Jessica Riggles author of "Four Thousand Miles"

Author Jessica Riggles stopped by to answer questions about her latest book "Four Thousand Miles."

Welcome to Page Readers Jessica!  Start us off by telling us a little about you!


I was born and raised in the Mississippi River town of Dubuque, Iowa. I had a lower middle-class upbringing. Money was tight, but I was generally happy. I was active in the school choir and had lots of friends. I graduated high school a year early. I would have liked to have gone away for college, but I was young and not ready to leave home. So I went to college in Dubuque, graduating from Loras College with degrees in Literature and Creative Writing.

While in college, I obtained an insurance license and worked for a local Allstate agent. When I graduated from college, I didn’t have many options as far as employment with my major. I didn’t want to teach and by that point, I was married and unable to run off to the New York publishing world. So, I landed in insurance. I still dabble in it today, although only part-time to accommodate my writing schedule. I’m also in grad school working on an MBA. Not sure what I’m going to do with it yet, but I find business interesting. I guess you could say I am happiest when I am learning something new.

What is your story about?

My novel, Four Thousand Miles, combines my love of travel, my weakness for a good love story and my impulsive nature all into one story. The main character is Natalie Spencer, a married, career-minded woman in Milwaukee. When she loses both her career and her marriage in the space of one terrible morning, all she can think about is getting away, putting distance between herself and her problems. On impulse, she gets on a plane to London, England—a place she has never been to, knows no one and completely unprepared for. There, she meets a reclusive songwriter who invites her into his family. As Natalie recovers from her emotional trauma, she has to learn how to trust and love again.

How did this story come to you?

I was in England, staying at this 500 year old farm turned bed & breakfast in rural Kent. It was the most romantic and inspiring place I think I’ve ever been to. The impulsive side of me wanted to skip going home and stay there with the sheep forever, but I had a full life back in the States waiting for me. That got me thinking about how messed up my life would have to be to get me to spontaneously move to a foreign country. I had most of Natalie’s story sketched out in my head by the time I got home.

What compelled you to write it?

It was June 2009. I had just gotten laid off in the giant wave of corporate downsizing , which had swept the country and there just weren’t many job options out there for me. I was fortunate enough that I didn’t have to go back to work right away, so I thought I would take the opportunity of time to write. It wasn’t long before I decided to focus my energy in that direction full-time.

Who is your favorite character?

My favorite one was Elliot Ashby. He is the younger brother of my male lead, Gavin. He looks like Prince Harry, but plays in a punk band. Elliot only plays a small role in the book, but he’s funny and just adorable. I describe him as “Sid Vicious with a puppy-dog grin.” I have kicked around the idea of writing a novel with him in the lead.

What was your favorite scene to write?

I enjoyed writing the scenes in Ireland. It is there that Natalie begins to see Gavin as a man and not just as a friend.

How long did it take you to write the story?

About four months.

When was it released?
The release date was on October 7, 2010, but it might be a couple months yet before the larger ebook retailers such as Amazon and B&N will have it listed.

How is it available?
It is only available in ebook format at present. I’m hoping the sales will be strong enough that my publisher will take it to print.
Where can we find it?
The best place to buy it online is through my publisher, DCL Publications. The link is http://www.thedarkcastlelords.com/romance-ebooks-15.htm. You can also find it on AllRomance.com.

What has your publishing experience been like?

I had no idea what I was doing when I started trying to sell this book. I barely knew what a query letter was! I found there are a lot of resources online to assist new writers. A big one for me was Twitter. I use my twitter account as my professional social network. I connect with other writers, agents, editors, book bloggers and readers. The writing community is amazing in their desire to help each other. I could post a question and have five answers or links to websites in minutes.

After writing and polishing my query letter, I submitted it to about forty agents over the course of about two months. Not one bite! I wasn’t surprised though. The publishing industry was hit hard in this recession and as a result have been scaling back on the purchase of new authors.

In May 2010, I attended the Romantic Times Convention. It was there that I met Jean Watkins, head editor for DCL Publications. She liked my pitch and requested a partial manuscript. I sent her the first three chapters and she offered me a contract. It all happened very quickly.

For my next book, I hope to be able to secure an agent. DCL treated me great and helped me a lot through the process, but my next novel is Young Adult and they are not in the teen market.

Where we can we find you online?
I love to hear from readers! I am @Jesilea on twitter. There is also a Jesi Lea Ryan fan page in Facebook. Both are checked regularly. I also maintain a blog at http://diaryofabibliophile-jesilea.blogspot.com/. I review books, interview authors and occasionally post bits of my writing.

Do you have any upcoming publicity events that you'd like us to know about?

I am doing a blog tour. Here are a few of my scheduled stops:

November 4th – Interview at http://jamiedebree.com/index_Q328.php

November 8th – Review and Interview at http://chicklitplus.com/

November 9th – Interview at http://lisapietsch.com/be-my-guest/

November 10th – Interview at http://www.thebookvixen.com/

Be on the lookout, because some of these will also be hosting a giveaway!

