Meet Author A.P. Fuchs

I met A.P. Fuchs via email when he sent me a review request. Well you know me, I will definitely work for free books! I also like to check out all of the authors whose books I'm reading, it makes me feel more connected to the work. And there was a lot to find out about A.P.! He started from the bottom up and has grown a great little publishing company (and I don't mean "little" in a derogatory way, I mean "little" as in he still knows everyone he works with/publishes) and put out a lot of books. I only read the first in the Blood of my World trilogy, Discovery of Death, but I will be reading the others. And also more of his work. Read my review at See Spot Read. And then come back to meet the man:


1.) How long have you been writing?

About eleven years, though I flirted with it prior to then but nothing you would call serious.

2.) Do you write full time or do you have another job?

I write and publish full time and have been doing so since March of 2009. My “day job” is now running my own publishing company, Coscom Entertainment, and its imprint, Torn Veil Books. (see http://www.coscomentertainment.com and http://www.tornveilbooks.com respectively)

3.) What was your first published work?

If you’re talking non-self-published stuff, then I think it was a short story I did called Rag Man published by a place called Quasar Realm Studios. Actually, I don’t know if it was ever published, but I’m 99% sure it was something I got paid for and was my first sale. The story has since been revised and re-released in my short story collection, Magic Man Plus 15 Tales of Terror.

In terms of books, I subsidy-published—very naively, I might add—my first novel, A Stranger Dead, but my first Coscom Entertainment print publication was my B-horror novel, A Red Dark Night (now out-of-print but on the schedule for a revised edition for this year).

4.) What made you decide to go the Indie route?

Stupidity and naivety.

Let me explain:

Originally, Coscom Entertainment was meant to be a publishing house for comics, but when that career path didn’t pan out, and I got involved with writing, I got suckered into vanity publishing and paid over two grand for a book that I’m not proud of. Correction: a book with a story I’ll stand by until the day I die, but with writing that could use a good polish.

The whole procedure of going from manuscript to print with them was a nightmare and a half. It was a money pit. I was taken advantage of. It just plain sucked. However, ironically through it all I fell in love with the book publishing process and being the entrepreneurial-minded person that I am, I officially launched Coscom Entertainment in 2004—though it was already a registered company since 2001—and A Red Dark Night was its debut horror paperback.

The plan was for the company to publish my own stuff and that’s it. However, my friend and colleague, horror author Keith Gouveia—who you should be reading if you’re not already; his stuff is really good—asked me if I was interested in publishing a benefit anthology for the late Charles Grant called Small Bites. I did, and it was then that Coscom Entertainment changed from a house that published just my work to a house that published other folks. Things just kind of grew from there.

5.) This trilogy of YA novellas center around a vampire and the love of his life, who happens to be from a family of vampire slayers. Have you always written about vampires?

No. This is my first outing, actually. I have written love stories before under the pen name Peter Fox (April; My Angel and Me), but no vampire tales. I really enjoy writing love stories because it’s a genre that’s really dear to me for personal reasons and, since I write horror and superhero stuff as A.P. Fuchs, I thought it was about time in my career to combine the two genres and do a vampire love story. I guess you can say Peter Fox has an uncredited byline in the Blood of my World series.

6.) What scares you personally? Do you have any silly phobias?

Forests at night. Dark basements. The idea of that invisible evil that could be lurking around the next corner. But out of those three, dark basements get me every time. Blair Witch scared me so bad I haven’t seen it since it first came out as they incorporated the top two things that terrify me the most in that film.

7.) What is your writing routine?

These days, I do Coscom Entertainment and Torn Veil Books stuff during the day, and work on my own personal material at night.

My old routine was to pull up the story on the computer, see where I left off, go make coffee, then head outside and smoke a cigarette while I formulated what would happen next. I’d come inside and basically just write down what I saw in my head.

Now, though, I pretty much just decide, “Okay, I’m going to write,” and take the laptop to bed, get comfy, put the computer on my lap and just go.

8.) Have you always been a fan of horror?

Growing up, I was never allowed to watch it. I actually only ventured into it once I was living on my own when I was 18. At the time, the dark stuff happening on the screen really matched what was going on internally, so it seemed a perfect fit and something I ended up carrying into my writing.

9.) What other authors inspire you?

The top three are Stephen King, Alan Moore, and Terry Goodkind.

