Today on the Daily Brew we welcome the writing duo of Karen Wodke and PJ Hawkinson writing under the name Wodke Hawkinson.
DBC:  So, how long have the two of you been writing together?

Karen & PJ: As teenagers we wrote silly stories, but we started writing books together in 2009.

DBC:  So, who is the mastermind behind your writing?

Karen: I am
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PJ: I am
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Karen & PJ: Actually, it’s 50-50. We each have our moments
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DBC:  So what’s it like in a Day in the life of authors Wodke Hawkinson?  Explain your writing process?

Karen and PJ: We have to admit we don’t work every single day on writing. However, our process is such that we discuss our ideas, come up with a basic plot outline, choose our characters and settings, and then each of us works on one section/chapter at a time. Once a section is done, it is passed to the other for review, revision, and fleshing out. Each part is gone over several times until we have a version we both like. Then we move on to the next section and do the same. Once the entire book is finished, we each review it multiple times for proofreading, editing, additions, etc. The finished product is always quite different from the initial rough draft.

PJ: My favorite book is Tangerine where our heroine meets a rogue and together they learn about an heirloom, fight a dastardly villain, and learn how the effects the heirloom has on not only them but on civilization in general. The characters introduced in this book are quirky and interesting while the deeds of the villain keep you gritting your teeth.

DBC:  For my Daily Brew fans, I consider Karen and PJ some of my close writer friends.  Over the years they have given me excellent writing advice and even tweeted my book links.  My question and this one is for me, over the years on twitter, who have I been mostly talking to?

Karen & PJ: We divide our Twitter activity. PJ does most of the RTing and Karen tends to answer the mentions and direct messages. But, we have each done both. However, for the most part, it was probably Karen you were talking to
.
DBC:  So tell me about your latest book, “Dark Longings?”

Karen & PJ: Dark Longings is a mystery/suspense about a young woman, Ruby, who is searching for her missing ex-boyfriend. Though she and Kenny have broken up, they still maintain a friendly relationship. When he vanishes, she feels like she is the only one who cares enough to try to find him. She was supposed to meet him at a vampire-themed nightclub, but Kenny never shows up and she is unable to contact him. His disappearance coincides with a string of unsolved murders in the city. Each step Ruby takes in her investigation brings her closer to danger herself.

DBC:  So what’s next for the writing duo?

Karen & PJ: We’ve set aside the fantasy sci-fi we were writing to work on a cozy mystery. Most of our novels have dealt with dark subject matter. We’re ready to tackle a project with a lighter feel. This is not to say there aren’t more suspense novels in our future, because there most certainly will be, but for now we are excited to try a genre that is new to us.

DBC:  Do you have any upcoming events?

Karen & PJ: We don’t have any events planned at this time, but we may do a winter giveaway. The details are still in the making.
 
DBC:  I would like to thank my guest for taking the time to visit The Daily Brew.  Feel free to purchase a copy of their latest, “Dark Longings” for Kindle at the following link.  http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Longings-Wodke-Hawkinson-ebook/dp/B00HRK38EQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1389360788&sr=8-1&keywords=dark+longing
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More information is available about the two at the following site, (http://wodke-hawkinson.com/) and be sure to follow them on twitter @WodkeHawkinson.
Wodke Hawkinson Amazon Author Page: Author.to/WodkeHawkinson
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Brian Bandell is back.  If you missed the last time he was here, we discussed his debut novel mute.   Now he strikes back with his new novel, Famous After Death.  It’s a thriller about a murder gone viral.  Speaking of viral, let’s get this interview underway and see if it goes viral.

DBC:  You and I initially met on a writing website www.authonomy.com.  Are you still a frequent member on that site?

Brian: I used Authonomy for many years to trade feedback with authors. I met many talented writers there and they helped me a great deal. Unfortunately, Harper Collins is shutting Authonomy down this month.
(09/30/15 was Authonomy’s last day.  I hope it went out with a bang.)

