GUEST AUTHOR - STEWART BINT

This week's interview is with the lovely Stewart Bint who, like my last interviewee (Joanne Paulson), trained as a journalist. He worked as a radio newsreader, and a Public Relations writer, before quitting the day job to become a full-time novelist in 2021. He's largely retired now, although there is one special project in the pipeline, but we'll chat more about that later!

Stewart's had six books published – five novels and a short story collection - and finds it easier to write paranormal and sci-fi stories, so he sticks to those, although he admits, he did surprise himself with a crime and medical backdrop to his latest novel, When God’s Wind Blows! But some genres are more of a struggle to write, such as romance, although he's experimented with a little romance, along with humour, fantasy, and even a couple of children’s tales in his short story collection, Thunderlands. So let's meet him.

Thanks so much for joining me and let's start by chatting about your publishing journey. Are you traditionally published or did you self-publish?

Originally, I self-published through Smashwords and Kindle Direct Publishing, but as ebooks only. My first efforts were a couple of novellas in 2012. Back then, I thought e-readers such as Kindle and Kobo were the future of publishing, and that print books were on the way out. Then, one of my short stories was published in a print anthology, and to see my work in an actual printed paperback was somewhat magical. 

I can imagine! So what did you do?

Shortly afterwards, I was taking part in a media photoshoot with two fellow authors, who both had paperbacks. But all I could pose with, was my Kindle displaying the cover. That was it. I was smitten with the idea of becoming a paperback writer, so I embarked on a quest to find a print publisher, and was lucky enough to strike gold pretty quickly, and my first paperback, In Shadows Waiting, appeared in 2015.

Hhmm, that sounds more like skill than luck, but okay 😂 What publishing house?

Dragon Moon Press have brought out my novels, In Shadows Waiting, When God’s Wind Blows, Timeshaft, and The Jigsaw And The Fan; with Next Chapter publishing To Rise Again, and Thunderlands.

Two? Wow, congratulations! Although that would seem to prove you're good at your job! And talking of which, can we discuss your writing process? I've found editing has taken me far longer than I'd anticipated. How about you?

Editing!! Writers either love it or hate it. I regard it as a two-part process: roughing, then finishing. A couple of weeks after finishing the first draft I print it off and read it through. And nearly die of embarrassment. Did I really write such rubbish? Ah, but hold hard. It’s always like this, isn’t it? 

I'm laughing because yep, me too! What happens next?

A few weeks of picking it to bits, developing a few scenes here, cutting a few scenes there, showing a particular character trait earlier in the book so the reader’s not surprised by something later on, and finally, yeah, that’s okay. Pleased with that. Send it off to my publisher’s editor.  

Job done then!

Nope! Back it comes, almost every page marked with red. Developmental edits, they call them.

Oh dear! That sounds very much like my development edit too, which led to massive rewrites but that was me. What do you do?

I print off two copies. One showing all the editor’s comments with the tracked changes, and one without, so I can read the story clearly. Yes, what they’ve asked for makes perfect sense, and works extremely well. New scenes added. Other scenes removed. More banter added between the main characters. Final read through of the second draft, and back it goes. 

So, in summary, my process involves big edits to the first draft to get the story roughly into shape. Then, developmental edits as suggested by the publisher’s editor, which turns my raw story into a saleable commodity.

This is why every novel needs a professional editor.

I completely agree. It's amazing how that additional eye manages to tease a far better book out of you. But rolling things back a bit, is there a germ of an idea that starts you writing a book?

Four of my five novels explore different ways of humans continuing to exist after death in some form or another – individual ghosts, spirits, reincarnation, even one character who was violently raped and murdered centuries ago becoming a guardian angel in When God’s Wind Blows. Psychologists will probably say it all stems from my Dad’s death when I was 11, and this underlying message about death not being the end is my way of hoping he still exists in another plane.

Oh Stewart, I'm so sorry to hear this, but writing is cathartic so I wouldn't be surprised. Okay, moving on, are you a big plotter of your novels, or do you fly by the seat of your pants?

This may sound odd, but it’s actually a mixture of both. I always know where the story’s going, and try to plot the route as much as I can. But I’ve lost count of the number of times my characters suddenly go off on a tangent, doing their own thing, and I simply become a reporter, faithfully chronicling what I see unfolding before my eyes.

However, the pantster dominating the plotter really came to the fore while working on my latest novel, When God’s Wind Blows. The finished book is a paranormal crime thriller with a medical background, and is a sequel to my 2015 novel In Shadows Waiting which is set in 1982. 

When I was in plotter mode, it was going to be a standalone sci-fi novel with no connection to the characters and events in In Shadows Waiting. My original idea was that the main character would be a scientist who suffered from mental blackouts since his teenage years. 

As the plotting continued, I couldn’t see a feasible ending, and there was no conflict in it, so I realised I needed to change direction. I switched the blackouts to become the paranormal events they are in the book today, and the scientist became a retired police inspector. The conflict was going to be between that character and a criminal he caught 25 years ago who had just been released from prison.    

