AUTHOR INTERVIEWS
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Each week, I interview an independent author who writes for kids ages 0-18. If you are interested in participating in an author interview, contact me through this site, my email, or any of my social media accounts. Interviews post every Monday. Be sure to include any images that you would like to be featured with your interview, and let me know if you prefer a specific Monday to be featured. Thank you!
December 17, 2018
Nanette Littlestone
Website: www.wordsofpassion.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nanettelittlestone;
https://www.facebook.com/WordsOfPassion/
How many books have you written and where can you buy them?
F.A.I.T.H. – Finding Answers in the Heart, Vol. I - https://amzn.to/2EcO1Lj
F.A.I.T.H. – Finding Answers in the Heart, Vol. II - https://amzn.to/2EgxohJ
The Sacred Flame - https://amzn.to/2L9ab2k
Bella Toscana - https://amzn.to/2EghWC9
Summarize your book(s) in one or two paragraphs.
F.A.I.T.H. – Finding Answers in the Heart, Vol. I and II - What if the heart was more than just an organ that pumps blood? What if it could bring you joy, happiness, money, or better relationships? Ancient civilizations believed that the heart was the seat of our soul. It didn’t just enable us to give and receive love. It was the source of our creative powers and intuition. Scientists are now finding that the heart is actually a second “brain” that sends messages to every cell of the body and may hold the key to true inner healing.
The 14 authors of these books share their stories of struggle and challenge and the gifts that helped them triumph and follow their dreams. These “ordinary” women serve as extraordinary examples of what is possible for us all. Now is the time to pay attention. You can choose a new direction. Your inner compass has been guiding you your whole life. All it takes is F.A.I.T.H. – Finding Answers in the Heart.
The Sacred Flame - Ancient Rome, 216 BC. For thirty years, Livia has served Rome as a priestess to the goddess Vesta, guarding the temple's sacred flame. All she wants is retirement, a happy marriage, and peace. Instead, the High Priestess falls ill, Livia assumes leadership, and all her dreams collapse.
While the temple flame burns, no harm will come to the city. But against her vows, Livia falls for Gaius, a married equestrian, who wants to shower her with love. Passion awakens a burning desire and Livia's role as High Priestess falters. And Gaius's wife will stop at nothing to keep her marriage intact. As summer comes, Rome is threatened by the invasion of Hannibal and Livia must choose between duty or passion. A choice that might cost her everything.
Bella Toscana - On the night of her fiftieth birthday, the comfortable ride of Toscana’s life takes an alarming plunge. Haunted by seductive visions, she tries to push aside the desire and focus on the husband who adores her. Then she falls for Flynn, a younger man with an eye for adventure and a heart full of romance, who leaves her doubting everything she’s believed about love and passion.
In Atlanta, Rome, and the lush scenery of Tuscany, Toscana searches for answers to the mysteries of her life while she faces her biggest question. If she listens to her feelings will she lose everything she holds dear, or does her heart hold the key to love and joy?
What famous books can you compare to your own?
The Sacred Flame invokes some of the famous love stories in history: Romeo and Juliet, Tristan and Isolde, Lancelot and Guinevere, Paris and Helen of Troy. All of them involve a love that seems to be destined, yet forbidden. A love that cannot be ignored. A love that sparks great passion and regret. Bella Toscana also involves a grand passion, but it’s also about the journey of self-discovery, much like the journey of Elizabeth Gilbert in Eat, Pray, Love.
Quote from a positive review of your book.
“Beautifully written by a master storyteller, you are immediately drawn into the lives of the characters. The hallmark of a great novel is the ability to transport the reader to a time and place and Bella Toscana delivers! Food, passion, intrigue--it’s all here! Toscana and her journey to love and happiness captivated me and made me want more!”
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How long does it take you to write a book?
A long time! My average time seems to be three years. Maybe more, if you include time for thinking. I seem to want to play with the story idea for a year or so before I ever commit words to paper. Then there’s usually research involved and developing the characters and figuring out the story line, and all of that takes time. I learned early on that I can sit down in front of a blank screen and write, and what I produce isn’t bad. It’s grammatically correct and somewhat interesting. But my best work comes from inspired writing, when my muse or Spirit is talking to me and I’m hurrying to capture everything that’s in my head before I lose it. That download often happens while I’m out walking, without any means of writing, and I have to keep repeating lines of dialogue or key points so that I remember what’s transpired by the time I get home. Invariably, what I come away with isn’t half of what flowed through me, but it’s usually enough to spark the writing engine and get me going.
