Interview and Giveaway with Renee Rosen, author of "DOLLFACE"

Welcome back to the BB Writers Retreat series!

Today we have with us featured guest Renee Rosen, author of the debut novel  DOLLFACE: A Novel of the Roaring Twenties.  

Renee is here to speak with us today about her love for the craft of writing, as well as give away a signed copy of her debut novel! Be sure to comment below to enter to win :)

Renee Rosen, author of DOLLFACE

Lia Mack: Welcome to the BB Writers Retreat, Renee. Thank you so much for being our guest author today. 

Can you please start us off by telling us a little about yourself?

Renee Rosen: I grew up in Ohio and have lived in Chicago most of my adult life, except for a brief stint in New York City. I’m a former advertising copywriter who always had a novel in her desk drawer. Not surprising that I’m a history nerd and an avid reader, too. 

Lia Mack:  I think history nerds have a warm place in all our hearts...book worms too :) 

Ultimate question...Why do you write? 

Renee Rosen: I wish I could say that I have some earth-shattering message that needs to be conveyed or that I feel this intense need to express myself, but the simple truth is that I write because I can’t not write. I know that sounds ridiculous but my life just doesn’t feel right and it doesn’t work if I’m not writing.

Lia Mack:  I think you summed up the drive to write perfectly. 

Can you describe a bit how your venture into writing looked like?

Renee Rosen: I’ve always known I wanted to be writer and began working on my first novel when I was a teenager. It was horrible—truly shameful. It took me 17 years to get my first novel published back in 2007. And in between I had the great fortune to study with writers like Susan Minot, Carol Anshaw and Michael Cunningham. It was and continues to be a lot of hard work, but I find it extremely gratifying.

Lia Mack: How wonderful to be able to study the craft of writing with those great writers. 

Can you tell us a little about your debut novel DOLLFACE?
 
Renee Rosen: DOLLFACE is the story of a flapper who falls in love with two mobsters from rival gangs during Prohibition Chicago. Vera, the main character, is torn between two men whom she later realizes are both gangsters; one works for Capone and the other for Dion O’Banion and she is caught in the middle. Anyone watching Boardwalk Empire will find some familiar territory here as several of the characters in the HBO hit are also featured in DOLLFACE. One thing that I think separates DOLLFACE from other gangster novels is that this one is told from the woman’s point of view. We see how a couple of nice girls get sucked into the grim world of gangsters and how they grow and struggle to navigate their way through such historical events as The Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre.

Lia Mack: That is an exciting and complex perspective to write from. Truly sets the stage for an excellent read. 

What was the most challenging aspect of writing DOLLFACE?
 
Renee Rosen: Definitely nailing the time period and the voice. I really had to pay attention to historical details. For instance—there were no zippers in the Twenties and I really wanted to get the clothing right. Also, there’s a lot of wonderful slang that came out of the era and at one point I went way overboard with it. As one writer friend put it, it was starting to sound like something out of Guys and Dolls.

Lia Mack: It's an ecentric era to write about indeed, alive with unique visuals and details. Can't wait to read your novel and be transported back in time.

What are you working on now?
 
Renee Rosen: My new novel, out next November, is called WHAT THE LADY WANTS and it’s about Marshall Field (the retail tycoon) and his thirty-year illicit affair with his neighbor, Delia Caton. It starts in 1871 with the Great Chicago Fire and goes through the early 1900s. It covers the establishment of the world’s greatest department store, Marshall Field & Company, as well as the 1893 Columbian Exposition. I’m having a lot of fun with this book as well, though I have to say there’s a lot of tragedy involved with the Field’s family.

Lia Mack: How exciting. That's so great you've been able to use your love of history in your writing. 

What does your typical writing day look like?
 
Renee Rosen: Typical depends on what phase of writing I’m in. If I’m drafting (which is the hardest for me) I’ll get up in the morning, put on a gallon of coffee, answer some emails and sit down to write. I’ll write from about 10 until 2ish. If I’m revising and on deadline, like I am now, it’s a whole different ball game. I get up and start working and I’ll work until 5 or 6, take a break for dinner and then I’ll work from about 8 until I can’t see straight anymore! 

Lia Mack: Wow! That's dedication :)

Can you share a photo of what your writing space looks like?
 
Renee Rosen: Have laptop, will travel. In other words, I write all over the place (inside my home and other places, too) but this is my favorite writing chair.

"Have laptop, will travel."

Lia Mack: What are your thoughts on authors needing to build a platform?
 
Renee Rosen: I think it’s necessary to have an online presence and if you’re writing non-fiction or a memoir, platform is key. It’s less critical with fiction and if you do have a platform and you’re writing fiction, I think publishers think it’s a lucky strike extra. But ultimately for fiction, it comes down to the book, the story, the writing.

