EPIC SPOTLIGHT: JOHN BLANDLY

BIO…

John Blandly is an artist (see centaurlit.com for some of his paintings), actor, baseball player and filmmaker. A link to one of his short films follows:

http://blip.tv/blandly/screenplay-contest-5152130

What do you think the next big thing in the industry is?

Ebooks translated into digital films by computer

What do you think of the e-book pricing wars?

Prices will continue to fall

If you use a pen name, how did you choose it?

It has been a name I’ve used since college—an altered ego

How long have you been writing? How long have you been published?

I started out as a cartoonist in grade school, and wrote a little poetry in high school and college, but once my heart was broken by a southern belle I really started cranking out the verbiage, at first in mind bending surrealist nonsense. I guess I haven’t come too far. It took me almost 10 years to get some stories and a few poems published. It’s still hard. I submit to the easiest markets.

How long did it take you to publish your first book, once you started looking for an agent or publisher?

I still don’t have an agent, but have found a home for five ebooks. It took years and years of futility in attempts to publish. Only the advent of ebooks allowed me to find a publisher. Some of my best books are still unpublished.

How long does it take you to write a book?

years

Do you write one book/story at a time or multiples?

I have at least two or three going at all times, and continue the books when inspiration hits me, or time allows

What is the most books/stories you've had WIP at the same time? What is the highest number you've actively been writing on at the same time?

I have about 5 novellas that are unpublished that I tinker with occasionally, and submit now and then. I’ve got about ten short stories that I think are worth publishing, and I come up with about three or four or so a year

What genres do you write?

Stupid love stories—rom com—I know, that’s not a genre. So, they might be sci fi, fantasy, young adult, experimental, crime, and humor.

Are there any genres you'd never consider writing in?

Nope

What's your writing process? (i.e. pantser/organic writer or plotter or mix? write on the computer? longhand? mix? how many passes? etc.)

Word processor on computer. When I went from longhand to computer, it was like warp speed. All you need is a cheap laptop. I use spellcheck and grammarcheck, newer versions of which are helpful, as it seems I’m either inventing words, or they aren’t in the computer’s dictionary. I also use several dictionaries and two encyclopedias, because it freaks me out when someone finds a stupid mistake in what I’ve written.

What's the strangest thing you've had happen to you at a public appearance? The most disturbing or amusing? (this can be a convention, a meeting, a signing, etc.)

Most of my readings are amusing—I try to make it that way. I’m not exactly heavy.

What authors inspire you? Who are your favorite authors?

JD Salinger used to. F Scott Fitzgerald still does. I have been inspired by Kafka, Camus, TS Eliot, e.e. cummings, Billy Collins, Jarry, Sophocles, the other classic Greek playwrights, Synge, Catullus, Irish writers, Keats, Heller, writers in The New Yorker during the Shawn era, Ionesco, Beckett, Voltaire, Melville, Twain, Thackery, Thurber, Pinter, Hesse, Caesar, Stephen Crane, Bret Harte, Irma Bombeck, Gossip Girl, Stoppard, Albee, Dylan Thomas, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Vonnegut, Le Carre, Earle Stanley Gardner, Sherlock Holmes (can’t think of author’s name, or the guy who wrote the Dialogues about Socrates). I like chick lit these days, Brocke Clark, and the scriptwriters on TV.

Introvert or extrovert?

I used to think I was an introvert, because people generally terrify me, but I very much like to be with people. I join many groups, and get involved in a lot of activities, just because, I guess, deep down, I’m lonely.

Your favorite leisure activity or vacation spot?

Cape Cod.

Have you ever included a real experience of your own in a book? Did anyone who knows you notice it?

