An H and Five Ws with Photographer Chris Loomis

I met photographer Chris Loomis at an unbelievable showing of his work last First Friday on Roosevelt Row, in downtown PHX. Something about the soft edges of his imagery, mixed with an eerie simplicity, resonated with me. I thought to myself, I gotta meet this guy. Then, I met the guy and asked to see more of his work. Then, I had to know where this art comes from, so … here’s an interview! (All images copyright Chris Loomis 2010.)

About Chris Loomis: Chris Loomis received his BFA at the University of North Texas and a diploma at the Brooks Institute of Photography. After a job in LA as an in-house photographer for Seiniger Advertising, he moved to Arizona to start a business as a freelance commercial/editorial photographer. He has shot for numerous publications as well as many clients in the area and abroad. He has also done quite a bit of wedding work to which he owes a great deal for his experience in generating creative ideas while on the fly. Right now, along with his commercial work, he is striving to elevate and blend his love of fashion and fine art (photography) with some inspiration/admiration of science fiction (film), surrealism/pop-surrealism, film-making, and even music.

An H and Five Ws with Photographer Chris Loomis

How did you become a photographer?

I became a photographer after switching majors in college from music to fine art. I took painting, drawing, and graphic design classes and got a lot from them but couldn’t see myself making a living in those areas. Then I took my first B&W photography course and realized it was an intriguing challenge, rewarding AND something I could do as a career; it was immediate and tangible yet artistic.

Who is your biggest artistic influence?

I don’t have just one or two artistic influence(s), I have a lot. Fashion and pop-surrealism magazines (Hi-Fructose Magazine is very inspiring to me). Sci-fi television and movies totally propel my sense of wonder. Fashion design (Gareth Pugh, John Galliano, for example) also is hugely influential and inspiring. There are of course many photographers whose work influences/inspires me as well: i.e. Robert Mapplethorpe, Joel Peter Witkin, Young Bok Park, Arthur Tress, Nick Knight, David LaChapelle, and Gregory Colbert, just to name a few.

What is your definition of “creativity”?

My definition of creativity: artistic problem solving, thinking “outside of the box” in terms of innovation; not just for photography or art but in any area: science, medicine, design, fashion design, music, literature, film, even sports…it’s boundless.

Where (of the places you have NOT been) would you like to do a photo shoot someday? 

I would love to do a photo shoot on the moon or Mars. However limiting that would be, could you still imagine the possibilities?

When is the best time of day to take a photo?

There is no best time of day to shoot (photography). Anytime of day can be ideal depending on what you want to do or what your client’s needs are.

WHY are you a photographer?

The best answer I can give is that it has become the vehicle through which I have chosen to express myself creatively/artistically and at the same time make a living with it. At heart though I am also a designer, a scientist, a musician, a philosopher, and many other things, so I guess these “would be” career paths also are manifest through my photography; that’s kinda cool….

Check out Chris’s website at http://www.chrisloomis.com/. He also has a fan page on Facebook under the name Chris Loomis Photography! Go JOIN IT! Thanks for the interview, Chris, and for your amazing work!

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An H and Five Ws with Award-Winning Author Alan St. Jean

Alan St. Jean wins over kids, teachers, and parents with little more than a stanza when he reads his new Daydreams Collection to classrooms nationwide. Not only does he have a new book hitting shelves, but his birthday is Christmas. So I thought…why not? Let’s do an interview to celebrate Alan’s newest accomplishment: the release of Alyssa and the Spider!

Alan St. Jean's Alyssa and the Spider, illustrated by Libby Carruth Krock

It’s summer vacation, and all young Ralphie wants to do is relax and watch some TV! His little sister, Alyssa, has other plans. She wants to play with her big brother, but Ralphie sends her away. “She’ll be fine,” he reasoned, but Ralphie is wrong! Soon, Alyssa finds a spider, and Alyssa hates spiders. Ralphie hears her screams and begins to wonder, what would happen if his little sis was gone? Ralphie has to save her, but (gulp) he didn’t expect to find a spider so LARGE! Will Ralphie be able to save young Alyssa, or will she have to save her big brother?

Alan St. Jean spent the first 25 years of his career in management when, in 2002, he made a decision to pursue his true passions—writing and teaching. In 2007, he completed the final book of the medieval trilogy Aidan of Oren, an epic tale of friendship for all ages. His next project, a four edition picture book series called The Daydreams Collection, made its debut in 2008. Alyssa and the Spider is the third in this series. Mr. St. Jean lives in Battle Creek, MI. He is available for school visits, speaking engagements, interviews, and workshops. Visit his website at http://www.alanstjean.com.

So let’s pick his brain a bit about Alyssa and the Spider. Without further ado…

An H and Five Ws with Award-Winning Author Alan St. Jean

How did you think of the premise for Alyssa and the Spider?
I wrote Alyssa and the Spider for my little sister; it is based on a true story from way back in the day when we were young.

Who has the final say in your manuscripts?
I do.  Although much input is solicited from friends, experts, and children (ok, children are the real experts) – I have the final say.  The manuscripts are my voice; it is important that I have the final say to ensure continuity and consistency of the work.

