Hello and welcome to my blog, Author Interviews. My name is Fiona Mcvie.

 

Let’s get you introduced to everyone, shall we? Tell us your name. What is your age?

I’m TammyJo Eckhart and I’m 48 (until the end of September 2018 at least)

Fiona: Where are you from?

I’m from and I live in the United States. I was born and raised in Iowa, I lived in NYC for a while, and I’ve been “stuck” in Indiana for a couple of decades now.

Fiona: A little about your self (ie, your education, family life, etc.).

Even though I had both a masters and a doctorate in Ancient History, I got my degree as the economy crashed so I was never able to get a tenure track position at a college or university. I decided to focus on my writing instead. While my literary agent shops two series around, I’ve gone back to my roots of sending in short stories and essays to magazines, journals, and anthologies. I currently am the head of my poly, kinky household that includes my husband (of 26 years) as well as my other partner (of 18 years).

Fiona: Tell us your latest news.

I’ll be in three anthologies coming out between October 2018 and January 2019.

September or October 2018 will be Dressed In Black: Erotic Tales of Edgar Allan Poe with Circlet Press.

December 2018 or January 2019 will be Kintsugi: Powerful Stories of Healing Trauma fromSinCyr Publishing. I have a non-fiction essay in this detailing my own childhood abuse and my recovery efforts in greater detail than I have ever shared with the general public before.

January 2019 will be Erotic Teasers from Cleis Press.

Fiona: When and why did you begin writing?

I have always been writing stories ever since I could craft a sentence on paper. My mother made me a scrapbook that she gave me a few years ago and there is a story I wrote in kindergarten in it.

I think I wrote in part because my mother was a writer, not a published author but a writer so she modelled the importance of putting things into written text for me.

Fiona: When did you first consider yourself a writer?

Probably when my 5th grade teacher gave me an envelop from the University of Iowa Writer’s Workshop. She had sent them a story I wrote for her as part of a class assignment and they sent me back comments. I didn’t know that my teacher had done that so I was very surprised. The professional comments were basically: Good start but you know this isn’t a short story. That turned into one of the series that my agent is now shopping around.

Fiona: What inspired you to write your first book?

Being offered a contract in 1995. I’m not kidding. I had been accepted to both a non-fiction and a fiction anthology when I lived in NYC. The editor of the fiction book suggested I send a couple of my stories to an editor she knew in NYC at Richard Kasak Books, which at that time was one of the big publishing houses.

I followed her advice and in a month or so that second editor invited me down to his office to chat. It was just a subway ride so I went there with my hubby. Kasak offered me not one but two book contracts on the spot. One with the stories I’d sent up plus X number of others and then the second on an anthology retelling Classical legends. The first book came out in 1996 and the second in 1997 right before I left NYC.

Fiona: How did you come up with the title?

For that book we just went with the title of the longest story in the book.

Fiona: Do you have a specific writing style? Is there anything about your style or genre that you find particularly challenging?

I don’t write genre, I really don’t. With my personal challenge to get back into as many magazines, journals, and anthologies as I can, I’ve been trying to learn more about genre writing but it all feels like a trap so I tend to go for the looser venues that don’t mind or encourage overlap between genres.

A lot of folks have classified what I write as “erotica” but I never have. Sex is something humans have, desire is something we feel, and violence is sadly also common to our lives. I write about the possible and don’t pull my punches.

I call what I do “Edgy Fiction” because I include the details I think are necessary to encourage a certain response from my reader in their heads, their hearts, and sometimes their bodies. I use the genre that is requested by the publication or the genre that I think will make the story the most interesting to write or read.

Fiona: How much of the book is realistic and are experiences based on someone you know, or events in your own life?

Are you still talking about my first book?

Fiona: To craft your works, do you have to travel? Before or during the process?

Nope, the only traveling I do is with book research or observations of the world and people around me.

Fiona: Who designed the covers?

