Blog Name: A Writer of Wrongs
Author Name: Terry Towery
Link: http://www.awriterofwrongs.blogspot.com/
A Writer of Wrongs tells the hilarious account of Terry Towery’s journey towards becoming a published author. Features include witty humor, (in every post, no less) in fairly regular updates. You won’t find much in the way of writing tips or advice, but you will find a glimpse of roller derby life from a non-playing perspective, and the occasional movie review. Good stuff all in all.
TWC Review:
Post Frequency: 6/10
Comment Replies: 2/10 (no replies to comments, swift response to email.)
Navigation: 10/10
Uniqueness: 10/10
Overall: 7/10
TWC Interview:
1. I see your wife has a passion for roller derby. Does that conflict with or improve your writing life?
Actually, it’s helped by allowing me to focus on something other than just my writing. When I’m working, I tend to isolate myself and lose touch with the real world. Somehow, I’ve gotten involved with her derby team and now volunteer as a bench coach. This new version of roller derby (it started in Austin, Texas, in 2001) is a total BLAST. I predict it will become very popular over the next few years. The women are truly amazing. I cannot believe how hard they work and how damned tough they are. I watch them push themselves — while risking great bodily harm — and it makes my journey toward publication seem rather lame by comparison.
2. Do you have any passions outside of writing? Tell us about one!
Obviously roller derby. But I’m also passionate about reading, sports, politics, music and, above all else, my family. But I suppose my biggest passion outside of my family is the mission work I am blessed to be able to do in the tiny Mayan village of Tres Reyes in the jungle of Yucatan. Each year, we go down as a group and help them build a tiny jungle Sunday school. It always makes me so very grateful for all I have here at home. Oops. Well, that’s more than one. But I seldom focus on one thing only.
3. Why did you decide to write your blog?
When I started the blog a little more than a year ago, I wanted to record the ups and downs of my journey toward publication. I had no way of knowing how important the very act of blogging would be, how therapeutic it would become. I have a background in journalism and wrote a weekly column for many years, so writing posts feels very natural to me. And of course, I was aware of how important it is for aspiring authors to build a presence and a platform on the Internet. It’s also why I Tweet and use Facebook so much.
4. Why, “The Writer of Wrongs”?
Well, I compiled a list of possible blog names (most associated with either coffee or cigars, two of my weaknesses) and it somehow found its way on the list. I was an investigative reporter for many years and always considered myself a “righter of wrongs,” so I just went with it. I liked it then, and I like it now, although I do realize it sounds like I’m bragging about writing the WRONG things. I sure hope I’m not. 
5. Where are you on the road to being published? (I’ve seen your blog posts, but I think it’s a great question anyway. ^^)
I’m still pretty early in my journey, I guess. I started my first novel, The Devil You Don’t Know, in February or March of 2007 and finished it in August 2009 (after taking seven months off to run a federal Congressional campaign). I was incredibly lucky to have a professional book editor go over my first draft for free! I spent a couple months doing a round of revisions, and then spent most of the spring and summer of 2010 putting it out to beta readers, revising, and rewriting. I started querying in the spring and after sending 22 out, I got my first request for a partial last week. I’m now working on my next novel, Empty Spaces, which I hope to have finished in Spring 2011.
6. If you could give one tip to your fellow writers, what would it be?
Never give up. It takes work and luck and, most of all, time. Keep at it.
7. What’s your favorite genre to read? To write?
I’m partial to everything from John Updike to Stephen King to Toni Morrison, to Neil Gaiman to Anton Myrer to Herman Wouk! If it’s a good story, I’m there. I must admit, however, that I’m not big on romances. I mostly love literary fiction, thrillers and well-written horror. I tend to write a weird hybrid of all of the above, what I call “literary horror thriller.” Try selling THAT in a query!
It’s a very new blog!