This raised another barrier, though, in that I’d need to devote a couple of chapters to getting a hard-nosed ex-policeman to accept the paranormal, which would waste valuable word count. So, who did I know who’s already accepted the paranormal, and gone through a horrific paranormal experience?  Simon Reynolds, in In Shadows Waiting, set nearly 40 years ago. Re-reading that book I saw how easy it would be to link the two stories, and have the cause of events in When God’s Wind Blows in 2020 and 2021, directly connected to what happened in 1982 in In Shadows Waiting.  

Gosh, I love this! But please, continue.

Moving on, here’s a case of where being a committed plotter many years ago, is paying dividends. Long before I made a breakthrough in the world of published fiction, I started to write a novel in 1986. I had a detailed 13-chapter synopsis, and actually managed to write six full chapters on my old typewriter. Those pages have been tucked away in my office ever since. 

When I made the decision to retire from writing earlier this year, I was going to throw them out, as I wasn’t prepared to commit to the time or effort needed to finish the book. But I showed the synopsis and chapters to an American thriller writer, and she’s going to finish it. All I want from it is to be credited as co-author. So, that’s a nice little project for me in retirement! 

Oh, this is brilliant! And won't it be fascinating to see what she does with it too, like maybe picking different points of view from what you'd imagined? 

And talking of which, how do you normally choose your POVs?

The point of view depends on what I’m trying to achieve, first with the book, and then with an individual scene. There’s only one point of view In Shadows Waiting, and that’s the main character written in the first person. That’s because I needed the story of the horror facing the family to be developed from their son’s perspective, building on how he feels as it grows from a slow, small start, to a raging crescendo at the climax.  

That partly continued with the sequel. But because the scope of the story spreads far beyond Simon’s perspective, I brought in several other points of view, each of which had to be clearly defined with separate chapters. POVs never switched in a chapter. 

Yes, that's a good tip. I've mainly written in the third person limited, but my upcoming debut novel is first person and it's been a revelation. I love how intimate it becomes, although it poses other problems, but that's half the fun!

Okay, how about creating your characters. Do you create profiles before, or as you write?

I have an idea of what drives the main characters before I start writing, but characteristics often develop in response to a situation. Once that characteristic has been used, I store it away to ensure further responses will be in character. This way, I can write scenes where the character’s behaviour is not only convincing, but inevitable. 

To make them true to life, I have to fully understand their motives. This aspect is what makes novel writing so exciting for me.

Effective dialogue is one of the best ways to create believable characters. Every line of dialogue needs to be tailored for the individual character, so that you can tell who is speaking, without them being constantly named, and even from isolated sentences.

And talking of character names, how do you pick yours?

I find coming up with appropriate names to be extremely difficult. They vary so much, from Albert Carter, a trade union official, through Simon Reynolds, a typical teenager in his early years who becomes a radio presenter later, to more unusual names such as Jigonhsasee, Simon’s spiritual Iroquois Guardian Angel, and Ashday’s Child, which is a nickname for the main character in Timeshaft. 

I can agonise for hours just to create a name that seems a perfect fit, but I’m rarely happy with them. 

Oh, what a shame you're rarely happy, but I do think we're all our own worst critics! How about your writing style – do you change it for different stories?

The short, generic, answer to this, is yes, that it all depends on the story and how you want to tell it. To expand a little: 

When we’re talking to someone we recall events in the past tense, so it feels natural to write in it, as well. It’s also easier to maintain across different points of view. 

Swearing can be particularly tricky. The only time I use it regularly is in When God’s Wind Blows. It can be a powerful tool, adding additional authenticity in some situations. But beware of alienating readers if it’s not managed properly. It works best when it’s true to the character and scene. 

Many authors dislike purple prose, but in my opinion it has its place if used sparingly, and to invoke certain feelings. For example, in When God’s Wind Blows, there are scenes of Simon Reynolds coming out of a medically-induced coma, and an out-of-body experience, and I use ornate descriptions of what he’s seeing and thinking. Only use this style of writing rarely, and ensure it flows well and advances either the plot or characterisation. 

That's great advice! I can tell you have a lot of experience, so can you give any advice to writers, such as avoiding common writing mistakes?

My first two pointers here are a little wider than just writing mistakes, but they’re probably the most important mistake not to make!  

Write for yourself, first of all. Your stories should make you happy. 

Secondly, you’re never too old to make it, so keep at it. Life, family and work took preference over my dreams of becoming a novelist when I was younger. My first ebook appeared when I was 56, and my first paperback three years later.

Oh, I love this! What other gems do you have?

Talent can’t be taught, but craftsmanship certainly can, and the thing about self-publishing, is that readers can find little gems that probably wouldn’t make it through the rather snobbish gatekeeping of many traditional publishers. By snobbish, I mean the oft-quoted ‘rule’ of ‘show, don’t tell.’ 

