Today, Jessica Fortunato, author of The Sin Collector, is my wonderful guest. I met Jessica on Goodreads, and immediately was drawn to her writing, artistic sense, and the music of her website. Please join me in welcoming Jessica!
Thank you so much for having me on your blog. It is a fun site, and I adore the workspace photo aspect! Although I’ll warn everyone now, mine is not nearly as distinguished and neat as the other authors you have featured.
I’m sure it’s going to be wonderful to read about! Please tell us a little about yourself. What types of things do you write?
I live in the booming metropolis that is Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. When I’m not writing, I’m usually cooking. Currently I am working on the sequel to The Sin Collector titled The Sin Collector: Sacrifice. I am also writing TSC Novella due to come out in July. The TSC Novella is exciting because I am giving my readers the option to vote for whose story they want to hear. Voting doesn’t end until May 1st. There is still time to choose.
What a terrific idea! So now tell us, do you have a schedule for writing?
I don’t have a schedule for writing. I have tried to force myself to write, say 4,000 words a day. I have never written anything and kept it using that mindset. I will go a week and write a chapter if I’m lucky. Then I will have a day where I spend six hours in my broken down chair hardly moving, typing non-stop. I wish I had discipline, but I need pure inspiration to get anything productive done. It all manages to balance out in the end.
You’re still getting it done, so it’s working for you. Do you have any writing rituals, such as music, food, clothes, or anything else to help you?
I do most of my writing late at night, so I am usually drinking caffeine of some sort. Iced tea is my poison. Music is a huge source of inspiration for my books, but I rarely have music on while I’m writing, it can be too distracting. I find that I often have the television on, but muted, which makes absolutely no sense, but it’s my method.
Who or what is your inspiration?
As cliché as it is, my life is constant inspiration. My characters carry traits of people I know and love. Although my Collectors are immortal, they have very human sides, which I try to highlight even more so than their Supernatural aspects. The places my characters journey to are often places I have read about and want to visit one day. In writing, you can bring people back from the dead, unite the lost lovers, and tell the most satisfying story possible. As for the humor in my book, that purely comes from my family. Around my house you either get sarcasm or you get out.
Funny! That sounds like my house, too. Could you tell us about your writer’s space?
My teeny desk
It is tiny and clutter central. I swear I’m always organizing stuff but somehow everything just piles back up. I have my laptop, which is really the only necessity.
The stuff the laptop hides
Then my small desk becomes littered with papers, usually something cute, my favorite Living Dead Doll, Little Red Riding Hood. (They are my horror guilty pleasure.) I always have my Collector family tree nearby for character references.
My current stack of papers.
My writing space is also right next door to my hamster aquarium. She really hates it when I write before midnight.
I guess you can’t say the hamster wheel is keeping you up at night! Off the topic of writing, what is the zaniest, craziest thing you’ve ever done?
Can this answer be held against me in a court of law? I haven’t done anything too zany In a long while. I’m zany overdue! Does that mean I’m a grown-up? Since my Mom reads these things, how about the strangest thing? When I was in college, I had a hamster named Tabby who had a stroke. The vet wanted to put her down. However, the vet mentioned that Tabby wasn’t in pain, she just couldn’t use one side of her body. So, I researched stroke rehab for humans online, and rehabbed my hamster. The best was exercising her limbs in water as if she were swimming. After a month, she could walk and climb just like her old self AND she lived another year.
Don’t give up on anything, no matter how small.
OMG, that’s an amazing story! Do you have anything else you’d like to tell us?
Yes. Get Collected. Wander around the labyrinth that is The Sin Collector website.
It has links to follow me on Twitter and Facebook. It is full of fun things to do. If you’ve read the book already you can take the Trivia challenge and find Collector Personality Quizzes. There is also an awesome Soundtrack page. The music gives you a glimpse into the songs that helped form the characters, plot, and most heart wrenching and surprising scenes. In addition, as I said above, you can vote for the Summer Novella, and these things are just the tip of the iceberg!
Might I just interject here, readers, Jessica’s site is simply amazing. I click on her website just to listen to the music playlists! Here are two of her book trailers. Yes, people, she has more trailers at Youtube.
Official Book Trailer for The Sin Collector
Last of all, what advice would you give to other writers?
Stay away from the website Pinterest. I have lost hours of productivity to that brilliant but evil site!
In all seriousness though, my advice is always to write it down. If the Universe is handing you a brilliant idea and you just figure you’ll get to it later, the Universe will give it to someone else with a faster rate of return. I have seen it happen. Fortune favors the bold. If you’re a writer then odds are likely you are a reader as well. Pay attention to your own habits. What do you dread about certain books? What aspects of a book make your heart race? Above all, go with your gut. Trust your instincts whether it is about how you market yourself, or how you market your characters. Not everyone will love you and your work, but it’s work worth doing so stick with it.
Fabulous advice, Jessica! Thanks again for doing this interview today.
Well, friends, there you have it. The goods on the digs of this amazing new author. Now what are you still doing here? Get on over to The Sin Collector website and have some fun with all that’s there!
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