Summer of Zombies!

What's a zombie fan to do in the down time between Walking Dead seasons? Summer of Zombies tour!  It's that time of year again when the zombies come out to play. I mean zombie authors, of course. I've got a guest blog today from zombie author, Kirk Allmond. So sit back, relax, and get your zombie (author) on.

The Trouble With Writing Yourself.

Kirk Allmond

 

When I first started writing, someone said “Write what you know.”  So when I started What Zombies Fear, I took that advice very literally.  I wrote myself.  I maintain the world’s largest zombie preparedness website (ZombiePreparedness.org).  I’m a prepper.  I have a bug out bag, and a zombie apocalypse plan.  I drive a 4wd truck even though I live in the city, the whole nine yards.

My first name starts with V (Kirk is my middle name).  So I chose the name Victor for my main character.  My plan is to leave my home-town of York, PA and head to my family home in Virginia.  So when my fictional zombie apocalypse hit, Victor loaded his son Max (My son’s name is Jack) and his wife Candi (Jack’s mother’s name is Sandi) into his silver Toyota 4Runner, just like mine.  They headed south down a road I know like the back of my hand, because I drive that road at least every six weeks to go visit my mother.

Along the way, Victor’s wife Candi dies. (And I got a divorce).  He meets two Australian friends John and Leo (My two friends John and Leo help me out at The Zombie Preparedness Initiative, and were my beta-readers.)

At some point, Victor gets to his mother’s house.  If you’ve read the book, you’ll recognize the house immediately if you go to my mother’s Bed and Breakfast website, www.meander.net.

I finished the first book, and looking back through it, I realized the problem with writing one’s self as a hero, especially when one is as egotistical as I am. (Okay, fine.  I didn’t realize it, my lovely co-author Laura Bretz pointed it out.)

I never added any foibles to Victor.  He was perfect.  He always made the right decisions, everything always worked out for him.  He didn’t have to grow, change, or become “better.”  He was (Just like me) the perfect hero.  I literally had to go back through it while editing and add in some bad decisions.  Luckily for all of us, Laura is happy to point out my own foibles, and then transfer them to Victor.

That was also about the time that we started writing the second book in the series, and that’s when things started to go wrong for Victor.  Through books 2, 3, and 4, things gradually get worse, and although there are some successes, Victor continues to come apart under the stress.  He makes mistakes.  He drops the ball.  He mistreats his friends, all in the name of making the world safe for his son.  It wasn’t until the middle of the 5^th book that I realized that Victor was no longer anything like me.  Or the man I hope I would be if I was in his situation.  I knew I was going to wrap the series after the 6^th book, and so began Victor’s journey towards salvation.

The entire series of books is about a man who loses himself in a quest, loses sight of the things that are really important, because he loves his son so much he’s willing to do whatever it takes to keep him safe.  I’m not sure if I would follow the same path as Victor, but I can tell you one thing.  Everything Victor has done and will do, I would do to keep my own son happy. 

I hope that you’ll give it a read.  What Zombies Fear isn’t your typical zombie story; it’s much more about the man and his son than the zombies.  And the zombies aren’t your typical zombies.  Sure, there are the rotting shamblers we all know and love.  But some of them are clever.  And some of them are fast.  And they all want to eat you.

About Kirk Allmond:

Kirk Allmond's first book, "What Zombies Fear: A Father's Quest" won no awards, but his mother thinks it’s pretty awesome and he's very confident you will too.

The 6th and final book in the bestselling What Zombies Fear series "The Incarnation" will be published late summer 2013.

Books in the What Zombies Fear Series:
1. A Father's Quest
2. The Maxists
3. The Gathering
4. Fracture
5. Declaration of War
6. The Incarnation

The Farmer's Daughter is a short story set during the time period "skipped" over in book 5. These will eventually be an entire series of short stories called "Victor Tookes Adventures."

In addition, Kirk Allmond and Laura Bretz also write a monthly serial called Will of the Dead.

