Q1. What is your favorite word?  Either ‘plinth’ or ‘nostrum’. The second is a latin word which if I remember correctly translates as fake or illusory cure. Q2. What is your least favorite word? ‘maybe’ or ‘whatever’. Q3. How has social media helped your career? Well I pretty much have one because of it. My RPG career kicked off when I was in the right place at the right time and the podcasts I host are by definition social media. So it’s basically where I work. Q4. What would you say are the downsides to social media in your career?  The sense you sometimes get of always being on. I went for a job a few months ago, via social media. Didn’t get it. I follow the people at the company I applied for and them tweeting their welcomes to the person who got the job I applied for, have to say, stuck in my craw a little bit. Likewise, the occasional virulent dislike I catch on the escape artists messageboards is hard to walk away from. It’s very easy to always remember the negatives even when the positives vastly outweigh them. Q5. What profession other than your own would…

Q1. What is your favorite word? Petrichor Q2. What is your least favorite word? Hyperbole Q3. How has social media helped your career? Without doubt it’s made it easier to reach readers. More importantly, it’s allowed me to engage with & generally chat to both people who’ve read my work or – more importantly – a section of the SFF community in general. Whether that really helps me in terms of my career is arguable, but it makes it a lot more fun! Q4. What would you say are the downsides to social media in your career?  There’s little more unpleasant than having people being bitchy about something you’ve worked really hard on… and being able to see it. (In the worst cases, bei g goaded about it). You just have to be dignified and social-media blind for a bit – while jabbing a fork into the back of your hand. Q5. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt? Something to do with the theatre of film. Probably directing. I’ve always been fascinated by the process of making plays and cinema. Both totally different; both incredible. Q6. What profession would you not like to do? Not…

Q1. What is your favorite word? Git – it can be delivered with such force for so brief a word also Defenestrate  – because it is brilliant that there is a word for ‘to throw out of a window’ Q2. What is your least favorite word?  Nice – because it is utterly, utterly insipid and manages to convey so very little. Q3. How has social media helped your career? Connections to fans, new readers and others working in the genre. It’s about getting people interested in me rather than selling my books direct ( I have sold books because of a twitter chat as opposed to blatant pimping… which actually  I always do at publication time). Writing is a solitary business and social media is a good way to keep in touch. Also good in terms of learning about events, industry news and the like. Social media allows me to upset Justin Bieber fans at will. This is not a career development thing, it’s just good fun. Q4. What would you say are the downsides to social media in your career?   It is a MASSIVE distraction at times, taking you out of your bubble, destroying concentration and wasting hour upon hour….

Q1. What is your favorite word? Oh, tough question! Probably “ennui”, partly thanks to the Edward Gorey-ness of it. Q2. What is your least favorite word? Moist Q3. How has social media helped your career? I have made so many important contacts – and friends – over twitter, it has become invaluable. It helped me find short story markets and the heart of the writing community, and it’s a great way to keep up with what’s going down in publishing. It even helped me find an agent! Also, there’s something quite unique and marvellous about being able to talk so easily with readers and fellow writers Q4. What would you say are the downsides to social media in your career?   You have to exercise a lot of restraint. There’s always some sort of argument going down somewhere and like everyone, I have strong opinions. It’s important to remember that nothing is truly lost forever on social media, so if you have a bad day and decide to call someone a “steaming fuckwitted tosspot” you have to be ready to stand by that forever. Not that this is necessarily a bad thing, but it can mean writing out lots of posts…

Q1. What is your favorite word?  “Forlorn” – lovely word. Q2. What is your least favorite word? “Shorts” when used as an abbreviation for ‘short stories’ by people who should know better. Q3. How has social media helped your career? It has helped immensely, or rather all the brilliant/eccentric/book-obsessed people I’ve met through it have. For example, I doubt I’d have my current book out via the ace small-press who are publishing it if it wasn’t for social media. I hope social media has allowed me to help a few people back, too, in whatever small way. Q4. What would you say are the downsides to social media in your career?   Mainly by eating into what little writing time I have. Also, I’ve promised so many people on Twitter a drink should we ever meet in real life that I’ll be destitute if I ever encounter them all at onc Q5. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt? Lock-keeper. Somewhat naively, I imagine it allows you plenty of reading time. Q6. What profession would you not like to do? Driving instructor. Q7. What is your favorite curse word?   “Ruddy” Q8. If Heaven exists, what would you…

