Both of them have been collaborating on this site for a while; interviewing authors, writing reviews and just plain having fun.
So, let's waste no time, what writers inspire you both?
Stacy: As for me, I tend to lean toward the classics, i.e. Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Emily Bronte, etc... but have also discovered some modern favorites: Hannah Tinti, Katherine Arden, John Comfort, to name a few.
Hannah Tinti...that's a new author for me. Seems, she received the PEN/Nora Magid Award for Magazine editing in 2009 for One Story. And Mischenko, who inspires you?
Mischenko: Probably like most people, I have favorites. Jodi Picoult, Nicholas Sparks, Anne Rice, Jamie McGuire, and Diana Gabaldon are all favorite authors. I also love classics like: Mark Twain, Hemingway, Poe, Tolkien, Orwell, and Roald Dahl. A few newly discovered authors that come to mind are: Katherine Arden, Blake Crouch, and Bryn Greenwood. It's really hard to jot down a small group because there are simply too many fascinating and prolific authors out there.
Oh Roald Dahl! I used to read his books to my second graders. Matilda was one of my favorites.
What are your ambitions for your writing career?
Stacy: I, myself, never saw myself, really, as a writer. I do enjoy helping authors achieve their dream as much as I can. That being said, I do not know what the future holds, and will not rule out the possibility of one day, maybe, writing a book.
Mischenko: I have never really considered myself a writer past poetry and college papers, but now that we've started a blog, I'm writing more. Around 2013, I thought about writing a book about the power that foods and nutrition have on disease (specifically autoimmune in nature). I've also thought about writing a memoir. Maybe it will happen in the future.
Mischenko, I really think you will publish one day. I found myself wanting to write a book about five years ago and slowly, but surely I'm making it happen, but it takes a lot of diligence. Keep your eyes open for my book, titled,"Oh Brother" released sometime in 2017.
So, what have you written?
Mischenko: I used to write a lot of poetry and submitted some of my poems online, but never had anything published, etc. I still like to write poetry as a hobby. I love writing reviews for books on Goodreads.
Mischenko, I loved your review on children's book, The Very Hungry Caterpillar. I loved the illustrations in that book and used to read it as a kid.
Speaking to your writing,what are you currently working on and what is it about?
Mischenko:twogalsandabook.com is a blog that Stacy and I put together to review books simultaneously and occasionally do interviews with authors when we can. Viewers can get two perspectives on books and also see Q&A's with authors on books they've written.
Stacy: Presently, our blog twogalesandabook is taking most of my time, apart from my personal life. As those blogging skills develop, who knows where that may lead?
Two perspectives! I think that's what will truly bring followers to your blog. Two heads are bigger than one as the saying goes. I like how you do giveaways on your blog. Any book a person reads is awesome, but a book for free makes one more reader.
What drew you to blogging?
Stacy: It had been suggested to me in the past, that I should do this, but it never really gelled until I met Mischenko and we started tossing the idea around and came to the conclusion this was something we could do together.
Seems you two are great friends.
Mischenko: Stacy and I started talking about it, and we just sort of went for it. It felt right because we both love books, reading, and conversation. I thought about doing it awhile back, but just wasn't sure. After meeting Stacy, there just wasn't a question anymore, and it seemed like we had the right perception and qualities.
For your own reading, do you prefer ebooks or traditional paper/hard back books?
Stacy: I am old-fashioned, and even though I own a Kindle and a computer, I prefer traditional books over any other form.
I totally get what your saying. I love the feel of traditional books.
Mischenko: I have to say, I like both. It took me some time to get used to my Kindle though! I just really fancy the smell and feel of physical books. Plus, I really appreciate looking at them too.
I know I love my books too. I used to organize them by the front cover (reds with reds, greens with greens, etc), and then genre and then I would organize them alphabetically. I just can't decide which is the best way.
Mischenko:I love library adventures and have a specific shelf for library materials alone. I think I'd be sad if we didn't have traditional books anymore, but it definitely wouldn't stop me from reading. I think a huge advantage to having a kindle is the dictionary feature.
Do you think that the cover plays an important part in the buying process?
Stacy: I think, for me, about 50% of the time, I am drawn to a book by the cover. Something about it sparks my interest. I would say the rest of the time it could be the title, the genre or a recommendation.
Mischenko: I've always stuck with the old adage, "You can't judge a book by its cover." I do think the cover helps. I mean, it's usually the first thing I see. It doesn't sell me, but it can undeniably bait me. I recently purchased a book called "Wintersong" by S. Jae-Jones. I was instantly in love with the cover because it's beautiful to me, but didn't buy it solely due to the visual. It was the title, blurb, and cover all wrapped into one.
Yes, Wintersong has got that rose in a snow globe feel to it. I've got so many snow globes. It's no wonder author, S. Jae-Jones, chose to use that cover.
Last question, what would you say are the main advantages and disadvantages of self-publishing against being published or the other way around?
Stacy: As far as blogging goes, I am not sure if this would really apply, but I suppose both share the disadvantages of not having a big "money" backer to finance something catchy, advertise, employ state of the art technology and CGI, etc. But at the same time, being independent, and going our own route has the advantage of not being told what we can and can't do-- we are not beholden to any big corporation as to what is "allowed", and I do like that autonomy... whereas if I were a famous author, with a contract to a publisher, there could possibly be restrictions as to what could be said since everything would reflect on them.
Mischenko: I'm not sure how to answer this pertaining to blogs in general, but would guess that doing anything alone has its advantages and disadvantages. A huge advantage, to me, is that we can put our own time and creativity into something and have the satisfaction that we did it ourselves. The content can be controlled and we can spend our time as we see fit. I think this opens the door to endless opportunities. A disadvantage could be that perchance it's not as easy and might not get as much traffic as others. It will obviously be more laborious.
So, what part of your writing time do you guys devote to marketing your blog?
Stacy: I spend a fair amount of time in that pursuit, not only posting about it, but trying to learn more ways, avenues, approaches, etc, that it could be done. So, again, thinking outside the box, and being creative are useful skills in our endeavor.
Mischenko: I'd say it's taking scads of time presently because we're just getting started. It's not just reading and writing reviews at this point. We are in full swing, striving to be creative and idealistic.
That's all the time we have today. Remember readers, Stacy and Mischenko will be doing a giveaway of author, Brian Michels's Book, "The Last Bar in NYC. -this book documents real life places, celebrity faces and amazing characters only found in New York. Go to this site and enter your contact info to win.
You can get in touch with Stacy on her goodreads handle or Mischenko on her site.
Readers, if you know of any swanky places to eat, enter them in the comments below.
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