabourke.com/</a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #444444; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #444444; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><i>1. First, for avid readers, fans, and the curious out there,
what's the best way to ask you a question?</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #444444; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> The fastest ways to find me are to
go to my website, <a href="http://www.marthabourke.com/">www.marthabourke.com</a>
and go under ‘contact’ to email me or to tweet me at @Martha_Bourke. I answer
all correspondence from my readers. They’re just awesome.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #444444; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><i>2. Do you have a favourite character from another author’s book? </i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #444444; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I’m in love with so many characters from so many authors, ranging from Dickens
to Laini Taylor. As both a reader and writer, it’s all about character for me.
Who are these people? What’s their story? What will be their epiphanies? How do
they interact with other characters and what’s their role in the story as a
whole? Love it! I’m drooling right now just thinking about it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #444444; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><i>3. Do you pre-plan your stories or are you a take-it-as-it-comes
writer?</i> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #444444; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">You know, I think I’m really a pantser with planner tendencies. I say
that because scenes and conversations are always coming to me at random and I
put all the puzzle pieces together. I almost always know a story’s big events,
including the climax, very early on. And then when everything in between those scenes
needs to be filled in is where the pantser part comes in. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #444444; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> <i>4. Where does your inspiration comes from? What motivates
you? </i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #444444; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Both of my series take place in the same world. They are connected, but
can be read independently. One is Young Adult, the Jaguar Sun Trilogy and the
other is Adult, the New Breed Novels. I love Paranormal Romance of any kind,
but my world focuses on shapeshifters with a Maya twist. I love foreign
language, culture, and mythology. I’m a geek about it all, really. The books
are all pretty light reading - most readers don’t want a paragraph written in
Maya. But those fine touches help bring an originality to the series – at least,
I hope they do! (laughs) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #444444; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><i>5. Do you have set schedule to write to or do you grab the time
as it comes?</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #444444; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> I am a full time writer, so I write almost every day. Sometimes
I’ll skip a day if I’m waiting for a character(s) to let me know where I should
be heading. On those days, I handle the business end of things. Interviews,
working with my cover artist, updates to my website, beta reading for friends -
whatever needs to get done. The things I basically totally ignore if I’m deep
into writing a book.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #444444; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><i>6. How do you take writing interruptions?</i> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #444444; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Small interruptions at
the house are fine. Lunch with my husband in the kitchen (he works from home a
lot), the pets, a phone call. Appointments can totally mess me up, especially
if it’s midday. Then I usually turn the rest of the day into a business day.
That’s what happened today, in fact!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #444444; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><i>7. What do you enjoy and what do you hate about writing?</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #444444; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> Love
everything there is about writing. Love, love, love. What I don’t like is
everything that goes with it. Editing, proofreading, rewrites, formatting,
covers. They’re the worst.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #444444; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><i>8. Mostly for our other authors out there, what’s your advice as
to how to handle a bad review?</i> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #444444; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">One bad review doesn’t bother me too much. For
one thing, a review is a review. Very few people bother to do it, so you take
what you can get. Strings of bad reviews where an author is being targeted for
no apparent reason drive me nuts. Writers work so hard at what they do. What
takes someone one or two days to read took someone weeks and weeks to write.
Often times, the multiple bad reviews are written by people who haven’t even
read the book. Almost everyone I know has had this happen. My advice? Don’t
bother trying to have it removed. It’s next to impossible. Make your peace with
it any way you can – talk to writer friends, write, whatever – and then move
on. No one likes it. Sometimes we feel like our book pages on bookselling sites
are more like graffiti walls than anything else. But this too shall pass.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #444444; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><i>9. What other projects do you have on the boil? </i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #444444; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Next out is
the second book of the New Breed Novels (as yet untitled), out about August 20<sup>th</sup>
– just a month away! Time goes so fast. After that I will write the third and
last novel of the Jaguar Sun Trilogy, Jaguar Hunter, which should be out early
next year 2014.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #444444; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><i>10. Do you have any advice to offer other Indie
authors about self-publishing?</i> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #444444; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Yes. Get an editor. Editing is not the same as
writing. It’s an entirely separate skill. Most of us are too close to our own
work to edit for ourselves anyway. Then have your manuscript proofed. There’s
nothing worse than having someone love your story in a review, but then give it
two stars because of all the typos. Not fun. Also, hook up with other Indies.
They will guide you through the process of getting on social media, finding
editors, blogging, you name it. They’ll listen when you get that bad review.
Then, you, in turn, will do all this and more for newbies that come along after
you. It’s what being Indie is all about.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #444444; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><i>11. Does any particular strategy work for you to boost
sales?</i> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #444444; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The most important thing you can do as a writer is build your backlist.
Write, write, and write. That’s number one. If you write stand-alones, write
more of them. If you write a series, put book one into Amazon KDPS, so that you
can use free days to promote and get new readers hooked. You can even back that
up with a service, such as BookBub. But the reality is, the more books you have
out there, the better your chances that <i>any</i>
form of promotion will work to your advantage. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #444444; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><i>12. Does social networking improve your sales?</i> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #444444; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Initially, I
think it did help some. Now, I don’t think it makes much difference. What I
love about it most is keeping in touch with readers and author friends. I think
you’d get a different answer to this question from every writer you ask. Should
you be on Twitter? Yes. Should you be on Facebook? Absolutely. If nothing else
they will help you network and you’ll find amazing writing friends in the Indie
community – like you, Dave! (He did not pay me to say that.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 16.2pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 22.5pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #444444; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><i>13.
What was Maya doing on December 21, 2012?</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 22.5pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #444444; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 22.5pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #444444; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> Oh, you’re sneaky. You have to read
Jaguar Sun, the first book in the YA series to find that one out. Trying to get
me to give that away. Shame on you, Dave!
</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #444444; font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #444444; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 22.5pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 22.5pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #444444; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><i>15.
What was Martha doing on December 21, 2012?</i> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 22.5pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #444444; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 22.5pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #444444; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Martha was writing on the day the
Maya calendar ended. There’s a shock. Quick! This man over here needs CPR! I
was working on the first book in the adult series and happily awaiting my
second favorite time of the year with my family. What’s the first? I write
paranormal romance. It’s Halloween, of course!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 22.5pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #444444; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 22.5pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #444444; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Thank you, Martha! You are awesome, as always!</span></div>
David Leadbeaterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12413777525828197956noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7728969573422638602.post-35605868817731776852013-07-15T14:48:00.000+01:002013-07-15T14:48:26.283+01:00Guest Author Spot - Clive Johnson<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOq_BGpWWKmk_v3HcXYmSaWQxIonpP0Gl1ZiH4uM89T5U1OnHt-JWW_N0Y9T-bkzf8C6QAOCzWrkE5-TpXpio-2gtgCCSUAofj2gYrlm1RjJf6JXftxtxGmYnsfuzuaqUvS_qVvB_sQcP0/s1600/clive-johnson1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOq_BGpWWKmk_v3HcXYmSaWQxIonpP0Gl1ZiH4uM89T5U1OnHt-JWW_N0Y9T-bkzf8C6QAOCzWrkE5-TpXpio-2gtgCCSUAofj2gYrlm1RjJf6JXftxtxGmYnsfuzuaqUvS_qVvB_sQcP0/s320/clive-johnson1.jpg" width="223" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22.727272033691406px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: x-small; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 19.09090805053711px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22.727272033691406px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: x-small; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 19.09090805053711px;">This weeks Guest spot belongs to Clive Johnson, author of the Dica series. If you enjoy Clive's interview please check out his work here</span></span></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22.727272033691406px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<a href="http://www.flyingferrets.eclipse.co.uk/index.htm">http://www.flyingferrets.eclipse.co.uk/index.htm</a></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22.727272033691406px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<br /></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22.727272033691406px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: x-small; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 19.09090805053711px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22.727272033691406px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: x-small; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 19.09090805053711px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22.727272033691406px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: x-small; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 19.09090805053711px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22.727272033691406px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: x-small; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 19.09090805053711px;"><b>1. When did you start writing and was there any particular event that drew you to the pen?