Friday Forays in Fiction: Quote

yore memreez ai rewryt 4 u k?

I've been inundated by a flood of memories this week as I've been tending to our dying fur baby, Merlin.

It has struck me that memory is crucial to story.  It is in fact story telling.  Your memories are stories you tell yourself.  But the moment you put them into words you are telling a story to others as well as yourself and its no longer the same story.  It seems you can't avoid fictionalizing your memories when you capture them in words.

This flood of memories has dominated the theme of the last three posts:

• Merlin Moments
• 164th ROW80 Check-In
• Of Magic, Memories and Coping Mechanisms

This makes four.

I've also been contemplating the role my memories have played in my fiction and poetry and noticing how this current flood has been stimulating ideas for more poetry and fictional stories.

I've been holding this vigil with Merlin since Tuesday morning.  He's still with us.  Barely.  He's still drinking water but to my knowledge has not taken any food since the slivers of salmon off my dinner plate Tuesday evening which gave me a burst of hope.

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Friday Forays in Fiction: Quote

Warz teh wyteowt?

Yeah.  I kinda got rewrite on my mind this week.

Scrivener and the Whiz
My Other Desktops

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National Library Week 2014: Lives Change at the Library

Lives Change at the Library
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This week is the 2014 National Library Week sponsored by the ALA  The theme this year is Lives Change at the Library.

The event began in the fifties (the spring after I was born) and is intended to raise awareness of all that the libraries and their workers do for individuals and communities and encourage the funding for those services.  

Now, during these economic hard times, this is more urgent than ever as libraries have been loosing funding and closing down.  In those that survive services, hours and materials have been cut.  Which translates to fewer librarians and their aides, fewer books and magazines, fewer multimedia items, fewer days open, fewer events held at local libraries.

It is the most astonishing shortsightedness on the part of library levy voters who can't see that the value they get from the libraries compounds the value of the money levied many times over even if they don't use the services themselves.  

And what can I say about the alarming arrogance on the part of community leaders, politicians and local business owners who are often spouting off about how they got where they are without setting foot in a library?

How can they all not see that even if they don't use the library themselves they are benefiting as much as anyone who keeps their card tapped out at all times?  Or that there are library services they could be using that could save them time and money if they didn't see it as a status step down or a violation of their libertarian doctrines?  Or that the services provided contributes to community health in ways that save hundreds of dollars for every dollar spent on the library?

Consider these few:

• Help with tax forms.  Besides those on fixed income like the elderly and disabled there are the employees of local businesses whose peace of mind translates into more efficiency at work.  But not if the library is never open when they are off the job site.
• A source of information on the people and issues on the next ballot.
• Fact check via phone or email.
• Activities for juveniles that keep them safe and the community safe from their boredom fed shenanigans while inspiring their imaginations toward their future contribution to the community and expanding their aspirations.
• Resources for study and homework help for the students who will be the next generation of employees and entrepreneurs.
• Resources for teen and adult hope-to-be entrepreneurs in learning all the requirements to setting up and running a business.
• Resources for homeschooling families who are also heavy consumers of specialty products provided by local business.
• Help for non-native speakers of English in becoming proficient at communicating in English enhancing their value to employers and the community at large.  Not to mention relieving one of the stressors contributing to dysfunctional behaviors that break down family and neighborhood cohesion and clog the justice system.  How do those costs compare to the few dollars per month asked of local property owners for a healthy vibrant library?

I blogged several times about the Southern Oregon Library System's closure in April of 2007 and how it reopened that fall with most of the 15 branches cut to less than twenty hours over two or three days.  It has yet to bring those days and hours back.  Several of the branches opted out of the system and closed altogether.  It still saddens and angers me.

But I'm currently living in Longview, WA and using the library of my childhood and it seems to be as vibrant and bustling as ever.

I've talked often here about how much I owe to the library systems I've patronized.  

• I've called them my universities.  
• This autodidact has depended on libraries to satisfy her every craving for story or knowledge.  
• I've checked out several thousand library books over my life-time and without libraries I'd never have had access to most of the several hundred novels I've read.  
• 95% of everything I've learned about the craft of writing and storytelling I owe to library books and media.
• The research for my stories depended entirely on libraries before the Internet and it is my belief that the Internet will never completely replace libraries for serious researchers*.  

*Research librarians with advanced degrees in media storage and information technologies still outshine and outsmart the search engines--especially now that most of the common free ones are now sponsor driven or the top tier in search results achieve their positions not because of their relevance or usefulness or even truthfulness but rather because someone with something to sell has paid for the slot.

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Friday Forays in Fiction: Quote

soon az mai pawz stops maykng mi pauz ai tayx teh plunj

I've been thinking a lot recently about the role that doubt, fear, anxiety, and the need to be in control has played in my tendency to collect unfinished stories, novels, essays, book reviews and poems that never seem to reach the publishable stage.  All told there are several dozen now.

This is a huge issue for me and I plan to take it by the tail this year.

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Author Interview: James Zerndt

Today I'll be sharing the Q and A exchange between James Zerndt, author of The Korean Word For Butterfly , and myself.

James Zerndt lives in Portland, Oregon, with his wife and son. His poetry has appeared in The Oregonian Newspaper, and his fiction has most recently appeared in Gray’s Sporting Journal. He taught English in South Korea in 2002 and still loves kimchi.

Jamie’s short story, “The Tree Poachers”, recently won WCCHA’s fiction award. Some of his short stories have also won Honorable Mention in both Playboy’s and The Atlantic Monthly’s Fiction Contests.

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James and son Jack

Joy: As someone raised across the river and 40 miles west of Portland, I can't help but wonder whether you were raised in Portland and if not how you ended up settling there.

James: I’m not sure exactly where I’m from. As a baby, I was left on the doorstep of a church in downtown Chicago. I was found by a cleaning lady who happened to be working that morning who subsequently took me home with her. For years I didn’t know I was an orphan. Not until I found an old photograph that had apparently been tucked into the basket I’d been found in. In the photo a young woman in a white dress with a purple Mohawk stood peering into the camera. Her face was gaunt. Her skin pale.

Oh, wait. This is non-fiction stuff, right? Sorry. I was born in the Midwest.

Joy: What drew you to spending time teaching in Korea?  And how has that experience changed you?

James: Adventure and money drew me to teaching in South Korea. The experience taught me to appreciate what we have in America. Prior to this, I took a lot of it for granted. I think most of us only tend to appreciate things once we no longer have them. Sad, but usually true.

Joy: How long have you been practicing the craft of fiction writing?

James: I really wanted to be a writer when I was in my early twenties. I gave up on it though. I had potential, was told I had potential by numerous teachers, but I couldn’t seem to write anything decent. Back then I was reading all the heavyweights: Dostoyevsky,  Tolstoy, Carver, Hemingway, Camus, etc... I think the problem was that I wanted so badly to write the next great American novel that I ended up intimidated myself into silence. It was only later, in my thirties, that I took it up again.

Joy: What led you to choose self-pub as your route?  How do you now feel about your experience with it?

