Author Interview – Deonne Williams

Author of Fae Song

This month, I am talking to Deonne Wiliams, author of the magical novel Fae Song.

Fae Song is a a beautifully written book. Deonne has created a wonderful world, with characters that are so clearly drawn and true to their foibles. A book of gentle magic and music and yet an undercurrent of conflict runs beneath it all, so all is not as peaceful at it seems. I read Fae Song back in the summer and you can find my book review here.

Welcome Deonne. To start us off please tell what made you start writing.

Deonne: I had way too many stories popping into my head, so I just started writing them down.

Helen: That sounds like there must be a second book in the offing, I am so glad we will get to visit Shae and Gwynn again. Why did you choose to write Fantasy?

Deonne: I have always written fantasy because it lets me change the world my characters live in, create new kinds of beings and different sorts of magic. I have found that my writing also fits well into Young Adult categories as I have neither the desire nor the ‘skill’ to write more steamy types of things.

Helen: Yes, you have a gentle, descriptive way of writing which is truly immersive, and very enjoyable. As you build your world do you need to much research?

Deonne: Since I write fantasy, classic types of research such as fitting something into historical context is not a requirement. I do often research languages though when I’m looking to create a word or term for something in my world.

Helen: You live in Florida, so nice balmy weather. Where is your favourite place to write?

Deonne: I would prefer to write on the shaded porch of a beach house but that isn’t currently something I have available. In practice, I prefer to write at my desk on my laptop.

Helen: Wouldn’t we all? The sound of the sea swishing in the background, a soothing backdrop for creativity. I can almost smell the salty waves! So unfortunately, no beach front, when do you find the time to write?

Deonne: It is often tough to find uninterrupted time, so most of my writing is done in the wee hours of the night.

Helen: I must admit, I tend to tend to write late into the night as well. I love your cover, simple but elegant, what made you choose it?

Deonne: So far I have only chosen one but my deciding factor was that I didn’t want my book to have a cover that looked like every other fantasy cover out there with either someone swinging a sword or tossing fireballs.

Helen: Thank you so much, Deonne, for spending time with us today. We wish you all the best with your book: Fae Song.

Deonne lives on the sandbar known as Florida. She is happily married to Rory and blissfully owned by a stunning mare named Kay Kay and a demanding over-familiar tuxedo cat named Ritz.

You can reach on social media:

and purchase her book via Amazon:

Link to ebook on: Amazon UK
Link to Paperback on Amazon UK

Link to ebook on Amazon US
Link to paperback on Amazon US

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Author Interview – Jordan Bell

Author of Aunt Jodie’s Guide to Evolution

I’ve always thought encouraging children to engage and learn more about our world is very important, and today I am chatting with the Australian author of Aunt Jodie’s Guide to Evolution, Jordan Bell.

Welcome Jordan. To start us off please tell us a little about your book.

Jordan: My first published book was Aunt Jodie’s Guide to Evolution, a book which takes the real science of evolution and explains it in a way that primary school kids can understand. Fully illustrated in colour, it’s a chapter book that helps kids understand how the diversity of life, in all its glorious creativity, came to exist. Unpacking the concepts of inheritance, variation, and selection, the reader joins twins Sophie and Matt on a science adventure to understand evolution.

Helen: What made you want to write about STEM topics and for young children at that?

Jordan: I write Children’s STEM, for kids in the upper primary years – because the ideas in my books aren’t introduced by the school system until high school, but I think that’s too late! Kids are absolutely capable of understanding scientific theories if they are presented in the right way, and it’s crucial to their developing worldview that we get real science into their brains early. I deeply believe that we need a scientifically aware and well-educated citizenry to face the challenges of the future – I think my books contribute to this need.

Helen: How do you choose what to write about? Which topic are you tackling next?

Jordan: After I published Aunt Jodie’s Guide to Evolution, I asked my readers what topics they’d be interested to hear more about. Overwhelmingly, with the Australian bushfires in the news globally, they said they wanted an Aunt Jodie’s Guide to Climate Change – so that’s what I’m focussing on now. Coming up in the future will be a Guide to the human body, and a Guide to the universe.

