Writers’ Connection

Featured Authors

Unique and inspirational publishing stories to share.

Pat Spencer

For my first novel, Story of a Stolen Girl, my goal was to raise awareness of human trafficking in the United States. Most people mistakenly believe trafficking only happens in poor, underdeveloped countries by scummy-looking drug dealers. However, this is so untrue. Human trafficking happens in every country in the world and in every state in the United States. Doctors, lawyers, business people, hairstyling salon owners, mechanics, and folks from most any other profession you can think of as well as gangs and individual criminals commit this crime.

Tell me about your latest book and what inspired you to write/create it?

For my first novel, Story of a Stolen Girl, my goal was to raise awareness of human trafficking in the United States. Most people mistakenly believe trafficking only happens in poor, underdeveloped countries by scummy-looking drug dealers. However, this is so untrue. Human trafficking happens in every country in the world and in every state in the United States. Doctors, lawyers, business people, hairstyling salon owners, mechanics, and folks from most any other profession you can think of as well as gangs and individual criminals commit this crime.

The stories of true-life survivors inspired me, so I wove their stories into Story of a Stolen Girl. Additionally, I had a burning desire to write a novel in which the women take charge when official channels fail. The heroes in this novel are female.

For my novels currently in the midst of the publishing process, Sticks in a Bundle was inspired by a woman who shared her life’s stories while riding on a rickety old bus between Zimbabwe and South Africa. My mother’s experiences as one of eight children abandoned with her three youngest brothers at a Catholic orphanage in Pueblo, Colorado, provided inspiration for Golden Boxty in the Frypan.

Share your personal publishing story. Did you choose self or traditional? How did you go from book manuscript draft to finished book available for purchase?

I was pretty successful with my nonfiction writing in that I traditionally published everything I wrote and was paid for it! The first and only publisher I queried contracted for my nonfiction book on color in the 1990s. Imagine that! I also wrote for a trade journal, a column for a large newspaper, and served as contributing editor for a tabletop magazine. With the support of a writing critique group and cover design by my husband, I self-published my first novel, Story of a Stolen Girl. For my next novels, I sent out queries and accepted contracts with small traditional publishers: A trilogy titled Sticks in a Bundle with Scarsdale Publishing and Golden Boxty in the Frypan with Pen It Publications. I expect these novels to be available later this year.

Describe your writing routine. How many hours a day/days a week do you write?

I suffer withdrawal when forced to go over two days without writing, so I try to write every day. When I am home the entire day, I carve out time (between the few household chores I do) in the mornings and then again in the afternoon until time to get in my jammies and zone out in front of the TV. My brain tends to fry after two hours of creative writing, so I take breaks. Sometimes we walk on the beach or ride our ebikes to the harbor for lunch and a glass of wine.

How do you name your characters (if fiction or names changed for nonfiction)?

Names for my works of fiction often come to me as my main character channels through me. Others, I conduct internet searches for names that represent the appropriate era and country.

What is the most difficult part of your creative process?

Technology! If the tiniest thing goes wrong, I am totally baffled as to how to resolve the problem. For that reason, and because I want help with marketing, I published my upcoming novels through traditional publishers.

How do you come up with your illustrations/images/graphics?

With my nonfiction writing, the publisher handled visuals. In fiction, the only image of my own that I have used is the cover of Oceanside: A Healing Place, a short story published on Amazon. That image is a photo I took off my balcony while living in Oceanside, California.

How many unpublished or unfinished books have you written and set aside? What are your plans for them?

Since I have no books set aside, let me share a marvelous personal experience now incorporated into my upcoming trilogy, Sticks in a Bundle.

