Fresh Voice Emily Cross!

Welcome to the latest edition of Fresh Voices. We are delighted to share with you the voice of Emily Cross!





What is your ultimate writing goal?

My ultimate writing goal at the moment is to actually be published, whether it's an e-book or physical book - I'm not fussy :)

Beyond that, I'd hope to just keep writing (and hopefully keep getting published!)

Why do you write?

Such a good question. Honestly, I'm not sure!

The only reason I can imagine that anyone would want to write and pursue writing as a career is because they love it. I mean, I don't know about other writers, but writing for me is an emotional roller coaster where I could be skipping-down-the-street happy one moment and then filled with complete and utter despair the next. . . but despite these ups and downs, I still keep writing.

That has to be love, right?

Have you worked to achieve your voice or is it just a natural style for you?

As an aspiring writer I have agonised over what is voice and how I get it. Can you develop it or is it natural? I'm not sure as to the answer, I think its a combination.

For me, it hasn't been a conscious effort. What I do know though, is that people notice when you lose your 'voice'. For instance, for some insane reason, I decided to rewrite my first chapter of my YA WIP. I was really concerned that it wasn't right for the market. So I sat down, reread my favourite YA books and rewrote the chapter. I submitted it to my writers group. I'll always remember, my friend who critiqued it, turning to me and saying ""Yeah, this was a good chapter for somebody else to write, but it isn't you. What makes your writing yours is not in there"".

So I learnt that I must have some sort of voice and that you have to be true to it.

Who are your favorite authors and why do you like them?

I've a really eclectic taste in books. It really depends on my mood or what genre I'm in at the moment.

So right now, I'm on a serious historical romance binge, so one of my many favourite writers in this genre would be Lisa Kleypas. She's an all round great writer with tight plot, believable and lovable characters and effortless-to-read writing style. I don't know how many times I've reread "Devil in Winter"! Mr. Darcy move over, here's Sebastian!

Another writer I absolutely love is Gail Carriger. Rereading her parasol protectorate series makes me cry with joy (as a reader) and cry with envy (as a writer) because they are just brilliant!!

What most attracts you to the life of a writer?

Probably the freedom, the control over how you work and the idea that you're creating something that will (hopefully) still be around once your gone?

I'm not sure to be honest, I do have this lovely image in my mind of sitting in a parisienne cafe sipping hot chocolate, jotting in a notebook as I watch the world go by. . . but this is probably as realistic as being hand fed bonbons by Richard Armitage!

If you couldn't be a writer but knew you were guaranteed success at a different career, what would you choose?

 I think it would be photography. I'd love to be good at this (but I'm utterly useless!) As the old adage goes "Picture is worth a thousand words" and good photography tells a story so I think like writing, you have to be a storyteller.

If you had to describe your writing in one word, what would that word be? 

Lyrical

aka having crazy grammar ?? ;)

What's the best writing advice you've ever gotten? 

500 words a day. No matter what write 500 words a day.

AND

There is no such thing as good writing, only good rewriting!!

Emily Cross is a pseudonym aspiring to be a published and (hopefully well) paid author. By day, she is an unnamed mild-mannered if not neurotic PhD student. By night, she is Emily Cross, a blog hopping chocoholic with delusions of literary grandeur, who procrastinates her time through tweeting, blogging and posting random thoughts across the blogosphere. Check her out on her blog,  Twitter @crossemily or friend her through Facebook.

Fresh Voice Jamie Righetti!

What is your ultimate writing goal?
Sustainability. I think as a writer you constantly examine the world in terms of stories to be told. But even still, my biggest fear is that one day I'm going to run out of ideas and have nothing to write about. This keeps me reading, pushes me to learn more and in turn, helps me continue writing.

Why do you write?
As a kid, I would pencil my name into my Nancy Drew books and pretend I had written them. Glaring plagiarism aside, I felt there was sense of pride in being an author. The more I read, the more I yearned to create. When I was 12, I stumbled onto my dad's old H.P. Lovecraft books and I was done. I started writing; I haven't looked back since. I think I write in part because I've always felt the pull, but also because I can't turn off my mind. I see my world as a something ready to be described, a story itching to be told, voices waiting to be heard.

Have you worked to achieve your voice or is it just a natural style for you?
Writing has always come so naturally to me so I've never had to consciously craft a voice, but I have learned how to adjust the tone of my writing simply through practice. Although I do believe that great writers have a gift, writing is also something that gets better with persistence. The more you write, the better you become.

Who are your favorite authors and why do you like them?
I'm a huge fan of Russian literature, specifically Dostoyevsky. For me, no other writer has truly mastered such complex, dark, psychologically tormented characters. There are scenes in each of his novels that still haunt me, even when I've read them numerous times. I take my lessons from between his pages and do my best to apply them in my own work.

What most attracts you to the life of a writer?
I think it's twofold: first, the love of books has been with me since I was a child. And I think the more you read, the more you yearn to create. And so you do.
But writing can be a very lonely pursuit. There are times when you stare at the computer screen and reach an impasse. What keeps me coming back are those magical days where your hands can barely keep up with your creativity, when you sit back and know you've just written the best sentence of your life and yearn to write another.

If you couldn't be a writer but knew you were guaranteed success at a different career, what would you choose?
I think writers, much like actors, have a visceral need to crawl into someone else's skin and find out what makes them tick. Before I start to write, I sit down and think about who my characters really are because for me creating a character is becoming that character. So even though a life without writing seems impossible to me, I think acting would be the closest thing to it and something that I might have gravitated towards. Then again, I do have a degree in human evolutionary biology, so who knows?

If you had to describe your writing in one word, what would that word be?
This is such a tough one but 'honest.' I hope that when people read my novel they are able to relate and commiserate with my characters. I hope this story breaks their heart. To me, that's achievable if honesty pervades the work. If you can sense how much I love these characters and how much I poured into each of them, then to me I've achieved something special.

What's the best writing advice you've ever gotten?
I had a writing professor at Columbia who once told me that no matter what I pursued in life, I would always be a writer. There was a beautiful duality in that for me. I think all too often writers are dissuaded from pursuing their passion because of money. But the soul of a writer isn't something that can be easily deleted from the equation. No matter what your day job, a writer will always be a writer.

Jamie Righetti is a writer, journalist and musician from New York City. After graduating from Columbia University in 2009, she spent two years as a freelance journalist with CNN. Jamie is currently completing her first novel, a female adaptation of Cain and Abel set in 1960's New York City.

Follow Jamie on Twitter: @JamieRighetti
To read some of Jamie's work, please visit: http://jamierighetti.tumblr.com/

Fresh Voice Gretchen Rily!

What is your ultimate writing goal?
Creatively, to make people say, "I want to live this book!" Practically, to earn a living. I've tried being "something, anything, else" and well...nope. It always comes back to writer.

Why do you write?
The snarky answer is because I don't work well with others, but that's not really true. I can and do love to work with others, especially if it's writing related, but I'm most productive when I can turn off all the distractions and just let my creativity take over. I'm happiest that way too.

I've been creating stories since I was old enough to talk. Maybe even before then! Storytelling truly is what makes humans, human. It's part of our evolution, how we've survived as long as we have. And possibly, how we'll continue to survive.

