Writers4Higher features author V.L Brunskill

Hi Vicki-lynn! 

Welcome to Writers4Higher.

1. Tell me about yourself. Your book(s), your life, your inspiration.

My professional writing career started when I dropped out of journalism class after landing an interview with the late, great, punk icon Joey Ramone. At the start of my music journalism career, I begged for interviews. After gaining some tenure, record labels let me know when bands would be performing in Boston. You name a band from the late eighties or early nineties, and the chances are pretty good that I interviewed them. My work appeared in Metronome Magazine, CREEM, Boston Globe, and the Boston Phoenix.

When waiting backstage for rock stars became tedious, and I was ready to start a family, I changed careers. It is tough to attend five concerts a week with a baby carrier on your arm. Plus, I wanted my little one to be able to hear! Some of those shows were deafening. After my daughter was born, I worked as a technical writer in the ion implantation field, and as an IT magazine editor. I am currently a conference producer.

My novel Waving Backwards was born of my experience as an adoptee in search. I was adopted at seven-months old in a closed adoption. Closed adoptions are those in which the child can never gain access to their records. The paperwork about the adoption is sealed by the state, and can only be opened by court order. It is an outdated and unfair system, but remains the law in most states.

I have always wondered about my biological family and started searching for my family while I was in college. It took thirteen years for me to locate both my birth mother and birth father. I moved South to be closer to both. We brought my adoptive Mom with us from Boston to Savannah, Georgia.

Waving Backwards tells the story of Lara Bonavito’s unforgettable journey of self-discovery. Adopted into an abusive and impoverished home, Lara’s quest to find her roots lands her in the Southern jewel’s historic district. A vivid cast of characters help her unravel clues found in a cryptic letter hidden in the family bible for two decades.

“The baby’s roots are with the Southern lady who waves forever.”

With the help of mischievously handsome trolley tour guide Robert Taylor, Kipling-quoting florist Abel Bloom, and comically outspoken Louisiana beauty Susan Fletcher, Lara uncovers family secrets wrapped in the mystique of Savannah’s Waving Girl statue.

Waving Backwards is a coming-of-age quest that reveals the healing power of family bonds and maternal love. It really is a heart-warming tale, set in one of the South’s most romantic cities.

2. Where do you see your writing taking you in the future?

My character Lara keeps telling me that she would like to do a bit more traveling. So, I think there will be a sequel to Waving Backwards.

I am also working on a rock memoir that will cover my decade in the music world. The book will feature stories and interviews with the likes of; Buddy Guy, Aerosmith, Deep Purple, Chicago, Steve Vai, Poison, Tesla, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and many more.

3. How do you use your talents/time to help others?

I am an adoption reunion assistant at adoptionfind.wordpress.com. I advise adoptees on the key steps to take in the adoption search process. I also post search tips, reunion stories, and family-focused articles at Adoption Find.

I also created a charity in 2013 called ‘Books to Build On’. The book drive was launched after I witnessed the devastation caused by the Moore, Oklahoma tornadoes. Two elementary schools were demolished and several students were killed by the storms which hit during school hours. As a book lover, it was important to me that the school libraries be restocked. They lost everything! With my daughter's help, I started a children’s book drive. We had church groups, boy scouts and even the famous Australian boy band 5SOS join the effort. We ended up with 7,000 books, two sets of brand new encyclopedias from World Book, and twenty-four student dictionaries from The Dictionary Project.

UniGroup Logistics (United Van Lines) shipped the four pallets of books from my garage in Savannah to the Moore schools for free. It was so exciting to be able to help the students. After all, what's a school without books? The process taught me that anyone can make a difference. My daughter and I saw a need, and with the help of thousands of generous donations, were able to fill it.

Where to find out more about Vicki-lynn:

Blog- adoptionfind.wordpress.com

Twitter- @RockMemoir

Facebook author page- www.facebook.com/vlbrunskill

My novel Waving Backwards- http://www.syppublishing.com/waving-backwards/

Amazon author page- amazon.com/author/vlbrunskill 

Book trailer- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_ufjmq0l-U

Books to Build on article: http://www.bryancountynews.com/archives/27380/

Thank you again, Vicki-lynn.

