Interview with writer/author Neil O'Donnell about The Career-Minded Student

Neil O’Donnell is here today and we’re chatting about his non-fiction/self-help book, The Career-Minded Student.

Welcome, Neil. Please tell us a little bit about yourself.

I am a clinical anthropologist specialized in career and personal counseling with nearly twenty years of experience helping students and seasoned professionals find jobs. It is from that experience that I wrote this book, my goal being to make college grads as competitive as possible by the time they graduate. Additionally, I have certifications in stress management, integrative mental health and trauma & crisis counseling.

Please tell us about your current release.

My current release is essentially a blueprint for undergraduates on how to determine the best career path for them while also guiding them to excel in classes AND gain career-relevant experience before they even graduate. It is a plan that I have seen work countless times and help people (like me, who has degrees in Anthropology) find good jobs after graduation (jobs related to their major/career goals).

What inspired you to write this book?

My own college journey. These steps are essentially all that I did to be competitive with my Bachelor’s in Anthropology (a degree many argue is a useless degree). Every career goal I’ve had I have achieved through the steps I discuss in the book.

Excerpt from The Career-Minded Student:

This is your journey and yours alone! Parents, teachers, friends and others will provide all sorts of advice on what majors and career paths you should pursue. They are well intentioned, but much of the advice given is based on hunches. When I was in high school, guidance counselors and other educators pushed students towards a small set of careers, most emphasis placed on biology, chemistry and computer science. I actually intended on pursuing biology with a focus on marine studies, but anthropology and the study of other cultures dominated my interests. Thankfully, my parents pushed me to pursue my interests. I am quite happy with my major and career choice twenty years after graduating from college, and I owe a lot of that to having pursued my interests. Meanwhile, I watched a lot of friends and students, pushed by family and teachers, struggle through STEM majors (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) until they either switched majors or dropped out of college. Why did many of these students struggle? As a tutor and academic mentor, I found a lot of students struggling with STEM classes because they were not truly interested in the material. They actually were more interested in Communications, English, History or something else, but they bowed to outside pressure. As for the actual job market, things rarely work out the way “experts” anticipate. I know quite a few STEM graduates who took a long time to find employment after graduation where as my friends with Arts and Humanities degrees often found degree-related employment right after graduation, if not before. What really made the difference for most? Those interested in their studies seemed more energized about their field and likewise entered the job market enthusiastically.

What exciting story are you working on next?

I am returning to my fantasy series before my publisher kills me.

When did you first consider yourself a writer?

I knew I was a writer a couple years before I turned ten. I wrote short stories and even started a novel when I was 13 (finally published that novel in 2009).

Do you write full-time? If so, what's your work day like? If not, what do you do other than write and how do you find time to write?

I write a considerable amount and serve as an editor for colleagues and various departments at the colleges I’ve worked at. My primary job is as a clinical anthropologist, providing personal, academic and career guidance to college students. I also periodically teach cultural anthropology, archaeology, museum studies and critical thinking courses.

What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?

I love rearranging the offices of my colleagues. I love it even more when they get me back.

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

Archaeologist/Anthropologist and Marine Biologist

Anything additional you want to share with the readers?

Don’t fear following your passion, and remember that you are permitted to change your passion and career goals.

Links:

Website | Twitter

Thanks for being here today, Neil!

Interview with author Craig Gaydas

Kicking off a new week with author Craig Gaydas. We’re chatting about his sci-fi novel The Cartographer.

Welcome, Craig. Please tell us al ittle bit about yourself:

I was born about a million years ago in New Brunswick, NJ. Currently most of my time is spent managing materials within supply chain for a Fortune 500 company. I do rope off my spare time accordingly to dedicate writing the next book or at the very least storyboarding for one. I currently live in Jacksonville, Florida with my son and the voices in my head enjoying the sun, surf and fishing while still finding time to cram as much pizza down my gullet as humanly possible.

Please tell us about your current release.

The Cartographer is the first book in a trilogy.

What inspired you to write this book? I was always a huge Star Wars fan and my desire to write a “Space Opera” style book was always a life goal of mine. I prefer writing books that are designed to be more “in your face” but The Cartographer challenged me to create characters defined not by emotional or ideological difference but with physical and cultural differences as well. I wanted the read to visualize exotic aliens from far off locales, almost like a graphic novel of sorts.

Excerpt from The Cartographer:

The creature wore something like a scuba suit without the helmet, and it glistened as if he just emerged from the pool in the corner. It slipped a three-fingered appendage into the folds of its suit and retrieved something that looked a switchblade. I couldn't see it clearly, though, because his huge frame blocked the light in the room. It pushed a button but instead of a blade, a twelve inch long light extended from it, making a popping sound like a cork from a wine bottle. I would have laughed at the absurdity of it all, but my face was a frozen mask of fear. The creature reached over and sliced through my lifeline with ease.

"Hey the rope gave out, are you ok?" I heard Sam call out. Even though he was no more than forty yards from my location, at that point in time he might as well have been forty miles away. I was too frozen in fear to respond.

The beast looked toward the source of the voice and I prayed that Sam would stay put. The creature grunted and picked me up by the tattered rope ring before I had a chance to react. Its dark, beady eyes bored into my soul and he held me up like a snagged fish. Withdrawing a syringe—one that looked bigger than any I had ever seen—he held it in front of my face. Instead of a vial it contained an empty hour glass, surrounded by a gold-colored metallic sheath. At the end of the hourglass sat a four inch needle point that shimmered like water reflected by moonlight. The beast hesitated briefly and the needle dangled ominously in front of my eyes. I wished more than anything that I could close them but my facial muscles were paralyzed with fear.

