Meet G Lloyd Helm: Author World Without End

1. What or who inspired you to start writing?

I'm not really sure what got me started. I do remember thinking about writing books all the way back when I was in Junior High school, but Inever really tried writing stories until college. I was sort of inspiredby a high school teacher named Esther Brinkley, but that was a sort of mixed inspiration?either become a writer/artist or a murderer.

2. How did you come up with your idea for World Without End?

I was raised in a Christian Home and School and so got the basis of my life from those teachings, but I am also a philosopher who started to wonder how a lot of those concepts I was taught as a child might apply to the realworld first and to the world of fiction second. Truth be told I am nearlyas crazy as Joshua Gordon when it comes to belief in the actuality of mycreation. Forneria, the world Joshua created exists out there somewhere because the California I created for Joshua and John and Katherine and all the others to exist in actually exists out in the ether somewhere as well as in my fevered imagination. And of course I stole the title from theGloria Patri which is used in a lot of different churches ?Glory be to theFather, and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning,is now and ever shall be, World without End, Amen, Amen.?

3. What expertise did you bring to your writing?

Years of study of religion and philosophy as well as a degree in History and an absolutely insatiable curiosity about the limits of creation?and more than forty years of scribbling stories and poetry.

4. What would you want your readers to know about you that might not be inyour bio?

Not too much really. My life has been pretty much an open book for a lot of years. The major thing which is implied but not out-right said is that none of this would have been possible without the continual support of my wife of forty years. No matter what else I ever accomplish in my life the epitaph on my tomb-stone will read ?...He married Well.?

5. As far as your writing goes, what are your future plans?

To just keep at it. I am a creator and there is just no help for it. Ihave written three novels and dozens of short stories and poems so, though I sometimes ask myself why the hell I keep punishing myself with writing?and worse, punishing myself with hope of getting published? I keep at it all the same.

6. If you could be one of the characters from this book, who would it be and why?The simple answer of course is that I?m Joshua?but the true answer, and I think this is true with everyone who has ever put pen to paper to create anovel, I am every character in the book good guys and bad guys.

7. Can you give us a sneak peak into this book?

I?m not exactly sure what you mean by a sneak peak. I could give you the prologue or a chapter, but that would probably just confuse the matter because the book covers so much territory concerning creation?both the creation of this world and the creation of the world of Forneria. What it boils down to is that sometimes when a writer creates a story he makes it so real that a person who reads that story gets sucked into the story in such a way that the world of the story becomes ?real? to them. I know that seems a little esoteric but think about the times you have sat down with abook and were so swallowed up in that story that hours passed without your having noticed them.

8. Do you belong to a critique group? If so how does this help or hinder your writing?

I do belong to a critique group and have belonged to several down the years. The first one was a college class that was a wonderful learning experience. I even describe the class in WWE. All you had to do to get an A was turn in a thousand words a week or a hundred lines of poetry, thenthe class critiqued the work. The one I am in now is a bunch of writers who are trying to be professionals so we are pretty hard on one another. Generally I think the group helps me. It certainly teaches one to toughen up. And just the act of reading your work aloud to a bunch of other people is helpful. There is no way quicker to discover clumsy construction or badwording that to try to read the stuff out loud.

9. When did you first decide to submit your work? Please tell us what orwho encouraged you to take this big step?

I aways intended from the very beginning to submit anything I wrote (If Ithought it was as good as what I was currently reading) to publishers. And I wrote intending to try to make money at it because I believe what Ben Johnson said a couple of centuries ago, ?No one but a fool ever wrote for any reason save money.? Of course that makes me sound like a crass hack and there is some of that in me, but there is also the desire to tell people what I believe to be the way the universe really is or perhaps howit could be.

10. What is the best and worst advice you ever received? (regarding writingor publishing)

The best advice I ever got was, ?Don?t do this. It will eventually bringyou pain.? I ignored that good advice and here I am. And it was indeed correct. Writing has indeed brought me great pain in many ways, but it has also brought me immeasurable satisfaction. I can?t remember any really bad advice?or maybe the ?Don?t do this...? was both the best and the worstmixed together.

11. Do you outline your books or just start writing?

I don?t do outlines on paper. I tried it a couple of times and it seemed very strictured and I never finished the books. What I do generally is Iknow the beginning, and something about the middle and then I have a good idea about the end before I start writing. Now sometimes the middle will change a bit and so will the end but I start out with them in mind.

12. Anything else you might want to add?

Not really. Maybe my website for the publishing company I put together to publish my first novel. It has ended up being a great thing because I have published the Antelope Valley Anthologies for the last six years which has given a lot of poets and writers a shot at being published who might not have ever gotten the chance other wise. The website address iswww.mouseprintspublishing.com

Coffee Time gives Allura 4 cups

Check out the entire review for Allura at Coffe Time Romance.

http://www.coffeetimeromance.com/BookReviews/Allura.html

"I really enjoyed this book by Christine Young. It has mystery, humor and, whew, steamy love scenes! An awesome group of characters make this read very entertaining, from the tough as nails Allura to her meddlesome younger sister, Aiden. There is never a dull moment throughout this book and you will surely not be disappointed. I can only hope that some of my favorites get a story of their own. Well done Ms. Young."

New Review: Megan's Legacy by K.J. Dahlen

Check out this new review of Megan's Legacy by Stevi B. Manic Readers gives this book a 4.

