Awwthentic Magazine© 2015

Watty's 2014 : HQ Love Award Winner : LorenRhoads

Title : All You Need Is Morbid

Author : LorenRhoads

Summary : Join my husband Mason and me as we poke through ossuaries, love hotels, medical museums, old graveyards, and hot new restaurants -- and almost get sacrificed to a volcano. My brand-new memoir, exploring the world from San Francisco to Japan by way of Paris, Prague, and Pompeii, is debuting on Wattpad.

Genre : Non-Fiction

Link : External Link

Her Interview 

1) At what age you began writing and what or who inspired you into writing?

I started writing seriously in junior high, when one of my friends was writing. I think before that it had never occurred to me that books were written by people. Her name was Raeann and she's the inspiration for Raena Zacari, the heroine of my upcoming space opera trilogy.

2) How was the entire experience from writing 'All You Need Is Morbid' to Winning Wattys has been like?

I had been blogging at the Red Room, which was purchased by Wattpad. Once I started to poke around here, Wattpad HQ encouraged me to put together a book. I assembled All You Need Is Morbid out of essays I already had written, most of which were previously published. Wattpad offered to make a book cover for me. I provided the photograph. They chose to feature the book in August. All in all, they've treated me much better than I had any right to expect.

3) What is the plot of 'All You Need Is Morbid' about?

The title is a play on the Beatles' "All You Need is Love." The book is a collection of essays about traveling with my husband and the wonderful, strange love we share.

4) What message are you trying to convey to your audience through this book?

That the darkness in the world makes the light much sweeter.

5) Do you work on an outline or plot or do you prefer to just see where an idea takes you, while writing?

Usually I just go where the writing takes me.

6) What are your other works and what are you currently writing?

I'm about halfway through a book on Wattpad about how to write in cafes. It's on hold at the moment while I finish the space opera trilogy above. I've turned in two books -- The Dangerous Type and Kill By Numbers -- and the third one is due April 1. They will be coming out in paperback from Night Shade Books starting in July.

7) Do you ever get writers block? How do you tackle it?

If I get stuck, it usually means I have been pushing too hard. I start by taking a long walk, which usually shakes things loose. If that doesn't work, I call my best friend. She's been writing as long as I have.

8) Do you proofread/edit all your own books or do you get someone to do that for you?

I worked as an editor for 10 years on a magazine called Morbid Curiosity, so I do my own copyediting. I like to have my husband proofread before I hit publish.

9) Tell us about the cover/s and how it/they came about.

The cover image of All You Need is Morbid is a photo of my husband Mason and me under a cherry tree in Tokyo. It was taken the first day I had ever been in Japan. The cover design was done by Wattpad.

10) Which social network worked best for you? What else do you do for promoting your books?

I'm mostly on Facebook, although I use Twitter and Pinterest, too. Oh, and Goodreads. I do a fair amount of guest-blogging and blog at lorenrhoads.com when I'm not under a crushing deadline. :-)

11) What are your favorite books from wattpad?

I really liked Sandra Harris's Anna Meets Count Dracula and Martha Allard's short stories.

12) Now that you have won the Wattys, what are your future goals/plans? Do you see writing as a career or is it just a hobby?

All You Need is Morbid was meant to be a lead-in to a nonfiction collection of essays I was expecting to have published last year, but that fell through after the publisher couldn't seem to get it on his schedule. Frustrating!

As the publication of The Dangerous Type gets closer, I hope to start putting some of my space opera fanfic up on Wattpad. Stay tuned!

13) If you had been an original author of a book, what would it have been and why?

I'm not sure I understand the question. I am the author of a collection of cemetery travel essays called Wish You Were Here: Adventures in Cemetery Travel (published by Western Legends Books), co-author of a succubus/angel novel called As Above, So Below (published by Black Bed Sheet Books), and editor of The Haunted Mansion Project: Year Two (Damnation Books) and Morbid Curiosity Cures the Blues (Scribner).

14) How can readers discover more about you and your work?

(Share websites, if any)

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Loren-Rhoads/e/B002P905PE

Twitter: twitter.com/morbidloren

Facebook: www.facebook.com/loren.rhoads.5

Blog Links: lorenrhoads.com/blog & cemeterytravel.com

15) Your message to readers and followers.

The key to writing, I think, is to not give up. Seek out writers who are better than you are and ask their advice. Find readers for your work who will help you improve it. Never stop learning. Writing is the best job in the world.

Enjoy Reading :)