First of all, the winner of my second annual movie ticket giveaway is Lorraine Reguly. Second of all, HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!! I hope you will be able to enjoy a little quiet time in the week ahead. Finally, I’ve decided to take next week off from posting, so that means this wonderful interview with author Lita Burke will be featured until I return with one more post before 2014 rolls around.
1. Please provide a brief synopsis of your book.
Old Bony Blue Eyes is a fantasy clockpunk novel.
Wizard Kadmeion faces a dangerous journey to Sir Death’s castle to win a powerful spell book for a love-starved dragon. Along the way, Kadmeion seeks help from Lady Luck and Lord War. A fairy coaches the wizard about girlfriends. He also learns many magically useful things, like what happens when two powerful wizards laugh themselves silly.
2. Tell us a little bit about what motivates or inspires your writing.
I was able to read at a very early age, and have always enjoyed the make-believe worlds in books. It was easy to imagine my own places, people, and creatures. Using words to describe them was fun, it preserved my imaginings for re-visits, and seeing the pages filled with my words was satisfying. Things are still the same today. I adore writing fantasy. I create elsewheres and take readers with me on my journeys. As artists, writers are tour guides.
3. It’s hard to pick just one, but what do you consider your favorite novel and why?
I pick the entire Oz series by Frank Baum as my favorite novels. The stories have clever little girls, puzzles to solve, and value courage, intelligence, and a kind heart. I want my story heroes to be good people in challenging situations, too.
4. What is the name of your blog and what can readers expect to find there?
My blog About the Fantasy Worlds of Lita Burke is where I talk about enchanted creatures, books I’ve read, writing tips, and my stories. I also highlight fantasy-themed photos and produce videos of offbeat fantastical worlds.
5. Are you traditionally published or self-published?
I am self-published. I took that path because after thirty years of struggling to find an agent or publisher, I became impatient to get my stories to readers.
I format my own text for e-books and paperback versions. When I started as an indie, I did my own covers. I humbly confess that my talents are in word craft, not book cover design. Now professional artists and photographers create my book covers.
6. Can you offer one or two helpful tips for fellow writers when it comes to marketing and publicity?
I’ve worked for over a year to build a quality blog filled with interesting material, I tweet daily, and have recently explored using press releases. The best advice I’ve gotten about marketing and publicity is to be patient and try different things. No one has the secret formula for turning you into a best-selling author. The path is different for each of us, and we must explore it without a map.
7. Describe your writing background.
I have a college degree in the sciences, but for fiction writing am self-taught. I own dozens of books about the writing craft. I relentlessly comb the Internet for writing tips. It has been ten years since I attended a writer’s conference. My budget, and time demands of my day job, disallow much else.
8. What does your drafting and/or editing process entail? 
I am very organized. I plan out each scene in a spreadsheet and answer all of the mechanical questions before I start. After I plan, I write the first draft. Then comes several rounds of editing. I self-edit and use Word’s read aloud feature to catch pesky typos, plus I use a thorough grammar and style program. Only when I consider it ready to publish do I give it to a beta reader to review.
9. What future projects can we look forward to?
My next project is Glitter Ponies. In this Clockpunk story, Lady Luck’s daughter helps a wizard discover the cause of a mysterious unicorn illness.
10. Is there anything else you want your potential readers to know?
I am a scientist in my day job, and find almost everything interesting. My heroes are also inquisitive and not afraid to embrace change. They also tend to be pragmatic, just like me.
You can connect with Lita Burke and her social sites via her blog. Her books are available via Amazon and other book retailers.
All images appear courtesy of Lita Burke. Please share responsibly. Jeri Walker, 2013.
Thanks for the interview, it hit home for me. I’ve written a book that my husband asked me why I haven’t tried to get it published yet. I said that everything I read talks about how difficult it is and really I have no chance. I too am trained in the sciences but not writing. I see that Ms Burke has written many books. It makes me feel perhaps there is hope for me yet 🙂 I think I spend so much time reading about the elite authors I need to see that there are some authors doing well that are not the super successful.
I know steampunk, dieselpunk, and even cyberpunk and i even saw the term biopunk recently (that one scares me).
Clockpunk is a bit new to me. What does that entail?
Jon, I included a comment below about clockpunk. I’d only heard the word in passing before this interview, but it does sound intriguing. I can see how it would suite you since you are way into speculative fiction.
