Q: Why did you become a writer?
A: I became a writer because I love conjuring, writing, and sharing stories. Also, my vocal chords would never earn me a spot on The Voice, I have no rhythm for dancing, and I have an anxiety attack whenever someone asks me to draw stick figures
Q: Where can I find advice on writing?
A: There are literally THOUSANDS of how-to books out there. You can also take classes in college, attend writing workshops at conferences and conventions, watch instructional videos on the Internet, or join up with a writing group. The best advice I can give though, is this: develop an insatiable appetite for reading, and work a little bit every day at writing your own stories. You want to take a master class from an expert writing teacher? No problem. Just read an excellent novel or short story or flash piece and figure out how the author did it, then apply that lesson to your own writing.
Q: Do you have a Facebook page?
A: You can interact with me on my author Facebook page here. Fair warning though: I don’t check Facebook very often. If you post a message and I don’t respond in a reasonable amount of time, feel free to visit my contact page and ask me what my problem is.
Q: When is your birthday?
A: I was born on the greatest holiday of the year—Halloween 1970.
Q: What kind of books do you like to read?
A: I read a broad range of books from a lot of different authors, everything from science fiction and fantasy to horror, dystopian, thrillers, adventure, and non-fiction. I’m also a prolific audiobook listener during my commutes to and from the office. If you’re interested, you can see which books I’ve read over the last several years on my Reading page. (Which may or may not be heavily skewed by an abundance of Stephen King stories. Just sayin’.)
Q: Do you accept story ideas?
A: No, I do not. I have enough of my own ideas floating around inside my head to last me the next several years, with more new ideas floating in all the time. Plus, I don’t want to get sued one day by someone claiming that I stole his idea. If you have a great idea for a story, why not go write it yourself?
Q: Where do you get your ideas?
A: Ideas are everywhere. It’s not so much a matter of where they come from as what to do with them once they’ve barged through your front door and propped their muddy boots up on your coffee table. You have to ask them lots of questions and listen to what they tell you. Sometimes, if they’re interesting enough, they get to hang out and make themselves at home. Other times you just have to open the front door and kick ‘em out into the snow.
Q: Will you read my manuscript and give me feedback?
A: Nope, I won’t. What you’re looking for is an editor. I’m a writer. I’ve done my fair share of writing group critiques and, I’m sorry to say, have probably discouraged more budding writers than I’ve ever helped. I just don’t have the patience for it. Or the time. And I’m pretty heavy-handed with the redlining. My own manuscripts look like a side of freshly butchered beef by the time I’m done with them. If you set your manuscript aside for several weeks and then come back to it, you’ll likely be appalled by some of the things you find on the page. If I don’t point out all the terrible things you did wrong, then you can’t get mad at me and start calling me lots of nasty names. If you do it to yourself though, well, the horse pill tends to go down with much less choking and gagging that way.
Q: When will your stories be published?
A: When will the Apocalypse be here? When will we have reputable politicians in the capital? When will the Browns get a shot at the Super Bowl? Okay, maybe I’m getting a little carried away here. The answer isn’t, of course, never. (At least I hope not. That would really suck.) Someday I hope it happens. But it’s not really something I have much control over. I don’t get to say which magazine slush reader sees my story, nor do I control their tastes or moods when they pick it up to read it. I can only control how much I write, and the quality of my writing, and my dedication to the craft and the business. I control submitting to the markets, and tracking my progress, and making contacts in the industry, and trying to be a good resource for my fellow writers, and trying to give people something awesome to read by staying informed and up-to-date and trendy. In the meantime, if you read one of my stories and go, “Oh wow, that was amazing!” and in a blush of euphoric afterglow decide you want to float some Paypal my way, then send away my friend, send away.
Q: What’s the best way to contact you?
A: Welp, you found my website, which means your clickety-clacky fingers either typed inside a search box window or browser, and then somehow you managed to navigate to this page and—VOILA!—here you are. Thank you for stopping by. Seriously, from the bottom of my heart, I’m really glad you’re here. Maybe you’ve read one or two or all of these FAQ’s, and you’re thinking to yourself, This dude is kind of rockin’, and now you want to social media stalk me. Just how would one go about doing that, exactly? You have three options:
Email me at morgan@morganbroadhead.com
Send me a message on my Contact page
Write a comment in one of my blog posts
I can’t promise I’ll respond to everything, but I can promise I’ll at least read your message.
Q: What do you do when you’re not writing?
A: Wouldn’t that be the best if I could say writing was my full-time gig? Alas, it’s not, and the truth is that sometimes I put my underwear on backwards in the dark just the same as everyone else does.
Or maybe that’s just me . . .
At any rate, I have a full-time job that pays the bills and feeds the family and buys medicine when we get all fevery. We’re also building our own house—by hand—something I highly recommend NEVER doing unless you have vast amounts of training in the wilderness-survival-special-forces-ninja arts, along with a willingness to ignore all your friends and family for at least seven years.
It’s the small in-between moments that matter most, and I take advantage of them whenever I can. I use my lunch hour to write. I read books at night before bedtime instead of watching television (we’re not even hooked up to satellite or cable). I don’t follow sports. I have to say No to a lot of invitations I would otherwise love to accept. It’s all about the choices we make in life, and I simply choose some things over others, things that make me more happy—like writing—over things that make me less happy, like lunch with my coworkers, or watching football, or having a meaningful social life. <Sigh>