</b></span></span></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22.727272033691406px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 19.09090805053711px;">Believe it or not, I started writing ’Leiyatel's Embrace’ around 1978. There was nothing in particular that sparked it off. I'd always had a bit of an interest in writing - purely for my own interest and enjoyment, you understand. It was called ’The Winds of Change’ until the idea of actually publishing became a serious prospect.</span></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22.727272033691406px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 19.09090805053711px;">This might sound a bit weird, but the writing was only to satisfy a strange need to fix a place I'd long had in my head. I suppose Dica was an amalgam of all the books I'd read, films I'd seen, even people I'd met and places I'd been. You see, Dica had been a real place to me for quite some time before I even started writing about it.</span></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22.727272033691406px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 19.09090805053711px;">I'd tried to capture it in drawings and paintings at first, but realised just how limited that medium was, and so how damned long it would have taken to capture such a complete, intricate and rich world. It wasn’t so much an event as a place and story that pushed me to the pen, a place and story that most definitely had an independent life of its own.</span></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22.727272033691406px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<br /></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22.727272033691406px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: x-small; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 19.09090805053711px;"><b>2. Do you have a favourite character from another author’s book?</b></span></span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 19.09090805053711px;"> </span></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22.727272033691406px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: x-small; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 19.09090805053711px;">Hmm! I don't really have favourites, not as such. There are characters I've liked for various reasons; Gandalf for one, but in all honesty there’s not a vast number. Many of Dickens’s own, of course - spoilt for choice there!</span></span></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22.727272033691406px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 19.09090805053711px;">I've always enjoyed the more complex, deeper characters, ones with the kind of contradictions and uncertainties you find in real people. I think it's too easy to come up with archetypes, which is what you often find. The real challenge is in presenting characters who hold the full gamut of human foibles, failings and feelings as much as idiosyncrasies, strengths and beliefs. The kind of things you find in the people who thread their way through your own daily life.</span></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22.727272033691406px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 19.09090805053711px;">My greatest passion in my younger days was traditional fantasy, science fiction and what was not yet then dubbed speculative fiction. Unfortunately, those genres haven’t been particularly strong on character development, falling back more often than not on the archetype I mentioned earlier.</span></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22.727272033691406px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 19.09090805053711px;">Why I have a particular knack at character development I don't know. Perhaps it's come from my later reading; historical fiction, King’s early horror work, and more of the classics - like Dickens, Bronte, Peake and the like. Now I think about it, certainly Richmal Crompton with her ’Just William’ series. Ostensibly children's books, they were secretly quite adult in their own way, with excellently developed and nuanced characters.</span></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22.727272033691406px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<br /></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22.727272033691406px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: x-small; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 19.09090805053711px;"><b>3. Do you pre-plan your stories or are you a take-it-as-it-comes writer?</b></span></span></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22.727272033691406px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 19.09090805053711px;">I learnt long ago that whatever arrogance plans, life quickly trips up. I have a rough idea where the story’s headed, but I'm relaxed enough not to want to fight its own inclinations. Stories have their own lives; they breathe of their own volition, know better than I what is right and wrong, and where they want to end up. My task’s simply to help them along, and make their voice as enjoyable as possible to the reader’s ear.</span></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22.727272033691406px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 19.09090805053711px;">In a way, a book’s story should be like real life - largely unknown by those it carries along, until it’s far too late. Maybe that's why all my books are mysteries, despite having science fiction foundations and the appearance of fantasy.</span></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22.727272033691406px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 19.09090805053711px;">I've always wanted to be intrigued by a book’s tale, and have it slowly reveal its true nature as I tread its path. I've never seen the enjoyment in setting out knowing exactly where you're going to end up.</span></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22.727272033691406px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<br /></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22.727272033691406px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: x-small; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 19.09090805053711px;"><b>4. Where does your inspiration comes from? What motivates you?</b></span></span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 19.09090805053711px;"> </span></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22.727272033691406px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: x-small; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 19.09090805053711px;">I don't honestly know. It's probably that I’m an alien, or I was born at the wrong time, and so find most things about this planet thought-provoking. Perhaps if I fitted in somewhere, then, who knows.</span></span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 19.09090805053711px;"> </span></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22.727272033691406px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: x-small; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 19.09090805053711px;">This question keeps coming up, and I think it's because a lot of authors suffer from block at some time or other, but I never have. I've currently got two books waiting in the old grey-matter, and I'm sure when I write those they'll create a further four.</span></span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 19.09090805053711px;"> </span></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22.727272033691406px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: x-small; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 19.09090805053711px;">I have a theory! Actually, it is quite a serious theory - so just bear with me being po-faced for a moment - normal service will be resumed shortly: I reckon I have an unusually high interconnectivity between the two lobes of my brain, so making me more prone to lateral thinking.</span></span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 19.09090805053711px;"> </span></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22.727272033691406px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: x-small; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 19.09090805053711px;">My logical and creative areas mess with each other more than is usual. It means that a thought triggers off umpteen other avenues, often of only rather oblique relevance. So, one story thread easily creates loads more. All I then have to do is choose between them. It also means I'm left with a warehouse full of filtered-out ideas, somewhere to wander around when I'm having one of my long, contemplative baths. See, I said normal service would soon be resumed!</span></span></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22.727272033691406px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<br /></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22.727272033691406px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: x-small; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 19.09090805053711px;"><b>5. Do you have set schedule to write to or do you grab the time as it comes?</b></span></span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 19.09090805053711px;"> </span></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22.727272033691406px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: x-small; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 19.09090805053711px;">I've never had a very regular life, really. Once we had a horse, and anyone who’s kept one of those knows they eat time like there's no tomorrow - as well as your money. The past ten years I've worked strange shifts, and now I'm working from home. No, I've never been one for too much routine - I'm pretty sure it’d bore me.</span></span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 19.09090805053711px;"> </span></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22.727272033691406px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: x-small; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 19.09090805053711px;">I fit writing in when I can, although I know it has an unreasonably high priority. So lots of other things tend to fall by the wayside in its wake. The problem is, I could actually write solidly all my waking hours ... In fact I think I often have! Hmm!</span></span></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22.727272033691406px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<br /></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22.727272033691406px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: x-small; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 19.09090805053711px;"><b>6. How do you take writing interruptions?</b></span></span></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22.727272033691406px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<br /></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22.727272033691406px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: x-small; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 19.09090805053711px;">Yes, I'm sure it is, my Dear.</span></span></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22.727272033691406px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<br /></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22.727272033691406px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: x-small; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 19.09090805053711px;"><b>7. What do you enjoy and what do you hate about writing?</b></span></span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 19.09090805053711px;"> </span></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22.727272033691406px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: x-small; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 19.09090805053711px;">I enjoy everything about writing, except when my laptop starts to run slow. I’ve even learnt to enjoy my own editing. I know I should nowadays include the promo side in this question, but I still don't reckon it belongs here - so I'll ignore it again.</span></span></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22.727272033691406px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<br /></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22.727272033691406px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: x-small; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 19.09090805053711px;"><b>8. Mostly for our other authors out there, what’s your advice as to how to handle a bad review?</b></span></span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 19.09090805053711px;"> </span></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22.727272033691406px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: x-small; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 19.09090805053711px;">Be honest with yourself and take the criticisms on board. Everything for a writer is a learning opportunity - so learn from it. You have to be clinical and objective about it. Few reviews are dishonest or spiteful. Understand what it was about the book that they disliked, then decide if there's a case for you to change anything about your writing.</span></span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 19.09090805053711px;"> </span></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22.727272033691406px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: x-small; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 19.09090805053711px;">If they’ve criticised your word craft then I'd suggest you dig into the accusation and find out if they're right, and if so then do something about it. On the other hand, if they just didn't like the way you wrote, or the nature of the story, or any other subjective things about it, then it's their opinion and your call. They've a right to say whatever they like about your book - remember, you published it to a public domain in the fist place.