Every once in a while I come across a writer that has so much going on, it makes my head spin. Katelyn Thomas is one of those writers. She’s balances her passion, family life, and writing world beautifully. One thing I really liked about what she had to say in this interview was in answer to the question “What is the measure of a successful writer?” To me, she hits the nail on the head with this one! See if you don’t agree. Enjoy this interview.

You’ve got so many different things going on; I’m not sure where to begin. First of all, how do you balance your time during the day?

I start by doing the “Me” projects that don’t have a mandatory deadline that day. I work on them in the morning after the kids are in school. Then, in the afternoons, I work on an art piece while the kids do art at their table or I try to catch up on a few small blogging/writing projects while I’m cooking dinner and helping with homework. It isn’t really productive time, but I do get some odds and ends wrapped up. In the evening, I finish up anything I had to do that day. I don’t turn in until I’m done. If I didn’t do it this way, I’d do the mandatory minimum in the morning and never get anything else done.

I am very big on Google calendar and docs to organize things. I break up big tasks up into milestones and then record the milestones I’ve met and finished projects on the calendar. I can see in a second if I’ve “done enough” for the day. For me, that is at least 5 finished posts or articles and a few milestones. Right now, I am doing an internship, so I let myself slide a little bit and count some of my more involved internship tasks as an article, too.

It is important to decide if you have to do everything every day, too. I know people who write an article for a certain site every day or write four or five a day. I might only write one a week for that site and I am totally okay with that. I’m only in competition with myself!

You blog, write online articles, and have quite a few hobbies. Tell me about your various writing projects.

I am the small business feature writer for Suite 101, I blog about thrifty living and holidays and I am working on an e-book about Lyme Disease. (I’m still looking for a few more patients, doctors and caregivers to interview, so feel free to pass the word around!) I have other blogs and sites I write for, but they sort of fill in around the edges.

How do you think your experience in the small business world has helped you when it comes to running a successful blog?

I wasn’t very good at putting myself out there before I had small businesses. Once you cold call someone to chat about advertising in your magazine, you sort of get over networking fears!

What is your advice to new bloggers or writers looking to write online?

Slow down. I see so many people appear online out of the blue and they’re everywhere at once. I’m everywhere, too, but it took me five or six years to get there! Start with one thing and concentrate just on it for a few weeks or a month. Read every blog post you can find, try different writing styles, learn how to research keywords and find out all about the long tail.

Don’t begin by starting a blog about internet marketing unless you’re blogging about learning how to do it.

Don’t let worries about market saturation or following the money keep you from blogging about something important to you. If you write about what you love, you will develop an audience. I think a lot of people feel they have to have the number one blog in their area to be successful, but there are plenty of bloggers who will never be a household name and still have an audience.

Share some of your writing goals. What’s next for you?

I’m concentrating on my book and growing my blogs right now. Growing blogs is never ending, but when I finish the book, I’ll work on getting a chunk of articles up on some residual income sites I’ve been playing around with.

What’s the most interesting book you’ve ever read?

The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey. She usually writes mysteries, but this book, which deals with the murder of King Edward IV’s sons, is not a traditional mystery. It has a bedridden Scotland Yard Inspector researching the very cold case and coming to a conclusion about the murderer that doesn’t agree with the suspicions the rest of the world has had for generations.

Book you’re currently reading?

I’m actually between books. I thought Waking Up in the Land of Glitter would last me a week or two because I really don’t have a lot of free time right now, but I couldn’t put it down and finished it in one sitting a few days ago. I identify with the characters, who had a teensy glitter addiction.

In your opinion, what’s the measure of a successful writer?

I know children’s novelists, who despite having books that were well received and are part of some good library collections, can’t support themselves by writing. I know other writers who feel bad about the fact that they’ve never been published in print magazines, but earn enough money to support their families. I know writers who follow up every introduction with, “But I only publish technical manuals.” To me, they are all successful writers because they don’t just talk about writing or dream about it. They do it. Even if they don’t feel like it, they pick up a pen or boot up their laptops and they write.

Where can we learn more about you?

I’d like to say you can head to me writing website, but it is under construction and will probably still be under construction when I retire.

Anything else you’d like to add?

Don’t be afraid to try. The first rejection notice hurts. So does the second, the third…But when you rip open an envelope and realize you just got your first acceptance letter, it sort of is like holding a baby in your arms for the first time. You totally forget the pain of all the rejections!

Additional Writing Resources:

• Make Money From Home – Real Jobs You Can Do by Telecommuting
• Create Multiple Articles from Just One
• How to Write Your Own Ebook in 7 Days
• Freelance Writing Jobs

Christopher Pascale is a former United States Marine and the author of Manson, a short dark novel following the life of reclusive alcoholic, Hank Manson. He is also a freelance journalist and writer for Suite101. Enjoy this interview.

Tell us a bit about yourself. Where are you from and how long have you been writing?

I was born in Queens, NY, and began writing when I was 9. At the time I only read Archie comics since I couldn’t find any new books I liked, so I wrote a 20-page (typed) story about kids playing little league baseball.

When I was 16, I began writing a full-length novel. 50 pages into it, my father replaced our computer with a better one, and I learned that I didn’t actually know how to save to disk.

One year later, I began writing short novel. The first draft was 25 pages. The second draft that was published under the title Manson was 50, which came out to 78 pages paperback.

Tell us about Manson. How did you come up with the idea for this book? What do you hope readers take away from it?

Manson is the story of a reclusive alcoholic, Hank Manson, who finds minor fame following the publishing of his first novel.

I just began writing one day at school and couldn’t stop. After that, I would get home, put on some music, and when the CD stopped, so would I. I was, at the time, reading a lot of work by Charles Bukowski, who has remained one of my favorite writers.

When people read Manson I’m always surprised to hear two comments. One is that they began to read it before going to bed and ended up staying up to finish it. I’m a slow reader myself. The other is that they thought it was funny. This story was a release of a large amount of depression and hopelessness that I felt was going to be my future, so I never quite get that, but I do enjoy hearing positive feedback.

