(The [ ] symbols bracket indicates clarifying comments. "LOL" means "Laughing out Loud".)

Marsha: Well, it's time to begin. I have some questions to ask Carol first so here we go! Carol, you write as C. K. Crigger and have several books available in various formats. How long have you been writing?

Carol: I've been writing with serious intent since 1994. Before that, I played around with it. Experimenting.

Marsha: When did you first know you were a writer?

Carol: This is a tough question. I still don't know if I am. LOL. But sometimes now, when I call myself a writer, I actually believe it myself. Seems to fit.

Marsha: Good. What pivotal moment made you decide to write for publication?

Carol: One day I decided it was now or never. I don't know as I had any particular "moment." The conviction grew that this is what I had to do.

Marsha: What types of writing do you most like to do, and why?

Carol: Fiction! With a resounding F. At first I thought I'd write short stories, but the stories grew, so I turned them into novels. The first novel I wrote, which is "The Gunsmith: In The Service of the Queen", started life as a short story. As to genre....it depends on the story and the moment. I love westerns, mysteries, and of course, time-travel fantasy. That's if I'm writing. I'd better include historicals on that list too. Reading, I like whatever catches my interest.

Marsha: You've probably written in all those genres, too! What were your first steps into publishing?

Carol: Working on it. When I'd worked Book #1 over several times, sent queries to several publishers and received nothing but form letter rejections in return, I decided maybe I was starting off too big. Since Books In Motion is here in town, I decided to try them. They accepted, and have done the other 2 completed books of the [Gunsmith] series, too. Fortunately, the first one zoomed right to the top of their "bestseller list."

Marsha: Awesome!

Carol: It's a great feeling. LOL

Marsha: What happened after the audio books path? Where did you go to be published next, and why?

Carol: Then I had a simple fantasy story that I sent to an epublisher, just to see how things went, and by golly, they took that one. This same publisher will soon have the audio trilogy--that is soon to become a 4 book deal. Unfortunately, my books are hard to specify as to genre. They're time-travel, action/adventure, love story. No publisher wants to take a chance on something like that. Generally, I try to tell them my books are on the line of Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series, but not nearly as long! But I guess it hasn't impressed them.

Marsha: You also have a book published through Writers Club Press [WCP]. That's Print-On-Demand. What lead you to go that route?

Carol: That's Book One of the series, and I've withdrawn it [from WCP], since I believe RFI West is going to take the whole bunch. The reason I went with them [WCP] was to get Book One out before Book Two. Shadow Soldier [SS] was due out from Diskus Publishing as a download and I wanted them [the books] out in order. I've withdrawn SS and offered it to RFI also, because RFI does paperbacks as well as download. Also, I didn't like the way Diskus formatted SS. {Although I withdrew the book from WCP,] I have been very satisfied with the quality from Writers Club Press. No problem at all with them.

Marsha: RFI West, then, is your current publisher--doing ebooks right now, with the paperbacks coming later. You also have the same series out with the audio books. What can you tell us about epublishing? Is it the coming thing?

Carol: Epublishers are more open to cross genre stories. If you go with a good publisher, you'll also get some editing, which you don't get with self-pub, unless you hire it done, and you'll also get some publicity. I think epublishing will get bigger as time goes on, but only if they do print on demand, too.

Marsha: In other words, physical books will never go away, but ebooks offer an alternative way to read, just as audio books do?

Carol: That's it exactly. And the more alternatives there are, the more opportunity.

Marsha: For writers, you mean, as well as readers?

Carol: Yes. For both.

Marsha: One doesn't expect authors to have to pay to be published by traditional publishers. Is that true with epublishing?

Carol: It is true. I've heard there are epublishers who charge. If so, pass them by. You may not make a fortune with an epublishers, but you should never have to pay, either.

Marsha: So an author should use that as one criterion if she's looking for a good epublisher?

Carol: Yes indeed. And look at the lists of prize winning ebooks: Eppie winners, Sapphire awards, Prism awards, etc. Watch who publishes the winners and try to go with them. I started to say, another good thing about ebooks, is that they never go out of print. Not for years and years.

Marsha: Is another sign of a good epublisher the fact that they have so many contracted books that they are no longer taking submissions? :-(

Carol: LOL Probably so. And some are open only to certain genres. Romances and S.F./Fantasy are sometimes filled.

Marsha: Does the e-publishing company do a sufficient job of advertising? Or does an author always have to be on top of the marketing game, too?

Carol: An author ALWAYS has to market her own books. The publisher lists them on the website, makes them available through Amazon, etc., but most of the promotions will need to come from the auther. No different than if you went through Simon & Schuster, from what I undertand. :-)

Marsha: So an author should be a good writer and a good promoter--or marry someone who is? LOL

Carol: Now that's something I should have thought of. Marry a good promoter. Hmmm. LOL. Yes. An author should be both.

Marsha: Do you have any other comments you want to make before I open this up to questions?

Carol: Just this: Be sure to send a great query letter first, and follow all of the instructions for submitting. Just about like NY publishers, only the manuscript formatting rules are different for epublishers.

Marsha: And each one has their own way of formatting and submitting, yes?

Carol: They're quite similar, but you'd better check. They like to trick you. :-)

Marsha: So the cardinal rule is "Read the Guidelines"!

Carol: Absolutely.

Marsha: Carol, thank you for being our guest this lovely evening. You've been a gracious guest, and I appreciate your answers. Lana, do you have any questions or comments you'd like to make?

Magnolia_Tea: Carol, congrats on your writing and publishing successes! I have a question about discipline. You are a prolific writer. I am not. I seem to spend an inordinate amount of time staring out the window, or playing with the cat.

