Why did you pursue writing?
Writing has been in my soul since I was a little girl. I
started writing poetry and short stories in elementary school, but it never
occurred to me to write for a living until I was about 30 when I was offered a
grant writing job. I loved the creative aspect of taking an idea, formulating a
plan, putting it in writing, and winning money that would eventually bring that
vision to reality. I spent many
years writing grants, marketing copy, educational articles, and evaluation
reports. I enjoyed it for a long time, but eventually I needed even more
creative freedom. The move to writing and publishing my own fiction and non-fiction
was the best I ever made.
It would have been impossible for me not to pursue
writing. I'm writing in my head
almost all the time. Images that I see start to morph into words automatically.
What inspired your book?
I'm a hardcore baseball fan, particularly of the San
Francisco Giants. Rookie Season is about a hot rookie baseball player and the
freelance writer with whom he falls in love. While the book is not about
baseball, per se, baseball is the backdrop for the romance and the action. During
at least six months of the year, baseball is the backdrop for my life,
too. That was my inspiration. Love
and baseball.
How long have you been publishing your work?
About five years ago, I published my first non-fiction book,
101 Tips for Aspiring Grant Writers. I had plans for more, but my full-time
grant writing work kept me too busy.
About a year ago, there were some dramatic changes in my life that
caused me to make the decision to close down my full time grant writing
business and start writing for myself full time. Within the last year, half a
dozen of my poems and several short stories have been published in literary
journals and magazines. And now, Rookie Season, my first novel and the first of
a series, is finished.
What’s your writing environment like?
I have two main writing settings. The first is the computer setup at one end of my dining room
table that I refer to as my "command center." It is in the center of
the house so I'm around my family as I write. In fact, my youngest son's
computer is set up at the other end of the dining room table. He is homeschooled, so he's home with
me all the time, and it's not uncommon to find us tapping away at our keyboards
at the same time, sometimes peeking up over our monitors at each other to chat.
There's a little smiling sunflower figurine on top of one of my monitors that
serves as a wonderful reminder of how fortunate I am to be doing what I love
every day. I can't see it without smiling myself.
The other place I write is in bed late at night on my iphone.
I often can't sleep until well after 1:00 or 2:00 a.m., so I spend the time
writing. Sometimes I use the Evernote app, but lately I've been using
Werdsmith. In the beginning, it was a bit awkward writing on such a small
keyboard, but I've become accustomed to it, and some of my best ideas come
alive on that tiny screen.
What projects are you currently working on?
This is a long list. :-) I'm deep into the sequel of Rookie
Season, of course, entitled Scoring Position. It takes Clay and Rose on the
next stage of their journey together, and includes Clay's first post-season as
a major league ballplayer. I'm also working on a non-fiction book, Learning
through Video Games, that details how many popular video games can be used as
educational tools at home. These two books will be published within the next
few months.
There are several other projects, though, that are also in
the works, including Bedtime Stories for Couples, a collection of erotic short
stories; Very Short Scary Stories, a collection of flash fiction horror and
suspense stories, and a revision
of 101 Tips for Aspiring Grant Writers that will be released as 201+ Tops for
Aspiring Grant Writers.
At the same time, I'll still be writing a variety of short
stories and poems to be submitted for publication to journals and magazines.
These keep me creatively sharp.
They also make sure that the writing stays fun.
All of this is in addition to my blogs, including A Writer's
Journey, and the little bit of grant writing work that I continue to do.
Veronica is generously giving away a $25 AmazonGift Card to one lucky reader! Enter below:
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Veronica Robbins is a published author of both fiction and
nonfiction who has been writing professionally for the last 20 years. In
addition to writing fiction and poetry (her first love), she is also an expert grant writer and copy writer. When she's not
writing, she's watching baseball, enjoying her children, reading, and trying to
train her dog, Handsome, who so far has been very successful at training her. You can follow Veronica on Facebook or through her blog, A Writer's Journey.
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