James: I had a great literary agent for my first book, The Cloud Seeders. We had a big Hollywood production company (Gotham Group) interested in the movie rights and for about two years we waited for something to happen, but nothing ever did. It was an ulcer-ridden two years, with a lot of ups and downs as one producer then another said they were interested. But, in the end, nothing ever came of it and the publishers backed out once the movie deal didn’t happen. The whole experience left a bad taste in my mouth so when I finished The Korean Word For Butterfly I decided I didn’t want to wait around. Even the process of finding an agent can take six months to a year. It’s kind of ridiculous. And, so far anyway, I’ve enjoyed being in control of sales. What I don’t like so much is trying to promote the book. It takes up time I’d rather spend writing. Or sleeping. Or...

Joy: How big a role has reading fiction played in your life?  Who are your favorite authors?

James: Fiction has meant everything to me. My teen years were extremely lonely, so I took refuge in books. I still love all the old Russian authors. Today some of my favorite writers are Brady Udall, Roddy Doyle, Tim O’Brien, Thom Jones, Carson McCullers. Those are the first that come to mind anyway.

Joy: What are your rituals, routines or habits that promote creativity and  productivity with your writing?

James: I have only one ritual: sitting down. I don’t need much to get me writing, just time. I don’t mean that to sound pompous or anything; it’s just how it is right now. I have about six different projects on the backburner because I’m busy teaching and watching my two-year-old son. It’s incredibly difficult to find time to write now that I have a kid. It makes me appreciate the time I do get, though. It tends to come out in a big rush now when I do write because, like right now, I’m afraid I’ll be called away so I have to hurry to get it in. (Jack is napping upstairs as I type this.) Not that what I’m writing is all that great, but it doesn’t matter. What matters in my humble opinion is getting something down on paper or screen, so you have something to work with later.

Joy: What one habit or tendency does the most damage to your creativity and productivity as a writer?  Do you still struggle with it? What have you tried to mitigate or eliminate the damage?  What did and didn't work?

James: Time is the only thing that I struggle with these days. In the past it was insecurity, comparing myself to other writers to the point that I felt unworthy or incapable. Now that I’m older, I don’t care about that nearly as much. I try my best. That’s all any of us can do. And, besides, I don’t have the luxury of time to worry about it all that much now.

Joy: Have you ever had any pets?  If so would you please share a picture and/or anecdote?  Especially any where they did something that either hindered or helped your writing.  (singular or plural or none. whatever you are comfortable with)

James: We have a dog and a cat. I write down in the basement, so they usually aren’t an issue. I do seem to remember my dog pooping on a rough draft of a short story I was working on once, though. For some reason it was left on the living room floor and he planted a good one on it while we were sleeping. It’s true what they say, I guess. Everybody is a critic.

Thanks so much for the questions. This was fun!

The Korean Word For Butterfly  (linked to my Feb 4 review)
by James Zerndt
Publisher: Create Space, March 27, 2013
Available in: Print & ebook, 329 pages


From the Publishers:

Set against the backdrop of the 2002 World Cup and rising anti-American sentiment due to a deadly accident involving two young Korean girls and a U.S. tank, The Korean Word For Butterfly is told from three alternating points-of-view:

Billie, the young wanna-be poet looking for adventure with her boyfriend who soon finds herself questioning her decision to travel so far from the comforts of American life;

Moon, the ex K-pop band manager who now works at the English school struggling to maintain his sobriety in hopes of getting his family back;

And Yun-ji , a secretary at the school whose new feelings of resentment toward Americans may lead her to do something she never would have imagined possible.

The Korean Word For Butterfly is a story about the choices we make and why we make them.

Follow the blog tour for more reviews, giveaways, author interviews and guest posts: 

So Many Precious Books Feb 3 Spotlight & Giveaway
Joy Story Feb 4 Review
Joy Story Feb 11 Interview
Every Free Chance Feb 5 Spotlight & Giveaway
She Treads Softly Feb 7 Review
The Book Diva Reads Feb 10 Guest Post & Giveaway
Let’s Talk About Books Feb 12 Review & Giveaway
Indies Reviews Behind the Scenes Feb 14 Blog Talk Radio Excerpt/discussion 8 pm cst
Tracy Riva Feb 14 Review
Tracy Riva Feb 17 Guest Post & Giveaway
The Princess Gummy Bear Feb 17 You Tube Review
Serendipity Feb 19 Review
Reader’s Muse Feb 18 Review
Reader’s Muse Feb 14 Interview
From Isi Feb 20 Review
Deal Sharing Aunt Feb 21 Review
Deal Sharing AuntFeb 24 Interview
Book Dilettante Feb 25 Review
So Many Precious Books Feb 26
Carole Rae’s Ramblings  Feb 27 Review
Margay Leah Justice Feb 28 Review
Margay Leah Justice Feb 28 Guest Post & Giveaway
Romance & Inspiration Mar 3 Review

http://www.virtualauthorbooktours.com/

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Friday Forays in Fiction: Quote

moar Lit Kits
Nao wud B gud!

I've always loved that Ray Bradbury quote.  I've seldom been able to implement it.  I'm constantly in the grip of analysis paralysis.

Maybe I should include working on this issue in the ROW80 2014 Round 1?

Can't quite picture what that would look like...

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Friday Forays in Fiction: Quote

Kitteh Wants a Yarn Yarn
If there's a book you really want to read,
but it hasn't been written yet,
then you must write it.
 ~Toni Morrison

One of my all time favorite writing quotes from one of my all time favorite writers.

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Flash and Rumble as It May

Flash and Rumble as It May
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Thunder and lightning filled the skies over Longview WA all evening .  It's been quiet for an hour now so I think it is safe to go to bed.  I was told that I slept through a similar storm last night but I rather doubted I could fall asleep in the middle of the uproar.

Besides, I was waxing nostalgic.  Thunderstorms are common this time of year in the Rogue Valley.  They were having one this afternoon while I was vid chatting with Ed and it was making me homesick.  Then about five minutes after we said our goodbyes the first thunder cracked here hundreds of miles north where its not all that common at all.

Makes one wonder what the power of a wish might actually have...

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Friday Forays in Fiction: Quote

moar kittehs  see  caption   share  vote

I've reading a lot this past week.  Mostly fiction tho not all.  It feels like sustenance.  Like recharging.

I always knew story was powerful in that way so I was not two surprised to read in this article, The Science of Storytelling: Why Telling a Story is the Most Powerful Way to Activate Our Brains, that they've actually seen how the brain lights up different for story versus lists of words or facts.

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That's All She Wrote

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It's been a very long day.  It's past my bedtime.

But a quote, a kitteh pic, a caption and a story snippet... Not bad for one post.

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Friday Forays in Fiction: Quotes

“A novelist has two lives-- a reading and writing life, and a lived life. he or she cannot be understood at all apart from this.”
― Jane Smiley, 13 Ways of Looking at the Novel

“If living is to progress, if you are lucky, from foolishness to wisdom, then to write novels is to broadcast the various stages of your foolishness.”
― Jane Smiley, 13 Ways of Looking at the Novel

I've been on duty here at Mom's for the last 24 hours.  Mom has just gone to bed.  I've still got to clean up the kitchen but if I do a quick quote post like this tonight I may still have time to work in my own fiction files before I have to take my night meds and give the day over to the sandman.