If I don't tell stories, even just making them up in my head for my own amusement during a long day at the "day job," I go a little nuts.

Have you worked to achieve your voice or is it just a natural style for you?
I've worked to harness my voice, to use it in different ways depending on the story I'm telling. Luckily, I've gotten very supportive feedback (and okay, a few gasps and side-eyes) about my voice and how to use it. Also, when to rein it in.

Who are your favorite authors and why do you like them?
"Too many to mention! Here's an idea, let me tell you which authors I've studied the most and what I've learned from them. I'm going to include other types of writers as well, because the key for me is storytelling. How different storytelling mediums do things can be very informative and build craft skills no matter what you write.

First off, Shakespeare: character archetypes, how to tell an entire story only in dialogue (comes in handy when revealing bits of backstory!), blocking, how to entertain both the balcony and the groundlings with the same story

Book authors:

Anne Rice - lushness in setting
Lauren Dane - how to switch pov several times in a scene without confusing the reader
Jill Shalvis - humor

TV/Movie screenwriters:

Joss Whedon - This is obvious, but dialogue and world-building. And how to let your geek passion for the subject make the work that much better.
Kevin Smith - Also dialogue, but how even the raunchiest of plots can also be full of heart.
Kurt Sutter - Again, dialogue. World building as well. But what I've really learned from him has come mostly through his insight into how to structure a series. Check out interviews or his wtfsutter clips on You Tube.
M*A*S*H - Lots of writers for this one. How to make subversive humor so funny, so smart, and so heart wrenching all at the same time.

Songwriters: If ever there was a place to go to learn how to evoke a setting, emotion, character, or time in just a few words, songs are it. Some of my favorites are Nikki Sixx of Motley Crue, Rachel Bolan and Dave Sabo of Skid Row, Billy Joel, Pink, Rolling Stones, and way too many more to mention."

What most attracts you to the life of a writer?
I'm a homebody, so being able to work from home without a schedule. Not having to wear shoes. Sitting on my balcony at 3:30 in the morning with an adult beverage and letting the goons in my head run amok. Being able to entertain people without really having to show up anywhere and perform. Stage fright, you see.

If you couldn't be a writer but knew you were guaranteed success at a different career, what would you choose?
Rock star pirate. All day, I'd sit on the deck of my beached ship in a hammock throwing up the devil horns at passing ships. Oh, that's not a career? Darn.

Interior designer. Photographer. Hot rod and motorcycle painter. Still something artistic.

If you had to describe your writing in one word, what would that word be?
Madcap.

What's the best writing advice you've ever gotten?
Bird by Bird - Anne Lamont. The entire book.

As a child, Gretchen Rily thought the vampires hiding under her bed were there to protect her. As a teenager, she got in the mosh pit with her inner rock star. As an adult, she rides a motorcycle and writes romance novels. Often about vampires, rock stars, and motorcycles. Whether it's contemporary, paranormal, or post-environmental apocalypse, she believes falling in love is the most madcap adventure of all.
Twitter: @gretchenrily
Facebook: www.facebook.com/gretchenrily

Fresh Voice Kris Silva!

What is your ultimate writing goal?
I won't be happy until I know that the work I send tottering off into the mist is absolutely the best I could make it. And then I'll need to do something even better.

Why do you write?
Why do you breathe? It isn't really a choice for me. If I stop writing, my gills will seize up and I'll drown...wait. No. Sorry, that's sharks.

Have you worked to achieve your voice or is it just a natural style for you?
It took me years to learn to avoid being influenced by whomever I was reading and develop a style which works for the stories I want to tell. Of course every story's tone depends on the minds of the characters.

Who are your favorite authors and why do you like them?
Neil Gaiman, because he can give you a surreal case of the giggles on one page and then throw a sobering left hook. Ambrose Bierce, for cynical humor so dry it has to be the clacking of a laughing skull. And Ray Bradbury because F*ING RAY BRADBURY, people!!

What most attracts you to the life of a writer?
We get lives?? News to me! ...There was never a decision point, where I weighed the obstacles to publication against my meagre talent. It's just what I'm driven to do. Which means the old moth-battering-itself-against-a-lightbulb analogy is fairly accurate.

If you couldn't be a writer but knew you were guaranteed success at a different career, what
would you choose?
My degree was in tech theatre, and I do sometimes miss lighting design. The subtlety and ephemeral nature of that art still appeals to me.

If you had to describe your writing in one word, what would that word be?
Do the Germans have a word that means drysillyhorrifichumor? That. They're good at that kind of wordmashing.

What's the best writing advice you've ever gotten?
Eliminate the words "got," "like," and "that" from your vocabulary unless necessary for a character's dialect.


Kris Silva has only once achieved national publication, but hardly anyone still has that issue of "Playgirl." She prefers high body counts, deep intrigue, low morals, and shallow graves...and also enjoys reading and writing about such things. She is currently working on a novel about a clueless, loveable cyborg who has been programmed to destroy civilization. Pie is involved. Find Kris on Twitter @gravewriter71. Her art is on DeviantArt and RedBubble. She's also your girl for Muppet and Inspector Gadget fanfic.

Fresh Voice Sue London!

What is your ultimate writing goal?
To be the new Nora Roberts and Stephen King, rolled up into one. I want to write in a wide variety of genres and have a fabulous time doing so - in such a way that readers will connect with my work.

Why do you write?
Why do I breathe? But if what you really mean is why do I want to be published, well that's because I want to be immortal.

Have you worked to achieve your voice or is it just a natural style for you?
Only if you count reading a billion books and trying different things out for writing as "working." As a book nerd I just call that "entertainment."

Who are your favorite authors and why do you like them?
Let me flip that on you. I have REASONS I like books and certain authors align with them.
Funny, insightful: Oscar Wilde, Mark Twain, G.K. Chesterton, Douglas Adams
Mind-expanding, interesting: Spider Robinson, Harry Harrison, Alan Dean Foster
Fun, inspirational: Nora Roberts, Martha Beck

What most attracts you to the life of a writer?
Working in your pajamas. Having cats. Drinking as much coffee as you want. Meeting and talking to other readers and writers.

If you couldn't be a writer but knew you were guaranteed success at a different career, what
would you choose?
CEO of a major business. One of my very favorite books as a child was "If I Ran The Circus." I just really love running the circus. Close runner up is cartoonist (of the Berke Breathed variety.) In case it seems confusing to say writer, CEO, cartoonist - those are all places where you can be the benevolent ruler of your realm. You know, since "Queen" isn't so much an option.

If you had to describe your writing in one word, what would that word be?
Slartibartfast

What's the best writing advice you've ever gotten?
Keep writing.


Sue London began writing short stories about horses and teen sleuths when she was seven years old. After that she traveled to distant worlds, fought with swords and sorcerers, and played with a few undead things. As you might have expected, this means she went into accountancy. Well, alright, maybe that was an odd plot twist but that's the difference between real life and fiction - fiction has to make sense (thanks Mr. Clancy). She's on twitter as @cmdrsue and a million other places that you can find via her Sueniverse.

Fresh Voice Beth Bartlett!

