“So You Want to Be a Writer?”

You want to be a writer? Then write! But once you’ve written something, be prepared to promote the hell out of it! Here’s a bunch of us Jersey writers sharing our knowledge and experience with the public while also getting the word out about our books.   This time we were at the  Margaret E. Heggan Free Public Library in Sewell, NJ and being hosted by the South Jersey Writers. They put out a lovely spread of food, which made me like them immediately. There was cake, fruit, cookies, drinks, more cake, and even some vegetables (I think).

You thought this was going to be a picture of the food table, didn’t you?

Melissa Teta of Melissa Teta Photography took a bunch of wonderful pictures again, so I’m going to post a representative selection of them and make snarky comments in the captions.

There’s just no reason not to have this photo in every blog post.

Jennifer Eaton is a successful writer of speculative fiction, fantasy, and romance. She told a great story about how writing a romance novel and working with a romance editor wound up making her fantasy and science fiction better. You can find her on the internet at http://www.jennifermeaton.com and on Twitter @Jennifermeaton.

Trust me, she smiled and laughed a lot.

Some of Jennifer’s books

Our lovely host was Laura Kaighn who specializes in Native American storytelling and is part of the South Jersey Authors Group. She has a book out called Earth Child. She kept the event flowing despite having a bunch of rambling authors to deal with.

Laura’s books

We also had the always-delightful Jane Mayer who collected her grandmother’s photographs into a charming book called Grandmother Mayer. Quite an accomplishment without a publisher or any kind of outside help!

How could you not want to buy a copy?

Jane’s book

 

Of course, no panel discussion would have been complete without Kristin Battestella! Her Vampire Family and Fate and Fangs series can be found on Amazon and she can be found writing interesting articles for HorrorAddicts.net and on her own site vampfam.blogspot.com!

Pictured here in a rarely-seen red top!

Kristin’s books

 

We were also joined by the delightful John L. Leone, author of a wonderful series of children’s books based on the mysteries of Sherlock Holmes (and puns, lots of puns) called Sharklock Bones. Just from the description alone, I want to read them!

John’s books

 

And then, inevitably, there was this guy:

Please buy my book so I can eat tonight!

Brian’s books

 

Ancient Blood is now only available on Audiobook or at one of these panels! http://www.audible.com/pd/Sci-Fi-Fantasy/Ancient-Blood-A-Novel-of-the-Hegemony-Audiobook/B00ICNQITY/

Fresh Blood, however, is still available for both paperback and Kindle and all proceeds support the National Hemophilia Foundation. http://www.amazon.com/Fresh-Blood-Vampire-Writers-Support-ebook/dp/B00FYEJDPA/

 

Local Author Sondra Dankel joined us for group photo