Every writing project is a new learning experience. I’ve been writing since age six and made a career of it, so it’s been nearly seventy years. Nonetheless, I continue to be mystified by the creative process.

People share my enthusiasm for this memorable and romantic Greek myth. I intended a lighthearted approach to make this an enjoyable and uplifting read while instilling messages of love and redemption.

The works themselves have no connection, except through my own filter of interests and experiences. I write what appeals to me, so I might write in any genre. I suppose I could have more of a following if I wrote in only one genre, but then it would feel as if I were writing for someone else instead of myself. I had a whole career of that, and I might as well return to work as to give up the autonomy I have now.

I’ve written for a number of industries, and have had to please a lot of people with my content. It’s given me confidence in the quality of my work. If I had been bad at my job, my bosses would have let me know decades ago. So, I am indifferent to the flattery many marketers use to entice authors to buy their services. My life experience has provided fodder for my short stories. It’s not so much that my own life has been memorable, but the lives of the people I have met along the way. Some of those short stories are on my website https://pamelahorter-moore.com/. One is based on an incident that occurred when I was public relations coordinator for West Penn AAA. “Lamont” was published years later in a young people’s Christian magazine. Another story describes my life as a consultant living out of a suitcase. Yet another describes taking a job and relocating to a place where I didn’t fit in. I believe I have many other short stories to tell.

I don’t consider myself a beauty like Psyche, but I share her self-doubt. Her humanity is universal. Her suspicion moves her to distrust the loving stranger, not recognizing the deception of her sisters. Her lack of self-awareness leads others to influence her, making her return evil for good when she misreads Eros’ motives.

Actually, the Wars of the Roses found me when I was 12 years old. I was doing research and stumbled across Edward V’s story. Being the same age, I felt a bond which led me to a lifetime of interest in this period. To discover the worst and sometimes the best in human behavior, a person only needs to study history. It’s the leaders who get into the history books, and we usually discover that they weren’t nice people. The duplicity and machinations that go on in the search for power and wealth inform us that we are foolish to trust too much in those who seek them. Sometimes, however, the untold stories concern lesser people who have impacted history in a great way, and yet are never acknowledged for their part in the outcome. They are the true heroes, because they often had nothing to gain from their contributions, and much to lose.

No, they haven’t changed much at all. I still prefer the authors from the old reading lists I was given in high school and college. I never liked romances, even as a young woman, but the myth of Eros and Psyche that I pursue in LoveQuest excites my passion with its themes of love, betrayal, tenacity, and repentance. Historic fiction can be dangerous, because authors can twist history to suit the narrative or to promote an agenda. Yes, people get as defensive about historical figures as they do modern figures. Therefore, any opinion one might gain through reading historical fiction should be taken lightly until it is tested by more research. Some historical fiction is more fiction than history, and people need to understand that before they form opinions of dead people and their times. Even dead people deserve justice and dignity.

My advice would go back even further. I’ve been a writer for a long time, and I made my mistakes young. I say don’t be a loner in your journey as a writer. Work on the school paper and yearbook. Try to get an internship. Join a writers’ group. Submit your stories, plays, and poetry. Be part of the writing community, even if that community is small. For introverts like me, this is painful, but it can open more doors for you.

I find the freedom exhilarating because I have spent a lot of my life writing what other people wanted. Having to please people for a paycheck does give you confidence that you are good enough to earn money at what you do, but it’s not often that you create something that you love at a personal level.

That’s a very hard question to answer because my creative instincts might lead me in any direction, and, hopefully, the form I use will be the best one for my story. I used to write poetry, and some of it is collected on my website, but that was when I was much younger. I believe I am better at prose than poetry. If I had to give an answer, I would probably say short stories or essays because you only need to develop one thought or theme in order to write something that works. Right now, one of my projects is converting my Amazon Kindle Vella serial “Silence of the Centuries” into book format. As a platform, Vella didn’t succeed to Amazon’s satisfaction, but I was one of many authors who were invited to participate. I was gratified to see royalties that exceeded those from my two novels, and I appreciate Amazon’s including me in this project. My challenge is going to be keeping the page limit down. Serials allow for a complexity of subplots and ample opportunities for character development. As a result, when gathered into book format, episodes can translate into several hundred pages. I’m not sure I want to release a 700-page book.

