El Tiburon Research

 

Heidi: Pastor Marvin Garcia, thank you for joining us today. Since writing El Tiburon (published by Vinspire), I’ve given many book talks and am astounded with the interest in the plight of the Guarejos—the people-group living in the Guatemalan garbage dump. At the time of writing El Tiburon, there were 11,000 people living there… 6,000 of which were children. Since that time the Guatemalan government changed the boundaries of the dump to place the Guarejos on the outside of the dump. Now they go through an opening in the fence. In response to their questions, I would like to return to you, my main source of information. In El Tiburon, the Guarejos play an important role in keeping the main character alive.

I will preface this with an introduction to our readers as to how I know you. About ten-fifteen years ago our church asked if anyone could house a visiting youth pastor from Guatemala for 6 months. We offered our spare room and now we consider you to be a member of our family, along with your sister, Karina (who came and stayed with us later).

Pastor Marvin, you were born and raised in Guatemala. When did you become a pastor?

Marvin and Karina

Marvin: Indeed, I was born in Guatemala City and all my life I have remained in the city. (I must confess I know very little about the rural area of Guatemala) Now I have tried to visit more of the rural area that definitely has beautiful places and views.

I was born in 1978 and when I was 9 years old I accepted Jesus into my heart in an American church (the pastor was an American named Charlotte Lindreng at Shekinah Church), I currently take the time to visit this church, every time I am there I feel I'm coming home. We were in this church for 6 years. Then we moved to another church closer to our home. When I was 20 years old, I was appointed youth pastor at the Iglesia Principe de Paz Central. We stayed there for 6 more years.

Then my dad received a call from God to open a church in the area we live in. And until today, Mission Maranatha has been an important part of our life. When I was 35 years old, I was appointed pastor at the Central American Theological Seminary in Guatemala. And I have spent 5 years pastoring a Ministry that together with my wife we form, called Ekklesia Guatemala.

Heidi: When did you first hear of the Guajeros at the Guatemala City garbage dump?

Marvin: When we are at Shekinah Church, they had an evangelistic program. Every December 23, they would give food baskets to each family that lived in the Garbage. Also, every day that Children's Day is celebrated, they had programs with piñatas, food, clothes and shoes for the children who lived there. I was probably 10 years old.

Marvin in California redwood forest

Heidi: What was your reaction when you learned about their needs? Were you shocked or did you not fully understand at that time what their lives were like?

Marvin: For a 10 year old boy, it was very difficult to understand the needs they had. I had a good childhood (to call it that) we had our needs at home, but when I asked mom about food, food would magically appear on the table. (That's how I saw it. Today I know we have to work so that there is food at home).

And when it was my first time visiting these places, it was creating in me a perspective that my needs, although for me they were enormous... they had many more enormous needs. And after my first visit, throughout the next year, I remember saving 5 cents every day, in those days with 5 cents you could buy a soda and a cookie. But I kept every day, (although there were days when I was hungry and spent those 5 cents for myself) but I remember that at the end of that year, I gave my shepherds an envelope with a 20-quetzales bill. ($ 3 USD) and so a need grew in me to see the gospel of Jesus reach those places.

Heidi: I know you’ve been involved in the ministry who helps the Guajeros… when did that start?

Marvin: When I was a youth pastor in the second church, one of the first projects was to create a program for the Guajeros. It was a difficult process because the churches were not knowledgeable in these areas of work. Since I was 10 years old, I had been gathering experiences that had marked my personal life and my ministerial life. And my wish was to transmit those emotions to others. Thank God the program that I founded, to this day continues to work for the Guajeros. Also to this day, I have been able to found 15 projects with different churches for the benefit of the Gaujeros. God has been good in every project and they are all working to this day.

Karina

Karina: This is true, the ideas of my brother and a group of people provided projects that made it possible for the Guareros to have a job and they received God in their hearts.

