Brenda Whiteside's Debut Novel- Sleeping with the Lights On

Today we welcome Brenda Whiteside to Writers in Business. Brenda has been writing all of her life in one way or another from the captions on her childish artwork to teenage psychedelic scrolls to her current novel. After publishing several short stories, she turned to writing novels.

Brenda, tell us about your debut novel.

My first novel, Sleeping with the Lights On, was published by Wild Rose Press in the summer of 2010.

What is it about?

Sandra Holiday thinks she’s met the man to end her years of less than perfect choices; choices that not only derailed her travel-related career plans but also left her single and broke.

Carson Holiday, a Las Vegas country crooner with swoon-inducing good looks, spent his adult life pursuing a recording contract and love, never holding on to either. After eighteen years, he drops back into Sandra’s life, reigniting an attraction he can’t deny.

When Carson reappears, Sandra must choose again. Only this time, nothing’s as it seems. A secret admirer, a redheaded stalker, and an eccentric millionaire throw her on a dangerous path, with Carson her only truth.

As life confronts her with yet another turning point, will her decisions find her eternally sleeping with the lights on – or will she finally discover a way to turn them off?

Are there any other books in the works?

Yes, An Elfin Secret will be released in November 2011 as part of an anthology (Warm Christmas Wishes); Tattoos, Leather and Studs will release in November 2011 as a short e-book; Honey On White Bread, a novel, will release in January 2012; and It Happened After Midnight, a novelette, will release in 2012.

Congratulations on the success of your writing! What inspires you?

I have two main sources of inspiration. One is real life stories of people close to me. Sometimes an event someone experienced will be a springboard for my book and other times it might be a path of discovery that person is on.

My second source of inspiration is maturity. I enjoy writing about women who are 40 plus and having an adventure of the heart or taking a new direction in their lives.

My life is also blessed with three creative soul mates; my son (a singer/song writer), my husband (an excellent photographer), and my dog, Rusty (the smartest dog in the world).

Brenda is available for book club and speaking engagements. You can find her online at BrendaWhiteside.com.

Fantasy & Mystery Author A.J. Walker - Roots Run Deep

Fantasy and mystery author A.J. Walker joins us today at Writers in Business. He is a new voice in genre fiction. An archaeologist and medievalist by trade, his first fantasy novel, Roots Run Deep, was recently released by Double Dragon. LL-Publications will release his mystery novella, Murder at McMurdo, in June. You can check him out at his blog, where he writes his popular Medieval Mondays posts.

Welcome! Tell us a bit about your latest book, Roots Run Deep.

It’s heroic fantasy with a new twist. The tale follows the adventures of Kip Itxaron, a goblin living in a human-dominated kingdom that treats her people as second-class citizens. Kip isn’t very heroic: she’s a semi-reformed thief, an unlucky gambler, and a mediocre sorceress. Unlike a lot of heroic fantasy, her quest doesn’t magically transform her into some superhuman (or should I say supergoblin). It makes her deal with her limitations and try to work beyond them. There’s a romantic element too. As the blurb says:

She fought her way up from a shanty town to a palace in order to change the world, but her hardest challenge was to change herself.

When a small-time goblin gambler falls in love with a deposed human king, the least of her worries is his vengeful usurper. Kip Itxaron has to follow religious visions despite having lost her faith, unite her squabbling people, find the fabled Lost Tribe of Goblinkin, overcome her fear of battle, and somehow be a leader to a people who have never had one.

But that’s nothing compared with loving someone who reminds her of every man she’s ever hated. Human men can barely be called male. Pasty skin, weak bodies. . .they don’t even have tusks! Not to mention that when he was in power he treated her people just as badly as the rest of them. Kip can see he’s changed, but has he changed enough? Can she change enough?

I've been contemplating the ebook format for several of my books. Has it been a positive experience for you?

It’s been a crazy ride. Double Dragon is a great publisher to work with. They’re very professional and helpful during every stage of the editing and publishing process. They made it easy.

The hard part comes now, when I have to promote the book. In these days of the Great Recession nobody is going to promote your book for you. Writers need to interact with their potential readership and earn name recognition. I chose the word “earn” on purpose. Simply spraying the Internet with promotional blather isn’t going to sell any books. You need to entertain and inform people for free before they’ll give you money to do the same. This is why I started the Medieval Mondays series. It’s taken off, getting lots of hits and tweets. Hopefully that will encourage readers to take a chance on my book.

This is my first virtual book tour and it’s a steep learning curve. Any free advice will be highly appreciated!

What have you learned about the business side of writing?

