For many of us in the world of authors-marketing-ourselves, we know Sally Cronin as a treasure who selflessly promotes others, spotlighting their new books, re-showcasing their old ones, and offering endless encouragement and support to artists of all stripes.
But Sally is also an author, and a prolific one at that. Not only does she write blog posts that enlighten her readers on everything from the benefits of garlic to heart health to the weather in Ireland, but she also writes short stories and books, both fiction and nonfiction. And she’s here today to tell us about her latest work, What’s In a Name.
Welcome, Sally!
Thank you so much Amy for asking me over for an interview.. It is a real pleasure.
Tell me about your new book, What’s in a Name.
The short stories in this collection are about ordinary people who in some way bring their…
As I consider branching out into other Windemere stories, I’ve been thinking about a variety of things. Will another series work out? How is it that I still have very little idea what I’m doing? What was I . . . Might be getting off topic here and I haven’t even really started. So, I’m really going to talk about some of the forces that may come into play over the course of other series. Some have made appearances like guards, mercenaries, pirates, etc. So, I’ll be dividing the weeks into 3 groups of sea then land and then air. Just to have some fun flushing out the world.
Now, the first one I want to go over are the various navies that are scattered about Windemere. The reason they’re so wide spread is that each kingdom has one or neighbors share. This gets really messy when you look into the Cerascent Islands, which is where you will find most of the naval muscle in the world. Not because they have large armadas that can be sent out with a single call. The region is composed of thousands of islands, which means you have all of these small navies and a network of treaties that makes you wonder why they aren’t in an eternal war.
Unlike the armies and air power of the world, the navies of Windemere aren’t very different from what we have. The biggest difference is technology, which is closer to the Age of Exploration than modern times. Although, there are no cannons and the biggest non-magical weapons tend to be ballistas and catapults. Most naval combats are done through boarding parties and using specialized gear to catch ships. This covers planks that fuse to enemy ships and your own, unbreakable grappling hooks, various battering rams, or simply archers aiming at the sails.
One thing with Windemere navies is that they don’t always wear strict uniforms outside of formal affairs. Some may have identifying armbands or tattoos. With piracy being a problem, navy vessels depend more on their flags to tell someone if they are friendly or not. A trick that pirates once used was to disguise themselves as navy vessels and attack when they get close. So the sailors stopped making that an option and it’s actually made the pirates a little more cautious. Hard to go careening into battle when you don’t know if it’s a merchant ship with a navy flag or really a navy ship.
To be honest, I don’t have many plans for this force. Most ocean adventures will be with pirates, merchants, adventurers, and other non-affiliated groups. The navies of Windemere may come into play during big battles or evacuations, but they don’t get involved in big events that often. A reason for this is because there hasn’t been a global war on Windemere in hundreds of years. Only a few skirmishes and other wars that remain within a single continent.
Hi Story Empire fans, Craig here again. I’m pre-writing this so I don’t know when it will post as it references my process. The big point is I have two books that are very close to being released. One or both may be available when this posts.
Being a self publisher gives a tremendous amount of freedom, but it also comes with all of the work. I thought you might like a peek at what I go through to bring one of my books out. Warning: If you hadn’t noticed before, my process is a kind of organized chaos, so I may wander a bit in this post.
The starting point for me is a finished first draft. This needs to go in the vault for a number of weeks before I attempt any personal edits. In most cases, the draft has been through a brutal critique group and those…
Don Massenzio Today we sit down with author and blogger Teri Polen. She is going to tell us a bit about her work and inspiration. Please enjoy her responses to these 10 questions and check out her work in this edition … Continue reading →
…the most perfect vision in the WURLD is hindsight… and this ol’ Jurassic has enuff ‘hind’ to spare… having bobbled around as an Author for almost a decade now, I realize there were several things I WISHED for… some materialized, others didn’t… here’s a few thoughts I’d like to share on how these WURKED out (or didn’t!)
…wishing I’d started my scribbling career 40 years earlier… then having the reality sink in… forty years earlier would have plonked me squarely in an age of no internet… of no web… of no SOSYAL NETWURKS… of no self-publishing on the universal scale available now on the likes of Auntie Amazon… and, I’d have been deprived of the identity I’ve sculpted for Master Gallacher on here as the ol’ Scots Jurassic writer… furthermore, and prob’ly most significantly of all, I would not have had the richness of experience thrown up by…
Thank you to everyone who helped promote the book. I really appreciate it since it took a while to get this out. One thing lead to another and then I found myself in May. Honestly, it culminated in a really interesting week that I can explain in one of two ways. The first is interpretative dance, but my tutu is in the shop. The second is going day by day and reveal just how much of a battle this felt like. Keep in mind that I’m writing this Friday morning too because you can’t possibly put any more icing on this cake.
Sunday Stumbles
This is going to be a tough one to explain because of the lurkers, but whatever. We had a birthday party in the Bronx, which is a drive. It was at a movie theater where the parents who stayed had to buy their own tickets. Totally understandable and my wife decided to be the one to go in. I brought my laptop to work on editing somewhere. Rain meant I had to stay inside. Well, I was handed a ticket anyway. Not that I found a place to work, but then a few wrinkles happened in the party too. Nothing says fun like a power outage and my son kind of stayed off in the corner. Lots of traffic getting home and this left me too exhausted to touch any editing. One day lost, so I had 3 days to edit 205 pages.
