Name: Paula R C Readman
Book: The Phoenix Hour
Genre: Time Travel
Background: I left school poorly educated. In 2002, I set myself a challenge to see if I could get something into print and beat my own expectations.
When did you first decide you wanted to be a writer? When I was stuck working in a factory and my creative soul wanted more of an outlet.
Do you write full-time? Yes, after redundancy my husband encouraged me to write full-time.
If you write fiction, where do you get your ideas for characters and plots? I enjoy thinking outside the box. Normally the characters write themselves.
For fiction writers, have you ever written yourself into a story? Bits of me are in all my characters as their emotions come from my own experience.
What kind of research and preparation do you do before you write? I like to check out YouTube. There are some great history videos on the site. When writing a crime novel I watched True Life crime videos.
What is your editing process? Do you hire an outside editor? I used Microsoft document read-back facility. Listening to my work being read back to me helps me to find my mistakes. But I have hired an editor.
How do you decide on your book covers? Do you outsource? My publisher has designed the covers.
How did you come up with the title of your latest book? The title came from a poem called ‘Do not expect again a Phoenix Hour’ by Cecil Day-Lewis. I quite often use poetry.
What route did you take to get published? I’m dyslexic, so I wanted to be published by the mainstream route. I hunted out the smaller publishers.
Have you ever tried to get an agent? No. I work with three small press publishers
What kinds of things do you do to promote your book? I used Twitter, Fussy Librarian, and Readfree.ly. I also hand out postcard size promotional cards whenever I can.
Have you ever had a book-signing event? I’ve only just started doing that this year. I have one in the far north of Scotland in September.
Have you taken writing courses? Only in the writing magazine
Do you belong to a writer’s group? I run a writing group in my home and a Facebook group online.
Do you ask friends/family to read your WIP? Yes, I have a friend whose an avid reader.
Name three unread books on your bookshelf. Kirsty Ferry Bea’s Magical Summer Garden, Eclipsing the Aurora by Peter J. Foote, and Black Heart by Raelle Lo.
What is the last book you read? A Cottage in Plotlands by Dawn Knox
How many pages do you think a book of fiction/nonfiction should be? 250
What is the riskiest or wildest thing you’ve ever done? Set out on this writing job instead of finding another job
What is the hardest thing you’ve ever done? Believe in my ability and myself
What advice can you give to new writers entering the writing and publishing arena? Nothing happens overnight. There’s no magic spell to make you into a bestselling author apart from hard work and dedication.
Website and social media links:
Blog: https://paularcreadmanauthor.blog
Facebook: paula.readman.1@facebook
Twitter: @Darkfantasy13
Amazon Author’s Page: Paula R C Readman
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