Interview with Author and Editor Carolyn Howard-Johnson:
Hi Carolyn. Thank you for doing this interview. I would like to welcome you to the Romance at Heart Interview and Author Grilling session. *bg* We are interested to find out as much about you as we possibly can, so lets get started...
- Please tell us about your latest book.
It's The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success. It isn't for editors. It's for writers. To make them better partners for their editors and to help them sell their books with better query letters and other things that a writer generally can't afford the money or time to get separate, professional editing for.
My favorite chapters, in fact, are on the writing and editing of query letters. That's because I interviewed many of America's top agents to see what most annoyed them about the query letters they get. You'll be surprised. It isn't usually grammar or typos! I also include a list of those agents who were kind enough to let me quote them.
- What can we expect from you in the future?
I'm working an updated and expanded version of The Frugal Book Promoter: How to Do What Your Publisher Won't. The tech world moves so fast it's hard to keep up. Thus a new edition is needed. I'm also working on a memoir. Yep, I'm a real writer in addition to writing how-to books. At least I think I am.
- How do we find out about you and your books?
Aha! Go to www.howtodoitfrugally.com. If you're curious about my multi award--winning novel, book of short stories and poetry, go to www.carolynhoward-johnson.com.
- How may readers contact you?
I try to get to all my e-mail. I get some 400 a day. It is a huge job but my readers are worth it. Though I admit to sometimes referring them back to specific pages in my books. I mean, that's why I wrote them. So I could help writers without reinventing the wheel every time someone e-mails me. I'm at hojonews@aol.com and there are links to my e-mail all over my site.
- your fans' comments and letters influence you in any way?
Absolutely. Even the critical ones. Especially the critical ones. We don't learn much from raves, though it's nice to hear. Smart writers listen, consider, and then accept or discard.
- Do you have a favorite comment or question from a reader?
I am wholeheartedly grateful for anything my readers send me or say about me. All of them. But I especially love it when they take the time to post even a short review on Amazon or BN.com. That's because it's good for them, too. That's explained in The Frugal Book Promoter: How to Do What Your Publisher Won't in the chapter on Amazon perks.
- Why did you decide to write romance novels?
Actually my This Is the Place isn't really a romance novel. A reviewer called it a "near romance." It's also been called a "social novel." It's based on my own life, fictionalized so it will read well. Having said that, I love the romantic quality and one reviewer who writes some pretty spicey romance (Kristie Leigh Maguire) found hot passages in it I didn't know were there. Can you imagine?
- How would you describe the genre in which you do most of your writing?
No specific one. But probably "literary" would cover the largest portion of the genres I write in, including poetry and essays.
- Who would you say has influenced you the most?
Writers like John Steinbeck and Harper Lee. I associate most of the ills of the world with an unwillingness for humans to accept others.
- What are your main concerns as a writer?
In my fiction I want to entertain. I also want my nonfiction not to lull people to sleep like so many texts do. Thus I write even my how-to books with a colloquial voice.
- How much of your personality and life experiences are in your writing?
I don't think there is anything that comes out of the end of a writer's pen that isn't somehow related to who they are and what they've seen.
- What would you say are the biggest challenges that you face?
Easy. Keeping my days balanced between my husband, family and my writing. And my writing time to real writing time instead of only marketing.
- How do you deal with these challenges?
LOL. Not well!
- When did you first think about writing and what prompted you to submit your first ms?
That's a long story. I'll make it short. Cancer. Self-realization. The book I always wanted to write.
- What do you do to relax and recharge your batteries?
I go to movies and analyze how they are constructed. It's a busman's holiday.
- Do you feel humour is important in women's fiction and why?
I think humor can help almost any kind of writing, including a book proposal. It should be part of an author's voice--at least to some degree.
- What are your thoughts on love scenes in romance novels, do you find them difficult to write?
I thought I would. But then you have to go back to that story about how Kristie found scenes to quote in This Is the Place. They weren't exactly x-rated but I sure didn't know they were there. I guess sex (can we use the word? LOL) is part of our lives. If we avoid it assiduously, we've lost something of the story, huh. That may be one of the things I object to about Christian novels that try to strenuously to fit a mold someone else has given them.
- What kind of research do you do?
I used to say I didn't research because none was necessary for This Is the Place. That's because I lived the story. But when you get right down to it, my life is research. I am a voracious reader. Newspapers. Journals, Time magazine, probably every issue but two or three since 1960. Literature. Tons of nonfiction (I loved Krakatoa. Look it up on Amazon!) So mostly stuff just comes streaming out of my head. Of course I don't have the constrains that writer of historical romance has. Unless the history was, say, the 50s. Ha!
- Would you like to write a different genre than you do now, or sub-genre?
Nah. Every time one starts a new genre, one really should do some studying up. I've studied up for the short story, for the literary novel, for screenplays, for poetry. Think I'll stick to writing in any one of those but screenplays.
- What does your husband/wife/partner think of your writing?
My close relatives are pretty supportive. Though not much interested.
- Do you ever ask him/her for advice?
My husband is a very anal retentive type and grammar hunter. He's good for a final galley scrutiny. He's an actor and the author of Everything Asians Need to Know About America from A to Z published by Oriental Press in simplified Chinese in China. He just had to get in on the act. Ahem!
- Are you a member of any author groups - RWA, critique groups, etc.?
People will find the groups I belong to (though I may have forgotten some) in the left column of my home page at www.howtodoitfrugally.com. I believe in the learning opportunities afforded by groups, to say nothing of the networking.
- What do you think of critique groups in general?
Like all organizations they are only as good as the members and only work for those who work them.
- Where do you see yourself in five years?
Oh, geez. One never knows. Maybe dead. The trick is to live every single day. Living for me is writing.
- How long have you been writing - have you always wanted to be a writer?
Pretty much. But that is one of the tips that an agent gave me when I interviewed her for The Frugal Editor. Never say you always wanted to be a writer. It is boring. Everyone says it. So I say, I got interested in writing because the cutest guys in high school were on the school newspaper staff.
- How many books have you written, how many have been published?
That depends on how you count them. Here's the thing. There is no one way right way to publish. It depends on the title and the author and lots of other things. So, with all the choices we have today, we can be in charge of our own writing careers. We don't have to be at the mercy of anyone or any system.
- What would you say has been your most significant achievement as a writer?
I felt especially honored by a small community award given by our city's Character and Ethics committee. It was for promoting tolerance with my writing.
- What question would you love to answer that I didn't ask?
You know, I don't think you missed a single one! I do want to tell your writers to use my Resources for Writers pages on my site (www.howtodoitfrugally.com) and also to check out Author's Coalition and Red Engine Press. It is an organization I founded and (for those who work it!) it can be instrumental in learning to cross-promote.
Thank you very much for taking the time with us and answering our questions. I really appreciate this interruption to your busy schedule. Good Luck, and we will be looking forward to the next delightful creation from your talented imagination!
Yours in good reading,
Rose!
www.howtodoitfrugally.com Author's Coalition and Red Engine Press Squidooing Here Carolyn's iFOGO Page Her Sharing with Writers Blog Her New Book Review Blog Her Author's Coalition Blog Her Frugal Editor's Blog Now blogging on War. Peace. Tolerance and Our Soldiers
RaH Links:
Interview
Purchase Links:
Buy Carolyn's Frugal Books At Amazon
Information on buying Carolyn's Books at www.carolynhoward-johnson.com
Email Carolyn at hojonews@aol.com