Lia Mack: If you could go back in time, what advice would you give yourself if you could speak to the aspiring writer you once were? 

Renee Rosen: I would have read more and I would have gotten involved with my local writing community sooner than I did.

Lia Mack: I think that's great advice, Renee. Thank you. And thank you so much for being our guest author today!

Where can BB readers go online to find you and your work?
 
Renee Rosen: Here’s all my scoop:
 
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/ReneeRosenAuthor
 
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ReneeRosen1
 
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/412370.Renee_Rosen
 
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Dollface-A-Novel-Roaring-Twenties/dp/0451419200
 
B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dollface-renee-rosen/1116600431?ean=9780451419200
 
Indie Bound: http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780451419200

 

"Soft Boiled Eggs", Guest Author's M.L. Doyle's Favorite Breakfast Recipe

Good morning, writers!

Today at the B&B, featured guest author M.L Doyle is sharing her favorite breakfast recipe :)

"I’m a very basic cook," says author M.L. Doyle. "[I] usually fix myself the typical bacon and eggs, sometimes do a potato hash. My favorite breakfast is what I used to eat at B&B's when I lived in Germany. They always had a big selection of meats and breads but the really good ones had soft boiled eggs. I loved putting the egg in the little cup, opening the top and finding that soft, warm egg on the inside. Delicious!"

Soft Boiled Eggs


Ingredients:

• 4 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 6 cups water

Directions:

1. Bring the water to a rapid boil.
2. add salt and keep it at a rapid boil.
3. Prick the bottom (wider end) of the egg with an egg pricker
4. Immerse in the boiling water and boil for exactly 5 minutes.
5. Dash in cold water, crack & enjoy.

recipe from Food.com

GIVEAWAY! and Interview with M.L. Doyle, author of "THE PEACEKEEPER'S PHOTOGRAPH"

Welcome again to the BB Writers Retreat series!

In honor of Veterans Day week and all men and women in combat boots, I'd like to introduce my guest, published author M. L. Doyle. After the interview, Mary is giving away a signed copy of her book, so be sure to enter to win by commenting below!              

"writing about women in combat boots"
M.L. Doyle, author of
THE PEACEKEEPER'S PHOTOGRAPH

Second in the Master Sergeant Lauren Harper Mystery Series

 
Lia Mack: Thank you so much for being part of the BB Writers Retreat series, Mary.

Can you start us off by telling us a little bit about yourself?

M.L. Doyle: I’m from Minneapolis, Minnesota. My parents both had military backgrounds. My mother served in the Women’s Army Corps during World War II and my Dad was part of General Patton’s all black tank battalions. He landed on Utah Beach the day after D-Day and spent the rest of the war fighting across Europe. My parents met later, when my Dad moved his whole family north from Mississippi in what we now call The Great Black Migration and made a home in Minnesota. My parents were either crazy or very much in love when they married. Interracial marriages in the late 50’s were a very radical idea at the time.

One day, my younger brother started talking about joining the military. He made it sound like Army basic training was really difficult. When I challenged him on the idea, he dared me to join. I had to take the dare. I joined the Army Reserve and spent the next decade and a half serving in uniform on weekends and during the summer while working in a civilian career. My unit was deployed to Bosnia for the peacekeeping mission there. When we returned to the states, I decided to try to find a job working for the Army overseas and I did. I moved to Germany where I worked as a video producer and broadcaster for eight years. I returned to the states to work at Fort Meade, Maryland in the public affairs office. Later I went back overseas to Korea to work for the American Forces Network in Seoul and now I’m back at Fort Meade.

Lia Mack:  Thank you so much for your service to our country.

Can you tell us a little about your mystery series? 

M.L. Doyle: Sure! The Master Sergeant Harper mysteries are about an African American career soldier. In the first book, she returns from a mission outside the base to find her soldier murdered. She becomes the main suspect in the murder and has to race to clear her name. Harper is beautiful and brave and smart but she has her flaws. She’s carried a torch for her married boss for years, she has a terrible temper that often gets her into trouble and she often overlooks things that later come to bite her. In the course of the first book, she meets Sergeant Major Harry Fogg, a British special operations soldier and is immediately charmed. Their relationship develops throughout the three books. Everyone loves Harry. He’s an appealing character who always seems to know the right things to say.

Each of the books take place in a location that I try to make almost its own character in the story. The first book is Bosnia, the second a remote mountain village in Honduras. In the third book, they are on a vast training area in Germany.

Lia Mack:  As a military brat who's father left home for TDY often, those locations sound quite familiar.

Can you tell us what you've been up to lately?

M.L. Doyle: In July of this year, I indie published books one and two of the Master Sergeant Lauren Harper mystery series. The Peacekeeper’s Photograph, takes place during the Bosnia peacekeeping mission. The second book, The Sapper’s Plot, takes place during a humanitarian mission in a remote village of Honduras. I hope to have the third book in the series out by sometime in early 2014.

