Welcome best selling author Seumas Gallacher!
Seumas was born in the cradle of the Govan shipyards in Glasgow in the so-called ‘bad old days’ which were really the greatest of days, where everybody was a real character of note. For the past nine years, Seumas has lived in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates in the Middle East, after 25 years in Asia (Hong Kong, Singapore, Philippines).
An early career as a trainee banker led to a spell in London, where his pretense to be a missionary converting the English fell on deaf ears.
Escape to the Far East in 1980 opened up access to cultures and societies on a global scale, eventually bringing the realization that the world is simply one large extended village.
The lifelong desire to write resulted in THE VIOLIN MAN’S LEGACY, the first in a planned series. Seumas’ sequel novel, VENGEANCE WEARS BLACK was launched on Kindle in early July 2012. The third, SAVAGE PAYBACK, is work-in-progress with at least two other books to follow in the same vein. Kindle downloads on his novels exceed 60,000 to date.
When did
you realize you wanted to become a writer?
S. That's
kinda snuck up on me over the last three or four years after a lifetime career
in the financial markets, much of that as a 'troubleshooter'.
The
pleasure derived from tapping away at the laptop is superb. As a complete
Luddite in respect to computers, I'm amazed that it doesn't explode every time
I switch it on...
If it
lights up, I do a lap of honour.
What do
you like to write about?
S.
Surprisingly, my writing has split easily into two distinct areas...the crime
thriller stuff is so simple, with so much mayhem constantly going on around us
in the planet, just pick up
on the cable news and magnify the events a little, change the names and the
geography to protect the guilty, and hey presto, you have a story...the other
stream which I've discovered is writing for my blog, http://www.seumasgallacher.wordpress.com
I use that for light-hearted stuff about the 'Jurassic ' newbie writer coping
with all this (to me) new-fangled social networking scene. A year ago I hadn't
a clue what 'blog' meant...and in December, I garnered a Blogger of the Year
Award...go figure...
How do
you maintain thoughts and ideas?
S. I'm
not sure that I do consciously maintain any rigid thought patterns...my story
lines are generally pretty well-set in my head, and then I kinda just let
it develop naturally. I like to think
I'm a logically-minded person, so I find it quite straight-forward (we're not
talking Nobel Literature Prize stuff here, y'know!).
Who is
your favorite character in your books?
S. If
they're 'live' enough in my mind, even the wild and nastier characters, I like
'em all. They're my babies after all...
however
in THE VIOLIN MAN'S LEGACY, I had a minor character called Rico that I had to
write out of the book as his role was completed...I hated seeing him go...
Where do
you like to write?
S. I can
write anywhere...I have the capacity to get into my own little cocoon, switch
off the rest of you out there, and zone in on my 'other world'.
Where do
you do most of your research?
S. Much
of the plot development is from my own experience (I'm 250 years old now!), but
for detail corroboration, the Web is a boon...
Do you
find that editing can be tough?
S. No.
Not now. An author pal, Jim McAllister (his book, ' iNation ' is on Kindle now,
and a fabulous read) told me about AutoCrit, a self-editing software, which I
find enormously helpful. When I
realised what it could do to improve my books, I spent two months recently
completely re-editing both novels..I know they are much the better for that.
What is
your favorite author event?
S. Here
in Abu Dhabi, I've been privileged to be a Guest Speaker at several Readers
Groups, as well as the British Business Group (on how this old Jurassic came
new to the social networking scene and made it work).
I've also
signed up recently with the Book Club Readers List on the Internet, and will
make myself available by telephone, etc, to do live discussions if reader
groups want me involved. I LUV IT!!! ( I'm still trying to figure out how to
use Skype, so that
may be the next 'Giant Leap' for this Member of Mankind..).
Who is your favorite author?
S. Depends what day of the week you ask that question, I've so many that I like, and have liked over the years...the bedrock names include Charles Dickens, Sir Winston Churchill, John Steinbeck, John O'Hara, Robert Ruark,...more recently, Lee Child and Carlos Ruiz Zafon.
Do you
have advice for newbie writers?
S. Oh,
yes! tons of it!! My entire blog sequence over the last 9 months has contained
loads about my experience in getting to grips with the social networking thing.
The writing is the simple bit...getting the babies out there
takes
time, and a lot of slog...it's called 'building the platform'...I'm thinking of
doing a 'How To' book on my travails to date, to p'raps help others through
some of the rapids that I've had to traverse.
Follow Seumas...
THE
VIOLIN MAN'S LEGACY:
VENGEANCE
WEARS BLACK:
Canada http://amzn.to/14gODEZ
THE
BLOGGER'S GUIDE TO ABSOLUTELY NOTHING:
5 comments:
you've done me proud, Gina.. thanks , m'Lady :):)
It's nice to know about Seumas.I'll definitely read him. Good work, Gina.
Glad to know about the Seumas Gallacher ! His life story and life style gives me a good knowledge in my writing inspiring. I am using www.originalitychecker.net/copy-checker to check my writing and its really good.
When you looking for some best thing then you have to wait and need to try hard fr this. I am also do this. And now I am find the best one for me. thanks for this one.
work hard and don't trying to be loser. be an honest man this will the best for this time amd I think also. So follow this and read this post full for yours.
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