10.) What advice would you give to newbie writers out there?

I just recently wrote for another blog the following:

Two main things:

First,  stop talking about the book you’re trying to write and just write the thing.

I meet too many “aspiring writers” or even artists who talk about creating but never do it because they’re too busy with other stuff. If your art isn’t important enough to make the time for it, why even bother doing it? You’re better off spending time do that which means a lot to you instead.

Second, if you are indeed serious about this business, sit down and decide what your goals are. Do you want to write full time? Part time? Hobby? Each of those requires different roads to get to where you want to be. Usually, if you want to write full time, you get an agent and try and sell the book for at least enough money to cover your expenses for a year. Part time? Mid to small press is good, and you don’t need an agent for those. Hobby? Self-publishing can be an option.

I also strongly suggest not to buy into all this eBook hype that’s been going around. The reality is a big part of this business is chance. Sad but true. Some books hit it big, others don’t. No one knows why and if someone says they do, they’re lying (or got lucky). If publishers knew what would hit, they’d produce those books every time, right?

But in the end, actually write your book and decide what you’re going to do with it after that, and be specific because “getting it published” can mean just about anything these days.

Thanks for having me. It was fun.

About the Author:

A.P. Fuchs is the author of many novels and short stories, most of which have been published. His most recent books are Possession of the Dead, Magic Man Plus 15 Tales of Terror and Zombie Fight Night: Battles of the Dead, in which zombies fight such classic monsters as werewolves, vampires, Bigfoot, and even go up against awesome foes like pirates, ninjas, and . . . Bruce Lee.

A.P. Fuchs is also known for his superhero series, The Axiom-man Saga, and the author of the shoot ’em up zombie trilogy, Undead World. He also edited the zombie anthologies Dead Science and Vicious Verses and Reanimated Rhymes: Zany Zombie Poetry for the Undead Head.

Fuchs lives and writes in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Visit his corner of the Web at www.canisterx.com

He can also be followed on Twitter at www.twitter.com/ap_fuchs

Happy Tuesday,
♥Spot

Arrrgh!

Today's regularly scheduled author interview will be delayed until tomorrow. I've been felled by a brief bout of bronchitis so I'm running a bit behind.

Also, I'm pretty sure Blogger itself is suffering from some sort of plague because its not working as it should and hasn't been for some time. Hopefully it recovers as quickly as I hope too.

Stacey

The writing life

I'm going to warn you that this post may not make a whole lot of sense. My brain appears to be slightly scrambled today and I'm not sure why. True, I haven't slept so well for a couple of nights and I'm really in a time crunch on a couple of projects but um, wow. I'm kind of sucking it up today. Anyway...

"I've finally discovered why my house is haunted!" I said as I walked into the kitchen this morning where Sean was making Mo, Luke, me and himself fried egg sandwiches for breakfast. My kids knew, of course, that I wasn't talking about my actual house, which (darn the luck) isn't haunted (although the garage may be and that's why I don't park in there), but about the story I'm working on.

"So why is it so evil?" Mo asked.

"Because in medieval times it that land was used as an execution spot."

"Oh that's good!" Mo said. "How did you come up with that?"

"I'm sort of loosely (very loosely) basing it off of a real area in England. I had to find a map of England this morning and try to figure out exactly what distance a horse drawn carriage could have travelled in eight hours. Then I went down the direction I said they were heading and found a town. Then I read about its history and there it was. Kind of. Actually the execution spot is on another hill near the town but since the story is fiction and I made up a name for my town and all...I just wanted to get an idea of the general area and geography."

I'm lucky. The kids get involved in my writing. Mo reads each days work and corrects typos and things like that. Sean listens as I read it aloud and picks out errors. Mo has read the story a couple of times and I've read the whole thing through like 20 or so, but I read it to Sean once and he points out that at the beginning I said there were seven in the group and then introduced eight characters. How did I miss that? And that's why EVERYONE needs a good editor or at least a good proofreader.

Sean is also always willing to play the "what if" game with me and help me brainstorm out plot points. Sometimes when I'm stuck, all it takes is that little bit of discussion to spark the writing again. So as much as they distract me and take me away from the computer, I don't know what I'd do without them.