When people read my work, I’d like them mostly to enjoy it. But if there is one thing I’d like them to take away from Manson, it would be the knowledge that it was not the inspiration for the Showtime tv series Californication. However, both books were inspired by the life and work of Charles Bukowski.

Share some of your writing goals. What’s next for you?

For 2010, I will finish a new full length manuscript. With that, I’ll hire a copy editor to review it. Then, I will submit it to more than 100 agents and publishers.

In the past, I’ve written manuscripts, thought my first drafts were final drafts, and let the agency lucky enough to get me, get it. To follow this statement, Manson officially went out of print last month (Nov, ’09) as I received the last 280 copies, and I currently have no literary agent.

What’s the most interesting book you’ve ever read?

These vary with genre.

For relationships, The Five Languages; finance, The Millionaire Mind; modern military tactics: The Tiger’s Way; favorite novel: Post Office.

In fiction, I’ve found the work of Herman Wouk to be incredibly interesting, not just as a reflection of the time and how people were during the periods he wrote about, but also how much work must have gone into his books. To complement the beasts that are his novels (several are over 800 pages) they read so easily because of what a great story teller he is. In reading The Winds of War, for example, I found it very interesting for President Roosevelt to be referred to in such ways as “pathetically crippled” on several occasions both in narrative and dialogue.

Favorite authors?

Charles Bukowsi, Kurt Vonnegut, Edgar Allen Poe, Bill Cosby, Herman Wouk, and William Christie, who also writes under the name FJ Chase.

Book you’re currently reading?

War and Remembrance, by Herman Wouk.

Where can we learn more about you?

I have a personal MySpace page. There, one can view some of my poetry that I add to every once in a while, and they will also learn that I have no idea how to load photos. The one I have was done by a friend.

Additional Writing Resources:

• Make Money From Home – Real Jobs You Can Do by Telecommuting
• Create Multiple Articles from Just One
• How to Write Your Own Ebook in 7 Days
• Freelance Writing Jobs

Rachel Webb was born in England but has lived in Spain since 1996. She writes mainly about Spain and contributes regularly to The European for International Living. She enjoys writing, caring for her holiday rental home and sharing her explorations of Spain and taking a few photos along the way. She teaches English as a Foreign Language part -time and although she prefers writing to teaching she says it doesn’t help improve her spoken Spanish, so she is trying to create a balance between the two. She has won third-prize in the infohub Travel Writing competition and been shortlisted in a children’s story competition.

Enjoy this interview.

You grew up in England but ended up living in Spain. How did you end up in that part of the world? What are some of the fabulous things about living in Spain?

Living in Spain is an outdoor life. I could count on two fingers the number of times we sat outside where we last lived in the UK. We’ve been here for thirteen years and don’t plan to leave – travel yes but move, no.

The weather was not conduce to sit outside, or even have a sitting area out there. Now I have two patio areas – so there is always some shade. Yes I sit outside in the shade.

How does your duel cultural background influence your writing?

I began writing while in Spain. Most of the articles I write are about Spain in a tourism vein.

Does teaching English change the way you write? Does it change the way you look at the beauty and usefulness of words?

I don’t think that it changes the way I write, but I certainly appreciate the English language so much more. It is so enormous, effusive, explicative, descriptive.

Perhaps it’s my Spanish that limits me, but my sons do say the same – that Spanish is so much more restrictive, less expressive.

Share some of your writing goals. What’s next for you?

I’d love to write a tourist guide for Jaen, the publications for this province are scarce. I dream of writing a Parador guide for every Parador in Spain – but that’s so I can visit them all. There’s only 91 at present!

What’s the most interesting book you’ve ever read?

Definitely Spanish Recognitions by Mary Ann Settle, closely followed by The Shadow of the Wind, Carlos Ruiz Zafón.

Favorite authors?

None in particular, I like to read everything and anything that interests me. If I get past the first three pages I´m there until the end.

Book you’re currently reading.

Just finished Hemingway’s For Whom the Bell Tolls. It’s supposed to be his best, but I found it quite heavy. It’s a love story entwined with Spanish Civil War activities. I took me a while to get through, not light bedtime – forget about stress, reading!

Where can we learn more about you?

My website www.andalucia-for-holidays.com grew from wanting to advertise my holiday rental home, http://www.andalucia-for-holidays.com/Casa-Rural-El-Reguelo.html then the area around it and it has never stopped. I now take advertising and do reviews.

My latest press trip was horse riding – not a normal pastime of mine, but we went (hubby and three sons – 18,16 and 10) for a night, dinner b&b in lovely rustic accommodation then riding in the fabulous mountains of the Sierra Nevada.

Additional Writing Resources:

• Make Money From Home – Real Jobs You Can Do by Telecommuting
• Create Multiple Articles from Just One
• How to Write Your Own Ebook in 7 Days
• Freelance Writing Jobs

Barbara Shema writes on a variety of topics from travel related articles and jazz, to child development issues, to non-profit business profiles. She is a practicing visual artist and enjoys the play between materials, process and people. Her exploration of mixed media, combining various art processes and applications, is a method of discovery about art and about herself. Enjoy this interview.

First the essentials. Tell us a bit about yourself. Where are you from and how long have you been writing?

I’m originally from Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, but lived in Providence Rhode Island for six years before moving to Albany New York in 2007. I’m married to a fantastic man who whole-heartedly supports my writing and art. My children and grandchildren live on opposite ends of the country.

I have an undergraduate degree in Art Education and a graduate degree in Educational Leadership. I did teach art in elementary and middle school for several years after graduating from college.

More recently I’ve worked in outreach and program coordination at several universities. I’m now concentrating on making art and developing my web-writing skills.

I came to writing through poetry when I began participating in poetry writing workshops about 15 years ago when living in Pittsburgh. Although I’ve not been writing poetry recently, I do write in a journal for 30-45 minutes almost every day. It’s the first thing I do in the morning while my mind is still empty and open.

What is the Capitol Forum on America’s Future and how were you involved in that?

