Why You Can’t Make the Draft Without Making the Time... by guest author Harrison Demchick

Good morning writers! Today we have with us return guest author Harrison Demchick to talk with us about how to make time for writing. Because, as we all know, it's not an easy task. However, it's a necessary one if you want to realize your writing dreams, right? So, without further adieu, here's his words on...


Why You Can’t Make the Draft Without Making the Time
by guest author Harrison Demchick

A couple weeks ago, my friend Jen finished her first draft.

I was there when it happened. Since August of 2013, my friends and I have been meeting every Sunday for what we’ve come to call Write Club. Write Club, as our matching T-shirts indicate—yes, we have matching T-shirts—is a time for writing, and nothing but. It’s a four-hour window during which the only priority is each of us developing our own individual projects. Jen, also the designer of the aforementioned T-shirts, had spent the preceding several months almost finished her first novel. Any Sunday in that span could have been the day, but then there was always something else that had to be written, and logic issues to hurdle, and all of the other things that make finishing a draft so frustrating. The end, somehow, seemed to move further and further away. Until it didn’t.

Jen didn’t have to say anything when she finished her draft. I knew. I could see it in the look on her face as she stared at her laptop screen. I expect I looked much the same early this year when I finished the first draft of my screenplay Ape Canyon. It’s a pretty incredible feeling, the warmth tiptoeing its way across your neck and down your arms, into the fingers that have devoted hours, days, months, years to the completion of that one magical story completely and entirely your own. Your heart pounds, and the tension floats away like misty rain on a summer night. The world becomes a pretty spectacular place to be.

I’d already been working on Ape Canyon for a couple years when we started Write Club. Though actually, working is a strong word. I’d started Ape Canyon, for sure, and I’d written some pages, and by the summer we began Write Club I was trying to devote time every weekend to writing. I’ve always been a disciplined writer, and moreover a writer who works best in solitude, so I was confident I could maintain that routine and, simultaneously, skeptical that the writing group friends had proposed from time to time would be of any use. I didn’t need it, and if I was going to spend time with friends, I wanted to spend it having fun, not working quietly on my own projects.

But the truth is that the day we started Write Club is the day I began to build momentum on Ape Canyon. I completed in five months what I’d been tinkering with on and off for two years. It was amazing, and it felt amazing. And I knew that it would never have happened had I not forced into my schedule at least four hours every week to devote to writing. The existence of a group kept me accountable. It kept us all accountable. It became the highlight of my week, and it’s the reason that I’ve never been more productive as a writer than I am today.

Now if there’s anyone who shouldn’t have the time to devote to writing, it’s Jen. Jen is one of the most absurdly talented and driven people I’ve ever met, but these attributes also make her extraordinarily busy pretty much at all times. She works in publishing during the days. She works on her art around the clock (which you can see for yourself at http://herchenroeder.see.me/). She works in architecture and design when she can. Her obligations have obligations.

And yet she still makes the time nearly every week to come to Write Club and work. This devotion of time and energy is the reason she was able to experience the unmatchable high of completing the first draft of a manuscript on which she’d worked seven years.

Jen has finished any number of amazing projects in the interval. And I wasn’t being idle either while Ape Canyon was in progress. I wrote a couple work-for-hire screenplays. I wrote songs. I was creative. But neither Jen nor I was devoting the time to writing until we started Write Club and made that effort every single week.

Another thing Jen and I have in common is a background in publishing, which means that our expectations are realistic. That is to say, Jen may have completed that first draft, but the next step is editing and revision, and this, too, will take a lot of time and a lot of energy. It was the same for me when I finished the first draft of my novel, The Listeners, and for that matter I don’t imagine that I’m entirely finished with Ape Canyon. The end of the first draft is not the end. In a lot of ways, the end of the first draft is just the beginning.

But it’s a pretty incredible benchmark. It’s a tremendous accomplishment to reach it. It’s the first part of the whole process during which you can sit back and say, I’ve done this. I wrote a book. I’m a writer. 

And writers write. They take the time, and if there isn’t time, they make it. That time doesn’t need to be four hours on Sunday. It can be a half hour every morning or a writing binge at midnight every Thursday. That time doesn’t need to be with a writing group, either. But if it weren’t for attending Write Club and making the time to write, Jen wouldn’t have a completed draft of her novel, and I wouldn’t have Ape Canyon. If you don’t take the time to write, you will never know that feeling Jen experienced on a very important Sunday just a couple weeks ago. It’s worth it.

