Author and blogger Carol Hedges is...around The Cauldron!

Inhabitants of the Twitterverse, at least this little segment of it, will have noticed the effervescent wit of Carol Hedges - author and keen, active blogger - around the place. 

Rumoured to be extremely helpful and supportive of other Indies and active in her local community, I had always wanted to invite her around the Cauldron and was introduced to her quite recently. 

Her books are popular and, as you will see, she enjoys a good laugh and a joke. I caught up with her as she bedded in the roses somewhere in the south of England and we spoke via the Wizphone. 

Here's what she had to say.

Tell us a bit about yourself, Carol. Including something you have never so far revealed in an author interview on Indie!

Well, Mark, I’m a nearly 65 year old grandmother with amazingly dyed red hair and all my own teeth....checks...OK, 2 crowns. I’m a lot taller than I look on Twitter and I sound like a seven year old on helium. None of this ( apart from the hair) is observable on any social media site but can be attested to by friends who’ve met me. And  I’m fairly sure there is some new revelation in there somewhere....

Whereabouts in Britain are you from? I hear you are very much a creature of the South?

I was born in Welwyn Garden City, which was one of the ‘’new’’ garden cities built after World War 2. I went to London University (Degree in English & Archaeology..very useful when planting potatoes .. I can do superb trenches). I worked in London for many years (Librarian), moved to Watford, where my daughter was born and now live in Harpenden. Just south of Luton. Or North of London.

In what genre do you write?

Currently I’m writing a series of Victorian Crime fiction novels, set in London in the 1860s. They feature the same two detectives, the odd running characters ( some of them walk ) and lots and lots of new ones.

What’s your latest?

The latest published one is Honour & Obey ... the second in the series. It looks at the marriage market at the time (and it was a market!)

Can we have an extract please?

Opening extract from Honour & Obey (publ. Crooked Cat Books, Nov 2014)

London, 1861. An evening in early spring, and it is raining. But

this is not the sweet spring rain beloved of romantic writers.

This is rain on a mission. Relentless rain that falls with a steady

patience as if it has got all night. Rain with the volume turned

up.

Rain corrugates windows. Rain drums off roof tiles, the

water falling in torrents from leaky gutters. Rain whips the

surface of the muck-encrusted streets into thick brown soup.

Rain coats ancient brick buildings in a slimy sheen of wet. Rain

glugs and gurgles into drains and culverts.

Stand awhile in the shelter of this doorway and listen. The

noise of the pelting rain is almost drowned out by the great

cacophonous cauldron of sound swirling around you. Horsedrawn

omnibuses clip and clop, and slide on their steel wheels.

Arguments break out amongst the shapeless huddled crowds

hurrying to and fro. At the corner, a ragged soaked drunk raises

his voice in discordant song. Church bells ring the quarter-hour

in disunited chimes. A dog howls. It is an evening not to

venture abroad, you might think. But you would be wrong.

In the building opposite, a door suddenly opens and a young

woman appears. The building is old, brick-banded, and rundown

in appearance. The paint is peeling and several of the

lower windowpanes are cracked, and streaky with rain. It bears

the hallmarks of a lodging house, where rooms can be rented

cheaply and the landlord lives elsewhere.

The young woman wears a neat but shabby dress, a shawl

and an uninteresting bonnet. She carries a wrapped bundle

under one arm. Her complexion is pale and pinched,

bespeaking a lack of regular nourishing meals. She glances up at

the sky, grimaces, then sets off determinedly. Her name is Violet

5

Manning and she is a dressmaker.

You will meet her again, very soon. But not as you see her

now.

And the rain keeps on falling. It falls upon a semi-detached

villa on the outskirts of New Camden Town. The villa is owned

by Mrs Lucinda Whitlow, widow of the late Nathaniel

Whitlow, owner of a piano factory. In its time the house has

known the laughter of children, the bustle of family life. Now it

is a boarding house for professional gentlemen, overseen by Mrs

Whitlow (widow), who has a false front of black curls, a false set

of yellow teeth and a false smile.

