Fast Friday Indie Interviews: TR Dillon

TR Dillon

Tell me about yourself TR!

I am allergic to bios, so I tend to make them short.  My standard one-liner is that I am a writer who lives and works in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area.  I am a proud husband and father.  I also am a published poet in addition to my indie-published stories, which include the YA sci-fi series The Hall of Brains, currently at three volumes.  I’ve indie-published various novellas, novelettes, short stories and flash fiction.

On a personal note, I’ve traveled the world and nearly died in Fiji once, and I love France and especially Paris, even with the recent strife.  I love ballet but hate opera.  I am a practicing lawyer, and I was the only witness when Antonin Scalia was sworn in as a circuit court judge a long, long time ago.  I own a Wayne Gretzy rookie card.  And I am a proud member of the Hourlings Writers’ Group in Northern Virginia.

As for my attached photo, please look at it carefully.  See the dot in the middle?  Stare at it.  I mean, really hard.  Now if the lines start to curve and bend, my image will begin to come into focus.  If the lines stay straight, then your eyesight is normal and I do not exist.

Tell me about your current book.

My most recent publication from last December is Burn Boy And Other Stories.  You’ve heard of steampunk, right?  Well, the title story, a novella, invents turbine-punk.  It’s an agrarian, horse-and-buggy world – with turbines!  I know it sounds bizarre, but it works.  Burn Boy also exhibits my strange fascination with arranged marriages and tragic stories that cannot possibly have a truly happy ending.  The publication also contains The Yahweh Project, a novelette which is perhaps the most original time travel story ever written (a bold claim, I know, but true).  You can buy this publication on Amazon and Kindle.

What are you working on Now?

I am now working on a sci-fi novella entitled Mr. Baley.  It’s an android story that explores themes such as man’s inhumanity to man, the meaning of life, what does God want from us, the limits of hatred, love without sex – and that’s just the prologue!  The story will either move you to tears or you won’t finish it.  Those are the only two outcomes.

I write my stories and poems from a recliner in a tiny office in the basement of my house.  Due to a water accident some years back, the carpeting is gone, so it’s just bare concrete.  I have crammed the space with personal effects and mementos.  And I have a cat named Cheezit who tries to stop me from writing at prearranged intervals throughout the day.

If you’re writing a story, the most important chapter is the one you’re drafting right now.  No, seriously.  I know all chapters aren’t created equal.  Some are more important than others.  Like the one where the hero faces enormous adversity, or the girl realizes she loves the boy, or the villain dies.  But don’t short-change the other chapters or it will come back to haunt you.  The running back can’t score the winning touchdown if the nameless faceless right guard slips and falls.

What is your favorite website?

My favorite website is mogoblog.com.  I am a proud alumnus of the University of Michigan, class of something or other.  Go Blue!

My website is under construction, which means my blog does not yet exist, which means you will have to wait some weeks further to hear my views on U.S. politics, my health, my family, and Cheezit.

Links:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/TR-Dillon/e/B00WFBYNUA/

Images that Inspire

This is from a Lord of the Rings calendar I had long ago. I saw it on the web and it made me happy.

Two Years Ago Today

Two years ago today my first novel was released.

   STILL FALLING

It was a classic bucket list effort. No one is more surprised than me that it has been so popular.

It even hit number one in the Hard Science Fiction category on Amazon.

What has surprised me even more, is that I have written three more novels since then. My fourth novel will be released sometime in April.

To Celebrate, the Kindle edition of STILL FALLING is now $.99 on Amazon!

I want to thank each and every one of my readers. You are a crazy bunch of cats! Keep emailing me! I love hearing from you!


--Back to work! Type Faster Monkey!

Tuesday Tips: Unrealistic Expectations.

A big problem many Indie Authors encounter is unrealistic expectations. It is really a difficult habit to break.

Here are a few examples:

• My family will read my book. 
• My first draft is the final draft.
• My book will be a best-seller.
•  I will make fat cash!
• This will be easy.
• Tons of 5 Star reviews.
• All this will happen in a week.

