Beth Mathison Interview

1: What is the most productive time of the day for you to write? 

I like to write in the afternoon.  If I’m alone in the house at night, which is very rare, I’ll write then.  I’ll do a lot of marketing tasks early morning, before my brain actually hits “creativity level”.


2: Do you start your projects writing with paper and pen or is it all on the computer?

I always write on a computer.  If I have a sudden burst of creativity when I’m not at a computer, I’ll jot notes on a scrap of paper or a sticky note.  If I don’t write down my ideas immediately, I know I won’t remember them.

3: What do you draw inspiration from?

Everything, really. A Johnny Cash song was playing on the radio, which inspired me to write a story called The Train Station.  My Mobster short stories are loosely based on my family.  My family doesn’t have the mobster background, but we do get a little crazy, especially around the holidays. I try to allow events and people to touch my heart.  What I write is a reflection of that touch.

4: Do you set goals for yourself when you sit down to write such as word count?

When writing a longer work like a novel, I aim for 1,000 words a day.  For shorter works, I try to write about 500 words a day.  It’s very important for me to write every work day.  It’s also important for me not to beat myself up if I don’t reach my goal.


5: Are you a published or a self published author and how do you come up with your cover art?

My publisher, Untreed Reads, handles all the cover art.  


6: What drives you to choose the career of being a writer?

I love to write.  I love the process, the final product, the creativity.  I think there is a beauty in the written word.  This sounds corny, but when I write time often speeds by, and all seems right with the world.  When a young person tells me that they want to write, I encourage them to look closely at what they want.  Do what you love to do.

7: Do you own an ebook reading device?

I have a Kindle – a K3.  I was kind of nervous at first.  I really enjoy the feel of actual books.  But I’ve found that the “story” of stories still translates to an e-reader.

8: Who are some of your favorite authors and What are you reading now?

I like Hemingway, e.e. cummings, William Gibson, Dan Simmons.  There are so many!  I’m currently reading Amanda Hocking’s Switched on my Kindle.  She’s a definite inspiration for indie authors.

9: What do you think of book trailers and do you have any plans to have any?

Ooooh, confession.  I had to Google “book trailers”.  I’m adding this option to my potential marketing strategy.


10: How did you come up with the title of your latest book?

I just finished a Mother’s Day Mobster story – A Mobster’s Menu for Mother’s Day Brunch.  All of the Mobster stories begin with “A Mobster…”  The Mother’s Day story has a lot of food references and is set in a restaurant, so I opted for “Menu”.


11: What are you working on now that you can talk about?

I’ve got a first draft of a novel that I’m editing.  It’s a mystery/romance novel a la Janet Evanovich.  I’m having a lot of fun with it – there are thrills, interesting characters, and a bit of romance thrown in.  I enjoy bringing up my file every day and thinking  Hmmmm.... where will these characters take me today?



My Amazon page:  http://www.amazon.com/Beth-Mathison/e/B004AXAX6O/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1

If you need a specific Amazon page:

http://www.amazon.com/Mobsters-Toast-St-Patricks-ebook/dp/B004PLNIA4/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpi_3

http://www.amazon.com/Mobsters-Recipe-Cupcakes-Valentines-ebook/dp/B004JXVYI6/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpi_4

http://www.amazon.com/Mobsters-Guide-Cranberry-Sauce-ebook/dp/B004AM5DJW/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpi_1

http://www.amazon.com/The-Killer-Wore-Cranberry-ebook/dp/B004A90DDQ/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpi_2

 My publisher:  www.untreedreads.com

Cover Art for THE ROT

Here is the cover art for my new flash fiction THE ROT

David Cassel Interview (Me & My Kindle Blog)

1: How much time does it take to put together a post? You seem to put a lot of time into each one including links, sample txt, and even lyrics.

Yeah, it takes at least an hour to craft a really good blog post.  It's not a single article; it's more like an ongoing relationship with each reader that gets re-awakened every day. I'm always trying to "grab" their interest with something big -- breaking news, an exciting idea, or something that's just really, really fun. But there's a lot of research into each post behind-the-scenes - and a lot of time spent polishing up the way that it's finally written!

