Meaningful Writings

• What do you like about writing?

I am always amazed by how quickly time passes when I am writing. It feels as if just a half hour has passed, but when I look at the clock, it’s been four hours. It’s almost akin to being in a meditative state. I like how writing transports me to another place, into this other world where I call all the shots.

• Why did you choose to write in your particular field or genre? If you write more than one, how do you balance them?

I mostly write adult mystery novels and I chose that genre because I grew up reading mysteries. Mysteries and suspense novels are what I read when I was ten years old and they are what I still read. However, if I get an idea for a story in another genre, then I follow where the muse takes me. For example, I recently published a children’s picture book titled The Flag Keeper, and I’m excited to have a book out that elementary school children can read. In the future, I’ll also be publishing a paranormal young adult thriller and bringing back one of my out-of-print young adult novels. Although adult mysteries are the bulk of what I write, I find writing and marketing a children’s or young adult book a fun change of pace.

• Are there vocabulary words or concepts in your book that may be new to readers? Define some of those.

My new children’s picture book The Flag Keeper teaches kids about flag etiquette. Through a fictional story about a bear family, children learn the importance of treating the U.S. flag with respect. Flag facts and discussion questions at the end reinforce the concept of flag etiquette, which refers to the different ways Americans can show their respect to the flag.

What is the most important thing that people DON'T know about your subject/genre, that they need to know?

I don’t think a lot of people know about the U.S. flag code or the concept of flag etiquette, and therefore, they are not passing it down to their children. I didn’t know most of these flag facts myself, but my husband has always had a keen interest in flags and he taught me about etiquette. Examples of flag etiquette are shining a spotlight on the U.S. flag after sunset and burning a worn-out flag in a dignified manner. In the book, Elizabeth the bear always raises the flag with her father, until he goes on a business trip. She wants to surprise him and prove that she can raise the flag by herself while he’s away, but everything goes wrong. For example, she raises the flag upside down and the police show up, as an upside-down flag is a sign of an emergency. The book introduces these concepts to children and their parents in a sweet and gentle way.

• What are some day jobs that you have held? If any of them impacted your writing, share an example.

In college, I worked as a floor trainer at a health club. I drew upon my health club experience to create my personal trainer heroine, Cassidy Novak, in my mystery suspense novel Sink or Swim (coming out in trade paperback January 1, 2011.) After college, I worked as an editorial assistant, obit writer and staff reporter for a daily newspaper. One of my tasks was researching the ‘25 and 50 Years Ago Today’ column on the microfilm. This job inspired my mystery novel Twenty-Five Years Ago Today, about obit writer and aspiring reporter Kris Langley, who stumbles across the 25-year-old unsolved murder of a cocktail waitress on the microfilm.

• How do you feel about e-books vs. print books and alternative vs. conventional publishing?

I was leery at first when e-books were brand new, but now I think e-book technology presents a wonderful opportunity for authors to earn another source of royalties, reach new readers, and keep their books in print. Since I hold the digital rights to my mystery novels, I published Twenty-Five Years Ago Today in Kindle format over the summer and also had Smashwords distribute it in multiple e-book formats. I also own a Sony reader and enjoy reading books on it. I do prefer reading print books and hope they will always be available, but I see the e-book trend as being beneficial for writers.

All of this e-book and print on demand technology is transforming the publishing industry with more small presses being established and many more authors taking a self-publishing route. Of course all authors dream of being conventionally published with a large publisher that pays significant advances, but some entrepreneurial writers don’t want to waste years and years waiting to see if that will happen. Alternative publishing provides them with an opportunity to “get into the game.” I’ve been published by a large publisher (Avon Books), a small publisher (Mainly Murder Press) and I’ve independently published The Flag Keeper and my e-books. I don’t know what the future will hold for my upcoming books, but let me put it this way. It took me 17 years to get a second book published. That will not happen to me again. One way or another, my future books will be published and it’s reassuring and empowering to know that.

• What process did you go through to get your book published?

I had my first book, Face-Off, published at age 18, and then it took me 17 years and many manuscripts to get a second book published. Finally, in fall 2009, my debut mystery novel Twenty-Five Years Ago Today was published by Mainly Murder Press. My second mystery novel Sink or Swim is coming from Mainly Murder Press on January 1, 2011. I independently published my new children’s picture book The Flag Keeper, which was written by me, illustrated by my father and designed by my husband.

• What do your plans for future projects include?

My next published book will likely be my young adult paranormal thriller Dark Before Dawn, which is completed. I’m also working on Sign of the Messenger, the first book in a new metaphysical mystery series. At some point, I plan to update and reissue my 1992 young adult hockey novel Face-Off and release its previously unpublished sequel.

• Do you write about what you know, or about what you want to know?

I started out writing about what I knew, such as hockey for Face-Off and the newspaper industry for Twenty-Five Years Ago Today. I’ve run out of what I know, though, and am now writing about what interests me. For example, my metaphysical mystery series features characters interested in hands-on healing, Tai Chi, acupuncture and other holistic topics. As I started writing the first book, I began exploring my own interest in those areas and now I’m trained as a Reiki master.

• Red or pink?

Red. I had my aura read once and the person who did it said that I needed to wear more red to help demonstrate my personal power. That’s why I put a bit of red into my web site design.

• What's your most memorable (not necessarily your favorite) childhood memory?

One time in fifth grade, someone was absent and their chair was upside down on the table beside me. My long hair got wound around the leg of the chair and no one could get it untangled. Finally, my teacher had to call a janitor down to assist. I still remember how much my face was flaming! I could have done without that kind of red!

Bio: Stacy Juba is the author of the mystery novels Twenty-Five Years Ago Today and Sink Or Swim (Mainly Murder Press), as well as the patriotic children's picture book The Flag Keeper. She is a freelance writer and former daily newspaper reporter with more than a dozen writing awards to her credit, including three New England Press Association awards and the American Cancer Society New England Chapter’s Sword of Hope Media Award. Her young adult novel Face-Off was published under her maiden name, Stacy Drumtra, when she was 18 years old. She is also one of the resident authors/moderators at Bestseller Bound, a forum where readers connect with small press and independent authors.

Her web sites are http://www.stacyjuba.com  http://www.stacyjuba.com/flagkeeper 

Her blog is http://www.stacyjuba.com/blog  

Bestseller Bound can be found at http://www.bestsellerbound.com.

Amazon links:

Twenty-Five Years Ago Today: http://www.amazon.com/Twenty-Five-Years-Today-Stacy-Juba/dp/0615290116/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1285018701&sr=1-1

The Flag Keeper:

http://www.amazon.com/Flag-Keeper-Stacy-Juba/dp/1453753052/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1285018736&sr=1-1