Heidi: Have you ever been to see the community they live in? Is that community called La Limonada? Were you ever there when it was actually inside the dump?

Marvin: When I was working on projects for the Guajeros. within their community. I heard about another community called La Limonada. This community is in another area of Guatemala City, with a population of almost 3,000 families living in extreme poverty [60,00 people in a massive ravine]. At that time, I left people in charge of the main project we had and I began to visit this new community. At that time I had the possibility of arranging mission trips for American churches. And in both communities we were very blessed, new projects were created that continue to function to this day.

Karina: I was part of these projects together with my brother. It was my beginning to support him in the ministry. He met many missionary groups and it was the way to learn to speak English by translating, also I still have friends who continue to volunteer for the ministry of La Limonada.

Heidi: What is the community like? Give me good and bad examples of life for them.

Marvin: The city of the garbage is a community where garbage from all over Guatemala City arrives in trucks at all times. The smell is hard to get used to. Their life is literally about garbage, they eat, they sleep on other people's garbage. Although there are simple house projects for them, the common denominator is trash. An area of 5 hectares is used for garbage and for the families of the Guajeros.

Now, the La Limonada community is a garbage-free area, but it is a ravine, with a river of dirty waters at the bottom, and all around the ravine, small houses were built of cardboard, wood, and sheet metal. And it is an area where the gangs choose to live.

I believe that only a person with the passion of Jesus in his heart can see the bad in the community and turn it into an opportunity to bless. Good and bad experiences I have lived in each of the communities. But the passion for them makes you come back the next day, knowing that another experience will come. I remember that one day I was walking with boxes of medicine for the Guajeros, in an alley, a young man stole my cell phone and money that he had for my whole week. And when the Guajeros found out what happened, they got together and looked for this person who did not belong to the community, they found him and killed him. Then the community put together some money and a cell phone used for me. Crazy right?

Karina: It is a community that continues to need help, but the type of people that live around it is becoming very dangerous.

Heidi: Do you know anyone personally who lived/lives there?

Marvin: Yes, I have very good friends who live in both communities, people I trust who always have the opportunity to sit down and have a coffee and dream of new projects for the benefit of both communities

Karina: My brother still has communication and friendship with the Guajeros, they keep calling him and asking for prayer for their lives when they need it.

Heidi: Do you have a special story about your work there that you’d like to share?

Marvin: I remember that with a missionary group we went to the La Limonada community and built a small house for an 80-year-old woman. At that time I had two jobs, I was as national director of the Festival with Luis Palau, a very important evangelistic event in Guatemala. One day before handing over that little house, I had a meeting with very important people in the local government. We went to a very expensive restaurant in the city of Guatemala. I remember ordering shrimp, (my favorite food) it was an incredible meal moment.

The next day we went to deliver the little house to Grandma. It had rained very hard the night before. We were wet, dirty, but with a smile on our faces from the old woman's expression. The impressive thing was that she in gratitude, took some corn tortillas, (I think they were there for more than 2 weeks) and took a pan, a small piece of butter and put the tortillas on the pan and moistened the tortillas with the butter, and he gave us 2 tortillas each, ... and said (thank you very much) for me they were the best tortillas that I had never eaten in my life. I enjoyed them so much that I am satisfied. The day before I was in a nice restaurant, the day after I was sitting on the wet floor of this old woman, and I remembered what the Apostle Paul said... In abundance and scarcity, I thank God.

Karina: Yes, I remember that moment. I was working on Luis Palau's project as a secretary and my brother was on both projects. I was not present at the old lady's house but I did know about that moment.

Heidi: Did my writing a crime novel set in Guatemala and the dump have any impact on you?

Marvin and his wife, Evelyn

Marvin: I think there is no better place to set a crime novel than Guatemala. But I also believe that if through this novel we can present a little of the needs that exist in our country and create awareness in people…I think it will be worth it.

Karina: It is worth continuing with that passion, my country continues to present these problems and no one does anything for them.

