Friday's 5 with Angel M.B. Chadwick

Please welcome Angel M.B. Chadwick, author of Corridors of my Mind. "I write only what I've experienced myself, no lofty perches here only raw emotion, life experience, and soulful intelligence. To read my books is to know me, mind, body, soul, intellect and spirit my essence is on every page." Chadwick has been writing since she was thirteen years old spanning over twenty years and counting and has developed a unique, unpredictable and God given style that is like no other author out there.

 1.) When did you first get serious about writing?

A.) When I was 13 years old, and wrote my first short story for  a class assignment and got an A+ and bragging rights from my teacher. After that every time I had a writing assignment whether it was writing poetry, a term paper or a literary analysis in college, there was always a teacher or students bragging on my gift for writing.

2.) What is the hardest part for you about writing?

A.) The hardest part is the entire process from writing, editing, publishing, etc.

Corridors of my Minds can be found at the following online retailers.

3.) How did you feel upon publication of your first completed project?

A.)  I felt relief and vindication because I didn't have to stay in the shadows anymore.

4.) What is more important to you, story, or character? Why?

A.) All of it is important story, character, plot development, etc other wise what's the point. You need all these things to craft a well rounded and hopefully well written story.

5.) What is a typical day like in your world?

A.) Busy, busy, always busy along with raising my rambunctious eight year old son who is autistic/nonverbal and making steady progress everyday and who is my hero.

Angel's extended bio:

Angel Chadwick is a tour de force writing about the most painful, extremely dark and very, very difficult aspects of her life in her memoir "Corridors of My Mind" written in the unique literary style of lyrical poetry. Her words are visceral and telling of how she speaks from the deepest recesses of her soul. It's a coming of age nonfiction story starting first with her life as a wife, a mother and taking the reader backwards in time from her adulthood to her teenage years, revealing her hardships, relationships and the wisdom she's learned from it all. One of her poems in this book "Life or Some Facsimile of It" is Chadwick speaking to life itself and apologizing to it for ever doing it wrong by attempting or even entertaining thoughts of suicide. She is a fresh, new, yet seasoned and unique multifaceted, multitalented author who has pulled herself out of obscurity many times especially with this book.

Angel can be found on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/angel.chadwick.10
and Twitter https://twitter.com/chadwick_angel
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Friday's 5 with Christian O'Neil

This week's featured guest is writer/director/other??? Christian O'Neil.

1.) When did you first get serious about writing?

A.) When I finally buckled down and wrote the first chapter of BACK ROADS KINGDOM, I was a wee lad of thirty-seven, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and ready to take on the world. Prior to that, I'd written plays and screenplays, but never a novel. My wife's aunt, a mega-successful e-publishing romance novelist, asked me to co-author a romance/sci-fi hybrid with her. That project never really got off the ground, but it reminded me that writing was something that I loved doing and that it was time I finally made good on all the promises I'd made over the years and write my fantasy opus. I knew I had it in me, it was just a matter of forcing myself to turn off the TV and get it done.

2.) What is the hardest part for you about writing?

A.) When you aren't in the rhythm of it, it's about finding the self-discipline to do it. When the project takes hold of you, it's the exact opposite - EVERYTHING else in the world suddenly becomes a distraction, because writing is all you want to do. That's a wonderful, joyous place to be, just cruising along like that for months on end, seized by the story...but it can be hard to get from zero to sixty. (Translation: I'm a lazy procrastinator).



3.) How did you feel upon publication of your first completed project?

A.) My brain was confused by the idea that I could no longer revise the manuscript, because that's all I've done for the last two years. Then I felt grief, then anger, then bargaining, and finally acceptance. Now I'm just hoping people find me!

4.) What is more important to you, story, or character? Why?

A.) My theater training has taught me that the two are inextricably linked. I would go so far as to say that character IS story. Another way of saying it is: story is what happens when characters have needs, and act on them. The only story anyone has ever been interested in hearing is, "The Story of the Character who Needed the Thing." I think a lot of people confuse story and plot, and a lot of writers stress over plot, but the plot will always write itself if the characters are active and drive the story forward. Plot is the organic way the world reacts to the character's struggle: the fallout, the complications, the resistance.

