Clancy Tucker's Blog: 12 August 2013 - LETI DEL MAR

LETI DEL MAR

- Guest Blogger -

G'day guys,

Today I interview a blogger who is also an author - Leti Del Mar. Leti is planning a self-help book for self-published authors and she recently asked me to write an article for it - how I used my blog to promote myself.

Anyway, welcome Leti ...

TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT YOUR BLOG’S JOURNEY.

When I published my first book, everyone said I should have a blog. So I started one to create an online presence without any idea of what to do with it. Since then it has transformed into a resource centre for Indie Authors.

WHAT IS THE AIM OF YOUR BLOG?

I want to help and promote other Indie Authors as much as I possibly can. I’ve received lots of help from other authors and bloggers and I want to pay that forward.

WHAT DO YOU ENJOY MOST ABOUT BEING A WRITER?

I love to imagine stories in my head. I go to sleep thinking about them, I dream them and when I wake up, I can’t wait to write them all down. Capturing my imagination with words is a real highlight for me.

WHAT IS THE HARDEST THING ABOUT BEING A WRITER?

Marketing is a struggle. I have to put on my figurative business pant suit, roll up my sleeves and get to work on the business side of writing. As a self-published Indie, it is my job, and mine alone, to get the word out about my books.

WHAT WERE YOU IN A PAST LIFE, BEFORE YOUR BLOG?

I was and still am a teacher. I teach Algebra and Biology to teenagers.

WHAT DO YOU ENJOY MOST ABOUT PROMOTING OTHERS?

I love making friends and new connections. I’ve developed some rather nice friendships with some of the authors who have been on my blog. I love falling in love with their work and telling others about their fantastic pieces of fiction

WHAT ARE YOU WORKING ON AT THE MOMENT?

I promoting my YA Dytopian Romance, Land of the Unaltered and I have just started storyboarding the sequel. I will begin writing it in a couple of weeks.

WHAT INSPIRES YOU?

I get most of my inspiration from other books. For instance, I read DNA: The Secret of Life by Nobel Prize winner James Watson, and I couldn’t stop thinking about what we can already do with genetics and where that might lead us in the future. It gave me a nightmare and that nightmare turned into my current book

ARE YOU A WRITER?

Yes

WHAT GENRE DO YOU WRITE?

I write romance but it has to be mixed in with something else, like romantic suspense or dytopian romance.

DO YOU HAVE ANY TIPS FOR NEW WRITERS?

This is a marathon, not a sprint. Pace yourself and don’t be too critical of what you have accomplished for at least two decades.

DO YOU SUFFER FROM WRITER’S BLOCK?

Sometimes, I listen to music that matches the mood I want to create. I read something completely different from what I am writing or I switch gears and do some of the business of writing for a bit until I feel the mood to write resurface.

DO YOU HAVE A PREFERRED WRITING SCHEDULE?

I like the afternoons. Especially when my toddler naps.

DO YOU HAVE A FAVOURITE WRITING PLACE?

I have a lap top and write any time and any place. I got 3 chapters done on a flight from Honolulu to LA once.

WHAT IS YOUR GREATEST JOY IN WRITING?

Writing that first draft. I’m not worried about whether or not it is any good. I just write and it feels fantastic.

WHO IS YOUR FAVOURITE AUTHOR AND WHY?

Jane Austen. She wrote about what she knew and she did it successfully in a man’s world with only a small network of support. I think that woman and her work is amazing.

WHAT’S THE GREATEST COMPLIMENT YOU EVER RECEIVED FROM A READER OF YOUR BLOG?

“EEEK. It was so good I can’t even stand it!” That is how one 5 star review I received started and it put me on cloud nine for a week.

WHAT WAS THE WORST COMMENT FROM A READER?

I haven’t had too many bad ones (knock on wood), but I had one person give me a 3 star review, say they really liked it and then they ripped my book apart with a lengthy criticism. I would hate to see what the reviewer would have said it they didn’t like my work.

WRITERS ARE SOMETIMES INFLUENCED BY THINGS THAT HAPPEN IN THEIR OWN LIVES. ARE YOU?

I put the places I travel to into my work. My settings are always from real places I’ve been to. I live outside of Los Angeles so lots of my favourite spots in and around the “City of Angels” were used in my book, The Inadvertent Thief. I have also featured London, Paris and the Redwood forests of Northern California.

OTHER THAN WRITING, WHAT ELSE DO YOU LOVE?

I love Art History, Travel and classic film from the 30’s and 40’s.

IF YOU HAD AN OPPORTUNITY TO SPEAK TO THE ENTIRE WORLD, WHAT WOULD YOU SAY?

Be kind to one another.

DESCRIBE YOUR PERFECT DAY.

I would be at my favourite places to visit, the North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii. I dream about sleeping in. I haven’t slept past 8:00 am since before my daughter was born almost 3 years ago. So after waking up very late, having some of my favourite Kona coffee, I would sit on the beach and read. After many hours, I would eat some shrimp from my favourite Hawaiian shrimp truck. Then I would spend the rest of the day in and out of the water and end it all with a cold Mai Tai. Yep, that would be perfect.

WHAT ARE YOUR GREATEST ASSETS AS A WRITER?

I am so organized; I’m nearly an obsessive compulsive freak about it. I use plot and character charts and check lists. It keeps me on track and keeps me thorough and productive.

IF YOU WERE STUCK ON A DESERT ISLAND WITH ONE PERSON, WHO WOULD YOU LIKE IT TO BE? WHY?

My husband. Besides loving him, I like him more than anyone else. Also he has an immense knowledge of survival information, so we would eat and be safe.

WHAT ARE YOUR PLANS FOR THE FUTURE?

Write another book, then another one, then another one.

WHAT FIVE BOOKS WOULD YOU TAKE TO HEAVEN?

Pride and Prejudice, The Witch of Blackbird Pond, Jane Eyre, The Complete Sherlock Holmes, and North and South

ANYTHING YOU’D LIKE TO ADD?

Thanks so much for letting me stop by.