Shelley Mosley, John Charles, Joanne Hamilton-Selway, and Sandra VanWinkle

Interview with Shelley Mosley, John Charles, Joanne Hamilton-Selway, and Sandra VanWinkle

1. What inspired you to write?
What inspired this particular book is the fact that most of the “must read” book lists that come out are filled with the classics we all had to read in college. For the most part, people aren’t interested in those. The truth is, people are just too busy to look for great reads. The Complete Idiot’s Guide to the Ultimate Reading List offers more than 1,000 titles in areas readers ask for as well as suggestions in areas they might not be familiar with, but would like to try. Categories we’ve chosen include: mysteries, suspense, romances, westerns, science fiction, fantasy, chick lit, horror, humor, true crime, inspirational fiction, inspirational non-fiction, popular fiction, literary fiction, biographies, history, travel, science and medicine, and true animal stories. Besides mud wrestling over which titles to include, we interviewed dozens of librarians, readers, and editors to get suggestions for this book.

2. Who is your favorite author?
We have too many to list here. That’s why we wrote the book! 8-)

3. Tell us something unique thing about you.
Sandy and Shelley have both won national limerick contests.

4. What do you want your fans to know about you?
None of us fit the old “librarian” stereotype. (Not that we know any librarians who do!)

5. What obstacles did you have to overcome to get published?
We’re lucky--our last two projects were suggested by the publishers. However, on our other projects, we’ve had all the obstacles writers face before they get published: finishing the manuscript; finding an editor who liked our work; and accepting rejection. (Some people advise you to embrace rejection, but we wouldn’t go that far!) It took us five years before we were published in book format.

6. What books have you published and do you have any sequels in the works? If so, give us all the juicy details!

Shelley, John, Sandy, and Joanne wrote Romance Today: An A-to-Z Guide to Contemporary American Romance Writers (Greenwood Press, 2006). John and Shelley co-authored The Suffragists in Literature for Youth: The Fight for the Vote (Rowman & Littlefield/Scarecrow Press, 2006), a resource for librarians and teachers of students from elementary school to college. John co-authored The Mystery Readers’ Advisory: The Librarian’s Clues to Murder and Mayhem (American Library Association, 2002). Shelley co-authored Crash Course in Library Supervision, which will be out in Fall, 2007. Writing with Deborah Mazoyer as Deborah Shelley, Shelley is a five-time published romance author. Their first novel, Talk about Love, was a Holt Medallion finalist. Their other romantic comedies are: It’s in His Kiss, My Favorite Flavor, One Starry Night, and “Falling for You” in Romancing the Holidays, Volume I.

We’d love to do a sequel to The Complete Idiot’s Guide to the Ultimate Reading List, but that depends on sales of the first edition.

As for current projects, Sandy and Shelley have a children’s book under consideration, and Shelley has a romantic comedy under consideration. Shelley’s other children’s book has been rejected more times than the Florida vote count.

7. What advice do you have for aspiring writers?
Write every day. Writing is a skill, just like playing the piano. You need to practice.
Read, read, read!
Never give up.
Learn from your rejections. Don’t let rejected manuscripts sit in a drawer--send them back out.
Keep more than one project going at a time.
Never give up.
Read the publisher’s guidelines, and follow them to the letter.
Make sure your manuscript is as error-free as possible, double-spaced, and easy to read.
Never give up.
Join a writer’s group.
Get into a good critique group.
Never give up.
Take as many writing classes and seminars as you possibly can.
Go to writer’s conferences--that’s where you meet the editors who buy your books.
Never give up.

Shelley, John, Sandy, and Joanne, thank you for taking the time to answer my questions and good luck on all your future endeavors! I hope to see another book for you as a group or individually again soon!