Interview with Jacquelyn Sylvan on Community Fridays

Welcome to Community Fridays!

During Community Fridays, I interview authors, editors, publishers, and pretty much anyone else who I can get my hands on from the writing and publishing community. Hope you enjoy, and feel free to suggest new participants. Check out current and past interviews here. Only have a minute? Click here for interviews at a glance.

Today's guest is Jacquelyn Sylvan, author of the book Surviving Serendipity.

I was reading a blog post you wrote about a book signing you had back in June. It sounded like a great experience - lots of interesting people to talk to, and you even managed to sell out all of your books! Do you have any fun signing stories to tell? Advice for authors who are worried about their first signing?

Ha…I have a lot of great stories to tell, and I haven’t even done that many events yet! One rather interesting signing was in the Waldenbooks in Stroud Mall, Stroudsburg, PA. After giving one woman my bookmark, she looked at me, smiled, hit me with it, and then walked away. That same day, I also traded a bookmark to a gentleman for an orange golf ball, which I still have.

My advice to authors… just remember, there’s going to be at least one, if not more, signings where you’re going to tank. No books sold, one or two books sold, etc. There are going to be days where people just aren’t buying anything. But when you’re at a signing and you’re not doing well, pay attention. Try a number of different opening lines. (You are approaching people and talking to them, rather than waiting for them to come up to you, RIGHT?) If one particular opening line seems to get people’s attention more than others, play around with it. Tweak it. Don’t be a robot. And be very, very nice to the bookstore staff. Buy them chocolate and stuff. Make them remember you, so that when someone asks them for a book recommendation, yours will be the one they pluck off the shelf and hand to the customer.

Just please, please remember this… at least once, your event is going to suck. Do not take this as a sign that you should give up and go back to your day job. If you resign yourself to the fact that this is going to happen at least once, then, when it does, you’ll take it in stride. And just think…when you’re so famous people start writing books about you, it’ll make a very dramatic and heart-wrenching scene in your biography.

Would you like to tell us a little about your novel, Surviving Serendipity?

Well, since you twisted my arm... :) Surviving Serendipity is the first book I’ve written. I’ve always loved the epic fantasy genre, but was disappointed by the lack of strong female leads in that genre. So, I wrote one myself!

The story goes like this: June is an ordinary young woman, or so she thinks, until one night a stranger shows up in her empty apartment and abducts her to a world halfway across the universe, Thallafrith… a world she’s soon told is her homeland. But Thallafrith is in trouble, and June is the only one who can save it. Despite her reluctance to rise to the role of hero and accept this new reality, June uses her newly-discovered talents to guide herself and her companions through the kingdom of Prendawr. But all is not what it seems, and June has to learn the truth about her own origins as she struggles to keep her friends alive. In the end, she must make a devastating decision that begs the question—how much can one heart take?

The main character in Surviving Serendipity, June, is very much a fish out of water. In fact, she eventually realizes that her entire known life has been a sham. What made you want to write about a person gaining self-knowledge and using that to overcome obstacles?

I think that one reason we all find disaster situations, like the tsunami and Hurricane Katrina, so fascinating is because they are the few situations where we can find out what people are really made of. So much of us is what we’re surrounded by; our homes, our families and friends, our things. When you strip all of that away, you find the true nature of the person. And as we sit in our comfortable living rooms watching ordinary people rise to heroism, I think we all wonder—what would I do? And so I wrote June’s story, the story of a very average girl (she thinks, anyway), who, when she finds herself in such a situation, does what we all hope we’d do.

In addition to writing, you have an interesting occupation that you've described as "professional vampire." Has this affected your writing at all, and if so, in what way?

To clarify, I’m a phlebotomist—most people don’t know what that is, though, so professional vampire seems to clear things up nicely. And, actually my job has had a pretty big impact on my writing, but not in the way you’d think. Before I was a phlebotomist, I was a veterinary technician, which translates to “animal nurse who sprints for twelve hours a day.” I didn’t exactly have a lot of free time, physical or mental, to spend with my imagination.