Rhett DeVane

blogmaster, Writers4Higher

www.rhettdevane.com 

Writers4Higher features Barbara Joe Williams

Hi Barbara Joe. Welcome to Writers4Higher.

 

1. Tell me about yourself. Your book(s), your life, your inspiration.

Thanks for having me as your blog guest today. I'm an Amazon bestselling author, indie publisher, and a motivational speaker living in Tallahassee, Florida. I founded my publishing business, Amani Publishing in 2004, as a way to publish my first novel titled, Forgive Us This Day. I also co-founded the Tallahassee Authors Network in 2008. I write romance and women's fiction because that's mainly what I love to read. I have also written a few nonfiction books, a novella, short stories, and compiled several anthologies. My inspiration to write comes from my love for reading and wanting to share my own stories with others. In 2014, I revised and updated my first novel and republished it as a tenth anniversary edition which ended up being reviewed by USA Today. 

2. Where do you see your writing taking you in the future?

I'm working on something different right now. It's a Young Adult series set in the seventies, during the time that I grew up in Arkansas. It's not a biography, but it's my way of documenting some of the things I experienced as a teen and how they're related to what teens are still experiencing today. So I see this series taking me into the schools and other places where I can share my stories with a younger audience and their families. I'm hoping this series will help bridge the gap between the generations and bring more understanding and tolerance for everyone.

3. How do you use your talents/time to help others?

I use my talent's and time to help other aspiring writers by hosting workshops, speaking at events, and publishing reference books that can help them become successful self-published authors. I just published the A-Z eBook series earlier this year to help new and seasoned authors expand their craft. The series includes: A-Z Writing Tips, A-Z Basic Editing Tips, and A-Z Marketing Tips. Each book is designed to be a motivational tool for helping authors achieve their writing goals. I've also hosted online chats as well as Q & A sessions designed to benefit writers and readers. I also volunteer in my community to help disadvantaged children and their families whenever necessary.


Where to find Barbara Joe Williams:

Amazon author's page: http://goo.gl/hCOkBb
Facebook: http://ow.ly/M7oYa
Twitter: www.twitter.com/BarbaraJoe22
Website: www.barbarajoe.webs.com 

Thank you for joining us at Writers4Higher!

Rhett DeVane

Southern fiction author and blogmaster

www.rhettdevane.com

Writers4Higher features Nic Stoltzfus

Hi Nic! Welcome to Writers4Higher

1.     Tell me about yourself. Your book(s), your life, your inspiration.

So, to start off with my name is Nic Stoltzfus, and I am a newly-minted author. This is a title that I have dreamed about being able to put on my nametag since I was a little kid, and I am very honored to say that I wrote my first book that was released last month. The name of the book is Coastal Dune Lakes: Jewels of Florida’s Emerald Coast, and it was published as part of a multimedia project on the coastal dune lakes found in Northwest Florida. My dad, Elam Stoltzfus, took most of the pictures for the book, and I did the layout and writing and some additional photography. There was a local composer from Panama City, Eric Schrotenboer, who did the music for a companion documentary for public television, I wrote the script for the documentary, and my dad did most of the cinematography and directed the film. It was a great project to be a part of!

So, a bit about myself—I was born in Tallahassee and grew up in Blountstown (a small town close to Chattahoochee—you understand what that’s like Rhett!). When I am explaining what it is like to people who have never visited there I say it is a “small one stoplight sleepy southern town.” The Whistle-Stop Café could have easily been built in Blountstown, Chattahoochee, Grand Ridge or any of these little municipalities scattered around the Florida Panhandle. It was a great place to grow up, and I am grateful that I was surrounded by nature and family.

My inspiration comes from a variety of sources. Probably one of my biggest inspirations is my grandparents—Monroe and Naomi Yoder. They traveled from Delaware to Blountstown to found a small Mennonite church. Even though they are no longer alive, they still have a large impact on my life. Their mission in life was to make a difference in the community through the example of their lives. No, they weren’t perfect, but they were good and honest people who truly cared about the people of Calhoun County and saw this place as their mission field. I hope to continue that legacy and be kind and compassionate with everyone who crosses my path no matter who they are or where they're from.