What is your ultimate writing goal?
Ultimate. That sounds so final. In the end, I want to make people laugh and leave my mark on the world. I’d prefer all that happen with a few books. Okay, a lot of books. After I’m gone, my ghost would be happy if people downloaded my writing into their brain, and it made them snort caffeine-free coffee substitute all over their virtual monitor.

Why do you write?
Because I must! If I were ever in a 12-step Writers Anon program, I would be the jittery one with noun patches all over my arms, scribbling ideas on my jeans with the tip of my finger. I started writing stories in chalk on the underside of my father’s desk when I was four, and I’ve never stopped. Soon I’ll need a new desk.

Have you worked to achieve your voice or is it just a natural style for you?
It’s a natural style that evolves with time, depending on my interests and influences at the moment. I’ve always had a strong and slightly bizarre voice. When I was younger, I stifled that and went through the typical phase of imitating great writers. I think ever y writer has to go through that to find his or her own style; it’s like trying on everything in the second-hand store before you go home and cut your own patterns. Once you learn from the masters, you know how to bring your own honesty out and slap it on the page.

Who are your favorite authors and why do you like them?
The names carved into my heart are Terry Pratchett and Douglas Adams. They have the ability to take
words and turn them into the craziest, most delightful balloon animals. I’m also hooked on Gini
Koch’s “Alien” series and Kevin Hearne’s mythologically lush “Iron Druid” series. Koch’s books are fast- paced, funny and sexy. I have to own each one as soon as they’re released. Hearne’s books pile in magic, history, religion and the paranormal. Each one makes me slap my head and say “Of course! That’s how the universe really works.” Even though he’s only written one novel so far, Craig Ferguson’s “Between the Bridge and the River” inspired me for an entire summer. He broke the rules in ways I’d never seen before, such as turning throwaway moments into tiny side stories.

What most attracts you to the life of a writer?
The solitude. I’m a hermit at heart. I also enjoy sweatpants. In my day work as a freelancer, I’ll
occasionally stop and giggle, because I’m making a living by pulling words out of my head and building an article someone wants to pay me for. For my own interests, it’s the urge to create, to take the demons and angels in my mind and wrap them around the wire forms of language. If all goes well, those works stand on their own and provoke a reaction in the reader.

If you couldn't be a writer but knew you were guaranteed success at a different career, what
would you choose?
I can imagine a lot of crazy things, but I can’t imagine my life without writing. What’s success without being stressed over deadlines, worried about contracts, scared of writer’s block and frustrated by blog stats? That’s writerly happiness, right there. If I had to pick something, it would be 1970s pop culture television historian, and I would write about it in secret so the universe would never know.

If you had to describe your writing in one word, what would that word be?
Dorkalicious.

What's the best writing advice you've ever gotten?
Never give up. Never. Give. Up. NEVER GIVE UP! If you give up, the terrorists win. If you give up, every person who said you couldn’t be a writer will be right. I’ve heard that from so many writers, and it’s true. If you give up, Muppets sob in dark corners with stripper glitter matted in their fur and half-empty tequila bottles between their knees. If you give up, you have to go back to being normal, and none of us are really equipped to do that.


Beth Bartlett is a freelance writer and humorist. Her work has appeared in such publications as
Writer’s Digest, mental_floss, Country Extra, Meetings South and American Profile. She writes a
weekly humor horoscope column for the Lovely County Citizen newspaper and for her own site,
WisecrackZodiac.com. In her spare moments of sanity, she also contributes to the Bombeck-style humor site AnArmyofErmas.com and indulges her nerdy side at PureGeek.me. You can also catch her discussing Wonder Woman and writing on Twitter as @plaidearthworm.

Fresh Voice Marc Nash!

Welcome to the latest edition of Fresh Voices. We are delighted to share with you the voice of Marc Nash!

What is your ultimate writing goal?
To leave a body of work that survives well beyond me to make a contribution to the pool of human art and knowledge.

Why do you write?
Because I believe I have something to say and a reasonably interesting way of saying it. It also helps me probe the wonders and the frustrations of the world.

Have you worked to achieve your voice or is it just a natural style for you?
I would like to think my voice doesn't matter nearly as much as that of the character in whatever book I'm writing. But I'm told I have a recognisable style, that marks a project as 'my' book, so I guess I do have a consistency of writing voice. It's both natural and comes out of my own continual pursuit of literary ideas and approaches.

Who are your favorite authors and why do you like them?
Kafka was such a mesmerisingly deceptive stylist. He leads you into nightmarish scenarios with such a lightness of touch. Camus was chock full of ideas about humanity. Jonathan Lethem is a master of literary language. Don Delillo is just the perfect writer. Jeanette Winterson writes wonderful poetic works of love. Neil Bartlett deals in desire like no other writer I have come across.

What most attracts you to the life of a writer?
The ability to think about, explore and deal in language 24-7, without having to worry about numbers as I currently do in my day job. I like jousting with words, trying to nail those slippery characters down on the page.

If you couldn't be a writer but knew you were guaranteed success at a different career, what would you choose?
Musician or abstract painter. Something that still gave life to the mind.

If you had to describe your writing in one word, what would that word be?
Challenging

What's the best writing advice you've ever gotten?
Trust your own instincts.

After writing some dodgy lyrics for teenage bands that never got off the ground, Marc first started writing stage plays at College. With the arrival of his twin boys and parenting, he stopped hanging around theatres and turned his hand to novels. He self-published his debut novel "A,B&E" in October 2009 and contributed adult experimental pieces of fiction to Year Zero Writers, Eight Cuts Gallery, Exclusive Literary Magazine as well as producing regular flash fiction on his own blog. More information about his novel can be found on this website. He has contributed 2 short stories to the "Pop Fiction" Anthology - Stories Inspired by Songs. For all Marc's literary struggles, nothing causes him more sleepless nights than managing his twin boys' junior soccer team. Marc lives and works in London.

Fresh Voice Debora Silkotch!

Welcome to the latest edition of Fresh Voices. We are delighted to share with you the voice of Debora Silkotch!

What is your ultimate writing goal?
I'd love to write and illustrate a series of children's books for the 9 to 12 age group, but the novel I'm currently working on is adult sci-fi. The fun thing about writing is that you can never really predict where it's going to take you.

Why do you write?
I'm not sure writers necessarily have a choice about that. We write because we're writers; take away our computers and typewriters and we'll scribble out our stories in pencil on the back of the electric bill envelope. It's a compulsion, it's how the voices in our heads find an acceptable outlet.

Have you worked to achieve your voice or is it just a natural style for you?
My early writing style was as awkward and self-consciously overwrought as my teenage and young adult self. Lots of creative writing exercises helped me polish my skills in a supportive, low-pressure atmosphere. Play-by-email RPG's were my drug of choice for many years, and later blogging helped me practice the art of telling very short stories in an engaging "voice."

Who are your favorite authors and why do you like them?
George R R Martin. He's a master storyteller, but I think his greatest gift is creating characters so real and painfully human that it's easy to forget they're fictional.

J R R Tolkein. Epic tales of glory aside, I love his pro-green-sustainability, anti-industrialist-greed philosophies.