Then I became a phlebotomist, which translates to “woman who sits and reads library books all day, waiting for people who need their blood drawn.” Suddenly, I had a lot of free time, and my brain gave me something to do with it.

Another way my careers have influenced my writing is in my characters. Most of them end up in some profession related to either the medical or animal fields. It gives me a way to feel closer to my characters…and saves me a lot of tedious research, my least-favorite thing about writing.

What's it like to be a first-time published author? Do you have any special projects in the works that you'd like to tell us about?

Being a first-time author, or an author on any level, is a lot of work. And not just the fun kind of work. You have to be a marketer and a salesperson, too, and those things don’t exactly come naturally to me. You have to commit to changing yourself, though… the industry is what it is; adapt or die.

I do have a project I’m working on now, which is a werewolf thriller trilogy. I have an agent, who is working on her end to get the first book, Immortal Moon, sold, and I’m working to get the second one polished and the third one written. I’m very excited about it, not only because it’s a great supernatural story, but also because this is my first foray into sequels. Honestly, Immortal Moon was supposed to be a stand-alone, but when my agent told me that if I made it into a trilogy she could probably get it sold, I did.

Another back-burner project I’m working on is one I’m really excited about. I still don’t have a title; I’ve been referring to it as The Ghost Story, just to make it easier for discussion. It’s a YA supernatural romance, the idea for which came to me in a dream. My subconscious is so cool sometimes.

What is your one super-secret tip to getting published?

Faith. If you don’t believe that your book is going to not only get published, but go to the top, then a prospective publisher isn’t going to believe it, either. And if you don’t believe your book is the absolute best book out there, you’re not going to convince anyone to buy it. Come up with your best work, and believe in it.

Lastly, because this feature is about establishing bonds within the writing and publishing industries, can you name one author, editor, publisher, organization etc. who's doing great things right now, and why?

There are so many people out there doing great things it’s impossible to pick just one. Karen Syed, my editor at Quake, is one of many editors of independent publishing houses fighting to gain recognition, and doing a pretty good job. For the bigger publishers, it’s not such a big deal to invest in a new author, but for the smaller houses, they’re putting a significant amount of their total resources into each and every author. The little guys have to put so much more of themselves into their authors, and they can never stop fighting… they don’t get a break.
Another thing I want to mention has to do with some of the bigger houses. I’ve seen a trend lately that I think is absolutely fantastic—the marriage of pop culture with books. I’m sure the first one that springs to your mind is Twilight, but there are so many other authors out there who are making reading cool again; Lisa McMann, author of Wake and the upcoming Fade, is another. The world is changing, and some of the savvier authors are making sure they change with it. And any author who gets a child who “doesn’t read” to pick up a book is a hero to me.

About the Author

For more information, check out Jacquelyn's website.

Beware the sound of crying children, watch out for the barmaids, and whatever you do, don't let the Pegasus spit on you.



© Emma Larkins and Jacquelyn Sylvan

Happy Holidays and Guest Announcement

I'll keep this short and sweet, because I'm up to my armpits in all sorts of holiday goodness. I'm one of the lucky ones who gets to open their presents on Christmas Eve, instead of Christmas Day - which I love, but which also means I have less time to get ready. Eep!

In light of recent events, I'd like to give out a special holiday wish to everyone today.

Here it is: take care of yourself. Listen to your body. Get out from that computer-trance crouch you're stuck in and give a good stretch. Have a loved one give you a back massage. Stop worrying about whether you got so and so the perfect gift. Take a moment to appreciate all that your life has to offer, even the little things that don't seem to matter. Like pretty frost patterns drawn across a window, warm sunlight on a cold morning, or the smell of your favorite hot beverage. It's so easy to get caught up in your job or your responsibilities or your to-do list and forget what it really is that keeps you going, that gets you up and out of bed every morning. Everyone says "focus on what's important in your life," but have you ever really tried to do it? How much time today did you spend reading about the depressing state of the economy, or playing computer Solitaire, or flipping through television stations because you can't be bothered to do anything else? If those things truly bring you joy, then by all means, enjoy them. But if something isn't right with the focus of your life, take care of it. Your body will thank you for it.