While this ‘rule’ still abounds, any writers hoping for a contract with a traditional publisher must largely show and not tell. The so-called experts say that if the main narrative voice of the book tells us what’s happening, instead of us being shown through a character’s eyes and letting us experience their feelings, it’s a big no-no. Avoid too many instances of staccato ‘this happened,’ ‘that happened.’ Describe it from the character’s viewpoint and thoughts, to take your reader directly into the heart of the action. 

Excellent advice, Stewart. And finally, marketing. How do you find it?

In the early days of my writing journey, when I self-published, promotion and marketing took an inordinate amount of time, but it had to be done. It included promotions on KDP, competitions on Facebook and X (when it was still known as Twitter), stalls at local book events and village fetes, and giving talks to local groups.

However, since being accepted by traditional publishers, they handle the lion’s share of marketing, but I’m still active on social media, and continue to give regular author talks. I’ve also been successful at getting my books accepted by local libraries.

Well, this has been a lovely chat. Thank you so much for your time, and I'd love it if we could end by seeing the blurb for your latest book, When God’s Wind Blows.

If you thought the horror was over at the end of In Shadows Waiting, think again. This sequel, set almost 40 years after the tragic events at White Pastures, is a paranormal crime thriller with a COVID backdrop, showing how grief and love affect one man’s sanity.

After a young couple are ruthlessly gunned down outside their home during the pandemic, we weave our way through Simon Reynolds’ personal COVID nightmare, as he seeks answers about the mysterious blackouts he’s experienced since his sister died at the hands of a supernatural entity back in 1982.

Slowly but surely, paranormal events intertwine Simon’s Long COVID journey with Adam and Hayley Hampshire’s murder, unveiling a plot to terrorise the entire world.

When God’s Wind Blows is a paranormal tale of love, insanity, and tragedy, of epic proportions.  

That sounds brilliant, thank you so much, and if you'd like to find out more about this wonderful author, please see his links below:

Stewart Bint website and blog

Stewart Bint, Amazon

Stewart Bint, Goodreads

GUEST AUTHOR - JOANNE PAULSON

I'm delighted to introduce the lovely (and prolific!) author Joanne (J.C.) Paulson to the blog. She's a long-time Saskatoon journalist and has been published in newspapers including The StarPhoenix, The Western Producer, the Saskatoon Express and many other publications over more years than she cares to admit 🤣

Her unquiet brain requested a shift from fact to fiction about ten years ago, when she started madly writing mystery novels based in Saskatchewan. Five of those have been independently published: Adam’s Witness, Broken Through, Fire Lake, Griffin’s Cure and a novella, Two Hundred Bones. The final book in the mystery series, The Maddox Verdict, is about to launch (exciting!) and we'll chat about that shortly, but she's also working on a romantic thriller, a standalone novel with different main characters, but within the Adam and Grace universe.

And, as if that wasn't enough, she's also the author of a traditionally-published historical fiction/western entitled Blood and Dust, and a children’s book, Magic Mack and The Mischief-Makers - what a woman! She currently lives in a rambling bungalow in Saskatoon with her husband, goldsmith Ken Paulson, a human mine of useful plot ideas. So let's meet her!

Hi Jo, thanks so much for chatting with me and I'd love to start with your new novel, as it's just launched, so what can you tell me about it? 

'The Maddox Verdict' is the sixth book in my mystery (plus love) Adam and Grace series, and completes the arc — so the series is now, finally complete. There may well be more books in the universe, but this is it.

It took me a very long time to write this book, partly due to life challenges, but also because it was extremely important to get the title character, Virgil Maddox, as perfect and as real as possible. Virgil is a Black American military veteran who lands in my city for various reasons. He is based on two men: a dear friend, who indeed is an American Vietnam veteran and an immigrant to Canada, and a client of my father’s from years ago. My father was a lawyer who defended teachers around the province.

I am neither Black nor American, nor if it comes to it, a man. So, trying to get his personality and his voice just right was extremely important to me.

Oh wow, that does sound quite a challenge. So what's it about?

It's about a teacher falsely accused of sexually assaulting three of his female students. Virgil happens to be a university friend of my main male character, Inspector (by now) Adam Davis. It turns out that there is a cabal behind these accusations — a cabal that has also perpetrated many heinous crimes. Adam is incandescent over the trumped-up charges, but is in conflict because of his relationship with the accused. He’s also supposed to be getting married to Grace Rampling, but the timing . . .

Oh my goodness, this sounds amazing (and yet another book for my TBR pile - I really need to build an extension to house all my books, lol!). Do you have a link? 

Of course! (press here)

But let's rewind, I'm fascinated by your move from reporting news to being a novelist. What prompted the change?

The first book idea chose me. I had just gone through a very difficult time, both personally and professionally, and found myself bouncing off the walls or curled in the foetal position, drinking too much and not sleeping enough. I knew this manic phase of misery had to end, but how?