It is easy to be distracted. Perhaps I have too many interests. I continue to think about new content for my history website https://edwardv1483.com. There are other ideas I would like to explore and publish on my author website. Eventually, I would like to gather everything and release it in book format. Realistically, I know time goes faster the older one gets, and health issues cut into the time I have left to create. An interest in genealogy and history complements my writing because genealogy and history naturally lend themselves to narrative. You’ll find stories from local and family history on my author website https://pamelahorter-moore.com/.I have fifty years of journaling to provide me with material for the rest of my life. On my author website, I also share my love of nature in observations and essays, as well as my perspective on religious themes, which I hope resonate with others struggling to find meaning.

Yes. It is tempting to never stop editing. This is one way writers procrastinate and delay releasing their books into the world. People who are careful about their work are particularly susceptible, as they always want to improve upon their best effort. Indie writers have something to prove, because people prejudge the quality of a book that is published independently. I suppose all indie writers would love to get a nod from a large traditional publisher. However, if they only pursue traditional publishing, they might never see their work in print because the competition from big-name writers is just too fierce. Writers have difficult choices to make all the way around. I’ve always said that a writer who does his own proofreading has a fool for an editor. However, it’s easy to want to circumvent that bromide and hope for the best when all you want to do is release your book into the world and see what happens. Of course, every service you request from an editor, formatter, or designer is going to cost money, but you would expect nothing less from a professional. As an indie author, you might wonder how much you want to spend to polish your work and make it the best it can be before you actually publish. Once again, writers have difficult choices to make. Based on experience as a communicator, I warn people not to be arrogant. There are many times in my career when I blew it by overlooking an error, making a poor judgement, and displeasing my bosses. You’re human, and you are never going to hit 100%. But, if you don’t try, you won’t even come close.

The theme of love and betrayal is etched into the human soul. Little is more profound than the deceit of someone who is considered a friend, lover, or protector. This theme from the Greek and Roman gods is played out in the Christian theme of human betrayal and the need for redemption. Just like a religious pilgrim, Psyche has to endure trials and show personal growth before she can be saved because she has proven herself faithless to a love divinely given.

My serial-to-book project has taken up much of my time recently. It’s a class-based dystopia that explores inequity based on money and status. If we erase the artificial barriers of money and influence, we can propel people to be the best they can be, regardless of how small and unimportant they are. How many geniuses have been overlooked or persecuted because they were considered too poor and destitute to consider? I hope for a world where people are admired for what they are, not for their wealth and notoriety.

I think it’s a good value for the money, and I don’t even begin to use all of the tools that are available. I appreciate the tweet scheduler, and the tweets that I can add to this service and that AllAuthor creates for me. It gives me peace of mind. The graphics you offer for book promotion are a big plus.

Although I chose a career path that included writing, it was often not the kind of writing that I found personally satisfying. Writing for someone else isn’t like writing for yourself. There were times when I enjoyed the assignments, but when someone else pays your way, you write what they want. It’s great being retired so I can write what I want all the time and not just in my spare time in between work.

I had a good childhood. We lived in the project until I was five. Then we moved to a house my father had built in the country. That has given me an appreciation and love of nature that I carry into my writing. Yes, southwestern Pennsylvania, with its mid-western feel, has been very influential. The pace is slower and the culture lags behind the east coast, so there is this delightful backwash of “hometown values.” The area is still steeped in the memories of an immigrant past and a steel mill heritage.

In 1973, if someone wanted to distribute a message to a wide audience, he or she was restricted to mass snail-mailings, posters and fliers, mailing lists, telephone chains, and the print media. It could take hours, days, or even weeks to reach the intended audience. If a person had a message of immediate interest or importance, she could contact the broadcast media and hope that they would respond and air the message. If people wanted to meet to discuss an idea, they either had to gather physically or engineer a means to include participants through an elaborate hook-up. It could be very awkward to deal with many people in many locations simultaneously.