What is your favorite part about school visits?
That’s an easy question. My favorite part of school visits is seeing the kids light up and get excited about reading and writing.

Where was your favorite author event/book signing?
It was a book signing combined with a poetry combination here in Battle Creek, Michigan.  I had the opportunity to work with the kids on their poetry and presentation skills prior to the contest, and then served as a judge for the competition.  Book signing followed with a couple of other authors.  It was a very nice, well attended event…and it was great for the kids to feel so involved.

When have you been most frustrated as an author?
I get frustrated when I submit work to publishers that gets returned in seemingly perfect, unread condition, along with a form letter telling me that my work is not what their company is looking for.  It makes me wonder, but it does not dissuade me from writing.

Why do you write children’s books?
I write children’s books because I’m a story teller, I love kids, and because I have great passion for teaching.  I’ve learned that humor and music make great teaching tools, so I incorporate them into my writing every chance I get.

Alan has TONS of resources on his website. Check them out!
AUTHOR VISITS
SONGS TO GO WITH EACH BOOK!
ABOUT HIS OTHER BOOKS
ORDER ALYSSA AND THE SPIDER

If you’re interested in a review copy, an interview, or booking an event, feel free to leave a comment here or get in touch with me! Happy holidays! And happy soon to be Christmas birthday, Alan!

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An H and Five Ws with Beautiful Creatures Authors Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

Best of Amazon 2009? Check. Wall Street Journal Best Books to Give as Gifts List? Check. American Library Association William C. Morris YA Debut Award Finalist 2010? Check. Optioned by Warner Brothers? CHECK. Seriously. And the official release date was just December 1!

Beautiful Creatures, by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl. At your local bookstore NOW!

If you’re a publishing nerd like me, you know I’m talking about newly released Beautiful Creatures from Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl. In the current literary climate, hearing about another YA paranormal romance could make your eyes roll. But we ain’t talkin’ vampires and werewolves, people. We’re talking…well, I’ll get into that tomorrow when I post my review of Beautiful Creatures. For now, you will just have to check out the taglines on the book’s website:

“Some loves are meant to be…others are cursed. There were no surprises
in Gatlin County. At least, that’s what I thought. Turns out, I couldn’t have been more wrong. There was a curse. There was a girl. And in the end, there was a grave.”

Cool, right? When I saw the ARC offer, I requested a copy. Since then, I’ve had the chance to learn more about the authors, Kami and Margaret. Margaret has written everything from video games to screenplays. She was educated at Yale, Stanford…need I go on? First and foremost, she’s a WRITER. Kami has always felt an affinity for the American South (the setting of Beautiful Creatures). She has an MA in Education, and she could easily live on pizza and Diet Coke. Together, these women created this debut novel, already receiving multiple awards and rave reviews.

Kami and Margaret. (Photo credit: Alex Hoerner.)

Tomorrow, I will post my review of Beautiful Creatures. Now, I would like you to meet Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl.

An H and Five Ws with Beautiful Creatures Authors Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

How easy was it to share writing responsibilities with Kami/Margaret…or did you ever get frustrated?
Kami: Margie’s a workhorse. We edited BC while she was stuck in bed, waiting for back surgery. The only time I get frustrated is when there’s no ice at Margie’s house. I need ice with my Diet Coke.
Margie: We fight like sisters, but never about writing. We’ve always had this weird, perfect agreement about the Caster world.

Who was your favorite author when you were a teenager?
Kami: S.E. Hinton & Judy Blume
Margie: I was sort of a classics/classic fantasy girl. There was on the one hand Jane Austen & the Brontes, and on the other Susan Cooper, Ursula LeGuin, Ray Bradbury, Diana Wynne Jones…

What was it like writing from the perspective of a sixteen year old boy?
Kami: I have four brothers, and most of my friends growing up were guys, so a sixteen year-old boy wasn’t a stretch. But Ethan is really special. He’s the boyfriend we all wish we had in high school.
Margie: It’s not really so much the perspective of a sixteen year-old boy as the perspective of one sixteen year-old boy. We know Ethan so well, he’s easy to write. We always know what he’s thinking.

Where is your favorite place in the American south?
Kami: New Orleans, LA, but I’m also in love with Charleston, SC.
Margie: Charleston, with Savannah running a close second.

When have you been most frustrated with the publishing process?
Kami: We have had the best experience at Little, Brown. Our editors, Jennifer Hunt & Julie Scheina, are geniuses, and LBC has been behind BEAUTIFUL CREATURES from the beginning. They couldn’t have done more for us.
Margie: I think we’ve only ever been frustrated with ourselves in the process— when we get stuck trying to figure our way out of some corner we’ve written ourselves into. Revising is so much harder than drafting, especially for me.

WHY are you a writer?
Kami: As a teenager, I filled notebooks with poetry, and in college, it was short stories. But truthfully, I’m a writer because of Margie. She knew I used to write and pushed me to start again.
Margie: I don’t know why I’m a writer, but I’ve always known I was one – probably since I was five years old. Whether I was writing academic papers or videogames or screenplays, I was always writing. But Kami isn’t just a writer, she’s a finisher, and that’s something I’ve learned from her.