At Mrs Whitlow’s, for a moderate outlay of cash, the

professional gentleman can avail himself of a bed, use of

ablution facilities and privy, together with breakfast and an

evening meal. Mrs Whitlow’s cooking is in a class of its own.

Her cabbage is always boiled for exactly one hour. She makes

pastry you could tile roofs with, and her gravy possesses a thick,

glutinous quality rarely seen outwith the river embankment at

low tide.

Mrs Whitlow’s lodgers have just finished their evening meal

of scrag-end of unidentified animal served with soggy potatoes.

Now she is busy clearing away the plates, helped by the

undersized maid of all work.

“Knives and forks in the basket, girl,” she snaps. “Then

scrape them plates into the pig bucket.”

The maid comes from the local Foundling Hospital. She has

a name, but Mrs Whitlow prefers to call her “girl.” It saves time.

She drops the cutlery into the basket and eyes the plates

hungrily. Several of the lodgers have left unappetising scraps of

food.

“Hurry up, girl,” Mrs Whitlow commands. “I ‘aven’t got all

day.”Th

e Foundling scrapes the plates into the rusty iron bucket.

Her stomach rumbles. Footsteps sound in the hallway. Mrs

Whitlow darts to the door. One of the lodgers, the new young

6

man who only arrived recently, has just descended the stairs and

is heading for the front door.

“Going out, are you, Mr Err...?”

Mr Err is indeed going out. He has on a long dark overcoat

and his hat is pulled low over his face. He makes no reply,

merely opens the front door and disappears into the pouring

rain.

“Manners!” mutters Mrs Whitlow.

She goes back to clearing the plates, and persecuting the

Foundling.

Evening lengthens. Lamplighters begin their rounds. Shop

windows are also lit, displaying their rich contents to the rainsoaked

passers-by. The magic light of a millions gas-lamps draw

the flâneurs – both men and women – like moths to its

flickering flame. For there are particular pleasures to be had at

night, when the streets become a glittering gallery of images and

goods.

Sometime later Mrs Whitlow’s lodger will return, will let

himself in with his key and will quietly climb the stairs to his

room. Sometime later the brightly lit shops will shutter-up, and

the streets will empty out. Sometime later, Violet Manning will

be brutally murdered, and her body will be dumped in an

alleyway.

You have more than one book.  For marketing purposes on the Twitterverse, do you think it is better for sales and brand awareness to hammer ONE book ad infinitum?

I hope I never hammer anything, other than the odd nail, crookedly. It’s actually easier to have more than one book on the go and best to have a series, especially if you are a crime writer. People who read crime fiction like to read everything by a writer they enjoy. 

And as for my technique, if I have one, I think it can be divided into: 1. Sell everybody else first. 2. Sell YOURSELF as a brand next. 

People buy from writers they engage with and find interesting. Nothing is more likely to detract from sales than a writer endlessly and robotically putting out promo after promo. If you visit my Twitter site, you’ll find funnies, pics (frequently of cake), other people’s stuff, amusing posters etc etc. 

And I chat. Lots.

Follow Carol on Twitter HERE: 

https://twitter.com/carolJhedges

You are very active on Twitter? Can we follow Carol Hedges anywhere else?

I am also on Facebook ... though I’m more selective as to whom I ‘’friend’ as I had a nasty incident recently where someone claiming to know several of my friends was actually posting malaware. FB shut down my site and I had to clean it. So now, you have to be a friend of a friend to be my friend. If you see what I mean.

I like your covers. What advice have you got for Indies who don’t invest in a cover designer?

Thank you. I really am proud of them. They are designed by David Baird, a local graphic artist, and the husband of one of my friends. So that makes them extra special. 

There are a few ‘’secret’’ things in the covers...you have to look carefully and compare each one. Not saying any more. I’m not an artist, so I don’t know what advice I can give. 

I DO remember going to a talk at the RNA where a cover designer showed us several covers (different genres) all featuring the SAME bloke! 

It is worth paying out for a good cover artist: it doesn’t cost the earth, and they do know what looks good on the various sites. NEVER try to draw your own!