Happiness is a simple formula that involves your expectations.

        Happiness = Expectations / Reality

This formula always comes into play with me at the movies. If my expectations are high my enjoyment could be lower. I remember how excited I was to see the sequel to The Matrix. Then being so disappointed.

When it comes to Indie Publishing the expectation I recommend as default is that you will not sell any books. That you will have to work hard to market the book. That someone will give you an unfair one-star review.

If your expectations are too high you will be discouraged when success is not instant.

Keep writing. Your best marketing is the next novel. The more you write the better you will write. Because in the end, it's all about the writing. The writing is the thing. Sales are nice. Recognition is nice. But if you're writing for those things you will likely be unhappy.

--Finish things.

Reading: Warbound

This week I read Warbound by Larry Correia.

Here is the description from Amazon:

Gritty urban fantasy adventure set in an alternate noir 1930s, Book Three in the Grimnoir chronicles.

Only a handful of people in the world know that mankind’s magic comes from a living creature, and it is a refugee from another universe. The Power showed up here in the 1850s because it was running from something. Now it is 1933, and the Power’s hiding place has been discovered by a killer. 

It is a predator that eats magic and leaves destroyed worlds in its wake. Earth is next. 

Former private eye, Jake Sullivan, knows the score. The problem is hardly anyone believes him. The world’s most capable Active, Faye Vierra, could back him up, but she is hiding from the forces that think she is too dangerous to let live. So Jake has put together a ragtag crew of airship pirates and Grimnoir knights, and set out on a suicide mission to stop the predator before it is too late.  

--I love this series.  

 

The Worst

Sanderson: Character life beyond plot

Fast Friday Indie Interviews: Claire Buss

Claire Buss

Tell me about yourself, Claire.

I am a SAHM, a master of the art of doing at least three things at once whilst managing to zone out the dulcid tones of Postman Pat and/or Thomas the Tank Engine.  Apparently, I work best on minimal sleep so getting up at 5am to write/edit has become a way of life.  I read voraciously in the chair, in bed, in the bath, walking around my home town – whenever I can slot at least a page turn in.  You'd be surprised and how easy it is to cook and read at the same time.  Ideas often arrive at the most awkward moment possible but luckily I have the memory of a goldfish.  Having wasted my literary talents in an office environment for the past eighteen years I now intend to do as much as I can with what I've got for the next few decades.  I've been unhappily married, done the big house in the country, kept fish, been a biker chick, traveled a little, eaten a lot and become a firm believer in the healing power of cake.  I am now happily married with a little family of my own, currently living in Barking, Essex and wrestling with the eternal debate – dog or cat?

Tell me about your current Book:

When three sterile women become pregnant, the group of friends affected, led by Kira & Jed Jenkins, must get to the bottom of a cover up, find out who the blue lady is and discover whether it's really toxic beyond the wall, or have Corporation been lying all this time?

It's 200 years in our future, the planet has been decimated in the High Energy Radiation wars leaving what's left of a sterile humanity spread out across the globe in isolated yet high tech cities.  City 42 is protected from the toxic world outside by a force-field run by a company called Corporation who control sales, marketing and reproduction, allocating lab-grown babies to the general population as and when they see fit.  Kira, an Archivist and Jed Jenkins, a Force Detective, won the anniversary lottery and go to collect their child, choosing an unusual natural parenting route.  But all is not idyllic in City 42 – one of Kira's friend, Martha Hamble, daughter of the Marketing Director of Corporation is raped, the man responsible has no memory of the attack.  Jed's partner, Pete Barnes and his sister, Ingrid, fall in love.  Kira's friend and Anti-Corp sympathizer Ruth Maddocks has a spiritual experience outside the wall with a visiting professor.  When these women discover they are pregnant, a medical anomaly, and their young friend Dina Grey suffers a personal tragedy that should never have been possible, everyone involved reveals having been visited in some way by a blue lady.  Gaia - the goddess of the Earth, seems to have manipulated events to send the group of friends outside the city limits where they discover the planet has started to heal and needs mans help to recover fully.  Will they be able to stop the lies of Corporation and reunite man and nature before it is too late?

