Interview with Rick Acker

HOW MANY BOOKS HAVE YOU WRITTEN?

I’ve written seven, five of which eventually got published.

WHEN DID YOU DECIDE TO START WRITING?

I’ve been writing since high school, but I never really “decided” to write. The stories just started coming, and I had to do something with them.

WHAT OBSTACLES HAVE YOU FACED AND OVERCOME ON YOUR PATH TO BECOMING A WRITER?

Becoming a writer was easy; becoming a published author was hard. I had to develop thick skin to deal with rejection and (often merited) criticism. I also had to learn the self-discipline to write regularly and improve my writing to the point where it interested a publisher.

WHAT DOES YOUR WRITING SCHEDULE LOOK LIKE?

I write for about one hour in the morning while I’m taking a commuter train to San Francisco and another hour in the evening on the way home.

TELL ME MORE ABOUT YOUR "REAL JOB." HOW DOES IT INFLUENCE YOUR WRITING?

I’m a Deputy Attorney General in the California Department of Justice, and I spend my days (and a fair number of nights and weekends) prosecuting corporate fraud. My work also doubles as research for my legal thrillers. For example, the secret world of free-lance corporate spies I describe in When the Devil Whistles is a slightly fictionalized version of the one I deal with in a lot of my cases.

WHAT IS YOUR LATEST PROJECT?

Unfortunately, that’s also secret right now. Sorry. :-)

WHO ARE SOME OF YOUR FAVORITE AUTHORS?

I’m sure I’m forgetting some excellent writers, but here are a few that I have read enough to know that their writing is consistently outstanding (and in genres I enjoy): Isaac Asimov, James Scott Bell, Ray Bradbury, Tom Clancy (his early books), Robert Heinlein, Tracy Higley, Randy Ingermanson, Tosca Lee, John Olson, Jim Rubart, Randy Singer, Kathy Tyers.

WHAT ADVICE DO YOU HAVE FOR ASPIRING WRITERS?

There are lots of things I wish I’d known when I was starting out, but here are a few of the big ones:
• Make writing part of your routine. It should be a habit; something you do daily if you can. You’ll be much more productive.
• Look for ways to get better. Writing is like playing the violin: Almost no one is good when they first start. Seek out learning opportunities and constructive criticism. Without them, you can’t improve.
• Don’t give up. The world will give you lots of reasons to give up—agents who ignore the book you slaved over, editors who reject it, family or work demands that threaten to eat up the time you need to fix the book or write a new one. The writers who succeed are the ones who manage to persevere, get better, and ultimately land their first contract.*

HOW DO YOU LIKE TO SPEND YOUR TIME WHEN YOU’RE NOT WRITING?

When I’m not writing or lawyering, I spend as much time as possible with my family. We love to go hiking in the hills around town or go to see a good movie or (of course) read a good book together.

*There are a very few authors—less than .01%—who manage to sell their first book without major edits and then see it become a bestseller. These people (a) are celebrities, (b) quickly learn not to tell other writers about their success, or (c) get beat up a lot at writing conferences. Sometimes all three.

Contest Info

ACM's 2012 Christian Novel Contest--Sept. 1st is the deadline.

For more info, please visit the contest Web site: http://www.christianwritingcontest.com/

E-books

If you haven't checked out the Amazon Kindle store lately, you just might want to do so. Many people don't know, but you can download the Kindle for PC program right onto your computer for free (I believe you can do the same with the Nook). Anyway, I found out (from another writer) that the Kindle store is giving away some free books on writing. I suggest you hurry over and see if there's anything you might be interested in reading.

Have a great weekend!

Stick around. We plan to post more interviews and book reviews shortly.

If you haven't voted in the two previous polls, we've extended them (at the bottom of the page, if you scroll down). Also, we've added a third poll regarding e-book reading habits.

Thanks for stopping by! :)

Interview with Author John Robinson

WHEN DID YOU KNOW YOU WANTED TO BE A WRITER?

I’d always liked to write, even from my early teen years, and when I was in college I was student affairs editor for the school paper. Years passed though, and that love seemed to fade. But over a decade ago it came roaring back, and in an unexpected way. It was New Years Day, 1999, and I was watching one of the bowl games on TV, when suddenly I started seeing something different on the screen. Don’t laugh, but it was almost like watching a movie. During that I was unaware of the passing of time. When I roused myself I found only a few minutes had passed, but amazingly I had the entire plot of Heading Home completely lined up in my head; it was then just a matter of writing it down and editing it. That process took about a year. Finding a house that would take such a controversial novel proved to be a challenge, though, and it wasn’t until 2008 that it was sold to Sheaf House Publishers (it's now out). During those intervening years I wrote and sold the Joe Box novels, and began the Mac Ryan series.

