ACHIEVEMENTS OF PAULA LOUISE SHENE IN WRITING, INSPITE OF SERIOUS PROBLEMS IN LIFE
PAULA LOUISE SHENE
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PAULA LOUISE SHENE |
BRIEF PROFILE OF THE AUTHOR:
Multi-genre writer, Former
college administrator; business owner, Children’s stories under Paula Shene, PC
Shene for Sci-fi/Fantasy. Articles: lifestyle, psychology, health, How To,
PLS/PCS for poems: Free Style, Acrostic, Rhyme, Illustrator, editor, avid
researcher in her quest for eclectic knowledge
https://thebooktrap.weebly.com/paula-louise-shene.html
Yes, I am a professional
writer. I have many interests. Initially I did not write for publication, but
only for a need, when I was pushed to submit, I did, got accepted and found
writing helped my sanity, when I was the care giver for my husband for twelve
plus years. Now I write & edit because, it is a love. I write on various
topics e.g. Children's Stories; Young Adult stories; Family Stories; Articles –
Health, Life Style: Psychology. Short Stories- Ghost, adventure, science
fiction, fantasy, Noir comedy; Love; Family. Poetry – Prayers, Admonishing;
Social issues: anti-war, exploitation in any areas; Love – unconditional,
carnal, brotherly; nature; life in general.
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Q Which particular book of yours do you consider
as the best so far, and why?
l consider my present book
as my best. It is part of my God series and is entitled God's Love, that is to
be published this month & deals with my childhood – the story of why I am,
as I am.
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Q Do you promote and recommend
writing of books jointly? In your opinion what are the areas of benefits and
problems, in such joint ventures?
Recently I had teamed up with
other poets to publish and it was an easy transition. My Young adult fantasy
adventure was written to dovetail into a series of books with another author
who is no longer writing and I have my rights back on the book. I found it, the
most difficult story to write. I had to follow a focal point script but was
given the leeway to get from each point to point. My style of writing consists
of a general idea with an end point, research if I do not know the subject
intimately, start to write and let the characters spin the story.
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Q When & how do you get the
ideas & do you immediately note them down in a diary or elsewhere?
Anything can trigger a
story. Usually I start typing immediately.
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Q On an average, how many months
do you take to complete one book, in all respects?
When I do the poetry books
with many authors it takes months. I am dealing with many cultures and
languages. I have meetings with the authors and on usages of words and
sometimes translations are not clear from one language to another.
But my own children's books
take the longest because I must wait on my illustrator – my youngest son who
does the drawings but then I do the coloration and they are water color pens
and one illustration can take a full day & there are usually ten to twelve
illustrations per book.
The story itself depends on
what is going on in my life – anywhere from one day to a week in finishing
writing, a day to do editing, reading it aloud to one of my sons and have him point
out lack of clarity. A children's book takes up to a month to produce.
The adult stories take a
couple of days. When I start a story I continue to write until I am done. Then
I look for errors, any dead ends & then grammar etc. I write short stories, anywhere from a couple
thousand to ten thousand words. My short stories have been ready to publish but
I don't have enough to make a book. They are however, on sites around the net
to read in pre-edit form.
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Q Could you share with us, an
interesting event/incident/experience faced with the other writers, publishers
or readers in your writing career?
I was getting ready to write
a story and ended up in the hospital with an injury. I do not like waiting to write, if I have a
story to tell. So here I was lying on a gurney in line to go into the MRI
machine at the local hospital; I was the third in line. As the procedure usually
takes less than half an hour, I figured that I'd be out in about an hour or so,
as the first person just went in on an emergency basis. I started to write and edit the story in my
head thinking I'd at least get a start on the book and when I get home, to
start writing it. In reality it was
several hours later that I was being
moved into the MRI room. I was then chatting with the woman whom I knew, as I have
been accident prone and had been there before. It seems that the emergency
person had sprayed his hair with a dying chemical that had metal shavings as a
component and his hair caught fire. It was a big lesson for us to know what is
in the product we are using. When I got home I had the book typed out in hours
as all the avenues I was going to run down had been done in my head. The book
that was written on the gurney including editing is titled “Mason and the
Rainbow Bridge”. It is in one of the Peacock Writers book where the theme was
death.
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Q In your opinion, besides the
quality of writing, what are the other factors for the success of a book?
Marketing to the correct
audience. Even if a book is considered dreadful by mainstream or indie, there
is always a market, which we should find out and market it to them.
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Q Which aspects motivate you to
write books? Earning money/publicity/helping readers/self-satisfaction/others?.
My career started as a need,
turned into a necessity to keep my sanity dealing with being a caretaker of an
overactive personality and then morphed back into a love of words. I've earned
little money so far, as most of my writing has been and still is for
charity. But I have young fans all over
the world, who enjoy my children books.
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Q Has Facebook helped you in
anyway, in your writing career or even otherwise? If yes, please elucidate?
Yes and no, until I became
involved with the “Every Child Lifeline Charity Foundation”, when I got
targeted by a troll, a stalker and a hacker, when Facebook was helpful. Now I
have an impersonator that goes into groups pretending to be me and being nasty.
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Q In your opinion, is there
adequate scope for name/fame/wealth in the field of writing?
Yes, of course. But the
artist field has not changed much over the years.
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Q What are the reasons for the
general success of the concept of “Agents of writers” in some countries?
If one can afford to hire an
agent then one has help in getting success. That is why in today's cyber
society we have Artist groups who help one another with their talents. In
today's world, writing is not considered a bad occupation for a woman to engage
in.
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Q Have your family members and
friends helped and/or contributed in any way, in your writing career?
My youngest son has been my
children's books illustrator and now on Tik Tok. My middle son is a musician and
writer who has yet to publish. My oldest son promotes me to everyone and he
also gets me in, on some of his Tik Tok videos.
My adopted or mentored children are all artists of every sort & I am
happy to see them all, using their talents for enjoyment and for profit.
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Q What is your opinion about
e-books? Due to this concept of e-books, is the survival of printed books in
future in jeopardy?
I love e-books, because I
have lymph edema, a condition I inherited from my two stints with cancer treatment.
I carry thousands of books with me on a sliver of technology. I would love to
see them start marketing school books on this medium. There is a similar
technology with audio books and they are a boon to those with sight impairment.
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Q What are your future plans for
writing books?
I am a partner and
co-founder in Tea Luck Publishing, where I am also publishing the charity books
for the Every Child Lifeline Charity Foundation. I see no end to my writing,
research, or teaching and producing until my spirit departs.
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Q What is your advice to the
budding authors?
He or she should not get discouraged. If one has a burning
desire to write, one should bring it out, put it on paper or to technology, but
it must be done. Bad grammar and bad spelling can always be corrected by a good
editor and without losing the fire in the story. The detractors must be
ignored. Everyone does have a story to
tell, for which the medium and fans must be found. One should not expect to get
rich but if one does rich, one should help the next person to be as good in
writing. In case the one whom we taught becomes better than us, we should wear that
as a badge of honour.
-----------vijaiksharma
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