What are you working on now?

I am currently editing the first draft of a humorous fantasy novel called The Rose Thief.  The Emperor, may he live forever and ever, in his infinite wisdom has magically imbued his red rose with the power of love.  When the Rose Thief steals the rose and banishes their lover to the middle of nowhere, love begins to die.  It's up to Chief Thief Catcher, Ned Spinks, and his band of motley catchers to save the day.  Things go wrong, they get complicated.  Druids, vampire mermaids, magic, evil sorcerers and criminal family members all get involved in what I hope is a very entertaining read.

Where is your favorite place to be when you write?

The only place I have to write is my front room table.  Even then I have to fight with meal settings, paperwork from school, the latest crafty project so therefore glue & glitter, various electronic devices and about four half drunk, cold cups of tea.  I used to write in a little book cafe near the station but they have no toilet and sadly you can't sit in a cafe and not drink sold beverages – apparently it's a thing.

What is your favorite lesson you have learned about the business of writing?

No-one can tell you what to write, it's all you.  Very scary yet very liberating at the same time.  Also, it takes longer than you think and you do actually have to work really, really hard.
You can half-arse it but if you expect other people to read it then you probably shouldn't.

What is your favorite Website?

My favorite website is HAED, a cross-stitch site that offers huge, complex designs many of which are fantasy-themed.  Or it would be if I had any time to visit it.

The other sites I visit regularly are Pinterest and Goodreads which I do because I love them as websites and not just because they are useful author tools.

Links:

Email: claire2407@live.co.uk
Blog: http://butidontlikesalad.blogspot.co.uk/
Facebook: www.facebook.com/busswriter
Twitter: www.twitter.com/grasshopper2407
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16197976.Claire_Buss
Pinterest: https://uk.pinterest.com/grasshopper2407/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/claire-buss-329757134?trk=hp-identity-name
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWrKBeiBMQg_subFM9ot2vw
Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B01MSZY649

Images that Inspire

I like to have actual locations and images I can use to help me write scenes that take place there.

Quotes of the Week

A film is never really any good unless the camera is an eye in the head of a poet.
—Orson Welles

The historian records, but the novelist creates.
—E. M. Forster

A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing.
—George Bernard Shaw

To find joy in work is to find the fountain of youth.
—Pearl S. Buck

There are many rules of good writing, but the best way to find them is to be a good reader.
—Stephen Ambrose

You can fix anything but a blank page.
—Nora Roberts

The notion of talent is quite irrelevant. I see instead perseverance, application... will, will, will, desire, desire, desire.
—Gordon Lish

There is a crack in everything, that's how the light gets in.
—Leonard Cohen

I have a superstition that if I talk about a plot, it’s like letting sand out of a hole in the bottom of a bag.
—Shirley Hazzard

Tuesday Tips: Covers

They say you shouldn't judge a book by its cover.  Don't believe it. You could have the best story in the world and it your cover is crap, it won't sell. Cover problems is a common issue with Indie Authors.

The biggest tip here is that the cover should target your audience at a glance from six feet away. The art needs to be professional.

Make yourself a checklist for your covers. I have started one that includes the following:

Front Cover:

• Is your title unique?
• Are the Fonts easy to read?
• Is the text too close to the edge?
• Is the artwork engaging and professional?
• Does the artwork represent the book?
• Do the artwork and text work well together?
• Can you read the cover from six feet away?
• Can you read it as a thumbnail?

Back Cover:

• Is the text blurb easy to read?
• Is the text too close to the edge?
• Does the blurb have a hook that will attract readers?
• Does the blurb tell the reader too much?
• Does the text include the book price?

The Spine:

• Is the spine easy to read from six feet away?

The Finish:

•  Is it better with glossy or mat finish? 

When Indie Authors are this close to publication they might rush the cover creation/review process. Try not to rush it. I like establishing the cover before the first draft is complete. It gives me more time for tuning.

