For An Agent Speaks: A primer for unpublished authors.
For Call of the Loon: The story of a woman.
CATS: A collection of short stories
How did the ideas for your books come to you?F
or Agent: From my work as a literary agent.
For Loon: So many prominent women leaving high power jobs, returning to their roots
For CATS: My own and my husband's stories about cats led me to advertise around the country for other short stories about cats.
What is the hardest part of writing for you? What's the easiest?
Finding the time and the immediate motivation to sit down and do it is the most difficult.
The easiest is the writing. It flows once I begin.
What's next for you? Are you currently working on or have plans for future projects?
I'm the co-publisher of a small press (Fireside Publications). We are not currently accepting additional manuscripts because we are heavily involved in marketing the twenty-some odd books that we have published over the past couple of years.
I write a weekly column for a daily newspaper in Central Florida and I'm hoping now to have a little time to continue the free lance magazine article writing area of my writing career.
Why did you choose to write for specific genre?
Actually, the above three books are each in different genres. So, I guess the answer to that question is that I write about whatever come into my mind at any given time.
What's it like hearing that readers are eagerly awaiting your book's release date?
Fulfilling and exciting.
What is one question that you've always wanted to be asked in an interview? How would you answer that question?
What is it that motivated you to become first a literary agent and then a publisher?
I came in contact with so many really good writers who were having difficulty finding agents, editors or publishers who would promote them and their writing.
What was your road to publications like?
Fragmented. I began selling nonfiction articles some years ago to various magazines. Then I edited and published a small magazine for women which amazingly gained subscribers all over the world. I was a college professor and wrote academically and after retirement I started on the novel which was the last of the three above to be published.
Bio for Joan West
Currently, I am a writer, editor and small press publisher. Previously, I was a psychologist, college professor, literary agent...in that order, not all at the same time! I'm married to Glen and have a wonder daughter, Barbara, and her son, Andy and his son, Will!
I have two web sites. One, firesidepubs.com is the official web site for the publication company that Lois Bennett and I maintain. All of our twenty-some books are listed on this site. The second site, firesidepublishers.com lists only the books that I've edited and guided to publication. On this site, give away at least one book a month.
I live in Florida and am "retired," except that I'm working harder than I ever did when I "worked."
I'm interested, as you might guess, in writing, reading and publishing and writers, of course. I also love to travel, especially cruising and my favorite city in the world is Paris, especially the Left Bank.
My favorite author is Ernest Hemingway, because of his writing style. For relaxed reading, I devour cozy mysteries.
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