The Capitol Forum is a program out of the Choices Education Program at the Watson Institute for International Studies at Brown University that promotes the knowledge of and thoughtful dialogue about the United States role in the world by pondering the options the in U.S. foreign policy. Through student-centered, interactive curriculum materials on immigration, the environment, world trade, and terrorism, students learn about choices the U.S. has in each of these areas. At the end of the school year, each participating state has a statewide forum for students to address these issues, with the goal to develop well-informed, thoughtful, and engaged citizens.

In my position as Program Coordinator, I helped organizations establish and sustain a successful statewide Capitol Forum program in their state.

It seems that literacy is a passionate subject for you. How do you feel this affects your writing?

Writing improves with practice…the more one writes, the more easily one writes, like learning a language, or playing a musical instrument, or training to be an athlete. From my days working with the Western Pennsylvania Writing Project at the University of Pittsburgh, I adopted the National Writing Project philosophy that we learn to write by writing.

My definition of literacy is quite broad in that I see literacy as the ability to effectively communicate in the world. I had a marvelous experience of working with English language learners at an adult literacy center in Providence RI.

For more than a year, I facilitated art workshops with people who had recently emigrated to the U.S. Most in the group were either Hmong who came from refugee camps in Thailand, or Somalis who had been in refugee camps in Kenya. There were several other nationalities in the group and 4 or 5 different languages spoken. The art workshops were a way to bridge the language barrier between these disparate groups to help create a sense of community among people with very different languages and backgrounds.

I think it’s amazing that you’re not only a great writer, but talented artist as well. Tell us about the mixed media projects you’ve done?

One series of mixed media collage paintings, where done with photocopies of family photographs incorporated into the painting, and evolved after doing considerable genealogical research about my mother’s parents who emigrated to the U.S. from Czechoslovakia in the early 1900s.

Through the research, I came to better understand the dynamics that must have surrounded their migration and affected who they were. Through the process of creating the mixed media collage paintings, I was able to visually communicate what I felt and learned.

Share some of your writing goals. What’s next for you?

Boy, that’s a tough one. The pursuit of writing professionally is new for me. What I want to create is interesting work that is flexible and transportable – something I can do anytime/anywhere.

I’ve learned so much about writing for the web by writing for Suite101.com – it is a genre that has its own skill-set to master. I’m not sure what the “next” is for me, other than to continue to learn and improve my web-writing skills – to learn as much as I can and be competent in that arena.

I would, though, like to get back to writing poetry. There was, and still is, a very strong and supportive poetry community in Pittsburgh that is a beautiful blend of academia and community poetry – I miss that very much.

For me, writing poetry is about getting to the essence of something using carefully selected words in a concise way. I believe writing poetry compliments and enhances other writing genre, and having written poetry has contributed to my skill development for online writing.

What’s the most interesting book you’ve ever read?

That’s difficult to answer, but two books I’ve read in the last year in which I became completely engrossed were: Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson, a Norwegian writer and All Passion Spent by Vita Sackville-West, a contemporary of Virginia Woolf.

Favorite authors?

Don’t have one in particular.

Book you’re currently reading?

There are three books I’ve begun recently – all very different. I’ll frequently start several and graze from one to the other depending on my mood, unless one book really grabs me from the get-go. It’s probably not the best way to read books.

Netherland by Joseph O’Neill
A Far Country by Daniel Mason
The Comfort Women by C. Sarah Soh

Where can we learn more about you?

Here is a link to my articles on Suite101: http://www.suite101.com/writer_articles.cfm/bshema
and my art is posted on http://BarbaraShemaArt.blogspot.com/
and photography on http://BarbaraShemaPhotography.blogspot.com/

Anything else you’d like to add?

Perhaps just that I love learning new things and using what I’ve learned in overlapping and new ways.

Additional Writing Resources:

• Make Money From Home – Real Jobs You Can Do by Telecommuting
• Create Multiple Articles from Just One
• How to Write Your Own Ebook in 7 Days
• Freelance Writing Jobs

Jerry Lopper has a fabulous new site for writers. He talks about it, as well as his writing goals, in the following interview. Enjoy!

Let’s start with the basics. Where are you from and how long have you been writing?

I’m from Ohio and have been freelance writing for about ten years. I have a technical and managerial background, with a long career in the telecommunications industry. I began writing after retirement, focusing on my interest in personal growth – my own – and helping others on their growth paths.

Tell us about your new site for writers, Fiction Writers Platform. What inspired you to do this? What can writers gain from joining?

I’m really excited about Fiction Writers Platform (FWP).

What inspired this site (FWP) is that I co-lead a local writers group which includes fiction and non-fiction writers. I noticed that fiction writers had far fewer opportunities than non-fiction writers to showcase their work. Our (fiction writing) members repeated the familiar sad and frustrating story of submitting manuscripts and waiting for weeks only to receive a rejection and have to start all over.

So a fellow writer and I decided to start a site that welcomed fiction writers and allowed them to display their work as easily as some of the non-fiction sites, such as Suite101.com.

Our Fiction Writers Platform provides fiction writers a place to build or expand their platforms in an environment of support and community with these benefits:

• Free to join
• Generous share in ad revenue
• Ability to showcase work with short publication cycle
• Authors retain full ownership of electronic and print rights
• Post previously published material, non-exclusivity
• Ratings for each short story or book excerpt
• Constructive feedback on each item posted
• Running total of viewers on each item posted
• Supportive community

We’re now in the late stages of beta testing and things are going really well. I’m so impressed with the quality of writing contributed so far, the creativity, writing talent, and most of all the positive and supportive professionalism of the contributors. This is what we envisioned and will continue to foster.

Share some of your writing goals. What’s next for you?

I’ve self-published two books and enjoyed that process, so maybe another book is in my future. But for now I enjoy writing informational, personal development articles as the Personal Development Feature Writer at Suite101.com. The publication cycle is short and I can reach people across the globe, which is really exciting.

I enjoyed the process of creating The Fiction Writers Platform. I learned so much about WordPress, blogging themes, plug-ins, and some php code. Maybe I’ll do another website soon. Perhaps a platform for poetry writing, which also seems to lack for platform opportunities.