--Covers are super important. Give them the attention they deserve.

Read: FIELDS OF FIRE

Last week I read Fields of Fire by Marko Kloos.

Here is the description from Amazon:

The time has come to take the fight to the Lankies.

Mars has been under Lanky control for more than a year. Since then, the depleted forces of Earth’s alliances have rebuilt their fleets, staffing old warships with freshly trained troops. Torn between the need to beat the Lankies to the punch and taking enough time to put together an effective fighting force, command has decided to strike now.

Once again, seasoned veterans Andrew and Halley find themselves in charge of green troops and at the sharp tip of the spear as the combined military might of Earth goes up against the Lankies. But if there’s one constant in war, it’s that no battle plan survives first contact with the enemy…and the Lankies want to hold on to Mars as badly as humanity wants to reclaim it.

--I love this series. Excellent Military Science Fiction.

It was a weird weather week.

Sanderson: Show Us the Character

Fast Friday Indie Interviews: Eric Michael Craig

Eric Michael Craig

Tell me about yourself?

A bit about me… Hmmm, I’m a retired Scientist/Engineer that used to get paid to play with cool toys. I’m kinda the hot-rodder type, but rather than hot-rodding cars, I worked in quantum gravitational physics (I really came within an order of magnitude of creating a black hole once, and nearly vaporized five years of work, and several of my friends in the process … I’ve got witnesses too, so I swear it’s true) .

Generally speaking, I like to stay outside the box (there’s a dead cat in there … or if he’s not dead, he’s pissed as hell at Schrodinger, and I don’t want to be the one to tangle with him … plus I am not really a cat person anyway).  For most of my career, I worked far from “mainstream accepted science,” and even though I didn’t act like one of those hair-brained inventor types, those stuck in the sagging edifice of convention probably would have thought me one …

Tell me about your current Book:

Ok so you know, because of the way Stormhaven Rising and the other two books that follow are written, I have a huge cast of characters, and even my “bad guys” are not really bad guys… so I can’t clearly pick a single protagonist.

This book is asteroid porn. But it’s not like any version of that kind of story you’ve ever read. I don’t fall into the trope of bringing Bruce Willis  and his big, uhm … heroism … to save the day. I stick to reality as far as the science is concerned, and then I throw a lot of varied and colorful characters into the mix and give them a chance to run around, and beat the hell out of each other, as I turn them all into real life “Chicken Littles.”

Now that probably sounds a little fluffy doesn’t it?  In truth, while there are some light hearted moments, this book digs very deeply into the idea that if we were to face something like an impending asteroid strike, we’d likely not pull together to fight it.  Most of the key players in this story are bound by ideological walls (and technological incompatibilities) that make it almost impossible to rally around the common need. The US and China both have plans to defeat the asteroid that are worlds apart (although both of them are viable solutions) but for either side to help the other, it would take the one thing that neither has.  TRUST.

Ultimately as the story progresses through the first two novels in the series, the ball is fumbled, intercepted a couple times, and, well … there is no Bruce Willis to blow himself up and save the day.  If they can’t do it for real, then the story ends up like Hamlet (He Dies, She Dies, Everybody Dies Dies). Fortunately, hope dies hard.

What are you working on now?

I am finishing Book Three in the Atlas and the Winds series (Shadows in the Flame) and hope to have it out by late spring.  I also have a standalone novel that deals with a first contact situation that I’ve been simmering that might leap forward for a September release.  Then there is another book that I planned out most of a year ago that is the prequel for a potential TV series concept, and that might be done by the end of the year (Yeah I know writing the prequel first is a novel idea isn’t it?).

Where is your favorite place to be when you write?

Tau Ceti Six.  The Coronal Aurora have been spectacular for the last ten years and they tend to inspire me to poetic prose.

Actually I write at my computer.  I have a laptop but I only use it when I have no choice. I live in my cave with my supercomputer … My roommates slide pizza under the door, and my dogs clean up anything I drop or leave uneaten.  Dogs are like a omnivorous Roomba.  I never have to clean up anything but dog hair that way.