</span></span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 19.09090805053711px;"> </span></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22.727272033691406px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: x-small; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 19.09090805053711px;">You've got to be realistic. Not everyone’s going to like your book, but you do need to keep a sense of perspective. If you’ve had lots of reviews and everybody hates it, then it's likely that you're not yet quite up to scratch as a writer, and maybe you shouldn't have published so early.</span></span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 19.09090805053711px;"> </span></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22.727272033691406px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: x-small; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 19.09090805053711px;">One thing that's worth checking out, though, is your marketing. Maybe you’re targeting your book at the wrong readership?</span></span></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22.727272033691406px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<br /></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22.727272033691406px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: x-small; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 19.09090805053711px;"><b>9. What other projects do you have on the boil? Are there any more books in the Dica series to come?</b></span></span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 19.09090805053711px;"> </span></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22.727272033691406px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: x-small; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 19.09090805053711px;">I've already said that I've at least a couple of further books in mind. They'll be set within the Realm of Dica, but I'm keen to make each new volume different in some significant way. Cold Angel Days for example - my latest - has a new protagonist, a rather feisty woman, and a romance element. The love content is unusual, though. It's the story of how a woman helps resolve her beloved older sister’s failing relationship.</span></span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 19.09090805053711px;"> </span></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22.727272033691406px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: x-small; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 19.09090805053711px;">What I would never countenance doing is just cranking out the same old story, only with a few minor changes to details - like you often see in the later books of many series. Unless the story’s completely fresh I simply won't bother.</span></span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 19.09090805053711px;"> </span></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22.727272033691406px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: x-small; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 19.09090805053711px;">I'm pretty sure that the two I have in mind will fit the bill, though, so my readers will get the old familiar feel but beneath a wholly new and surprising story. My latest lead character from Cold Angel Days, Prescinda, has gone down very well. As I thoroughly enjoyed helping her come alive, I'm keen myself to have her involved in my next book. More than that, though, I'm not yet prepared to say!</span></span></div>
David Leadbeaterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12413777525828197956noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7728969573422638602.post-40014898651271536352013-07-08T14:11:00.000+01:002013-07-08T14:11:05.075+01:00Guest Author Spot - Alan McDermott<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6qSGRUtiANM7SAH1Uk8-GdWf6ZN9qlPWYbNADp0UNS70HEVt5dQV0d5tv7wVFhDX8gILzmtC8deTCOo8BYfhwpfk0W3sMwOPAOq105Gw6sBdLV3nt5r3ypQyUq-Fvgzj_1xCrW8gn-sIr/s1600/alan1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6qSGRUtiANM7SAH1Uk8-GdWf6ZN9qlPWYbNADp0UNS70HEVt5dQV0d5tv7wVFhDX8gILzmtC8deTCOo8BYfhwpfk0W3sMwOPAOq105Gw6sBdLV3nt5r3ypQyUq-Fvgzj_1xCrW8gn-sIr/s1600/alan1.jpg" /></a></div>
This week's Author Spot belongs to the bestselling author of the Tom Gray series, Alan McDermott. If you enjoy Alan's interview please check out his work and his blog here<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://jambalian.blogspot.co.uk/">http://jambalian.blogspot.co.uk/</a></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22.727272033691406px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<b style="line-height: 22.727272033691406px;"><span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22.727272033691406px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<b style="line-height: 22.727272033691406px;"><span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22.727272033691406px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<b style="line-height: 22.727272033691406px;"><span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22.727272033691406px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<b style="line-height: 22.727272033691406px;"><span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;">1. First, for avid readers, fans, and the curious out there, what's the best way to ask you a question?</span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22.727272033691406px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;"> </span><span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;">I check my Twitter feed every day, so mentioning @Jambalian would be a good start. At the end of Gray Redemption and the Tom Gray trilogy I have put my email address in case any readers want to get in touch. I’ve had a few hundred emails from that, and though I can’t always reply instantly, I try to get back to everyone within 24 hours.</span></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22.727272033691406px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;"> </span><b style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22.727272033691406px;"><span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;">2. Do you have a favourite character from another author’s book?</span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22.727272033691406px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;"> </span><span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;">A few weeks ago I would have said the lead character from Russell Blake’s Jet series, but I am now reading his King Of Swords books and El Rey is something else. Both characters are assassins, both are masters of their trade, but El Rey just edges it for me. Having said that, there are over 200 indie books on my kindle and any one of them could be a gem. It’s just finding the time to read them all.</span></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22.727272033691406px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;"> </span><b style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22.727272033691406px;"><span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;">3. Do you pre-plan your stories or are you a take-it-as-it-comes writer?</span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22.727272033691406px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;"> </span><span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;">I usually start with the opening scene and let it take me where it wants to go. I might have three or four chapters lined up in my head, but as I write the first one, something else suddenly makes more appeal. I guess the fun part is, I don’t know how the book is going to end, even when I’m halfway through!</span></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22.727272033691406px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;"> </span><b style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22.727272033691406px;"><span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;">4. Where does your inspiration comes from? What motivates you?</span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22.727272033691406px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;"> </span><span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;">My children are my biggest motivation. I’m writing so that I can leave them a legacy and hopefully inspire them to take on the challenge themselves one day. When I was growing up in the 70s and 80s, my family – like most others at the time – couldn’t afford most of life’s luxuries. I want my girls to be able to afford the nicer things in life, which is why I took up writing in the first place. I’m not talking about a new smartphone every 6 months, but things like after-school classes, or the occasional family holiday. </span></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22.727272033691406px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;"> </span><b style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22.727272033691406px;"><span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;">5. Do you have set schedule to write to or do you grab the time as it comes?</span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22.727272033691406px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;"> </span><span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;">I have a set schedule and it’s blown out of the water every morning. The plan was to wake up just as the girls were going to school, have a shower and write until it’s time to pick them up again. It never really seems to work out that way, so yes, I just grab whatever moments I can. </span></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22.727272033691406px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;"> </span><b style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22.727272033691406px;"><span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;">6. How do you take writing interruptions?</span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22.727272033691406px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;"> </span><span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;">I’m so used to them now. I tend to walk away from the laptop to think of the next sentence, so I can be writing even when I’m strolling in the garden, or washing the dishes. All I need to do is wait for that rare moment when no-one is watching, and I can rush back in and get it down on virtual paper. Given the option, I’d be home alone writing for eight hours every day, but with a young family you can imagine how rare that is.</span></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22.727272033691406px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;"> </span><b style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22.727272033691406px;"><span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;">7. What do you enjoy and what do you hate about writing?</span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22.727272033691406px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;"> </span><span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;">When I meet someone truly obnoxious I can put them in a book and kill them! Joking aside, I like the fact that I can think up the next chapter wherever I am and write it down later. Train and bus journeys are great for running battle scenes through my head. I like to play them out a few times before committing to them as it saves on re-writes. The bad part? I guess I’ve had to sacrifice the simpler things in life. I can’t remember the last film I watched all the way through, and even on my recent holiday I spent 3 days on the laptop. Hopefully, one day, I’ll get the balance right.</span></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22.727272033691406px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;"> </span><b style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22.727272033691406px;"><span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;">8. Mostly for our other authors out there, what’s your advice as to how to handle a bad review?</span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22.727272033691406px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;"> </span><span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;">I think John Locke said it best: he likes bourbon, but his wife prefers wine, and his two children hate the smell of it. So only one in four in his household likes bourbon. Does that make it bad? No, it just means others prefer something different. Some people like my books, some don’t. I’d be silly to expect everyone to love them. 50 Shades got its fair share of 1-star reviews, as does Stephen King. Some love his work, others hate it. I just shrug them off. For every 1-star review I’ve had, 30 people have signed up to be notified about book 4, so I’ll take that ratio any day.</span></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22.727272033691406px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;"> </span><b style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22.727272033691406px;"><span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;">9. What other projects do you have on the boil?