I’ve also released a series of adult romance novellas under the pen name Louise Kokesh.  TheLimited Partnerships series is about a woman who owns and operates a male escort service. Each novella features one of her employees. Limited Partnerships Part I – Charlie, was released in September in ebook format. Part II – Luke was published in October and Part III – Wolf will release November 1. The final Part IV – Derek will be released in December. At that time, I will make an Omnibus available with all four novellas in ebook and paperback format.

Finally, also in late November, I will be releasing another co-authored memoir, A Promise Fulfilled, the story of a Wife and Mother, Soldier and General Officer. A Promise Fulfilled is the story of Brig. Gen. (retired) Julia Jeter Cleckley and her journey from a small town girl to the first African-American female general officer at the Army National Guard Bureau. It’s an uplifting story of triumph over great tragedy and I’m excited about the completion of this project after years of working on it with General Cleckley. 

Of course, my first book, a co-authored memoir, was published in 2010 and is still available. I’m Still Standing;From Captured Soldier to Free Citizen, My Journey Home, (Touchstone, 2010) chronicles the story of Shoshana Johnson, a member of the 507^th Maintenance Company which was ambushed during the early days of the Iraq war. Shoshana was captured and held as a POW with six other soldiers for 23 days before they were rescued by Marines.

It’s been a busy year!

Lia Mack: I'll say!

Now, ultimate question...Why do you write?

M.L. Doyle: No, the question is, how can I NOT write? I’d always sort of tried to cobble stories together. In college I took some creative writing classes and that’s when I first started to seriously take on the literary short story. Boy, was I crappy at that! I wrote a feature length screenplay and thought I wanted to stick to that format for a while. Then, years later, after I returned to the states from Germany, I took a mystery writing class at Anne Arundel Community College in Maryland. The class was supposed to result in a mystery short story. The short story I wrote in that class eventually turned into The Peacekeeper’s Photograph and I haven’t looked back since.  

Lia Mack: What made you decide to write as a career?

M.L. Doyle: Again, I’m not sure it was a conscious decision. I’ve simply always enjoyed crafting stories. In college, I remember having such a feeling of satisfaction when writing research assignments and putting that research together into a coherent paper. My mother used to read my work and she wasn’t much of a fan of my storytelling ability. She told me to stick to non-fiction! It was quite a blow to my ego since she always had her nose in a book but, like much of the advice she gave me, for good or bad, I ignored it and continued to write fiction when I could. I will always be saddened by the knowledge that she died before I published my first book.

Still, I can’t write for a living at this point. I still have a full time job and can only write in the evenings and weekends. Someday, I hope to retire and just dedicate myself to writing.

Lia Mack: Can you describe a bit how your venture into writing looked like?

M.L. Doyle: I had what I thought was a good finished draft of Peacekeepers so I spent a weekend sending out query letters in search of an agent. I sent out twenty. About half of the queries I sent went out via email on a Sunday. The rest of the queries I sent out in packages through snail mail on that Monday. Monday afternoon, I received email from Liz Trupin-Pulli asking for the first 50 pages of the book. Two weeks later she asked for the entire manuscript. About a month after that, I signed with her.

Liz has been fantastic. She shopped Peacekeeper’s all over New York. I must have received thirty rejections—all very encouraging, all saying they liked the book...but... One day, Liz was having lunch with an editor. The editor complained that she had this memoir she needed written, that they’d had two different authors take a crack at it, but neither of them got the voice right. When Liz heard it was a memoir about an African American female soldier, she suggested me for the job. I was living in Korea at the time. I sent them some sample pages and they hired me. That’s how I began work on Shoshana’s book. When the book was nominated for an NAACP image award, it felt like validation.

 
Lia Mack: How do you feel you've grown as a writer?

M.L. Doyle: I have much more confidence as a writer now. I know my strengths and my weaknesses. I’m not afraid to ask for and listen to critiques but I am more comfortable in picking and choosing which advice to follow and which ideas don’t fit my voice. I know that having a writing group, having beta readers, getting feedback is all very important to my work. I also know that I enjoy flitting about from one genre to another. I’m not sure I will work on memoir writing anymore, but I love writing mystery, romance and blending the two. I’m also drawn to the dystopian stories and know that I’ll eventually have to write a project like that. I guess the way I’ve grown the most is that I no longer fear calling myself an author, a writer. I’m a writer. That’s just what I do

Lia Mack: What are you working on now?

M.L. Doyle: Right now, I’m working on book three in the mystery series while trying to get General Cleckley’s book published. Early this year, after more rejections, I decided to indie publish. The whole process is a huge learning curve. The work is very exciting but exhausting. Between the fulltime job and trying to get all the ducks in a row to publish a book, it’s difficult to find time to write. That said, I am so happy that I decided to go indie. The community of writers who are taking this route have been so supportive and encouraging that I’m simply very proud to be among them.

