“Source: To Become A Writer”
I realized that I neglected to feature the final author for my boxed set A Crime Collection – 5 Heart-pumping Mystery Thrillers. If you haven’t checked out this set, I encourage you to do so while it’s still available. The last author featured is Betta Ferrendelli. Betta writes the Samantha Church mysteries and here is a bit more about her.
What do you love about writing? What do you hate (if anything)?
I love everything about writing, but I love what Mark Twain once said about writing, which is true, really, for just about anything: He said: I love writing, but I love having written better.
Do you have a favorite movie that inspires your writing?
My favorite movie is Fried Green Tomatoes, which inspired me to write my first book which is still in manuscript form, called Last Things. Now that I have at least a series with my Samantha Church mystery books, I am going to focus on getting that book ready to publish in 2015.
What has your publishing journey been like?
Long, looooooooong and looooooooooong! Lots of ups and downs and a very interesting journey! I have tried the traditional route and would still consider an agent at this point as well, but I think the e-publishing route has also benefited me. Technically speaking, I have an agent, who continues to shop a non-fiction children’s book about a Denver wild animal dentist, but there hasn’t been much interest. We did have a children’s publisher about two years ago, Tricycle Press, a division of Random House, but shortly after we signed the contract and were about to begin writing the book, Random House closed that division. Since we had just signed with Tricycle Press and hadn’t started writing, we weren’t picked up. We did have another offer on the book along with Tricycle, Scholastic Books and, of course, we went back to them after Tricycle closed, but as you can imagine, they were no longer interested. And so it goes!
Who is your favorite author and why?
I don’t have a favorite author per se, but I do like Elizabeth Berg. Her books have the best dialogue between characters. It is very real and lifelike.
Betta’s Bio:
I realized that I was going to be a writer when I was in the seventh grade and I was standing at my mother’s bedroom window and watching it rain. I wrote a poem about the rain that was later published my high school’s newsletter.
I have written since, including professionally since 1989, as a journalist. I have worked at newspapers in Denver, Seattle and Albuquerque. I have won many awards as a journalist including two national awards for excellence in editorial writing. Today, I write for a health-care magazine.
When I am not writing, I spend a lot of my free time working out and involved in sports, running, biking, hiking and tennis. I also love being outside doing yard work. I used to love going to our ranch in southern Colorado, but everything burned to the ground last summer during a wildfire. This was the first year since the late 1980s that we did not have the ranch to go this summer. We still have it, but everything is gone and it is as flat now as my kitchen table.
Do yourself a favor and check out Betta’s books; The Friday Edition is a Readers’ Favorite Gold Medalist in Mystery. And download your copy of A Crime Collection – it’s FREE!
“Source: To Become A Writer”