I’m currently at the end of an initial draft of Aunt Jodie’s Guide to Climate Change. Once I finish this draft and polish it, it will be sent to a climate scientist for review, to make sure all of the scientific detail is spot on, and then I’ll look at another round of edits from feedback from beta readers.

Helen: With such specific topics, and the need to get your facts spot on, how much time to you spend on research?

Jordan: I research extensively. My general science knowledge is strong, from my undergraduate science degree and my wide-ranging reading, but to make sure I’m really getting the science correct, I read widely and deeply into the specific topic I’m tackling. Each of my books is also peer-reviewed by a leading scientist in the field to make sure there are no errors of fact. When you’re introducing big ideas to little minds, it’s a sacred trust, and I take that responsibility seriously.

Helen: I would think that is a lot of work, how do you fit it all in?

Jordan: I work full time and I have a 7-year old, so it’s a case of “making time”. I’ve recently hatched a plan with my husband to take our daughter to school two mornings a week, so I can have an hour of writing time before work on those two days. I think about my work a lot, and do some research when I have free time, but actual “fingers to keys” is just those two hours a week at the moment. It’s been very productive already though; in the last three weeks I’ve added 2000 words to the manuscript, as well as re-read everything I’ve written so far (16,000 words) and given it a light edit.

Helen: With such a busy life, I would suppose you have to plan everything to find time to write, but are you still a planner when you write? Many writers are called ‘pantsters ‘ as they write freeform.

Jordan: Definitely a planner, although my work doesn’t always follow my plans. I usually start by roughing out chapters with a short summary of what will happen in each one, eg “In the first chapter, Matt and Sophie are on a fieldwork weekend with Aunt Jodie; she has taken them out camping while she assists in sample collection with Dr T. Sophie and Matt are curious about the purpose of the work, and so around the campfire at night, Aunt Jodie and Dr T explain the key components of climate change science to the twins.” But often, a piece of work that I think I can manage in a chapter ends up taking two or more chapters to explain, as I’ve underestimated how much there is to say!

Helen: I can imagine! I bet you had fun choosing your cover design, such a myriad of possibilities.

Jordan: My illustrator, Gabriel Cunnett (https://gabrielcunnettillustration.com/) came up with the concept – the three main characters reading together, but transported to a pre-historic setting, as they used their imaginations to “travel” in time. I loved the job he did in bringing the characters to life in such a vibrant way.

Helen: I agree, I think most children would be drawn to your book. One final question, do you have any advice for other aspiring writer’s out there?

Jordan: It’s practically a cliché, but, “write a lot, and read a lot”. Read widely – both within your genre and outside it, you never know when new ideas and inspiration might hit. And show other people your writing, and be open to their feedback – it’s painful and scary but can push you to grow and develop. What’s in your head doesn’t always make it to the page, so having a trusted second pair of eyes on your work can help you round out what needs to be explained.
I also often listen to a meditation before writing, I like this one that helps you unlock your creativity: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=AcQ86xP5PNw but there are lots of others out there. I think getting centred and calm helps me focus on the work in front of me and not get too distracted by everything else that is happening in my life.

Helen: Thank you so much, Jordan, for spending time with us today. We wish you all the best with your book: Aunt Jodie’s Guide to Climate Change. You can find out more about Jordan and where you can purchase her book here.

Jordan is a psychologist and educator, with a passion for science communication. She has a PhD in Educational Resilience, but is also a nerdy parent who loves reading to her daughter. When she couldn’t find enough children’s fiction with a strong STEM message to help her daughter learn about the world, she wrote Aunt Jodie’s Guide to Evolution. She believes that understanding the theory of evolution is an important key to scientific literacy for our developing citizens. Jordan prefers writing in her local café with a pot of strong tea, so the COVID19 lockdown was a challenge, but she’s adapted her writing routines for the moment. She loves reading science fiction and long walks in nature. Jordan is currently working on her second book, Aunt Jodie’s Guide to Climate Change. Follow her at www.auntjodiesguide.com or https://www.facebook.com/AuntJodiesGuides/ for more information or for cool science links. She’s also on Twitter @AuntJodiesGuide

Is Writing a Catharsis?

I think maybe it is. Many people write memoirs, blogs, poems, paint or create music as a way of dealing with life, problems, complications. I started writing after my mother passed away after a short battle with cancer. We had been planning to move to the country, and she was going to move in with me. We had lots of plans that never had a chance to happen.

