Sunday, January 27, 2013

{On The Spot Interview + Giveaway} Lavinia Urban- Author of The: Erin The Fire Goddess Series


That's right, people. Today, we are having our first On The Spot Interview on the blog. We are going to make this a regular occurrence  The interviews shall be a mixture of different Authors. Today we have a lovely author I met through Facebook, Lavinia Urban. Provided below are: A conversation/ Interview with the author, book descriptions and links, Author links, and a Giveaway! Yes, this delightful author has agreed to provide one of my lucky followers with an eBook of the first book in her series, Erin The Fire Goddess: The Beginning


The Interview!!
OK, it was more of a casual conversation/ Interview. But we had fun doing it. (: We wanted it to be a little more fun than a cut and dry interview.


Lavinia:  What a great blog. I feel so great to have been adopted and to have you offering to help to :)) 

Ryan: Aw, thanks. That is sweet of you to say. Well, let’s get this interview (okay, so it was more of a conversation) started, shall we? Your Bio says that you currently live in Scotland. Dude, that is so cool! (:



Lavinia: Yes, it’s lovely here. I stick out like a sore thumb, though, because of my accent. My girls have confused accents 

Ryan:  *laughs* Confused accents? I bet that causes some entertainment. (:  I can only imagine.

Lavinia: Oh, it is so weird. We use different words for so many things. I call a bin a bin. Up here, they call it a bucket. Small means wee etc. My husband has to watch his words around me. I want proper English *laughs*

Ryan: Bin, huh? Haha. Well, being a snotty (lol) American, we have a few differences as well. I can just see all of us in the room together. 

Lavinia: I have a lot of American friends and I remember one pm'd me and asked....... what is a spotted dick..?
Do you know? 

Ryan: The first thing that popped into my head was a breed of chicken.
Please be a breed of chicken.. 

Lavinia: *laughs* No it is a sponge cake with raisins in it.

Ryan: Well that's better than my second guess. 
And is the... er... spotted dick.. any good? *laughs*

Lavinia: Errr no i don’t like dried fruit 

Ryan: So, do you like cake, then?

Lavinia: Yes. chocolate cake for me :))

Ryan: oh, yum. 
I understand that you named the character in your book, Erin, after your own daughter.

Lavinia: Yep and she has a sister named Kasey-ray- who is my youngest lol.
In real life Erin is 11 and Kasey-ray is 6.

Ryan: Well, I'm not going to lie- That’s awesome! And totally sweet. 

Lavinia: *laughs*  yep. It all stems from a short story I wrote about Erin when she was 5 which is now displayed in her old school.
She came to this new school got bullied and begged for another story to help her through it. it definitely helped and now everyone wants to be her friend lol

Ryan: Wow, that is amazing. (: 

Lavinia: I just try and make that series so kids can believe in themselves, even though my readers are mainly older. I did a book talk one night to a group of 50 to 80 year olds *laughs*

Ryan: omg. (O.O) 80 year olds? 

Lavinia: Yes, 80. I was totally shocked. I could not believe they had read the book. It’s a teen read 

Ryan: I think it is nice that they are tapping into their inner child.

Lavinia: Yes, definitely. I am 34 years old and I love teen fiction. I love to read all of my daughter’s books before she does. (:

Ryan: Haha. Nice. Alight, it is time to get serious about these questions: What are your goals in regards to your writing?

Lavinia: My main aim for my books is to get it out there in America. Most people have no idea who I am. Everyone from over there have close circles. I am slowly getting into it though. Derinda Love from YATR says she has had great feedback from my writing. However some people have mentioned that my books have grammar issues so she wants to try and get me an editor for free to help me. As I cannot currently afford an Editor

Ryan: It sounds like it is pretty difficult.
Is the problem the same when American Authors branch out to the UK?

Lavinia: I don’t know. I think they have said they have found it easier to break into the UK. I am just starting to get to know a lot more people so I am slowly getting known, but most people still say who? *laughs*
Last year, I was over the moon that I sold books in Austrailia, I got my sales through kobo and amazon kindle xx

Ryan: Wow. That’s Great! (:
Have you experienced any other problems? I remember you said something to me previously about the cover for the first book. 

Lavinia: Yes, when it first came out it had an awful cover picture. You will see it on Goodreads. Then a friend suggested his nephew would be willing to make me covers for free. And he has been doing just that- even though he is now moving to Japan to make games and manga stuff. He is going to continue helping me. 

Ryan: What is your Erin the Fire Goddess series about?

Lavinia:  It is about a young girl called Erin who was born with a birthmark on the left side of her face. People think of her as a freak and she is bullied because of it.
Then she moves to her parent’s home town and strange things start to happen. Bullying escalates, all over a boy called Sean.
During Erin’s discovery of her special powers she finds she is not the only one and there is more to her parent’s home town than meets the eye.

Ryan: How many books do you plan to have in your Erin the Fire goddess series?

Lavinia: I am not actually sure. I am currently writing book 3, plus a bonus book. But I can see 5 books so far plus any bonus books I write.

Ryan: What are you currently working on? If it is the next book in the Fire Goddess Series, do you have anything planned after that?

Lavinia: I am currently working on the third book in the Erin the Fire Goddess series, plus a bonus book in the same series. I am also writing a zombie book and have just drafted a synopsis for a chick lit.

Ryan: Tell me something quirky/weird/strange/new/mundane/queer about your writing methods.

Lavinia: 95% of all of my writing comes from dreams. Before I fall asleep I tell myself what I want to dream about. For example I will choose a character or the last chapter I wrote etc. and just go from there.

  
****

Well there you have it folks! Thank you, Lavinia, for being my guest on the blog today. I look forward to reading the first book in your series.


Here are some links where you can contact Mrs. Urban.






The Books: 

Erin The Fire Goddess: The Beginning
&
Erin The Fire Goddess: Betrayal

   



     Goodreads page                                                Goodreads Page

     Amazon Page (eBook and Print)                   Amazon Page (Print)

    Barnes And Noble                                     Amazon (eBook)

    Kobo




The Giveaway!


The Author is offering one of my followers a prize.
The winner of the giveaway will receive:
1 (one) eBook copy of
 Erin The Fire Goddess: The Begging in the winner's preferred format

This is an eBook giveaway, so it is International. As long as you have an email address, you can enter!
Good Luck. 


3 comments:

  1. book sounds great, great givewaway
    vera28546 at yahoo (dot) com

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love the cover!
    Thanks for the giveaway!

    ReplyDelete
  3. thanks for the giveaway the books sound great

    ReplyDelete

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