Enjoy these quotes from Jane Smiley's 13 Ways of Looking at the Novel, her reader's and writer's 'travel guide' to the novel which she wrote after spending a year reading 100 novels.  I've been reading in this since mid January, having checked it out of the Longview library the first week of my visit.  I thought my time was up with it as it had had its two renewals but my sister got a reprieve for me in another renewal so I have it for three more weeks.

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Friday Forays In Fiction: Author Guest Post--Khanh Ha

Last week I reviewed the novel Flesh. Today I'm honored to lend Joystory to its author Khanh Ha for a discussion about the techniques of fiction writing.

4 Things You Should Know About Writing Fiction

by Khanh Ha

1. Write what you know.

It takes an extraordinary skill for a writer to write in a voice other than his own, considering his race, his ethnic background, his years spent in the said environment that serves as the locale of his novel.

Writers like Chang-rae Lee, Ha Jin write strictly from their upbringing background through their protagonists. So the Korean voice, the Chinese voice from their works ring true. I take my hat to Arthur Golden (Memoirs of a Geisha) who put himself (a white male) in the place of a Japanese female as a geisha and, kudos to him, succeeded where many others have failed. But it took him 12 years to write such a novel, having gone through three major rewrites to change the POV, third to first.

2. What makes a novel interesting?

It’s the scenes. Each scene must have drama. Or it must set up drama. But more importantly, you have to be excited about the scenes you write. If you don’t feel excited about them, do you expect your readers to get excited when they read them?

Scenes that don’t have much drama are filled with trivialities, tepid dialogue, which neither show much about characterization nor advance the plot. Consequently, they don’t sustain the story line. What is the most frequently cited reason by agents and editors for their rejection of a manuscript? The pace or intensity flags in several places. In other words, the novel fails to hold interest.

Whenever you start struggling with a scene, it’s a good indicator of a potential problem. The next thing you do is try to get through such a scene. Then, unavoidably it will be there like a blank sheet in your manuscript. Many novelists tend to write certain scenes for the sake of keeping the novel alive rather than giving the novel the vitality that sparks it. They hope readers would read everything they wrote. Many novelists spend so much time and efforts in researching the materials for their novels, and consequently they fall victim to these materials. When too much of researched information appears in a novel, it’s non-fiction taking over fiction. The novel bogs down. The readers start skipping pages. A skilled novelist, on the other hand, uses his researched materials discriminatingly. He only uses tidbits of such information in places where they belong. He uses them where they can enhance his characterization, the pacing of his story line, the mood of his chosen scenes.

Next time when you don’t feel like getting up in the morning to face a lukewarm scene, ask yourself: does it really belong?

3. Revising your novel.

You finished a chapter.

Now go back and fine-tune it—add, delete—what needs to go in, be taken out. Repair the characters. Do it when your mind is still fresh with the scenes and the characters of that chapter. However, you must be unbiased (which is hard toward what you’ve just written), detached (which is harder from what you’ve just built), so you can see your own creative flaws.

Or it will be hellish after the novel has been written to go back to fix the flaws either on your own courage, or at an editor’s request.

4. On characterization and hard scene.

Unlike an actor who plays just his role, an author plays all his characters’ roles, like a man who plays chess against himself.

You can imagine characters. Yet until you write them out, you haven’t known them. Put them in motion. Let them interact with one another. Let them live in some environment. It’s then that you begin to explore your characters’ depths. If you ask me what’s the hardest part in writing a novel, I’ll tell you: characterization. That’s what separates a literary novel from a potboiler. Characters shape a story line, not the other way around. You can’t think up a plot and shoehorn your characters into it. If you do, you are writing a potboiler. In fact, well-developed characters create a more convincing story line, even shaping it or altering it against your original vision. Think about that!

Writing is just like any normal part of our daily life. It ebbs and flows. The worst thing to a writer isn’t writer’s block but illness, prolonged, unbearable illness that can really affect his writing. Other than that, as Hemingway once said, there will be days when you have to drill rock and then blast it out with charges. When that happens, just take a break, do something else and let your battery be recharged.

There are no hard scenes to write. Really. Those so-called difficult scenes are what writers make them out to be with their paranoia. So before they can write such scenes, their anxiety has already killed their creativity to write them.



 Khanh Ha the author of Flesh was born in Hue, the former capital of Vietnam.  During his teen years he began writing short stories which won him several awards in the Vietnamese adolescent magazines.  He graduated from Ohio University with a bachelor's degree in Journalism.  He is at work on a new novel.

Visit the author at: http://www.authorkhanhha.com


See my review of Khanh Ha's novel Flesh





Follow the blog tour for more reviews, giveaways, author interviews and guest posts: 

http://www.virtualauthorbooktours.com/

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Author Interview: Patrick Thibeault

Today's interview is with Patrick Thibeault, author of My Journey as a Combat Medic which I reviewed yesterday.

Patrick Thibeault was raised as an Army brat. He lived in Germany, Fort Devens, Massachusetts, Fayetteville, North Carolina and his father was stationed in Seoul, South Korea where he attended Seoul American High School and graduated in 1989. During his time in Korea, Patrick watched several of the Olympic games in person as they were in Seoul, South Korea in 1988. He grew to respect and understand the different cultures he encountered.

[this is an abbreviated version of the full bio which accompanied yesterday's review of his My Journey as a Combat Medic]

Currently Patrick is working on a book of combat medic poetry, a book about working as a nurse and a nurse practitioner from the perspective of a man and a fictional book about a time travelling medical provider who gets stuck in the past while trying to learn medicine and nursing and working on his website at http://www.medicstory.com/

Before we begin I wish to thank Patrick for his service as soldier, medic and civilian health service provider and for sharing his story which, I believe, is itself a valuable service as with our all volunteer military these days there seems a quite large number of Americans who never know a soldier personally let alone have a beloved family member serving abroad and stories like Patrick's can go a long way toward giving the rest of us a clue so to speak.

Joy:  Why did you choose to write your memoir about being a combat medic?  That sounds like a small question but I suspect there must be a big answer--big in import if short on words.

Patrick:  First, I want to thank you for having me on your website and blog. 

I wrote My Journey as a Combat Medic for several different reasons, namely: closure and to share the adventures both good and bad that I had with some fascinating people. 

 I say closure because I served over twenty years and in two different wars. I wanted to write about my journey for self preservation and healing that comes with closure. I am a combat veteran with PTSD, and while I take medications and go to therapy for this, I found that writing about my experiences provided the closure that I needed. Not so much to forget about that past two decades, but to celebrate those younger years of my life.  This closure is very personal in nature because it provides self healing. I believe if I had not written, I would have this gaping wound in my heart just begging to be healed. That wound is healed to a degree and I would like to think that the wound has scabbed over.

I had some pretty awesome experiences and had a chance to work with some very cool people. I was a medic in the elite 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne).  As a medic in that unit, I got to parachute out of planes and helicopters and worked as a flight medic on the helicopters. With that organization, I got to travel the world and work with some awesome people who are the real heroes. 