I'M A JOE BOX FAN, SO I HAVE TO ASK, WHAT MADE YOU DECIDE TO INCLUDE A SOCK MONKEY IN YOUR STORIES? DID THAT TOY HAVE A SPECIAL SIGNIFICANCE TO YOU?

Actually I did have a sock monkey when I was little, and when our oldest son was born we bought one for him. I guess for Joe, I wanted to give him something sentimental, something that would keep him grounded to his past.

YOUR NOVELS ARE SO VIVID. AFTER READING THEM, I WAS COMPLETELY CONVINCED YOU'D SPENT TIME IN VIETNAM. HOW MUCH TIME DO YOU SPEND ON RESEARCH? AT WHAT POINT, DO YOU FEEL AS IF YOU'VE COMPLETED ENOUGH RESEARCH ON A TOPIC?

The research time varies for each story, but I know when it’s done when the story tells me so. In other words, it’s like it taps me on the shoulder and says, “okay, boy, enough digging; it’s time to write me down.”

DID YOU LEARN ANYTHING IN YOUR RESEARCH THAT SURPRISED YOU?

In researching the Vietnam back story for Until the Last Dog Dies, I was surprised at how dispersed our ground troops were over there, and how tenuous the supply lines could be; it made a hard time for them there even harder.

YOU HAVE INTERESTING TITLES. HOW DO YOU COME UP WITH THEM? IS THERE A SPECIAL PROCESS?

Thanks, Heidi! The title of the first Joe Box novel, Until the Last Dog Dies, is based on a phrase I heard growing up in the Kentucky hills. It was usually something on the order of, “we’re going to fill-in-the-blank (keep weeding this corn, keep running this trot line, keep knocking men down in this bar) until the last dog dies;” in other words, until there's no more work to do. The second one, When Skylarks Fall, is a takeoff on God knowing when each sparrow falls (the word “skylark” is recurring in the story). And everyone has heard of the phrase, “there’s more than one way to skin a cat;” (hence the title, To Skin a Cat), and since the villain’s nickname is Cat, he gets well and truly skinned! As far as titling my stories go, there really isn’t a process; they tend to grow organically. For instance, my apocalypse-with-a-twist novel is called Heading Home, because that’s exactly what happens twice, first at the end of the war prologue, and then at the end of the novel proper. Relentless, the first of my soldier of fortune Mac Ryan novels, describes Mac in a single word, and The Radiance, my science fiction novel, is the term given to the unseen effect that causes such problems worldwide.

WHAT ADVICE DO YOU HAVE FOR ASPIRING WRITERS?

I’d tell them a story I once heard about Winston Churchill. The time was either the late fifties or early sixties, and by then Churchill was quite elderly when he was asked to give the commencement address for a large university.

The day came, and the auditorium was packed with students and alumni wanting to hear strong words of wisdom from the man who’d basically saved Britain during the darkest days the country had ever known. Slowly Sir Winston took the platform. Standing behind the podium, he gazed out at the sea of faces. And then setting his famous bulldog jaw, he ground out these words: “Never give up. Never, never, never, never give up.” He fixed them with a gaze of iron. “NEVER.”
And then he sat down.
And the place erupted in praise.

That’s what I’d tell people: “never give up.”
Just that.

WHO ARE SOME OF YOUR FAVORITE AUTHORS?

Oh wow, there are a lot! I’d say, in no particular order, for fiction they’d include Dean Koontz, Charles Dickens, Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, Flannery O’Connor, James Lee Burke, Robert Crais, and my buddy James Scott Bell. For nonfiction the list would have to include James Herriot, P.J. O’Rourke, Lawrence Block (his Telling Lies for Fun and Profit is an essential—and hilarious—reference book for any budding novelist), and Tom Wolfe.

HOW MANY BOOKS HAVE YOU WRITTEN?

Six: four commercially published, and two in the querying stage.

E-book Giveaway Contest Update--Winner Announced

Congrats to Jeff Reynolds, the winner of an e-book copy of Pursued by Lillian Duncan!

Upcoming Interview

On Monday, August 8th--an interview with one of Heidi's favorite authors, Cincinnati local, John Robinson.

E-book Giveaway Contest Update

E-book Giveaway ends today, so be sure to leave a post!