Subconscious to the rescue. After approximately three months of this, I woke up at 3 a.m. (as usual) with a story rolling through my head instead of the usual anxieties. It was inspired by a local event from years earlier, about which I wrote a nasty newspaper column (I worked at the daily at that time.) One of the two local cathedrals, which rented its sanctuary to performing groups — many churches here do this, to raise renovation funds and so on — cancelled the local gay men’s choir concert.

I was livid and said so in print. It was one of two columns I wrote over several years that received the most reaction, most of it pro-choir.

So that dark night, I suddenly had built a plot around this event, including a murder (that did not happen in real life, ha!), a red-haired and passionate reporter (my female main character), and a very handsome (I couldn’t resist) detective sergeant who takes the case, solves the crime, and falls madly in love at first sight with the journalist.

I wrote it in about a year, not having clue one what I was doing. I had basic English skills, of course, after years of being a journalist. But a novel!? I read those things. I didn’t write them. Yet there I was. 

There is usually a germ of real life underlying my mystery stories, with the exception of Griffin’s Cure which was almost entirely made up of whole cloth. But my primary passion and motivation is creating books that address social issues: homophobia, misogyny, racism.

And yes, before you ask, I have indeed been called a woke libtard and much worse. Will I stop? No.

Good for you! I'm sure I'm not the only person standing up and applauding you right now! But sorry, please carry on.

Next I veered over into historical fiction with my western, Blood and Dust, which is traditionally published. The book emerged from a nightmare of my husband’s. Within a week, I had decided to write a first chapter which naturally placed itself in 1880s Canada. I showed it to him, his jaw dropped, and off I went.

That said, again, lol, there are also social issues at play in that book! Even my wee children’s book has a social issue at its root, so I guess I do not veer far from the core passion.

I love how you're true to your passions, as I'm sure that energy will come across in your writing, but what about novel outlining - are you a plotter or pantser? 

I am largely a pantser, but the basic plot and definitely the first few chapters and the ending are clear in my head before I begin. I don’t know how people can write fiction without knowing the ending. How on earth do you get there? I outline in my head and never use any aids.

I agree about not knowing the ending, but I plan a lot - I don't know what I'd do without my trusty spreadsheet!  How about deciding on a point of view (POV)?

POV, for some reason, is an easy decision for me. It’s just what the book calls for. In the case of the western, it’s the story of this young man’s journey from eastern to western Canada and it’s written entirely from his POV. It felt right.

In the case of the mysteries, there are two dominant POVs — the reporter and the cop — but sometimes I give the character around whom the plot revolves a POV as well. I’ve been naughty and given some of the other police officers limited POVs too. This is, in part, because the plots sometimes take my detective away from the on-the-ground investigation.

I'm loving the naughty! Talking of characters, do you create full profiles before you start, or as you go along?

I don't create profiles. 

Whaaat? How do you do that?

If I can’t “see” my characters, they don’t belong in my book. If they are not in my brain or my heart or both, I can’t write them. So they just live with me. This makes their characteristics generally quite easy to write as well.

Oh, I wish I was like that! How about naming characters?

Names are a bit of a different story, particularly for tertiary characters. I google the hell out of them. I don’t want them, particularly the villains, to have the same names as local people; my books are largely based in my own home city and other parts of the province.

I blew it spectacularly once. Sgt. Joan Karpinski is one of my favourite secondary characters. She has indeed had a few POV chapters. As always, I searched the name and found nothing. It turns out that an acquaintance’s relative has, indeed, that name. Thank goodness the relative was chuffed instead of upset and occasionally calls herself “Sergeant Joan.” I love that.

Thank goodness she saw it that way! What about some of the technicalities, like picking tenses, choosing language styles, etc?

I am most comfortable in basic past tense and therefore always “write there.” I find present tense hard to read, personally, so there’s that too.

There is a fat lot of swearing in my novels, but I hope I don’t take it too far; at least, not so far that it gets either boring or too offensive. I mean, these are cops, right. And bad guys. They swear.

True, and your genre does call for realism, so it's a good choice. But what about purple prose? Is that ever a problem?

I am not a fan of a lot of description and certainly not of purple prose. It’s not (I hope and think) a big problem, because I write action-based novels with a lot of (too much?) dialogue. Scaling back the dialogue is a bigger issue for me.

I'm the same - I love writing dialogue! But as you're so experienced, do you have any tips for newbie or aspiring writers?

I have SO many tips! I do some content and line editing and I’m constantly adding tips to my list. It’s hard to know where to begin, really. Here are a few fundamentals.

If you write, you had better also read. It is amazing how much brains can glean about word usage, style, grammar and character development without the prefrontal cortex even noticing.

Be sure to read a good book on novel-writing basics. It’s stunning how many people cannot properly write and punctuate dialogue tags, for example. Also, sentence fragments. (Ha). Sometimes, they work for emphasis. Too many of them and your reader will be flinging the book across the room.

