One Word Interview with J. Lloyd Morgan

Today's One Word Interview comes from author J. Lloyd Morgan. Welcome to the writing chair!

You're stranded on a desert island. What's your must-have item?  
Solar-powered-Kindle

Good choice! Not much to do besides read, huh?

You've been plunked into your latest book. Weapon of choice?
My wits. 

You'd triumph for sure!

Which historical figure would you most want to have lunch with?  
Jesus. 

Wow. Just think of the questions you could ask. Awesome. (In every sense.)

You're characters are coming over for dinner. What are you serving?  
Humble pie.

*snickers* We all need a little of that.

What fictional world would you most like to live in?  
My brain.

Now, that sounds interesting!

Thanks, J. Lloyd!

Author J. Lloyd Morgan is an award winning author and television director.  He graduated from Brigham Young University with a degree in Communications and a minor in English. He is currently working on his Masters degree in Creative Writing. Morgan has lived all over the United States, but now resides in North Carolina with his wife and four daughters. Aside from writing, Morgan is an avid reader. He’s also a huge fan of baseball and enjoys listening to progressive rock.

He is the author of the anthology of short stories, observations and insights called “The Night the Port-A-Potty Burned Down and Other Stories” His published short stories include “Howler King,” “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day,” “The Reluctant Wanderer” and award-winning “The Doughnut.”

His next novel, “The Mirror of the Soul”, was written in conjunction with international recording artist Chris de Burgh and is scheduled for release in April of 2013.

Enthusiasm!

I've been participating in a writing challenge this month. I challenged myself to write a hundred pages in the March. Not an easy task! Last week I failed miserably. I wrote only nine pages! I felt bad at failing yet again, but I decided to keep trying. I figured if I could write five every day (except Sunday), I could still make the goal.

You know what? I have totally shocked myself by writing five pages every day this week! Yesterday, I did it in spite of the fact that I didn't start at all until about 10:30pm. And I still got to bed before midnight! It feels like some sort of miracle. Like I'm Peter walking on the water and any minute I'm going to start doubting I can write five pages a day, and I'll start sinking. But no. I can do this. I have faith.

A couple things I think have made a difference for me this week. The first is that when I sit down to write, I leave my iPad in another room. This has made a HUGE difference.

Second, I have been working on the enthusiasm side of Rachel Aaron's writing triangle. Not only my enthusiasm for writing itself, but my enthusiasm for the scenes I am writing. Take yesterday. I had come to a new scene and I wasn't sure exactly where I wanted to go. I kept trying to make the character fit into the plan I had made for him. Wasn't working. Finally, I just let my imagination wander. What else might he do? I hit on a possibility that took him in the exact opposite direction I intended. It totally worked. I was excited about it. And bingo! I got my five pages in just over an hour.

I think we all need to write what we are excited about. What we can get enthusiastic over. Because, after all, if we don't love it, neither will anyone else!

Here's hoping for some more enthusiasm today!

One Word Interview with Ashley Lavering

The subject of today's One Word Interview is Ashley Lavering, author of Curse of the Beast and Star Cursed. Welcome, Ashley!

You've been chased into a dark alley by someone who wants to kill you. Which of your characters do you want by your side?
Beast. Nothing like a snarling werewolf to make someone turn tail and run.

Good choice! A snarling werewolf is always a big help in these situations.

We're holding a banquet in honor of your awesomeness. What do we serve for dessert?
Raspberry sorbet garnished with fresh berries. Yum!

Oh, that sounds delicious.

If you could have lunch with any historical figure, who would it be?
Ruth from the Bible. She is just an amazingly strong person.

That would be an interesting meal, wouldn't it? I'd love to meet her too.

You've been plunked down in a fairy tale. Which character are you?
Belle. She gets an awesome garden, library, and eventually a prince.

Oh, yes. Me too!

You're performing on Broadway! What show are you in?
Phantom of the Opera. I have loved that one since I was little.

Good one! I've never seen it. I'll have to do something about that.

A nomad at heart, Ashley Lavering currently claims Nevada as my home. She has a wonderful husband and two young children that put up with her “writing time.” When she’s not pondering a spell that will magically calm the ferocious winds that plague the air around her, you can find her, with notepad in hand, frantically jotting down ideas in those short moments between caring for her girls and working full time at the Elko Institute for Academic Achievement.

Art and science have always been her yin and yang. Throughout her college career, she shifted between the two, but in the end, graduated with a Bachelors of Mathematics and Science from the University of Wyoming.

Charging into adventures and discovering something new has always been a passion of Ashley's, but as a teenager she used to run screaming from a reading or writing assignment. Looking back, the irony isn’t lost on her. Now you can’t catch her without a book in hand or without an open word document. Every time a new idea pops into her mind her heart races and her hands twitch to write it. In that moment, she has her writer's high and prays it will sustain her through thousands of hours of revision.

Connect with Ashley!

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**2012 Whitney Award Nominee** Seventeen-year-old Tayla Jonas longs for a simple life, but an ancient curse forces a werewolf to hunt her, to claim what is his. Will Tayla be strong enough to survive the Curse of the Beast? Or will it consume her like so many before? Find out in the first installment of this unique retelling of Beauty and the Beast. A dark shadow stalks the night, watching her—waiting to claim what is his.

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 Tangled in a web of wills, Tayla must risk everything to break the Curse of the Beast. With failure and possible death looming overhead, Tayla will do anything to find true love. But will one moon cycle be long enough to conquer her wolf and remain human? Or will she become a permanent member of Beast’s pack? Find out in the second installment in the Curse of the Beast series.

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Quittin' Time

Yeah, you read that right.

A couple of days ago, something happened (which I will not go into) that upset me. It was a like a small stone landing on my large unsteady pile of doubt and insecurity, and it caused a landslide that destroyed everything in its path.

So yesterday, I quit writing.

Oh my goodness. I got so much done! I cleaned up and organized my little boy's bedroom. I washed like four loads of laundry and got them all folded and put away too. Parts of my house that haven't been cleaned in ages are now clean. I played my guitar. I took my kids shopping for a few things they needed. Oh the free time! The lack of stress and guilt! I could totally run for PTA President. Or take up scrapbooking. Or run a marathon or something.

Except by the time I went to bed (at a decent hour, no less!), I had a little, painful sliver of desire to curl up in my beanbag with my notebook.

So, today I will start again. Or maybe tomorrow. Or next week. But sometime soon I will start writing again.

Because I must. 

Still, the landslide did a whole lot of damage and I'm going to have to find a way to repair it. Any suggestions you have are welcome. I am trying not to dwell on the small stone that started it. I know it's just a little rock, but at the moment it feels like a ten ton boulder in my heart. I know I'll need some time to heal. I won't call yesterday a day off or a short break because in my heart and mind, I really did quit. It was a kind of therapeutic.

Now, I guess I'm ready for a fresh start.