Interview with Author Daniel L Carter
A few days ago Daniel Carter, author of the Unwanted trilogy, interviewed me on his blog. You can click on the link to read what we said. Daniel was kind enough to let me interview him too, though I'm by no means as expert an interviewer. Here are his replies to my questions:
I should probably start by asking you to introduce yourself and tell us the name of your blog
My name is Daniel L Carter and my blog's name is A Christian Man's Perspective.
What do you usually blog about?
I don't know that there is any one topic that I write about but more often than not I write book reviews, about society in general and relationships. I'm doing a lot of interviews with both bloggers and authors which has been a lot of fun. On occasion I'll throw in a movie review or a fun video or article I find interesting.
I really liked your article about Cellphone Zombies. But what led you to start a blog?
The reason I started blogging was due to my interactions with friends I met on Myspace. I see so many hurting people that are suffering through life, wounded and afraid. The majority of them have had bad relationships or life has just been plain hard on them. I wanted to write articles that would give them hope and to let them know they are not alone in this world. Once I started getting feedback from some of my Myspace friends that they were being touched and encouraged by my posts I kept writing.
So how long have you been blogging?
Like I said I started with Myspace which was about four years ago but I've only really started getting serious about blogging the last five or six months.
Besides writing articles, do you have special features on your blog such as blog tours, book reviews...ect? I guess I already know you've done some author interviews.
I wanted my blog to be about others and not "All About Me". So all the features on my blog are mainly to promote others. I have monthly book giveaways from featured author interviews, I have a regular feature for interviewing other bloggers as well as other authors. Plus I will do book reviews for anyone who wishes me to give them an honest opinion of their work. All the guidelines for each feature are on my blog. But my favorite feature that I just started is Prayer Requests. I wanted to have a place where people can share their prayer requests and I could be a part of seeing God work in their lives.
Prayer requests sounds an interesting and helpful feature. And I just might ask you for a book review one day. Meanwhile, what is the most rewarding aspect of blogging for you?
The most rewarding aspect of blogging are those rare occasions when I hear from one of my readers that an article touched them in a personal way. I love all the comments and truly enjoy meeting all the people who visit but I'd have to say my heart is to help others. That's the most rewarding.
I enjoy meeting people through my blogs too, and I'm very glad to have met you here. What topics do you like blogging about the most?
My favorite topics are science fiction/fantasy movies or books. I'm a huge geek and a movieaholic. I geek out over silly things like realizing Eric Bana (the bad hulk movie dude but I liked it anyways) was the bad guy in the new Star Trek film. I hadn't realized that when I saw the movie originally and turned to my wife to point that out. Yeah I'm that geeky. LOL
I remember my guys pointing that out to me too. How often do you blog?
There are days that I miss posting a blog on my site but as of late I've been blogging everyday pretty much. Sometimes multiple postings in a day.
That's a lot of posts. Do you have more than one site?
I don't have more than one blog however I do have my official website for my sci-fi series The Unwanted Trilogy.
It's a neat website; well worth visiting. Do you have any professional experience such as journalism or published author?
I am a published author through OakTara Publishing run by Ramona Tucker and Jeff Nesbit. My first book The Unwanted came out back in May of this year and my second book Children of Anak I just signed a contract for only a couple months ago. Hopefully it will be out in the next six months or so. (crosses fingers)
That's great. Congratulations, and good luck with Children of Anak. I guess I have to ask (I ask all the authors this one), how did you get from "there" (reading, writing, whatever) to being a published author?
