Thursday, June 27, 2013

Reconnaissance and Writing

Fiction Addiction Book Tours



Aubrie Dionne has been on my blog several times. I’m happy to have her since I’ve critiqued so many of her manuscripts, which have been accepted for publication. I was even lucky enough to critique this manuscript.


How do you balance your private life, work, writing, and keeping up with social networking/writing friends?

That’s a great question! It’s tough. I work about 30 hours a week and I don’t have any kids, so that does give me some leeway. Sometimes I don’t get to something like I didn’t practice my flute or didn’t get my word count in. Then, I just make sure to try to fit that in for the next day. My social networking is patchy. I try to keep it up, but it comes in bursts and then sometimes a week will go by and I haven’t blogged about anything. It depends on if I have any deadlines.


What advice would you give to writers who are not yet published?

Keep writing. When you finish one book, go right to the next one. Don’t dwell on a particular book for too long. Right now I have five completed books that are looking for homes. I don’t wait until I get a contract before I carry on. If I did, I’d be waiting since last fall, when I got my last contract from Spencer Hill Press for a book that comes out in 2014. The publishing world is VERY slow, and you need to keep writing to keep up your skills and to have material to submit.

Good luck!


You’ve been writing for a while and have several books published. Looking back, what would you have done differently and why? What are you glad you did?

I would have skipped reading the negative reviews! All that does is undermine my creativity and make me not want to write. Now, I don’t read reviews almost at all.

The other thing I’d do differently is not checking my sales rank on Amazon all the time. That tends to bring me down and make me not want to write as well. So, instead of focusing on the end product, I try to enjoy the journey.

What am I glad that I did? I’m glad I kept on going. It took me four books to get an agent. So, what if I’ve given up after book 3?

Reconnaissance is the second in the Paradise Reclaimed series. Book 1 was Colonization. How many books will be in this series?

There is a free short story that takes place during book 2 that you can download here:

It’s called Breach:

I’ve also written a third and final book called Alliance, which is with my agent right now. I haven’t submitted it to Inkspell yet, but that is definitely in the future.

Thanks for having me, Theresa, and for asking wonderful questions!





28 comments:

  1. Very enlightening. I loved reading the advice about continuing to write and not waiting. That is spot on-

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  2. I loved this interview! Thank you to both of you ladies. I especially appreciate the advice on writing while you're waiting. So much of the publishing process seems to be a study in patience, and I think that working on new projects keeps you fresh, helps you practice, and makes the wait seem not so difficult :)

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  3. This shows you the diversity in us writers, as I've done mostly the opposite in the areas she talked about. (Those negative reviews helped me write a better second and third book.)
    Congratulations on the second book in your trilogy, Aubrie!

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  4. Cool beans! Yet another series on my TBR list. --And what great insight about not dwelling on the things that bring you down. I suppose you have to build blinders to those aspects that keep you from being productive, eh?

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  5. Thanks for all the encouragement, Aubrie!

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  6. Congrats to Aubrie!

    I agree about reviews. They put me in a slump. Then Husband Unit wants to run away.

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  7. I have a few of Aubrie's books *waving at Aubrie!* and I love them! I need to catch up and get this series. Congratulations on book #2!

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  8. Good advice about skipping the negative reviews. You just can't please everyone. That's true in any walk of life.

    Good luck with your book. That cover is excellent.

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  9. These are all good tips, especially the part about writing more books rather than just focusing on one. I read an essay once about a writer who focused all his energy on a book for years, even though it kept getting rejected. It made me think what he could have written instead if he had set aside the book for a while.

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  10. I try to keep writing. But I'll tell you what...it's harder to do than I originally thought.

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  11. Great attitude and advice. I keep writing, because waiting for one manuscript to make it in this slow, tough business certainly isn't productive.

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  12. Nice interview, Theresa and Aubrie!

    Great advice! An author-friend always encourages me to start something new as soon as I finish a project, and it's super helpful.

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  13. great advice Aubrie, and congratulations on your success! (I didnt know you can check sales figures on amazon...!)

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  14. Hi Theresa!

    Congrats to Aubrie!

    I agree about reviews. And great advice-Keep writing!

    Nas

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  15. Very encouraging interview! Thank you, ladies.

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  16. What a very cool cover! I loved the advice from Aubrie- it really focuses on the positive which I like. I especially like the review advice and the ranking checking. So helpful. Thanks!
    ~Jess

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