Unless there is a bit of a true story in a book, I doubt the author has any real commitment to it. I’ve almost run out of true stories to fictionalize. I almost never share what I’ve written to friends and family. Hopefully, I’ll get to my grave before they find out what I’ve written. I pray that I have been fair to them. Part of my revision process is to make sure my books don’t offend, so, I’m not what you would call hard hitting. I love local color and making fun of my hometown and cities nearby. I’ve started using real names for places. I heard local businesses don’t mind it. In fact, mentioning bookstores is a good idea. I love Barnes & Noble and am there almost every week joking with the sexy female baristas. I also hang out in the Bookhouse and Troy Bookmakers, and the bookstores in Lenox, and Great Barrington. I’m deeply devoted to Scribners, Harpers, New York City, LA, and Orlando. Mickey Mouse is a close friend.

Have you ever included someone who irritated you in the book? As what, and what comeuppance did he/she get?

I avoid that. My opinion is, what you have in your books you celebrate, so, I avoid evil stuff. It freaks me out. Now that I think of it, I need to sprinkle my pen drive with holy water. I have, in the past, put catnip in manuscript envelopes, figuring it would be humorous if the publisher found his cats going wild over my book.

Where do you get your character names?

The first stupid thing that pops into my head.

Where do you get your inspiration for a book? How do you get your ideas?

Current events—scientific discoveries—things in the newspapers and encyclopedias.

What is the best reader or reviewer comment you've ever received?

I’m waiting for a good one

If you write with small children around, what agreements or rules have been made to preserve your writing time?

I don’t like to write with small children around, since if the computer explodes, they might get hurt.

What advice would you give a new writer?

If you have time and money, invest in writing—most people have spent hundreds of dollars on courses that they hate, why not throw a few bucks at what you like? Try to get an MFA, or just take a few hours of low residency classes—perhaps, workshops—read writing magazines

Do you belong to a crit group or other writing group? How helpful do you find it?

I find it helpful to belong to a writing group—they will tell you whether they like what you’ve written or not. It’s as simple as that

What online lists or forums are your favorites?

Triond and Smashwords are my favorites

What book, if you have written several books, is your favorite and why?

Full Body Replacement—it is edgy and outrageous—about a world in which you can change yourself completely—I need an agent for this book—and a witness protection program if it’s published

Give us your backlist... with all publishers...

All are currently available—Abbie, with SynergEbooks.com, New and Easy Poems, SynergEbooks, Ruthy’s New Texas Lawyer Friend, Aripublishing.com, Girlfriends Undressed, WsicEbooks.com, Zombie Man, WsicEbooks, World Trade Center Writers, Smashwords.com, The Volunteers, Smashwords, How To Be A Bestselling Author, Scribd

Tell us about releases you expect within the next year...

My Mississippi Miss, Smashwords, We Used To Be Shakers, WsiceEbooks.

Tell us about your current releases

The Greatest Novel Ever Written (Xlibris)

If a girl says to a guy, I want to get married and have children he’s supposed to say the correct thing, right?

http://www.amazon.com/GREATEST-NOVEL-EVER-WRITTEN-ebook/dp/B004HKIMYK

on Nook

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-greatest-novel-ever-written-john-blandly/1029698282

Ruthy’s New Texas Lawyer Friend (Aripublishing.com)

Ruthy has to leave school back east and return to Texas after the death of her parents, and helps a law student by letting him borrow her father’s law books. A western.

http://www.amazon.com/Ruthys-Texas-Lawyer-Friend-ebook/dp/B004WLOR70/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1306963354&sr=1-1

Abbie (SynergEbooks.com)

The story of the love affair between Frankie and Maisie, who get involved in Abbie Hoffman’s underground life as a fugitive in the Thousand Islands of upstate New York.

http://www.synergebooks.com/ebook_abbie.html

World Trade Center Writers (Smashwords.com)

A writers’ group meets in a World Trade Center bookstore

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/24444

The Volunteers (Smashwords)

Eryk is 15. He hears that a girl he likes, D W-B, is in a gang. Trouble ensues, but for Eryk, it was worth it.

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/25733

Pauline & Melissa (Smashwords)

Pauline, a runaway 16 year-old Hollywood actress, checks in at Melissa’s parents’ motel on the Maine coast.

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/26263

Urban Myths and Ghost Stories (enhanced) (Smashwords)

Urban Myths, Ghost stories, and out and out lies about upstate New York