I thought I started writing because I had time on my hands and an empty house. But I’ve come to realise that I was grieving and releasing that grief through writing, expressing myself through words, and maybe escaping reality for a moment and entering a world I knew she would love. I had lost my best friend and I was trying to find a replacement for that gaping hole. I wrote seven books. A bit like Forrest Gump running across America, twice!

That new companion became the world of Remargaren and Jerrol and the Sentinals. A world of myth and legend. Of friendship and betrayal. Of ancient forests and magical trees.

I always credit my mum with instilling in me a love of books and reading. I remember my love for the The Wishing Chair and The Faraway Tree by Enid Blyton; my first foray in the world of fantasy. To escape into a world where down can be up and the sky can be green, and your imagination rules.

I am happiest when I write, when I visit the world of Remargaren and I am surrounded in possibilities, and a lot of challenges for my characters of course.

I thank my mum for sharing her love of reading. I know she’s looking over my shoulder, making suggestions, loving the stories. I hope you are loving them too.

In these crazy times, it’s strange being a debut author. It wasn’t because of Covid that I started writing, I just happened to have been ready to publish. So I’m a 2020 author, forever connected to the year of Covid, with virtual book launches and no book signings! and yet there is still good to have come out of this year; Sentinals Awaken for one. Even in times of great difficulty there are good deeds and amazing people. People who put themselves before others, whether it be a nurse in the NHS, the dustman collecting the bins, the man stacking the shelves in the supermarket, parents home-schooling or a King’s Ranger trying to solve a mystery and save his country.

As we enter lockdown again here in the UK, I hope Sentinals Awaken provides some relief and entertainment as well as some hope, away from the continuing restrictions imposed on us all. If you want to chat, you can find me on twitter, Instagram or Facebook or here on my website. If you are following the #tweetbookclub on Twitter, you’ll know I’m always happy to chat about my books. Trying not to give away spoilers is the challenge, because I just want to share! And to discuss Jerrol and Birlerion and all the rest.

Thank you for making it to the end of this blog. Hopefully you are enjoying the results of my catharsis!! Book Two will be along soon…as the self-publishing journey continues. Hope you stay for the ride!

Keep safe and well. Speak soon.

The Home Straight

An author experiences a variety of emotions in the long journey to publishing. Having actually written the book in the first place you then have the long slog of revising and editing, trying to polish your novel until the shine is blinding and you can finally let it go takes a lot longer than you would think. My first blog on this topic was back in May and here we are October!

And then its copy editing, interior design and layout, and proof reading, and then the vicious circle of wanting to put a review link in the ebook to make it easier for readers to leave a review, but you have to upload your book to get the link. And to get the link you have to commit to a publishing date – which Amazon then chase you (which is good and bad) and threaten to ban you from using their services for a whole year if you miss it. If that doesn’t stress you out, then nothing will!

If I have learnt anything on this journey, it is that everything takes a darned site longer than you would like. And the amount of days you spend chewing your nails waiting for a file to come back so you can review again is excruciating.

There is much to learn, and I may begin to post some podcasts (If I can find the time as I need to be editing book two!) about the different elements of the journey, because as a first-time author, it truly is eye-opening. And if my learnings can help someone else navigate this road more easily then that is all too the good.

But, as the title of this blog says, this is the home straight. I am now on the final leg rushing towards that winning line. The book is uploaded to Amazon and filtering through all the affiliate sites. It may even be live in paperback in some locations already – as you are advised to upload a week before publishing to let the sites sync, but you can’t set the publishing date, Amazon set that when the book goes live—so do you wait or do you upload?

You upload! So you can get the proof copies and author copies, and oh! The first time you hold your book in your hands. A-maz-ing! I feel so proud and so happy. Such an achievement.

BUY SENTINALS AWAKEN NOW!

My launch date is October 11^th, and I am going to do a virtual book launch via Zoom, because, when it comes down to it, you only ever get to do your first ever book launch once. And I think that is something that should be celebrated. Even if it is just me talking into a screen, I will still raise a glass as Sentinals Awaken sets sail on her ocean voyage around the world.

