Interview with Writer Vince Rockston

Is it time for a new author interview already?  It seems like we just had JB here. This month I’m excited to welcome a British writer now living in Switzerland Vince Rockston to my Scribbles page.

Greetings Vince. Thank you for taking the time to answer a few questions for me and my readers this month.

Thank you for having me.

To warm things up let’s start with what I hope is an easy question.  When you sit down to write do you aim for a set amount of words or pages?

No. (Chuckles) Funnily enough, I got much more writing done while I was employed full time than now when I’m retired. I think my metabolic rate slowed down considerably after the magic age of 65.

I guess that keeps it more relaxing and enjoyable?

You can say that.

Other then living in a beautiful part of the world I hope to visit some day, what inspires you to get out of bed each day?

I seldom have difficulty getting up. I have a morning routine – physical exercise, ablutions, listen to the news, breakfast, reading and meditating on daily Bible verses, reading my emails, making moves on my online games – before I start the day’s activities, which may or may not be working on my book.

That sounds like a great way to start the day.

I think so.

Lets bounce around, because I’m curious.  What’s your favorite movie and why?

I hardly ever watch movies.

Seriously?

I have great trouble assimilating fast-paced modern films and don’t want to titillate myself with sex scenes nor horrify myself with blood and gore. And – with a few exceptions, such as Narnia and Lord of the Rings – I’m not impressed by most fantasies.

There are a lot of bad movies out there, which is unfortunate.

Yes. However, one film I have watched several times and always enjoy is The Sound of Music with Julie Andrews – rather innocent fun and yet it touches on some deep issues, such as the purpose of a religious life, how much discipline is appropriate when bringing up children, and the moral pressures experienced by those who don’t wish to participate in war, as well as the age-old element of romance. 

I agree, that is an amazing movie.  I watched it all the time when I was younger.

Speaking of strong characters and amazing storytelling. Give us an insight into your main character. What does he/she do that is so special?

My WIP Aquila – Can Silvanus escape that god? relates the life of Silvanus, a disturbed young lad who thinks his only hope for happiness is to escape his bitter father by acquiring a boat and leaving his home island of Ilva (Elba) to explore the world. Riches, treachery and romance throw him off track, but his main distraction is an encounter with the old hermit Cerbonius, whose wisdom and ethos challenge him to the core.

Silvanus grapples with the recluse’s ancient texts, discusses fundamental life issues with him, watches how he deals with conflict and learns about natural phenomena. He falls in love with and eventually marries a childhood acquaintance, who also helps him sort out his guilty conscience. His mentor’s dying requests lead to an encounter that challenges Silvanus to the extreme.

That sounds very deep and interesting.

I think it is.

You seem to have a very Zen way about you, so I’m wondering, is being a writer a gift or a curse?

It’s certainly not a curse. It’s partly a gift and partly hard work and determination. And I think for those who feel the inclination, ability and courage to write it’s a unique opportunity to entertain, challenge or educate others by letting the fantasy and inspiration pour out onto a written page. 

Isn’t that always the hope?

I think so and maybe they can even earn a bit of money at it; probably not much.

That’s the icing on the cake I believe.  Well that is all the time I have today.  Thank you so much for hoping over to my Scribbles page. I really enjoyed our chit-chat.

Thank you for the invite.

Keep us posted on Aquila – Can Silvanus escape that god

More about Vince Rockston

Vince enjoys the beautiful countryside around the little Swiss village where he lives, retired, with his Finnish wife, sharing a house with one son, his Brazilian wife and their Chihuahua. When he has a chance, he loves to go hiking in the mountains. He blogs as Greyowl (bilingual) and his historical fiction book is developing at www.aquilaelba.info. AquilaElba is also on Facebook.

In order to earn a living, Vince started as a computer technician but soon advanced through a series of promotions to become a consultant for networking solutions. After 25 years in IT, a forced career change introduced him to the field of technical editing for a company developing encryption solutions. This turned out to match his character and skills very well, although it’s a long way from writing fiction.

