MSHP Blog Tour Week 8: An Interview with Stevan Ray Richards, Jr.!

I am interviewing Mountain Springs House Publishing editor, Stevan Ray Richards, Jr.  This is what he has to say!

1. What got you interested in writing? When did you get your big start?
I've been writing since I was 12. I started writing to process things I couldn't talk about and to deal with my physical limitations. My 'big start' just happened this week when I signed my fist contract, with Mountain Springs House.

2. Which author do you think influences you the most?
When I was younger, it was Stephen King. For a while it was Shakespeare. Recently, it's been Dashiell Hammett. For a time, it was Joyce Carol Oates. Not sure I really have a predominant influence anymore.

3. If you were only allowed to have five books for the rest of your life, which ones would you choose?
the Bible, the chronicles of narnia, if i could get them in one volume, mystic river, forrest gump, and the life of david gale.

4. What kind of writer are you: plotter, pantser, or a hybrid? Have you ever tried to switch it up?
I can be a plotter, though that's not my favorite way to work. I start with character and internal conflict, most of all, or my own emotional quandary of the moment and see what happens. I tend to talk to myself when I'm writing. Especially dialogue.

5. I know some writers have certain "superstitions" or things have to be a certain way before they can write-- a certain drink, music, etc. Do you have any peculiar things that have to be "just so" before you can get your writing mojo started?
I have no superstitions. But, if I'm stuck, I find that Sean Connery's advice from Finding Forrester is best. Start with somebody else's words. I have also found that sometimes, the first thousand words or so just prime the pump. It can take me a bit to get to the story. I have been known to listen to audiobooks while writing to shut up my inner critic.

6. Tell me about your current "work in progress."
I don't really have a work in progress. I have a story I've been sitting on for about 23 years that I need to type up and submit. It's about a little girl whose grandpa is half leprechaun. I just pitched an idea for a web series called 'The Confessional' to Ian Smith. Allison is pushing me to finish a novel I started in 1991 that's about a vampire who is a priest. It's tentatively titled 'Communion.'

7. If you could follow any writer for a day, who would it be and why?

I don't know if I'd want to 'follow him' for a day, but I would really like to have a few drinks with Stephen King and ask him a few questions. One of which would be, "Did you start wanting to write horror, or did it just work out that way?" A lot of his stuff is deeper than just the scare factor, if you look.


8. Reading reviews of your work, or work you're attached to: is it scary, or is it constructive criticism to learn from?

I've never read reviews of my work, or work I'm attached to. When I was in one of my last writing classes, what surprised and, I hate to admit, hurt a little, was when the readers of my story saw more in it than I did. Then I realized that was a good thing. Layering wasn't something I was trying to, or knew I could do. I concentrate on how I want my readers to feel at the end of a story. I don't expect everybody to like what I write. Opinions are like mouths... everybody's got one. I am willing to learn from anybody, but not everybody can teach me something.


9. Working for Mountain Springs House sounds like a blast. Did you ever see yourself being an editor before?

Working form Mountain Springs House is a blast. I saw myself as a writing teacher before I saw myself as an editor, but I like being an editor. Teaching is a lot more work. I'm an English Geek. I would edit TV commercials and newscasts if somebody would pay me.

10. The absolute best piece of advice anyone gave you about writing: What is it?

Don't judge yourself or your story. Write the damn thing.

MSHP Blog Tour Week 9: Plotter or Pantser?

In the world of writing, there are two extreme groups of writers:  Plotters and Pantsers.  Plotters, like the name implies, plot out their stories before writing.  Outlines, notes, and diagrams all lay out the road map they will take.  Pantsers go in by the seat of their pants, coining the term "pantser."  There are a multitude of hybrids, shades of gray in between the two, but they are all variations of plotting and pantsing.

For me, I think I'm somewhere in the middle.  I started of as a full-on pantser, but then I would never finish the projects.  I would end up writing myself into a corner that I could never write myself out of, and I would scrap it.  I would then feel like a complete failure, and "give up" temporarily until another idea hit me, and then I would repeat the process.

I have recently started a hybrid blend of both.  I start off pantsing it, but then follow up with summaries per chapter.  This gives me the guideline of what needs to happen in each chapter, and how they tie together.  If I come up with a cool quote or detail that just has to be in there, I can go back to that chapter and stick it in.  So far, it seems to make sense to me.  I haven't officially finished a project, but I have gotten twice as many words written.  It's impressive what a change in style will accomplish!

Any new writers out there, I would recommend playing with both styles, and create your own method.  There's nothing wrong with dabbling!  Experiment, and find what fits you!

