Hard Work for the Love of Writing: Author Interview with Chris Behrens

You recently published your third picture book, which is about basketball. What inspired you to write that book?

This is my second picture book, but my third children's book. I have a chapter book and two picture books. This basketball book was inspired by my award-winning poem about basketball. In 2023, my basketball poem received an award from Writer's Digest. I wanted to do more with it, so I explored picture books based on poems and felt I could create a unique book of my own. 

I added fun facts to each page, and all the reviews are loving those tidbits! The poem was inspired by my lifelong love of hoops, especially the annual March Madness basketball tournament. Around 2010-11, as I was completing my bachelor's degree, I was working on several creative projects. One being the poem. For several years, I would tinker with it every March and loved doing so, but in 2023, I decided it was time to finish it!

Tell my readers about the story. 
The book is about the love of basketball. It's about the heartbeat of the game and the love of the game. It's sort of a love letter to the game from every basketball player who loves the game and has lived on the court. Many of the pages also teach the game to those who may not know it very well. Of course, the wonderful illustrations by Bryan Werts bring it all to life!

What are your writing goals for 2026?
I have two writing projects that I started years ago. One is a picture book about Joan of Arc. My research will bring to light a unique perspective on her life that has yet to be seen. The other project is a novella/short novel based on my short story: The Paladin. That story was praised by Lorian Hemingway during her 2010 short story contest. She loved the story and sent me a personal email after the contest. We corresponded for many months after that. What a treat that was, to have contact with Ernest's granddaughter!

What’s the best encouragement you’ve had in your writing? 
Too many to list just one! But, the majority of my initial support and encouragement came from my writing professors at Dominican College, now a University! Professor Stephanie Stiles, Phd, was extremely instrumental in my creative pursuits. In her creative writing class, she pushed all the students to write and encouraged us to keep going. I actually had some struggles early on in her class, but by the end, I had created the story that Lorian Hemingway praised. It was born in Stiles' class.

Stiles's instruction and encouragement were the boost I needed to keep going after graduation! Professors Jim Ryan, Ellen Dolgin, Phd, Sister Nevins, and others kept pushing me and encouraging me to keep writing! I took many classes at DC at various times and on various days, but it all began with their "Weekend College" program! It was a very unique program that doesn't exist anymore. I am so thankful for that program.

Marketing is the biggest key to making sales. What is the best marketing source you've used that has produced more sales rather than just clicks? 
I am still working on this side of things. I never really focused on the marketing, as I was always so busy with the creative side. I am currently trying Amazon Ads and will continue to evaluate the opportunities to gain more sales. I believe the industry is overly saturated now that publishing has become so easy. I have heard many authors complain about slow sales...it's tough!

What do you know now about writing you wished you had known sooner? 
I think I wish I knew more about setting up Ads on Amazon or other sites, and also how to pre-order and push your books way in advance!

What is the best writing advice you’ve received or could give? 
The best advice is that it is work. There is no magic to it. Flat-out work. The harder you work, the better you'll get...period! And also to be consistent when you are working on something. Sit and work at it every day, even if the words don't flow sometimes, because they will if you stick with it every day. A piece of advice I can offer is to try researching when you're stuck. It has worked like a charm for me in all that I write.

Are there any other points about writing you would like to add? 
Enjoy it! Even though it is work, if you don't enjoy it, then why do it? Especially, enjoy any and all successes you have. Celebrate, share, and repeat and repeat!