DBC:  I know you spent some time putting Mute together to the point it was the best that it could be.  Did you put the same amount of effort into Famous After Death or was it much easier since this was not your first time around and already having a publisher?

Brian: I wrote Famous After Death knowing I had a publisher, so that was a relief. The real test was to craft a story that would catch fire with readers. I observed how criminals have been using social media and how people celebrated violence online. I also researched how people can post things online without identifying their IP address. Both novels took tremendous effort and many years.

DBC: What effect has your job had on your exposure as a novelist and vice versa?

Brian: Working as a senior reporter at the South Florida Business Journal has helped me make connections. Many people this heavily populated region know me through my journalism and that had led to successful events. I’ve used my LinkedIn, Twitter and email address book with contacts acquired as both a journalist and novelist to invite people to book signings.

DBC:  How did this project, Famous After Death, differ from Mute as far as preparation, production and its initial launch?

Brian: Mute launched as an ebook first, and then in print a year later. That made it difficult to do events initially. Famous After Death launched both versions at the same time so that was easier. Mute was a very personal book, with a plot of science fiction murder mystery and it was very emotional for me to talk about how it related to my life. Famous After Death is very topical. When killers post videos of their victims on social media, it brings this ugly topic up. So I’ve been talking about how social media is being used to promote violence and how it influences people when such acts are shared and celebrated online.

DBC:  George Lucas once quote a colleague of his stating that movies are never finished, they’re abandoned.  To an extent, I believe that also happens in books.  Because to me, I believe, when one story ends, another begins.  So what’s in store for Mute fans?


Brian: Something very big is in store for Mute fans. I wrote a sequel and I’m editing it now. A few select people are beta reading it. Imagine a couple in love, but a mere touch between them could prove fatal, for them and the entire world.

DBC:  You built an excellent platform coming out to begin your writing career.  Care to share some advice for anyone trying to break into the writing business today?

Brian: Keep churning out more books. If one book doesn’t work, write another. I have multiple books at different stages. The more you write, the better you get and the greater your chances of success.

DBC:  Any hints on any other future projects from Brian Bandell?

Brian:  I have a signing at Murder on the Beach on Oct. 7 at 7 p.m. It’s an independent bookstore in exciting Delray Beach at 273 Pineapple Grove Way. I’ll be presenting at the Miami Book Fair on Nov. 22.
​
DBC:  Thanks for returning to the Daily Brew and sharing with us some of your latest endeavors.  For those that would like to keep up with Brian you can catch him on twitter @brianbandell, or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/bandellwrites .   Famous After Death is currently available at amazon.com at the following link:
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http://www.amazon.com/Famous-After-Death-Brian-Bandell-ebook/dp/B00ZQAD2UE/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1434489015&sr=1-1

And if you haven’t had a chance to get your hands on Mute, you can get it at this link:  http://www.amazon.com/Mute-ebook/dp/B008GHMQ60/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1341154061&sr=1-5&keywords=mute
​

Fittingly, Snowbound was published on Jan. 6, 2014, upon the heels of Winter Storm Ion, in which a polar vortex swept through the United States, slamming several states with sub-zero temperatures and wind chills that no one has experienced in 20 years. (Hmm… a chilling coincidence or TERRIFIC marketing ploy, Ms. Winter?)

Well, let's chalk it up to a coincidence. In fact, "The idea has been with me since I was 15 or 16," Winter reminisces. "I read a romance novel of one flavor or other that had the hero and heroine caught in a thunderstorm and they wound up together in an isolated cabin. My brain ran with it, begging for more drama and more dire circumstances."

Snowbound may trigger its own vortex in the literary world. The romance does contain swear words, and it's full of detailed, explicit scenes for anyone that loves The 50 Shades of Grey stuff. But it's the fascinating world she's shaped of characters thrust against the Wyoming landscape that will hook you.

