Author Interview: S.S. Michaels

Today we're interviewing author S.S. Michaels aka slushpilehero for all her twitter stalkers.  :)  She can be found online at twitter and wordpress.  

BIO: S. S. Michaels has a B.S. in Business Administration and a M.A. in Media & Visual Arts. She has worked for such entities as Scott Free (Ridley Scott), dick clark productions, inc. (The American Music Awards, The Golden Globe Awards, Arista Records 25^th Anniversary Celebration, etc.), and CBS. She has lived abroad, traveled widely, driven a race car, and jumped out of an airplane. She has completed two novels and has others in the works. A handful of her short stories have appeared in various publications. She writes from her home in the South, where she lives with her husband, two kids, two dogs, and a swarm of inhospitable sand gnats. She is represented by The McVeigh Agency.

JS:  What have been the most rewarding aspects of being a writer?

SM:  I don’t have to put up with co-workers and I can do whatever I want, whenever I want.

JS:  The most challenging?

SM:  Finding appropriate agent representation. Querying was hell. It was a tremendous learning process, and I had some really good experiences come out of it (not to mention a couple of bad ones), but it just seemed to take a lot of time and a lot of energy. I had plenty of requests for material, so that wasn’t a problem. Just waiting on decisions and the ones that were “almost” practically killed me – I have a lot more gray hair now and my fingernails are just beginning to grow back.

JS:  What would you say are the most important qualities one needs to possess in order to make a living as a full-time writer?

SM:  To “make a living”? Is that possible? I don’t know, but I imagine it takes a highly active imagination, self-discipline, a thick skin, life experience, an ability to sculpt with the written word, courage, a tireless and well-connected agent, and a super-charged metabolism (you know, so your butt doesn’t outgrow your chair).

JS:  Why do you write?

SM:  I can’t help it, I just do.

JS:  What's a typical day like for you?

SM:  Um, get the kids off to school, fire up the laptop, turn on some music, and then write until the school day is over. I update my blog when the mood moves me, I work on projects with my agent, and I do a little networking via Twitter. Sometimes I read. Oh, and I play with my dogs, too – they’re attention hogs.

JS:  Do you ever experience writer's block? If so, how do you work through it?

SM:  There’s no such thing as writer’s block.

JS:  How long does it generally take to write one of your novels?

SM:  Rough drafts can take anywhere from a couple of weeks to several months. SHORT BUS HERO, for example, took about three weeks, while ST. JAKE (working title) has taken months and I’m still nowhere near the end (researching economics and terrorism is taking longer than I expected).

JS:  What's your favorite quotation?

SM:  During the time when I was turning my screenplay POP ART into my first novel, I read Stephen King’s LISEY’S STORY. I had been having doubts about whether or not I could finish an entire novel, and one line from King’s book really spoke to me: “I will holler you home.” The first “grown-up” novel I can remember reading was THE SHINING, when I was ten or something. I was a die-hard King fan throughout high school, and then kind of gravitated towards other things as I floated through adulthood. LISEY’S STORY was the first King book I’d read in many years, and, I don’t know, it did kind of feel like being “hollered home” to reading as well as to writing.

JS:  What are you working on now?

SM:  At the moment, I’m working on a novel called HAPPY ENDINGS, INC.

It’s my interpretation of a zombie story. It’s about breathing life back into the business of death. These days, people have relatives all over the country, and it’s so expensive to load the family on a plane and fly out to Uncle Roy’s funeral, right? Well, Caleb Exley, sole heir to his uncle’s funeral empire, has some new ideas about giving customers a proper send-off, one they can share with far-flung relatives at a fraction of the cost of airfare. It’s kind of like Weekend at Bernie’s meets Ghost Adventures, with a dash of Savannah history and real reanimation science thrown in there for the intellectuals.  

JS:  What do you think is one of the biggest misconceptions aspiring novelists have of the writer's life?

SM:  Hmmm… I really don’t know what “aspiring novelists” think about a “writer’s life,” so I can’t really say. My biggest misconception: most writers are snobs – turning out to be totally false. I’m finding that horror writers, especially, are very nice people.

As for the “writer’s life” I lead… um… is there a specific stereotype I’m supposed to be propagating? I mean, I don’t go around wearing black turtlenecks and chain smoking or drinking myself into oblivion in the Florida Keys or anything. Am I doing it wrong?

JS:  What advice would you impart to these aspiring novelists?

SM:  Write good stories, of course. Nothing else matters.

JS:  You’ve written 2 complete novels and you’re working on 2 more and all have been picked up by your agent to sell, how do you handle having a deadline now?  Does that make it easier or harder?