Here's a link to the wonderful review I received from Kirkus for another of my books. 

https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/c-behrens/alexander-hamiltons-wish-for-battlefield-glory/

That's all for today's interview. To learn more about Chris's books, use the link below.

https://www.amazon.com/stores/C.-Behrens/author/B00JLXNKY0

And here's a couple of special bonuses for my readers...Books for middle-grade and YA readers:  https://books.bookfunnel.com/middlegrademarch/mfa6qpgxdr

If you like clean and sweet romances, you can get a few freebies here, but only through 3/6/26

https://books.bookfunnel.com/freereadswithabby

Set your Goals and Do What You Love Author Interview with Ann T Bugg

Just in case you were wondering, The name for this author is a pen name and I love how that name came about. According to her bio, she had been known as June-Bug for a good part of her life. When the first of her friends had a baby, the mother handed her and said, “Here’s your Auntie Bug.” Every kid from that point on who entered her life called  her Auntie Bug - an easy name to spell as Ann T Bugg! Now read on to learn of her writing journey for her eight MG novels.

What inspired you to write your first MG novel? And why the MG genre? 
The inspiration for the story is exactly how book one begins. We lived on a small hobby farm with an old barn. When we found the old mirror, the story just spilled. The main characters are based on my daughter and her best friend. I don’t even change their names. LOL Every smarty-pants little “ditty” they have ever done has made its way into the books. They couldn’t be any more night and day and made writing the characters fun. Valerie was in third grade when I started it, so I used her age as my audience.

Did you start with the idea of doing a series? Or did that come later?
When I started, I had no idea I would bring book one to an end, let alone know that those girls would lead me all the way to eight. I would write a chapter, my daughter would read it, then she said, “Hurry up and write another!” That was the best encouragement I had. Once I said, “It has to wait. I have to feed the horses,” she said, “I’ll do it! You write!” She had NEVER volunteered to do that before.

Some series keep their lead characters constantly at the same age. What made you decide to let your characters grow up?
The stories follow true to life, so I guess I didn’t have much of a choice. They’d get together each summer and go on these adventures, so they had to get older. As much as we try to keep them young, our wee ones have to grow up. I was afraid I was writing myself out of my audience but learned that much older kids and even ladies my mother’s age were enjoying the fun, clean read. I love fairy tales re-told. I was thrilled when Once Upon a Time came out. I swore by the last season they were reading my books! LOL Who else could mash up Captain Nemo and Hades??

Your current books are indie-published. What do you do and what do you hire out? 
When I had three books written and a little hidden page about them on my women’s fiction website, a publisher actually approached me. They were small and there were several red flags, but my daughter was too excited – I couldn’t say no. It ended up not working out at all and we parted ways. Once I got my rights back, I had to keep going. No publisher will look at your books once they have been published. I had too many stories to tell to just let them end.

My daughter is my cover artist – hence the added excitement of who I went with. With many publishers, you have no say whatsoever about your covers. They were excited for her work and extremely happy to have her do them. She was just nine when she did book number one. I got book eight out of her before she went to college. She now makes a living doing 3D avatars for Virtual Reality so I don’t know if I can get her to do another. There’s quite a waiting list for her work and apparently, Mom has no pull. ;)

Initially I did pay a gal to format, but once again was let down, so I ended up learning it all myself. I’m much happier with my final product and have even done some for writer friends. I love adding special details.

This year I did have a friend update the font on my covers and I’ve had a fresh set of eyes on some minor tweaks, so I’m thrilled to be re-releasing them with updates. I’m excited for the first time in a long time about this series again.

What is the hardest part of writing for you? 
In all honesty, WRITING is the easy part for me. My characters always run the show. I’ve never had writer’s block and I think that’s why. I don’t plot things out and have to worry how to get there – it just happens.  It’s everything after THE END that is the tough part. Some people who have known me for years don't know I write. I’m my own worst marketer.

What’s the best encouragement you’ve had in your writing?
E-mails from fans are what keeps me going. Just when you think you’re ready to throw in the towel, someone tells you “Thanks for the cry!” or “This is my new favorite book!” or something like that. I don’t take praise well for anything, but it’s nice to hear now and then that your work is reaching (or touching) someone.

What do you know now about writing you wished you had known sooner?
I wish I had the patience to shrug off the rejections and wait for that agent. I had one calling after I had already signed with a small press, and I always wonder where I’d be.