What’s the most interesting book you’ve ever read?

Tough to single out one book. Among the books that have captured me are:

Neale Donald Walsch’s Conversations with God books, especially the early ones.
Esther and Jerry Hicks Abraham series on the Law of Attraction
Eckhart Tolle’s The Power of Now
Bill Bryson’s A Short History of Nearly Everything

Favorite authors?

Fiction authors I love are:
John Grisham, Stephen King, Anne Perry, Nelson DeMille, and Brian Haig.

Book you’re currently reading?

I have several going. Some old Agatha Christie mysteries. Just finished Dan Brown’s Lost Symbol, and Thich Nhat Hanh’s The Miracle of Mindfulness.

Any type of writing ritual you have?

Twice a week I go to a local coffee shop first thing in the morning and write for a few hours. I usually get a good start on articles there and then clean them up later in my home office.

Do you believe in writer’s block? If so, how did you get past it? If not, why not?

I believe that some times the words flow better than others; maybe that’s what some call writer’s block. When I have difficulty writing, not being sure how to begin or what to say, I’ve found it helps to just start writing what I know about the topic. That seems to unlock the gates and words start flowing.

In your opinion, what’s the measure of a successful writer?

A writer who feels successful is successful.

Success is, after all, a very personal determination. I feel successful when I write from the heart, when I say what I feel about a topic, and when I’ve crafted the words as well as I’m able. The feedback of positive comments and the statistics showing readership of my articles give me a measure of acceptance by others. But the real measure is how I feel about my writing.

Advice for other writers?

Write from the heart. Be sincere and write to please yourself; others will be attracted to your authenticity.

Where can we learn more about you?

In addition to the Fiction Writers Platform, I have several other websites: I’m the Personal Development Feature Writer at Suite101, where I have about 300 articles published. There’s also a brief bio at that site. I have my own personal article publication site at www.PurposefulGrowth.com, where my writing can be less structured, perhaps showing more of who I am.

I also have a Life Coaching site at www.YourCoachtoSuccess.com and a site devoted to work/life balance at www.Balanced-Life.biz.

Anything else you’d like to add?

Today’s technology is simply amazing, allowing a writer to easily reach thousands of people in distant countries. Sharing our thoughts and beliefs publicly with people we’ll never meet personally is magical; the Internet will surely be known one day as the link that brought all humanity together, regardless of culture, language, or religion. We truly are all connected spiritually, and now we can experience that connection as we exchange ideas across cyberspace.

Additional Writing Resources:

• Make Money From Home – Real Jobs You Can Do by Telecommuting
• Create Multiple Articles from Just One
• How to Write Your Own Ebook in 7 Days
• Freelance Writing Jobs

Who says the freelance writing life can’t be fun and fulfilling? Sometimes the best advice is to write what you love. Steven Cookson, for example, has a strong interest in entertainment and pop culture. He’s made that work for him by using it to craft fascinating articles for Suite101. Enjoy this interview.

Tell us a bit about how you came to write for Suite101. What’s your background?

I applied to write for Suite101 when I was winding down in my final year at university and thought it could be a good opportunity to build up experience. I had recently accepted a job to work for The Press and Journal in Scotland so it was originally something on the side but when I quit that job it’s now my main focus.

Being younger than a lot of writers at Suite101 (meant in the most humble way possible of course) there’s not much of a story behind me beyond growing up in a big family. I’ve written for a few publications, most of them based around Chester where I live, and I still think the best work I’ve ever done was for the University of Central Lancashire’s student newspaper Pluto. And I’m not just saying that because they gave me an award either…

For me there’s always been an interest in writing but I found it difficult to find an area to focus on. I’ve done music, news, video games and although I did okay in those I found films and TV suited me a lot better and were more fun to write about. I do sometimes dip back into music and games but I try, if possible, to do that outside of Suite101. I occasionally try to play around with the structure of my writing so I can avoid falling into a routine as that leads to mediocrity and “will this do?” publishing.

You’re a self-confessed entertainment addict, which I think is great. (Watching TV is part of your job then!) Are there certain shows, celebs, or music that you’re drawn to more than others?

Ever since I was about five years old I’ve always been a fan of comedy, especially British humour. It started with ‘Red Dwarf’ and eventually moved on to ‘Fawlty Towers’ and The ‘Young Ones’ then finally ‘Black Books’ and ‘Brass Eye’. So I’m always interested in new comedies popping up but the problem these days – and an opportunity for me to sound like a boring old fart – there are few modern comedy shows that are any good as writers rely on tired catchphrases and predictable set-ups. For every ‘The Thick Of It’ there’s about four ‘Horne & Cordens’.

These days I tend to seek out good drama and the US, especially HBO’s output, has far superior programs than most stuff that’s on TV these days. ‘The Wire’ is of course top of the pile as it’s all about focusing on a good story rather than gimmicks and cliff-hangers. I know ‘Lost’ is completely formulaic but I’ve invested too much time to give up on it and plus some of the acting and sub-plots are interesting. It does annoy me when people say TV is rubbish these days as they are just too lazy and ignorant to look for decent shows that do exist beyond the reality TV rubbish that’s constantly publicised.

I tend to be attracted to films that are either arty, ones that are interested in smart narratives or those that play with the conventions of genres. ‘Memento’ is my favourite. I was drawn to the non-linear structure that’s quite innovative and has a brilliant story to back it up so it’s not just style over substance. ‘Fight Club’ has that too, it has a very distinctive visual style but there’s also a great deal of social commentary and clever writing behind it.

The same with music. I like things that experiment with ideas and concepts or go beyond the idea of three-minute verse-chorus-verse-chorus songs. I regularly listen to anything from Radiohead, Jeff Buckley and Tom Waits up to Opeth, Tool, John Zorn and Faith No More.

Share some of your writing goals. What’s next for you?

I would eventually like to get a job at an entertainment magazine such as Total Film or Empire, or something like the Radio Times but I know those are a long shot at the moment. It’s just a case of keeping myself active and waiting for the perfect opportunity to show up. Until then I’m happy to have the personal freedom to churn out articles about Freaky Eaters or how terrible Piers Morgan is.

