Hi everyone. I’ve been busy working on some incredible projects, but am just poking my head up out of the madness to point you in the direction of this fantastic and in-depth interview I did recently. My interviewer – Michelle Kaiser – is a pretty fascinating lady herself, and her site – Career Offroading – features interviews with women pursuing interesting careers. Here’s an extract from the interview.

How do you stay productive? (How do you stay in your chair and writing when you’d rather not?)

I love it. I’m compelled to do it. It feels right.

I also have an incredibly busy social life. You’d be horrified if you looked at my diary: concerts, parties, craft markets, evening classes, art gallery openings, live drawing events … and that’s just next week! All this stuff is fun, and I hate missing out on things, so I have to sit my butt down and say to myself “I have two hours to finish this before I head out the door, otherwise I’ll miss this fun thing!” And I always finish.

Do you have any advice for young writers?

1. You’re never too young to start. You have about 5 years of crappy writing to plow through before you approach anything near a professional level. So start now.

2. If you see a magazine / company and think “I’d love to work for them,” don’t just sit around believing you’re not good enough, ask! Be bold! I didn’t get my most lucrative and fun jobs from people calling me, but by contacting companies and saying “you’re cool and I’m cool. Let’s work together.”

3. Nothing is more important than a good writing soundtrack.

Hop over to Career Offroading to read the rest of my interview. And if you’ve got any questions for me, don’t hesitate to leave a comment and I’ll do my best to answer. And while you’re there you might want to check out Michelle’s other interviews – there’s one with animator Mel Rainsberger, anime artist Brooke Stephenson, and event planner Erin O’Neal.

Don’t miss all the fun! Sign up for the Grymm & Epic Gazette – you’ll get my FREE ebook “Unleash the Beast: Release Your Inner Creative Monster”, as well as a weekly dose of creative inspiration. Grymm!

Do you know Michelle Nickolaisen? I have a feeling that in a couple of years when I ask you that question, you’ll be saying “of course!” Michelle is one kick ass chick – she’s been a blogger for several years, and her latest effort – Lets Radiate – is a love letter to creative folk who might be struggling with workflow or getting all their amazing projects off the ground.

What does Michelle do better than anyone? She gets stuff done. She says “I have this great idea!” and then she goes out and gets it done. And she helps other creatives to work through blocks and figure out their workflow issues. And, since I’m bloody good at having great ideas, but not so good with the whole workflow things, I’m truly grateful to have her here to talk about running a small business, finding your people, and getting your business running as sweet as mustard.

Read On…

When I was starting out on my mission to conquer the Internet world via Grymm & Epic, Ali of Aliventures was one of the first people to support this project. That’s how I first found her site and I’ve been learning and loving it ever since.

Ali is a lovely, kind and easy-going writer who started off making a full-time income writing paid blogs for sites like Daily Writing Tips. She now coaches writers, writes and sells ebooks on writing (including the awesome Bloggers’ Guide to Freelancing), creates amazing writing e-courses, and is about to self-publish her first novel about what happens when the world of Geekdom becomes very, very real.

General

Firstly, we just want to know who you are, and what you do. Can you share your journey from mini-Ali to Aliventures?

Sure! As a teenager, I knew I wanted to be a writer. I worked on a really bad sci-fi novel in my mid-teens, holing up in the school library in my lunch-hours. (I wasn’t the most sociable of kids…)

Read On…

If you’ve admired the bad-ass graphics and design of any of my websites, you’re should direct your compliments to Vail Joy of FutureNoir.net. Vail is the epitome of a grymm & epic businesswomen, running her creative design studio out of Slovenia, where she can indulge her bird-watching obsession and attend as many metal festivals as she wants, the lucky wench.

Over 18 months ago I was thinking about updating my Steff Metal site and sent out a message to all my readers asking if anyone knew of a good designer. Vail answered the call and I’ve been bugging her with projects ever since. She’s friendly, super easy to work with, has the BEST ideas (have you SEEN my Cthulhu-themed copywriting packages? That’s all Vail’s work), and I recommend her to everyone I know planning a website – especially if you’re even a little bit alternative.

Vail’s come over to Grymm & Epic today to talk about being a creative freelancer, money managing tips, and how to find the time to get to all the best heavy metal concerts.

Firstly, we just want to know who you are, and what you do. Can you share your journey from mini-Vail to FutureNoir?

Well, I am a transient cat herder and long-time lover of music, but make a living as an independent writer and designer. FutureNoir is a niche design studio focused primarily on web solutions for the creative industry – music, authors and artists.

Read On…

I‘ve got vampires on the brain.

I blame it the kobo website, who has cottoned on to the fact I like books about bloodsuckers, so sends me daily emails about the latest fanged thrillers. I blame Poppy Z Brite, whose book Lost Souls restored my love of erotic horror, after it had been shattered by the Twilight books (which, to be fair, had a lot of the erotic but not nearly enough horror). And I blame today’s guest, New York Times Best-Selling author of steamy vampire urban fantasy, Jeaniene Frost, for getting my vampire on four years ago with Halfway to the Grave.

But Jeaniene Frost isn’t just an author, she’s in part responsible for bringing vampires and urban fantasy back into the mainstream, and her legions of fans worldwide (her novels have been translated into seventeen languages) attest to her remarkable ability to write amazing books and get them in front of the people who want to read them. I’m thrilled to sparkling bits to have Jeaniene here today for an Epic Interrogation about how she kicks ass with her creative business:
Firstly, we’d just like to know who you are, what you write, and what’s new in the world of Jeaniene Frost?
Thank you so much for having me. I’m the author of the Night Huntress series and Night Huntress World novels, which are urban fantasy romances containing vampires, ghouls, ghosts, demons, and a sprinkling of black magic. The most recent novel to hit the shelves was This Side of the Grave, and my next novel is One Grave at a Time, which releases August 30^th.

Read On…