Harrison Demchick came up in the world of small press publishing, working along the way on more than three dozen published novels and memoirs, several of which have been optioned for film. An expert in manuscripts as diverse as young adult, science-fiction, fantasy, mystery, literary fiction, women's fiction, memoir, and everything in-between, Harrison is known for quite possibly the most detailed and informative editorial letters in the industry—if not the entire universe.

Harrison is also an award-winning, twice-optioned screenwriter, and the author of literary horror novel The Listeners (Bancroft Press, 2012). He's currently accepting new clients in fiction and memoir at Ambitious Enterprises (http://ambitiousenterprises.com). 

Baltimore's Very Own Literary Horror Writer Harrison Demchick, author of THE LISTENERS... Today @ the BB B&B

Welcome back to Lia Mack's Writing Retreat :)

In honor of Halloween week and all things horrifying and disturbing, I'm excited to have with us again Baltimore's very own 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.

BB Interview: Cindy Young-Turner, debut author of THIEF OF HOPE

Good afternoon and welcome back to the BB Writers Retreat! 

While sipping some good ol' sweet tea out on the front porch, debut author Cindy Young-Turner stopped by for a chat. And as always I asked her some of my favorite questions: why do you write? 

The answer to that is always fun ;)

But my favorite question to ask authors is: what advice would you give yourself if you could go back in time and talk to the aspiring writer you once were? 

Check out Cindy's wonderful answer below, as well as other golden advice for all writers.

~ Lia 

BB Interview: Cindy Young-Turner, debut author of THIEF OF HOPE

Cindy Young-Turner, 

author of Thief of Hope and Journey to Hope

Lia: So, Cindy. Tell a little about yourself:

Cindy: I’m an author and a mom and I also have a full-time day job. Life is hectic. By day I edit and do business development for international development projects. In my free time, I try to inspire my characters to fight for change and justice in their imaginary worlds. I’m an avid reader and a fantasy geek and the original Star Wars trilogy shaped my childhood.

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

Cindy: I don’t think I could not write! I’ve always done it, from almost as far back as I can remember. I have stories I’d like to tell so I’ll keep writing as long as I can.

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

Cindy: Finishing a novel is a huge milestone and getting published is an even bigger one. I have to give a lot of credit to my wonderful critique groups that have helped me over the years. In addition to knowing how to put words together, there’s also characterization, plot elements, basically how to make your story hang together and engage the reader. Working professionally as an editor has also helped in the technical aspects of writing, even though technical writing is very different from creative writing. And going through the sometimes painful editing process during the publication of my novel was definitely an eye opener. It’s amazing to look back at my writing from a few years ago and see the improvement.

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

Cindy: As I mentioned earlier, I’ve been writing for most of my life. Sometime in grade school I think I had to write a story for a class and I was hooked. I was ten when I wrote my first “novel” and it was a combination of my own ideas, Star Wars, and GI Joe. I think now you’d call it fan fiction. I have a bunch of other novels in various stages that were hand written in notebooks. Most of them will probably never see the light of day, but who knows. Maybe someday I will salvage one of them.

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

Cindy: Thief of Hope is fantasy and features a pickpocket whose life becomes entangled with the commoners' fight against an oppressive society, a would-be king's bid for the throne, and the strange and dangerous magic of the faery folk. In this bleak, medieval world, nothing is black and white, and even a thief must make a stand for what she believes is right. I adore Sydney, the heroine of the story. She’s not perfect and she’s had a hard life but she’s a fighter.

Lia: As one of your critique partners many moons ago, I adore Sydney too.

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

Cindy: The hardest part was getting through a couple drafts and then realizing I needed to overhaul the story because certain plot elements just weren’t working. I kept about ten chapters and tossed out the rest, save for a few scenes that made it to the final cut. It was painful, but the result was a much stronger story.

Lia: It always does, doesn't it?

What are you working on now?

Cindy: I’m currently working on the sequel to Thief of Hope, titled Thief of Destiny.

Lia: What does your typical writing day look like?

Cindy: With a full-time job and an active five-year-old, it’s challenging to find time to write. Luckily I’m a night owl and my most creative time is between 9 pm and whenever I go to bed. Sadly I can’t pull really late nights like I used to.

Lia: Do you read a lot while you write?

Cindy: I love to read and I will read just about any genre. I went through a period a few years ago where I wasn’t reading much due to job pressures and lack of time and then I realized how much I missed it. So now I’m playing catch up because there are so many good books out there. I’m currently working my way through GRR Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series (on book 4) and I’m about to start the last book in Stephen King’s Dark Tower series. Not to mention the stacks of books around the house waiting to be read!