Okay, that's enough rant for one day. If you're interested in reading an interview with Jacquelyn Sylvan, author of Surviving Serendipity, take a break from playing with your new toys or cursing the unforgiving American work ethic and drop in to Community Fridays.

Interview with Resa Nelson on Community Fridays

Welcome to Community Fridays!

During Community Fridays, I interview authors, editors, publishers, and pretty much anyone else who I can get my hands on from the writing and publishing community. Hope you enjoy, and feel free to suggest new participants. Check out current and past interviews here. Only have a minute? Click here for interviews at a glance.

Today's interview is with Resa Nelson, author of The Dragonslayer's Sword and real-life swordswoman.

You say that one of your favorite parts of writing a fantasy story is doing the research for that story. Could you tell us a little about the kinds of research you do, the processes you go through, the way you keep track of information, etc.?

Because my strengths are ideas, theme, and characterization, I do research as a way to help the story come alive through details that I’d never dream up on my own. My weakest area of knowledge is history, and my novels tend to take place in the past. I don’t have any interest in writing historical fiction, but I want to make the time and place feel as real as possible. So I often begin by reading history books about the time period in order to get a lay of the land and to give myself a framework to work within. I’m also a big fan of museums. I’m lucky to live in an area where there are plenty of museums, so I’ve had good luck finding exhibits related to the novels I write. I take lots of notes about what I’m seeing and how I’m feeling. Whenever possible, I also do physical research to help me get inside the skin of my characters. Keeping track of information boils down to keeping files of notes online (from the books I read) and piling up memo pads (with notes from museum trips and other expeditions) on a bookshelf. My “filing” method is pretty haphazard, but somehow I always manage to find what I’m looking for!

While we're at it, would you like to tell us a little about your latest novel?

The Dragonslayer’s Sword is a combination of medieval fantasy, action/adventure, mystery, and romance. It’s about a female blacksmith who makes swords for dragonslayers. Everything starts going wrong when her sweetheart, the local dragonslayer, goes missing without explanation. The people in my novel are shapeshifters, but I’m doing something different with this concept. Shapeshifting is all about how you perceive yourself and other people – in other words, what you think and feel has the power to change the appearance of you or someone else. Society dictates that you always have the right to change yourself, but you don’t have the right to change other people. Because my main character is a blacksmith, I thought, “How can I write about a blacksmith unless I get some experience?” So I took a blacksmithing course. Ironically, after I took the course, I learned that I come from a long line of blacksmiths — several of my relatives are still blacksmithing today. (I even have an ancestor whose middle name was Hammer!) I also studied historically accurate methods of using medieval weapons, because I wanted to understand as much as possible about these weapons and reading about them in books didn’t give me a deep enough understanding.

How does research change the original plan you have for your story?

Doing research — especially physical research like blacksmithing and sword work — changes me. When I change, that has an impact on my characters because I always feel very close to them. For example, in April I gave a presentation at a Medieval Forum. This was a weekend conference and I originally thought I’d only have enough time to show up and give my presentation. But then I realized that it was a great opportunity to do some research, so I attended the entire 2-day event from beginning to end. There were two presentations that blew me away and revealed information about the Middle Ages that came as a big surprise to me. For weeks, I couldn’t stop thinking about what I’d learned. I contacted the professors who had given these presentations, told them about my work, and asked if it would be OK for me to be influenced by their presentations. They both said yes. This was important to me because The Dragonslayer’s Sword is the first novel in a series. I’ve just started writing Book 2, called The Iron Maiden. I had a general idea of what Book 2 was going to be about, but the story of Book 2 snapped into place after I heard those two presentations at the Medieval Forum. What I learned just happened to be a perfect fit with my goals for this series. The general idea for what I want to accomplish in Book 2 is still the same, but the story changed completely.

