MELISSA BOWERSOCK
- GUEST AUTHOR -
G'day folks,
Well, today I re-interview an author who has not stopped writing since our first interview some years back. Welcome, Melissa ...
1. TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT YOURSELF AND YOUR WRITING JOURNEY.
In my early 20s, I got rather frustrated with the books I was reading at the time (historical romances) and kept thinking, “I can do better than that.” So I did. My first two books were published by a New York house back in the 1980s when traditional publishers would still take a chance on an unknown if they thought the book would sell. There were several printings, and the books did reasonably well. Then the publishing industry began to tighten up, the NY house passed on my new books and my next three books were published by small presses that could take a chance without investing too much. In the meantime, my first two books went out of print and when I got the rights back, I wanted to keep them viable, so I began to investigate self-publishing. Once I figured that out, I have never looked back. I just published my 30th book, which still blows me away. The numbers certainly add up over the years.
2. WHEN AND HOW DID YOU BECOME A WRITER?
It might be easier to say I wasn’t a writer between the ages of 1 and 5. By 5 I was already writing stories about bunnies. Then I graduated to horses, and wrote my first novel when I was 12. Finally I began writing about people and have never stopped. I knew a long time ago that I just can’t NOT write.
3. WHAT TYPE OF PREPARATION DO YOU DO FOR A MANUSCRIPT? DO YOU PLAN EVERYTHING FIRST OR JUST SHOOT FROM THE HIP?
Actually very little. A kernel of an idea will start to grow in my head, and I might let it roll around for a few days, but then it’ll get very insistent and I’ll have to start writing it down. I generally block out about 5 basic plot points, then just start writing. I keep a story bible and update it as my characters evolve, and often update the bullet points of the story’s twists and turns. But it’s 95% just wading in and seeing where it goes. It very often does NOT go the way I think it’s going to!
4. WHAT DO YOU ENJOY MOST ABOUT BEING A WRITER?
I love the way the stories and characters evolve. I might start with a very basic idea and almost a blank slate for the characters, yet they fill themselves in as I go, and they develop their own personalities. It’s quite startling some times. I had one book where I had what I thought was a minor character, yet by the end of the book, he was very pivotal and absolutely stole the show. My characters and their stories often surprise me far more than I would ever expect. But that’s where the magic is. And I know if they surprise me, they’ll surprise my readers, too.
6. WHAT WERE YOU IN A PAST LIFE, BEFORE YOU BECAME A WRITER?
Well, now, there are two ways I could answer this. I am a certified hypnotherapist, specializing in past life regressions, and I have reviewed about 20 of my past lives. I’ve been a Native American, an Irishman, a painter, a Tibetan monk; lived in Africa, Arabia, Egypt, Greece, Iceland. Plenty of fodder there for future books. But in THIS life, before I was a writer (I’ll say full-time writer), my day jobs included 21 years with the phone company and 17 years with the National Observatory.
7. WHAT IS YOUR GREATEST WRITING ACHIEVEMENT?
Hmm, that’s a tough one. I love all my books, but one stands out, and that’s a biography of my aunt, who was an army nurse in WWII and a prisoner-of-war. She was captured by the Japanese on Corregidor Island in the Philippines. I actually did not want to write that book—I’m a novelist, not a biographer—but I knew her story needed to be told and if I didn’t tell it, no one would. So I wrote it. It was my best-selling book for many years, and the true story seemed to touch all manner of people in many ways. Yes, I definitely have to say that that is my greatest achievement.
8. WHAT ARE YOU WORKING ON AT THE MOMENT?
At the moment, I’m typing up Book 13 of my paranormal mystery series, the Lacey Fitzpatrick and Sam Firecloud Mystery Series. It’s about a female ex-cop teamed up with a Navajo medium to investigate murders by talking to the dead. When I started the series 18 months ago, I had no idea how many books I would write, but here I am on Book 13. So far the series has been very popular and I’m gratified that so many people are enjoying Sam and Lacey’s escapades. It’s a lot of fun.
10. WHAT GENRE DO YOU WRITE?
I write whatever good idea comes into my pointy little head, and worry about the genre later. I’ve done action/adventure, romance, fantasy, contemporary, western, spiritual, satire and biography. In the last few years, though, I’ve concentrated more on paranormal: ghosts, reincarnation, time travel, that sort of thing. I love any story with a bit of magic to it.
11. DO YOU HAVE ANY TIPS FOR NEW WRITERS?
Keep writing. And reading. Those two things more than anything else. I suggest writers don’t put arbitrary word counts or page counts or timelines on themselves, but just write when they can. Some days I’ll write 1500 words; some days I’ll write two paragraphs. It doesn’t matter. In the end, it gets done. And read. Read and notice what other writers do. Notice what works, what doesn’t. Write and read, and write and read some more.
12. DO YOU SUFFER FROM WRITER’s BLOCK?
Eh, I never call it that. Some days I don’t feel like writing, so I don’t. Or life gets in the way. I never worry about it. I know it’ll come when it comes. I know some writers insist on writing so many words or for so many hours a day; I’ve never been that disciplined. Don’t plan to start now, either.