2: What other Blogs do you read on a regular schedule?

I'm a little star-struck by the bloggers who write for Amazon.com.  It was just this week that Amazon let Kindle owners start subscribing to their blogs individually. So I jumped on Omnivoracious -- Amazon's blog about books -- and Armchair Commentary, which is Amazon's blog about movies and TV.

There was a lot of disappointment when Amazon discontinued the Kindle Daily Post blog -- but it's still available on the web (at KindlePost.com). And I just recently discovered that Media Bistro has a dedicated blog that's all about the publishing industry (called "GalleyCat".)  

And of course, I check Amazon's web site for press releases -- along with Google News -- to make sure I'm catching any breaking news about  Kindles!

3: What was it that drove you to start a blog about the Kindle?

I began thinking about history, and wondering if the book might really start to disappear in my lifetime. It seemed like a once-in-a-lifetime change, and I really wanted to be a part of it somehow. At one point I even thought about interviewing every last librarian in the country.

I still think the e-book revolution is going to change everything. And I guess I wanted to be where the action is.

4: Of all the great content ready to be sent to our Kindle within minutes (and no need to pay for gas to go get) what are you reading on your Kindle right now? 

I actually got to meet author Linda Watanabe McFerrin, and I'm just finishing up her novel "Dead Love" -- which is a very well-written zombie romance. But lately

I've been on a biography kick -- I'm reading Keith Richards' biography, "Life," along with "The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the End of America's Childhood."

I'm a sucker for a free classic, so I've also started working my way through the original "Jungle Book" -- and Jules Verne's "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea." And after the movie "True Grit" came out, someone suggested we try reading the classic western books, so I picked up Zane Grey's "The Rainbow Trail" -- which was a sequel to his most famous western -- as a free ebook in the Kindle store. 

5: Have you updated your Kindle with the new software if so what is your favorite new feature?

I haven't. Around Christmas time, I bought my girlfriend a new Kindle 3, and then she handed down our Kindle 2 to me. So unfortunately, I'm not eligible for the upgrade. 

But I am curious to see how those page numbers work!

6: Do you find your reading more books now with the invention of the eReader than you did with dead tree books?

Absolutely. I once joked to a friend that Amazon had discovered a way to sell "the joy of reading" back to us. I read a news article about a school that bought Kindles for all their students -- and one of the students said that it really made reading feel more cool. I knew reading was cool already, of course, but it's even more exciting now, more cutting-edge and modern. 

I'm reading books that might be coming to me straight from the author's hard drive. Maybe it's a story that they just finished writing last weekend. Maybe it's something

that was too "edgy" for a print publisher to take a chance on. Maybe it's something that's so exotic and obscure that it doesn't even exist as a printed book any more.

But to answer your question...yes.  I'm definitely reading more now with the invention of the e-reader.

7: Is the Kindle the only ereader that you own? 

Yep!  (My girlfriend once joked that I couldn't switch to another reader, because I'd already named my blog "Me and My Kindle.")

I once thought about buying a Nook or another reader, just to give it a test run and compare it to the Kindle. But honestly, the "second reader" I'd 

most like to have right now is an original Kindle 1.   It's almost like a classic car -- it's clunky and asymmetrical, but it started a revolution. 

8: If you could bring one thing to your Kindle with a new software update what feature would you like to see?

Well, there's obviously room for improvement in the Kindle's mp3 player.  And I sometimes have trouble finding the ebooks I want to read, so maybe Amazon could come up with a better way to search by title or author.  But I've also been using the Kindle's web browser a lot lately, so it'd be nice if Amazon could improve its performance. 

I know Amazon doesn't really want you to browse the web -- because they have to pay for all the bandwidth you use. But I've seen sites like KInstant.com, which re-format any web page so it'll display faster on your Kindle. I think Amazon should try something like that!

9: Along with subscribing to your great Blog is there any other social networks we can find you on? 