5.) What is a typical day like in your world?

A.)  You want to know what a typical day looks like? Try surviving one, and then tell me how it went. First, you have to sleep lightly, in case a swarm of skeeters comes upon you in the night. A swarm that size will leave you a bloodless husk within thirty seconds. First thing to do upon waking is to ensure that the Belled Buzzard is nowhere about, because if so, you might want to call out sick: chances are a massacre is in the works. If you do get out, just be sure you're ready to duck and cover at the sound of motorcycle engines: rumor has it the Pale Riders are looking for slaves to bring to market. Such is the ugly truth of the world: up here in the Yonder, you're either predator or you're prey. But hey, at least you don't gotta pay Uncle Sam no dues, and it's been years since you had to befoul your eyes with the sight of an OfficeMax.


Bio:
Christian O'Neill is a writer/director/other living in New York City with his wife Leah, a children’s librarian, and his 5-year old son Asher, who knows one karate move and uses it often, regardless of what mood he's in. He studied ancient history at Providence College in the hopes of becoming actual Indiana Jones, and then went on to earn master's degrees in Theater Education from Emerson College and Directing from Brooklyn College. He now knows more about theater than Indiana Jones did. BACK ROADS KINGDOM, his first novel, is the culmination of decades of telling people that he would someday write a novel


For more information about BACK ROADS KINGDOM, please visit the official website at: www.backroadskingdom.com

Or just buy it on Amazon at: http://tinyurl.com/opmndml

And while you’re at it, why not subscribe to my classy blog at: www.backroadsia.com



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Fridays 5 with Children's Author Gregory E Bray

This week we take a little detour from the norm as children's author Gregory E Bray joins us for Fridays 5. A life long resident of Sacramento, CA, married with one son. He was a film/tv major in college, in the past he has worked on a few movies, the most notable being George of the Jungle. He is currently employed in the IT field, and spends his time off writing, and enjoying life with his family. 

1.) When did first get serious about writing?

A.) About 2 years ago when I published my first book, "The Tail of a Boy Named Harvey" It was so easy and so much fun, I wanted to keep on doing it for as long as I have ideas.


2.) What is the hardest part for you about writing?

A.) Finding time to write. I work a full time day job, and then we have a almost 3 year old to deal with when my wife and I get home from work. Once he goes to bed, I write. But then I have to battle sleep to get anything accomplished.


 


3.) How did you feel upon publication of your first completed project?

A.) Excited. I couldn't wait for the first person to read it who wasn't family or a friend and let me know what they thought of it good or bad.

4.) What is more important to you, story, or character? Why?

A.) I write children's books, so to me it's story. I usually have the full concept of the story before I even know what character's will be involved. And so far, there has been some sort of a lesson to be learned in my books.



5.) What is a typical day like in your world?

A.) Play with my son before work. Have fun at work for 9 hours. Pick up my son and entertain him while I either cook dinner or discuss with my wife what we're picking up for dinner. Once he's in bed, start writing for as long as I can stay awake.


Gregory can be found online at:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gregoryebray

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/geb1967

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Are the machines taking over?

The publishing industry is reeling today after news broke this morning about Kindle Author, Amazon's new service that  generates high-quality fiction using complex software algorithms.

It’s like Build-A-Bear for ebooks. The reader tells Kindle Author what they want in a story, and then Kindle Author automatically generates the book .

In this post, I’ll explain how Kindle Author works and I'll share never-before-seen screenshots of the service.  I’ll explain the science that made this breakthrough possible, and then I'll wrap by discussing what this means for Smashwords authors and the future of publishing.

How Kindle Author Works

Kindle Author is a new option for purchasing ebooks in the Kindle store.  It's receiving heavy promotion on the Amazon home page, which tells me Amazon is making the service a strategic priority for their business.

Amazon is also advertising Kindle Author directly on the book listings pages of all books in their store.  A customer visits the listing page for a book written by a real author, and Amazon encourages the reader to create and read a free Kindle Author book instead.


Read the rest at Smashwords Blog
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