Monday, May 13, 2013

Meet Author Matthew Weaver

Hey fans! Great to see you here. We've got a special treat this week - an interview with author Matthew Weaver.

Before we introduce Matthew, we want to fill you in on the latest JLB Creatives upcoming events.

This Saturday, May 18 2013, you'll find us at Street Palooza in Mount Dora Florida. We'll have
our tent set up at the Lakeside Inn (pictured right), selling and autographing books. We will also be more than delighted to answer questions of aspiring writers who stop by to talk with us. Come on out, let us know you discovered the event on the JLBC Blog.








And now we're proud to present our interview with:

Author Matthew Weaver

Welcome Matt - it's great to have you here!

It's wonderful to be here. 

Fantastic! Let's dive right in and get started. . .The phone just rang – it’s a movie deal for your book! Holy cow – they’ve left it up to you as to where you want them to film on location, and who will play the starring role…we can’t stand the suspense. Where and who is it?

Well, three story lines intertwine in The Lightness of Dust and each has two or three “starring roles.”  For the ancient Anatolian timeline I would cast Kristin Kreuk to play Kere and those scenes would be shot on the coast of Turkey.  Alicia Witt as Amanda Angona shooting on campus in Davis, California in the modern-day.  And without a doubt I would do almost anything to have Morgan Freeman bring Sam to life in Seattle!

What book or books are you currently working on? Can we expect a new release soon?

I’m working on the next volume of my planned series The Meronymy (The Lightness of Dust was the first).  All of the volumes will share some common themes, but each will have its own set of characters and will stand its own.

What kind of animals, birds, or fish do you like best? Do you have any pets - how many do you have – and what are their names?

I’m a dog guy.  We have a black lab (mixed with something else – don’t know what) named Kayla.  She’s the strangest dog.  In the winter she loves to run outside and lick the ice.  In summer she settles for eating ice cubes.

We all love stories – especially yours! Would you be willing to give the readers a synopsis of your current book?

In ancient Anatolia, a young healer fights to reunite with her true love despite her father's desire to profit from her gift.

In Depression-era
Seattle, the caretaker of the Persephone Music Hall finds inspiration for his art in the arms of a beautiful foreign violinist.

A university professor in modern-day
California struggles to keep his lab and his marriage from the clutches of his enthusiastic new grad student.

A mysterious thread draws these lives together across the span of history and summons one of them toward an unspeakable fate. Follow the thread as mortal cares scatter with The Lightness of Dust.

How much time do you devote to writing? Daily – weekly – monthly – whenever the urge strikes?

While writing the Lightness of Dust I spent most of every evening on the couch with my laptop.  For the next book I wait until my family goes to bed, and then I spend two or three hours tapping away.  I do this six nights each week; I force myself to get more than five hours sleep at least once a week!

Did you ever study writing? Feel free to elaborate – we’d love to hear about your education.

I hope you mean education in general, because I have no formal writing training.  My education was as a chemist; I earned a Ph.D. from the University of California, Davis. In a way, it made writing fiction more difficult.  In scientific writing one uses no more words than are necessary to get the point across. That sort of applies to fiction, but taken too far results in a dry read.

Who is your favorite character that you have created? Tell us about him or her and why you are so fond of them.

Samuel Freeman is dearest to me.  His story begins in 1940 Seattle, where he works as the caretaker of the Persephone Music Hall, and ends in Seattle in the modern day.  Two constant themes in the book are love and loss; Sam experiences life so fiercely that he can’t separate the two.

As an author we all know we get those “stink-o” reviews that come through now and again. How do you handle a bad review when it hits?

Bad reviews hurt; writing is such a personal exposure of the self.  One of the first reviews I received included these gems: “…it didn't really hook me at all,” and “…switching from one character/time period to another was at first confusing, then kind of annoying.” But I believed in the book.  Getting some nice reviews later on helped me to realize that it’s OK if not everyone likes your work
  
To ebook or not to ebook – that is the question. What’s your take?

As an author I love the concept.  There are no printing costs, one doesn’t necessarily need a publisher, and more people can afford to purchase a greater number of books since they are less expensive.  As a reader? I hate ebooks.  They lack the soul of paper.  Nothing compares to the feel of paper pages turning under one’s fingertips. And who wants to spend a sick day curled up with a little computer?

Where can we find your book(s)?

The Lightness of Dust is available as a paperback through Amazon.com and as an ebook through Amazon.com, Smashwords, and Kobo.




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Matt, we can't thank you enough for taking the time to be here with us at the JLB Creatives Blog. We look forward to watching your writing career grow by leaps and bounds onward to big success!

Thank you for having me, I've had a really nice time.

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There you have it! We hope you not only share this post with others, but also check out Matt on the following:

WEBSITE:

FACEBOOK PAGE:

TWITTER HANDLE:
@LunaRisen

And better yet, purchase his book! ;-)  Thanks for being such awesome fans. And if you find you'd like to be featured just like Matt, scroll to the top and look for the Submission Guidelines request on the top of the right hand column. 

Here's wishing you a stellar day!

Your blog host. . .



 Author Janet Beasley
www.HiddenEarthSeries.com




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JLB Creatives Blog Hosts
JLB Creatives Editor Dar Bagby (L) and JLB Creatives CEO Janet Beasley (R)