R. W. Ley

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18Q

www.thoughts-aloud.com

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Caste Aside: Hope for Orphans from the Heart of India

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1. Did you choose the writing profession or did it choose you?

Writing chose me.

2. What is your background? (education, work, etc.)

I have an almost BA in English meaning I have 96 hours toward my degree. I have worked since I was 14 and have done a variety of tasks; waiting tables, cooking, radio broadcasting, kennel work, dry cleaners, office administration, and courier driver just to name a few.

3. When did you 'know' you were a writer?

I've known since I was 12 that I had stories to tell and have been working toward that goal ever since.

4. How would you describe your style of writing?

I would have to say it varies with the story I'm telling. My one published novel is told third person and is a woman's book; think curled up with a cup of tea and a blanket. My current project is a first person detective story in a style similar to Robert B. Parker.

5. What is your writing process?

I write the story, front to back, then go back and flesh out the details and refine the characters.

6. What was your path to publication?

Long, slow and frustrating. My first is POD published which seemed the right thing to do at the time and my second is with a traditional publisher. That took the usual route of query, proposal, acceptance and then a year and a half to publication.

7. What is your favorite self-marketing idea?

Simply talking to people about what I love; whether it be writing, India, or my family.

8. What are the biggest surprises you've encountered as a writer?

That I'm really not crazy, and that other people are as passionate about their writing as I am about mine.

9. How do you inspire yourself? What are your sources of creativity?

Usually I inspire myself by reading something really good. My creativity sources come from all around me. People on the bus, in the stores, at work. I'll hear the words of a song, or a passing comment and an idea for a story or a character is born.

10. What is your proudest writer moment?

The publication of my second book, since it was a work of love and was spiritually and scripturally inspired.

11. What's the best advice you were given about writing?

Keep writing. Keep writing. Keep writing.

12. What is your most embarrassing writer moment?

I think I could have done a better job with the first novel. Maybe if I hadn't been so impatient. It's good, but it could be better.

13. What business challenges have you faced as a writer?

Being an unkown is the biggest challenge. It's a process to become known, and it is work. I'm still working.

14. What is your writer life philosophy?

Tell a good story, be true to my faith and my beliefs, and don't let any of it go to my head.

15. When you're not writing what do you do for fun?

Read, watch football, play games.

16. Who do you like to read?

Where to start? J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, Patricia Cornwell, Tom Clancy, C. S. Harris, Anne Perry, Steve Hockensmith, David Eddings, Bernard Cornwell, Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, Terry Brooks, Karen Hancock, Dee Henderson, Robert B. Parker, Raymond Chandler, too many more to mention.

17. What’s your advice for new writers?

Get all the help you can. Make contacts in the writing world at any level you can. Join a critique group and listen to what they have to offer. Be teachable, but don't lose yourself by trying to be somebody else. Above all else, keep writing, keep writing, keep writing.

18. What are you currently working on?

My current project is a detective story with a fantasy element that gives it a different flavor. The style is based on the pulp fiction stories of the twenties and thirties. My main character is not quite as hard boiled as Sam Spade, but he's along those lines.