Lia Mack: What does your typical writing day look like?

M.L. Doyle: I try to get some writing done each evening, but that’s hard to do. Most of my writing gets done on weekends and there isn’t any set or typical day. My schedule for work has been crazy this summer so it’s been really hard to juggle everything but I try. I have to. When I do get into the flow, I’ll finally look up and it’s been hours at the keyboard. I love when that happens.

Lia Mack: Do you read a lot while you write?

M.L. Doyle: Absolutely. I LOVE to read. I’ll read anything from science fiction, to romance, to hard boiled mysteries to steampunk and more. I have the “one-click” option on my Amazon account and there’s rarely a week when I haven’t bought at least one book, maybe downloaded a couple of free ones. I’m forever shocked at how much talent is out there, how many damn good writers there are and I love to read them.

Lia Mack: Awesome, I love your exuberance!

Can you share a photo of what your writing space looks like?

M.L. Doyle: UGH, it’s a mess. It’s always a mess. I keep saying I’m going to get organized and paint but that would mean MORE time away from the keyboard.  I will share a picture of my constant writing companion. It took a while to train him to go to his bed but it was the only compromise I could come up with to keep him from draping himself across my arms. I adopted Sojue while I lived in Korea—he’s named after a Korean drink that’s kind of like Tequila.  

Lia Mack:  Nice :)

What are your thoughts on the necessity of writers building a platform? Any advice? 

M.L. Doyle: People always talk about the platform and I think concentrating on a platform is good for some writers. If you really enjoy blogging, writing advice type books, speaking at writer forums, you will at least draw in writers who may then promote your work. I’m not sure how these “platforms” really promote work to readers.

For others I think we simply don’t like to go around marketing ourselves. I have an author Facebook page, but unless you’re Hugh Howie, Diana Galbadon or DJ Molles, I’ve found that it’s usually only other authors that go around liking and friending those pages.

I’m convinced that the best way to really market your books is to write lots of good books. The more you publish, the more you give people the opportunity to read your work, the more opportunity you have to build your audience. In my opinion, people who have one book shouldn’t spend too much time or energy marketing that book. They should concentrate on writing their second and third book which in the end will earn them more readers. But that’s just my opinion. In the last six months I’ve published a bunch of stuff. The readership is growing slowly but surely. My hope is that by this time next year, the audience will be there and I might actually start making some money selling books. But, making money or not, I’ll keep writing. It’s what I do.

Lia Mack: Lastly, If you could go back in time, what advice would you give yourself if you could speak to the aspiring writer you once were?

M.L. Doyle: I wish that I would have indie published last year or the year before. I had been toying with the idea but I let fear keep me back. My advice to myself would be to ignore the fear. I had been published by a big NY publishing house for the memoir and I really wanted that for my fiction. The more I thought about it, the more I realized I would be a very tiny fish in a ginormous pond. Shoshana’s book, while well received, was quickly ignored by Simon and Schuster. It had about a six month life span. I wanted more than that for my fiction and I never would have had the kind of control I have now with a big publisher. I’m so glad I went the indie route. I just wish I had done it sooner.

 
Lia Mack: Thank you so much for being our guest author today. Where can BB readers go online to find you and your work?

M.L. Doyle: You can find all of my books on Amazon.com, B&N online and all other online retailers. I was at the Twin Cities Book Festival this year and I had a great time, so I’ll probably do another book festival or two soon.  You can check my website for appearances and the latest news at www.mldoyleauthor.com.

Signed Book Giveaway! "MY ONE SQUARE INCH OF ALASKA", by Sharon Short

It's giveaway time!

Sharon Short was our wonderful featured guest author this week, telling all about her love for the craft of writing as well as her new novel My One Square Inch of Alaska. 

And she'd like to give away a signed copy today!

There are 3 ways to enter this giveaway by 11/9/13 midnight tonight:

• Comment here on this blog post
• Comment on yesterday's breakfast recipe post or
• Comment on Thursday's interview post 

And yes, you can comment multiple times, increasing your chances to win. It is a wonderful book. I enjoyed it.

And having Sharon Short as a guest here at the BB Writers Retreat this week was equally as wonderful. Thank you, Sharon!

:)

Interview with Harrison Demchick, author of The Listeners... Lia Mack's BB Writers Retreat presents...

Welcome back to Lia Mack's BB Writers Retreat Series!

In honor of Halloween week and all things horrifying and disturbing, I'm very excited to have with us as our featured guest author literary horror writer Harrison Demchick, author of The Listeners (Bancroft Press, 2012).