SM:  I don’t really have a deadline yet. I’m just cruising along at my own speed. I like deadlines, though – I’m a world-class procrastinator, so deadlines actually help me get more work done.

JS:  Where did the inspiration for SHORT BUS HERO come from?

SM:  My sister-in-law. She is a rabid wrestling fan who would give the shirt off her back to anyone. I imagined what a fit she would have if her favorite wrestler got canned and what she might do to help him. She is such a sweet person and is so much fun – and she’s always seemed to me like she should be a character in a book. (She also happens to have Down syndrome.)

JS:  What do you hope your readers take away after they’re done reading?

SM:  The knowledge that people with Down syndrome are truly special. Even though they can be super stubborn!

JS:  Tell me a little about SHORT BUS HERO.

SM:  SHORT BUS HERO is the story of a young woman with Down syndrome who hits it big in the lottery, and instead of using the money to fund a group home for herself and her similarly-abled friends, she insists on giving it to her favorite out-of-work pro wrestler.

I really wrote the story for my sister-in-law and for my mother-in-law. They are two of my biggest supporters.

JS:  That is truly spectacular. They must be very proud of how far you’ve come.  Thanks for sharing this with us and I hope to see you on the bestseller’s list soon.  Make sure to keep in touch, so I can pass along the information about where to purchase your books from.  

Author Interview Lynn Rush.

Well we've had a slight change of plans.  Today I'll be interviewing Lynn Rush. 

BIO:  Lynn Rush began her writing career in 2008, since then producing thirteen paranormal romance novels.

She enjoys posting to her blog, Light of Truth (http://lynnrush.wordpress.com/), six days a week and actively participating in FaceBook and Twitter.

She is actively involved with Romance Writers of America (RWA) and its special interest chapter Fantasy, Futuristic and Paranormal (FF&P) and American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW.)

 Lynn has both an undergraduate and graduate degree in the mental health field and has enjoyed applying that unique knowledge to developing interesting characters. She is a member of two online critique groups, comprised of both published and unpublished authors, specifically focusing on fiction for the younger adult. In addition, she enjoys volunteering in her church bookstore.

When Lynn’s not writing, she spends time enjoying the Arizona sunshine by road biking with her husband of thirteen years and going on five-mile jogs with her loveable Shetland Sheep dogs. She always makes time to read a good speculative fiction novel, her favorites being Ted Dekker, Frank Peretti, PC Cast, and Stephanie Meyer.

Lynn, thank you for joining us today.  First I’d like to congratulate you on not only winning the Write Your Name Across the Sky Author Contest for 2009, but also securing a publishing contract AND obtaining a wonderful agent!

JS:  When did you begin writing, and did you always envision being an author?

LR:  I didn’t really start writing until a few years ago. Way back, around 2002-ish I had a little idea and did a little jotting down (by hand) in a little notebook on lunch breaks. But I was totally just goofing around. I lost the notebook, never really gave it much thought after a while.

See—I’d never wanted to be a writer. Heck, I hated reading, how could I ever be a writer, right?

Yeah. Blame the not liking to read thing on graduate school…ugh, reading all those textbooks would kill anyone’s desire to read EVER again. Just kidding (well, sort of.)

No. It was back in summer of 2007 that I decided to get Light of Truth (first book ever) on the computer. Finished it November 2007 but had NO clue what to do next. So, I joined ACFW (American Christian Fiction Writers) in May 2008 and got into my first crit group.

After that, the stories flowed, and I’ve written 13 novels since then.

JS:  What have been the most rewarding aspects of being a writer?

LR:  Meeting so many amazing people has to be the first one. The second would be, learning a new skill. I never took a writing class or anything before I started writing, so I learned as I went (as evidenced by the first couple books, which will probably never leave the shelf…LOL.) There are a bunch more rewarding aspects, but the last one I’ll mention is how much fun I have losing myself in the worlds and characters I create. It’s so much fun to laugh and cry with them and torture them with crazy obstacles to overcome!

JS:  The most challenging?

LR:  Hmmm, not really sure. I don’t see much of anything that’s challenging, probably because I never really expected it to go anywhere. I guess the waiting can get tough sometimes. There are often long waits associated with agents, editors, and even contest results.

Oh—wait—I thought of one. . . A challenge is the cost of it all. Money-wise, it’s expensive to go to conferences and buy learning-the-craft books. It can get costly. So I’d say that was a challenge. 

JS:  Tell me a little about Violet Midnight.

LR:  It’s the fourth book I ever wrote and one of my favorite characters. I even had Emma host my blog for a week recently. She’s just so fun. Tough, yet broken. Oh, but can she kick some demon butt!!

