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Showing posts from July, 2011

[Interview] Deborah M. Plummer

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Deborah M. Plummer is the author of books that include:  Helping Children to Improve their Communication Skills (Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2011); Helping Children to Cope with Change, Stress and Anxiety (Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2010) and  Anger Management Games for Children (Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2008). Formerly a clinical lead therapist working within the NHS, Deborah Plummer now lectures at De Montfort University , Leicester and runs workshops and short courses on the uses of imagery and issues of self-esteem. In this interview, Deborah Plummer talks about her work: What are the common causes of stress and anxiety in the children you work with? For the last 15 years or so of my work within the NHS I specialised in working with adults and children who stammer. Although public awareness about the complex nature of communication difficulties is certainly improving, children who stammer still often experience a considerable amount of anxiety related to their sp

[Interview] Renée Sigel

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Renée Sigel was born in South Africa in 1960. She worked as a fine art columnist for a major daily South African newspaper and as an arts and theatre editor for a lifestyle magazine before political pressure forced her to leave the country in 1994. Her work includes the poetry collection, Sexions: Selections from life and love (Bewrite Books, 2005) and the poetry chapbook,  Falling Slowly  (erbacce press, 2010). Her poems have also been featured in magazines that include nthposition , Voices in Wartime , The Other Voices International Project and Sam Smith’s The Journa l . Renée Sigel currently lives in Italy. In this interview, she talks about her writing:* When did you start writing? I never chose to write. It's very much more a matter of writing choosing me rather than me it. It never came to my choosing or deciding to become a published writer: it happened literally out from under me as it were. I was very young when I was first published and it felt as though

[Interview] Jason Kahn

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Jason Kahn lives in Park Slope, Brooklyn and works as a medical editor for a New York-based cardiology research foundation. He is the author of works that include the e-book,  The Killer Within (Damnation Books, 2009) and the blog novel, Dark InSpectre . His short stories have been featured in anthologies that include The Best Of Gryphonwood 2007 (Gryphonwood Press, 2007); Strange Stories of Sand and Sea (Fine Tooth Press, 2008); Christmas Fear (Static Movement, 2010) and Best Left Buried (Static Movement, 2011). In this interview, Jason Kahn talks about his writing:* When did you start writing? I was headed toward a journalism degree my second or third year in college, so I knew then that I wanted to be a published writer. But it wasn't until the summer after my senior year that I discovered I wanted to be a writer. I'd been reading sci-fi/fantasy books since I was a kid, and during my senior year, my then-girlfriend, now-wife, said to me, "Hey, why don&#

[Interview] Jen Bee

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Jen Bee studied Creative Writing at a university in Wales. On her personal blog , she describes herself as a "recovering student, future tea shop owner, practising telepathy by staring at blank pages." She is the author of Sally Carter , a blog novel that follows the life and adventures of Sally Carter and Detective Hood. In this interview, Jen Bee talks about her writing:* When did you start writing? Thursday 20th February, 1994 at 3:09pm ... No, I've been making up stories as long as I can remember, though only a few made it onto paper at first. It was just something I did, that and reading. As I grew older the stories I read grew longer and so did those I thought up, which I then started to write down. What made you want to get your stories published? I wanted to write books like those I read, long before I understood what publishing meant. This is probably a good thing or I may have become too overwhelmed to go on. Now it's too late, I love writing

[Interview] Wilf Morgan

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Wilf Morgan lives in Nottingham in the United Kingdom. His books include a novella, That Time in Honduras (Eighty8Tales Press, 2009) as well as the novels, The Assassin’s Wedding (Eighty8Tales Press, 2008); The Cotton Keeper (Eighty8Tales Press, 2007) and Lost Angels (Eighty8Tales Press, 2006). He is also the author of Dead Heroes , a free online serial that he publishes through the Eighty8Tales website. In this interview, Wilf Morgan talks about his writing: When did you start writing? Although I can’t remember when I actually started writing, I do remember some of my first stories being Star Wars tales featuring the figures and toys I owned at the time ...! There was one about Han Solo and Luke Skywalker flying the Millenium Falcon to the end of the universe where the stars stopped or something. And another about Luke and Darth Vader crashing on a deserted planet and being stuck together (I think Darth had actually hit his head and gotten amnesia so forgetting he was