Welcome Phyllis Johnson (Could be titled: I'm going to get blogger!)

If Phyllis looks familiar, you may have seen in her on television in bit roles on website advertising the has classroom ma

                    

              I want to welcome Phyllis Johnson here today. She is one half of the team who wrote the YA novel, inkBLOT.  It’s great to have you, Phyllis.     

            

     Why did you decide to write inkBLOT?

One day I was taking an inkblot test online and the images and questions grew stranger and more twisted somehow. I started wondering what it would be like if the person receiving the information used it against me. It was the classic “what if” that gave birth to the book. 

     How long have you known Nancy Naigle? (Nancy is the other half of Johnson Naigle, this awesome writing team.)  

I’ve known Nancy for six years. She's a great friend and an award winning writer. Her debut novel, Sweet Tea and Secrets is getting rave reviews and her next novel, due out soon is titled Out of Focus. Nancy and I met through our romance writing group and went to some writing retreats and conferences together. Our personalities and love for writing meshed and we decided over time that it would be fun to work together.  I started working on inkBLOT and somewhere along the way got distracted by other writing projects. Nancy heard the synopsis of the story and kept asking about it. She didn’t want me to give up on it and decided she’d like to work on it with me. That’s when our co-authorship began. I’m really happy she fell in love with the characters like I did. We plan sequels to the book and have outlined them already. 

    How did you come up with such a fantastic idea for a YA novel? 

    Like I said earlier, it was the inkblot test that triggered the whole book. Different images on the test made me think of various crimes and how someone could carry them out. 

       I must tell you that the first line of the first chapter is one of the best first lines I’ve ever read. Pulled me in. Fast. How long did you work on that first line? 

      Nancy has to take credit for the first line. I had removed the first chapter from the book so it could begin with real action. After all, suspense has to grab you from the beginning. It’s Nancy’s first line that hooks you.  We sent the manuscript back and forth trying come up with the strongest hook. 

     What character was the hardest to create? 
   Chelsea may have been the hardest to create. She’s strong willed and competitive but we wanted her to show some compassion too. It was a balancing act. We found that we had to go back and soften her up a little to more easily win the readers' hearts. 

    What would you tell a young person who wants to be a writer?    Being a writer is a labor of love. You do it because you feel something is missing when you go too long without writing. Some of my best advice is to join writing groups. Networking with others takes some of the solitude out of it and you learn a lot from others, such as publishing information and critiquing skills. Developing a thick skin to rejection is important and you should always believe in yourself. Never give up your dreams.

              

        Which children's book authors are your favorites?

        Jon Sciezka, Alice McLerran, E.B. White, Peggy Deitz Shea, Anne Frank (which explains my poetry book based on her diary, Being Frank with Anne- which I plan to re-release as a new edition in the near future)

      Do you ever get writer's block?

      When I get writer’s block, I look at artwork or photography and listen to music.
     Anything creative jump starts my Muse.  Swinging in a hammock with notebook and pen helps too.

               
    If you could say anything to your readers, what would it be? 

    I hope you love Ronnie, Chelsea and Tiffany as much as we do.  

   And the next time you enter a lot of information over the internet about yourself... be careful. :.)~  


   Thank you for visiting with me, Phyllis and Nancy. I heart your novel.

              

  You want to visit this awesome writing team and their most exciting novel? I knew you did. Check out the linkage. You'll be glad you did. Support these lovely ladies. Go buy this novel. It's awesome. *wishing I'd had the idea first*
        
        inkBlot
        Phyllis's place
        Nancy's house  
    
   I've never had  so much trouble with the formatting and uploading as I've had this week.   *shakes fist at blogger*