</span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22.727272033691406px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;"> </span><span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;">I’m currently working on the fourth Tom Gray book. I had planned to move onto another standalone book, but so many request came in to continue with the character that I decided to give him at least one more run-out. I’m sure we’ll see him again in the future, but he’s going to need a rest after this one!</span></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22.727272033691406px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;"> </span><b style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22.727272033691406px;"><span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;">10. Do you have any advice to offer other Indie authors about self-publishing?</span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22.727272033691406px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;"> </span><span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;">Patience! Don’t expect to publish your book on Monday and be hunting for the mansion on Friday. In the first 6 months after publishing Gray Justice I had a whopping 83 sales! The following year (2012) was much better, and after a couple of successful promos I ended up with nearly 7000 sales. This year things have really taken off, and thankfully I’m earning enough from the books to see me through this current period of unemployment.</span></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22.727272033691406px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;"> </span><b style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22.727272033691406px;"><span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;">11. Does any particular strategy work for you to boost sales?</span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22.727272033691406px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;"> </span><span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;">Having the first book in a series free has worked wonders for me. I’ve tried paying for promotion with various sites, but the majority have been a complete waste of money, with no improvement in sales. </span></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22.727272033691406px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;"> </span><b style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22.727272033691406px;"><span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;">12. Does social networking improve your sales?</span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22.727272033691406px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;"> </span><span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;">Yes, I think it does. The most important thing about being an author is getting your work into the hands of readers. If you publish and sit back expecting the sales to come flooding in, you’re going to be waiting a long time. Building up a network is vital if you want to spread the word.</span></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22.727272033691406px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;"> </span><b style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22.727272033691406px;"><span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;">13. Which authors give you inspiration? Do you have a favourite read amongst them?</span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22.727272033691406px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;"> </span><span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;">Again, Russell Blake. He’s written over 20 books in the time it has taken me to write three and a half, and they are so well written. I can’t understand why the publishers and agents aren’t hounding him daily for a book deal. I’m allowing myself an afternoon a week to read his work and see how he crafts such wonderful tales.</span></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22.727272033691406px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;"> </span><b style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22.727272033691406px;"><span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;">14. You are finally getting the recognition you deserve. Was the recent success of the Gray novels a surprise to you or part of some clever plan?</span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22.727272033691406px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;"> </span><span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;">A total surprise! I was hoping that by the time I’d written 7 or 8 books I’d be earning about £1000 a month, but I’m already doing a little better than that now and hopefully book 7 will see me earning a living wage.</span></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22.727272033691406px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;"> </span><b style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22.727272033691406px;"><span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;">15. Tom Gray is a tortured soul, a great character. Do you have any other major characters in development for future books?</span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22.727272033691406px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;"> </span><span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;">As I mentioned earlier, Tom Gray was the seed of an idea who just grew and grew as the story progressed. Whoever I create next will no doubt grow in the same way. I can’t see myself ever creating a gung-ho, kill-’em-all, win-every-battle superhero, but I like the idea of growing the Andrew Harvey character and letting him have a few stories of his own. I’m sure Tom will pop in them now and again, though.</span></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22.727272033691406px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<br /></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22.727272033691406px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;">Cheers, Dave!</span></div>
Thanks Alan, best of luck with the next book!David Leadbeaterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12413777525828197956noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7728969573422638602.post-86155564007026277222013-07-01T16:45:00.000+01:002013-07-01T16:45:09.378+01:00Guest Author Spot - Charity Parkerson.<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQkmNs0c134JW84KAqIjBG07JKUJvxnIlbnqRQ7gSfrEv0uu6KbIAaaYKPH6aJx72Cs0g0XWYvE-wbo9riDfWPiEpdUoiR7uLTXvx5FdKlg8XDV30rs5bsA49RttZLJECp-A9PiiJt1AHO/s160/charity1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQkmNs0c134JW84KAqIjBG07JKUJvxnIlbnqRQ7gSfrEv0uu6KbIAaaYKPH6aJx72Cs0g0XWYvE-wbo9riDfWPiEpdUoiR7uLTXvx5FdKlg8XDV30rs5bsA49RttZLJECp-A9PiiJt1AHO/s160/charity1.jpg" /></a><span style="font-size: large;">This weeks Guest Author spot belongs to award winning Erotica Author Charity Parkerson. If you enjoy her interview check out her books at <a href="http://www.charityparkerson.com/">http://www.charityparkerson.com/</a></span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 16.35pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16.35pt;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16.35pt;"><i>1. First, for avid readers, fans, and the curious out there, what's the best way to ask you a question?</i></span><br />
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="line-height: 21.81818199157715px;"></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 21.81818199157715px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="line-height: 21.81818199157715px;">I check my Facebook fanpage several times a day. I can always be reached there. <a href="http://www.facebook.com/authorCharityParkerson" style="color: #0068cf; cursor: pointer; line-height: 21.81818199157715px;" target="_blank">http://www.facebook.com/authorCharityParkerson</a></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 21.81818199157715px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="line-height: 21.81818199157715px;"><i>2. Do you have a favourite character from another author’s book?</i></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="line-height: 21.81818199157715px;"> I have a new favorite every time I finish a new book, lol. </span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="line-height: 21.81818199157715px;"><i>3. Do you pre-plan your stories or are you a take-it-as-it-comes writer?</i></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="line-height: 21.81818199157715px;"> I do an outline first, but once my characters take on a life of their own they end up taking over the story.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="line-height: 21.81818199157715px;"><i>4. Where does your inspiration comes from? What motivates you?</i></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="line-height: 21.81818199157715px;"> Every where and every thing. Sometimes I'll have a dream, hear a song, or since I'm a people-watcher, I'll see something on the street that will cause an idea to fire to life.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="line-height: 21.81818199157715px;"><i>5. Do you have set schedule to write to or do you grab the time as it comes?</i></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="line-height: 21.81818199157715px;"> I do have a schedule. Of course if an idea strikes, then I will write right then, if I can, but otherwise I keep bankers hours during the day so that I stay on track. </span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="line-height: 21.81818199157715px;"><i>6. How do you take writing interruptions?</i></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="line-height: 21.81818199157715px;"> Not well, unfortunately. If it's my kids or husband, then they come first, but if it's something like having an appointment or running an errand, I hate the world.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="line-height: 21.81818199157715px;"><i>7. What do you enjoy and what do you hate about writing?</i></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="line-height: 21.81818199157715px;"> I love losing myself to this new world that I have created and being able to live a thousand lives in one lifetime. I hate not sleeping because my mind won't stop creating for a few so I can rest.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="line-height: 21.81818199157715px;"><i>8. Mostly for our other authors out there, what’s your advice as to how to handle a bad review?</i></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="line-height: 21.81818199157715px;">With grace, please? I know it's hard and you should have some place that you can go for a sympathetic ear, but be professional and stay quiet. If someone has spent their hard-earned money to buy your book and you paid a bill with that money then they should be able to say they hated it. That's their right.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<i><span style="line-height: 21.81818199157715px;">9. </span><span style="line-height: 17.27272605895996px;">What other projects do you have on the boil?</span></i></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="line-height: 17.27272605895996px;">I'm working on the next book in my new series, the "Sexy Witches" This book is "The Wizard & The Wanton" I'm very excited about it and haven't wanted to do anything else.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<i><span style="line-height: 17.27272605895996px;">10. </span><span style="line-height: 16.35pt;"> </span><span style="line-height: 16.35pt;">Do you have any advice to offer other Indie authors about self-publishing?</span></i></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="line-height: 21.81818199157715px;"></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 21.81818199157715px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: normal;"><span style="line-height: 17.27272605895996px;">Indie books are more scrutinized than any of the others, so you have to be even better. Use a professional editor, cover designer, and formats. There are people out there who will do these thing for cheaper than you realize.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<i><span style="line-height: 17.27272605895996px;">11. </span><span style="line-height: 16.35pt;">Does any particular strategy work for you to boost sales?</span></i></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="line-height: 21.81818199157715px;"> Paid advertising. I know, that stinks. When I first started out, I was able to use social media to boost sales but the longer my books are out there they need professional advertising help. I read somewhere that most books have a shelf life of two months so the only way to keep pushing yourself past that point is to look for places to help.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="line-height: 21.81818199157715px;"><i>12. Does social networking improve your sales?</i></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="line-height: 21.81818199157715px;">It can. I don't know all the tricks of the trade, but I didn't sell anything at all before I started on Twitter.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="line-height: 18.18181800842285px;"><i>13. Which authors give you inspiration? Do you have a favourite read amongst them?</i></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="line-height: 18.18181800842285px;">All authors inspire me. It takes a lot of bravery to show your soul to the world and then watch silently as they judge you loudly.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16.35pt; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<i><span style="line-height: 18.18181800842285px;">14. </span><span style="line-height: 32.727272033691406px;">Being an Erotica Author I imagine you get your fair share of questionable emails. Can you tell us about one that made you laugh?</span></i></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 21.81818199157715px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: normal;"><span style="line-height: 32.727272033691406px;">I had one that very adamantly wanted to braid my hair. </span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 17.27272605895996px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="line-height: 32.727272033691406px;"><i>15. Have you ever been recognised as an Author on the street?</i></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 17.27272605895996px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="line-height: 32.727272033691406px;">I have! Unfortunately, it was when I was $1.85 short at the grocery store and I was counting out my change to see if I had enough to cover it. The cashier said, "Hey, I know who you are. You wrote The Society of Sinners" </span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: arial, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="line-height: 32.71875px;">Thanks for being my guest Charity! Good luck with all your future books.</span></div>
David Leadbeaterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12413777525828197956noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7728969573422638602.post-33573951323790261412013-06-30T08:39:00.001+01:002013-06-30T08:50:37.668+01:00<b><i><u>The start of a brand new series:</u></i></b><br />
<b><i><u><br /></u></i></b>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwylzwMNJiI4uygRMIcLhLKlCWkqNfaHdtDEnMxpoKXrcoiT4WwlrYfb2j_tuIxEH9ZGlazjqN2fqIOp2-7gEBFSQJHcO9r_WifgBtUqLWBRTGPle1SgJAVRdtflsrS7XaQPw69r7cuhFh/s338/The-Disavowed-Final-225x338.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwylzwMNJiI4uygRMIcLhLKlCWkqNfaHdtDEnMxpoKXrcoiT4WwlrYfb2j_tuIxEH9ZGlazjqN2fqIOp2-7gEBFSQJHcO9r_WifgBtUqLWBRTGPle1SgJAVRdtflsrS7XaQPw69r7cuhFh/s320/The-Disavowed-Final-225x338.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
<b><i><u><br /></u></i></b>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Trent, Silk and Radford are the Razor’s Edge and the best spy team in the business – until the government they toiled, served and bled for, disavowed them.</span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Today, rejected and left to their own devices, they work on the fringes, helping good people who find themselves in bad situations.</span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Monika Sobieski is abducted at gunpoint in front of her eight-year-old son and The Razor's Edge are called in. It will take all their skills and courage to find her, and the hunt pushes each of them further than they are prepared to go. Refusing to give up on the young mother, they are eventually thrown into a vicious confrontation with Oleg Roth, an ex MMA champion, now head of the brutal Polish mob.</span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Join Trent, Silk and Radford as they 'finesse' their way through the decadent underbelly of Las Vegas, and infiltrate Roth’s horrifying secret world. Fight alongside them as they champion the vulnerable and wage war against the criminal elite.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">To take a look at the book follow the link: </span><a href="http://viewbook.at/B00DMHDIRA" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">http://viewbook.at/B00DMHDIRA</a><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>David Leadbeaterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12413777525828197956noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7728969573422638602.post-53990885178536517042013-04-19T22:01:00.002+01:002013-04-19T22:03:15.374+01:00Part 2 - Are you serious about your eBook?<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<u><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;"><b>Part 2 – Are you serious about your
eBook? Being Indie, is being ‘inBUSINESS’...</b><o:p></o:p></span></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">1. Once your book starts selling you will attract a
certain amount of reader interaction. Don’t engage in this lightly. It should
be genuinely desired and encouraged. In my humble opinion it should be the goal
of every author (yep - EVERY author) to chat and connect and interact with their
readers. I absolutely love receiving the hundreds of messages of enquiry and
encouragement from my readers. There was a tough time not so long ago where the
heartening messages were the only thing that kept me stuck to my gruelling
schedule. Don’t forget – they like your stuff so much they took time out of
their day to contact YOU.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">2. Following on from the above...it is important to
include a personal contact email address in your book. No, include it at least
twice. Make sure it’s at the beginning and, because Kindle books can start on
Page 1, also include it at the end. In addition, include links to your website
and blog where, again, it will be easier for readers to contact you personally.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">3. The email address is the starting point for your
next big project - The Mailing List. Once questions and contacts and queries
and messages of support start flooding through your email then create a
contacts list. This list will be the first thing you turn to when you publish a
new book and, like me, you might find it useful to bounce new ideas off some of
your readers. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">4. You become a serious Indie author when, as the
title of this post suggests, you understand it’s a full-time business. To help
with this, direct traffic from your established social marketing site to the quieter
ones. Create a circle. Call it a ‘nail that sale’ circle. Direct traffic from
twitter to your website to your blog to Facebook to Goodreads to Pinterest to
LinkedIn etc, etc, and leave an easy and helpful link on every site that leads
to your ‘buy’ page. Take some time to learn the way these sites work (I am
sadly guilty of not doing this myself – yet.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">5. Twitter may or may not be your best social
medium, but it has been mine. Do not let your marketing tweets grow stale.
Change them regularly. Think up new tweets, almost as if you were an advertising
agent. Oh wait, you are! Freshen them up every week or even every few days. Get
a friend or loved one to give them a brand new perspective. Once the great reviews
start rolling in use the rich content within them. Keep it inventive, original.
And don’t forget your fellow authors – they will support you and you should
support them. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">6. Speaking of keeping it fresh – change your
marketing strategies often. One month write a new and interesting blog post.
Another, write an informative or a personal blog. On another engage in several
interviews. On yet another month host a guest blogger or a fellow author. Each
new approach introduces you to a different audience and lends greater
visibility to your name and what should fast be becoming your <b>brand</b>. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">7. Join an author group on Facebook or Goodreads and
other Social Marketing sites. You will find new friends and new outlets for
your work. Listen carefully to what these people have to say. Share your
experiences and give your advice freely.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">8. Here’s one I intend to try soon, but haven’t yet had
the chance beyond a single interview. If anyone has had any success with this
perhaps you could drop me a line of advice. LOCAL marketing. Most places have a
local press, a free paper, a giant supermarket and coffee shop that enjoys promoting
‘local’ initiatives. Some supermarkets have a free paper. Perhaps there are
some book clubs in your town?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">9. Organise a Blog Tour. There are many bloggers out
there interested in your stuff, but it’s unlikely they will come to you. It
sure can’t hurt to send a note of enquiry, and there are guidelines around to
help you write it. Clearly, it would be useful to coincide the tour with a new
release, but be careful – I’ve seen these overdone, and it can be boring as
hell! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;">10. GIVEAWAYS! Everyone loves a freebie! Maybe coordinate
one before a new release (this helps to form your marketing campaign.) There
are many ways to organise a giveaway, KDP being the most obvious. There is an
Amazon page that links you to all the sites where you can advertise your free
book, along with the respective forms to complete. Check it out - </span><a href="http://authormarketingclub.com/members/submit-your-book/"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;">http://authormarketingclub.com/members/submit-your-book/</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">It’s a tough one, this giveaway lark. I personally
don’t believe it has ever helped me sell more books, but then I haven’t
embraced it to the max like some of my author friends. Not yet. In addition,
you could have paperback copies available and run an entirely more personal
giveaway. Goodreads also offer coupons. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">11. Please remember, there are many forms of ‘art’
out there, and many people trying to self-promote their work. Diversity is
good. Help your fellow ‘artist’, as well as your fellow author and your
potential audience broadens dramatically.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">12. A final and important point- this is a self-fulfilling
journey, no matter how you measure a person’s success. If you can’t try to help
your fellow author to sell more books than you, then you shouldn’t be here. If
you are a genuine supporter of the new author movement – then hop on and enjoy
the ride! The way ahead, though veiled in mystery, promises to be a thrilling
one.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">13. Brag a little. You wrote this thing. You created
this entire world from nothing. Someone out there is reading your creation
before they go to sleep or instead of watching Greys Anatomy. They bought your
work and they’re loving it! It’s stopping them turning the light out! Damn,
isn’t that just one of the best feelings in the world?</span><span style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
David Leadbeaterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12413777525828197956noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7728969573422638602.post-31356546437820635492013-02-28T20:22:00.000+00:002013-02-28T20:26:23.756+00:00<br />
<div style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: large; line-height: 20px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><u><b>A brief Q and A with Author, David Leadbeater.</b></u></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<div dir="ltr">
<div dir="ltr">
<div dir="ltr">
<div dir="ltr">
<div dir="ltr">
<div dir="ltr">
<div class="ecxSection1">
<div style="padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: large; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: large; line-height: normal;"><u style="line-height: 20px;">Q</u>: The Matt Drake Series has been a huge success. When writing it did you have a particular audience in mind?</span></span></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: large; line-height: normal;"><span style="line-height: 20px;"><u>David</u>: I envisioned the adventure as an ongoing piece of pure escapist entertainment. Nothing too serious or (hopefully) anything that might happen in real life. A story best enjoyed with an open mind, an open bottle of wine or beer, and a sense of fun</span><span style="line-height: 20px;">. It should read like a Hollywood blockbuster. Anyone looking for serious thriller fiction would be best advised to try a sample first.</span></span></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: large; line-height: normal;"><span style="line-height: 20px;"><u>Q</u>: You have explained to your readers that the first 4 books make up the ‘Odin Cycle’. Obviously this requires a big storyline. How would you sum it up for readers who aren't familiar with your work?</span><br style="line-height: 20px;" /><br style="line-height: 20px;" /><u style="line-height: 20px;">David</u><span style="line-height: 20px;">: The brief version? Matt Drake, a man struggling to kickstart a new career after seven years out of the army, gets dragged into a sprawling, non-stop action adventure where he is forced to call upon his old skills and confront the many unresolved nightmares of his past to help save the world.<span class="ecxapple-converted-space"> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: large; line-height: normal;"><u style="line-height: 20px;">Q</u>: How will the Matt Drake series evolve after the ‘Odin Cycle’? Is there to be another 'Cycle'?</span></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: large; line-height: normal;"><u style="line-height: 20px;">David</u>: Book 5 – due in April/May 2013 – will be an adventure in its own right and form the ‘bridge’ to a new set of ancient mysteries - now planned as a three book cycle based around Babylon, the ancient Gods, the crazy Tower of Babel and other legends, it will pose the biggest test yet to our struggling heroes.</span></div>