I write in My Journey as a Combat Medic about earning my Expert Field Medical Badge, which is a competition for medical soldiers to earn the coveted badge. The 75th Rangers (an elite special operations parachute infantry unit) was hosting the competition. I got to learn from the best, namely a Physician Assistant named Doc Donovan. Doc Donovan is considered a great in the special operations community. Flash Forward five years later and I am in the lunch room of an aircraft carrier eating meals with a Seal Team and hanging out with that team’s medical folks, on a combined training operation. Just several months before that I was in Korea for training mission as my unit was flying special forces teams up into the side of mountains. 

I spent time with people of different cultures and countries. As a soldier in the National Guard, I went to Ecuador several times to train with their medics. It was fun and a learning experience and most of all a cultural experience. 

 I got to serve in two different wars which I consider to be different eras.  I was in Desert Storm as a young teenager and in Afghanistan as a more seasoned soldier. I was embedded with the Afghanistan Army during much of my tour in Afghanistan. It was both humbling and scary at times. How many 19 year old kids can say that they had to chance to treat prisoners of war right off the battlefield?

Joy:  You made a point repeatedly that, as a lifetime autodidact, I agree with: the learning never stops.  I wonder in what areas and directions you continue learning now that you are a civilian.  Are any of them outside of the Health Services field?

Patrick:  The learning never stops. I started out of high school knowing that I wanted to become a medic and jump out of airplanes. I had not given much thought about my long term goals. I become a medic and went to jump school where we learn how to parachute out of airplanes. It was after my exit from an aircraft when I saw the Earth below me that I have a chance to anything I want in my life (if I apply myself). Surely going to college cannot be as hard as jumping out of airplanes and all the hell that is associated with Airborne School.

I learned my trade as a medic and I learned about basic medicine. I learned that I love to learn. When I got out of the active army and joined the Army National Guard, I started college to become a registered nurse. Maybe college was as hard as jumping out of airplanes, but harder in a different way. Instead of struggling not to fall out of run, I had to struggle to keep up my grades and pass my tests and graduate.  I earned my associates degree as a RN and slowly continued on and earned my bachelors and then my Masters in Nursing and become a medical provider as a Family Nurse Practitioner. 

Maybe it was all the papers that I had to write, but I enjoyed writing. Outside of the medical field, I like to read about history and global politics and economics, which is easy now with the internet. I have also learned that I like to write poems about my experiences. But my first love and learning right now is in the medical field. 

Joy:  You encountered a great diversity of cultural backgrounds throughout your life from your youth as a 'military brat' through your service in the military and your civilian service in health care.  You touched on this a number of times throughout the memoir but I would like you to share with my readers how you think your many encounters with cultural backgrounds differing from you own, whether the regional or economic class differences among Americans or the many different national or ethnic peoples you've met here and abroad, has contributed to your own personal development as a human being and as an American?

Patrick:  We are all astronauts on board the great Spaceship planet Earth. Why don’t we just enjoy the ride?  Humanity is always at the brink of destruction. We face wars, political unrest, disease and natural disaster. Humanity excels because we so far have avoided that total destruction and prospered.  But always on that brink of destruction, sadly that in my opinion is our nature. 

I have learned that almost everyone considers him or herself to be good, and as a result, others should be good like they are. People don’t realize that others can be good in different ways. People use the term: Celebrate Diversity. I would like to believe that as a fellow astronaut on Spaceship Earth, this is something that I hold true. I have also learned that there are bad people in the world because they consider their intentions to be good (for them). So far, in our history, humanity as survived and has learned and relearned these lessons from the no so distant past. 

 I believe in American Exceptionalism. I strive to be the best American I can be.

The concept of a representative republic democracy in a capitalist society is a relatively new concept to humanity. Other societies have had absolute monarchy, totalitarian dictatorship, theocracy and in some cases even anarchy.  These forms of government are still in existence today.

In our society, we have the opportunity to be with different people with different religion, races, creeds and preferences. I have learned that we as a society can grow and be prosperous when we take the best from each of these.  We celebrate different holidays from different cultures and make it American. America has learned from its mistakes and I would like to think that are not so rigid and inflexible to continue to learn and grow. 

On the downside, many other nations see America as another empire forcing our good ideas and plans on other people because these ideas work for us. At least, we have peacefull elections in our nation, where citizens who do not like the direction the nation is going in to vote those out who would lead us in a direction we chose not to go. 

Joy:  You refer in chapter 7 to playing games on your computer during 'down time' before shipping out to Afghanistan in 2004.  I know personal computers were not common at the time of the 1991 Iraq war so that must have made a major difference to daily life between those two war experiences.  Can you expand on how that changed the deployment experience for you?  

Patrick:  The shift in information technology in that 15 year time frame is why I consider these different conflicts to be of two different eras.  In the first Gulf War back in 1990-1991, with downtime when we had some, I would read books! I wasn’t completely devoid of some electric gadget. I had a portable handheld video game that  I would play from time to time. Our medical section in Desert Storm spent more time actually just talking together and forging a familial bond that still exists to this day. ( thanks to facebook and email it makes it even easier to say hello).  

I would read anything that I could get my hands on. Much of the time it was a medical reference, or some novel that I found.  The technology has evolved, but what a soldier does during downtime, has stayed the same. We like to play. I remember we used to  have water fights and shoot each other with water guns, we would sit and play card games, or we would be good soldiers and do physical exercise. 

Joy:  You might also talk about any other advances in technology between 1999 and 2004 that made significant impacts on how you experienced those two deployments whether in your duties as medic or soldier or personal time.  For example, my nephew served as Army Medic in Iraq for three tours beginning in 2007 and he was able to chat online and email with family stateside and the several times I chatted with him in the wee hours I marveled how things had changed since my husband was a Marine in the 70s when I would wait months for replies to my letters when he was overseas.

Patrick:  During Desert Storm, we had to wait for several weeks to get mail. The only letters at the time that mattered to me was from my parents and sisters. Getting a letter from family, regardless of era is always a morale booster. Luckily we had a phone in our medical aid station and had a way to call back to the United States to a military telephone operator. My family lived on an Army base at the time and my father was the base Command Sergeant Major. I would call the operator and ask to be connected to the base and would get connected to my parents house on the base and talk directly that way. On the other hand, my parents would call and I would be away on a mission. This made her nervous because we could not talk about anything specific that the unit was doing.

Joy:  What has your experience been as a vet returning to civilian life stateside?  Please share your thoughts on what ways America is doing right by our vets and in what ways we are failing them.

Patrick:  It is a struggle at times and a relief at times. I still do not know how I fit in society. I feel like I am on the edge of society. I feel that way because I deal with PTSD. I feel that way because I am still used to things being a certain way and Hoohaa mentality that I had since I was a teenager. I still think like a soldier and to me it is a good way to think, so I think inside, others should think this way. This mentality has gotten me into trouble at work. I have learned not to be brisk with others. As a soldier, I learned that we don’t always have time to explain why we are doing something, but just to do it and get it done. This does not apply when you are the charge nurse of a hospital unit and the other nurses ask you a question about the work load and I would reply “ Because I said so..”  I have learned that while it is good to have a soldier’s mentality, it is not always good to treat others like they are soldiers. 