I loved Stephen R Donaldson's earliest works, up to and including the Gap Cycle. Not a big fan of his later stuff, it feels like somewhere along the way he forgot how to tell a story.

Neil Gaiman. I only recently discovered his books and I need to read more of them...like, all I can get my hands on! Great stuff!

What most attracts you to the life of a writer?
Being paid to do what I would do anyway for the sheer pleasure of it? There's no downside here!

If you couldn't be a writer but knew you were guaranteed success at a different career, what would you choose?
My other passion is homesteading. I grow most of my own food, and I'm constantly finding new ways to remove more of the negative aspects of modern civilization from my life. I'd love to be completely self-sufficient, or as close as possible. I don't feel deprived of anything; this simple lifestyle is incredibly liberating!

If you had to describe your writing in one word, what would that word be?
Introspective.

What's the best writing advice you've ever gotten?
"If you're getting bored writing it, people will get bored reading it." Also, "Begin as close to the end as possible."

Debora lives on a small work-in-progress homestead in Southern California with her two children, two horses, two dogs and many cats. She writes a weekly column, Tuesday Talesfor the Ideology of Madness website, in which she serializes the adventures of her favorite World of Darkness RPG character. She also has a personal blog,"I'm Probably Overthinking This," and a mild Twitter addiction (@Dsilkotch). In her spare time she continues to make preparations for the Zombie Apocalypse.

Fresh Voice Jimmy Blonde!

Welcome to the latest edition of Fresh Voices. We are delighted to share with you the voice of Jimmy Blonde!

What is your ultimate writing goal?
My ultimate writing goal is to write the best book I can.

Why do you write?
I write in order to be true to myself because writing is what I was meant to do.

I've always written, poems, songs, short stories, scripts, internet forum posts, stream of consciousness and, occasionally, on bathroom walls. Initially I wrote as an outlet for my own emotional needs and came to realise that writing was becoming a increasingly important part of my life. I decided that I should pursue writing professionally in order to achieve the highest expression of the ability that I have been given.

Have you worked to achieve your voice or is it just a natural style for you?
It's an ongoing process.

I have cultivated my voice to the extent that I am comfortable with putting it on display which, yes, involved hard work.

Who are your favorite authors and why do you like them?
I'll give you five off the top of my head...

Douglas Adams, for his irreverent style, visionary perspective and extraordinary insights.

J.R.R. Tolkien, for his vivid and incredibly polished realisation of the creative impulse.

George Carlin, for his faultless wisdom.

Janet Evanovich, for her incredible ability to entertain.

John LeCarre, for the undiluted humanity of his characters.

What most attracts you to the life of a writer?
Essentially, being the captain of my own ship.

My attraction to writing stems from the fact that artistic pursuits revolve largely around the ability of the artist to communicate their ideas in a way which elicits a response. This is something that I am able to do without having to conform to somebody elses' idea of how it should be done. I refuse to live life on any other terms than my own and accept the responsibility to develop myself so that those terms serve to improve the world around me.

If you couldn't be a writer but knew you were guaranteed success at a different career, what would you choose?
A pilot, preferably flying aerobatics.

I love to fly and I see the pure, physical expression of aerobatics as being the ultimate type of flying.

If you had to describe your writing in one word, what would that word be?
Honest.

What's the best writing advice you've ever gotten?
I woke up with this thought in my mind one morning,

If you're going to be a writer then WRITE! Stop fooling around and do it.

The actual wording was a little more colourful than that but you get the idea...

This from a friend- "When you're writing your first draft just let go and pour it all out onto the page." (Hi Paxton!)

Stephen King- ""The road to hell is paved with adverbs."

He came, he saw, he quickly realised that it was all a joke and tried to help people laugh at it.

Facebook: Search for 'Jimmy Blonde' and look for his picture as posted above. He killed all the other pirates called 'JimmyBlonde' so finding him should be simple.

Twitter: @JimmyBlonde79

Fresh Voice Heidi Marie!

"we do not believe in ourselves until someone reveals that deep inside us is valuable, worth listening to, worthy of our trust, sacred to our touch. once we believe in ourselves we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight or any experience that reveals the human spirit." - E.E. Cummings

Welcome to the latest edition of Fresh Voices. We are delighted to share with you the voice of Heidi Marie!

What is your ultimate writing goal?

My ultimate writing goal is to impact my readers with the passion, emotion, thought provoking wisdom that many great poets and writer's bestowed upon me.

Why do you write?

I write because it permits the passion within me to flow. My poetry is an extension of me, of my thoughts, feelings and experiences. I truly believe each of us has our own unique voice, one that sings with beauty comparable only to the nightingale. If we deny the voice inside us... we rob ourselves and others of passion's song.

Have you worked to achieve your voice or is it just a natural style for you?

My voice is of my own making, it is the naked truth of my experiences.

Who are your favorite authors and why do you like them?

My favorite authors are: W. H. Auden, Maya Angelou, James Baldwin, and Mark Twain because each of these author's mission spells out passion. These four authors works "cry" the study of life. Each possesses a fearless quality about them. The courage, sacrifice, determination, commitment, toughness, heart, and talent they own, shows in every word they've ever written.

What most attracts you to the life of a writer?

"I want to stand as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge you see all the kinds of things you can't see from the center." -Kurt Vonnegut

As a writer that is what most attracts me to the life. ;-)

If you couldn't be a writer but knew you were guaranteed success at a different career, what would you choose?

If I were denied my passion to be a writer but knew I was guaranteed success at a different career, that career would be teaching creative writing to children. It would be my mission to inspire them so they may dream big and use words to unleash those dreams.

If you had to describe your writing in one word, what would that word be?

In one word my writing is Real.

What's the best writing advice you've ever gotten?

The best writing advice I have ever received came from a friend, Billy Coffey. The following is the advice he shared: 1) Turn your brain off for the first draft. Just write with your heart. 2) Write every day, no matter if you feel like it or not. 3) Ignore those voices in your head that say you can't. Because you can.

Heidi Marie, who is she you ask? She is a woman of sincerity whom above all wishes to have no secrets. Because she is fearless you see. She wants to give her heartfelt words of joy, trust, fear, surprise, sadness, disgust, and anticipation away for others to connect with. Because for Heidi, A poem is a gift for others to do what they will... relate, dream, imagine. It is a ship on an open sea.

Fresh Voice Sarah Scharnweber!

"we do not believe in ourselves until someone reveals that deep inside us is valuable, worth listening to, worthy of our trust, sacred to our touch. once we believe in ourselves we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight or any experience that reveals the human spirit."- E.E. Cummings

Welcome to the latest edition of Fresh Voices. We are delighted to share with you the voice of Sarah Scharnweber!

What is your ultimate writing goal?

I would like to write for a living. I guess that's a goal that most people have and it's pretty general, but that's about as true and realistic as I can be.

Why do you write?

I write because I have to. It's not one of those things I've ever really looked at as an option. I write because there are stories and they want to come out.

Have you worked to achieve your voice or is it just a natural style for you?

A little bit of both. My natural style combines with my inner editor and comes out with a voice.

Who are your favorite authors and why do you like them?

Oh goodness, I like so many writers. I enjoy Stephen King a great deal, he was the first modern writer that I fell in love with and my adoration continues today.

