Bucket Full Of Lies by Robert K Swisher Jr

Robert K. Swisher Jr. has been writing contemporary fiction since 1967. Twelve of his novels were published ranging from young adult, contemporary, to historical fiction and seven of these books are still in print, of which three have been converted to e-books. He has received reviews from Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, and many others. Recently he has gone indie and released a four book mystery series, Bob Roosevelt and his snide guardian angel - BUCKET FULL OF LIES, TROUT FISHING FOR BODIES, DOUBLE BOGEY MURDER, and, FROGS DON'T CROAK IN THE WINTER, and, a funny golf book - CONVERSATIONS WITH THE GOLF GOD. Today he's popped over to my book blog to answer a few questions about A Bucket Full of Lies.

 

1)  Please describe BUCKET FULL OF LIES in twenty words or less:

Funny, sarcastic, a detective looking for love in all the wrong places and his guardian angel who is only looking for a good time - he thinks his boss is boring.

2)  What is your writing process from inspiration, editing, to feeling your books are ready for publication?
I normally have about ten ideas running around in my head.  I write them down and then one day I realize the ending for the idea.  I then work toward the end.  Each book is its own journey that I have no idea where it will take me when I start.  After writing the initial draft I go over the book four or five times, let it rest for sometimes up to a year, go over it again and have had enough.  I now use a professional editor for many reasons - my spelling is terrible and I don't like a lot of punctuation.

3)  BUCKET FULL OF LIES is one of a series of four mysteries. can you tell us more about the series and how you came up with such interesting titles - TROUT FISHING FOR BODIES, DOUBLE BOGEY MURDER, and, FROGS DON'T CROAK IN THE WINTER?
I had an idea about a detective that was looking for love and his center.  I wanted him moral and upright, kind of a strange concept in our modern world, but then he has a Guardian Angel that is a defrocked 14th century monk - he was caught having sex in return for forgiving sins.  While the Guardian Angel is God driven to protect Roosevelt he really wants to be the Guardian Angel for a rock star.  The mysteries are filled with banter between the two - they have a love hate relationship.  The mysteries are a look at our modern life and intended to be funny, thus the titles.  I have one more in the works - BEACH BUM TANGO.

4)  You've written in various genres, can you tell us which is your favorite genre, if you have one, and why?
Fourteen of my novels were published before I went indie.  I wrote historical fiction, contemporary fiction, young adult, a book of poetry, and a book of fables.  Eight of these books are still in print and the publisher has released three as e-books.  They are all serious and received many good reviews from Publishers Weekly, Mis-west Book Review and others.  Right now I am enjoying writing humour but I also have six finished novels, five serious and one funny.  I write what moves me now - so no I really don't have a favourite - I like writing and the process - it keeps me from taking up a life of crime.

5)  Do you have a favourite writing place or a routine you follow?

Any place works but I write five or six hours a day and I take the weekend off.  I have been doing this since 1967 and have learned you have to take time off...writing is a calling but it is also a job. I do spend one afternoon a week on promotion.  I am not a closet writer I want people to read my words,

6)  What do you think a new writer should no before attempting to write their own book?I taught a class called THE REALITIES OF WRITING...the first thing I told people was to write a book you have to put your rear in the chair and start.  Don't be afraid, don't copy, write what is in your head.  People have a tendency to over complicate the process - just do it.  If what you start to write you don't like throw it away.  I have written over thirty novels, placed 19, have six in boxes, and threw away the others and I am working on two now.  Also, don't take too much advice, most people who give the advice are teachers - they are not writers.  Writing cannot be taught, spelling, grammar, punctuation and all that can - if you have a story tell it.

7)  What are your writing dreams for the future?I want to put out the books that are ready...one I really like titled HOW BRIDGE MCCOY LEARNED HOW TO SAY I LOVE YOU - a guy that walks two steps forward and then one backward but when he tries to tell the lady he has fallen in love with he starts to choke.  And to write more books.  I would like to sell enough to move to the islands and try my hand at being a beach bum for a few months.

For all you writers...keep at it... don't give up...bad reviews are as good as good reviews and they invented editors to fix there, their, it's, its, too, to, and all those other pesky little devils.
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My Writing Process - Blog Tour #mywritingprocess

Thank you to the lovely, and talented, Alison Morton, for nominating me as one of three authors to take part in the Writing Process Blog Tour. If you haven't yet read Alison's fantastic novels based in the alternative world of 21st century Romans in Roma Nova, Inceptio and Perfiditas, you don't know what you're missing. You can find out more about Alison and her writing on her website here. 