The winner will be announced on Friday, August 5th!

Interview with Author Donna Fletcher Crow

HOW MANY BOOKS HAVE YOU WRITTEN?

Apparently, the one I’m currently writing is number 38. I always just said 30-some when asked that question, but I recently spoke at a library event. The librarian had done her research. “Thirty-six,” she said. That makes it 38 with the one coming out in September: A Darkly Hidden Truth, #2 in The Monastery Murders.

WHEN DID YOU DECIDE TO START WRITING?

As a lifelong booklover and former English teacher I had always written on the hobby level, especially writing scripts for our church drama group, but I got really serious when, after reading Georgette Heyer’s Venetia the heroine’s younger brother got stuck in my head and wouldn’t leave. I had to tell the rest of his story. Brandley’s Search, which became the third of my six-volume Cambridge Chronicles series, was the result. I really didn’t have any idea how to write a novel but it was like being pregnant—that story had to come out. I probably rewrote it a hundred times before it was published. That was about 35 years ago.

HOW MUCH TIME DO YOU DEVOTE TO RESEARCH FOR YOUR NOVELS?

Since my subject is the history of British Christianity and I have written books covering every historical period beginning with the birth of Christ, each book requires an enormous amount of research. It’s impossible to say how long I spend on the background reading—months or years— because it’s a lifetime subject. But once I get a specific story outlined, at least in rough detail, the real fun can begin—the on-site research.

This past April I researched my current project, An Unholy Communion, book 3 in The Monastery Murders, which has the Christian history of Wales as background. I spent a week in Wales with a sister mystery writer from Manchester as escort. Then, since my characters are on a walking pilgrimage, I took part in a youth walk from London to Walsingham in Norfolk (126 miles) to get background for that. I’m no youth, but they welcomed me warmly. It was a wonderful experience. I walked about 100 of the miles and took breaks in the follow van, which I considered research as well.

DID YOU LEARN ANYTHING IN YOUR RESEARCH THAT SURPRISED YOU?

Always. The surprises are the real fun and what brings the story absolutely to life. One thing that surprised me—and almost blew me off the mountain—was the violence of the weather in Wales. The rain came down in absolute sheets, but not on our heads. The wind was so strong the rain came at us sideways. I live in a desert, so this was an amazing experience to me. My hostess from northern England just laughed at me.

IS THERE A MESSAGE IN YOUR LATEST STORY THAT YOU HOPE STICKS WITH YOUR READERS?

Although each book has its own theme I hope that over-all my readers will gain a new appreciation for our Christian heritage. As I tell the stories of saints, martyrs and faithful ministers I want my readers to realize that our faith has come down to us at a great cost to those who have gone before. When A Gentle Calling, first of my Cambridge Chronicles, was published a reader said, “And to think, we sit in our comfortable pews and have no idea of all they went through.”

WHO ARE SOME OF YOUR FAVORITE AUTHORS?

Jane Austen and Dorothy L. Sayers are my all-time favorites, although as a nonstop reader I have many favorites. In my current genre of clerical mysteries Kate Charles and Julia Spencer-Fleming are favorites. P. D. James’ Death In Holy Orders is probably the best clerical mystery ever written. But then, having said that, there’s G. K. Chesterton’s Father Brown. Oh, naming favorites is a minefield.

WHAT ADVICE DO YOU HAVE FOR ASPIRING WRITERS?

Write from your passion. And read passionately. Read the classics and everything you can in your genre.

HOW DO YOU LIKE TO SPEND YOUR TIME WHEN YOU’RE NOT WRITING?

Growing David Austin English roses, drinking tea and playing with my grandchildren. And reading, of course.

REVIEW FOR A VERY PRIVATE GRAVE, FIRST IN THE MONASTERY MURDERS:

"With a bludgeoned body in Chapter 1, and a pair of intrepid amateur sleuths, A Very Private Grave qualifies as a traditional mystery. But this is no mere formulaic whodunit: it is a Knickerbocker Glory of a thriller. At its centre is a sweeping, page-turning quest - in the steps of St Cuthbert - through the atmospherically-depicted North of England, served up with dollops of Church history and lhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifashings of romance. In this novel, Donna Fletcher Crow has created her own niche within the genre of clerical mysteries."

--Kate Charles, author of Deep Waters

CONTACT INFORMATION:

Please come on over to www.DonnaFletcherCrow.com
to see my book trailer for A Very Private Grave, pictures from some of my research trips, and a visit to my garden.