 

My husband and I were on a jeep safari in South Africa when we stopped to watch a small parade of elephants with a single calf. As we waited for the herd to walk in whichever direction they chose, we spotted two giraffes peeking over the top of a Giraffe Thorn Acacia tree. I whispered, “How can nature watching get any better than this?” But it did get better. Three lions slipped out of the bush and walked in front of our jeep. They ignored us, the giraffes, and the elephants. These magnificent lions calmly padded across the dirt road, undeterred from their quest to get to the watering hole. Absolutely marvelous!

What do you do for book marketing? Describe your plan, how it is working, and what you want to add or change to that plan, if anything.

My favorite promotional activities are in person events such as readings, signings, book fairs, and guest speaking. I do presentations, including zoom, about my books, writing processes, and human trafficking to books clubs, community groups, and service clubs. I rely heavily on social media, posting on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram to connect with readers and writers. I have a large email list of fans, friends, and other authors who seem to welcome hearing from me (that’s probably because I am frugal about sending emails. They don’t hear from me often.)

How do you go about obtaining book reviews? Do you read them? How do you deal with the good and the bad ones?

For books I sell in person, I created a hand-signed note that I slip in the back of the book telling the reader I would be honored if they posted a review on Amazon, Goodreads, and/or BookBub. I do lots of reviews for authors I meet at writing events or online.

I read the reviews I receive and thank the reader. My worst review so far (knock on wood) is a 3-star on Amazon with no explanatory written comments. I was wounded—for 30 seconds. Then I poured myself a glass of wine and went back to writing.

Do you prefer reading print, audio or ebooks? Why?

I prefer to read print books because I enjoy holding the book, turning the pages, and feeling the paper. Unfortunately, my close-up vision is worsening and reading on my eReader is easier on my eyes.

Who is your favorite author, book? The last book you read?

This past month I read and reviewed five books written by indie authors because my goal is to spend time every month supporting my fellow writers. The last traditionally published book I read was West with Giraffes by Lynda Rutledge. I like way too many authors to list them all, but those who come to mind are Barbara Kingsolver, Lisa Lee, and Delia Owens.

There are many trends in self publishing that have come and gone. What do you think is going to change next in the self or traditional publishing landscape?

I think this scary thing of AI writing is the big new issue.

Now that you have published a book/new book, what would you do differently this time?

I would spend more time plotting, outlining, and organizing my research notes before I go wild and start pantsing.

What advice do you have for aspiring authors?

First, stay true to your heart. Second, be careful who you take advice from. Third, read everything you can about the craft of writing, attend classes and workshops, whether online or in person, join a good critique group, and never stop learning. Every skill you develop will make you a happier writer.

Pat’s Bio

Dr. Pat Spencer indie published Story of a Stolen Girl. She has four other novels under contract with small traditional publishers. She looks forward to the release of her historical and literary fiction trilogy, Sticks in a Bundle, with Scarsdale Publishing, and historical fiction, Golden Boxty in the Frypan, with Pen It Publications. Pat’s short story, A Healing Place, won the 2019 Oceanside Literary Festival. Other short stories are published in journals such as the Literary Yard, Scarlet Leaf Review, and Potato Soup Journal, on Amazon, and in a California Writers Circle anthology. Pat authored a column in the Press-Enterprise newspaper and served as a columnist and contributing editor to Inland Empire Magazine.

Pat has lived in three countries, and seven states. She loves to travel and spent time in South Africa, Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Spain, France, Croatia, New Zealand, Australia, Italy, Greece, Mexico, the Galapagos, and the Bahamas, as well as Alaska and the Hawaiian Islands and road-tripping across the continental United States several times. She enjoys getting to know people and learning about their culture.

Pat, a retired professor and community college president, lives in Southern California with her husband. She speaks to service and community organizations on human trafficking, writing processes, and her books. When not writing, Pat golfs, reads, walks the beach, hangs out with family and friends, or frequents book clubs and writing critique groups.

More Information

Story of a Stolen Girl on Amazon

Website: https://patspencer.net
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pat.spencer.9849/
Instagram: DrPatSpencer
Twitter: @DrPatSpencer