This is a very interesting question and to answer it thoroughly would take multiple pages which I won't do to you. Let me sum up a little. Back in 2007 I shared my story idea with my wife about The Unwanted. I had recently stopped leading worship for my church and had a lot of time on my hands. My wife Margo kept telling me to write it down. Now I had no experience in writing full length novels before. I've only written short skits and plays for ministry prior to this but... I prayed about it. The more I prayed the greater the desire to write this story grew inside of me. I finally caved in and delved into writing this book. Oh my goodness did I mess it up royally! lol I had a great friend who was one of my pastors and I asked him to read my manuscript. I knew he liked science fiction and was a writing buff. He gave me the critique of a lifetime. When I say critique I mean he let me have it blunt, honest and forthright. It was the greatest thing that could have happened to me. Over the next year I bought books and did internet searches on writing techniques. I taught myself how to write correctly. Then I brought my manuscript back to my pastor. Better but not quite there. This went on for another six months and by the time I was done writing the last draft I had found my writing style. After that it was submitting my manuscript until I found the right publisher. I know this was still a long answer but it truly could have been much longer. lol
It's an interesting answer. It sounds like your pastor gave you a great critique, and you did a great job of learning from it. We should all do that.
So, back to blogging... In what way does your blog standout from other blog sites?
My goal is to promote others and to genuinely connect with people. Thus the reason for the prayer request feature and the blogger and author interviews. Ultimately it does promote me but only in as much as I'm helping others share about what is near and dear to them. The Biblical principle being to give and not expect anything in return. Now do I get blessed by others?...yes...Do I do it to see what I can get from people?...no. Absolutely not. If you want to promote or share about me with others, great but it's not about me. It's about being a blessing to others and see their work put into the spotlight.
Are you currently running any promotions?
Other than the on going free interviews for authors and bloggers I do have my October 1st giveaway of The Last Cordate by a fellow author from OakTara by the name of Alison Winfree Pickrell. She was my featured author of this month and her fantasy/allegory story The Last Cordate I did a book review on. I'm going to try and do this monthly with different authors that I've reviewed.
I've inserted a link to the competition and the book review. It sounds an interesting book (and it's not quite October 1st yet!) I guess I should ask if there's any other links you'd like to share.
If you'd like to check out my sites you can visit me on my blog at
dlcacmp.blogspot.com
or if you are interested in my book series you can visit
theunwantedtrilogy.com and download the first three chapters for free of the first book in my series The Unwanted.
I want to thank you Sheila for taking the time to do an interview with me. You are a blessing and greatly appreciated.
And I want to thank you Daniel. I've really enjoyed meeting you and learning more about you and your writing.
My name is Daniel L Carter and my blog's name is A Christian Man's Perspective.
What do you usually blog about?
I don't know that there is any one topic that I write about but more often than not I write book reviews, about society in general and relationships. I'm doing a lot of interviews with both bloggers and authors which has been a lot of fun. On occasion I'll throw in a movie review or a fun video or article I find interesting.I really liked your article about Cellphone Zombies. But what led you to start a blog?
The reason I started blogging was due to my interactions with friends I met on Myspace. I see so many hurting people that are suffering through life, wounded and afraid. The majority of them have had bad relationships or life has just been plain hard on them. I wanted to write articles that would give them hope and to let them know they are not alone in this world. Once I started getting feedback from some of my Myspace friends that they were being touched and encouraged by my posts I kept writing.
So how long have you been blogging?
Like I said I started with Myspace which was about four years ago but I've only really started getting serious about blogging the last five or six months.
Besides writing articles, do you have special features on your blog such as blog tours, book reviews...ect? I guess I already know you've done some author interviews.
I wanted my blog to be about others and not "All About Me". So all the features on my blog are mainly to promote others. I have monthly book giveaways from featured author interviews, I have a regular feature for interviewing other bloggers as well as other authors. Plus I will do book reviews for anyone who wishes me to give them an honest opinion of their work. All the guidelines for each feature are on my blog. But my favorite feature that I just started is Prayer Requests. I wanted to have a place where people can share their prayer requests and I could be a part of seeing God work in their lives.
Prayer requests sounds an interesting and helpful feature. And I just might ask you for a book review one day. Meanwhile, what is the most rewarding aspect of blogging for you?
The most rewarding aspect of blogging are those rare occasions when I hear from one of my readers that an article touched them in a personal way. I love all the comments and truly enjoy meeting all the people who visit but I'd have to say my heart is to help others. That's the most rewarding.