Any words of wisdom you'd like to share with the readers?
It sounds trite, but don’t take it personal and don’t give up. Rejection is part of the business. It is not a reflection on you or your writing. Sometimes what you have just isn’t the right fit for the market. While submitting one novel, be working on your next work. It helps not to get too discouraged.

Monice Mitchell Simms discusses "Address: House of Corrections"

Monice Mitchell Simms joined me on Page Readers to discuss her latest novel "Address: House of Correction."

Monice started her writing career as a journalist, eventually moving into script writing for TV and Movies.  While this made her understand the rituals of writing, she found out that writing a novel is a completely different experience.

"Address: House of Corrections" is a fictional tale based on the life of the women in Monice's life.  Following the life of her Grandmother from the 1930's through the 60's in Chicago, Monice took the stories she heard as a child and created a masterpiece in tribute to a life well lived.

Another interesting tidbit about Monice:  She is going on a "Real" book tour!  Something that isn't done very much anymore thanks to the Internet.  But she felt that it would be a better way of connecting with her audience and building new relationships with potential readers is she was physically present at a book signing or reading. 

Learn more about Monice at her website/blog. 

Robert Gignac discusses "Rich is a State of Mind"

Author Robert Gignac joined me on Page Readers to discuss his book "Rich is a State of Mind."

Written as a story with characters based on issues he sees people struggling with, rather than a how to book, Robert Gignac uses his book "Rich is a State of Mind" to teach different aspects of saving, investing and giving back. 

Visit Robert on the web at http://www.richisastateofmind.com/

Hello all my Star Gazing Friends

Something out of the ordinary for all of you star gazers out there. 

It's almost here -- The Great World Wide Star Count starts this Friday, October 29th and runs through November 12th. This Windows to the Universe program is an international citizen-science event that encourages everyone, astronomers and non-astronomers alike, to measure their local light pollution and report their observations online.


The Great World Wide Star Count is designed to raise awareness about light pollution as well as encourage learning in astronomy. No prior experience is necessary. All background information needed to participate is on the Star Count Web site (http://starcount.org), along with a downloadable activity guide with the step-by-step instructions (http://starcount.org/downloads.html), now available in 10 languages. All observations will be available online via Google Earth and as downloadable datasets.

Since 2007, people from 64 countries have contributed more than 10,000 observations to Star Count. Please help us spread the word to your families, friends, club members, and especially any teachers or students that you know!

We have a special favor to ask-- if you are a native speaker of French or German and could give us 1-2 hours of your time, we have an urgent need to translate our Activity Guide into those languages before October 29th! If you would like to help, please email us at starcount_info@ucar.edu, indicating your language, age, and level of astronomical knowledge. We'll email you a simple document with the exact phrases we need translated. Once you fill in the form and email it back to us, we'll format it and post it to our website for immediate use. Thanks to volunteers like you, we have recently added Russian and Hindi translations for 2010. Help us make it an even dozen!

Sincerely,
Dennis Ward
Director, The Great World Wide Star Count
UCAR Education and Outreach
http://starcount.org/
http://windows2universe.org/
starcount_info@ucar.edu

Interview with Jared Aragona author of "Stories from the Circle: Apprentice"

Author Jared Aragona joined me for an interview here on the blog, something new I'm doing so I can get as many authors as possible into the "Spot Light" here on Page Readers.

Jared has written an incredible story in "Stories from the Circle: Apprentice."  The first of three books, Apprentice starts off with a different and interesting way of telling a story.  I don't want to give any of it away, so I'll just let Jared do the talking here.

Be sure to visit his website at http://www.storiesfromthecircle.com/

Start us off by telling us a little about you.
I’m originally from New York. I grew up in a town called Purchase, just outside the city. However, my family moved to Arizona and then Texas in the 1980s. After college, I spent several years in Hollywood, working in the film industry, but then I went back to school to study literature. Today, besides being an author, I’m a professor of English at Scottsdale Community College, in Arizona. I’m also a husband, and I’m a father to two little boys.


What is your story about?

Stories from the Circle: Apprentice contains the first three books of the Stories from the Circle series: Know Thyself, Riesa, and Oxinopses, each of which, for a limited time, is available individually in paperback. Collectively they tell the story of the Caretakers of Existence, who are a rare and secret race of people who have been around since the spark of consciousness. On Earth, one is born only once every 3.14 years. These Caretakers grow to have great powers, some different than others. However, with enough training and experience, all learn how to see into the past and to know all the likely and unlikely futures that may unfold.