So how about you:  Do you plot, pants, or fall in the middle?

MSHP Blog Tour Week 7: An Interview With a Character!

Today, I am interviewing one of my own characters for the blog tour!  I'm choosing to interview my hero and heroine, Justina and Gabriel.  In my story, this couple has to overcome centuries of hard feelings in order to overthrow a vampire dictator.

So, how did you meet?

Gabriel:  My blood-brother turned her in the early 1700's.  We lived together in Italy for many years before we had a...disagreement of sorts.

Justina:  (laughs) A disagreement?  He married another woman.  I'd hardly call that a disagreement.

Wow that can make life complicated! So, how is this "working together" thing working out?

Justina:  Surprisingly well, I think.  We used to make a great team before, so I wasn't surprised when we worked in sync again.  It was just a matter of trusting each other again after...

Gabriel:  Don't say it.

Justina:  I'm telling you, nothing will happen.  She's not Rumplestiltskin or Beetlejuice!

Gabriel:  It never fails, someone says her name and she calls.  Don't do it!

So, who is this mystery woman, is this the one that caused your estrangement?

Gabriel:  Yes, technically she's my wife, although according to our customs, our bond has dissolved.  Damien, my blood-brother and the leader of our family, forced our bond, many years ago.

Justina:  Damien has a habit of forcing many things upon those he "loves."  However, I think things will get much, much better soon.

I certainly hope things start looking up for you!  So, anything you would like to share with my readers about this partnership you have?

Gabriel:  No, not until it's complete.  Talk to us again after you publish our book, okay?

MSHP Blog Tour Week 6: Introducing, Cody Martin!

-->

This week's blog tour post is provided by Cody Martin!  I thoroughly enjoyed reading his post, and I hope you will too.  I think I have found some new music artists for my oldest child, who is quickly becoming a huge J-Pop fan.  

And now, introducing...Cody Martin!   

This week's theme for the MSH blog tour is "What blogs do you regularly follow and why?" To be honest, I hardly follow any blogs. Most of the blog posts I read come from links posted on Facebook and Twitter, either from fellow authors or from various blogs found around the Net. If a particular post title catches my attention or a writer recommends reading it, I'll often click on it.

Unlike tweets or Facebook posts, blogs are more in-depth. They require more time to read, if I have fifty friends, I don't really have time to read fifty posts a day. I usually just read the ones that catch my interest. But I feel I should read more blogs and follow them more closely. There may be quite a bit of instructional posts and advice I'm missing out on.

I like blogs (and Facebook posts and tweets) that mix the personal and the professional. I don't want every post to be about marketing, promotion, or reviews. I like knowing about the person behind the author or celebrity. I don't need to know every little detail they have done, but I like getting a feel for them, their likes and dislikes, what they do on weekends. One of my favorite tweeters is comic artist Rob Liefeld. Along with his work and business-related tweets, he talks about movies he likes or dislikes, his thoughts on whatever basketball game he is watching, and so on.  Now, I don't like basketball. But I know Liefeld does and it is fun to see him tweet about games and players that make him happy or upset him.

I try to balance my own blog and Facebook page with professional and personal content. When I started my blog, it was called Cody L. Martin - Author. Pretty boring name, huh? I struggled for a long time with what to write about, trying to keep it all writing and reading related. I then branched out into movie reviews, my life in Japan and more. After about a year, I decided my blog needed its own identity. I renamed it Resonant Blue, after my all-time favorite Morning Musume song. I did more posts by doing blog tours, having guest posts from fellow authors, and more. I like my blog but feel it has lost some of its focus. I've done a little too much that wasn't about me, and I may cut back a little on the guests and blog stops.

I'm hoping that readers of my blog and Facebook page are getting to know me. I hope they feel there is a person behind the author, and I want them to feel comfortable enough to comment and interact on any post I do. That's really the point of blogs and Facebook pages and tweets: to bring writers and authors together. That's what I love about publishing now, and the digital age we are in. Writers and readers are not so separate anymore. Readers can learn more about their favorite author as a person and interact with them in a way never before possible. Gone are the days when an old-fashioned fan letter may have gotten you an autographed picture, if you were lucky. And authors can get to know the readers buying their books and commenting on their posts. It's a wonderful level of interaction that was never possible before.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Links:

Resonant Blue - http://codylmartin.blogspot.jp

Facebook Page - https://www.facebook.com/pages/Cody-L-Martin/130001853834362

Bio:

An author and freelance writer, Cody L. Martin grew up in the beautiful mountains of Wyoming where he became an avid sci-fi fan. He wrote his first Star Trek fan fiction in high school and has since been branched out into sci-fi and action stories. Cody wrote his first novel Adventure Hunters in the same vein. He currently writes the monthly Star Trek column To Boldly Go… for In Genre. He works in Japan as a part-time English teacher in Yamaguchi Prefecture, and lives happily with his beautiful wife, Yoko. When he isn't writing he enjoys watching movies, reading and listening to Morning Musume, Berryz Koubou, C-ute, and other J-pop singers.

