The Book Attic Interviews Author Andrea Campbell City: Hot Springs VillageState: ArkansasCountry: USA Tell us what makes you proud to be a writer from your City, State or Country: Arkansas natives are very nice. And I do get great press, both locally and statewide. I’ve just loved being an author, because it suits me and this area is conducive to quiet thinking (I walk two miles in the woods every day). Two years ago I chaired the first ‘Mystery Writers of America Workshop’ in Arkansas—Murder in Spa City—(the events have always been held in Dallas or Houston). We had a terrific turnout for the inaugural year, 65 attendees, and made over $800. Now we are having conferences here every year. So the talent is here. What or who inspired you to become a writer: It was actually more a circumstance. My dentist found a tumor in my lower mandible and I had jaw surgery and complications for about four years. I wanted to find an industry that I could do at home, because I was either waiting for a surgery repair or recovering from one. At first I thought I would sell crafts. I’m pretty good at art, but terrible at selling. So I would make paintings or whatever and if people admired them, I’d give them away! Not great for industry… I had always had an abiding love of reading and am pretty good at interviewing so I started writing job profiles for career magazines and I just kept going, creating work and book projects from there. Tell us why you write the genre(s) that you write: I am the author of 12 traditionally published nonfiction books and I specialize in forensic science, criminal law, and entertaining using interactive parties. My interests and my body of work follow my expertise. I have a degree in criminal justice and am a trained forensic artist; because of that, I belong to several professional organizations. Currently I am Editor of the’ Arkansas Identification News’, a quarterly that goes out to forensic scientists and law enforcement whom all belong to the ‘International Association for Identification’. With these ties I can attend workshops and forensic science training sessions and can get first-person interviews if needed. So I am at home in this venue and have a lot of knowledge about the criminal justice industry. The entertaining and party books relate to all the “joiner” type activities I’ve done throughout my life. My husband and I were are reps for a student foreign exchange outfit and we threw a lot of parties, because it was a good way to check up on “people interaction” and was a great way to break down inhibitions and barriers with large groups. I also tested out my party games and skills on women’s clubs, ethnic groups, animal association groups, you name it. I kind of became the “Game Lady” in my area so-to-speak. My first book, Great Games for Great Parties is a bestseller; it was on the market for 14 years. And I’m also an expert in primatology and have been studying monkeys and apes since 1989. I raised a capuchin monkey for ‘Helping Hands’. “Ziggy” Campbell is now a helper-companion for a quadriplegic. I got this little baby monkey at five weeks old and had her for thirteen years! (They live about 46 years.) Of course, I wrote a memoir about this seat-of-the-pants adventure; a book called: ‘Bringing Up Ziggy: What Raising a Helping Hands Monkey Taught Me About Love, Commitment and Sacrifice’.What special projects are you working on now and what books do we have to look forward to in the future? I just started my own publishing company, Primate Press, LLC and we brought out our first title just recently. It’s for my niche audience, monkey lovers, and is entitled: ‘Love Monkey: A Tale of Desire, Romance & Intrigue’. My first fiction, this book is a romantic-intrigue (yes, there’s murder) and it’s a little whacked in that the characters are all monkeys who drive cars, hold jobs, and do all the things that humans do (sometimes better!). There is a really fun aspect to this book in the graphics. My colleague, Pam, and I collected digital pictures of real monkeys from our friends, and then we created scenes for characterization and Pam photo-shopped them with clothes and props. The result is beautiful and engaging – - very different from anything that’s out there I think. This book has its own Web site where readers can see a few characters, download a “sell sheet,” or pick up a copy of the Author Notes (insider secrets). The URL is: http://www.monkeyromance.com Check it out! Website (where you sell your books): My personal Web site (34 pages long with forensic science, and, oh, a bunch of stuff) is: http://www.andreacampbell.com and the books are sold on: http://www.andreacampbell.com/BuyBooks.html Email address (where other authors can communicate with you): campbell@arkansas.net By the way, I send out a FREE, bi-monthly author’s e-newsletter called ‘Soup’s On’. It has Q & A interviews with some of the top authors, ideas for promotion, and tips about craft. To subscribe, just send an e-mail to: campbell@arkansas.net and please put “subscribe newsletter” in the subject line. And one other thing: I teach two e-courses with Absolute Write. One is called: ‘Publish That Book: How to Create a Nonfiction Book Proposal That Sells (8 weeks)’ and it alternates with: ‘The Gatekeepers: All About Agents and Editors—Getting them, working with them, and growing as a career author (4 weeks)’.http://www.absoluteclasses.com/Campbell/publish.htmhttp://www.absoluteclasses.com/Campbell/gatekeepers.htm
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