Writerly Wednesday Welcomes Barbara Winkes

 

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

I like blog hops and guest blogs–those give you an opportunity to talk about subjects and causes dear to your heart and, at the same time, connect with readers and other authors. It’s a win-win situation.

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

I love working with the dedicated and talented team at Eternal Press. It’s been a dream come true from the first “accepted for publication” email, and I’m happy to announce that there’ll be two more titles for which I’ve already signed, and more in the works.

3. What do you have under your bed?

There is nothing under my bed. With everything going on in my head and on paper during the day, I need a clutter-free zone to sleep. Although…I still have weird dreams pretty often. The characters don’t always respect these boundaries.

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

Since making the transition to writing full-time, and being published, I’ve become more of a plotter. I still like to leave some room, so at some point, the characters will say or do something that surprises me. A good outline can help the writing process. Last NaNoWriMo, it helped me reach over 70K words.

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

I have a few beta readers, not related in any way, to make sure I’ve had some feedback before the story goes off to acquisition.

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

At all times–reading, watching TV, in the shower or in a restaurant. Or during the hours of the day I sit at the computer writing. I had a notebook with me on the last vacation I opened every now and then, and we came home with half a story.

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 work either with a word.doc, or a pen and a notebook, index cards to plan the upcoming projects and the year in general. I like a bit of color-coding in my work, must be due to the synesthesia.

Bio

“Lesbian fiction with high drama and happy endings”Barbara Winkes, a psychologist/trauma counselor, left her native Germany to live with her wife in Québec City. Her debut novel “Autumn Leaves” and the follow-up, “Winter Storm”, published by Eternal Press, tell the love story between two women in a small town, where neighbors take an interest in the life of others.
The standalone thriller “Secrets” followed November 2013.
Part three of the romance series, Spring Fever, is coming 2014.FB https://www.facebook.com/pages/Barbara-Winkes-Author-page/289940881121860?ref=hl
Twitter https://twitter.com/demeter94
Pinterest http://www.pinterest.com/demeter94/boards/
Blog www.barbarawinkes.blogspot.ca

Blurb

To save your life…would you trust a stranger with your secret? Disillusioned with the direction her life is going, Marsha Taylor wants to get away, to find out what’s left of her dreams. Picking up a hitchhiker along the way wasn’t her intention, but Jessie, a woman with troubles of her own, is hard to resist.A mishap on the road forces them to make a stop in a small town called Diamond Lake. Residents are on edge since a brutal murder happened in the area not long ago. Everyone has their secrets…some of them are deadly.

Buy Link(s)

Eternal Press: http://bit.ly/1aznFv0
Amazon: http://amzn.to/16UfutS

Excerpt

Sophie couldn’t sleep. Part of that was her own fault, a coffee late in the evening, reading articles about the murder online, checking her usual sources. She stayed in the chat room for a while, but there was no answer from her partner in crime-solving.

When she’d driven into Wilson, the air was already heavier and more humid, the sky darkening. Thunder rumbled in the distance. Clad in only a shirt and panties, she got up, walking into her daughter’s room. Laura was fast asleep. She’d slept through a thunderstorm before, unlike her mother who jerked awake at the slightest sound. Sophie went back to her own bedroom, flinching when the lightning bolt cut through the black night sky. There was no breeze to cool down the stuffy air inside these walls. The storm was still far away, and she wished for her colleagues of the night shift that they wouldn’t have to go out. Normally, even annoying teenagers would like to stay in during weather like this. They weren’t the only ones out there though.

There was someone who had slashed the women’s tires today. In Wilson, it was another hectic night for the locals and the federal agents in search of a brutal killer. Sophie felt exhausted, and useless. She thought of Mark who was so determined to rise through the ranks. If she hadn’t been so eager to get out of Wilson, she might be working with the Feds now. Alice had gone to the same high school, a few years before Sophie, so she hadn’t known her. Still, this was another thing they had in common, she and the victim. Her thoughts kept circling around her.

Alice had been eager to get out of Wilson as well. She had left for college and never looked back–until the killer found her.

The water Sophie had gotten herself earlier had gone stale in the plastic bottle. She took a sip, frowning. She needed to get up in a little over five hours, no point in torturing herself with thoughts of Hamel’s last moments. She wasn’t going to make a contribution by falling asleep at her desk tomorrow.

Buy Links again and contact links again as well.

Eternal Press: http://bit.ly/1aznFv0
Amazon: http://amzn.to/16UfutS

FB https://www.facebook.com/pages/Barbara-Winkes-Author-page/289940881121860?ref=hl
Twitter https://twitter.com/demeter94
Pinterest http://www.pinterest.com/demeter94/boards/
Blog www.barbarawinkes.blogspot.ca

Buy links to other titles:
Autumn Leaves: http://eternalpress.biz/book.php?isbn=9781615727964
Winter Storm: http://eternalpress.biz/book.php?isbn=9781615728749
(lesbian romance series)

Thank you Barbara.  I hope you’ll come back and share your upcoming releases with us.

If I Should Die and Milk Carton People by Sally Franklin Christie are available at your favorite book-seller in print and e-formats for your favorite e-reader.

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