You can keep up with Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl at www.BeautifulCreaturestheBook.com. And visit Little, Brown’s Beautiful Creatures website at www.SomeLovesAreCursed.com.

Tomorrow, I will post my review! Thanks for the interview, ladies! And keep working hard promoting your award-winning, movie-making debut!

PS: Random shout out. There’s an interview with me at Lost in Books. All about BOOKS. Check it out… http://imlostinbooks.blogspot.com/2009/12/sara-dobie-answers-20-questions.html.

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An H and Five Ws with NYT Bestselling Author Mary Alice Monroe

I’m very lucky to have had the chance to meet bestselling author Mary Alice Monroe. Not only is she a talented writer, but she’s a pleasant, cheerful, upbeat person who never fails to bring a glow with her. I can understand her GLOW. She gets to live here, in Charleston, South Carolina, where it’s 70 degrees on Thanksgiving. She gets to write while sitting at a desk overlooking the ocean. And finally, she gets to WRITE about the things she loves and actually get paid to do it. So without further ado, meet Mary Alice Monroe.

Mary Alice Monroe

Author Bio: New York Times bestselling author Mary Alice Monroe found her true calling in environmental fiction when she moved to coastal South Carolina. Already a successful author, she was captivated by the beauty and fragility of her new home. Her experiences living in the midst of a habitat that was quickly changing gave her a strong and important focus for her books.

Since then, she has explored the problems of endangered sea turtles (The Beach House, Swimming Lessons, and her first children’s book, Turtle Summer), raptors (Skyward), the indigenous grass and endangered ecosystem (Sweetgrass), and the rivers and mountains of North Carolina in Time is a River.  Publishers Weekly wrote, “Monroe is in her element when describing the wonders of nature and the ways people relate to it.” In July 2009, Pocket Books released her newest novel, Last Light over Carolina, which brings alive the disappearing world of the coastal shrimping industry. 

Monroe continues to write richly textured books that delve into the complexities of the human psyche and the parallels between the land and life.  Mary Alice is an active conservationist.  She is a dedicated member of the Isle of Palms/Sullivan’s Island Turtle Team and serves on the Board of the South Carolina Aquarium. For information, videos, blogs and more, go to www.maryalicemonroe.com.

An H and Five Ws with NYT Bestselling Author Mary Alice Monroe

1) How did you get published?
I did all of the steps that I recommend to authors hoping to get published.  First, I joined a writer’s group.  This group focused on writing techniques, critiques, and mutual support.  We also learned selling techniques: the query letter, proposal writing, manuscript preparation, and synopsis.  I attended conferences where NY agents and editors spoke, did workshops, and held meetings. This is very important.  At conferences I signed up for interviews.  There were groups with one agent and eight of us wannabes sitting at a big table.  Each of us had two minutes to pitch our stories.  It was painful.  Some stuttered, some went on too long and were cut off, and others were prepared and stood out.  Those few were the ones asked to send material.  I also did one-on-one interviews.  Again, a good pitch is critical.  I discovered that no agent or editor will buy or represent your manuscript based on these meetings.  The best you can hope for is for him or her to say, “Send the manuscript.”  Then you can immediately send the manuscript to his or her office with the note stating when you met the agent and that she requested the manuscript.  That at least gets the agent to read a page or two!

I also volunteered at conferences.  I highly recommend it.  I once volunteered to drive an agent I liked to the airport after the conference.  We talked in the car and she asked me to send the manuscript.  I did.  She bought it and that first novel was published. That novel, The Long Road Home, was published by Harper in 1995. It had a small print run and sold out, never to be seen again.  Until this November!  My first novel will be released for the first time since its original publication in November 2010! 

2) Who is your biggest literary influence?
There isn’t only one.  I studied William Blake extensively and he left his mark in everything I do.  I read Charles Dickens voraciously and believe he is the master of characterization.  James Clavell’s work shaped my concept of the noble hero and his thorough research, especially in Shogun, shaped my desire to reveal history and setting with color and verve.  Pat Conroy’s love of the southern landscape inspired me. Rosamunde Pilcher’s talent for revealing character through dialogue, and her ability to make small details show and not tell is unparalleled.  Finally, Rachel Carson’s dedication to nature and the landscape has greatly influenced my work and my motivation.

3) What is your LEAST favorite thing about being a writer?
Deadlines.  

Last Light Over Carolina, by Mary Alice Monroe

4) Where did the idea for Last Light Over Carolina come from?
I’ve always been fascinated with the sight of the shrimp boats on the horizon.  They seemed romantic, yet I was well aware of the hardships and struggles the shrimpers faced.  One day my neighbor, friend, and mentor, Clay Cable, who is also VP of the shrimper’s association, said to me, “Mary Alice, if you’re going to write that book about the shrimpers you’d better hurry up!”   I knew he was right.  The shrimpers are facing threats at many levels–the glut of inferior imported shrimp is driving down prices, the soaring price of diesel fuel is making it too expensive to take the boats out, and the high value of coastal land is causing folks to sell dock space to developers.  I realized that shrimp boats were a vanishing part of our southern landscape and heritage, as was the shrimping industry.  I wanted to tell their story while I could.

