Blog Tour: All Doors to Hollywood and How To Open Them

Title: All The Doors to Hollywood and How To Open Them
Author: Anne M. Strick
Genre: Non-Fiction

This is book is for anyone interested in a job in films or television, and for those movie buffs who want to know backstage secrets, and how movies are really made. It is a book of interviews with those indispensable behind-the-screen people - the electricians, grips, truck drivers, scenic artists, make-up artists, graphic designers, carpenters, construction workers, seamstresses, costumers and special effects wizards – who make movie magic actually happen. This book tells what they do, how they do it, how they got their jobs and what adventures they’ve had. It is a book for all those fans who want inside stories about their favorite actors and the films they’ve made. It is a book for all those who dream of joining the Hollywood world and have the everyday skills required to work in the industry - which, surprisingly, most of us already do . In short, this is a book for everyone.

Book Review: All Doors to Hollywood and How To Open Them

All Doors to Hollywood and How To Open Them by Anne M. Strick offers a unique insight in today's Hollywood. For anyone who's ever been curious about the world of movies, who works in them, what their respective roles are, and the many people behind the scenes who help produce a movie, this is the book you need to read. It talks about everything from decoration crew to camera men and some obscure jobs I'd never even heard about.
The book explains all roles in detail, based on interviews by various people working in all roles. One of the things that surprised me the most was how many directors are involved in each movie. I guess I always thought it was just one. Another thing is that now, when I watch movie credits, although I may not always know what each role means, I at least got more of a clue of what they're about.
All Doors to Hollywood and How To Open Them in an informative, well-researched book about the movie industry by someone who knows it inside and out. A must read for anyone who wants to break into Hollywood and a recommendation for anyone who likes movies, Hollywood or celebrities.

Author Bio

Anne M.Strick has spent over twenty years in the movie industry. She has worked for Universal, Warners, Paramount and EMI, as a Unit Publicist, Project Coordinator and National Publicity Director, and with such Hollywood legends as Jack Nicholson, James Earl Jones, Sean Penn, Arnold Schwarzenegger, David Lynch, Sting and Dino De Laurentiis, among many others. She has published theater reviews, articles in Parents Magazine , Frontier and The Nation, and six books: two novels, two self-help books, one memoir (a best-seller in Italy); and a non-fiction, scholarly critique of our adversary trial system. (”remarkable”) . Born in Philadelphia, and educated at Bennington College and UCLA, she lives in Los Angeles.

Author Website | Goodreads

Purchase from : Amazon (Kindle) | Amazon (Paperback) | Smashwords | B&N

Peace

I'm hosting a book excerpt from Peace, a contemporary fiction novel by author A.D. Koboah today.

