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Author Interview: Susie Caron

10/29/2013

Meet Susie Caron, Author of Twee and I Am Twee

BBB: What inspired you to become a writer?

SC: Thank you for inviting me here to share a bit about my life and my children’s picture book allegories.

I always knew I wanted to publish someday. I started to journal in childhood and then in adulthood, multiple careers and varied life experiences provided lots of material from which to choose. For seven years I taught elementary school and adult education. When my husband and I adopted our two children, I wanted to be at home with them while they were little. So I opened and operated my own horseback riding school. Ten years later an illness caused me to close the riding school. But, after recovering, I entered graduate school to fulfill an earlier dream. As a result I’m celebrating my 10th year as a psychologist, working with children and their adults.

My inspiration comes from the people I live, work and play with. I learn something new every day from children and their adults, about relationships. I am especially fascinated by children’s feelings, how they learn about themselves, what they think, feel and do, and how that can change the way they relate to themselves and to others. Relationships are the key to our well-being. This is the focus of my work and the two books in the “Between You and Me” series, released in 2013.

BBB: How did you come up with the idea for your book series, “Between You and Me”?

SC: I believe relationships are key to understanding ourselves and each other. “Between You and Me” seemed to be the right way to immediately suggest to readers that we need each other and healthy ways of relating. My message is also that kids depend upon their adults to provide good relationships and also to model how to treat ourselves and others. I purposefully write the books to be read aloud because I want adults to interact with their children. When they allow children time to talk about the feelings and situations Twee’ faces, it can help kids to share their own.

What do you think children will like most about your book, Twee’?

Kids love the character Twee’ and they identify with her. I regularly receive feedback that children and adults resonate with her universally experienced attitudes, feelings, and situations. When Twee’ discovers something new about herself, as she does in each successive book, children can also learn something new about themselves and how to relate to others.

BBB: Can you tell us about your newest book, I Am Twee’?

SC: Although my 2nd book I Am Twee’ can stand on its own, it is meant to be the continuing story of my little character. So book #1 titled Twee’ is about how she sprouts on a mountainside, and like most young children declares that everything belongs to her, even the right to complain. However, Twee’ soon learns that some of the things we complain about may actually be good for us.

In I Am Twee’, she is a bit older, but not necessarily wiser. In this book she notices the apple trees in the valley get lots of attention from children and adults. They visit to smell the blossoms, climb and swing on branches and pick the juicy red apples. Twee’ experiences a lot of feelings, and tries hard to get attention, but sadly no one visits Twee’. Twee’ begins to wish she could be an apple tree, until an unusual event helps her to see that being herself is best. By being different, she is special and has gifts of her own to share.

BBB: Are you currently working on another book?

Yes! The 3rd book in the “Between You & Me” series is on my table. It should be out in the winter of 2014. I also began to work on a kindle book for parents. Additionally, there may be more children’s picture book allegories to develop from Twee’ in the future.

You can find more about Susie Caron and her books on:
Amazon.                              http://SusieCaronOnAmazon.com
My web site & blog is:      http://www.susiecaron.com
Facebook Fan Page:          http://www.facebook.com/T.Twees
Follow me on Twitter:     http://www.twitter.com/CGPsusiecaron
Email:                                     contact@susiecaron.com

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Author Interview: Antony Millen

10/28/2013

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Meet Antony Millien, Author of Redeeming Brother Murrihy

BBB: What inspired you to become a writer?

AM: I've always enjoyed reading, especially stories. My parents gave us books for every birthday and Christmas. I enjoyed writing at school and kept journals while growing up. I'm not one of those writers who wrote everyday, but enjoyed it as one activity when an idea would come to me. I studied English Literature at university and developed a deep admiration for, not only the texts, but the authors who composed them: playwrights and poets, but especially novelists. I see the contributions of authors, reviewers, bloggers, lecturers, researchers, essayists, etc. as part of one enduring conversation about life. As an adult, I continued to keep journals as a way of clarifying my thinking and expressing feelings and ideas that intrigued me. However, the dream to write and publish a novel long plagued me. I needed to contribute to the conversation. Now that I have said my piece with my first novel, I find I have other things to say too. So, I will continue writing.

BBB: How did you come up with the idea for your book, Redeeming Brother Murrihy?

