Interview with Denise Covey

Knocking on Hemingway's door in Paris

Today I have the pleasure of introducing Denise Covey, one of the winners of the Knights of MicroFiction.  She has three fabulous blogs you should check out, L'Aussie Writer, Pichets in Paris, and Romantic Friday Writers, but first let's learn a little bit more about Denise.

When did you know you wanted to be a writer? 

At a very early age. I began winning writing competitions when I was eleven. Then as I got older I kept thinking I didn't have enough life experience to write anything worthy, so I went out to get it. University degrees, Creative Writing courses, High School teaching...travelling. I started novels, researched novels, but always felt too immature to tackle the issues I wanted to write about. It's only in the last few years that I've wanted more from my writing than writing flash fiction online, and short stories, travel articles and profile pieces for magazines and newspapers.

Hmm, I still feel too immature.

I know you love to travel, what is the most amazing place you've ever visited?

Ah, that is a hard one. My favourite country to visit is France (have been there countless times!), but the most amazing place I've ever visited is Morocco. It is so different from our slick culture. It's like living in Biblical times with produce being moved around by donkeys, hurried along by men in jallabas waving sticks. The medinas, where the Muslims live, can house up to 20,000 people, and are endlessly fascinating to visit (accompanied by an Arab guide, I suggest.) Riding camels in the Sahara Desert, driving through the Sahara following the old Caravan route through the mountains, seeing oases over 80 kilometres long, and poking around abandoned red mud casbahs was like turning the pages of some of my favourite books - The Moor of Marrakech and such and songs like Marrakech Express.

At the highest point of the Sahara Desert in Morocco with my Toureg guides

Wow that sounds fabulous. I would love to ride a camel through the Sahara.  
I'm sure all your travels give you plenty of ideas to write about, but what inspires you the most?  

That would be 'who'. People. I don't just thirst for travel just to see different things. Meeting the locals is my favourite part. But the more countries I visit, the more people I meet, I understand that humans are basically the same with similar needs and aspirations. Landscapes inspire me. Literature inspires me. I find life inspirational.

Beautiful sentiments.
I see you have a couple novels in progress. Which one do you spend most of your time on? Can you tell us a little bit about it?

Yes, I have three novel in progress. I had to decide which one to finish first or I'll never finish any of them, so I've chosen my first novel, Ruby. All my novels include other cultures, issues, and things I've learned from my travels. Ruby is a contemporary romantic novel whose heroine is a young French girl who has come to Australia to follow her dream of owning her own hotel, a dream inherited from her father. The hero, Michael is an Australian sea captain who takes tourists whale watching, but his dream is to assist in the whale hunt, but on the side of the Sea Shepherd crew, whose aim is to inhibit the Japanese whalers in Antarctica. Conflicting dreams make this story. 

What a great way to share your experiences. It sounds like a wonderful story. I'm looking forward to reading more.

Speaking of reading, what books have influenced you the most?

My favourite genre is literary fiction, but my tastes are eclectic. I love to read just about anything, really. As far as the most influential, Ernest Hemingway, Papa, has been my favourite since I moved beyond Heidi as a young girl. Maybe Hemingway's stories fed my urge to travel and my tendency to observe people. (I wasn't influenced by his hard drinking, lol!) 


That's good! He did love his drink.

Last year I finally got to Pamplona in Spain, where he set his The Sun Also Rises. Can't explain the thrill of seeing the things he saw. I even blogged about a walking tour around Paris I took, Moveable Feast in hand, to see his Paris apartment and the square where he liked to eat and the coffee shops where he went to drink rum. I think the best writing advice ever, comes from Hemingway - write all morning, then go and rub shoulders with authors and people watch all afternoon and night. Read his Moveable Feast for that and other writing gems.

I just finished A Farewell to Arms, but I'll have to add A Moveable Feast to my list. I wonder if blogging counts as 'rubbing shoulders with authors'.

You have three great blogs. How long have you been blogging and what is the best part about it?