Not yet.  But please tell your friends to read my blog! :)

Let's share the e-book revolution together!

 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003CF9XN0
   http://www.beyond-black-friday.com/

I was interviewed check it out

Check out my friends blog where he interviews other Horror Writers including me.

http://toddhughespress.wordpress.com/2011/03/17/interview-with-horror-writer-kipp-poe-speicher/

David Lender Interview

Trojan Horse Summary:  In Trojan Horse, Daniel Youngblood is a world-weary oil and gas investment banker who’s ready to hit the beach, when he’s hired by a Saudi Prince for an OPEC deal where he can net himself $25 million as a swan song. At the same time, he meets and falls in love with Lydia, an exotic European fashion photographer, who he later discovers is really CIA-trained spy with a shocking past with the Saudi Prince. She convinces Daniel to enlist in what becomes a race for the lovers to stop a Muslim terrorist internet plot to bring down the Saudi royal family and cripple the world’s oil capacity, all before they wind up dead.

My brief bio:  David Lender writes thrillers set in the financial sector based on his over 25-year career as a Wall Street investment banker. He draws on an insider's knowledge from his career in mergers and acquisitions with Merrill Lynch, Rothschild and Bank of America for the international settings, obsessively driven personalities and real-world financial intrigues of his novels. His characters range from David Baldacci-like corporate power brokers to Elmore Leonard-esque misfits and scam artists. His plots reveal the egos and ruthlessness that motivate the players in the financial sector, as well as the inner workings of the most powerful of our financial institutions. More background on David and his writing can be found at www.davidlender.net.

1: What is the most productive time of the day for you to write?

I am not so methodical about my writing schedule that I can say I have a most productive time of day.  I can outline, plan out scenes and edit drafts virtually anyplace; in the living room, in a coffee shop or in a cab.  I do need quiet for the actual writing, and find even background music distracting.  I write most of my first drafts with dictation software on the computer.  As  such, sometimes it flows so well I don’t even want to edit it.  Other times it’s hard labor and I have to grind it out.  I rewrite and edit so many times it’s impossible to know which of those two extremes I’m more successful with.  I can say I get the most done when I allow myself long chunks of time to blast away in my writing study—three or four hours uninterrupted.  I’ve had weeks of incredible productivity when I’ve decided to just put my head down and bang it out for eight hours a day, but those times are rare.  They’re usually when I’m almost done with a draft or major redraft and decided to plow through until I’m finished.  Then, of course, rewriting.

2: Do you start your projects writing with paper and pen or is it all on the computer?

I always start my outlines with pen and paper, but quickly convert them to the computer.  My finished outlines are detailed, scene-by-scene outlines.  Sometimes I even write dialog into the outline if it comes to me at the time in a way I want to get it down.  I do almost all my writing on the computer, but I’m a constant note-jotter on paper.

3: What do you draw inspiration from?

I have a million ideas for stories if that’s inspiration.  Most of them come from my career as an investment banker. They all wind up being set in the financial sector (because I know that environment and the kind of people that populate it) or somehow use it as a backdrop.  This isn’t to say they’re based on finance, so my readers don’t need to be financial people.

4: Do you set goals for yourself when you sit down to write such as word count?

I try not to get up from my desk without writing at least 1,000 words, but sometimes it just doesn’t happen because of other things going on in my life.  Or it doesn’t flow fast enough within the time I have.  Other times I can do 2,000 words comfortably in a sitting.

5: Are you a published or a self published author and how do you come up with your cover art?

     I am self-published. The starting point for my cover art is my father’s photographs.  He was an accomplished amateur photographer all his life and left a great legacy of photographs that are unique, beautiful and have great meaning to me.

6: What drives you to choose the career of being a writer?

I am not sure it’s really a choice.  It’s more a compulsion that a writer can’t resist.  He/she can put it off, but I think it’s always going to rise inevitably to the surface, like a beach ball being held under water.  Sooner or later it pops up.

7: Do you own an ebook reading device?

I own a Kindle and a Nook.