The easiest way for me to describe the book is to share the back cover blurb with you. Is that okay?

The blurb:

Three years ago, Emma Martin awoke in a hospital, forever changed. Her brown eyes turned violet, and she had a mysterious tattoo on the inside of her wrist. With the help of Gabriel, a mentor turned love interest, she discovered she was a hunter of the undead. After he’s brutally killed by the very evil he trained her to vanquish, she rejects her calling and seeks out a new life.

Emma pursues a normal existence by attending college. Hiding her unique powers proves difficult because the mystical tattoo on her wrist burns when evil is near, and the heat does not dissipate until the evil is vanquished.

When Jacob Cunningham witnesses Emma using her powers and isn’t afraid, the walls she’s erected around her come crashing down. Her draw to him is intense, but she’s not sure she can trust him with her secrets or her heart.

JS:  Can you tell us a little more about how you conceived the story of Violet Midnight?

LR:  Much like how I came up with all my novels, I woke up one day with an idea. Maybe it was a dream that I didn’t remember having, but I just woke up one day and started writing. It’s been that way with almost all my novels.

The writing starts with what’s called a mind map. It’s just like an organized form of free thought. In the center of the page I had “Emma Martin” in a circle, then started drawing lines out from it with ideas, obstacles, etc.

As I wrote, the rest just kinda fell into place.  J

JS:  When you write, do you always know where you are going, or do your characters lead you in their own directions?

I RARELY know where I’m going with a story. My characters pretty much drive my stories.

LR:  What advice do you give to budding writers?

Write on. Yep—I often put that down when I comment on blogs or Facebook status’ because it’s true. Just write on. Keep going. When you’re waiting for a response from an editor/agent/whoever-write. When you’re waiting in the doctor’s office-write. When you’re waiting—okay, you get the idea. Any free moment you find-write. J

JS:   What were some of your favorite books when you were growing up?

LR:  Ahhh—I hate this question. J I see it asked all the time on blogs and such, and technically, it’s a really great question. But for me…I really don’t have a favorite, because I didn’t grow up reading. I watched a ton of movies, though. Like all the sci-fi and paranormal-type movies. Probably where a bunch of my ideas started percolating, huh?

Heck, I read Frank Peretti’s book, “This Present Darkness” and “Piercing The Darkness” April of 2006 and that’s when I really started reading.

After Peretti, I fell in love with Ted Dekker’s books, and then found Charlaine Harris, PC Cast and Stephanie Meyer. So I really don’t have a long track record of reading, that’s for sure.

JS:  What's a typical day like for you?

LR:  I’m a creature of habit, that’s fore sure. Get up around 5-ish, do a quick Bible devotion, go running or biking, do some writing, go to the day job (write over my lunch break), then come home and cook dinner for me and my sweet hubby, then write the rest of the night.

I’m sooooo boring—ask anyone.

My weekends pretty much look the same, but instead of going to the day job, I write. J

JS:  How long does it generally take to write one of your novels?

LR:  About 7-21 days, depending on the circumstances. When I was unemployed for four months, I wrote four novels. Each took about 7 or 8 days. But that’s writing full-time. When I’m working a day job, it takes about two to three weeks, depending on how full my weekends are.

Now remember, that first draft is a mega rough draft. The real fun starts during the edits.  J

JS:  How many have you written?

Fourteen

LR:  Can you tell us more about your journey?  (How did you find out about the contest?  How did you find your agent?  How long you’ve been writing, etc.)

I found out about the contest on the FF&P loop (Romance Writers Association’s Futuristic, Fantasy, and Paranormal group). So, I checked it out, sent in my entry, and let me tell you NO ONE was more shocked than me to see Violet Midnight won!

Seriously.

I still can’t believe it sometimes and I’ve even seen the book cover for Violet Midnight!!

Within three days of learning about the contest win, I signed with Super-Agent Cari Foulk from Tribe Literary Agency. I found TribeLit by following them on Twitter. I loved what they and some of their authors tweeted about, so I queried her. My writer friend, Frank Redman, was represented by her as well. So it all came together through a query and a referral!!

JS:  Is there anything else you’d like to say?

LR:  Write on!

No, seriously, thanks for interviewing me. This was fun.

Thanks again for taking the time for this interview and good luck with your first book.  Make sure to keep us all informed so we know where and when to buy it!

If anyone is interested in doing an interview with me, please feel free to contact me at j.souders (@) jasouders (.) com.  

Writer Wednesday- Interview with Fantasy Writer MJ Heiser

                              (Bio and photo courtesy of her publisher, Canonbridge.)

          

Today I have the absolute pleasure of interviewing a good friend of mine, fellow inkslinger and wonderful fantasy novelist, MJ Heiser.  