If you knew how like an endless Moroccan bazaar this marketplace was going to become, would you have done something else instead of write novels? Or are you compelled?

I always wanted to write, and I have been lucky enough to enter the Moroccan Bazaar when it was more like a corner shop. 

So I have grown up with it. I am also lucky that I find it fun. I love being on social media, I love blogging and meeting other writers and people from all over the world. It is far more immediate than it was when my first novel was published. So I’d be here, whatever. And I hope I’ll be here for a few years more, until the braincell gives out.

What else do you do apart from scribble?

I have several jobs, as I’m still waiting for my books to reach blockbuster status. I tutor GCSE and A level students. I invigilate public exams at a local secondary school. 

L-Plate Gran - Carol's Ever-Popular Blog HERE

And, as those of you who follow my ‘Adventures of L-Plate Gran’  blogs know, I look after my little granddaughter two full days a week. World save-age may come later... if I can fit it in between jobs.

Three favourite books, two favourite CDs and favourite film?

Anything by Dickens, or Tobias Hill (cheating). 

The Best Dickens Novel?

Anything by Blondie or Paul Simon ( more cheating). 

And Steel Magnolias. OK, psychoanalyze that!!

Invite your big hero to lunch. Where and what would you eat?

Now then, I’m going to go off piste again. My big hero is a heroine .. a real one, and it is my lovely daughter. She spent 3 years in Afghanistan working for SOCA, enduring some hair-raising exploits, most of which she can’t share as she has signed the Official Secrets Act, and ending up with her name on a local Taliban list. 

After returning to the UK, she not only worked but joined the Territorial Army, which involved full Boot Camp training.

Now she manages to hold down a high powered job in government security as well as being a wife and the best mother I know to Little G. I’d take her to The Ritz for afternoon tea. 

We’d have little crustless salmon and egg and cream cheese sandwiches, tiny warm scones with clotted cream and jam and plates and plates of lovely cakes and fruit tarts.

And finally, what do fans of Carol Hedges have to look forward to in 2015 and beyond.

November 2015 is when Death & Dominion, the third Victorian crime novel will be available. And I’m currently writing the fourth: Murder & Mayhem. After that.........who knows?

Carol, it's been an absolute pleasure to talk to you today and I, and the Wizardwatchers, wish you every success in the coming years.

Thank you, Wiz. And the same to you.

Contact:

Diamonds & Dust:http://bookgoodies.com/a/B00H0C9JG2

Honour & Obey: http://bookgoodies.com/a/B00PC1MI9I 

Carol has her first tattoo - featured on the BBC

Carol is also the author of the popular
Spy Girl series - which I didn't know
when I picked up the Wizphone! 

Carol's Cauldron Spoon

The Multi-Talented Lorraine Devon Wilke - Around the Cauldron!

California's Lorraine Devon Wilke has packed an awful lot into her life and she shows no signs of stopping

The third-eldest sibling of eleven, she packed her bags and hit the road as a travelling rock singer in the big-haired eighties, carrying her camera with her, before settling down to marriage, motherhood and a life of popular bloggery, including her current stint working for the Huffington Post.

Her list of past achievements and current work is quite staggering - and she's a delightful person too!

Lorraine is now a novelist writing (in Indie terms), that quiet, shy and vulnerable industry step-child Literary Fiction. 

The genre the 101 blogs tell you to avoid like the plague and yet, it's the one area where a reader can find really, really decent writing if you look for it. And Lorraine is a really, really decent writer.

I was introduced to her by Brenda Perlin and received both her short story and novel. The former is a cracking read, but the latter - I am twelve chapters in and I am engrossed is possibly a great book. I had to buy it in paperback. 

It's a sweeping, sassy, cynical, redeeming, tricky "Terms of Endearment" type family saga - remember those? - with dialogue so acute you can experience it, a real sense of place, and characters you can see and hear as if they were next to you, the novel deserves a wider audience. 

I picked up the Wizphone and interrupted Lorraine while she tapped out her latest blog on a sunkissed veranda overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Here's what she had to say.