Save The Girls

What started out as a character-study of Sean McGee (the main dude in all of my political crime novels) turned into a novel... Why am I not surprised? I should've known better. He and Sport always take over my narrative. They're very strong characters and often surprise me, as Sean did in this book.

I wanted to explain what in his past had turned him into this noble and protective hero. I started with his enlisting in the Marine Corp, which led to his becoming Recon. He met Randy, Dan, and Craig in Recon. Dan was introduced in Counterpart just long enough to identify his body. In Save the girls, you get to meet him. These four young men go from boot-camp to special forces with the same intensity they pursue their respective careers in Secret Service and as a private bodyguard.

Sean decides to be become a Sacramento City Policeman. He loves it. He loves his training officer, Warrick. Remember that name? Janet Warrick--aka Sport... the woman who starts the series in Counterpart? This is her father.

Sean comes across the his first organized crime in his city--but the criminal lives outside of his jurisdiction. A prostitution ring run by a Russian named Boris. Sean doesn't like it. Boris can easily leave the city limits to the sprawling Greater Sacramento area and Sean can't follow. You all know Sean well enough to know that's not going to work for him. So he meets a guy named Becker (I won't spoil it for you if you haven't read Counterpart, but this is where he meets Sean).

Sean joins the CIA. No more city limits. He goes after Boris by stealing a prostitute. Boris is pissed. Sean is giddy with joy. He steals another one, this time a teen named Jazzy who looks just like the girl on the cover. Now Sean's obsession begins to shift from destroying Boris to saving the girls.

For paperback I'll send you over to Amazon.

Ebooks are available for any reader anywhere. An easy way to get it is through Smashwords.

EBook, Paperback, Book Cover Questions

How do you publish to so many eBook sites? How did you make your book into a paperback? How do you design a book cover? (I've answered the book cover question in more detail on a previous blog post) I've been asked this by so many people, I don't know who to attribute the question to :)

There’s basically two ways to get your book fully distributed. You can either go to each and every eBook website and download your document file to their library, or just download the document to Smashwords.com. I’m not getting paid by them to write this, but seriously Smashwords is by far the most comprehensive approach. That’s not to say it’s easy. The document must be prepared per their standards… stripped completely clean of any possible corruption. Fortunately, a step-by-step book is free at their website to ensure you can do it properly. Smashwords then takes your perfectly formatted Microsoft Word 97-2003 ‘doc’ (not docx) and formats it for all e-reader devices (each device is different). Believe it or not this is a free service up front. As the sales come in, then they get a portion of the profit. I tried a Fiverr formatter but the guy couldn’t do it right and I ended up doing it myself. Don’t be suckered into their re-assurances that they can do it. Make sure they can, and tell them you won’t pay them if Smashwords doesn’t place you in the premium catalogue.

I’m going to say it again because it’s that important. Follow the Smashwords guidelines exactly. It will probably take you a couple of days. BUT, if you do it right, you will be in their premium catalogue with maximum distribution.

There is only one place who doesn’t accept Smashwords. Can you guess who? Yep, Amazon! When you complete your work at Smashwords, you have to go over to Amazon and follow their instructions. Another couple of days to figure it out. But while you are at Amazon, check out the paperback option at KDP. You have to go to “Author Central” to publish paperback. The great news is they also don’t charge you for the process (which is good because you’re the one doing all the work). They will pay you a percentage. You can choose your price and it calculates your royalty. In the old days, when you had a book made into paperback, you had to purchase cases of books and pile them up in the spare room. Now it’s print on demand. When someone buys your book on Amazon, KDP prints it and then ships it directly to the reader.

Now let’s back up to the question of how to make a book cover. This actually needs to be done before you publish on any site. The easiest way is to go to Fiverr and choose from the hundreds of designers. It’s super cheap (less than $50 usually). At that point bundle your needs for eBook cover, paperback cover, and audio book cover. When you get your cover back you can then publish at Smashwords, Amazon eBook and Amazon paperback.