All the good media jobs in England tend to be based down in London so chances are I’ll end up in the capital, unless the BBC’s move to Salford encourages other organisations to move up north and enter the 21st century at last.

What’s the most interesting book you’ve ever read?

Flat Earth News by Nick Davies. Anyone who even has a brief curiosity in the way the mainstream media operates knows the problems it faces and how “facts” are distorted or simply made up to suit a publication’s agenda or to simply make money.

Davies has been in newspapers for 30 years so his insight and opinions can be trusted and he really gets to the heart of the problems with the British media. Anything that devotes an entire chapter to the (putting it lightly) unethical nature of The Daily Mail gets my attention. This isn’t the best thing ever written but certainly the most interesting book I’ve come across.

Favorite authors?

Stephen Fry is my favourite anything but it’s obvious from his work that writing is the thing he enjoys most. The man has an amazing command of the English Language and does so without showing off. ‘The Stars’ Tennis Balls’, his modern day update of ‘The Count of Monte Cristo’, is perhaps my favourite book as it’s a revenge story which doesn’t cop out as many of them do and says a great deal about morality.

I also like Charlie Brooker; the TV critic for The Guardian who’s also released his collective work in book form and entered into the realm of television with his own programs. His no nonsense approach appeals to me as I’m fed up of reviewers who seem more interested in putting over their own writing style than the thing they are supposed to be discussing and he’s also one of the few commentators to not demonise video games as being pure evil.

Book you’re currently reading?

‘That’s Me In The Corner’ by Andrew Collins, the star of I Love 1983 and others. He’s pretty much done all the media jobs I’m interested in and it has funny anecdotes of someone being thrown into the celebrity world. I’m a big fan of the podcast he does with comedian Richard Herring – which contains adult themes and strong language from the start – so that’s why I decided to buy it.

Do you believe in writer’s block? If so, how did you get past it? If not, why not?

It does happen. I have tried to write non-fiction stuff (I refuse to use the word novels as they have barely taken that shape) but I just can’t think of the best way to get the ideas on paper so they are on hold. When you’re dealing with something creative such as writing I think it’s best to wait for inspiration, don’t reduce quality for the sake of completing something within a specific timeframe. There’s no harm in returning to something months if not years later if that’s what it takes.

I’ve had no such problem with the TV articles I’ve written for Suite101, I guess that comes to me more easily.

Where can we learn more about you?

My Suite101 profile has just about enough information to form an opinion on me or just do a search on Google for fat Daniel Bedingfield lookalikes.

Additional Writing Resources:

• Make Money From Home – Real Jobs You Can Do by Telecommuting
• Create Multiple Articles from Just One
• How to Write Your Own Ebook in 7 Days
• Freelance Writing Jobs

Lisa Russell is another great Suite101 writer who has an impressive list of articles and wide range of interests. The things she’s able to accomplish in a day are truly amazing. Enjoy this interview.

First of all, you’re a mother of six! How do you find time to write as well as homeschool your girls? Secret strategies? Chocolate? Lots of coffee?

Lots of coffee. Actually it’s just 2 cups a day but it’s very important. I usually wake up around 5am and work nonstop until about 9 or 10. When my kids start waking up, I make a big breakfast (usually pancakes or omlettes) I find the big breakfast is cheaper and easier to clean up than letting everyone make their own. So, perhaps, there is a secret strategy: I work 4-5 hours each day before the kids wake up.

We closed our family business in December of 2007, 10 days after my youngest daughter was born, and my writing income has supported our entire family.

I have 4 girls that are school-aged and they’re all pretty independent. Our house is filled with books and they enjoy researching things online. The other day my 4 yr old was interested in something and asked “Mom, can I google today?”

What are some of the benefits of homeschooling?

For us, it’s the ability to allow them to follow their interests rather than an arbitrary set of “things to learn in 5th grade” for example. Another benefit is that we can travel whenever we want. We’ve been homeschooling since 1995, it’s really just part of our life, I don’t think much in terms of what we’re “not” doing (which is sending the kids to school) So “benefits of homeschooling” is sort of an abstract thought for me. We just love life, we love learning, and this is it

You’ve got a huge selection of articles on your website. What do you like about online writing? What are some of the challenges?

When I was a kid, I always got the best grades on essays. I could research quickly and never had a problem writing. I joke that my daughters help my writing by never letting me get a word in edgewise, but the fact is, I’ve always had a talent for adding words to the count I like writing because it comes easily. Words are

free. There’s no investment or start-up costs. As far as challenges goes, I’d say time. There have been days when my kids have been busy or even out of town and I’ve had the luxury of writing from sunup to sundown and when the night comes, I realize that this is a job that never ever ends. So the challenge, for me, is in not letting it take over my life. There’s always another article to write.

Share some of your writing goals. Is there a current goal you’re working towards?

I’m working on a book (what writer isn’t?) I have issues with fiction, but my husband produces films. My one big goal is to turn one of my favorite childhood books into a movie. In fact, I have been working with the publisher to get the rights, but they’re Swedish. I’ve rewritten the book into screenplay format and I guess I’m just waiting for someone Swedish to come into my life.

Generally, though, my writing goal is just to make money. I love that our family can be together so much now, and that we don’t have to work the 12-16 hour days anymore. My husband is actually healthy now. His family has a history of heart problems and out business-owner lifestyle, working 7 days a week, was killing him.

What’s the most interesting book you’ve ever read?

The End of Faith by Sam Harris.

Favorite authors?

Oh I don’t think I have any favorite authors. I don’t really read fiction very often. Jane Austen perhaps. Favorite is such an absolute.

Book you’re currently reading?

Wright on Time Arizona by Lisa Cottrell Bentley (fiction kids novel about a family who lives in an RV and explores the U.S. state by state).

Uncle Eric Talks about Personal, Career and Financial Security by Richard Maybury (great series I’m sharing with my older girls).