Avoid overusing words. Avoid overusing words. Just already seriously suddenly avoid overusing the same dang words.

🤣🤣 Oh, I love this! I think I'm getting the message...! 

Okay, let's switch to the publishing side of things now. You mentioned you've been both traditionally and self-published - can you tell me more?

When I wrote the first book, Adam’s Witness, I decided I was too old to be pitching a murder mystery to agents or publishers. That was almost 10 years ago, so apparently I have survived and maybe didn’t make the best decision. I did get some agent interest afterward, but it was too late for my series. I was told that it would be next to impossible finding a publisher for an already-published work.

When I wrote the western, however, I thought well, it’s now or never. So I pitched it to two publishing houses (to begin with) and one took it.

Oh wow, congratulations! That's quite some feat. 

For me, editing seems key in producing quality work, it's made such a difference to my work, but what about you? What's your process and do you use professional editors?

I wish I could answer that first question. I edit it until I feel it’s finished. I expect it’s at least a dozen full passes, with much intermittent peering at single chapters. I don’t read it out loud, but I know this works for a lot of authors.

I cannot stress this enough. Every book — EVERY SINGLE BOOK EVER — needs at least one editor. I usually have a content editor, a sensitivity editor, a legal editor (not for fear of being sued, but because there is so much law and police procedure in my books), and a proofreader. I’m lucky that my legal editor is also a genius proofreader. That doesn’t include betas. 

That's sound advice, and seeing as you've just mentioned them, tell me about your betas. And do you send out ARCs (Advance Reader Copies)?

I always have at least five beta readers. In the past, I have not employed ARCs, although that may change. I have not independently published in a few years, and in that time the universe has exploded with change. I have to say I’m not sure what to recommend now.

Previously, I have always lined up press interviews, done a book launch/signing, posted an incredible amount on social media, done the pre-order thing and at least one promo site sale, usually about three or four weeks after launch.

Aww, marketing – it's such a divisive subject within the writing world. What works well for you?

I’ve tried it all, apart from book tours and blog tours. Some things have worked once or twice; others have not; some things stop working. The one thing that will generally work is showing up in BookBub deals, if you can get them.

Social media, once upon a time, did help generate visibility and sometimes sales, but that does not seem to be the case today, at least in my experience . . . which admittedly, is not as vast as it once was. I am feeling quite burned out on social and trying to generate the energy for my next two adventures.

I did one successful advertising campaign on Twitter/X. The downside of that were the legions of horrible, homophobic, misogynist and filthy comments that ended up attached to the ad. I couldn’t bring myself to do it again, although I will probably give it another shot for The Maddox Verdict. We’ll see.

It’s a minefield. Tread very, very carefully.

Yikes, I can't believe your adverts attracted that type of hatred. That's quite saddening, but it'll be interesting to see how your new novel goes. 

Can I ask about your cover art – is that your work or do you employ others?

Oh maaaaan, this is the tough one. I have tried many cover designers, I’m afraid, and it has never worked out. One made Adam’s Witness look like a work of religious fiction (I get it, but still) and it just isn’t. One day, I will find the right person and redo all my covers. Because yes, I’ve unfortunately done them myself. 

I am testing yet another book cover production company right now. It is time to update my covers. Here’s the thing about that: times and trends change, and covers probably should also change along with them.

I'll admit, I was surprised at how much cover trends affect sales, it's a bit of a minefield! And talking of which, do you have any tips for the more technical side of writing?

I am generally unimpressed with writing software programs, none of which I will mention by name. A couple have been useful in finding repetitive words and so on, but they were not worth the effort overall, in my opinion.

I will not use AI for writing in any way ever. I don’t even use it for research. I don’t find it reliable enough.

Luckily for Canadians, our ISBNs are free! I always get my own ISBNs (not everyone does if they are exclusive to Amazon) because I want to OWN that number. Also, copyright is automatic. I declare it anyway on the title page.

Ooh, you lucky Canadians! I had to buy my ISBNs - yet another expense but, as you say, at least you own them so that's better for control. 

I'd love to end by asking your opinion on common writing mistakes – do you have any pet hates?

Due to my history, I tend to notice basic language use and grammar errors. This is not to say I am remotely perfect. At all.

I see comma splices, lack of subject-verb agreement, possessives used as plurals and poor dialogue tag use — especially when they aren’t tags at all, but physical actions. “That was so funny,” he chuckled. Or obvious bits of dialogue that should be shown, not told, adding insult to injury with a tag that means the same thing: “I was so angry,” he fumed. I got that the first time, lol.

Repetition, along with not knowing the precise meaning of a word you’re using, also makes me kind of crazy. “You’re completely devoid of humour,” for example. Devoid actually means “completely empty.”