AM: I have lived in New Zealand for seventeen years now - the idea for Brother Murrihy began to form fifteen years ago. I was experiencing some fairly radical familial, cultural and spiritual changes in my life. I guess I wanted to share these in some way with people back home in Nova Scotia. So I came up with the idea of a man who had moved to New Zealand but had "dropped off the radar" and needed to be tracked down. I also wrote it as a sort of response to Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness and I see parts of the book as following the structure of Conrad's novel. There are many other biographical, literary, historical, religious and philosophical sources for the ideas in the book.

BBB: Tell us about your main character Conrad Murrihy.

AM: Conrad Murrihy is a small-town journalist in Nova Scotia who loves his family and is struggling with two things: the impending death of his mother and his need to move on from his attachment to her so that he can devote himself to his wife and daughter. He is cynical about a lot of things including other cultures and religion and he is especially resentful of his brother, Francis. He has loved his brother in the past but has seen the pain that his absence and inexplicable lack of contact has caused his family in Canada, and particularly his mother. It is only at the request of his mother that Conrad travels to New Zealand to find Francis.

BBB: What do you think readers will find most appealing about, Redeeming Brother Murrihy?

AM: While there is a lot of New Zealand cultural and theological content in Brother Murrihy, the novel really tells a simple, moving story of one man searching for his brother. Readers tell me that the book is a page-turner because they genuinely want to find out what has happened to Francis. As I say, I wrote this book as a contribution to a conversation about a lot of things, but I also wanted to tell a straightforward story with a compelling mystery. It is a tricky thing to sell in a way - I wrote the book with a Nova Scotian or even North American audience in mind in order to take them on a journey to and through this amazing country of New Zealand. At the same time, I am hopeful that many New Zealanders will read and appreciate aspects of the book. There are a great deal of allusions in the book - things that fascinate me and that many New Zealanders will recognise, but that Conrad and any Nova Scotians like him, would not understand. In a way, I am appealing to readers to enjoy the story, but also inviting them to have a closer look. I have heard from many readers who have told me they have re-read the book or parts of it because they want to delve deeper into it.

BBB: Are you currently working on another book?

AM: I am. I don't want to stop at one. I thought that Brother Murrihy would somehow exhaust all my ideas, but soon after publishing it, I found myself taking notes for the next one. I determined to spend some months marketing Murrihy before planning and researching novel #2. I have been working away at it and will start writing the first draft in the next month or two. I hope to repeat the process each year: plan,write, revise, edit, publish, market, plan . . . Novel #2 will be very different. I will write in the third person to free up my own narrative voice. It will have more humour in it than Murrihy. But it will be set in New Zealand and have some philosophical and cultural themes and another (hopefully page-turning) mystery.

You can find out more about Antony Millen by visiting antonymillen.wordpress.com.

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Author Interview: Brian Swift

10/26/2013

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Meet Brian Swift, Author of Up Getting UP is the Key to Life

BBB: What inspired you to become a writer?

BS: There are a number of motives for writing this book and the first is my desire to share a life philosophy I learned late in life. I wish I had more wisdom shared with me as a young adult. Yet another reason for my writing is catharsis. The catharsis reason is that I coached football and basketball from grammar school to high school for over twenty years. I am a coach and a leader. I develop, motivate and inspire. I need a venue other than the football field, basketball court or office to coach, lead, inspire and develop people. Also through the years numerous people have told me i should write a book about my life, that it would help and motivate people.

BBB: How did you come up with the idea for your book, Up Getting Up is the Key to Life?

BS: The word UP resonates in my head, and in my vocabulary. Spending so many years playing sports and hearing coaches tell you to "get up" or "stay up" has stayed with me. Spending 20 years coaching football myself and soon realizing the words get up came out of my mouth so often, UP became a part of me. Then I found myself using the words UP with my own kids in numerous citations. Finally it is what my dad used to tell me when I first got hurt. He used to tell me in private, "YOU NEED TO STAY UP" that what keeps us all going.

BBB: Tell us about your main character, Brian.

BS: I am the main character. I was born in 1962 in the city of Chicago. After living in the city of Chicago for six years we move right outside the city to the suburbs. I attended parochial grammar and high school. Growing up sports and outdoor activities like hunting and fishing were a big part of my activities. The day after Christmas my senior year of high school I broke my neck playing football. I broke my neck at the C6 level making me a quadriplegic.