In addition to your novels, you've also written many articles and short stories. Do you research differently for an article or short story?

Yes. When I write an article, I’ve been given an assignment by a magazine editor, and the topic is very specific. For example, the last article I wrote was a preview of the movie Watchmen, which will come out in theaters next year. I’d read Watchmen many years ago, but I re-read it to refresh my memory. Then I interviewed the director and producer and asked very specific questions. I also use the Internet to do fact checking before I deliver an article. Short stories are very different. It’s very rare that I do any research when I write a horror story. A lot of my fantasy stories are the result of “accidental” research. For example, a few years ago I was at Connecticut’s Mystic Seaport, a living history museum. There were two exhibits that I found compelling. One was an exhibit of ship figureheads, and the other was an exhibit about women and the sea. I took lots of notes because I was interested in both exhibits. Months later, I got an idea for a short story, went back to all the notes I’d taken at Mystic Seaport, did some library research, and wrote “Black Magic,” which has just been published in Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Sword and Sorceress XXIII.

Not only does your research help you write your stories, it also becomes an integral part of your life. For example, after researching about swords, you joined a real-life sword guild! What are the effects you've seen of drawing your real life closer to your fantasy life, i.e. the worlds of your stories and novels?

It makes it easy to drop a bridge between the real world and the fantasy worlds I make up. It’s easier to step into those worlds and walk with my characters and experience what they experience. In The Dragonslayer’s Sword, my female blacksmith ends up in a few situations where she has to defend herself but she has no idea how to use the very weapons she makes! So my own experience helped me figure out what kinds of mistakes she’d make, what the consequences would be, and her most realistic options. Plus, doing something like joining a sword guild and working with weapons is a lot of fun and makes it easy to meet lots of very interesting people. Not to mention that it’s incredibly fun to swing a sword around and actually know what I’m doing.

Do you have any special projects going on that you'd like to tell us about? Can you give us the juicy details?

I’m currently writing Book 2 of my Dragonslayer series: The Iron Maiden. I’m pushing my main character Astrid way out of her comfort zone in this book and giving her plenty of challenges. My novels tend to be about strong women who are independent and have active lives. There’s a lot that Astrid doesn’t know about herself, and the details will unravel slowly over the course of about four or five books. I’ve also written a novel called Our Lady of the Absolute that has just been accepted for publication (due out in 2010). This is a standalone novel that is heavily influenced by ancient Egypt. I’ve been an “armchair Egyptologist” all my life, which means I love ancient Egypt and have my own mini-library of books about it. I’ve also traveled in Egypt a couple of times and love the country so much that I feel homesick whenever I think about Egypt. Our Lady of the Absolute is about a woman who realizes in Chapter 1 that she’s going to have to choose between someone she loves and the country she loves. It’s a combination of action/adventure, fantasy, and thriller.

Lastly, because this feature is about establishing bonds within the writing and publishing industries, can you name one author, editor, publisher etc. who's doing great things right now, and why?

I’m keenly impressed with the publisher of The Dragonslayer’s Sword: Mundania Press. One of my top priorities is working with people who are honest and upfront, and that has been my experience with the folks at Mundania Press. They’re also great communicators. I learn a lot from them because they share information with their authors. I’m happy that when my novel was published, it came out in two formats: trade paperback and e-book. I want readers to have that choice. Also, Mundania Press uses “print on demand” technology, which makes them a “green” company, in my opinion. Ironically, I have yet to meet a bookstore owner, manager, or employee who knows the difference between “publish on demand” (which is essentially a fancy term for “self-published”) and "print on demand" (which is a technology that makes it possible to print copies of books only when they are purchased). Bookstores order books from wholesalers like Ingram’s and Baker&Taylor, who use “POD” as an abbreviation for both terms, which really adds to the confusion. In other words, as far as I can tell, bookstores don’t understand what print-on-demand technology is or why it matters. The publishing industry is one of the most wasteful American industries when it comes to misusing resources and money. I’m horrified that the major publishing houses continue to use a distribution system that dates back to the Great Depression and don’t seem to be taking any real action to go green, at least not to my knowledge. It’s important to me to be aligned with a “green” publisher that focuses on e-books and print-on-demand technology.

