Over the next few weeks, and maybe longer, I will be posting email interviews I’ve had with indie authors who belong to the Facebook group, BooksGoSocial Author Collaboration. It is my pleasure to share with you and I hope these authors’ viewpoints encourage you to keep reading and writing.

The first interview is with Marlene Ringler (MR), whose book “I Am Me” is scheduled to be published in July 2018. I will let you discover in the interview the subject of her work.

TN: When did you know you were a writer?

MR: I think my writing interests evolved especially when I realized that so little has been researched and written on the subject of the aging autistic population.

TN: What is your writing style?

MR: Because my first serious writing pieces were academic, including a PhD. I needed to try to adopt a more personal approach in writing my recent book about my journey with my autistic son. This was important as I wanted to really connect with my readers and research writing does not do this, obviously, so it took a great deal of time, revisions, and editing to change my style in keeping with my subject.

TN: Why did you write your first book?

MR: My personal journey with my forty-plus autistic son was written as an effort to reach out to the community of people affected by an autism spectrum diagnosis. It was written as a compelling very personal story about how one family, mine, dealt with this challenging diagnosis. In addition, since so little is written about what lies ahead as our children age, I felt that I had something to contribute to the conversations related to the issue of the aging autistic. As I like to say, today’s autistic children are tomorrow’s autistic adults and what challenges must we as parents face to ease this transition, especially when we are no longer around to support and love them. I ask some very tough and personal questions such as what will happen when we as parents and families are no longer around to provide daily guidance, love and support.

TN: Describe of your book for us.

MR: My book takes the reader into the world of the autistic adult and helps the reader to appreciate the complexities of living in a world where being different is a life long struggle. It is a journey told through my own prism of the mother offering hope, belief, and conviction that the life of a child with autism can and should be fulfilling and rewarding. One of my goals was to compel the reader to engage in helping to make the world a safer and better place for those affected by an autism diagnosis. My journey addresses very human questions as I presented research findings and current investigations into the spectrum disorder using everyday language.

TN: You decided to use an independent publisher rather than self-publish. Why?

MR: There are many really good options out there. I thought about using the services of Amazon’s own Createspace as they approached me and were outstanding. But, at the end of the day, I chose to go with this publisher as they appeared supportive, interested in my subject and did not pressure me. I think that it was a very good decision.

My publisher is Morgan James and the book will be released to the public in July 2018 but it is available now for preorders.

TN: How did you come up with your cover design?

MR: Publisher designed based on my request about a child looking into the future with longing and uncertainty. I think that it delivers a really good message to the potential reader, I do hope so!

TN: What software did you use? for print or for eBook?

MR: Just did all using Microsoft Word.

TN: What do you do when you are “stuck?”

MR:  It did happen and I just learned to accept this as part of the process. I usually just left my computer and moved on to other tasks but not for too long as I did not want to lose my self- confidence. Generally, it took a day or so until I returned to my writing.

TN: Thank you Marlene for sharing with us. You can learn more about Marlene on social media: