Writer, photographer, social critical artist, and storyteller, J. Arlene Culiner, was born in New York and raised in Toronto. She has crossed much of Europe on foot, has lived in a Hungarian mud house, a Bavarian castle, a Turkish cave dwelling, on a Dutch canal, and in a haunted house on the English moors. She now resides in a 400-year-old former inn in a French village of no interest and, much to local dismay, protects all creatures, especially spiders and snakes. She particularly enjoys incorporating into short stories, mysteries, narrative non-fiction, and romances, her experiences in out-of-the-way communities, and her conversations with strange characters.

Website:

http://www.j-arleneculiner.com

Blog:

http://j-arleneculiner.over-blog.com

All sites: https://linktr.ee/j.arleneculiner

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/jarlene.culiner/

Storytelling Podcast: https://soundcloud.com/j-arlene-culiner

On Writing…

I was in France; I had no money; I had no working papers but, as we all know, “necessity is the mother of invention”. A close friend who had worked for Radio France had just died. The week after his funeral, I walked into the radio station, went up to the program director, and announced that I wanted to take over my friend’s slot, do a program on early country music. Looking very uncomfortable, the director asked me if I had any broadcasting experience. Quite breezily, I said I had worked for National Public Radio in the USA. Who would check? How would anyone know I was lying?

Proposing a program on country music wasn’t such a far-fetched idea since I do have a strong North American accent when I speak French. However, back then I knew nothing at all about country music. The program director told me to prepare a couple of programs, and to come back in a month for a test run in the recording studio. I could tell he thought I would be a flop. Even I thought I’d fail.

I spent the next month researching, writing and re-writing amusing (fairly exaggerated) stories about country music singers, and speaking into a pretend microphone. Then, knees knocking with terror, heart thumping wildly, I went for my test. Much to my astonishment, I was given the job. Yes, I had to learn all the techniques from scratch, but everyone at the radio helped me. And that was my beginning as a writer (and broadcaster).

On Being Published…

While I was working at Radio France, one of the announcers, Christine, confessed that she had always wanted to write a romance novel. This was also one of my secret goals. We both made a vow to write a whole novel over the next few months. I stuck with it and finished mine; Christine only completed the first few chapters of hers. I sent my manuscript out. It was refused by publishers (no surprise: it was pretty awful stuff, and I still wince when I look at it). But I kept on writing, developing a style, and finally getting published.

Today, although I write non-fiction, I still adore writing romances—especially when I can create delightful and original characters and unusual settings. Mix in hope and humor, add tenderness and a happy end — what could be more fun? But that’s not all…

For me, a good book is packed with information, and when I finish reading it, I know more than I did when I began. So it is with the three books in my series, Blake’s Folly Romance. 

In the first book, A Room in Blake’s Folly, we follow a town from silver boom days to its current state as dusty semi-ghost town. In All About Charming Alice, we learn some Nevada history and a bit about reptiles. In Desert Rose, my hero, Jonah Livingstone is a geologist who also plays the baroque cello, and the very secretive Rose has quite a few hidden talents, too.

On Publishing Industry…

I have always been traditionally published. I feel that my work is validated if a publisher wants to spend time and money on what I’ve written. I did, however, self-publish a non-fiction book that had gone out of print, and this was an excellent idea because, after nineteen years, it is still alive, healthy, and finding readers.

Two of my books did once fall into the hands of a quack. The publisher never sent me royalties (she claimed the books weren’t selling) handed over quantities to third party sellers. It took many years of threats, nasty letters, and struggle before I could get my rights back.

On Marketing…

I’ll admit it: I am not good at marketing. I blog, I write about my romance books, I do much research for the non-fiction books I write, and I also have a podcast. Does any of this make me rich and successful? No, of course not.

On Goals and Dreams…

My goal as a published author is to give readers an enjoyable story, one that is quirky, very well written, and filled with humor. If people enjoy what I’ve done, then that’s my idea of success.