By Gia Lee
“Alexx Momcat” was a recent guest of honor at FandomFest, where her biography described her as: a confirmed, unabashed book lover. Living muse for her hubby author who has multiple personalities, she appreciates that variety is the spice of life. An aspiring writer herself, she respects and admires the work and effort that goes into the books that she loves. Between her day job and taking care of two cats and the rest of the household as far as they will permit, she maintains her blog as a beacon of sanity and creativity, an outlet for a societally repressed creative streak that her creditors just don’t appreciate. She loves interviewing and chatting with authors and other bibliophiles. Strongly opinionated, she believes that reviews should be honest and forthright, and that ad hominem attacks on authors or reviewers are never justified.
Alexx can be found at Facebook as D. Alexx Miller, on Twitter at @MomCat_Reviews, and, of course, at Alexx Momcat’s Gateway Book Blog.
You’re known for being a great blogger. How did blogging come to be a part of your life?
I started off being asked to do book reviews for another blog. I enjoyed doing the book reviews. That blog focused heavily on romance, not a bad thing, and I got a chance to chat with many authors that I admired. But I decided that I wanted to do more. I did not want to limit myself to just romance. So I started my own blog. It is not only great to be able to help indie authors and those with smaller presses, but I get a chance to be creative. I get to talk to authors and some publishers. It has been a learning experience as well. What’s also great about doing my own blog is I can pick and choose what I read. That is important to me. I was getting frustrated with just reading romance. I am currently reading a great book by Janet Evanovich called “Wicked Business” for pleasure.
What makes a great blog?
I don’t know to be honest. I think mine is great, but then I imagine so would most bloggers think theirs were great. There are things that I think are important, like content consistency. I mean if I go to a blog that states it has free crocheting patterns and nothing is free and it is filled with politics, then I won’t be going back to that blog. Another thing that is important is the quality of the writing. If I see nothing but typos, spelling errors, etc., that can be a turn off as well. I have most of my posts reviewed or edited before posting them. One other thing is being positive. If you spend the entirety of your blog complaining about someone or something and your blog is supposed to be about your writing, how seriously am I going to take you?
What you see on my blog is Momcat’s loves. Pictures, book covers, links to books, contests, author events I have been to–99 percent of my content will be about books and authors.
Do you have any published books? Forthcoming books?
I do not have anything published currently, I am working on one project, and it is slow going. I also have an idea for another. My hubby is the published author.
You are also an interviewer. Why does interviewing other writers interest you?
I learn. If I ask the right questions, I learn things about them, and about their process of writing. I have also started beta reading for a few authors and that has given me a plethora of insight into the many different methods of writing.
How’d you come up with the blog title Alexx Momcat’s Gateway Book Blog?
This one’s easy! Alexx is my nickname, (I could tell you my given name, but then I would have to kill you) but seriously, except for legal and business purposes, I have not used my birth name in 20 plus years. Momcat is a pet name given to me by my hubby. Gateway is simple as well we live in St. Louis, Missouri which has the Gateway Arch. The rest is just because it states what I do. I talk about books.
Do you have cats of your own? If so, then how many?
We have two cats. The oldest is Daisy. She is 19 years old and the sweetest, gentlest cat in the world. And then there is Shahu who is 14 years old. She is a big scaredy cat. They both frequently enjoy helping us when we are writing.
As you mentioned, your husband is a published author. What’s his name, or pen name(s), and what genre does he write in primarily?
Hubby has two pen names. Charlie Kenmore writes science fiction fantasy. Earth Angel is his first sci-fi title, available through Amazon, and other book sellers. Charlie is currently working on a story about a dhamphir and a vampire who have to have a baby to save the world. Of course, they can’t touch each other. He also writes under the name Ken Charles. Ken is his darker naughtier alter ego who writes erotica and things that combine sex and violence. Ken is published through No Boundries Press and you can find his books there and at Amazon as well.
What do you have in the pipeline for the remainder of 2012?
We spent a great time at the end of June at Fandom Fest with many, many authors. I have books from many of them and plan on reviewing books by James Ray Tuck, Paul West, Aaron Drowns, Shirley Damsgaard, Julie Kagawa, Jennifer Malone, Alexandra Christian, Crymsyn Hart, Susan H. Roddy, to name a few. Plus I plan on making a few tweaks to the blog. My goal is to get some more followers because all these authors deserve to be seen!
Where can readers connect with you (links and social networking sites)?
https://www.facebook.com/alexxmiller,
https://twitter.com/MomCat_Reviews
http://alexxmomcatsgatewaybookblog.blogspot.com
Anyone interested in having a book cover and buy link, getting reviewed, or needs a beta reader can contact me at amcgbb (at) gmail (dot) com.