In my next post I’ll discuss how I got an audio book made…

Guest Post: K. Bartow

Jim Foster (narrator for Audible) asked, "What drew you to writing? What did you hope to accomplish?"

K. Bartow helped me out by answering this question. Thanks Karina for taking the time to give such a thoughtful and inspiring answer.

Like most children, I skipped around from one idea to another with regard to what I wanted to be when I grew up. I went through the usual choices—ballerina, teacher, and carpenter, my dad’s occupation. As I matured, though, I realized my having Cerebral Palsy would impede my success in all of those fields and many others.

When I was nine, my mom took me to meet a children’s book author at our local library. I listened to her speak and could sense her passion for it, sparking something in me. In the days that followed, I pondered it further and discovered I could do that. I was already a gifted student, especially in English class, and even with only one usable hand, I knew I’d make it happen. 

Once again, however, age made me reconsider my aspirations. As I neared adulthood, I resisted doing something “just because” it was almost the only job I could physically do. I didn’t commit to it upon graduating high school, wanting to investigate other options. In the end, my creativity plagued me and pushed me to put the pen to paper—or nowadays, the keyboard to the word processor.

I didn’t have true objectives starting out, other than having a career and being allowed to use my active imagination every day. Sure, I wanted to create works that publishers and readers alike would enjoy, but that concept eluded me for quite a while. Overall, I guess my main goal was to get to know myself and any talent I may have.

Once I began, I saw everything the craft could give me. I could create a whole world and take charge of every twist and turn and outcome, without there being rights or wrongs. I could use the experiences that had hurt me and state the way they affected me or how I wished I could’ve handled them. Regardless of whether anybody would ever read my words or not, it was a therapeutic release and gave me a freedom I had never known before.

Thus, what started as a sort of “career of convenience” has become a lifestyle I truly cherish.

To connect with Karina visit her at:

Website 

Facebook  
Twitter

Instagram

Guest Post: K.S. Mitchell

This is an opportunity for readers to ask questions about our craft. Thanks fellow authors for helping me out! I know you are busy.

Musti asked: Do you pay someone to proofread your work?

Children and YA author, Kimberly Mitchell, responded to this question.

The short answer is no. I've always partnered with other writers in a critique group while I develop my books. Once I hit the stage where the book is ready for beta reading, I ask a few friends. My twin sister has been one of my best beta readers as well. During this process, most of the proofreading gets done. Then I'll do a final version before I send the book out and focus closely on grammar and sentence structure instead of the plot line, trusting that the earlier edits have ironed out the story.

However, I did hire a sensitivity reader to read through a middle grade novel that contains diverse characters. Since one of the characters is black, and I'm not, I wanted to be sure I wasn't falling into stereotypes or presenting the character in any way that might be offensive. I found the reader's feedback valuable and I was able to revise the character accordingly.

If I were to self-publish a book in the future instead of pursuing the more traditional route as I am now, I would definitely hire an editor before I released the book.

How Do You Design a Book Cover?

My friend, John, asked me, “How do you design a book cover?”

Finally a technical question! There’s several different ways to go about it. I designed my first book on the Windows Art program. Honestly, it’s my favorite cover. Unfortunately I had to cave into business pressure and go with a photograph based cover… mainly because my second book had a photo cover.

Speaking of that, my publisher of El Tiburon was amazingly cool to have given me a great book cover. I’ll admit I asked them to stay with my design style, but no. So I had to approve their design, which meant saying no to several models because they didn’t look right.

Eventually I asked them to remove the models from the cover because it looked like a steamy romance (after about two years and multiple complaints from readers that the cover was misleading). Don’t get me wrong… El Tiburon has its romance, but steamy doesn’t quite fit the bill.

My first experience with making a professional quality cover was through a friend who used a Fiverr tech. We made Counterpart’s new cover. Again, I only had yay or nay power. I wanted to have control from the beginning.

