Bitten by Books
Welcome to Sound Bites today with author Mark Teppo and our guest host Sandra Wickham! Enjoy, and leave your questions for Mark or Sandy in the comments for them to answer! Happy Listening! Stay tuned for more upcoming podcasts from other authors and exciting guests in the coming weeks.
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Learn more about Mark Teppo Below:
site: markteppo.com
blog: markteppo.com/blog
twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/markteppo
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/mark.teppo
Library Thing: http://www.librarything.com/author/teppomark
GoodReads: http://www.goodreads.com/markteppo
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CONTEST INFO: Open to readers in the US.
Prizes: 3 sets of the Codex of Souls series includes Lightbreaker and Heartland
The Contest Entry rules have changed so read them carefully
The CONTEST portion of the event runs THREE DAYS until 11:59 pm Central on 10/16/11. Open to readers WORLDWIDE unless otherwise noted.
These are the ways you can enter to gain points towards winning the prize offered here today. The only one that is mandatory is #1. The rest are optional. The more you do, the more points you gain, the better your odds at winning the prize. Prizes are chosen using the random.org number generator. Making a purchase is NOT mandatory, it is only one way to gain additional points. There are free ways to get points. Remember to add in your RSVP points if you RSVP’d.
1. LEAVE YOUR FIRST NAME AND THE INITIAL OF YOUR LAST NAME AND YOUR COUNTRY in your comment/post so we can give you the proper credit for your entries. Mandatory, if you don’t leave this, your entries will NOT count. It is NOT mandatory to make a purchase to be entered into the contest.
2. Ask the author some questions, please no duplicates. + 1 points ask as many questions as you like PLEASE ASK EACH ONE IN A SEPARATE POST
3. Spread the word about this contest and HELP OUT Mark by spreading the word about his books!
Tweet this event: http://www.bittenbybooks.com/?p=48045 + 1 Points (max 3 times a day please not all at the same time) include @bittenbybooks in your tweet.
4. Enter Mari Mancusi’s Kindle Contest +1 point: http://www.bittenbybooks.com/?p=47967
Read and leave a meaningful comment on this week’s Screen Bites here +1 point: http://www.bittenbybooks.com/?p=47922
5. Tally your own points total +1 point
That’s it!
RULES AND LEGAL DISCLAIMERS
Winner(s) will be contacted via email. You will receive your prize directly from the author. PLEASE LEAVE YOUR FIRST AND THE INITIAL OF YOUR LAST NAME AND COUNTRY as well as a valid email where we can contact you. REMEMBER the more things you do, the more entries, the greater the chances of winning. PLEASE ALLOW THIRTY DAYS to receive your prize BEFORE EMAILING US.
1. Please note, the prize stated IS the prize you will receive, there will be absolutely no substitutions or changes the prize is non-transferable. If you don’t want the prize being offered, please don’t enter the contest. If you ever win an electronic copy of a book, please note that it is ILLEGAL to forward, give away or copy it in anyway once you receive it. Doing so violates copyright. If we find out that it has been done, you will no longer be eligible to win any of our contests.
2. You have THREE days from the day the we contact you to claim your prize by sending your name/mailing address to us at the contact email we provide. Failure to contact us will forfeit your prize. BBB can at that time, choose either to re-award the prize to another entrant or not.
3. The prize stated IS the prize you will receive, there will be no substitutions, trades or changes. No exceptions. Please do not ask. If for some reason you do not wish to claim your prize, please let me know as soon as possible. Bitten by Books has the option to re-award it or not.
4. Contest is open to readers in the USA except where noted above. The prizes are almost ALWAYS shipped directly from the publisher/author unless otherwise noted.
5. Bitten by Books is in NO way responsible for the prizes being offered in any of the contests. If for some reason a contributor does not honor their prize, there is nothing we can or will do about it. We are not worried that this will happen, but we want to be very clear that WE are not offering these prizes, the contributor is and it is their responsibility to fulfill their prize obligations not Bitten by Books.
6. These rules are subject to change or be modified without prior written notice.
7. Contest is void where prohibited.
8. By entering this contest you are agreeing to our terms of entry
Mark when is the next book due out?
Angel Tongue was originally scheduled for 2012, but it will probably slip to 2013. My schedule has gotten busy.
I love Sandra Wickham and with this website I learn about a lot of good authors so I am going to check out Mark’s stuff, good work keep it up. love this site.
Aw, thanks, Stephanie! So glad you enjoy the podcast and that you’re going to check out Mark’s books.
Thanks, Stephanie. I hope you enjoy the books. If you visit the Codex website, be sure to check out the novella that is posted there. Here’s a link to the chapter page for it. http://codexofsouls.com/?cat=7
Ty N -USA
Hi Mark,
Which of your books is your fav and what makes it your fav?
+25 RSVP
+1 Question asked
+1 Entered Mari’s event
+1 Tally
=28
Heartland.
For some time, I was so happy to be done with Lightbreaker that ANY other book was more of a favorite, but I recently read Peter Grey’s The Red Goddess (from Scarlet Imprint), which made me reconsider some of the elements of Lightbreaker that I felt weren’t as well defined. I’m a very organic writer, and the redraft of Lightbreaker happened at a time when I was very focused on the unconscious linkages between words and symbols. To that end, there are aspects of Lightbreaker that are still unpacking themselves for me when I go back and look at it. Which is an odd feeling for a writer to have about their book.
I felt more in control of Heartland, and there is still a great sense of satisfaction about that book. It turned out the way I had planned. Well, mostly. I hadn’t planned for the Shadow to re-appear, but I’m glad It did.