Every time he did, she jumped up to check him and usually found him tossing and turning. His muscles cramped from the change in his core temperature and his joints stiffened from the shivering and exertion of his walk through the storm. He was nearly incoherent sometimes, his mind still shaking off the effects of the cold. He asked for water, glass after glass. She stirred salt into each warmed glass to help with the muscle cramping and fed him ibuprofen tablets.

Being married, raising two sons, and crafting a novel is more than most people can handle. But, Winter determinedly tapped on those computer keys any chance she could (especially in the wee hours of the morning when all was quiet), finally giving breath to that idea she had so many years ago. She explains her writing process as "brain vomit" in which she scratches down any idea or hint of dialogue on whatever she can get her hands on. Interestingly enough, one of her Snowbound characters was conceived by scratching notes on a pizza box. No matter the method, she was relieved and quite giddy to see her baby in print.

Winter's friends, Beth and Shanna, helped her with understanding a readers' perspective and with the tedious task of editing. Formatting the novel and getting it ready for sale on Amazon was also time-consuming.

Alas, a writer's work is never done. Reviews on Amazon are positive and may create a snowball effect, one that prompts Winter to write more books.

"Snowbound is a stand-alone, but I do have other irons in the fire" Winter assures her new readers. "I have several different ideas I've been outlining, one that's being very selfish with my time. I'm far from done!"

Contact Sarah Winter via Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest with username SisterSadieG. Check out Sarah's blog.

Excerpt used with Sarah Winter's permission


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Photo Captions:

Snowbound cover
Author Sarah Winter (photo by Sarah Winter)

The following excerpt is from the short Mile Marker, currently on sale for Amazon's Kindle.  Please enjoy.



2:12p.m.

Frank’s prisoner slowly regained consciousness.  Frank directed him into the back seat of his car and drove west.  The prisoner’s body quit jerking from the Taser and he seemed coherent. 

“Son, you wanna tell me what you were doing in the woods over there?  Where’s your buddy at?”

The man didn’t reply while staring out the window.  Frank pulled up behind the red Pontiac and asked, “You wanna tell me the story behind this car?”

Silence.

Frank grabbed the radio receiver to enhance his bluff.  “Now I’mma gonna call these tags in.  You got any idea what they are gonna tell me when I call it?’ 

“That ain’t my car,” softly said the man from the back seat.

“I have an eyewitness that says he seen you and another black guy over here by this car.”

“I ain’t been nowhere near that car.  I was just out here walking, minding my business, trying to clear my head.”

“So why you run, and where’s your friend?”

“I’m out here by myself.  I ain’t do nothing.  You just fooling with me 'cause I’m black.”

“Color has nothing to do with it.  I got an abandoned car on the road, you fooling around in the woods, your buddy missing, and I got an eye witness that says you and your friend were by this car.”

“I ain’t got no friend with me, I was out here walking trying to clear my head that’s all.”

“Oh yeah?  So who the hell is Cooley?  Don’t you remember yelling ‘Cooley, it’s Five-O’ before I Tased you?”

“I was talking to myself, Cooley,” he said.  “I sometimes call myself Cooley.  It’s a nickname.  No crime in having a nickname.”

“I’m sure,” Frank replied.  “But don’t take offense, ‘cause I sometimes call my riders liars.”

“You the one lying.  You ain’t got no eyewitness.  You probably talked to that goofy white dude with the duffel bag.  That white boy was on this side the road with the car.  We was on the other side.  Talk to that white boy about that car.”

“We?  I thought you said you were by yourself?”

“That’s not what I said.  You over here changing my words.  You stunned me and got my mind messed up.  I said me.  I was on the other side and that white boy was over here.  Go get that white boy.  This is his car.  I don’t know jack about this car.”

“So if this ain’t your car, where’s your car?  How’d you get out here?  Let me guess, your momma kicked you out this morning from your Jasper home and you’re going to live with your cousin in Nelson?  Cause if so, I heard enough of that hog-wash.  Something stinks to high heaven between your story and his story.  And I’ll bring everybody in to get to the bottom of it.  Not to mention that I saw you two when I was driving up this way.  So you wanna come clean and tell me what the hell you were up to?”

