Today on Galleysmith I’m excited to interview Thomas Randall author of The Waking: Dreams of the Dead.  Welcome Thomas!

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Galleysmith: What is a day in the life of Thomas Randall like?
TR: Wake up far too early, check e-mail, drive #1 son to high school. Sometimes, when I’m on best behavior, this is followed by a visit to the gym.  There’s more e-mail to be taken care of when I return, sometimes interview questions or contracts issues or myriad other things.  If I’m fortunate, I can begin writing by about 10:30 and that usually goes on until 6pm.  Then there’s dinner, some time with the family, a little television, sleep, and start all over again.  There’ll be reading in there somewhere. On Wednesdays I usually head over to my local comic book shop to pick up the weekly batch.  Then of course there are soccer games and school events and other parental duties.  Very ordinary, really.

Galleysmith: What was your inspiration for The Waking?
TR: I’ve always been a big fan of Japanese folklore.  I mean, I love folklore in general and am fascinated by it, but Japanese folklore and legend are just loaded with creepy and bizarre and mysterious and tragic stories.  I’ve also always been intrigued by the fact that Japan has no real vampire legend.  There are vampiric creatures, but no vampires.  My inspiration had a lot to do with the current trends in vampire fiction.  So much of what today’s readers perceive as “typical” about vampire stories, the rules of vampire fiction, all of that, is modern and new.  So I wanted to take these exotic vampire stories that are really ancient and remake them for today’s readers in a way that would seem new and different for them.

Galleysmith: What was the most difficult part of writing this novel?
TR: The research was a huge component.  I have never been to Japan, and one of the highest compliments I’ve received from readers thus far is that so many people seem to believe that I’ve been there or lived there at some point in my life.  I’m absolutely certain that the Japan I’ve conjured here bears no real resemblance to the actual country, or not much of one.  But what’s important is that this beautiful, remarkable, and terrifying place I’ve chosen as a setting feels like a real place to the people reading it. The research is a huge part of that.  Not to get to arty, but it’s like finding the right colors to paint with.  I chose the details I wanted to populate the story with very carefully so that you would feel Kara’s immersion in this exotic foreign land.  Hopefully it worked.

Galleysmith: If you could share, what are you currently working on?
TR: I’m working on a new YA urban fantasy for MTV Books called WHEN ROSE WAKES, which will be out late next year.

Galleysmith: Is there a character in literature you wish you created? Why?
TR: Harry Potter, so I’d be filthy rich.    All right, no, I’m joking. But it’s not far off.  I wish I’d created Hermione Granger, because she’s made a generation of the world’s kids think it’s cool for a girl to be smart.  Thankfully, no one else needs to create her, because JK Rowling’s already done it.  Hermione rules.

Galleysmith: What is your number one tip for writers?
TR: Most people probably won’t think it’s a helpful tip, but I do think it’s a necessary one.  Take a step back and try, as objectively as possible, to consider the possibility that you suck at this and writing isn’t for you. Don’t be a panic about it or get all melodramatic.  Consider it.  You do not want to be the guy or girl who goes on American Idol and says “my mom and my friends always told me I had an awesome singing voice.”  It helps to get honest opinions from people who will tell you the truth, no matter what….but who also actually know something about writing.  So just consider the possibility.  Put some effort into determining whether or not you’re any good at this.  And then, if you’re not, you have two choices. You could realize that you’re not meant for writing, or you could do everything in your power to get better at it.  On the other hand, if you think you might actually be a decent writer…you still should do everything in your power to get better at it.  But above all be honest with yourself.

Galleysmith: What five things do you need when writing?
TR: Arrogance and humility in equal portions.  Faith in yourself.  At least one other person who loves and has faith in you.  A copy of Strunk & White’s THE ELEMENTS OF STYLE.  And chocolate.  Lots and lots of chocolate.

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Who doesn’t love a little girl power?  Thomas, you rock! Thank you, it’s been a pleasure hearing about this amazing book and your thoughts on the process of writing.

Dear readers may I encourage you to take the time to browse Thomas’ website at http://www.thomasrandall.net?   Even better, check out an excerpt of The Waking: Dreams of the Dead it’s a wonderful book.

Book Blogger Appreciation Week is in full swing and I’m totally crushing on how fabulously fun the events are.  I’ve bulked up my feed reader, read awesome posts on a myriad of different topics, and made fabulous new friends.  One of those friends in my wonderful interview partner Kim of Sophisticated Dorkiness.  She’s thoughtful, intelligent and has a phenomenal blog that you all should be following (if you aren’t already are *wink*)!

Just in case you need another reason to mosey on over there….she’s got Part 1 of our interview. Because the second half below might make no sense to you if you don’t go and hear it from our lips from the the start.  The second half of our conversation starts in 3….2….1….

Kim: If you could give up your day job and be a book blogger full time (meaning, your work as a book blogger could support the lifestyle you currently enjoy), would you? What sorts of things would you do differently with your blog if you were a full-time blogger?