Raising a family of three children, extended by a lively foster daughter and a dog; heavy involvement in a small evangelical church; and multiple business trips around the world – these filled most of Vince’s free time while he was working. Now that his children have flown the nest – though not gone very far – he is thrilled to be able to accompany his two grandchildren one afternoon per week and watch them develop, even though he gets exhausted.

The relative freedom of retirement has allowed Vince to take winter breaks with his wife to warmer climes, recently to Madeira and Tenerife. They enjoy the beautiful scenery, exotic plants and challenging hikes. The sparse historical information available about the indigenous people of the Canary Isles – Guanches – may inspire Vince to work on another historical novel. Who knows

Interview with Writer JB Reynolds

Welcome back to my continuing series of conversations with various authors. This month I’m pleased to welcome a New Zealand writer JB Reynolds to my Scribbles page.

JB welcome. Thank you for taking the time to answer a few questions for me and my readers this month.

Pleased to be here.

Lets’ dive right in shall we. Once you write your work who do you get it ready? Do you proofread and edit all your own books or do you get someone to do that for you?

I edited the first couple of stories, but wanted to engage the services of a professional editor with my forthcoming story Square Pegs. I think if you’re serious about indie-publishing it’s a necessary step. You’re just too close to your own work, and you miss things. My editor made some changes, nothing major, but numerous little things, and there were things in there that I would never have considered. I’ve rejected some of her suggestions but have gone with the majority of them. It’s made for a better story.

Having a dedicated editor, for an indie-author seems costly was it?

I thought her chargers were reasonable.  She charges per hour and it took her two and a half hours to edit my story.  I was impressed by how thorough she was.  It certainly made a difference to the quality of my story.

Good to know.

Something we as authors all get asked, so I have to ask it here, is where do your ideas come from?

(Chuckles) Who knows? Just from being alive, I guess. You live life, you meet people, you see things, you hear things, you read things. I think a lot. Much of that thinking is pretty shallow, but my brain is constantly working things over, and when the time is right, usually when I’m alone (which doesn’t happen all that often when you have three young children), an idea sometimes rises up out of the murk, like a swamp monster, and takes shape.

Swamp Monster, I’m going to have to remember that.

Considering you have a few books out there, what do your fans mean to you?

I don’t have so many fans as yet, but I think they’re a big deal. I really appreciate it when someone takes the time out of their day to make the commitment to subscribe to my mailing list, or follow me on Facebook, or add me as a favorite on something. They don’t have to do that, and when they do, it makes all the difference and I’m very thankful. I try to maintain a dialogue with them and show my appreciation. 

Speaking of keeping in touch with fans and building a fan base, did you do a press release, Goodreads book launch or anything else to promote your work and did it work?

I haven’t done a press release or Goodreads book launch. I wanted to try doing some different things for the launch of Square Pegs. My editor suggested I change one of the character names so I posted on Facebook asking for suggestions for names and got a great response and a much improved character name from that. I’m going to do the same with the cover art—do 2 or 3 versions and ask which one people prefer. I want to try and engage my potential audience and try to create a bit of buzz in the lead up to its release.

That’s a really smart idea.  Anytime you can engage your audience is a smart move.

Last question, and this is a fun one.  Tell me what inspires you to get out of bed each day?

Just the thought that if I keep chipping away at this writing thing, little by little, I’ll get better, and there’s no reason why I can’t make it work for me, no reason why I can’t make some money from it.

Thank you JB for taking the time to stop by.  The time always goes so quickly

Thank you for the invite.

Let us know when your next book is released, would love to hear more about it.

More about JB Reynolds

JB Reynolds at home.

JB Reynolds at home.

J.B. Reynolds lives in rural Northland, New Zealand, where he raises children and chickens. He writes humorous short fiction, where tragedy meets comedy and character reigns supreme. His first short story was published while he was a university student, and in between that and a return to serious writing in 2016, he has worked as a graphic designer, landscaper, ski and snowboard technician, librarian, apple picker, and baker of muffins and teacakes.

