Grant Overstake: Publication and Promotion

In this third and last segment of  our interview with Grant Overstake, he details the final steps he took to prepare Maggie Vaults Over the Moon for publication and distribution. Listen in as he discusses his experiences with book cover design, editing, Create Space and Amazon, and promoting through social media.

ABOUT THE STORYLINE

In the new teen sports novel, Maggie Vaults Over the Moon, author Grant Overstake retells the story of another amazing small-town athlete, Maggie Steele, a gutsy farm girl who pours her broken heart into the daring sport of pole-vaulting. The story climaxes at the Kansas State High School Track and Field Championships, the largest track meet in the nation, held at Wichita State University‘s Cessna Stadium.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Former Miami Herald Sports Writer, Grant Overstake, is a lifelong participant in the sport of track and field who competed in the decathlon for the University of Kansas Jayhawks. A multiple award winner for excellence in journalism, Maggie Vaults Over the Moon is the author’s premiere work of sports fiction.  Read more about Grant on his website.

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Many thanks to The Inn at Glenstrae for graciously allowing Keyhole Conversation to film the interview with Grant Overstake. Take a tour of this beautiful bed and breakfast inn here.

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Thanks to vintagefeedsacks for the use of their images.

     Writing is often thought of as a lonely vigil, but Grant Overstake, author of “Maggie Vaults over the Moon,” found this not to be true. In this Keyhole Conversations interview, he acknowledges those people who helped him along the way.

     His novel, Maggie Vaults Over the Moon, has been endorsed by National Schools of Character as a story with a “positive character-building message for young people.” A former athlete and Miami Herald sportswriter, Grant has the experience needed to bring Maggie’s journey to life. Through pole vaulting, Maggie achieves both a physical and symbolic triumph over gravity.  Set in Grain Valley, Kansas, this sports-related book has a depth people of all ages can relate to. Without a doubt, readers are sure to enjoy Grant’s novel of courage.

     Watch the interview below as Bonnie Myrick and Grant Overstake discuss the inspiration for the novel and the people who encouraged and supported him, which he describes as believing mirrors that reflected back on him, and his novel is “…truth embedded with a capital T.”

ABOUT THE STORYLINE

In the new teen sports novel, Maggie Vaults Over the Moon, author Grant Overstake retells the story of another amazing small-town athlete, Maggie Steele, a gutsy farm girl who pours her broken heart into the daring sport of pole-vaulting. The story climaxes at the Kansas State High School Track and Field Championships, the largest track meet in the nation, held at Wichita State University‘s Cessna Stadium.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Former Miami Herald Sports Writer, Grant Overstake, is a lifelong participant in the sport of track and field who competed in the decathlon for the University of Kansas Jayhawks. A multiple award winner for excellence in journalism, Maggie Vaults Over the Moon is the author’s premiere work of sports fiction.  Read more about Grant on his website.

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Many thanks to The Inn at Glenstrae for graciously allowing Keyhole Conversation to film the interview with Grant Overstake. Take a tour of this beautiful bed and breakfast inn here.

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Subscribe to Keyhole Conversations while you’re here!

Thanks to vintagefeedsacks for the use of their images.

ABOUT THE STORY

Freelance photographer Lindsey Grayson had planned a quiet morning snapping photos in the forest.  When she becomes the only witness to a vicious double murder, she’s glad that she has her camera ready.  Lindsey quickly and quietly documents the event and then alerts the authorities.  She doesn’t expect to become embroiled in the mystery, but when her photos hit the news, the killer realizes he didn’t go undetected.  He won’t think twice about eliminating a witness. Lindsey’s world is soon turned upside down as she finds herself fighting to stay alive and bring the killer to justice.  Rival gangs, a growing drug ring, and a startling kidnapping all play a part in making this one photo shoot that she will never forget.

VIEW PHOTO SHOOT BELOW

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Rae Cuda is a retired speech-language pathologist with a passion for photographing the beauty of God’s creation.She is active in her local church and has co-authored materials for other speech-language pathologists to use in therapy, which feature her photos. Rae lives in central Kansas with her husband and dogs and they all love to travel. Her book is available here.