MSHP Week Five: Top Ten lists!

This week is incredibly hard for me to write.  Our mission for this week's blog post is to write our top 10 best and worst books that we have read.  There are so many that I could put on either list, it's really hard to choose!  However, I will try my hardest to narrow it down.

Top 10 Favorite Books, in no particular order.

1.  The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling-- I can't even begin to pick a favorite book out of the lot.  Growing with the characters, watching the conflict build throughout the whole series, it was amazing!  I could read them all again in a heartbeat!

2.  Southern Vampire Mysteries/Sookie Stackhouse books by Charlaine Harris-- They remind me a lot of Pringles, you can't just stop at one!  Sure, they're quick and easy reads, but they really do build on each other, and before you know it you've lost an entire week or two on a dozen books!

3.  Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen-- I adore this book, even after reading it for a college paper.  I'm also in love with the Ang Lee movie starring Emma Thompson and Kate Winslet.  Alan Rickman makes a stunning Col. Brandon.

4.  Outlander by Diana Gabaldon-- If you have never read this series, go do it.  Right now!  Sure, looking at the print copy is a little daunting; I believe the paperback copy has somewhere in the neighborhood of 780 pages.  Even still, the details she uses are amazing, and really make you feel like you're in Scotland during the Jacobite uprising!

5.  Interview with the Vampire/The Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice-- This is the book that started my journey into the horror/paranormal type genres, and really inspired me to write on my own.  I'm a sucker for details, I love a book that makes me feel like I'm sitting right there with the main character and feeling the way they feel.

6.  The Stand by Stephen King-- Yes, it's a big book, but I read it two summers in a row as a teen.  It felt so real!

7.  Daggerspell by Katharine Kerr-- First in a series,  I remember devouring this series (Daggerspell, Darkspell, The Bristling Wood, and Dragonspell) in about a week.  I love a good fantasy series that doesn't make a reader question the validity of the setting.

8.  Beyond the Highland Mist by Karen Marie Moning-- Another favorite where I got sucked into the storyline and couldn't let go! 

9.  Life and Death of Lily Drake by T. Michelle Nelson-- Anyone who can write about vampires in my hometown earns instant cool points.  I never thought Mount Vernon, Ohio had much potential as a book setting before now!

10.  The Rebel Spy by April London-- Maybe I'm a little biased because I've watched Rebel go from a little rough draft to published e-book.  Or maybe because April is my writing buddy and cheerleader/butt kicker/shoulder to cry on, and she's making sure I follow in her footsteps...but it's a favorite all the same.    


Now...Top 10 Least Favorite.  I'm sure some of these are favorites of someone, somewhere, and I do apologize for that.  However, just like the title says, these just weren't my favorite.  Feel free to try them out on your own, though!  Like the old saying goes, one man's trash is another man's treasure.  

1.  Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James-- I wanted to see what the hype was all about...and I'm still trying to figure out what all the hype was about.  To me, it was too heavy on "oh wow" and "so hot."

2.  A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway-- I tried.  I really did try to like this one, because Hemingway is huge!  However, his writing style just was too dry for my liking, and it was a rough read.  I only managed to finish it because I had a paper to turn in for class.

3.  Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer--  I actually kind of liked the first three books.  This one, however...somehow fell flat to me.  I don't know if it was the focus on the pregnancy or how the "imprinting" among the werewolves came off as more creepy than sweet, but it wasn't my cup of tea. Crazy as it sounds...I liked the movie better.

4.  1984 by George Orwell-- Another book that I muddled through for a grade. 

5.  In loose general terms, e-books that are maybe 20% book, and 80% ads and teasers for other books.  If you're going to "publish" a book like this, please acknowledge that it's a sampler instead of a full book! 


Really, there's not too many books that I dislike! 


How about you:  What's your favorite book?  Your least favorite book?

Week Four: Pet Peeves with Stacey Bee!

This week, I'm hosting Stacey Bee in the Mountain Spring House Publishing Blog Tour!  Stacey is a mother of four on the coast of Florida, who writes a little bit of everything-- screenplays, short stories, animation, fiction, children's stories, and more!

