Crusader Group Feature: Eileen Wiedbrauk from Speak Coffee to Me

Most of you know by now that I'm part of Rachael Harrie's Platform Building Crusade.  Part of the crusade is that we're grouped with other authors that share the same genre.

I've been placed in Group 17 Horror/Urban fantasy.  So for the next few weeks, when there's not a Crusader challenge going, I'll be posting a feature with one of the group members.

Eileen's blog is full of good writing tips, coffee-related news, and her weekly spotlight on the best ads around.  Be careful, though, you might get a contact caffeine buzz!

When did you start writing?
Alfred the Alligator with Stripes was my first completed work. I was seven. It would be another twelve years before I finished another story. Oh I wrote fiction all the time, I was just horrible at figuring out endings.

Where would you say you are as a writer?
I'm finishing up my formal writing education. I think that education never stops, but the in-classroom part does have to come to an end sooner or later. I attended Odyssey Fantasy Writing Workshop last summer and this June I'll have completed my MFA. Both are very butt-in-chair absorb-the-knowledge type activities that encourage you to try and fail so that they can teach you how to try and succeed -- a process which feels a lot like spinning your wheels; I'm working on gaining traction now. I've published a couple pieces of short fiction including one going up this week on Enchanted Conversation: A Fairy Tale Magazine. 

What’s your strongest writing genre? Do you often write in it? Why or why not?
I mostly write forms of fantasy. Folk lore and fairy tale inspired short fiction, and urban fantasy novel length work. I like speculative fiction for its sense of wonder and whimsy. Who doesn't want to live in a world that might suddenly rain goldfish?

Quick, what are five of your favorite words!?!
Detritus, insouciant, Moped, susurrus, and paradigm (but the last only when you say it with a British accent so that it rhymes with pigeon).

In 10 words or less, sum up your current work in progress.
Unemployed monster hunter finds job he hates.

How would you describe your end goal as a writer?
Getting as much in print as I can write with pride.

What do you need to have before you can start writing?
Coffee.

With coffee, anything is possible.