2.     Where do you see your writing taking you in the future?

Well, I hope to continue to write about environmental issues in the State of Florida. I think that this is an important time to be telling stories of Florida’s natural environment, and so I want to be able to communicate stories that are well-told, inspiring, and exciting. I hope that I did that with the coastal dune lakes project—in the documentary we tell the story of a group of people who worked hard to preserve what is now Topsail Hill Preserve State Park, a beautiful state park that contains around 6 miles of preserved beachfront—a rarity in today’s landscape. I hope to show people now that true change can take place, and it starts with citizens coming together to help save and protect something they believe in. That’s a story of hope, and I think that these are the sorts of tales that need to be told. The media is filled with things that get us down and depressed and upset—if I can add to that mix a story of hope, healing, and redemption—then that brings my life a lot of meaning.

Along with this I have some short stories, sci-fi, and auto-fiction that I am working on, but it is still in the early stages and they will come to fruition when the time is right.

I hope that writing can take me around the world—it is the skill that I have decided to dedicate my life to, and I write every day and try to read as many books as possible! So, that’s my goal. J

3.     How do you use your talents/time to help others?

I think I answered some of this question in responses given above, but to say specifically the way that I use my talents/time to help others is by showing people a new perspective to look at the world. We all have a unique way of looking at the world and when anyone reads a work (regardless if it is fiction or nonfiction), they enter into that writer’s perspective. And I think this fosters a sense of empathy by seeing the world through a new lens, a different body that is unfamiliar and new to them. This is broadly speaking, but I think it is important nonetheless.

I am still in the early stages of this, but I am working on doing a series of workshops with my local library on writing/photography for school-aged kids. This is something that I am really looking forward to working on!

Since I am still in the early stages as a writer, I am still looking for ways to give back so if other writers read this and have ideas, I am open to them!

Website: www.stoltzfusmedia.com

More info on Coastal Dune Lakes project: www.coastaldunelakes.org

Amazon Link for book: Purchase Coastal Dune Lakes on Amazon

Thanks for joining us, Nic!

Rhett DeVane

Southern fiction author and blogmaster

www.rhettdevane.com

Writers4Higher features Andrea Brunais, editor and author

Welcome, Andrea!

1. Tell me about yourself, your business, and the connection with the writing world.

As communications director for a large division at Virginia Tech, I operate as a sort of "backpack journalist," doing everything from writing communications plans to crafting news releases, shooting and editing short video stories and mentoring more junior writers. My early career was in journalism – I was a columnist and editor with Media General and, later, Knight-Ridder, and my journalism awards include a Robert Kennedy Journalism Award for investigative reporting and a first-place award from the Southern Newspaper Publishers Association. After daily newspapers began their decline, I also edited an alternative weekly in Sarasota with the Creative Loafing chain.

My latest novel, Mercedes Wore Black, published by Yellow Southern Pine Publishing, tells the story of a "real" backpack journalist covering the Florida governor's race. Reviews have been glowing, and my publisher has submitted it as her nominee for the best Florida adult fiction category in this year's Florida Authors and Publishers Association contest.

Meanwhile, I have discovered that I love making the work of other writers shine just as much as I like to edit and improve my own!

2. How do you work with authors?

As a book editor, I work with authors in two ways: I do general content editing, and I also do line edits. Many editors specialize in one type of editing or the other. Because of my newspaper training, I can do the character-by-character copy editing that upholds the highest standards of consistency and proper grammar. I can also take a step back from a manuscript and judge things such as: Does it sing? Is it well organized? Does it fulfill me as a reader? Are there big pieces missing?

I've been a voracious reader since childhood. My standards are high. I expect a writer to entertain and inspire me. I want character development and I also want that page-turning quality.

Also, as through the years, I've done book reviews for various publications. That has given me many opportunities to think through what makes a book work. When it doesn't, I've got to figure out a way to articulate what went wrong.

Lately I've read a couple of books where the main character doesn't pass the "who cares?" test. If I don't care about a character, I have little interest in reading about him or her – and I know legions of readers feel the same way! So that's the first hurdle for many authors. They need to find a way to make the reader love their characters or at least like them enough to want to live in their skins for a while!

