Interview and book give-away with Anthony F. Rando

Anthony F. Rando is one of my closest friends, as well as the co-author of The Enchanted Locket, a young adult paranormal novel. The son of Italian immigrants, Anthony has a vivid collection of memories from his life experiences. He holds several degrees in the technology field and lives in Staten Island, New York.

Jennifer: Thanks for stopping by! How long have you been writing poetry?

Anthony: Thanks for having me! When I was young, I found myself writing poetry as a way to express my feelings to my family and friends.  I never pursued my writing until when my life changed dramatically on May 22, 2009. While working for a telecommunication company for eleven years, I was involved in a hit and run accident during a weekend getaway; the accident resulted in major injuries. On leave from work I decided to publish my first poetry book: A Book of Poems: The Inner Soul in May 2010.  Following that I published my second book, After the Storm: Poetry That Refreshes the Soul. Who knew a accident could change the course of my life! 

Jennifer: Tell us about your blog.

Anthony: I started my blog in March, 2010 just before A Book of Poems was published. Blogging for me is the best way to connect with my readers and post updates.  My blog focus is writing and collaboration – filtering information and providing context for those interested in my poetry.  For the most part, my blog has fallen into two categories: poetry and fiction. I've been posting some of my new poems.

Jennifer: What inspired you to write After the Storm?

Anthony: Inspiration comes from the joy of past relationships, a tragic event I experienced, and most often the emotions I felt the day I wrote each poem. Whether it’s love, remorse, or healing, I tried to capture an event in my life and hope anyone reading them will benefit depending on where they are in their own journey in life.

Jennifer: Do you have a favorite book or author?

Anthony: My favorite book is Theory of Minds: New and Selected Poems from author Bin Ramke. One of the best poetry books that I find myself reading over and over. 

Jennifer: You are involved with Bluebell Books Short Story Slam writing challenge. How do you feel about it so far? What are the benefits of it?

I absolutely love Bluebell Books Short Story Slam writing challenge blog, as it helps writers share their stories with other bloggers and readers.  I've enjoyed networking with people who share my love of writing.

Jennifer: What are you currently working on?

Anthony: Well, other than editing our Enchanted Locket novel, I wrote The Captain, a 50,000 mafia novel, during November's National Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). It was a huge struggle to finish it in 30 days, but I am very pleased with how it turned out and am currently editing it in hopes of sending it to a professional editor before publishing it as an E-book.

Jennifer: I wish you the best with finishing both The Captain, and our paranormal novel.

Anthony: Thank you. I am off to work on both manuscripts now.

Okay, now for the give away: Anthony is giving away one copy of After the Storm: Poetry That Refreshes the Soul. To qualify, leave a comment here with contact information (such as email), and we will draw a name (from a basket) as the winner on Friday! 

Check out Anthony's website and blog for more information, and to read a few of his beautiful poems here.

Hi, I'm back online after two weeks of much needed rest with my family in Pennsylvania. On Monday, I will be post my interview with my awesome co-author and poet, Anthony F. Rando on my along with give away one of his fabulous new poetry book, "After the Storm: Poetry That Refreshes the Soul."

Have a great weekend!

Feeling Better!

This week I saw my spine surgeon for my two week follow-up. I’m happy to report that my cervical fusion is doing well! He cleared me to drive, but I can only do so with the help of pain medication. I made the mistake of driving to my pain specialist before taking them and had a difficult time turning my head while driving and was so relieved to make my round trip safely.
It still hurts to stay on the computer for longer than five minutes, so I will end this post by asking: Are you ready to celebrate Christmas? Does anyone celebrate Hannakuh?

Recovering from neck surgery

I'm afraid of getting shots and blood work done, and I never thought would willingly have neck surgery on December 5th as a result of my two cervical herniated disks. Actually one of the disks had completely worn out and I had bone-on-bone, with some bone spurs and arthritis in surrounding it.

Eleven long days later, my neck and shoulders still hurt when I get out of bed or bend down to pet one of my cats, and sitting in front of the computer for longer than ten minutes feels like someone hit me in the back of my neck.

The huge plus for me is that my mother, who is terrified of flying, flew from Pittsburgh, PA to Houston to help and pamper me. I hadn't realized until now that it would take getting my throat sliced open for her to come visit me for the first time.

So, does anyone have advice they would be willing to share for a patient who wants to write/edit her novels without over doing it?

Enduring to the end....

Writing 50,000 words in thirty days was a test of endurance for me, to see if I could write almost all the time. Even when I was tired, or had terrible neck and back pain.

I realized something about myself from NaNoWriMo: whenever life's challenges get in my way of accomplishing one of my goals, I find creative ways to get through them. When it seemed like I wrote every scene that I thought of but my word count was only a little over 20,000 words, I wondered how the heck I could ever add another 30,000 words in two weeks.

So, I read through the novel and knew there were many details to add to each scene, it seemed more like a short story than a novel. So, instead of panicking and giving up, I thought of things to add that could cause both my protagonist and antagonist obstacles. These thoughts were added into the novel, some as scenes to add in later, and some scenes were written as fast as they entered my head.

The Time Control: Deception novel now involves kidnapping, a twist on the typical teenage romance, and an advanced method to remove brain damage and tumors that result from using the time machine.

Do you find writing to be a test of endurance? Or do you write no matter what happens in your life?

I'm a NaNo Winner!

I'm so happy to have my certificate after a hectic month of writing a very rough draft of the time travel novel that has been in my head for 2 1/2 years now. But I'm far from finished writing this draft now that my characters are so fully developed.

Did you participate in NaNo this year?

Creating a Story Bible

Having a story bible (a place to hold all of your novel planning) is critical when keeping everything straight when you are writing a novel, especially one in thirty days!

Some of the formats you can use are: an electronic file on your computer, such Word, there are new online services that allow you to fill it in as you write, and you can leave the story bible open while you work on your novel.

Here is a list of methods I've used:

Character profile: everyone from the main character to the waitress that serves your character's drinks.
I am a visual person, so I write down their physical characteristics, such as hair color, eye color, etc. I also treat them as though they really exist - where do they live, what is their childhood history, relationship with their families (at least for the crucial characters) what makes them tick, such as are they materialistic, or do they wear the same clothes on an almost daily basis. What kind of education do they have, high school, college, trade school, etc. if/where they work. Are they are in a romantic relationship? Do you want them to be?
One of the most important character profiles for me was why does my antagonist behave the way he does? What his his childhood like?

Next I wrote about the setting of my book, in the Pittsburgh Pennsylvania area. Since I used to live there, I know which ice cream shops and restaurants to send them to. I even printed out pictures of homes I want my main characters to live in. :)

Potential plot conflicts are another important area for me: should my villain attempt to kill off my protagonist and anyone who gets in his way, or not make him too evil. Making this decision in the beginning helps keep me focused if I'm not in a 'mean' mood. What conflict should I include for my both the protagonist and antagonist? I think of some ideas and write them in my developing scenes outline. Each chapter had a general outline of what needed to happen, but I was free to add in additional scenes.

My story bible also holds some words I looked up in the thesaurus so I could think of different ways to write walk, and talk. My binder is large so I can add additional bits of information when I find it.

Here is the link to the book I bought if you would like to buy it on Amazon: