John M. Wills

A visit with Author Tracy S. Deitz

Please introduce yourself, when you began writing, etc.

My less-than-glorious start involved writing obituary announcements for a small daily newspaper in the 1980s, but I worked my way up to full-page feature stories. Since those early days, I’ve written two nonfiction books. The debut work, Employed by God: Benefits Packaged With Faith, focuses on how faith secures us in times of turmoil; the second book, Break The Cycle: Healing From An Abusive Relationship, shares healing resources with families suffering from domestic violence.

Do you write every day?

Since I teach full-time, I don’t always have the creative energy needed to write daily. Sometimes, I go in spurts and write six or more hours on weekends, then rest a few days and start again. I need down time to enjoy life and have new experiences that infuse the writing with vividness and freshness.

I know you have a recent book released. Please tell my readers about it.

Break the Cycle: Healing From An Abusive Relationship recounts the true story of a woman trapped in domestic violence and how she found solutions. The book began with my work as a trained advocate for survivors of domestic violence and includes resources for help. According to A. S. Gottlieb’s September 2008 article “Intimate Partner Violence” posted in the US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health, one in four American women will be physically assaulted or raped by an intimate partner during her lifetime (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19072491). Because concerns about domestic violence are widespread, the United Methodist Women’s Reading Program selected Break the Cycle for its national 2014 reading program.

What inspired you to become a writer in your chosen genre?

My works revolve around my Christian belief that God is good and present with us every day. If we can hang onto our faith, He’ll carry us through every difficulty. I want to share hope with everyone who faces despair when life and circumstances beat us down.

What is your most rewarding writing experience?

I absolutely adore it when people in our Monday night critique group recognize a humorous section and laugh out loud at a never-before shared draft. Their affirmation keeps me working the long hours in solitude trying to create engaging characters and capture a moving scene.

Do you belong to any writing groups, or critique groups?

Yes, our Fredericksburg group meets at Books-A-Million. We have all ages, colors, sizes and genre writers, and we all respect each other’s efforts to hone our craft. I worked more than a year with this group slaving over draft after draft before ever a page saw the light of day in publication. I treasure the protection in the group’s feedback, knowing my colleagues will point out troubled areas before I go public and embarrass myself.

Are you working on a new project?

Yes, I’m contracting with a literary agent to solicit a publisher for a 300-page novel about three women in a small-town community who operate a modern underground railroad to rescue victims of domestic abuse.

Is there anything you would like to share with our readers?

Thank you for sharing life’s journey! Each of you enrich someone else’s day in a special way. Books open an avenue for us to confront our inner demons and embrace the best of who we can become. I appreciate the opportunity to fellowship and grow with you.

Please provide the readers with a link to your website, and links to your books.

My website is http://www.tracysdeitz.com/

Free resources for dealing with domestic abuse can be found at http://www.tracysdeitz.com/resources/domestic-violence-alcoholism

Both books are available through Amazon via print or Kindle. Online reviews are very helpful, and I welcome your feedback.

Break the Cycle http://www.amazon.com/Break-Cycle-Healing-Abusive-Relationship/dp/1466375213/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1379939428&sr=1-1&keywords=tracy+deitz

Employed By God http://www.amazon.com/Employed-God-Benefits-Packaged-Faith/dp/1466370823/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1379939428&sr=1-2&keywords=tracy+deitz

Author Interview with J. Allen Hill

Please introduce yourself, and tell us about your background.

My name is J. Allen Hill. I am a first time novelist with a PhD in Living – a little conceit of mine, as much like my secretly adopted mentor, John Steinbeck, I have never completed a degree program. A Midwesterner by birth, an East Coaster by choice, writing has been both a source of income and a lifetime’s pleasure. If experience has anything to do with putting words on paper, I’ve probably done it or taken a class in it: newsletters, white papers, administrative, technical and financial reports, government proposals, user guides and training plans, software test plans, meeting minutes – facts, protocols, standards. My only relief from this routine was working in the theater and trying my hand at drama. These days I can indulge full-time in short stories, poetry, and novels.

When I sit down to write, I draw on my pool of distilled experience: everything from people I have known to places I have been to achievements and failures, pleasures and pain. The memory bank can be a strange place to visit, but so much of what I dredge up from there often lands on the page – a fit of laughter, a painful affair, the scent of a long desiccated sprig of lavender plucked from a childhood garden, all woven together with fragments of truth and wild sprints of imagination. And that is why I write. It is such an adventure.

