Blogger Interview with Roland Yeomans (and Mark Twain?) + Don't Buy My Book! Blog Tour

I am happy to welcome Roland Yeomans from Writing in the Crosshairs (and any ghostly friends who might be hanging around him) to Write with Fey for a Blogger Interview. Coincidentally, this is also a part of his Don’t Buy my Book! Blog Tour. He certainly knows how to gain attention by trying not to get attention. ;)

Thanks, Chrys, for having me on your blog.  It is quite an honor. 

See?  I didn’t even bring one of my trusty ghosts with me. Though I wouldn’t be surprised if the ghost of Mark Twain is lurking about somewhere.

You asked me some very interesting questions:

1. WHAT DOES WRITING IN THE CROSSHAIRS MEAN?

I wrote a whole post on that very question: WHY WRITING IN THE CROSSHAIRS?

The Cliff Notes version is that all writers write in the crosshairs. Take the imagery of the hunter sighting in on his target.

We writers start out the same way:

At first our goal is blurry, but slowly we fine-tune our words to sharpen the focus for our reader until each detail, each emotional nuance stands out.

We tighten the focus with revealing dialogue, vibrant characters, engaging crises, and creative descriptions.

Pacing and plot tighten the image even more. Sometimes we get it with dead-on clarity. Most times we don't.  Only Shakespeare got it right most of the time.

Take flames:

They look like objects but are actually processes.

Humans are like that.  No human is actually complete.  We are in a constant state of process, of becoming.

If our words are focused in the crosshairs, each of our characters become more real, more distinct with each page.

2. WHAT WAS YOUR VERY FIRST POST ON YOUR BLOG?

It was posted on February 15, 2010

The Title fittingly FIRST GREETINGS:

The Second fittingly was on Mardi Gras, MARDI GRA MUSINGS:

Since that Mardi Gras, I have often posted on masks:

The ones we wear in public, at work, even among our friends – and saddest, the one we wear when we look in the mirror of our thoughts …

For which of us could stand the sheer truth of our lives with no embellishments?

Each of us lives a myth of how we view ourselves; a myth we create in order to stay the course of our lives.

3. SOMETIMES THE GHOST OF MARK TWAIN TAKES OVER YOUR BLOG.  CAN YOU EXPLAIN WHY?

(The ghost of Mark Twain pushes me from the chair to wink at Chrys)

Why, Missy, didn’t you know?  The boy here bought an autographed picture of me, and a bit of my spirit was attached to it.

‘Course that wouldn’t have been enough to bring me over, don’t you know? 

But the first time I met old DreamSinger here, I was still alive, a boy in fact, and he t’weren’t even awake but dreaming!

You can read about it for yourself here, and dang if Marlene Dietrich wasn’t strolling about, too: GHOST OF MARK TWAIN HERE_OF LAST RITES AND FIRST MEETINGS

It’s a prelude of sorts for GHOST OF A CHANCE where me and old Marlene help the boy after his being framed for the murder of the ghost of Ernest Hemingway.

Once it looked like the poor boy had died, so I took over his blog for a time.  This is my first official-like article for his electronic journal: MARK TWAIN_KEYS TO SUCCESS

I am mighty proud of my critique of that there FIFTY SHADES OF GREY.

4. DO ANY OTHER DEAD AUTHORS TAKE OVER YOUR BLOG FROM TIME TO TIME?

(Taking back my chair from an amused Mark Twain)

As a matter of fact, they do.  In fact, Samuel McCord had me exchange personal letters with John Steinbeck in the 1930’s for a time! LETTERS FROM JOHN

William Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway, Raymond Chandler, Robert E. Howard, Roger Zelazny, Tennessee Williams, Dorothy Parker, Emily Dickinson, even the ghost of Bruce Lee wrote a post on how to write well. BRUCE LEE_GHOST_THE WAY OF THE WRITER

(I emailed his daughter for permission to use her father, and she graciously allowed me to do so.)

The first time the ghost of Ernest Hemingway visited my blog was quite an event: THE WORLD BREAKS EVERYONE

5. WHAT ARE YOUR TOP FIVE MOST-VISITED POSTS?

(Not many visits.  I am just a minnow in the ocean of the blog-verse!)

THE HIDDEN SECRETS OF THE KINDLE FIRE: (Nov. 11, 2011) – 10,723

WHEN LIFE KNOCKS YOU DOWN: (May 3, 2016)    2,125 visits

WHY FRIENDSHIP?  (Sept. 11, 2011)   1,966 visits

DON’T MISS THIS POST! (May 11, 2016)   1,796 visits

TIME’S CURRENCY.   (Sept. 4, 2016)   1,567 visits

Oh, you want to know my bio?

Roland Yeomans was born in Detroit, Michigan.  But his last memories of that city are hub-caps and kneecaps since, at the age of seven, he followed the free food when his parents moved to Lafayette, Louisiana.  The hitch-hiking after their speeding car from state to state was a real adventure.  Once in Louisiana, Roland learned strange new ways of pronouncing David and Richard when they were last names.  And it was not a pleasant sight when he pronounced Comeaux for the first time.

So far he has written thirty-four books.  You can find Roland at his web page: www.rolandyeomans.blogspot.com  or at his private table in Meilori’s.  The web page is safer to visit.  But if you insist on visiting Meilori’s, bring a friend who runs slower than you.

LINKS:

Blog / Amazon Author Page

You knew it was coming, didn’t you?

Don’t Cringe!  It will be mercifully short.

What does the Sidhe kidnapping Princess Victoria, the werewolves of Paris, the vampires, Abigail Adams & Benjamin Franklin, an insane Abraham Lincoln, and Dragons attacking the Eiffel Tower all have in common?

AMAZON

There is illicit love, Red Weddings, Betrayal, Revenge, and Star-Crossed Lovers – all for 99 cents!  What are you waiting for?  Oh, yes: an honest review will get you a FREE audio book by Neil Gaiman.

Who knew he liked my novels?  I don’t.  I’m just hoping!

The Sky Is Not The Limit; It Is Only The Beginning!

Thanks Roland...and Mark Twain.

Please leave a comment for Roland. Or Mark. Maybe he'll stop by again. :)