I graduated from St. Xavier College with a degree in criminal justice and a business minor. While in college I started coaching football and basketball at the grammar school I played at and attended. After college I went on to DePaul Law School. I was the Regional Negotiating Winner, representing DePaul University, College of Law, in the National competition.

Physical therapy continued through all of my educational endeavors. Near the end of law school I started playing wheelchair sports. I played wheelchair rugby for the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago and I swam for Marian joy Rehabilitation Institute.

I worked for a law firm for several years before getting a job in large sales company.
The first year I was awarded the rookie of the year for new sales and exceeding my objective. After 4 years of exceeding objectives and being in the top 10% d sales professionals I was promoted into the training department.

I got married in 1989. I continued to play wheelchair sports, coach and work full time. In 1994 we adopted our first son. We have three adopted children, one locally, one from China and one from Guatemala.

While in the training department I hired, trained, and developed a central telephone sales unit consisting of sixty Sales professionals and achieved a 16% net gain on a traditional  “flat gain Market”. I finished the number one telephone area in the company. I was asked  to be a member of the Executive Development Program.

I was soon promoted to a district manager. I developed and lead 10 to15 account
executives responsible for 12 million dollars of annual revenue I won the
Distinguished Sales Performance Club (Top 10% of managers). The following year
I assumed the leadership role for one of the poorest performing telephone districts.
In one year the area achieved quota. I was awarded the high performance award
for “Strategic Focus”. I assumed the leadership role for one of the poorest performing premise sales areas in the company. Within the year, the area finished the number one premise team.

After 16 years of successful corporate sales, training and leadership I stepped
away from my division managers position. I have been blessed to be a part of several
extremely successful start up small businesses. I am always looking for opportunities
to challenge me.  I enjoy my ability to volunteer time to several non profit organizations that are doing wonderful things for less fortunate people. The organizations are My Angles with Paws, they train service dogs for the disabled.
The Christopher & Dana Reeves foundation.  I continue to coach and I have time to
invest into my family creating a better relationship with God.   I finished writing my first book and had it published.

BBB: What do you think readers will find most appealing about, Up Getting UP is the Key to Life?

BS: It is a real story about a real person that readers can relate to. UP gives you great ideas on how to approach life in a positive way and to never give up. This is not a "how to" list it is a real story on how to be positive and get through the trials life throws at you.

BBB: Are you currently working on another book?

BS: I am working on two different books. One is a going to be several short stories. The stories will be fictional but based on life experiences. The other book is going to be motivational in describing the character traits of what it takes to be extra ordinary.

You can find out more about Brian Swift and his book by visiting brianpswift.com.

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Author Interview: L. Chapman

10/12/2013

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BBB: What inspired you to become a writer?

LC: I never wanted to be a writer, I sat down one day and started to type. I enjoyed it that much that i carried on. Looked into the self publishing side. I had a story going through my head, now the world is getting to know it all slowly.

BBB: Can you tell us a little bit about your new book Veiled, the second book in the Believe Series?

LC: Veiled is the continuation of Trust, Trust is in Megan's point of view. Veiled is in Jenny's point of view, her best friend. It's all to do with Jenny and her fiance Rich's wedding day lead up. You never know what other things are to pop up.

BBB: Tell us about your main character Megan Madden?

LC: Megan is a sweet young lady, who has been hurt. She is learning to re-build her life and be happy.

BBB: What do you think readers will like most about Veiled?

LC: Warren James, no question about it. All the reviews I have read talk about him. That's all I will say.

BBB: For those who have not read the first book, Trust, can you give us a brief synopsis?

LC: Lovely Megan Madden has lost her faith in men. But this has not kept her from the joy of her best friend's up coming wedding. While in London shopping for the big event, Megan's life takes a surprising turn when a quick drink brings changes to her life she never saw coming. Join in the roller coaster of emotions Megan must endure as she attempts to regain her TRUST. Who knew a quiet drink could change your life?

BBB: Will there be a third book in the series?
LC: Book 3 will be out late 2013 - early 2014. It goes back to Megan's point of view. The story continues, will things slip into place? Will they get there happily ever after?

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Author Interview: Susie Caron

Author Interview: Antony Millen

Author Interview: Brian Swift

Author Interview: L. Chapman

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