Siobhan Minty, author of A Gay in the Life of Melinda Finch
Siobhan Minty, an emerging author, wife, and mother of two young children told me she is ready to accept dares and, on occasion, has even donned a fake accent and accosted strangers on the street. All because of a dare. That surprised me because she is quiet and demure on first glance. Not at all the daring sort of person. Yet she dares to be a writer, so I should not have been surprised.
I met Siobhan during a September writing retreat in a lovely cottage near Ottawa, Ontario, and was intrigued by her commitment to her craft. Graciously she agreed to be interviewed and the resulting video is now available. Pay particular attention to her comments on good writing, on her critique group’s support, and on her newly published e-book, A Gay in the Life of Melinda Finch.
Have you ever done a dare you wished you hadn’t? Is e-publishing a good way to start a writing career? Kindly leave a comment here with your thoughts. (Not on You-Tube as there is so much spam there. Thanks.)
On Becoming a Wordsmith 
E-publishing is a quick route to getting your work out there, but I think the problem is that there are a lot of poorly written e-books out there. I think the trouble is that people write their piece but they don’t get it proof read. I have seen books where spelling mistakes were rife and sometimes spell checkers won’t pick this up – I have just written an e-book on bread baking where I had a sentence talking about salt content, but it actually read “salt contend!” The spell checker missed this because there were effectively no typos. I am lucky to have a wife who is a brilliant proofreader and she never holds back on the “constructive” criticism!
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What a good description of the trouble with relying on spellcheck! I taught my students this very thing and also that we have to know grammar rules because often the grammar checker suggests things that are not correct or at least not appropriate.
BTW my husband has a great proofreader wife, too! Where do I get one of those?
Thanks so much for commenting.
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It’s too bad that Melinda’s book is only available for Kindle readers. I like books!
Elaine, you can send your things here to be proofread. We had the same teacher…
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Actually Siobhan is the author and Melinda is the main character, although she (Melinda) has her own blog! Cool promotional idea.
Thanks for the proofreading offer. I may have to take you up on that. We’ll talk.
And, as always, thanks for your comments, Brian.
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Nice interview with Siobhan! (I’ve always loved that name.) Her e-book sounds quite interesting, I will look for it. What a great premise.
And I do hope that bookstores will never die. Even though I’ve had an iPad for about a year and a half now, I still find myself drawn to the paper-written word. May we have book paper and digital books in the future, and always the choice to pick up both!
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Thanks, Beth! You should have been Irish and we could have given you that name. When I first saw it written on a whiteboard in the staff room after one of the teachers named her new baby girl, Siobhan, I had no idea how to pronounce it. Beautiful, though. And so is its owner!
I agree about the iPad. I take it to bed with me to read but it just doesn’t feel as comfortable as a book which I can move however I want and the page orientation doesn’t change.
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i don’t honestly think that bookshops will die out completely, but I think it is inevitable that they will decline in numbers during the digital age. I e-publish myself and I like my iPad and Kindle but nothing beats a good, thick, heavy hardback book! Holding this flimsy plastic gadget doesn’t even come close, not to mention eye strain looking at a digital screen for prolonged periods.
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SharonClare60 has made a comment on Elaine Cougler Interviews Siobhan Minty:
Great interview, Elaine and Siobhan! I didn’t know how A Gay in the Life of Melinda Finch came about. It’s such a fun story!
I have heard Siobhan’s British accent! You are convincing, Siobhan!
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Sure, e-publishing is the way to go. There’s no doubt about it. But, one must edit, and edit again, have beta readers, and revise, revise, revise. The finished product has to be as good as you can make it. I used Telemachus Press to help me get my first mystery out, but I will be publishing A Striking Death myself.
Thanks for this blog, Elaine.
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David, I think you are exactly right. And thanks for the info re your publishing choices. BTW we have that teaching thing in common, too. I taught for 25 years in secondary schools across Southern Ontario.
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