Tell us a bit about yourself, Lorraine?

Hi Wiz! I’m one of eleven children (third oldest). I was born in Chicago, Illinois, which remains one of my all-time favourite cities, but lived most of my childhood in a tiny farm town near the Illinois/Wisconsin border called Richmond. 

I remember flying into O Hare and seeing this shot - amazing (Ed).

Later, I hit the road with a rock band, which led me to Los Angeles... 

...where I started out as an actress, then launched into another full-time run at rock & roll during the wild and woolly 80s (yes, there are “big hair” pics on my website!). 

Website: http://lorrainedevonwilke.com/index.html

The 90s were about indie films (mine and others’), marriage (happy elopement) and family (one son, one stepdaughter); then back to music (more on that in a bit), and always writing (screenplays, articles, songs, books). 

Whereabouts in the US do you live?

Home base is Los Angeles (currently the beach community of Playa del Rey), as it’s been for most of my adult life, with the recent addendum of a wonderful little place in the hinterlands of northern California, Humboldt County, where my husband and I have a home in the charming Victorian Village of Ferndale, California. 

In what genre do you write? 
I write in the category I most love to read, Contemporary Literary Fiction. 

As a reader, I’ve always been drawn to real stories of a literary bent, ones that reflect upon or make commentary about life, relationships, family, culture, etc., and so my sensibilities as a writer lean in that same direction. 

Stylewise, I tend to interweave drama with humour, mostly because that’s the mix I find most often in life (though my recent short story, “She Tumbled Down,” is largely all drama). I seek out those unique narratives hidden in the everyday lives of contemporary people. 

Tell us about your latest work 

Since I mentioned my short story, let me touch on that first: “She Tumbled Down” was inspired by a hit-and-run that occurred in my neighborhood a few years ago, one that hasn’t been solved and likely won’t be. The street memorial put up by the victim’s family remains, even now, and I often walk past it and wonder what kind of person could do such a thing... hit someone then just drive away? “She Tumbled Down” is my imagining of one answer to that question. It’s not the specific story of the woman who died in my neighborhood, but it’s written in her honor and that of other hit-and-run victims whose deaths will never find justice. 

The bigger literary event of the year was After The Sucker Punch, my debut novel published in May of this year. 

What is ATSP about and why did you write it? What family sagas influence the novel?

I’d always wanted to write a novel but never felt I had a story that quite fit the medium. Then, several years ago, and many years after my father’s death, a journal of his came to my attention, one particularly focused on me -- and not in a very complimentary way (yes, he did use the “failed” word!). 

I remember my young son finding it so odd that a father would leave words like that in a journal meant to be read; in fact, he was the first one who said, “You should write a book about this.” I gave it some thought, but since I’d had a fairly distant relationship with my father throughout my adult life, his retrospective critique, while hurtful, was not particularly life shattering for me. It was when I brought it up in a women’s group I was in at the time, and realized how dramatically it hit others, that the idea of a book was further sparked.

Many people have asked, “How much of the story is true?” A fair question; but despite any correlations, this is most assuredly not a memoir. I wanted the freedom of fiction to create an imagined family and I very much did: in real life we all get along, no one’s an alcoholic, and there’s not a nun, lawyer, teacher, or lobbyist in the lot! 

Basically, After The Sucker Punch is about life: sometimes dark and exploratory, sometimes funny and irreverent. It encompasses various themes of significance, specifically the concept of self-acceptance, of grasping your personal truth and not letting anyone dissuade you from it, not even a father. Through the main protagonist, her siblings; her friends, lovers and even jobs, we explore issues of family, faith, cults, creativity, love, and the universal struggle to define oneself against the perceptions of a parent. I hope readers both enjoy – and find provocative – what is ultimately a triumphant journey of self-discovery. 

Can you share an extract from the work?

