Folks, I have set the goal of raising $200 for the Green Beret Foundation before April 15th, through the sale of my book, "The Night Eagles Soared." Know that I will make a $2 donation for every copy of my book sold from this site and from my website.
I can't do this without your help so I am asking you to please help me reach this goal by ordering a copy today.
Other ways you can help is to tell all your friends about the book and about the goal I am trying to reach. Another way to help is to order a copy for your friends, or for a loved one. It is a great story, that many readers have enjoyed.
Your help is greatly appreciated!
Steve
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Inteview with Actor/Author Dale Dye
First allow me to say thank you Mr. Dye for participating in this series of Author Interviews for my Local Voices segment on the Patch.com. It is a great honor! Most of my readers will know you from your acting career with such credits under your belt as “Saving Private Ryan” and “Band of Brothers.”
What many of them may not know is that you are also a prolific writer with several published titles to your name. That is what I am most interested in, learning about you as not only an actor but also as a writer.
1. What is your full name and please tell us a little about yourself. I know you are a veteran, a combat veteran? What books you’ve written?
DALE ADAM DYE was born October 8, 1944 in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. He graduated as a cadet officer from Missouri Military Academy but there was no money for college so he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps in January 1964. He served in Vietnam in 1965 and 1967 through 1970 surviving 31 major combat operations. He emerged from Southeast Asia highly decorated including the Bronze Star with V for Valor and three Purple Hearts for wounds suffered in combat. He spent 13 years as an enlisted Marine, rising to the rank of Master Sergeant before he was chosen to attend Officer Candidate School. Appointed a Warrant Officer in 1976, he later converted his commission and was a Captain when he was sent to Beirut, Lebanon with the Multinational Peacekeeping Force in 1982-83. He served in a variety of assignments around the world and along the way managed to graduate with a BA degree in English Literature from the University of Maryland.
DYE worked for a year at “Soldier of Fortune” Magazine when he finally decided to retire in 1984. He spent time in Central America, reporting and training troops in guerrilla warfare techniques in El Salvador, Honduras and Costa Rica before leaving the magazine in 1985 and heading for Hollywood. He founded the leading military consultancy to motion pictures and television shortly thereafter and his WARRIORS, INC. firm has worked on more than fifty movies and TV shows including several Academy Award and Emmy winning productions. DYE is a published novelist, screenwriter and director. He is also a consummate character actor with appearances in many films and television productions.
His published novels include “Run Between The Raindrops,” “Platoon” (novelization of Oliver Stone’s film script), “Outrage,” “Conduct Unbecoming,” “Duty and Dishonor,” “Code Word: Geronimo” (a graphic novel), “Laos File,” (Military Writers Society of America Gold Medal winner), and “Peleliu File.”
2. Please tell us about the body of your work and how does that relate to your writing? Has being an actor helped you in your writing?
We’ve just listed my books. If by “body of work” you mean my film and TV work as a screenwriter, director, consultant and actor, there’s just too much at this point to mention here. Interested folks can look it all up on IMDb.com or go to my website at http://www.warriorsinc.com/ for a full run-down.
I’m not sure if being an actor has helped my writing or the other way around. As an actor, I’ve certainly gained some valuable insights about things like dramatic structure; pacing, character development and voice that have all improved my writing. As a writer I’ve been blessed with a vivid imagination, a glib hand with language and an eye for detail. In the end it’s all about being a good, enticing and captivating story-teller. Whether you’re doing that through the written word or performance on screen, the business of telling or interpreting an interesting, engaging story is the same.
3. What is one thing you would like your readers to know about you?
Well, two things, I guess. My stories are mostly military-oriented and they are based on real-world experiences of one kind or another. Secondly, I have an agenda in my work whether it’s writing, filmmaking or acting and that’s to shine some long overdue positive light on our men and women in uniform. I’m out to correct some misconceptions about professional military people and destroy some of the negative stereotypes that have hung around in popular media since Vietnam.
