Clinton A. Love

INTRODUCING

CLINTON A. LOVE

AKA 

CLINT LOVE

Hi Clint!

I have a few questions for you.

Please answer as you are able.

Before we begin I need to ask a sort of auxiliary question. I believe it's one of the most important things to know about a person.

What kind of dogs do you have?

I have 3 dogs right now. Peanut is a 13 year old Poodle that we rescued this year. Roxy is my 15 year old Shih Tzu. I found her in the gym parking lot 7 years ago Rosie is a Maltipoo and she's about 10. My wife adopted her from the shelter about a year before I found Roxy.

Sound like quite a crew!

Tell me about your new gym-related endeavor I’m seeing on Twitter.

I and my Twitter pal Vivian started posting lifting videos on Twitter. We are both into powerlifting. Others found them encouraging and we always like to motivate people. I started the #WriteFit hashtag for other writers who want to talk about exercise and fitness in general. I get a lot of questions so I created a fitness series on #wattpad for people who want to get started getting in the gym and changing their lives. It's getting a lot of attention and right now my blog is #1 in the powerlifting category on wattpad.

Wow! That’s pretty amazing!

I gotta say: A death metal playing, power-lifting, dog-loving mortician... it’s all pretty bada$$! I kinda want to put you in a novel!

Okay, next question:

I have had people ask if I was an action hero before

In your interview you mentioned you’ve found yourself in a teaching/storytelling position, in the past. Can you tell me about that?

I find myself in that place a lot. After I wrote the Bullying Handbook, I got an email from a guy with a big bullying problem. He is an adult but very small and in a very competitive environment with other men. I helped him flesh out some assertive ways to deal with assholes vs. Being passive, trying to avoid them, etc. Our discussions lasted a year and a half and I watched him grow and become more confident. I used the experience to create an improved book, called The Black Book. I think working with him helped me as much as it did him.

Coach Love! I like it

Maybe I will get my PHd and be Dr. Love

I think that’s a fantastic idea! Okay, last question. Does your work (mortician), as a writer lead you to create stories for the people you’re working on?

You mean do i make the bodies into characters?

Yes.

I do it with all the living strangers I see.

I don’t get to see many dead, but I imagine it would be the same.

Oddly no. I always just see the bodies as bodies.

Very professional

Working with the dead has given me a unique perspective on life, I believe.

I know 2 other morticians, and they live life more fully than anyone else I know.

I pick my home defense ammunition based on bullets I've seen pulled out of bodies. I see that as a really good endorsement.

I hadn’t considered that angle

I totally lied. One more question:

Your music. Do you write your lyrics? The music?

I do both. For Finsternis I just did bass, backing vocals, along with composition. It was a group effort. For KBT I did all the lyrics, music, instruments, everything. With the Porridgeface I wrote lyrics, cover design, and I produced the first two albums.

Dude.

I think you got some extra creativity glitter.

There’s some poor person out there with zero creativity, because you got it all.

Well, Clint, thanks for your time!

Any time

Have a good one!

You too!

STANDARD TWEEP TATTLER INTERVIEW:

1) Where do you live? 

Dallas, Texas

2) What is the first thing you remember writing? 

First thing I ever wrote story-wise is when I was in second grade. I wrote short stories about anthropomorphic peanut people. Their enemies were tomatoes if I recall.

3) Why do you write? 

I've always been a story teller and a teacher of sorts, so it just seems normal to give the stories some sort of outlet. 

4) Have you published any of your work? I have 2 fiction novels and a novella, as well as 3 non-fiction books. There are 2 that I wrote that are out of print now. I've published 4 albums as a musician, bands called Killers by Trade and Finsternis. I also did some songwriting and producing for a Swedish 1 man metal army, called the Porridgeface

5) What are you currently writing? I have 2 WIPs right now. One is an Urban Fantasy called "Summon the Hunters". It's the last book in the series related to my other 2 fiction novels. The other WIP is called "Liv and Leo". It's about a couple who play in a metal band who also work as soldiers of fortune and help people in trouble. It's Urban Fantasy, too, but it pushes the limits of Paranormal Romance. 