Meet Author Jason McKinney

I met Jason McKinney on the indiehorror website. Big surprise, huh? I hang out there a lot. You should probably be checking the site out. I liked Jason right away because he was funny and I like people who can make me laugh. He also seemed to know his way around the horror genre. And so I offered to review one of his books and do an interview here on my blog.

Jason currently has two full length novels out- Dog World and Memoirs of the Walking Dead. I decided to read Memoirs first because you know I like my apocalyptic fiction and zombies! The review is up at See Spot Read so you should definitely head over there and check that out! I'll wait. Back? On with the interview:

1.) How long have you been writing?

I’ve been writing since I was twelve, but I’ve only been writing seriously for the past five years.

2.) I know that you quit your day job to focus on your writing. How is that working out?

It’s been rough but we’ve kept our head above water so I could follow my inspiration. “I left a job making $500 a week so I could make that a year. So far it’s working out beautifully.” I paraphrased the comedian Greg Hahn there. That line has stuck with me ever since I heard it because it seems to sum up the situation perfectly.

3.) Is this your fist published novel?

Yes it is. Oddly enough I finished my other horror novel Dog World before Memoirs, but I was compelled to kick Memoirs out of the nest first.

4.) What made you decide to go the Indie route and what problems have you faced?

I didn’t want to spend “X” amount of years looking for a publisher especially with the economy being what it is and affecting the publishing industry the way it has.

I wrote middle grade fiction before horror and was rejected for two years. The rejections weren’t horrible, though. They mostly said, “You’re story’s good but…” or “We would publish it, but…” and that got old. So instead of going through all that again I went Indie.

Surprisingly, a lot of reactions I get from people when I tell them I have gone Indie are positive. I have meet a lot of comic artists and writers and authors that are extremely talented, but are having the same difficultly breaking in to the industry that have gone Indie also.

Going Indie is not easy. It is a lot of hard work to do your own promoting and marketing, but the main place I’ve faced problems is my extended family. They think going Indie is the equivalent of failure or not bothering to try at all.

I tell them that it’s a put-your-money-where-your-mouth-is scenario. It’s kind of like college in a sense. You spend the money to get something that later on may get you where you want to be. Either one is not a guarantee but it boils down to having faith in yourself and your work. A bit of “Screw what everyone else thinks” doesn’t hurt either.

5.) What made you decide to write about Zombies? And how did you come up with the idea of doing the story from the Zombie point of view?

Actually, that’s kind of a funny story.

I go to the local Books-A-Million to write a lot. With three kids in the house there’s no such thing as peace and quiet so I go out.

One day a barista asked me if I was writing a book and I said yes. I was finishing Dog World at the time, but when she asked what I was writing I told her something completely different.

I was feeling kind of zombie-ish that day so I said, “Memoirs of the Walking Dead. It’s a story from the zombie’s point of view so it’s a biography”. I went on to finish Dog World but the title and subtitle stuck with me. My wife thought the idea was crazy, but interesting. She thinks the book is funny so I know I have at least one biased fan.

6.) What scares you personally? Do you have any silly phobias?


I have three phobias and you’ll laugh yourself sick about them.

One is people with their faces wrapped in bandages scare me. That’s partly Claude Rains’ fault but mostly my parents. I don’t know what they were thinking when they let me watch The Invisible Man at six years old but I am glad they did.

The second is that I can’t shower near a drain. I know that’s personal but hey, it’s my silly phobia. I saw Psycho when I was eight and the shower scene, along with the drain, scared me to death. Now every time I see a shower drain I cringe.

The third is I will not fly at night while sitting next to a window overlooking the wing. It’s amazing the things that stay with you from your childhood.

7.) What is your writing routine?

Every morning I go to Books A Million, pop in my earphones and let the evil that lurks within me run riot. I have a play list of music that I listen to while I write and I begin and end my music repertoire with “All These Things That I’ve Done’ by The Killers.

8.) Have you always been a fan of horror?

Yes, yes, yes. And… did I say yes? I love horror and the supernatural. The classic stuff mostly. The Twilight Zone has given me so many wonderful scares and fears that I would have to be stuck on stupid not to love Rod Serling. Eye of the Beholder and Nightmare at 20,000 Feet are my two of my top five favorite episodes. The Grave, The Purple Testament, and The 7th is Made Up of Phantoms fit in there somewhere, too.

9.) What other authors inspire you?

Richard Matheson, Dean Koontz, and Stephen King are the big three to me.