8: Who are some of your favorite authors and What are you reading now?

I read  a lot of Jack London growing up.  F. Scott Fitzgerald is my favorite writer and I think The Great Gatsby is the great American novel. Few write with his rhythm, economy (Gatsby is only about 50 thousand words), or mixture of romantic sensitivity and understanding of human depravity. I was an English major, so I read all the big names you might expect. I also admire Hemingway, Joyce, the Bronte sisters, Henry James, Conrad and Steinbeck. Thriller writers who have influenced me are Frederick Forsyth (The Day of the Jackal may be the best thriller ever written), John LeCarre, John Grisham (although I don’t think he’s ever gotten close to The Firm again), Robert Ludlum, Ken Follett, and Thomas Harris. Elmore Leonard is the contemporary author I most admire. Out of Sight is his best, with Get Shorty a close second. Nobody does dialog or backstory like him.  And his Ten Rules of Writing should be on every novelist’s desk.

I am reading Tom Clancy’s Dead or Alive, John Grisham’s The Confession and J.E. Taylor’s Vengeance right now.

9: What do you think of book trailers and do you have any plans to have any?

I think it’s a great idea if done right. I’m thinking about how to go about it. But they’re definitely here to stay.

10: How did you come up with the title of your latest book?

A Trojan Horse is a computer hacker’s tool of sabotage, which figures in my story, and also a term for an agent who goes deep undercover, also an element of my story.

11: What are you working on now that you can talk about?

I have a finished novel, Bull Street, that I will probably tweak until I release it later this year. Bull Street is the story of a naïve, young Wall Streeter who gives a jaded billionaire the chance for redemption, as they team up to bring down an insider trading ring before they wind up in jail or dead.  I am also finishing up a novella, The Gravy Train, also set on Wall Street.  It’s about a young investment banker who helps an elderly Chairman try to buy his company back after some ruthless Wall Street sharks have driven it into bankruptcy, and are trying to carve it up for themselves.  And I’m working on a memoir on our fist year of life with our recently adopted rescue pit bull puppy, Styles. I’m five months into it.  Finally, I’ve started another thriller, about an award-winning documentary filmmaker who has a drug industry whistle-blower give her evidence of a concrete link between the national vaccine program and autism, and then races to expose it before a megalomaniacal drug industry CEO can have her killed.

Lindsey Michelle interview

1: What is the most productive time of the day for you to write?

I prefer to begin writing in the late afternoon and continue into the night. I’m not a morning person, thus I feel as though creativity doesn’t really set in until later in the day. However, I always have my current project (whether it’s a story, novel or screenplay) in the back of my mind. Even when I’m not writing, I’m pondering ideas and revising sections in my mind!

2: Do you start your projects writing with paper and pen or is it all on the computer?

I always use the computer, even for “jotting down” ideas. It’s so much faster to type than handwrite. When I’m inspired, I write first drafts rather quickly, so using the computer makes more sense. Plus, you can backup your work!

3: What do you draw inspiration from?

This is a difficult question to answer. My first response was “Everything!” Novels and films that I love are an influence, but as for my own stories, I’m not sure where they come from. When I wrote “Dimensions”, it began as a short story and grew into a novel. I don’t recall how I came up with the original idea, except that I intended to write a supernatural story.

4: Do you set goals for yourself when you sit down to write such as word count?

I don’t think about word count, but I do push myself to write as much as possible when I’m in the middle of a project. I always think: If I don’t write this now, will I be as inspired tomorrow? I always am, but it bothers me when I know the next part of a story and I haven’t written it yet!

5: Are you a published or a self published author and how do you come up with your cover art?

I self-published my novel “Dimensions” on Lulu.com and made it available on Kindle earlier this year. After having been through the self-publishing process, I would not hesitate to self-publish again.
The cover art for “Dimensions” was actually from a template that Lulu.com provided. One change I might make for a future novel is to make the cover art myself, perhaps a photograph.

6: What drives you to choose the career of being a writer?

