1. Please introduce yourself.
As it says on my website,
Michaele Jordan was:
Born in Los Angeles
Bred in the Midwest.
Educated in Liberal Arts
at Bard College
And in computers
at Southern Ohio College
She has worked at a kennel
and a Hebrew School
and AT&T.
She’s a bit odd.
2. What do you write? Do you have a specific gene?
I mostly write fantasy. (Although I have one unsold main-stream novel) I would like to write more science fiction, but I don’t have the science chops to write science with conviction. I do, however, know more about magic than I like to admit.
3. What are you working on now?
I’m currently pulling up on the end of Jocasta and the Indians which is (or, rather, will be) a rollicking steam punk adventure, set in the American territories in 1883. It’s my second novel set in the Victorian era, but my previous book, Mirror Maze (a dark fantasy) was set in London.
4. When did you start writing
I couldn’t say for sure, but I had my first publication when I was seven. Unfortunately, it was the last for a very long time. But I am difficult to discourage.
5. Where do you usually write?
I wrote my first book, Blade Light, sitting cross-legged on the floor in the living room, pecking at a typewriter perched on a foot stool that had been carefully placed so as not to block my family’s view of the TV screen. These days I have an office, with a desk, a computer and a comfortable chair.
6. Why did you choose to start writing, who or what influenced you?
I don’t really feel like I chose to do it. There have always been voices in my head, and I took up writing largely to get control of them. So there have always been. . . snippets of stories–scenes, character sketches, descriptions, scraps of poetry–scattered around my work spaces. They were rarely complete, in the professional sense, as I generally abandoned them when I lost interest in whatever voice I was listening to at the time. I was in my mid twenties and had just given up on acting, when it occurred to me I could maybe be a writer. I got better at completing individual pieces, including the aforementioned first novel, but it was many years before I succeeded in selling anything.
7. Did you self publish or go with a publisher and why?
A bit of both. Blade Light was serialized in “Jim Baen’s Universe” an on-line magazine which is now–alas–defunct. I tried to sell it as a paperback, but my horrific marketing skills put an end to that, so I put it up as an eBook. Then, when I sold Mirror Maze to Pyr books, I podcast Blade Light in its entirety as a sort of promo for the new book. The podcast is still on my website www.michaelejordan.com if you’d like to check it out. I’m told some people–and not all of them famous names–do very well with self-published work. I’m not one of them. Perhaps it’s those marketing skills I mentioned above. I think maybe ten people have bought the eBook. Me, I really need a publisher.
8. What advice do you have for other writers?
None! I’ve done everything wrong.
9. Where do you hope your writing will take you in five years?
I have several more novels planned, (and more will come to me long before I’ve finished them) which I’ll write regardless of success and/or sales, but I admit I would like to get a little better known, and maybe even make enough money to live on.
10. What do you do when you are not writing?
Oh, lots of stuff. I practice taiji, I garden (sort of haphazardly), I crochet, I hang with my science fiction club and run my synagogue’s soup kitchen. And I still have to find time to plunk down with my true love in front of the TV. I’m a Doctor Who fanatic and a devoted watcher of anime.
11. How do we find out more about you and about your book\writing?
My website is www.michaelejordan.com and on it you’ll find a invitation to friend me on FaceBook. I always crow when I’ve got a new story out.
stacybender
Person of Interest Interview – Michaele Jordan
1. Please introduce yourself.
As it says on my website,
Michaele Jordan was:
Born in Los Angeles
Bred in the Midwest.
Educated in Liberal Arts
at Bard College
And in computers
at Southern Ohio College
She has worked at a kennel
and a Hebrew School
and AT&T.
She’s a bit odd.
2. What do you write? Do you have a specific gene?
I mostly write fantasy. (Although I have one unsold main-stream novel) I would like to write more science fiction, but I don’t have the science chops to write science with conviction. I do, however, know more about magic than I like to admit.
3. What are you working on now?
I’m currently pulling up on the end of Jocasta and the Indians which is (or, rather, will be) a rollicking steam punk adventure, set in the American territories in 1883. It’s my second novel set in the Victorian era, but my previous book, Mirror Maze (a dark fantasy) was set in London.
4. When did you start writing
I couldn’t say for sure, but I had my first publication when I was seven. Unfortunately, it was the last for a very long time. But I am difficult to discourage.
5. Where do you usually write?
I wrote my first book, Blade Light, sitting cross-legged on the floor in the living room, pecking at a typewriter perched on a foot stool that had been carefully placed so as not to block my family’s view of the TV screen. These days I have an office, with a desk, a computer and a comfortable chair.
6. Why did you choose to start writing, who or what influenced you?
I don’t really feel like I chose to do it. There have always been voices in my head, and I took up writing largely to get control of them. So there have always been. . . snippets of stories–scenes, character sketches, descriptions, scraps of poetry–scattered around my work spaces. They were rarely complete, in the professional sense, as I generally abandoned them when I lost interest in whatever voice I was listening to at the time. I was in my mid twenties and had just given up on acting, when it occurred to me I could maybe be a writer. I got better at completing individual pieces, including the aforementioned first novel, but it was many years before I succeeded in selling anything.
7. Did you self publish or go with a publisher and why?
A bit of both. Blade Light was serialized in “Jim Baen’s Universe” an on-line magazine which is now–alas–defunct. I tried to sell it as a paperback, but my horrific marketing skills put an end to that, so I put it up as an eBook. Then, when I sold Mirror Maze to Pyr books, I podcast Blade Light in its entirety as a sort of promo for the new book. The podcast is still on my website www.michaelejordan.com if you’d like to check it out. I’m told some people–and not all of them famous names–do very well with self-published work. I’m not one of them. Perhaps it’s those marketing skills I mentioned above. I think maybe ten people have bought the eBook. Me, I really need a publisher.
8. What advice do you have for other writers?
None! I’ve done everything wrong.
9. Where do you hope your writing will take you in five years?
I have several more novels planned, (and more will come to me long before I’ve finished them) which I’ll write regardless of success and/or sales, but I admit I would like to get a little better known, and maybe even make enough money to live on.
10. What do you do when you are not writing?
Oh, lots of stuff. I practice taiji, I garden (sort of haphazardly), I crochet, I hang with my science fiction club and run my synagogue’s soup kitchen. And I still have to find time to plunk down with my true love in front of the TV. I’m a Doctor Who fanatic and a devoted watcher of anime.
11. How do we find out more about you and about your book\writing?
My website is www.michaelejordan.com and on it you’ll find a invitation to friend me on FaceBook. I always crow when I’ve got a new story out.
Share this:
Related
About Stacy Bender
Author of Ursa Kane and the Sav'ine series.