This week’s author interview is with spotlight winner CJ Rutherford!  He’s an author that I always have a great laugh with, so I was really happy that he won with his nomination this week!  CJ is the author of the Tales of the Neverwar Series and also dragon keeper to the flamboyant Claude.

Q:  For those who are new to CJ Rutherford, can you tell us a bit about yourself and your books?

CJ:  Well, I write YA fantasy, but my first series branches out through several genres.  There’s romance, time travel, and alternate reality.

Q:  At what point in your life did you know you wanted to be a writer?

CJ:  I think I always knew I wanted to write.  It was only when my kids got too old for bedtime stories I wanted to put them into print.

Q:  Do you need peace and quiet to write or do you have a playlist to keep you going?  If you do would you share it with us?

CJ:  I write everywhere.  In the car, in my chair….and other places I won’t mention lol.  I love to listen to ambient music like Enigma.

Q:  Are you characters always a complete work of fiction or is there an element of someone you know to start the idea rolling?

CJ:  Hahaha…I always love this question.  The two mains in Souls of the Never are based on my daughter and her best friend.  When I read them back, it’s just their interactions.

Q:  What are your experiences of being an Indie Author, do you find that social media is a help or a distraction to your writing?

CJ:  Definitely a distraction, but useful for marketing and connecting with readers.  It’s a double edged sword lol.

Q:  What are you currently working on or is it a secret?!

CJ:  Ooo…now that’s a secret.  I have a project, The Companion Series.  Book one is titled Companion of Darkness.  I’m about a third in, and my alpha readers are begging for more.  I guess I must be doing something right.

Q:  What trouble has Claude been up to recently?

CJ:  That damn dragon still continues to post on my blog.  He does all sorts of giveaways.  He actually does pretty well.  We just did an awesome giveaway where the whole series was offered on audio.  Join my VIP list to have a chance to win http://talesoftheneverwar.net/your-free-book/get-book-one-of-this-epic-fantasy-for-free

Q:  If you could be any character you have written, who would you choose?

CJ:  I’d choose Gaak.  He’s probably someone you don’t know, but the most important character in all my books.  You just don’t know it yet.

Q:  What are you currently reading?

CJ:  EVERYTHING by Sarah J Maas.  LOVE her!

Q:  Fictional Dinner Party – give me 5 fictional characters or authors who you would have as dinner companions.

CJ:  Puff the magic dragon.  Pete’s dragon….see a theme?  Frodo, Bilbo, and Sam

Thank you so much CJ for taking the time to answer our questions for us today!  Good luck with the new project and keep up the good work Claude 😉 

For this weeks interview we welcome spotlight Author JoAnna S. Morris, I was excited to receive JoAnna’s answers as she is a completely new author to me, so I’m really happy she won the spotlight so I could discover a new author!

Q:  For those who are new to JoAnna S. Morris, can you tell us a bit about yourself and your books?

JoAnna:  I am the author of YA Dystopian Fantasy series – Echo Among Stars, Silence Among Stars and Fire Among Stars.  I was born in California and raised from the age of 6 in Oklahoma.  Oklahoma is nice, beautiful in fact, but my bones ache for the salty waves and sand between my toes.  I don’t get to go back near as much as I’d like. *sigh*  I’ve been writing in one form or another since I could hold a pencil but I finally gathered the courage to share my work with others about two years ago when I began work on Echo.  I have two head-strong, fun-loving children ages 18 and 11 and this September marks 17 years of being married to my high school sweet heart.  I enjoy music, movies, reading, writing, music (JT!) and painting. HA!  That pretty much sums me up.

Q:  At what point in your life did you know you wanted to be a writer?

JoAnna:  I have always wanted to write.  I would write screenplays as a young teen.  I still have them packed away in storage somewhere.  I’m pretty sure they’re cringe-worthy, I should probably burn them. In any case, writing a book has been on my bucket list since before I knew what a bucket list was.  I always told myself that I could die a happy woman if I saw Jewel, Bette Midler, JT in concert and published a book.  Now that I have accomplished that I should probably update that list. *gulp*

Q:  Do you need peace and quiet to write or do you need a playlist to keep you going? If you do would you share it with us?

JoAnna:  I have to listen to music while I write.  I usually create a play list for each book that i’m working on.  It serves as a constant inspiration.  For example, here is the playlist for my most recent release Fire Among Stars.  Holocene – Bon Iver, Skinny Love – Bon Iver, All the Stars – Ed Sheeran, Oblivion – The Indians, Without Words – Ray Montague, Not About Angels – Birdy, No-one Ever Loved You – Lyyki Li, Sweetheart, What have you done to me – Keaton Henson, Always in My Head – Coldplay, Dreams – Beck, Flume – Bon Iver, 10,000 Emerald Pools – Borns, Blood Bank – Bon Iver, Staring at the Stars – Passenger, The Funeral – Band of Horses, Magic – Coldplay, No one’s Gonna Love You – Band of Horses, Where is my Mind – Pixies, Lampshades on Fire – Modest Mouse, Black Sun – Death Cab for Cutie, Dead Inside – Muse, Change your Mind – The Killers, Lover, Please Stay – Nothing but Thieves and Beating Heart – Ellie Goulding.

Q: Are your characters always a complete work of fiction?  Or is there an element of someone you know to get the ball rolling?

JoAnna:  Typically my characters are fiction, however sometimes there are characters that have tiny bits and pieces of someone that i know of have known.  It’s inevitable, I think.

Q:  What are your experiences of being an Indie Author?  Do you find that social media is a help or a distraction to your writing?

JoAnna: Social Media is absolutely a crucial tool for an Indie Author, there is no doubt.  Most of us have to rely on some form of social media to get visibility.

Q: What are you currently working on, or is it a secret?

JoAnna:  My current SIP is a standalone YA Contemporary.  I don’t want to say too much but think John Green meets Rainbow Rowell.  It’s a very personal story to me and I can’t wait to get it out into the readers hands!

Q:  I see from your page that you have recently taken part in a book signing.  How does it feel to be a signing author?!

JoAnna: Being a signing author is pretty surreal.  I still can’t believe anyone would want my signature.

Q:  If you could be any character you have written, who would you choose?

JoAnna:  If I could be any character that I’ve written it would probably be Ainsley.  She is just to fun and carefree – I think it would be entertaining to spend a day in her shoes.

Q:  What are you currently reading?

JoAnna:  I’m currently reading Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor.  So far I’m intrigued and the writing style is beautiful.

Q: Fictional Dinner Party.  Give me 5 fictional characters or authors who you would have as dinner companions.

JoAnna:  Oh my gracious, this is a hard question.  I’d be the one to stand just so I could have an extra space.  I think I’d like to sit with JK Rowling, Alice Hoffman, William Shakespeare, Stephen King and Gertrude Chandler Warner Chandler.

Thank you so so much JoAnna, for taking the time to answer our questions!

If you want to check out JoAnna’s books the first book in the Star’s series Echo Among Stars is available here http://amzn.to/2a8j5ga