When did you begin writing?

Around the age of ten. I wrote a play about a band of gypsies gallivanting around a forest – kind of a cross between Carmen and Robin Hood.

Do you write every day, and are novels the only things you write?

One way or another, I do write every day, much of the initial drafting taking place in my head, getting acquainted with prospective characters and working out plot problems.

I prefer writing novels but am also working (slowly) on a novel constructed of short stories – somewhat in the style of Olive Kittredge. Sadly, I do not put pen to paper every day. It’s a form of writer’s block, I suppose, but I write chronologically, and am completely unable to begin a piece until I have worked out the beginning in my mind. I have, however, usually written the main character’s back stories and know the end of the novel before I begin.

I know you have just released a new novel. Please tell my readers about it, and what your inspiration to write it was.

The Secret Diary of Ewan Macrae was originally inspired by my reading of Born Fighting:

How the Scotch-Irish Shaped America, by Virginia Senator James Webb, as well as my love of the story of the founding of America, and my own trip to Scotland where I unexpectedly discovered that my family name, Allen, has Scottish roots. Wanting to tell the story of an early Scottish immigrant and how he might have influenced future history, I decided to tell two stories of one family spanning two centuries.

The novel, set in 1946, is the story of two very different people. Margaret is an abused small town North Carolina mountain girl. Phil is a Manhattan writer running from the law. Both are launched on journeys of self discovery. Together they search for the answers to a mystery, the solution probably buried in the past. Along the way they uncover a conspiracy, overcome conflict and fall in love. A source of strength and inspiration for them both is the 200-year-old diary written by Margaret’s Scottish ancestor who fled to America in 1746. The accounts, spanning two centuries have amazing parallels.

I chose to construct the novel using these particular dates that I find quite significant in the history of our country: 1946, when the United States, victorious in World War II, is poised to take over the leadership of the world. And 1746, when waves of immigrants were arriving in America just as it is poised to launch the war from which it will emerge as that fledgling power.

What is your most rewarding writing experience?

There are many, but probably the best is the satisfaction in completion of a project lovingly crafted for (in my case) well over 5 years.

Do you belong to any writing groups, or critique groups?

I am a past member of the Playwrights Forum, Washington, DC, a member of the Writers Center in Bethesda, Maryland, the Virginia Writers Club and its chapter, Riverside Writers. I also participate in Riverside critique sessions and a local novel-writing group named SCADR.

Are you working on any new project?

Yes. Several years ago I discovered the tomb of an unknown Revolutionary War soldier in a churchyard in historic Old Town, Alexandria, Virginia. Apparently, he was first discovered buried in an “ammunition box” wearing a “Patriot uniform with Kentucky buttons.” After polling every organization involved in his dis- and re-interment for information as to who he might have been and I found, while there is much speculation, it appears he really is unknown. I decided to write a story of what his life might have been and how in the world he ended up in that box. The Unknown: An American Odyssey is due out in 2014.

Is there anything we have not covered that you would like to share with our readers?

It has been said that writing is a lonely occupation. However, it is also a collaborative life and for that I thank all of my cohorts. So many have given generously of their knowledge, skills, and support to this project – it could not have happened without them.

Please provide the readers with a link to your website, and a link to your book.

As The Secret Diary was released just days ago, my website is in the design stages. The book can be found on Amazon at the link below:

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=diary+ewan+macrae

Meet Author Jackie Taylor Zortman

Please introduce yourself, when you began writing, your background, where you live, etc.

I began writing, mostly poetry, back in 1990. Poems would come to me intact and I couldn’t just sit down and write one because I wanted to. These soon evolved into articles and short stories and now, into a book. I am a Kentucky native who grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio and moved to Colorado’s western slope 32 years ago. I live in a beautiful little tourist town in the mountains where I once was a bookstore owner. I am married to a 42-year veteran law enforcement officer and we are both now retired. Prior to my bookstore, I worked in advertising, travel and medicine and spent a good many years being a stay-at-home Mom.

Do you write every day, and are novels the only things you write?

When I am in throes of a project, I do write every day. Of course, I write every day answering e-mails, marketing my book or participating in social media. I normally do not write fiction and have also written a great deal in genealogy, history, poetry and have had numerous short stories and articles published over the last 23 years.

I know you have a new novel just released. Please tell my readers about it.