The Listeners (Bancroft Press, 2012)

"Harrison Demchick has written a beautiful and disgusting, wonderful and horrifying book with a strong voice and lyrical quality . . ."
   —Ageless Pageless Reviews

Harrison Demchick

Lia Mack: I'm glad it's still light outside as I'm already a bit creeped out by your book cover. 

Can you please start us off by telling a little about yourself:

Harrison Demchick: Most of the time, I'm a developmental editor with editorial boutique Ambitious Enterprises. What this means is that I work with authors of fiction and memoirs on improving all elements of their work, from character arc to logic to story structure and dialogue and everything in-between. It also means I get to read for a living, and to analyze stories for a living, all of which I absolutely love. When I'm not doing that, I spend my time being very odd, frequently in ways that have to do with Spider-Man, but often also in ways that have to do in some respect with writing, whether it's a song or a story or something else entirely.

Lia Mack: Can you tell us a little about your book?

Harrison Demchick: The Listeners is a coming-of-age story in a literary horror context. In a borough quarantined due to an airborne illness that causes deformity, insanity, and death, a 14-year-old boy named Daniel, orphaned by the plague, is caught up with a one-eared gang/cult called the Listeners. But all he really wants is to find his best friend Katie, trapped elsewhere in the quarantine.

Lia Mack: What was the most challenging aspect of writing this particular story?

The Listeners has undergone so many transformations that it's difficult to say. In its screenplay form, it wasn't my first--not by a long shot--but it was my first original. My background was in writing short stories, so developing a full-length narrative was a substantial challenge. The biggest turning point in all of that may have come once a film producer became interested. His feedback completely changed the third act of the story, which proved to be fundamental in completing Daniel's character arc.

On the novel side, the greatest challenge was the process of rediscovering my prose voice, and more specifically the appropriate voice for this novel. As formats alone, screenplays and novels operate with a drastically different language, meaning that, although the substance of the story is the same in both formats, the way it's told--and so much of an effective novel is based upon the way it's told--has changed substantially. It took a lot of trial and error to find the style that worked for me, and then quite a bit of revision to rein myself back when that style became overbearing.

Lia Mack: Ultimate question...Why do you write?

Harrison Demchick: Because I can't not. If I didn't write, all these weird ideas and narratives and character interactions would spend all their time bouncing around in my head, in which case there might not be room for anything else. I've been doing it since kindergarten--or at least that's the earliest record that exists, as my parents still have my carefully illustrated story about the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Writing is intrinsic to who I am. I can't really imagine my life without it.

Lia Mack: Can you describe a bit how your venture into writing looked like? How did you come to be a writer as your career?

Harrison Demchick: Well, writing isn't my career just yet. Writing is rarely an author's career, and if it is, then they've become spectacularly successful at it--which would be great, obviously, and I'm working hard to make it happen in one way or another. But as far as my venture into publishing, or specifically publishing The Listeners, I came at it in an unusual way. I've been working in the publishing industry since my first internship in the summer of 2005, which is coincidentally the same time I began work on The Listeners.

So while I was learning to be an editor, The Listeners was always there, though not necessarily in its present form. At first it was a series of short stories. Then it became a screenplay, which was optioned for film; then, finally, on the eventual publisher's advice, I adapted it into a novel.

But even then, I wasn't sure I was going to pursue publishing--not because I wasn't proud of The Listeners, but because being in the publishing industry is a bit of a mixed blessing. On one hand, you know the field and know what goes into making a book successful; on the other hand, you know what goes into making a book successful--and that's marketing. Most of the time, it's an incredible effort that yields very little regardless of the quality of the book. I'd been Sisyphus too many times, advocating for terrific novels I'd had the opportunity to edit, like Ron Cooper's Purple Jesus and Elizabeth Leiknes's The Understory. I hated marketing--still do--and didn't want to take on that fight for The Listeners.

Fortunately, I had enough people around me to tell me how stupid that was. I'd written a novel--a really good novel. It should be published. And the publisher that had recommended I write the story as a novel was interested in publishing it. So that's what we did, and I am very glad about it. And the marketing hasn't even been all that horrible.

Lia Mack: If you don't mind me asking, what are you working on now?

Harrison Demchick: I've actually just finished the first draft of my second entirely original screenplay, and a vastly different one at that. It's a cryptozoological dramedy called Ape Canyon, in which a guy in the midst of a quarter-life crisis drags his big sister along on a Bigfoot-hunting expedition. Alongside that, I'm collaborating with a friend on a zombie musical called Brains. I've written a couple recent short stories, and I've been contemplating releasing a short story collection.

Maybe, someday, I'll write another novel, but right now I have no such plans.

Lia Mack: A zombie musical! I'd like to see that ;)

What does your typical writing day look like?

Harrison Demchick: The idea of typical has undergone a pretty radical transformation in the last few months. For me, writing has always been an isolated activity, and I'm generally self-motivated enough that, if I sit down at my computer and decide I'm going to write, I will get something done. So when my friends would suggest that we get together for "writing parties" in which we would all sit down at a table and work on our individual projects, I was skeptical. I didn't think I would or could be productive in that environment.