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When and where can you be found writing?
The obvious place is in front of my computer, but those magical thoughts usually come when I’m in the shower (of course I can’t write there), walking, driving (I keep a small notepad in the driver’s door so I can whip it out when inspiration strikes). I’m not a habitual writer. There’s no set time that I write, no alarm to time my writing. I’m the worst example of a practiced author because I get inspired at all times and in lots of places. I read about authors who lock themselves away for 3 hours every morning, or write late at night when everyone else is asleep. I think I’d go crazy if I had to keep to a schedule.
How autobiographical are your books?
I think there are bits and pieces of all authors in their characters. The way we think, the way we act, the joys and laughter, the hurts and guilty feelings and embarrassments we’ve suffered are all part of our makeup. Even when we create “characters” we’re really infusing part of ourselves. And my characters are like that, some more than others. Toscana, the heroine of Bella Toscana, loves dark chocolate, good food, romance, and Italy. And so do I. Both of my last two heroines are slender, with long hair and green eyes. I’m taller than both, but I have long hair and hazel eyes. They’re also soft at heart, compassionate, introspective, and worry about their self-worth. Am I my characters? Of course not, but . . .
Then there are the messages of my books which are certainly drawn from life. As I travel my path, developing mentally, emotionally, and spiritually, those learning and healing aspects become important to me and I want to pass those on to others. I seem to have become a teacher in my later years and like to impart my wisdom (however wise or unwise it might be). Most of it is about love: loving yourself, forgiving yourself, choosing to be kind and caring and compassionate with yourself and others, and above all learning to follow your heart. The heart is the language of the soul and when we heed the messages of the heart, then we are truly living the life we are meant to live.
What’s the best compliment that you’ve ever received about your writing?
It’s so hard to choose. A good friend feels The Sacred Flame is so relevant to empowering women everywhere that she makes it required reading for her Priestess Process classes. And that so touches my heart. Then there’s the friend who read Bella Toscana and couldn’t stop telling me during lunch how much she loved it, so much so that she bought four copies for friends and family and promoted it to complete strangers as we were leaving the restaurant.
Where do you get your covers?
I do the overall design (when I can) and my husband takes care of the sizing details to make them eye-appealing. Or my husband will create and ask my advice. When my ideas don’t mesh with my/our graphic design abilities I’ll hire someone to help. It’s wonderful that there are so many talented designers out there. I found Clarissa Yeo through Jana Oliver (such a talented writer) and hired Clarissa to do the cover for The Sacred Flame. None of my ideas for ancient Rome worked the way I wanted. So Clarissa came in, went in a totally different direction, and saved the day.
What is next for you?
I’m working on a YA fantasy, which is a little terrifying because I’ve never written YA. But I love the story idea. At the bottom of the ocean lies the heart that runs the planet. And it’s failing. Far away, in a small Montana town, lives Rigel, an 18-year-old with congenital heart disease who lost her mother at the ocean when she was 4. Rigel loves math and logic and is terrified of water. And her heart is failing. She only has a few months to live. What she doesn’t know is that she is the one who’s been prophesied to save the heart of the planet. But is she strong enough to overcome her fear? And will math and logic be enough to save the planet?
Provide a quote.
I’ve been thinking of an Italian proverb from the first chapter of Bella Toscana: A tavola non s’invecchia. At the table with good friends and family you do not become old. Christmas brings up wonderful memories of being with my family. I was blessed to have a happy childhood with parents who loved me and showed their love. But now I live on the other side of the country and don’t see them often, and I miss them, being with them, sharing in the little traditions and rituals of the holidays, and all the warmth and coziness that the season holds. (Can you tell I’m a sucker for Hallmark movies?) So this lovely Italian proverb sums all that up for me and I’ve been using it in my Christmas emails, along with the following: That is my wish for you this holiday season. That wherever you are, whatever you do, you are surrounded by the love of friends and family, and that love will keep you young in heart, mind, and soul.
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What’s your take on eBooks/eReaders?