       BIO:  MJ Heiser was born in the Philippines to an American Navy Mormon and a Filipina Catholic.  She came to the United States as a baby, started reading at the age of three and began to write at the age of 12.  Educated in San Antonio, Texas, MJ is an avid student of religion, politics, anthropology and technological gadgetry.  She lives in Austin, Texas with her husband and their menagerie of pets and electronic devices.  Apart from writing, she spends her time walking, plotting, being silly, eating sushi and trying to not trip over something.  Her first book in the Chronicles of Jaenrye series is Corona, published first in eReader format in February 2010 by Canonbridge LLC.

JS:  First of all, thank you for joining me today.  What have been the most rewarding aspects of being a writer?

MH:  The most rewarding thing for me is the realization that I could be good at something, even if I was born with an atrocious singing voice.  That's a traumatic thing to realize as a little kid born into a family of musicians.  

JS:  The most challenging?

MH:  I have a fragile ego, so being told my work isn't good enough for anyone is brutal.  Fortunately, I've also learned to take it as much-needed guidance and a refreshing breath of honesty; after all, your friends are conditioned to tell you what you want to hear, right?

JS:  What would you say are the most important qualities one needs to possess in order to make a living as a writer?

MH:  Stubbornness, and the ability to hear the small voice of your story calling to you .

JS:  Why do you write?

MH:  Because it makes me feel good . . .it puts me in touch with something that I imagine is outside of myself, a river of creative thought and urge that runs through each of us.  Every now and then I dip my ladle into that stream and pull out a sip of Wonder.

JS:  What's a typical day like for you?

MH:  Long.  Frustrating.  I have a full-time job as a claims examiner, then I come home to run a house full of dogs and cats.  --No, they're not charity cases, but I'm childless, and they're my little Surrogates.  All I want to do is plot my stories and write them, but real life has a habit of delaying gratification.

JS:  Do you ever experience writer's block? If so, how do you work through it?

MH:  Unlike most writers, I don't really hate writer's block.  I think there are times it comes up for practical reasons -- like, maybe you need a reminder of how much you love to write, and only by depriving you of the ability can you fully appreciate it.  Sometimes also it's used to divert you from a bad story idea, or a good story idea executed badly.  Most of the time, writer's block is specific to one story, and can be overcome by stepping away from that story for a bit and working on an intriguing new one.  When you finally return to the blocked story, you can probably see why you got blocked in the first place.  ;)

JS:  How long does it generally take to write one of your novels?

MH:  Oh, there are no generalities when it comes to what I write.  My first (and worst) novel took 10 years.  (See what I mean about listening to the writer's block?)  CORONA took 5.5 weeks for the first draft.  CANTICLE, the prequel, is almost a year in progress.  Seriously, it's just all over the place.

JS:  What's your favorite quotation?

MH:  Sadly, it's from an anonymous source:  "Those who dance are considered insane by those who can't hear the music."  A lot of people attribute it to George Carlin, but sadly, it's not his.

JS:  What are you working on now?

MH:  CANTICLE, the 2nd (or 1st, depending on how you look at it) in the Chronicles of Jaenrye (pronounced "JANE-RYE").  Sheesh, she's a true labor of love.  CORONA was a blast to write, but CANTICLE is, I think, maybe just that much outside my skill set.  I'm learning as I go. 

JS:   What do you think is one of the biggest misconceptions aspiring novelists have of the writer's life?

MH:  That it has to be lonely.  I know I thought all writers were forced to write alone and figure it out alone, but in this day and age, with Twitter and Facebook and WEbook, there is simply no need to be alone anymore.  Besides, writers are my favorite kind of people; they're just like me!  :)

JS:  What advice would you impart to these aspiring novelists?

MH:  Don't suffer; there's no need.  Don't hide your babies; that's not the point of writing.  Get out there, make your work available to review, and push, push, push.  This dream doesn't come true on its own. 

JS:  Where did the inspiration for CORONA come from?

MH:  Some of the aspects of CORONA (the Travellers, for instance) have been in my head since I was a kid.  The story itself started with Father Rey, who was inspired by Father Oliver O'Grady, a pedophile priest who was shuffled by the church from one small California town to another when his abuses were discovered.  I sucked this guy into Jaenrye to find a way to make him pay for what he did.  Then, since I was controlling the story anyway, I made the control a little more…transparent. 

JS:  What do you hope your readers take away after they’re done reading?

MH:  Never, EVER give up on your opportunity to make it right with yourself.  If you ever feel a tinge of regret or failure, address it head on; become the hero you promised yourself you'd be when you grew up.  It's never too late.