Sometimes people ask me blunt questions about war. I surmise that their experience with war is from a video game.  The worst question I have been asked is what my body count was. I have learned to avoid triggers that make my PTSD worse. In some ways, I tend to still isolate myself from society, but in a way this is how I fit in. Other veterans feel the same way. When I came home from Afghanistan, I missed my front yard. I missed the smell of the grass. I would just sit in the yard for hours and lay in the grass. People would look at me like I was strange. 

America has done our veterans both right and wrong. My fellow brothers and sisters who served in Vietnam made sure that we came home and we were welcomed home unlike they were when they came home from Vietnam. A veteran today coming home from war has a opportunity to go to college and earn a degree and do something good.

Suicide is another issue. Many coming home have committed suicide. The other day, a Navy Seal committed suicide. The nation has failed because too many good men and women are doing this.  I don’t know if I know the reasons and why, but multiple deployments in a hostile combat zone can change a human being. Any combat veteran would be lying if they had never thought about suicide. I don’t really the answer for this or the cure but all I can say to my fellow veterans is to not lose hope in yourself or your comrades.

 Another failure is the backlog of Veteran’s Disability claims. A soldier is ordered to do a job in which he or she has the potential of causing both physical and metal trauma. As a result of that trauma, that soldier has a disability. It is the job of the Veteran’s Administration to handle these disability claims for compensation. I understand that there are many veterans’s applying for disability, but the VA should have thought ahead and planned for this to prevent this from happening in the first place. I understand that the VA is doing the best it can. Our nation’s treasure goes to support veterans with disability and it should be fairly and honestly divided out in accordance with the disabilities that the combat veteran has. 

Patrick's dog Rocco

Joy:  You talked about the importance to you of your several pets would you mind sharing photo(s) and/or anecdote(s) of one or more of your current or past beloved pets?

Patrick:  When I came from Afghanistan, my cat jumped into my arms and she purred.  She had never jumped into my arms before and she had never since. She really missed me.  I have found that sharing your home with an animal is great. I have two cats and a dog that live with us. They require us to take care of them and we require them to take care of us. It is a mutual beneficial relationship of love and understanding. Petting my pets is a great stress reliever when I have a bad day or a flashback from PTSD. 

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Author Interview--Connie Corcoran Wilson & Giveaway

Yesterday I posted my review of Hellfire & Damnation today is the author interview along with an ebook giveaway.

The giveaway is below the Q&A next to the book cover.

Connie (Corcoran) Wilson graduated from the University of Iowa and Western Illinois University, with additional study at Northern Illinois, the University of California at Berkeley and the University of Chicago. She taught writing at six Iowa/Illinois colleges and has written for five newspapers and seven blogs, including Associated Content (now owned by Yahoo) which named her its 2008 Content Producer of the Year. She is an active, voting member of HWA (Horror Writers Association).

Her stories and interviews with writers like David Morrell, Joe Hill, Kurt Vonnegut, Frederik Pohl and Anne Perry have appeared online and in numerous journals. Her work has won prizes from "Whim's Place Flash Fiction," "Writer's Digest" (Screenplay) and she will have 12 books out by the end of the year. Connie reviewed film and books for the Quad City Times (Davenport, Iowa) for 12 years and wrote humor columns and conducted interviews for the (Moline, Illinois) Daily Dispatch and now blogs for 7 blogs, including television reviews and political reporting for Yahoo.

Connie lives in East Moline, Illinois with husband Craig and cat Lucy, and in Chicago, Illinois, where her son, Scott and daughter-in-law Jessica and their three-year-old twins Elise and Ava reside. Her daughter, Stacey, recently graduated from Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee, as a Music Business graduate and is currently living and working in Australia.

Connie's Website: www.ConnieCWilson.com
Connie's blog: www.WeeklyWilson.com

Joy Renee:  When did you know fiction writing was something you wanted to do? Once you had decided that you were going to write stories, what obstacles did you have to overcome to make it happen?  (circumstance, personality emotion, relationships, craft/industry knowledge etc.)  Did you seek any formal education for fiction writing?

Connie:  I decided to explore writing fiction in 2003 after writing for newspapers (and blogs) since 1955. (And teaching writing for 33 years.) There are many obstacles, but many of those (i.e., the need to have an agent, etc.) have more-or-less disappeared. I do have an agent (in Chicago), but self-publishing is now much more commonplace. I have attended classes within the University of Iowa's Writers' Workshop, (although I mostly audited them under the Journalism number 19), and, since 2003, I have taken classes at the University of Chicago as an adult in both novel writing and short story writing. I also attend classes at conferences, when someone like Gary Braver (Goshgarian) is teaching it.

Joy Renee:  What does your work routine and environment look like?  Is it respected by friends and family?  How about by yourself? Is it a struggle to acquire and maintain self-discipline?  Do you listen to music while writing? If so what kind?  Did your writing career predate word processors and if so how have they changed your work habits, productivity etc?

Connie:  I write in a condo in Chicago that I originally bought to be my daughter's college "dorm" (although she ended up attending college in Nashville, Tennessee). As I look out the window, I see the head of the fake dinosaur in front of the Field Museum and part of Lake Michigan.  I am a night owl, have no routine, and write till I'm done, often. I wrote each ghost story book in a week, but they were pretty short and had to be "G" rated for that publisher. I shut myself up in Chicago in what I refer to as my Writer's Lair and sometimes don't leave for days, if I'm behind on getting a novel completed. It is always a struggle to write rather than fruit-loop around and go have a good time (dinner and a movie come to mind). Fortunately, my husband of 45 years is very understanding.  I get a lot done when I get away by myself, so I can concentrate. I don't listen to music while I am writing. I learned to type on a manual typewriter in 1962 (250 wpm) so, yes, my writing career predates word processors, but I was hired to write a book on a WANG PC in 1985, [before Al Gore had invented the Internet], by a New Jersey company, and I've adapted and adjusted to computers rather than typewriters, since I've been forced to learn to use them and write on them over the past 27 years. I also maintain my own blog (www.WeeklyWilson.com) and Twitter myself  (the link Ms Wilson provided here was broken JR) and use Facebook. Plus, I have an author site (www.ConnieCWilson.com).

Joy Renee:   Are you able to support yourself with writing only yet?  If so, when did you reach that milestone?  What jobs have you had besides fiction or freelance writing and how have they impacted your writing life and/or your stories?