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Hazel Hart plays host at the KWA Scene Conference in March as she interviews playwright, Everett Roberts, to discuss his latest plays, The Absolutely True Story of Tom Sawyer as Told by Becky Thatcher, and Allie in Wonderland. Hazel found a not-so-quiet table with good lighting, and Everett gave some intriguing hints about Becky Thatcher’s views on Tom Sawyer. Both plays are available from heartlandplays.com. Check out the vlog below.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

 Hailed as “one of our best new children’s authors” by Heartland Play Publishers, Everett Robert is an award winning author, playwright, actor, and director with over 20 years of experience.

 A Kansas Native, he graduated from Colby Community College with an Associates of Applied Science in Radio and Television Communications and an Associates of Applied Arts in English with a Drama Emphasis and currently attends Fort Hays State University. Everett is a member of the Dramatists Guild of America, The Playwright’s Center, The Kansas Writer’s Association, and the Oklahoma Writer’s Federation.

 Everett’s plays have been performed in Kansas, New York City, and the Philippines. Published Works include: Allie In Wonderland (Heartland Play Publishers, 2012), The Absolutely True Story of Tom Sawyer As Told By Becky Thatcher (Heartland Play Publishers, 2013), and winner of The Greatest Western Never Told included in the Cactus Country III Anthology (High Hill Press, 2013).

      View Emergency Room Productions, the official website of Everett Roberts. You can also read more about Everett on Facebook, Twitter, and Heartland Plays.

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Thanks to vintagefeedsacks for the use of their images.

Grant Overstake’s novel, Maggie Vaults Over the Moon, has been endorsed by National Schools of Character as a story with a “positive character-building message for young people.” A former athlete and Miami Herald sportswriter, Grant has the experience needed to bring Maggie’s journey to life. Through pole vaulting, Maggie achieves both a physical and symbolic triumph over gravity.  Set in Grain Valley, Kansas, this sports-related book has a depth people of all ages can relate to. Without a doubt, readers are sure to enjoy Grant’s novel of courage.

WATCH THE VIDEO HERE

ABOUT THE STORYLINE

In the new teen sports novel, Maggie Vaults Over the Moon, author Grant Overstake retells the story of another amazing small-town athlete, Maggie Steele, a gutsy farm girl who pours her broken heart into the daring sport of pole-vaulting. The story climaxes at the Kansas State High School Track and Field Championships, the largest track meet in the nation, held at Wichita State University‘s Cessna Stadium.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Former Miami Herald Sports Writer, Grant Overstake, is a lifelong participant in the sport of track and field who competed in the decathlon for the University of Kansas Jayhawks. A multiple award winner for excellence in journalism, Maggie Vaults Over the Moon is the author’s premiere work of sports fiction.  Read more about his upcoming booksigning at Watermark Books and check out his website.

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Many thanks to The Inn at Glenstrae for graciously allowing Keyhole Conversation to film the interview with Grant Overstake. Take a tour of this beautiful bed and breakfast inn here.

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Subscribe to Keyhole Conversations while you’re here!

Thanks to vintagefeedsacks for the use of their images.

At the KWA Scene Conference, I had the pleasure of sitting at the table with Molly Wierman, whose story “A Mother’s Love” placed first in the youth division: fiction of KWA’s 2012 writing contest. Since Bonnie had not been able to attend, I quickly engaged Makayla Yokley as interviewer. However, there was too much background noise, so I transcribed the interview. Keep reading to learn more about Molly Wierman, a talented young writer.

Molly Wierman reads from “A Mother’s Love”

Molly Wierman Interview with Makayla Yokley

Makayla: Molly, you’re a senior at Kapaun. How is that going?

Molly: It’s been great. I’ve had the most incredible year with writing and outside writing.

Makayla: Tell us about your contest entry, “A Mother’s Love.” What place did it get and what was it about?

Molly: I received first place in youth division: fiction. At the time I was writing it, there were a lot of teenage suicides. There were a couple where it wasn’t really people I knew, but it was people I knew who knew them. I thought, “How did the suicide impact the people around them? How did their friends react? How did their mothers feel?” I wondered if people would think, “Oh, you’re such a bad mother.” It was an interesting concept.

Makayla: Yes, you do always see just their (the suicide’s) perspective. You don’t see the family members or the ripple effect. You said something earlier about Transcendentalist fiction. What is that?