What is your favorite lesson you have learned about the business of writing?

Go big, or go home.  It is essential that indie writers hold the bar high.  If you act and work professionally, you become professional.  If you write as a hobby or approach this like art, you need to depend on being discovered to succeed.  Work it like a business and you will profit like a business. It takes being relentlessly driven and focused to make it.
And finally, you have to get out there and sell yourself.  You can write in a cave, but you sell in the sun.

What is your favorite Website?

I don’t have a favorite site.  I have favorite tools I use online, and I have websites I follow in order to keep up on science and technology (being technologically bent as I am), but when I am not writing or researching, the internet is not a playground for me.  I like to get out and wrestle the wilderness, or play with my dogs rather than play with the web.

To me the internet becomes a black hole, and I try not to orbit too close to the event horizon.

 

Links:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Eric-Michael-Craig/e/B01DMZZOHS/
https://www.amazon.com/Stormhaven-Rising-Atlas-Winds-Book-ebook/dp/B01DN86L2G
https://www.amazon.com/Prometheus-Dragon-Atlas-Winds-Book-ebook/dp/B01E4UPXHQ
Blog: http://ericmichaelcraig.com
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/Eric-Michael-Craig-408188152533381/
https://www.facebook.com/AtlasandtheWinds/
Twitter:  https://twitter.com/EricMCraig

Shows that Inspire: Samurai Jack

If you are not watching the new Samurai Jack, you should be.

Quotes of the Week

Love words, agonize over sentences. And pay attention to the world.
—Susan Sontag

All writers have this vague hope that the elves will come in the night and finish any stories.
—Neil Gaiman

Why say “very beautiful”? “Beautiful” is enough.
—James Joyce

There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.
—W. Somerset Maugham

If your book doesn't keep you up nights writing it, it won't keep anyone up nights reading it.
—James A. Michener

A bad book is as much of a labor to write as a good one, it comes as sincerely from the author's soul.
—Aldous Huxley

There is no terror in the bang, only in the anticipation of it.
—Alfred Hitchcock

No one who loves life can ignore literature, and no one who loves literature can ignore life.
—Laura Esquivel

Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.
—Benjamin Franklin

Tuesday Tips: The Second Edition

One of the great things about being an Indie Author is that you are the master of your own destiny. It means more work and learning how publishing works, but it's worth it.

The tools that are provided by Amazon and Createspace.com to manage your books are really great. They allow you to publish a second edition with ease.

There are several reasons to issue a second edition of your work:

• Adding review quotes to the back cover. 
• Fixing typos.
• Adding additional acknowledgements.
• Changing cover designs.
• Changing what ever the hell you want! You're an Indie Author!!

The process is basically the same as the original publication. I recommend you take the time to review another Proof, especially if the number of changes are significant.

--Please note that there will be a window of time that your book will be unavailable for purchase.

Read: The Space Scavengers

Last week I read The Space Scavengers by Cleve Cartmill.

My friend David Keener loaned me this book. I was brainstorming a new novel in our writers group about a deep space salvage team and it made him think of this.

This was published in 1975 and was really a snapshot in time for the post pulp no mans land of Science Fiction.

Here is the back cover description:




It was fun stuff and a quick easy read at less than 190 pages.

Cleve Cartmill  was an American writer of science fiction and fantasy short stories. He is best remembered for what is sometimes referred to as "the Cleve Cartmill affair", when his 1944 story "Deadline" attracted the attention of the FBI by reason of its detailed description of a nuclear weapon similar to that being developed by the highly classified Manhattan Project.

--Thanks, Dave!  I had fun.

Cat Accountants

Sanderson: More on Sympathetic Characters

Fast Friday Indie Interviews: M.L. Spencer

M.L. Spencer

Tell me about yourself?

