Author Bio:
I am a multi-genre, award-winning author, and poet from Trinidad in the Caribbean and have written twenty-four books to date.
As a former Bank Manager, I hold a Diploma in Banking from the Institute of Bankers in London.
I also obtained a Diploma in Life Underwriting from the American College, USA and worked in the Insurance industry briefly.
I qualified for the Million Dollar Round Table, the Premier Association for Financial Professionals, six times in a row.
My writing career sparked after my near-death experience with Cancer and my recovery.
I wrote the book, I AM CANCER FREE which became a best seller and it gave me the encouragement to continue writing.
Some of my books won multiple awards as follows.
1. I am Cancer Free – Readers Favorite award in category Health and Fitness 2018 and McGrath’s first-place winner in Non-fiction 2016.
2. Zeeka Chronicles was an award winner in the Category Young Adult Thriller in Readers Favorite International Awards 2018, winner in Science Fiction in SIBA Awards 2017, winner of the gold award in the category science fiction in Connections Emagazine Readers’ Choice Awards 2018, and winner in the top ten finalists for science fiction in the Author Academy Global Awards 2018.
3. August 2019 – Stories People Love won two gold medals in Connections EMagazine Readers’ Choice Awards – First place in Romance Category and first place in all genres.
4. August 2019 – How to Write for Success won a gold medal in the category Non- Fiction in Connections EMagazine Readers’ Choice Awards and a silver medal for second place in all genres. [My romance novel, Stories People Love won first place.]
5. My Life as a Banker won 2nd place Bio/memoirs in SIBA Awards 2016.
After the success of my book How to Write for Success, I founded the Facebook Group, How to Write for Success. Later, I also founded two more groups – Poems for Suicide Prevention, and How to Write for Success Library.
I was the driving force in the production of the Anthology A SPARK OF HOPE: A Treasury of Poems for Saving Lives by 49 authors in my group.
OTHER ACHIEVEMENTS:
5th November 2018 – Appointed Vice-Chancellor of Motivational Strips Academy of Literary Excellence and Wisdom.
In October 2018 – Appointed an Honorary Member of the World Higher Literary Academic Council of WORLD NATIONS WRITERS’ UNION of Kazakhstan.
On 29th December 2018, awarded the World Laureate in Literature by World Nations Writers Union.
On 30th December 2018, I received a Global Literature Guardian Award from the Founder of Motivational Strips and Associates.
On 31st December received a Certificate of Honour for serving as a juror in an International Poetry Contest sponsored by World Nations Writers’ Union.
On 4th March 2019 was awarded by Motivational Strips and its Nominating Authorities a Golden Dove of Peace Award.
In June 2019 appointed National President of the Union of Writers, Union Hispaniomundial de Escritos for Trinidad and Tobago.
In August 2019 received a Diploma and World Poetic Star Award from World Nations Writers Union.
On 31st August 2019 was honoured by the Seychelles Government Accredited Literary Society [ LLSF] for my contribution to World Poetry, creativity, and writing expertise.
On October 16th, 2019 was awarded the Order of Shakespeare Medal by the Founder of the Facebook group Motivational Strips, Shiju H Pallithazheth.
My books are available on all Amazon stores worldwide
What inspires you to write?
I am inspired to write about Life, Nature, the Environment, Romance, People, and anything that will be of interest to my readers.
I always write with my readers in mind.
I ask myself, "Will my readers love this?" and it works each time.
Without readers, I cannot write.
Tell us about your writing process.
I am both an outliner and a seat of the pants writer.
Some books can be written without an outline.
For instance, I wrote my memoirs and my travel book without an outline.
For fiction, I definitely needed to outline them before getting down to writing.
Character sketches happen while I am writing dialogue.
My characters just fall into place as they speak, and their gestures and movements define them.
For Fiction Writers: Do you listen (or talk to) to your characters?
To tell you the truth I may have plans for my characters but they stray from those plans and a new plan is formed.
When I wrote my science fiction book Zeeka Chronicles, it was supposed to be a trilogy. It was set in the year 2036 and based on events that took place 20 years before. After writing the first three books, Zeeka and the Zombies, Zeeka’s Child, and Zeeka Returns, I combined them into one book named Revenge of Zeeka: Horror Trilogy.
I thought I was done with the series, but Zeeka haunted me in my dreams.
I had the same dream for almost a month.
He insisted that I write the fourth book, Zeeka’s Ghost, because he said that I did not tell the full story.
“What do you mean by the full story?” I asked him.
He replied, “Start writing and I will tell you what to write.”
I said, “But you are dead. You committed suicide. How can you tell me what to write?”
“Do you believe in ghosts?” he asked.
I wrote Zeeka’s Ghost, the fourth book, which was unplanned and believe it or not, Zeeka told me what to write.
I was still not finished with the series. He returned in my dreams and told me to write the fifth book, Resurrection, to reveal the true identity of Zombie Number Nine. I was guided by him to do that book as well.
You must think that I am crazy, but I believe all writers experience something similar.
I combined all five stories into one book named Zeeka Chronicles: Revenge of Zeeka. The book won an award in Readers Favorite International Awards 2018 in the category young adult thriller.
Who are your favorite authors?
I like Stephen King and Lee Child, but I stay up all night looking at their movies and not reading their books.
I can name movies that enthralled me like Star Wars, Star Trek, Back to the Future, T-Rex, Ex Machina and many more which inspired me to write science fiction.
I read a lot of my members' books in the How to Write for Success Group and do Book Reviews for them.
How did you decide how to publish your books?
I decided to self publish my books as it is a quicker and easier way to get my books to my readers in both print and kindle.
Finding a Literary agent is very difficult and is a long-winded process.
What do you think about the future of book publishing?
Books will always be desired by readers.
There will always be a book publishing industry and there will always be a market for beautiful books.
Ebooks will continue to be popular. More and more indie books will become available.
There are millions of authors out there and it is a very competitive business.
However, if authors learn the ropes about marketing successfully, they can be successful authors.
What genres do you write?
fiction, non-fiction, romance, science fiction, children's books, poetry
What formats are your books in?
eBook, Print, Audiobook
Website(s)
Brenda Mohammed Home Page Link
Follow Brenda Mohammed On Amazon
Link to Author Page on Barnes and Noble
Author’s Social Media Links
Goodreads
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
All information is provided by the author and is presented as it was submitted so you the reader get to hear the author’s own “voice” in their interview.
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