Please tell us a little about yourself, Frank.

Frank: I live in Paradise Valley, AZ. I have a B.A. in Liberal Arts and General Systems Theory from Stockton State College and a Master Degree in Education at the University of Phoenix. During my college years, I started, wrote and edited the New Times newspaper which is now a multi-state operation.

My writing experience includes guest columns on social commentary and future trends published in the Arizona Republic and the Tribune papers in the metro Phoenix area. Through my writings, I explain in a simplified manner, complex issues and trends.

My interests in future patterns and trends range over many years and many projects. I co-wrote the Terran Project, a self-published book on community futures design processes, and worked as a researcher for Alvin Toffler on a series of high school texts on the future. I’ve designed and taught courses and seminars on the future of society, technology and business and was appointed by the Mayor of Phoenix to serve on the Phoenix Futures Forum as co-chairperson and served on several vital committees.

Tell us about your novel CyberKill and the latest development.

I’ve had tremendous fun writing this book, the second in the Planemaker series. Dell and Emmelisa are put through their paces again when they decide to take on a gang of cyber criminals. They attend the Cyber Fraud Busters Institute, take scuba diving lessons and enrol on a course at the School of Aquatics to train to become submersible pilots.

With all the training behind them, they set out on their next mission: to fish out the cyber criminals.

This adventure is action packed from the start with never a dull moment for the two young Planemakers. It’s also full of information about cyber crime and how to prevent it. Learning has never been so much fun!

Find it on Amazon.com: Mr. Planemaker’s Diving Machine

Find it on Amazon.co.uk: Mr. Planemaker’s Diving Machine

Rosen Trevithick is an Exeter-based, Cornish writer and playwright. Her light-hearted comedy dramas include the stage play, My Cat Geoffrey, a sweet , coming of age story set in Cornwall, and  the screenplay, The Winning Streak, a comedy-drama about three football fans and their relationship with chance.

Hi Rosen, Please tell everyone a little bit about yourself.

Rosen: I’m Rosen Trevithick, a Cornish writer; part girl: part geek. I’ve just launched my second book, Straight Out of University. It’s a contemporary romance that explores the experience of leaving university and adapting to the real world. Sophie Sweet is a perpetual student at Oxford University and out-and-proud bisexual woman, but her father’s health sends her back to the rural community where she grew up, and she finds that she no longer fits in. She’s just about to run screaming back to Oxford when she accidentally falls in love with a man, and her life turns upside-down.

When did the writing bug bite, and in what genre(s)?

Rosen: I experienced leaving university and moving to the country myself two years ago. The contrast between the two worlds was profound. Amusing things happened to me everyday, so eventually I decided I had to write a story using that premise.

When you started writing, what goals did you want to accomplish? Is there a message you want readers to grasp?

Rosen: Primarily, I wanted to entertain but there is also a little rebellion against the standard bisexual stereotype used in fiction.

Briefly tell us about your latest book. Is it part of a series or stand-alone?

Rosen:  Straight Out of University is a stand alone book. I’ve written a novel in the past, Footprints, but it’s a completely different genre and has an unrelated plot. I have no plans to write a sequel to either of them.

What’s the hook for the book?

Rosen: I like to think that the humour will keep readers turning pages.

How do you develop characters and setting?

Rosen: I actually design the appearance of my characters using a character tool in a computer game. Then, I print them out, glue them into a pocket book and scribble notes around them.

Who’s the most unusual/most likeable character?

Rosen: When Sophie moves to a country village, all of the young mothers seem very bizarre to her. She cannot understand why they’re all falling out over whose daughter will play Mary in the next carol service.

Do you have specific techniques to help you maintain the course of the plot?

Rosen: I make detailed notes beforehand.

Do you have a specific writing style or preferred POV?

Rosen: I find writing from first person most natural.

How does your environment/upbringing colour your writing?

Rosen: I grew up in a village in the country and then moved away, which helps me notice little things about remote places that I may have otherwise missed. Also, going to university made me challenge my views and I think I’m a lot more open-minded as a consequence, which is certainly reflected in Straight Out of University.

Share the best review (or a portion) that you’ve ever had.

Rosen:

Well if you’re looking for something just a little bit different, this is that kind of book. It was like dipping a lolly into a bag of pop rocks, I was never sure where the author would take it next. - Cheryl M-M 

What are your current projects?

Rosen: At the moment I’m very busy trying to promote Straight Out of University, but I don’t enjoy that side of things – I prefer to be writing. I’m also working with a small theatre group, The Coffee House Players, putting together a comedy sketch show.

