Hello.  I’m Rebecca Scarberry, Scarberryfields on Twitter, author of YA novella, MESSAGES FROM HENRY, and a short story, RAG DOLL. I have interviewed another self-published author, Habibo Haji RN, MISSPOSITIVE30 on Twitter. I highly recommend you read her Amazon bio here: http://t.co/DNPzro4 before or after reading the following. Enjoy!

Scarberryfields: Can you tell us a little about your nationality?

Habibo Haji RN: I’m from East Africa, Somalia to be precise, where I lived until I was 14 years of age. The civil war broke out in 1991, causing chaos over the whole country.   I immigrated to Kenya with my mother and siblings and lived in the largest refugee camp for a total of three years before being selected to immigrate to America.

Scarberryfields: When you finish a novel, do you miss the characters?

Habibo Haji RN: This book is actually based on my life experience in the refugee camp and living in a very primitive village in Somalia as a nomad. Through my experience as a nomad, I went through many hardships, such as rape, beating and starvation for many months and years.  The story also focuses on my struggle of immigrating to America without knowing a word of English, and how I overcame the odds to now work at the most prestigious medical facility in the world - the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.

Scarberryfields: While writing, if you need help with punctuation, grammar, etc., where do you turn?

Habibo Haji RN: My good friend, Joe Culhane has been helping me throughout the writing process. Therefore, without him this book would not be in publication. Many thanks to him.

Scarberryfields: With the number of hours spent writing, do family members support you or complain about the time spent away from them?

Habibo Haji RN: I have no family support, because it’s just my 3 children and me.  Therefore, times can be tough especially with the writing process.  I do want, however, to show young men and women that with persistence and patience, you can and will accomplish many things.

Scarberryfields: Does writing benefit you in any way and if so, how?

Habibo Haji RN: Writing this book was very beneficial for me because it allowed me to reexamine my life from earlier years to where I am now. Many of the memories were not very pleasant so it allowed me to make peace with the past and be hopeful for the future.

Scarberryfields: When you’re writing, do you shut-off all social networks?

Habibo Haji RN: I like social networks so I multi-task because, as you can guess, a single mom with 3 kids needs to multi- task to get things done. I sometimes read postings in Facebook or Twitter to get me through the day.

Scarberryfields: Did you use any family members as Beta readers for your debut novel?

Habibo Haji RN: I have had a few friends that read the book, which was very helpful.

Scarberryfields: Do you feel social networking as a marketing tool, is beneficial?

Habibo Haji RN: I think social networks are a great tool to use for marketing, because you can reach people that you would not normally have contact with.

Scarberryfields: What is the last book called that you completed and published?

Habibo Haji RN: Conquering the Odds, Journey of a Shepherd Girl.

Scarberryfields: Where can readers go to find your books? 

Habibo Haji RN: You can find my book here:

Habibo Haji RN: http://www.amazon.com/Conquering-Odds-Journey-Shepherd-ebook/dp/B00B0QQIA4/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1359039046&sr=1-1&keywords=habibo+haji

 

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/conquering-the-odds-journey-of-a-shepherd-girl-habibo-haji/1114144639?ean=2940015996111

Hello. Thank you for visiting my blog today. I’m Rebecca Scarberry, Scarberryfields on Twitter, and author of two books: Messages from Henry and Rag Doll. I have interviewed another debut novelist, Richard J. Galloway, @RJGalloway1 on Twitter. I’ve enjoyed getting to know more about Richard. I’m certain you will also.

Scarberryfields: Can you tell us a little about your nationality?

Richard: English, specifically the industrial North East of England, once full of 1960’s optimism and potential. It’s now a place where dreams come to die. Don’t get me wrong, I still love the region, specifically the people and their down to earth humor; I just wish it didn’t seem to be in perpetual decline. On a more positive note, most of my characters were shaped by the environment, so without it they wouldn’t exist.

Scarberryfields: When you finish writing a story, do you miss the characters?

