Author Julie Whitley on her Award-Winning Book

WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO BECOME A WRITER? I have loved books since I could first hold one in my hands. Around the age of nine, I began to think that I could write stories as well and started my first book. Through high school, my favourite English teacher encouraged me to keep on writing. With his words in the back of my mind, I continued to take creative writing classes throughout my adult life. The culmination of my efforts resulted in the completion of my first novel after I retired. 

WAS THERE A TEACHER OR OTHER MENTOR WHO INFLUENCED YOUR WRITING? My high school English teacher was my first mentor. I have had several since and with each step, I have been encouraged to continue.

HOW DID YOU GET THE IDEA FOR YOUR AWARD WINNING BOOK? An in-class writing exercise resulted in the short story that became the background story for my book. The original character, David, didn’t want to end his journey and nagged me to keep writing until I had brought all of his family along on the ride. 

WHICH OF YOUR CHARACTERS FROM YOUR AWARD WINNING TITLE DO YOU BELIEVE ARE MOST LIKE YOU AND WHY? I would like to think that I have the determination and grit of Sarah, although I’m not sure I’m quite as brave.

WHAT MESSAGE DO YOU HOPE READERS WILL GLEAN FROM YOUR AWARD WINNING BOOK? That families can work through their rough patches if they communicate.  Despite outward appearances, we still have our faults and our strengths, and working together can bring peace and success

.

IF YOU COULD BE COMPARED TO A WELL-KNOWN AUTHOR WHO WOULD YOU MOST WANT THIS TO BE? In a couple of reviews my writing has been compared to The Narnia Chronicles and my favourite - The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman. I love his writing and was thrilled to be compared.

IF A CLOSE FRIEND OR LOVED ONE WANTED TO WRITE A BOOK, WHAT GREATEST PIECE OF ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE THEM? I would tell them to write as often as they could, take classes, find a writing group to support and encourage. My groups have been invaluable to my process.

CAN YOU OFFER ANY ADVICE FOR WRITERS ON HOW BEST TO PROMOTE THEIR BOOK? Start before the book launch and drum up anticipation.

WHAT ARE YOUR GREATEST LITERARY ASPIRATIONS? To complete the Secrets of the Home Wood series and start on other stories gathering momentum in the background.

TELL US SOMETHING PEOPLE MAY NOT KNOW ABOUT YOU THAT THEY MIGHT FIND INTERESTING: As a late-bloomer, I really started living and experiencing life when I was in my 40’s: I learned to water ski, I got married in my 50’s and we adopted our teenage daughter, and in my 60’s I became a grandmother, learned to scuba dive and published my debut novel! It is never to late to do what interests you.

DO YOU HAVE ANY NEW BOOKS IN THE WORKS? I have the Secrets of the Home Wood sequel in the works. It is called The Stalker.  My next book carries on a couple of months after the story of the first book. It will be on Amazon and Kindle.

LITERARY CLASSICS Book Awards & Reviews International Book Awards • Top Honors Youth Book Awards • Seal of Approval http://www.clcawards.org

Author Spotlight - Angela Blount, on her award winning book, Once Upon a Road Trip

​

WHEN DID YOU FIRST KNOW YOU WANTED TO BE A WRITER AND WHY?: 

I think I knew when I was in the sixth grade, and I couldn't stop narrating my own daydreams. (Fortunately I kept it all in my head, so I didn't question my sanity much beyond what seemed reasonable for a near-teenager.) I'd started asking "What if...?" questions to all kinds of scenarios--visualizing alternate endings to both reality and fiction. 

​

I'd been a voracious reader all through elementary school, but it suddenly occurred to me that I could try writing my own story. My first book was done all in pencil and filled an entire spiral-bound notebook. It was an adventurous tale about a group of kids (conveniently my age) who were valiantly attempting to save a herd of endangered white rhinos. It was terrible. Most authors have a starter book that should never see the light of day, and that one was mine. For some reason, the admitted awfulness only made me want to get better at it.  