Emma's Note: This is an important issue, over which there is a lot of confusion. Simply put, beware of anyone who wants you to pay to publish your book (vanity publishing) but do not fear a reputable publishing house that uses print on demand technology! Thanks, Resa, for spreading correct information about this topic.

About the Author

Resa's book The Dragonslayer's Sword has just been nominated as a finalist for Category 12 - Fantasy of the 2009 Eppie Awards!

To learn more about Resa, check out her website.



© Emma Larkins and Resa Nelson

Post Delay and This Week's Guest

Hi all - long time no see. Here's what the deal is...

I've been having some health/life issues, and I'm going to need to figure out how to better balance this blogging thing with everything that's going on. I really enjoy blogging, and I've missed updating these past few days. But for now, it's better if I take it a bit easy until things settle down.

However, I do intend to keep up with one of my favorite features on this blog, Community Fridays . The upcoming guest for this Friday is Resa Nelson, a very interesting character who was referred to me by previous guest Danielle Ackley-McPhail, a fellow author of Resa's over at Mundania Press LLC.

Resa knows her stuff: her book The Dragonslayer's Sword has been nominated as a finalist for Category 12 - Fantasy of the 2009 Eppie Awards! Learn more about Resa this coming Friday!

Interview with Marvin Wilson on Community Fridays

Welcome to Community Fridays!

During Community Fridays, I interview authors, editors, publishers, and pretty much anyone else who I can get my hands on from the writing and publishing community. Hope you enjoy, and feel free to suggest new participants. Check out current and past interviews here. Only have a minute? Click here for interviews at a glance.

Our guest for today is Marvin Wilson, avid blogger and author of Owen Fiddler.

It can take a lot of strength and a lot of faith to become a published author. How has spirituality helped you in your writing career?

With me, Emma, spirituality comes first. Here’s a quote from Owen Fiddler that sheds light on my spiritual life and worldviews. It’s where Kris, the savior figure in the book, says to the near-dead and in-a-coma Owen while a spirit-being in the never-world, “Understand, Owen - you are not a human being having a spiritual experience. You are a spiritual being that has been having a human experience.”

God is everything. God is All. All is One. If I am to be a successful published author it is because of the One God. Destiny. God told me to start writing, back when I was recovering from a serious narcotics addiction that ruined me, took away everything I had, cast my family and loved ones into a horrid frenzy of despair and anxiety and nearly killed me. It was my way of giving thanks, my way of turning a horrible mistake into something useful and helpful to others. So I am undaunted in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds at mounting a golden years’ career as an author, coming as I have from absolute obscurity. It is supposed to happen. It will happen. No doubts, no worries. It’s a god thang. Gotta do it.

You've got a great "do unto others as you would have them do to you" mentality. This has helped you to establish a community (actually more like a family) around your writings and your blog. How do you sustain this attitude, especially in the face of all the difficulties and troubles in the world (many of which you write about on a daily basis)?

Difficulties are the way of the world, the way of life here on this plane of existence. Facing challenges, growing and learning from difficult experiences is what we do. I’m no different than any other sentient being. So I just talk and write about my difficulties as if they were normal to every one of my readers. And they are. I have arthritis. I have financial challenges. I have a mother that worries herself to an earlier than necessary death over her family and its problems. I have children and grandchildren that stress me all the time with their normal immature dubious early life decisions. I have a brother that’s in jail. He made some awful bad decisions long ago that just caught up with him. But hey – sound familiar anyone? It’s called life. I just write openly and honestly about my life, and I think people relate to that and appreciate the fact that I am transparent about my issues. Makes them comfortable with me and willing to interact with me. My readership is part of my family and in this family we share. And care.

Christmas is a holiday of giving. How does giving feature in your life? In what ways does being a writer and having a popular blog help you contribute to the community?