 

Kirk enjoys writing zombie novels and also administers a zombie preparedness website, www.zombiepreparedness.org. The sites goal is to teach any who'll listen how to survive the inevitable zombie apocalypse. You can find him on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/whatzombiesfear.

Kirk has been featured on major market radio programs as an expert in zombie survival. He has spoken at numerous conventions and consulted on two zombie themed motion pictures.

The in Michigan born writer holds firmly to the southern roots of his family. He grew up in Chicago IL, and Roswell, GA. Kirk has an amazing little boy named Jack who was born in 2007.

*   *   *   *   *

Join Kirk Allmond and Eight other Zombie authors during the Summer of Zombie Blog Tour 2013, going on all of June. Visit the Facebook event page for more information, too!

https://www.facebook.com/events/389530304488870/

Meet Belinda Frisch

I met Belinda Frisch, oh well, you know where I met her, it's the same place I meet most authors--Facebook. Does anyone ever meet elsewhere now days? I'm not even sure I'd know how to go about meeting someone in real life. (Okay, that's a bit of an exaggeration as, much to my kid's dismay, I still talk to strangers all the time.) But I digress. Belinda and I have discussed writing, editing, techniques, frustrations, what have you, so when she asked if I wanted to read and review her new zombie novel,  Cure, I was thrilled. Now as often as I talk about zombies, you'd think I read a lot of zombie fiction. Not true. Good zombie fiction is hard to find. And a new concept in zombie fiction, even more of a rarity. But I'm happy to say that Belinda nailed it. You can read my review over at See Spot Read. Go on, we'll wait. Now on with the interview!


1.     How long have you been writing? About twenty years, give or take.

2.     What's the first thing you had published? Poetry, back in the 90’s, in a collected works as a result of a contest followed shortly thereafter by a short story in a compilation called Deadly Dolls.

3.     Do you write full time or do you have a day job? I write FT now. I stopped doing any significant work as a medical coder back in February.

4.     What is your writing routine? I get up in the morning, do my social media time including interviews/guest posts, and tend to my blog. That gets me going until the coffee kicks in. I’m back in rough draft mode with Cure’s sequel, Afterbirth, so I put my index cards all in order and pull the scene card for the day. I review related chapters before writing chapter of the day. Since I’m a hybrid plotter/pantser, I work on extending the outline during each writing session.


5.     Have you always been a fan of the Horror genre? Absolutely always. Horror movies, magazines, and novels since I was eight-years-old.


6.     What scares you? Any silly phobias? I’m kind of anxious, so I probably have a lot of silly phobias, but my main fears are fire and drowning. Whenever I see someone burning or drowning in a movie, it makes me feel panicky.

7.     What other writers do you admire? There are so many great ones and so many different reasons to admire a writer. Do you base it on talent? Success? I admire Kealan Patrick Burke’s skill, Amanda Hocking’s success, and Charlie Huston’s originality. Others include Martha O’Connor (The Bitch Posse), Dennis Lehane (Gone Baby Gone), and Anne Rice (The Witching Hour). The list is long. I could be at this all day.

8.     What is your favorite thing about the indie movement? Abbreviated timelines. My biggest frustration with traditional publishing is how long it takes to do anything. Much like my “writers I admire” list, this one could be long-winded. There is a lot to love about the indie movement and I read so many great books I know would otherwise not fit the mold.

9.     Best writing advice you've ever been given? Allow yourself to write crap. I know, it doesn’t seem like this is good advice, but hear me out. When I was writing my debut, Dead Spell, I toiled. I wasted so much time revising words I ended up cutting. It took way longer to finish that book than it should have and the process felt very much like work. A lot of days, I couldn’t even write. I wanted every word to be perfect. Allow the first draft to be sloppy. Editing comes later.