Lia: Good for you! I love stacks of books and honesty, a writer who doesn't read isn't much of a writer.

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

Cindy: Personally I hate the marketing aspect of the business. I’d much rather be writing than trying to sell my books and myself. But sadly it’s a necessity these days. There is so much out there in terms of social networking and it can really be overwhelming. I’ve been trying various things, from blogging to twitter to being featured on various book blogger sites. The best advice I can give is to start small and see what works for you and what you’re willing to do. From what I’ve heard, the best way to build your platform as a writer is to write more books.

Lia: That's the best advice of all!

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

Cindy: I’d tell myself to have more confidence in my writing and to take advantage of my free time to write more when I have the chance.

Lia: Cindy, thank you so much for being our guest author today. 

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

Cindy: Thanks so much for having me today! I hope your readers will check out my links!

Website: http://www.cindyyoungturner.com

Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

2 Writing Contests to Enter Soon... Hurry! :)

Hey, y'all :)

I was just browsing around the internet, looking for something to do, when I came upon two writing contests that end/open soon. So naturally I wanted to share the info/links with you, my fellow writers ;)

If you have a completed manuscript in hand, check these out and give them a try!

~ Lia

Rising Star Contest

Opens May 1st - WomensFictionWriters.org


This is a brand new writers association just for women's fiction. And they have a contest that opens in May!

"This contest is designed exclusively for the unpublished women’s fiction writer. It offers the chance for priceless feedback from three published authors, plus the opportunity to break out of the slush pile and land on the desk of five final round judges, all acquiring agents of women’s fiction."

Review Board Entry

Closes April 11th - WritersRelief.com

This contest, from the looks of it, is a chance to get into their submission service that helps with query letters, writing your synopsis and everything that goes into getting your work in front of literary agents.

Writer’s Relief is seeking submissions of poetry, short prose, and books for our Full Service. Please select your genre below to submit your strongest work for consideration.

Best of the Web for Writers...Week in Review Take 1

It's Friday! :):):):):)

And what a week it was. Anyone else feeling the effects of March coming in "like a lion?" It was sunny and 70 one day, freaking windy as hell and 30 the next. Someone's siding is still in my front yard and try as I may, I can't tell which house it came down from.

So, if anyone is missing beige siding, please come get it... lol...

But I digress. This week was a great blog post week for writers as usual, with tons of craft info and tips and hints popping up along the way.

My first fav blog post of the week for writers was from Ellen Brock's editorial blog: "Top Ten Reasons Why Your Novel is Getting Rejected". If you're wondering why your novel keeps getting rejected, hop on over to Ellen's post and see if your novel fits into any of these top 10 reasons why. And, if you're lucky to not see yourself in these top 10 reasons yet are still getting rejected, Ellen offers mentoring services to help polish and shine your query+synopsis+first chapter combo.

I really loved Advice to a Young Writer. In a sweet (yes, I said sweet) yet motivational letter to an aspiring young writer, Jack Forde tells it like it is. "This letter, and everything else I’ve shared like it, is my way of saying that the easiest way is to end the search for shortcuts… and start walking the path that was always right in front of you."

Best Tweet of the week for writers was from Rebecca Scarberry ‏@Scarberryfields... “One of the things I learned the hard way was that it doesn't pay to get discouraged.” ~Lucille Ball. #Writers, just keep writing!"

Best pic to share with your writer buddies comes from INKYGIRL.COM, aka Debbie Ridpath Ohi. And you know you've done it before...not wanted to kill your darlings... ;) You know what I do? I keep all my darlings in a file folder named "darlings"...and I kill them. I'm sure I'll never use them nor read them again...BUT... it's nice to know they are somewhere safe because, well, you never know...

 Best advice of the week come from Jodi Picoult.

And last but not least, my own two cents: Just write.

Simple as that.

Until next week, just keep writing!

:)

Interview with Chris Hill, Author of Song of the Sea God... "You should never trust a writer who doesn’t read!"

Hey there, y'all!

With us today at the BB Writer's Retreat we have Chris Hill, author of Song of the Sea God (Skylight Press).

Lia Mack: Chris, please start us off by telling a little about yourself.

Chris Hill: I live in Gloucestershire in the UK but I grew up on a small island called Walney, off the coast of Cumbria and this became the setting for Song of the Sea God. I’m married with two sons and I spent a lot of years as a journalist working on newspapers in the UK - I started as a reporter and finished as an editor. Now I work in PR for a children’s charity called WellChild who provide nurses for sick children so they can be cared for in the family home rather than hospital.