This is the opening chapter and a bit after that, from After The Sucker Punch, setting the stage for all that follows:

 January 5, 2002 – the journal of Leo Curzio:

One is obligated by moral duty to love one’s child. One is not obligated to like them. A conundrum when it comes to my fourth, my third daughter, Teresa – or Tessa, as she insists we call her now.Recently I searched through my journals of the past several years looking for an entry about her but could find nothing. Perhaps that’s not so strange; she has been an enigma to me since she finished high school. As I look back, it seems her senior year was the pinnacle of her life...from that point on little has happened to bear out her great promise.Convinced of her own abilities, which do seem apparent or, at the very least, measurable, she decided to try for a job in the movies, TV, or perhaps the recording business out in Hollywood. She insisted that if after two years she had gotten nowhere she would try something else. Well, it’s been more than three years and she has nothing to show for it except some amateur acting classes and self-produced plays. In September she will be twenty-five.So what’s the problem with Teresa? For sure, I don’t know. She is a great disappointment. Not simply because she’s failed up to now, but that endowed with so much talent she hasn’t employed it for anything useful and doesn’t show signs of improving.

On a day when all she wanted to do was mourn the father so often longed for and buried just hours before, Tessa Curzio sat on the bed in which she was surely conceived and felt posthumously sucker punched. She looked down at the twelve-year-old journal splayed across her lap and realized it truly was a Pandora’s box come to life, a dubious gift from a dead man who had little to say while living but clearly plenty upon departure. She snapped it shut and threw it across the room with enough force to shatter her mother’s purple vanity lamp. A clock that followed to the floor doggedly kept ticking time. 5:17 pm. It was the beginning of the next uncomfortable phase of her life.

There is also a very artfully produced (by Tom Amandes) book trailer for After The Sucker Punch that offers a visual synopsis of the story that’s quite compelling... 

What’s been the highlight of your time in Independent Fiction? And what don’t you like about it?

The highlight, definitely, was the actual creation of ATSP for publishing. Putting together a book, as opposed to just chasing after a publisher, was a new experience that came with quite a learning curve... which was both terrifying and exhilarating for me at the time! As I went through the process of rewriting, editing, formatting, working with a designer (Grace Amandes) on the cover (which I love), I felt like I was building a dream house... one that would be exactly as I pictured it. 

And, then, GETTING IT PUBLISHED... amazing! 

In a world where traditional publishing makes it profoundly difficult for an unknown author not working in a formulaic genre (i.e. vampires, zombies, romance, or SMBD) to get published, the sheer empowerment and pleasure of being able to create the book I wanted, and then put it up where readers from all over the world could access it, was creatively life-changing. From there, all else springs! 

And what I don’t like about indie publishing? A couple of things: 

First, it’s difficult, frankly, to do everything yourself. As savvy and capable as I am with marketing and promotion, there’s just the sheer volume of tasks related to breaking a book, particularly in this uber-saturated marketplace, which makes that process exhausting at times. I’m relentless and enthusiastic, but after five months on my own, I’m currently in conversation with a publicist to hopefully join me in the endeavour! 

Second, I’m not fond of the knee-jerk stigmas perpetuated about indie authors as a whole by some mainstream media, various publishing platforms, and select book bloggers (happily, not you!), too many of whom marginalize and rebuff all self-published authors as amateurs willing to put out poorly written, unedited pap to which Mom, Dad, and BFFs will award 5-star reviews. But, then again... I also don’t like that too many self-published authors prove them right! 

We indie authors are the only ones who can change that scenario and the only way we do it is by holding ourselves to the highest possible standards in, both, the excellence of what we write and the professionalism of what we deliver to the marketplace. 

Hear Lorraine ponder political issues HERE

I’ve covered this paradox surrounding “judgmental media vs. indie authors” on my blog and other places, and hope, given changing attitudes and the critical mass of like-minded authors writing on the topic, the industry as a whole steps up to raise the bar... and media takes notice! We’ll see how that goes in the next few years. 

Lorraine's blog at huffingtonpost.com

You were the lead singer in a band. Loads of us would have loved to do that!

ROCK & ROLL!! Yes... thank you for asking; I was a lead singer for many years. A true creative high point in pretty much every way imaginable! 

I mentioned the 80s earlier: that’s when I found the musical mentors with whom I conceived an original project called DEVON, a soul/new wave band that did it up big for most of the decade. 