Where can folks learn more about your books and events?

Rosen: General info: http://www.rosentrevithick.co.uk/
Trailer for Straight Out of University: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47VoHXM-4VY

Blog tour dates:

Tuesday 8^th November – Kait at Catz - http://kaitatcatz.blogspot.com/Wednesday
Wednesday 9^th November – Along the Write Lines - http://alongthewritelines.blogspot.com/
Thursday 10^th November – Mel Comely Author - http://melcomley.blogspot.com/
Friday 11^th November – Bisexuality and Beyond – http://suegeorgewrites.blogspot.com/
Saturday 12^th November – Fentonton 
 http://fentonton.blogspot.com/

Hi Yvonne, Please tell everyone a little about yourself:

Yvonne: I was born in Kingston, Jamaica, and lived there for the first twenty years of my life. By the time I left to go to England, I was married and had two daughters. I matured in the UK and sometimes I feel I am more anglicised than Caribbean, but I cherish my Jamaican roots and will never relinquish them. I’ve worked in real estate, the world of media, radio and advertising.

I seem to shift bases in twenty to twenty-five year cycles. So it was the UK for twenty-five years, Jamaica for twenty years, and now the UK for the remainder of my life, I believe. A devout Christian, I teach Bible Studies and am a Lay Preacher.

When did the writing bug bite, and in what genre(s)?

Yvonne: I have always been a scribbler. In school I did a lot of essays. I remember, in boarding school, a group of us would gather round and I would read. In much later years, I did poems, none of which were published. I  produced church magazines and ended up writing most of the copy when there were not enough submissions. From Spice to Eternity was my first attempt to do substantial writing, and because of the genesis, it had to be non-fiction. I can see myself moving into the biblical saga type novels, which is the plan for my second or third book.

When you started writing, what goals did you want to accomplish? Is there a message you want readers to grasp?

Yvonne: In whatever sphere, my aim and goal for the reader, the listener, is to come away thinking that there is something better to be had and having a desire to obtain it.

Briefly tell us about your latest book.

Yvonne: From Spice to Eternity is probably part one of two parts. It is a collection of inspirational true life stories drawn from my life and the lives of family and friends. The theme for the story is based on the characteristic of a herb or spice, which is described at the beginning of each chapter. The story is rounded off with a delicious spicy or herby recipe.

Do you have a specific writing style? Preferred POV?

Yvonne: I think I prefer a limited POV, and I rather like to use the ‘show’ rather than the ‘tell’ style of writing.

How does your environment/upbringing colour your wrting?

Yvonne: So far, I have written from my experience and the environments that I am very familiar with. I am likely to always anchor on to a very familiar aspect of my environment or upbringing as I am very comfortable in that zone.

Share the best review (or a portion) that you’ve even had.

Yvonne:

The passion for both her cooking and her faith has allowed Yvonne Pat Wright to write a marvelous book that is both a cookbook and a devotional to God. Each of the forty-two recipes for cooking has an accompanying recipe for living a Christian life. The author first gives a description of an ingredient used in a cooking recipe. Not only are the ingredient’s uses given, but also given is a brief history or tradition concerning the ingredient. The author then gives an ingredient that can be used to build your faith. This is cleverly done through relating something about the cooking ingredient to the associated life ingredient. And it is done very effectively.

The very first ingredient listed is vanilla. The author tells us that vanilla is called “the spice of love.” This fact is used to transition the reader into a spiritual thought: “Like the long process of curing vanilla, love affairs – especially those that endure – develop over a long time, the longer the process, the more precious the love that ensues.” Then the reader is drawn into an engaging story that leads to a spiritual truth. For vanilla, the truth is that God loves more than we could ever hope to love. At the end of the vanilla section is a tempting recipe for a “Rainbow Parfait.” This is typical of each section of the book.

The author shows expertise in both cooking and in Christian living. Her book has value in both the recipes that are presented and the life lessons that can be gleaned. It is perfect to use as a devotional. The length of each section is just the right length to glean a daily spiritual thought. These thoughts are as inspiring to the Christian as the recipes are to a cook.The lasting value of this book is found in both aspects that it presents. The recipes will be sure to please and can be used time and time again. Likewise, the nuggets of truth contained in the book’s well-crafted and inspirational stories can be a valued source of devotional truth each time that it is read.

By Walter Mark Author of the Sixth World of Men book series.

What are your current projects?

Yvonne: Vigorous promotion and marketing of From Spice to Eternity, a sequel, and a biblical adventure story.

Where can folks learn more about your books and events?

