Author Interview--Clara Bowman-Jahn

Hello All, Today, I'd like to introduce to you--Author Clara Bowman-Jahn

About: 

Clara Bowman-Jahn worked as a registered nurse for thirty two years finally trading that job for her true love, writing. Clara’s short stories have been published in two anthologies,”Campainer Challenges 2011,” and “The ‘I’ Word.” She is also the author of “Annie’s Special Day” a children’s picture book.

When Clara is not writing, she does volunteer work for a local elementary school and her church. She also likes taking long walks with her husband, blogging, and reading books. She is a member of the Society for Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, Pennwriters, Bethesda Writer’s Center and Round Hill Writer’s Group. She lives in rural Loudoun County, Virginia with her brilliant husband, and two cats. She is the proud mother of two wonderful grown sons and a grandmother to a delightful grandson.

What are you working on now? 

A longer project than picture books, a book length project.  

What process in writing is hardest for you? 

Marketing.

What process in writing is the most enjoyable for you? 

Just writing is most enjoyable. Free writing without care of typos or grammar. The first draft is always the most fun. 

Are you pantser or a plotter?  

In this recent project I will definitely outline. The panster is taking time off.

How did you come up with your storyline, or what inspired you to write Annie's Special Day?   

I was sick in bed early in the morning listening to the birds wake up and I wanted to have a character listen to it. To hear it so to speak. So there came my idea. 

When is your favorite time to write? 

Early in the morning before my husband gets up.

What is your favorite snack while writing? 

It takes both hands to type or write my journal so I don't eat but do drink sodas. My most favorite is Zero cherry coke. Yummy.

Buy Links:   

eTreasures Publishing (Print)

eTreasures Publishing (ebook)

Amazon

Contact:

website
blog

facebook 

twitter

Never Stop Trying...

The temptation to quit 

will be greatest 

just before 

you are about to succeed.

9/11

Today prayers are going up everywhere in remembrance of the 9/11 attack. The police officers, firemen, military, medics,  people who became hero's that day and we'll never hear their name mentioned. Thank you!

My heart is heavy for the victim's family, the people who are forever scarred from the attack. Although I didn't know anyone personally that was killed or injured, my heart goes out to them. I will never forget that day. An ordinary day. I went to work, got my coffee, started my day. Then my co-worker comes in and says "Did you hear what happened?" I turned on the radio, started reading the reports on the internet and watching the new reports in disbelief. As I sat watching the news reporter telling of the events, in the background the 2nd plane hit.

It was a surreal moment...this isn't happening?

The building I worked in closed down for the day. People were in a panic. I remember so many people running around in fear, the feeling of sadness as I walked to my car and began driving home. I worked near the DFW airport and it was an eerie feeling as I drove past the airport and saw no planes coming or going. Even the sky seemed to have a strange orange tint to it. No on was speeding on the hwy, but had a dazed look on their faces.

I got home and watched the news and cried. I remember praying for the President, NYC, and all the people involved in rescue.

I will never forget that day nor will I ever forget how the United States pulled together  and supported each other. It didn't matter the race, creed, age, gender, disability, sexual orientation or health condition. Everyone pulled together.

I won't watch any of the memorials on TV replaying the images/video's of that day. They're still fresh in my mind and I'm sure they'll remain that way.

Praying for the nation.

Author Interview--Cher Green

Hello All, Today, I'd like to introduce to you--Author Cher Green!

About:

Cher Green writes in many genres, spanning from horror to romance. Her work has appeared in various magazines and anthologies. She has also authored two paranormal romance novellas, Escape to Love and Seduced by Darkness, and a children’s book, The Sacrifice.

What are you currently working on?
I'm currently working on a paranormal novel. A woman discovers she has the ability to communicate with spirits, an ability she's had since childhood, but has pushed to the darkest corners of her mind. Her newly discovered ability comes with a task, one which could save the world, or destroy it if she fails.

What process in writing is hardest for you?

Honestly, the hardest part is getting the time into the project. I have a full-time day job and many other interests other than writing. I do my best to allow time for every aspect but sometimes it can be overwhelming.

What process in writing is the most enjoyable for you? 
I really enjoy the whole process, but if I had to choose one it would be the first draft. Watching the creation grow is the most exciting thing about writing for me.

Are you panster or a plotter?

I'm a little of both, but the first draft is usually in panster mode. After that's complete, I usually turn to plotting to work out any bugs.

How did you come up with your storyline, or what inspired you to write The Sacrifice?

I was in a writing group, and we worked on a new prompt each month. For this story, the prompt was a fairy tale. During these type of exercises, I don't worry about the results, I focus mainly on letting go and allowing my muse to take the lead. Some of my best stories have come from little exercises such as prompts, whether it's within a group or a personal writing session. I didn't  think much about this little tale, but eventually I went back and expanded on it. It took quite a while to find a home for it. I originally sent it out as a short story to numerous magazines. A children's book hadn't crossed my mind until it was suggest by one of the editors at eTreasures. 

When is your favorite time to write?