I started blogging in 2007 when I saw a competition for the best travel blog post. Five years is a long time in the blogosphere, where bloggers burn out in an average of three years or decide other social networking groups are more efficient. But blogging is my favourite, although it's very time consuming. 

I agree with you, I'd rather spend my time blogging than on Facebook or Twitter.

The best part of blogging is the people I've met and the things I've learnt about writing. Knowing how I love to travel, I have invitations from bloggers from all around the world to come and stay. Who can beat that? Currently I'm spending 6 weeks in Fiji, courtesy of blogger Nas Dean, who I met online years ago and formed a strong blogger friendship. Another favourite blogger, Charmaine Clancy, recently moved to my hometown, Brisbane, and we've hit it off so well we now have our own Writing Group and are collaborating on our first epic fantasy novel in between doing writing courses at the Queensland Writers Centre, the best one in the country. Can't beat the blogosphere!

That's for sure. There are so many wonderful people blogging! 
But 6 weeks in Fiji! I'm a little jealous.  

What do you like to do when you're not writing or traveling?

I like to run, to read, try a new restaurant, go for coffee, watch television and movies, and spend time with family and friends. Pretty ordinary. That's when I'm not checking out Lonely Planet.

Is there anything else we should know about you?

Well, I'm a political animal and a news junkie but I usually keep quiet about that as in these PC times, you aren't supposed to talk about politics. I can probably blame Hemingway for nurturing my strong political opinions as he wrote so much about war. I especially enjoyed his novels that explored the Spanish Civil War. I always have the 24-hour news on at home, so I usually know what's going on in most places around the globe, or at least the sanitised version. No listening to music while I write! It's a wonder my stories aren't pessimistic, but they're not. I'm a very optimistic person.

You're also very inspiring. I can't wait to get out and travel again myself. Well we're out of time for today. Thank you Denise for stopping by, I really enjoyed getting to know you and good luck finishing Ruby.

Thanks so much.


*****


SO that's it everyone. Be sure to check out all of Denise's blogs and stop by Jess's blog to see her interview with our other winner Ahsna Banga.


Kathy :)

Interview with Tobi

Today I'd like to welcome the winner of the last Knights of MicroFiction for the year, Tobi Summers from Chock Full of Words.  Check out Jess's blog for her interview with other lucky winner Stephanie at Word by Word.

Congratulations on your win and thanks so much for joining us today Tobi.
Let's get down to business.  My first question for today is:
When did you know you wanted to be a writer?


I think I was somewhere between three and six years old when I told my parents I wanted to be a writer, and I've been working towards it ever since.  (Somewhere, I have short stories I wrote when I was about six years old and a novel(la) I finished when I was 12.)

Ooh I'm sure those would be interesting to look at, like a window into your younger self.  I have a few of those hidden away myself.   What project are you working on at the moment?

I'm actually working on two, editing one and writing the other.  The one I'm editing is the currently untitled first book of the Capitoline Hill Chronicles (formerly called Rosetta).  It's about a girl named Quinn, who left her werewolf pack five years ago to escape some bad memories.  But after her brother takes off, she returns home.  Just in time, it turns out, because things are getting a little crazy both inside and outside the Pack, and Quinn winds up being a huge help in restoring order. (My pitch still needs some work... :) )

Wow, I love the idea!  I can't imagine what it might be like to be part of a werewolf pack.  Sounds like Quinn is well on her way to becoming top dog though.  What else are you working on?

The one I'm writing is tentatively called Defenders.  The story centers around a team of six girls, all 16 years old. They're one of many teams of all different supernatural species who are tasked with defending their city from internal and external attack.
 
Oh that sounds great too!  I've never been good at coming up with paranormal plots, but it looks like you've got it down.  So with all these projects, have you set any specific goals to keep them all on track?

This is the first year I've ever set writing goals for myself, so I can actually answer this question! :)  I'd like to finishing editing Capitoline Hill by the end of May and begin querying agents in June.  I want to finish Defenders by the end of the summer, and I want to use NaNoWriMo to write the first 50,000 words or so of the second book in the Capitoline Hill Chronicles.