<div style="padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: large; line-height: normal;"><br style="line-height: 20px;" /><span style="line-height: 20px;"><u>Q</u>: Staying with that last thought, the series actually centres around many diverse and interesting characters, not just Drake. Was this deliberate or did the story just evolve that way?</span><br style="line-height: 20px;" /><br style="line-height: 20px;" /><u style="line-height: 20px;">David</u>: I wanted more than a single character to drive my story. I wanted several colourful, likeable men and women. The idea has proven favourable beyond my wildest dreams. I get so many emails begging me not to kill off Alicia, or not to make Mai the Coyote, or giving me half-a-dozen reasons why they like Torsten Dahl better that Drake. And it's proving even more popular as each character's lives and trials unfold and evolve with each novel. Readers love getting stuck in again to see how their favourite is doing and revisiting the chemistry between the characters. Killing off a major character early on in the series also shows that I am not afraid to take risks and move forward, something that will be proved again in the next cycle of books. Readers be warned - major events are coming!<br style="line-height: 20px;" /><br style="line-height: 20px;" /><span style="line-height: 20px;"><u>Q</u>: Your work reads like a Hollywood blockbuster. What do you think gives it that quality?</span></span></div>
<div style="padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: large; line-height: normal;"><br style="line-height: 20px;" /><span style="line-height: 20px;"><u>David</u>: It hadn't been done in quite this way before. I wanted a truly distinct approach, to present each new release as an event that's highly anticipated and tailored to send the reader into that fun-filled zone of escapism, filled with the impossible action, humour and good times that they look forward to, much like a new movie.</span></span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
David Leadbeaterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12413777525828197956noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7728969573422638602.post-68778422371024636792012-12-18T19:56:00.001+00:002012-12-18T19:58:02.943+00:00<br />
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm;">
<u><span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: small; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 20px;">On a Personal Note</span></span></u>:</div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: small; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 20px;">As it’s nearing the end of an amazing breakout year, I hear you ask – what’s coming next?</span></span></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: small; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 20px;">Well, unless Joss Whedon finally gets his act together and drops me a line the initial Matt Drake series will reach an explosive climax in January with Book 4 – The Tomb of the Gods. Tomb will not only tie up all the current loose ends in the action-packed manner you are already accustomed to, but lay the groundwork for a fantastic new direction I have planned for Matt Drake, a different, intriguing concept.</span></span></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: small; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 20px;">More on that later – and by ‘later’ I mean at the end of Tomb of the Gods. . . </span></span><span style="font-family: Wingdings; line-height: normal;"><span style="line-height: 20px;">J</span></span></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: small; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 20px;">So…that will be up first for 2013. Then, if time and circumstance allow, I’m looking at releasing 4 more books next year. This would include Drake 5 (…lost at sea…?) and the start of a great new series I’m already developing. I’d also like to throw something new out there to my readers – Let’s go interactive!! What would you prefer next? – Drake 5, Chosen 2 and 3, or the new series….please leave a comment or send an email to the usual address.</span></span></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: small; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 20px;">I’m really pleased that, despite only starting in March and working a full time job, I managed to write three books this year. The enthusiastic personal emails from readers and the very supportive and evergreen group of online authors are the things that make it all worthwhile. I can’t express my gratitude enough. A huge thanks to all.</span></span></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: small; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 20px;">On a different note I have recently joined a new group of innovative, forward-thinking authors who will try to take things to the next level in the new year. They are called Bestselling Reads - <a href="http://www.bestsellingreads.com/" style="color: blue; cursor: pointer;" target="_blank">www.bestsellingreads.com</a> (new website coming soon) - Twitter handle - @bestsellingread - so maybe check them out. There are some great writers involved and you’ll be hearing a lot about them in 2013.</span></span></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: small; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 20px;">And that’s it. Spread the cheer, have a drink for Drake and the team and me. Ok, maybe not for Drake. Make mine a double Rum and diet Coke (yeah, I never said I was normal).</span></span></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: small; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 20px;">Drake and I will see you early 2013 for the kind of action that might just set your Kindle on Fire. </span></span><span style="font-family: Wingdings; line-height: normal;"><span style="line-height: 20px;">J</span></span></div>
David Leadbeaterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12413777525828197956noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7728969573422638602.post-71282023256878803422012-07-24T10:06:00.001+01:002012-08-04T14:32:08.697+01:00eBook Publishing (A brief guide for beginners)<div style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; padding: 0px;"><u><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: small; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 20px;">Are you serious about your eBook?</span></span></u></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; padding: 0px;"><u><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: small; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 20px;"><br />
</span></span></u></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: small; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 20px;">You want the best for your kids, don’t you? Well, imagine your book’s your baby. What wouldn’t you do for it?</span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: small; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 20px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: small; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 20px;">I have had some reasonable success with eBooks. Beyond luck, I have no idea why my books have sold so many copies since March. There are no formulas, no guarantees, only your own drive and spirit and the love you have for your writing. So, in the spirit of my writing – that is, with the barest minimum of waffle - I’ll run you through a process that may or may not have mixed results </span></span><span style="font-family: Wingdings; line-height: normal;"><span style="line-height: 20px;">J</span></span></div><div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; padding: 0px;"><br />
</div><ol start="1" style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0cm;" type="1"><li class="ecxMsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px 0px 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: small; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 20px;">Write, edit and polish your first novel. Try to finish this creative process before diverting your attentions elsewhere. Pay particular attention to the TITLE of your book as, along with the cover, it is clearly your immediate selling point.</span></span></li>
<li class="ecxMsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px 0px 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: small; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 20px;">Write the blurb of all blurbs. Make it tight. Include a 'hook'. Write the blurb that would make YOU buy the book. A potential reader who likes your cover and title will read your blurb next.</span></span></li>
<li class="ecxMsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px 0px 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: small; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 20px;">Earmark and expect to spend a minimum of £500-£750 (UK pounds) on your great venture. It’s a small amount compared to being able to realize the dream of selling that first copy.</span></span></li>
<li class="ecxMsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px 0px 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: small; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 20px;">A highly advisable option is to invest in a professional editor and – if necessary – a formatter. Their fees aren’t as exorbitant as you might think and they will take the stress out of delivering that final ‘reader-ready’ product.</span></span></li>
<li class="ecxMsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px 0px 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: small; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 20px;">Whilst this process is being undertaken commission a professional cover designer to create you a stunning book cover. Have fun with it. Experiment.</span></span></li>
<li class="ecxMsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px 0px 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: small; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 20px;">Time to start LINKING and building your online presence before the book hits- expect to spend many, many hours of your life doing this. Create a Website (Weebly is free) to advertise your books. Start a blog (Blogger is free) and decide which direction you want it to take. The options are limitless, but it should be something you will want to share and have a strong opinion about. You may want a Facebook/Goodreads presence. You may want to join IAN – The Independent Author Network. You may want to publish on Smashwords and Createspace. All these options will give you and your book increased visibility and, believe me, there are many more.</span></span></li>
<li class="ecxMsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px 0px 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: small; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 20px;">You should already have a Twitter presence. If you are an #indie author you will soon find many others like you out there. The Twitter community is vast, engaging, and full of good people ready to champion your cause. Support and share interesting tweets and articles. Search for information relevant to your product and pass it on to others. Be prepared to have more fun than you could imagine and spend untold hours on this alone. Twitter is addictive and fun, even more so when you find that your fellow authors are becoming your friends.</span></span></li>
<li class="ecxMsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px 0px 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: small; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 20px;">Publish your book only when it’s ready. LINK the 'Buy' pages of your book to your Website and Blog, and possibly Twitter.</span></span></li>
<li class="ecxMsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px 0px 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: small; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 20px;">Create yourself an Author Central page through Amazon. Don’t forget to add a photo for that personal touch. UK and US Author Central pages are separate, and there are tools available on the US site to increase the aesthetic impact of your blurb– (Italics, bold etc). </span></span></li>
<li class="ecxMsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px 0px 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: small; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 20px;">Now, you’re ready. Hang on and enjoy the ride. Your arms should be outside the carriage at all times. You won’t be able to sit back, and you should be having a ton of fun.</span></span></li>
<li class="ecxMsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px 0px 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: small; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 20px;">#BuyIndie!</span></span></li>