For my recently published book, In the Crossfire of Revenge, I contracted with Fiverr all by myself. I felt so grown-up! :) I chose from their long list of book cover specialists based on reviews. I wanted one who allowed for multiple revisions. My lady was in Germany. We dialogued back and forth about how I wanted the cover to look. I was directed to an enormous photo bank to choose the photo I wanted (it took me about a week to decide). Then I sent it to her and she went to work. It took about six revisions until I was satisfied. I love the results… and it only cost me about $45 bucks! She gave me a cover in 3D, a thumbnail for eBook sites, and a square one for the audiobook, and the cover for the paperback.

Then I learned how to make it animated with glittering light using Glitterboo. I think it looks pretty cool on the cover I made for the McGee Series. That one I did using the phone app called Canva. My nephew took an artistic photo of his police gear for me to use. Canva is a great app.

How do you start a book?

Lynn Takacs asked this question, via Facebook, regarding a photo of me holding up three of my paperbacks, “How did you start out on each one?”

Well Lynn, that’s a bigger question than it appears. Naturally, I’ve been writing stuff for most of my life, but my first book was Counterpart. Of course each book has its mental launching point. That being said each one is unique.

For Counterpart, I actually had a super intense dream. Maybe another person would call it a nightmare… you decide. I was at the mall. I’d gone to pick up a friend who worked in a jewelry store. It was one of those posh, quiet stores with the whooshing glass doors. While I waited for to get off work a man came in a demanded a “Box.” The owner said no and got shot. Chaos ensued with my friend screaming bloody murder. I bravely crawled over to the owner (amazing how brave we can be in dreams!). He thrust the box into my hands and told me to run. So I did. I dashed across the parking lot amidst a shower of bullets, scrambled over a fence, hurtled obstacles, could hear the chase, and somehow I ended up in a ramshackle rundown neighborhood. Spotting an abandoned house, I dashed through the broken front door and ran up the steps to the top floor—the attic. I can still remember how I could hear the blood pounding in my ears in that dream. Suddenly a little old woman’s voice broke the silence as she simply said, “Hello.” It scared me so bad, I woke up. I got up and went into my office and wrote it all down. That’s the first chapter of Counterpart, more-or-less. It took years for me to finish that book because I was working full time as a physical therapist.

The next book, El Tiburon, was a combination of things. First I ran into a constant question… How’s Sport and Sean doing? Are they having any new adventures? I hadn’t anticipated the popularity of these characters, especially Sport (she’s a feisty, tiny physician—athletic and hypoglycemic—she became a favorite). The second impetus was a visit to Guatemala. This was the first time I’d heard of the Guajeros (the inhabitants living at the garbage dump in Guatemala City). I’m a studier of people, obviously, and I began researching their plight. I became enamored with their bravery. At the same time I fell in love with the ancient city of Antigua. We stayed a month. So this all describes the background, but the starting point was sitting down to the laptop and typing. I had no idea what the story was going to be about… actually didn’t know what the story was about most of the time. I’ve had many readers ask how I create so much suspense? LOL… It’s because I’m in suspense as the author!

In The Crossfire of Revenge was Joe’s idea. He actually wrote the first chapter. I altered it considerably, but in essence it’s his chapter, actually half the chapter. He had great ideas and input for this story about a youth group going on a short-term mission trip. He’s been on several as a chaperone, and he’s been to Colombia a couple of times with a men’s group. I combined his knowledge of Colombia with my knowledge of the jungle in Costa Rica to create the scenes. This story is a coming of age story for the eight teenagers. It starts with an attempted kidnapping of the youth pastor and four of the kids. Then the group escapes into the jungle with the aid of the local church. Sean and Sport McGee are the chaperones. Naturally no one but Sport knows Sean is a CIA agent. With this book I had to research jungle survival, and thanks to Jesse Smith at River City Christian I learned how a large church would typically handle this kind of catastrophe.

