Indie Scribe Magazine Editor TS Gwilliam - around the Cauldron!

Hiking to the South Pole in flip flops and a hula shirt is probably easier than trying to make it in Indie, but there are advantages and bonuses. One is when your posse - in this case, author -K-Trina Meador, a big mate of mine on The Wizard's Court - discovers something great, something exciting. Vis a vis Indie Scribe Magazine, created and edited by Manchester's Teresa (TS) Gwilliam. Featuring an Indie novelist and a poet each month, Indie Scribe Magazine had a circulation of two thousand last month, which is not bad in an age where munchie-afflicted gnats have deeper concentration spans than people. 

Also a writer and poet, I picked up the Wizphone and caught Teresa experimenting with her version of Lancashire's finest export, Hot Pot. Here's what she had to say about the world of writing and magazines....

Who is TS. Gwilliam? Tell us a little about yourself.
I am a writer and wannabe poet, who lives quietly with her husband and Lurcher. I have three grown up daughters and am now an extremely proud Grandma. I came to writing late in life finding a need to express myself and realising that I could be creative, fulfilling, as I hear so many do, a dream from their younger days that got lost.

Disastrous Manchester- based soap "Albion Market" - a paragon of
social diversity now standard in British soap (see East Enders), and a visionary
venture a decade ahead of its time.

Whereabouts do you live and do you like it there?
I live in sunny (huh? - Ed) Manchester in the UK, where we’ve lived for about twenty-two years. I do enjoy living here. I like the peace and quiet of the Suburbs, it virtually shuts down at 5pm but I do occasionally enjoy the buzz and life of the City. There is an energy in the streets that can lift the spirit.

Manchester's finest 

Happy Mondays

In what genre do you write and what have you written so far?
Ah now, that’s a good question, on the whole a Realist Fantasy? I’m quite interested in power and identity, how this translates in the world or world’s we live in and our interactions with each other. 

I have a book of five short stories 

Illusions of Grandeur 

(Lovely cover - Ed)

and a novella Reflection of a Rainbow

Any ambitions as a writer? 
For people to enjoy what I write. I’d be lying if didn’t say that I would love to be a full time author. Not famous, but to have enough to live on.

Metaphysicist, contemporarian and existentialist, Franz Kafka,
was also a lawyer. Seldom wrote full time but produced
five classic novels that endure to this day

You are also the editor of Indie Scribe a showcase magazine for Indie authors. What’s the reasoning behind that? Have you a journalistic background?

CLICK HERE - INDIE SCRIBE Magazine - featuring fantastic relationship theorist, Brenda Perlin

Firstly, I have to say no, I don’t have any experience in journalism; I came across Joomag through my husband. As it is quite similar to a Site builder and having worked on my own Roseshadows.com website for quite a while realised that this may be something that I could do. 

"They say you should work on something that you love to do and this is it! I’m having a great time not only am I enjoying what I do but being able to offer something that is useful to others is rewarding in its own way. "

The idea came for a magazine for Independent Authors to showcase the work of indie writers, poets and bloggers who I know from personal experience have to work so hard to advertise their work and on increasingly more social outlets, which can be a daunting experience.   The concept is not only to offer these artistes a place to show their work but to be able to expand to a possible target audience. 

K-Trina Meador - Indie Scribe has also featured great friend of Green Wizard
- seen here sunning herself in Hawaii, which is a lot
sunnier than Manchester, generally.

What are your plans for Indie Scribe?
The main objective, especially now that Indie has eight issues published, is to work on becoming more mainstream, in the sense that it attracts book lovers who will hopefully not only enjoy the magazine but discover the talent that is there in the indie world.     

What’s been the response so far? How are you getting the word out?
The response is getting better each month, last month; February had an amazing 2601 views which honestly exceeded all other months put together. 

At the moment, I am using Google+, Facebook, Wordpress and I have just joined Twitter, so if anyone gets strange messages whilst I am getting used to it, I will apologise beforehand! 

Wizardwatchers: An appeal. Give Teresa a follow on Twitter. You all remember how it started: It's daunting with your account's only foll0wers being your enthusiastic Uncle Roger, a spammer, your Bingo mate, Cynthia, and a carpet fitter you met on holiday in Bournemouth. 

https://twitter.com/TsGwilliam #Follow

I have also been grateful that my featured artists have shared the magazine which has been a bonus. I am looking and working on other avenues such as an online press release, a website and blog dedicated to Indie.

Yay! I shall keep a close eye on this. Teresa, what makes a good magazine?
I think it’s the layout, how easy it is to read; a balance of long and short features and of course content, this is what I am attempting to achieve. 

One of the best magazines EVER.
Kids classic Speed and Power

Indie has been blessed with the Authors, Poets and Bloggers that have been featured; they are certainly a large part of Indie’s success. Their biographies and interviews are so diverse; serious, funny, interesting and charming and each makes Indie Scribe unique every month. You never know who you will encounter. This makes Indie great fun to work on.

Indie Author David Proctor Guest Stars in January's (Brrrrrr) Issue of Indie Scribe

How do authors get in touch with you? What’s the current schedule like?
Fortunately I have some fantastic authors in the pipeline up until June. 

If any authors, poets or bloggers would like to be considered, I would be really pleased to hear from them at:

indiescribemagazine@gmail.com

tsgwilliam254@gmail.com
or through Indie’s Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Indie-Scribe-Magazine/1405125503037004


And I hear a whisper that Mark Barry is featured in Indie Scribe in June, Teresa.
He is indeed, Wiz.

Latest work from UK contemporary fiction
author Mark Barry. Discussed and showcased in
Indie Scribe, June 2014

Ahum. (you are such a cheeky so and so! Ed) So,starving magazine journalists raid your offices and kidnap you and dump you in an abandoned magazine office in Wapping. Luckily, you find a sack. In it are two books, two CD’s and a DVD (with player). What would you like them to be?

Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams.

Lion of Macedon – David Gemmell.

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark 

The Best CUBAN in the World.  

Kung Fu Hustle.

What did you have for tea last night?
Homemade Pizza with Red Peppers and Chilli.

And finally, what do fans of TS Gwilliam have to look forward to in 2014
Another book of Short Stories and a Novel – The Singing Fish. 

These I have been working on for quite a while now. I’m not sure at the moment which will come first…I’m not a very organised writer, I sit down and think ‘which story do I feel like working on today?’ 

The good thing is… that now these words are written, I will have to get on and finish this work! I have an awful feeling that I may have said this already so now I have doubly committed myself to Just get on with It!

Teresa, it's been a pleasure to see you around the Cauldron and Wizardwatchers wish you the best of luck with your books and with Indie Scribe in 2014
Thank you, Wiz. It's been fun

Manchester's finest - Mick Miller

Another superb magazine - Skateboard
World

42, Steve. Hope this helps.