The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron (I like it, but I keep feeling like it doesn’t apply to me. The writer assumes that every reader was discouraged in their artistic pursuits, and is therefore “blocked.”

Where can we learn more about you?

On my personal blog where I spout off my counter-culture beliefs about childrearing and the insanity of modern culture.

Additional Writing Resources:

• Make Money From Home – Real Jobs You Can Do by Telecommuting
• Create Multiple Articles from Just One
• How to Write Your Own Ebook in 7 Days
• Freelance Writing Jobs

I was delighted to see that Vicki Chavis was not only a freelance writer but a successful poet as well. You will be amazed at the fabulous prize she won for one of her poems! Vicki has some wonderful insight for writers. Enjoy this interview.

First of all, I love that you’re a poet as well as a freelance writer. The world needs more poetry! How often do you write poetry?

I’m glad to hear you think we need more poetry in the world…I happen to agree! I write a little poetry every day whether it’s a Haiku or a few lines of imagery that I can use later. Very rarely do I write an entire poem at once so it’s a constant crafting and sculpting of ideas in order to write outside the box of everyday writing.

I find that poets use a different process for writing poetry (handwritten versus computer) than they do for other forms of writing. Is this true for you as well?

Well, I look out the window a lot and try to have a playful attitude with words to find a new way of seeing or thinking.

Which poets were you first drawn to?

The first real poet I was drawn to was a professor in college, David L. Posner, a famous American poet. His poetry contains a reckless abandonment combined with a deep underlying structure that I respect and adore. I still strive to write poetry that he would approve of, although sadly, he is no longer with us. One of the first poems of his that I fell in love with taught me how to look at life with an eye for precise and intricate details as shown in his poem, “The Sandpipers.” In the last stanza his eye is like a sunbeam, pointed effortlessly toward the crux of the Sandpipers’ existence; minute yet somehow pertinent and endearing.

“…They never get so much as the ribbon of their toes wet.

When I observe in the fire of light

their curved Venetian feathers sparkle,

I imagine the entire ocean bearing down,

great hulks of waves splintered from the sky,

trying, from the depths of the sea,

to follow their tiny knees.”

That really knocked me out the first time I read it…who thinks about the Sandpipers’ tiny knees?

Do you remember writing your first poem? How old were you? What was it about?

Great question! Yes, I remember it, but it was all in my head. I was well-known in my family as Tilly the Typist, a little girl who loved to type gobbledygook on an entire page. I would take my “writing” to my dad who would put me on his lap and “read” my poem or short story. He would make me laugh so hard with the “words” he found on the page. He’d make up a wild story or an epic poem as he went along. It was the beginning of my love affair with the written word.

How would you respond to people who say they don’t like poetry?

I’d say it is definitely an acquired taste; some do, some don’t.

Do you feel that growing up in different parts of the world has influenced your writing?

Absolutely! Traveling and living around the world gave me a third eye in a way. I write about things that rise up from memories that are still bubbling over. In fact, my first award-winning poem was written 30 years after leaving India. It was a poem that was a love letter to India and won a grand prize of $20,000.00. My husband still shakes his head over that one!

Share some of your writing goals. What’s next for you?

I’m working on two collections of poetry. One is complete and ready for the road while the other is still unfinished. The second one is a work that I’ve written with my daughter while she lived in Japan for a 7

month period. It is a Mother-Daughter Haiku Diary. I’m really inspired by writing alongside my daughter.

What’s the most interesting book you’ve ever read?

I love so many books for so many reasons but historical fiction is one of my favorite genres. Anita Diamant wrote The Red Tent based on a single fact from the Bible. She took that one thought and turned it into an intense work of beauty, filled with women I wanted to know in real life. It’s an amazing piece of writing that honors the thread that binds all women together no matter how many centuries separate us.

Favorite authors?

Janet Fitch (White Oleander) really inspired me when I read that she fought to be a better writer for 20 years because agents repeatedly told her that her writing was just average. After all those years when she could have given up, she didn’t! She worked harder to become a writer with spectacular imagery and stimulating vocabulary. My copy of White Oleander contains so much underlining that my daughter told me after reading it, “Mom, reading White Oleander with your highlighting was like taking a class in creative writing.”

Book you’re currently reading?

Right now I’m reading The Second Degree Difference (how changing one small attitude or thought can change an entire relationship, for example), Grace and Power (the private world of the Kennedy White House), Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook, and assorted poems by the remarkable Kate Braverman.

Where can we learn more about you?

www.suite101.com/profile.cfm/freeverse101

www.webook.com/project/Riding-the-Undertow-Poetry-Vote

Additional Writing Resources:

• Make Money From Home – Real Jobs You Can Do by Telecommuting
• Create Multiple Articles from Just One
• How to Write Your Own Ebook in 7 Days
• Freelance Writing Jobs

Jenny Evans is a freelance writer specializing in parenting and early childhood. She draws her expertise mostly from her own children (ages 5, 3, and 1) but has worked with youth of all ages in tutoring, mentoring, and teaching capacities. Anything related to the family is usually a topic. When she’s not playing with her kids, Jenny likes to read books without pictures, write, scrapbook, exercise, and relax with her husband.

Enjoy this interview.

Tell us a bit about yourself. Where are you from and how long have you been writing?

Currently I live in Columbus, Ohio with my family, but we’re about to move to the Boston, Massachusetts area in just a few months. I’ve been writing ever since I knew how – I think I’ve kept a journal since I was in second grade. I’ve always felt an unrelenting compulsion to write. From elementary school all the way through college, it was always fiction that interested me. But since I started doing nonfiction articles a few years ago, I’ve found that I love that too.

You’ve got almost 300 articles on Suite101. What do you enjoy about writing for them? Anything you’ve learned? Challenges about being an online writer?

I didn’t know very much about SEO writing when I started with Suite101. In the past year I’ve learned volumes about it. Being able to write about whatever interests me while reaching a worldwide audience of over 1 million readers a year is such a perk of online writing. I also like having the freedom to set my own hours and my own deadlines, but at the same time that can be a challenge because I’m obsessed with productivity. I work way too much if left to my own devices.