I don't have a certain time I write, although I'm sure it would be helpful, if it were possible. My days are never the same, so it's hard to set up a working schedule. I write whenever I can fit it in. My only condition is it has to be quiet. I'm able to block out distractions if necessary with classical music, but I still find it slightly distracting. Perfect silence is my best time to write.

What is your favorite snack while writing?

Peanut M&Ms

Buy Links:

eTreasures Publishing

Contact:

Website 
Blog
Twitter 
Facebook

Thanks for visiting, Cher!!!

Author Interview--J.D. Pooker

Today, I would like to introduce to you--Author J.D. Pooker

A fellow author with eTreasures Publishing :)

About:

J.D. Pooker lives in wonderful Wyoming with her husband and two sons, along with a black lab named Ryder and a sweet kitty named Alia. J.D. likes to spend time with her family and go camping, fishing, and snowmobiling.

My sons are the inspiration for writing children's stories. I want to encourage them to be readers and show them how powerful and exciting the imagination can be.  I want them to see that countless worlds exist, and all it takes to get there is a good book.

What are you working on now?

I am currently working on a nonfiction project about zombies.  I have always been fascinated with the creatures, and I’ve been wanting to write about them for a while, but I could never figure out what I wanted to say.  After watching World War Z, I figured it out. 

What process in writing is hardest for you?

Promotion.  I don’t have any time.  Between working a full-time job and taking care of a family, I have very little time to talk about my books like I want to

What process in writing is the most enjoyable for you?

I know a lot of people hate editing, but I really enjoy it.  Partly because I freelance edit, but also because when you get to that stage, the hard part is over.  The story is on the page, it just needs to be tweaked.  It’s a great feeling to know it’s one step closer to being finished.

Are you pantser or a plotter?            

Pantser, although some plotting takes place in my head before I sit down at the computer to type.  The most exciting part, though, it seeing where my characters take me.  After all, it’s their story, I’m just typing it for them.

How did you come up with your storyline, or what inspired you to write The Ifs?

I had a dream about catching a small man in a jar and feeding it spaghetti.  When I woke up, the idea stuck with me.  My boys were pretty young at the time, but I wanted to write an adventure story for them, so I expanded the dream and imagined how my kids would react to the situation.

When is your favorite time to write?

Again, I have very limited time to write, so I squeeze it in whenever I can.  My favorite time to write would be all day every day, but that doesn’t happen.

What is your favorite snack while writing?

I don’t usually snack while I’m writing.  I have to keep my hands free to type.  But I usually have a glass of ice water near me.

Buy Links:

Amazon

Little Devil Books

Also check out:

There's a Monster in Mommy's Tummy

Mr. Chocolate and the Magic Js

2013 Summer Author Blitz - Author Melissa Studdard + Giveaway...

Today, I'm participating in the 2013 Summer Author Blitz! I'm interviewing the fabulous Melissa Studdard, and she's giving away a couple of gems. Be sure to scroll down to the bottom to enter the giveaway!

Also, there are several other giveaways going on. Visit Books & Broomsticks for more information.

  

Introducing Melissa Studdard

Melissa Stud­dard is the author of the best­selling novel Six Weeks to Yehi­dah, and its companion journal, My Yehidah (both on All Things That Matter Press). Since its August 2011 release, Six Weeks to Yehidah has been the recipient of many accolades, including the Forward National Literature Award, the Pinnacle Book Achievement Award, the International Book Award, and January Magazine's best children's books of 2011. It was also named a finalist for the National Indie Excellence Awards and the Readers Favorite Awards. Melissa is also the author of The Tiferet Talk Interviews and the forthcoming poetry collection, “I Ate the Cosmos for Breakfast.” Along with Scott Lutz, Melissa is co-author of For the Love of All (Trestle Press), which is the fifth story in the Mark Miller’s One series and debuted in the number one spot for Hot New Releases in Literary Criticism and Theory in the Amazon Kindle store. As well, her poetry, fiction, essays, reviews, and arti­cles have appeared in numer­ous magazines, jour­nals, and antholo­gies.                                                     

Melissa cur­rently serves as a Reviewer-at-Large for The National Poetry Review, an editorial advisor for The Criterion, and an edi­tor for Tiferet Journal, where she hosts the journal's radio interview program, Tiferet Talk. Melissa received her MFA from Sarah Lawrence College and is a professor for the Lone Star College System and a teaching artist for The Rooster Moans Poetry Cooperative. She loves anything related to writing and reading, whether it's sitting alone with a book and a cup of hot tea, or attending a large poetry reading or literary festival. She also loves travelling, meditating, going for walks, bicycling, practicing yoga, and spending time with family. She currently resides in Texas with her wonderful daughter and their four sweet but mischievous cats. To learn more, please visit www.melissastuddard.com.

 

Interview

 

1) What are you working on now?

I’m currently trying to pull a poetry collection called I Ate the Cosmos for Breakfast from my literary hat. A friend of mine, Ron Starbuck, recently started a press (Saint Julian Press) that publishes spiritual writings. He knew my poetry was a perfect fit for Saint Julian, so he asked me for a manuscript. It’s a frightening and exciting process to re-examine poems I’ve written over many, many years—to try to see how they fit together and how they should be arranged. So many stages of my life and my ideas and feelings and beliefs are represented. It’s almost like reading through old diaries. It’s really making me think about who I am and have been as a person and a writer and who I want to continue to become.