What is the best writing advice you’ve received or could give?
You definitely need a writing related support system. The best thing to ever happen to me was finding Absolute Write. They are a wonderful community with answers to everything. It saved me from almost signing with a terrible vanity press. Do your background work on anyone asking for your work. You NEVER pay to get published. 

Although I haven’t been there for years, I am friends with about 100 authors on Facebook and have met several in person. Writers are weird. We need to stick with our own kind.  Of course your best friend or mom will gush over your book, but you need someone with some experience to tell you what you need to fix. Your 1^st draft is never what you are going to send to an agent. (or 10th!)

Are there any other points about writing you would like to add?
I think the main thing is to just write. There is no one correct way to get through the process. I’m a “pantser,” plotters don’t get that. Neither one of us is right nor wrong. You have to do what works for you. I write start to end, then fill in the blanks. Some re-read every paragraph until it’s perfect. I’d lose momentum (and my mind) if I did that. 

Don’t let someone tell you “You can’t start it without a title.” Um….that comes last almost always for me. ‘You’re not a writer if….” No. I had joined RWA because I was told “You’re not a real romance writer if you’re not in RWA.” Then it was “You’re not really in RWA until you go to a convention…” Just no. You set your goals and do what you love. 

If you want to be published, do your homework. Do the best you can, polish it up, get lots of feedback, pay a good editor. I actually have lots of writing/editing tips on my women’s fiction site. See the * below. I’ll include that at the end. By all means, read up on what you can and absorb tips but don’t let someone tell you that you’re doing it wrong. Just write if that’s what's making you happy.

What is the next book coming out? 
Currently, I don’t have another book in this series being released soon. There is a prequel that has been unfinished for years and notes on one where I take them to Maui (my home). I had planned that before Moana and now…I don’t know. There were not many similarities (like I wrote my #2 before Tangled came out) but my women’s fiction has been demanding my time lately. And with it being iffy about my daughter doing a cover, I won’t do it without her. So, we’ll see.

Quick fun fact, the Samantha from the series is actually on my latest release in my women’s fiction – Love You More. It’s been so fun to watch them grow up.

Through the Mirror and Into Snow is FREE right now at all e-book retailers.

That's all for today's interview.  I encourage you to get her first book in the series as a freebie. I've read it and it was a fun read and I love her characterizations of classic fairy tale heroines. If you'd like to learn more about the other books in the series or her women's fiction, here are the links to get you started.

MG books website: https://www.beforehappilyeverafter.com/
Women’s fiction website: https://www.junekramin.com/
(*Writing/Editing tips page is a separate tab there)
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AnnTBugg
Newsletter sign up: https://www.beforehappilyeverafter.com/News

Going from Indie-Published to Traditional: An Interview with Paul Mosier

What drew you to write Middle-Grade stories?
I started to find the idea of writing for amiddle grade appealing while reading to my own daughters, who are now 8 and 13. Specifically, reading Junonia by Kevin Henkes made me think about how it's possible to write a story for ten-year-olds with enough emotional depth to be satisfying as an adult author.

How do you find the voice for your young age characters without writing down to them?
I feel very connected to my younger self-- Iremember very much how it feels to be that age, but I think that writing smart characters that feel and understand more than adults might realize is just a matter of being respectful to the audience.

How long did it take you to write your first book? How many rewrites did you do on it? Who helped you with the editing? Who encouraged you along the way? The first book I wrote, the grown-up Breakfast At Tuli's, I coughed up for NaNoWriMo in November of 2011. Obviously, that took one month, but then I spent the next 9 months revising and adding to it. Next, I paid an editor to help clean it up, and in backward fashion, then brought it to a writer's group a couple of times per week until it was completely workshopped. 

Those people became my comrades, my colleagues, and helped me get it to its final form. They also provided me with encouragement in their enjoyment of it. I continue attending that workshop, as often as four times per week, and see it as an indispensable part of my development and of the process. As I tend to be economical, my novels have always grown during the editing process!

Your first two books were indie-published Did you go through the normal process of pitching your book to agents and traditional publishers? What feedback did you get?
I tried to get representation for my first three books, two of which I have self-published. I'm quite proud of them, though no doubt they could benefit from a high-level edit such as Train I Ride has received. I got more than 100 rejection letters from agents for Breakfast At Tuli's, but also a fair amount of encouragement, which I think was very important for feeding my persistence. 

A few Big League agents said they loved my voice, but that my story wasn't right for their list, which I heard so many times. But it's true. That novel is a bit of a freak show, and the agents didn't think they had relationships that would acquire it. It's hard to imagine selling it. 

Ultimately I turned to Createspace. It was pretty easy to use, there was no investment required, I'm an artist so I could paint my own cover art, and produce and find a limited audience for my labor of love. Which is what it is all about, first and foremost. Those books still get new readers, and I think my big five book deal may expand their reach.

I’ve often heard at writing conferences from agents and editors that if you go the indie route you will never get a contract with a legacy publisher such as Harper Collins. How did you do that? What made your book stand out?
My contract with Harper Collins came via my amazing agent, Wendy Schmalz. The first time I queried her was for Train I Ride, and she offered representation, then took 15 days to find two of the majors wanting it. I think it's true that with few exceptions a publisher such as HC won't want something you already self-published and sold to your 100 closest friends, but I think that having a few books under your belt actually makes you look more appealing. If they love your novel, they hope there's more where it came from. 

If you've already written and self-published a few, it's more likely that you can keep doing it. And it's understandable and expected that your work will get better as you keep writing and develop your talents as a writer. As to what makes Train I Ride stand out, I cannot say, but it isn't a book that is trying to follow any trend, which I think would tend to work against a book standing out. The story makes me feel a lot, and that seems to be the case with lots of readers.

We have all experienced rejection. Give me an example of one you’ve had, and how you learned to write past it.
As previously stated, I had well over a hundred rejections for my first three novels, and I've also had my editor say no to what I hoped would become the second book of my contract, twice. They view the second book on the big stage as the most important of your career, so they choose very carefully on that one. But having had it demonstrated to me that there are lots of stories where the earlier ones came from, and having personally risen from the ashes many times already, writing is always what feels best. It is its own reward.

What is some of the best writing advice that you’ve received or could give?
My best advice about writing-- what has worked for me-- is that one doesn't need to see the whole story, or even more than the first line-- to begin. I think that planning too much in advance can prevent one from hearing your muse, and the muse never stops whispering. So many times I have been surprised by my own stories, and that's about as good as it gets. Planning in advance can't give you that. I try to put on paper the scene playing in my head, even if it's out of order. And it usually is-- I tend not to write chronologically.

What is the next book that will be coming out? Can you give me a short synopsis?
It looks likely that the next book to come out from Harper Collins will be one called Echo's Sister, which is a departure for me in that it's informed by my own experience, or rather my 8-year-old daughter's experience fighting cancer, as told by her big sister. It has a happy ending. But my editor and I are still rather far apart on it, so there is a chance that it will not be published.

The next book they would consider would be Summer and July, about a gothic girl filled with fake phobias who meets a prototypical, adventurous California Girl while living(reluctantly) in Santa Monica for a month. As my contract is middle-grade, the protagonist and her friend are nearly thirteen. I guess I'd say it's about two friends helping each other through emotionally difficult times. It's also a summer crush story set in a seaside town, with skateboarding and boogie boarding and surfing, etc. It was inspired by the sense of place of the Ocean Park neighborhood of Santa Monica, where my family stayed for a week last summer. 

What message would you like parents and children to take away from your stories?Generally, I don't have a message or an agenda that I want to present. Instead, I think that exploring a story teaches me something, and if I've done my job well, that will be visible to the reader, too. I think any legitimate artistic experience teaches the artist something she wasn't asking to be taught, and the product is a roadmap of that discovery. 

