Author Spotlight- Tim Meyer

    

Hey everyone! Today I get to welcome local author, Tim Meyer to my blog! I got the great opportunity to interview him and ask him fifteen book-related and not-so-book related questions yesterday and I am excited to share them with you on today's Author Spotlight post.



So who is Tim Meyer??

 Tim Meyer is an author working on several upcoming projects. He currently resides in New Jersey, near the shore. When he's not writing, hunting ghoulish entities, or balling hard on the basketball court, he's usually annoying the crap out of his wife, the most amazing person in his life. The two of them live with their cats, rambunctious monsters who destroy almost everything.

        Here's my interview with Tim:

     

        1) When did you decide you wanted to be a writer? 

  TM:   I started writing in the fourth grade. I always knew I wanted to tell stories, but it wasn't until later in life when I found the motivation to write a novel and actually finish it
    
 2)  How long did it take you to write your first novel? And how did you come up with the idea?
   TM:  It took a solid two years to write. Two more before I had the courage to submit it places. The idea? I basically wondered what would happen if there was a literal war between Heaven and Hell and mankind was caught in between. That idea became Demon Blood: Enlightenment.

    

    3) Writer’s often hit the infamous “writer’s block” at some point in their work. Do you struggle with that a lot? If so, how do you get over it? What advice could you give other aspiring authors on it?

       TM: I guess I'm lucky in the fact I've never had writer's block. There's been periods of time when I haven't felt like writing, and I've had to force myself. But never had I hit a roadblock and been unable to find a way around it, or start over from the beginning and try again. That usually happens when I don't do any pre-writing or outlining. Those are good ways to prevent writer's block.  

          4) Is there a specific author that has influenced your work or inspired you to want to become a writer?

    TM: As a horror writer, the obvious influence is Stephen King. But I feel Robert McCammon and Brian Keene have had a major impact on the way I view writing within the genre.
  

   5) You’re obviously a big fan of horror, given you write specifically on this genre. So what is your favorite all-time horror book? And all-time horror movie?  

  

        TM:  Oh man! So many to choose from! If forced, I'd say Robert McCammon's Swan Song, but it changes every once in a while. Movie -- maybe The Exorcist.    

        

        6) What is your favorite book to movie adaptation? 

   TM: Probably American Psycho. Both mediums are perfect in their own little way.

       

         7) Are there any horror movie remakes that you enjoyed more than the original movies? 

   TM: (Chuckling) I generally despise remakes of any kind. 

        

 8) Out of all your books, which is your favorite and why? 

TM: Stephen King once said that the book he's currently working on is his favorite, and that seems to hold true for me too. However, out of the three books I have currently published, I'd say In the House of Mirrors is my favorite, just because I've grown so much as a writer since my early attempts.

    9)  What book of yours would you recommend to someone that isn’t big on all the “horror stuff” but curious about your work?
    

 TM: In the House of Mirrors. It has its feet grounded in reality, although the book takes the reader to some crazy places. It has a fantasy-horror element to it, but it also borderlines the thriller/detective-mystery genre.

    10) What book of yours would you recommend to someone that IS big into all that horrific stuff?
 
    TM: Demon Blood: Enlightenment, for sure. It's an epic horror novel that has--as the title suggests--lots of demons and lots of blood. 

           11) What is the hardest part of being a writer?

    TM: Hardest part of being a writer is finding time to write. Working a full-time job (40-50hrs a week), spending time with family, owning a house, recording and editing a weekly podcast, and writing for a few different websites doesn't leave me a lot of time to get my writing done. I set word count goals for myself, where I want to be in a week's time and do my best to hit those numbers. 

           12)  Is there a specific vice you have when you’re writing?

    TM: Coffee. Coffee. And more coffee. It used to be cigarettes and coffee but I kicked the habit a few years back so now it's just coffee. And music, depending on the mood and the nature of my writing. 

          13) Why did you choose self-publishing over traditional publishing? Did you try the traditional way first? Do you have an agent?