I started to think he second-guessed his decision to stab me but then he plunged the needle into my arm. Oddly, I felt no pain, only a warm tingling sensation. Slipping through the skin uninhibited, the wet sensation spread across the site of the injection. A clucking sound escaped from the creature’s throat as it moved in to look closer.

I started to lose consciousness and tried to call out to Sam, but the only sound that came out was a choked gasp. My tongue became ten times too big for my mouth and my throat felt like I had gargled with sand. Darkness enveloped me as I slipped from consciousness.

This is Nathan Chambers, signing off.

What exciting story are you working on next?

A steampunk fantasy titled The Dance of the Magi. It’s a mix of Game of Thrones, Mad Max, and Dune. Ok, I may be embellishing a bit but it will be highly entertaining, I guarantee it! Expected release date, December 2017.

When did you first consider yourself a writer?

Probably when I finished writing my Walking Dead fan fiction. I sat back and said to myself: “Craig, you might be able to do this!”

Do you write full-time? If so, what's your work day like? If not, what do you do other than write and how do you find time to write?

I am not a full time writer. My full time job involves slamming my head into a keyboard, writing various inspirational quotes on sticky notes and plotting world domination from behind the iron walls of my cubicle within the confines of a Fortune 500 company.

What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?

Every time I sit down to write I plug in my headphones and listen to Epic Music on Youtube.

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

A police officer. Scary, huh?

Anything additional you want to share with the readers?

For readers who enjoy stories that are in your face, unputdownable as one may say, give some of my stories a whirl. I write across many genres so chances are you may find one you like.

Links:

Website | Facebook | Twitter

Thanks for being here today, Craig!

Interview with mystery author Barbara Willis

I’m welcoming author Barbara Willis here today. We’re chatting about her mystery, romance, paranormal novel Family of Strangers.

Welcome, Barbara. Please tell us al ittle bit about yourself.

I’m a busy mum of three and have always loved books and writing. I woke one day after a vivid and scary dream and really wanted that dream to be the basis of a book; this thought stuck with me for some time before my husband said ‘Do it - take some time away from work and write a book.’ So I did. After years of writing stories and poems, I wrote my first novel and loved every minute of it. Family of Strangers was followed by Sunshine Spirit and, I hope, there will soon be more to follow.

Please tell us about your current release.

Family of Strangers is about a young woman named Eva who finds one day that her closest friend has disappeared; no-one, even her friend’s family, will acknowledge that she ever existed. Eva is frightened and confused with no-one to turn to, until she meets the elderly Lola and her young lodger, Gabe. Neither Lola nor Gabe find Eva’s strange tale shocking or surprising and they lead her on a journey of revelation as she tries to find her lost friend. A whole new world of lost souls is opened up to her, along with mysteries, the giving of gifts and the finding of new friendships and love. Set at the eve of the second world war there is lots of change looming around the world, but for Eva the biggest change is the one she least expects.

What inspired you to write this book?

For as long as I can remember I’ve wanted to write, be it stories, plays or poems. When the idea for Family of Strangers came to me in a horrible dream, the idea wouldn’t leave me and I knew that at some point the story had to be written. The character of the elderly and eccentric Lola had been in my mind for some time and I wanted her to be an important part of the story and to show that it wasn’t her age that defined her but her whole life; her story. Added to that was a love of the 1930s and 1940s and old fashioned tales that weaved in mystery and love and interesting characters. I really wanted to write a story with an old fashioned voice and charm.

Excerpt from Family of Strangers:

My legs hurt, my lungs hurt.

I was afraid.

I didn’t slow down when I reached the gate, still putting in such an effort towards the house that my hands hit the front door with a loud smack and my palms stung with the impact.

When I reached the house I already knew.

But that didn’t stop me wrenching the front door open as soon as my shaking hands had fumbled the key into the lock and rushing breathlessly into the empty hallway like a woman possessed, tearing through the barren sitting room into the kitchen where there wasn’t a sound or a soul.

No odd cups on the table, no whistling kettle, no shopping basket, no cups of tea, no patchwork bag, no apron on the back of the door. There were none of the glorious chaotic things I loved and that welcomed me and that made me feel at home. All were gone except a few pieces of furniture left swathed in white, dust sheets covering them like a snowy mountain range.

I became conscious of a feeling of having been here before, in the same moment, and realised that I had.

The same heavy, sick feeling was there again low down in my stomach. Leaden but moveable, it was spreading up through my body and I had to swallow a few times to quell the sensation that I might be sick. It was the same as the day I’d seen Annie’s empty room, only different. Today was much much worse.

What exciting story are you working on next?

After the release of my second book, Sunshine Spirit, I started working on a story which starts in 1914. However, after initially saying there wouldn’t be a sequel to Family of Strangers, some ideas again started to form and I have now started working on that too. There are therefore two books currently ‘in the pipeline’. The Family of Strangers sequel picks up a new search and the continuing love story of Eva and Gabe; so many readers asked for the sequel and I’m loathe to give away any spoilers!

When did you first consider yourself a writer?

When my first book was published, but I still find it hard to say it!

Do you write full-time? If so, what's your work day like? If not, what do you do other than write and how do you find time to write?

I took a three-year sabbatical in order to write, but now I’m back at work. Writing therefore now slots around work and family. I don’t write when my children are home, but I do write on my day off; after the morning family routine and school run I sit down, always with a cup of tea to hand and music playing, and write for about 4 hours.

What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?

Tea, tea and more tea; I’m not sure I can write without it!

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

An actress or a writer, preferably both!

Links:

Amazon | Twitter | Creativia | Goodreads | Instagram | Facebook

Family of Strangers and Sunshine Spirit are available in paperback or via kindle from Amazon

Thanks for being here today, Barbara!