Please ask questions using any means you feel like using. I will post your question here.

Do I need an ISBN?

Periodically I get questions from people on social media. I try to answer them immediately. Recently I realized these are good questions and as I get repeatedly asked the same question, I'm guessing they are relevant. So, if you're interested in this crazy world of writing, stay tuned.

Musti asked via Instagram;

“Quick question: I am about to finish my manuscript and wanted to self publish it through Amazon. Do I register somewhere the title? Do I need an ISBN? And how do I get one? Merci.”

Let’s start with the first sentence. Congratulations on your manuscript being almost completed. You’re wise to ask these questions now. I will answer your questions in a brutally honest way because I want a large audience of readers to benefit from it. If I’m reading this correctly, you haven’t actually finished the manuscript (though it’s possible you mean you’re just putting the finishing touches on it). If that’s the case, then you’re a long ways from done. In this new world of indie publishing, the bar is set much higher for the author. We no longer have a publisher to hold our hands, edit and polish our work, or to tell us it won’t sell… no marketability. The manuscript has to be excellent only because that’s what you want. You can publish garbage. That worked ten years ago, but now the readers have caught on. They pay attention to reviews. Now we have to take a good long look at our books first. (I plan to answer the question of ‘How do I get my book ready on my own’ at a later date.)

Do I register somewhere the title?

Art of any sort is protected and doesn’t need to be registered. That includes fiction. However, that being said, I would register your manuscript if it’s a manual, guide, or advice/self help work. The only reason I say that is the titles need to be unique with that type of work. Lots of people can come up with the same guidebook or manual.

Fiction is not the same. Plus you have your computer date imprint on the file. If somebody says, “Hey, that’s the book I wrote!” you have proof on your computer. I periodically email myself the file to establish the date, ownership, and to preserve it in the cloud. Of course I also keep my work on an external hard drive in my safe. All of these have dates that point to you being the owner.

Do I need an ISBN?

Yep! Each and every book out there must have an ISBN, otherwise the powers-that-be wouldn’t be able to track them and their sales, etc.. Actually according to Smashwords, each format should have its own ISBN—e-book, paperback, and audiobook. However, Amazon doesn’t agree. They don’t mind if you use your ISBN from Smashwords… I know because I accidentally did it. I wrote to them in a panic, and they wrote back saying it didn’t matter to them.

And how do I get one?

There are places to purchase an ISBN, but why would you do that? Amazon and Smashwords provide you with a free one. Those two are pretty much the entire market. Amazon sells to all Kindle readers and Amazon customers. Smashwords sells to every reading-device everywhere, including Kindle and distributes to all the large e-book sites like Apple. As you go through the steps to upload your book to KDP Amazon, or to Smashwords, the instructions will ask you if you want their free ISBN. Don’t worry, you won’t miss it. The site won’t move forward until one is provided.

Good luck and keep the questions coming via FB, Instagram, this blog, or Goodreads. I'll post the answers here, but I'll try to answer them specific to your situation privately.

COUNTERPART goes Paperback and Audio!

I have good news! COUNTERPART is now available as an audiobook. If you've never signed up with Audible I have even better news... you can get COUNTERPART free when you sign up for the first time. Here's the link Counterpart as audiobook.

Great news #2... COUNTERPART is available as a paperback now. This has been my dream since I published it back in 2011, but I refused to buy 500 copies to sit in my garage. Now thanks to Createspace (now merged with Amazon's KDP) you can buy my book, they print it, and then it's shipped to you. Isn't that crazy?

This is exciting for me on several fronts. COUNTERPART is my first published novel. This is where I introduce the much loved characters; Sean McGee and Sport Warrick. This devilish duo was a blast to write about. They are intense, funny, smart, have anger management issues, and they are stuck together--24/7. The conspiracy unravels as they run for their lives, always one step ahead of their enemies.