I used to be violently opposed to reading electronically. It’s hard(er) on your eyes and you can’t feel the paper, turn the pages, smell the print (so some people say; I’m not sure I’ve ever smelled anything). But holding a paper book in your hands has a certain heft and weight that you don’t get with an eBook. Then my husband got me an iPad. I wanted one for editing. I thought if I had an iPad I could look up words and spelling and punctuation issues online without having to leave my chair. And that’s how I began with my new device. But it wasn’t long before I discovered the ease of reading an ebook on Kindle. And one device can hold more than one book. So if I’m going on a trip, I don’t have to be satisfied with just one book (if that’s all the room I have in my backpack or suitcase). I can take as many as I want and read different ones, if I want. It’s crazy. I love it. I think it’s still hard on my eyes. But God how I love it. I wouldn’t be without it now. I’ve even resorted to reading on my phone when I’m at an appointment waiting for someone. Not quite as nice an experience—tiny screen and all—but better than nothing. Sometimes I’ll go back to reading a real book. And I enjoy that. But I’ve made the switch, and there’s no turning back.
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What is your handwriting like?
Tiny. I can get about as many words on a line in handwriting as I can in typing. And it’s a combination of half printing and half script. When I grew up handwriting was taught in school. We had to practice forming our letters correctly and we were graded on how well we wrote. There was a boy in my fifth grade class who always scored one or two points higher than I did. I felt I had perfect handwriting, but if I got a 98 he would get 100. I was so irritated by him. According to an article on handwriting analysis, people who squeeze their words together like the company of others. I do, to some extent; I’m an introvert. Closely dotted “i”s are a sign of an organized and detail-oriented mind. Very true. I have a legible signature, a sign of confidence and comfort in my own skin. Sure. Rounded letters signal creativity and artistic ability. Love that one! Writing quickly says I’m impatient and dislike wasting time. So true. And disconnected letters (like printing) suggests I might be more imaginative, impulsive, and base my decisions on intuition. Very true. Are they reading my mind?
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February 12, 2018
Simon Pearce
Twitter: @SimonPe50436465
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1. How many books have you written and where can you buy them?
“Mo” is my first book. You can buy it from Amazom, and if you happen to be on the Isle of Wight, also from the Isle of Wight Traders in Newport.
2. Summarize your book(s) in one or two paragraphs.
This story is ultimately about the grooming of young adults into Islamic extremism, and uses main character 'Mo', a young British Muslim boy growing up in the UK, who has just started at his local comprehensive high school, to tell the tale.
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Mo, is a young man who is simply trying to figure out who he is and where he fits in with society. He feels the normal pressures from his parents to do well, and to embrace the plans that they have for him - like it or not - and also the pressures from his friends to behave a certain way, or become the butt of their jokes and ridicule. On top of this, he has two new voices pulling him in different directions. One is calm and soft spoken; the other, harsh and demanding. Will Mo lose his way before he’s even had a chance to truly find it?
3. Quote from a positive review of your book.
This is an excellent debut novel, very well-written and easy-to-read, a story that totally absorbs the reader from the start. The main character 'Mo' is plausible and highly likeable and the author conveys brilliantly the innocence of his character and shows just how impressionable young adults can be; a great amount of empathy is captured for Mo from a reader perspective and this story certainly contributes to our understanding of how and why children/young adults can become disillusioned with the world.
4. How long does it take you to write a book?
I remember having the idea one October night in 2016, when I was out walking and saw a moth flitting about a street light. When I came home I read an article in the newspaper about a young man who had been killed fighting for the Islamic State. After lots of research I was able to publish the book in August 2017. So, if you count the moment of the initial idea, it took ten months to write it.
5. When and where can you be found writing?
Usually very early in the morning, between 4 am and 5.30. Then I have to get ready for work!
6. How autobiographical are your books?
There are moments when I draw on personal experience. For example, the setting of the story is somewhere very special to me, although I have left it deliberately obscure as I want the story to have a more universal message.
7. What has been your greatest moment as a writer so far?
Definitely when I received my first ever review, and it was 5 stars.
8. Where do you get your covers?
I have an idea, which I propose to an artist I know. He then completely changes it and coverts it into a much better design!
9. What is next for you?
I have just finished my second book, “Exit Velocity”. This one, and “Mo”, form the first two of the Spotlight Tales series. I am just doing a final check on the book before I publish it. I have the third book slowly materializing in my mind and on scraps of paper. I hope I will be able to publish that one by the end of the year.
10. Provide a quote (from one of your books, a favorite quote by someone else, or one that has been on your mind recently).