5) When have you had the most trouble completing one of your books?
Whenever I feel I don’t have enough research done, or I haven’t found the soul of  the story—that something I want to say through my story—I’m stalled.  It is a frustrating, agonizing time for me.  I dig deeper, I take long walks, I pray, I reflect.  Once the story “clicks” in my mind, I like to write fast so I can get it down.  After that, it’s a lot of hard work, but I’m happy because I’m in the zone.

6) WHY are you a WRITER?
Why do I breathe?   I’ve never not been a story teller.  As a child I made up stories and songs.  I’ve always had a vivid imagination. When I wasn’t making up stories I was reading.  I wrote my first story when I was eight.  I believe it is important for all writers to learn and polish their craft.  But the artist – a painter, a dancer, a singer, a writer – is born with the talent.

Thanks for the interview, Mary Alice! Keep up the great work!

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An H and Five Ws with Lowcountry Author Dorothea Benton Frank

I’m admittedly a “Yankee.” I’m from Ohio, and I didn’t know the word “Lowcountry” until I moved here. (I still didn’t really get it for months, however, and I still get lost if I leave downtown.) Anyway, my neighbor upon my arrival in Charleston was Sullivan’s Island, born and raised, and she still makes fun of my Northern roots. However, it was this neighbor who made me truly appreciate the art and culture of the South. My victim…er…interviewee for this H and Five Ws is a Lowcountry icon. As a fellow writer and newbee Southerner, I am happy to introduce author Dorothea Benton Frank…

Dorothea Benton Frank is the New York Times bestselling author of BULLS ISLAND (William Morrow 2008), THE LAND OF MANGO SUNSETS (William Morrow 2007), THE CHRISTMAS PEARL (William Morrow 2007), FULL OF GRACE (William Morrow 2006), PAWLEYS ISLAND (Berkley 2005), SHEM CREEK (Berkley 2004), ISLE OF PALMS (Berkley 2003), PLANTATION (Jove 2001) and SULLIVAN’S ISLAND (Jove 2000). Ms Frank has appeared on NBC’s Today Show, Parker Ladd’s Book Talk, and many local network affiliated television stations. She is a frequent speaker on creative writing and the creative process for students of all ages and in private venues as the National Arts Club, the Junior League of New York, Friends of the Library organizations and the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. She has also been a guest speaker at the South Carolina Book Festival, Novello, North Carolina’s festival of books and the Book and Author annual event in Charleston, SC, sponsored by the Post & Courier. The author, who was born and raised on Sullivan’s Island in South Carolina and has been married for 25 years to Peter Frank, currently divides her time between New Jersey and South Carolina where their children attend college.

So here we go! An H and Five Ws with Lowcountry Author Dorothea Benton Frank

How did you become a best-selling author?
I had a great publisher who loved the story of SULLIVAN’S ISLAND, and they sold the dickens out of it.

Who is the writer you admire the most?
Dickens.  Just kidding.  Dumb joke, duh.  I like a lot of writers.  Too many to choose but one.  Among the dead?  Shakespeare, Wilde, Austen, the Brontes, O’Connor, Conrad, blah, blah, blah – who doesn’t love them?  In today’s world?  William Trevor takes the award for Great Britain and Old Man Conroy made the South rise again.  Although Harper Lee helped.  And even though Meg Wolitzer is a Yankee, she’s a heckuva writer.

What was it like appearing on The Today Show?
Intense, unnerving and terrifying.

Where is your favorite place to go in the Charleston, SC area?
Bob Ellis Shoes on King Street.  Ask for Richard.  And the beach on Sullivan’s Island, obviously.

When have you had the most trouble finishing a novel?
When I don’t have a deadline, which was only with my first book.  After that, I had to discipline myself to make deadlines, and you are never finished with a book.  I could always rewrite.

WHY are you a writer?
This is a much more complicated question than you might imagine.  The short answer is I write to entertain, to learn and to express my deep and abiding love for the Lowcountry of South Carolina. 

For more about Dorothea Benton Frank, visit her website: http://www.dotfrank.com/index.html. Thanks so much for this interview, Dorothea! I wish you continued luck and prosperity! (See we Yankees CAN be nice!)

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An H and Five Ws with the Queen of Not Being OLD

My parents look and act like people in their thirties. Considering I’m 27, they are not, in fact, in their thirties. Yet, they pull it off, and I hope to someday attain this mysterious Dobie fountain of youth status into my mid-life. So when I came upon the blog “How Not To Act Old,” I fell in love.

The BOOK! How Not to Act Old by Pamela Redmond Satran!

In each entry, NY Times bestselling author Pamela Redmond Satran gives tips on HOW NOT TO ACT OLD. And dang it, Pamela is funny. I dare you to try to be sneaky and read her blog at work without busting out in chuckles at your desk.