Carol: LOL

Magnolia_Tea: Stories swirl in my brain but I can't force myself to commit them to paper. Any suggestions?

Carol: One of my favorite writers, a novelist from the 1920s or 30s, by the name of Kenneth Roberts, wrote wonderful historicals, and in one of his books his protagonist was a writer. Seems he was having a bad case of writers block, until an old lady told him, "Put a sentence down on the paper. Then put down another one, and another and another until you fill up the page." Works for me.

Magnolia_Tea: I've gotten to the middle of a book three or four times, and then it just seems easier to begin another one.

Carol: It doesn't even have to be good. You can always go back and rewrite until it says exactly what you want it to say. But no more blank pages.

Magnolia_Tea: How does a published author make it from the middle of the book to the end?

Carol: Middle of the story sag. You just have to write through it. Maybe it would help to go ahead and write the last chapter, and then fill in the rest. I did that with one story, liked the way it went so well that I did another one, too.

Magnolia_Tea: I read on your website that you're working on a modern mystery. I'm interested in hearing about that genre.

Carol: Bless you! You looked at my website. Anyway, the mystery involves property, family, and murder. This one was a short story at one time, too. The second one I ever wrote. I still like it, and one of these days I'll get the novel written. I work on it in-between things.

Magnolia_Tea: Do you plan to pitch that as an ebook or submit to publishers?

Carol: I'll have to see how it turns out. This would probably be more in line with what traditional publishers look for.

Marsha: I'm going to try that "write the last chapter" technique for the novel I'm blocked on.

Magnolia_Tea: That's a great idea.

Carol: It sure works for me, Marsha. If you know where you're going, it's easier to get there. Or something like that. LOL

Magnolia_Tea: Carol, do you have a regular writing schedule?

Carol: I write every day. The hours are flexible, thank goodness. When I worked full time I could only get in from 6 - 8 PM, but I still managed to write 5 books. And then I wrote on weekends, too, of course.

Magnolia_Tea: Wow!

Marsha: That's pretty awesome! Any last comments? Our time is officially up.

Carol: Just keep plugging. Set a goal, whether 500 or 5000 words. (5000. Hah. That'll be the day.) But eventually, if you stick with it, you'll have your novel.

Magnolia_Tea: Carol, I've really enjoyed your observations about writing. Thanks.

Carol: You're welcome, Lana. Hope I've helped or informed in some small way.

Magnolia_Tea: You've inspired me to tackle this beast of a novel in my computer. LOL

Marsha: How do you work, Carol? Do you outline your book, know the end from the beginning? Or do you just launch into the story and see where it takes you?

Carol: I generally know where I'm going, and how it's going to end. Just an idea really. Then I try to find a good opening line and off I go. One thing segues into another and pretty soon I've got a story.

Magnolia_Tea: You never take wrong turns? Go off in the wrong direction?

Carol: I'm a slow writer...about a thousand words a day, so I have time to think about it. ;-) What about you Marsha?

Marsha: I really like to do a story outline, but that doesn't always happen. Sometimes the characters take over and pull the story into never-never-land. That's not bad, you understand, just wonderfully unexpected. that happened with my first and still unpublished novel. It needs a major re-write that I haven't tackled yet.

Magnolia_Tea: This question is for both of you. Is it imperative for a writer to have a website? If so, why?

Marsha: It didn't used to be, but I think it's very good to get one's name before the public. However, it can distract the writer from the writing. LOL

Magnolia_Tea: Why? Is it time-consuming?

Carol: I think it is. It gives you a presence, and promotes your books. You're right, though, Marsha. You can become obsessed more by the promotion than the writing. Bad idea!

Marsha: Doing your own website takes creative energy.

Carol: Takes creativity, let alone energy. lol. And you're good at it, Marsha.

Marsha: Thanks!

Carol: What do you write, Lana?

Magnolia_Tea: I write personal essays and they come very easily for me. It's very satisfying. I'm a columnist for Arizona Garden Magazine. I WANT to finish the cozy mystery that's half way finished. It's intellectual bubble gum. Great fun!

Carol: Cozy mysteries are quite popular right now, too. Throw in some cooking stuff and you'll have it made.

Marsha: Lana is a great humorist, Carol.

Magnolia_Tea: Pshaw, Marsha. It's true that I find it hard to be serious for long. This mystery is funny.

Carol: That's great. IMHO the best essays are always humoristic. I expect the essays are very satisfying. Is working for the magazine difficult?

Magnolia_Tea: Not at all. My column is titled Sonoran Sampler and I just write an essay about whatever's going on outside.

Carol: Now that's creative!

Magnolia_Tea: Only in America could a girl who doesn't know a daffodil from a dandelion grow up to write for a gardening magazine.

Carol: LOL Better yet!

Carol: Do daffodils grow in AZ? Doesn't get cold enough, does it?

Magnolia_Tea: Not in the desert. :(

Marsha: LOL! Do either of you have anything else to say? If not, we can go write!

Carol: Or go watch the baseball game.

Marsha: Thank you both for coming!

Carol: Thanks for asking me, Marsha. I love to talk writing.

Magnolia_Tea: Yes, I'd like to thank you, Carol, for spending this evening inspiring us. And thank you, Marsha, for setting up this wonderful chat.

Marsha: You're both welcome. Come again next time. I will post this transcript to the website of the group, in the files portion. Good bye, sweet ladies.

Carol: Its been nice meeting you, Lana.

Magnolia_Tea: Carol, every good wish to you, both professionally and personally.

Carol: Thank you, Lana. Nite now. Have a good evening.

Carol: Nite Marsha.

Marsha: Nite, Carol, Nite Lana