    TM: Great question! I could go on for hours about this, but it ultimately comes down to what it is a traditional publisher can do for you that you can't already do yourself. I felt that I was able put a product on the market that was just as good as one put out by a TP. My first novel generated interest from a few micro-publishers, but ultimately they passed--for a few good reasons, but length was a major factor. I decided my work was good enough to test the waters and self-published it, never looking back. The major thing I researched was what a traditional publisher actually does for an author. They provide you with a cover, professional editing, and distribution. Some will help with promotions, but most expect the author to do these things on their own. I decided try things myself and see where it takes me. 


    Nope. Don't have an agent. 

         14) What advice would you give a writer that got a bad review or a rejection letter?

   TM: Rejection is inevitable. Don't let it get to you. Not everyone is going to appreciate everything that's out there. It doesn't mean you failed. You need rhino skin in any creative medium, whether it be film, acting, writing novels, or music. You're going to have haters. Sometimes it's a good thing. It can act as a motivator just as much as a downer. I say use it. Learn from it. Embrace negative feedback just as much as the positive.
   
      15) And last, when you aren’t writing what do you do for fun?

     TM: When I'm not writing, I'm usually spending my free time with my wife, going on adventures, playing basketball, and hanging out with friends. I host a weekly podcast with two good friends and that's always something I look forward to.


   To find out more information about Tim Meyer, you can visit his website Here
   To buy his books, click Here

Author Spotlight- Sherry Ficklin

Hey everyone! I decided to try something different on my blog. I am going to start an Author Spotlight page. I love to read and I am always looking for new books and would love to meet more authors out there.And thought it would be great to be able to share that with you too. That way we get to meet some of today's upcoming and successful authors together. I am super excited about my special guest today and feel so grateful she took the time away from her very busy schedule to answer fifteen questions for us.




Today we get to meet the talented
 SHERRY D. FICKLIN !!!

Sherry D. Ficklin is a full time writer from Colorado where she lives with her husband, four kids, two dogs, and a fluctuating number of chickens and house guests. A former military brat, she loves to travel and meet new people.

She can often be found browsing her local bookstore with a large white hot chocolate in one hand and a towering stack of books in the other. That is, unless she's on deadline at which time she, like the Loch Ness monster, is often only seen in blurry photographs.

She is the author of The Gods of Fate Trilogy. Book 1, Foresight, book 2, Second Sight, and Book 3, Hindsight, are now available. She is also the author of the adult paranormal novels, The Palmetto Moon series. Book 1, Born of Blood and book 2, Grave Secrets are now available. Her previously self-published novel After Burn: Military Brats has been acquired by Harlequin and will be released in 2014 with a second book in that series to follow.
Her newest YA steampunk novel, EXTRACTED: The Lost Imperials book 1, co-written with Tyler H. Jolley is under contract with Spencer Hill Press. Book 1, EXTRACTED, is due for release 11.12.13. It is now available for pre-order.

 

 INTERVIEW WITH SHERRY D. FICKLIN

1  )Which was the very first book you wrote? What inspired you to write it?
My very first book was FORESIGHT. I keep a dream journal and there was this piece of it I kept dreaming about. I was writing fan fic one day and my husband said, “Why don’t you try writing something of your own? Something you can publish?” So I went through the journal and plucked out that scene. I had the whole book written in about three weeks.

2) A lot of authors stick to a specific genre when they write, but your books fall in a bunch of genres. Did you always plan to be such a diverse author? Or when you first started did you plan to write only a specific genre?
No, there was never a plan, there still isn’t! I write what I love, whatever strikes my fancy. But I do seem to lean towards YA.
 

3) Your previously self-published novel, After Burn, was just picked up by Harlequin. How exciting! I’m sure indie authors are curious to know how that happened. Did they contact you? Did you query them? What tips might you have for other previous self-published authors looking to have their already published works picked up by a publishing company?

You know, it’s really about always looking to ‘create opportunity’. I was reading some of my trade blogs and I discovered that Harlequin was launching a new line that (sometimes) accepted previously self published work. I knew mine was getting great reviews as was, but could really benefit from a strong editor and marketing team, so I submitted it. They loved it and took it right away. I think 99% of the time in publishing you have to watch for the chances to come open, then jump in with both feet. The worst thing you will ever hear is ‘no’. So you learn to be immune to the ‘no’.
 

4) Out of all your novels, which is your favorite and why?
That is so hard, like asking a mother to pick a favorite child. I think my heart is always most with the one I’m currently working on. You have to be madly in love with a book to finish writing it. So right now, it’s Prodigal and Dangerous Tides.
 

5) Your highly anticipated novel, Extracted, was co-written with author Tyler H Jolley. Did you find co-writing with another author harder or easier?
Writing with another author was amazing (but that might just be Tyler) and having a second set of hands to do the heavy lifting on marketing and promo has been heavenly. I think the only hard part was editing. We both had very strong ideas of the characters that when it came time to really slice and dice the manuscript, it was hard to decide what to keep and what to let go. It was different for each of us.
 

6) How did you two come up with the idea for Extracted?
The initial idea was mine. I’d been writing the third Gods of Fate book (Hindsight) and I heard this girl in the back of my mind. I got her name, Ember, and that was all for a while. Then, once that book was done, I sat down and let her story start to flow. Once I realized who she was, and that her story wasn’t just hers but Lex’s as well, I knew I needed to bring in someone who could write a strong, authentic male character and operate in a heavily science fiction world. Tyler was the logical choice.
 

7) How many books are there going to be in the Lost Imperials series?
Three. But we have toyed with the idea of doing a spin-off series later. There are a lot of characters we just don’t have time to really explore in these books, so who knows?
 

8) How many books are there going to be in your Palmetto Moon series?
Again, three. This last book will (hopefully) see things begin to resolve for Sophie, thought not in the way you might expect.
 

9) What is your favorite genre to read? Why?
I read a LOT of YA. I’m not sure what the lure is. I guess it takes me back to a place where literally anything is possible. First kisses and world ending dramas. It’s all so fresh and raw.
 

10) Is there a specific author or person that has inspired you to write?
You know, my biggest inspiration is my family. They are so supportive and wonderful. I couldn’t ask for better cheerleaders.
 

11) Do you work on one book at a time then go on to the next novel or do you work on multiple stories at a time?
Usually I have three going at a time. One gets my main focus, but when I’m in a rut on it, I go tinker on other projects. It’s usually about who is talking in my head at the time.
 

12) What advice could you give aspiring authors that may be discouraged by the intimidating writing world?
Just write. Don’t quit writing for anything. It’s a rough business, but it’s also 99% determination. Just keep pushing until you push through. Then do it all over again.
 

13) You’re a full-time writer, but was there anything else you wanted to be? (ie: Teacher, Journalist, Doctor, etc)
I wanted to be an oceanographer. I was so inspired by Robert Ballard and all the work he was doing when I was a kid, I was like, Yes. I want to do that. Underwater Volcanoes? Sign me up.
 

14) What has been your favorite moment as an author so far?
This year I got to go to BEA in NYC and sigh copies of Extracted. There were squeeling fangirls lined up around the corner for a copy. It was so rockstar. It was the most fun I’ve ever had in my life.

 
15) And finally if you could go any place in the world, at any point in time (Future or past too) where would you go and why?
I would go to the Library at Alexandria. So much knowledge in one place, I love libraries anyway (when I went to Switzerland I made a trek to the Library at St. Gallen and holy crap was it amazing) and it would be the ultimate.

 Again, a special thanks to Sherry for taking the time out and joining me today on my blog. I hope you all take the time and check out some of her work if you haven't already. She's very talented and we definitely are going to see a lot more from her in the next year. Maybe if I am lucky she will even stop by again and say "Hello."
Check out the books she currently has available for sale below. There are a lot of good ones to check out.
Or swing by her website: http://sherryficklin.com/
Or her blog for further info: http://sherryficklin.blogspot.com/

  Available for Pre-order now!
  
