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Monday, January 27, 2014

Interview with Janice Seagraves



BIO: Janice Seagraves grew up with a deep love of science fiction and adventure stories. Always the consummate artist, she traded in her paint brush for a laptop to write breathless life-affirming novels that celebrate enduring love.

Q: How did you celebrate publishing your first book?
A: My husband took me out to dinner. He still does everything that I publish a book. 

Q: What’s your writing schedule like? Do you strive for a certain amount of words each day?
A: I answer emails in the morning and I write in the evening, until late into the night. If the story is hot and I’m making great progress, I like to get in a thousand words per day, but many times I don’t make that.

Q: What is the most important thing you do for your career now, as compared to when you first started writing?
A: I hired, a promotion company to handle some of my promotions.

Q: How much of yourself is hidden in the characters in the book?
A: Most of my characters are level headed, so I guess that makes me too. LOL
In Windswept Shores, my heroine is a basket weaver. I learned basket weaving in HS and used that experience. In Matrix Crystal Hunters, I used a trip to the desert with my family when I was in sixth grade. We rock hunted along the Colorado River that flows through Arizona and Nevada. My heroine, Maya’s parents have a store called the Rock Hound.

Q: Of all your characters, who’s your favorite, and why?
A: I have no favorites. I love all my children equally.

Q: If you could change something about your first book, what would it be?
A: After Windswept Shores rights were returned to me, I went through my first book and changed a few things to make it tougher on my characters and put back a missing scene. Then I self-published it.

Q: How do you choose names for your characters?
A: I have Character Naming Sourcebook that I look through for names.

Q: Covers. Ever get one you wish you could change?
A: So far, I’ve been lucky. I loved my first cover on Windswept Shores. I bought the photo with the same couple from fotolia and used it when I self-published, but without the second filter. My second book which I also self-published, I found a great looking man for the cover that looked just like my hero.

Q: Give one advice tip to an aspiring author.
A: This is a hard business. It’s not for the weak. Never give up. Stay stubborn and stay strong. Read a lot and write a lot. Take a lot of workshops that help you in the areas you’re weak in. And find yourself a good critique group. They’ll spot things in your manuscript that you’ll miss. There are a lot of critique groups to choose from, online and those that meet in person. Find one you’re comfortable with.

Q: How many stories are swirling around in your head? Do you keep a mental list, a computer file, or a spiral notebook filled with the ideas?
A: Oh, I have too many to count. I have starts of stories on my computer files. My contracted Alien Heart series has twelve books, and I just have to finish writing them.

Fun Stuff:
Q: What is your favorite holiday and why?
A: Christmas, because I don’t have to work as hard as I do for Thanksgiving and it’s a fun family day.

Q: What are two things people might be surprised to know about you?
A: I have a learning problem that gave me problems in school, but I still graduated in time with my class. I might be slightly dyslexic.

Q: As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up? 
A: An artist.

Q: Favorite food.
A: Oh geez, I have so many. I like sushi, shrimp, fresh (just caught that morning) sea food, a well done barbecued steak and I like my hot dogs burnt.

Q: Favorite drink.
A: Tea. Hot tea when it’s cold and cold tea when it’s hot.

Q: Hot summer days or chilly winter nights?
A: I’m actually more of a fall type person and the colors look good on me too. 

Q: What is the top thing on your bucket list?
A: A trip to the UK. I want to walk along the streets of Seagrave England, where my family got their name.

Q: If you could have a super power, what would it be?
A: The power to heal people. I’ve lost too many family members and friends to cancer. A young writer friend is going through her third treatment for cancer. Each time the cancer pops up in a different place.

Tell us where to find you:
Blog: http://ladyjanice.blogspot.com/

You can find Matrix Crystal Hunters at Amazon:


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Please leave a comment for the tee-shirt (size XL) giveaway but...we only ship to US and Canadian addresses only.

18 comments:

Sandy said...

Janice, I like the fall, too. It was nice to get to know you better.

Nicole Morgan said...

Great interview Janice! I loved your superpower idea! :)

Shared!

Paris said...

Great interview, Janice! Love the cover:)

jean hart stewart said...

Nice interview...I need a promo company if you don't mind sharing...

Rose Anderson said...

Nice to get to know you better, Janice. :)

Janice Seagraves said...

Hi Sandy,

Thank you. :)

Hi Nicole,

Thank you. :)

Hi Paris,

Thank you, I made it myself.

Hi Jean,

Thank you. Sure, I don't mind, Sensuous Promotions. They're very reasonable and have several promo packages to choose from.

Hi Rose,

Thank you. :)

Janice~

Bobbye Terry said...

Nice to get to know you, Janice. I like your comment to an aspiring author, "Stay stubborn and stay strong." Great advice!
Bobbye

Melissa Keir said...

Wonderful getting to know you better Janice. I'm sorry about your young friend. One of my former teaching partners is dealing with her second bout of cancer. She's a young mom and I worry but she is strong at heart.

JerryR said...

Thanks for sharing your info Janice. Instead of my having ADDI feel ike that's more like dyselixa. Planning of asking a pscyh about that. Gr interview kiddo.

JerryR said...

Gr8 interview Janice. I always wonder where last names come from

LKF said...

I loved your interview Janice. It's nice to learn a little more about a friend. And I am jealous about you your Promotions help. I am going to look into them for myself.
Lynda

Firetulip said...

Great interview Janice. All the best.

Cara Marsi said...

Nice interview, Janice. Good advice to aspiring writers. I hope you get to take that trip to the UK.

Janice Seagraves said...

Hi Bobbye,

Thank you.

Hi Melissa,

Thank you. They do have many more ways to save people from cancer than they used to. I just hope it's enough to save our friends.

Hi Jerry,

Thank you. They know more than they used to. Mine learning disability wasn't pinned down, but I believe it might be dyslexia, but a mild form. My daughter has the full blown version. There are a lot of conditions that mimic each other, I hope you find your answers.

Hi Lynda,

I hope you do. They have very reasonable prices on packages, one should fit your budget.

Hi Firetulip,

Thank you.

Hi Cara,

Thank you. That trip is on my bucket list. :)

Janice~

Carolyn Boyles said...

It was an excellent interview, so much more interesting than most author interviews you see on the Internet.

I understand the challenges a learning disability presents. I have (undiagnosed) Asberger's Sydrome. My cousin's son has full blown Autism. When I was young, Asberger's and Autism were still conditions that science hadn't identified.

Janice Seagraves said...

Hi Carolyn,

Those are just labels that people put on others.

I mentioned my learning disability, so aspiring writers will know that you can do anything you set your mind to.

Janice~

Elizabeth Lynx said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Elizabeth Lynx said...

Janice, thanks for being honest about the learning thing. I too have a learning disability and never believed I could be a writer. Now, I just published my first book and have already started on the next. It's nice to see there are others I can look up to.

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