So I had to interview her for my blog. Duh. Without further ado…

An H and Five Ws with the Queen of Not Being OLD, Pamela Redmond Satran

How did you become a “blogger”?
I first tried to sell the idea for How Not To Act Old as a magazine article, but nobody bit.  So I thought I’d do it as a blog.  I figured that if it worked, I’d amass enough material for a book proposal, and I also wanted to learn about blogging on wordpress since my baby-naming site, nameberry.com, was about to launch and I knew I’d have to start blogging for that.

Who is your favorite “old lady”?
Hmmmm, great question.  A close friend of mine died late last year of pancreatic cancer, and his mother called me today – she’s close to 90 – and said she was really sorry, she’d been thinking about me and would love to get together, but she was just too busy.  I admire that and aspire to it.  So I might have said P.D. James or my mother-in-law, but today I’ll say my friend’s mom, Helen Pinsley.

What makes you laugh?
Really really really stupid movies!  I just totally embarrassed myself on an airplane howling while watching “I Love You, Man.”  My husband tried to pretend he didn’t know me.

Where do you get your ideas?
I honestly get a million ideas all the time, which I think is true of most working writers.  You learn working at a magazine (I was an editor at Glamour) that ideas are a dime a dozen – it’s always what else, what else, what else, so you get tuned in to the inspiration that’s all around.  I can sit down and purposefully think up ideas for anything, but much more fun are the ideas that just hit you out of nowhere.  I get a couple of workable ideas every day and maybe one great one a week – I wish I had time to pursue every one!

When have you fallen victim to acting “OLD”?
Haha – sometimes I feel my body conspires against me, so even if I’m trying my best to act not old, my legs get stiff or I can only walk in really comfortable shoes or I can’t lift something heavy.  I visited my daughter in Paris this week and I felt this hobbling off the plane in my rubber-soled sandals, getting winded as we rushed through the airport, having to lift my suitcase up and down stairs.  At my daughter’s apartment she had a pile of these amazing shoes – I mean really amazing, with five inch heels and mirrors all over them and zippers, just crazy stuff – and I thought, okay, I don’t even think I could sit down in these shoes.

Why are you a writer?
I wanted to be a fashion designer but somebody told me I’d never meet any boys, and then I wanted to be an artist but my dad told me I was lousy at art, and so writer seemed like the only other appealing option.  I wish sometimes that I had wanted to be a hedge fund manager, or a movie producer – something more high-powered and a lot better paying – but I was pretty naive.  And now I think it’s great to have a career I control myself, that no one can take away from me, that I can do until I’M old.

Pamela Redmond Satran

ABOUT PAM: Pamela Redmond Satran is the author of five novels, including Younger and The Man I Should Have Married, and the coauthor of ten bestselling name books, including The Baby Name Bible and Cool Names for Babies.  Her humor book, How Not To Act Old, a New York Times bestseller, is based on her blog http://hownottoactold.com, and she is also a developer of the baby-naming website nameberry (http://nameberry.com).  A cowriter of The Glamour List column, she writes for The Daily Beast, The New York Times, and More, and is the founder of the 800-member Montclair Editors & Writers (MEWS) group.  Satran lives in Montclair, NJ with her husband Richard Satran, an editor at Fidelity, and is the mother of three children.

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An H and Five Ws with YA Debut Author Becca Fitzpatrick

I love Shelf Awareness, because it gives me the chance to request super cool advance review copies. Which is precisely how I came upon Becca Fitzpatrick and her October 13, 2009 debut YA novel, Hush, Hush (Simon and Schuster).

Becca Fitzpatrick's Hush, Hush

From the book homepage: “For Nora Grey, romance was not part of the plan. She’s never been particularly attracted to the boys at her school, no matter how much her best friend, Vee, pushes them at her. Not until Patch came along. With his easy smile and eyes that seem to see inside her, Nora is drawn to him against her better judgment. But after a series of terrifying encounters, Nora’s not sure who to trust. Patch seems to be everywhere she is, and to know more about her than her closest friends. She can’t decide whether she should fall into his arms or run and hide. And when she tries to seek some answers, she finds herself near a truth that is way more unsettling than anything Patch makes her feel. For Nora is right in the middle of an ancient battle between the immortal and those that have fallen – and, when it comes to choosing sides, the wrong choice will cost her life.”

Obviously, Hush, Hush sounded perfect for an ex-Twilight junkie, and I was lucky enough to be one of the chosen ARC recipients. For today, we’re going to talk about the author, Becca Fitzpatrick. Becca grew up reading Nancy Drew and Trixie Belden with a flashlight under the covers. She graduated college with a degree in health, which she promptly abandoned for storytelling. When not writing, she’s most likely prowling sale racks for reject shoes, running, or watching crime dramas on TV. Hush, Hush is her first novel. (For more, visit the book/author homepage: http://www.beccafitzpatrick.com/index.html.)

Tomorrow, I’ll post my full review of Hush, Hush. Until then, you MUST meet Becca—a passionate, talented, young author, ready to take the publishing world by storm. (Stephanie Meyer better watch her ass…)

An H and Five Ws with YA Debut Author Becca Fitzpatrick

How did you become a writer?