10.  What advice would you give any newbies out there? Don’t rush. I’d actually give this advice to any writer. The best thing about the indie movement, fast turn-around, is a double-edged sword. You can put out a book in no time. Most often, you shouldn’t. There’s still a process to respect that includes editing (content, development, and line editing), beta reading, and perfecting. Strive to put out the most perfect product every time. So many days I wanted to pull the trigger and upload Cure, but I was patient and I believe that really paid off. Out of several betas, each had a different list of minor glitches my editor and I missed. I promised myself, after Dead Spell, that I would do everything I could to not have to upload a corrected ms. Give your readers your best, every time.

Bio:

Belinda Frisch's fiction has appeared in Shroud Magazine,Dabblestone Horror, and Tales of
Zombie War. She is an honorable mention winner in the Writer's Digest 76th Annual Writing
Competition and the author of DEAD SPELL, CRISIS HOSPITAL, TALES FROM THE
WORLD, THE WARD, AND THE BEDSIDE and CURE, the first in the Strandville Zombie
Series.

Links:
Facebook: http://facebook.com/belinda.frisch
Twitter: @B_Frisch
Blog: http://belindaf.blogspot.com/
Her Amazon author page includes links to all of her available works.

♥Stacey

Guest Post by Armand Rosimilia

Today I'm serving up a guest post by Armand Rosamilia. I interviewed Armand once before. He's a talented man: publisher of Rymfire, author and all around interesting guy. See for yourself~

What eBook Price Is Freedom?

Armand Rosamilia

That title sounds pretty epic, eh? Now, to disappoint you…

Today I want to point out eBook pricing. I'm not going to get into the pricing models the Big Six Publishers employ, because we can read almost daily what that is doing to their business. I'm focusing on the little guy… me and you.

There have been so many different ideas thrown around, especially since the KDP Select program from Amazon went live.

Who's right? Who screwed up their sales? Who are the Masters of all this? That's the fun part, because it all seems to change monthly, weekly, and sometimes daily.

I've had days where 18 different titles will have new sales (I have over 40) and I'll get in 39 sales. The next day I get 6 sales, and I can't for the life of me figure out what I did differently or if I did.

But does pricing make that big a difference? I see many well-established writers (and, let's face it, the ones who think they are) pricing their eBooks at $6.99 and telling everyone they're getting nice, healthy sales at that price.

For several mid-list authors (their term, not mine) I read their blog and see them pricing anywhere from $4.99 to $9.99, mostly books that had been traditionally published in the past, reverted back to them, and now they're charging just slightly less than their traditional publisher did.

I have my own opinion on eBook pricing. Guess what? I'm going to share it with you. Always remember there are exceptions to the rule of pricing, whether it's for genre, length, author recognition, or a hundred other factors.

I generally use two prices: 99 cents for shorter works (under 10,000 words) and $2.99 for longer works (usually my novellas). Simple as that.

Again, I've dabbled with other prices: $1.99 for a couple of short story collections before dropping them to 99 cents and watching my sales rise, and $3.99 for the Undead Tales zombie anthology, which is one of my stronger sellers. I've even gone up to $4.99 for my Extreme Undead Collection, but that is 100k and has four zombie novels in one release.

But $2.99 is a nice price to sit at, in my opinion. It's a few cents more than an impulse buy (like a 99 cent eBook is) but, if it interests the potential reader, the price is right. When you're writing niche stories like I generally do, with zombies, your potential readers are in a smaller but rabid circle, and you need to lock them in and keep them coming back for more, especially in a series.

I'll keep experimenting, and I hope other authors do as well. $2.99 seems to be the average price right now for indie authors, and I think it's fair as an author and a reader. I've never purchased an eBook over $2.99 to read, but my Kindle is crammed with $2.99 stories waiting to be read.

What will the future hold? Free eBooks with advertising? Rising costs for eBooks? A brand new system? The crash of technology and the return of stone tablets?

It's a great time we live in.

Armand Rosamilia

* * * * *

Believe it or not, I'm doing this guest blog tour in support of my latest releases.

