Wednesday, January 4, 2017

Genres with Glenn Maynard


This week we’re going to find out a little about author Glenn Maynard. January ‘s theme is ‘Genres’ so Glenn will be talking about genres. He’ll also tell us a little about himself and his writing, and answer some fun questions.
Glenn Maynard is the author of Strapped into an American Dream, which details his one-year journey through the 48 continental states, Canada, and Mexico in an RV. He was a travel correspondent for three newspapers during his travels. He is also the author of this paranormal romance trilogy, which includes Desert SonWayward Soul, and Spiritual Intervention.  He currently lives in Wethersfield, CT.
Beverley: Which genre or genres do you write or prefer to write?
Glenn: Paranormal Romance
Beverley: What prompted you to write in the genre you do?
Glenn: I began by reading a book about reincarnation, and I was fascinated by the stories of past lives. I also wanted to dabble in out-of-body experiences. I was then hooked by the paranormal.
Beverley: What genres do you enjoy reading?
Glenn: Paranomal, Horror.
Beverley: How long have you been writing?
Glenn: I’ve been writing my whole life, but once I finally received a publishing contract after years of trying, I finally felt legitimate. That was in 2009, so I’ve been a writer my whole life and an author since 2009.
Beverley: Who influenced you the most in deciding to become a writer?
Glenn: I was not influence by any author to become a writer, but I have been influenced greatly by the work of Stephen King.
Beverley: What obstacles did you have to overcome to begin creating your work?
Glenn: The greatest obstacle was and is the number of books being published per year (one million books). Self-Publishing really drove this number up. I originally thought I was going to land an agent and get a big contract from a large publishing company. However, as the years passed I realized that I had to start small. I finally received a YES with a small publishing company (Strategic Book Publishing), and a YES three more times from a second small publisher (Black Rose Writing) for my paranormal trilogy.
Beverley: What gets your creative juices flowing?
Glenn: I think watching movies is an idea generator and from those ideas creative juices are produced. On the smaller scale, reading the way other writers get their ideas across in books is like an injection of steroids into those ideas.
Beverley: What will stop your creative muse the quickest?
Glenn: Disruptions. I need silence in order to become one with the world I create. Most of the time silence is impossible to obtain, so I’m improving on creating a world with disruptions. I prefer silence, but I’ve become realistic.
Beverley: What do you have for breakfast?
Glenn: Oatmeal, bagel, or eggs of all varieties. I love eggs, and that’s no yoke!
Beverley: What do you wear when you are writing?
Glenn: A stoic look. That’s what I wear. I concentrate as I look at the computer screen and visualize the scenes as I write them. I visualize how I would react and convert that reaction to how my particular characters would react. It becomes very real for me. I put myself in their shoes, so I wear at least their shoes.
Beverley: Where do you do most of your writing?
Glenn: Where I am writing this…on the left side of my couch with the laptop on my lap.
Beverley: Who would you love most to meet 'in person' and why?
Glenn: I would most like to meet Stephen King so I could grill him…on his writing process.
Beverley: If you had an unexpected free day what would you do with it?
Glenn: When I have an unexpected free day and I have no writing-related deadlines, I would go to the beach, play guitar, or watch a movie.
Beverley: What are you working on now?
Glenn: This questionnaire. Actually, now that this trilogy is complete, I am marketing all three together for the first time. While I do this, I am compiling ideas for my next book. I am not at all ready to begin writing yet, but I will know when I’m ready when I have enough juices for a book-length manuscript.
Beverley: What books have you had published? And tell us a little bit about them, please.
Glenn: My first book is entitled, “Strapped into an American Dream,” which is a book about my one year journey through the 48 states of America in an RV.  I then moved on to fiction and published a paranormal romance trilogy: Desert Son, Wayward Soul, and Spiritual Intervention. These books involve out-of-body, reincarnation, and past-life-regression hypnosis.
Beverley: Where do you find your inspiration?
Glenn: I love creating worlds and filling them with characters that are memorable. A story is one thing, but a book is an entirely different animal. When I’m ready to batten down the hatches and dig in for the long haul of the process of writing a book and editing, I can’t wait to get started. I give myself weekly quotas, and I always reach them because nothing else matters at the time. For my latest book, Spiritual Intervention, I just wrote without knowing where exactly I was going. I had never done that before. I always wrote from an outline. I ended up writing more and one of the characters I created during a diversion in the story ended up being one of the main characters.
Beverley: Do you have any advice for aspiring writers?
Glenn: For all the aspiring writers who want to write a book: My advice is to write one. Come up with a rough outline and then start writing. Give yourself a writing goal and start banging away at the keyboard and see where it takes you. Don’t worry about the details and don’t stop until you feel you’ve written a book.  The goal on my latest book was 100,000 words and I set my writing quota at 5,000 words per week. This gave me the opportunity to write 1,000 words per night (after work) and builds in two days off.  Once you’ve written the book, it’s time to find a small publisher (being realistic) and building your resume. While you’re doing all of this, you are also finding your target audience, building an online presence and following, and mastering social media from a marketing standpoint. It’s a lot, but it’s necessary.
Beverley: If you could be anyone or anything that you wanted, who or what would you be?
Glenn: I would be Spiderman because he gets around so fast and there’s never enough time in my day to get it all done.
Beverley: What has brought you the greatest joy in seeing your dream of publishing fulfilled?
Glenn: Seeing all of the newspaper articles about my books brings me the greatest joy. Also, the 5-Star reviews not too shabby. But that’s not all…getting that first book published and then that second book published before my father passed away in 2015. Those also happened to be the only two books my mother is aware of because of a nasty disease called Alzheimer’s. I could only show her books three and four.

Blurb for Spiritual Intervention

They tried to get away, but menacing spirit has gotten hold of their son. Carter and Brenda thought it was a clean break and a new start. They escaped their old life in Boulder and returned to Boston. Signs emerged that this mission failed when their son, Adam, began to speak. When seven-year-old Adam is kidnapped in the middle of the night, there is no denying the spirit of Martin has returned. This story culminates in a showdown that has only one possibility of finding peace in their lives. They must find a way to move Martin into the afterlife. However, there’s one problem. Martin has no intention of going.

Buy Links:
https://www.amazon.com/Spiritual-Intervention-Glenn-Maynard/dp/1612967981



You can find Glenn at:
Website: http://www.glennmaynard.weebly.com/
Blog: https://desertsonnovel.wordpress.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/#!/GlennMaynardFanPage
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/pub/dir/Glenn/Maynard
Twitter: https://twitter.com/glennmaynard64 https://twitter.com/USAtraveler

Don’t forget to check back next week for another author interview and discussion of genres.

5 comments:

  1. Wonderful interview. Great getting to know you, Glenn. I wish you all the best!

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  2. Hey writer man, nifty interview. You've stuck to your guns or rather computer and moved on. Sail away and have a wonderful life. My best wishes to you.

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  3. Hi Melissa, and thank you for taking the time to learn more about my path as an author. Glad you enjoyed the interview!

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    1. Hi Charmaine! Hope you enjoyed reading this, and if you're into ebook box sets, my publisher has just created one today and should be available in Kindle in the next day or two...looks as nifty as the interview!

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