JS:  Tell me a little about CORONA.

MH:  CORONA is my one breathless moment, the story that made me laugh and cry as I wrote it, the one I made my truest writer's promise to.  I promised I would not abandon it and let it be forgotten.  That story truly took my breath away, and she deserved my full attention.

JS:  Thanks for doing this interview with me MJ, it’s been a real pleasure having known you and reading CORONA.  I can’t wait for its sequel(prequel) to be released.  Now I have just one last question. If electricity comes from electrons, does morality come from morons?

MH:  From what I can tell -- yes.  :)

         Thanks again for joining me folks for my very first author interview!  Next week I'll be interviewing S.S. Michaels AKA @slushpilehero for all you twitter followers.  

        

         If you are interested in doing an interview with me, please email me at J.Souders (@) jasouders (.) com.  

Inspiration and the road to publication

I’m thrilled and excited to have the opportunity to guest blog for J.A. Souders this month and truly hope she’ll honor me when it comes time!

I’d like to take the chance to answer some of the questions I’ve gotten in the past few weeks leading up to the release of my debut novel, ‘The Crescent’.

First, let me start with publishing a novel is not for the weak of heart. 

That being said here is how I came to pen ‘The Crescent,’ and some of my experiences with publishing.

The idea for my debut novel came late one chilly July evening.  I had gone into my large back yard to feed my German Shepherd (Biscuit), when an unsettling feeling rushed over me.  The fact is, it was one of those nights that you just expect something horrible is going to happen.  Biscuit, feeling quite frisky, decided to stop me from going back into the house.  He blocked the doorway with his massive body--now, this dog outweighed me by at least fifteen pounds and even on all fours, and he was more than half my height.  Biscuit easily kept me out of the house. 

Considering I already had a sinking feeling that was nagging at the fringes of my mind, it started to occur to me the dog insisted on not letting me get any closer to, let alone through the door.  And being the imaginative, hyper-paranoid type that I am, my mind started to wander over why the dog could possibly be acting this way.  The thoughts that ensued included a storm coming, an earthquake or worse… someone’s inside my house.  Since I was alone at home that night, and I live in the middle of nowhere, it obviously was the last on the list.  Someone, probably a serial killer, was probably in my home waiting to kill and dismember me.  I did say I have an overactive imagination, right?

I hastily tried to figure out how to get to the phone, dialing 9-1-1 and get to my bedroom to get a gun from my safe (yes, I know, all over a dog insisting on being petted).  After a few moments, the dog finally allowed me into the home, at which time I felt prudent to let him and Coco, my Queensland Healer, into the house for a full inspection. 

After a hearty laugh at myself, and a thorough search of every inch of my house, I let the pups back outside.  And I slumped onto the couch to begin working on ‘Benches’, my first fully completed novel that I was in the process of re-writing for submission.  That night as I slept, my Biscuit morphed into Grant, and the full story of ‘The Crescent’ lay out before me.  The next morning, I awoke and started working on this novel and the words flowed easily.  However, the editing was much more difficult. 

By the end of August, it was ready for submission and in the third week of September, I was offered my contract with Black Rose Writing. After contract negotiations and much discussion with my family, I signed my agreement and the rest, as they say, is history.

That brings me to the next section I’d like to cover- publishing.  At the beginning, I said publishing isn’t for the faint of heart.  Most beginning authors have this idea that the hard work stops once they write a novel… at least, I did.  I thought the writing was the hard part.  The fact is--that is the furthest thing from the truth.  The real work comes when you finish the novel. 

First of all, you’ve loved your characters and your story for months, possibly longer.  Then you put it out there to be judged by agent after agent, only to be rejected.  That starts another roller coaster ride, because the emotional ups and downs during this period can drive you insane, not to mention give you motion sickness.  Then, you get someone that bites and wants a “full” or a “partial”!  (This MUST be it- right?  Uh- No…)  Then you get a rejection off of that and you start to wonder if you are doing the right thing or if you are wasting your time.  But you trek on, and before you know it someone is interested and makes an offer to either represent or publish (this part could take months).  And you have an OMG! moment, and then you finally stop hyperventilating. 

Obviously- this has to be it- right?  Not quite. Now you have to negotiate the contract to acceptable terms, start the first of possibly many revisions, come up with jacket ideas, cover designs, possible promotion ideas (if you didn’t go with a large house), and the list goes on and on. 

The process is quite harrowing, but exciting none the less.  Even though there have been many ups and downs during my road to publishing, I wouldn’t change a thing.  I truly feel you can learn from every experience you have in life and every person you come in contact with.

Life is about the journey…

Much love-

Jordan~