Tag Archives: Member Spotlight

Member Spotlight: Meet Jayden Abello

Posted by Janet UmentaJune 2nd, 2015

We’re happy to feature Jayden Abello on the Book Country blog! Jayden is currently workshopping BREAKING THE BAND. BREAKING THE BAND is a finalist in The Cleveland Rocks Romance Contest. Connect with Jayden on Book Country.

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Janet Umenta: In your Book Country profile, you list Colleen Hoover and Tammara Webber as your favorite authors. How have these authors influenced your writing?

Jayden Abello: Collen Hoover and Tammara Webber were the first two New Adult authors I ever read. SLAMMED and EASY both pulled me in with their amazing characters and realistic story lines. I’ll try to study them to figure out the story beats and the act structure, and I just can’t. Once I turn the page, I get sucked into the stories every single time. I’ve read those books countless times. They’re that good.

When those books came out, New Adult was barely a thing. But I had ideas for similar types of stories floating around in my head for years. Seeing how they were able to captivate the market made me think my ideas could find readers as well. So I started writing. And rewriting. Continue reading →

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Member Spotlight: Meet Valerie Emmerich

Posted by Janet UmentaApril 14th, 2015

We’re happy to have Valerie Emmerich on the Book Country blog! Valerie is currently workshopping a literary fiction novel titled ROOM TO SPARE, which was a December Editor’s Pick. Valerie shares how she developed the idea for ROOM TO SPARE and advice for fleshing out characters.

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Janet Umenta: Growing up, what books inspired you?

Valerie Emmerich: I don’t think I can point to one book or books that specifically inspired me. I’ve always just loved to read and write. There were lots of books around our house, and I practically inhaled them. I loved Dickens and I remember being enthralled by THE TRAVELS OF MARCO POLO, THE DIARY OF ANN FRANK, THE GOOD EARTH, and TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, all quite different books. As I got older I ventured into the “grownup” books on the living room shelves and remember reading MARJORIE MORNINGSTAR (yes! A Jewish girl from the Bronx!) and IN COLD BLOOD. That may have set me up for my proclivity for reading contemporary literary fiction in my adult life. Continue reading →

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Member Spotlight: Meet Speculative Fiction Writer Gloria Oliver

Posted by Janet UmentaApril 7th, 2015

We’re happy to have Book Country member Gloria Oliver with us today! Gloria is currently workshopping INNER DEMONS, an urban fantasy novel. INNER DEMONS is one of April’s Editor’s Picks on Book Country. INNER DEMONS was published by Mundania Press in early 2014. Gloria shares what it means to be a speculative fiction writer and tips on choosing the perfect title.

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Lucy Silag: Tell us more about yourself. How did you become a writer, and how did you find your way to Book Country?

Gloria Oliver: As I kid, I always had a hard time falling asleep. This led me to making up stories in my head to entertain myself until slumber finally came. One day, one of these stories kept bugging me to actually put it on paper – so I did. A few years later, the bug bit me again as I got a neat idea for a fantasy novel, and this time the infection set in deep. I’ve not looked back since.

I heard about Book Country back when it was being put together. The day job at the time had slow days here and there, and I’d found out about an evil Outlook add-on that would convert Twitter items to email and put them into a personal folder. This was just around the time social media was catching on big time, and I followed people like Kristen Lamb, Chuck Wendig, and many other writers and publishers. Through them, I learned of Colleen Lindsay from Penguin and followed her as well. And soon after Colleen started talking about a venture she was very excited about – a “Sekret Projekt” she was involved in, one where she and her peers hoped to create a place where authors could meet, share, help each other, and create a long lasting community.

Colleen even did a ‘reveal’ presentation in Dallas during the DFW Writers Conference back in 2011. The goals and concept of Book Country sounded fascinating and well thought out, so I signed up! Continue reading →

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Book Country Member Spotlight: Meet Fantasy Writer Amber Wolfe

Posted by Janet UmentaFebruary 25th, 2015

Amber Wolfe joined Book Country in July 2014 and is currently workshopping SCARLET CRIMSON and DESTINY’S BOND. Both titles have been featured in Book Country’s Top Rated and Editor’s Picks sections. Amber is wonderfully supportive to fellow members in the discussion boards, and it’s been great to see her writing evolve. In this Q&A, Amber shares what inspired her to start writing fantasy novels.

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Janet Umenta: The fight scenes in DESTINY’S BOND are intense! Did you refer to any guide or book while you were writing them?

Amber Wolfe: Actually, yes. My inspiration for fight scenes comes from other fantasy novels I’ve read, where battles are intense and heated. I try to draw off the knowledge of the authors who wrote the books, what made their fight scenes so fascinating and fun to read. Then I go from there and hope for the best. My imagination and my characters usually take care of the rest.

JU: You list several favorite writers on your Book Country profile page, including Anne Bishop. Have you incorporated any of their writing styles into your own books?

AW: Oh, Anne Bishop is my favorite author! I do like to think a bit of her style has leaked into my own. She’s an inspiration to me. In fact, it was while reading the last book of her TIR ALAINN series that I had an epiphany of how to rework the second half of DESTINY’S BOND. I can make the series move along much faster if I go about the redrafting right. Continue reading →

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Member Spotlight: Meet Jean Marie Wiesen

Posted by Janet UmentaDecember 15th, 2014

We are happy to introduce Book Country member Jean Marie Wiesen! Jean is currently workshopping CASE OF THE MISSING LOOK-ALIKES, which was a November Editor’s Pick. Jean shares how she discovered Book Country and tips for building suspense in novels. Connect with Jean on Book Country.

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Janet Umenta: How did you discover Book Country?

