Welcome to this week's author MJ Moores!
MJ Moores began her career as an English teacher in Ontario, Canada. Her love of storytelling and passion for writing has stayed with her since the age of nine. MJ relishes tales of adventure and journeys of self-realization. She enjoys writing in a variety of genres but speculative fiction remains her all time favourite. MJ runs the emerging writers’ website Infinite Pathways where she offers editing & publicity advice as well as platform building opportunities. Now that her sci-fi adventure series The Chronicles of Xannia is complete, MJ is focusing her time on three new projects: The Flawed Attraction Romances, DEMON Tales, and Shadow Phoenix.
Tell us about your life outside of writing.
Beyond sitting somewhere writing or typing out my latest book or doing edits and revisions, writing is still a central part of my life. My “day job” is an editor. I freelance and I’m acquisitions editor for Love Knot Books, a division of DAOwen Publications. I also do a lot of volunteer work for the Writers’ Community of York Region (I just happen to be the Chair of the Board at present and I’m helping with their writer’s conference and book fair). I get out to a variety of book events and signings over the course of a year, keeping my weekends fairly busy. That being said, I am also the Crossing Guard at my son’s school, the driver who brings him to Karate and Guitar Lessons, and his go-to 2nd player for video games. In whatever free time I happen to stumble across, I have been known to devour books, buy books, reorganize my extensive library, pet my cat, kiss my husband, and hug my son 😉.
Do you have a work in progress?
Always! It’s true. Since the age of nine I’ve always had a writing project on the go. Currently, I’m involved with three major ones: Shadow Phoenix (a Victorian Steampunk Superhero serial), the Flawed Attraction Romances (a novella series of new adult romantic suspense stories), and DEMON Tales (a paranormal urban fantasy novella series where Men in Black meets Supernatural).
This is a first for me, though. Until November 2018 I was writing one series (The Chronicles of Xannia), one book at a time. Now that Xannia’s story is done, there’s so much I want to do. If you can believe it, I’m not writing any more than I ever did (the Chronicles’ books ran between 114K-125K words each), I’m just portioning my writing out differently. Each Flawed Attraction romance runs about 40K-50K words; each Shadow Phoenix episode averages out around 10K; and a DEMON Tales story slides in around 20K. This allows me to put out 1 suspense novel, 2 urban fantasies, and 4 steampunk serials a year in the same time it took me to write one epic sci-fi novel.
Was there a person who encouraged you to write?
Definitely. While it was my grade four teacher who first inspired me to write adventure stories (she once assigned a short story project that I turned into a 10-chapter middle grade novel called the Enchanted Jungle Figure… I was kind of enamoured by Indiana Jones as a child), it was my mother who always asked me about what I was writing, who edited my dyslexic scribblings, who encouraged me to read excerpts aloud to her friends, or got me to let my friends read said adventures. Whether I was writing fiction or one-act plays for the Sears Drama Festival (in high school) or working on my debut novel (Time’s Tempest) in college and university, her enthusiasm never waivered. Love ya, ma!
Five years from now, where do you see yourself as a writer?
Wow, it’s hard to think past the next few months. My ideal would be writing full-time and actually earning a living at it. Right now, it doesn’t pay the bills… in fact, it only just keeps me in books (my own and others). As a mainly indie author, I am exploring how to get my work visible and in the hands of eager readers. A lot of the workshops and conferences I attend, and articles I read online, deal with book marketing and author branding. I know pretty well what I should be doing but I never give myself time to do it because my other “jobs” come first.
What are you working on now?
If we’re talking strictly drafting (and not revising or plotting) then I’m working my way through Shadow Phoenix Episode V: Lairs, Caves, & Credenzas. Eight episodes will be released over 16 months; so far, I’ve published up to Episode III: Oubliette (which came out last month). Next month will be Episode IV: Mettle and Bone. I’m really loving this serial. It allows me to publish what is equivalent to a long short story (9K-12K words or 5-7 chapters) that is self-encapsulating story-wise but has a broad enough over-arc to pull readers from one episode to the next. Writing about the Victorian era is a ton of fun – especially when I get to use all of the old-timey curse words.
The story follows Louisa Wicker, a bastard of high birth cursed to live between the worlds of the well-to-do and the working class. The night she saves her employer’s life, nothing is the same again. Not only is she recognized for her brains (yea!) but she uses her employer’s invention to help save the common folk harried on the streets at night. The blend of steampunk and gaslight technology in this alternate timeline really forces me to use my own noggin’ to not only remain true to the era and the genre but the potential scientific advancements that came out of the Age of Invention. Whoever said writing genre fiction was easy, wasn’t doing it right 😉.
FINAL YEAR ~ A Flawed Attraction Romance
Graduation can be killer…
Beth pushes beyond her comfort zone to prove a sociology
thesis. She turns a chance meeting with a known player into a personal
experiment on first impressions. Weaving herself into casual meetings with the
guy reinforces her assumptions… until she’s no longer the one pursuing him.
Jeremy’s only serious relationship is with his studies as he
competes for the coveted post-grad theoretical chem spot with Dr. Young. When
the campus goes into lockdown and everyone is evacuated to the stadium, his
habit of “fun only” friendships turns into a curse.
Can he trust a skittish girl he’s known for ten
days to help him find his not-so-theoretical chem project or will her
assumptions about him keep her at arm’s length?
Final Year – a fast-paced romantic suspense that keeps you
guessing at every turn.
SHADOW PHOENIX ~ Episode I: Answering the
Call
A young maid is catapulted into an inventor’s explosive world
the night his experiment goes awry. Torn between the life she should have, and
the one she ended up with, Louisa finally sees a way past her curse—as long as
her mouth and her choices don’t get her fired first.
A steampunk vigilante superhero serial of
electric proportions
An Amazon "Short Read"
Website and other links to MJ's social media pages.
When
the rebels overrun her home state of Pennsylvania, she flees with her family.
Are the people loyal to England welcome anywhere in the burgeoning United
States? Rowena struggles with possible defeat and permanent exile, plus her
growing love for an enigmatic Welshman who may have little need for affection.
Will the war destroy both their lives?