Neil Gaiman is amazing. His voice is strong and he has a great will to interact with his fans.

Chuck Palahnuik has an awesome sense of story that grips a reader and keeps them from putting a book down.

I recently read my first Joe Hill novel and I am pretty impressed with him as well. I think I learned a great deal from reading his work and that's a great pay off.

What most attracts you to the life of a writer?

Number one would be not having to punch a time clock. I have a regular day job and the stress really takes away from the energy that I have to write. Some days I come home and I just can't deal with writing; it also doesn't help that I'm in a high stress field with a high burn out rate.

If you couldn't be a writer but knew you were guaranteed success at a different career, what would you choose?

I suppose I would want to be in the field. Maybe an editor or an agent. Anything that would put me in contact with people who could accomplish their dreams. As it stands now, I work in the mental health field and helping people in any capacity seems to be the thing that fuels me, so I think that would help keep me feeling like I was doing something positive.

If you had to describe your writing in one word, what would that word be?

enticing

What's the best writing advice you've ever gotten?

In Stephen King's on writing, he said that the road to hell is paved with adverbs. I agree and found that information invaluable.

Sarah Scharnweber lives in Rockford, Illinois with her husband. She primarily writes horror, but often strays from that. She has a twitter page, and a facebook page, and is participating in this year's NaNoWriMo. One of her stories can be found here and another can be found here.

Fresh Voice Amanda Alley!

"we do not believe in ourselves until someone reveals that deep inside us is valuable, worth listening to, worthy of our trust, sacred to our touch. once we believe in ourselves we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight or any experience that reveals the human spirit." - E.E. Cummings

Welcome to the latest edition of Fresh Voices. We are delighted to share with you the voice of Amanda Alley!

What is your ultimate writing goal?
You know, I just won’t be happy until I’ve published a novel, but I am realistic enough to know that I need to take it slow. Insert “baby steps” cliché here, right? For now, I’m content to tweet, blog (http://athenasden.com) and toss around a few short story ideas. Blogging has actually been much more difficult than I anticipated, partly because I spent so many years focusing on non-fiction and partly because that “publish” button just frightens me. With one click, I’m on display. It’s an frightening and amazing prospect for me.

Why do you write?
I’m one of those ridiculous people who has been writing since childhood, and no matter where else life has taken me, I’m always playing with words. I was the kid who loved essay tests and composed poems while walking the dog. And when I was a manager, I’m pretty sure even my month-end reports had a narrative arc! You get the idea.

I am also a naturally introspective and bookish gal, but it’s more than that. As the baby of the family, I’m awfully fond of attention. I don’t think I even admitted it to myself until I joined twitter and felt a sincere urge to entertain my followers. They didn’t click “Follow User” just for me to talk about what color – usually taupe – I painted my toenails today. What a shock to think that I spent thirty years in wallflower mode, aka denial!

Have you worked to achieve your voice or is it just a natural style for you?
Oh, I have definitely struggled with voice over the years. I’ve spent a great deal of time researching ancient cultures and studying the social sciences, but facts not voice are the focus of that type of writing. And that is part of what’s been so difficult about my blog. I would write out these very sober but technically sound essays and think Where’s the joy in that? Delete. Delete. Delete. It’s only recently that a different voice has emerged and it’s one that wants to laugh a little more. Once again, I was caught completely off guard.

Who are your favorite authors and why do you like them?
Hermann Hesse is one of my biggest influences because he really struggled to reconcile his rational nature with his earthy, or sensual, impulses. It was so difficult for him to be a sexual being and erudite man and he taps into the darker side of our psyche in a very positive way. Growing up in rural Virginia, I really needed someone like him.

I also love Paul Auster and Milan Kundera for the way they challenge traditional story-telling. They blur the boundaries between author, protagonist and reader. They are intellectually demanding without being obtuse.

On a more personal note, I have had the privilege of knowing Elizabeth Eslami, author of Bone Worship (Pegasus 2009), since I was an awkward college student. Her unwavering dedication to the writing life is such an inspiration. Knowing her and seeing what she’s been through makes me feel like “real” people can be writers too.

What most attracts you to the life of a writer?
My mother recently asked me, “When did you know you wanted to be a writer?” There never was a moment when it wasn’t what I wanted. So many of the people I admire throughout history and in pop culture are writers. It takes me back to all those cheesey college entrance essays. “Who do you most admire and why?” Excluding the time I told one extremely snobbish college the tramp from Disney’s Lady and the Tramp just to make them uncomfortable, my essays were always about big thinkers and great authors.

I sincerely enjoy researching, thinking, corresponding and writing, so all the daily tasks associated with being a writer are things I would be doing anyway. The lingo is just different now. Instead of going to the bookstore, it’s market research and instead of messing around on twitter, I’m networking. Oh, and instead of doodling, I’m brainstorming. I especially love that one.


If you couldn't be a writer but knew you were guaranteed success at a different career, what would you choose?
With my hobbies, my options are writer or college professor. I always have to be studying something new. One time in Washington, my roommate came home and I had books sprawled all over the coffee table and was making comparative religion charts. I wasn’t in school at the time so he looked at me bewildered and asked what I was doing. “Well, I didn’t have any homework, so I gave myself some.”

If you had to describe your writing in one word, what would that word be?
I don’t know if it’s there yet, but my goal is to be unpretentious.

What's the best writing advice you've ever gotten?
In his book Palm Sunday, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. wrote, “I think it can be tremendously refreshing if a creator of literature has something on his mind other than the history of literature so far.” Vonnegut gave me permission to have and pursue interests other than writing and literature and while it hasn’t been the most linear of paths, I feel like I still ended up in the right place and at the right time.

Amanda Alley is an aspiring writer who adores coffee, words, aromatherapy, mythology, wine and nature walks. She enjoys stacking wood, washing dishes, making outlines and giggling like a school girl. She divided her youth between Maryland and Virginia but did most of her growing up in the Pacific Northwest. Please join her in Athena’s Den where sometimes the sacred actually meets the profane, but mostly she compiles quirky lists. Check out http://athenasden.wordpress.com/2010/04/26/and-now-class-its-time-for-the-essay-portion-of-this-blog/

Fresh Voice: Jay Eckert!

"we do not believe in ourselves until someone reveals that deep inside us is valuable, worth listening to, worthy of our trust, sacred to our touch. once we believe in ourselves we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight or any experience that reveals the human spirit." - E.E. Cummings

Welcome to the latest edition of Fresh Voices. We are delighted to share with you the voice of Jay Eckert!

What is your ultimate writing goal?
My ultimate goal is to be published and have enough repeat success so that I can make writing my full time job. I can't imagine this is an uncommon goal. It's one heck of a stretch, of course, but to some degree it's in my hands. How so? I have to write. A lot. I have to continually improve as a writer. If I'm able to dream up characters and stories about which I'd like to read, then I'm heading in the right direction. And if my writing group and my family like them, then I know I'm improving my chances for success. I have some brutally honest beta readers.