6) Are you currently querying? 

No. I self-publish on Amazon. It wasn't until my second novel that I really started building the kind of network I need to do that. I never let not knowing what I'm doing stop me from doing whatever it is I want done. 

7) Finish this sentence (three lines or less):

IT WAS A DARK AND STORMY NIGHT… The television blared, but I sat still upon the couch, placing my wine glass upon the side table, and knowing that when the monster was upon me, my hands needed to be free. Sure, enough, as it slid up my spine and took roost in my head, my eyes began to dim. As I faded, I thought to myself, The rain, it brings the Z-Monster every time.

8) Which activities do you like to participate in, in the Twitter writing community (VSS365, etc.)? I participate in panels sometimes and I will write guest blogs for other writers. I did one for Isadora Felix about writing gunfights recently.

9) Do you have any formal training/education for writing? 

I have 2 semesters of Freshman comp in college and a creative writing class I took as an elective. I really gained more knowledge from Stephen King's On Writing and Strunk and White's The Elements of Style than what I gained in college classes. The most useful thing to do is just write and listen to what betas, proofers and editors have to say about your work. First time I did that, I had to look up phrases to see what they were talking about, but it made me understand the concepts and rewriting to avoid those problems helped me understand it from a Do This/Don't Do This standpoint. 

10) Do the people in your life know that you write? Yeah, but one thing we have to learn as writers is that the people close to us are not usually going to be our biggest fan, or really be into what we are doing. This even more so if the special people in your life aren't creatives. The important thing is that they respect it and give you the space you need to do what you to do. If they can't get that, you need to go on and find another relationship, because you are going to be miserable. 

11) Tell me about the people in your life. Family? Pets? 

I live with my wife and three old, ornery little dogs.

12) Where do you wish your writing to take you? 

I work a regular job and have done really physical work for a long time. I'm strong, but as I approach 50, I have to realize that I can't do that forever. I need to move from doing what I have to do to doing what I love to do, which is create. 

13) What did you expect when you joined the Twitter writing community? Did it turn out as expected? 

Social media as a whole is a shit show. Reddit and Facebook for writers, has the reputation of being wholly toxic and even hateful. the Writing Community on Twitter makes an effort to guard against that. As creators, we have so many forces naturally working against us that we don't need any extra negativity in our lives.

14) Where do you write? 

We have an office with an actual desk in our house, so I set up every morning that I'm off work.

15) How much time do you dedicate to writing, weekly?  

I get about 3 hours a day on my off days. Occasionally I can sneak in more, but since those are my only days, they tend to be pretty productive.

16) Do you have other talents? 

I'm a pretty good bass player for a metal dude. 

17) CHOOSE ONE:

1. I do not mind when other writers ask for advice.
2. I’d rather keep to myself!

A. Definitely A. I'm no expert by any means, but If I know stuff, I don't mind sharing.

ABOUT CLINT

Clinton A. Love, is a writer, musician and mortician from Dallas, Texas.  He published his first book Hard Core Tarot in 2009, followed by Brew or Die the same year. He has since published five more books, most recently, the Urban Fantasy novel Hunters of Gehenna. The third novel in that series Summoning the Hunters is scheduled for release in October of 2019. Musically, he is known for the avant garde Black/Doom Metal Band Finsternis and as the one man Gothic Metal musical project, Killers by Trade.  He has the unique distinction, in addition to being an author, musician and vlogger, of being an undertaker. He holds a license in Texas as a Funeral Director and Embalmer. 

CLINT'S AUTHOR SITE:  http://www.therealclintlove.com 

CLINT'S AMAZON AUTHOR PAGE:  https://www.amazon.com/Clinton-Love/e/B00IXVUZK8