An Interview With RL Jackson

Today’s guest on ARCBook blog is RL Jackson, who was instrumental in setting up the blog-a-go-round that I have recently been a part of, and which has resulted in me interviewing some lovely people. Before I get on with the questions, let’s find out a little about my guest.

R.L Jackson writes fiction and enjoys reading Romance, Fantasy, Dystopian, YA, and everything in between. She is also a seasoned screenwriter, an avid movie lover, ruthless supporter of all things creative and a hopeless romantic. Residing in the Sunny state of Florida, she plans on bringing many more worlds, from different genres to light in the near future.

And now it’s time for the questions.

 

 

Me –  How long have you been writing?

RL – I’ve been writing my whole life essentially, from short stories to screenplays and then on to novels

Me – Is writing something you’ve always wanted to do? 

RL – It is something that i’ve always wanted to do, and something I have been actively pursuing for a while now

Me – How would you describe yourself as a writer, a plotter or a pantser? 

RL – I’m not sure what pantser means, but i love a good plot. I try and create multiple dimensions in my characters as well as the stories..Always leaving clues that no one realises until later

Me – Do you write every day?

RL – I write almost everyday, whether it’s my own blog, new novel ideas, or current feature film or tv pilots

Me – What is your favourite genre?

RL – Too many to count, lol, but I guess my least favorite would be horror. Now I like vampires and witches, and I’ve come around to zombies, but ghosts and aliens..no thanks, lol

Me – Is your favourite genre one you write in? 

RL – Yes, I think if theres something you enjoy about a genre, you should attempt to write in it, but don’t pigeon hole yourself either. You should branch out and try other things as well

Me – If you could have written any book in history, what is it?

RL – The one I wrote. Any others works out there, are theirs and encompasses who they are. My book encompasses me, so Crashing Into Me is my answer.

Me – What would you like to achieve with your writing?

RL – I’d like to continue to creative interesting stories, screenplay adaptations of said stories, that I eventually turn into feature films. I’m actually reverse engineering a screenplay into a novel, so that will be interesting, lol

Me – Which of your books is your favourite?

RL – This is my first novel,so that would be this one. My very first short story in middle school “cyclops” is up there because its what sparked my love of writing…Cyclops…the memories, LOL

Me – Tell me about your next release.

RL – The next release will be Book Two of the Crashing series, as well as a YA Fantasy I’ve been working on for some time. Which will come first, I’m not sure, but I plan on taking my time to create quality material.Not a fan of pumping out books “willy nilly”

Crashing Into Me

A year after being left at the altar, headstrong E.R Nurse, Lana McKenzie is finally piecing her life back together. Tired of dealing with seeing her ex and his new girlfriend at every turn, she longs for blissful solitude and can’t wait to enjoy a peaceful vacation alone in the mountains. However, her plans go awry when a rude stranger literally embeds himself into her life and mind.

Handsome, wealthy, and troubled, Kayden Capshaw is struggling with the death of his brother, while also trying to escape the claws of his controlling mother. In his grief, the last thing Kayden wants to deal with is the fallout from his last run in with the law. Yet, he also longs to get to know the woman now snowed in with him at the house on the hill.

The ice between them thaws every minute they spend together, and they find that they have more in common than they realize. Will they find a way to make it through, or will it all, like the snow, melt away?

Book Release Date:FEB 14, 2017

If you would like to know more about R.L. Jackson, visit the following links.

Website

Facebook

Twitter

Goodreads

Amazon (Pre-order)

Winter isn’t coming, it’s here

Okay, as many of you will realise from my title, I’m a fan of Game of Thrones, I like both the books and the tv series, though with every season they become more and more separate. This post isn’t really about either, however, so sorry to those who have found there way here because of the GoT connection in the title.

I’m writing today about actual winter, that horrible thing that happens at this time of the year when the sun disappears, the clouds gather, it rains, the temperature drops horrendously and the rain changes to snow.

During this time moods drop and motivation can be hard to come by, just getting out of bed can be incredibly difficult, and you (or at least I) want to eat constantly. As a sufferer of mental health problems, this period of the year is even tougher for me to get through, and I don’t even have the advantage of a regular job, with a boss breathing down my neck, to encourage me to get up and do things.

I am currently unemployed, officially at least, while  I work on establishing myself as a published and successful writer. That means I have to get myself up and at the computer if I want to get anything done and make any progress, which is far from easy.

We’re currently in the early stages of winter here in the UK, and I am already going through copious amounts of coffee every day, along with lots of chocolate and other unhealthy snacks, in an effort to give me the energy to work. I also have to hug a hot water bottle to get warm enough to do anything – I’m really not looking forward to the arrival of full winter.

 

Commuters make their way over Brunel’s suspension bridge in Clifton, Bristol following a night of heavy snow across the UK. Up to 15cm of snow has fallen overnight causing widespread traffic disruption and school closures. 18 January 2013

I’m curious, and would really appreciate some answers in the comments, what do you all do, especially the indie writers and self-employed people among my readers, to motivate yourselves and make sure you keep working and get things done?

