Interview With Author Andrew Gorman

 

1. What inspired you to write this book? My inspiration stems from a yearning to be self-employed, working from home (WFH). I had a catalog of WFH ideas and found one crafting
Christmas spider ornaments. What a great idea! I inquired and received the starter kit. Downside to this was that they wanted me to purchase ALL the crafting material from them at a 300% markup. I told myself "The hell with that!" and I went out and got my own material and improved upon the design. Years later, I am still working as a debt slave, telling myself I need to change this. My family has always suggested I write but I could never decide on what to write about? I kicked around some ideas but wanted something easy to write up and get published. That was when I remembered my Christmas spider ornament explanation. I did some research on the Christmas spider and came up with my "The Legend of The Christmas Spider" by piecing together the story from what I found.

2. What exactly is it about and who is it written for? This book is about a family long, long ago who prepared their house and Christmas tree for Father Christmas and the God Child. An inquisitive spider family living in the house explored the tree, leaving strands of webbing. The strands were changed into gold and silver thread/tinsel, making the tree even more beautiful!
"The Legend of The Christmas Spider" is written for young children and
their parents who love to read to their children.

3. What do you hope readers will get out of reading your book? I hope readers will get a sense of love and warmth Our Lord has for us and pass that on to others. Another aspect I want them to get from reading my book is that there are different traditions at Christmas time all around the world.

4. How did you decide on your book’s title and cover design? It was a no brainer on coming up with the title! I researched Christmas spider and found it is a tradition in Eastern Europe,
especially Western Ukraine. This story/tradition goes way back so it made sense to call it a legend and title the book "The Legend of the Christmas Spider". The cover design was done by my illustrator, Sophia Borjorquez. I let her creativeness guide her and she came up with several cover designs for me to choose from. I chose the one with the title in archaic looking lettering as that added to the "legend" feel as well as the spider hanging off the C in Christmas. I also liked the pine branches with ornaments that accents the book being about Christmas.

5. What advice or words of wisdom do you have for fellow writers – other than run!? My advice is to FINISH what you start! This book is the first of my many endeavors that I have started and saw it through to the end! What a great feeling of accomplishment when I sent the last of the illustrations in, getting the book finalized. We celebrated when I received my 10 copies. I surged with pride holding those books, started to cry as I held something I envisioned, wrote and got it published! Another word of advice is to surround yourself with
friends/family/coworkers who are SUPPORTIVE and ENCOURAGING in the work you are doing. They kept me going and I did not want to disappoint them. Before I wrote the book, I was in a relationship with a woman who frowned upon my creativeness and I tried to keep her happy by not crafting Christmas spiders, writing poems or work on my book ideas. I felt dead inside and I finally left her. Then I met the lady, in 2021, who found my creativeness absolutely amazing, a gift from God! She was so positive and encouraging that I found the inspiration to write. I married that dear sweet lady in March 2023!

6. What trends in the book world do you see -- and where do you think the book publishing industry is heading? Seems to me the trend is to write self-help and autobiographies! But
more and more people are turning to the internet to do blogs and such. It is easier to post on youtube or tik tok or your own website to get your word out than to put it into a book. I feel the book publishing industry is on a slow decline. I love to read but I am so busy earning
a living and staying current on world events that I do not have the time to read like I use to. I feel more and more people are becoming like me, no time to read. So that equates to books not selling unless they are E books. Books don't sell, bookstores close, publishers close
up shop.

7. Were there experiences in your personal life or career that came in handy when writing this book? Yes, I picked up some writing skills while in college getting a Bachelor's Degree at Colorado State University (CSU), then my Master's in History at Ft. Hays State University (FHSU). My adviser and teachers at CSU were constantly onto me about my papers. Try as I
might, my papers always seemed to tell a story instead of staying with historical facts, relating those facts in a manner consistent with a historical narrative they preferred. Working on my Master's Degree at FHSU, I got better with my papers holding with a historical narrative
but I still had to change a few papers because the storytelling would creep in.