​

AS A CHILD, WHAT DID YOU ASPIRE TO BE WHEN YOU GREW UP?:

I spent most of my elementary years telling people I wanted to be an Oceanographer. I didn't. It sounded impressive at the time, and I was one of those kids who didn't have some burning dream job I'd picked out early on. The idea of doing the same thing--all day, every day, 5 days a week--sounding dauntingly boring. For a time I gave serious thought to becoming an astronaut...until I found out how many math courses would be involved.  

​

HOW DID YOU GET THE IDEA FOR YOUR AWARD WINNING TITLE?:

In my case, it wasn't so much a story idea as a piece of my life that happened to make a great story. Every time someone asked me how I met my husband I had to pause and decide how best to condense a novel-sized account down to a few tidbits...which inevitably made me sound a little crazy when I got to the "Well, technically I met him on the internet when I was 15--but I didn't meet him face-to-face until I turned 18 and went on this cross-country road trip..."

​

WHAT OTHER BOOKS HAVE YOU PUBLISHED? 

Once Upon an Ever After (The sequel to Once Upon a Road Trip.)

​

TELL US SOMETHING ABOUT YOUR EXPERIENCE AS A WRITER:

Even after I realized how much I enjoyed writing, I resisted doing anything serious with it for many years. It was too impractical. So many articles I read made it seem as though I had a better chance of winning the lottery than I did of making a living off of being a writer. It took me a while to realize there was no shame in keeping my "day job" and working toward my writing career on the side. 

​

I realized this was meant for me when I tried to quit and discovered I couldn't. No matter how discouraged I was, I couldn't turn off the storytelling part of me. 

​

WHAT BOOK HAS HAD THE GREATEST IMPACT ON YOUR LIFE?:

Offhand, I would have to say Lois Lowry's The Giver. That was my first taste of dystopian, and it hit me at an impressionable time in my mental and literary development. Lowry presented difficult but realistic subject material, and did so in a way that was impactful without being preachy. It haunted me for weeks. I knew after reading it that I wanted to write things that could make people think, or at least think about something important in a different way. 

​

WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR GREATEST LITERARY ACCOMPLISHMENT?:

To date, I think my greatest moment was realizing I'd seen two of my books published by the age of 30. I hadn't set that as a goal for myself, but it was a deeply satisfying realization.

​

CAN YOU DESCRIBE THE PROCESS OF BECOMING PUBLISHED AND ANY TIPS YOU MIGHT OFFER FOR OTHER ASPIRING AUTHORS?: 

For me, becoming published was a 5-year intensive journey of learning, rejection, skin-thickening, and persistence.  

​

My personal tip for aspiring authors: Get connected. If you can't find a knowledgeable writing group that meets near you, join one online. Your skills will advance much faster within a support group that can offer you workshops and feedback. I didn't know how much I didn't know until I joined the RWA (Romance Writers of America). And honestly, that's probably for the best! If I'd realized the learning curve I was about to scale, I might have been intimidated into having second thoughts. 

​

Also, take the time to review books you're reading. Even if it's just for your own archival reasons on a site like Amazon or Goodreads, reviewing will help you analyze what you do and don't like about books and why. It has a lot of potential to give you a new insights into your own writing.

​

CAN YOU OFFER ANY ADVICE FOR WRITERS ON HOW BEST TO PROMOTE THEIR BOOK?

For me, Goodreads has been an invaluable resource. They facilitate book giveaways that can offer noteworthy exposure, and a good number of their groups offer Read-to-Review programs that can help get the word out. 

​

IS THERE ANYTHING ELSE YOU'D LIKE TO SHARE WITH OUR READERS?:

Thank you for reading! :) Without you, I'm just a functional-eccentric who can't seem to stop telling herself stories.

​

DO YOU HAVE ANY NEW BOOKS IN THE WORKS?:

I do! Several, in fact. I've found myself alternating back and forth between an interconnected set of Contemporary YA books, and a YA sci-fi series. Drastically different genres, but strangely refreshing to have the variety. New developments coming soon on that front. Stay tuned!  

​

​

​

“Sometimes the most scenic roads in life 

are the detours you didn't mean to take.”