4. When did you know that you wanted to become a writer, or that you had become a writer?
I come from a family of great story-tellers and the first fascinating things I can remember hearing as a kid were bawdy jokes or booze-fueled war stories from World War II and Korea vets. There was something about listening to those guys swap lies and compare experiences that just fired some sort of genetic trigger in me. I knew I wanted to tell stories. I didn’t know how to do that but I was convinced I should and would one day. I’ve also always been an avid reader; one of those guys who can easily and willingly completely immerse himself in a good book by a captivating author. I love language and get a real kick out of playing with it, so writing was a natural creative pursuit for me.
5. In your writing style and methods, what is your greatest strength?
I have a genuine, no-nonsense work ethic when it comes to writing. Once I decide to write, whether it’s a screenplay, a book, an article or anything else in that vein, I look at it as a mission and I work at it regularly without fail. Even if it’s only a sentence or two or a single paragraph, I write on the project religiously at least once a day. I’m told one of my greatest strengths as a writer is dialogue. I know my character’s voice and I write in that voice using appropriate grammar and vocabulary which makes my dialogue ring true to readers or listeners.
6. How would you describe your creative process? Do you approach it like a 9 to 5 job or does it just come naturally to you?
My response to the previous question will give you some insight to this one in terms of creative process. That said, I think it does come naturally to me. Only very rarely does writing seem like work and that’s usually when I’m writing something for pay that I really don’t want to do or working on something that doesn’t hold my interest. I’ve always found – particularly in writing fiction – that the story and characters take over from me at some stage of the process. I can’t describe it accurately because I really don’t understand it but I find that at a certain point in writing a novel, there’s very little cognitive thinking going on and the story just seems to unfold in front of me as I pound on the keyboard. It’s as if the character just jumps up off the page and says “OK, here’s what happens next. Now describe it.” Might be some kind of voodoo or weird literary mojo but it works for me.
7. What are the biggest obstacles you find to creativity, in writing?
The biggest obstacle in writing is failing to do so. If you’re motivated to write, learn to use language creatively and practice at it. Don’t be afraid to copy your favorite writer’s style as a starting point until your own voice develops. On the other hand, if it turns out to be an agonizing labor for you, drop the idea. Life is too short to suffer like that. I believe we are all born with a certain creative bent that provides enormous satisfaction in our lives. Sometimes that comes from writing; sometimes it comes from hobbies or handicrafts. There’s nothing sacred about writing. Some people can do it and others can’t.
8. What is your next project? Is it a novel?
I’m working on a new Shake Davis/File novel to continue the very popular series that began with “Laos File” and “Peleliu File.” As an actor, I’m getting ready to reprise my role in the TNT sci-fi series “Falling Skies” where I play a leader of human resistance to an alien invasion of earth. We’re shooting right now in Vancouver. As a writer/director, I’m preparing a new feature film that I’ll be shooting in Belgium this spring. It’s a World War II/82nd Airborne Division story called “No Better Place To Die.”
9. Tell us more about the work you do with (Veterans or other groups or charities?) and how can our readers find out more about your efforts and ways we can help out?
I’m a big supporter of our active military and I spend a lot of time each year as an invited guest and speaker at bases around the country. Naturally, many of those are Marine bases but the Army and Navy also keep me fairly high on their lists. I do a lot of work for the Wounded Warriors Project and lend what time I can afford to organizations such as the VFW and American Legion. In fact, the American Legion is honoring me with the 2012 National Commander’s Public Relations Award this February in Washington, DC.
10. How can our readers find out more about your writing? Are your books available as eBooks? Is it possible to order a signed copy? How do we do that?
All my current work is available through Amazon.com or through http://www.warriorspublishing.com/. The books are available for e-readers of most kinds. If you order a book through Warriors Publishing Group, I’ll be glad to personalize it and add my signature. Lots more information and links to other features can be found at http://www.warriorsinc.com/.