Becca Fitzpatrick

The day was February 3, 2003, and the event was my twenty-fourth birthday. After a long debate between Japanese cooking lessons and an eight-week writing class, my husband decided to give me the writing class for my birthday present. I have to admit, I was hoping for the Japanese cooking lessons because A) I took one English course in college and my professor threatened to fail me, and B) I didn’t think I had a story to tell. But at the same time, I felt a scary and almost magnetic draw to the class. When I was eight years old, I watched Romancing the Stone for the first time and promptly announced to my mom that I would grow up to be a writer. Granted, I thought all writers hunted for treasure in Colombia and fell in love with a sexy, mysterious stranger a.k.a. Michael Douglas.

Who is your biggest literary influence?

Ooh, good question. I love the sense of adventure in Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series, but I also feel like reading Sandra Brown’s romantic suspense put me on the path to writing. I love twisty, turny, thrilling stories, and I think Sandra Brown has mastered all three.

What has been the hardest thing about being a debut author?

Not understanding everything that goes into publishing a book. Maybe that’s how it is for every debut author – maybe you have to dive in and learn as you go. I feel like I’ve learned a lot this past year as I’ve worked to get HUSH, HUSH ready for publication, but at the same time, I feel like I have quite a bit still to learn. Every debut author should get to take a crash course in publishing. What You’ve Gotten Yourself Into 101!

Where did you get the idea for Hush, Hush?

The very first inspiration for the story came from an experience in my own tenth-grade biology class. We must have been studying human reproduction, because my teacher asked me, in front of the whole class, to name characteristics I would be attracted to in a mate (I know!). I sat next to a really cute boy, and the thought of naming characteristics I might look for in a mate was a humiliation I was not about to subject myself to. I told my teacher, “pass,” and he moved on to another student, but the experience always stuck with me, and when I sat down to write HUSH, HUSH, that little piece of my history evolved into an early scene in the book.

When have you been most frustrated with the writing process?

After I sold HUSH, HUSH, I had to learn to work on a deadline. That’s been a new and, at times, very frustrating process. It’s hard to feel creative when you’re rushed. I think (hope!) I’m getting better at it, but when I sit down to write on a deadline, I can’t seem to block the ticking clock out of my mind, and I find it very distracting. In a perfect world, I could take all the time I needed to write and edit (I can hear my editor laughing all the way from New York).

WHY are you a writer?

I mentioned knowing I wanted to be a writer when I was eight years old, but I got sidetracked for several years, thinking I wanted to be a marine biologist or maybe even a spy. During that time, I wrote in my journal daily and read voraciously – the best parts of my day. Deep inside, I knew I wasn’t focusing on what I loved. When my husband registered me for the writing class, I was a horrible, melodramatic writer, but I was happy. I’ve been happy ever since.

Thanks, Becca! Like I said, the full review for Hush, Hush will go up tomorrow. Enjoy! And be sure to check out this debut novel, hitting bookshelves October 13, 2009.

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An H and Five Ws with Photographer Brennan Wesley

I have a friend who’s a photographer. Recently, he asked me to do a photo shoot. Since he’s my friend, I said, “YES!” After washing the sand off my legs and cursing helium balloons, I realized that for the price of me having done his shoot, Brennan Wesley would have to do an interview. So. THERE! HA! What follows is said interview, and it turned out just as enlightening and semi-self-deprecating as I expected. Oh, and I’ve included a couple shots of me from our Sullivan’s Island adventure. ENJOY!

An H and Five Ws with Photographer Brennan Wesley

How did you become a photographer?

I was always a big fan of the paparazzi and the way they stalked the famous, hid in people’s shrubs, and went through celeb’s trash. It just looked real exciting.

The real reason: I loved art and sucked at math, English, Spanish, and science.

Who is your biggest artistic influence?

<My mom, she always had the crayons, construction paper out. Making things was always more fun than buying them. When I was a wee boy in the neighborhood, all the kids were riding their bikes and every one of them had a plastic BMX plate mounted in front of the handlebars with a number on it. Everyone but me. I went home crying to mom. She broke out the cardboard, tin foil, and blue paint, real fancy. She put three numbers on mine, which, being six, I didn't understand. She finished up, strapped it to the bike, and I tore off down the street toward the pack. When I approached, they all stopped riding, looked at my number plate, and said, "007, how cool.” Thanks, Mom, for making me the coolest six-year-old M@*% F*@#ker on the block.

What is your LEAST favorite thing about being a photographer?

Corporate headshots. Really, I hate them. Still better than sitting in a cube.

Where was your favorite photo shoot location?

Tortola, Tanzania, Maine, anywhere, as long as it involves a plane, helicopter, four-wheel drive, boat, or camel, I’m in.

When have you wanted to give up on the “Artist” thing?

(“Artist” thing? You make it sound like a disease or Robert Downey Jr. movie.)

Never. After sitting in a cube for a few years, if it’s not the “Artist” thing, I’ll dig holes, shine shoes, or do anything but sit in a 3 3/4 sided box. I do have a tantrum now and then and think, “I suck, my work sucks, the world sucks.” Then I have a few beers, and it’s better.