8. How would you describe your writing style? Which writers or books is your writing similar to? I feel my emerging writing style is of a narrative descriptive nature although I have never thought about this until now. I have lots of favorite authors and have read many, many books but I really do not know if I am writing like they do as my book is a children's book and the books I like are mostly techno-thrillers written by my favorite author Clive Cussler.

9. What challenges did you overcome in the writing of this book? Procrastination. Always talking about doing something but not getting around to doing it, throwing obstacles in my way as excuses for not doing what I know I need to do. But that all changed when positive and encouraging people came into my life. I got a better attitude, which improved when I came back to Jesus, was re-born and started a new life. All the positive energy fired me up and I started putting my book together. Another challenge I overcame was trying to do it all myself. I have had bad experiences relying on people helping me. Dealing with excuses for not being there to help like they said they would. I needed help with this book, finding a publisher and an illustrator. I turned to my girlfriend at the time and she suggested I ask a mutual friend as she knows lots of people. So, I asked this friend for her help. She came through for me with a publisher and an illustrator!

10. If people can buy or read one book this week or month, why should it be yours? It should be my book as this is the holiday season and I have the perfect book for the holiday season! "The Legend of The Christmas Spider" engages the whole family. The book reads easy, lettering is large for those who do not want to wear their reading glasses. There are beautiful illustrations reflecting the wording on each and every page. I have Christmas spiders at the end of the book for the children to color. The book also makes a great Christmas gift!

 

About The Author: Andrew Gorman has had a passion for being creative since he was a toddler playing soldier with his army men in the sandbox. He realized he had a way with words while getting his BA in history at Colorado State University. He continued to refine his creativity by serving as an armor officer in the U.S. Army and then writing papers to get his MA in history at Fort Hays State University. Andrew currently resides in Plano, TX, where he spends his time growing in the Word of God, dancing with his wife Clarissa, crafting Christmas spider ornaments and working on his next book. https://www.christianfaithpublishing.com/books/?book=the-legend-of-the-christmas-spider

 

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Brian Feinblum should be followed on www.linkedin.com/in/brianfeinblum. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog ©2024. Born and raised in Brooklyn, he now resides in Westchester with his wife, two kids, and Ferris, a black lab rescue dog, and El Chapo, a pug rescue dog. His writings are often featured in The Writer and IBPA’s The Independent.  This award-winning blog has generated over 3.6 million pageviews. With 4,800+ posts over the past dozen years, it was named one of the best book marketing blogs by BookBaby  http://blog.bookbaby.com/2013/09/the-best-book-marketing-blogs  and recognized by Feedspot in 2021 and 2018 as one of the top book marketing blogs. It was also named by www.WinningWriters.com as a "best resource.” For the past three decades, including 21 years as the head of marketing for the nation’s largest book publicity firm, and director of publicity positions at two independent presses, Brian has worked with many first-time, self-published, authors of all genres, right along with best-selling authors and celebrities such as: Dr. Ruth, Mark Victor Hansen, Joseph Finder, Katherine Spurway, Neil Rackham, Harvey Mackay, Ken Blanchard, Stephen Covey, Warren Adler, Cindy Adams, Todd Duncan, Susan RoAne, John C. Maxwell, Jeff Foxworthy, Seth Godin, and Henry Winkler. He hosted a panel on book publicity for Book Expo America several years ago, and has spoken at ASJA, Independent Book Publishers Association Sarah Lawrence College, Nonfiction Writers Association, Cape Cod Writers Association, Willamette (Portland) Writers Association, APEX, Morgan James Publishing, and Connecticut Authors and Publishers Association. His letters-to-the-editor have been published in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, New York Post, NY Daily News, Newsday, The Journal News (Westchester) and The Washington Post. His first published book was The Florida homeowner, Condo, & Co-Op Association Handbook.  It was featured in The Sun Sentinel and Miami Herald.