“I wasn’t doing nothing.  I know my rights.  You ain’t got nothing on me.”

“Well, let’s go find your buddy in those woods and see what you were up to.  I doubt you are as clean as you say you are, Homeboy.”  Frank started the car back up, pulled onto the highway, and made a U-turn heading eastward.

Sergeant Frank Todd pulled up to the same area where he picked up the black guy, and then headed into the woods, keeping his hand on his Taser.  A natural path was already cut into the woods from frequent traffic.

He followed the path deep into the woods.  Although the middle of the afternoon, it looked like it was dusk.  The tall trees blocked out most of the sun.

The path started to branch.  A faint trail went to the left.  Up the path another faint trail went to the right.  Choices.  Since Frank was left handed, he chose to go left. 

Frank continued to follow the shadowy outline of the trail for a few dozen yards and then stopped.  His heart beat like a sledge hammer against his breastplate.  Waves of nausea caused his vision to blur.  He leaned onto a tree for balance as he stared at what looked to be a female corpse wrapped up in clear plastic lying in the grass.

“Sally, Sally, you there?” Frank desperately yelled into the radio. 

She answered with concern in her voice.  “What’s the matter, Frank?”

“Gonna need back-up.  Found a dead female in the woods.”

Trell:  Today at dailybrewconnection.com we are talking with author Kimberly Biller, author of Musings Between the Sheets.  Just to give our readers a little background about Kimberly, what did you do before writing and is writing now your full-time career?

Kimberly:  I was a manicurist for 12 years and they all encouraged me to write my life story, so I am. I have written 5 works that are published on amazon and my memoir is within 2 weeks of publishing. It is a southern child bride memoir, titled: I Couldn’t Lay in the Bed They Made (we say lay, not lie, unless referring to a fib!) I now write full-time.

Trell:  When did you know that you wanted to write professionally?

Kimberly:  I would write poetry as a form of escape in my pre-teens and teens. I dreamed of being famous, again, my only escape from a bitter, abusive home life, so I guess it stayed with me. I picked it back up 2 years ago.

Trell:  What was the motivation to get you started to do that first novel?

Kimberly:  My motivation came after the first draft of the memoir. I had the bug after that and the more I wrote, the more I wanted to.

Trell:  Who or what was your inspiration to write?

Kimberly:   As I said in the beginning, my clients propelled me, but my past was the actual driver. My husband is also a wonderful motivator.

Trell:  What type of writing do you like to do?

Kimberly:   I am really enjoying the erotica that I write, with a twist. I want the reader to be surprised with the ending, not go duh! I knew that’s what would happen! I also want people to think!

Trell:  Do you have any advice for someone who wants to get out there professionally but just can’t figure how and when to take that plunge?

Kimberly:   Just do it! If the work isn’t quality at first, so what, it will be eventually, if writing is where you should be. I still see improvement with every book and I am on my 6th! I hope my readers will stick with me as I grow with this career!

Trell:  So, who is on your Reading list?

Kimberly:   Oh my! I love Douglas Wickard who is rather new. He wrote The Perfect Husband and his sequel is due any day A Perfect Setup. His works are thrillers, sort of like James Patterson and Jonathon Kellerman. I live crime novels, because I will never be able to write them. Patricia Cornwell has been a favorite forever!