I can't see past the hood ornament of the car I'm driving, but I trust that if I listen to the muse things will work out. But I would say my stories are evidence of my respect and affection for the female gender, my love for humanity in all it's flawed glory, especially marginalized characters, and-- as it becomes apparent the more you read of me-- that I like bebop jazz, opera, vegetarian food, and Beat Poets in particular. I also tend to embed beloved lyrics in my work! Everything I do is an homage to something else.

That's all for today's interview. If you would like to know more about Paul's current books and future works, here are some options for you. Click to open in new hyperlink.
Amazon author page: http://amzn.to/2lzWU62
Facebook page: http://bit.ly/2lzZ9WI

The Secret to Writing for Kids: Author Interview with Annabelle Fisher

What inspired you to write The Secret Destiny of Pixie Piper? 
I hope it’s okay to say that the story arrived before I understood where it came from. I only realized after I’d completed the first draft, that I was embroidering upon my family history. In the story, fifth grade poet, Pixie Piper, has always felt different. When her mother reveals she’s a descendant of Mother Goose, Pixie is anxious for details. But her mother was orphaned very early and doesn’t know anything – except that the ‘Goose Ladies’ may be coming for her.

Once I began thinking about Mrs. Piper’s backstory, I realized that she had a lot in common with my mother, who was also an orphan. She lived in an orphanage until age seven, when she was sent to live with relatives who didn’t speak English. She couldn’t understand them and I’m certain she never heard a single Mother Goose rhyme in their home. Yet, when I was little, she taught me dozens of them. I can still recite them, too.

Who encouraged you along the way?
Although my mother passed away a while ago, I get encouragement from another relative, my cousin, who teaches fourth grade. She read several drafts of The Secret Destiny to her class and gave me great feedback.

Prior to this book, what was your publishing and writing background? 
I’ve written nine other books for middle grade readers under a different name. The Secret Destiny of Pixie Piper is my first full-fledged fantasy, so I decided to use my mother’s name, Annabelle Fisher.

Are you active with any children’s writers groups?

I’ve belonged to SCBWI ever since I began writing for children. I taught writing for children and YA’s in the Graduate Writing Department of Manhattanville College for twelve years. I also lead workshops for children, teens, and adults.

You are published by Greenwillow Books, an imprint of Harper Collins. How did that happen? 
I sent The Secret Destiny of Pixie Piper out to two publishers. Greenwillow came in with an offer first. I believe it happened in two weeks. Amazing!

I love the whimsy of your front cover. Did you have much say in the way it would look?I love the cover, too. Actually, it was a complete surprise. But the illustrator, Natalie Andrewson, was just right for Pixie.

What frustrated you the most in writing this book? 
The Secret Destiny of Pixie Piper is a humorous book. But it’s hard to be funny all the time. My editor kept urging me to keep it up. And I’m glad she did.

What surprised you the most about the process?
The wonderful thing about writing Pixie’s story was how many times the characters surprised me. They often acted in ways I wasn’t expecting -- kinder, meaner, braver, or more impulsive. Sometimes I felt like their companion, rather than their creator.

What do you know now about writing and publishing you wish you had learned sooner?
To be patient with myself, the process, and the folks on the other side of the desk.

What message would you like parents and children to take away from your books?Two things: Be kind and be open to wonder

What’s the best writing tip you’ve learned or been given that you’d like to share?
When you think you’re done, do one more revision.

What other works do you have in progress?
A sequel to The Secret Destiny of Pixie Piper will come out next Spring. It’s called Pixie Piper and the Matter of the Batter.

Any last words or tips?
Thank you for asking me to this interview!

That's the end for this week's interview. If you'd to know more about this book and other upcoming ones, here's some ways to get you started.
www.Amazon.com
www.annabellefisher.com
email:annabellefisherbooks@gmail.com