1 October 2018 - MELISSA BOWERSOCK - GUEST AUTHOR





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.
 



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.











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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30 September 2018 - THE AFRICAN PENGUIN


THE AFRICAN PENGUIN

G'day folks,

The African penguin, also known as the jackass penguin and black-footed penguin, is a species of penguin, confined to southern African waters.

African Penguin Classification and Evolution

The African Penguin is a small to medium sized Penguin species that is found along the coast of South Africa and on a number of its surrounding islands. The African Penguin is thought to be most closely related to the Humboldt and Magellanic Penguins found in southern South America, and the Galapagos Penguin found in the Pacific Ocean near the Equator. The African Penguin was named for the fact that it is the only species of Penguin that is found breeding on the African Coast, and it is believed to be one of the first Penguin species to be discovered by humans.
 


 
African Penguin Anatomy and Appearance
 
The African Penguin is a fairly distinctive species of penguin with clean black and white markings and a sharply pointed black beak. The African Penguin also has black feet and a number of dot-like markings flecked across its white chest which are said to be as unique to the individual Penguin as a Human finger print is, along with a narrow black band. The male African Penguin is generally slightly larger than their female counterparts but both are fairly similar in appearance. One of the African Penguin's most distinctive features is that they have pink glands above their eyes which help them to cope with the temperate climates. The hotter the African Penguin gets, the more blood is sent to these glands so it may be cooled by the surrounding air, which in turn, makes these glands more pink.

African Penguin Distribution and Habitat

The African Penguin is found on the south-western coast of Africa, living in 27 colonies on 24 islands between Namibia and Algoa Bay, near Port Elizabeth, South Africa, with the largest colony found on Dyer Island, near Kleinbaai. African Penguins are most densely distributed around the cold, nutrient rich waters of the Benguela Current where there is a plentiful supply of food. Although they spend much of their time at sea, African Penguins gather in nesting sites on rocky islands where they spend their days in sheltered burrows to avoid the hot sun. They are one of the only Penguin species to be found in non-freezing conditions and cope with this by burrowing, emerging at dusk and dawn, and using the pink glands above their eyes to cool the blood down.
 


 
African Penguin Behaviour and Lifestyle
 
Like many other Penguin species, African Penguins are incredibly sociable birds, with adults forming pair bonds that last for life (as long as 10 years). African Penguins can often be seen grooming one another, which is not only practical for cleaning purposes, but also for removing parasites and even just rearranging feathers, constantly strengthening the social bond between the pair. Their courtship displays are often very noisy as the male and female Penguin call to each other using a series of donkey-like sounds. African Penguins are also known to submit to a spot of bathing only a few meters from the shore, which they are thought to do quite regularly to both clean and to cool themselves down in the heat.




African Penguin Reproduction and Life Cycles

African Penguins begin to breed at the average age of four, when a male and female will pair up, and tend to breed together for the rest of their lives. The female African Penguin either digs herself a burrow or finds a dip beneath a rock or bush, in which she lays two eggs. The eggs are incubated by both parents for up to 40 days, when only one of the eggs will usually hatch. The African Penguin chicks are fed and kept warm by their parents constantly until they are a month old when they begin to be left on their own, forming crèches with other chicks for protection from predators. They tend to remain with their parents until they are between 3 and 5 months old, when they will leave the colony (this is dependant though on the supply and quality of food in the area). The chicks return to the colony after a couple of years to moult into their adult plumage. African Penguins generally live for between 10 and 15 years.
 


 
African Penguin Diet and Prey
 
The African Penguin is a carnivorous animal that, like all other Penguin species, survives on a diet that is only comprised of marine organisms. Shoaling fish including Anchovies, Sardines, Horse Mackerel and Round Herrings make up the bulk of the African Penguin's diet, along with the occasional Squid or Crustacean when normal food is in short supply. The streamlined body of the African Penguin allows it to move through the water like a rocket, capable of reaching a top speed of around 20 kph when hunting for food. African Penguins catch their prey by diving into the ocean depths for around 2 minutes at a time. Although they normally go to depths of around 30 meters, it is not uncommon for them to be found hunting more than 100 meters beneath the water's surface.

African Penguin Predators and Threats

The African Penguin's smaller size means that it has many predators both in the water and also on dry land. Their marine predators are primarily Sharks and Cape Fur Seals, but the biggest threat to them on land is not just to the adult Penguins, but more the vulnerable eggs and chicks. Kelp Gulls and Scared Ibises prey on them from the air and Mongooses, Snakes, and Leopards have been observed hunting them on ground. The African Penguin has also been severely affected by Human activity in their native regions, with populations thought to have taken a drastic decline, mainly due to the exploitation of their eggs for food when they were first discovered. They are also severely affected by the disruption of their natural habitats.
 


 
African Penguin Interesting Facts and Features
 
Penguins have more feathers than any other bird, which act as a waterproof layer keeping their skin dry. African Penguins moult once a year which they do back in their colonies. The whole process lasts for about 20 days, in which time, the African Penguins cannot swim or eat, and can lose almost half of their body weight. African Penguins are known to spend long periods of time fishing out at sea, and depending on the area, can travel between 30 and 110 km in one trip. However, those African Penguins who have chicks to feed, will rarely go that far, catching food closer to the shore, and as quickly as possible. The African Penguin is also known as the Jackass penguin, due to the donkey-like call that they make during their courtship rituals.

African Penguin Relationship with Humans

It is widely believed that African Penguins were one of the first Penguin species to come into contact with Humans, due to the fact that they are found on the temperate South African coast rather than in the heart of Antarctica. This however, does not seem to have worked to the bird's advantage as their eggs were stolen for food (slowing the rate of reproduction), and the guano used in nest building was harvested for fertiliser. Today, other threats face the African Penguin including competition for food from commercial fishing and oil pollution in the water. Only a small handful of nesting sites can be accessed by tourists, but the Penguin's nervous nature of people means that these areas have to be strictly monitored.
 


 
African Penguin Conservation Status and Life Today
 
Today, the African Penguin is considered to be a vulnerable animal and has been listed as being Endangered by the IUCN. It is thought that today's African Penguin population of around 70,000 breeding pairs, is less than 10% of the population that existed in 1900. By the 1950s, the African Penguin population had halved, and it had then halved again by 1980. There is an approximate 2% decline in the African Penguin population every year, mainly due to the Human consumption of their eggs, competition for food and habitat disruption.



Clancy's comment: I had never heard of these creatures. Penguins in Africa? Wow!

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