Richard: It’s amazing but yes, I do miss them. All my characters are based on real people or more often combinations of two or three people. Some of them are from my past, others I still know. I distort the personalities, exaggerating certain aspects to suit my purpose. I think it’s this power over the characters’ that is one of the things that attracts me to writing. The end result of all this is that the characters I create become very real to me and even killing one off feels like betrayal. So, despite my love of the power, I'd never make a successful despot. The cure for this pining, so it seems, is to write another book using the same people. In my mind's eye, I glance to the left and receive an approving nod from one of them.

Scarberryfields: While writing, if you need help with punctuation, grammar, etcetera, where do you turn?

Richard: I have this love, hate relationship with Microsoft Word. Sometimes I agree with its corrections, specifically comma to semicolon and spelling, but often I don’t agree and will rephrase an entire paragraph to avoid its opinion on my work. After that, it's my daughter who provides me with sound advice.

Scarberryfields: With the number of hours spent writing, do family members support you or complain about the time spent away from them?

Richard: Often it seems that I spend a couple of hours thrashing about trying to find the correct plot line, only to be asked, if I'm going to be writing all day, just as I've latched onto something. This generally means that I don’t have time to write the thoughts down and I have to try to remember them. So the answer is that they are tolerant up to a point. Sometimes this is good, as the interruption means that the thoughts can develop, and sometimes it's not good as I tend forget the delicate intricacies of the thread.

Scarberryfields: Do you travel to places you mention in your stories for research sake?

Richard: Yes, but more often I incorporate places that I'm visiting into the fabric of the story. Sometimes the place would fit a setting I'm working on, and other times I may generate an entire plot line from a place. I'd just be walking along and I would suddenly see something; the reflection in a window, the way the land falls past some ancient walls into a valley; and an entire race of beings would be born. This is generally followed by some frantic photography as I try to capture the thought on my phone. In my book 'Amantarra' I created a city called Valheel, which is built on the inside of a sphere in its own set of dimensions. I have no idea where the concept came from, one day I just found that I'd written it. To help with the descriptions of the city, I modeled Valheel in 3D using Google SketchUp, so in essence I did travel there eventually; I just had to build the place first. The resultant images are all on my website (see link below).

Scarberryfields: When you’re writing, do you shut-off all social networks?

Richard: I have to; there are too many other distractions; D.I.Y. (which I hate), work, eating, shopping and life in general. When I write, I immerse myself in the worlds that I create, the hours fly by and it's only when the light begins to fade and I can't see the keyboard that I realize that the day has gone. Maybe my wife has a point when she asks if I'm going to be writing all day.

Scarberryfields: Did you use any family members as Beta readers for your stories?

Richard: Mainly my wife and daughter who are always keen to read my work even if they don’t agree with the time taken to produce it.  My daughter is better at grammar grappling than I am, and I always run my manuscripts past her. Often she will pick out sentences that made perfect sense when I wrote them, but don't actually convey the meaning I intended when read by someone else. I usually know what I was trying to say and can rephrase successfully, but there have been occasions when I've even thrown myself. My wife will often query some of the concepts in my work, which generally means that I need to expand or simplify the descriptions to make them more understandable.

Scarberryfields: Do you feel social networking as a marketing tool, is beneficial?

Richard: I feel as though I've achieved more with it than I would have without it, but I don't feel as though it has fulfilled all that it promised. Maybe I'm doing it wrong, or perhaps I'm just impatient. Nevertheless, I'm sort of committed to it now, so I'll try some new things and see what time delivers.

Scarberryfields: What is the last book called that you completed and published?

Richard: The book is called 'Amantarra' and it's the first in the 'Ascension of Valheel' series. It's basically about a war that has lasted 100,000 years longer than the human species has existed and the accidental involvement of a teenager who suddenly finds that he is a weapon of unimaginable power. Mainly fantasy, the book has mystery, science fiction and coming of age aspects that are grounded in the humor of an English industrial town. I'm currently working on the second book, which is to be titled 'Saranythia'.