Book Excerpt

I quickened my steps to try and shake off the grinding pain in my stomach. But that only made it worse, forcing me to slow down and come to a stop by the side of the bridge whilst everyone else swept on past. It was rush hour so nobody noticed me, a small figure dressed in black trembling against the icy metal railing under dense grey clouds that threatened to unleash rain on the city below. Unable to move or think straight I let my eyes drift over the raging waters of the River Thames, which stretched out like a rippling black sheet for miles before me. And as I stared at the dark angry water, it seemed to come alive, taking on the appearance of an enormous creature stirring restlessly beneath me. The sound of the waves crashing against the bank now sounded like an unearthly heart beating slow and steady against the soft sigh of the January wind.
I wondered then what it would feel like to plunge into the midst of the creature beneath me. Would the seconds spent in the air before I hit the water feel like an eternity, or would they disappear in a flash? Would any of the people sweeping past me even notice or stop long enough to care? And once the dark, icy water closed over my head, how long would I spend struggling before I gave in to its eternal embrace?
Thankfully, the icy wind was all I felt against me, the biting cold eventually jolting me out of my morbid reverie and back to reality. Noticing a bus roll past and come to rest at the bus stop nearby, I released my death grip on the railing and ran toward it, only just managing to board it before it moved on.
Once aboard the packed bus I inched my way through the knot of people on the lower deck, up the stairs onto the top deck and chose a seat next to the window as the bus lurched forward. Leaning back in my seat, I delicately fingered three soft plastic packages in my right coat pocket and letting myself relax – ever so slightly – I watched the city streets dance by.
Dusk had crept up on us by this time and the glow of the streetlights beating back the invading darkness gave the bustling streets a festive air as office blocks emptied of their daytime inhabitants. I sat enchanted by the people that swept past, most of them in heavy winter coats walking briskly in either ones or twos toward tube stations or to join the larger groups that had gathered around bus stops in what was a mass exodus away from the city streets. Some people I saw walked with a grimace as the bitter cold whipped their faces. Their mouths were drawn into thin hard lines and their vacant eyes told me that the stresses of the day had followed them out of the office and would be with them long into the evening. Others strode energetically down the streets, jauntily ducking out of the way of their fellow pedestrians as they fled to the comforts of home. They even managed a smile as they waited for buses that were often too full to welcome them aboard. I also saw groups of young men and women around my age that appeared oblivious to the punishing cold as they meandered down the streets, laughing carelessly about something or other that had amused them. I kept my eyes on those groups of blissfully young untroubled types who were a representation of something that had long ago ceased to exist for me, and watched until they were either too far away to see or had disappeared into one of the many pubs and bars that dotted the city landscape.
The bus soon sped away from those people and the city streets, away from the London Eye which stood over the near-black river, holding up its glowing blue capsules like an offering of jewels to the twilight sky. Away from the grand office buildings with their lit windows looking like Christmas tree lights in the distance, and as the bus drew further and further away from the city streets and became emptier with each stop, we were slowly taken away from one world and into another.
No impressive-looking office buildings were to be seen providing the background for an opulent world in this new landscape. And whilst the world I had left behind had statues and monuments as a tribute to their heroes and significant events of their history, we saw no more of these as the bus left behind the wealthy city streets and wound into the urban jungle.
Neglect instead wove an ugly thread along the littered streets of this new world and the only thing that distinguished each unremarkable building from its neighbour was the graffiti that screamed at the passer-by from every exposed concrete surface. It seemed as though every time the bus turned a corner it was met by a sprawling estate or a high-rise block of flats that loomed menacingly on the horizon, dominating the landscape and casting an oppressive shadow over the world beneath. I was carried deep into this new world and got off the bus to the familiar sight of a small group of drunks that had congregated by that bus stop. They were always there, dishevelled, noisy and oblivious to the unease or open contempt that their presence evoked in those around them. In my eyes they were an example of people who had given up on life; kindred spirits that had taken enough of life’s knocks, had handed in the towel and surrendered. People who had made the conscious decision a long time ago to stop striving for the better things in life such as that better job or better relationship. They had instead chosen to find that something better at the end of a bottle – or in their case, the many empty cans of beer that littered the bus stop.
I left them behind and made the short walk into the heart of the urban jungle under a sky that had already deepened to an inky black as night descended, bringing with it a hive of activity as people either left the streets or ventured from their homes to explore it. Cars roared past and I heard the sound of a police siren, the piercing wail sounding like a bird of prey shrieking in the distance before it died away. I passed off-licences, corner shops, and takeaway shops which were now beacons of light in the darkness, drawing people in. I took comfort in the kaleidoscope of colourful faces that passed mine; from white, Asian, Latin American, Chinese and every shade of black; starting with soft golden browns and travelling down the spectrum to the richest blue-black skin tones.
Some people I passed were clearly not at ease in this world and they trod carefully through it with their heads down, trying not to make eye contact with those around them in an effort to get from A to B unnoticed. But for others the world around them had become a part of their identity and was as much an essential part of them as the blood coursing through their veins. Whether they were obvious predators or people that had simply fallen in love with the urban jungle, the hold that this world had on them was a powerful one and it kept them coming back again and again to dance to the rhythms of its dangerous beat.
I made it onto my road without having to stop and give in to the pain which was clutching and twisting my lower abdomen and fled past rows of identical Victorian houses towards the bright red door of a converted house which had become a lighthouse, lighting the way home in the growing storm of my need. Once I let myself into the house and stepped onto the worn dark brown carpet in the gloomy hallway, I was able to release a deep sigh before I closed the door shut quietly behind me. I slunk past a door on my left, which led to a one-bedroom flat, and up the stairs onto the first floor which had been converted into two bed-sits with a shared kitchen and bathroom. The tremor in my hand was more intense when I put the key into the lock of my bed-sit and swung the door open to the glare of the television set which I had left on in my haste to leave earlier on in the day. Safely in my sanctuary, I wasted no time in shrugging off my coat whilst fragments of news that nobody ever wanted to see or hear accosted me from the television screen. It was a news bulletin about another missing or dead child, and a photograph of that child wearing a school uniform that they would probably never have the chance to wear again. I watched the television sadly, affected by the sweet innocent smile that the child’s parents must have longed to see again in the flesh before I snapped the television off and plunged the room into an expectant silence.
Carefully taking out the tiny bag from my coat pocket, I reached for the lighter and roll of foil on my chest of drawers, catching sight of a tall, slim, pretty young woman peering at me from the mirror against the wall.
I avoided her as much as was physically possible, but she still managed to sneak up on me when I was least expecting it and forced me to acknowledge her as I did now.
I watched as she put a hand up to her face which had a strong hint of Ghanaian lineage in the mahogany brown skin, a small, flat, broad nose, full sensuous lips and thick, jet-black natural hair that had been pulled tightly away from her face. Although this face had undergone minor changes over the years, the eyes – my eyes – were the only feature that had changed beyond recognition and looked as if they had seen far too much in their twenty-three years on this earth. It was the clear, deep anguish in those eyes that led me here and made me tear myself away from the mirror back to the lighter and the two small pieces of foil that I tore off the roll. Rolling up one of the pieces, I put it in my mouth and let it hang off my lip like a cigarette then tore open the bag and emptied the brown powder onto the other scrap of foil. Using slow deliberate movements which defied the urgency that was speaking to me from my every pore, I used the lighter to melt the powder into a golden-brown ball and tilted the foil to make the brown ball run down to the other end whilst chasing it with the foil roll in my mouth.
Inhaling the heavenly smoke through my mouth, I chased and chased until all my burdens floated up and out of the room.
All my life it seemed as if I had chased one thing or another; acceptance, love, chasing dream after dream. Whenever I got close enough to those dreams I realised that they were nothing but phantoms. Insubstantial ghosts that quickly dispersed, leaving behind mists of failure, disillusionment and despair.
When it hits, when that first wave hits and I am swept away from everything, swept far, far away from the shore to a place where I can see nothing, hear nothing and feel nothing, I sometimes see his face. His face in all its exquisite beauty often overwhelms me, inducing tears before disappearing as quickly as it comes, leaving me far out to sea with no sight or sound of land until finally, it finds me... peace.