Want to know more about the "Dying Days" series? Want to win free eBooks and maybe print books of them? My contest is simple: e-mail me at armandrosamilia (at) gmail (dot) com with DYING DAYS in the subject line and I'll enter you into the daily giveaway… also, post a comment here and you get another chance… follow my blog at http://armandrosamilia.com for yet another chance, and friend me on Twitter (@ArmandAuthor) and simply post DYING DAYS to me, and you'll get another shot… nice and easy, right? If I get enough people joining in the giveaway there will be a print book given away that day!

"Dying Days" series information can be found here: http://armandrosamilia.com/dying-days-series/

Thanks, Armand!

♥Stacey

Zombies. 'Nuff said.

We have some wicked outlandish conversations at my house. Its pretty much the norm, as a matter of fact. Well, while my husband was in the hospital, my son, Sean, came to visit every day. As hubby slept a lot, I was glad of the company. While we were watching what passes for TV there, an advertisement for a documentary on the zombie phenomenon in pop culture came on. And this conversation ensued~

Me: I hope we're home by then, because I totally want to watch that.

Sean: Me too. Just to laugh at your generation's ideas about zombies.

Me: 'Scuse me?

Sean: You know, now that my generation has actual fact to support zombies. We were raised with enough knowledge of DNA, genomes and molecular mutation (I must admit that at this point all I heard was blah, blah, blah) that we understand how zombies could happen and why they aren't really dead.

Me: I'm not really sure what you just said, but I think you're full of sh*t.

Sean: I'm not full of sh*t. I'm just smarter than you.

Me: I'll give you that you have a higher IQ, but that means nothing when it comes to zombies, because I'm like a freakin expert here. And zombies are too dead. They're the walking dead. Duh. Everyone knows that. They travel in hordes.

Sean: No they aren't. Zombies are live people who blah blah blah (sometimes he gets really technical and I kind of zone out).

Me: (Somehow, my brain has jumped the track and I'm off course) OMG. Do you think sharks could become zombies? I mean if dogs and cats can become zombies, then sharks could right? That's freakin scary. Or alligators! What's scarier than a freakin zombie alligator?!

Sean: Um. Sharks and alligators already attack people so I'm not sure they'd be any scarier as zombies than they already are.

Me: Oh. Well then let's pick something that doesn't already eat people. What about Giraffes? Pretty non-scary to begin with but all of a sudden, wham!! Scary!!

Sean: Giraffes are herbivores, they eat leaves and grass. So they'd just go around attacking trees. Not scary. Extremely goofy.

Me: It doesn't matter what you eat before you become a zombie. The mutation that causes zombiefication would cause a craving for flesh. Therefore, anything that became a zombie would eat flesh.

Sean: Their digestive systems couldn't handle flesh. They'd still eat leaves.

Me: They're dead! Do you think vegan zombies are going to go around eating beans? No! They're going to eat people.

Sean: But human digestive systems are equipped to eat meat. It's not a matter of evolution, its a matter of preference. Giraffes don't prefer leaves, they're genetically programmed to eat them.

Me: (jumping the track once more because its how I roll, peeps) Wait! Do you think if Giraffes "accidentally" ate flesh, they'd develop a craving for it? (I did do air quotes on the "accidentally")

Sean: Zombie giraffes or regular giraffes?

Me: Oh regular. Not zombie, live giraffes.

Sean: How is a giraffe going to "accidentally" ingest flesh?! I think you'd have to practically force feed it to them.

Me: Okay, so say a serial killer works at a zoo and he wants to dispose of a body so he cuts it up and mixes it with the giraffe's food.

Sean: I think if a serial killer worked at the zoo, there are far more likely animals to feed a body to. You know, like Lions or Tigers.

Me: Okay okay, so say he just accidentally gets some in the giraffe's food. Taste for flesh, or no?

Sean: I think it would get very sick, so no.

Me: Whatever. Man eating Giraffes. I think they're scary.

Sean: Nope. Just goofy.

Me: I hope it eats you while you're busy laughing at it.

