Area Author Visits White Lake Township Library

Detroit author shared her thoughts on publishing and writing with a group of fans and inspiring authors last week at her first appearance at .

Gleason’s career took off in 2007 when she had her first book published, The Rest Falls Away. After a couple of years of watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer, she decided to take on the challenge of writing a novel based on vampires. The Rest Falls Away was the ninth book she wrote, and the vampire tales have stuck with her since.

“The program was great. She answered questions about how she became a writer, how she gets her ideas and how she got published,” Denise Harris-Fiems, adult reference librarian at the White Lake Township Library, said of Gleason’s appearance on March 2.

Gleason’s first series, The Gardella Vampire Chronicles, which started with The Rest Falls Away, was an urban fantasy. Now Gleason is set to release a historical vampire series.

“It’s actually really fun, sexy—sort of like a Pride and Prejudice with vampires,” Gleason said. “Everyone is very prim and proper. They go to balls and everything, but vampires lurk about.”

The first book, The Vampire Voss, is set for release March 22. Another book will follow in April, and the next will come in May.

“The paranormal is very, very strong. Originally, I wasn’t sure how the trend was going to last, but it certainly has continued to stay very strong,” Gleason said. “As long as I don’t get bored, I will continue to work on them.”

Gleason, like many authors, has a second name that she goes by. Hers is Joss Ware. When she decided to stray away from vampires and write a series based on the postapocalyptic world, the Envy Chronicles, she went to a different publisher and published her books under the second name. She did this because the series was constructed in two different realms.

“Historical vampire stories to postapocalyptic, it’s such a jump,” Gleason said. “We just wanted to make sure that they were separate.”

According to Gleason, young adults and up read her books, both male and female. When she has speaking engagements, she expects a well-rounded turnout, with a bit of everyone except for younger kids, because she noted that her books are rated R.

Advice to Budding Writers

For those aspiring to be a successful author, Gleason advises never putting the pen down or taking the fingers off the keys. As she said, it was her ninth book that was published. The best thing to do, according to Gleason, is to write a book, send it to a publisher and write another book while waiting to hear something back. She said it takes months at best to hear word on a manuscript, and then it takes about a year to get published and on the shelves—and then about another year to receive any royalties on the novel.

“People tend to wait and see or tend to work on the same book over and over and get to where they’re not too willing to send it out,” Gleason said.

She noted that an author getting his or her work published on the first attempt is very rare, which is why she advises to keep trying.

“You always want to hone your craft, develop writing skills and keep writing,” Gleason said. “I tried to develop my style, wrote a lot of different things, and it helped build my craft.”

Harris-Fiems thought one of the more interesting things Gleason noted was that she doesn’t have any control over what the cover of her books look like.

Finding the Inspiration

Although Gleason worked in the medical field for years, she was always writing and dreaming of what life would be like if she could make it work as a full-time writer. Now with three children, that is exactly what she is doing.

“It is sort of one of those dreams you never think you’re going to have a chance at,” Gleason said.

On average Gleason spends three to four months writing a book. Finding inspiration to fill the pages comes in a variety of moments and forms for Gleason.

“It can be anything really—doing research, seeing someone on the street, watching a movie … anything,” Gleason said.

Gleason is in the process of re-editing some of the books she wrote before she was first published in 2007. Her story Siberian Treasure is now available electronically for the Kindle.