10.) What advice would you give to newbie writers out there?

Follow your inspiration and your gut. If you are compelled to write and/or self publish then do it. It bears repeating: screw what others think of you and your work. Do it primarily for you; everyone else comes second.

Jason McKinney is a writer, storyteller and collector of comics. A busy husband and father of three, he started writing fiction in his spare time for his wife.  He is a former accountant who got tired of keeping track of other people’s money and decided to follow his inspiration to make a little money of his own.

Jason is the author of the zombie comedy, Memoirs of the Walking Dead: A Story from the Zombies Point of View.

His most recent book, Dog World, has just been published and is available in his e-Store or on Amazon.  Dog World is the written answer to his seven-year-old daughter’s questions: Are there any good werewolves and what do they do when they aren’t hairy?


Follow his blog

Follow him on Twitter @jason_mckinney

Buy his books on Amazon.

Happy Monday,
♥Spot

Make that Author and Editor

The more hats, the merrier? Right? Hmmm...maybe I got that saying a little confused. Regardless, I'm very happy to announce that I took a position as Editor at Angelic Knight Press. They did a nifty write up about it if you want to stop by and read it. (hint, hint)

I'm very excited about my new role. The writers there are very talented people who are committed to professionalism and putting out the best books they can. I'm proud to be a part of that. I will, of course, continue my own writing and hopefully learn as much as I can from them. I think that editing really helps my own writing. Reading helps it and picking up flaws in other's writing helps me recognize them in my own. Its a win/win.

I happen to be a tad paranoid though. After the rough couple of years we've had...my health issues, Mike's accident, Molly's blood disorder, it's hard to believe that things are turning around and looking up. My sister says its payback for all the crap last year. Whatever it is, we're going to make the most of it.

I firmly believe that things happen for a reason. And we've tried to learn from each and every speed bump. When I had to leave my job for health reasons, I looked around for things I could do from home. Which led to blogging, which led to free lancing, which led to meeting new people, which led to conventions, which led to meeting the right people at the right time. It also gave me more time to work on my fiction.

Molly's blood disorder forced her to act more responsibly. Harsh lessons for a young adult, but well learned. Her surgery to remove her spleen resulted in a remission. So while Dylan wasn't planned, it was definitely the best time for a happy accident.

And Mike's accident reminded us of how much we love each other. And everyday we use it as a reminder not to take each other for granted. Its resulted in a better relationship for him and the kids too. And it reminds us that life is too short to sweat the small stuff. And unless someone is dying, its all small stuff.

Mike's job is changing and he'll be taking on more responsibility. This also means spending more time working (I don't know when he'll sleep). But of course it was discussed at the dinner table before any decisions were made. And really, what kind of person holds someone back? Not us.

I told him how funny it was that we are both finally doing our "dream jobs". And probably this means the whole "rapture" thing is true. But I sure hope not. I'd like to be an Editor for at least a week before the world ends.

♥Spot

Beware the Subway...

I belong to the website indiehorror. It's a great place to meet other authors, have interesting conversations and sometimes exercise your creative muscles. One of the posters decided we should all do an exercise. She posted a beyond horrible piece of writing (I mean seriously, the OCD editor part of me was mentally covering it in red pencil). The exercise was to rewrite the piece, obviously using better grammar, better imagery, just well, better. You couldn't change the setting, characters or basic storyline. Here was my entry:

Gertrude sighed and looked up from the novel she was reading to glance about the subway car. It was surprisingly empty. She shared it with only one other passenger, a young woman in a tiny black dress. Gertrude was sure the dress was in fashion but it contained far too little material for her tastes. She believed firmly in leaving something to the imagination. Of course, at her age, a woman had to be a bit more discerning.

She kept watching the girl, noticing that she was trying to chew something off of her wrist. It looked like some kind of hospital ID. Didn’t she know how bad that was for her teeth? Yellowed stains on both her teeth and fingertips spoke of habitual nicotine use. Killing herself slowly. Gertrude sighed again. Youth was definitely wasted on the young. Someone should advise her to take better care of herself. She started to open her mouth, and then thought better of it. No use getting involved, you never knew what you were getting yourself into nowadays. That girl could be a junkie hyped up on drugs, or a serial killer or contagious. She was wearing a hospital bracelet after all!