3. Do you write as well as contribute through your business? Please share!

I continue to write as well as edit – and probably always will. Most recently, I edited a book of essays written by my mother during the last 20 years of her life. She co-founded a Write Focus writing group in her community in Michigan, and her fellow writers encouraged her to write more about her childhood growing up in small town in the 1930s and 1940s. I wish she had lived to see the wonderful reception the book has gotten! It's called On the Drop Side of Yonder, and it's available inexpensively via Amazon's CreateSpace and Kindle. Soon I'll have a different form of the book available absolutely free (and with no ads) on YouTube. The reading will be done by my dear friend and fellow author Saundra Kelley, who's a Jonesborough-trained storyteller par excellence.

LINKS: 

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/andreabrunais

Book editor website: http://andreabrunais.wix.com/andrea-brunais

Latest book: http://www.amazon.com/Mercedes-Wore-Black-Andrea-Brunais/dp/1940869102

Contact info: ANDREA BRUNAIS / 540.808.0864 / andreabrunais@gmx.com

Thank you for joining us on Writers4Higher.

Rhett DeVane

author and blogmaster

www.rhettdevane.com

  

Writers4Higher features Mary Jane Ryals

Hi, Mary Jane. Welcome to Writers4Higher.

Tell me about yourself. Your book(s), your life, your inspiration.

            Well, I was doomed to be a reader and writer, as my mother and grandmother were English majors. Mama read Mother Goose to me as I was barely talking, and I’d recite verse to their dinner friends. I read classics for juniors at eight years old--Brontes, Twain, Poe, Dickens, Stevenson, Alcott and others.

The natural world figured prominently; the times seemed safe, so I wandered  in woods for hours, dreaming of gingerbread houses and wicked witches and floating down Mississippi-type rivers. I liked the idea of homeless and parentless children—the world was whatever I decided it was, in fact, and was luscious. I liked how people in these books struggled and usually survived. When they didn’t, I was intrigued. 

Those books fed my imagination and gave me a sense of social justice. I love language, too, and it’s power to change us. I’m concerned about social justice. I love language and its power to change us.

For example, when I wrote Cookie and Me, I wanted to be honest about my southern cultural learned behavior of racism. Cookie is black, and the narrator, Rayann is white. They become friends despite the culture that tells them this is completely wrong. They learn about each other as people. Rayann has more to learn than Cookie does. I won a book award for the novel, it was because I didn’t mind taking risks. Unless there’s risk, there’s no real story.

My new novel, Cutting Loose in Paradise, I wrote to teach myself how to learn plot. My dear friend Sue Cerulean urged me to take the manuscript out of the drawer out and work on it. Meanwhile, she worked on her non-fiction book, Coming to Pass, a collection about the peril our Gulf of Mexico is in and her lyrical observations of the gulf’s beauty and life.  

Cutting Loose was my attempt to talk about damages to the waters, and how they affect the poorer people living along our Florida gulf, not to mention all the animal life there. Since I grew up here, I made certain that nature and place was a big “character” in the book, as Eudora Welty says. The animals had voices—I’d make up words to imitate animal sounds, particularly the birds that inhabit the water areas.

Sue helped tremendously with the book. A bird expert, whose friends are water experts, Sue helped me cobble together a mystery about how people and animals and plants all need each other.

I also wanted the main character to be a single mom. They never get their due, even though they are matriarchs. And I wanted the mom to be a bit sloppy. I didn’t want a perfect mom. I think we owe it to mothers to let them be humans, not “The Madonna.” And the character named Madonna, a friend of the single mom, is my ideal of a gulf girl—nutty, fun-loving, compassionate, smart and not necessarily educated, and sometimes all the wiser.

  

Where do you see your writing taking you in the future?

I have in my contract a clause that says my next book must be looked at by Pineapple Press first. I’m honored to be with Pineapple. The editor suggested that I wanted to write a series of mystery novels, and I jumped on this chance. To get a publisher in these times makes me pretty darn lucky. I think I’m in this for the next decade, as I’m a slow writer and a crazy rewriter. My husband, Michael Trammell, also a writer, says the folks who revise get published. Now that this book is out, all I want to do is write poetry. I get bored easily. I need poetry to take me back to the tight writing I used to do—few words to say much. I bore myself with exposition.

How do you use your talents/time to help others?

            Here’s my favorite question of the three. David Brooks’ new book about how our “resume” selves (titles, skills, productiveness, who we know) has overshadowed our “moral” selves (the selves we are deep inside that we want people to talk about at our funerals, for instance).