Yvonne: My website: http://www.spicetoeternity.co.uk

Email: yvonnewright@spicetoeternity.co.uk

Thank you for joining us today, Yvonne!

Yvonne: Thanks so much for the opportunity.  I really appreciate it.

J. A. Adams is author of Chameleon, Unfinished Business, and is excited about the re-release of Purple Haze. In Purple Haze, a car accident ends the lives of a young couple and no one suspects foul play until another body surfaces leading the people of Pineview, TX to believe a killer is in their midst. Twins, Landan and Janda Colquin try to uncover the identity of the killer as a complicated haze settles between life as they envisioned and the one that they now know exists 

Tell us about Purple Haze.   

J. A.: Residents of Pineview, Texas suspect no foul play when a popular young couple dies in a car accident. However, years later, when another friend of Landan and Janda (the Colquin twins) turns up dead, the twins mull over the possibility of a killer in their midst. Fearing for their lives, can the twins and their friends figure out the identity of the killer before there is another murder? For all involved, they soon learn life is seldom played by its precedent rules as a haze between the world in which we live and the one in which we wish we did emerges.

What sparked your interest in writing?

J. A.: I was introduced to books at an early age and have been reading since age four.

Do you have a memorable story to share regarding that moment?

J. A.: In Kindergarten there where 3 of us who could read. Our teacher recognizing this would pull us aside one by one during recess for a few minutes of reading tutoring. I think this introduced me to the fact that there was something extra special about being able to understand those marks on paper.

Do you have any writing rituals?

J. A.: No. But I am a little obsessive because when I start, I just keep going and going. I even wake up at night from sleep with an idea for something I am working up and will actually get up and write.

How long did it take to write Purple Haze?

J. A.: About two years. In the middle of trying to get it finished, I was helping with the planning of my oldest daughter’s wedding.

What is the most surprising feedback you’ve received regarding your work?

J. A.: The positive life changing impact I have had on readers.

What advice would you give to aspiring authors?

J. A.: Never stop writing. Don’t give up on your dream.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

J.A. Adams, author of three psychological suspense novels–Chameleon, Purple Haze, and Unfinished Business–uses personal and professional experiences to bring awareness to psychological issues that affect our relationships. 

Adams actively writes and volunteers with numerous organization bringing awareness to teen dating violence and women issues, as well as, advocating against intimate partner and family violence.

Adams resides in Austin, TX with her husband and children nearby. For more information visit www.jaadamsauthor.com.

For more information
Purple Haze is available in print and ebook through most online retailers and your neighborhood book stores. To learn details about locations and online purchases visit www.jaadamsauthor.com.
You can also follow your virtual book tour online at www.niapromotions.com.

Hi Philip, Welcome to Literature & Fiction!  Please tell everyone a little about yourself.   

Philip: I was born in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, in 1952 and was brought up in Sharlston, then a mining village. I did grammar school in Normanton, took a chemical engineering degree from Imperial College, London, and then decided to teach, after a PGCE at King’s. I then went to Kenya for two years as a  volunteer. On returning to Britain, I did sixteen years in London education. But the travel bug was with me, and in 1992, my wife and I decided to move to Brunei, where we lived for almost seven years. Three years in Zayed University, Abu Dhabi,  followed and then semi-retirement beckoned and we moved to Spain. Since 2003, I have done some part-time teaching, we run a small tourist rental business and I have completed a PhD, as well as five books.  

When did the writing bug bite, and in what genre(s)?  

Philip: The only time I have ever suffered travel sickness was when I was very young indeed. I insisted on writing out the story of The Three Little Pigs in an old desk diary while on the back seat of a Standard Eight – and I was very, very sick. I write better than that these days, I hope. So I must have enjoyed creative writing as a child. I even tried to write a couple of novels when I was a student. Thankfully, they are both lost. I even wrote poetry. Unfortunately, I still have it. I have kept a commonplace book since 1973. It’s a work-book, not a diary, full of random jottings, book reviews, concert reviews, travel writing, research notes and trivia.  In 1978, when I set about the first of my Kenyan novels, I used material I had written in the commonplace book while I lived in Kenya. The second Kenyan novel, Mission, arose out of issues that A Fool’s Knot could only skirt. The common-place book remains an idea bank that bears interest. There’s a wealth of material in it. Nowadays, it’s almost exclusively just book reviews, however.

When you started writing, what goals did you want to accomplish? Is there a message you want readers to grasp?  