No, wait. I forgot about The Potemkin Mosaic. http://psychobabel.net/ I do have a deep fondness for The Potemkin Mosaic. It was unexpected and such a surprise.
1. Savannah S. usa
2. What made you want to be a writer? +1
3. http://twitter.com/#!/i_love_vampires/status/124952886097616897 +1
4. Enter Mari Mancusi
I wrote a Michael Moorcock pastiche for a short story assignment in 8th Grade. It was entered in a school-wide contest and won. The prize was a thesaurus, which I was somewhat flummoxed by. I already had one of those (which was why my English teacher was able to say “thanks for using ‘said’ so sparingly in your story” on her comments). Of course, it’s been a struggle to reverse that trend ever since.
The real genesis of my destiny to be a writer was a 6th Grade spelling bee. I misspelled my first word, which was “author.” True story. ‘O-U-T-H-E-R.” Clearly, I had no choice but to redeem myself after that by making it a career choice.
All of which is to glibly dodge your question, but honestly, I grew up in a house filled with books. My grandfather told us stories he made up on the spot during summer vacation. It was just part of my existence. It just took me nearly thirty years to figure out that it might be my only marketable skill.
1. Debbie B. usa
2. Where is your favorite place to write? +1
4. Enter Mari Mancusi
Anywhere there is a power outlet.
I used to write on the train. Two segments, morning and afternoon. In the last year, I’ve found that I still write better curled up in a chair, while shoved in the corner of a coffee shop. I’m actually one of those people who actually goes to the coffee shop to get work done. I just plug in really loud music that cancels out all the yammering around me and focus in.
Also what gives you inspiration for the books?
I’ve been the showrunner for the writers on The Mongoliad (www.mongoliad.com) this past year, and the best part of that has been the writers’ room brainstorming. It really has shown me that inspiration comes from everything around you. While there is the old adage that you should write what you know, I think it is more appropriate to think of it as Write Whatever Happens To Have Struck Your Fancy In The Last 24 Hours.
As for the Codex books, I find our esoteric heritage fascination. There were either a lot of very crazy people out there, suffering from all many of odd visions, or-given the consistent symbols that persist across this spectrum of nutty-they might have gotten a glimpse of something. The Codex books are pulp adventure tales, in many ways, but they also give me an excuse to explore that heritage.
Great podcast. This site is always providing me with new books to read that I probably wouldn’t have discovered on my own. More to the to-read pile!
Mare S, USA
RSVP’d ahead +25
Entered Mari Mancusi
Yeah for to-read piles! Thanks for stopping by and letting us show you new things to read.
The book sounds awesome and Mark sounds like a lot of fun! Thanks for the amazing giveaway:)
+25 RSVPd
+1 Tally
Total: 26
Julie W, USA
jwitt33 at live dot com
Thanks for listening. I hope you enjoy the book.
Lisa R smalltown, USA
Was just checking out your blog and read “On 37signal
“Pantsing” is simply not planning too far in advance.
I just taught a one-day workshop for Clarion West last weekend about jump-starting a novel, where I showed a room full of people how to outline a novel in about six hours. I pointed out to them that all of that planning would probably not remain valid during the course of actually writing the book, but it would provide them the impetus to get started. I do “pants” things a bit, but underneath, I typically have a fairly solid idea of where things are going. It’s the details along the way that evolve organically.
I like writing. Planning, to me, is not writing. If you are to do it seriously, then it’s only a half-turn from actually writing, and so why not just write?
Oh, and a typical day? Recently, it’s been putting out whatever is on fire the most. Writing new content, editing and polishing drafted content, pitching new ideas: sort of a rolling state of making things up.
When working consistently on a book, it’s a couple of hours spread across the day. I write until I start wondering what’s going on on Facebook or Twitter or in my RSS feeds, and that’s a pretty clear indicator that the buffer in my brain is empty. I do other things until it fills back up, and that can be later in the day or the next morning. There’s blog stuff to do, books to read, cats to stare at in on-going contests of dominance . . .
Hi Mark and Sandra,
Looks like my choice to live on a dirt road off a dirt road off a dirt road in the middle of nowhere has claimed another sacrifice. My crap isp has decided that I do not get to hear you today. grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!
So I will ask some questions for whoever/whomever wants to answer em.
Do you generally set one large or many small goals?
I set both large and small goals. Novel writing can be a drawn-out process, and it’s easy to lose track of the end goal when it seems so far away, but incremental goals add up. I still don’t do daily goals as well as I’d like, but if you write every day, the book finishes itself almost before you realize it. If you wait until you have large blocks of time, it never gets done.
Typically, I try for daily (did I write?), weekly (did I clear 7K of words?), and monthly (is the book a quarter/third done?) goals. I used to do the five-year and ten-year plan, but recently those have been blown out of the water by unexpected (and very welcome) twists, that I’ve stopped that depth of planning and become more of a pantser.
What do you do to reward yourself when you reach your goals?
I used to keep a stock of Thomas Kemper Root Beer in the fridge. When I finished a good day’s worth of writing, I’d enjoy a cold root beer. I showed up at a friend’s house one day with a six-pack. “You finished the book?” he asked. I just smiled, and parked myself on his couch for an evening of watching movies and drinking root beer.
These sorts of incremental rewards are good. Whatever helps you focus and get the work done.
Do you keep track of plot bunnies as they pop up or do you let them run free and grow until you need them?
I stuff ‘em in a folder if I feel like they’re grown enough to warrant writing down. That lets me dismiss them from my head. Otherwise, I let ‘em run free. They grow better when they can range around a bit.
other contest stuff….
1.Koren C USA
2.asked 3 +3
4.participated in Mari’s event +1
commented on Screen Bites +1
5.tally own points +1
I RSVP’d +25
total 31