Are you a disciplined writer?
Yes. I like to write in the morning. I’m an early riser — usually waking at 5:30 or 6:00, and after the cats are fed, I’m at the computer. I write something every day.
Have you ever suffered from writer’s block? What seems to work for unleashing your creativity?
Yes and it’s a rotten state of affairs. I think only once has it been really disabling, and that was early on, because I wasn’t able to sell any of my stories. I’ve been a nonfiction writer, and , generally, everything I wrote, I sold. These were articles and a book about endangered species and marine mammals, short plays, some theatre stuff.
Then I did begin to sell the fiction, and that helped to get me back on track. The trick I use when my muse is failing is to open the dictionary at random, stick my finger on the page and write something using or about the word I’ve pointed at.
One of the times I did that, I had pointed to “name.” I wrote a weird horror story called “Names,” which I’ve just sold to Inkspotter Publishing for “Backless, Strapless and Slit to the Throat: A Femme Fatale Anthology.” It’s due out sometime soon.
Technically speaking, what do you have to struggle the most when writing? How do you tackle it?
Starting. I need the first sentence. That is sometimes tough to get. I just keep writing first sentences. I don’t let myself give up. I have rarely changed those first sentences. I certainly didn’t with JEMMA7729.
How was your experience in looking for a publisher? What words of advice would you offer those novice authors who are in search of one?
When JEMMA was first shopped around, I had an agent. I don’t have one now. We had all those glowing rejections. Then nothing happened, my agent couldn’t think of where to send it any more. Once I was on my own, I started sending it to small presses, and finally sent it to EDGE. It took them about six months to get back to me, but they bought it.
Just don’t give up. If you believe in your work, keep trying. Often, the problem is that what publishers are looking for is a narrow band. You have to fit into that band. You have to find the compatible fit.
Article comments
1 - Lisa Damian
Nice interview. Enjoyed reading it. The Jemma book and the Tales of the Winter People series both sound like interesting concepts.