Philip: I have always been fascinated by politics, not only in the ideological sense, but also at the level of relationships between individuals and groups. It was Karl Marx’s  wonderful writing on the links between individual identity and roles within economic systems – means of production, if you like – that prompted me to revisit my own background. My home area, once proudly socialist and comprising miners and families who worked hard, played hard, but always fairly, and then died young, is now transformed into a shadow of its former dignity, populated by apparently compliant servants of consumerism, most of whom can’t afford to consume. In Kenya, I was fascinated by people’s  relationship with the poverty that dominated their lives. In Brunei and the Emirates, it was wealth and its pursuit that endowed respect, fed aspiration and moulded attitudes towards the poorer rest of the planet. How characters are formed by their nurture, how lives are sculpted by their social context, and how their presumptions generate interests that determine action continues to fascinate me. My writing explores these ideas and relationships – at least I hope it does! I write about ordinary people, because every life is extra-ordinary. Kings, queens, princesses, spies, celebrities, those famous by virtue of mere fame are, for me, smaller than life, their identities often a product of someone  else’s  marking concept rather than their own even canalised experience. I thus find such folk less than interesting. But the characters that populate the novels of writers such as Graham Greene, William Boyd, Julian Barnes or Pat Barker – to name but a few – are fascinating in every detail.  So, it is this process of nurture within nature that underpins what I write. Individual journeys through life are unique and intrinsically  interesting. There’ll  always be the odd issue to confront along the way!  

Briefly tell us about your latest book.  Is it part of a series or stand-alone?   

Philip: My latest book, Voyagers, examines several strands related to individual and group identity. It’s a set of short stories loosely based on the experience of travel. It is thus not travel writing, as such, but it may be writing about travellers. It opens with a novella, Discoverers. This is set inBrunei and tells how a college teacher sets out on a routine assignment that would be anything but routine for someone who did not live in primary rain forest. But the teacher’s time is up. His supervisors want him out, though he only becomes aware of the threat after its effects have already begun to bite. He is bright enough to counter and to outwit, but has he forgotten something? Maybe it has something to do with a political campaign he is running? Eventually, if we want our own way, who cares about the facts? In other stories, a little-travelled retiree is rudely intro-duced to the potential threat of the matriarchal. A young art student, apparently liberal, even revolutionary in taste and style, reverts to a new-found middle-class safety when confronted with a choice. In a distant future, a tele-transported man fails to be reunited with his own identity. Australian travellers feel threatened by the claims and connections of a casual acquaintance, but would you believe him? A young couple visit an idyllic village where local lives are anything but idyllic. Things are what they seem and simultaneously they are not. Things agree and contradict; it’s the interpreter that adds meaning and consequence. Reality is often merely neutral.

How do you develop characters? Setting?

Philip: The settings for the Voyagers stories are all real, culled from my own observations and descriptions of trips that I faithfully recorded over the years in my commonplace book. The stories visit some well-known tourist sites – Ephesus and Bodrum, Florence and Venice, the Vietnam coast, a Devon village. The Brunei rain forest is more out of the way, and I doubt many tourists visit the green room in Westminster Central Hall. Sometimes the events and the people are based on those encountered in my travels. The Australians were in Dubrovnik and they were talking to a spiv in a bar. There really was a field trip up the Belalong River into Temburong’s forest. The pub in Devon did exist. Some of the people in the stories were also there, but the characters are amalgams, constructs and juxtapositions to highlight relationships, habits, opportunities, threats. The child abuser I place inVietnam was quite real, but I encountered him inIndonesia. The writer and the politician who meet in Protesters are both real people, though the story does not name them. I know they met in that place because I was in the audience to hear both of them speak. I imagined what might have transpired between them behind the scenes, however. The characters in my Kenyan books also draw on real people, but real people conjoined, merged to create a narrative. There really was a man killed by his father as a result of a family disagreement based on cultural conflict. I never met either of them, but I knew the issue over which they disagreed, and that substance became the plot.

Who is the most unusual/most likeable character?

Philip: In Voyagers I like the central character in Assessors, the science fiction story, despite the fact that we never actually meet him. He is an engineer, a specialist in the maintenance of the urban domes in which people now live. He has been to a conference and has been – as usual – tele-transported back home. His problem arises out of his apparent re-classification at his destination. His body arrives intact, but his intellect has been down-graded, his knowledge and skill-base stripped out and replaced with only basic functions. He writes, apparently, an email asking for his case to be reassessed. If the downgrade was intended, then what motivated it? If it was not intended, then could he have his old intellect back, please? The fawning, grovelling style he adopts, however, might not necessarily be him. The story was inspired by a report of BBC Radio 4´s Today programme in which an American-Japanese physics professor predicted the imminent realisation of an ability to tele-transport large molecules by virtue of our intricate knowledge of genetic sequences. The very next report featured the opening of  Heathrow Airport’s Terminal Five, where travellers and their luggage could not be reunited.

