Interview with Lea Schizas

You can look up multi-tasking in Webster’s Dictionary for the definition, or you could just watch award-winning, multi-published author and editor Lea Schizas in action during The Muse Online Writers Conference, which she founded along with Carolyn Howard-Johnson. Lea is a whirl-wind of activity and accomplishments. She is co-founder and Editor-in-Chief of Writer’s Digest 101 Top Writing Sites and recipient of the Predators and Editors Most Useful Writing Sites Award for Apollo’s Lyre and The MuseItUp Club,  Coffee Cramp Ezine, and The Muse Unleashed. Her published works include Doorman’s Creek, Aleatory’s Junction, Bubba & Giganto, and The Muse on Writing. Her blogs include The Writing Jungle and Bragging Rites Unleashed.  She also has a book review site Muse Book Reviews. And Lea is Editor-in-Chief at Red Rose Publishing.

Lea, you may be a force of nature.

I’d like to discuss the origins, the process and the early days of your writing.

 

 

 

 Where do you think your writing comes from?

 

     I don’t think but know my writing passion stems from my dad. He had a flair for writing prose in Greek. Everyone invited him to be the guest speaker at almost every function we attended because of his smooth transition from seriousness to humor while speaking. One aspect I don’t have is knowing several languages like he did.

 

 When and why did you begin writing?

      This has been a running joke of mine but I always say I began writing inside   mom’s womb when I mistook the umbilical cord as a neat writing implement.

      I guess my ‘seriousness’ in writing came about in Grade Six when I won my first writing competition.

      Why do I write? It’s an escape for me. What other profession can you ‘become’ a character you develop. Do you know how cool it is to be an alien warrior one day and a teen with the gift of vision to past murders the next day? Nope, wouldn’t trade writing for anything.

  

How do you come up with your ideas and settings?

 

    When you have five rambunctious kids who are as stubborn, as ‘into’ things as their mom, you get plenty of ideas to last you a lifetime.

 

      My settings and plot actually come to me once I have a title. I cannot begin penning anything unless I have a title. It’s strange but once it comes to me, everything else falls into place and off I write.

 

      In many instances, I use my kids to set up my character profiles. I use landscapes and cities I’ve visited to get a better grasp of the imagery to describe in my stories.

 

 

What is your process? Do you have any rituals? Do you adhere to a writing schedule?

    

   I have a process that keeps my writing moving forward always, sometimes slower than other days but at least something gets penned each day. I call it my Disc Rotation. Everything I write I put onto discs – one story/article per disc. I pick Disc One, work on it for an hour or until I come to a block, then it goes at the end of the pile and I pull out Disc Two and the process begins all over. This way, by the time I hit Disc One, my muse for that particular piece is refreshed and can move forward. I dedicate one hour at least to every project I work on.

 

      Since I’m a fulltime writer and editor, I don’t have a set schedule. I wake up and the first thing right after putting on my glasses is to open up my laptop. It doesn’t shut down until about eleven or midnight, but in-between I still need to be a wife and mommy and cook and cleaner and taxi driver and…you get my drift. Discipline to get things done is one function I have down pact thankfully.

 

 

You wear so many hats. What motivates Lea Schizas?

    

     I think if it wasn’t for a few incidences that happened to me when I began my writing career, I may have been different and not as passionate to help others.

       

    1. I joined my first writers’ group way back in 2000. Being new, I had no clue what components were necessary to call a writers group a ‘good’ group. I went with the flow.  After a while I noticed that when someone asked ‘hey, which contest did you enter?’, or ‘hey, anybody have a link to…’, the group suddenly disappeared, no one answered. I thought it strange but didn’t think more of it until one of these ‘fine’ gentlemen members critiqued one of my short stories. In all honesty, he was the first push toward ‘making’ me who I am right now. His critique: “You sure you want to be a writer? Why don’t you stick with hairdressing?” Yeah, that fuelled me to the point I left that group and pushed me to work harder to prove him wrong. I don’t mind harsh critiques that are helpful, but rudeness has no place in my life and I chose to leave that negative group behind me. This experience made me vow to be there for writers and help them the best I knew how.

 

   2. The second incident is yet another group of, what I now call ‘wannabe writers’, where all they did was talk, talk, talk, yet not once in over a year did I ever see or hear anyone mention about sending out a query, or an article/story to a publisher. There were a lot of positive energy in the sense they pushed each other but for the most there were more ‘whines’ about not being able to write, not being able to locate what they were researching, afraid to send out their submissions in case someone stole their ideas. It was at that point I left again. This pushed me to find links on my own, and vowed once again to offer what I’ve got stacked in that head of mine to other writers just starting out and make their life a bit easier. After all, writers need encouragement, guidance, motivation, and I was unfortunate that first newbie year to have fallen under the spell of ‘bad’ decisions.

 

  

Tell us about the early days in your writing career. What was the first piece you wrote? What inspired you?