Molly: Well, normally, when you think of Transcendentalists, you think of somebody like Thoreau, Emerson, and extreme Romanticism, but I would say Transcendentalist fiction is looking at a person, body and soul, and I like to work with the soul aspect and base everything from that. It’s similar to what I’ve heard described as Catholic fiction, taking the spiritual idea of the world into my writing.

Makayla: So that’s how it plays into the Catholic aspect?

Molly: Yes.

Makayla: You also said something about T.S. Eliot.

Molly: Yes. My English teacher had us do a little bit on T.S. Eliot my junior and senior years, and I was reading his writing and thinking that I almost write the same way. I use symbolism and things like that, but it’s also the whole idea of the spiritual world and bringing in the Anglo-Catholic themes, and that’s how I write, too.

Makayla: That’s a cool way to learn—from other writers—and to see what it is that informs how you work with something similar in your writing. It’s been nice talking to you.

Molly: It’s been nice talking to you.

Makayla: And congratulations on winning first place.

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Now that you have some background, check out the excerpts from “A Mother’s Love.” To read the complete story and the stories of other winners in KWA’s 2012 writing contest,  download the anthology.

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Thanks to vintagefeedsacks for the use of their images.

Hazel Hart, award-winning novelist, reads a suspense-filled scene from Family History.

Picture this: A warm, sunlit day in March, temperatures hovering at 75 degrees–who wouldn’t be  enticed to take advantage of such wonderful weather to shoot the vlog outside? We didn’t count on the camera’s tiny microphone picking up the chatter of children playing in the park and the blustering sound of the gusty Kansas wind.

Enjoy the reading. It’s worth the minor distractions that movie-making outdoors always brings.

 WATCH THE VIDEO AS HAZEL HART READS A SCENE FROM FAMILY HISTORY, A SUSPENSEFUL- MYSTERY

ABOUT THE STORYLINE

A locked house and a strangled woman.
Town gossips say the sister did it.

    Crystal Sands Marshall is furious. The local historical society has chosen another family as the subject for a book on the town’s beginnings. Crystal hires her own writer and then sets off to collect the necessary family records from her eccentric sister, Iris.

     When Iris, who has not left the house since their mother’s death five years ago, fails to answer the door, Crystal breaks in. She finds Iris unconscious on the kitchen floor. Fearing her sister has attempted suicide, Crystal delays the sheriff’s investigation until she can search the house and dispose of anything that might set local tongues wagging. She discovers Iris’s diaries and learns her mother committed murder to protect the family name. As increasingly horrible secrets are revealed, Crystal is faced with the same choice: public ruin or murder.

Is this a case of like mother, like daughter?

See Family History to preview the novel.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Hazel Hart, a member of Kansas Writers Association and Kansas Authors Club, has won awards for her short fiction, including “Amanda Marie,” published in Kansas Voices, and “Confessions,” published in Words out of the Flatlands.

She has three published suspense novels, The Night before Christmas, Family History, and Possessing Sara and has co-authored two books of short stories, Dark Side of the Rainbow and The Edge of Nowhere, with Bonnie Eaton aka B.J. Myrick, which are also listed on amazon.com.  Visit her amazon author page, watch her author video, and preview Family History, a suspenseful  mystery.

Click image of Family History to read  sample chapters!

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Thanks to vintagefeedsacks for the use of their images.

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Swan Song: Creating Characters, Plot, and Setting

B.J. Myrick of Keyhole Conversations interviews author H.B. Berlow about the creation of SWAN SONG. Berlow discusses the development of the characters, plot, and setting of his crime fiction novel.

View H. B. Berlow’s author page here. Check out his novel,  Swan Song, a different kind of book by a different kind of author. You can preview the first three chapters of Swan Song on Amazon, but you’ll be hooked by the time you finish Chapter one.

Click image of Swan Song to read the chapters!

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Author H.B. Berlow traces the development of his novel from completing a NaNoWriMo challenge, through revising, editing, and pitching the novel, to finally signing with a publisher and holding the paperback in his hands.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

H. B. studied filmmaking and creative writing at the University of Miami in the 1980′s and was involved in the Boston Poetry Scene in the mid 1990s. He is president of the Kansas Writers Association and has been a member of KWA  since 2007. His other passions are cooking, food and wine.  He discusses all these aspects on his blog.

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Thanks to vintagefeedsacks for their images.

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