How to Build a Champion

What’s it like, where you’re from?
If where I’m from was a person, it’d be the kind of person who burns pictures of who they used to be.

What’s your favourite book?
My favourite book changes with my circumstances. If things are going well, I read non-fiction. If things aren’t going so well, I read fiction. Either way, I learn something. (And, if you read between the lines, hidden in plain sight, are the origins of how, and why, I wrote How to Build a Champion.)

How did you write How to Build a Champion?
On paper, with a pen, after a lot of research and planning. I’d write the first draft of a scene, over a couple hours in the morning. I’d take a break, and do something else. I’d go back to the first draft, read through, note what was missing, and write it over, with those missing parts added into the manuscript. I’d take a break, and do something else, again. As evening came, you’d have found me reading through what I’d wrote, changing a few minor details, and filing that scene away. In the morning, I’d read through that scene, go through it with a red pen, and then type up what I had. Then, with a sense of the previous day’s writings, I’d write the next scene. I did this, every day, until the first draft was completed. (Though, I guess you could say, as each scene had been gone over 4 times, it was a ‘fourth draft’.) And there was a lot more work that followed to get it into publishable shape.

Do you still write everyday?
Yes. But not everything I write is for a project.

How do you stay motivated during long writing projects?
As I plan most things I write: with the knowledge that the end is in sight, and with gratitude for the circumstances which allow me to pursue something I enjoy.

How important are book reviews?
Book reviews are very important, even more so when you’re an independent author. Book reviews, depending on the size of a reviewer’s audience, are one of the most influential word-of-mouth marketing techniques available to an author. If you’re interested in receiving an e-ARC of How to Build a Champion, with the intention of writing a book review, please, contact me.

Why are you publishing under a pen name?
The anonymity it affords if this becomes a success.

So, you’re not going to tell us who you are?
No. (Not yet, anyway.)

What, to you, are the most important elements of good writing?
Pacing. An engaging narrative. No typos. (Watch me have missed some while I was editing How to Build a Champion!)

Has writing a book changed how you see yourself?
No. Writing in journals, and seeking out kind, decent people to share my life with, has.

If you didn’t write for a living, what would you do for work?
What makes you think I – like most writers – don’t already do something else to earn a living?

Are you an introvert or an extrovert?
That depends on the company I’m in. If I’m at ease, I’m gregarious, and I enjoy a conversation, though I’m rarely “the life and soul” of a party. If I’m not at ease, well, I might as well not be there at all.

Is it all in the eye of the beholder?
It’s all about how you choose to look at things, yes.

Do you have a question you’d like me to take a shot at answering? Ask Me Anything. (It’s anonymous.)