iUniverse says well done to debut author Patty Brant

iUniverse blog recently congratulated one of our debut authors on being a Finalist in the very tough 2013 Indie Excellence Book Awards-Mystery Category for her book Bitter Secrets and in doing so asked her to be a guest author on the blog. This is what she said on book awards.

2013 Indie Excellence Book Awards-Mystery Category -tough!

“When I entered the contest I thought – “Oh, well, it can’t hurt to try! And I was right. It sure didn’t hurt. In fact, when I was notified that I was a finalist, there was no pain at all!

I do have to confess to being more than a little surprised. With all the submissions they get from everywhere, it took a while to sink in. People who really know books, people whose lives are books, people in the industry thought my story made the grade.

Now, that was food for thought. And it is for me.”

iUniverse then asked about her writing inspiration

New novel from iUniverse debut author,Patty Brant

 

“Bitter Secrets is my first book. It started as a little blip from nowhere in my brain as I was driving home from work one afternoon

The words “I see faces” – just there, like someone opened up
my head and dropped them in. As they rolled around in there I thought, “Hmm, ‘I see faces.’ You could write a story around just those three words.” Followed by; “Heck, You could write a whole darn book around just those three words.”

So, at that point it became a mental exercise. For the next few weeks when my brain wasn’t occupied with something else I was trying to come up with answers to questions like: Who are these people? How many of them are there? Where do they live? When? What in the world could have happened to them?

As I filled in the blanks, I started coming up with a real story. When I had a couple paragraphs written in my head I thought; maybe I should start writing this down. And that’s how it started. With the encouragement of a good friend and author, I worked on my story for a long time until I was satisfied with it.”

Next iUniverse asked about the self-publishing experience

“Choosing iUniverse was kind of a stab in the dark – I had never done this before and didn’t really know what I was doing. I checked it out everywhere I could think of and finally decided to go for it. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, as they say. iUniverse had the support system I knew I needed. They were very helpful throughout the process of editing and printing.

Now I have to get serious about book marketing – not my forte – and I’m feeling my way through again. Got a long way to go!”

iUniverse blog then asked about future plans

Patty Brant now hard at work on the sequel to Bitter Secrets

 

“My sequel to Bitter Secrets, Full Circle, is all but finished. In Bitter Secrets, Molly Martindale’s small town life is overwhelmed by her “faces.” She looks for answers to their questions as she struggles with a painful past. Other characters surrounding Molly–some helpful, some definitely not–add depth to her story. The diary of a thirteen-year-old girl gone for forty years spurs Molly on when her energy and spirits flag. The smudged dignity of town drunk, Dennis Blankenship pulls at her heart and wheelchair bound Vietnam vet Glenn Morrison gives her fresh commitment to find the secrets about the lost Parker family she just can’t forget.

In Full Circle, Molly and her new friend Dana D’ Lorenzo each find love and meet surprising challenges – dangerous challenges for Molly.”

Final thoughts

“Being a finalist in the Indie Excellence Book Awards is a big step for me. I’m hoping this story I call Bitter Secrets, the characters that have captivated me, will reach out to others as well.

I’m looking to iUniverse once again to help me get the most out of this new experience.

If you want to know more and see her progress visit Patty’s website and finally iUniverse congratulates Patty Brant again and thanks her for her excellent article