Gertrude picked up her novel and chuckled silently to herself. She was being silly, of course. The girl was probably just some poor kid with a cold who’d been to the ER for medicine. She started to offer to cut the bracelet off her wrist but the girl shot her a look of such pure venom that she averted her gaze back to her book. Well! The nerve of some people. Trying to scare a little old lady. That was just plain rude. 

The car slowed and rattled its way to a stop. Gertrude gathered her novel and her purse and proceeded to the door. The glass of the door frosted over as she approached and the doors didn’t open as they should. Gert gave them a feeble push. From right behind her she heard an impatient sigh and the girl pushed her a bit. Gertrude knew she was in trouble. The girl pushed her again and she whirled on her.

“Now look here little lady…” Gert began. But she never got past those words. As she looked into the girls bloodshot eyes, the girl exhaled impatiently again. Her hot breath carried not only the hint of alcohol but the scent of blood from where she’d bitten her lip while trying to gnaw off that damn bracelet. Gert was lost. She grabbed the girl by the shoulders and slammed her back against the closest seat. She held her immobile while she sunk her fangs deep into the other woman’s neck. There she drank her fill while the girl’s protests became weaker and weaker. She let the body sag to the floor as she fumbled in her bag. Taking a dainty handkerchief out, she dabbed at the drops of blood that clung to her lips.

“Just look what you’ve done!” she said to the dead girl. “Your rudeness has cost us both. You’ve lost what pathetic life you had and I’ve ruined my appetite. Hildi will be furious! We were supposed to eat French tonight.”

Delicately stepping over the body, she proceeded to the door which opened with a swish at her approach. She disembarked without a backward glance.

Leave me a comment, let me know what you think.



♥Spot

Author Interview: Lisa McCourt Hollar

The first author interview on this blog will be done with the same irreverent attitude as my other blog. I just changed locations so that those who want to read my nonsense still can and those who are interested in the writing biz can skip it. Or the other way around. Whatever, we're here now so pull up a chair, grab a drink of your choice and welcome Lisa!

I bumped into Lisa through the indie horror site (insert shameless plug). We commented on a few of the same posts and through another author I met on the site (Jason Mckinney, next week's interviewee), my attention was brought to a short story of Lisa's called Sam. Sam is the story of a zombie goldfish. Yes, you heard me right, zombie goldfish. And its intriguing, spooky and humorous. Well, as humorous as a zombie goldfish can be. You can read my review of Sam over at See Spot Read. Go on, we'll wait. And wait. And...oh? You're back? Okay good. Without further ado, the interview:

1.)     How long have you been writing?

I have been writing ever since I was in 4th grade. My teacher (Mrs. Dock) had a creative writing contest on Fridays and the winner would get a prize. It was always something small, but I loved writing. One week I won.  I’ve never forgotten how great that felt. My Grandmother and my mom both enjoyed writing and my Grandmother self –published a book of poetry.  They both encouraged me throughout the years to keep at it.

2.)     What made you choose horror as a genre?

When I first started writing I wrote mysteries. Then when I got older and had children I wrote a lot of stories for them. About 6 years ago I joined an online writing group, writing.com, and that is what I was writing, children’s short stories. I also wrote a lot of poetry.  Occasionally I would write something in the horror genre and I noticed I was getting more response to that than I was to the children’s stories. I also was having a lot of fun with it. Writing horror is a blast. After a while I just started writing horror more than anything else. I have 2 blogs, one for my horror and one for my children’s.  I just look at the number of hits on Jezri’s Nightmares compared to Jezri’s Sandbox and I know I have found my niche.

3.)     What made you decide to go the indie route and what problems have you found?

Going indie was a difficult decision, but I am 41 years old and tired of waiting to be discovered. There are so many writers out there trying to get published and the chances of having your manuscript read is very slim.

       That’s not saying going indie is easy. It’s not. There is a lot of stereotyping with indie publishing.  I think that will eventually change, but it is still there.  I even had it myself. My grandmother self-published. Back then it was different than it is now. I can’t find a copy of my grandmother’s book anywhere. She paid for everything, ordered and distributed her books. Now, most books are e published. I keep reading that is hurting the publishing industry, but I don’t believe it. Times change and the publishing companies need to be willing to change with it.

