Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Michele E. Gwynn. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Michele E., thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.
Developing book series that resonate with readers has been my greatest accomplishment to date. As a multi-genre author, my own interests led me in several directions from crime fiction to science fiction. But falling into the romantic suspense genre, specifically military romance, put my name in front of the right readers. That lucky break came when a fellow author introduced me to the special forces’ world created by New York Times Bestselling Author Susan Stoker. I was invited to write in her world, and the Green Beret series was born. From there, I created the spinoff series, The Soldiers of PATCH-COM, which is now an award-winning romantic series about wounded warriors given a second chance at life, love, and service.
When the contracted term for the Green Beret series ended, I chose to not renew with the publisher, but rather, have all rights returned to me, and I remastered and relaunched the books with new characters replacing those originally introduced from Susan Stoker’s world. I added bonus scenes for the die-hard fans and the relaunch has been a success. Whew! It was a risk, but no risk, no reward, right?
In addition to finding my niche as an author, I’ve begun a journey into painting in the mediums of acrylics, watercolors, and oil pastels. I’ve always been one to draw and create, but painting was new and came about during the pandemic. After a year of honing the craft, I began placing my works for sale on Fine Art America and also taking on a few commissions.
What I’ve found is that creating is my happy place. They say if you enjoy what you do, you never work a day in your life. Well, you still have to market! That’s the hard part, but it’s rewarding.
Michele E., before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
There is nothing harder than talking about myself. Where to begin… Well, before I became a writer, I worked in medical administration. I worked in a hospital, doctors’ offices, and learned from the bottom up from front desk to billing to office management. After a time, I decided to go back to school and enrolled in college courses. I earned my A.A.S. in Broadcast Technology from San Antonio College in 2008. This was where I discovered my love for writing. In an ads class.
During that time, I got a break and was hired as a stringer for a local newspaper. I began covering events and writing articles. Contributing to online publications came next. One thing kept leading to another. Before long, I was doing fun celebrity interviews for Examiner.com, Film Industry Network, Yahoo Voices, and more. A few of those interviews led to other lucky breaks, and my career as a journalist bloomed. However, it was a chance sighting from years earlier that was the catalyst that launched my first book. Harvest.
I wrote a science fiction trilogy inspired by a true sighting in 1995 reported to MUFON (the Mutual UFO Network), that caught the imaginations of readers. I was thrilled. Then a trip to Europe in 2010 inspired my next book and subsequent series in the genre of crime fiction. The prequel novella for that series, The Making of Herman Faust, has twice achieved being chosen as a Page Turner Awards Shortlist Finalist in 2021 and 2022 for both the Screenwriting/Book Adaptation Needed category and the Book Award category. I couldn’t be prouder.
Eventually, I moved to writing fiction full-time, and I haven’t looked back.
I spend a great deal of time each day working on writing and marketing, and in between, painting. Afte that, it’s all about the family and taking care of mom and cooking up her favorite meals while making sure she doesn’t miss an episode of Naked and Afraid.
I’m inspired in my writing by travel, the stories people tell me about themselves, and world events/news. I draw inspiration for my art from scenery mostly. I love painting landscapes, nature, and animals. The animal portraits have a more illustrative quality, a bit of whimsy that I hope brings smiles to everyone’s faces.
I don’t see any end to either the writing or the art. Both are life, and life is for living.
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
That’s easy to answer. I get to work for myself, and I like my boss. Too easy? Yeah, it does get a bit deeper. The biggest reward of being a creative is that I get to create! How many people get to say that? When you work for someone else, you’re limited to doing what they want you to do. You’re put into a niche and there you stay, unable to grow most of the time.
Being a writer and artist, there is no limit to what I can create and do. No one gets to tell me no. If I try and fail, then at least I tried. If I try and succeed, I reap those rewards. My success is mine and I don’t have to give the lion’s share to someone else. And I’m at peace. I choose my own hours, take breaks when necessary. I’m in charge of me. It’s what works for me.
How did you build your audience on social media?
I am still working on this. It’s not something you do once and then move on, it’s a constant pursuit. I suppose I came into things with already a bit of a social media presence thanks to my career as a journalist and celebrity interviewer. That definitely helped, although it was not something I was trying to do. It was something I accidentally stumbled into thanks to a fun Halloween article about the top 10 best vampires in films and books. One of those actors saw the article and reached out to thank me for picking him as my number one based on the fact he speaks four languages and felt the most authentic. Many thanks forever to Rudolf Martin for being cheeky and letting me know that vampires “see everything.”
But the most important aspect about building a social media presence is engagement. Don’t just bombard your audience with your product. That gets old quick. Share some things about yourself in a weekly blog-style post. Just normal, relatable stuff. Ask them questions. Let your audience get to know you a little. I had a hard time with that in the beginning. I’m one of those oddball extroverted introverts. I prefer more alone time to hanging out with others, although when I do hang out with others, you’d never know I was a closet introvert. Talking about myself has never been comfortable after growing up with Rheumatoid Arthritis. Unfortunately, that has never stopped anyone from asking questions about it.
I got used to answering because most people are just curious. I’ve been fortunate to encounter only very nice folks and not mean ones. If anyone did come from a mean place, I didn’t really notice because I somehow manage to talk them around. Being kind to others always comes back to you. Plus, it’s hard to maintain being mean to someone who is being nice. That wisdom is courtesy of the good advice from my departed Grandma Connie. She was a very wise woman with a wicked sense of humor. Actually, her advice was, “When someone is being mean, smile. It really ticks them off.” Man, I miss her!
See what I did up above? (Wink, wink). I shared a little about me, something relatable. Everyone has a grandma or grandpa who said something memorable and a little funny. What bit ‘o wisdom has one of your elder relatives shared? 
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.micheleegwynnauthor.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/authormicheleegwynn/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MicheleEGwynnAuthor/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michele-gwynn-686a4b17/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZy2P30SWRL8ReJghPXddmQ
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@micheleegwynnauthor https://micheleegwynn.substack.com/
Image Credits
Image credits: Michele E. Gwynn