</ol>David Leadbeaterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12413777525828197956noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7728969573422638602.post-42516735088004110572012-05-17T20:14:00.003+01:002013-02-05T15:16:24.748+00:00Of Matt Drake and Escapism<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #2a2a2a; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 15pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm;">
<b><u><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: small; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 20px;">Of Matt Drake and Escapism.</span></span></u></b><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; line-height: normal;"><span style="line-height: 20px;"></span></span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #2a2a2a; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 15pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #2a2a2a; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 15pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: small; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 20px;">With each new release of the Matt Drake series, I think it important to draw attention to this short piece I wrote regarding the novels.</span></span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #2a2a2a; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 15pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #2a2a2a; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 15pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: small; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 20px;">Plainly put, if you want something a bit literary, look elsewhere. Try my short story - <a href="http://tinyurl.com/7aj4lrz">Walking with Ghosts</a> - But if you want fast-paced, escapist action laced with humour and written with energy by a writer who <i>loves</i> writing, then grab yourself a sample of <a href="http://tinyurl.com/777pedb">The Bones of Odin</a>. If you like the first chapter – you’ll like the rest of the book.</span></span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #2a2a2a; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 15pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: small; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 20px;">Same goes for the second book in the series, and the third…</span></span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #2a2a2a; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 15pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #2a2a2a; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 15pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: small; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 20px;">If you’ve had a hard day at work and get home wanting to unwind with a book and maybe a glass of wine, or you like to read an hour before bed without having to tax the mind too much then the Matt Drake series is aimed at you.</span></span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #2a2a2a; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 15pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #2a2a2a; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 15pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: small; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 20px;">These stories are actually designed to take you away from your day without engaging too much of the brain matter. Yes, there’s an actual plan, a conscious effort to do it.</span></span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #2a2a2a; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 15pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: small; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 20px;">So, no excuses.</span></span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #2a2a2a; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 15pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #2a2a2a; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 15pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: small; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 20px;">If you want to escape. . . dive into Matt Drake.</span></span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #2a2a2a; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 15pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #2a2a2a; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 15pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: small; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 20px;">And while we're at it the third and fourth in the series are out now and the fifth is looking good for an April/May 2013 release.</span></span></div>
David Leadbeaterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12413777525828197956noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7728969573422638602.post-67378959886929810162012-05-10T16:13:00.002+01:002012-05-11T18:29:59.372+01:00Serenity Avenged!<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #2a2a2a; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 15pt; margin-bottom: 8.55pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;"><b><u><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: x-small; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 18px;">SERENITY AVENGED!</span></span></u></b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: x-small; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 18px;"></span></span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #2a2a2a; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 15pt; margin-bottom: 8.55pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: x-small; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 18px;">The best movie of the year has arrived! Will anything else be good enough to knock this one off its big, shiny pedestal this year? Really, I just can’t see it.</span></span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #2a2a2a; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 15pt; margin-bottom: 8.55pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: x-small; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 18px;">Biased, you say? Maybe a little. . .but I challenge you to go see it right now and then not think the same!</span></span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-color: initial; border-style: initial; color: #2a2a2a; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 15pt; margin-bottom: 8.55pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: x-small; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 18px;">"The Avengers" is fantastic, so worthy of Joss Whedon’s talents that in my opinion, yes it does indeed Avenge Serenity!</span></span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-color: initial; border-style: initial; color: #2a2a2a; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 15pt; margin-bottom: 8.55pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: x-small; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 18px;">"The Avengers" is so way beyond the ‘normal’ superhero production it’s unreal. The cast is awesome, the acting is great, the story is tremendous and everything keeps moving at an incredible rate.</span></span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #2a2a2a; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 15pt; margin-bottom: 8.55pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: x-small; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 18px;">I’m not going to go into any kind of story description here – you don’t need to know the story – but if you’re dithering, if you’re caught between ‘shall I or shan’t I’, then go. Just go. If you don’t- and then rent it on the little screen in a few months – you will wholeheartedly regret it!</span></span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #2a2a2a; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 15pt; margin-bottom: 8.55pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: x-small; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 18px;">The great parts here are the clash of personalities. The superhero crew don’t gel at first and end up fighting against each other – ego vs ego – soldier vs the rebellious Iron Man. Hulk vs Thor! Oh, yeah, believe it!</span></span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-color: initial; border-style: initial; color: #2a2a2a; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 15pt; margin-bottom: 8.55pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: x-small; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 18px;">We’re treated to some patented Whedonesque moments, some sparkly dialogue, some laugh-out-loud scenes (check when Loki meets Hulk near the end.), which all ends up making us care about what happens to everyone. And the end result is- character building, character caring, and pure old-fashioned excitement. The theatre experience was incredible, with the audience responding to the feel-good factor and really getting involved. Avengsome atmosphere! For me, that’s what it’s all about and why you spend your hard-earned.</span></span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #2a2a2a; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 15pt; margin-bottom: 8.55pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: x-small; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 18px;">So, the best two and a half hours you will spend in the cinema this year (and maybe until Avengers 2?) Only you can decide- but was it ever really in any doubt?</span></span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #2a2a2a; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 15pt; margin-bottom: 8.55pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: x-small; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 18px;">Go see The Avengers by Joss Whedon. You won’t regret it.</span></span></div>David Leadbeaterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12413777525828197956noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7728969573422638602.post-21782803948283721672012-03-20T22:21:00.010+00:002012-04-17T10:03:48.460+01:00#BuyIndie.... Let's help our fellow authors. . . posted on 20 March 2012 by David Leadbeater<span style="font-size: large;"> For my next post I wanted to move in a different direction. To all the Whedonites out there, don't worry, I'm planning something for The Cabin in the Woods as soon as I get a handle on it.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"> Anyway, I think it's mega-important to support our fellow Indie authors so I'm going to buy a new Indie Kindle book every other day for the foreseeable future and post the details here, including links and Twitter ID's. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"> I know this kind of thing is already being practiced out there, but this is one of my small contributions and I hope some other #indie 's are inspired to do their own thing too!</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Happy #indie Reading!</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">1. Leiyatel's Embrace by Clive S Johnson</span><b><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">http://tinyurl.com/7dv3uh5 </span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Twitter ID - @Clive_SJohnson</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>2. Crossfire BY Niki Savage </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span><br />
<b style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">http://tinyurl.com/7zqrzjn</b> <span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Twitter ID @nikisavage</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">3. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Dark Pool by Helen Hanson</b></span><br />
<b style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">http://tinyurl.com/6rtob27</b> <span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><br />
</b></span><br />
<br />
<b>Twitter ID @HelenHanson</b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">4. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Jaguar Sun by Martha Bourke</b></span><br />
<b style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">http://tinyurl.com/7jn8dw4</b> <span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><br />
</b></span><br />
<br />
<b>Twitter ID @martha_bourke</b><br />
<b><br />
</b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">5.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Gray Justice by Alan Mcdermott</b></span><br />
<b style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">http://tinyurl.com/d3bws5e</b> <span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><br />
</b></span><br />
<br />
<b>Twitter ID @Jambalian</b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><br />
</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">6. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Danger Undercover by Charity Parkerson</b></span><br />
<b style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">http://tinyurl.com/cqzjbh3</b> <br />
<b style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Twitter ID @charityparkerso</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">7. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Bluewater Killer by CLR Dougherty</b></span><br />
<b style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">http://tinyurl.com/c8y79mf</b> <br />
<b style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b> Twitter ID @clrdougherty</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">8. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Regarding Dead Things by the side of the Road by Benjamin x Wretlind</b></span><br />
