Music and Books with Willsin Rowe

My first musician interview!

Recently I did an interview with author Katie Salidas.  Katie co-authored a book series called The Consummate Therapy series with another Facebook friend of mine, Willsin Rowe.  Willsin lives down in Australia and was kind enough to answer a few questions for my blog!

Willsin is multi-talented and will be the first musician I've ever interviewed!  It was a thrill to hear back from him!  So here are the questions I asked:

How long did your first book take to write?

Oh, gosh. My first book came together in about three weeks. It was only a short-ish story, about 12,000 words, and it was for a competition (which I won!)

I know you’re not only a writer, but also a musician.  Do you ever apply music to your writing?

Oh, definitely. Though they’re not yet published, and in some cases not yet written, I have several music-based stories. Some involving bands, some involving fans, and of course, some involving both! I find that I often tend to include musical terminology in descriptions as well.

Have specific songs ever inspired any of your stories?

Actually, yes! My favourite band is Big Country. Obviously, they’re not all that well known outside of Britain (except for one particular song). Here in Australia they’re almost forgotten. But a track from their final studio album, Driving To Damascus, inspired me to write a piece of dark, semi-paranormal flash erotica. The song is called “Grace”, and my story has the same name. It’s not a published story, but I did win an award on an erotica forum for it.

How did you first meet Katie Salidas?

It was through a mutual friend, Jenna Alexander. She and Katie were both blogging at Coffee-Fueled Erotica, and when Jenna decided to leave she asked me to take her place, which I was honoured to do.

Once you and Katie met, how did you end up working together on your Consummate Therapy series?

It took us nearly three years before we tried true co-authoring. Almost from the beginning we critiqued each other’s stories, and we worked together on other parts of publishing as well. I made some covers for Katie and gave her some pointers on her own promo designs. Katie gave me oodles of help with HTML and marketing areas. Then, when we realised we both had stories we couldn’t quite finish, we figured we should pool resources and drive each other onward.

How was your experience writing with Katie?

It’s been hugely beneficial. By co-writing, we’ve each found out a little more about our own strengths and weaknesses. There’s more compromise, of course, since we each have different boundaries, which comes in part from being opposite genders, and also from being in different countries. But the compromises have worked to help us tighten up our writing. I’ve certainly been far more prolific in recent months than at any point in the past, and that’s mostly down to the discipline that came from co-writing with Katie.

Check out the first book in Willsin and Katie's series with the above link!

Tell us a bit about your music and where we can find you.  Can we find your band on Youtube, or buy your music anywhere?

My band is called The Medicine Show. We’re a dirty blues/folk/country/punk kinda band. Tom Waits and Nick Cave are huge influences to us, but we also employ talking blues elements, and folk traditions, as well as old-time Delta blues and prison songs. I’ve made a few music videos which are up on Youtube, and we also have a profile on Bandcamp, where our 8-track album is on sale.

Our Youtube videos are on this channel: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL26E5282660DE0285

Excellent!  Click the link above to see The Medicine Show Youtube channel!  Very cool to be able to see this!  Absolutely fantastic videos!

Once you like what you see, click the link below to check out and maybe buy some Medicine Show music!  Help support a really good blue collar band!

And our Bandcamp profile is here: http://themedicineshow.bandcamp.com

And before we go, I always have to ask:

Are you working on anything at the moment?

Well, in addition to writing and music, I’m also a book cover artist. I’ve made around 300 covers for people over the past 3-4 years. I have a few long-standing clients like Selena Kitt and Jason Halstead who keep me busy a lot of the time! But I’m also spending time crafting some sweet romantic erotica under a different pen name! Supah-sekrit stuff, though!

Many thanks to Willsin for this interview!  I wish him the best of luck with his music, book covers (I may end up contacting him one day myself!) and of course, his writing.

Vampire time: A visit with author Katie Salidas

Vampires

Well, we're almost to the end of September and Halloween will be coming soon.  October is always a fun month and for today's blog I thought I would highlight one of my author friends who writes about vampires.  She's created a whole world and written a series called Immortalis.  I've really enjoyed Katie's books and think her series is really good.  Before we see Katie's interview though, take a look at this if you have a Kindle.  The first book in her series is free for the Kindle.  Yes, I just said FREE!  So if you like vampires at all, give her first book a look, you won't regret it:

So now that I've put up a link to her first Immortalis book, let's have a chat with Katie!