I’ve loved writing for as long I can remember. In high school, I wrote two novels. Although they were never published, it really taught me the discipline of completing a full-length writing project. Since then I’ve written spec screenplays, short stories, nonfiction articles…
There’s nothing better than seeing your writing in print. I’ve written two articles for MovieMaker magazine, one in the print issue and one online, and although I’m proud of both, seeing my article in the print issue was a thrill!

7: Do you own an ebook reading device?

I’m always reading electronic files for work (as a screenplay reader), so when I read for fun, I like old-fashioned paperbacks. But since it’s likely that one day e-reading will be the main option, I better get used to reading on an e-device for fun too!

8: Who are some of your favorite authors and What are you reading now?

I love authors from the 1920s -- Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Evelyn Waugh. The writing style is really beautiful. The last novel I read was “Hector and the Search for Happiness” by Francois Lelord. It’s a short novel about a psychiatrist who travels the world in search of what makes people happy (I suppose that last part is fairly obvious from the title!) The writer conveys so much through simple prose and limited yet vivid description. It’s a wonderful read.

9: What do you think of book trailers and do you have any plans to have any?

Personally, I’m not a huge fan of book trailers. I’d rather imagine the characters, locations, etc. than see someone else’s visuals. It’s exciting when a good book is made into a film, but a book trailer doesn’t make me purchase or not purchase a book.

10: How did you come up with the title of your latest book?

I suppose “Dimensions” doesn’t need too much explaining. Creating a title is one of the most difficult parts of writing, in my opinion. One aspect I kept in mind, though, is that some of the most beloved novels and films have very simple titles. Unless you’re lucky enough to use a great phrase like “The Sun Also Rises”, I think a self-explanatory title is better than a confusing one.

11: What are you working on now that you can talk about?

I recently started a blog to promote self-published and indie writers. I plan to post some of my own writing, including a short story series called “Tenacious Tuesday”, but I want to feature as many different writers as possible. I just posted a great short story from a self-published writer.
The blog can be viewed at http://selfscribes.blogspot.com

W.T. Hughes Interview

1: What is the most productive time of the day for you to write?
Lunch time, it’s the only time I am really alone and not busy with something else.

2: Do you start your projects writing with paper and pen or is it all on the computer?

All PC, I haven’t written on paper in years.

3: What do you draw inspiration from?

Different sources.  I have written stories based on dreams or works of other authors that triggered an idea.  Other times I think what would be disturbing to me in real life and build my story around that concept.

4: Do you set goals for yourself when you sit down to write such as word count?

No, I just start writing and continue until I am interrupted.  Generally I have a completed outline and all I need to do is use words to connect the dots.

5: Are you a published or a self published author and how do you come up with your cover art? Self-published at this time although I do have some short stories submitted to magazines for consideration.  For cover art I try to pull an object that appears in the story and use it as a center piece. 

6: What drives you to choose the career of being a writer?

I have always loved to read and write, and I love to create something that entertains others.

7: Do you own an ebook reading device?

No I have the kindle for PC on my laptop and use that.

8: Who are some of your favorite authors and What are you reading now?

H.P. Lovecraft, Edgar Allen Poe, Dean Koontz, Stephen King, Clark Ashton Smith, Fritz Leiber, Michael Moorecock .  I have been on a kick lately where I have been re-reading Lovecrafts works, the recent one I read was The Picture in the House.

9: What do you think of book trailers and do you have any plans to have any?

I think they are great if you have the talent or money to have one put together.  Our society today is a very visual one and if the use of video can pull more people into reading a book then I’m all for it.  Personally I don’t have the skill or resources to create one at this time.

10: How did you come up with the title of your latest book?

Well I am naming my series Stories from the Ether and each volume will contain a number of short stories. I choose it because ether is the upper reaches of space.  I guess I was trying to symbolize stories whose content is something beyond our comprehension or out of reach in real life.

11: What are you working on now that you can talk about?

I am joining some other writers who are putting together a short story compilation whose profits will be donated to the victims of the devastation in Japan.  I will be submitting a short story about a man with a bad case of road rage.