But I was seriously wrong. Since we started our writing parties, I have been absurdly productive. And when you're absurdly productive, writing carries with it a high like little else. Without these sessions, I would not yet have finished Ape Canyon. I don't even know if I'd be close.

So now, a typical writing day includes me and a friend or three, either in a coffee shop or at my apartment, working for hours on whatever it is we happen to be writing. If any of us is stuck on something, we can ask the writers around us for feedback. If I write a line of dialogue I particularly like, I can get immediate confirmation as to whether or not it works. It's made writing more fun for me than it's been in years.

Lia Mack: Can you share a photo of what your writing space looks like?

Harrison Demchick: I don't know if I can. I don't own a camera. There's a camera in my computer, but it can't take pictures of itself, and the computer is pretty much the most important part. I'll see if I can come up with something.

Lia Mack: Do you read while you write? What are you reading now?

Harrison Demchick: I'm an editor, so I'm always reading--but most of what I'm reading is unpublished. And when reading is your job, as wonderful as that is, it's often not what you find yourself wanting to do with your free time. But I'm in the middle of a book of H. P. Lovecraft short stories, and there's quite a lot on my bookshelf I'm looking to dive into should I ever go on one of those "vacation" things I've heard so much about.

Lia Mack: If you could go back in time, what advice would you give yourself if you could speak to the aspiring writer you once were?

Harrison Demchick: You know, I honestly don't think I would change anything. Maybe I would clue myself in to the fun of writing with a group, but most likely I'd just leave myself to figure it out on my own.

Besides which, as a dedicated science-fiction and comic book nerd, I know that messing around with the past has terrible repercussions. I go back in time to give myself advice on writing, and the next thing I know, I've never been born and the president is a stegosaurus.

Lia Mack: Thank you so much for being our guest author today. Where can BB readers go online to find you and your work?
Harrison Demchick: Well, they can always check out my poorly maintained website, www.harrisondemchick.com, or my slightly better maintained Facebook page, www.facebook.com/HarrisonDemchick (I don't really have an aptitude for this social media stuff), but if they want to buy the book, they can do that on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or wherever books are sold. The paperback just launched this past weekend.

#BBSaturdayNightReads - 10/12/13

Marilyn did it. You do it. And we all love it.

Reading ;)

Saturday Night Reads at the BB B&B are just that: reading books on Saturday night. And lots of them!

So get comfy. Pour a glass of your favorite cab or grab a beer. And read. Anything and everything you love to read.

Just read.

And win ;)

Post what you're reading here on this Saturday Night Reads blog posts and enter for a chance to win something fun. Each week will be something different, so make sure you enter every Saturday!

You can also enter to win by posting on Twitter with the hashtag #BBSaturdayNightReads or on Facebook. 

Simply comment on the blog post each Saturday with what you're reading:

Title, author, what chapter your on...you can even tell us a bit about why you picked up the book in the first place and now why you can't seem to put it down!

Doors open at 8pm...Here's how it works:

1. Comment on the BB Saturday Night Reads blog post, facebook or twitter (that Saturday) with the hashtag #BBSaturdayNightReads. You can comment once for the night OR every hour to increase your chances to win! One entry per, person per hour, thanks!
   
   
2. In your blog comment, facebook post or twitter post, tell us what book you're reading - Title/Author - and a little bit about the book, story, characters, author, anything... What drew you to pick it up in the first place? What part are you at now? Is the writing good? Your favorite author? Does it suck? Are you hooked? Anything!

And maybe you'll win something ;)

This is, of course, in addition to the big win you'll already be enjoying by actually getting a chance to sit down and read.

 ;) 

Lia Mack's BB Writers Retreat presents... Interview with Carolyn R Parsons, poet and author of The Secrets of Rare Moon Ticke

Welcome to the very first of Lia Mack's BB Writers Retreat series! 

As part of our October writers retreat we are very fortunate to have with us published author and poet Carolyn R Parsons.

Carolyn R Parsons, poet and author of The Secrets of Rare Moon Tickle and Wind Rhymes

  

Carolyn R Parsons is here with us to talk about her writing career, her poetry book Wind Rhymes, and give us some insights from her debut novel The Secrets of Rare Moon Tickle.

Lia Mack: Carolyn, thank you so much for being part of the BB Writers Retreat series. Please start us off by telling a little about yourself:

Carolyn R Parsons: Hello, I'm Carolyn R Parsons. I am the married mother of 4 daughters and I have a grandson who is three.  My  husband’s name is Kent and to the family and school etc., I am Carolyn Chaffey. I write under my maiden name as I was published prior to my marriage.  