I enjoy meeting people through my blogs too, and I'm very glad to have met you here. What topics do you like blogging about the most?
My favorite topics are science fiction/fantasy movies or books. I'm a huge geek and a movieaholic. I geek out over silly things like realizing Eric Bana (the bad hulk movie dude but I liked it anyways) was the bad guy in the new Star Trek film. I hadn't realized that when I saw the movie originally and turned to my wife to point that out. Yeah I'm that geeky. LOL
I remember my guys pointing that out to me too. How often do you blog?
There are days that I miss posting a blog on my site but as of late I've been blogging everyday pretty much. Sometimes multiple postings in a day.
That's a lot of posts. Do you have more than one site?
I don't have more than one blog however I do have my official website for my sci-fi series The Unwanted Trilogy.It's a neat website; well worth visiting. Do you have any professional experience such as journalism or published author?
I am a published author through OakTara Publishing run by Ramona Tucker and Jeff Nesbit. My first book The Unwanted came out back in May of this year and my second book Children of Anak I just signed a contract for only a couple months ago. Hopefully it will be out in the next six months or so. (crosses fingers)
That's great. Congratulations, and good luck with Children of Anak. I guess I have to ask (I ask all the authors this one), how did you get from "there" (reading, writing, whatever) to being a published author?
This is a very interesting question and to answer it thoroughly would take multiple pages which I won't do to you. Let me sum up a little. Back in 2007 I shared my story idea with my wife about The Unwanted. I had recently stopped leading worship for my church and had a lot of time on my hands. My wife Margo kept telling me to write it down. Now I had no experience in writing full length novels before. I've only written short skits and plays for ministry prior to this but... I prayed about it. The more I prayed the greater the desire to write this story grew inside of me. I finally caved in and delved into writing this book. Oh my goodness did I mess it up royally! lol I had a great friend who was one of my pastors and I asked him to read my manuscript. I knew he liked science fiction and was a writing buff. He gave me the critique of a lifetime. When I say critique I mean he let me have it blunt, honest and forthright. It was the greatest thing that could have happened to me. Over the next year I bought books and did internet searches on writing techniques. I taught myself how to write correctly. Then I brought my manuscript back to my pastor. Better but not quite there. This went on for another six months and by the time I was done writing the last draft I had found my writing style. After that it was submitting my manuscript until I found the right publisher. I know this was still a long answer but it truly could have been much longer. lol
It's an interesting answer. It sounds like your pastor gave you a great critique, and you did a great job of learning from it. We should all do that.
So, back to blogging... In what way does your blog standout from other blog sites?
My goal is to promote others and to genuinely connect with people. Thus the reason for the prayer request feature and the blogger and author interviews. Ultimately it does promote me but only in as much as I'm helping others share about what is near and dear to them. The Biblical principle being to give and not expect anything in return. Now do I get blessed by others?...yes...Do I do it to see what I can get from people?...no. Absolutely not. If you want to promote or share about me with others, great but it's not about me. It's about being a blessing to others and see their work put into the spotlight.
Are you currently running any promotions?
Other than the on going free interviews for authors and bloggers I do have my October 1st giveaway of The Last Cordate by a fellow author from OakTara by the name of Alison Winfree Pickrell. She was my featured author of this month and her fantasy/allegory story The Last Cordate I did a book review on. I'm going to try and do this monthly with different authors that I've reviewed.
I've inserted a link to the competition and the book review. It sounds an interesting book (and it's not quite October 1st yet!) I guess I should ask if there's any other links you'd like to share.
If you'd like to check out my sites you can visit me on my blog at
dlcacmp.blogspot.com
or if you are interested in my book series you can visit
theunwantedtrilogy.com and download the first three chapters for free of the first book in my series The Unwanted.
I want to thank you Sheila for taking the time to do an interview with me. You are a blessing and greatly appreciated.
And I want to thank you Daniel. I've really enjoyed meeting you and learning more about you and your writing.
Comments
Patti