Nowadays, when not writing, he’s a husband, father, and high school teacher (not necessarily in that order). He enjoys sailing, cycling, and playing music, really loud, when his wife and kids aren’t at home. He has a big garden, where he likes to get his fingernails dirty, and he loves to eat the things that grow in it.

He is currently working on his Crossing The Divide short story series. The stories in the series feature different characters and switch between locations in New Zealand and Australia, but they are all, in a way, coming of age stories and are linked through the theme of relationships. Find all of JB Reynolds books here and here. You can find JB Reynolds on Facebook and on his website.

Interview with Writer Trin Carl

As part of my continuing series of interviews with various writers, this month I welcome to Trin Carl to my Scribbles page.

Trin, let’s jump right into the nitty-gritty. When it comes to your writing do you work from an outline plot or do you prefer to just see where an idea takes you? 

I like to see where ideas take me.  I could write a paragraph and see something totally different come out of it, and then I just go with that train of thought vs. my original idea.  I could write pages alone on a new tangent idea that came to me.  My longest writing experience has been 7,000 words in a day.

7,000 Words in one day I bet that wasn’t easy.

No, it wasn’t an easy endeavor. I had to change settings a lot.  You see, I had been participating in Nanowrimo in 2013 and I was writing with a group of writers and we had jumped from Peace Coffee to Royal Grounds to Riverside Cafe (sort of like bar hopping)Each stop, I’d write for twenty minutes to writing prompts.  It was sorta like a marathon to me.

Speaking to your writing do you proofread and edit all your own books or do you get someone to do that for you? 

I’ve only began allowing others to edit my work in the past three years.  Having others edit my work has flourished my interest in writing.  I think it was Hemingway who strongly believed in the importance of peer editing and that having writers in your corner will only help you.

I would agree with that.  The more we can help each the better writers we become.

You mentioned for your writing marathon you changing locations. What would you say are the main advantages and disadvantages of writing in varied environments vs. writing in the same environment every day?

I always write in varied environments and make it a habit of never writing from home.

Really, never writing at home?

I feel home is a place you hang your hat but it’s also filled with distractions.  Right now, in fact, I’m writing from the comforts of work.  I am lucky in that I work in a place where I have time to write, and boy do I take advantage of this.  I wake up sometimes around 4am just to write at work.  Did I mention I’m allowed to sleep at work too? (Laughs to self)

That kind of support is great.  What about writing compliments you received can you list one for us?

One of the best writing comments I’ve gotten is from a reader who said, “I can tell you’ve been a writer for a long time just by reading your work.  You’ve got rhythm.”  One of my most popular poems is called Sippin’ on Some Sizzer just to give you an idea.  It’s the feedback you get from your readers that is pure motivation.  I thank all my fans every day for pushing me along.

Well said.  Fans are amazing.

Sadly, we’re to my last question. Do you have help from other writers in publishing your book?

I have yet to publish my novel.  It’s still in progress but I know a handful of writers from Minnesota who have had their books published on Amazon and in print form.  I meet with them once a week at Dunn Brothers Coffee shop.  They write in all forms of genres including Historical Fiction, Sci Fi/fantasy and literary.  One of my colleagues, Tim Mahoney, has published nine novels. Dead Messenger, a thriller novel based on a Minnesota, 1930’s Barker gang is my favorite.

Sometimes I get comments from the writers in the group like, “I don’t write YA but your work is very appealing.  It has a certain tone.”  Or, they say that my main character reminds them of the MC in Kent Krueger’s, “Ordinary Grace.”  Our group stays late into the night discussing while sippin’ down volumes of coffee.  We often have book signing parties that celebrate our work.

That all sounds great. I wish I had more time to spend with you today.  Thank you for taking the time out of your day to do this interview.

It was fun thanks for having me.

Keep us posted on your work I would love to spotlight you and your novel when you get it published.