<b style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> http://tinyurl.com/coqtd2w</b> <br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br />
</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Twitter ID @bxwretlind</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">9. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Bone Dressing by Michelle I Brooks</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b> http://tinyurl.com/c3f2ljz</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br />
</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Twitter ID @MichelleIBrooks</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">10.</span><b style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span>Cassidy Jones and the Secret Formula by Elise Stokes</b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b> http://tinyurl.com/chrvd9d</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br />
</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Twitter ID @CassidyJonesAdv</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br />
</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">11. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The Templar Agenda by John Paul Davis</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span>http://tinyurl.com/d7lr3b8</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b> Twitter ID @unknown_templar</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">12.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">13.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">14.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">15.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span>David Leadbeaterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12413777525828197956noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7728969573422638602.post-29627237557134747722012-02-16T21:38:00.000+00:002012-02-16T21:38:12.236+00:00Avenging Serenity<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><b><u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Avenging Serenity</span></u></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> (or- ‘Whedonising the masses’) <u>posted on February16th 2012 by David Leadbeater<o:p></o:p></u></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Ah, where did all the Browncoats go? Still licking their wounds, I guess.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> Will we ever forget poor old Alan Tudyk being impaled at the end of Serenity? Or the spine- tingling, utterly immortal words of Summer Glau: <i>“My turn. . .”</i> Our desperation suddenly and expertly turned to fire.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> So, with his new movie will Joss finally avenge the death of Firefly, the greatest Space Western of our time? <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> If anyone could. . .<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> Our hopes are on fire. The reason I’m connecting Firefly with The Avengers is because we all know the problems that plagued the show from <i>Upstairs. </i> Make this happen, they said. Make that happen, they said, whilst flicking the oily disinterest from the collars of their Saville Row suits. Malcolm Reynolds is too dour, too aggressive. The pilot ain’t right so let’s run it out of order, oh, and then let’s run some of the other episodes out of order too. That’ll solidify the viewership.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> Now Marvel are just Marvel, I guess, a huge entity of its own. But there’s no getting away from the fact that they know what they’re doing. Let me say this (too late): give Whedon free-reign, let him experiment. He will breathe new life into your aging characters. He will bring new blood to what has occasionally become a bloodless franchise. The <i>Mutant Enemy</i> is your salvation, my friends.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> My proof? Ask any Whedonite if they watch any new series or movie that involves a Whedon-branded actor? Well, the answer’s clear, and it’s all about the cult status. An actor achieves this status when he’s been <i>Whedonised. </i>Real word- just added it to my Thesaurus. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> And one more whisper into the ear of the masses: </span><a href="http://www.cantstoptheserenity.com/">http://www.cantstoptheserenity.com/</a> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> -they aim to misbehave in support of charity and have raised over $150,000.00 so far by movie screenings alone. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> And the trending goes on. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> The Avengers already has cult status, it started when they announced the name of the Director.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>David Leadbeaterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12413777525828197956noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7728969573422638602.post-40067542979043518232012-01-30T22:05:00.002+00:002012-02-13T21:40:13.479+00:00Joss Whedon and the Bite Size Vampire<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><b><u><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">Joss Whedon and the Bite-Size Vampire</span></u></b><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;"> <u>posted on 30<sup>th</sup> January 2012 by David Leadbeater</u><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">I don’t know Joss Whedon, not personally. I am one of the millions who know him only through his work. I first met him in 1997’s Welcome to the Hellmouth, and back then, even in that first forty minutes, you could just <i>tell</i> that something special was happening.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;"> So the forty-minute or, <i>bite-size</i>, Vampire was born. Some after-tea snackage sharpened with wit, dripping with humour, and glistening with character. This was a new programme that used pop culture references for fun and then later <i>became</i> <i>a pop culture reference itself</i>. This Joss Whedon guy made you care as he created a comical cocktail before mixing in a heady twist of fear. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;"> Simple, you say?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;"> It only seems simple when it’s done right. I only have to say <i>Once More With Feeling </i>or <i>Hush.</i> Simple premises, but has any other TV show ever pulled off anything similar so well?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;"> Something so deeply touching as a High School student body giving a special award to the geek-girl in <i>The Prom</i>, because the Class of ’99 has the lowest mortality rate in history, though no student questions why, or how? Or as ironic as a politician hiding the fact that he is a monster- and that monster is a giant snake?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;"> The Vampire, before Whedon, was a relic as outdated as the T-Rex before Jurassic Park. And yes, ironically, new <i>life</i> was breathed into a creature long dead, a creature many, back then, associated only with old Hammer Horror films.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;"> Whedon raised the bar again by instilling a <i>cult</i> status into his work. From college students inventing drinking games – sinking one whenever Sarah showed her bra or Giles cleaned his glasses – that continue to this day, to real life tragic stories where people sought solace in back-to-back episodes that saved them from the brink of suicide. Five by Five.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;"> The women are strong, all of them- though sometimes they do not know it. The Vampires are bigger and fiercer - they are monsters - but seen to be weaker because they go up against friends who fight as a team, unintentionally becoming heroes by their actions.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;"> The way was paved for a new flood of fanged fiends- Lost Girl, True Blood, Twilight. A new genre called Paranormal Romance. Their existence is a validation of original genius. One person took the time to care, allowing others to continue the momentum and care for offspring of their own. A life lesson.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;"> So Vampires are trending again. And yes, I guess I write about Vampires, but my Vampires are not Whedon’s. They’re good (for now), and at least one of them is gay. But my women are strong, as the new tradition rightly suggests they should be. Vampires have cheated death, you might say. Something once thought a mere terrifying extra is suddenly filling people’s lives, being identified with, laughed at, and even cheered on. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;"> And cried at? Well, do you remember <i>Becoming? The Body? Chosen?<o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;"> So an ordinary girl becomes a hero, rising to be extraordinary, and so do her friends as they share every bitter end together. And in the end High School is the biggest demon here, one we all have to overcome. If I asked Joss do you think he’d say his High School sat on a Hellmouth and that he fought demons almost every day? <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;"> And yours? What of yours, my friend?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;"> Shiny.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;"> Next. . . <i>The Avengers.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>David Leadbeaterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12413777525828197956noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7728969573422638602.post-46077656188917468652012-01-11T21:06:00.000+00:002012-01-11T21:06:44.297+00:00When ordinary people do extraordinary things.<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">When ordinary people do extraordinary things</span></u></b><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;"> posted on . . .2012 by David Leadbeater</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">Real heroes don’t wear masks. They don’t dream in colour. In the real world they’re not <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">super. </i>They’re the weird guy down the street who sees you’ve managed to strand yourself on the rope that swings across the beck and gets his feet wet pulling you back to dry land. It’s your mum. My daughter. The Chosen Few who go to fight for their country, for their way of life. They don’t go trying to be special, but one day they just <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">are</i>. . .</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As a child I thought my heroes were caped crusaders and wise-cracking web-slingers. I didn’t know the near-real-life version was the girl who stands resolute before the approaching monster. She’s smaller, weaker, and younger, but she never hesitates. Thanks for that, Joss.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So who did I turn to when a real-life nightmare came calling? My real heroes of course- my mum and dad. When I told them about a habitual bully, the scourge of our school, my mum wanted to head out straight away and confront him but my dad managed to calm her and <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>went round to see the bully’s father. Now that I’m older I know he must have been scared, but I never saw it then.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And the next day, the bully just went on to someone else. . .</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So it’s lunch-break and I’m walking free, feeling good, and I see a crowd has gathered past the old, empty classrooms where the teachers can’t see. Where the Prefects don’t go. The crowd’s silence betrays its guilt like a government betrays its country by hiding a politician’s expenses. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I walk among the quiet ones, the whisperers, witnesses whose eyes shine with sadistic glee, and move to the front. For a moment I stagger, I flashback and see myself there, on the ground, being kicked and jeered at by the bully, being pinched and spat upon, crying. . .</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And then I see with eyes that suddenly <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">can</i> dream in colour, and I utter those immortal words: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“She’s a girl!”</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The bully turns to stare at me, and then shrieks in surprise as my body suddenly slams into him. He goes down. I go down. We fight, scuffle and scratch, like kids do until a pair of teachers finally wade in and break us apart.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“I’m shocked at you.”</i> One of them says to me.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But. . . </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Red-faced, I am marched away and my last image is of the dishevelled girl. I never knew her name and never got to know. Her words ring out strongly: “I didn’t need your help, Leadbeater. Not really.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I turn to the bully and look him straight in the eyes. “My dad says: Stand Your Ground.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That was the day I became extraordinary.</span></div>David Leadbeaterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12413777525828197956noreply@blogger.com0