Why do you write?
Frankly, it started as a hobby, and then I found it helped me reconnect with a creative side that had been underused for a while. I actually did an entire blog post about this very topic on SM Blooding & Crew - http://smblooding.blogspot.com/2010/08/why-do-i-write-jay-eckert.html

In the end, I write because I like to write. It certainly fulfills many needs, but I'm not one of those people who writes because I can't help it. I certainly don't write for free coffee. You have to be careful with free coffee. Once in a while, you'll work in some office where they're using starbucks, but most often, it'll be some packets of Krusty's recycled grounds sent through an industrial coffee maker that adds a foul odor and taste to everything with which it comes into contact.

Have you worked to achieve your voice or is it just a natural style for you?
I think every novel or series has a distinct voice. In my case, my first two novels didn't have a particularly compelling voice. They were far more plot driven and I didn't connect particularly well with the characters. As the author -- the supernatural force pulling the strings -- if all I do is like or dislike my own creations, it's a problem. After those two novels, I decided I needed to switch things up and took on a new project -- Urban Mythos -- by writing in the first person POV. This was a total breakthrough. As I wrote, I found that I fell in love with each and every one of my characters. Well, okay, just the "good guys". I have a son in high school, and I see and hear a lot of teenage attitude. Despite what my kids say, I'm also not so old that I've forgotten what it was like to be them, albeit with archaic video games and a complete lack of texting. On top of that, I read a ton of YA and Middle Grade fiction to make sure my voice is honest. My characters are often an amalgam of other fictional folk, with the occasional nod to a family member or friend.

Who are your favorite authors and why do you like them?
There are a ton, but here's a shortened list.

JK Rowling - The voice. The fairytale feel. It would be easy to say that it's because I can read all seven Harry Potter books over and over and never tire of them. And while that's true, it's not the real reason. Simply put, she motivates me. If I can make others feel about my characters the way she's made me feel about the characters in her world, I will feel like I've accomplished something great.

Neil Gaiman - Because he wrote Neverwhere and the Graveyard Book. But mostly because he wrote Neverwhere. His imagination is all over the page for the reader to see.

Stephen King - I don't think anyone needs an actual reason to like Stephen King. Here are some of my own, however. The Stand. The Talisman. It. More recently, Under the Dome. There are few writers that can make me stick with a 1000 page tome as consistently as he can. Only he could have concluded the Dark Tower they way he did. You want to talk about brutal honesty and total fearlessness? Uncle Stevie will go anywhere and do anything. Is it occasionally a bit much? Sure. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child - Because they've created a detective series featuring the strangest hero ever - Special Agent Aloysius Pendergast. And because I generally learn a little something new about New York City or some other locale.

Suzanne Collins - Another fearless author of both Middle Grade and YA. Mockingjay is a brutally honest ending to a fantastic series that captivated everyone.

What most attracts you to the life of a writer?
I love spending hours each night living in a fantasy world of my own creation, forgetting about my professional responsibilities. I like sharing those stories and characters with others. Personally, I'd prefer to actually spend more of that time during the day, as opposed to after dinner hopped up on Cafe Americano's struggling to stay awake.

If you couldn't be a writer but knew you were guaranteed success at a different career, what would you choose?
Good question. I used to think that if I won the lottery, I'd move to a college town and teach. But I'm not sure I'm suited to teaching. Maybe an ice road trucker. You know work is tough when you think being an ice road trucker seems like a relaxing profession. Since you say I'd have guaranteed success and wouldn't drive off a mountain, maybe it's an option.


If you had to describe your writing in one word, what would that word be?
Plain

What's the best writing advice you've ever gotten?
From literary agent Donald Maass in Writing the Breakout Novel -- "As authors we like our protagonists. We are tempted to protect them from trouble. That temptation must be resisted."

I agree. You need to be merciless with your babies. What doesn't kill them will make them stronger.

There's also this one other bit of advice I've seen repeated a number of times. "It's okay to write crap in a first draft." It helps me tune out that evil inner editor and get to the end of the story.

Jay Eckert is a writer of YA fiction, including his YA Urban Fantasy, Urban Mythos and his YA contemporary fantasy, The Children of Midian. He is also an active member of SCBWI. He posted a series of blog entries entitled, "Birth of a Novel", in which he chronicled the development of Urban Mythos. Here's a sample - http://jayeckert.blogspot.com/2009/08/birth-of-novel-chapter-2.html - you can link back and forth from there.

Fresh Voice: Darius McCaskey!

"we do not believe in ourselves until someone reveals that deep inside us is valuable, worth listening to, worthy of our trust, sacred to our touch. once we believe in ourselves we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight or any experience that reveals the human spirit." - E.E. Cummings

Welcome to the latest edition of Fresh Voices. We are delighted to share with you the voice of Darius McCaskey!

What is your ultimate writing goal?
Ultimate goal? That almost sounds as if I have a master plan like a comic-book super-villain. To be fair though, Lex Luthor seems like a pretty cool guy. I mean, aside from the megalomania and all-consuming hate of Superman.

Seriously, my ultimate goal is to change someone's life. It sounds egotistical, but it's the truth. When I was young, I escaped an often less-than-pleasant childhood by reading. I read all sorts of books: horror, sci-fi, philosophy, anything (hell, I used to read the dictionary for fun). Losing myself in stories got me through the worst parts of growing up. If my writing gives some kid a brief reprieve from their troubles, I'll consider myself a success.


Why do you write?
I write to avoid the asylum and the tavern. I write to cast my own shadow on Plato's cave wall. I write to leave a legacy for my child.

Have you worked to achieve your voice or is it just a natural style for you?
I think one's literary voice is always changing. No one emerges from the womb a master of the language. Likewise, experience colors one's work. No one's voice is static. It's a work in progress.

That being said, I was pretty happy when I Write Like's (http://iwl.me) analysis showed one of my current projects reads like Kurt Vonnegut.

Who are your favorite authors and why do you like them?
Speaking of Kurt Vonnegut... I can't say enough wonderful things about Kurt Vonnegut. If I had to pick one author as my absolute favorite, it would be him. My worn, dime-store copy of “Welcome to the Monkey House” is one of my most prized possessions. Satire, wit, humor – whatever you want to call it – Vonnegut had in spades and wrapped it in compact, to-the-point prose.

Edgar Allen Poe. Inventor of the modern detective story, unparalleled American poet, complete and utter lush: what's not to love? Poe's dark, evocative imagery and macabre subjects resonate with me. “The Cask of Amontillado” is one of my all-time favorite stories.

Michael Stackpole. Stack's written many sci-fi and fantasy novels, most notably “I, Jedi.” He's an outspoken advocate of the fantasy role-playing game industry, and has been interviewed several times on the subject. Mike's one of the nicest, most articulate and genuine people I've met.

Neil Gaiman. Neil's written comics, children's books, novels, screenplays and more. The breadth and depth of his work is inspiring. He's the Michael Jordan of literature. When I grow up, I want to be like Neil.

What most attracts you to the life of a writer?
Is the answer 42? Wait. No, that was something else. What was the question again?

If you couldn't be a writer but knew you were guaranteed success at a different career, what would you choose?
Music has been as important a part of my life as reading and writing, so if I couldn't be a writer, I'd be a musician. Actually, I played in a few garage bands in high school. Like Paul Rudd's character in “I Love You, Man,” I've been known to slappa da bass. The RIAA will be happy to know, however, that my guitar is safely languishing in a storage unit in northern Illinois.