Scarberryfields: Where can readers go to find your book?

Richard: My website which contains my bio, my blog, the images of Valheel, a description of, and the first 5 chapters of Amantarra, is on:

http://www.richardjgalloway.co.uk

Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Amantarra-The-Ascension-Valheel-ebook/dp/B008X8SKYE

Amazon US: http://www.amazon.com/Amantarra-The-Ascension-Valheel-ebook/dp/B008X8SKYE 

Hello. Thank you for visiting my blog today. I’m Rebecca Scarberry, @Scarberryfields on Twitter, self-published author of Messages from Henry (novella), and Rag Doll (short  story).  I have interviewed Krystal McLaughlin, @witcheslottery on Twitter. She’s a multi-published author.  I’ve enjoyed learning more about her and certain you will also.

 

Scarberryfields: Can you tell us a little about yourself? 

Krystal: Sure...  My name is Krystal George but I have also written under the name Krystal McLaughlin.  I’m the author of 3 YA books with another one due out in the near future.  The Witches Lottery and A Dragon Forsaken are about witches and magic.  They are the first two books in the Enchanted Island Series which will have four books total.  The Willows is the first book in a two part series about vampires.  My newest book, Guardian of the Realm: A Faerie Tale is about the dark side of faeries and magic and should be released sometime in the next few months. 

Scarberryfields: When you finish writing a story, do you miss the characters? 

Krystal: I do!  That's part of the reason I like to do series work.  When I’m writing a book, it's easy to fall in love with the world and characters that you create.  Leaving them behind is almost unbearable, but when you write as a series, you know that there will always be more in the future.  I feel the same way about reading and tend to lean toward series when I’m choosing a new book :) 

Scarberryfields: While writing, if you need help with punctuation, grammar, etcetera, where do you turn? 

Krystal: It sounds funny, but I turn to Google a lot!  I also ask those who are more grammatically correct than I am, and finally, I always try to find someone else to edit my books for me! 

Scarberryfields: With the number of hours spent writing, do family members support you or complain about the time spent away from them? 

Krystal: I am lucky that my family supports me 100%.  My kids get a little anxious and impatient, but my husband is amazing and not only supports me fully, he takes a lot of the pressure off by keeping our kiddo's entertained! 

Scarberryfields: Do you travel to places you mention in your stories for research sake? 

Krystal: If I had the time, I would probably travel a lot more just for this reason.  Since I don't, I tend to write about places that I am already familiar with.  A lot of my books are based in Colorado because I live there.  However, the Enchanted Island is located off of the coast of Connecticut which is somewhere I have also visited before. 

Scarberryfields: When you’re writing, do you shut-off all social networks? 

Krystal: I try to.  I typically put in my ear buds, crank up my "writing" play list and drown out the rest of the world for a while.  I have to confess that Facebook and Twitter sneak up on me every once in a while, though! 

Scarberryfields: Did you use any family members as Beta readers for your stories? 

Krystal: I use friends more than family.  Mostly because there are not a lot of readers in my family, but my friends get just as obsessed as I do! 

Scarberryfields: Do you feel social networking as a marketing tool, is beneficial? 

Krystal: I absolutely do.  Especially if you are self-published like I am and need to do all of your own marketing.  Social networking is an excellent way to meet other authors, book bloggers, and many other interesting people.  I feel very lucky to have found the cover artist for The Willows just because she "friended" me on Facebook. 

Scarberryfields: What is the last book called that you completed and published? 

Krystal: My most recent book is entitled The Willows 

Scarberryfields: Where can readers go to find your books?

 

Krystal: All of my books are available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble in both ebook and paperback versions.  You can also find them on Smashwords in ebook format.  Any additional information can be found on my blog: krystalmclaughlin.blogspot.com where I sometimes post sneak peeks to upcoming books!

Scarberryfields: Thank you, Krystal for answering my questions. I love your book covers and I wish you the best.