Well, thank you very much Dale! I appreciate the time and effort you put into your responses to the questions. It is my sincere hope that we will be able to continue this conversation after you have finished with your ongoing projects. I for one will not miss the Television Series on TNT nor will I miss the movie about the Airborne. Again, thank you very much!
Steve
What many of them may not know is that you are also a prolific writer with several published titles to your name. That is what I am most interested in, learning about you as not only an actor but also as a writer.
1. What is your full name and please tell us a little about yourself. I know you are a veteran, a combat veteran? What books you’ve written?
DALE ADAM DYE was born October 8, 1944 in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. He graduated as a cadet officer from Missouri Military Academy but there was no money for college so he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps in January 1964. He served in Vietnam in 1965 and 1967 through 1970 surviving 31 major combat operations. He emerged from Southeast Asia highly decorated including the Bronze Star with V for Valor and three Purple Hearts for wounds suffered in combat. He spent 13 years as an enlisted Marine, rising to the rank of Master Sergeant before he was chosen to attend Officer Candidate School. Appointed a Warrant Officer in 1976, he later converted his commission and was a Captain when he was sent to Beirut, Lebanon with the Multinational Peacekeeping Force in 1982-83. He served in a variety of assignments around the world and along the way managed to graduate with a BA degree in English Literature from the University of Maryland.
DYE worked for a year at “Soldier of Fortune” Magazine when he finally decided to retire in 1984. He spent time in Central America, reporting and training troops in guerrilla warfare techniques in El Salvador, Honduras and Costa Rica before leaving the magazine in 1985 and heading for Hollywood. He founded the leading military consultancy to motion pictures and television shortly thereafter and his WARRIORS, INC. firm has worked on more than fifty movies and TV shows including several Academy Award and Emmy winning productions. DYE is a published novelist, screenwriter and director. He is also a consummate character actor with appearances in many films and television productions.
His published novels include “Run Between The Raindrops,” “Platoon” (novelization of Oliver Stone’s film script), “Outrage,” “Conduct Unbecoming,” “Duty and Dishonor,” “Code Word: Geronimo” (a graphic novel), “Laos File,” (Military Writers Society of America Gold Medal winner), and “Peleliu File.”
2. Please tell us about the body of your work and how does that relate to your writing? Has being an actor helped you in your writing?
We’ve just listed my books. If by “body of work” you mean my film and TV work as a screenwriter, director, consultant and actor, there’s just too much at this point to mention here. Interested folks can look it all up on IMDb.com or go to my website at http://www.warriorsinc.com/ for a full run-down.
I’m not sure if being an actor has helped my writing or the other way around. As an actor, I’ve certainly gained some valuable insights about things like dramatic structure; pacing, character development and voice that have all improved my writing. As a writer I’ve been blessed with a vivid imagination, a glib hand with language and an eye for detail. In the end it’s all about being a good, enticing and captivating story-teller. Whether you’re doing that through the written word or performance on screen, the business of telling or interpreting an interesting, engaging story is the same.
3. What is one thing you would like your readers to know about you?
Well, two things, I guess. My stories are mostly military-oriented and they are based on real-world experiences of one kind or another. Secondly, I have an agenda in my work whether it’s writing, filmmaking or acting and that’s to shine some long overdue positive light on our men and women in uniform. I’m out to correct some misconceptions about professional military people and destroy some of the negative stereotypes that have hung around in popular media since Vietnam.
4. When did you know that you wanted to become a writer, or that you had become a writer?
I come from a family of great story-tellers and the first fascinating things I can remember hearing as a kid were bawdy jokes or booze-fueled war stories from World War II and Korea vets. There was something about listening to those guys swap lies and compare experiences that just fired some sort of genetic trigger in me. I knew I wanted to tell stories. I didn’t know how to do that but I was convinced I should and would one day. I’ve also always been an avid reader; one of those guys who can easily and willingly completely immerse himself in a good book by a captivating author. I love language and get a real kick out of playing with it, so writing was a natural creative pursuit for me.