Any type of writing ritual you have?

I always follow a strict keywording and outlining process every time I write SEO. Sometimes it’s very laborious, but it always results in better articles.

Do you believe in writer’s block? If so, how did you get past it? If not, why not?

Anytime an idea for an article strikes me I write it down, so it’s very rare that I run out of ideas completely and have none on the backburner. Sometimes I don’t feel inspired to write on any particular topic I’ve got in reserve, but I force myself to pick one and start working on it. After that, I usually find that I pick up steam as I go.

Share some of your writing goals. Do you have a writing goal you’re working towards?

With three children under the age of 6, writing shorter nonfiction articles is more manageable for me right now. But at some point I’d like to get back into fiction and pursue both types of writing equally. I hope to do this when my kids are a little older and I have more time to myself, but I’m told by other mothers that this never actually happens.

What’s the most interesting book you’ve ever read?

Probably In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan. He has an interesting take on why America is obsessed with health and is simultaneously the least healthy nation in the world. At times I think he purposely tries to be inflammatory because that’s the nature of the book, but he also makes some very good points. I know I changed some of the ways I fed my family after reading it.

Favorite authors?

Charles Dickens, Leo Tolstoy, J.D. Salinger, Virginia Woolf, Nancy Turner, E.B. White, and Dr. Seuss. But I’m willing to read anybody at least once.

Book you’re currently reading?

Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut. I’m making an effort to read the classics I never read in high school or college.

Where can we learn more about you?

My profile and blog at Suite101 will tell you more about me. About a third of my articles relate to Mormonism, the topic for which I am Suite101′s feature writer, but the rest of my work runs the gamut from kid’s educational activities to budgeting to writing SEO and everything in between.

Additional Writing Resources:

• Make Money From Home – Real Jobs You Can Do by Telecommuting
• Create Multiple Articles from Just One
• How to Write Your Own Ebook in 7 Days
• Freelance Writing Jobs

I love an interviewee who just jumps to life off the page (or in this case, the screen.) That’s exactly what you’ll get with Zoë Kirk-Robinson. She’s a creative, smart gal with a lot to say, and I know you’re going to love this interview.

Tell us a bit about yourself. Where are you from and how long have you been writing?

I’m a twenty-nine year old writer/artist from Durham, England and now living in Manchester, England. I moved here almost three years ago now, because Durham is such a sleepy little town and even though I spend most of my time at the keyboard, I like to know there’s something going on around me whenever I need a break.

I’ve been writing since I was around eight years old, although initially, I wrote as a necessity because I wanted to edit magazines but had no content for them. When I was twelve, I created a fanzine called ‘Block Nine’, which had a circulation of about eight at its peak. It was great fun to design the magazine but I found the writing aspect (mainly reviews of 8-bit computer games) was actually a lot of fun, too.

After ‘Block Nine’, I started working on short stories and produced two novellas the same year. I’ve never stopped since.

Like many Suite101 writers, you’ve got quite a diverse background. I love the collection of articles you have, everything from writing comics for newspapers to creating a favicon to elements of the law. Is there an area you enjoy writing more than others?

Thanks! I like to vary my output so that I don’t get bored and lose my passion for writing. Although I love to write, there have been times in the past where I’ve found myself not wanting to turn on the computer and start typing because I was just so tired of the subject; so now I vary what I write in order to not have a recurrence of that dreaded fatigue.

I suppose my main area of enjoyment right now would be the law. I’m a firm believer in the idea that if the law was taught in schools, we would have a lot less con artists doing the rounds; and fewer businesses, both big and small, trying to get away with illegal activities. Right now their victims are victims because they don’t know what their rights are. It’s time we taught people their rights, and that’s part of the driving force behind my basic guides to the law.

You’re not only a writer but an artist as well, and have drawn a variety of comics. Is there anything cooler than that? Tell us about The Life of Nob T. Mouse and All Over the House.

To be honest, there’s no better feeling than the one you get when you can stand back and take in a finished product, be it an article; a comic; or a house you’ve just built. I think the satisfaction of doing a job well is what keeps people going in whatever profession they choose, and it’s certainly true of why I do comics; because let’s face it: if you didn’t get a feeling of satisfaction at the end of it, spending eight hours drawing a picture would seem like madness!

There’s a funny story behind ‘The Life of Nob T. Mouse’. As a child, I used to collect the little sticky-feet bugs that companies and other organisations would give away as promotional items for sticking on computers, noteboards and so forth. They would come with a slogan on a piece of ribbon; which I would invariably cut off and throw away so I could play with the bug itself. I used to make up adventures for these little guys, and then when I got older I started to draw them. Nob Mouse and friends developed from there.

The comic has had a bumpy ride getting to where it is now. It started off as just something to do as a way of letting off steam while I was revising for exams, which probably accounts for the fact that the first few stories have no actual plot. After the exams, I showed the comics to friends and they loved their quirkiness, so I put them online. At the time, I had a lot of family living overseas so making a website to show my comics as I produced them was the simplest way of letting everyone see them. This would have been in December of 1996, making ‘The Life of Nob T. Mouse’ one of the earliest web comics; although at the time I had no idea what a web comic was.

‘All over the house’ is a very different kettle of fish. It was designed from the ground up to be a web comic but my partner and co-writer, Jennifer Kirk, and I decided to go an entirely different route to the one I’d taken for ‘The Life of Nob T. Mouse’. ‘All over the house’ is modeled after the traditional newspaper style of comic writing but its artwork is more heavily influenced by ‘Penny Arcade’ than anything in newspapers.

We started work on ‘All over the house’ about eight months before it went online; designing characters & locations and putting together enough jokes to fill a notebook all on their own. Although the characters came together very quickly, we wanted them to be distinct and recognisable in their own rights. To this end, we took the basic ‘odd couple’ premise and twisted it, creating a level-headed journalist who hates the world and a lawyer who lives in cloud cuckoo land and practices demonology as a hobby because “someone’s got to do it”.