My book We Are Different Now was born when my 21-year old grandson, Pete, fell to his death in the pitch black of night while celebrating July 4, 2010. He lit a firework of some magnitude and dropped it, so instinctively jumped backwards, falling straight to the canyon floor and riverbank below. It took just three seconds and killed him instantly from a skull fracture. This happened in the wee hours of July 5^th, his mother and my daughter’s, birthday. He had been born on my son’s birthday. Being our oldest grandchild, he was the absolute apple of my eye. My book tells the story of my journey with death on the mountain and I invite my readers to come along with me to discover what has been revealed to us since we lost this young man with the angelic face and who was born possessing an old soul His death has changed my life in many ways. It has, amazingly, been selling to people of all ages and in all walks of life, to my delight and amazement.

What other writing interests you?

For several years, I wrote the police report for the newspaper, which was an experience in itself, mostly because people are not familiar with cop jargon. That can result in someone who decides to edit your report completely changing the context of what you are saying. I also have a novel that is fiction based on fact that I will soon rewrite and attempt to get published. This book took me three years to write, due to the violent nature of the cases involved. Having to read so many different reports and files, there were times when I had to stop writing for a few weeks because it became overwhelming. I’ve also written for several anthologies in the law enforcement genre and also history and genealogy are fascinating subjects for me. Poetry and I seem to have parted company for now.

What is your most rewarding writing experience?

At this point in time, I would have to say that my book We Are Different Now has been my most rewarding experience. It took 16 months after Pete’s death before I was able to begin writing and another full year to complete. Luckily, I immediately had a publishing contract with Oak Tree Press and my book was on the market six months later. Therefore, I believe that I must have had some major help along the way to accomplish that so quickly. I simply had a deep gut feeling that this is what Pete would have wanted me to do – create something positive out of that which is so painful for me. My goal was merely to have my book be “out there” and it certainly is. That has been a huge reward for my heart and soul.

Do you belong to any writing groups, or critique groups?

In 1994, I became a member of the Police Writers Club, which evolved into the Public Safety Writers Association later, and I am still a proud member of that organization. Living remotely, as we do, I do not know of any nearby critique groups. I do have a group of far-flung friends who will read and critique my work for me.

Are you working on any new projects?

Yes, I have three different projects partially written and they are all different. One is the rewrite of my novel Footprints In The Frost that is fiction based on fact and will be a romantic mystery. Another is a compilation of stories I’ve written over the years that remains untitled. This is the one that I’d just love to steal your “Nightstand Collection” title for, but will not. And the third will be called “Bullets, Badges and Me” and will be a cop tale.

I read that your writing has won awards. Can you tell us about those honors?

After entering my very first writing contest, I was very surprised to win two third place awards in the 2013 Public Safety Writers Association Contest in July for two articles I’ve written. One is in the non-fiction, non-technical, non-published category called “Amache”. This is about a WWII government internment camp for Japanese/Americans located in eastern Colorado. My husband had seen this place intact as a little boy, though it was then empty. We had looked for it for years and finally found mostly concrete foundations, a few houses and a playground still intact. We were totally alone and it was eerie to view. My second award was in the non-fiction, non-technical, published category titled “The Siege At Cortez,” that I wrote at an editor’s request and is about the horrible butchering of law enforcement officers in the Four Corners area years ago. That article was the very first time I received a sizable check for my work, rendering me a bona fide professional writer.

Is there anything you would like to share with our readers?

Yes, I doubt that anyone can possibly understand how much blood, sweat and tears are involved in writing/publishing/marketing a book. It has been a huge revelation to me to discover how many different facets there are between first sitting down to write and actually holding the finished book in your hand. It has been and continues to be a tremendous education for me. So, to those of you who are seasoned book authors, I applaud your months and years of hard work to provide quality entertainment for your readers and your willingness to help those of us with less experience find our way. Along this path, I have been introduced to so many wonderful people and gained really good friends and view that as part of the gift that we are given when we discover that we can write. To those of you who buy and read our books, blogs and websites, we are eternally grateful because when we get a letter or comment from you, that’s the ultimate prize. You are the reason we do what we do. Thank and bless you all. And thank you, John, for allowing me to be a guest blogger on your site.

Please provide the readers with a link to your website, and a link to your book.

My blog is: http://www.jtzortman.wordpress.com My book is called “We Are Different Now” and can be purchased at www.BN.com, www.Amazon.com, www.shopOTPbooks.com or in Barnes & Noble stores.

Author Interview of Chris Swinney

Please introduce yourself, when you began writing, your background, where you live, etc.