Connie:  I definitely could not "support myself with my writing" if, previously, I had not been the founder of 2 successful businesses, which I sold in 2003. Today, I cashed out $103 of profits, and it was a good day. I've had 19 jobs over a rather lengthy working career, most notably as a teacher of 7th and 8th graders at Silvis Junior High School from 1969 to 1985, as an educational writer for Performance Learning Systems, and as the founder and CEO of two businesses, established November 15, 1986 (Sylvan Learning Center #3301) and in 1995 (Prometric Testing Center). I sold both businesses in 2003 and began writing fiction. My initial investment had increased ten-fold. That's how I ended up with a Chicago place, too. I had been the Film and Book critic for the Quad City Times for 15 years prior to that (part-time work), and I conducted interviews for the Moline "Dispatch" with local celebrities and wrote a humor column ("The Write Stuff") as well as interviewing a variety of famous authors for online and print publications, including Kurt Vonnegut, Anne Perry, Frederik Pohl, David Morrell, William F. Nolan, Joe Hill, John Irving, Jane Smiley, r. Barri Flowers, and Eric Bogosian. I also taught writing and literature at 6 IA/IL colleges as adjunct faculty. I do have an agent, but if you're a freelance writer, it's pretty tough to make a living at it. With something like 12,000 books being published daily, I believe I read,  I'd just be happy to break even with income from writing "long," as I call it. I actually make more, right now, as a Featured Contributer to Yahoo, [which named me its Content Producer of the Year (Jan., 2009) for politics.]

Joy Renee:  How did the encountering of story from earliest childhood to the present inform your own storytelling?  From oral stories told by family and friends, including religious stories, to stories read to you before you could read on through your own reading experiences and video, TV, song lyrics and theater?  Which of those stories and which of those formats do you think had the most impact on your sense of story?  And concomitantly how do your years of experience at writing story influence the way you read/view story now?  When did you first begin telling/writing stories out of your own imagination?

Connie:  [Whoa! You said a mouthful!] All I can tell you is that I've been a movie fan since I was old enough to fight my sister over the armrest at the Saturday matinees and I've continued to love film ever since. I'll be covering the Chicago Film Festival from October 11-31, so check out my articles on Yahoo by signing up for "notices" and sign up on www.WeeklyWilson.com if you like movies. I never wrote fiction at all until 2003, (although I've been writing for pay for 57 years) but no less an authority than William F. Nolan (author of "Logan's Run")  told me, "You're a born storyteller." I hope to prove that he's right. Jane Smiley said, "All writing is gossip," so you may be on to something with that statement about "oral stories told by family and friends" part of your question, but I honestly am not aware of any "oral stories" I was told by families or friends inspiring or even showing up in any stories of mine. Most come out of experiences I've had as a child or an adult, interesting articles or tid-bits I've read, or from my teaching experiences, in the case of "The Color of Evil." Since 5 of my students ended up on Death Row in Illinois, and I taught in a pretty "rough" district, as well as growing up in an Iowa town with the largest Mental Health Institute in the state (of 4) and then moving to a town with a mental health institute that has been transformed into a prison, someone said to me, "Whoa! You were just born to write horror, weren't you?"

Joy Renee:  When stories begin to form in your mind which of the senses is primary--visual, auditory, tactile etc...and how hard is it to include the ones that aren't present in the beginning in the final product?

Connie:  I think the best answer to that question would be to tell people to read the "From the Author" portion at the back of "Hellfire & Damnation II," and, if your readers say, "Well, I don't want to BUY it!" tell them it's FREE for 5 days leading up to Halloween as a Kindle download (October 27, 28, 29, 30 and 31). You can download it on your computer and there's a program that will allow you to read it on your computer, if you don't have a Kindle. If you DO have a Kindle, so much the better. Now, as for "which sense is primary: visual, auditory or tactile," I'm thinking of a story within the collection entitled "The Champagne Chandelier" which starts with a phone call. So, that would suggest that a ringing phone is the trigger for that story. I've been working on incorporating the olfactory senses more into my plot-filled stories after interviewing Audrey Braun, but nothing is more boring, to me, than reading 15 pages of description of something like a bicycle leaning against a wall, (which one famous author actually did include in her work) or people going on a picnic with NOTHING HAPPENING. My stories will have some description, but expect the emphasis to be on plot and character development in equal measures. I hope that answers that question, although I'm not really sure that it did. Mea culpe.

Joy Renee:   What do you believe is the source of creativity and the best way to tap into it?  I'm assuming that with so much published you no longer, if ever, subscribe to the notion that writers are at the mercy of the muse--must wait for the fickle inspiration.  Do you have any creative hobbies besides writing and if so how do they impact your story telling?  Or in other words, how do you see creativity in one area spill over into others--or not, as may be?

Connie:  Much of creativity is a gift from God. It's like singing. Some people cannot carry a tune in a bucket and others are ready for"American Idol" or "The Voice." In my own experience, writers often have many different creative talents. For example, if they write fiction, they often are also musical or artistic. ( Stephen King, for instance, plays in a band). I am musical, as is my daughter, and play 4 instruments, and sang in a group called Old Gold Singers all through college at the University of Iowa. I like to read, and, in reading, I often come across intriguing articles or concepts, which I attempt to save, remember, and use in stories. William F. Nolan advises keeping a notebook always ready to record such ideas, but that would require me to be far more organized than I am. One story within "Hellfire & Damnation II," for instance, was inspired by reading about the black market for organs in the Philippines. ("The Bureau").  I do think that there are times when a writer is less "creative" than at other times. I'm not sure I'd call it being "at the mercy of the muse." What I would say is that personal issues and situations can put a damper on your writing output. I remember reading David Morrell's ("First Blood") heart-wrenching story of how difficult it was to write after the death of his teenaged son from a rare form of cancer. I found it impossible to write humor when my own mother was dying. Other hobbies you can list for me are traveling, playing trivia, music and swimming. My husband and I are planning a trip to Australia and New Zealand in January, in fact, because my daughter has been there since last February working.

Joy Renee:   Having read your essay collection Laughing Through Life I know of your interest in politics and social issues.  How if at all do these interests contribute to your understanding of character--psychology, motivation etc which is the root of all story?  And how, if at all, did they influence the inspiration for specific stories.  Do you find it at all difficult switching back and forth between writing fiction and nonfiction?

Connie:  I enjoy "politics as a spectator sport." My involvement in things political began when my dad ran for Buchanan County, Iowa, County Treasurer.  I was about 8 and we went out and stapled posters to telephone poles. I remember him saying, "Con, politics is a dirty business. Don't ever get involved in politics." He lost in a heavily Republican county, but his opponent (who won) died before being sworn in. They came to him and offered him the job, saying, 'John, your opponent died. Do you want the job?" He was re-elected to four consecutive terms and then founded a bank (Security State Bank of Independence, Iowa) in 1941, which is still going strong today.  The one "political" story within "HELLFIRE & DAMNATION II" would be "Oxymorons," which was an attempt to both use straight dialogue to carry an entire story, to have some funny oxymorons within it, and to weave a compelling and believable tale that incorporates and weaves together some of the biggest (and most recent) political scandals of the day.  I don't find it difficult at all to switch back and forth between fiction and nonfiction.  I actually make more money writing nonfiction, so far, so one wonders why I bother knocking myself out writing an 80,000 word novel that probably will only be read by 2 people in a closet somewhere. But, hey! I want to leave my mark for my grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and a book lasts longer than a blog article.  I continue to write short. I'll be covering the Chicago Film Festival from October 11th through October 26th and Opening Night has Al Pacino, Christopher Walken, Julianna Margulies and Alan Arkin in a film directed by Chicago native Fischer Stevens, so I'm looking forward to being there with Press Passes, as I have been for the past several years. My articles will be displayed on my own blog (www.WeeklyWilson.com) and, also, on various Yahoo outposts. Sign up to "follow" me on my blog or on Associated Content (Yahoo absorbed it) and you'll get a notice when I publish something, which should be a lot during that period of time.