Monday Mayhem
Had a plan. Dentist at 9 am and then back home to edit. Still looking tough since Wednesday is publish time. Appointment got changed to 10 am, but the message system forgot to tell me. Dang it. Needed to get some food and shopping too. Why does the phone keep going off? Why do people keep talking to me? Only about 40 pages done. Not looking good.
Tuesday Toiling
If there was any day for me to crank out the editing then it’s this one. Wake up, get the kid on the bus, shower, and dive right into it. Stopping long enough to make chipolte chicken and dijon mustard on rye sandwiches then back to work. Only need one hand to eat and another to edit. Get up and stretch. Feeling a little dizzy. Kid is home, so I step away to be a father. Right back into it at night where . . . Really? Is the wife really yelling at the TV? I don’t care what McGee is doing on NCIS this week. Bull can’t hear you either. Are you really swearing at NCIS: New Orleans villains? About 80 pages to go. This is why I can’t have nice things.
Wednesday Warp Speed
I work a little faster on the desktop due to the chair and bigger screen, but I need an . . . Windows Update on the laptop first thing in the morning? I see where this is going. House is quiet, so parents went to gym. I’m just going to claim the desktop and work my butt off. If I can get 30 pages done by lunch then I get Taco Bell. Did 42 by 11:30 AM, so I’m getting my treat. Afternoon was a little slower, but I snagged the desktop again. Then a third time when the kid was watching ‘Angry Birds’. Claimed a final time after my parent of the bedtime stuff was done and book is published by 9:30. I haven’t worked at this speed and focus in years. Stayed up late to get all the promo stuff done because I just wanted to go back to bed in the morning.
Thursday Thrashing
I hear really bad coughing in the kid’s room. Check him just in time to get him to the bathroom. Post nasal drip from HELL causes him to puke and his asthma is on the warpath. Yeah, I’m not sending him to school. Thank god I did most of the promo stuff last night, but I’m exhausted. Morning of Justice League Action episodes and then to the doctor. Mild upper respiratory infection that set off his asthma. McDonald’s for lunch only to learn he has no appetite and only wants the toy. Some arguing between us because I’m at my wit’s end and he’s refusing to calm down. Afternoon spent with him sleeping in my bed because he wanted to and demanded I stay next to him. Started with him curled around my leg, which I freed when someone called me. Then it was 2 hours of rubbing his back while he slept and not having anything safe on TV. Some chaos at night, but the day finally ended.
Friday Finale
Kid is healthy enough to go to school, but terrified that he’ll give his friends his asthma and allergies. Got him to go and promised him rest when he gets home. What do I do now? Vacuum all of the upstairs and clean the bathroom like I’m being paid for it. Then write this post while I wait for the time to claim what has eluded me for weeks, months, or something. PIZZA REWARD! I don’t care if I had pizza muffins last night. I earned this! Pulled off an amazing editing run, published a new book, got all of the promotions set up, and tended to a sick kid. All of these involved late nights. Maybe I’ll design a few characters for a future series. We’ll see. (Add-On: I was wrong. Warmed up, stretched, and tried to do a little fencing. Popped my left calf muscle on the third lunge. Dang it.)
So, what’s the plan for next week?
Start final edits on The Life & Times of Ichabod Brooks. Should probably get in touch with the cover artist too.
Kid has the dentist one night.
Invention Convention at his school to see ‘Max the Cooking Robot’.
Sleep apnea consultation for me, which stems from the dentist visit.
Get back to biking.
Continue promoting Legends of Windemere: Ritual of the Lost Lamb on Twitter and wherever else I find.
Maybe try to sleep in? The wife and I are at odds on this one since Sunday is Mother’s Day. To be fair, I never sleep in on weekends and am usually first one up.
Test out Ichabod Brooks blurbs on Thursday.
Man . . . I’m so tired. Can’t even find the energy to ask a final question. I’ll probably put it on the Thursday post as a bonus since it can be seen as a spoiler too.
Once again, a certain half-monkey of mine has gotten the opportunity to interview another author’s character. This time around, it’s Luke Callindor, from Charles Yallowitz’s Legends of Windemere series. Also included is a poster of the main characters from the series. Well, okay, so it’s technically 7 tarot cards, assembled into a poster, but…yeah. Anyway, the interview!
Travis checks the name on the small notebook in his pocket, as he strides through the city one evening. It’s one not really familiar to him, but that just means he won’t be tackled and taken to one of the local labs. Sometimes, he enjoys leaving his hometown.
Not sure where to really begin looking for his target, he heads into the nearest tavern. If nothing else, he might be able to grab a snack. His long prehensile tail sways behind him as he strides in, and he looks around for a good…
Welcome to Hell Week 2017 – brought to you by the Infernal Interview Service, the Library of Erana and with kind permission of Perseid Press.
The twentieth book in the much-acclaimed Heroes in Hell series brings us pirates, plagiarists, monsters, heroes and villains and, of course, the shared world of Hell.