The hardest thing I have found is promoting my work.  I’m new to the business and have an almost zero budget. When you go indie, it all falls to you. You don’t have an agent or a publishing company to do the work for you, but having those doesn’t guarantee you will succeed. Ultimately it is up to the reader. Word of mouth can be a great asset, or it can ruin you. If your writing is good, word will get out, if it’s not, word will get out.

4.)     How on earth did you come up with the idea for a zombie goldfish?

Sam is a result of a contest on Writing.com called The Joust of Horror. It is run by Nomar Knight and you have to write a short flash piece about a given prompt. Then if you are chosen, you go onto the next round and expand on the story. The prompt one month was to raise something from the dead.  I almost didn’t enter. I have written a lot of zombie stories and at the time I was tired from working odd hours and raising my family. But the word SOMETHING kept whispering to me. I started thinking, what if something was a creature no one would think was scary.  So I stared writing and Sam was born.

Did I win? Well I went onto the next round and expanded, but ultimately someone else won for the month. But that’s ok, because I liked Sam and I did win the next month.  That story I will be publishing in a few months when it gets closer to Christmas. It is a Christmas horror tale.

5.)     Do you have a day job and how do you balance writing with having a large family?

No, I am a stay at home mom and my husband works.  I used to work, but the hours were really interfering with family life and my husband and I decided I was needed at home more. This has been a difficult decision, financially, but it has allowed me more time to write. I have a great husband!  He helps out a lot around the house, even when I tell him, “Don’t do that, you work.”
I do a lot of my writing at night while everyone is asleep or during the day while the kids are at school and my son is sleeping. So far it is working out, even though I am losing a lot of sleep.

6.)     Who are your writing influences?

Stephen King, which is really surprising. I have never been a huge fan, but I’ve read some of his books. I remember reading one of his short stories about a man who had been raped as a boy. The description was very vivid and hard to read. I thought, what kind of a mind writes something like that? Since I have been writing horror I have seen my writing progress and one of the stories I wrote really disturbed my daughter. She wanted to know how I could write something that had a child getting killed. I flashed back to King’s story and realized that I had the kind of mind that could write that.

I also am influenced by John Saul and Dean Koontz as well as Lee Child, even though he doesn’t write horror.  Lee Child has developed a character with Jack Reacher that I can only hope to achieve someday.

Also, Frank Peretti and Ted Dekker.  These are two Christian authors that write spiritual horror. I am a Christian and have a lot of faith in God, but people seem to think if you write horror that conflicts with your faith. I don’t agree.

7.)     What scares you? Any silly phobias?

Something happening to my kids. That is really the only thing that scares me.

8.)     Do you ever scare yourself while writing?

When I write horror that involves a child being hurt, it disturbs me. My series, Behind Closed Doors, is really hard to write because it is based on real life happenings. I’m behind on my next installment because it is leading up to something really bad and I don’t want to write it. I will though because I think it can help bring awareness to real life child abuse.

9.)     How do you go about finding cover art?

My covers for The Wall and The Carnival I purchased from a royalty free site. I don’t think I am going to do that again. There’s a lot of good art on the web, but one picture I was thinking about for my Vampyre story I have seen on another book on kindle. I don’t want my books to be associated with someone else's work.

Sam was drawn by Rebecca Treadway in exchange for a free copy of The Wall and Sam. She is a really great artist and I may approach her sometime in the future for some more art.  I recommend her to everyone that asks me about cover art.
My daughter Sarah is also an artist and the cover for my dark poetry book, Hidden Secrets, Whispered Lies was her creation.

10)     What advice would you give newbie writers?

Don’t give up.  Writing is a very personal thing and sometimes criticism can seem like a direct attack. A writer needs to develop thick skin and learn to deal with it, sort through what is helpful and dispose of what is not.

Also find a support group. This is one of the things I love about the indie community. I have met so many great, supportive writers.  Yes, every writer wants to succeed, but indie writers are all about helping each other out. I would suggest any horror writer join sites, like indiehorror like indiehorror.org, darkmediacity.com and the Masters Of Horror group on facebook.  A lot of great people on all those sites.