My most recent foray was with a blues/rock project called Road To Blue... which morphed into an original project under my name... which culminated in an original CD, Somewhere On the Way, a true labour of love and a solid example of my sensibilities as a singer/songwriter. It’s available on iTunes and CDBaby, so hop on over to my site if you’re interested. 

http://www.lorrainedevonwilke.com/music.html

[And FYI: in an interesting bit of mixed media, one of the songs from the CD is part of the epilogue of After the Sucker Punch as a free download... now how fun is that?!)   

How seriously do you take your photography?

Very. One of my images was recently chosen for a traveling exhibit for the amazing group called The Peace Project, and just this week a piece of mine was jury-selected for YourDaily Photograph, a collectors’ site managed by the very prestigious  Duncan Miller Gallery in LA. I still take my camera wherever I go, shooting and uploading new work when I can.

Give me your favourite a) two books, b) CD and C) DVD

Damn, I’m terrible at these “favourite” things, but I’ll do my best to hone down the list! But know that these come with the caveat that they are some of my favourites, not necessary the favourites (I don’t think I could possibly be quite that selective!). 

Books: To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee 

and Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides

CD: Joni Mitchell’s Blue -  I know every word, breath and harmony! 

DVD: Still Crazy – It was my go-to gift DVD for years, particularly for anyone with an appreciation for rock bands and growing older! 

Invite one author, one musician and one actor to dinner. And what would you eat?

The author would be Dave Eggers (I like his books and his mission statement), the musician, George Harrison (my favourite Beatle); 

the actor, Gregory Peck (the man everyone wanted to be their father). 

... and can I add Maggie Gyllenhaal (I just binge-watched The Honourable Woman and she blew my mind!!). 

Wiz's favourite MG role - Crazy Heart

That’s quite a fabulous crowd, isn’t it?

We’d sit around the table at my house with some great blues, a fire going, and the sun setting, eating a Greek meal of roasted lamb with mint jelly, rice pilaf, Greek salad, crusty wheat bread, and baklava, all made by my grandmother, who’d have come down from the heavens to get it done right.

  
Finally, what do fans of Lorraine Devon Wilke have to look forward to in 2014?

I’d hoped to have a collection of my published essays (Sass & Sensibility... a Collection of Essays by Lorraine Devon Wilke) 

My goal for the rest of 2014 is to continue to give After The Sucker Punch the necessary push to keep it advancing in terms of sales and promotion, as well as get this next novel done. 

Novel #2 should be ready to go by the first quarter. Working title: Woman Between the Lines, “an anti-romantic comedy/drama about a recently dumped 33-year-old portrait photographer who sets off to find his ailing father's first love, convinced she carries the key to happiness for them all.”

 I’ll continue to write for The Huffington Post and the various other publishers I work for; keep my blogs going 

AfterTheSuckerPunch.com 
My Adventures in Independent Publishing and Rock+Paper+Music 
Sass & Sensibility from Lorraine Devon Wilke

hopefully find a few places to get up and sing, and, of course, sling the camera over my shoulder on some travels I’ve got in mind. 

I can always be found at 

info@lorrainedevonwilke.com 

Lorraine, it has been a pleasure to speak to you around the Cauldron and I wish you all the best in the coming year.

Thanks so much, Mark, for inviting me to visit you and your readers around the Cauldron. I had a blast answering your questions and hope your readers enjoy the glimpse.  

Buy Lorraine's work HERE

UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lorraine-Devon-Wilke/e/B00K2ZOLSA/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1413186082&sr=1-2-ent

US: http://www.amazon.com/Lorraine-Devon-Wilke/e/B00K2ZOLSA/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1413186082&sr=1-2-ent

Contact Lorraine:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lorraine-devon-wilke/

Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/lorrainedevonwilke

Website. http://www.lorrainedevonwilke.com/index.html

Twitter. @LorraineDWilke

Goodreads. https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8185626.Lorraine_Devon_Wilke

Google Plus. https://plus.google.com/+LorraineDevonWilke/posts