Occasionally on the blog we will talk with one of our author friends, gaining valuable insights into their behind the scene world. Today we meet again with the AMAZING  T. A. Henry, a terrific writer with sinister deep, dark secrets we, the writing world, simple need to know. Probably.

(T. A. has braved these interview waters once before, so we must not have been all that bad.)

Please join me in welcoming author T. A. Henry to the blog!

1. Dan: Let’s get right to it! What is the working title of your next book?

T.A. Henry: An Approximate Solution (the title was a suggestion from a beta reader. Goldie Pox and the 3 Spies was another one. LOL)

2. Goldie Pox was a porn movie in the ’70’s I think… (clears throat) so I’ve heard. Um, anyway – how long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?

Something like 4 years.

Wow.

The editing is likely to go just as long. LOL.

Double wow.

All my beta readers disagree with each other. We love the sex, put in more. We hate the sex, why are spies having sex? We love the relationship between A and B. The relationship between A and B needs work. Etc etc etc. Bleh.

 

3. If I get a vote, I vote for more sex and all the spies having sex. Moving on… Which living author or blogger would you buy drinks for?

I’m pretty wishy washy about this sort of thing but right now, Joe Malik. He’s a spec ops guy I talk to at every Norwescon and his stories are amazing but there’s never enough time to ask all the questions I want. Actually, hang on, I think I’ll just email him and see if he wants to get a drink. Ok handled that. So….maybe you, Dan. Want to get a drink? Talk about how I can market my books better?

 

4. (A few drinks later – and deciphered for slurring) What the hell?

Dan: Why do some authors sell well and others don’t?

T. A. Henry: I think it boils down to a couple of factors.

I’ve been thinking a lot about this since Con. I go for the writing panels.

1. Genre. Some genres just accept self pubs better than others.

2. Marketing. Working the Amazon metrics so you appear higher and for longer.

3. More books under your name. I think there is a pervasive feeling about self pub that one book=you slogged through something that probably sucks. 3 books=you’re either really deluded or you have something to work with. 5 books=maybe you can write.

4. Time and Money, the more time you spend polishing that book, money you spend on editing, cover, and advertising.

(I agree. Readers, what are YOUR thoughts? – Dan)

5. How many story ideas are in your “good ideas” file? What are some of them?

That’s a bit complicated. I am always generating story ideas. A little facebook meme or video and the gears start turning but…not all ideas grow legs. Right now I have 3 ideas waiting for me to get done wrestling my spy novel. All three have legs but they might not all be for me.

I know your follow up question, what makes a story grow legs for me? (That counts as my question even though she asked it to herself – Dan)

When a character appears and claims a story idea as his or her own by acting in it.

“I see everything I write as a movie in my head. Once a character starts showing me scenes, the idea grows legs.”

For about 18 months now I have been throwing around the idea of an assassin who kills by technological means. I had lots of ideas of the means this guy might use and how that might look. But it wasn’t happening. Just last week the main character walked in, sat down at his computer, and showed me how he’s going to track and kill a mark. Bam-legs.

 

7. If writing suddenly made you rich and famous, what would you do?

Hire a nanny and a house cleaner so I could write more. LOL.

“I think there is a pervasive feeling about self pub that one book=you slogged through something that probably sucks.” – T. A. Henry

8. Tell us about yourself. Who IS the real T.A. Henry? And not typical the boring bio stuff. The dirt. Like, when was the last time you did laundry?

(Laughing) I do laundry every day.

Okay, that’s crazy talk.

Seriously a load a day keeps that mess off your back and it takes mere minutes. In fact I could go start a load of laundry right now and you wouldn’t even realize I was gone. I’m that good.

If you want dirt, don’t look at my laundry, look at my windows. I hate doing windows. I never do them. In fact, the windows are so bad my hubs occasionally cleans them. And we have a strict he pays for it, so I do everything policy.

 

9. Most writers are a bit shy. Is that how your friends would describe you (shy), or do you have your readers fooled?

I get in arguments about this with one of my friends.

“Everyone thinks I am an extrovert. I am chatty and friendly and love to make people laugh. But all of that takes a huge toll on me.”

I only recharge in private quiet me time. Introvert.

So I guess you could say I have most of the world at large fooled but isn’t that the job of a good author, to spin lies like they are the truth?

 

10. How hard was it to hit that “Publish” button the first time and send your book into the world? Looking back, what can you tell new authors about that experience?

I know I sound an ass but it was so easy. I knew the book was good. I knew it would swim.

It didn’t, it barely floated, which is why the second publish is killing me. LOL.

He! Been there!

She’s incredible, right? T. A. is insightful and amazing – and so is her work. Check out her writerly prowess HERE.

Again, thanks so much for coming by the blog and having a chat! I love the insights we gain from having access to other authors processes. Procces’? Proccesi? Whatever.