“Just keep on driving, and you’ll get there”. This was said to me by my son, who was two at the time. I was in a hired car and completely lost on a country road, and I seemed to be going round in circles. It was about 2am and I knew I had at least three hours of driving ahead of me. He fell asleep soon after saying that, but it gave me heart to “keep driving”, and I think it is an encouraging maxim for all kinds of situations.
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11. What is an interesting fact about one of your characters that cannot be read in your book(s)?
Some characters appear in more than one of the Spotlight Tales. You need to be alert to spot them!
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12. Where do you get your reading material (libraries, book sales, flea markets, eReaders, etc.)?
My loft. I have so many unread books!
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13. Do you prefer old books or new books?
I don’t mind either way. So long as I can lose myself in it as I sit on the bus for an hour on the way to work, I’m happy.
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14. What’s your take on eBooks/eReaders?
I think they are amazing. Personally, I don’t have one, but then again, I didn’t have Facebook, Twitter or Instagram until recently. I have read a book which I downloaded to my mobile phone, and it seemed to work fine. Screens are here to stay, and if the screen has words on it rather than pointless video games, then that is to be encouraged.
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15. What is your handwriting like?
When I was at school, my teacher commented on how neat my handwriting was. I don’t think she would recognise it now! You can generally make out the first letter or two, but then it goes a bit awry. I can still read it, and if I write for other people, it’s either in typed or I try to make it more legible, not always with success, unfortunately!
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16. What famous author, living or dead, would you like to read a copy of your book?
As I had to read William Blake’s poetry at university, and didn’t get on with it at all, I would make him read my stories. We can then share our mutual disapproval!
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17. Who would you cast to star in a movie based on your book? Who would direct?
Morgan Freeman as the Moth Man / Old Moth. I was thinking of him as I wrote some of the words this character speaks.
December 11, 2017
Shawn St. Jean
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Shawn St Jean, author of Cranky Bear Wakes Up (Illustrated by Todd StJean)
Amazon purchase page: https://www.amazon.com/Cranky-Bear-Wakes-Up-Sketchbook/dp/1981271864/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1512780258&sr=1-1
Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/cranky-bear-wakes-up-dr-shawn-stjean/1127591429?ean=9781981271863
Author's blog (usually a book giveaway is underway): https://clothosloom.wordpress.com/
Goodreads page (giveaway underway): https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36951244-cranky-bear-wakes-up
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1. Summarize your book(s) in one or two paragraphs.
Cranky Bear is a fellow who lives by himself, he has no natural predators in the forest, and so he's naturally the center of his own universe. He's driven by his desires. So he doesn't care about anyone else's troubles. Until the day, of course, when he needs help, and the tables are turned on him. Only then does he learn. It's a book about empathy--which I thought would make great thematic material for children. Martin Luther King said famously that Americans are terrible at empathy-it's a kind of cultural "hole" in our perceptions, that we have everything to teach the rest of the world, and nothing to learn from it. So the book has an element of allegory. Put simply, we all need friends--and not just on days of personal crisis, but every day--especially the days when they need us.
It's also a "story-sketchbook," which means kids are encouraged to color and draw in it themselves (as the back cover clearly shows, I hope.) There's no more important attribute for a child to cultivate than an active imagination, I believe.
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2. Who was this book written for?
I'd say it's for kids who want a good, old-fashioned bedtime story. Ages 3-8, or so. It's probably 30-40 minutes reading-aloud length, because there is an actual plot structure, and so it might be stretched over two evenings for them. It also gets fairly exciting in the second half, and there's an element of danger, so parents might want to give it a silent read-through, first. But there's certainly nothing as intense as the little ones will see and hear on TV, or in a PG-13 movie.
3. How long does it take you to write a book?
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Well, it took ten years to write my novel, Clotho's Loom, though I taught full-time during most of them. Cranky Bear came considerably quicker--though it is about 15 pages, as opposed to 550. My brother, Todd, put many, many hours into the illustrations, and I think he did a great job. My second novel, The Girl Who Stares Back, is about halfway between the two, and should be published in 2018, after five years. Life does have a way of holding up one's art. But I don't think it really matters, as long as the end product is something you can stand behind and say, "In that time and place, this was the best I could do."