Jean Marie Wiesen: There’s an interesting story behind how I discovered Book Country. The phrase, “There are no coincidences,” most assuredly comes into play. I have a mutual friend with one of your soon to be published members, Alex Rosa, whose book, TRYST, is being launched by Penguin in March 2015. Oh dear, is that a shameless plug by moi! It most definitely is because if it weren’t for Alex, I wouldn’t be here. Originally, I’d planned a trip to the San Diego area right around Labor Day, but due to a variety of reasons, it was postponed until mid-October. Had I gone in September, our mutual friend Randy more than likely would have been too busy to have chatted with me to discover that I’d written a book, and in turn, not introduced me to Alex. In October, things were far less active, and Alex had the time to spend with me and told me about Book Country and all of her positive experiences here.

Within a few days of my arriving home, my book was up for peer review on Book Country. Alex stayed in touch with me the entire time via email. Continue reading →

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Member Spotlight: Meet Alex Maher

Posted by Janet UmentaDecember 8th, 2014

Welcome Alex Maher to the Book Country Member Spotlight! Alex lives in Australia with his family. His most recent project on Book Country is THE INVISIBLE PEOPLE, which was an October Editor’s Pick. Alex shares what drew him to writing horror, and the mistakes he made when he first started writing. Connect with Alex on Book Country.

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Janet Umenta: What were your favorite books in school?

Alex Maher: Hmm, tough one. At school, we were forced to read all kinds of stuff that I was not interested in. I can’t honestly remember reading anything at school, novel wise. Home was different. I was quite a bookworm for fiction as a kid.

The first ‘real’ novel I read was LORD OF THE SPIDERS by Harry Harrison. I was about eight or nine. I loved it. I then went on to read other adventures/fantasy. Stuff like BATTLE CIRCLE and the big four ‘Tolkiens,’ but then I found SciFi. By age twelve, I was into Niven and Pournelle. FOOTFALL and LEGACY OF HEOROT come to mind. Continue reading →

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Member Spotlight: Meet Andreé Robinson-Neal

Posted by Janet UmentaDecember 3rd, 2014

Welcome Andreé Robinson-Neal to the Book Country Member Spotlight! Andreé is currently workshopping FROM REALITY’S EDGE, which was featured in the Waiting to Be Discovered section in October. She recently published AFTER with Christine F. Anderson Publishing & Media. Connect with Andreé on Book Country.

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Janet Umenta: NaNoWriMo 2014 ended last week. When you finished NaNoWriMo 2013, what did you do afterwards?

Andreé Robinson-Neal: When November 2013 ended, I celebrated making my word count. By November 27th, I had passed the 50k word count and was thrilled. And then I panicked. After all, I was ‘finished’ — now what? I had a mess of words on a page that had made me bleary-eyed for the past month. I set them down and concentrated on a few other things before getting back to the business of editing it.

JU: How does being an editor influence your writing process?

AR: I know that editing has helped me in more ways than I can describe. I see things that make me think, Wow! That was a great image — I felt that character’s experience! and then there are things that make me think, Wow! I hope I never do that! Editing certainly keeps me on my mental toes because I have to research things to make sure I am offering the best advice to a writer. I don’t just write things like, ‘Consider revising this sentence — it is unclear.’ I like to offer support by saying why something is unclear or indicating what I think the writer meant so he or she can take that information into consideration during the after-edit review. Continue reading →

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Member Spotlight: Meet Writer Kelley Mork

Posted by Janet UmentaSeptember 24th, 2014

We are happy to have Kelley Mork on the Book Country Member Spotlight! Kelley’s New Adult book WE’RE IN THIS TOGETHER was featured in the Top Rated section in August. Kelley shares why she favors free writing and her advice to writers starting out on social media. Connect with Kelley on Book Country.

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Janet Umenta: The New Adult genre has really taken off in the past few years. What do you love about New Adult and what led you to write in this genre?

Kelley Mork: What led me to write New Adult? It was a total fluke! I had never heard of the term “New Adult” until I started exploring the best category to put my story into. When I read the definition (New Adult focuses on characters that are around college age (18-25) tackling the everyday “being an adult” issues.) I realized that not only was it a fit, but I had been reading books like this for quite some time! I’d always assumed the books were “general fiction” or “romance”, but just with younger characters. Continue reading →

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Member Spotlight: Meet Cozy Mystery Writer Janice Peacock

Posted by Janet UmentaAugust 13th, 2014

Welcome Janice Peacock to the Member Spotlight! Janice recently published her first cozy mystery novel, HIGH STRUNG, A GLASS BEAD MYSTERY, Volume One of the Glass Bead Mystery Series. Janice is an award-winning glass artist, whose work has been exhibited internationally. HIGH STRUNG has earned stellar reviews on Amazon. Janice talks about how she got started writing cozy mysteries and the revision process. Connect with Janice on Book Country.

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Janet Umenta: How did you get started writing cozy mysteries?

Janice Peacock: As a teen in the 1970s, I shopped the groovy bead stores in Laguna Beach, California, looking for treasures to make my own jewelry. I continued working with beads and making jewelry, and in 1992 learned a process called lampworking so that I could make my own glass beads. The first time I lit a torch and started melting glass to create beads, I knew that I was hooked. I’ve been making beads ever since, and designing jewelry with the glass components that I create. Continue reading →

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Member Spotlight: Meet Rob Emery

Posted by Janet UmentaJuly 21st, 2014

Welcome Rob Emery to the Member Spotlight! Rob has shared 5 books on Book Country including PERMUTATIONS IN THE RIBBON OF TIME, a July Editor’s Pick. I’m truly impressed with Rob’s storytelling skills and the creativity he shows in his writing. Here, Rob shares his favorite genre and what he wants to accomplish as a writer. Connect with Rob on Book Country.

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