            I struggled with that without using those words. I left the safety and security of a full time academic position at Florida State to write more and to do something more meaningful to me. I didn’t even know what that was. Many thought I was making a huge mistake. But it was the best decision.

            I stumbled onto a job at TCC tutoring English writing in the Learning Commons. I absolutely love this work. I meet with students from every part of the world, from every age returning to or beginning college. So many people are struggling with standard English. I had no idea, having spent much time in English department situations at FSU or other university situations.

For instance, in the Learning Commons, I’ve met a young Hispanic women who told me her mom and siblings had to leave Central America because the mafia there taxed them on their business outside their home, and threatened to kill them. They didn’t have enough food, so they left to come here. She has a strong work ethic, and appreciates the help with her many papers.

            I’ve met a deaf African American man who said his paper had some sexual content, and Was I sure I wanted to read the paper? It was a fun paper to read about how we need sex education, and I enjoyed communicating with him entirely through writing notes back and forth. He thanked me profusely on paper when he left. I put the paper on my frig.

            I met a South Korean man who wants to be a Physical Therapist, and he told me that South Korea is the Italy of Asia—that they love food, parties, just being joyful. Who knew?

            The people I work with are varied as well. For instance, I know two women from Iran who call themselves “The Persians.” I love talking with them about beauty, fashion, the Ottoman Empire, poetry, dance, and a whole lot of other richness.

            Anyone who tutors has to pass a pretty rigorous test, so I get to work with really smart people. One woman works with a playwright, and they’re rewriting and putting on the Greek plays as zombie stories. She’s always asking me if I know anybody who can act.

            Librarians work in the same building, in the same big room, so to speak. They have the best inner lives of anyone I know. We all know they’re smart, but I’m learning how well they can research anything. One African librarian has showed me a website of migrant worker camps in the 30s in Florida, and has showed me a site for how to do cool styles for African and African American hair.

            So my new work is not very lucrative, but it lets me give back my easy knowledge of American grammar and sentence structure, spelling and overall thinking about organizing one’s writing towards helping struggling people move out of where they are and into something better for themselves. And what they give me back is worth a billionaire’s fortune.

            I also still teach, mostly English at TCC and Flagler College Tallahassee. I sometimes teach Business Communication at FSU. I like and need the variety. And I have a lot of hope for the next generations. Being in touch with them keeps my thinking young. I try to stay a little outside the box in teaching, and I can do this by not having a full time job. And these stories, these stories, they enrich my writing.

Order Cutting Loose in Paradise on Amazon

PRAISE FOR CUTTING LOOSE IN PARADISE

 “Glorious writing and a good mystery aren’t the only draws to Mary Jane Ryals’ new book. Readers will root for big hearted, loose-lipped, pool-playing, hair-cutting LaRue Panther and her charming kids and friends. But they’ll also root for the underdog parts of Florida that she loves and yearns to protect.” — Lucy Burdette, best selling author of the Key West Food Critic mysteries. 

“Mary Jane Ryals’ beautiful book Cutting Loose in Paradise depicts three strong dynamic women on a lost island, St. Annes, in the Gulf of Mexico, dealing with the murder of one of their own, a woman who reportedly shot herself in the heart. However when LaRue Panther, hair stylist, reports to the funeral home to fix the deceased’s hair for the funeral, she discovers no bullet hole in the body; instead, a cut throat. Ryals isn’t writing a who-dunnit, exactly. More like an environmentalist’s nightmare. The story takes place in the dark times of the BP oil spill, at a moment in time before oil and oily birds and fish began to wash up on the shore. There is a lot of denial going on. There is a beautiful hopelessness on the island, working class people dreading what was coming. The news keeps showing the gargantuan jet of oil on the Gulf’s floor, gushing oil for months. No one knows what’s going to happen.” — Philip F. Deaver, 13th winner of the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction

Thank you for joining us at Writers4Higher!

Rhett DeVane, Southern fiction author and blogmaster

www.rhettdevane.com

Writers4Higher welcomes Susan Mary Malone, editor and author

Hi Susan! Welcome to Writers4Higher.

Tell me about yourself, your business, and the connection with the writing world.