About Peace

Title: Peace
Author: A.D. Koboah
Genre: Contemporary Urban Fiction

Peace Osei is young, beautiful – and addicted to heroin; the only thing that can keep painful past memories at bay. But when a face from her past re-enters her life demanding answers to questions she is not ready to face, it threatens to send Peace swimming deeper into self-destructive waters. Having spent so long drifting away from the real world, can Peace find the strength to face the past and banish her demons?

Author Bio

A.D. Koboah was born in London and completed an English Literature degree in 2000. Peace is her second novel. Her first novel, Dark Genesis, is a Paranormal Romance that was inspired by the concept of dehumanisation. She is currently working on a screenplay and will begin the sequel to Dark Genesis shortly. Amazon | Goodreads | Website

Allen Wyler Dead Books

Allen Wyler Dead Books

My Review:

For this post I am forgoing the normal pictures as there are a lot of books in this series.
The above link will take you to amazon!

I didn't know that this book was part of a series.  I need to pay more attention.  This book gives you the back stories of a few characters in the previous books. I wish the company that had sent me this one would have through to ask if I had read the others.  So they could have sent those as well.  I ended up getting Dead Rringer and Dead End Deal.  Both were great but I wish I could have read them in order.

"*I received a copy of this book for free to review, this in no way influenced my review, all opinions are 100% honest and my own."

Welcome Author Christine Hughes

Never Too Old for YA Books and I would like to welcome Christine Hughes for an interview today!