You have me with the dragon. I don’t what it is but I do love dragons. I think it’s the fantasy of them that draws me in.
I can relater on the self editing and all the tools you use. I too use a myriad of tools to help me find the many errors I miss, then I use Jeri to find the rest… LOL.
Susan, the way we all go about self-editing always intrigues me. I never use any electronic programs, but will spend tons of time looking up rules in the Chicago Manual of Style. When I still can’t clarify a rule from there, I will look in the New York Times to see how they handle something in print. The biggest help for me is not to write when I’m tired.
“I pick the entire Oz series by Frank Baum as my favorite novels.” – Yes! My daughter and I both love all the wonderful strong girl/teen/women characters.
I like the talk about fantasy and fantasy photos – will check out your blog.
I am not much of a fantasy fan but what resonated with me in this interview is the marketing section – it is such an important realization that there’s no success formula for marketing your book (or anything, for that matter). It truly is our own path what we have to walk. Great interview – Happy Holidays to both of you!
Oh, and good thing you are taking some time off for the Holidays… It seems most of us are doing it 😀
Very nice interview…and what hit me what yet another author whose path to publishing is mired in speed bumps. The marketing advice was spot on too…everyone will resonate in different ways.
Nice interview. My husband is also a scientist and his favorite genre is sci-fi and magical worlds. He’s happy to come home from trying to cure lung cancer and disappear into another world. Knowing him as a very serious person, I always smile when I see what he’s reading. On the other hand, I’m a lawyer. I read (and enjoy) non-fiction. Sad, but true.
It’s always fun when an author can open our eyes to new genres, so thank you Lita.
For those who want to know more, the Urban Dictionary defines clockpunk as follows:
A sub-genre of the speculative historical fiction genre called Steampunk. Clockpunk is characterized by modern technologies accomplished using clockwork mechanisms and generally excluding steam power, electricity, and the internal combustion engine. The chronological setting for Clockpunk fiction is pre-Industrial Revoluion, whereas steampunk is late 19th or early 20th century. A Clockpunk novel might include a world, Earth or another planet, which has been so dramatically revolutionized by DaVinci’s mechanical inventions that its technology rivals our computers, phones, etc., while most other factors (some combination of social structure, ploitics, customs, clothing, etc.) would remail relatively true to the 15th century. Gears and cogs but no steam…that’s not Steampunk, its Clockpunk.
As a fellow Oz lover, I will also add the entire series is available on Amazon for a mere 95 cents! It also has an active TOC.
I admire anyone who self-publishes. It’s a tough slog. You’ve got to be out there marketing all the time. Even well-known authors with established publishers find their books remaindered at Barnes & Noble. Just being a good writer isn’t enough. It’s what tickles the public’s fancy.
clockpunk… hmm…. never heard of that. I love dragons! I have a little dragon by my side at my desk at all times. Seriously….
I’ve read Lita’s books and loved the whimsical world in which they’re set. Very fond of the characters too. One of the characters – Sir Bright – makes clockwork automatons that are then animated. These clockwork automatons are an integral part of the world. I think that’s where the clockpunk term comes from.
The stories are great fun and can be enjoyed by kids and adults too. 😀
Oh wow, your answers in this interview made me smile several times, Rita! First when you mentioned children and escape stories the first immediate thought that popped into my head from childhood was the Wizard of Oz! Then bam!! You mentioned Baum on the books! HUGE smile there. Also I loved what you said “As artists, authors are tour guides…” and that you are self-published which is something I’m going to be taking a big look at! This was just fantastic and thank you for bringing Rita to us for this, Jeri! Happy Holidays to you too 🙂
And my deepest apologies for the mispells, Lita! 🙁
Love her tips about trying different paths until you find one that works for you. Just gotta keep chugging along and we all will get where we want to go.
I enjoyed this interview. I’m also working on a book and I’m inspired by Ms. Burke’s perseverance and years of experience.
I like your advice on marketing to be patient and try new things. It’s really easy to give up when you start blogging and see how long it takes to start building traffic!
Thanks for this interview Jeri. Lita’s books seem a little bit quirky and a lot of fun. I thought her description of how she prepares her books was interesting. I’m not sure I’d have the patience required to systemically plan out the mechanics of a scene before writing. It makes sense but wow, it would take a lot of discipline. 🙂