Meet the Authors: Bat-Ami Gordin

Today's featured contributing author is...

Bat-Ami Gordin

Brief Bio:

Bat-Ami Gordin is a mother of two, animal lover and activist, dramatic soprano, and poet/writer photographer. She loves ballet, swimming, hiking and emergency preparedness. She is also an Amateur Ham and aerospace engineer. Bat-Ami was raised in Manhattan, currently live in the Mojave Desert, via Seattle, Missoula, MT, Bloomington, IN, and Boston. Her short story, the Last Geisha, will be published in the Stories for Sendai anthology. You can find her blogging at http://zongrik.wordpress.com, Tweeting @zongrik, and on Facebook.  

What genres do you write?

ALL: poetry, short story, novel, epic poetry, play, screenplay, radio play, business, legal and technical are the ones that come to mind.

What are you currently writing? Sum it up in 10 words or less.

Screenplays, science sonnets, poems, short stories and legal documents.

What do you do when you're not writing?

Work out, walk my dogs, practice singing, see movies, photography, volunteer at the hospital, rescue dogs, hang out with good friends and/or relatives.

What is your ultimate goal as a writer?

To win the Nobel Prize for Literature for my epic poem. Win an Academy Award for best original screenplay.

How close are you to achieving this goal?

I have no idea. My epic is finished. I need a publisher, an editor and publicity.

What is the single most important piece of advice you can give a fellow writer?

Don't take anything you write personally: on two levels. 1) Take ALL editing advice. Anything anyone tells you is an important point of view to take into consideration. If someone doesn't understand or makes a comment, it must be considered .Writing is above all about communicating, and not about your inner self. It comes from your inner self no matter how hard you try for it not to come from there. I can never understand why writers try so hard to express themselves, when that is what you are doing in the first place. 2) If you care at all about improving, don't make everything about yourself. You can't help it be about yourself, that is inherent in all you do. You must try to take all your writing outside of yourself, develop characters unlike yourself, write about relationships unlike the ones you are stuck in, etc. Putting it simply, the people you love do not want to read about you having an argument with them.

Meet the Authors: J. R. McRae

Today's featured author is...

J.R. McRae

Brief Bio:

J.R. McRae has been published in anthologies, journals, magazines and newspapers. She has won awards, and illustrates some of her own material. Publications carrying her work include Antipodes (NY), Gandalf's Garden (UK), Quadrant, Divan, Ripples (for which she has done 3 covers), Small Packages, Speed Poets, Social Alternatives, Static Poetry I, II & III, Recent Queensland Poetry, Square Poets, Wired Ruby, the Mozzie, NZ Micropress, the Courier Mail, Seriously Fishy, Gathering Force and more. Her new venture, short stories, has resulted in her first four being published already this year in Rose & Thorn, Wired Ruby, Basics of Life (anthology, Australian Literature Review), and 100 Stories for Queensland (anthology). Her short story, A View of Fujiyama, will be published in the Stories for Sendai anthology.


As J.R. Poulter, she has published 11 books for education and children, including Crichton Award winner Mending Lucille, with two more coming end of 2011 and 2012.


You can find J.R. McRae on her website here. She also blogs about poetry, story writing, illustration and photography here. For her alter ego, J.R. Poulter, find her website here, and her blog on children's and educational writing here. J.R. also Tweets and maintains a profile on Facebook.

What genres do you write?
I write poetry and short stories under J.R. McRae and children's/education books under J.R. Poulter. I have 12 books so far, including junior novels, a series on poetry in the classroom, and CBCA Crichton Award winning picture book, Mending Lucille.

What are you currently writing? Sum it up in 10 words or less.
Poetry, novel, picture books, short stories; latest project peek: 

What do you do when you're not writing?
Play--with words, my family, pets, paint, camera and walk!

What is your ultimate goal as a writer?
To bring both tears and laughter to my readers! To bring entertaining, thought provoking, multi-lingual prose and poetry to a diverse audience of all ages. I say 'audience' because digital publishing is also audio-friendly, a whole new other option/additional option for authors today.

How close are you to achieving this goal?
It is an ever expanding continuum, a lifelong journey of reaching and then setting new goals! :)

What is the single most important piece of advice you can give a fellow writer?
Mentally, join a circus. I did once, literally! Keep alert, keep flexible, watch and note everything!