I’m an award-winning author and editor, with 6 Traditionally published books to my credit (2 novels and 4 works of co-authored nonfiction), and nearly 50 books I’ve edited sold to Traditional publishers.  The latest is Randy Denmon’s post-Civil-War Historical novel, Lords of an Empty Land, which sold on a 2-book deal to Kensington. 

I spend my days immersed in a world of words!  Writing, editing, teaching writing.  Is there another way to live?  LOL.

How do you work with authors?

Okay, this is a long one!  But I’ll try to be brief J

I'm a developmental editor (as opposed to just a copy editor), so my work is very, very thorough. The market is very, very specific as to how books must conform to different genres and sub-genres, which isn't terribly apparent from the outside.  I take an all-encompassing, multi-pronged manner to this, as all manuscripts—from first-time writers to seasoned ones—need a great editor to dig down to the bones and then bounce everything off of.  The most successful method for bringing a manuscript to publication is to attend to all aspects of it under one large umbrella.

To that end, I first do a thorough substantive edit (genre-specific when called for, including a host of examples and suggestions and discussion, all over the pages, illustrating every point made), an in-depth and comprehensive critique (15-30 pages, correlated specifically to the manuscript and delving into characterization, plotting and pacing, organization and structure, flow, voice and tone, all literary devices and stylistic elements, and overall substance).  

The second part of this process, mentoring, then begins with unlimited follow-up/coaching through revisions and beyond.  Once revisions are complete, you’ll send it back to me for the third step—a copyedit/review of the revised manuscript.  That way, we both know the book is truly ready to market. 

I'm an editor of the old school—entirely hands on—so I don't just send the work back and say good luck. And a big part of my job is teaching all the elements of great fiction and nonfiction, so that writers absolutely can apply that to their next works.  Most importantly, I'm here as coach for as long as they need me.

You can see some of my authors' books on my website, along with what they say about working with me: http://www.maloneeditorial.com/books.htm

Do you write as well as contribute through your business? Please share!

Oh, do I ever write!  LOL.  I’m working on a novel now that’s set in a Texas vineyard and winery. Tough research!  But I’m quite up to the task J  I have a novel coming out in September.

http://www.susanmarymalone.com/books/fiction/i-just-came-here-to-dance/

I also blog 5 days a week http://www.susanmarymalone.com/blog/ 

I write in the mornings, then edit through the afternoons.

 

Please connect with me on FB:

Susan Mary Malone on Facebook

Malone Editorial Services on Facebook

And Twitter:

Susan Mary Malone on Twitter

Malone Editorial on Twitter

Thank you for joining us on Writers4Higher, Susan!

Rhett DeVane

Southern fiction author and blogmaster

 Rhett DeVane's Website

Writers4Higher features author Ann Mock

Writers4Higher welcomes author Ann Mock.

Hi Ann, welcome to Writers4Higher!

1.   Tell me about yourself.

I grew up in the South and have always loved the towering oak trees and beautiful southern landmarks which makes the southern United States like no other part of the world.  I knew if I ever wrote a novel it would need to take place where I have lived most of my life, which is the South.

Twenty years ago I visited a Southern mansion in Vicksburg, Mississippi, that had survived the War Between the States because it had been used as a hospital for wounded soldiers. I was fascinated by a Union cannonball that was still lodged in the door frame over a century later. This inspired me to start my novel, “The Union of the North and the South”.

My husband and I have often traveled through the deep South by car, but steaming along the Mississippi on the American Queen steamboat gives one a completely different perspective and made it very special. The experience gave me so many ideas for my novel.

2. Where do you see your writing taking you in the future?

I haven’t decided if I will do a sequel. Writing a book was more work than I ever dreamed it would be, but I learned so much and thoroughly enjoyed the process. I was so honored to earn the five star rating from Readers’ Favorite book review company and if I am well received you never know...

3. How do you use your talents/time to help others?

I love animals and I am using some of the proceeds from the sell of my book to help our local humane societies.

I hope my readers come to realize the power of forgiveness and the happiness it can bring to your life.

Buy Ann Mock's book on Amazon

Ann Mock fan page on Facebook

Thank you, Ann!
Rhett DeVane
blogmaster and Southern fiction author
www.rhettdevane.com