Our theme of the week:  Pet Peeves!  This is what Stacey has to say about hers.


Pet Peeves, we all have them ranging from something small to outright rage instances. For a writer pet peeves are major distractions that disrupt our flow of creativity, and can result in a meltdown.
For me, pet peeve #1, begin with missing pens and paper!

I love to write free hand then transfer my writings to my Mac. However, having four kids things like pens and paper have always seemed to have been a free for all for them and a luxury for me. It don’t matter if it is notebook paper or printer paper when my little Picasso’s have art on their mind I can kiss my paper good bye. Then like a mad woman I am running around looking for more, praying to keep my idea fresh in my mind!

Pet peeve #2, When I am happily (or not) writing along and my Mac, iPad whatever decides that it is going to freeze for some reason or shut down because I wasn’t paying attention to my low battery and I cannot work any more. Worse yet, suddenly and all my work is lost. I am forever grateful when I have that hard copy to fall back onto! If not, I will surely loose my mind, and cry at all I have lost.

Pet peeve #3 of mine is when people THINK they KNOW what it is exactly that us writers do… WE JUST WRITE! Sure we are intelligent and well educated but good things take time! They have this grand illusion that we walk up to our computers and pour out our souls like it is nothing to whip up complete books, or movie scripts in minutes. Nothing could be further from the truth. It is painstaking, creative torture some days to get  perhaps even a single complete sentence out, let alone everything we wish to accomplish! Some days we are just a plethora of great ideas or page after page of writing that is sunshine for our souls!

What people don’t realize is that most days to even get to the picture perfect story written or edited  or simply get a decent amount of pages we wish to get out of our brains is impossible enough, let alone have someone discredit our abilities.  Let’s see them create the worlds in which we do!

Pet peeve #4, when a writer looses their writings! It is tragedy when a writer looses their writing. We just want to drop to out knees,  pulling  a Marlon Brando only we scream “Why, why  me?? Dear God why me??? What ever have I done to deserve such malice??? “
It ain’t easy being an non-paid, under paid, under appreciated, not feeling the love  writer……


Stacey's personal blog can be followed at Stacey's Blog.

Blog Tour, week 3: My Routine!

Week Three of the Mountain Springs House Tour for Mountain Spring House Publishing is kicking off today! The theme: 

"Describe your writing routine. Are you more creative in the morning, evening? Do you write when you can? On your commute? Do you have your own workspace or share an area?"

 

 I am a total night owl.  A good 90% of my writing comes out after 9pm.  I do try to write whenever I can, letting no spare moment going to waste, but I am most productive after most of my household is asleep.  I've always been like that:  sporadic writing during the day, heavy writing after dark.

It's really hard to focus on the task at hand, immersing myself into the plot, setting, or conflict, when I have a toddler, teenager, and husband all jockeying for my attention.  They are all supportive-- well, some more than others, because the toddler doesn't understand-- but that doesn't mean that my writing is more important than them.  The silence in my house after everyone is asleep gives me the uninterrupted window to finish a thought process, at least until my contacts start to flip out of my head or I nearly pass out at the keyboard. 

I wish I had my own workspace, but currently I do not.  My computer is set up in the nook by the kitchen, off of the dining room and living room.  If inspiration strikes while I'm doing my daily tasks, it's no big deal to walk by, type something out, and go back to my routine.  It's a bit of a problem if I want to write or do school work while everyone is milling about, though, since I don't have the privacy or seclusion that I need to write my best.  I'm hoping to replace my broken laptop this next semester, so that I can take my writing with me into another room or even to the library, but until then, my desktop is it.  

I have a dream, though.  Someday we will move to the middle of nowhere with a nice house, and I will have a writing cabin on the property.  Kind of like a mother-in-law cottage, some place where I can lock myself away from the hubbub of my daily life, but not so far away that I have to actually run away from home.  

 

Bio:

I’m an Army wife, mom to two beautiful girls, and our diva English Bulldog named Duchess.  I’m also a full time student working toward a BA in English Literature from Grand Canyon University, set to graduate in 2015.  For the moment we call Virginia home, but I’m originally from Central Ohio.  In the last 13 years we’ve lived in Germany, Tennessee, Ohio, Hawaii, Texas, and now Virginia.  

I hope to have my first book completed before the year is out, if the stars all align correctly.  From the first time I opened a book, or maybe as soon as I learned how to write, I have wanted to become a writer.  No matter how often I tried to plan something else to do when I grew up, I always came back to writing. 

 

Introducing: Veronica Cronin!