That’s in the hands of the publishers. I am not vanity press nor self-published and I never have been. I do not know if I would consider that option in the future. It seems like a lot of work that is not writing.

Fiona: Is there a message in your novel that you want readers to grasp?

Unclear whish book you are now asking about – my first book was a collection of short stories. My first novel and my trilogy were later books.

Fiona: Are there any new authors that have grasped your interest?  Who is your favorite writer, and what is it about their work that really strikes you?

New writers? No, not in a few years anyway. I’m still an Octavia Butler fan. I’ve been told a handful of times that some of my work reminded a reader of her work. I nearly fainted at the compliment.

Fiona: Outside of family members, name one entity that supported your commitment to become a published author.

Cecilia Tan the publisher of Circlet Press – she is the person who suggested I contact Richard Kasak Books, and she has continued to publish my short story as well as my trilogy, Beyond the Softness of His Fur.

Fiona: Do you see writing as a career?

Writing is my career. Most published authors have to have other jobs, often full-time because sadly as the Internet and self-publishing have exploded, the public’s willingness to pay for work or to pay at a level that could make it a solo career, has decreased.

I am lucky that I don’t have to have a job that pulls away time from my writing because I have two partners who bring in our steady income.

Fiona: If you had to do it all over again, would you change anything in your latest book?

Are we talking about the Trilogy that Circlet Published or one of the books that my agent is shopping around?

Fiona: Did you learn anything during the writing of your recent book?

We seem to have switched subject from first book to most recent and I’m unclear on which you want me to talk about.

Fiona: If your book was made into a film, who would you like to play the lead?

This is one of those questions that my agent had me fill out for basic information on the books she is shopping.

I don’t really understand the question. Do writers really think of movie and TV actors while they are writing? My characters are fully developed; they didn’t start as an image in my mind. Generally I keep my descriptions of the main characters light so that the reader can see who they imagine in their minds.

Fiona: Any advice for other writers?

Don’t think this will be the job that pays all the bills; it doesn’t work that way for most of us.

If a publisher or agent asks for money from you at any time, they are not a publisher or an agent.

Fiona: What book are you reading now?

I’m always reading books that I’m sent to review. Right now, while I’m typing this, I’m working my way through “Furyborn” by Claire Legrand .

Fiona: Do you remember the first book you read?

Nope, that was a long time ago.

Fiona: What makes you laugh/cry?

Depends on the situation really.

Fiona: Is there one person, past or present, you would love to meet? Why?

I’m an ancient historian who is still very much an academic at heart so that would be Hypatia, the first woman to head the Library of Alexandria in the 4th century CE. I’ve love to ask her how much of her story is hyperbole from either the Classical or Christian worlds.

Fiona: Do you have any hobbies?

Too many! I play board games and tabletop RPGs, I have been coloring long before it was “cool” for adults, and I very casually collect a few things.

Fiona: What TV shows/films do you enjoy watching?

Horror is my favourite genre followed by Science Fiction and Fantasy but I also like Thrillers and Crime Mysteries.

Fiona: Favorite foods, colors,  music?

I have a blog, The Chocolate Cult, so one guess as to what my favourite “food” might be… hahaha.

I like natural colors and I’m eclectic when it comes to music though I’m not of fan of country and western nor rap and hip hop. Of course, there are individual songs or performers even in those genres that I have enjoyed.

Fiona: Imagine a future where you no longer write. What would you do?

There really wouldn’t be much reason for me to live at that point. If I can’t teach and I couldn’t write, I’d probably just stop being. 

 Fiona: What do you want written on your head stone?

That isn’t a question that I’ve ever thought about because I don’t intend to have a head stone.

 Fiona: Do you have a blog or website readers can visit for updates, events and special offers?

Author Website: http://www.tammyjoeckhart.com/

The Chocolate Cult: https://thechocolatecult.blogspot.com/

Thank you for doing this, Fiona.