I met Amber during a workshop sponsored by the Cisco Writers Club. This was my first experience with her style of writing, and it’s been great to read everything since. I have secured a spot on her coattails, and it is my plan to ride them when she hits her fame! ❤ She’s been a great friend. She’s always encouraging, ready to lend a hand. I know you’ll love her new Falling in Deep novella, Of Ocean and Ash.
On with the interview…
What authors do you like to read? Favorite saying about writing?
Oh wow. Uh. I have a long list of those. I can tell you succinctly who I do not like to read. 😉 I shall save that for a bonus. If people bug you about it, I will divulge my guilty secrets on who I avoid reading. Favorite saying? I believe Ernest Hemingway said “All first drafts are s**t” and “Write drunk, edit sober”, but my favorite is a twist on his last – “Write sober, edit drunk.”
You recently attended the DFW RT Conference. How did that go? Any advice for new conference attendees?
The RT Booklovers Conference was in a word – amazing. Completely overwhelming in every sense of the word. I even stalked and got stalked by Heather Graham, who is a lovely soul, by the way. Advice would be unless you are completely and utterly new to writing, don’t bother with (most of) the panels. Your money is better spent at the bar or at the social events meeting people. The reader events are a blast, and you get free books…and you meet readers. 🙂 I learned more by visiting with people than I did through any other avenue.
Tell us about Of Ocean and Ash.
You mean a blurb? You want me to write a blurb? Ack! *pokes out eyes* Let me get back to you after I finish a blurb. LOL 😉 {But she has one! Check it out below!}
Any advice to even newer writers (like me)?
You are not a newer writer, my friend. You’ve been at this longer. I just stuck my head out a teensy bit before you. 😉 {Thanks, Amber! ❤ ❤ }
Keep writing. Don’t ever stop. Don’t give a crap whether or not anyone likes it.
Hire an editor. You can have crappy everything else, but if you have bad editing, no one will forgive you.
Make friends with other writers. Actually be their friend. When you read something of theirs, and they ask for your opinion, give it – but give them ideas to strengthen the bits you didn’t like.
Learn to drink a little. You will need to throw back a glass of wine or two from time to time.
Don’t let them (your critics) see you cry. It’s like bleeding in the water with a bunch of sharks swimming around you. Get pissed off then write more.
Try not to read reviews. I know I’ll be guilty of this – all of this advice is just as much for my benefit as it is for yours.
The best way to sell your work is to have something to sell. Develop a backlist.
Don’t think that traditional publishing or self-publishing is entirely good or bad. They play well off of each other currently and hybrid authors are seeing great results doing both. Consider this when you have your choices laid out in front of you.
About Amber’s new release:
Of Ocean…
Cast into the sea at birth, human-born Ia found her adoptive family among the merfolk. While her underwater upbringing was peaceful, Ia’s blood-heritage and the strict societal rules of the merpeople lead her to wonder of the world above the waves.
And Ash…
When a storm lands Ia ashore, she discovers her body has transformed into the human she would have been. Taken in as property by a callous plantation owner, Ia works alongside the slaves until she can make her way back to the water. There is nothing Ia wants more than to go home, that is, until she meets a handsome, troubled man named Matthias, who has a touch that can be as kind as his tongue is harsh.
Torn between two very different lives, Ia must choose – stay in his world and risk her life for a love untested, or return to the familiar arms of the underwater world that raised her and risk losing what may be the greatest love she will ever know.
Will Ia’s choice lead to her happiness or her destruction?
Make your library happy here
Author Amber (A.R.) Draeger specializes in macabre, fantastical fiction, spreading her interest across multiple genres including horror, sci-fi, fantasy, romance, and thriller. Her debut romance novella, Of Ocean and Ash, to be published in the Blazing Indie Collective’s Falling in Deep Collection, will be released June 9th, 2015. Her debut horror/thriller/sci-fi novella,Daughters of Men, to be published in association with Bathory Gate Press, will follow in Summer 2015. She resides in rural Texas with her husband and son.
Talk to Amber (:
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Love mermaids? Looking for a great beach read? The Falling in Deep Collection, a collection of 15 unique tales of creatures of the deep, is rolling out the first novella in their collection at the end of May.
From mermaids to sirens, Miami to Athens, dark paranormal romance to contemporary stories with steam, the fifteen award-winning and best-selling authors of the Falling in Deep Collection are bringing you mermaid tales like you’ve never seen before.
Every week beginning May 26th, 2015, we’ll be releasing one unique, never-before-published novella! Each novella will feature our favorite creature of the deep: mermaids.
The Falling in Deep Collection (May – September Releases)
Ink: A Mermaid Romance by Melanie Karsak
Of Ocean and Ash by A. R. Draeger
Deep Breath by J. M. Miller
At the Heart of the Deep by Carrie Wells
The Mermaid’s Den by Ella Malone
How to be a Mermaid by Erin Hayes
The Glass Mermaid by Poppy Lawless
An Officer & a Mermaid by Blaire Edens
The Water is Sweeter by Eli Constant
Cold Water Bridegroom by B. Brumley
A Beyond the Sea Prequel by Emily Goodwin
Immersed by Katie Hayoz
Siren’s Kiss by Margo Bond Collins
To Each His Own by Anna Albergucci
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hat authors do you like to read? Favorite saying about writing?
About the author: Melanie Karsak is the author of the Amazon best-selling The Airship Racing Chronicles, The Harvesting Series, and The Saga of Lady Macbeth. She grew up in rural northwestern Pennsylvania and earned a Master’s degree in English from Gannon University. A steampunk connoisseur, white elephant collector, and zombie whisperer, the author currently lives in Florida with her husband and two children. She is an Instructor of English at Eastern Florida State College.
{Bokerah} 