Trell:  Thank you Kimberly.  We just sat down with Kimberly Biller the dailybrewconnection.com’s first guest this year.   She is author of: Tall Dark & Different, The Tree in the Front Yard, Musings Between The Sheets and A Threesome of Erotic Short Stories: Musings Book 2! All her books are available at Amazon.com Please be sure to check it out for your Kindle.  And definitely get her newest release, From One Night to a Lifetime.  It is available now at Amazon.com as well.  If you would like to know more about Kimberly, feel free to visit her author’s page at www.facebook.com/pages/Kimberly-Jon-Biller/140481052779276

-Trell

DBC:  Today we have
an interview with Brian Bandell, reporter for the South Florida Business Journal  (website.)  He is also the author of the recently released thriller Mute.   Brian Bandell is also a member of Authonomy.com http://www.authonomy.com/where they say they are a community of more than booklovers, which I agree with since I have met great writers such as Dina Rea, David Ware, and Cyrus Hood.   And today is no different, I have another great writer and he is Brian Bandell.

 So let’s get right into it. Whether it be journalism, science-fiction, or just a story in  general tell us what inspired you to want to write?

Brian: I was compelled to write.   As Kathryn Rusch had said “Every time you write you get better at it.” I remember when I was at the University of Miami, sitting in front of Lake Osceola when I got the idea to write Mute.  Mute is actually the fourth book that I have completed and I am actually working on my fifth.

DBC:  So briefly, tell us about Mute.

Brian:  Mute is a story about isolation.  A young girl is found in the Everglades not far from two murder victims. The main  character Monique (Moni) is half white half black child protective services detective that has been tasked with  trying to GET the girl to talk.   Her input is not really accepted in the investigation the homicide detectives are only interested in if the girl talks. 
In this this thriller, things from Moni’s past will come back to relate  and reflect a light on this case.  There are also some supernatural occurrences that take place in the story.  Certain animals that USUALLY don’t attack people are attacking and there is a unique bacteria in the area that is CHANGING THE LAGOON IN BIZARRE WAYS.

DBC:  This question is to help the unpublished such as myself, as far as getting Mute published, did you use an agent or did you do “the leg work” yourself?

Brian:  I tried to  get an agent at first.  I came close and actually MET one but he really wasn’t all that comfortable with Mute due to some of the Sci-Fi nature that was in it.  At the same time I was looking for a publisher and I found Silver Leaf Books.  So at that point I no longer needed an agent.

DBC:  I’ve been told  as a writer to FOCUS ON one genre and build a fan base there.  So I ask your opinion on that subject.  From your emails and speaking with you, you seem vaster than just sticking with the murder thriller mystery writing.  So how do you weigh in on this?

Brian:  On Authonomy you can classify your book in four genres but in reality a book store  is only going to classify your book in one category and place it in one section  of the book store.  But it’s not  uncommon, Dean Koontz has books that will be thrillers but will have a bit of  Sci-Fi in them.  Mute is  a thriller with a bit of Sci-Fi in it, BUT THERE IS MORE SCI-FI AS THE STORY GOES ON.

DBC:  So I have to ask, I like the idea behind the cover, was it your idea?

Brian:  Well for Authonomy, I needed a book cover vs. using one of their covers so I went online  and started looking for images with a mute concept and I  found one I liked and I used it.  As I got closer to time to start publication, I wanted to get the rights to the cover so I tracked down who the photographer was and the unique thing about her, she herself is mute.  She is an Australian photographer by the name El Cesana.  

DBC:  Brian I thank you for taking the time to do this interview for me.  I know I dropped the ball several times in trying to get this done.  I’m thankful that you were very patient  during the process. 

Mute is available now through Silver Leaf Books and available for purchase for your Kindle by going to the following link. 
http://www.amazon.com/Mute-ebook/dp/B008GHMQ60/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1341154061&sr=1-5&keywords=mute

To learn more about Brian, you can visit his bio page at Silver Leaf Books, http://silverleafbooks.com/Authors_Bandell.htm or his Blog at Blogspot http://brianbandell.blogspot.com/.  

He can also be followed on twitter @brianbandell, or you can read  his business articles for the South Florida Business Journal, http://www.bizjournals.com/southflorida/.

In closing, I would also like to thank Authonomy www.authonomy.com .  This community of writers has helped me grow as a writer and you will also find many great talents at that site just like Brian Bandell.


Terrill