As part of this fantastic tour, I need to answer the following four questions for you, so here goes:

What am I working on?

The second book in my Jersey Romance Series, A Jersey Affair, which will be out in all formats in April. Each of the books are stand alone romances based in Jersey, but the protagonists from each novel make appearances in others in the series.

How does my work differ from others of its genre?

My romances are based in and around Jersey and the tiny groups of islands between here and France. They give a taster of what it’s like to live here and the idyllic places where the romantic scenes, conflict and resolutions are carried out in the stories at various locations in the island.

Why do I write what I do?

Because I’m a perpetual romantic, who loves writing about sexy heroes and adore living in Jersey, so combining all three by writing romantic novels set in this island makes perfect sense to me. I hope it does to others, too.

How does my writing process work?

I start with an idea, the names for my protagonists, various sub plots, a major plot and then decided the perfect setting for the different scenes, then I write an outline and start writing the first draft. I see where the story takes me, keeping the vague notes/ideas nearby, and take it from there. After the first ‘dirty’ draft, I then take a look at the deeper aspects of the book and tighten it, sorting out anything that doesn’t work. I then send the book to my wise beta readers, who then give me notes about what didn’t work for them and suggestions as to how the book could be improved. Then I edit again… Eventually I feel, after much rewriting, editing and angst, that the book is ready to publish and send it to a proof reader, then for formatting. Finally, it's ready to be published. It's hard work, but I love it... most of the time!

Now it's my turn to nominate three other writers to you. I'd like to pass you on to three lovely authors whose work I thoroughly enjoy:

Jennifer Joyce is a writer of romantic comedies who lives in Manchester with her husband and their two daughters. Her debut novel, A Beginner's Guide To Salad is available now.
Her blog is www.jenniferjoycewrites.co.uk and you can also find her on Twitter at https://twitter.com/Writer_Jenn

 

Sheryl Browne writes heartache, humour, love, loss & betrayal - and a little Ohhhh la la! She brings you poignant, witty modern romance. A member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association and shortlisted for Innovation in Romantic Fiction, Sheryl now has five books published with Safkhet Publishing.

You can find her on Twitter at  https://twitter.com/SherylBrowne and Sheryl's Website 

Kathryn Eastman worked as an EFL tutor in Greece and Germany before returning home to qualify as a lawyer, after which she worked in private practice for a London law firm and later in-house for an Internet company. When that company was sold, she started writing. She also went back to teaching English, this time to foreign homestay students, who come and live as part of the family in Kath's home on the side of a Welsh mountain. Well, more like a hill, really - in fact, it's the same one that inspired the Hugh Grant film The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain.

 

Kath has had articles, short stories and poetry published and is currently working on her third novel while the first one goes out on submission this year. You can find her on Twitter at @katheastman or on her Nut Press blog http://nutpress.co.uk

Writing Magazine - Jersey cream

It was the perfect end to a miserable Tuesday when lovely Joanne Phillips left a message on Facebook telling me that she'd found my piece in Writing Magazine to be inspirational.

As I'm sure you know, I live in Jersey and at the moment we're experiencing dreadful storms, and as with everything that living on an island entails, our postal service is hampered by bad weather. So, although I'm used to waiting an extra day or so receive magazines from the UK, this time I had to wait even longer and lovely Jo scanned a copy of the piece and kindly sent it to me. I'm not sure of the protocol, so I've blanked out most of the wording, but you can be sure I'll link to the piece when it appears in Writing Magazine online.

Seeing this piece was a boost as I'm coming to the end of my edits for A Jersey Affair and getting nervous about unleashing the second book in the Jersey Romance Series out into the world - I'll be sending the book off to my proof reader at the end of the weekend and will be launching it at the beginning of April - 2nd to be precise!

As you can imagine, it was very exciting to discover that a piece I'd sent in to a magazine I've enjoyed for years had been published. Thanks again to Joanne for letting me know and sending me a copy. To find out more about Joanne, a talented and very generous writer who I've learnt a huge amount about self-publishing from, here's her blog.