A Science Fiction/Fantasy novelist living in Alberta, Canada.
What do you love about writing?
I love world building. I could spend hours crafting tiny details in a fantasy or science fiction world that may not even make it into a book or story. It’s a way for me to show case ideas, ideals or problems, but it’s also a lot of fun. It’s hard for me to describe the feeling you get when you’ve created a world, even if it’s based off of the known like in Science Fiction. The best example is that it’s like when we were kids and we built houses and buildings out of blocks. You got to put the windows and doors wherever you wanted to and you knew it was good because you took the time and energy to make sure it was.
Are there any other writers in the family?
Actually, my mother used to write when I was little but she stopped when I was in middle school. That said, she was very supportive of my dream to write and my entire family (extended as well) have been my biggest fans and cheerleaders.
What inspires you to write?
Day to day it’s as simple as being in the right mind set, good or bad. When something good happens I’m automatically in a creative mood. When something bad happens I use writing as a way to deal with it or make myself feel better. Writing has always been a way for me to process what I see around me, make sense of it. My greatest ideas though, come to me in my dreams. I never go to bed without a notepad on the bed stand.
Who’s your favorite author?
Picking one is too hard. The author who made me curious about Science Fiction and Fantasy was Ann Maxwell in her book “Timeshadow Rider”, but I learnt how to build complex and beautiful worlds from Anne McCaffrey. Steven King taught me to embrace the gritty dark side of reality, and Arthur C. Clark showed me how to fall in love with a character despite their faults. So, is four favourites ok?
Do you just write for a living or do you have a day job?
I would love to write for a living, but unfortunately I do have a day job. I work for the government in her Alberta, Canada. It’s a typical desk job, but after working in lots of other office jobs I finally found one that isn’t really stressful. Less stress means I have energy at the end of the day to write and that’s the most important thing.
How did you find Disqus?
I was looking for a free webhost and one I was checking out recommended Disqus for managing your comments. I was sceptical at first but then I started noticing it everywhere and realized it really does create another community layer to your site (plus it’s easy). So I added it to my website (now on wordpress) and haven’t looked back since.
What one feature within Disqus do you use most?
Obviously the comments. But a close second would be the facebook integration. It’s very helpful to know that a reader who comes to my site from facebook can leave a comment without having to register for something new. I’m also loving the new Twitter integration you guys announced on Tuesday.
What one feature could Disqus make that would help writers like yourself?
One thing that would help writers? Well, writers like to show off if they get really great reviews. And if those reviews happen to come in as comments it would be great if there was a way to flag them and have a widget or something to show off just those special comments.
What’s The Seven Deadly Sins book about?
The book that was recently released is a Flash Fiction anthology. This anthology has eight short stories, each one about one of the Seven Deadly Sins (except for gluttony which has two stories because of a tie). I have two short stories in the book, one for Envy and Gluttony. All of the stories show the sinner or sinners getting caught or entangled, but it may not be obvious. My Envy story is about a space explorer who hates the perfect alien race he explores with, and Gluttony is about the three little pigs with a twist.
What inspired you to write this book?
The publisher of Absolute Xpress was interested in testing out a Flash Fiction anthology. The four women who are in this anthology are all from a writing group here in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. We’ve been together for a long time and since he knew of our unique group he thought we would be good test subjects. He gave us the topic and the deadline and we had to write one for story for each of the sins and he would pick the best. As for inspiration for the individual stories, Envy came to me as a dream and Gluttony was inspired by someone eating pork in the cubicle next to me at work and me being desperate for an idea.
Where can we purchase this book?
You can get this book through the publisher’s website as an e-book or off Amazon.com and have the book shipped to you. This is called the direct-to-reader approach, a new way of distribution that some publishers are taking advantage of. This means that it will not be found in book stores, but it also means you get a better price.
Is there anything else you would like to add?
The service with Disqus has been great, and you guys are always coming up with great new ways to connect users to each other. I look forward to seeing what Disqus comes up with next.
Also if you’re interested in writing Flash Fiction, you can check out the second Flash Fiction Challenge being put on by the publisher Absolute Xpress. The theme this time is “Creatures of the Night”.
Thanks for the interview, Giannii.
If you would like to learn more about Tina visit her website, twitter, or Disqus Profile.
Cheers,
DISQUS
Community Manager