WHY are you a photographer?

I like to approach people and ask them if I can do a photo shoot with them and instantly watch the words “alert,” “pervert,” “serial killer” flash across their forehead. Actually working with people and the variety of weird shit I get to see. Brain surgery, nude women, Bill Clinton, Africa, food…come on now, what could be better?

BRENNAN’S BIO: Being raised by the Tin Man, Scarecrow, and Cowardly Lion have filled me with unlimited amounts of courage, a giant heart, and the right half of a brain. The scarecrow got the left half. He’s a genius balancing a budget but extremely flammable during the dry season. Along with the courage came a camera. They knew what I was missing before I did. My passion for this profession has led me far and wide around the world and into lives of tribesmen to soccer moms. Aside from shooting, I spend the balance of my time in awe, surfing, or looking for my sunglasses. I live in downtown Charleston, SC, where you’ll find me at La Fourchette enjoying a nice glass of wine and pomme frites, double fried in duck fat. I was actually born and raised in Miami. But when I tell people that they say, “You don’t look Cuban.” Website: http://brennanwesley.com AND http://brennanwesley.blogspot.com.

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An H and Five Ws with Fiction Author Karl Meade, Part 2

Where do we like to write? “In bed. In a bar. Anywhere alcohol or sex is involved,” says Karl Meade. I hope you loved Part 1 of this interview, and Part 2 is just as comically inappropriate and inventive. What a guy. Love his work. Reminder: Karl’s website is http://KarlMeade.com. Go visit! And watch out for his upcoming release, Odd Jobs!

The completion of An H and Five Ws with Fiction Author Karl Meade.

What do you dislike about being a writer?
The isolation, both physical and psychological. The irony of being a writer is that to examine what it is to be human, you almost have to drop out of the flow of being human. You become observer rather than participant.

The only photo I have of Karl Meade. He's very mysterious, okay?

I read a quote by a Canadian writer, Keath Fraser, where he talked about the writer as pearl diver. Except that as a novelist, you re-surface years later, gasping with the bends, holding your shining pearl aloft, only to find the world has moved on. The diving boat is long gone, and your diving partners don’t recognise you with beard and grey hair. You turn to comic, self-effacing prose, and fruit juices. Put more simply: you’re a madman boring the shit out of your friends with your latest half-baked project. And you can hardly blame them for yawning.

Physically: carpal tunnel, shoulder knots and eye strain. My lower back has bought my masseuse a new SUV. I may write my next novel by hand, partly because it’s a period piece, and partly to change the way I approach the text. Then I’ll pay my daughter to type it on an IBM Selectric, just for the sound of it.

Writing has also made me a dyslexic stuttering fool. I can hardly get a sentence out without stopping to orally edit myself mid-stream—restructuring sentences, stack-dumping thesaurus outputs, while mobilising arguments against the very idea that under-pinned the sentence in the first place: nonsense, you fool.

Writing has made me a grotesque. And I love me for it.

Where in the world have you felt most inspired to write?
In bed. In a bar. Anywhere alcohol or sex is involved. Like drinking, and sex, I only write when alone or with someone else. The setting doesn’t matter much. Actually, that’s not quite true. The best place is in any room where I am alone. If I can close the door and find relative quiet and calm, the pen soon appears. No matter where that room is.

When have you been most frustrated by the publishing process?
My first novel, “Half-Life”, was rejected about 75 times. I had been writing for over 15 years and had spent 8 years writing and re-writing “Half-Life”. Two agents had already said they would represent “Half-Life”, and then changed their minds. When this happened a third time, after a year of re-writes with this third agent, I hit a bit of a low.

Odd Jobs, by Karl Meade. Available Fall 2009.

But after a few months of chatty therapy, the decapitation fantasies receded, somewhat, and life came down to a basic decision: I would either write or I wouldn’t. I decided to write a book for the pure fun of it. That book became “Odd Jobs”, which I’m publishing this fall. As they say, out of darkness comes light. Out of failure comes…. well, probably more failure. And then more therapy, and more material, another book, and more fun.

WHY are you a WRITER??
Who said I was a writer? I’ve always said that as an engineer I make a pretty good writer, and as a writer I make a pretty good engineer. But if you want to suffer a more serious stab at this killer question, I’ll start by copping out with two quotes:

1) Northrope Frye: “The fundamental job of the imagination in ordinary life is to produce, out of the society we have to live in, a vision of the society we want to live in.” (That is, a world in which I’m handsome, make the NHL, and get the girl.)

2) Gertrude Stein: “Disillusionment in living is finding that no one can really ever be agreeing with you completely in anything.”

The sad, and comic, thing about life is that ultimately we are alone in our experience. I think everyone feels there is much more to our lives than we can possibly express in conversation, that our spoken words fall far short of the wondrous “otherness” that underlies our experience of being alive. Since writers are semi-nuts and live in denial, they try to transcend this. I think this is what art, in all forms, is trying to get at. With the possible exception of disco.