Hi, I'm M.L. Spencer. I enjoy writing, teaching, being a mom, MMORPG games, and I have way too many other hobbies to keep track of! I love to read and write epic fantasy, especially dark epic fantasy. When I'm not writing, I'm working as a biology teacher in California.

Tell me about your current Book: 

Darkstorm, Book One of The Rhenwars Saga.

When acolyte Merris Bryar stumbles across a dark conspiracy, she enlists the help of Braden Reis to stop it, or else they will open a gateway to Hell.

When Merris Bryar stumbles across a secret meeting in the forgotten passages beneath Aerysius, a harrowing sequence of events is set into motion. Merris discovers that deep below the city of the mages, forces of chaos are hard at work boring the Well of Tears, a gateway to the Netherworld.

Faced with an imminent cataclysm that will destroy the magical heritage of their people, a conspiracy of darkmages have resorted to harnessing the powers of Hell to save their legacy. The only mages who can oppose them are Merris and her mentor, Sephana Clemley, along with their protectors, Braden and Quin Reis: two brothers with a turbulent past and a caustic relationship. But both Braden and Quin are compromised, harboring terrible and tragic secrets.

Will Braden and Quin be able to protect Sephana and Merris long enough to stop the unsealing of the Well of Tears? Or will they fall victim to the darkmages’ sinister manipulations and join their conspiracy?

What are you working on now? 

Darkland, Book Three of The Rhenwars Saga

Where is your favorite place to be when you write? 

My bed!

What is your favorite lesson you have learned about the business of writing? 

Pick either indie or traditional early, and stick with that path.

Links:

Website: http://mlspencerfiction.com
Email: mlspencerfiction@gmail.com
Amazon:  https://www.amazon.com/Darkstorm-Rhenwars-Saga-Book-1-ebook/dp/B01MT77SK9
Blog:  https://ourepicworlds.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MLSpencerAuthor/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MLSpencer1

Images that Inspire

Quotes of the Week

Don't be 'a writer.' Be writing.
—William Faulkner

I just write what I want to write. I write what amuses me. It's totally for myself.
—J.K. Rowling

Writing is like prostitution. First you do it for love, and then for a few close friends, and then 4 money.
—MOLIÈRE

At the end of the day, I go over the pages, the page that I’ve done that day, and I mark it up.
—Joan Didion

Maybe all one can do is hope to end up with the right regrets.
—Arthur Miller

Nothing will stop you being creative so effectively as the fear of making a mistake.
—John Cleese

There is no great writing, only great rewriting.
—Justice Brandeis

Marry somebody you love and who thinks you being a writer's a good idea.
—Richard Ford

And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.
—Friedrich Nietzsche

Tuesday Tips: Final Proofs

As an Indie Published Author, I discovered that there were advantages to publishing through a small press. I had a lawyer already on my team. So I started one.

Tannhauser Press was born.

It became obvious that having a small press was a huge advantage. It also allows me to assist other Indie Authors. We only publish a few titles a year.

This brings us to our tip.

The next book being published by Tannhauser Press is Caribbean Magic by Tuppence Van de Vaarst.

We are at the production phase I call the Final Proof.

All the writing is done. All the editing is done. All the beta reading, rewriting, more editing is done. The professional cover has been created. The book has been formatted, checked and re-checked. The back cover blurb, Author bio, dedication, and acknowledgments are all done.

The Final Proof has been ordered.

This is the copy that the Author has to go over with a microscope. Patients (patience) is required as it is reviewed one more time. Every aspect has to be approved by the author.

This PROOF is also dated and, if approved, should be preserved as copyright evidence. If approved, it is also a good time to register your copyright. We can talk about that in another post.

The Final Proof review is a powerful process. My first novel had a typo on the back cover. I should have paid more attention to the Final Proof. I should have had more eyes on it.

--Next week's tip will be How to do a Second Edition.

Reading: Out of the Dark

This week I'm reading Out of the Dark by David Weber.