 Here’s a poem from the collection. It was originally published in Open Road Review.

Subterranean

I’m not talking about the underside of a kitten’s

belly, or the layers of dress on a modest woman’s

 

corpse. I don’t mean that beneath the skin there’s

a world of vein, meat and bone. No, I’m talking about

mantle and core – the viscous, shifting substrata

beneath the camel’s hoof, beneath the sand,

 

beneath the crust beneath the sand. I think there are

birds in there, flying around inside the earth’s body,

 

birds flying over oceans, streams and lakes, children

laughing beside rivers, mothers calling them home

 

to supper by beating wooden spoons on the sides

of aluminum pots. It doesn’t matter that we can’t see

them, or even that my theory has been disproven.

I go where the laughter is, pure and simple, and I say

 

this ball of clay is really an onion, a snake coiled

around a bouncing ball, a swirl of petals exploding

 

from bud. It’s simple, really: love is the pack on a

hitchhiker’s back, everything he owns, everywhere

 

he goes, the only article that can’t be left behind.

And we’ve all got our thumbs out, pointed towards

 

that other realm, the one beneath the skin, beneath

the bone and marrow and veiny streams of blood, where gods

 

await us like lovers, like dense smoke, like cracked

 

and forgotten mirrors, reflecting the singular route home

 

2) What process in writing is hardest for you?

 Without question, not writing. When I’m between projects or ideas, I’m in agony. It’s like being in a long distance relationship and not knowing when you’ll get to see your lover again.

 3) What process in writing is the most enjoyable for you?

I like that part when I’m just starting to realize that what I’m working on is viable.  At that point I’m still charged with beginner’s energy, but I can see the finish line through the fog.

 

4) Are you pantser or a plotter?      

I’m so intuitive and spontaneous I don’t even wear pants.  Most everything that happens on my page is a delightful, mysterious, wondrous surprise to me. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.

 

5) What inspired you to write Six Weeks to Yehidah?

 After reading volumes and volumes of non-fiction books about spirituality and benefitting from them immensely, I wanted to share wisdom traditions with younger people—to share some things I wish I’d been introduced to at an earlier age. However, I also knew that kids wouldn’t want to sit down and read the same kinds of books I was reading as an adult, so I decided to do it in a fun, entertaining way, through narrative, vivid description, and humor.

 6) When is your favorite time to write?

I’m obsessed with writing the way teenage girls are obsessed with make-up and teenage boys are obsessed with teenage girls. I always want to write.

 

7) What is your favorite snack while writing?

 I don’t like to eat while writing. It’s distracting. When I feel like taking a break, I usually dance. Dancing energizes my fingertips and feeds my imagination more than food ever could. And my cats love it because they like to play fetch, and they know when I turn up the music and step away from the computer they can bring their toys to me to throw. It’s a big writing break party.

 

Website:    www.melissastuddard.com
Purchase:  http://www.amazon.com/Six-Weeks-Yehidah-Melissa-Studdard/dp/0984651705
Twitter:      https://twitter.com/MelissaStuddard
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Melissa-Studdard/148177095246272

  


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Cedar Hill Nature Preserve & Creativity...

I switch up exercises quit a bit :) The beginning of July, I went back to a favorite exercise--Power Walking!

I enjoy power walking and previously wrote a blog about it, which can be found here.

But I've taken it up notch. Through the week, I still power walk on a bike trail that weaves through several neighborhoods near my house. But on the weekends, I meet up with a wonderful group of ladies and hike through the Cedar Hill Nature Preserve. 

It's a very wild place and there are signs everywhere reminding you that you are in nature and may see everything that goes along with it. ie snakes....Ack!!!

The funny thing is I've not yet seen a snake while out at the nature preserve, BUT I did see one while walking through the neighborhood trail. I'm usually up and out on the bike trail around 6:15am, and I see pretty much the same group of folks walking or jogging.

This particular morning, one of my morning jogging buddies came towards me in the opposite direction & stopped. When he noticed me he waved for me to stop, I did and asked what was going on. He pointed ahead of me about 15'. There was a snake, about 3 foot long?!?!? OMG!!! It was slithering across the path, minding his own little business.  Needless to say I ran the rest of the way LOL!


Now, back to the nature preserve. What an experience! First, it's a GREAT workout. These trails go up and down some crazy hills. My lower body screamed during some of the climbs.

But, it's also very serene. A great place to go to clear your mind.
Which brings me to my next point.

My creativity has been off the charts! I think it from the power walking, which relieves stress and really gets the oxygen flowing through your body.

Also, being out at the nature preserve, it's just very calming. I've met some great women out there, had great conversation, and some good laughs!


My writing is going very well, no complaints! I've had lots of blocked moments with this book and now I'm finally on the final chapters. Yay!

My goal is to have it completed by the end of July.

 Blessings!