On a personal “day in the life of Marvin” level, I give with my time and money. Well, I don’t have a lot of money, but I give what I can, to my church and to random people I see in need. A five spot given to a single mom standing behind me at the grocery store checkout line that is stressing over what items she has to put back because she can’t afford all the food her hungry little ones need is the best five dollars I could ever spend. Bar none. And I spend my time and use my talents volunteering for outreach programs that my church does. This week I’ve been using my carpentry skills, outfitting an outbuilding in the back of the church with shelving for the free food pantry we are launching. I ain’t thirty anymore, but I still know how to swing a hammer. And I come home tired, sore, and feeling good. I just spent the afternoon making the world a better place for some folks.

As far as the writing, the books and the blog? That delves into global community. I write books and blog about spiritual matters. Stuff that is good for the soul. I can’t be in every third world country doling out food or bandaging bullet wounds, I can’t be in every city, neighborhood and block in this country or others to help where I can physically. But I can write. I can publish. I can market. I can blog. I can network. I can spread the word, spread the Love of Christ through the giving of my time and talents at the keyboard and on the internet. The world-wide web is a wonderful tool. I use it in the Christmas spirit, the spirit of giving. God gave me the gift of expression and communication through the written word. I will use it to glorify God and create peace and harmony amongst all humankind as long as I can draw the next breath and sit upright at the computer desk.

Tell us a little about your book, Owen Fiddler. What's it about? How do spirituality and the Christmas Spirit feature in the story? Did you encounter any major roadblocks in the journey to publishing Owen Fiddler, and if so, how did you overcome them?

Well, to me the true spirit of Christmas is the spirit of giving, the spreading of the love of Christ. I pains me to no end to witness the way the holiday over the last few decades has sunk to the depths of such a consumer consumption-driven materialistic event. It’s all about what am I getting and how much - rather than how much can I give. But that’s another soap-box I’ll probably step up on and blog about near or on December 25th.

As for Owen Fiddler, he is the ultimate “the world owes me” kind of guy. He likes to dance, but never pays the fiddler. Hence his name. He racks up a huge karmic debt with his selfish ways over his lifetime and in his middle ages the tab comes due, wreaking havoc on him and the lives of those around him. But in the end, the enlightened Owen Fiddler becomes the embodiment of the true spirit of Christmas. It’s not a Scrooge remake, but it does have some of the elements that that marvelous age-old fable has.

I didn’t have lot of difficulties in the quest for publishing. It took a lot longer than I wanted to find a pub house to take it on, but that’s par for the course when you are still a relatively unknown author. Lack of patience, tenacity, and perseverance will kill an aspiring author dead, as I’m sure you well know. Ironically, all the “Christian” pub houses rejected it because there are some swear words in it and a couple sex scenes. I was like, whatever – I’m a truthful, real-life, tell it like it is kind of writer. Owen is a self-serving, foul-mouthed whoremonger most of his adult life. How could I write him up as a golly gee Mr. Nice Guy? Just as ironically, most of the secular pub houses eschewed it because it was “too religious!” LOL. Go figure. But eventually the manuscript got in front of Arline Chase from Cambridge Books, and she and her board of directors voted to give the book a shot. They will also be publishing the sequel and the series.

You're currently taking Owen Fiddler on a blog book tour. Where did you go yesterday? Where will you be tomorrow? Can we have a full schedule of your tour?

Sure! Thanks for asking. Yesterday we had a great time at the Straight From Hel Blog. Helen Ginger posted her review of the book and I contributed an article on what it’s like for a novice author when you first run into an exacting and brutally candid editor. Painful and necessary to the gainful experience. Tomorrow we shoot over to the Pretty, Prosperous and Powerful Blog, where host Lacresha Hayes and I will discuss some of the more spiritual messages within the book. For a complete line-up of the tour, the dates, blog url’s post formats, and even juicy prizes and giveaways, check out the Owen Fiddler Blog Book Tour 2009 Schedule.