I'm pretty sure there's a story in there somewhere. And you all might want to look a little closer next time you go to the zoo. Giraffes have really big teeth. Also, to this new generation, who thinks Zombies aren't dead- *blows raspberry*

And now, my writing horror makes total sense, doesn't it?
Stacey

Meet Armand Rosamilia

I met Armand Rosimila through the Masters of Horror Facebook group. If you are a writer in the horror genre and you haven't joined this group, the question is why? Its a great group, very supportive, very caring and informative. But back to Armand. Armand is not only a writer, with several books, stories and anthologies under his belt; he's also an editor and publisher. He works with Rymfire Ebooks. And the more I get to know about Armand, the more I like him. You can read my review of the latest anthology he's edited, Undead of Winter, over at See Spot Read.

1. How long have you been writing?

All of my life. I wrote horrible stories as a kid that I would subject my mother to, trying to compete with her love of King and Koontz. I had a couple of horror short stories published when I was younger but they never amounted to much and I never kept the momentum going. Within the last  four or five years I've taken this a bit more serious, with being a publisher and an author.

2. How long have you been publishing?

I did a magazine in the mid-90's called Black Moon Magazine for a couple of years, then I didn't do anything until 2005 when I started Carnifex Press, which had some great books released but a horrible manager (me). It was What Not To Do As A Publisher 101, and it taught me a lot. When I started helping out Rymfire eBooks in 2009 I never dreamed I would be taking it over myself, but I'm glad I did.

3. What got you started in the publishing business?

 I was/am a huge Heavy Metal fan, and I read every cheesy fanzine back in the day and always wanted to do it myself. I decided to do it. The same thing with horror: I thought about the books and stories I was interested in reading, and when i didn't find them I created them.

4. Have you always been a fan of the horror genre?

I grew up reading my mother's huge horror paperback collection. I'm more of a horror reader than movie guy. I love the written word to get you scared more than some slasher film.

5. For your anthologies, what is the average number of submissions you receive and how long does it take you to sort through them?

On average we get over a hundred submissions, and each anthology takes 6-8 weeks to sort through... I read bunches of stories in spurts, putting them into different 'piles' until i find the best stories.

6. What led you to the indie scene?

 For me, the best stories always came from the indie scene, the same with Heavy Metal music. Reading Dean Koontz was great as a kid but I wanted to read more and fins something a bit more extreme and something that wasn't cookie-cutter writing. I'm on a constant search for the hungry authors out there, willing to push the envelope with their work.

7. What scares you personally? Any silly phobias?

They aren't silly to me, haha... I have an irrational fear of dogs, afraid of heights, midget zombie strippers...

8. What authors would you say influenced you the most?

As a kid it was definitely Dean Koontz and Robert E. Howard... the guys that inspired me in recent years and showed me that I could write what I really wanted to write were Brian Keene, Scott Nicholson, John Everson, Gord Rollo, Douglas Clegg... I could keep going...

9. How did you come up with the current anthology, Undead of Winter: An Extreme Undead Release?

Seriously, I've always wondered how the cold would affect zombies and these stories answer that question! The anthology got its original start because I wrote a story with the same name about Darlene Bobich, a character I've explored in several short stories ("Anything But Lucky" in Daily Bits of Flesh 2011 by Pill Hill Press and "Rear Guard" bonus short story in "Highway To Hell" extreme zombie novella from Rymfire eBooks) and she stars in the extreme zombie novella "Dying Days"... I decided that the concept of zombies in winter was a cool one, and figured I'd throw it out there and see what happens... and i was pleasantly surprised at the amount of great stories that came in! Choosing the eight that made it with my story was tough...

10. What advice would you give to newbie authors or publishers?

Write, write and write some more... realize that you need practice... finish that book and then start on the next one and never give up... find people that you trust to read and edit your work and have them be brutally honest... and then write some more...

Armand is a NJ native who's living in Florida right now. He lives with his three children, fiance Kim and her son and way too many pets. You can visit him on the web:

Armand's website
Armand's Facebook
Armand's Twitter

Hope you've enjoyed meeting Armand as much as I have!
Stacey

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

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)