Lisa's Bio:
I was born and raised in Lima, Ohio, (pronounced Lima with a long I, not Leema).  I have been married, divorced and am remarried to a wonderful man. He writes too, though not as often as I do. I have four children, 3 girls, 1 boy, Rebecca, Sarah, Rylie and Caleb and a step son Aleks.
I do girl scouts with my youngest daughter. That is always fun and inspiring. Kids can be so much fun.
I am a trekkie. I don’t write sci fi, I’m no good at it, but I love Star Trek and other sci fi shows.  But Star Trek has my heart and my husband and I enjoy embarrassing the kids with it.
My blog is Jezri's Nightmares.
All of my e books can be found on Amazon.com.
Or on Smashwords, (except for The Carnival) at Smashwords.

I'd like to thank Lisa for being here and sharing with us! And I encourage you to check out her blog and her work. Buy one of her works and let people know if you like it. I'd also like to thank all of you for stopping by! Please feel free to become a follower and stay a spell. I don't bite. Well...unless you ask nicely or the moon is full.

♥Spot (also known as Stacey Turner)

The thing I hate about reviews is...

Not my reviews of course. I mean, I'd have to actually publish  something to get a review. I started doing book reviews on See Spot Read not long ago. I decided I would only do reviews of indie books and I would post author interviews on the same day. I'd been doing those on What Passes For Sane On a Crazy Day, but will be moving them over here to essentially separate the two parts of my life. And the ones I've done? Loved the books (and getting books for free is not a bad gig let me tell you), loved the author interviews and have made a few friends and clients. Sounds good right? Then there's the down side.

The down side being that I don't actually like every book I'm given for review. Unfortunately you can't please all the people all of the time. And sometimes, I'm the one who's not pleased. Sometimes it's a matter of bad writing (in my humble opinion of course). Sometimes its just too many errors in the copy. Sometimes I think the person would have benefited from a good editor. Whatever the reason, the fact is, there are some books I just can't recommend. And so I send the author an email letting them know that I won't be able to do the review or interview. I send the politest most apologetic letter I possibly can. I know what it must be like to receive that letter. But I'd far rather get it in an email than to have a bad review. And since I started the reviews/interviews with the intention of promoting indie authors and self-pubbers and pointing out the good books that are out there, I refuse to put up a bad review. And that is why you will never see one on my site. I sincerely hope I'm not making enemies, but I feel honesty is always the best policy.

I do tell each and every writer that I send that email to that I am NOT a professional critic or editor. I only know what I like and consider to be good. I also tell them to take my opinion with a grain of salt because that's what it is- an opinion. And we all know that everyone has one.

That said...do check out the reviews on See Spot Read, do spend the dollar or two for the ebook, do support indie authors. I may one day be one.

♥Spot (also known as Stacey)

An Author Page

Everyone says that you need an "Author Page". And by everyone, I do mean everyone. It's to showcase your work, draw a fan base and show the interwebz that you are serious about your writing. Well, anyone who knows me, knows that. But for those of you don't, let me state it here. I am serious about my writing. I discovered that I can't give it up, therefore I must get serious about it. I've also discovered that it is all mine. What does that mean? It means that no amount of my writing self worth is based upon my husband or children. I love them dearly, but I've spent the majority of my life being some one's daughter, some one's wife or some one's mother. Some days, I began to wonder who I really was. For me, writing answers that question. And I suppose that's a good enough reason to write.

I also write because my head is full of stories, constantly, at all times. I see things or remember snippets of conversation and think "what if?' and I'm off on a tangent. If I'm writing for business (ie: freelancing), I can multitask...pause for conversation, have the TV in the background, ect. If I'm writing fiction it's the opposite. I prefer to be alone with very few distractions. Unfortunately, what I prefer and what I get are often different things. My family is very spoiled and they do not like to be ignored. Luckily, they are all busy people so I can usually get about three days with very little distraction per week. I cherish this time. I guard it zealously. I will not answer the phone, texts, the door (not that anyone knocks at my house, they just come in) and I often forget to eat, take a break or anything else. Case in point- today I took a break at lunchtime because my hubby came in for a few minutes. I took a shower, put supper in the crock pot, went through the mail and ate. That was 5 1/2 hours ago. I have not left the computer. I forgot to go and stir the dinner and turn the crock pot to low. I'm almost afraid to go look at it. I've also just realized I need to pee. Badly.

So anyway, welcome to my page. Please feel free to browse around and leave a comment. I will be making additions and adding whirligigs as time goes by. I will also soon move my author interviews from my other blog to here as this is a more appropriate place for them.

Do you get caught up in your writing?

♥Spot (otherwise know as Stacey)