The strip has been running twice-weekly for eleven months now and it already gets four times as many readers each week than ‘The Life of Nob T. Mouse’, which is about twelve years older than it. It just goes to show that forward planning helps a lot.

Share some of your writing goals. What’s next for you?

My mid-term goal is to reach a point where I can live off my writing and comics alone. Right now, the bulk of the rent is being paid by my partner and although feeling like I’m being carried is a great motivating factor that is really helping me to push on with article writing well into the night, it’s not the best feeling in the world. I want to be able to support us both so we can share a sense of achievement with the comics and take a bit of the pressure off her.

To this end, I have several plans for the next few months. First of all, I’m going to be working flat out over the next few weeks on getting at least two new articles written every day, then spending the rest of the day working on our comics.

Right now the comics are sharing a single storyline: as a result of a freak accident with a spellbook, Emily and Tesrin from ‘All over the house’ have ended up in the world of ‘The Life of Nob T. Mouse’, so there will be hijinks aplenty as they try to get home. It’s a fun storyline but trying to do four full-page comics a week is draining! I’ll be glad to getting back to doing the three-panel newspaper style once the story is done.

What’s the most interesting book you’ve ever read?

It would have to be a toss-up between Stephen Fry’s Making History and Greg Egan’s Diaspora. They are wildly different books at different ends of the “hardness scale” of science-fiction. Fry’s novel, an alternate history story about what might have happened if someone stopped Hitler being born, is incredibly witty and moving. I read it in about two days because he writes so fluidly and I just could not stop.

Egan, on the other hand, is always a challenging author – not because he writes badly (he doesn’t, he’s very fluid and each of his books is a huge improvement over the style of the last) but because he pushes the envelope every time he puts finger to keyboard. Diaspora is no exception to this. Egan creates a world where humanity has split into three distinct types: biological humans, who have genetically engineered themselves so there are several different species of human; Gleisner Robots, which are digital human minds in robotic bodies; and Citizens, which are digital human minds living in vast, self-sufficient virtual realities. He starts the novel describing how a Citizen is created and their consciousness forms, then takes us on a billion-year journey to save all the different versions of mankind from extinction. The book is amazing, in the truest sense of the word.

There are two styles of sci-fi writing: hard and soft. Egan wanders up to the ‘hard’ end of the spectrum and then pushes on past it, even inventing new theories of physics if he has to. If you don’t believe me, look up ‘Greg Egan’s Dust Theory’ on Wikipedia and be amazed.

Favorite authors?

You can’t go far wrong with Greg Egan and Stephen Fry but they’re not the only authors whose work I’ll buy just because their name is on the cover. I’m very partial to the wit of Terry Pratchett, although I wish he’d not release his new novels in late September because my family always want to buy them as a Christmas present for me; so I end up having to wait three months to read them. If he’d publish in early September I’d be a lot happier, since then I’d probably get the book for my birthday and only have to wait a week or two!

I’m also a big fan of the works of H.P. Lovecraft, whose work inspired a lot of my earlier horror writing. He’s a major influence on the ideas behind the novel I’m currently writing for this year’s NaNoWriMo, too. I can’t agree with his politics or his abhorrently racist views, but his stories are like taking a safari through a thesaurus from hell. They’re simply amazing.

Book you’re currently reading?

I’m a firm believer in the idea that a good writer is a prolific reader, so I’ve always got at least one book on the go at any time. Right now it’s The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand (whose name I recently Googled because I had no idea how to pronounce it. Turns out it sounds a little like the German word ‘Ein’ and not ‘Ann’, as I had thought.) and Teach Yourself Linguistics, because I adore languages. To me, art and literature are two sides of the same coin: a well-crafted poem or piece of prose can stir the same feelings as an oil painting by one of the great old masters.

My Aunt raved about ‘The Fountainhead‘ and so many people regard it as a classic of American literature, but I’m having a little trouble with it. The characters are all self-serving or self-aggrandising, which would only be true to life if America was full of psychopathic sociophobes. I’ll finish it because I want to see where the story is going, but I have I say I prefer books where there’s at least someone in them that I can relate to.

Any type of writing ritual you have?

Routines, like repetition, drive me up the wall so I try to avoid them whenever possible. Aside from needing a mug of tea when I first wake up and then spending at least an hour in a hot bath with a good book, I have no real ritual. The hot bath is a necessity however, since I’m riddled with arthritis and drawing or typing would be next to impossible if I didn’t warm up the old joints before starting.

Having said that, a typical day usually involves me settling into a comfy chair in my lounge and using my little Macbook to browse the Internet for interesting news stories that inspire me to write an article or two. It can take anything from half an hour to two hours before I’m ready to write, depending on whether I have to look up legal cases and theory before I start. However, once I start I tend to work until the article is done, because I know that if I don’t I’ll lose focus and the article will never get finished.

Where can we learn more about you?

I get around a lot on the Internet so I had to develop a ‘hub’ of sorts to keep track of what I do. For the last few years this has been hosted at www.zoerobinson.com. If you go there, you’ll find links to everything I’m involved in right now, including my blog; the blog I post all my stories on; both ofmy comics and even my YouTube channel. Going through all that should give you more information than you’d ever have thought you’d need (or want!).

Anything else you’d like to add?

In the web comic community, there’s an idea that the web comic scene has become too crowded, so no newcomers will ever have the chance to get noticed and make their mark. It’s a topic I’ve seen come up time and time again since the ‘Big Three’ achieved dominance, but it’s as untrue now as it was the first time someone who was tired of their hard work going unacknowledged started spouting it.

The Internet is a great leveler and anyone who has ambition and the drive to work hard to see that ambition achieved can make it right now just as well as they could ten or fifteen years ago. If you’re good at what you do, and you’re prepared to put in the time to learn how to market yourself so you can reach the people who will become your fans, readers or whatever, you will make it. It just takes time, effort and a lot of patience.

Additional Writing Resources:

• Make Money From Home – Real Jobs You Can Do by Telecommuting
• Create Multiple Articles from Just One
• How to Write Your Own Ebook in 7 Days
• Freelance Writing Jobs