  ― Angela N. Blount, Once Upon an Ever After 

​

LITERARY CLASSICS Book Awards & Reviews International Book Awards • Top Honors Youth Book Awards • Seal of Approval http://www.clcawards.org

AUTHOR MELANIE SCHWAPP ON HER AWARD WINNING BOOK - DEW ANGELS

AUTHOR  MELANIE SCHWAPP ON HER AWARD WINNING BOOK  

 

DEW ANGELS

WHEN DID YOU FIRST KNOW YOU WANTED TO BE A WRITER AND WHY?: As a child, that was how I expressed myself. I learnt how to interpret and transfer emotion from within myself to paper, and as I got older, I developed an interest in observing human interactions. At school, writing assignments got me the highest grades, and by the time I attended college, it had become my passion.

AS A CHILD, WHAT DID YOU ASPIRE TO BE WHEN YOU GREW UP? I wanted to be a Journalist and cover events all over the world

HOW DID YOU GET THE IDEA FOR YOUR AWARD WINNING TITLE?: I've always loved mornings - the freshness and quietness of the beginning of a new day. The glistening look of everything covered in dew gave me the idea of  Dew Angels.  Dew Angels actually took me seven years to complete, and when I was finished I couldn't understand why I felt so sad. One day I realized that it was because the characters had become such a large part of my life that I missed them terribly.

TELL US SOMETHING INTERESTING ABOUT YOUR EXPERIENCE AS A WRITER: When my children were young, my husband and I would read to them every night at bedtime. However, one summer we went to the UK for vacation, and at bedtime we realized that we'd forgotten to pack all of the children's favorite books. To appease them, I began to tell them stories relating to the myths of my country, Jamaica, using a girl called 'Lally-May' as the main character. Very soon, my husband also came to listen to the stories, and every day as we went sightseeing they would all ask me, 'What is Lally-May going to do tonight'. So 'Lally-May', the character of my first children's book, was born out of necessity on that vacation, and now has become a popular character for many young Jamaican children.

WHICH AUTHOR HAS MOST GREATLY INFLUENCED YOUR WRITING STYLE?: Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche; Toni Morrison

WHAT BOOK HAS HAD THE GREATEST IMPACT ON YOUR LIFE?: A Woman of Substance was one of the first novels I read when I graduated from my Nancy Drew series as a young girl. I couldn't believe that a book so big could have gripped me so much on every single page. That book began my love affair with novels.

WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR GREATEST LITERARY ACCOMPLISHMENT?: I think completing my very first novel, Dew Angels, and them hearing from the very first reader just how much the book impacted her was one of the greatest accomplishments for me. Writing had always been such a personal experience, so presenting my book to the public and hearing that it really did have some validity meant the world to me.

HAVE YOU PUBLISHED ANY OTHER BOOKS?: Yes,  LALLY-MAY'S FARM SUSS

CAN YOU DESCRIBE THE PROCESS OF BECOMING PUBLISHED AND ANY TIPS YOU MIGHT OFFER FOR OTHER ASPIRING AUTHORS?: In Jamaica, it is very difficult to get a publisher as a first time author, so I eventually had to self-publish. However, my recommendation to authors is to write your heart out, and then get the best editor you can find to help to 'pare' your material into an effective piece. Even in self-publishing, I find that a great editor helps to direct you where you may sometimes get carried away with your own emotion by giving you objective advice and very constructive criticism.

CAN YOU OFFER ANY ADVICE FOR WRITERS ON HOW BEST TO PROMOTE THEIR BOOK? Readings and readings and more readings. Talk shows, radio shows, cable shows, school readings, library readings ... I think getting out into the public as much as possible and putting a face and personality to your work begins conversation that stimulates lots of interest. People are very curious about the process of creativity, so when you present yourself as a personable character, I find that the public wants to delve a little more 'behind the scenes' and want to see exactly what you've written. They may or may not like your book, but it is still a positive thing that conversation about your work is being generated.

DO YOU HAVE ANY NEW BOOKS IN THE WORKS?: I am working on another novel which I'm hoping will not take me as long as Dew Angels took to complete.  I am not quite sure yet - hopefully this time around I will be able to use a publishing house so we will see what happens



LITERARY CLASSICS Book Awards & Reviews International Book Awards • Top Honors Youth Book Awards • Seal of Approval http://www.clcawards.org