Please introduce yourself, who are you and what do you do?
I’m a retired civil servant after 33+ years with the same agency. I’m married with no children. We have two cats. I’ve recently self-published my debut novel a YA Paranormal/Time Travel/First Kiss Romance story entitled “I Kissed a Ghost.” And I’m hoping this will lead to my starting a second career as a best-selling author.
What first inspired you to start writing?
I actually began to write back in June 1995, where until June 2006 I wrote over 450 commentary type items for a community newspaper. Along the way I decided to see if I could write something else. I didn’t own a computer back then, but I did have access to one where I wrote my commentaries, and it was on this computer I wrote about two pages a week. Once I got my computer I began to write what I wanted to be a contemporary romance with a paranormal element running through, but I never seemed to get the sense it would be good enough to be read by someone else. Eventually, someone suggested I write for a younger audience, which how I came to write my debut novel, a YA [Young Adult] Paranormal/Time Travel/First Kiss romance entitled, “I Kissed a Ghost.”
Do you write in the same genre that you read?
I seldom get a chance to read. I worked for 33 years with the same government agency and had to commute about an hour each way. Now, being retired I’m busy with my writing and marketing/promoting my debut novel. When I have the time I like to read poignant memoirs, such as, “And The Whippoorwill Sang” by Micki Peluso. Otherwise, to answer your question I would say NO to your question. I say this because I strive to be as original as I can get, and I don’t really want to be influenced by any other writer for fear I might subconsciously write the same thing which had been written by that author.
How did you select the title for your book?
Selecting a title for a book had been a very challenging experience for me; but after racking my brain over it, I decided to merely summarize the premise for the entire story in as few words as possible until I had something which could be used as the title for my book. Hence, since the story is about a girl [Mary] and her kissing the ghost [George] she had living in her house, the story had to be called, “I Kissed a Ghost.”
Are you a planner? Or do you dive straight into writing?
If you’re asking me whether I’m a plotter or a pantser, I’d probably say a little of both. As I said in the above, I made a skeleton of an outside, writing down the basic plot points I’d like to hit as the story unfolded; and as a sculptor starting with a wire base of what they’d like to have, I added material, then took some away, until I had the finished product I had in mind.
Do you have a favourite place where you write?
Although we don’t have any children; we do have a second bedroom where I do all of my writing. I also do my marketing/promoting of my book and social interaction there as well.
If you could write anybody's biography, whose would it be?
There’s a multitude of people I would write a biography about, however if I had to choose it would have to Thomas A. Edison, because his inventions truly changed everyone’s life. From motion pictures to the electric light bulb, imagined where our ancestors would have been without them.
What is your favourite song lyric?
Given I’ve written and self-published my first YA novel it would definitely have to be the first line of “Pure Imagination” from “Willy Wonka” sung by Gene Wilder, because that is how I wrote my book.
“Come with me and you'll be in a world of pure imagination…”
What advice would you give new and aspiring authors?
Ever give up living your dream of becoming a writer, as you can from reading about me, I never did. Before you start looking for a publisher or even an agent you MUST have your manuscript edited, granted the editor you select might miss a few minor points, but at least it’s now in a much more presentable condition. Publishers want manuscript which can be easily edited by their own editing staff, without them having to correct countless misspellings and grammatical errors.
What are you working on at the moment?
As I’ve stated in the above I had started to write a contemporary romance but never completed writing it. Now with my debut YA novel self-published I’ve return to writing the romance manuscript I had started many years ago, and approaching it anew with the knowledge I’ve gained along the way in writing “I Kissed a Ghost.” The reason I’m writing it is relatively simple, I’ve always felt somewhat incomplete not having completed something I once had started out to do, and I now want to fill the void it has created in my life.
Tell us about your latest work and how we can find out more.
Mary gets a new classmate named Jonathan who’s a great baseball player and to get on the team, he needs Mary’s help to improve his grades. Six months later when she learns she’s moving, she decides to give him something special--a first kiss.
Moving into her new home she soon discovers it has a ghost named George, her age, who takes her on numerous trips to the past of a hundred years ago. As she meets children her own age, everyone teases her about her house being haunted, but no one will go inside.
Mary likes his help doing her math homework, writing her reports, and taking her back in time. George and Mary’s interaction grows and she eventually gives him a quick peck on his lips while they’re in the past, which is the only place George is a real boy, for having done something special for her.
In an attempt to get her classmates/friends to be willing to come inside her house, she has a Halloween party designed to confuse them as to what is real and what is not.
Can Mary kiss George a second time, at the special date and time he needs to be kissed? What happens afterwards if she does? The answers are all in the book!
*****
If anyone is interested in reading several UNEDITED SNIPPETS from my debut novel, they can be found in the GHOSTLY WHISPERS entries on any of my blog sites.
Where can we find your book and you on the internet?
Buy now from Amazon (US) | Buy now from Amazon (UK)
The book is also available on Amazon.de Amazon.es Amazon.fr Amazon.it
I’ve got blogs on the following sites
http://www.mypennameonly.blogspot.com or
http://www.mypennameonly.wordpress.com or
http://www.mypennameonly.webs.com [this is also my website]
http://www.mypennameonly.tumblr.com
I also can be found on
TWITTER = http://www.twitter.com/mypennameonly
FACEBOOK = http://www.facebook.com/mypennameonly
GOODREADS = http://www.goodreads.com/RobinLeighMorgan
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