Well, Jo, you have been an utter delight! Thank you so much for taking the time to chat with me, and if you'd like to find out more about this wonderful author, please visit her website here or you can find her links below. 

Substack: https://joannepaulson.substack.com/

X: https://x.com/joanne_paulson

IG: https://www.instagram.com/paulson.joanne/

Book One of the Adam and Grace Mystery Series: mybook.to/AdamsWitness

Amazon author page: https://www.amazon.com/stores/J.C.-Paulson/author/B071GVF9N4

And if you enjoyed this post, then press here to get all the latest updates emailed directly to you via follow.it (You can unsubscribe at any time). Thank you!

GUEST AUTHOR - KACEY KELLS

Today I'm delighted to share my author chat with the lovely non-fiction author, Kacey Kells. We first met here in 2024, where she gave me a brilliant interview - click here to read it (it's amazing!).

Kacey is one of the bubbliest authors out there, which is the exact opposite of the heavy topics she covers in her books. I think most people that follow Kacey fall in love with her energy. Personally I find it mind-blowing trying to comprehend everything she's been through,but let's meet her.

So Kacey, what was it that started you writing?

My first book, "KELLCEY", is a memoir. It’ s about being victim of a sexual aggression and the consequences. 

I started writing because I was absolutely unable to speak about what had happened to me, so my counsellor, my therapist and my mom said I should try to write something, Hence, I started writing, but in my mind it was only something like a diary. 

In any case, it proved to be helpful, a way to heal. One day, my counsellor asked my permission to read what I did, and it’s her who said I should try to publish it because it could be helpful to other victims and survivors.  

Jeez. I mean, jeez 🤯 Taking the decision to publish such a personal and traumatic experience is unbelievably brave. Apart from the fact you're amazing, have you ever been contacted by readers who have shared their own experiences, including letting you know how your book has helped them?  

Yes! And that’s what makes me happy. Several women contacted and told me that reading Kellcey had been helpful... others said they once shared the same experience and were happy that I did write and publish this. Even male readers see this book positively. 

That's phenomenal! I mean, for such a terrible thing to have happened, what an amazing way to handle it and move on. I can understand why you published this first book, but you've since written another. Can you tell me about that?

My second book, "(His)Story of Women", is something I had to do: I’m a feminist (not a misandrist!) and wanted to write something to detail the history of the process of objectification of women and explain its consequences. 

It’s an academic essay based on the research I did at university. It involves a sociological, anthropological, historical, economical, and genetical analysis with the purpose to show that both genders are indeed physiologically different but equal in skills and intelligence; hence, empowering women is not a question of ethics, or justice, but a cornerstone of social resilience, stability, and progress. 

Now that's very interesting. I guess a lot of people reading the blurb might think you're just fighting back, against what happened to you, but it's a fascinating idea to say hey, are we different and investigate that academically instead.

I'm guessing you compiled a load of data and then somehow had to translate that into being a coherent book? I can't imagine how you did that! Was it a case of planning chapters and then slotting in research, or was it more organic and you split up the work as you went? 

I would answer both. I, of course, had a scheduled plan, necessary because it was driven by the several disciplines I needed to go through to develop my analysis. Sometimes, however, new findings pushed me to follow a direction I wasn’t initially aware of. 

And how about how you published them both? Did you go down the traditional route or self-publish instead?

KELLCEY was first published traditionally, but when my contract ended, I decided to self-publish it with Amazon. Since I was happy with it I decided to do the same with (His)Story of Women which I self-published on the same format. 

Excellent. Okay, my final question, what does the publishing future look like for you? Is there another book on the horizon?

Yes! My next book will be different though: it'll be my first historical novel. 

Oohh, that's exciting! Tell me more!

It's the story of a young Athenian woman (Vth century BC). The idea is to give a critical description of the lives of women in ancient Greece. 

I already read several classics, like Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Thucydides, Plutarch... plus several academic essays and analysis, mainly about the Athenian society in the age of Pericles, but I still have plenty of reading to do to have a clear idea of what daily life was in ancient Athens. 

Because of the density of the research and reading I still have to do, and knowing that there’s little information about women’s daily lives, it will certainly take another year or two! But it’s a beautiful challenge! 

Wow, it sounds amazing. You obviously love research, and I get the feeling your prose is going to be so rich with everything you've learnt, but how about the story itself? Do you think you'll follow several different women and multiple point-of-views, or will it be one? And will this straddle into men too? 

There’s only one heroine, and her name is Kalista (meaning the ‘most beautiful’ in ancient Greek). I chose this name because it starts with a K, and it’s easier to identify with her! 

There are of course many characters (some real, like Pericles or Socrates...) and some not, but she’s the main character. We follow her, from her birth and childhood, to her marriage (age 14!), and later follow her life as a married woman in ancient Athens. 

I don’t know yet, but something in my head told me that, because she belongs to a noble and educated family, she’s fond of philosophy, like Aspasia (Pericles’ concubine) and find a way to escape the gynaeceum thanks to philosophy.... 

