Minion Spotlight: Lynne Cantwell

author lynne cantwell iu hatAs you probably know by now, the staff authors here at Indies Unlimited are referred to as minions. No one is sure exactly how or when that started, but it stuck. What you may not realize is that all the minions (and everyone) here at IU work for free. That’s right, they don’t get a dime out of this. They do it out of the goodness of their hearts. So our Fearless Leader (admin) thought it would be nice to give some props to the minions by featuring each of them in a spotlight interview. We hope you enjoy it.

What is your name?

Lynne Cantwell. Although I also answer to Mom, Mum, Woman, and “Hey, lady!”

What is your quest?

To find the Grail. And my father did not smell of elderberries, thank you very much.

What is your favorite color?

Blue. I find it calming to be surrounded by blue things when I’m recuperating from people telling me my father smelled of elderberries.

What the heck were you thinking when you did that one thing that one time?

You mean the time when I stuffed Kat’s dirty socks behind the warp drive in the engine room? Well, I was just… Wait a minute. You weren’t supposed to know about that! Who told?

If you could be a tree, what kind would you be?

A Colorado blue spruce, because I would smell nice, and because I would be living in Colorado. (Yes, I know spruce trees grow lots of other places. It’s my tree and it’ll live where I want it to.)

When was your first book published?

The Maidens’ War was published by Calderwood Books in 2010.

What is your favorite genre to write?

I keep coming back to various flavors of fantasy. Most of my books are either urban fantasy or contemporary fantasy. Sometimes they tilt toward magic realism, though; the series I’m working on now has magic, but it’s more earth-based as opposed to coming from supernatural beings like vampires or fairies.

snow on cactusWhat’s the best part about writing? What’s the hardest?

The best part is getting lost in the writing. One time, I was writing a story set in the summertime; I finished a scene, glanced out the window, and was surprised to see it was snowing.

The hardest is marketing. We hates it, precioussss…

What makes being a part of the IU community important to you?

True story: I once explained to another indie author, who was clearly in it for the money, that IU minions are all volunteers. She was incredulous. She could not wrap her brain around the idea that anyone would just give away their time and expertise. But for me, working with IU is a public service. I learned a lot about the business from seasoned indies when I was first starting out, and by writing for IU, I get to pay it forward.

Plus the minions are all hilarious.

Why do you choose to go Indie?

I believed Joe Konrath when he said I could get published faster and make more money than I would by going trad. He wasn’t wrong, by the way.

What do you love most about being an indie?

I love the control. I can write whatever I want, to whatever length I want. I can make sure my book covers have something to do with the plot. I get to pick the release dates for my books. I have the power, baby!

What are you working on now?

I’m putting the finishing touches on Maggie on the Cusp, the second book in the Transcendence trilogy – which should be out shortly – and beginning the process of drafting the third book. I’m also working on a memoir off and on, and I just had an excerpt from that published in Five59 Publishing’s Free For All anthology.

Author: Administrators

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19 thoughts on “Minion Spotlight: Lynne Cantwell”

  1. Love the story about writing about summer only to “wake up” and realize it was snowing outside. Been there, done that. Once I was so immersed in a time travel story that I had a hard time reconciling my modern world when I was done. The mark of a good book, whether writing or reading.

  2. I had a similar “what is volunteer?” experience in community theatre! A guy wandered in to the local “little” theatre canvassing for jobs, and didn’t know the meaning of the word (literally! He asked “so how much do volunteers make an hour?”) It took several minutes to explain, as kindly as possible, that community theatres can’t afford staff and therefore rely on volunteers, and that those people were not paid and considered their time working on plays partly a leisure activity.

    Thanks for letting us find out more about you, best of luck with the release of the next book!

  3. Love the questions. Love the answers. Keep the interviews coming! Not one word of advice, but still very inspiring, somehow… How did you do that?

  4. What fun, Lynne! I appreciate and respect the “minions” at Indies Unlimited. Have spent many wonderful hours, years, hanging out with all of you. Thanks so much. 🙂

  5. Hah! C’mon, ‘fess up. What did you do with Kat’s socks??? And did it have anything to do with that odd…fragrance that floated around for weeks?

  6. Hi Lynne,
    Thank you for sharing your deepest and darkest secrets about the socks, blue spruce and elderberrys. Are you sure you didn’t use the socks to strain the elderberry mash for elderberry wine in the blue spruce barrel? Or you’ll never tell LoL
    Best Wishes and thank you
    Joe

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