Could you tell us a little bit about yourself?
I’m a husband and English teacher by day. Then, in the evenings and
weekends, I turn into a horrendous word snob, attempting to fine tune my work
and get my ideas down on the computer. I try to balance spending time with the
wife and family too. In addition, I edit other author’s books and am even
starting my own editing business after receiving quite a few recommendations
about my editing work. It’s called W@KE Editing.
Describe your book ‘A Life of Death’ in 30 words or
less.
It’s a paranormal
mystery about a high school senior dealing with romance, death, and abuse. Alex
is reliving murders and must solve the mysterious deaths while struggling to
find himself.
What was the hardest part of
writing your book?
Doing what had to
be done within the story arc, but what I knew was undeserved. For example,
there are many instances of abuse and murder within the novel that I had a hard
time reliving in my head, let alone on paper. This was especially difficult when
they happened to characters I had grown to know and love. At times I felt
depressed, as though what I’d written had happened to the closest of friends. I
just had to console myself with the ending that I knew would come and the
reality that with the good comes the bad. It’s a sad, yet exciting tale; one
with a light at the end of the tunnel. A recent reader, Bruce Blanchard,
commented about A Life of Death, saying, “This book is meant to be
ready by everyone.” So, I think it was worth all of the difficult depressing
moments I spent fretting over those scenes.
What
books have had the greatest influence on you?
There are quite a few. I’ve gotten to know a
few modern authors quite well and they have a lot of input into my books, but
the one book that seems to have had the largest effect on my endings and
writing in general is Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men. The difficult
choices and internal conflicts George had to deal with because of the world
they lived in certainly affected my writing and characters. I create characters
that I feel can literally leap from the page and do the tango in your bedroom
or will take you along for a thrilling ride that pushes the boundaries of where
your imagination can take you. Then, I use the grayness of the world to illustrate
the difficult decisions people must make, like George’s final decision
regarding Lenny. Unfortunately, when a story’s plot calls for disastrous
consequences to befall one of my central characters and I know I can’t do it to
them… that’s when I know I have to. The fact that it is called for and evoking
that emotion from me tells me that it will impact the reader just as much.
Don’t get me wrong… I’m not saying just kill off your characters every chance
you get or have them get some incurable disease, but when the story line calls
for it, follow the story and let your emotions fall where they will.
Briefly share with us what you do to market your
book?
In addition to
promoting through fReado, Book Buzzr and the associated services, I frequent a
variety of blogs, networks, and even have ads in the back of some of Scott
Nicholson’s books. I have also just finished the free serialized podiobook
release of A Life of Death and have had quite a few people
download the book in its first month. The book is getting out to people, so I
can’t complain there. Hopefully, if they enjoyed it, they’ll tell their friends
about the book.
How do
you spend your time when you are not writing?
Free time… well, I
don’t have much of that. However, the little I do have I spend with my wife,
friends, and family. We talk, play monopoly and video games, watch movies,
fish, and do an assortment of other things.
What
are you working on next?
I’m currently fine tuning the podiobook version of A Life of Death on podiobooks.com and am editing the last few stories in a co-written short story anthology titled Strange Circumstances. It should be released this January, 2012. I’m also working on the sequel to Invisible Dawn in the Altered Realities series. It’s titled Salvation and I hope to have it out later in 2012.
Join 12,000+ Authors
* 14 day FREE trial. No credit card required.If you're an author or publisher, you've come to the right place. BookBuzzr provides one of the most comprehensive set of book-marketing technologies and services in the world. We're constantly adding new features in a race with ourselves to build technologies that will help your books fly out of book-stores.