Minion Spotlight: Lynne Cantwell

As 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.

What’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.