I’m a newcomer in the writing world so I’m not the best person to ask. I think the best advice I can give is to keep your day job. Your first epublished novel is not going to buy you beachfront property in the south of France. What it will do, assuming you promote it enough, is give you a foothold in the publishing world.

I’m amazed by people who write for a living. Sean McLachlan over at Mid-List Writer has his tenth book coming out in October and is a professional blogger as well. He works 50-hour weeks and has to hustle constantly to get contracts. Famous horror writer Brian Keene has published more than 25 novels. He took a hit last year when his regular publisher Dorchester nearly collapsed, but he recovered quickly because he’s become such a name that other publishers scrambled to sign him up. Looking at his hectic tour schedule you can see that this leading writer knows the value of self-promotion and meeting his audience.

The best business strategy for a new writer, or even an experienced one like these guys, is to keep working at your craft and your public profile constantly. It never ends!

Thank you for being with us today. Where can we find your book and how can we learn more about your writing?

Roots Run Deep is available direct from Double Dragon, from the Kindle Store, and from many other outlets that sell ebooks. You can visit me online at AuthorsDen and GenreAuthor.Blogspot.com.

Mystery Writer and Readers Choice Award Nominee John Desjarlais

A former producer with Wisconsin Public Radio, John Desjarlais teaches English at Kishwaukee College in northern Illinois. His first novel, The Throne of Tara (Crossway 1990, 2000), was a Christianity Today Readers Choice Award nominee, and his medieval crime novel Relics (Thomas Nelson 1993, 2009) was a Doubleday Book Club Selection.

Bleeder and Viper (Sophia Institute Press 2009 and forthcoming 2010, respectively) are the first two entries in a contemporary mystery series. A member of The Academy of American Poets and Mystery Writers of America, he is listed in Who's Who in Entertainment and Who’s Who Among America's Teachers.

John, Thank you for joining us today. It's exciting to interview such a prolific writer. With two books published, I'm eager to learn what you are working on next. Can you tell us about your latest books?

BLEEDER is a contemporary amateur-sleuth mystery where a stigmatic priest bleeds to death on Good Friday in front of horrified parishioners. A miracle? Or bloody murder? Aristotle professor Reed Stubblefield needs to find out, because police regard him as the prime ‘person of interest’ in the mysterious death. He applies Aristotle’s logic to get at the truth before he is arrested or killed by people who don’t want this mystery solved.

VIPER, the sequel due out this fall, features a minor character from BLEEDER as the protagonist. Latina insurance agent Selena De La Cruz learns that her name has been written in her parish church’s ‘Book of the Deceased’ on All Souls Day. The problem is, she’s not dead. But someone wants her to be.

These are interesting plots! I’m intrigued. How did you pick the genre you write in?

When I worked as a scriptwriter for a multimedia company in the 1980s, I produced a documentary on the history of Western Christianity and became fascinated by the Irish monastic movement. These artistic, scholarly monks saved civilization at a time when barbarians were burning their way through Europe. Saint Columba of Iona was especially interesting – a hot-headed warrior and poet with Second Sight who went to war over a disputed manuscript and, in remorse over the thousands slain, exiled himself among the Picts of Scotland where he dueled the druids, miracles versus magic. So his fictionalized biography, The Throne of Tara, was my first novel.

I learned about relics along the way and the rich trade in them (and battles over them) in the Middle Ages and that became the basis for book 2, Relics. I’d begun researching a third historical wherein Aristotle, the Father of Logic, would solve a crime. But I learned this had already been done (and well) by a British writer not long ago. So I fancied a classics professor who was familiar with Aristotle’s writing and who would apply Aristotelian logic to solving a crime that defied reason. That’s how BLEEDER began, a story of a stigmatic priest who bleeds to death on Good Friday. I always enjoyed reading mysteries and now I’m hooked on writing them.

It sounds like you enjoy the experience of researching topics and writing about them. Are there any parts of the writing process you find challenging?

You won't believe how many times you'll read your own book in the proofing process. You do want it to be perfect and avoid typos and such - but what tedious work.

Promotion and marketing are harder than writing the book, more time-consuming, and potentially a real hindrance to writing. 15 years ago, my publishers invested in my titles with advertising, solicitation of reviews and other things. We've all heard how little publishers are putting into marketing these days, backing only their top-sellers who don't need much publicity anyway. The business side of writing, the selling side, is a real challenge. There's always something you could be doing, and this can bite into the work you like most - writing.

How can my readers get in touch with you?

My email is jjdesjarlais@johndesjarlais.com – my web site is JohnDesjarlais.com – I look forward to hearing from your readers. Thanks for the opportunity to talk with you.

It’s been a pleasure to host you and to learn more about your books. Thank you for sharing your writing with us.