The Russian accents are handled masterfully by Voice-Over expert, Jim Foster. His interview can be found here. I interviewed him after he narrated my second novel, EL TIBURON. In that case he nailed the Spanish accent. Foster even gives the meowing felines personality! He's done many audiobooks and you can check those out here: All books narrated by Foster.

If you are interested in reading my second book in the McGee series, EL TIBURON, you can get it at Amazon also as an audiobook, ebook, or paperback.

As for me, you can follow me on Instagram and Facebook, or you can check out my blog: A Dashing Bold Adventure

Pamela Ackerson Interview

H. Schussman interviews Pamela Ackerson:

Heidi~

First, Pamela, I have to say I am excited about this interview. You are a tremendous help to the writing community. So, tell us a little about yourself.

Pamela~

I'm a wife, mother, bestselling author, and time traveler. Living on the Space Coast of Florida, I follow the areas mantra "Reach for the Stars." I'm also the V.P. Marketing and Advertising director at Affaire de Coeur Magazine.

Heidi~

What genre do you write?

Pamela~

I'm a multi-genre author. I love history, so almost all of my books have historically accurate information. I write sci-fi, time travel, historical fiction, non-fiction, and children's stories.

Heidi~

When did you start writing?

Pamela~

I started writing at a very young age. I entered a short story contest at the age of sixteen. It took first place in my age category and was published in a sci-fi magazine. I took a short break from writing and about twenty years ago I decided I wanted to write books.

Heidi~

What are you working on now?

Pamela~

I'm writing a time travel stand alone which has a small, wet your appetite taste of romance to it. It's a bit of a cozy mystery with the two main characters searching for a serial murderer.

Heidi~

Who is your favorite character in your stories?

Pamela~

My favorite character is from the Wilderness series and is actually a real person, Sitting Bull. The other would be Jennifer Standing Deer from book 5 of the Wilderness series. I still shake my head at her and face-palm. She's a trip. LOL

Heidi~

Do you see yourself in any of your characters?

Pamela~

I think there's a little bit of me in all my characters.

Heidi~

Where do you write? Describe your workspace?

Pamela~

I write best on my screen porch. We're surrounded by trees and have a 3 acre property full of animals. I do have an office that I write in, especially when I need to get lost in the story and seriously concentrate without interruptions.

Heidi~

Who are your all-time favorite authors?

Pamela~

Oh boy, so many... Ms. Rowling. Isaac Asimov, M. Night Shyamalan, Jude Devereaux, Catherine Kean, Kat Martin, Jodi Thomas ( I really could keep going)

Heidi~

Did you find writing a query letter a challenge? If so, how did you overcome it? Do you think there was a key phrase or idea in your query letter?

Pamela~

Oh dear. The dreaded query letter. It's my kryptonite.  Fortunately, I had someone take my query letters that I had been sending to publishers, destroy them, rewrote them for me and tada, I was with a publisher. Now, years later, honestly, I'm still horrible at it.

Heidi~

What advice do you have for a writer aspiring to be published?

Pamela~

Don't give up. Start working on promoting yourself as soon as you decide you want to publish. If you can, attend workshops and small conferences. Get it professionally edited before you send it out. The publisher will still edit it, but as an aspiring author, you need to stand out and look as professional as possible.

Heidi~

Would you like to acknowledge someone for their help/assistance/faith in you/etc?

Pamela~

My husband. He's cheered me on and encouraged me from the very beginning.

Heidi~

How can your readers learn more about you and your books?

Pamela~

There are several places where you can find me. I love hearing from my readers.

Pam@PamelaAckerson.com

home page:  www.PamelaAckerson.com

Amazon Author page:  https://www.amazon.com/Pamela-Ackerson/e/B00QY1ARI4

Twitter: www.Twitter.com/PamAckerson

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/pam.ackerson.7

The magazine: www.AffairedeCoeur.com