Share the best review (or a portion) that you’ve ever had. 

Philip: Here are a few excerpts from Amazon reviews of Mission.

 A tragic accident is seen through the eyes of five different characters, including the victim. Unforgettable – I became totally absorbed. I will remember my time spent in Phil Spires’ African community for a long, long time.  Highly recommended.  (Maureen Moss)

 … Despite the events being trodden over by several people, there’s always something fresh to discover, a new insight into a character, a shocking revelation, and even though you think you know everything already, you read on, wanting to understand the individuals and their inner worlds, and still learn more. The narrative is coloured by the sights and smells of a small town in Africa, the petty tribal disagree-ments and the long-lasting resentment of past ignominies under colonial rule. It is not a light read, but it is rewarding. It’s obvious that these characters lived with Spires for several years, he knows them so well, and by the end of the book, we do too.  A memorable and quite remarkable book.  (Nik Morton)  

 The plot is centred round the lives of five characters who are more or less implicated in the death of Munyasya a derelict ex Kenyan army officer. Although the `accident’ occurred more than thirty years ago this tragedy is still playing out its dramatic consequences in their lives.  In reading the novel I was constantly reminded of Lawrence Darrell’s great work `The Alexandria Quartet’. In “Mission” the sense of place is not so poetically depicted but there is no doubt that we are in Africa its vibrancy and heat pervades each chapter and as in the Quartet we see one event or set of circumstances from the varying points of view of the main characters.  How differently each views those same events! (Michael Elsmere)  

 A fine story set in beautiful Kenya, colorful and filled with mystery, intrigue, and twists. The characters are real as is their perceptions when seen through their eyes. A  magnificent  story set in magnificent locale. (Bill Copeland)

 What are your current projects?

Philip: My next project is already finished in that the text is written. What I am doing at the moment is precisely nothing, however, except reflect on the ideas it contains. A couple of people have read the book and I am waiting a while before re-reading it myself. I might change some aspects of it. Who knows? It’s called A Search for Donald Cottee. Don, also known as Donkey because of a thicker than usual lower lip, has retired early after years on sickness benefit, having once been an electrician in a coal mine. He and his wife, Suzie, have driven to Spain in a Swift Sundance and have parked permanently on a Benidorm caravan site. Suzie, who prefers to hide a motor-accident scar on her left arm under a suitable garment, long ago adopted the nickname Poncho. So Donkey Cottee and Poncho Suzie seek a new and restful life in Spain. Don continues to campaign on environmental issues, being passionately against wind-farms. Via an old flame who threatens to reignite, Suzie takes on the management of a cabaret bar. Don meets women of his dreams, is disowned by the daughter he has, is captivated by the one he perhaps never had, falls into caves and gets mixed up with politics. Suzie makes a ripping success of a bar that the owners wanted to fail so they could demolish it. My parody of Don Quixote is a comedy that turns suddenly and devastatingly tragic. I hope to publish later this year.  

How does your environment/upbringing colour your writing?

Philip: From the material of A Search For Donald Cottee it will be clear that the experience of Yorkshire mining areas over the last four decades is an important element in the book. As youngsters, fired with the late 1950s and early 1960s myths of mobility, betterment and opportunity, Don and Suzie strove to realise their personal and shared dreams. Their daughter got everything she wanted only to reject it. They got their bigger house and a mortgage to match. When the strike of the 1980s began, Don continued to work because, as an electrician, he was “maintenance”. But he was duly ostracised, labelled a traitor by his colleagues, labelled at home perhaps in the same way that the rest of ThatcheriteBritain labelled the strikers as traitors. Don was thus doubly an outcast, damned for being and damned for not being… And then, after years on the “club”, Don retires to find he is still a little man in others’ bigger schemes, despite the film-set location of the Med, sunshine and cheap beer. But in the end we are still not sure what happened to Don or Suzie. He might just have had the last laugh, if there was one…

Where can folks learn more about your books and events?

Philip: I have a website at www.philipspires.co.uk where you can find some extracts from the books. A new page devoted to Donald Cottee will appear soon. Voyagers, my travel stories, have their own page at http://www.philipspires.co.uk/voyagers.htm.  Please do have a look at the material, but please do remember that all I want to do is write the kind of book that I would want to read. If you would like to share that experience, I would be at least flattered. The books are available now in Kindle and other ebook editions, though Voyagers can also be bought as paperback. Here’s the Amazon links for my work:

Amazon.co.uk  

Amazon.com

Hi Erica, Welcome to Literature & Fiction. Please tell everyone a little about yourself.