Christine is author of this little beauty right here:

With the sudden, mysterious death of her father, Samantha discovers her life isn't what it seems. Not only isn't she the normal teenage girl she thought she was, Sam must now take her father's place in the fight between two groups of fallen angels, the Faithful and the Exiled, in a race to save humanity. In addition to dealing with a devastating betrayal--and having feelings for someone she's forbidden to love--Sam must also fight the growing darkness within her as she struggles to make a choice between fighting alongside the Faithful or succumbing to the temptation of the Exiled. Both sides require sacrifices Sam isn't sure she can make

And how let's get to know a little about Christine:

I’ve always wanted to write. Ever since I was little, I would craft stories and poems but the idea to actually do it “for real” never really crossed my mind until last year. After sitting on three paragraphs of what would eventually become my first novel, I decided to expand upon what I had. At the time I had no real idea of where the story would go, I just knew I had the time to do something with it.

I hadn’t researched market trends, I had no idea about query letters or the evil synopsis, and I was green on the idea of agents and editors and all that is publishing, really. I just wanted to write something I enjoyed. I didn’t plot, outline, or character build, I just wrote. And then an author friend mentioned that I should take my writing to a conference.

So with the confidence that my novel would surely be welcomed by all who read it, I signed up for as many seminars and critiques as I could. I knew someone would love it. In those two days, I found out I had a lot to learn.

Funny, but as a former English teacher, you’d think I’d have figured out the importance of editing and revision and revising again. You’d think I’d have known that the first draft is just that, a draft. And when the critiques started coming in, I thought I was done for. Not that the premise wasn’t good (I was told it was), not that the characters weren’t believable (I was told they were), but I used too much passive voice, I tense shifted and there were some holes in the plotline.

A few agents really liked it, but the market trend couldn’t support it. Some were not fond of the way I told the story. I queried and queried my way to 57 flat out rejections and a number of partial and full requests that didn’t pan out. But along the way I got some great criticism and pointers and I made the story better. Then, on a whim, I trolled the SavvyAuthors website and signed up for a three line pitch to editor Lauri Wellington and I did a happy dance when she requested my full manuscript.

A month later, she responded that she loved the story and the concept but it moved too slowly but I could resubmit if I revised. I informed her I sent her a revision that was based on the opinions of agents, authors and peers but I had the original (cleaned up, of course) and I was sending it in to see if it was more of what she was looking for. And guess what? It was! One caveat, I had to revise the manuscript into past tense. Easy peasy, right? Wrong.

Revising into past tense from present is line editing your entire novel. And it kinda stinks. By the end, I thought my eyes were gonna start bleeding and pop out onto my keyboard. But you know what? That little “exercise” tightened up what was loose, filled in any plot holes that might’ve still been there and forced me to realize I could be a better writer.

The road to publication can be long. It can be a hop, skip and a jump from your first query. Nothing in publication is set in stone. The market is always changing. And the biggest thing I learned is that it’s all subjective. Agents A-Y may pass but all you need is Agent or Editor Z to believe in you as much as you believe in yourself. And I believe in my first novel. And I am happy that Black Opal Books does too. I hope you do, as well.

Wow, Christine, that's a great story. If you would like to hear more about what Christine has to say, you can follow her at the links below:

Christine Hughes//Write what you Love

Christine on Goodreads

Now let's all sit back and hear what Christine had to say to us in her interview.

1. When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer? 

I've known I loved to write for a very long time. I'd always imagined writing for a living but I did nt' really know I wanted to be a writer until I started writing TORN in 2010

2. How long does it take you to write a book? 

Depends. TORN took almost a year, the next one coming out (Three Days of Rain) took less than 6 months and I am halfway finished with the sequel to TORN in less than 8 weeks.

3. What do you think makes a great story?

I think the ability to transport me away is the cornerstone of a great story. I was swept away, with many others, when I read Harry Potter. I was running with Guy Montag in Fahrenheit 451. Pull me away from the world and have the ability to evoke emotion. I just read My Emily by Matt Patterson and cried almost the whole way through. I read The Art of Racing in the Rain and was a mess. Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult also resonated with me. I read it when I was teaching - so scary. 

4. What is your work schedule like when you're writing? 

I generally write very early in the morning, generally around 5am is when I get up. I write for a few hours consistently then write sporadically or not at all the rest of the day. 