But I’m not necessarily trying to rewrite or clarify my past experience; rather I’m trying to crystallise what it’s like to experience life from my point for view. Maybe this is the point of story and myth: to create a parallel universe we can share from a common vantage point—in a theatre, around a campfire, or on a couch with a book. And then to spend a few pleasant hours vehemently, completely, disagreeing over what it is, and what it means. Sharing our disillusionment.

But this is way too serious. Everyone knows the real reason “why” is for the chicks and the money.

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An H and Five Ws with Fiction Author Karl Meade, Part 1

“Writing has made me a grotesque. And I love me for it,” says Karl Meade. His words reach out from the page and smack you in the face. All the while, even with the red outline of his palm on your cheek, you’re still smiling. So I asked this writer fellow to answer some questions for me, and he did not disappoint. I’m cutting this H and Five Ws in two posts to save you the pain of laughing so hard in one sitting, you break a rib. More to come next week. That is, if I make it back successfully from a college friend’s bachelorette party in Charlotte tomorrow.

About Karl Meade. (You choose the bio you prefer. For all YOU know, they’re both true explanations of a writer’s inherent split personality.)

1) The writer has never published so much as a matchbook. Long ago, a few lines appeared in obscure, bankrupt magazines to which he had donated heavily. No one has ever said anything positive about his writing or grooming. Brace yourself for greatness.

2) The writer has published an enormous volume of stunning fiction and poetry in a numerous literary magazines in Canada, such as The Fiddlehead, Open Letter, and Dandelion, and was an editor for the ground-breaking literary magazine, Absinthe. He was an upstanding member of the Creative Writing program at the University of Calgary, and has given many public readings from his work, to rave guffaws and standing ovations. He has been long-listed for the Woody-Nooker, and the prestigious Filler Prize, both of which even his enemies concede he should’ve won. He lives in Canada with his wife, two daughters, several animals, and a large pet cemetery, to which he reads nightly. For info about his upcoming fiction release, visit his website: www.KarlMeade.com.

An H And Five Ws with Fiction Author Karl Meade, Part 1

How did you become a writer?
By writing.

I recently read Malcolm Gladwell’s theory (in his book “Outliers”) that it takes 10,000 hours of training and practice (failure) before you can do your best work, whatever your calling, whether it be arts, sports, science, or sex. He claims all great successes, including so-called child prodigies, had this kind of preparation. I think I’m somewhere around 20,000 hours of writing now. So by that theory, I’m either very dense, or a late bloomer.

My twin dreams growing up were to play in the NHL and to date Farrah Fawcet. I probably played 20,000 hours of hockey, to no avail, and spent 50,000 hours envisioning Farrah, to no avail. I did, however, enjoy great success in my head. So I turned to writing.

Gladwell’s theory is not unlike that definition of insanity: doing the same thing over and over, expecting a different result. To do your best work, then, to aspire to do something very good, or even great, you have to be at least semi-nuts.

Here’s roughly how I put in my 20,000 hours. I didn’t start writing seriously until I graduated from university, in engineering, and joined the working world. I began with the usual failed coming-of-age novel. From this I learned I needed help, and stronger drugs. I got both. I studied Creative Writing at the University of Calgary under Fred Wah, a Governor General Award winning “language” poet with a goatee and attitude. Fred completely blew my doors off. I literally exploded with language and stories and poetry. I wrote every minute I could for several years, taking further courses and rip-your-guts-out workshops with other writers much more talented than me. I wrote immense volumes of drivel. I papered my room with rejections. Eventually, about 30 pieces of poetry and short stories appeared in litmags over the years. I also read from my work publicly every chance I got, and co-edited a literary magazine for a time.

Who is your biggest literary influence?
All over the map. I am the Zelig of literary influence. Woody Allen, for example, in an early short story No Kadish for Weinstein (from memory, so maybe mis-quoted): “He reached out for her and she moved and his hand came to rest in a bowl of sour cream.” How can you get better than that?

In my early poet – prose writing days, Michael Ondaatje, Margaret Atwood, and Carol Shields. Then in my early novel-writing phase, Doctorow and Irving, as well as Updike and Morrison.

More recently, though, Charles Portis and Michael Chabon are the two I pull off the shelf most. They have the rare ability to combine the comic and serious, often in the same paragraph or sentence. Portis has the best wry voice of anyone I’ve read, especially in Dog of the South; but also in True Grit, an under-rated page-turner with an undeserved clichéd reputation from the John Wayne film. Chabon’s Wonder Boys is magic in both print and film.

But it also depends on what I’m trying to do at the time. For pure driving prose, you can’t beat Cormac McCarthy or Garcia Marquez. For dialogue, early Roddy Doyle wins hands-down. Few writers can match him, especially in multi-person dialogue. Most writers don’t even try to write dialogue scenes with more than two or three characters. Doyle does it with ease.

Elmore Leonard and Raymond Chandler never fail a re-read: deceptively simple and clear.

Hemingway is the best cure for adverbitis.

In short: I admire writers with heart and a sense of humour.

Thanks, Karl. I’d say you have both. END Part 1. Part 2 of this interview with Karl Meade next week. Best of luck surviving your weekend. I know I’m gonna need it.

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