BIO:

Veronica Cronin received a Master of Fine Arts degree in Creative Writing from Full Sail University and a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Florida Atlantic University. While writing into the wee hours of the night as a wife and mother, Veronica found success with the publications of her short story, “Bean Talk” in Second Chicken Soup for a Woman’s Soul, her poetry, and her photography. She taught high school writing, wrote the light-hearted “Forty-Something Relationships” as a columnist for theexaminer.com, and worked for The Walt Disney Company before writing her dramatic screenplay about a woman with bipolar illness, All My By Self, which earned her the Advanced Achievement Award in her graduate program. While pursuing writing, she’s hoping some of the pixie dust from being a Fairy-Godmother-in-Training at the Magic Kingdom’s castle hasn’t worn off.

She’s So Bipolar, Non-Fiction

That’s me! I decided to write She’s So Bipolar, because I could never find practical information on how to handle the illness. There are chapter titles such as, “Telling Your Children,” and “I’m Manic Now, An Experiment in Writing.” Most of my feedback has been very good, as people are learning. That was my main goal, to enlighten people about what it feels like to have it and how a person can handle it.

Putting a book out there about your own illness is scary and risky.  I did it for my daughter.  I wish there had been a book like mine at the time I was diagnosed in 1998.  There wasn’t.  I had Kay Redfield Jamison’s An Unquiet Mind, and the medical book for Bipolar, the main source for doctors!  It was a difficult read, but I read it anyway.  Mine is easy-to-follow, straight forward, and honest.  It’s real. 

I had to write the truth of the illness to make it believable.  I utilized my own photography, taking pictures of myself in different moods, as I was studying for my Master’s degree, and used them to show, not simply tell what the illness is like.  Some of the pictures may be shocking to see, if you know me, but I had to include them.  The book wouldn’t be the same without them.  It makes more of an impact with my words. 

There are a lot of bipolar books on the market, but I had it in me to write this one and I had to do it.  There are non-fiction and fiction books.  There are movies and television shows.  However, any attention to the plight of those with mental illness in a positive light should be written or filmed.  There is entirely too much stigma surrounding bipolar illness.  I had a student ask me once, who did not know of my illness, “Aren’t bipolar people murderers?”  I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to write what I know, and what I know is that there are millions of us out there that are hiding their illness because of that very reason. 

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Shes-So-Bipolar-Memoir-Photographs/dp/0615813763/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1369945243&sr=8-1&keywords=she%27s+so+bipolar

Web site:  www.veronicacronin.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/veronicacroninauthor

Vcronin67@gmail.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/VCronin67

You Tube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UwRs13lUS0&list=FLhESD1VFDFhkX_OvE1dIDWA&index=1

Blog: http://croninandhanrahan.blogspot.com/

Mountain Springs House Blog Tour!

Mountain Springs House Publishing is kicking off a blog tour!  From Memorial Day until Labor Day, all interested authors connected to MSHP-- signed, prospective, and anyone in between-- will be hosting and guest posting along each other's blogs!  You can learn more about Mountain Springs House Publishing at www.mountainspringpublishing.com or their facebook group, Mountain Springs Facebook Page.  Be sure to like them for all the latest news of their up and coming titles!  

Now, I'm going to preface all this by saying that I'm a blog tour virgin.  I'm looking forward to seeing where all I end up over the course of the summer, chatting with new people, and maybe even getting the kick in the rear I need to keep up with regular postings!  This entire process is going to be a learning experience for me, so please...be gentle! 

Next week, I will be hosting Kathy Ree, and I will be hosted on Veronica Cronin’s blog.  We will be discussing what has inspired us to write our current books.  I'm excited to see how similar (or different!) our inspirations may be! 

A little bit about me: 

I’m an Army wife, mom to two beautiful girls, and our diva English Bulldog named Duchess.  I’m also a full time student working toward a BA in English Literature from Grand Canyon University, set to graduate in 2015.  For the moment we call Virginia home, but I’m originally from Central Ohio.  In the last 13 years we’ve lived in Germany, Tennessee, Ohio, Hawaii, Texas, and now Virginia.  

I hope to have my first book completed before the year is out, if the stars all align correctly.  From the first time I opened a book, or maybe as soon as I learned how to write, I have wanted to become a writer.  No matter how often I tried to plan something else to do when I grew up, I always came back to writing. 

Tiny tidbit of trivia:  I was a Girl Scout in the same troop as MSHP founder Allison Bruning way back when.  I had earned the Silver and Gold Awards as a Girl Scout, and my oldest daughter is currently working on her Silver Award project with her troop as well.