13. DO YOU HAVE A PREFERRED WRITING SCHEDULE?
I actually do. When I was working full time, it was anytime I could squeeze it in, but since I retired, I’ve worked out a good routine. I am high energy in the morning, so I do all my tasks that are goal-oriented, crossing things off my list. That might include errand-running, walking the dog, but also editing, marketing, research—all those non-creative writing chores. In the afternoon, when things are calmer, I can settle into writing with just let my mind go. That’s my full-on creative time, and I might crank out 1000 words in just two hours.
14. DO YOU HAVE A FAVOURITE WRITING PLACE?
I write longhand on legal pads, so I can actually write anywhere I want. My usual place is in my recliner in the family room, but I will often take my pad outside to the patio and write there. If need be, I take it with me to doctor’s appointments and write in the waiting room. One of the joys of pen and paper, and not having to fool with tiny little keyboards.
15. WHAT IS YOUR GREATEST JOY IN WRITING?
Holding that new book in my hands. Even with 30 books, that never gets old. It still amazes me that I can pour thoughts out of my head onto paper, type them up, convert them online and – voila! – I have a physical book I can hold in my hand. I think that will always be the greatest thrill.
16. WHO IS YOUR FAVOURITE AUTHOR AND WHY?
I don’t have favorite authors because most authors have better and not-so-good books, so I‘m not really loyal to a given author. My favorite books are A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving; The Mirror by Marlys Milhiser; Six of One by Rita Mae Brown and The Stand by Stephen King. Other books by those same authors don’t grab me as much, but those books I will re-read again and again.
17. WHAT’S YOUR OWN FAVORITE BOOK?
That’s a tough one, because I have so many. Out of my 30
books, I could easily say more than half are favorites. I re-read them
periodically, and even the ones that I might not rate as high still surprise me
when I revisit them. Superstition Gold,
my second book and a historical romance, was my favorite for a long time. Then Queen’s Gold, a novel about
reincarnation, took over that spot. Lately my time-travel novel, Finding Travis is very high on my list,
as is The Man in the Black Hat,
another time-travel. I love all the Sam and Lacey paranormal mystery books.
18. HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE YOU TO WRITE A BOOK?
It varies. The shortest amount of time was, I think, 23
days, and that was a Sam and Lacey book (which are short novels, averaging
about 40k words). I find when I am really inspired and a book is burning a hole
in my brain, I can set it down very quickly. Burning Through, another ghost story, was done in 30 days. With
that one, every evening I would imagine where the next chapters were going, get
it sorted out in my mind and then type it up the next morning; repeat the next
day.
20. OTHER THAN WRITING, WHAT ELSE DO YOU LOVE?
I love photography and nature. Hiking rugged canyons, wading quiet creeks. I love the beautiful national parks of the US, particularly the Southwest. The Grand Canyon is in my back yard, and that feels like home to me.
20. OTHER THAN WRITING, WHAT ELSE DO YOU LOVE?
I love photography and nature. Hiking rugged canyons, wading quiet creeks. I love the beautiful national parks of the US, particularly the Southwest. The Grand Canyon is in my back yard, and that feels like home to me.
21. DID YOU HAVE YOUR BOOKS PROFESSIONALLY EDITED BEFORE PUBLICATION?
I have never sought an outside editor. When I’m not in writing mode, I can easily slip into editing mode, and I seem to have a good eye for typos and holes in plots. I do, however, rely on the kindness of beta readers to read my books and alert me to any typos or questions they have about the story or the characters. They often bring a very different perspective to the story as seen through their own experiences, and that helps me to even out the story. I then revise as necessary, and I’m done.
24. WHAT WOULD YOU SAY IF YOU HAD THE CHANCE TO SPEAK TO WORLD LEADERS?
I wish all people could experience the benefit of seeing their past lives and understanding that reincarnation was real. I have a feeling that could change the way our world leaders think and act. I know when I began to review my past lives, it suddenly put everything into perspective; I knew intrinsically what was important and what was not. I was no longer afraid of death. If world leaders (and other influential people) could take a very long view on life instead of the short-sighted money-grubbing view they have now, I think the world would be a very different place. And a vastly better place.
26. WHAT ARE YOUR VIEWS ON BOOK TRAILERS? DO THEY SELL BOOKS?
Not that I have noticed. I do have some book trailers, and I don’t see a lot of traffic to them. The hard thing with books is that you never can track exactly where a sale came from, what triggered it and what sealed it. People may have seen a book trailer of mine weeks ago, thought it looked interesting, but didn’t buy the book. Then maybe I might have put out a new book and that reminded them, so then they went back and bought the first one, but how do you quantify that?