Kitty Kelly

Joy Renee:   Do you have any beloved pets now or in the past?  If so would you share a picture and an anecdote or two?

Connie:  I've always had cats. As a child, we had a black Labrador from the pound named Blackie, but we didn't have him long because we lived in town. My first cat was "Newcomb." The second cat, a Siamese, was Sam. Then, there were Merrill, Lynch, Pierce, Fenner and Beane. Fraidy was the first cat for my then 10-year-old son (Scott) and, later, Kitty Kelley, for my daughter (Stacey). Right now, we share space with Lucy, a 17 lb. black-and-white cat that adopted us from our ravine. (Picture of Kitty Kelley attached, picturing her looking evil, which she sort of was, according to my spouse.) One memorable Thanksgiving she scared the crap out of a roomful of teenagers who actually jumped up on couches and screamed as she hissed at them and growled at them. I went and got MITTENS to pick her up. (What was I thinking?) She probably would have bitten me, too, but, as my husband pointed out, mittens would have done no good at all. I think I meant to get leather gloves, but people were screaming and jumping on the furniture at the time, so I sort of grabbed the first pair of hand protective items I saw in the top of our closet. Kitty Kelley has shuffled off this mortal coil and is now buried in Paw Print Gardens with Fraidy Cat, our other calico cat, and now we have this 17-lb. behemoth who goes in and out whenever she feels like it and looks nothing like our other cats did. (All were calico cats and looked alike.)

Giveaway

Hellfire & Damnation II
by Connie Corcoran Wilson
Publisher: Merry Blacksmith Press, August 1, 2012
168 p

This collection of 11 short stories in the horror genre is organized around Dante's 9 circles of hell in the Inferno--limbo, lust, gluttony, greed, wrath, heresy, violence, political corruption, and treachery.


The book is available for giveaway in ebook only, and thus open to international entrants.

Deadline is October 28 at NOON Pacific Coast Time

Enter by leaving a comment expressing interest on this post along with your @ so I can contact you.

Extra entries can be had by:

• Following Joystory on Twitter  if you already do leave a separate comment saying so
• Like  Joystory's page on Facebook   if you already do leave a separate comment saying so
• Tweeting once per day (leave the tweet's url in a comment here)
• Add Joystory feed to your reader.   if you already do leave a separate comment saying so
• Following Joystory on Networked Blogs   if you already do leave a separate comment saying so

Remember to leave a separate comment for each task as the individual comments will be the entries that I assign numbers to in the order they are made and then use random.org to select the winner. The @ need only be in the first entry as long as the rest are easily attributed to the same entrant.

Follow the blog tour to see more reviews, guest posts by the author and giveaways:

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Author Interview--Shobhan Bantwal & Giveaway

ShobhanBantwal.author.

The is the second of two posts for the blog tour for The Reluctant Matchmaker by Shobhan Bantwal. Yesterday I posted my review.  This is my interview with Ms Bantwal and a giveaway for a signed copy of the novel.

The giveaway is below the interview next to the book cover image.

This is my first Author interview and I am quite jazzed about it.  

Now.  But when Teddy Rose first asked me if I were interested I almost declined out of silly nerves.

The first question and answer exchange between Ms Bantwal and myself was not part of the official interview though.  I had replied to her email sending me my PDF copy of the novel to thank her and assure her that I'd received it and I took the opportunity to ask her for clarification on how to pronounce her name.

I had come up with at least six plausible ways to pronounce it and settled on one that I thought most likely based on my memories of living in Silicon Valley when my husband worked for an India based tech company.  I'd been around a lot of India nationals those two years--in the neighborhood we lived, the buses I rode, the company picnics and dinners etc--so I thought my pronunciation must be close.

But I was haunted by memories of that Star Trek Next Generation episode in which the android Data (pronounced Day tuh) was addressed by the new ship Doctor as Data (Dadt uh) and to her immense surprise corrected by him this 'mere machine' who she'd assumed had no feelings to hurt.  Which he didn't but as he pointed out to her, "One is my name.  The other is not."

And then there was growing up constantly correcting people who wanted to pronounce my name Joyce or Joey or Joyful, sometimes in misinformed sincerity but other times out of misguided or malicious teasing.  I was often told I was being too sensitive by objecting and felt myself to be in the wrong until that STGN episode clarified it for me.

One is my name.  The other is not.  Our names are intricately linked to our sense of ourselves so one could say with equivalence: One is my Self.  The other is not.

It was a good thing I asked because I was not even close.  I will not embarrass myself nor confuse readers by sharing my mispronunciation.  Here is Ms Bantwal's answer to my question:

Shobhan is pronounced just like the movie Shogun - just replace the "g" with "b" and it'll be perfect. 
Last name is pronounced Bant (as in pant) wall. I hope this helps in saying it correctly. I apologize for the difficult Indian name
. 
Shobhan Bantwal is an award-winning Indian-American author of five multicultural women’s fiction books with romantic elements, branded as “Bollywood in a Book.” Her articles and short stories have appeared in The Writer magazine, Romantic Times, India Abroad, India Currents, and New Woman. The Reluctant Matchmaker is her sixth book, scheduled for release on July 1, 2012. Visit her online at www.shobhanbant wal.com to learn about her books, trailers, contests, photos, recipes, and more. Visit her on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ShobhanBantwal.author

Now, lets listen to the Q and A.  (I say 'listen' because I can almost hear our voices as I read it but this was an email exchange.)

Shobhan Bantwal: Joy,
First of all, thank you for such insightful questions. They really made me think hard - LOL. I will answer them to the best of my ability. I appreciate your interest in my book and for hosting me on your popular blog.

Joy Renee:  When did you know fiction writing was something you wanted to do? Once you had decided that you were going to write stories, what obstacles did you have to overcome to make it happen?  (circumstance, personality/emotion, relationships, craft/industry knowledge etc.)  Did you seek any formal education for fiction writing?

Shobhan Bantwal: Fiction writing didn't appear on my radar until I turned 50. I more or less stumbled upon it. When my husband took up a long-term assignment out of town, which kept him away from home Monday through Friday each week, I decided I needed a productive hobby, especially since we were empty nesters by then. On a whim I began writing articles of social interest, and some Indian-American newspapers and magazines picked them up. The response from readers was excellent.

That small measure of success spurred me on to write short fiction, some of which won awards in short story competitions. All those small victories led me to trying my hand at writing a full-length novel. As a result, what started as a simple hobby exploded into a full-time second career, and left me astonished about how quickly it all happened.

The obstacles I encountered in becoming a published author were typical: finding a reputable agent and publisher to believe in my work, lack of knowledge about how the publishing industry worked and how much personal time and money needed to be invested in promoting one's books, and last but not least, the diligence to keep writing book after book at a steady pace.