5. In your writing style and methods, what is your greatest strength?
I have a genuine, no-nonsense work ethic when it comes to writing. Once I decide to write, whether it’s a screenplay, a book, an article or anything else in that vein, I look at it as a mission and I work at it regularly without fail. Even if it’s only a sentence or two or a single paragraph, I write on the project religiously at least once a day. I’m told one of my greatest strengths as a writer is dialogue. I know my character’s voice and I write in that voice using appropriate grammar and vocabulary which makes my dialogue ring true to readers or listeners.
6. How would you describe your creative process? Do you approach it like a 9 to 5 job or does it just come naturally to you?
My response to the previous question will give you some insight to this one in terms of creative process. That said, I think it does come naturally to me. Only very rarely does writing seem like work and that’s usually when I’m writing something for pay that I really don’t want to do or working on something that doesn’t hold my interest. I’ve always found – particularly in writing fiction – that the story and characters take over from me at some stage of the process. I can’t describe it accurately because I really don’t understand it but I find that at a certain point in writing a novel, there’s very little cognitive thinking going on and the story just seems to unfold in front of me as I pound on the keyboard. It’s as if the character just jumps up off the page and says “OK, here’s what happens next. Now describe it.” Might be some kind of voodoo or weird literary mojo but it works for me.
7. What are the biggest obstacles you find to creativity, in writing?
The biggest obstacle in writing is failing to do so. If you’re motivated to write, learn to use language creatively and practice at it. Don’t be afraid to copy your favorite writer’s style as a starting point until your own voice develops. On the other hand, if it turns out to be an agonizing labor for you, drop the idea. Life is too short to suffer like that. I believe we are all born with a certain creative bent that provides enormous satisfaction in our lives. Sometimes that comes from writing; sometimes it comes from hobbies or handicrafts. There’s nothing sacred about writing. Some people can do it and others can’t.
8. What is your next project? Is it a novel?
I’m working on a new Shake Davis/File novel to continue the very popular series that began with “Laos File” and “Peleliu File.” As an actor, I’m getting ready to reprise my role in the TNT sci-fi series “Falling Skies” where I play a leader of human resistance to an alien invasion of earth. We’re shooting right now in Vancouver. As a writer/director, I’m preparing a new feature film that I’ll be shooting in Belgium this spring. It’s a World War II/82nd Airborne Division story called “No Better Place To Die.”
9. Tell us more about the work you do with (Veterans or other groups or charities?) and how can our readers find out more about your efforts and ways we can help out?
I’m a big supporter of our active military and I spend a lot of time each year as an invited guest and speaker at bases around the country. Naturally, many of those are Marine bases but the Army and Navy also keep me fairly high on their lists. I do a lot of work for the Wounded Warriors Project and lend what time I can afford to organizations such as the VFW and American Legion. In fact, the American Legion is honoring me with the 2012 National Commander’s Public Relations Award this February in Washington, DC.
10. How can our readers find out more about your writing? Are your books available as eBooks? Is it possible to order a signed copy? How do we do that?
All my current work is available through Amazon.com or through http://www.warriorspublishing.com/. The books are available for e-readers of most kinds. If you order a book through Warriors Publishing Group, I’ll be glad to personalize it and add my signature. Lots more information and links to other features can be found at http://www.warriorsinc.com/.
Well, thank you very much Dale! I appreciate the time and effort you put into your responses to the questions. It is my sincere hope that we will be able to continue this conversation after you have finished with your ongoing projects. I for one will not miss the Television Series on TNT nor will I miss the movie about the Airborne. Again, thank you very much!