28. DOES THE PUBLISHING INDUSTRY FRUSTRATE YOU?
Not a bit. I self-publish, and I have total control. I write what I want, when I want, publish when I’m ready, and don’t answer to anyone. No one hangs over my shoulder. I accept all the credit and all the blame for my work, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
30. WHAT WAS YOUR FAVOURITE MANUSCRIPT TO WRITE? WHY?
I think my favorite (at least right now) was Finding Travis, the time-travel story about a modern man who gets flung back to Arizona Territory in 1877. The background is that my husband and I live in a small town in Arizona that boasts the best-preserved Indian Wars-era fort in the state, Fort Verde. My husband and I occasionally volunteer there and dress in period clothing for events. During one such event, I began to think about what it was like back in the day, and before I knew it, the story was coming together. The great part was that the folks at the fort gave me full access to all areas of the grounds, the records, the history, photographs—anything I needed. I was extremely happy with the authenticity of my book, because I had all these resources, and I think it makes it a fuller experience for the reader. The funny part is that now, after completing the book, I often go to the fort and think, “Travis was here. Travis did this.” The real life fort informed the book, and for me, the book informs the fort. I like that.
31. HOW WOULD YOU DEFINE “SUCCESS” AS A WRITER.
There are so many aspects to this. The first one that comes to mind, of course, is the material one—popularity of books and making money with them. For me, that’s minor. I guess first and foremost, I have to like my work. I have to feel it’s good, it’s worthwhile, it’s satisfying. If not, what’s the point? But right on the heels of that, my readers have to like it, too. And the third thing, then, is the monetary success. I’ve often wondered how I’d feel if I wrote a book that I didn’t really like, but it became a best-seller. How would I feel? I don’t know. I just know I have to like the book first. I wrote a book last year that I thought was good, but something was missing from the main character. He just didn’t resonate for me. I put the book on a shelf for a year, finally puzzled out what was missing and went back and fixed it up. Now I’ve published it and I’m happy with it. This is The Field Where I Died, another reincarnation story.
32. WHAT SHOULD READERS WALK AWAY FROM YOUR BOOKS KNOWING? HOW SHOULD THEY FEEL?
I don’t really expect readers to feel anything specific. I hope they will enjoy my books, enjoy the experiences I take them on, but I hope, too, that they might learn something they never knew, entertain an idea or a concept they never considered before. I hope, too, that they will love my characters as much as I do. I had one reader tell me a while back that she was in love with Sam Firecloud, the male lead in my paranormal series. I told her I was, too! If my books can elicit feelings like that from my readers, I’m a happy camper.
33. WOULD YOU LIKE TO HAVE YOUR BOOKS MADE INTO MOVIES? EVER WRITTEN A SCREENPLAY?
I would love to see many of my books as movies, but the chances are slim. I do not write screenplays. I’m too wordy for that. My brother has written many screenplays, and I am familiar with the format, but it’s just too brief for me. I like to get into my characters’ heads, and the visual format of a screenplay makes that difficult.
34. HOW MUCH THOUGHT GOES INTO DESIGNING A BOOK COVER?
Quite a bit. Generally I will have an idea what I want when I start researching images, and often I will grab pictures off the web and cobble together a mock-up, which I then send to my cover designer, Brenda at coversbydesign.net. She’s great at refining my ideas, getting the legal aspects sorted out for buying licenses, etc., and of course does the full-res version for both paperbacks and eBooks. If I don’t have a clear idea for a cover, she can always come up with some suggestions for me. I think it’s been a trade-off in that sometimes we do what my original idea was, and sometimes we do something of hers, something I’d never thought about. For one book we might have many, many iterations, a lot of back and forth to try this, tweak that; at other times, we settle on an image, the font and—boom! We’re done. We have a great working relationship. I find this process to be a lot of fun.
36. WRITING IS ONE THING. WHAT ABOUT MARKETING YOU, YOUR BOOKS AND YOUR
BRAND? ANY THOUGHTS?
I’m afraid I’m not the best one to ask about this. Like so many authors, marketing is not my favorite thing. I do blast out new release info to my newsletter, my web page, my blog, all social media platforms that I use, but I don’t spend a ton of time or money on it. I have had very good luck with a company called bookdoggy.com when I have a new release or a 99 cent promo, and another company has brought terrific results for my paranormal series. It’s called Voracious Readers Only, and I have an ongoing deal that new readers who select for the genre mystery/thriller can request the first book of my series to read for free. In return, they agree to go on my newsletter mailing list, and they are politely requested to post a review of the book when they are done. I’ve gotten quite a few excellent reviews, plus the other books in my series are selling at a great pace. It’s definitely a win/win.
37. ARE YOUR BOOKS SELF-PUBLISHED?
Yup, every one.
38. DESCRIBE YOURSELF IN FIVE WORDS.
Hoo, boy. How about: creative,
undisciplined, rebellious, trusting and changeable?
39. WHAT PISSES YOU OFF MOST?
Typos. We all have typos, we all make mistakes, but I constantly strive for a perfection I will probably never achieve. Even after a book is published, if I (or a reader) find one mistake, I will fix it immediately and republish. I can’t stand the little buggers.
39. WHAT PISSES YOU OFF MOST?
Typos. We all have typos, we all make mistakes, but I constantly strive for a perfection I will probably never achieve. Even after a book is published, if I (or a reader) find one mistake, I will fix it immediately and republish. I can’t stand the little buggers.
Clancy's comment: Go, Melissa! There is no stopping you. Well done, and great to see that you've been powering ahead.
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