Q1. What is your favorite word? Boondoggle Q2. What is your least favorite word? Fink. It’s thing, people! Q3. How has social media helped your career?  Well, the short story I have published wouldn’t have been published if I hadn’t discovered a forum Pornokitsch use, and then followed them on twitter and found out about their submission request. It’s a really easy, quick way of keeping abreast of opportunities. Q4. What would you say are the downsides to social media in your career?  It is very easy to get drawn into discussions when people post interesting links, and lose an hour reading. Though that goes for the Internet as a whole! Q5. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?  I’d love to run a cafe, I’m a keen baker, it would have a genre library with big squishy chairs for reading in, the main cafe would have one large table, so everyone sits together and meets new people, and everything sold would be made my hand from scratch where possible. Q6. What profession would you not like to do? Psychiatric nurse. I work on the domestic side at the moment, but between the paperwork and the…

Q1. What is your favorite word? Buffet Q2. What is your least favorite word? Heatwave Q3. How has social media helped your career?  It’s helped me keep in touch with people. Q4. What would you say are the downsides to social media in your career?  It’s a massive timesink. Q5. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt? Copy-editor. Q6. What profession would you not like to do? Professional chef. Q7. What is your favorite curse word?  Darn Q8. If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?  “I’m sorry, but due to a marketing booboo you’ve all been misinformed. We don’t offer blackjack and hookers.” Then he’d smile, turn and point towards a shining room filled with flapjacks and puppies. Muchas gracias Mr S. To find Sam on the Intertubes you would be wise to start here Next Time – Lor Graham

Q1. What is your favorite word? Flabelliform Q2. What is your least favorite word? accommodation (mainly cos I can never spell it properly) Q3. How has social media helped your career? no career without it (such as it is). Forced me to come out from under my stone and get the privilege of talking to readers before they buy my book, as they buy it, while they read it and after they’ve finished it. Eat your heart out Evelyn Waugh. But it’s also led me to think creatively in new ways and that’s fed back into my writing – new digital platforms for narrative etc Q4. What would you say are the downsides to social media in your career?  None about social media itself (though you have to be careful in how you portray yourself through SM). The issue is more one of having to do nall the marketing & promotion yourself, even if others RT you, it’s still down to you every day and that takes time away from the writing Q5. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt? Bass guitarist and lyricist in an art noise band Q6. What profession would you not like…

Q1. What is your favorite word? Trump Q2. What is your least favorite word? Gash Q3. How has social media helped your career? It’s put me in touch with publishers and opened doors for reviews, which has in turn led to a  publisher (small press) contacting me regarding my work-in-progress novel before I’ve even consider querying anyone. It’s also put me in touch with other book bloggers from whom I’ve learnt an awful lot.  It got me close to 3,000 readers for the first draft of my novel, and gave me a reason to carry on writing when I wasn’t sure if there was any point anymore.  I hate to say it but if it wasn’t for Twitter, I’d have given up the dream a year ago. Q4. What would you say are the downsides to social media in your career?  Time! It sucks up soooooo much time. I’d say half my free time is spent writing, the other half trying to keep up with Twitter/FB etc. Q5. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt? Web Design Q6. What profession would you not like to do? Code Monkey. It’s my current profession and the last thing…

Q1. What is your favorite word? Dude Q2. What is your least favorite word? No Q3. How has social media helped your career? I think it probably has, yes, certainly in terms of having more people know who I am and what I do. Q4. What would you say are the downsides to social media in your career? Spending too long on it, having people I don’t know send me messages asking me to critique their work (for free) and then getting shirty when I say I don’t have the time. Q5. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt? I’m a Finance Manager, I’d love to be a professional writer. Q6. What profession would you not like to do? Anything that was too difficult really.  I’d hate to work in an industry that harmed you, I’d hate to work on the ocean. Q7. What is your favorite curse word?  Fuck Q8. If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates? Hey mate, you did alright there, I don’t think you could have fitted much more in. Thanks for the insight Mark! For more information about Mark and…

As a bit of an experiment, I decided recently that it was time to try something new here at The Eloquent Page. Regular readers will know I’ve said before that I love to read, but I’m not a writer. I’ll happily admit however that I’m more than a little bit in awe of anyone who does possess this rare ability. These are my rock stars, the storytellers and the word-smiths. Unsurprisingly, I have an insatiable curiosity about what makes the creative mind function (if I had my way I’d love to rummage around in their heads and see what makes them tick. Sadly, I’ve been advised by my crack legal team that this sort of behaviour is generally frowned upon, at least in a literal sense). I was watching television and an idea occurred to me. Why not ask as many writers as were willing, the same series of questions. If your familiar with Inside The Actor’s Studio then you’ll see that I’ve come up with a questionnaire based on a similiar format to the one used by James Lipton. On the 9th July I sent out a call via Twitter and some lovely writery types replied. Over the next…