5. How do you balance family and writing?

It is difficult, especially now that it's summer and my tow boys are home with me. I try to balance by writing early and closing the laptop for a bit when my husband first gets home from work so I'm not distracted.

6. Where do you get your information or ideas for your books? 

Mostly form songs. All I Need by Within Temptation inspired the story behind TORN, as Beautiful Lie by 30 Seconds to Mars inspired a relationship between the main character, Samantha and a new character, Damien, in the sequel. A song titled Three Days of Rain, written and performed by my friend Jason (Jay) Liberatore inspire my second novel of the same name. (You can find his song on Spotify)

7. What was one of the most surprising things you learned in creating your books? 

That one draft doesn't cut it!Gosh, I hate revising and editing and I'm not very good at it but I am getting better. It's a learning process. Thank goodness I had great beta readers and my publisher, Black Opal Books, has a great team of very patient editors.

8. How many books have you written? Which is your favourite? 

Two and a half. TORN might be my first love since it was first but Three Days of Rain will always have my heart. I can't tell you how many times tears fell to the keyboard as I was writing. The sequel to TORN is much darker than the first so we'll see where it lands. I'm having fun torturing my characters. :)

9. Are your characters based on anyone you know?

My husband says yes, I say no. I just write what I know and, since I dislike research, I only do what I need to in order to make the story believable - like geographical locations and other minor points. 

10. Do you have a favourite place you love to write?

Ahh, my back deck on a summer morning.

11. How hard is is to self-publish or get published?

I think it's difficult but I was lucky. I was picked up by Black Opal Books less than 4 months after I began the query process. 

12. What do your family and friends think about your books?

They love them, or so I am told :). I have a 15 year-old sister in law who was the first to read TORN. She started on a Saturday and called me at 10 o'clock on Sunday night screaming about how much she loved it! We talked for over an hour with her giving me insights, what she liked, what she loved, what could be better. It was great.

13. What do you like to do when you are not writing?

I like to read, go to the pool with my kids, walk around some of the small towns around here like Princeton and New Hope. I love going to the beach, visiting with family. I do lots of things.

14. Do you have any suggestions to help aspiring writers better themselves and their craft? If so, what are they? 

Get some honest beta readers. Don't rely on someone who is going to blow sunshine up your you-know-what. Learn to take criticism. Be open to change. Be gracious to anyone and everyone who is part of this process - bloggers, reviewers, beta readers, editors, publishers, agents - whoever. Don't stop reading. And never, ever stop writing.

15. As a child, what did you want to do when you grew up? 

My dad is a Blackhawk pilot for the Army. I wanted to either do that or be a fighter jet pilot.

16. What are your favourite books and which authors inspire you?

My favorite book is Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. That story was so beyond its time. Unreal. Inspiration? I find it everywhere. From JK Rowling and her napkin notes, Stephenie Meyer writing as a stay-at-home-mom, Hemingway's "balls-out" approach to life, Matt Patterson's courage, Brett Easton Ellis' ability to make me question "what the hell did I just read?", Robert Frost's smooth control of the english language, Shakespeare's ability to write so many freaking lines in iambic pentameter - I mean seriously? How did he do that?

17. For an aspiring writer what do you feel are certain do's and don’ts for getting their material published?

Do keep trying. Don't stop. Do be gracious. Don't get outwardly angry when things don't go your way. In this business, I am finding they rarely do. Do perfect your prose. Don't assume one draft is enough. Do believe in yourself. Always. Don't lose hope.

18. What are you working on now?

I am currently in the process of writing the as yet untitled sequel to TORN. I am in 2nd round edits with the soon to be published (date coming soon) Three Days of Rain, a Women's Fiction with a male protagonist - it's a bit of a tear jerker.

Thanks so much for stopping by, Christine!

If you would like to purchase Christine's book, click on the link below:

Torn on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Smashwords

Cover Reveal: Wilde's Meadow

Wilde's Meadow (Darkness Falls, #3)

by Krystal Wade

Happy endings are hard to find, and even though Katriona is in the middle of a war with someone who’s already stolen more than she can replace, she aches for a positive future with her Draíochtans.

