Meet Tina Blenke! Tina is a fantastic new up & coming LGBT author with a bright, smile & intriguing mind! I had a chance to do a quick Q&A with this lovely young lady & here are the answers! I hope you'll enjoy it!
The author contact info is at the bottom of this interview!
Thanks so much, Tina! We adored this session!
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(Q): What do you feel is the biggest reward to you with writing?
(A): I just need one reader to tell me it was the most perfect story that made them laugh, brought them to tears, and made them feel good about the characters. I have a beta reader that told me she thought about my characters all day, she was drawn to the story and my main characters so much that she dreamed about them that night, too. This moved me. It made me feel special to know that I had taken all of the emotion that I felt in telling the story and transferred it so effectively that she felt it on the other side of the book. Just one reader is all it takes for me.
(Q): Who are some of your favorite authors & why?
(A): Yikes, this is a tough question because there are so many that I love and I’ll feel bad for leaving anybody out. The first author I ever read in M/M romance was K.A. Mitchell and it’s because of her that I fell in love with gay romance. Collision Course is the book that I credit with my own personal reason for writing M/M instead of M/F and it’s all because I fell in love with Joey and Aaron. This is my definite go-to book when I need a quick escape to something warm and familiar. Another favorite author is Cardeno C because I know that this will have me laughing out loud and filling me full of “aww” moments. It also helps that CC also writes paranormal like me. Outside of romance, I love to read Stephen King and Rob Thurman, two fantastic thriller authors. King makes me afraid to turn pages while Thurman has me lusting over snarky characters one minute and enjoying violence and gore the next. What’s not to love? A new author to the scene is PT Denys. She had me shredded and left for raw after reading her novel. I was such a mess after reading Violence Begets that I had to stop reading all novels for nearly a week and then recuperate with Collision Course. Then, I have a long list of favorites that make up my immediate buy list that include Damon Suede and Stephani Hecht and Kade Boehme.
I love to read all the time. No kidding, I read a minimum of an hour a day and more if I’m lucky. I read first thing in the morning and the last thing at night. My nose is constantly glued to my Kindle app.
(Q): What are the biggest hurdles to overcome as an author?
(A): Finding the time to write is always a challenge since I’m the primary bread winner in the family with a demanding job as a business analyst. Sometimes, I can write thousands of words in one sitting and the prose pours out of me like fine wine and other times I have to force words onto the page in an effort to get started. It all depends on the week. After that, I have to admit that the marketing portion is the most challenging for me. I’d much rather write stories, read novels, or talk about books. That is my passion. Marketing is a new world for me and is definitely a huge hurdle.
(Q): Is there any advice that you can offer for new writers?
(A): Just write. Write what you know about and what you feel most passionate about. I dragged through the completion of my first novel because I wasn’t in love with one of the main characters but once I fixed the problem, I completed the story in a few months. The same thing happened with my second story to be released in November. The story came to me and it was written and signed within a few months. In the meantime, I’ve had another story that’s taken me over a year to write but I keep plugging away. Eventually, the characters will find their groove and it will be a fantastic story. But if I don’t take the time to write, then my dream sits there on my laptop and nobody will be able to read it. If you want it, then take it. Dust off that story, finish it, and submit it. It might get rejected and then you polish it up again and re-submit. Don’t let somebody else tell you that your dreams aren’t good enough. Everybody has a story to tell.
(Q): Tell us a few random personal things about yourself personal & professional!
(A): I’m a seasoned world traveler and have lived in several countries on a few continents. Because my father was in the Air Force, I’m used to moving every few years and I get antsy when I’ve been in one place too long. I combat the need to move by redecorating and painting various rooms in my home or traveling throughout the year to visit family scattered all over the states. I enjoy traveling to GayRomLit and meeting with fellow authors and readers for a week of retreat and debauchery.
Outside of the reading and writing world, I like to crochet. I’m working on a TARDIS afghan at the moment since I’m a huge Doctor Who fan. I love to cook and I enjoy watching football and I absolutely love to snuggle up with my three dogs. I have a Husky and two Chihuahuas that make up my own little pack of hellhounds.
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