New chapter

The latest chapter of Where There’s A Will has just been posted on Wattpad, it’s not long, but I hope you all like it.

https://www.wattpad.com/310467291-where-there%27s-a-will-chapter-three

My First Novel

For my first post, if you don’t count my welcome message, I thought I would tease my early readers with the opening scene from my first novel, Where There’s A Will, the first title in my Detective Stone Series, so here it is, I hope you like it.

Where There’s A Will

Side by side, as though they were joined at the hip, Ben and Jerry stepped through the flaps that Jerry had just swept out of the way and into the pavilion. They blinked in unison as they went from the darkness of outside, it wasn’t pitch but it was hard to see anything, to the almost blinding brilliance of the pavilion’s interior, which was lit by a multitude of portable lights placed around the edges.

They had been working together for so long that neither needed to speak, they knew what it was they had to do; while Ben made for the young man who was busily gathering up the plastic glasses that littered the tables, and then wiping down the tables, Jerry threaded his way through the tables to the bar.

“On your knees.” Ben’s voice was barely above a whisper, just loud enough to be heard, but he didn’t need any volume to make it clear that his command should be obeyed, the sawn-off shotgun in his hand, which he had concealed under his black leather jacket, did that for him.

Ben was pleased, but unsurprised, to see the young man drop the cups he had gathered up and fall to his knees, almost hitting his head on the table he was cleaning as he did so.

“What do you want?” Fear filled the cleaner’s voice, making it tremble, as he addressed his question, not to the man standing over him but to the gun being pointed at him – he couldn’t force his eyes any higher than the twin holes at the end of the barrel.

“The money,” Ben admitted candidly before slamming the butt of his gun down on the man’s head, causing his eyes to roll up into his head before he slumped to the ground, unconscious. Ben stepped over the immobile form and crossed to where Jerry was waiting for him by the partition that led into the rear section of the pavilion, the part that hadn’t been accessible to those who had filled it during the day, searching for liquid refreshment.

Like his partner, Jerry was holding a sawn-off shotgun, which he clutched tightly while his finger twitched on the trigger, ready to squeeze it at the slightest provocation. “Three,” he told Ben quietly, having risked a look through the partition to see how many people they were up against, and to make sure they were at the right pavilion . His eyes shone greedily at the thought of the money he had seen.

“Let’s do this,” Ben whispered. He stepped past his partner and through the partition. “All of you on the ground,” he said loudly, swinging his shotgun from side to side so that the muzzle was pointed in turn at the two men and one woman who were in the process of counting the money collected by the three beer tents run by the owner of The Stag Inn at the Rock Radio music festival.

“Do as he says,” Jerry ordered, standing shoulder to shoulder with his partner. “Get on the ground, hands behind your backs.” The moment the three of them had done as commanded Jerry lowered his shotgun and slid the bag he was carrying from his shoulder. He took several lengths of rope from the bag and used them to bind the hands of those now on the ground, he then blindfolded them, and finally, just to be sure they weren’t going to cause any trouble, he knocked them out using the butt of his shotgun. He was uncaring of whether he had done any long-term damage to them, only that he had hit them hard enough to make them unconscious.

“Let’s get this done,” he said to Ben once he had finished.

As quickly as they could, the pair grabbed up the bundles of cash that covered the tables like the obscene cloth of a rich person and stuffed them into the bag. It took longer than they had anticipated to empty the tables, and there nearly wasn’t enough space in the bag for all of it, for there was more money than they had expected, not that either of them thought that that was a bad thing. As far as they were concerned, there could never be such a thing as too much money. By the time they were finished, the sports bag they had brought was full to bursting, leaving them both to wonder how much it was they had stolen, and eager to find out.

A little over five minutes after entering the temporary drinking hall Ben and Jerry left it; if not now rich men, they were certainly far better off than before, and they were both feeling full of themselves.

“Didn’t I tell you it’d be easy?” Jerry said exultantly, pulling off his balaclava to reveal shaggy brown hair that had clearly not seen either a comb or a brush, or shampoo, for several days at the least, and stubble of an age with the dirt and grease in his hair. “We’re loaded, fuckin’ loaded.” He let out a short sharp whoop of glee, heedless of the fact that there were still others clearing up after the festival. “How much you think we got?”

“More’n you said we’d get,” Ben said as he slid into the passenger seat of the car they had parked as close to the pavilion as they could. While he did that his partner tossed the bag into the back seat before taking the driver’s seat. “Forty grand, at least, mebbe more. We’ll find out when we get home.”

Jerry gunned the engine, which he had left running, and raced away from the pavilion, narrowly missing one of the festival staff who was cleaning up the vast amount of rubbish left by the revellers. He paid no attention to the man, who was forced to dive out of the way of the racing car to avoid being hit, as he sped through the field towards the makeshift exit from the festival grounds.

Hello to everyone

ARC Books is the place to find reviews, of books, films and anything else, from me, Alex Carver, as well as excerpts from the novels I intend releasing, and anything else I find interesting.
Reviews will be posted twice a week, I have lots written, and there will be weekly updates from whichever book I currently have in progress. My first, Where There’s A Will, a mystery novel, book one in a series that I already have six drafts for, is still a few months away from release but I’m working hard on it and I hope you’ll all enjoy what I tease you with here.