Steve
Monday, January 9, 2012
Joyce Godwin Grubbs
Please allow me to take this opportunity to introduce to you a good friend of mine and fellow Author, Joyce Godwin Grubbs. It just so happens that this 
interview coincides with the pending release of her 11th book, "Riding the Fifth Wheel of Suspense" which I feel is her best novel yet. Number eleven in the Greyhound Lady Walking series it will be officially released on NLT 12 January 2012 as a Kindle eBook on Amazon.com.
In this convoluted mystery, the story follows an elderly author and her rebelliously reluctant personal assistant, as they travel the country on a clandestine mission. Kidnapping, murder, and betrayal are intertwined with the unexplainable interactions of Hopi Indian mystical beliefs. Men will love this story because the action and momentum carry through to the very the end.
So thank you once again for giving me this opportunity to introduce my good friend Joyce Godwin Grubbs, who not only writes great books, but she also bakes great cookies!
1. What is your full name and title of your work(s)?
I write under my own name: Joyce Godwin Grubbs. Collectively my works are known as the “Greyhound Lady Walking” suspense series. I am also a photo journalist freelancing still, and a blogger. Again, I write under my own name. I figure if I went to all that work, and devoted all that time, there should be no question as to who wrote it and who is responsible.
2. Please tell us about the body of your work and how does that relate to “The Night of the
Purple Lollipop!”
That is a true story of one of the events in my sister’s life. She was a pioneer police woman in Davenport, Iowa: second woman on the force. She became an officer and sex crime expert after being raped in her home following the birth of her fifth child. She was angry her case was bungled and poorly handled by the all-male officers. She had been a stay at home mother until then, and after that event, went back to school studying criminal justice, organizing the first rape support group for victims in Iowa. Later she became a decorated, controversial, officer and dynamic advocate for women and victims of domestic violence and rape/sexual assault.
I was a nurse working as an advocate for victims, and our “paths” and “cases” often intersected. She was the “writer” in the family and a poet and artist. We collaborated about the future writings we would someday do, but her breast cancer finally ended the collaboration.
It was left to me to present the body of work and stories collected over twenty years. The venue I chose was translating real cases into suspense novels and fictionalizing the victims to protect their privacy. My published works in novels are: Loving Pride; Greyhound Lady Walking; Three Times A Woman; A Woman’s Revenge is Love; If This Isn’t Love’ Before Your Very Eyes; The Monday Night Flight Club; Mysteries of the Dogwood Diaries; The Wrong/Strong Side of the Tracks; Jason’s Love is W.A.R.; and coming out on kindle this week, Riding the Fifth Wheel of Suspense.
3. What is one thing you would like your readers to know about you?
Though I cover tough issues these books are funny, warm, exciting, fast paced suspense that both men and women appreciate. I have men who contact me specifically about some of the characters and encourage me to “keep writing.” Many appreciate the “odd characters” which are always based in a real person scenario like: Momma Bets, Rooster, Minnie Rae Swofford, and the “throw away kids”, Birdie Banks Baxter, and the unforgettable, Presley. Even the “evil doers” like Snake, Bristol, Legion and Ratouille’ are appreciated.
4. When did you know that you wanted to become a writer?
I wrote as a child but never wanted to “become” a writer, as I thought I was one.
LOL. I wanted to be published in later adult years, but not because I was in it for ego or money, but I knew that my books had much to say in that I have lived a most unusual life and done audacious things as I met unbelievable people. I have been “taken in” by street people, and protected by gangs and had a confidential informants status with certain detectives. Yet I am, for the most part perceived as a “little Midwestern grandma that should be home baking cookies.” It cracks me up.
5. In your writing style and methods what is your greatest strength?
Without a doubt my ensemble characters and the fact I don’t write by “formula”. I often tell folks I am not a novelist, but a storyteller. I don’t take kindly to being told I have to write like a robot, and when I took it into my own hands to tell my stories, the feedback was wonderful and validating in more ways than I can even express. I quickly became tired of editors and agents saying, “You need to change this; it would never happen” and I would remind them that the cover letter says these are real cases fictionalized to protect identities, but not the stories. I would say to them, “What part of “real cases fictionalized” do you not understand.”