Erica: I was born in Sausalito, California just a hop across the bay from San Francisco. Born to parents who published newspapers, I was writing as soon as I could read. I remember my mom had sandpaper letters that I traced as a child to learn the alphabet. Later we moved a lot, almost every other year, and I spent a lot of time in libraries. As soon as we moved to a new city, I would learn where the library was located, and walk there often, carting books home. Love of reading was born inside me, and has never left. My first book was published in 2007, Prospect When You Are Happy, created for the conscious business person to create prosperity from a happy place inside. This new book Happiness Quotations: Gentle Reminders of Your Preciousness is my first book for a general audience, although many of my readers seem to be women.

When did the writing bug bite, and in what genre(s)?

Erica: I can’t remember a time when I didn’t write. I would carry my journal around with me as I rode my bike and walked in elementary school. In middle school and high school, I wrote songs and wrote for the school newspaper and yearbook. Then in college, I wrote concert reviews, dance reviews, and feature stories on dance and music for the college newspaper. Straight out of college, I became a journalist and I still write a weekly column that runs in seven San Francisco Bay Area newspapers in the education section of the papers.

When you started writing, what goals did you want to accomplish? Is there a message you want readers to grasp?

Erica:  When I started writing, I didn’t have goals. I just wrote. I have boxes and boxes of journals. I have clippings dating back to the 1980s. I interviewed Jay Leno once, before he was famous. That sounds like such a long time ago! I guess I had one goal once, “I want to be able to support myself writing in any city anywhere, wherever I want to live.” Later, as I got in tune with my spirit and soul, I wanted to write about being happy and experiencing happiness in difficult situations. That’s where my new book comes in.

Briefly tell us about your latest book. Is it part of a series or stand-alone?

Erica: The vision for this book is to be one of many, as a series of passages that show up for me and then I share these visions, concepts, situations where you can navigate rough waters with more clarity, more poise, more loving approaches, more joy, more of all that good stuff and less of the drama, less sorrow, less poverty, less spiritual abandonment and more connectivity to source energy.

What’s the hook for the book?

Erica: Everyone needs to be reminded of their own preciousness. Some days it is easier than others.

Do you have a specific writing style or preferred POV?

Erica:  I write as though I know everything, and that’s kind of funny. I write from a place of connectivity to source energy, the all-knowing being within us. I’m not like this 24 hours a day, some parts of the day I am not the “me” that shows up as all-knowing author. When I speak for audiences, they can be surprised at my humility. In my books, I come across as powerful, intense, insightful and wise, or that is the feedback I have been given.

How does your environment/upbringing color your writing?

 Erica: I write every day, and have for about 35 years. I don’t even feel like I am old enough to say that, inside I feel quite young. My upbringing shapes me, in that both my parents wrote all the time. I have early memories of my dad hitting the typewriter keys at 5 a.m. pounding out fictional accounts of his life that never were published, although he has published several textbooks on journalism. My mom was a published novelist before her passing. This environment of “the word” being the main venue of expression is reflected in all that I do, all the time.

Share the best review (or a portion) that you’ve ever had.

Erica: Happiness Quotations: Gentle Reminders of Your Preciousness

“Happiness Quotations” belongs in every home. Each of its pages carries an uplifting, practical message that is perfect for today’s troubled world. And each message is well-written,to the point, easy for anyone to read and understand, and joyously simple to put into practice. For instance, “Trust Your Gut Instinct”, #43, consists of advice that anyone can use in their daily life. #52 tells the reader to “journal your wins’, a inspired thought, easy for anyone to apply. Author Nelson has created a self-help book that truly will enable the reader get themselves out of sadness and depression in a realistic and do-able way. This book should be at the everyone’s list of presents to give for birthdays and holidays. It is spiritual but will offend no one while helping everyone.

5.0 out of 5 stars
Alice M. Dinizo (Toms River, New Jersey)

What are your current projects?

Erica: Every day, I update my Facebook fan page with a new quotation, so that’s ongoing. My latest and greatest project is a 70-days to happiness course that I am writing. It started out as 21 days, then bumped up to 60 days, and finally is emerging as 70 days. In 10 weeks, the student will take one concept each week and have daily instructions to shift into positivity. I’m thinking of calling it Positivity Training, although it’s really a handbook to happiness. This summer will be all about the book tour for Happiness Quotations.

Where can folks learn more about your books and events?