I can't wait to read this! If you'd like to find out more about Kacey then please visit her website here where she also has a great blog and the links to her socials (please note, her X account has been hacked, so don't follow her there!). 

And if you enjoyed this post, then press here to get all the latest updates emailed directly to you via follow.it (You can unsubscribe at any time). Thank you!

GUEST AUTHOR - THADDEUS ARJUNA

This month's guest author interview is with Thaddeus Arjuna, who is a multi-genre author with two murder-mysteries, a sci-fi trilogy, a biography, spiritual odyssey and book of poetry, odes, short stories and rants! That bio alone has to whet your appetite!

He says of himself, I write almost entirely eBook novellas. I feel that an E-book is a living, breathing entity. It is a medium that allows me to make changes whenever I want, add, redact, re-edit, and breathe new life into the story! And I can honestly say that almost all of my books have evolved continuously over the last 10 years. #ReadAndReview

How interesting to see a digital version of your books in that way, it's a good point, but with such a diverse portfolio of work, how do you choose what to write?

Initially, I had a plan to write three books. My parents had a printing press company, and they had several author friends, like Walter Farley, Yan D'Hartog, and John D MacDonald. They were at our home regularly when I was growing up, and Mr. Farley inspired me.

My first book was "Something is Wrong with Janet." She was my mother and also an institutionalized manic depressive. It was a difficult book to write because I got a lot of pushback from family members.

My 2nd book was "The Mansion at Peacock Gully." It was the first book I published. A true crime story. The first 3 books were about events or experiences I had growing up or earlier in my Restaurant career.

Gosh, that sounds tough to write a book about your own mother, particularly with such a challenging medical diagnosis, and obviously not everyone in the family approved which must have added to your pressure, I'm so sorry to hear that but well done for tackling it.

Let's talk about your writing style and preparation next. What do you do?

I usually jot down a few things I want to write about in a story, and have a mental outline of how I want it to flow. I have only written one book in the first person, although I usually use one of the characters as a first person too.

But I do have a problem with choosing names. I struggle with it. If I am writing a true story, I will use the same names, changing a letter or two. Nowadays I do searches for names, Sci-fi, Civil War, Asian Hindu names ( For Vishnu's Tears). Creating the characters is tough, too, but I enjoy the process immensely.

I love researching names too, thank goodness for the internet 🤣 What about your characters' language style - do you allow swearing?

I swear all the time, so in most of my books, the characters do too.

That's interesting, because I struggle to use swears in my prose, I've no idea why! And how about purple prose - is that an issue for you?

The only books that I can be accused of purple prose are my Poetry book, "The Beautiful Sadness," and my Romantic Fantasy, "The Siren's Red Tide Diary." And that would be debatable. I think both books are beautiful.

I think poetry makes it more allowable somehow! Now lets move onto publishing. Indie or trad?

I know how hard it is to traditionally publish. I self-publish because essentially, I am writing for myself. I retired 10 years ago, and I needed something to do. I never had any delusions of making a living from this. I just wanted it to fill a void. And maybe I would learn something about myself.

I'm indie too, but mainly because I want the control (too many years being self-employed has done that to me!), but also I'm impatient 😂 What about the editing side of things - what do you do there?

Because I write e-books exclusively, I do regular editing. I feel an e-book is a living, breathing thing. You can always make it better. I use grammarly and I just bought the pro Grammarly.

And what about your process pre-publishing, such as sending out ARCs, deciding on a cover, etc?

I frequently give away my books for free. If they write reviews they are my beta readers. If not? Oh well.

And my friend Carol Marrs Phipps has done all of my book covers but one. She has also done all of my banners.

Okay, seeing as you've mentioned reviews and the poor uptake of readers leaving some sort of feedback, can we talk about the trickier side of writing. What things do you consider your nemesis?

I am horrible at promotion, and I struggle with every single word. With writing, I know when a book is flowing well because the writing comes easy. But I can say that as I get older, that is almost never.

I also need to improve marketing, but I have really been hurt because I lost access to a much larger account on X/ Twitter (24K followers), and I don't trust marketers (because their are SO many scams on Twitter.) I just started with Cathy (Cathy's Promos) and she turned me on to you.

Well thank you to Thaddeus (and Cathy too!) and if you'd like to find out more about Thaddeus, then please click on his Amazon author page link here or his X link here. And if you enjoyed this post, then press here to get all the latest updates emailed directly to you via follow.it (You can unsubscribe at any time). Thank you!

GUEST AUTHORS - AMANDA NELSON & LISA-MARIE POTTER

Amanda and Lisa-Marie are an award-winning, co-writing team of best friends, who create imaginary worlds, including Men In Books Aren't Better (which I've read and reviewed here), Just What the Doctor Hired, and a short story, Shivers. 

I thoroughly enjoyed their first book but then I had so many questions (how can people co-author - that's so impressive!), so let's get going!