EXTRACTED  
 Welcome to the war. The Tesla Institute is a premier academy that trains young time travelers called  Rifters. Created by Nicola Tesla, the Institute seeks special individuals who can help preserve the time stream against those who try to alter it. The Hollows is a rogue band of Rifters who tear through time with little care for the consequences. Armed with their own group of lost teens--their only desire to find Tesla and put an end to his corruption of the time stream. Torn between them are Lex and Ember, two Rifters with no memories of their life before joining the time war. When Lex's girlfriend dies during a mission, the only way he can save her is to retrieve the Dox, a piece of tech which allows Rifters to re-enter their own timeline without collapsing the time stream. But the Dox is hidden deep within the Telsa Institute, which means Lex must go into the enemy camp. It's there he meets Ember, and the past that was stolen from them both comes flooding back. Now armed with the truth of who they are, Lex and Ember must work together to save the future before the battle for time destroys them both again.

The Gods of Fate Series

FORESIGHT

Attacked at her graduation by a mysterious woman and a gruesome henchmen, Grace was lucky to escape with her life. Rescued by her Aunt Phoenix and a Fae warrior named Chris, Grace is confronted by the startling truth about her heritage. Her mother was the Greek Goddess Pandora. Now it has fallen to Grace to protect her mother’s box from the crazed Demi-Goddess Lilith, who is determined to use it to unleash hell on Earth. As if her bizarre blood legacy wasn’t enough, Grace has begun developing frightening new powers that threaten to destroy her from the inside out. In a world where nothing is what she thought it would be, can Grace find the strength to defeat Lilith and learn to control her powers before she loses her mind?

                                 SECOND SIGHT
When Chris is pulled into the Underworld, Grace Archer will stop at nothing to get him back. Unfortunately the fallen guardian Samael is on the loose with a dangerous relic that puts all the immortals lives in jeopardy.
With her powers on the fritz, Grace must help track down Samael and retrieve the deadly Eye of Hera before any more gods fall victim to his madness. Grace also has to infiltrate Hades and convince the god of the dead to release Chris. But when you make a bargain with the devil, you pay with your soul.

                                   HINDSIGHT
On her own for the first time, Grace has come into her full powers as an immortal and has taken up the mantle her father, Prometheus, offered her. Leaving behind everything and everyone she loved, Grace has become a pawn in a dangerous game that threatens to undo a centuries old truce between the Gods and the Fae. On the brink of war Grace must choose to stand with Chris and Phoenix, or with Prometheus and her immortal family. Can Grace find a way to repair the damage that’s been done, or will she become the Harbinger the Gods of Fate predicted?

BORN OF BLOOD (BOOK 1)

Sophie D’Angelo reluctantly takes over the Palmetto Moon Detective Agency in Charleston. Though she's the third generation proprieter she had different plans until her father passed away and left her the family business. And it seems like all Sohie's plans fail lately. Her fiance, Caleb Brooks, is turned into a vampire on the eve of their wedding. She now has a business partner rather than a life partner--or so she thinks.

Their current case seems like the act of some random arson, but as usual Sophie lands in a tough spot--bound with duct tape in the closet of a burning building. Will she escape and manage to save Caleb who is slumped beside her, druggd and vulnerable to little else but fire? Will she maintain a strictly business relationship with her former love, and what part in this ongoing horror story will Rayne, leader of the vampires, play in her case? What part might he play in her personal life? Read Born of Blood, the premier book in the edgy Palmetto Moon horror series to find out!

GRAVE SECRETS (BOOK 2)

No pulse? No problem.

Sophie D'Angelo is good with weird, but her latest investigation takes the cake. A young pregnant woman goes missing and the only witness is a hundred year old ghost. Sophie reluctantly agrees to play host to the specter who seems more interested in Caleb then in solving the case. As her personal life falls apart around her, Sophie will have to decide how far she's willing to go for justice, and what she's willing to risk to make things right with Caleb again.

But how is she supposed to do iany of that with the charismatic Rayne Blackwood vying for her help, her time, and ultimately, her heart?