In 1983, I attended a video conference in Toronto. So much of the dialog was way beyond me technically, but I did had the startling realization that civilization was on the brink of an information revolution. It could have an effect more staggering than all of the world’s previous revolutions in information technology. It did, it has, and it will.

Now if someone, anyone, wants to distribute a message, he or she can send one in minutes through email, social media, websites, blogs, and other methods of electronic communication. People can meet regardless of location anywhere in the world electronically and be able to see each other and hear each other in real time. This is just the beginning.

I’m very pleased that ordinary people are now empowered to have their voices heard. Publication and dissemination of information is no longer the bailiwick of the powerful and the well-connected (and I mean socially, not electronically). What is needed, however, is more skepticism regarding the information we ingest and give out. As consumers of information, we need to realize that everyone has an opinion, but some opinions are well-informed while others aren’t.

There is the truth, and then there is “the truth.” People pressure communicators and media figures to present information in a way that supports their self-interests. They want to “spin” the news to influence opinion rather than to inform.

One of the most exciting experiences of my career was the gasoline shortage of Spring and Summer 1979. As public relations coordinator for AAA’s Pittsburgh office, I was uniquely placed to be an authority on the situation in Pittsburgh and around the country. I had daily interaction with local and national media and was quoted on the front page of the Wall Street Journal on March 14. I might add that my boss and his boss did not appreciate that I had my name on the front page of the WSJ and not they, but I was the company expert so I took the interview. The gasoline shortage taught me how political events could be used to influence ordinary lives for the worse, and to lower public morale and expectations. (Does the word “malaise” bring back memories for some people?) I was always cynical; my father had a great influence on my political opinions, and he was very jaded, so this event made me even more distrustful of political leaders and opinion-makers.

With great difficulty. I was lucky in that I was single, living away from family, and having few contacts. I could do what I wanted with the free time I had, and writing was one of the things I most wanted to do.

I have been interested in the English Wars of the Roses and Edward V in particular since I was 12. I was his age when I first learned about him, and so I developed an empathy for him that I’ve never lost. He was 12 when he became King, but he never ruled because his uncle usurped his throne and then most likely killed him and his 9-year old brother in the Tower of London.

I started the novel in 1976 and published in 1983, 500 years after the events of his reign. I’ve studied the Wars of the Roses for over 50 years now. For 10 years, I managed a history forum under an alias, and I had a chance to engage other people and other opinions, and sometimes to test my views against theirs.

I was going to write another historical novel, but I have been convinced since to write a history, It will be a major project, and I am always busy. (See Questions 13 and 14.)

Short stories provide a means for a writer to take a quick glimpse of life and say something about it. Naturally, it is easier to sustain the writing momentum in a short work than in a long one.

That goes back to Question 7. I just couldn’t quite get around to it while I was working. When I retired, I discovered that it was the most complete of all my drafts, so it was the one that I promoted.

LoveQuest is the mythical story of Eros, the god of Love, and his forbidden passion for the lovely mortal woman Psyche, who is flawed and faithless. This story has attracted artists throughout the centuries, not only as a romance, but as a fable of the soul in search of its heart’s desire, and a testimony to the redeeming power of love.

I consider myself a generalist. I’m attracted to futuristic dystopias as a means of making political statements (think of Robert Heinlein and Suzanne Collins, for example). I like science fiction and fantasy, and I like contemporary novels. I enjoy reading and writing non-fiction – memoirs and histories.

I guess I can’t be classified as a writer in any particular genre. It has always been the story that has driven me to write, and never the genre.

My husband and I have a lot of interests, and that certainly impacts how much time we have to spend cultivating all of them. I love literature and reading, historical research, music, genealogy, and gardening. He cultivates orchids, which sometimes draws me in just as my writing sometimes draws him in. We both enjoy wildlife and traveling, as well.

I want to write a history of the Wars of the Roses, but that project will take years to complete. In the meantime, I am writing a novella based on my 1965 diary. Nothing is very far along at this point, so another inspiration might have me fired up in a different direction. I have a lot of draft material and a head full of ideas, and I have to go where the inspiration takes me.