More about Trin Carl:

Trin Carl writes YA and Literary fiction.  She enjoys contemporary dance and writing her blog 50schoolsn90days on Blogger.  From Minnesota, Trin enjoys the outdoors and all the seasons, especially the fall as it reminds her of her days teaching and attending school at Metropolitan State University.  She can be contacted on twitter @theglobaldig or on Goodreads.

Interview with Writer Randall Krzak

This is very exciting news that I can’t wait to share with you.  Starting with this post and going for the next several months I’m hosting various authors here on my blog.  These authors are from all over the world and are a cross culture of the wide world of genres.  It should be a lot of fun and I’m hoping you will enjoy it.

I plan on featuring one author per month.  So, lets get started.

Randall, let’s start with the typical question all writers get, what’s your ambition for your writing career?

I suppose like many authors, to try and be successful. Whether that will happen or not is outside of my control, so the best thing I can do is create realistic stories to share with others.

Creating realistic stories takes a lot of work. So, which writers inspire your story telling?

Tom Clancy, Dan Brown, Clive Cussler, Brad Thor, David L. Golemon, Robert Crais, Jack Du Brul, and Mark Greany, to name the major ones. I still read them, but now I’m paying attention to how they craft their stories and build their stories.

Those are some great writers, and I can see why you’ve picked them. Let’s focus on your writing.  Tell us about your debut novel, ‘The Kurdish Connection’.

‘The Kurdish Connection’, is the first in a four-book series. I took the first chapter of another book I was working on, cut it to 399 words, and submitted it to a monthly competition held by Wildsound Writing and Film Festival Review. My entry, called A Dangerous Occupation, was one of the winning entries in August 2016. It’s read by a professional actor at the following link.

Excellent.  Any other writings you have out there?

Another short story, Postal Man, was recently chosen for the January members’ writing and art section of The Fictional Café. Here’s the link.

You’ve been busy.  Are you working on anything else?  

I have three other novels underway. The first is ‘Dangerous Alliance’, the sequel to ‘The Kurdish Connection’. This one involves the North Koreans and Al-Shahbab, a Somali terrorist group. To counter the alliance is Bedlam Bravo who will try to stop the transfer of oil and weapons, as well as rescue a well-known hostage. The second ongoing book is called ‘A Cartel’s Revenge’, and involves a cartel headed by a woman. She makes an unusual alliance with FARC, not realizing ISIS will soon be involved. Working against her are a CIA agent and an Army colonel. The third book, which will take some time to finish, is historical fiction. It begins in 1770 with a tenant farmer and his family. After crop failures, they receive a lifeline and head to America, arriving in time to be caught up with the Boston Tea Party and the beginnings of the Revolutionary War.

That is some amazing stuff you have planned.  Where do your ideas come from?

They come from a variety of places, paying attention to the news and even other writers. ‘A Cartel’s Revenge’, mentioned above, is based on three sentences someone sent me to see what I could do with them. I have two other novels planned that are based on suggestions given to me but I need to complete the others before working on these.

With all these projects you have going, how do you keep them straight? Do you work to an outline or plot or do you prefer just seeing where an idea takes you?

I prefer to use an outline. I begin with a draft synopsis so I have an idea where I’m starting and where I want to go. The initial chapters are identified but things change as the stories unfold, which can change the number and order of my chapters.

Randall this has been a lot of fun. I look forward to hearing more about your upcoming novels. Thank you for taking the time to answers my questions and be my first author interview.

Writer Randall Krzak relaxing at home.

Writer Randall Krzak relaxing at home.

More about Randall Krzak:

Not wanting to spend his retirement at a golf club Randall, with the suggestion of a long time friend, decided the best way to stay out from under his wife, Sylvia’s feet was to put his writing skills to use.  Randall’s past careers had him working overseas in various countries giving him a rich world of experiences and places to pull from.  His debut thriller ‘The Kurdish Connection’ is now available on Amazon click here . To learn more about Randall check out his website here.