Armed with hope, confidence in her abilities, and a strange new gift from her mother, Kate ventures into the Darkness to defeat a fallen god.

Losses add up, and new obstacles rise to stand in the way. Is the one determined to bring Encardia light strong enough to keep fighting, or will all the sacrifices to stop those who seek domination be for nothing?

Links:

www.krystal-wade.com

@KrystalWade

www.facebook.com/author.krystalwade

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15830543-wilde-s-meadow

I have read and reviewed the other two books in this series and I so can't wait to read this one!  Way to go Wade I love this cover!  I love these books so much that I thought I would do a giveaway with this post!  So have fun and tell a friend!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Pro Assessment of Twilight Sparkle, Ponyville's Librarian

Pro Assessment of Twilight Sparkle, Ponyville's Librarian

Pro Assessment of Twilight Sparkle, Ponyville's Librarian

Is Twilight Sparkle an effective librarianfrom a professional's point of view? At Neatorama, John Farrier offered his incisive and amusing assessment of Ponyville's librarian, the protagonist of the animated TV series My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic.

She was assessed in several categories, including organization ("Twilight's libraries are profoundly disorganized"), reference services, staff management, collection development and management and outreach.

Farrier concluded by noting that he had "described in detail some major deficiencies by Twilight Sparkle as a librarian. But my goal is not to tear her down. She is embraced by the community around the Ponyville Library and is thus not a failure as a professional librarian.... All of the problems that I have pointed out can be fixed, most likely by further training."

Welcome Author Amy Bartol

As Never Too Old for YA Books and I continue our tribute to Indie authors, we welcome Amy Bartol for an interview today.

Amy is the author of these awesome books:

My name is Evie Claremont and this was to be the making of me--my freshman year of college. I had been hoping that once I had arrived on Crestwood's campus, the nightmare that I've been having would go away. It hasn't.

I may be an inexperienced seventeen-year-old, but I'm grounded...sane. Since meeting sophomore Reed Wellington, however, nothing makes any sense. Whenever he is near, I feel an attraction to him--a magnetic kind of force pulling me towards him. I know what you're thinking...that sounds fairly awesome. Yeah, it would--if he liked me, but Reed acts as if I'm the worst thing that's ever happened to Crestwood...or him. But, get this, for some reason every time I turn around he's there, barging into my life.

What is the secret he is keeping from me? I'm hoping that it is anything but what I expect: that he is not exactly normal...and neither am I. So maybe Crestwood won't be the making of me, but it could be the breaking of me. I have been left to wonder if the dark future my dream is foretelling is...inescapable

I don’t open my eyes so I can’t see him, but I can smell him. He thickens the air I breathe, choking me with his scent…his aroma. I shiver. I have to resist. If I’m not strong, then I will be relegated to the same fate as this predator whose sickness infects me even now. But now, I crave him and he knows that; he has been counting on my need to end the gnawing pain. How he would savor my surrender. I’m alive, but how much longer will it take until I beg him not to be?

I hang my head in sorrow for just a moment when I know I am truly alone. I feel like I’m going to my execution, just as he had said. Then I move forward again. I hop a fence of fieldstone and cross a field dotted with Queen Anne’s lace. Goose bumps rise on my arms as I pass the cluster of windmills that I have seen in a dream. The scent is sweet in the field though, not the scent of heat, like it had been when it was forced upon me in visions. I gaze down the hill, beyond the small, whitewashed house that I knew would be there. The church looms dark and grim with its rough-hewn, timber façade, capped by tall, oblong spires reaching to the sky. Black, ominous clouds have collected above the roofline, as if Heaven is showing me the way

And Amy has two more books to be released in this series:

Incendiary (The Premonition #4)

Expected Publication Date: 2012

and

Iniquity (The Premonition, #5)

And if you'd like to know a little about Amy:

Author of Inescapable: The Premonition Series (Volume 1), Intuition: The Premonition Series (Volume 2), Indebted: The Premonition Series (Volume 3) , and the soon to be released Incendiary: The Premonition Series (Volume 4). 

