Lets give a big Writerly Wednesday Welcome to Olga Godim!

Thank you for inviting me to participate in your Writerly Wednesdays.

Your questions are definitely out of my comfort zone, but I’ll try to answer them as creatively as I can.

 Don’t worry, none of the people visiting with us are going to bite.  Even the vampires are on their honor.  

Interview

1. What is your favorite marketing task that has resulted in a sale?

 That would be bragging to my friends about my publications and refusing to give my book as a gift. Two of my friends have already bought it online. I don’t know if any other tactic I tried in myself-promotion resulted in a sale. I don’t have any sales info, not from my publisher, nor from any third party.

Some interviews on my writing friends’ blogs also helped: people commented that they’re interested in my novel. One of the best recent interviews was on the blog Long and Short Reviews, and here is a link:

http://www.longandshortreviews.com/interviews/interview-olga-godim/

But again, I don’t know if any sales came from it.

 Because royalties come in to the publisher on their own time some sales can take as long as six months to show.  Tracking sales is probably the most difficult part of the process of marketing.

2. What do you like about your publisher or why did you decide to Self Publish?

My publisher Eternal Press assigned me a great artist for my cover, Dawné Dominique. She did a wonderful job. I think my cover warrants a second look; it’s unique.

3. What do you have under your bed?

Lots of dust motes. I guess they’re responsible for some of my stories: they often come to me when I’m in bed, between sleep in wakefulness.

4. Are you a plotter or a pantser when you are writing?

Definitely a plotter. I need an outline, need to know where the story is going before I start writing: not the details but the general direction. But even more, I need characters. I can’t even think about a plot until I know who it all happened to. I need to know how my characters look, their names, their families. I have dozens of plot twists in my ‘Ideas’ folder, but they all are just raw material. Until I see my characters in my mind, I can’t write about them. Besides, in any plot situation, different characters react differently.

5. Do you write in a bubble or do you prefer critique groups, writing buddies or other companionship during the process?

So far, I have the best results when I write by myself. I was a member of a writing group in the past but not anymore. The tricky thing about writing groups or critique groups is that the members must be on the same skill level and have the same goal sets for the group to be helpful. It’s not easy to find such a group.

6. When do ideas come to you and how do you capture them?

Ideas come when they do. There are no rules. An idea can be inspired by an online article or a book or a conversation or an image. When an idea comes, I first play with it, try to see who can participate in the events unfolding in my head. Then I write the gist of the idea and the rough sketch of the characters into my ‘Ideas’ file. I might use some of those ideas later or not at all. Some I’ve used already.

7. What is your favorite word processing program and what other tools do you use, pen, notebooks, white board, index cards, finger on fogged bathroom mirrors?

I use MS Word for my writing. I also use MS Access for my submission database, to keep track of what stories I submitted, when, and to which publications.

And there are lots of papers on my desk: notebooks and loose sheets and scraps. I write on them my ideas for new stories and old, draw maps and schematics of places. I also usually have several lists about my desk: what should I read, what should I write in the near future, and what should I think about. I’m a great proponent of lists; they help me stay sane and not forget anything important.

 

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Bio

 

Olga Godim is a writer and journalist from Vancouver, Canada. Her

articles appear regularly in a local newspaper, but her passion is

fiction. Her short stories have been published in several internet

magazines, including Lorelei Signal, Sorcerous Signals, Aoife’s Kiss,

Silver Blade, Perihelion Science Fiction, Gypsy Shadow and other

publications. In her free time, she writes novels, collects toy

monkeys, and posts book reviews on GoodReads. You can find her there:

http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6471587.Olga_Godim

Olga is also a member of the group blog about books and writing Silk

Screen Views (SSV):

http://silkscreenviews.wordpress.com/about/guest-reviewers

For SSV, Olga writes book reviews and conduct interviews with other

writers. Soon, the blog will feature a serialized novella by Alexander

Grin, translated by Olga from Russian.

 

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Blurb

Olga’s recent novel Lost and Found in Russia is a contemporary women’s

fiction, encompassing the exploration of mother-daughter relationship

and a self-discovery tale. It was published in February 2013 by

Eternal Press.

After the shocking revelation that her daughter was switched at birth

34 years ago, Canadian scholar Amanda embarks on a trip to Russia and

Israel to find her biological daughter. Intertwined with the account

of Amanda’s journey is the story of Sonya, a 34-year-old Russian

immigrant and a former dancer, currently living in Canada. While

Amanda wades through the mires of foreign bureaucracy, Sonya struggles

with her daughter’s teenage rebellion. While Amanda rediscovers her

femininity, Sonya dreams of dancing. Both mothers are searching: for

their daughters and for themselves.

 

Here are the links to the novel on the publisher’s website and on Amazon:

 

http://www.eternalpress.biz/book.php?isbn=9781615728770

 

http://www.amazon.com/Lost-Found-Russia-Olga-Godim/dp/1615728783/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1367099567&sr=8-1&keywords=olga+godim

 

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Excerpt

 

“I’ve discovered that you’re not really my daughter. I have another

daughter somewhere in Russia.” Amanda held her breath. What would

Gloria’s response be to this revelation? Every night, Amanda thought

about ways to put it into words, to explain it to her daughter, but

she couldn’t find any better approach than the blunt truth.

 

“What is it?” A mischievous dimple appeared in Gloria’s right cheek,

untouched by the bruises. “A twist from a new book by some obscure

Russian writer?”

 

“No,” Amanda whispered. Of all the possible scenarios she had

envisioned during her nightly speculations, she hadn’t thought Gloria

would simply discard the news. “Your blood type is ‘O’ negative. The

doctor said. Both Donald and I had ‘O’ positive blood. They probably

switched you at birth in that Russian hospital.”

 

Slowly, Gloria’s hands stilled, and she lifted her eyes to look at

Amanda. She opened her mouth, attempted a smile, closed it, opened it

again, and then blinked.

 

“This is a joke?”

 

Amanda shook her head.

 

“This is the truth?”

 

Amanda nodded. Unable to watch emotions flickering across Gloria’s

face, she surged up and kneeled in front of her daughter’s chair. “I

love you Gloria,” she said hoarsely, caressing her daughter’s leg

under the worn denim. “You’ll always be my daughter. But there is

another one somewhere in Russia. She might be starving, unemployed.”

Amanda’s throat closed. No matter how often such thoughts visited her

lately, she had had to fight for air every time.

 

“She might need my help. Our help. I have to go there and find her. I

have to bring your sister home.” She smiled weakly. “Maybe she can be

your new designer. Maybe she has inherited Donald’s creativity. Say

something, please.” Amanda’s gray eyes bored into her daughter’s green

ones. Would she understand? Forgive?

 

“So I have another mother somewhere in Russia?” Gloria said, her lips

stretching in a mirthless grin.

 

“Another mother?” Appalled, Amanda pulled away.

 

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Besides the novel, Olga has a short story Twist of Luck available for

purchase online:

http://www.amazon.com/Twist-of-Luck-ebook/dp/B008R1F3OW/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1367099567&sr=8-2&keywords=olga+godim

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Thanks Olga, I hope you become a best seller!  I am also glad you stepped out of your comfort zone and hope you will visit again.

Come back next week to Writerly Wednesday and don’t touch anything sharp!

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