4. When and where can you be found writing?
I write in libraries and bookstores during the cold weather, and outdoors during the warm months. Though once I get going, it hardly matters. But I think atmosphere and ambiance ought to matter to a writer. Because one day the book will be gathering dust on a shelf, or nanobyte-dust in a computer drive. But I've found it's the writing, the act, that is one of the greatest parts of the experience: you're living your best life. Using that great computer between your ears, getting into and out of trouble along with your characters, learning and honing a craft that is currently down in our culture, but not out. Putting in the hours, the reps, like an athlete, or a musician. So it's not so much the where, or the when (mornings for me,) as the WHY. Why can you be found writing? Because, as Pirsig put it, "The motorcycle you're working on is yourself."
5. How autobiographical are your books?
For me, it's only a matter of dispersion. Most young writers base a character on themselves. As you go along, years pass, and no one is specifically you after awhile, but every character gets a fragment of the writer's consciousness to voice or represent--even the narrator. Freud said writers are doing self-therapy. Which works out well for me; I can't afford a reputable psychiatrist!
6. What has been your greatest moment as a writer so far?
I've been fortunate to spend a few odd years writing as a full-timer. I think anyone who has been that lucky would agree: There are millions of moments, because any day you can spend doing what you love, the money be damned, is your finest hour, minute, moment. In fact, I'd go so far as to say you're doing it on behalf of all the people who can't. Both my parents spent their entire adult lives working in factory-type settings. I have never heard that they begrudged me a moment doing what I do.
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7. What is next for you?
Back to novels--hopefully, for now. I've drafted myself well above my head with The Girl Who Stares Back. The scope is historically ambitious. The point-of-view is a nightmare to keep sorted, because it involves multiple personalities sharing a body, and several points in time and space. And it's meant, unlike my first novel, to be commercially viable. So, although it's only about 300-350 pages, it requires crazy attention to detail. I'm not the type of writer who can just say "good enough" and ship it out the door. Though I'm not a perfectionist, either. I just want it to approach the stuff that has inspired me so much, at least in ambition, if not execution.
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8. Do you prefer old books or new books?
I'm an American literature professor by trade, and I prefer the nineteenth century, from Emerson to Crane. That is, Romantics to late Realism--what the British call the Victorian era. There's no compromise in many of those works, no promise that "it gets better if you stick with it." Poe believed that literature was primarily meant to be pleasing, beautiful. You have to enjoy every page, whether there's high action, or merely description, or untagged dialogue. Reading should be constantly rewarding/edifying. And although 19th century writers can be as different as any human beings can be, from one another, they do seem to share that qualitative standard in their prose. Remember, book covers and film/TV adaptations did not sell books then.
9. Provide a quote.
"That black evening, the moon rose late, full, and burning orange, weightless as ash from a bonfire. Its pilot star, at ten points and two o’clock high, also flamed bright, as a proud horse in the harness of a monarch. One by one, its vassals the stars in the west and north ignited, guiding its track through the sky. Even the Great Bear, handle skyward and tipping into the lake, took early flight, bowed,and wheeled at the approach of the mistress of the night."
That's from late in Clotho's Loom: just a description of a moonrise, but I felt I'd earned a poetic one, and more importantly, that my woman protagonist had earned it. I'd put her through the wringer. But she, too, rose. When I recorded it for audio, I tried to make it sound as if it were a poem.
From Cranky Bear: "Bear was drifting off to sleep right there in the Open Glade. The moonlight and the distant Falls and the chorus of bees all merged softly together, like a pillow and blanket over the forest." I like that one. I hope children will hear that and think, "It's time for me to go to sleep, too."
10. Have you ever done research before writing a book?
Always, at least during the editing process. Even my blog posts. It's important. So many folks get their sense of science, of history, of politics, from works of fiction and scripted media nowadays: film, TV, novels. Of course, research is inconvenient for a creative writer and slows things down, so it's tempting to guess, and hope for the best. I recently edited a novel which used a global viral outbreak as a plot device. Neither the author nor I know much about biology--so I had to learn how viruses work, how they're created and transmitted. His is a YA book. The last thing I want is for a teenager to get the wrong idea about basic science, because I was lazy.
For something I'm writing now, I've done hours and hours on Joan of Arc, because she figures as a major character. I'm going to do something controversial with her, make a change to the historical record which I hope will be obvious. But for that reason, I don't want to get a bunch of basic facts wrong out of carelessness. If I offend people, it should be purposeful, not accidental. And to make a specific point that rises above the local level of offense.
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