How long did your first book take to write?

The first book (Immortalis Carpe Noctem) was 5 years from first word to published. That was the longest, hardest book to write. The rest of the series sort of grew up around it as if it wanted to be written. I loved how easy the other books came to me. There are 6 total in my Immortalis series. 

How did you get into self publishing?

After submitting books and waiting endless hours for responses, and not to mention seeing other authors publishing their work all around me, I decided to dip my toes into the waters of Self-Publishing. I have to say I am really happy that I made the decision to take the plunge and go it alone. I have learned so much about the process as well as enjoyed a very personal one-to-one relationship with my readers. I often ask them what they want to see in my next book as well as to let me know if they find any mistakes I can correct in already published works. 

How long had your first book been published before you started writing the second book in the series?

I started writing book 2 (Hunters & Prey) almost immediately. It was published around 6 months later.

Do you ever get negative feedback about the way you portray your vampires and werewolves?

I’ve had some negative and some positive. All opinions are valid and welcome. You’re free to love or hate my work (as long as you read it.) and I take  feedback very seriously when continuing on with the series.

You have quite a series going with Immortalis.  How many books total are in the series, including the spin offs?

6 total books. 4 featuring the Main character, Alyssa. Then 2 of them (in the same linear time line) focusing on secondary charccters. These were written at reader request. 

If I were to ask you which Immortalis book was your favorite, do you even have a favorite?

Oh no. I can’t pick a favorite. I love them all in their own special ways. It’s like asking a mother to pick a favorite child. Just not a possibility. 

Promotion is a really tough part of being a writer.  Is it ever difficult for you when you do book signings, or things like that?  I’ve been to a couple of your signings and you always seemed very charismatic to me.

Something most people don’t know about me… I’m an introvert. The biggest roadblock for me is actually being at the signing and smiling and chatting people up. I am so shy and so reserved, it takes all I have to be able to do it. But, I do. That’s the hardest thing for me. Just doing it! 

Do you have more fun writing the good guys, or the bad guys?

I love writing the fights between good and bad. I love the anger, the feelings, the good vs. evil. That’s the most fun. Good without evil is boring as is the opposite. 

What inspired you to write the book Go Publish Yourself?

Go Publish Yourself came about because my editor suggested it. She had lots of questions about what I do and how I do it and after a series of “How To” blog posts, Go Publish Yourself was born. 

You also have a series called Consummate Therapy which you co-author with Willsin Rowe.  How did you get involved in this project with Willsin?

Willsin and I have worked together for years. He is my cover artist, blogging buddy, and critique partner. It was almost natural progression that we decided to write something fun together. And the reception has been wonderful. 

Can you tell us about your experience writing with Willsin?

Willsin and I have worked together for so long that we have an almost intuition about what the other will say/do. Even before working together on a project we have offered each other “sounding board” type of creative help. That said, writing with him has really been effortless. And, not to mention, fun!

With Willsin living in Australia and you in America, how did you two meet?  And how did you get started writing together?

Willsin and I met on a blog called Coffee Fueled Erotica. We were blogger buddies first and a friendship bloomed. In today’s internet age, distance really isn’t much of a factor anymore. We’re as close as an email away. 

How did the two of you come up with the Consummate Therapy series?

It started with an idea I had about a character. A type A control freak in need of a little stress relief. I took this character, Natasha, to Willsin and he helped me shape the nature of the stress relief. This was inspired a bit by the 50 shades craze. 

Are you working on anything at the moment, or just taking it easy and enjoying a bit of peace before your next writing project?

I’m working on a super secret story at the moment. Can’t give to many details at the moment, but I do hope to have it ready by early next year

Ok, that was my short little interview with author Katie Salidas!  Someday maybe I'll get the chance to do a video interview with her.  Not quite possible at the moment, but you never know what the future holds!  (Katie is one of my writing heroes being a successful independent author!)

Katie has so many books out that it would take a while for me to put the links to them all on the blog.  So I'll post her Amazon profile page and from there you can get to all of her books!  Just click on her name below and you'll be on your way to some great reading!

Katie Salidas

Also make sure you visit the site Written in Blood to see what Katie is up to at the moment! (You may have to copy and paste the link below for that.)  Many thanks to Katie for being my blog guest today!

http://www.katiesalidas.com