I took one minor creative writing course at a community college, but it didn't really teach me much about the craft. However, it did enlighten me on how to approach agents and a few of the impediments I was sure to come across in my quest to become published.

Joy Renee:  What does your work routine and environment look like?  Is it respected by friends and family? Or do you encounter attitudes like Meena's parents towards her PR career? If it is now has it always been?  How about by yourself? Is it a struggle to acquire and maintain self-discipline?  Do you listen to music while writing? If so what kind?

Shobhan Bantwal: For approximately ten years, I juggled a demanding full-time career alongside my writing. But last year I retired from my day job and moved to Arizona from New Jersey, so my husband and I could spend some time with our married daughter and two small grandchildren. Now I get a little more sleep than I did during the past ten years.

I am fortunate that my family and friends totally respect my writing career. My husband allows me all the freedom and encouragement I need to pursue it. In fact, he supports me by maintaining my website and handling the business side of my creative life, which frees me up to concentrate on writing and promoting my books. I consider him my most valuable resource.

Self-discipline is difficult for me. I write erratically, when the mood strikes. I also don't have outlines or firm frameworks for my stories. I start writing with merely an idea at the back of my mind and let the characters guide me through the plot and scenes. I work in our quiet home office when I write, with no music or any kind of distractions.

Joy Renee:  Are you able to support yourself with writing only yet?  If so, when did you reach that milestone?  What jobs have you had besides fiction or freelance writing and how have they impacted your writing life and/or your stories?

Shobhan Bantwal: Writing has never been my main source of income. In fact, fiction writing does not pay enough to sustain a livelihood for most authors. I had a demanding full-time career with the New Jersey State government. I retired from it in 2011. I have also taken a hiatus from writing at this time, so I can concentrate on helping our daughter raise her two young children. I may resume my writing career in a year or two.

In many ways, all the jobs I have had, both in the private and public sectors, have shaped my stories. The varied personalities I have interacted with have influenced my fictional characters to some degree. Observing people and their behaviours comes naturally to most authors.

Joy Renee:  How did the encountering of story from earliest childhood to the present inform your own storytelling?  From oral stories told by family and friends, including religious stories, to stories read to you before you could read on through your own reading experiences and video, TV, song lyrics and theater?  Which of those stories and which of those formats do you think had the most impact on your sense of story?  And concomitantly how does your years of experience at writing story influence the way you read/view story now?  When did you first begin telling/writing stories out of your own imagination?

Shobhan Bantwal: My mother was an avid reader and she introduced the love of books to me and my sisters at an early age. All the books I read from childhood to adulthood have had some influence on my writing. Bollywood (Bombay Hollywood) movies, that are so prolific in India, affected my stories to some extent as well. However, romances written by American and European authors have had the strongest impact on my own storylines. I wanted to introduce Indian characters and backgrounds to American readers through commercial fiction, so I decided to write in that vein, despite the fear of creating a new sub-genre, which I call "Bollywood in a Book."

Now that I am a published writer, I read other authors' books with a different mindset. I am more critical and objective in my role as reader. But I must admit that I really enjoy some authors even more now than I did before because now I can appreciate the finer points of good writing.

Joy Renee:  When stories begin to form in your mind, which of the senses is primary--visual, auditory, tactile etc...and how hard is it to include the ones that aren't in the final product?

Shobhan Bantwal: When a story starts to develop in my mind, it is the visual sense that kicks in first. I can picture the characters, the backdrop, the colors, the clothes they are wearing. It is when I start to write the dialogue that I begin to hear their voices.

When the final product emerges, it has all my senses mixed in. An author has to get into her characters' minds and souls to paint a vivid picture. If the author feels no sadness when writing about the death of a beloved person, or she is not aroused when she creates an emotional sex scene, then she has not engaged all her senses in writing the story. Every good story needs to employ most, if not all, of the author's senses.

Joy Renee:  What do you believe is the source of creativity and the best way to tap into it?  I'm assuming that with several novels published you no longer, if ever, subscribe to the notion that writers are at the mercy of the muse--must wait for the fickle inspiration.  Do you have any creative hobbies besides writing and if so how do they impact your story telling?  Or in other words, how do you see creativity in one area spill over into others--or not, as may be?

Shobhan Bantwal: I am one of those rather undisciplined authors who writes whenever the muse starts to whisper in my ear. However, I use the not-so-creative moments to polish up and edit what I have already written. That way I don't waste any precious time.

As far as sources of creativity go, daily life is a tremendous inspiration for me. The news is full of real life heroes, women who excel in male-oriented occupations, tales of courage and bravery, the Davids and Goliaths, love and dedication, and of course, evil occurrences like murder, kidnapping, and abuse.

Besides writing, I enjoy growing flowers and cooking, both of which influence my writing. Indian food is featured quite a bit in all my novels because food plays such a large role in portraying culture.

Joy Renee:  I note from the blurbs of your other novels that they all feature characters who, like Meena, are caught in the  intersection between two cultures--the Hindu and the American--how did growing up smack in the middle of that intersection contribute to your understanding of character--psychology, motivation etc which is the root of all story?

Shobhan Bantwal:  Conflict is at the heart of every story. If two people meet, fall in love, and go on to live happily ever after, there would essentially be no plot. Nonetheless if they are prevented from coming together by someone or something, then the tale becomes intriguing. What motivates them to do what they do?  How will they overcome their obstacles? How much are they willing to sacrifice to fulfill their dreams? These are the elements that make the story go forward and become compelling. Readers love to root for their favourite characters and watch them overcome the worst pitfalls to achieve their goals.

Getting caught between two diverse cultures offers great potential for conflict. Having lived in a conservative Hindu home in India, then living and raising a family in America has given me some interesting insights into the dynamics of this cultural divide. This inherent contradiction that exists in the two dissimilar lifestyles provides great fodder for all my stories.

Joy Renee:  Do you have any beloved pets now or in the past?  If so would you share a picture and an anecdote or two?

Shobhan Bantwal:  I have not had any pets since I came to America. Nevertheless, growing up in India, we were surrounded by various cats and dogs at different times. They were family pets. My mother was an animal lover and liked to have pets around her. I am allergic to most pets, so unfortunately I can't have any.

Giveaway

The book giveaway is for a signed edition of the print version. It is open to Canada and the U.S. only.

Deadline is August 25 at NOON Pacific Coast Time

Enter by leaving a comment expressing interest on this post along with your @ so I can contact you.

Extra entries can be had by:

• Following Joystory on Twitter  if you already do leave a separate comment saying so
• Like  Joystory's page on Facebook   if you already do leave a separate comment saying so
• Tweeting once per day (leave the tweet's url in a comment here)
• Add Joystory feed to your reader.   if you already do leave a separate comment saying so
• Following Joystory on Networked Blogs   if you already do leave a separate comment saying so

 Remember leave a separate comment for each task as the individual comments will be the entries that I assign numbers to in the order they are made and then use random.org to select the winner. The @ need only be in the first entry as long as the rest are easily attributed to the same entrant.

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