Cut Limbo: The Interviews (more wanted)
Yes, that’s right, I’m looking for more Cut Limbo interviews, it’s a nice change to be interviewed rather than doing the interviewing. Back in my social media days, when I was blogging frantically about new social media start ups (Hi Buffer) and new social media developments, I was MarketingM8 asking the questions, but things have changed. Being interviewed is fun and despite my initial uncertainty, I’m enjoying it.
Naturally, I’m pleased to have had the opportunity to talk about my satirical crime thriller/black comedy Cut Limbo, what the story is all about, what inspired it and a bit about my writing experiences, but frankly, I’d like to do it more, a lot more. So don’t be shy, just Tweet me.
My first interview was back in December 2012 with my old social media mate Dan Purvis from digitalmusings.net. If you don’t know digitalmusings or Dan, this is what he says about himself: ‘I love everything to do with social media, PR, digital, marketing and communications…and my blog reflects my passions. Since starting in IT B2B PR in September 2000, I have built particular experience within the IT security, services, digital media and telecommunications arenas. This is borne out of time spent working on all manner of organisations, from small companies in niche markets to large enterprises operating pan-European and global PR campaigns. 12 years’ experience means I incorporate both agency and in-house experience…and grey hair.’ (He supports Man. United too)
Dan and I met online via Twitter ages ago and we’ve communicated lots over the years, I interviewed him in September 2011 regarding corporations needing protection whilst implementing social media campaigns and I think Dan was quite surprised that I’d changed direction from a full on, full time blogger and social media maven, to a satirical crime thriller novelist. I guess it is quite a change in direction.
Here’s part of the digitalmusings.net interview,
Dan: Peter, you had high levels of engagement across various social media platforms – how did you find the time?!
Peter: I used to work from around 5.30am until 9.00pm, 6 or 7 days a week. NOT healthy but I did love it! I’m obsessive by nature.
Dan: You also have very good traffic to your MarketingM8 blog and generate good volumes of comments and shares on your posts – what’s your secret?
Peter: My secret was mega social media connectivity, as simple as that. As I always maintained: a blog post is just words and pictures without an audience.
Dan: You were an early adopter of Empire Avenue, which has its cynics…what makes it a useful social networking tool for you?
Peter: I was the highest performing UK business for the longest time and I met tons of great people but I couldn’t spare the time. My family needed me more. Since my 12 months out, I’ve gone back on there to help publicise my new book – some excellent people are on there!
So that was my very 1st interview and although it wasn’t an issue here, the essential thing to remember is to be very selective about what you say, because you can’t take it back and don’t say too much or too little.
My most recent interview was with author and game producer Michael Brookes, he’s written The Cult of Me (The Third Path), Conversations in the Abyss and An Odd Quartet. The Cult of Me is a novel, and a dark and intriguing one judging by the reviews, Conversations in the Abyss is a sequel and An Odd Quartet is a selection of dark short stories.
Michael blogs too and his blog offers a host of interviews, book reviews and some great connections for writers and readers alike. Check out The Cult of Me blog, it’s well worth a look.
I met Micheal via GoodReads and I was interested in the fact that he interviews such a diverse selection of writers and that he is happy to interview them regardless of their genre. It would seem that Michael appreciates that having a (dare I say) positive social media approach to promoting your own work is the way to go and that basically, you have to give before you get. I guess this blog post proves the point.
Here’s some of Michael’s interview with me:
Michael: Peter, what was your first story?
Peter: My 1st unpublished novel was Cult Hero, an adult Adrian Mole type adventure. It wasn’t great, but it was a great experience and encouraged me to travel the world and find a good story line or two.
Michael: If you could write anybody’s biography, whose would it be?
Peter: Elmore Leonard
Michael: What do you enjoy most about writing?
Peter: Making up bizarre and amusing characters and situations and mixing them up with personal experiences to create stories.
I can’t quite believe that’s all that actually I said in response to those questions, perhaps I should have added that my 1st novel was written circa 1990 (Yes, I’ve been at it a while now) and that Cut Limbo was based on experiences gained whilst travelling the world, in this instance mostly Amsterdam and The Philippines. My follow up, ‘Panky Goes to Hollywood’, is based on my 1st trip to the USA, my stay in Hollywood and my screen writing experiences. Why didn’t I say that??
I should also have said more about Elmore Leonard too, but then maybe I’m just a little too old for hero worship? Just yesterday I was checking out just how many of books of Elmore’s have been used in TV series and movies over the decades and the amount is stunning. Sadly, the results are not always great, but that’s the chance you take with Producers and Directors, right? One of the best is probably Quentin Tarantino’s Jackie Brown based on Rum Punch. If you don’t know it, check it out!
So, who would like an interview to discuss how Cut Limbo is doing now it is finally on Kindle or what ‘Panky Goes to Hollywood’ is all about? And why is Panky going to Hollywood?
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