6. How would you describe your creative process?
How do you approach long term goals on a daily basis? First, I must tell you I have hundreds of stories in my head to tell so it is just a matter of deciding what to tell next. I am odd in that I start with a “title” that to me has meaning for the content to come. Honestly, I am one of those “it just flows” kind of writers. I think that is why I like the annual NANOWRIMO challenges to” write a novel in thirty days” then edit it afterwards. I have done it four times and three are published. This year one of my grandsons challenged me to do a Y/A book so his friends could finally read one of my books, so I did. It was a totally new genre; for me and still in the hands of the content readers. Apparently I just love to write and when I do, it always comes faster than I can write it.
7. What are the biggest obstacles you find to creativity, writing?
How do you overcome them? Any obstacle I would have to creativity would usually be connected to distractions around me. If I can get to a place of no interruptions, I can “flow”. Having to take time out for things is very hard and my mind is always back at t
he computer. But when you are a grandmother of eleven, there are things you must do, need to do, and want to do outside of writing; and family tops everything.
8. What is your next project? Is it a novel?
I am finishing up with the content readers on my first Y/A book: The Wards of Kilbourn Hill. My next book will be my second biography as a ghostwriter. The first one was for a World War II vet and my first non-fiction and I did it as a ghostwriter as well. I loved it and the experience.
Funny enough, I just took a trip to Nashville as the guest of my youngest daughter and her two children and it was a return to the Gaylord Opryland Hotel where I had researched the hotel for “Mysteries of the Dogwood Diaries”. I met a young man who works there and he inspired the story line for that novel. We returned to visit with him and some “Grandma Date Day” time with two of the grandchildren. While there I was contacted by a woman who wants me to write her biography (the second non-fiction ).
Her name is Annabelle Kindig and on her eleventh birthday she was kidnaped with her best friend in Boulder, Colorado; handcuffed and driven to Sunshine Canyon, there she was assaulted and both were shot and left for dead in three feet of snow. Though she was left in the snow a victim, she rose as a survivor and her life was made to count for something and for helping victims become survivors, like her. Now fifty, she is ready to tell her story and because of my work with victims, she chose me.
9. Tell us more about your sister Trula Godwin and the foundation! And how can our readers find out more about it?
The Godwin girls’ initiative through the Trula Godwin project: Is to bring about the publishing of written materials that champion women and their issues. And to publish materials that
encourage the services and future development of programs serving victims through the transition of becoming survivors.
When my sister died of breast cancer after twenty-eight years on the police force, I started an organization in her name. The Trula Godwin Project is unique in that it is neither a foundation nor non-profit as those would require a “paper trail”. It is a conduit to putting high risk victims underground and maintains an underground mail system for victims. 100% sacrificial funding and 100% volunteer.
Recently due to my personal health issues I have had to suspend the underground placement part of the program but the project still serves as a conduit to connect victims and help them escape successfully. In addition, we maintain the mail program for now.
Once people read the Greyhound Lady series, they understand more about the risks to victims, and also the traps and the innovative ways victims can be saved and helped by ordinary people. You can read more by going to: http://wwwltrulagodwinproject.webs.com/
10. How can our readers find out more about your writing? Are your books available as eBooks? Where can we order your eBooks? My books can be found on Amazon.com Kindle eBooks, and through my site. http://www.joycegodwingrubbs.webs.com/
Marguerite Marrs Godwin : Shown when there were no services or shelters for victims and women in need.
Joyce Godwin Grubbs (Future author) of the Greyhound Lady Walking Series.
