1:
What is the most productive time of the day for you to write?
The
most productive time of the day for me to write is late morning into early
afternoon, from around 10:00 am to 3:00 pm. That's when I seem to be at my best
but it also depends on whether I have a freelance assignment that day, which
comes first. In that case, I just have to fit writing time around that.
2: Do
you start your projects writing with paper and pen or is it all on the
computer?
I
write only on the computer.
3:
What do you draw inspiration from?
I was
an appellate criminal defense attorney for several years and I draw a lot of
inspiration from my old cases and clients. I'm also a big dance fan - I write a
dance blog - and I draw inspiration from my favorite dancers and their
performances, their careers, and things that I overhear that go on in the dance
world.
4: Do
you set goals for yourself when you sit down to write such as word count?
No,
usually not. I probably should!
5:
Are you a published or a self published author and how do you come up with your
cover art?
My
first, and only book so far ("Swallow"), is self-published. It's
funny because I originally had a completely different cover in mind. But when I
started working with CreateSpace I realized the only way I was going to get the
exact cover I wanted was to hire my own artist, and that would have been
expensive. The CreateSpace people pointed me to a website that contained a huge
amount of stock images (meaning, royalty-free), and said if I could find an
image from that, they could work with that and my cover would be much more
reasonably priced. So, I searched I think it was istockphotos.com and thought
about things that happen in my book and what I wanted to convey with a cover
that would be dramatic and eye-catching but also make people wonder, and I
found a photo that seemed to do all that. I ran it past many of my friends and
even my blog readers, and when most people liked it, I decided to go with that
cover.
6:
What drives you to choose the career of being a writer?
I'm
the type who was always writing and journaling even as a child. I think, of all
the jobs I've had, it's the one I'm actually best at. I think my need to write
derives from my desire to introduce people to worlds they might not know about,
or experiences they might not have had - like this psychosomatic disorder I
had, and what being a NYC public defender is like, etc. (those are some of the
things Swallow is about).
7: Do
you own an ebook reading device?
Right
now, I just have an iphone, but I really like it for reading because of its
small size and the back light (so I can read in dark areas). I have the ereader
and kindle apps downloaded onto it.
8:
Who are some of your favorite authors and what are you reading now?
Some
of my favorite authors are Andrei Makine, Hemingway, Richard Wright, Milan
Kundera, Martin Amis, and Richard Price, but I like reading so many different
things. Right now I'm just finishing Amy Sohn's "Prospect Park West,"
which is hilarious, and after that I'm going to read this book called "Stressed
in Scottsdale" by Marcia Fine. I found her book because we'd both won an
award in the same category in the same contest and her book looked pretty
funny. Plus, I am originally from Phoenix, so I thought it would be a fun beach
read that would remind me of home.
9:
What do you think of book trailers and do you have any plans to have any?
I
think book trailers are great and I've seen some really compelling ones. I'm
not so good with technology, but if I have time this summer, I think I'm going
to try to figure out how to make one, because I think they can really help sell
a reader on a book, and it looks like fun!
10:
What are you working on now that you can talk about?
Right
now I'm working on a book about a bunch of guys who all witness a shooting.
The
Amazon link to my novel, "Swallow," is here: http://www.amazon.com/Swallow-ebook/dp/B0032FNZZC/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2
And
my website and blog, Swan Lake Samba Girl, is here: http://www.tonyaplank.com/swan_lake_samba_girl/
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