I live in Michigan with my husband and our two sons. My family is very supportive of my writing. When I’m writing, they often bring me the take-out menu so that I can call and order them dinner. They listen patiently when I talk about my characters like they’re real. They rarely roll their eyes when I tell them I’ll only be a second while I finish writing a chapter…and then they take off their coats. They ask me how the story is going when I surface after living for hours in a world of my own making. They have learned to accept my “writing uniform” consisting of a slightly unflattering pink fleece jacket, t-shirt, and black yoga pants. And they smile at my nerdy bookishness whenever I try to explain urban fantasy to them. In short, they get me, so they are perfect and I am blessed. Please visit me at my website: www.amyabartol.weebly.com

And now for the moment we all came here for, Amy's interview!

1. When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer? 

I didn't realize I wanted to be a "writer" at first; I only knew that I wanted to see if I could produce a story worth reading.  I know it sounds counterintuitive because you'd think that it would be a logical conclusion that I wrote a book so I could be a writer, but for me, it was more like I became a writer because I had to write a book—I had to tell a story.  I didn't have "be a writer" aspirations, maybe I did when I was younger, but when I began writing Inescapable there was no real fantasy of becoming an author.  Inescapable just began as an experiment to see if I could write a book—I wanted to see if I was capable of writing a story and then LIKING what I wrote.

2. How long does it take you to write a book?

The rough draft usually takes around four to six months to complete, but I spent over two years revising and editing Inescapable before I published it.  I have completed four other novels, which have taken around the same amount of time to rough draft, but now I seem to have developed a “style,” so editing them is easier and less time-consuming.

3. What do you think makes a great story?

I think that well-developed characters are essential to a great story.  If the reader can begin to hear the characters and dream about them even when she is not reading, then the story has life.  It breathes.  It has a soul.

4. What is your work schedule like when you're writing? 

When I’m writing, I go until someone interrupts me or until I have to be somewhere else.  When I first began, I wrote while the kids swam in the pool (I know that’s not recommended by the Red Cross Lifeguard manual).  Then my youngest started preschool and it was GAME ON!  I wrote from the moment I dropped him off until I had to pick him up three hours later.  First grade was a whole new world for me.  I turned off the phone and wrote for hours. 

5. How do you balance family and writing?

I used to be so much better at balancing my family life and my work life, but that was when I was just a writer.  Now I'm an author, a publisher, an editor, a designer, a promoter, a social media networker, a blogger, a reviewer, a mentor, and the president of my own production company, so it's a little harder to handle.  I'm working on it!

6. Where do you get your information or ideas for your books? 

I'm in love with the paranormal romance genre, so it was without question that I'd try to write in that genre when I started.  I knew that I wanted to write a story that took place in the "real world" but one that had supernatural elements to it.  The idea for angels came when I was reading "The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe.  One of the stanzas had the word "Seraphim" in it.  I love words, they're my addiction, and when I find a word I don't know, I look it up.  I looked up the word Seraphim and found that they're angels, but not only that, they're said to be the highest rank of angels in Heaven according to a theologian name Pseudo-Dionysius the Aeropagite who wrote about a hierarchy of angels in the 5th Century.  I thought to myself, Angels have ranks? Really?  From there, the idea for Inescapable grew.

I also get ideas from music.  Sometimes, a song will be visceral in a way that triggers something, an idea for a storyline or a twist in a story I'm already writing.  For me, music is amazing like that. 

7. What was one of the most surprising things you learned in creating your books? 

The most surprising thing I learned when creating Inescapable is that the characters began to live.  I don't mean that in a physical sense, I mean that the more I wrote, the more it seemed like I wasn't the one writing it.  The characters began to "talk" to me in my mind, I could literally hear their voices in my head, and they would take over and show me what they wanted to do and where the story should go.  It became, for me, like watching a movie and I just had to listen to what they, the characters, were saying and then try to write it down.  I know it sounds insane.  I call whatever it is "catching the stream" because once it starts happening, I find myself just writing down chapter after chapter without "thinking" or "plotting" it.  In fact, the characters took me in directions that were opposite to where I thought the story was going.  They often surprised me.  (I recently learned that there is a name for this kind of writing; it’s referred to as being a “pantser.” There are “plotters” who plot out the story and then follow the outline and there are “pantsers” who write by the seat of their pants, so to speak.)  I am definitely a pantser.  No question.