Michelle: Heck yea I’d do it in a heartbeat! I love my job and get paid extremely well but if I could have the luxury of blogging all the time and making the same dough I’d be all over it!

I don’t know that I’d use the word different because I’m totally satisfied with the direction of my blog right now.  I think it’s growing and I hope to continue in that trend.  I do think there are some things I’d like to work in.  Like first thing I’d do is continue to have professional designers take care of the template and some of the back end stuff for me. I’d have professional graphics made for buttons and banners, keep the template up to date and fresh things like that.   I’d also certainly be able to blog MORE since as it stands now I only have so much time to read and then write about it.  I think I’d be able to get at least two to three reviews posts up a week which I would love.

I think I’d be able to pay more attention to what is out there if I had more time.  I’d be able to frequent all the blogs in my feed reader far more often than I have been in the past month.

Oh I’d definitely love to add an educational component.  Tips and tricks kind of thing.  Maybe a speaker series or something.

Michelle:  If you were forced to choose just one genre of books to read and review what would it be and why?

Kim: I’d pick literary journalism/creative nonfiction/narrative nonfiction. That sounds like three genres, but really they’re just different names for the same thing — nonfiction stories, usually written by journalists (although not necessarily), told in a narrative or story form. So, books like Friday Night Lights by Buzz Bissinger or The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman are part of that category, as are books like A Year of Living Blblically by A.J. Jacobs or Bringing Down the House by Ben Mezrich. I’m a journalist by trade, so I know how difficult it can be to report on facts and then use those facts to tell an amazing story. I feel like I’m a more competent reviewer when it comes to narrative nonfiction because I have a background in how books like that are put together and some of the techniques authors use. So when I review I can bring a sense of whether I enjoyed the book AND and I can speak confidently on the book as a part of it’s field. Plus, those are the stories that I find really touch my heart and make me think about the world in a different way when I’m finished, and experience that happens less for me when I’m reading fiction. So I think that’s what I’d pick.

Kim:  What other ways (besides blogging and reading) do you like to occupy your free time?

Michelle: Believe it or not I don’t have a lot of free time, haha.  Like most I work full time so by the time I get home and settle I’m only left with a few hours before bed.  I do read and blog and catch up with reading posts in my feed reader.  I have a secondary obsession in television so I tend to be on the couch with laptop and remote volleying between shows and reading during commercials.  Have I mentioned I’m big into multitasking? Haha

I do like to spend time with my niece on the weekends.  She just turned 13 and plays soccer and loves to putter around shopping and such so I love to get to hang out with her on the weekends. Sometimes I also do cross-stitch when I feel really stressed and need to be completely distracted, it requires a good deal of thought and attention so it allows your mind to be completely focused while still keeping stress and tension at bay. It’s a great creative hobby as well.

Kim: How did you come up with the name of your blog?

Michelle: I wanted to have something unique and different but that was also somewhat indicative of the subject matter of my blog.  Most in the bookish world know what galleys are so I snagged that.  Then because I’ve always enjoyed writing I finessed the “smith” portion in as an abbreviation of wordsmithing.  :)  That part fits with blogging as well.  In the end I thought it was quirky and different enough to distinguish myself with.

Michelle:  You recently redesigned your blog, what spurned your decision to move forward with that, what big changes did you make and what would you like to see done that wasn’t?

Kim: Part of the reason I redesigned was because I wanted to move to being a self-hosted website rather than being on Wordpress.com. I’ve always wanted to have the blog on it’s own site so I could do vlogs (video blogs) and be able to upload my resume and other stories to the site — stuff I couldn’t do at Wordpress.com. Also, I feel cool having my own website    When I moved, a whole host of new template options opened up so I decided to also change that around. So, the self-hosting and redesigning went hand in hand for me, although not everyone does both at the same time.

The template is totally new, a different color scheme, layout, banner… pretty much everything, and I love that. I like using the South Park character in the banner, and all the colors are my favorite soothing, beachy colors. I have a multimedia box near the top that scrolls through pictures and I’m still working to figure out what to do with that. I haven’t done any vlogs yet, but that’s a plan soon. There’s nothing major left I feel like changing, but I’m sure I’ll change my mind about that in a few weeks!

Michelle:  If you could swap places and live a week in the life of another blogger who would it be and why?

Kim: That’s a tough one! I might pick Raych at Books I Done Read because she’s so funny and I would practically kill to be that hilarious. Or Jackie at Farm Lane Books Blog because she lives in the UK and I would love to live there . Or Lu at Regular Rumination because she’s at grad school and she can speak Spanish — I have never been able to speak another language so I’m a little jealous.

Michelle:  What was the impetus behind starting the Blog Improvement Project? Will you continue the initiative through 2010?

