1.
When
did you first start writing?
I
actually started writing fifteen years ago when a friend challenged me to
co-write a screenplay with him. The collaboration experience gave me the
confidence to do something I had never done before and from that point on I was
hooked.
2.
What
are your books about? Are you self / traditionally published or hybrid?
I love history and thrillers so my book and
upcoming books are in that genre. Kindle Press has published the E-book version
of my novel and I have my own imprint called Helm House that publishes the
print version.
Valley
of the Kings is a book series that chronicles the turbulent
lives of some of the most known and sometimes lesser known pharaohs of ancient
Egypt. Told in story-form, it’s a fictional biography based on historical facts
and events. The 18th Dynasty is
Book 1 of the trilogy which recounts the reign of pharaohs in that particular
dynasty. The next installment is The 19th
Dynasty that will focus on the pharaoh Ramesses and the pharaohs that
followed his reign.
3.
What's
your writing process like? Do you outline? Do you write by hand / type /
dictate?
I’m an avid believer in outlining because I
like the idea of having a roadmap that will carry me from the beginning to the
end of the book. It’s what keeps me focused.
I first write each chapter by hand in a notebook then write it again in MS Word
making necessary changes as I transfer it.
4.
When in
the day do you usually write and for how long?
I try to write something daily starting in
the early morning, and I work into the late evening as much as I can.
5.
Where
do you feel most inspired to write?
Generally, I write in my home office, but
sometimes I crave a change of scenery and I’ll go down to the nearest Starbucks
with my notebook and laptop and write there.
6. Do you listen to
music while you write? What kind of music?
I normally don’t listen to any music when I
write at home, but when I go to Starbucks, there is usually music playing there
but I tune it out.
7.
Do you
now, or did you ever have any day jobs? Did they add to or detract from your
writing?
Most of my career I’ve worked as an
independent consultant through my own company, so I’ve always been able to set
my own working schedule so that it wouldn’t detract from my writing.
8.
When did you
start working on Valley of the Kings: The 18th Dynasty? What
was your writing and editing process?
I asked
a friend to read and then give me his comments on a television series pilot
script I wrote back in 2003. He loved it but felt the story deserved to be told
in its entirety first, and suggested that I write a novel based on the series
outline. At first I didn’t take the suggestion seriously because I had never
written a book before, but because he was so tenacious in his opinion that it
would make a great novel, I decided to give it a try. Once I started writing it
in early 2014, I literally couldn’t stop. I worked on it at least 6 days a
week, spending 5 to 8 hours on it a day. It was as if the characters were
telling the story themselves. It took me about a year to actually complete the
first draft and an additional six months for the 2nd and 3rd drafts. The
editing took a total of five months before I passed the final manuscript on to
the publisher.
9.
Since your
book is a historical novel set in 1400 B.C.E., it must have required quite a bit of
research. How did you approach the research process?
I actually started researching the story
for Valley of the Kings in 2001,
after stumbling across a televised biography about King Tut. Though the bio
focused mainly on the young pharaoh, I was more intrigued by the story it
wasn’t telling—the story of his father, the pharaoh Akenaten. The untimely
death of the young pharaoh Tut was ominously tied to the life of his father who
at the time of his reign was considered a heretic and it was his actions and
decisions that almost destroyed the Egyptian superpower. I was fascinated by
just the little I knew of his story and from that spark, I really got into
researching the history of the 18th and 19th dynasty
pharaohs. After two years of research, I wrote a fifty-page outline for a
television mini-series based on my story and from that I wrote a one-hour pilot
episode. I then put the whole thing away and would periodically update it
whenever new information or recent discoveries in the tombs of Egypt were
documented. I did this up until I actually began writing the book in 2014.
10. How much marketing
do you do? Which platforms are you most active on?
Though Amazon does the
major part of the marketing, I try to do something every day to help market the
book myself. I advertise my book links on related Facebook book clubs, Twitter
ads and other social media sites.
11.
What's the most fun aspect of marketing? The most
challenging?
For me, marketing is not fun at all but
very necessary if you want your book to stand out. The challenging aspect is
deciphering what information or marketing technique(s) are best and most
effective for your particular book.
12.
What
project are you working on now?
I’m working on the sequel to my debut novel
Valley of the Kings called The 19th Dynasty and also a
sci-fi thriller called “Something
Happened to Maggie.”
Bio:
VALLEY
OF THE KINGS: The 18th Dynasty
In the year 1355 BCE, the land of Egypt was the superpower
of the known world. King Tut's father, Akenaten, the so-called 'heretic
pharaoh,' is on the verge of catapulting Egypt into a revolution that will
forever divide its people and rip the most powerful empire on the earth from
its foundation. Will Akenaten's staunch religious conviction protect his people
and his family, or will the threat of betrayals, curses, murderous jealousies,
plagues, famine, and foreign enemies be their undoing?
Inspired by the Hittite and Amarna letters of the 14th
century BCE, 'Valley of the Kings: The 18th Dynasty' is an epic novel of
intrigue, passion, and betrayal, resurrecting the thrilling story of a singular
leader whose beliefs were both visionary and disastrous.
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