The whole purpose of their life and their powers is to make sure that existence (life) doesn’t end, which turns out to be a really precarious threat and always has been. In other words, when every generation has had its people that proclaim that the end of the world is near, all of those people were right, or would have been if not for the Caretakers. The way Caretakers make sure the world continues is through Caretaker Quests, which usually involve the need to change the circumstances of the world in order to affect future outcomes – and the Caretakers don’t just do this on Earth. Earth is just one world in a system of interconnected worlds that define life in the universe; all of the other worlds grow their own Caretakers too. When Caretakers reach a level of maturity in their training, they travel in consciousness to selves that they already are on other worlds, and in this way they live the lives of those other selves while undergoing Caretaker Quests to ensure that the world continues. In the series, each book focuses on a Caretaker Quest on a given world.

The series is written from the perspective of Miles Dean, who is an experienced Caretaker trying to convince his new apprentice, Luzciel, to accept her calling as the next Caretaker in their line. The problem is the bad guys of the series, the Breakers, who are driven by a desire to see existence come to an end, have learned how to affect young Caretakers in a way that makes them turn away from their calling, and the necessary spark that starts an apprentice Caretaker’s training is a conscious embrace of the calling. Luzciel won’t do that automatically, and so Miles has written to her about his own experiences as the apprentice to the previous Guiding Caretaker, Oliver.

How did this story come to you?


This story came to me very gradually. The first manifestation of it came during a creative writing class that I took at Cornell University in 1989. I always liked fantasy and paranormal fiction, so I wanted to give it a try. Pieces of it have come to me ever since then as I’ve built the nine books that complete the series.



What compelled you to write it?

I think enjoyment compelled me. When I read other people’s books, they end. When writing my own, they go on and expand, so the enjoyment continues. I’m also fascinated by the subjects of utopia and dystopia; my doctoral study centered on it, and writing about other worlds allows me to explore those concepts more easily than trying to force Earth’s baggage into them.


Who is your favorite character?

I like them all for different reasons, but Oliver is one of my favorites. He’s this wise and powerful Guiding Caretaker; one might call him an expert wizard. But he’s only just ascended to this important role that he’s spent most of his life training for. And even with all his powers, he still recognizes how much more he doesn’t know, and it makes him humble in his relative power. He shows a deeper complexity than the wizards in typical wizard-apprentice situations.


What was your favorite scene to write?

That’s a very difficult question, since the different stories take place on different worlds, each of which have many bizarre and thrilling scenes. I think any of the scenes where Miles reflects on how far he’s come would be my favorite. For instance, I love the scene when Miles arrives in his first alien body, on the world of Riesa, and he’s trying to come to grips with perception from this new viewpoint on a world that’s very different from Earth. Riesa is also pretty dystopian, so later in the book, when Miles has gotten used to being his Riesan self, he views a pretty horrific scene as if it’s pastoral, and then he catches himself, realizing how far from his Earth perceptions he’s traveled. Scenes like that are some of my favorites.


How long did it take you to write the story?

I’ve been working on all nine books in the series for more than twenty years. I took a break for a few years while I was in graduate school, but then I picked back up afterwards. It took me about three years to bring the three books of Apprentice to final draft form.


When was it released?

It was released in May of this year, 2010.


How is it available print e-book or both?

It’s available in print and on Kindle. It’ll be available through Barnes & Noble in epub format, for Nooks and such, by November.


Where can we find it online, or if print, where?

It can be ordered through any bookseller, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, storiesfromthecircle.com, etc.


What was your publishing experience like?

In the mid 1990s, when the series was very immature, I sent out many query letters and in fact was signed by an agent who worked hard to pitch it, but it never sold. It wasn’t ready yet. I received many high quality rejection letters, many of which helped steer me as I continued adding and revising over the next fifteen years. What is available now is self-published because I wanted to get the stories out there. I started Muse of Epics Publishing and worked through Lightning Source to print and distribute it. That, in itself, has been an amazing learning experience, and for the most part I’m glad I did it this way. The only downside is that many professional reviewers won’t touch it. Nevertheless, people are reading it and really liking it, and the word about it is spreading. If it catches on to where I’m fortunate enough to attract another agent, then that would be very satisfying. I do have six more books coming down the pike.


Where else can we find you online?

You can find me through storiesfromthecircle.com, and on Facebook and Twitter. Please be my friend on either of those.


Do you have any other upcoming publicity events that you'd like to share?
My next event will be on Saturday, November 6th. I’ll be a featured speaker at the Scottsdale Writer’s Expo at the Scottsdale Civic Center Library. I’ll be signing books too.


Any words of wisdom you'd like to share?

I think the best words of wisdom to authors would be to recognize that it’s a long road with books. Love writing for what it is, and if you love it, don’t stop (at least not permanently).

I’m inspired by the prospect of people reading my fiction, riding the ride I built. When people give me their reactions to it, even when it’s negative comment (it’s not for everyone), I get an amazing thrill. As for setting goals, it’s worthwhile, but it can’t be forced. If the writing isn’t coming and it’s a nice day, go enjoy the day. It might lead to the inspiration you need.

Great interview Jared!  Thank you so much, it's been a pleasure getting to know you and your work.  Keep us posted on the next books, we'd love to have you back on Page Readers!