Kim: Well, I’m doing my master’s in journalism right now and so I spend a lot of time thinking about journalism and new media and blogging in particular. Last year I remember reading a lot of posts from people just not sure about basic blog stuff — what is a blogroll, how do I do links, what’s a good review format — and thought that I might be able to help because a lot of the blogging stuff I was reading directly related to some of those questions. I’m not an expert by any means, but I read a lot of experts on blogging because I find it fascinating and felt I could help pass that along through a blogging project.

I’m not sure about 2010 yet. I feel like interest has waned a little bit this year and I’m not sure how many people are still doing it, in part because I haven’t done a great job forming a community around the project. I’m also working with Eva to start the Bookworms to Bookworms mentoring program, which I’m excited to focus on. We might start a blog with that, and if so I’ll probably move the blog tips and improvement stuff there since I can see it connecting. If not that, then maybe I’ll scale the BIP back to one focus per month and try to do a better job connecting bloggers to each other or encouraging people to visit others. So I’m not sure yet — I’m happy for feedback and suggestions or ideas about where the BIP could go next!

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There you have it folks all the news that’s fit to print on Kim and I.  Well the stuff we can share publicly anyway!

I want to thank Kim for being a wonderfully patient partner.  Our interview spanned a couple of weeks during the BBAW Awards nomination process so my availability was scattered.  She was totally understanding and completely flexible!  So thank you Kim I enjoyed getting to know you better.

Lastly fair readers, I encourage you to frequent both our blogs and I definitely say get involved in BBAW it’s a wonderful initiative intended to build this great big book blogging community!

Recently, I was fortunate enough to read and review Kensington Books’ The Lost Sister.  I enjoyed it a great deal and feel quite honored that the author, Megan Kelley Hall, took time out of her busy schedule to chat with me.

Q: What are you currently working on?
MKH: While I would love to continue the SISTERS OF MISERY series, I’m taking a little break from Maddie, Cordelia and Finn to focus on another YA paranormal suspense thriller.  I can’t really talk about it yet, because my agent currently has it out with a bunch of publishers/editors.  Hopefully, I’ll have some exciting news soon. But, there are a lot of film people looking at SISTERS OF MISERY and it’s making the rounds in Hollywood, so perhaps there will be film version. Fingers crossed!! Who would your readers like to see cast?

Q: What is a day in the life of Megan Kelley Hall like?
MKH: Super glamorous.  Breakfast with Brad, Angelina and the kids, shopping sprees in NY with Blake Lively and Leighton Meester, Gwyneth and Madonna and then jetting off to Johnny Depp’s island for dinner and drinks. The downside is dealing with paparazzi, fielding phone calls from Robert Pattinson (no, you cannot play Finn, Robert!)and deciding where to spend my millions of dollars.

Ha! No, seriously, it’s the exact opposite of glamorous. Wake up. Get my daughter to camp (in summer) or school. Drink cup of coffee. Stare at computer. Work, answer emails, go on Facebook. Have another cup of coffee. Clean up dog pee (my Yorkie is nine and still not housetrained). Talk with agent/editor/other writers.  More writing/editing or revising. Do laundry. Go grocery shopping. Clean up a bit. Have another cup of coffee. Pick up daughter and either play/ride bikes/go to park (she usually decides–I typically don’t have a say.) Run errands. Make dinner for family (or send my husband out for pizza). Watch TV. Get daughter ready for bed.  Check email one last time. Read until I can barely keep my eyes open. Go to bed.

Some days are more exciting than others, like when I go to writer’s conferences or go out for coffee with other authors.  Laurie Stolarz lives in the next town and we try to get together once in awhile to talk about writing, the publishing world, our kids, etc.

Q: What character in literature do you wish you had created?
MKH: Eloise

Q: What is the most difficult part of writing for you?
MKH: The blank page. I also hate the middle of the book, right around page 150, because I get pretty bored/impatient and I’m usually thinking about my next book. My agent knows that I get easily distracted and tries to keep me focused on my current project. But I’m always coming up with new ideas, new stories. I’m also the queen of procrastination. It takes a lot to get me back on track.

Q: What is your number one tip for writers?
MKH: Be persistent and resilient.  Rejection is a major part of a writer’s life. If you want to be a writer, you need to keep the faith, keep moving forward, don’t be derailed by rejection. Use criticism wisely and don’t let anyone dissuade you from following your dream.

Q: What five things do you need when writing?
MKH: Me personally? First of all, I need time. That’s a big one.  Focus. Coffee. A pad of paper and pen (when I get stuck, I have to revert to writing in freehand.) How many is that? Um…and a radio. I get really inspired when listening to music. But, I don’t rely on my iPod or my own playlists. I need a diverse selection of music to shake up my writing and take me to different places/mindsets.

Thank you Megan it was a pleasure to get the opportunity to chat with you.  To find out more about Megan Kelley Hall and her books please check out her website or follow her on Twitter at @MeganKelleyHall.