Trula Ann Godwin(Standing left) Future pioneer policewoman , decorated and champion of women’s rights and issues. Instrumental in changing the Statute of Limitations for Rape in Iowa, and a sex crime expert on the police force.
interview coincides with the pending release of her 11th book, "Riding the Fifth Wheel of Suspense" which I feel is her best novel yet. Number eleven in the Greyhound Lady Walking series it will be officially released on NLT 12 January 2012 as a Kindle eBook on Amazon.com.In this convoluted mystery, the story follows an elderly author and her rebelliously reluctant personal assistant, as they travel the country on a clandestine mission. Kidnapping, murder, and betrayal are intertwined with the unexplainable interactions of Hopi Indian mystical beliefs. Men will love this story because the action and momentum carry through to the very the end.
So thank you once again for giving me this opportunity to introduce my good friend Joyce Godwin Grubbs, who not only writes great books, but she also bakes great cookies!
1. What is your full name and title of your work(s)?
I write under my own name: Joyce Godwin Grubbs. Collectively my works are known as the “Greyhound Lady Walking” suspense series. I am also a photo journalist freelancing still, and a blogger. Again, I write under my own name. I figure if I went to all that work, and devoted all that time, there should be no question as to who wrote it and who is responsible.
2. Please tell us about the body of your work and how does that relate to “The Night of the
Purple Lollipop!”That is a true story of one of the events in my sister’s life. She was a pioneer police woman in Davenport, Iowa: second woman on the force. She became an officer and sex crime expert after being raped in her home following the birth of her fifth child. She was angry her case was bungled and poorly handled by the all-male officers. She had been a stay at home mother until then, and after that event, went back to school studying criminal justice, organizing the first rape support group for victims in Iowa. Later she became a decorated, controversial, officer and dynamic advocate for women and victims of domestic violence and rape/sexual assault.
I was a nurse working as an advocate for victims, and our “paths” and “cases” often intersected. She was the “writer” in the family and a poet and artist. We collaborated about the future writings we would someday do, but her breast cancer finally ended the collaboration.
It was left to me to present the body of work and stories collected over twenty years. The venue I chose was translating real cases into suspense novels and fictionalizing the victims to protect their privacy. My published works in novels are: Loving Pride; Greyhound Lady Walking; Three Times A Woman; A Woman’s Revenge is Love; If This Isn’t Love’ Before Your Very Eyes; The Monday Night Flight Club; Mysteries of the Dogwood Diaries; The Wrong/Strong Side of the Tracks; Jason’s Love is W.A.R.; and coming out on kindle this week, Riding the Fifth Wheel of Suspense.
3. What is one thing you would like your readers to know about you?
Though I cover tough issues these books are funny, warm, exciting, fast paced suspense that both men and women appreciate. I have men who contact me specifically about some of the characters and encourage me to “keep writing.” Many appreciate the “odd characters” which are always based in a real person scenario like: Momma Bets, Rooster, Minnie Rae Swofford, and the “throw away kids”, Birdie Banks Baxter, and the unforgettable, Presley. Even the “evil doers” like Snake, Bristol, Legion and Ratouille’ are appreciated.
4. When did you know that you wanted to become a writer?
I wrote as a child but never wanted to “become” a writer, as I thought I was one.
LOL. I wanted to be published in later adult years, but not because I was in it for ego or money, but I knew that my books had much to say in that I have lived a most unusual life and done audacious things as I met unbelievable people. I have been “taken in” by street people, and protected by gangs and had a confidential informants status with certain detectives. Yet I am, for the most part perceived as a “little Midwestern grandma that should be home baking cookies.” It cracks me up.5. In your writing style and methods what is your greatest strength?
Without a doubt my ensemble characters and the fact I don’t write by “formula”. I often tell folks I am not a novelist, but a storyteller. I don’t take kindly to being told I have to write like a robot, and when I took it into my own hands to tell my stories, the feedback was wonderful and validating in more ways than I can even express. I quickly became tired of editors and agents saying, “You need to change this; it would never happen” and I would remind them that the cover letter says these are real cases fictionalized to protect identities, but not the stories. I would say to them, “What part of “real cases fictionalized” do you not understand.”