8. How many books have you written? Which is your favorite? 

I have completed five novels—two are yet unpublished.  My favorite so far is Indebted: The Premonition Series Volume 3.  I think it's my favorite because the fellas ( the villains in my second and third books) make me laugh and are very fun to write.

9. Are your characters based on anyone you know?

There are two characters in Inescapable that are based on my friends.  Buns and Brownie were written into Inescapable because I began to love Evie, the main character, and I wanted to give her friends that would help her so I gave her my two best friends from college.  Molly, in Indebted, is based on my best friend from childhood (of the same name).

10. Do you have a favorite place you love to write?

This is embarrassing to admit, but I do almost all my writing in my bed at home.  I used to prop my laptop on a pillow, but then I went hi-tech and got an e-pad (which is a glorified pillow with a hard top surface).

11. How hard is it to get published?

I'm an Indie author: that means I publish my own books.  Once I made the decision to self-publish, it was relatively easy, just a matter of researching the best avenue to bring my product to market.  I publish my print books through CreateSpace, which is a division of Amazon.  I sell my e-books on Amazon through Kindle Direct Publishing and I currently use Smashwords as an aggregator to put my ebooks on Apple, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Sony, etc.  The BEST part about being an Indie author is that I retain all the rights to my books. 

12. What do your family and friends think about your books?

My mom is my biggest fan, but she's also my editor and critic.  Aprille, my sister, and my dad love them, as well as the rest of my family.  (But they have to because it's required.)  As for my friends, that's a mixed bag.  The young adult, paranormal romance genre is not for everybody...just us sexy people. (Sorry, I had to say that, it was required by Prince...or The Artist Formally Known As Prince.)

13. What do you like to do when you are not writing?

I like to read and make the neighbor kids clean my pool.

14. Do you have any suggestions to help aspiring writers better themselves and their craft? If so, what are they? 

Start a blog and if you have a hard time coming up with things to write, use it like a journal.  It will get you writing and it could also build a fan base for when you do publish. 

15. As a child, what did you want to do when you grew up? 

I wanted to own my own country and have servants do everything for me...so I guess I wanted to be a dictator.  Instead, I grew up and created my own world where characters do everything for me...so I guess I am a dictator.  Life plan realized.

16. What are your favorite books and which authors inspire you?

I . Love. Romance. Novels.  The Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon is my favorite series of all time.  I was inspired to write, however, by Markus Zusak’s book entitled I Am The Messenger.  The book is about Ed Kennedy, an underage cabdriver who has a coffee-drinking dog named The Doorman and a secret crush on his best friend Audrey.  Ed has a peaceful routine until the day he inadvertently stops a bank robbery.  After that day, Ed becomes the messenger.

The book, written in the first person present tense, was funny and heart pounding and sad and euphoric.  It read like you could step into Ed’s shoes, breathe his air, see what he is seeing.  In short, it was amazing.  But, there was a message at the end of the story that struck me as if it was written just for me.  It says, quote: “Maybe everyone can live beyond what they’re capable of…I’m not the messenger at all. I’m the message.”

I knew instantly that I had to try to write a book because maybe I was able to live beyond what I always thought I was capable of.

17. For an aspiring writer what do you feel are certain do's and don’ts for getting their material published?

Do:  Be present—that means be on every social networking site you can think of and several you can't.  Be accessible—write a blog so you can showcase who you are as a person (they want to see your brand, which is you).  Be kind. 

Don't:  Go for the hard sell or respond negatively to criticism (even if you feel it's unfair or unwarranted), in fact, try not to respond to it at all.

18. What are you working on now?

I’m currently working on the fourth book in the Premonition series entitled Incendiary.  You can find a teaser for it on my website. Here’s the link: http://www.amyabartol.com/incendiary-updates.html 

*Small Caveat* If you haven’t read the first three books in the Premonition series, this will be a HUGE spoiler!

Thanks so much for stopping by Amy!!!

If you'd like to purchase Amy's books, you can click on the links below:

Inescapable on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Smashwords

Intuition on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Smashwords

Indebted on Amazon