How do you choose the ideas for your books?

The Plus One series was Lisa-Marie's idea. Because she loves the movies Pretty Woman and The Wedding Date, she thought a fake-dating romance would be fun to write. From there, she came up with the premise for Men in Books Aren't Better. Amanda thought it was brilliant, and the story was born. 

Aww, yes, I can see how those films could have inspired you, but it's one thing to imagine it, quite another to write it, so how do you navigate two people writing a novel together?

In each of our novels, we tell the story from a dual point of view. Typically, Lisa-Marie is the creative mind behind the female main character, while Amanda portrays the male main character.

As pantsers, we tend not to outline our plots but rather fly by the seat of our pants. Hence, Lisa-Marie will write a chapter for the woman and then send the draft to Amanda. Then, after reading what the female character is up to, Amanda will write the man’s chapter, and the story evolves through this back-and-forth, making the journey through each plot an adventure for both of them.

Oh wow, what a creative way to build the story! It must be fun when one of you writes something unexpected 😁 There must be some rules though, like do you create profiles for characters including appearance, characteristics, etc.?

We pick a guy that we're both attracted to, usually an actor or singer, and create a whole background and profile for them. From there, we pick a female character we think would suit the guy, and do the same for her. As for their names, we use baby name websites from whatever country we've chosen them to come from.

I think I'd like to be there for that initial chatting session, it sounds like fun 🤣 

 Moving onto the publishing side of things, why did you decide to go the traditional route?

When we began our journey, we needed the extra validation from an agent and a publisher that our story had merit; therefore, we went the traditional publishing route. 

That's understandable, and as agents/ traditional publishers are so hard to secure, that shows the quality of your writing, so congratulations to you both! Can you tell me more about your editing process?

Once we've finished a first draft, we will review it several times and read it out loud before sending it to beta readers. Once we've received their feedback, we make the necessary changes and send it to our editor, Leanne Morgena, at The Wild Rose Press. Leanne will note any more corrections we need to make, and we will go through the manuscript several more times, back and forth, until she is happy with it. 

In our opinion, a good editor, like Leanne, is worth their weight in gold. She has taught us so much—how to look for repeated words, implied prepositional phrases, and active wording.  We would not be where we are without her. 

Editors are definitely the unsung heroes of publishing! Talking about professionals, do you get involved in your cover design?

Because we are with a small traditional press, they commission the cover artists. We are allowed some input, but ultimately, the publisher has the final decision.

That seems fair enough. Do you have any tips for aspiring writers, such as pitfalls to avoid?

Common mistakes we've seen is writers not utilising beta readers instead of friends and family, not considering feedback or taking critiques personally and being offended instead of contemplating the advice and putting it to good use. We will also stress again, that a good editor is key.

I definitely think writers need to develop a thick skin, as you put your life and soul in your books, and criticism can be hard to take. But the right words from someone who knows what they're talking about makes all the difference. And talking of which, you've won a ton of awards (just see the graphic!). Can you tell me about them?

Men In Books Aren't Better has received the book of the month award from Long and Short Reviews, the Gold Literary Titan Book Award, was a finalist in the NEST awards, a finalist in the International Book Awards, a finalist in the National Excellence in Romance Fiction awards, a finalist in the Independent Author Network, and won romance book of the year from the Mid-Atlantic Region Authors. 

Just What the Doctor Hired won second place in The BookFest Awards' 2025 competition, first place in the 2025 International Impact Book Awards in Romance, and is a current running semi-finalist for the Chanticleer International Book Awards.

Wow! I mean, wow, what an achievement! So you're riding on a high, great at what you do and being recognised for it, but what about marketing? It seems to be the least-favourite part of the process for many authors, so what do you find works best for you?

First, a Goodreads giveaway - we gave away 5 paperbacks for the $100 fee, and had over 4k people enter in return. This puts our book on their "to be read" lists and was great exposure. 

Second, a Cravebooks email pull. Cravebooks puts together email pulls with giveaways by genre. It's affordable and works well.

Thank you, that's so generous of you to share! And for people who haven't read your work yet, please can you give me a quick summary of them both?

Tagline for Men in Books Aren't Better:  

In the city of high stakes. Love isn’t just a gamble. It’s the ultimate jackpot! 

However you read—print, eBook, or audiobook—Men in Books Aren’t Better 

Book 1 in the Plus One series, brings sizzling chemistry, witty banter, and a swoony book boyfriend. All the heat without the spice!   See more here

Tagline for Just What the Doctor Hired: 

One rule- no men. One problem- him! She swore off love. He swore off scandal. Fate prescribed otherwise. 

Available in eBook, paperback, and audiobook coming soon!  See more here 

To find out more, please visit their website at www.NelsonPotter.com

And if you enjoyed this post, then press here to get all the latest updates emailed directly to you via follow.it (You can unsubscribe at any time). Thank you!