If you had to describe your writing in one word, what would that word be?
Visceral.

What's the best writing advice you've ever gotten?
Omit needless words. Thank you, William Strunk. I'm trying.

Darius McCaskey is an author, poet, editor and game designer. He lives in northern Illinois with his beautiful and talented wife, Tiffanie, and their precocious daughter, Muirne. Darius can be found (far too frequently) on Facebook Twitter (@vaygh). His blog, Intentionally Vaygh, is ranked # 1 in Google's list of blogs named “Intentionally Vaygh.” You can connect with Darius on Goodreads (http://www.goodreads.com/Vaygh) and read an excerpt from his upcoming zombie story, “Serve Yourself.” His poetry chapbook, “Angst and Wrath,” is available in print and electronically through Amazon, the iBookstore, Lulu, Smashwords and other fine retailers.

Fresh Voice: Rachel Colina!

"we do not believe in ourselves until someone reveals that deep inside us is valuable, worth listening to, worthy of our trust, sacred to our touch. once we believe in ourselves we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight or any experience that reveals the human spirit." - E.E. Cummings

Welcome to the latest edition of Fresh Voices. We are delighted to share with you the voice of Rachel Colina!

What is your ultimate writing goal?
This question is at once easy and scary. I think about writing. I talk about writing. And I certainly write about writing. A lot. But what is my ultimate writing goal?

“Only connect,” E.M. Forster said, and that’s it. That is all. Connect people, connect ideas, connect seemingly disparate times and places. Connect myself.

(Of course I hope that ultimately this results in publication and readers and long-term happiness…)


Why do you write?
I write in order to make sense of the world. If I’m confused about something or someone, I write about it. I try to understand and explore different points of view. But more than that, I love stories; it doesn’t matter if the story is about my family, myself, or someone I have made up. Flannery O’Connor wrote that “a story is a way to say something that can’t be said any other way, and it takes every word in that story to say what the meaning is.” I relish telling that story, revealing that meaning.


Your writing is both sweet and smart. Have you worked to achieve that voice or is it just a natural style for you?
When I was a child—timid, shy, but oh-so interested in the world around me—I would replay in my head conversations I had listened to throughout the day. I couldn’t wait until I was alone so I could “hear” them again! I would add my own narration and think about what I would have said if I were a little braver.

My writing voice is the one I hear in my head; it’s optimistic and nudges me to be more compassionate and understanding. When I write fiction, I draw from those conversations I’ve been cataloging throughout my life. My writing and language are grounded in my experiences and observations.


Who are your favorite authors and why do you  like them?
I’ve read everything by Flannery O’Connor and love the ugly and flawed characters that populate her stories, from Hulga (born “Joy”), the one-legged woman who believes in “nothing” and who attempts to seduce a traveling bible salesman, to Mrs. Turpin, who gets a book thrown at her and is called an old warthog inside a doctor’s office. I enjoy the short stories of Amy Bloom, Raymond Carver, Tobias Wolff, Lee Smith, and too many others to count!

I also love Barbara Kingsolver and Jhumpa Lahiri, and I’m getting impatient for another book by Jeffery Eugenides. My favorite authors are ones who let their characters drive the action and not the other way around.


What most attracts you to the life of a writer?
I used to joke that I’d love to be a perpetual student; take classes, write papers, and learn tons and tons of stuff!  “If only I could get paid to be a student,” I’d say. But being a writer is even better. I direct my own learning, steer my own education.

Until last month, I taught Composition and Introduction to Literature to nursing students. There was so much I loved about being a teacher. I helped them find their voice and shape their own writing. But while I played an important role, their successes and failures were their own. I think today’s writers are more connected than ever; writing is a less solitary endeavor than twenty or even ten years ago. Still, our successes and failures are our own. My own.


If you couldn't be a writer but knew you were guaranteed success at a different career, what would you choose?
I’m sure I would be an educator of some sort, whether leading a creative writing workshop for older adults or teaching children how to make homemade paper in an afterschool program. My mom teaches third grade and my dad, formerly a principal, is building schools and resource centers in Kenya; education is in my blood.


If you had to describe your writing in one word, what would that word be?
Wistful.



What's the best writing advice you've ever gotten?
In the first writing class I took as a freshman, our assigned text was William Zinsser’s “On Writing Well.” Zinsser stresses the importance of clarity in writing; eliminate clutter, redundant words, the “thousand and one adulterants” that weaken our sentences. I carry that advice with me in all my writing, whether it’s fiction or nonfiction, formal or informal, and I’ve passed it on to my own students.


Rachel currently resides in Cincinnati, OH, where she cheers on the Reds and cannot wait to see what happens when Terrell Owens and Chad Ochocinco line up together for the Bengals. She doesn’t have any pets, but she does have a giant stuffed penguin named Wally given to her during a stay in the hospital as a teenager. Rachel’s blog, Perfect Sand, is named after a holiday she and her best friend made up in 1989, wherein they meticulously filtered a neighbor’s sandbox (“Perfect Sand Day” remains November 3rd). She started the blog two years ago to post pictures from her trip to London and has since been using it to chronicle her journey as a daughter, teacher, and aspiring writer. For a sample of her personal, nonfiction writing, check out this post from January, Communities. (She’s currently building a wordpress site to house her fiction). Follow Rachel on twitter (perfectsand), but beware of tweets about the Reds, politics, and libraries in addition to ones about writing!

Check out: http://perfectsand.blogspot.com/2010/01/communities.html

Fresh Voice: Anne McCarron!

"we do not believe in ourselves until someone reveals that deep inside us is valuable, worth listening to, worthy of our trust, sacred to our touch. once we believe in ourselves we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight or any experience that reveals the human spirit." - E.E. Cummings

Welcome to the latest edition of Fresh Voices. We are delighted to share with you the voice of Anne McCarron!

What is your ultimate writing goal?
Ultimately, I'd like to be read after I'm dead. Well, not exclusively after I'm dead, of course. I think it would be great fun to be read while I'm still alive. In fact, I'm busy trying to make that happen. But I love reading a book or exploring a painting or listening to music and getting the feeling of connection to a person who lived in another time, a different world. I'm sharing the mind of someone I'll never know, yet in some deeper sense, know better than most people I see every day. I believe that's what Art can do. It makes the world a bigger place.

Why do you write?
It's cheaper than paint and canvas. No, that's not the only reason. That wouldn't explain why I write every day, why I care so much about the people who inhabit the stories, why I want to share the experience of the story with everyone. When I was younger, writing was work, and I abandoned it. Since I started writing again three years ago, I've discovered that writing is play, and now it's all I want to do.

Your writing is lyrical and rich. Have you worked to achieve that voice or is it just a natural style for you?
My high school writing teacher used to complain that my writing style was archaic. Well, I couldn't help it, I was reading Dickens and Arthur Conan Doyle and Tolkien, among others, and I was a devout Anglophile. I think I must have been writing with a British accent. Now, I have a better sense of who I am, and I think the voice that's emerging in my writing is the product of my own experience, although I use the term loosely since I've lived my whole life in Wisconsin.