So I have set up a Zoom call, created my rafflecopter giveaway, sent out the invites and now it’s a case of waiting to see if anyone accepts. This is more nerve wracking than publishing the book.

Come hell or highwater, I will be launching my book on Sunday. If you’d like a chance to win a signed copy, then join me at 7pm UK time to raise a toast.

DM me for the link to the launch at helen.garraway@hotmail.com

To Sentinals Awaken. My first ever novel. Published.

Long may she entertain.

Letters to our Legacy

Have you paid forward yet? There are lots of opportunities to do so and to make us feel better about the year 2020, here are a couple.

I am fortunate to be a Product Manager in my spare time, uh no, that’s an author in my spare time and a Product Manager by day! But anyway, I work for a video conferencing company where I create new services to sell with our products. At my company, we have an active diversity and inclusion movement. Part of that is a Women’s leadership group, and you find out all sort of interesting things.

Being part of this group inspired me to join the student mentoring group at Southampton University, where I graduated from many years ago with a Degree in Politics and International Relations.

It was a fun time, and I’m glad I had the experience, and I wanted to pay forward to our next generation, and so I joined the university mentoring program. Since then I have mentored four students, both on undergraduate and postgraduate courses. Of course, this year’s mentees suffered much disruption, having to relocate, return home and set up remotely. But the offer of mentoring is still there, and in the age of video conferencing makes it possible to pursue.

Another initiative I came across was Letters to our Legacy, which I thought was another excellent idea. Two women set up a website where you can submit a letter, a letter where you can write to your daughter, grand-daughter, godchild, whomever, but an opportunity to pass on advice from the year 2020 to future generations—a modern version of the time capsule.

Doesn’t everyone love finding old letters or journals from your ancestors? I have letters from a great-great-uncle sent to his sister whilst he was at the front during the second world war. It is amazing to hold such history in my hand; to get a feel for who he was, especially as the gift of writing letters seems to be passing with the new technology we have today. I suppose blogs are the new letters.

I wish my mum had written me a letter full of advice before she passed, it would have been one of my most precious treasures, but instead, I have wonderful memories and the gifts she passed on, and I think of her every day. My writing novels is a tribute to her memory. Without her love of books, I would never have been such a bookworm, and I would never have picked up that pen and jotted down those first ideas for a novel.

If you’re interested in paying forward, get involved. You can find the Letters to our Legacy website here. There’s no time like the present to get writing‒and it doesn’t have to be a novel!

How are your balancing skills?

I have concluded that writing is all about juggling. You must be an expert juggler to keep the balls, or is it plates or hoops? No, it’s novels! Up in the air at the same time. Or is balancing the better concept? I’m a Libran, so balance resonates better, juggling feels like it could spin out of control at any moment, whereas balance is calmer, less frenetic, feels right.

Photo by Deniz Altindas on Unsplash

I am in control, right?

From the sheer excitement of having your first meeting with the cover designer and seeing his interpretation of your ideas come to life before your eyes to the grind of checking the copy editing on book one, editing book two and then aargh – A whole new series has popped into my head and is demanding to be written.

But first, cover design! 90 minutes of discussion and watching Jeff draw my ideas in front of me, and then mocking up that first cover with my name on it!

OMG! What a feeling of absolute delight and pride. It may be a raw sketch but just wait until its finished, I love it already. I debated about posting the initial concept here, but I think I’ll wait to show you the rough draft versus 85% finished!

Just a sneak peek if you’re interested. Let me know!

Copy editing is almost finished on Book One: Sentinals Awaken. Each revision I learn something new, which is great, and means each book will improve: next maps and internal formatting.

I’ve edited Book Two: Sentinal Rising, cut and consolidated chapters where needed; I suppose 135k words was a bit long. Moved some things around, then corrected my grammar. I’ve sent it to my number one fan Michael to beta read and put it aside before I return for another edit. Then this idea for a whole new world bubbled up, and I’ve been capturing the ideas and planning out the skeleton of the story, and I’ve already written 20,000 words. Holding name is the Freedom series, can’t wait to see where it goes.

How to fit it all in is the challenge. But it is fun, and I love it, and I wish I had started writing a long time ago. Sometimes, I suppose you just have to wait for the right moment, and then take that step and begin. Who knows where it will take you, but wherever it takes me, my balancing skills can only improve.