Looks like you know exactly where you want to be. That's great! Good luck with them.  What about blogging?  How long have you been a blogger?  


I've had a blog since October 2011, but I only really started using it in February 2012.  So... two months.

Well, welcome to this great supportive community of writers.  I know I have gained so much by being a part of it.  What do you think blogging has done for you so far?

I think the best thing blogging's done for my writing is hold me accountable.  As I blog more, I'm meeting all these wonderful, fantastic authors at all different stages in their writing.  And because, like many writers, I have a deep desire to be accepted by everyone, I feel like I need to be a serious writer to keep up with them.  So instead of just writing whenever I get a whim, I'm writing almost everyday, even if it's just a blog post or flash fiction story.  


With all those great blogging challenges out there we sure have lots to write about!  What do you like to do when you're not writing?

I watch a lot of television.  It's actually kind of embarrassing how much television I watch (at last count it was over 30 currently airing shows).  For a long time, I thought I wanted to work in television, and I had a freelance gig writing about crime TV, so at some point I decided that watching TV was the same as working... and it's all downhill from there.

LOL. I don't know, TV and movies are definitely a great resource for story ideas so maybe you can count it as work after all.    
Is there anything else we should know about you?

Hm, let's see... I have the best, most supportive family I know; I'm an unrepentent chocoholic; I've often considered mainlining Vanilla Coke; and blatantly bad grammar sometimes makes me twitch and correct people inappropriately.Thanks so much for choosing my story and for featuring me on your blog!

I'm a chocoholic too!  Thank you Tobi, for participating in Knights of MicroFiction!  It's been fun to have you here today.  Good luck with all your projects.  

Unfortunately that's all the time we have for today.  Thanks for stopping by.  Make sure to check out Tobi's blog here.

Have a great weekend!

Kathy :)      

KOMF Winners and Interview

Congratulations to Julie over at Rosewood Pencil Box and fairbetty at Fair Betty's World for winning the inaugural Knights of MicroFiction (KOMF for short) blog hop!  Yipee!  Today I have the pleasure of interviewing Julie.  Check out Jess' blog Write Skate Dream for an interview with fairbetty.

Alright let's get down to business and find out more about Julie.

Hi Julie, I hope your having a great day let's begin. 
When did you know you wanted to be a writer?


I've been scribbling story ideas and character sketches in notebooks (oh my gosh, so many partially-filled notebooks) for as long as I can remember, but it was never in the foreground because I was so involved in theatre and church and summer camp.  Around the time I got married, when all those things started to change, my long-time love for writing returned with a vengeance and has not let me go.

Oh I know what you mean by those half-filled notebooks! So what's your current WIP?


Uh...haha.  Right now? A lovely hot mess.
But behind that, it's a young adult adventure/fantasy about a boy named Bell. I've been thinking about it since college, and finally drafted it last year. Now I just have to make it...make sense.


I love YA adventures! Do you have any specific goals for this year?


Ooh, goals are scary for me. I need them, though, so I'll give it a shot. My number one hope for this year, writing, wise, is that I will have a working second draft of Bell's story by my birthday in June.

That would be a great birthday present.  Speaking of special days... you have one approaching, right? How long have you been blogging and how has it helped your writing?


My second blog-iversary (do any two people spell that the same?) is in April, and this whole experience has helped immensely.  I studied writing a bit in college, but in all honesty, I've learned more from author and agent blogs than I ever did in school (I was never the best student). Plus, I've gained precious crit partners, friends and readers. Also, confidence, opinions, and a fuller understanding of how fiction works, in general.

Is there anything else we should know about you?


I'm a vegetarian, a cat-owner, and this is the second time I've won a contest alongside fairbetty (also a vegetarian, cat-owner and real-life, pre-blogging friend, which is awesome). Hey girl, hey!

 Well that's all the time we have for now.  Julie, thanks so much for being here and we're looking forward to hearing more about Bell and his adventures in the future.  Thanks everyone for stopping by and have a great weekend!  
To sign up for next months Knights of MicroFiction blog hop fun click here.


Kathy