Who are your favorite authors and why do you like them?
I've fallen in love with many writers, but the first was Ray Bradbury. His stories are poetry to me. I would get swept away to exotic places like Mars or Venus or Waukegan, Illinois on a river of words, perfectly buoyant and maybe a little soggy at the end, but exhilarated and thankful for the ride, and wanting to run around to the back of the line and do it all over again.

And then there was Daphne DuMaurier. A friend and I took a road trip through Devon and Cornwall, looking for Dame Daphne. We ended up in the middle of Dartmoor at the Jamaica Inn on a day when the wind was howling and the rain was blowing sideways over the tops of the hedgerows. I think we found her there.

I bumped into Mark Twain while I was in college. That man could make a sentence sit up and bark. He was such a powerful writer. He could drive a needle-sharp point home with a delicate tap from the sledgehammer of his talent, and you'd only feel it when it got to your heart.

And for the past twenty years or so, I've enjoyed the teeth-to-the-wind stories that Stephen King rides into the world. Everything he writes is so true and seems so real (glad it's not). What terrible fun his stories are, especially at their darkest, and what a joy when the clouds part and the sun shines out again. And he shows up in his own stories, too -- how cool is that!

What most attracts you to the life of a writer?
Freedom.

Oh, I know that being a professional anything requires commitment and obligation and deadlines and tax forms, but that's the business of writing. As a total amateur, I can get away with ignoring that part to focus on the good stuff.

Writing is something I can do wherever I am, whenever I want to, I don't even have to write it down as I'm doing it, although if I want to share it with anyone, that would be best. It's in me and of me and purely me, and as long as I'm speaking a language that others understand, I only need my experience and my imagination to call the stories out into the world. No one can take that from me and no one can stop me. That's freedom.

If you couldn't be a writer but knew you were guaranteed success at a different career, what would you choose?
Oh! Definitely! Japanese ink and wash painter, sumi-e. It's all very Zen and indescribably beautiful! When can I start?

If you had to describe your writing in one word, what would that word be?
Metamorphic (and I mean that in the geologic sense. Lots of heat and pressure and bending and folding going on).

What's the best writing advice you've ever gotten?
The old standby, "Write what you know", is still good, but I would up it one. Write what you love. Love is the thing that lasts.


Anne McCarron is a middle-aged (well, she doesn't know any hundred-year-olds, so guesses she's past it, in many ways, alas) woman who has been a good little worker bee for long enough. Time to soar with the eagles! To do that, she's gonna really have to muscle-up on her flying skills, but if you'd like to read any of the stories she's finished so far, they're at The Shining Line. She'll be adding new ones as they get rejected by the literary magazines she sends them to.

Fresh Voice: Linda Grimes!

"we do not believe in ourselves until someone reveals that deep inside us is valuable, worth listening to, worthy of our trust, sacred to our touch. once we believe in ourselves we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight or any experience that reveals the human spirit." - E.E. Cummings

Welcome to the latest edition of Fresh Voices. We are delighted to share with you the voice of Linda Grimes!

What is your ultimate writing goal?
To have someone pass me on the street, do a double take, and say, "Hey, I know you—your books always make me laugh." Bonus points if it's not my mom.

Why do you write?
Here's where I should wax poetic about my love of the written word, and how I've lived and breathed literature since I was a tot, right? Which is true, of course, but that's the reason I read. I write mainly because I can't sing, and I'd go crazy without a creative outlet.

Also, I can't draw, paint, or sculpt, except metaphorically with my words. So, really, I had no choice. It was write or go crazy. (My family might argue the "or" in the preceding sentence should be "and." I'm forced to concede they might have a point.)

Your writing is witty and fun. Have you worked to achieve that voice or is it just a natural style for you?
Thanks! Being a smartass comes naturally to me, but I've worked to hone my delivery. Growing up with three brothers helped. We weren't allowed to beat each other up, so we had to learn to "use our words." Eventually it got to the point where my brothers would all say, "Please, just hit me!" whenever I opened my mouth, but by then I'd realized words were a lot more fun than physical violence.

Who are your favorite authors and why do you like them?
Gaah. That is probably the most difficult question for a writer to answer. There are so many! How about a sampling?

Diana Gabaldon (author of the Outlander series) is a perennial favorite. Her books are the most flavorful genre stew you can imagine—romance, historical, sci-fi, fantasy…you name it, it's in there. All seasoned with enough tragedy, humor, love, and derring-do to keep you reading, whatever your literary taste.

Harlan Coben—all his books, but especially his Myron Bolitar series. Pure mystery mastery. Plus, I have a crush on Win, Myron's semi-psychopathic sidekick.

Jim Butcher's Dresden Files series keeps me hungry for more. Harry Dresden is a smartass's smartass, and a wizard to boot. What's not to love?

Charlaine Harris's Sookie Stackhouse series is always a treat to read. There's a surprise for me in every book—I like that.

There are tons more, but I'd better stop before I put a strain on your bandwidth.

What most attracts you to the life of a writer?The POWER. Bwah-ha-hah! I may not be able to control every aspect of my real life, but gosh darn it, in my books what I say goes. Frankly, it can be addictive. If I had that kind of power at my fingertips in actuality, I'd be a despotic monster. But mostly benign. Or maybe not. No telling how that kind of power might warp me.

If you couldn't be a writer but knew you were guaranteed success at different career, what would you choose?
Other than singer, you mean? Since that one's been ruled out by my *ahem* singular lack of musical ability. Let's see…I've outgrown "jockey" in both height and inclination. Though I do still love horses.

Hmmm. Maybe a tabloid journalist. Or is that cheating, since it's still writing? Wait, I know! A tabloid television reporter. That way I could still tell outrageous stories about strange characters.

Or I could just go back to being an actress. Since I'd be guaranteed success, I wouldn't have to stress the auditions.

If you had to describe your writing in one word, what would that word be?
Popcorn. Light, fluffy, and a little salty. Snack food for the brain.

Does that sound self-deprecating? I don't mean to be. Popping up the perfect batch without burning it, or leaving behind too many "old maids" (the unpopped kernels), is harder than you'd think, so I'm really not exhibiting low self esteem by making the comparison. Plus, everyone needs a little indulgence in life—it's healthy. When you think of it that way, it's downright humanitarian of me to write the fluffy stuff.

What's the best writing advice you've ever gotten?
Diana Gabaldon's stock reply springs to mind: 1. Read. 2. Write. 3. Don't stop. (Which is remarkably concise advice, given the length of her novels.) The "don't stop" is the most important part. Because as long as you keep going, you will get better.

Linda Grimes is an ex-actress who also used to teach high school English. Now she channels her love of words and drama into writing escapist ("popcorn") fiction. She grew up in Texas, and currently resides in Virginia with her husband, AKA the theater god, whom she snagged after he saw her rousing rendition of "If You Wanna Catch a Fish You Gotta Wiggle Your Bait" at the now defunct Melodrama Theater. The fishnet stockings apparently helped camouflage her awful singing.

You can find her on Twitter (@linda_grimes) and her blog Visiting Reality. If you'd like to sample the popcorn, check out an excerpt of her writing.