Today, we are visiting with Michael Scott Clifton, whose novel The Treasure Hunt Club was just released a month ago.  Mike is a junior high school principal and this is his first book.

JRC:  When did you first decide to write a book? And what caused that to happen?

Mike:  I started writing about 6-7 years ago and began writing The Treasure Hunt Club 3-4 years ago.  It took two years for me to complete it and another year to get it published.  There really wasn’t a “revelatory” moment when I decided to try my hand at writing.  To be honest, I’ve become less satisfied with the content and quality of the books available in many bookstores.  I have a very active imagination, so one day, I decided to try sketching an outline on what I thought would be a good story or plot for a book.  Once I got started, it was hard to stop.

JRC:  Do you have a writing schedule, and if so what is it?

Mike:  Early in the morning works best for me when all is quiet, there are fewer distractions, and I’m not worn out after working all day.  However, my job makes it almost impossible to keep a regular schedule of writing.  Therefore, my writing is sporadic with periods of good productivity and periods with virtually nothing accomplished.  It is harder to write this way, because you have to pick up the thread of where you left off.

JRC:  Do you use any outside help – like a critique group, or other writers?

Mike:  I have been fortunate to have several talented people read my “ruminations” and render their honest opinions.   In addition, I have found the Northeast Texas Writers Organization (NETWO) and NETWO’s Spring Writers Conference invaluable.  NETWO has a number of experienced and successful published authors, and of course, the Writers Conference has given me the opportunity to get editors, agents, and publishers to critique my writing samples.  One thing I have learned, writing is not for the faint of heart.  At times you must have a thick skin, and you certainly must be able to take criticism constructively if you are to grow and improve as a writer.

JRC: Tell us a little about The Treasure Hunt Club. 

Mike:  It is about a small town loser, Nick Hollister, who chances across a mysterious book hidden within the frame of an old painting.  The young man’s fortunes change dramatically when this book, The Book of Lost Treasures, proves to be able to reveal the locations of lost treasures.  Together with four close friends, Nick forms a corporation of sorts called “The Treasure Hunt Club”.  Within a relatively short period of time, the book makes Nick and his friends extremely wealthy.  However, with this new-found wealth, problems begin to crop up in the personal lives of Nick and his friends.   Nick discovers too late that life’s most valuable treasures aren’t always measured by dollar signs.

JRC:  Tell us one interesting fact about The Treasure Hunt Club that isn’t on the back cover.

Mike:  I knew how I wanted the book to end, but since I wasn’t an experienced writer, I was afraid I would “drift” away from the storyline.  Therefore, not only did I write the ending first, but I wrote backwards for about one-third of the book.

JRC:  Interesting approach. Where did that come from?

Mike:  Actually, I was at one of the NETWO Writing Conferences, and another writer I met there told me that was how he wrote–the ending first–to keep a plot or storyline crisp as well as true to the climax or ending.

JRC:  What inspired you to write The Treasure Hunt Club?

Mike:  Two events.  One was a TV special, “The Lost Vault of Al Capone”.  A secret vault had been discovered in the basement of a Chicago hotel, and speculation was that it might be loaded with loot.  Turned out it contained nothing but fill dirt.  But “what if” money and valuables had been discovered?  What if other lost caches of treasure existed?  Hmm.

The second event was an article I read about the personal tragedies that had struck a number of multimillion dollar lottery winners, including being murdered!  From there, the germ of a story formed in my mind.

JRC:  Are you trying to get some message across with this book, or is it just to be a good read?

Mike:  I tried to achieve both.  The Treasure Hunt Club includes elements of action, adventure, mystery, fantasy, and romance.  At the same time, it has a good moral.  I’ve had a number of reviews posted on Amazon, Goodreads, my Facebook page, and my author website, and based on these reviews, I’m satisfied that at least to a small degree, that I managed to write an interesting book with a good message or moral.

JRC:  Do you plan a sequel to The Treasure Hunt Club?

Mike:  To be honest, no, I was not planning on writing a sequel.  However, almost everyone who has read my book just assumed I would write a sequel, and was disappointed when they found out otherwise.  After giving it some thought, I decided a sequel could work and I have an idea for a plot and even a title (The January Man  However, it will not contain the same characters

JRC:  Are you working on a book now?

Mike:  Currently, I am working on two books, Edison Jones and The Anti-Grav Elevator, and Pringle Prawn.  Edison Jones is my attempt at YA, while Pringle Prawn is another cross-genre novel with a little more fantasy or urban fantasy mixed in

JRC:  What has been the toughest part of this whole process of writing and publishing?

Mike:  Obviously, like all writers, getting a publisher interested in your book is the biggest challenge.  However, I would add marketing and promotion as well.  Even after I obtained a publisher, it soon became apparent to me that since my last name didn’t end in “King” or “Grisham”, I was going to have to do much of the heavy lifting on  promoting and selling my book.  As Stephen Woodfin has pointed out, with the rise of eBooks and the cataclysmic change in the publishing industry, authors are going to have to do more of this, and they are going to have to become experts in social media.  That takes time.

JRC:  Thanks, Mike, for sharing with us your experiences with writing and publishing.  We wish you good luck on your future books.  The Treasure Hunt Club is a very good start.  It can be found at:  http://amzn.to/NyY5gD