6. How would you describe your creative process?
How do you approach long term goals on a daily basis? First, I must tell you I have hundreds of stories in my head to tell so it is just a matter of deciding what to tell next. I am odd in that I start with a “title” that to me has meaning for the content to come. Honestly, I am one of those “it just flows” kind of writers. I think that is why I like the annual NANOWRIMO challenges to” write a novel in thirty days” then edit it afterwards. I have done it four times and three are published. This year one of my grandsons challenged me to do a Y/A book so his friends could finally read one of my books, so I did. It was a totally new genre; for me and still in the hands of the content readers. Apparently I just love to write and when I do, it always comes faster than I can write it.
7. What are the biggest obstacles you find to creativity, writing?
How do you overcome them? Any obstacle I would have to creativity would usually be connected to distractions around me. If I can get to a place of no interruptions, I can “flow”. Having to take time out for things is very hard and my mind is always back at t
he computer. But when you are a grandmother of eleven, there are things you must do, need to do, and want to do outside of writing; and family tops everything.8. What is your next project? Is it a novel?
I am finishing up with the content readers on my first Y/A book: The Wards of Kilbourn Hill. My next book will be my second biography as a ghostwriter. The first one was for a World War II vet and my first non-fiction and I did it as a ghostwriter as well. I loved it and the experience.
Funny enough, I just took a trip to Nashville as the guest of my youngest daughter and her two children and it was a return to the Gaylord Opryland Hotel where I had researched the hotel for “Mysteries of the Dogwood Diaries”. I met a young man who works there and he inspired the story line for that novel. We returned to visit with him and some “Grandma Date Day” time with two of the grandchildren. While there I was contacted by a woman who wants me to write her biography (the second non-fiction ).
Her name is Annabelle Kindig and on her eleventh birthday she was kidnaped with her best friend in Boulder, Colorado; handcuffed and driven to Sunshine Canyon, there she was assaulted and both were shot and left for dead in three feet of snow. Though she was left in the snow a victim, she rose as a survivor and her life was made to count for something and for helping victims become survivors, like her. Now fifty, she is ready to tell her story and because of my work with victims, she chose me.
9. Tell us more about your sister Trula Godwin and the foundation! And how can our readers find out more about it?
The Godwin girls’ initiative through the Trula Godwin project: Is to bring about the publishing of written materials that champion women and their issues. And to publish materials that
encourage the services and future development of programs serving victims through the transition of becoming survivors.When my sister died of breast cancer after twenty-eight years on the police force, I started an organization in her name. The Trula Godwin Project is unique in that it is neither a foundation nor non-profit as those would require a “paper trail”. It is a conduit to putting high risk victims underground and maintains an underground mail system for victims. 100% sacrificial funding and 100% volunteer.
Recently due to my personal health issues I have had to suspend the underground placement part of the program but the project still serves as a conduit to connect victims and help them escape successfully. In addition, we maintain the mail program for now.
Once people read the Greyhound Lady series, they understand more about the risks to victims, and also the traps and the innovative ways victims can be saved and helped by ordinary people. You can read more by going to: http://wwwltrulagodwinproject.webs.com/
10. How can our readers find out more about your writing? Are your books available as eBooks? Where can we order your eBooks? My books can be found on Amazon.com Kindle eBooks, and through my site. http://www.joycegodwingrubbs.webs.com/
Marguerite Marrs Godwin : Shown when there were no services or shelters for victims and women in need.Joyce Godwin Grubbs (Future author) of the Greyhound Lady Walking Series.
Trula Ann Godwin(Standing left) Future pioneer policewoman , decorated and champion of women’s rights and issues. Instrumental in changing the Statute of Limitations for Rape in Iowa, and a sex crime expert on the police force.
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