Page Created: 07/17/21. Last Updated: 09/12/21.
E J WENSTROM
Meeting Date: September 11, 2021.
Meeting Site: Bergen Highlands United Methodist Church, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey.
Attendance: 20 + 2.
Meeting Program: Talk, Q & A with SF / Fantasy Author.
BOOKS:
..........Departures (science fiction)
..........Sparks (Third Realm Chroinicles)
..........Tides (Third Realm Chroinicles)
...........Mud (Third Realm Chroinicles)
..........Rain, novella (Third Realm Chroinicles)
PODCASTS:
..........Fantasy+Girls (feminist fangirling)
..........ADHD Creative (celebrating differently wired brains)
..........Troped Out (more general genre)
SOCIAL MEDIA
..........Official Site: https://www.ejwenstrom.com/
..........Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/e-j-wenstrom
..........FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/EJWenstrom
..........Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ejwenstrom/
..........Twitter: https://twitter.com/EJWenstrom
Notes:
Two people viewed the test simulcast of this meeting.
Newsletter Account:
The following account is reprinted with permission from THE STARSHIP EXPRESS Copyright 2021 Philip J De Parto:
An account of this meeting will appear in the Meetings area of sfabc.org.
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Notes to incorporate into meeting write up:
Planned to be an Engineer. Then realized she didn't want to do math. Then went to Michigan and got interested in editing and writing;
He collage required her to do an internship. She ended up at a lifesyle magazine publisher.
Got addicted to feature articles.
Has been freelancing since 2007.
Working at a marketing agency gave her the opportunity to do some writing.
They were kicking around some ideas at the agency when a colleague made an offhand comment that "this sounds like a First Contact novel" E J thought so, too, but discovered she lake the expertise to write a novel at the time..
Fantasy Trilogy published by City Owl Press
Mudd, first person POV from golem
Tides, first person POV from woman released from hell
Sparks, first person POV from The Chosen One
Departures (YA SF Dystopia) published by Darkstroke
Took 2-1/2 years to write first draft of Mudd. Took another 2-1/2 years of revisions.
Writes a Zero Draft (very detailed outline) in about a month.
She reached out to Victoria Strauss (Writer Beware!) to vet newbie publisher City Owl.
City Owl has done a great job in marketing and author communication. They try different things, like FaceBook Ads, Open Road, Maple Leaf Promotions, and give feedback about how they are working.
Aspiring writers need to practice finishing a book.
Joined the (Bethesda) Writer's Center.
Must touch her work every day; touching can be research or editing.
While working on her first book she realized that she called herself a feminist but was writing only about male characters.
Recommend John Scalzi article, No, I do not want your idea.
Is mostly a pantser, not a plotter.
Re: Mudd. She wanted to write about a monster that had not been done to death and discovered the golem. Mudd has consciousness but not free will. He/it is bound to his master's will. Robots are modern golems.
Solar Punk, an optimistic eco-friendly sub-genre, has become popular, dystopias were a hard sell for a while.
Fantasy+Girls Podcast: Just winged it with her friend Emma C Wells. Very sporadic. Feminist fangirling.
ADHD Creative Podcast - Celebrating differently wired brains.
Troped Out Podcast is in the works. This will have a broader range.
BookRiot contributor - her thoughts on what she's reading.
DIY-MFA contributor.
How do you get noticed? In an internet age you can reach people everywhere. You need to attract 1000 true fans.
Sets aside a few months to do around-the-clock promotion work after each novel is released - blog tours, guest podcasts, appearances, articles like ADHD, etc. Her books are Print on Demand. Her goal is to sell 1000 books in the year a title is released. She is at 800 with newest book, Departures.
Does not want to be pigeonholed. Part of motivation to switch to science fiction dystopia, Departures.