Here is the description from Amazon:

The Galactic Hegemony has been around a long time, and it likes stability--the kind of stability that member species like the aggressive, carnivorous Shongairi tend to disturb. So when the Hegemony Survey Force encountered a world whose so-called "sentients"--"humans," they called themselves--were almost as bad as the Shongairi themselves, it seemed reasonable to use the Shongairi to neutralize them before they could become a second threat to galactic peace. And if the Shongairi took a few knocks in the process, all the better.

Now, Earth is conquered. The Shongairi have arrived in force, and humanity's cities lie in radioactive ruins. In mere minutes, more than half the human race has died.

Master Sergeant Stephen Buchevsky, who thought he was being rotated home from his latest tour in Afghanistan, finds himself instead prowling the back country of the Balkans, dodging alien patrols and trying to organize scattered survivors without getting killed. And in the southeastern US, firearms instructor and former Marine Dave Dvorak finds himself at the center of a growing network of resistance--putting his extended family at lethal risk, but what else can you do?

On the face of it, Buchevsky's and Dvorak's chances look bleak, as do prospects for the rest of the surviving human race. But it may well be that Shongairi and the Hegemony alike have underestimated the inhabitants of that strange planet called Earth... in David Weber's Out of the Dark.

--I think I need a .50 BMG!

Blogging while covered in cat hair...

Sanderson: Sympathetic Character

The Fast Friday Indie Interviews: C H Clepitt

C H Clepitt

Tell me about yourself?

I like church bells, but hate church, always say what I think, but never what I feel and love bridges, because I think they represent possibilities.

Also, I am Batman

Tell me about your current Book:

When the apocalypse happens, and Kerry must band together with an eclectic bunch of survivors, to fend off possible zombies.


Is anyone truly prepared for the apocalypse? Well, Kerry certainly isn’t, and she fairly quickly discovers that looking sharp in a business suit and heels is not going to help anyone when there’s an I Wore Heels to the Apocalypse - apocalypse, with possible zombies!

Together with a super spy, an ex-girl guide and a personal trainer with manly foraging skills Kerry must battle terrifying religious cults, rich people and her personal demons, all whilst having the daily chore of deciding what to wear!

This is a laugh out loud comedy with romance, heart and talking badgers, and is not to be missed.

What would you wear to the apocalypse? #IWoreHeels

What are you working on now?

At the moment I am working on the sequel to I Wore Heels to the Apocalypse, which is a super hero spoof called Everything is Better with a Cape. It sees the return of the badger, for all of those badger fans out there!

Where is your favorite place to be when you write?

I have a Victorian writing desk which I like to set up properly when I'm intending to do a serious stint of writing. But usually when I come home from work I just collapse on the sofa and do it there.

What is your favorite lesson you have learned about the business of writing?

Make sure you launch your book properly. Having a launch party for this latest one really paid off, advertising in advance, building up to release, having preorders available all helped with visibility.

What is your favorite Website?

http://www.feathersandtoast.com

Links: 

Web: www.chclepitt.com
Email: http://www.chclepitt.com/contact/, or on Facebook or Twitter
Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/C-H-Clepitt/e/B00ITEFH0M/
Blog: www.newsnibbles.co.uk
Facebook: facebook.com/chclepitt
Twitter: https://twitter.com/BadgersTweetToo

Images that Inspire

Quotes of the Week

Writing is like driving at night in the fog. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way
—Doctorow

Write even when you don't want to, don't much like what you are writing, and aren't writing particularly well.
—Agatha Christie

Once a story has been written, one has to cross out the beginning and the end. It is there that we authors do most of our lying.
—A Chekhov

Words.. a small drop of ink, falling like dew upon a thought, produces that which makes thousands, perhaps millions, think.
—Lord Byron

Say what you want about it, Hell is story-friendly…
—Charles Baxter
Convince yourself that you are working in clay, not marble, on paper, not eternal bronze.
—Jacques Barzun

Once the grammar has been learned, writing is simply talking on paper and in time learning what not to say.
—Beryl Bainbridge

Work every day. No matter what has happened the day or night before, get up and bite on the nail.
—Ernest Hemingway