Erica: At www.HappinessQuotations.com, you can read about upcoming radio interviews, in-person book readings, as well  as news on new classes and course offerings that are always virtual and work internationally. On www. Facebook.com/HappinessQuotations you can always get a daily hit of happiness.

Helen: I grew up in Dearborn, Michigan and moved to Los Angeles, California, when I was twenty years old.  Moving to Massachusetts in 1977, I opened a clothing and jewelry boutique, which I still own and operate.  I’ve observed many different types of people through my business and how they interact with others, making for excellent character resources for my writing.  I’ve raised two children, who are now living in California, which is where I plan to retire someday.  Travel has always been a love of mine. 

When did the writing bug bite, and in what genre(s)?

Helen: I loved writing fictional stories in high school, and my senior-year English teacher told me that I should submit my stories to magazines.  Never taking his advice, I instead wrote many colorful and detailed letters to family members in my travels around the country, usually starting with the words, “And the saga continues.”  I seemed to put myself in situations that made for good story telling. 

   When you started writing, what goals did you want to accomplish? Is there a message you want readers to grasp?

Helen: I met a guy from high school at our thirtieth high school class reunion who told me about the horrors his family experienced after meeting their new pastor.  His family was torn apart by the pastor who used his clerical power to groom and manipulate his wife.  Their four daughters were horrified when their parents divorced and the pastor married their mother and moved into the family unit.  His story was so compelling that it became the first non-fiction book that I wrote called Innocence Betrayed.  We unfortunately had to change it to fiction after production began, possibly because of threats to the publisher by the church mentioned in the story.  The message in the story was an important one for readers to learn to recognize the grooming techniques that unscrupulous clergy will use to satisfy their narcissistic behavior.   
Briefly tell us about your latest book. Series or stand-alone?

Helen: My latest book, Sins of the Abused is non-fiction.  It tells about the survival of a man who was abused by a priest at the age of ten, becoming hooked on sex, drugs, alcohol, pornography, and becoming an over-achiever.  It will most likely be the last story that I write about clergy abuse.  It is set to go into the editing phase in the spring of 2011 and published by the end of the year.

What’s the hook for the book?

Helen: The story is a timely one regarding the recent discovery of how high up in the Catholic Church the cover-ups of abuse actually were.  Victims were abused first by their trusted priests and again by the Church with lies, cover-ups, denial, and the statute of limitations.  Many of the victims did not survive the torturous life after the abuse, but my co-author was one who overcame the self-loathing, addictions to drugs, alcohol, sex, and pornography, having the courage to come forward to tell his story and detailing what it took for him to get there.  He is brave in opening up to the graphic details of the grooming process and abuse, helping the reader to understand just how a young boy could be torn from an innocent and trusting childhood to a world of addiction and horror from which few survive. 

 How do you develop characters? Setting?

Helen: When I began working with my co-author on Sins of the Abused, he had already written a manuscript telling his story, but it was disjointed and rambling.  I had to read about fifty pages before I found a place to begin.  Since it is based on a true story, the characters were developed from real people, from my experience in already researching and writing about clergy abuse, and from being raised in the Catholic Church.  It was important to pull the needed information from my co-author that I felt was necessary for the reader to get a clear picture of how such a story could actually take place.     

Who is the most unusual/most likeable character?

Helen: I think my co-author, Marco, is the most unusual and likeable character, but he’s also the most hated character when he’s abusing drugs and alcohol, ruining relationships, setting his children up for pain and abuse, and destroying all that is good in his life.  It’s unusual that a person can survive what he endured.  He was a polite and trusting little boy who yearned for the love and attention his younger siblings received.  Little did he know that he was the perfect target for the coolest priest at church.

Do you have specific techniques to help you maintain the course of the plot?

Helen: The way I maintained the course of the plot in my first book, Innocence Betrayed, was to use an outline and pages and pages of notes.  But for Sins of the Abused I was working with a manuscript that I had to continually go back and read through, moving chapters around and adding many newly written chapters to make things more clear and maintain the course of the plot.

Do you have a specific writing style? Preferred POV?

Helen: I thoroughly enjoyed writing two short stories based on personal escapades in the anthology, Forever Friends where I wrote a story of surviving hard times with a “Circle of Friends” living together and sharing many combined talents to make ends meet.  In the anthology Forever Travels my story is called “A Most Excellent Adventure” and is based on my travel experiences driving across the United States with my son, who had just graduated from college and wanted to move to Los Angeles from Boston to begin a career in film and media. 

How does your environment/upbringing color your writing?