You have your own unique brand of spirituality, a combination of various teachings and faiths. How does this affect your celebration of 'traditional' holidays, such as Christmas? Any special traditions you'd like to share to get us in the Christmas spirit?

Well I am first and foremost a Christian. Certainly my Zen training and Taoist studies have an influence on the way I go about my spiritual practice. I still do sitting Zen meditation to clear my mind of the incessant internal dialog, allowing me to get here and now and be able to hear the voice of God clearly. And walks in the woods, observing and communing with nature is when I feel closest to God, one with everything. But I also pray, like any “normal” Christian. Most traditional Christians think I’m kind of weird, that I don’t really “get it,” but I’m comfortable with my brand of Christianity. I consider myself a non-religious, dogma free spiritualist Christian. Ever the Maverick, that’s me. I not only read the Bible, I read early Christian texts, like the Gnostic Gospels and the Dead Sea Scrolls, and some of the books that were not included in the accepted Bible we have today like the Gospel According to Thomas, the Gospel of Mary and the Gospel of Judas. Why not?

For two or three hundred years A.D., early Christians read those texts and fashioned their spiritual practice after those teachings. I also read scriptures of other religions. The Tao Te Ching, The Dhammaphada, the Upanishads, the Qua’ran, all those and more. I think too many Christians are fearful of reading anything for spiritual direction other than the Bible. Afraid of exposing themselves to the writings of other spiritual paths – as if they might discover some amazing new truths in them and find out they were wrong for following Christianity. That’s crazy. The fact that all the major world religions have a great deal of overlap in their teachings is to me an endorsement of my faith. If there were none, if Christ’s teachings were so far removed from the teachings of all the other great avatars that have taught humanity over the millennium I would have to question whether or not Christianity was the best path for me.

As for holidays, I celebrate everything. If you’re a Buddhist and want to invite me to a Buddha’s Birthday Party, I’ll come. With bells on and incense lit. Jewish? Got a Hanukkah celebration happening? Invite me. I’ll join in on the fun, eat your kosher delicacies and drink your kosher wine. Heck, I’d celebrate Tuesdays every week if someone wanted to throw a party and have a bunch of people come over for some eats, drinks and good clean fun. We make too much out of arbitrary dates as if they have some real cosmic and sacred significance. The holiest of holy days is always today. The only time is now. Be one with God right now, in each and every moment, and your entire stay here on this earth will be one continuous holiday celebration.

Lastly, because this feature is about establishing bonds within the writing and publishing industries, can you name one author, editor, publisher etc. who's doing great things right now, and why?

First person to pop up in my mind when I read that question was Travis Thrasher. I just got introduced to this author by winning his latest book, Isolation, in a blog tour giveaway promotion. Great book. Thrasher is a Christian that, like myself, chooses to write outside of the traditional “Christian Book” genre. I relate to him a lot because he realizes that he reaches a much broader audience and readership with cross-over genre writing. His Christian messages and worldviews come through loud and clear, just because of who he is, but the reader does not feel “preached to” at all, or get that uncomfortable feeling that he or she is being admonished to convert to the faith of the author. Thrasher is a Stephen King disciple in terms of his writing style, and a darn good one. Isolation is one of the best suspense thrillers I’ve ever read and I now want to read all his books. We’ve started to e-communicate and I hope at some point in the future to do some cross-promotional stuff with him.

Hey Emma, thanks so much for having me on your wonderful blog today. Answering your queries put me to task and made me think and delve quite a bit, and that’s a good thing. And I want to thank all our readers today for reading my (admittedly long-winded) answers. LOL. Hey – I’m a writer! I can’t even introduce myself on the written page in less than 500 words.

I’ll be stopping in from time to time at your blog all day and into the early evening, so if anyone would like to discuss what I’ve written here or ask me any questions, I’ll make sure and reply in the comments section. Take care, God bless, and bye for now.

About the Author
To learn more about Marvin Wilson, check out his blog.



© Emma Larkins and Marvin Wilson