I am first and foremost a poet, but I’ve written everything from how-to content for websites to opinion pieces for newspapers to short stories to a novel. I’ve received a few Canadian awards, been included in a couple of prestigious magazines and poetry anthologies.  I have an online presence with the Breeze Daze on blogger.  

Lia Mack: Wonderful. Now for the ultimate question... 

Why do you write?  

Carolyn R Parsons: I don’t know.  Why do I breathe? I have no memory of when I began either.  The odd thing is I’m very visual so it was always possible that I would fall into film or theater or fine art since I “see” what I write about and my descriptive writing is my strength with dialogue being my greater challenge.  

But words are my thing and I love the fun of rearranging them into something that wasn’t there before.  A turn of phrase, a collection of words set down in a way that is brand new, never done, completely reflective of and from inside me and something nobody else could have done. I create with words and to create is our strongest human drive.  It’s what builds cities and it’s what tears them down—humans even create destruction. 

Lia Mack: Very true.

About your writing... From when you first started writing to now, how do you feel you've grown as a writer?
 
Carolyn R Parsons: I’ve gotten better of course.  Practice makes—not even close to perfect, but I’m improved.  I’ve let go of anything that inhibits the flow of writing and accepted that the first draft will be crap no matter how good it eventually becomes.  I’m better at making things better.  I’m also better at knowing when it’s finished.  I’m not better at using the word better too often though.

I think that's perfect advice: let go of anything that inhibits the flow of writing. And I agree with you about first drafts ;)

Lia Mack: What made you decide to write as a career? 

Carolyn R Parsons: It was just plain old opportunity.  I had always written and wrote more when I became a stay at home mom ten years ago, but just for me.  Then when the youngest daughter entered junior kindergarten, the idea to start a serious writing career came to the surface and eventual fruition.  A dam burst and I wrote a 100,000 word novel in approximately six months.  I wrote and still write, every day. 

Lia Mack: That's the key, isn't it?  

Write, every day.

The Secret of Rare Moon Tickle. I've read it and loved your debut novel.  Can you tell us a little about it and what were the greatest and toughest parts of telling this story?

Carolyn R Parsons: There is a lot of myself in The Secrets of Rare Moon Tickle and it started out in first person. I think the best thing that happened with this story is I started just telling the truth and it was maybe about 25000 words for the entire story which was a good sized summary. Then I went through and started to write it in third person keeping some of the aspects of the true story/journal part of it but fictionalizing a great deal of it also. There are incidents in there that are 100% true in that they happened but they didn't necessarily happen in the context. It was good that I got to use my own stories sometimes but within the safety of fiction. I've been storified. 

90% of the story is my imagination, the characters are based loosely upon some people I've known but that's the extent of that. The toughest part was just working through it after editing it down to something manageable. It was 120,000 words and ended up at 99,000 including removing the main character's entire university career. I jumped over it and that was fine because after writing it it was firmly in place in my own mind so I could delete it and refer to it rather than drag the reader through the boring stuff. 

Lia Mack: In regards to your poetry, will there be a second collection coming out soon?

Carolyn R Parsons: As to another poetry book, poetry is my fun thing. I have a collection of love poetry that I would like to see published. I've not even tried to do so however. It's better than the first book was so there is no reason except my own laziness about organizing and submitting to a few places. Here is a sample. This is perhaps my own favourite and yes I write in rhyme. What of it? It's how it comes to me. I'm a balladier I suppose. 

My Ordinary Life

My ordinary life is flash and sparkle
dazzling days and glimmering frosted happy eyes
My ordinary life magnetizes and authorizes
all lips to smile and hearts to sympathize

My ordinary life is fashioned from twinkling stars
and woven in the daylight's misty songs
My ordinary life whispers words of love and passion
and sets about to right a million wrongs

My ordinary life sees miracles and grabs them
and shares them with the passers that go by
My ordinary life shines like an angel's halo
and makes the devil want some wings to try to fly

My ordinary life knows wonder and excitement
and laughter likes to wander in and tarry
so that I wonder if indeed it's true
that this life I claim for me is ordinary

I do have a submission in a book coming out next year I think. It's a collection of stories of cats from all over the world called Nine Lives. Nine stories from Tripoli, Montreal, Ontario and of course Newfoundland. The authors are actors and writers and other artists of note from around the globe. Should be fun.

Lia Mack: That was beautiful. Thank you so much for sharing some of your poetry with us. And as for the book on cats, you'll have to let us know when it comes out ;)

Going back to your writing career, can you describe a bit how your venture into writing looked like?

 Carolyn R Parsons: While I veered off into a business life, managed at a community newspaper, worked for stock brokers, every single thing I’ve ever done has prepared me to be a writer.  I’m a better writer because I’ve marketed and promoted and run businesses in the past.  I know how to sell my work and I know how to find the people to help me learn my work. My parenting has made me learn to write under the strangest situations, with babes at the breast and dogs at my feet. I’ve had periods where I didn’t write and they let me live the things I wrote of later on. 