Hey folks, my name is Chris Swinney, and I use the pen name of C. L. Swinney. I’m married with two kids and I work in law enforcement in the San Francisco Bay Area. I like to volunteer time at my wife’s school, local charities, and anything involving Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

I began writing seriously in college. I wrote poetry and began writing magazine articles for fly fishing. I’ve been in Fly Fisherman Magazine, California Game & Fish magazine, Pointsbeyond.com, and the Alaskan Clarion Newspaper.

Currently I’m assigned to a task force covering a wide variety of responsibilities, from tracking down suspects to processing clandestine labs. It’s rewarding work, but sometimes I get ten hours or less of sleep in a week.

Do you write every day, and are novels the only things you write?

I try to write or edit every day. I’m working on editing the second book in my Bill Dix series and I just began writing the third book a few months ago. I’m sticking to novels, but my friend and poet (author and professor as well), John Brantingham, has inspired me to write poetry again.

I know you have a new novel just released. Please tell my readers about it.

Yes! My first novel, Gray Ghost, came out in July and it has been so much fun hearing feedback about my characters and story.

The elevator pitch is this: Two off-duty narcotic detectives go fly fishing in the Bahamas. They quickly learn their guides were murdered before their arrival. The locals share with the detectives that they think the guides were drug mules and were murdered by a man known simply as “The Caller.” Against their better judgment, the detectives get involved and work with the locals to spring a trap for the Caller. Unfortunately, he’s well ahead of their plans. In the end, the main character, Bill Dix, and the Caller, have no idea what happened after an attempt to capture the Caller.

What other writing interests you?

I’m interested in poetry. Recently I learned there are so many forms of poetry and that I was butchering several of them. I grabbed a few books from John Brantingham and have done several exercises to write better poems. It’s coming around. I think I’ll stick with it.

What is your most rewarding writing experience?

I really enjoy hearing from the readers of my stories. My work seems to hit people differently. I write for an audience interested in law enforcement, police work, narcotics, fly fishing, and the outdoors. Gray Ghost captured all of these things, which is why I think it’s been so warmly accepted. The most rewarding experience for me is hearing people ask for more of my writing.

Do you belong to any writing groups, or critique groups?

I belong to the Public Safety Writer’s Association (PSWA) and I’ve applied for Mystery Writers of America. I am not yet part of a critique group, and I can’t tell you why that is. Most of the great writers I know are in these groups. I’ve been too busy to find one right for me, but I’m looking.

Are you working on a new project?

I’m actually working on two projects right now. I’m currently editing the second book in the Bill Dix series, called The Collectors. This is very time-consuming and I’m dumping thousands of words at a time… My other project is the third (unsure if it’s the final) in the Bill Dix series. I work all day, help at the house, then write from around 10pm to 1 or 2 in the morning. Needless to say, it’s a slow process for me.

Is there anything you would like to share with our readers?

I’d like your readers to know that I spend a huge amount of time making my fiction as believable as possible. I take real life experiences and apply them to my novels, but I won’t share industry secrets or the names of people I’ve investigated. I won’t cross the line to sell a book; it’s not worth it to all my brothers and sisters in blue.

Please provide the readers with a link to your website, and a link to your book.

You can check out more about me at my website located at http://www.clswinney.wordpress.com

And you can pick up a copy of Gray Ghost on amazon.com here http://www.amazon.com/Gray-Ghost-C-L-Swinney/dp/1610091078

How To Be A Successful Blogger

I recently returned from a writers’ conference where I learned a great many valuable tips from fellow writers. One of the ways by which writers can get their work “out there,” is to use social media and blogs. That said, my friend and fellow author, Marilyn Meredith*, shared her insights on blogging.

Keep it short, use keywords and photos
Add links (particularly those that direct readers to buy your books)
If you’re a guest on another’s blog, follow their directions, and include your bio, book blurb and links in the post, rather than sending them separately
If you are a guest blogger, invite the host to be a guest on your blog
If you have a blog, follow some type of schedule for posting, e.g., every Tuesday. That way your followers know when to expect a post from you
If you have a book coming out soon, set up a blog tour. Find authors who write what you write
Captcha codes are a hindrance and keep people from commenting
Remind the host blog they can post ahead of time, and email them the day before
Promote each blog frequently on social media on the day your post appears
Thank the host in the comment box and check periodically for readers’ comments and respond to them

*Marylyn Meredith, is the author of the Rocky Bluff P.D. series under the name F.M. Meredith, and the Deputy Tempe Crabtree series. Visit her at: http://fictionforyou.com/