Being the quiet and shy middle child in a happy two-parent home in Michigan with four sisters, I did a lot of observing.  I feel that this helped me to see both sides of a situation later in life, which helps in developing characters.  My daily journal entries gave me an outlet to express myself through writing.  I saw life as a story that played out in my mind, going wherever my imagination wanted to take it.  Imagination is a wonderful thing for someone who likes to write.

Share the best review (or a portion) that you’ve ever had.

Helen: There were many great reviews for Innocence Betrayed, but this one from Kate, a survivor, was very special:

The contents of this book amazed me, because they are so similar to my own story. Having been in the place of hurt that the characters found themselves, I was able to really relate to this writing. I connected with the grooming, the manipulation, the Church cover-up, and the painful aftermath that something like this can bring. The story shows just how easily something like this can happen, and is a help to those it’s happened to, in seeing that they are not alone. Heartbreaking truth…and great writing. So glad to see a voice being given to such a painful topic!

5-stars *****

What are your current projects?

Helen: Right now I’m working with another survivor who wants to tell his story.  This young man is a survivor of three kidney transplants beginning at the age of two.   I’m also developing a series of adventure stories based on the many personal escapades I’ve experienced and continue to enjoy through life’s happenings.   

Where can folks learn more about your books and events?

Helen: I currently have two websites with information on my books and me.  One focuses on being an informational site for those abused by an authority figure at www.innocencebetrayedbyclergy.com and the other website is more general at www.freewebs.com/helenwisocki

Please join the page, follow the comments and add your own:

Hi Chelle, please tell everyone a little about yourself.

Chelle:  I am a Romantic Suspense author with eight novels (seven romantic suspense and one mystery) published by Vanilla Heart Publishing. I also have short stories in the anthologies With Arms Wide Open, Nature’s Gifts, Passionate Hearts (Vanilla Heart Publishing),Forever Friends and Forever Travels (Mandimam Press).

I have conducted several writing workshops and author the Amazon Kindle blog, Living, Breathing, Writing (available by subscription). I also do book and project editing in my “spare” time. Along with my husband Mark, I am a partner in By-Lines, an editorial and photography company catering to the business community. I am also a NYS EMT and my entire family volunteers with the local ambulance corps.

When did the writing bug bite, and in what genre(s)?

Chelle:  When it came to fiction writing, I was always a fan of romance. Today my favorite genre is romantic-suspense.

Briefly tell us about your latest book. Is it part of a series or stand-alone?

Chelle: My latest work in progress is a stand-alone book that features a character first introduced in the novel, Final Sin. Matt Garratti was the heroine’s best friend; this book is his story.

What’s the hook for the book?

Chelle: Matt has moved his little family down south when he takes a job as a flight medic. A series of questionable events, unexplained deaths and ominous threats plague their world.

How do you develop characters?

Chelle: I like to build my characters before they even begin their journey – every character has a history and all of their actions and reactions reflect that history.

Who is the most likeable of all your characters?

Chelle: I recently wrote a short story called The Vacation (VHP anthology Passionate Hearts). The hero of the story is Bob, a wounded vet who served in Iraq. He’s in love with Darlene, a divorcee who is struggling to support her kids and home.

Are you a plotter or a pantser?

Chelle: I begin with a basic idea, setting or conflict and throw my characters into it. Then I let them just react, they wind up writing their own story.

Do you have a specific writing style or preferred POV?

Chelle: I like using third person point of view for most of my writing. However I found that interjecting first person POV as the antagonist in a murder mystery really helps to heighten the tension.

How does your environment/upbringing color your writing?

Chelle: I’ve always had a very vivid imagination and have always been involved in my community. I also had several very interesting jobs. Through the years I’ve had the opportunity to see otherwise normal situations from “other viewpoints” and then with my imagination, I’ve always been able to see more possibilities. Some of those possibilities make for very intriguing plots.

Share the best review (or a portion) that you’ve ever had.

Chelle: Within the Law:

Chelle Cordero begins Within The Law with a great setup of murder, betrayal, and plot twists that engage the reader immediately. In Ken Follet style, the novel subsequently explores the tragic sequence of events keeping Tom and Alli from being together. The novel is, therefore, less courtroom murder mystery and more star-crossed love story.
Cordero’s writing and plot is engaging and entertaining. One is drawn to Tom and Alli and their story just as they are drawn to one another. The dialogue is real and crisp and the novel moves quickly. Within the Law makes a great summer beach read.

Where can folks learn more about your books and events?

Chelle: I maintains an author’s blog at http://chellecordero.blogspot.com/, and my website at http://ChelleCordero.com