     

  The very first piece I wrote was accepted by Beginning Writers.com I believe it was. It was right after 9/11 and seeing how I owned a salon with a multitude of nationalities, I posed a few questions to them then sorted it out into an article. I tell you that first acceptance and the ‘Yes! Yes! Yes!’ that comes over you can’t be forgotten.

 

 

What do you read for pleasure? What’s the book sitting on top of your to read pile?

 

It’s been a while since I’ve bought a book to read because I’m inundated with books to review – some that I request and others that keep finding their way to my house. Right now, I’m happy to have three books from Raven Tree Press, each children’s picture books to relax and enjoy.

 

I read horror, mystery, romance, children’s books, young adult, and a few nonfiction books that may grab my interest.

 

 

What has influenced you the most in your writing career?

 

This may not be understood but it has been writers in general, members from one of my groups. Whenever I read one of their bragging rites it’s motivated me to push forward once again and leave behind a few nonessential deadlines.

 

But the most influenced aspect in my writing career has been the need to entertain readers. Knowing there are readers out there who enjoy what I write, as with any writer, you can’t beat that come on, write more’ feeling that overcomes you.

 

  

What’s on your desk right now?

     

      Right now? My coffee mug, one lonely unlit cigarette calling out to me to go outside and smoke it, my agenda to jot down events I come across while reading emails, my pen and notebook, my thesaurus, my dictionary, Writer’s Market. And I need to get them all off soon because my desk is my kitchen table and kids want to eat. I swear I fed them yesterday. J

  

 

What’s in your future? What’s your next project?

     

   There’s a lot of upcoming speaking engagements for me and my co-writer on a new book: The   Autism Epidemic: Shaking the System.  We’re guest speakers at a gala to raise funds for the Montreal Children’s Hospital for research into the causes of autism. November also has us spending a few full days at a major shopping center where one of their retail stores, Lululemon is having an autism awareness after we approached them with the idea. We’re preparing for an Autism Walkathon for 2009, and we have been invited to host a workshop at one of our local libraries. And now I need to finish the proposal for the book and send it off to the agent who is waiting patiently for it.

 

      As for my future – lots and lots of writing.

 

 Now, I’d like to discuss Doorman’s Creek, your young/adult- thriller/suspense novel.

 

What is the premise of Doorman’s Creek? Tell us a bit about the book.

    

   Okay, I won’t give you the standard blurb but a deeper connection. The whole premise is about a mystery and how three childhood teenagers stick together to try and figure out this puzzle before someone else goes missing or worse, dies.

 

      My main character has this ‘pull’ and fascination to Doorman’s Creek, a forest right on the outskirts of their town. He doesn’t know how to explain this but feels as though guided to discover something. While on one of their nature walks they discover a cave. Inside, they not only discover a skeleton but an unknown entity that will change their lives forever. It’s at this point, fifteen-year-old Kyle Anderson gets the gift of visions, able to see in his mind the images of girls attacked by someone lurking in the background, out of a clear view. The boys trace these missing girls according to Kyle’s visions to an old police investigation, The Doorman Killings, a case his father was assigned to.

 

      After a death, Susan Anderson, Kyle’s mom, joins the boys to try and track down the killer before anyone else goes missing.

 

  

How did you come up with the idea?

 

There were two movies I loved, Stand By Me and The Eyes of Laura Mars. I sat down and thought about a concept to connect both of these themes and came up with Doorman’s Creek. Actually, I wrote it first as a screenplay and a couple of years ago transferred it into a book.

 

You have a knack for writing suspense. I was sitting on the edge of my seat. Did you know from the beginning how you would end the book? Are you a methodical plotter or does the book lead you?

    I knew that I wanted to throw readers off the track, that’s for sure. J And no, I had no idea how the book was going to end. I allowed Kyle, Shawn, and Bradley to guide me through their adventure. As I wrote earlier, when a title hits me, I see the ‘movie’ right away and the only detail is how many obstacles the characters will go through.  I’ve tried to plot out a book but find that it hinders my writing. I love to write and surprise myself at the end.  

 

Is there a message in the book you’d like your readers to grasp?

 

Actually, there is. Listen to teenagers. We have a habit of ignoring our teens at times when they have something to say. I played on this fact by using Susan, the mom, to half-listen to her son and his pals, to be on the negative tone at times and to frustrate her son. Afterall, we moms have a habit of doing that at times.

 

Where can we go to learn more about Lea Schizas?  

 

You can find out about me, my sites, blogs, newsletters, editing services, and my books by going to my main site: http://www.leaschizas.com

 

Thank you, Joyce, for giving me the opportunity to be on your site. I’ve truly enjoyed it.

 

Thank you, Lea, it’s been a pleasure. 

Now follow the link to Lea’s website, and find out more about this extraordinary woman.  

Thank you for reading! And come back to see us again.

Joyce Adair