I’ve always written fiction, I started with short stories and improved over time, winning a few awards including a big one in the UK called the Bridport Prize. Later I progressed to writing novels and Song of the Sea God is my first to find a publisher - Skylight Press, who brought it out late last year. 　

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

Chris Hill: I don’t honestly know why! I started very young and I think it grew out of the fact that I have always loved reading fiction. I loved it so much that I wanted to write some, it seemed like magic to me, this conjuring of stories out of the ether. The passion to do it is what keeps you going and you get better over time, it’s the 10,000 hour rule - put in enough practice and eventually you get good.

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?

Chris Hill: I’ve done it for as long as I remember - since junior school. I started writing scraps in old school note books and gradually developed over time until I was writing proper stories. Some of these won competitions which was obviously encouraging. Later I started writing novels, three so far.

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

Chris Hill: Song of the Sea God is novel about a man who comes to a small island and tries to persuade the people there that he is a god. It’s a book about religion and what it means to people which is of course a pretty serious subject - and the story is quite dark and alarming in some ways, but there is plenty of humour in there too. I’ve been delighted by the way the book has been received so far and it has had lots of positive and thoughtful reviews from people on Amazon and Goodreads.

I wrote the book because I think there’s a general interest in the idea of faith and spiritual fulfilment at the moment. At the same time belief in god and formal religion has receded to the extent that it’s nowhere near as common as it used to be. I think people have been left with a spiritual hole in their lives - a god-shaped hole, I suppose that’s what the book is about!

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

Chris Hill: There were quite a few. It involved a good deal of research for one thing. I had to learn about all kinds of ancient religions and beliefs and the ritual which went with them. But I also needed to research psychological magicians’ tricks such as cold reading, and I needed to know more about how cults worked and the dynamics of the relationship between a leader and his followers.

Then there was the business of creating a believable world even though some of the things which happen within it border on the fantastic. I wanted to create a world with one foot in reality and one outside of it.

One of the most important things in any book is getting the voice right I believe - the sound of the book, it affects everything, so that is always a challenge. I wanted the writing in the book to really zing off the page - make people laugh, make people think.

Lia Mack: What are you working on now?

Chris Hill: I have another book ready to go - a much lighter, funnier novel, almost a rom-com, about a young man’s inept attempts to find a girlfriend and I’m looking for a publisher for that. I am also working on a short story collection which I’m hoping my current publisher might take a look at. I started out thinking I had that already written because of all the stories I have written over the years. But once you start gathering stories together and looking at them in a group you begin to think - I would be better if I added more of this, or took out that one? and so I am writing new work for that collection now.

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

Chris Hill: I work at my day job and then write round the day - in the evenings, at weekends. I find that a perfectly acceptable way to write and I think if I did have the chance to do it full time I would just spend five hours looking out of the window and making pots of coffee and just one or two doing actual work. How hard I work depends on where I am in the process. At the start of writing something there is a lot of head scratching and scribbling in note books on the bus. But towards the business end there is a lot of sitting at the computer tap tapping away for many hours. I am a massive believer in rewriting - that’s when you make it good, so I also spend a lot of time scribbling on my manuscripts so you can barely see the type for corrections.

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

Chris Hill: I do read a lot all the time - I think you should never trust a writer who doesn’t read! Sometimes however, when I’m in the midst of writing a novel I go off reading fiction and switch to non-fiction books, history, popular science, biography, philosophy - all kinds of stuff. It sometimes helps not to read fiction when you are writing as you can cloud your style with what you are reading. Most of the time I’m reading a novel though - at the moment it is a monster - Infinite Jest, by David Foster Wallace, all 1,200 pages of it. I’m about a third of a way through so far and I’m finding it wonderful in parts.

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?

Chris Hill: I think I would encourage myself to get serious sooner, but I would also say take heart - it will be a long road but keep on keeping on and you will get published in the end!

Lia Mack: Thank you so much for being my guest today. Where can you be found online?

Chris Hill, Author of
Song of the Sea Gods

Chris Hill: If people want to read Song of the Sea God, it can be ordered at all bookshops - plus found at many places online including Barnes and Noble, Waterstones and of course it’s available on Amazon and you can read the first few pages to get a feel for it. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Song-Sea-God-Chris-Hill/dp/1908011556/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1349468028&sr=1-1

I have a blog here which I update every week: http://songoftheseagod.wordpress.com/

I spend a lot more time than I should on twitter @ChilledCH

And I’m on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/?ref=tn_tnmn#!/chris.hill.3726

Thanks for having me as a guest at your writers retreat Lia, it’s been a pleasure.

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.