Lia Mack: Speaking of marketing, what are your thoughts on the necessity of writers building a platform?

Carolyn R Parsons: I started branding very early on.  I use my name with the middle initial everywhere, I created a blog, I created a Twitter and I use my personal Facebook.  I include people in my writing as I work at things and get them engaged in the story to some degree.  I am a social networking fiend and expert and I even have run a Facebook page for a well-known celebrity.  I’m still an administrator there.  It’s not necessary for writing of course but the benefits are down the road when time for selling comes.   

Lia Mack: What does your typical writing day look like?  

Carolyn R Parsons: I write a weekly column for our local newspaper and a bi-weekly art feature.   I also do lots of human interest stories and have done some impactful news stories.  Each day I get up before 8am and send kids off to school, drink lots of coffee and write.  At 11:30 I go to the gym on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.  On non-gym days I go for a walk for an hour.  Then I return home and write some more. Some of it is the book, other times it’s the newspaper stuff.  If it’s for the newspaper, part of writing is often interviews and they are done at the convenience of the interviewee and myself.   I read and do other things around the kids.  I research in the evenings with the kids around.  I’ve cut back on the newspaper stuff just to concentrate on the book now. 

Lia Mack: Speaking of reading, do you read a lot while you write? 

Carolyn R Parsons: Yes, voraciously.  In fact when I’m working deeply on a project as I am now, I read more. Currently I’m reading a political biography of two former premiers of the province I live in, the first who brought us to join Canada and the second who decades later toppled him from power, written by a fellow who was there through it all who also happens to be a brilliant writer.  I am a political junkie so I love that stuff.  I also love Stephen King.  I don’t particularly choose genres, just grab what I fancy.  I have for a long time read almost exclusively Canadian and Newfoundland work and just the top rated American and world authors. 

Lia Mack: For fun, can you share with us what your writing space is like? 

Carolyn R Parsons: Yes, I have a beautiful writing space that I created in our new home in a colour I love with an ocean view.  And wouldn’t you know that for weeks I’ve been writing on the couch because I don’t have a comfortable chair.  I’m chair shopping now!  Would you like to see a photo of my space? 

Lia Mack: Absolutely! An ocean view... that's pretty close to perfect ;)

Carolyn, if you could go back in time, what advice would you give yourself if you could speak to the aspiring writer you once were?  

Carolyn R Parsons: Just fucking write. 

Don’t think about publishing or being good enough or anything, just perfect your craft.  You’re not a publisher, you’re a writer.  The publishing has nothing to do with writing. Write write write write.

Then, when you retire from writing, write.  And if you finish something and need a break from the writing, start querying then, which of course, is writing. 

Also, never take writing advice from other writers who have yet to be published or produce any amount of work. Avoid critique groups like the plague because the need to criticize another person’s creative efforts is a character flaw and those folks are just psychos.  To take criticism from somebody who is exactly like you is like sending your kids to school for other kids to teach. 

Take classes and workshops on the craft from the experts and use your own brain and heart and soul to make what you write yours.  But don’t get so “trained” you lose the art either. 

Don’t be so concise you lose expression or so tightly perfect technically you lose your voice.  Keep all the rules except for when you have to bend them. And never bend them except for those times you have to break them.

Also, one more thing,  Read On Writing by Stephen King. Keep it beside you. Put it under your pillow.  Make a shrine to it with candles and crystals and stuff.  Ok this wasn’t around for young writer me but let’s pretend I’m 20 still ok?  It’s fine to read all sorts of books about writing.  But the conclusion you may find you come to is that it’s the only one you really need.

Lia Mack: That is all perfect advice, from Just f'n write to reading On Writing by Stephen King. 

Love it.

Lastly and quickly, could your share with us your six-word-motto?  

Carolyn R Parsons: Easy come, easy go, walk on. 

It’s all fleeting, stay unattached, keep moving forward because this moment is the only one you have, therefore the only one that matters.  

Lia Mack: Carolyn R Parsons, thank you so very much for being a part of the BB Writers Retreat series, and our very first guest speaker.

Where can BB readers go online to find you and your work?

Carolyn R Parsons:
www.CarolynRParsons.com

For the newspaper column, art feature and other stories: http://www.lportepilot.ca/

My blog is at BreezeDaze.blogspot.com

I'm also on Facebook as Carolyn R. Parsons. (Please add me and say you’re Lia Mack’s friend in a message.)

You can also find me at:

• Twitter:@carolynrparsons 
• Lnkedin: Carolyn R Parsons
• Pinterest: Carolyn R Parsons 
• Amazon Author Page 
• The Secret of Rare Moon Tickle
• Wind Rhymes