"I loved Meghan’s spunkiness and willful refusal to let the bad guy win yet again. If you like spooky stories, true evil bad guys, and spunky heroines, you will like Meghan’s Legacy!"

http://manicreaders.com/index.cfm?disp=reviews&bookid=4851

New review: RAT by Melody Tink

I never know what to expect when I see a title of a book, especially one with the title Rat. Well, Melody Tink does a great job story telling. Elanor(Rat) is such a well rounded character who grows throughout the entire story. Check out the entire review at: http://yougottareadreviews.blogspot.com/2009/11/review-rat-by-melody-tink.html

Giving Thanks

With the start of the holiday season, we at RPP would like to take the time to wish all our authors a prosperous and enjoyable time with their families and loved ones. Our year as well as the next will be filled to overflowing. We have welcomed a new member to our family (Friday the 13th day in November) and are looking forward to June when we will welcome another new baby. A wedding celebration this spring is also on our agenda. A young man our youngest daughter met in Athens when she went abroad to study will be coming to America and joining our family. We are looking forward to learning from him about different cultures and perhaps new languages. These changes and additions to our family will be anticipated with love and joy. Thanks to all our family members as well as our publishing family for helping to make this year special.

Meet Rosemary Indra: Author of A Wife For Jay Prescott

1. What or who inspired you to start writing? I read a romance book and I didn't like the way it was written. I was very naive and thought I could write a better story. Then I learned writing a book was harder than I thought. I joined Romance Writers of American, attended conferences, workshops and meetings which helped me along my journey.

2. How did you come up with your idea for A Wife for Jay Prescott? A Wife for Jay Prescott as with most of my stories I see the first scene. This scene is usually the strongest and most visual. In this case, I wondered how a man would feel if he thought he was interested in a woman much older than himself.

4. What would you want your readers to know about you that might not be in your bio? Unlike a lot of the writers I've meet over the years, I did not like reading when I was younger. As a matter of fact, when I was in school I struggled with reading and writing. One day my mom gave me a romance book and I discovered a whole new world. I realized I not only liked reading I developed a passion for reading. My grades in college were not very good partly because of my poor writing skills and the fact I was always reading a romance novel and not the required reading material. Now, I always have a stack of books by my bed or one stuffed in my purse because I have to read. My passion for reading has lead me to my passion for writing. My suggestion for everyone is to find your passion and see where it leads you.

5. As far as your writing goes, what are your future plans? Writing is a great creative outlet for me. As long as I have story ideas I plan to keep writing. Future books depend on what stories intrigue me.

6. If you could be one of the characters from this book, who would it be and why? I like Jay's grandmother because she's a spunky character, a loving grandmother with a little matchmaker thrown in.

7. Can you give us a sneak peak into this book? Lillian Ross agrees to pretend to be Jay Prescott's girlfriend to improve his grandmother's morale. Only his grandmother has a few ideas of her own.

8. Do you belong to a critique group? If so how does this help or hinder your writing? Yes, I belong to a critique group. We have been working together for years. We've learned a lot from each other. We encourage with positive comments and suggestions of where we need to continue to work on. I've belonged to numerous groups over the years. A critique group or someone critiquing your work can hinder your progress of writing. If someone rewrites your work they change your voice or writing style. Negative comments causes frustration and a lot of tears. Choose your critique group wisely.

9. When did you first decide to submit your work? Please tell us what or who encouraged you to take this big step? I submitted my first story after I finished it. Unfortunately that was before I joined the RWA and learned the mechanics of writing. My family has always been encouraging. My husband has read and reread all my work. He's given me support, encouragement and suggestions on the male point of view.

11. Do you outline your books or just start writing? I've learned I need to outline my books then I know what direction they are going. By outlining I have a better plot with motivation, goals and interesting characters.

Meet Melody Tink: Author of RAT

What or who inspired you to start writing? In elementary school, my friends and I were always looking for ways to earn a quick buck. We made cloth dolls, bookmarks, jewelry, etc and would go around the neighborhood trying to sell our wares. We stationed lemonade stands outside our houses. We sweet-talked old ladies into paying us pennies for made up songs. One day, my dad brought home a magazine clip with a contest for short stories. The prize was $500. The stories had to be written by children. My friends and I decided we would each write a story, and if one of us won we would split the money four ways. We spent days working on our stories. Then we read them out loud to each other. Mine was a short story called Grandmother Wise, about a girl who travels across the globe of a fantasy realm to find a flower that would save her dying grandmother. My friends thought it was too boring. Discouraged, I decided not to submit the story to the contest. Instead, I spent years editing and revising it. The story grew, evolved, became my first three novels. I fell in love with the writing process, with the architecture of crafting a novel.

How did you come up with your idea for Rat? I wrote a series of high-fantasy manuscripts. I loved my world, but I became bogged down by all the rules and technology I had built around my characters. I wanted to write something lighter, a bit more tongue-and-cheek. The dragons were only a side note in my first novel, but the mystery behind them intrigued me. I envisioned an off-beat Cinderella story, with a fiery teenager going up against the dragons and coming out both richer AND wiser. Elanor reflects the modern female displaced in a male-dominated society, and her story simply flowed out of me in two months flat, the summer of 2005. Then the real work of editing/revising began!

As far as your writing goes, what are your future plans? I'm currently in the process of pitching my newest work, an urban YA fantasy novel. I'm also 60,000 words into a sci-fi novel.

If you could be one of the characters from this book, who would it be and why? Obviously, Elanor. She's tart and gutsy--exactly the kind of girl I'd want to be.

Do you belong to a critique group? If so how does this help or hinder your writing? I have two critique partners--one a published novelist, and one who is well on her way. I have also used online critiquing venues, such as http://www.critters.org/. This has absolutely helped my writing. I've often found that while not every suggestion is a useful one, many critiques have served to improve the flow, characterization, and plot of my novels.

Do you outline your books or just start writing? A little of both. Normally, I start an outline of a few chapters, then the novel begins to weave itself, and then, if I hit a road block, I'll outline a few more chapters to get the juices flowing again.

Anything else you might want to add? For more information on me or my work, feel free to peruse my blog: http://www.thefaerytale.wordpress.com/