Rox Burkey
Online Links:
Website: https://roxburkey.com
Twitter: @EnigmaSeries and @1rburkey
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheEnigmaSeries/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/enigmabookseries/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlesbreakfield and https://www.linkedin.com/in/roxanneburkey
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6Vz4x5ctTnx3yUhZk1OJkw
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/enigmseries/
Biography
Rox Burkey is a seasoned customer experience business architect, optimizes customer solutions on their existing technology foundation. She has been a featured speaker, subject matter expert, interviewer, instructor, and author of technology documents, as well as a part of The Enigma Series. It was revealed a few years ago that writing fiction is a lot more fun than white papers or documentation.
As a child Rox helped to lead the other kids with exciting new adventures built on make believe characters. As a Girl Scout until high school she contributed to the community in the Head Start program. Rox enjoys family, learning, listening to people, travel, outdoors activities, sewing, cooking, and imagining the possibilities.
Taking Time With The Author
Do you recall how your interest in writing originated? What/who inspired you to publish your first book?
I wrote a lot of poems when I was in high school. One poem in particular was about a friend in our group who following graduation decided to go camping. He ended up falling in Yosemite and was not recovered for over a year. I wrote my last poem to his parents as something to let them know his friends cared.
When I attended college, I became involved with writing white papers on various technology subjects at the suggestion of an awesome professor at Dallas Baptist University. These were paid items that helped pay for tuition. I was offered to work on a technical manual for payment which I accepted and asked my co-worker Charles Breakfield to assist. We wrote two and decide technology was moving too fast to keep up that sort of non-fiction relevant.
I know you co-write the Enigma Series. Can you share how that partnership was formed?
Charles Breakfield, my coauthor, and I wrote non-fiction as I mentioned above. We also wrote for a company we worked for at the same time, along with being subject matter experts for the company’s technical manuals. When we admitted that our second non-fiction publication was outdated shortly after it was published, Charles said that’s it.
I started noodling over several fiction stop and starts until I crafted maybe 20% of The Enigma Factor. After I showed it to him for an opinion, I suggested to him that it was an ideal vehicle to highlight various real activities we dealt with at work using our technology knowledge. And, of course, we could kill people without risk of being jailed. I think it was the last part that really grabbed him. We decided to form the partnership and split all the profits.
What is your current project? Will you share a little of it with us – kind of a sneak peek?
We actually have two current projects we are excited about.
The first is a relaunch of The Enigma Rising, book 2 in the series, as a 2nd edition. We have revised it, modified the cover, and wanted to take these extra years of experience to make this story of two bad boys, that all the girls like, consider alternative uses for stealing digital satellite communications. It is on pre-order for the eBook and planned availability for June 5 2020.
The second is book 12 in the series, The Enigma Combat. This book tracks the cyber thugs that began in book #11 in The Enigma Beyond as the capabilities of supercomputers expand even further. It is so odd that people believe the series is more Science Fiction, when it is in actuality Science and Technology fact set into fictional situations. In our careers we are exposed and work with many technologies. We isolate this knowledge into a thrilling format we classify as TechnoThrillers.
**We are also looking for 3 of our fans to consider signing up for their names to be used in our books as characters. The characters we have identified as needing names include:
2 technology adept ladies who are programmers and geeks able to compete with any of their male peers. Breakfield and Burkey are supportive of STEM programs so this is one way to introduce the capabilities that our younger people can bring to this industry.
1 young man who is a finance professional with a good sense of the world. This young man will come across a remarkable young woman and, well, the rest will be history they create.
What do you do in the ‘real world’ when you’re not writing?
My full-time job is bringing the right technology to solve the business problems faced by an organization. I have experience with multiple industries which allows me to craft solutions that drive both workforce and customer experiences in healthcare, education, state and local governments, finance and hospitality verticals. As a certified customer experience professional I am able to illustrate how a company can improve position over competitors. I am fortunate that my daily job contributes in a positive manner to the fictional writing. But to be honest here, I also write to escape my daily work grind.
What are the challenges in writing your books? (Ex: logistical, research, literary, psychological, etc)
We do research to contribute to the stories’ accuracy and history to which we refer. Because we are coauthors, keeping the story threads aligned we leverage a spreadsheet and weekly reviews of where we are in the story or with a situation. My coauthor coined the term ‘literary ping pong’ when we send chapters back and forth both working to make them better as well as insuring, we know the story angles and shifts. We love storytelling and want to maintain relevancy along with realism.
Are there any quotes or verses you find inspiring? What are they and why?
I think my constant in my life for parenting, working, and simply living is ‘If at first you don’t succeed try, try again.” From, The Children of the New Forest, by English novelist Frederick Maryat. I have never been one to give up or accept failing without learning something for the next time around.
Tell us a little about yourself. Perhaps something that a lot of people do not know?
I find I am a reasonably typical individual. I do try to help others which is why I enjoy things like reviewing others’ books which I do for a fee on my blog RoxBurkey.com or interviewing authors on radio or video. I love to encourage others to do better, with the best practice on that front with my sons, who make me so proud.
Over the years many people I have cultivated as friends ended up deceiving or cheating me, so I have very few friends or people that I trust. Once I trust someone as a friend, I will help them no matter what.
I also love to learn. I constantly find new things to explore and learn about. My favorite thing is to travel somewhere. I love to soak up all the culture by talking to locals and seeing how they live, work, and play.
Are you a planner or a pantser when it comes to writing? (Planner – outline; Pantser – sit down and write)
I would have to say some of each. My co-author and I like to outline a target topic of what we want to solve for in a given story, then just sit down and write. We find that method can cause the direction to shift at times, but always for the better. If you force me to be only one, I would be a pantser, but you aren’t forcing me so I will be on both sides.
If there was anything you could change regarding your publishing experience, what would it be and why? Also, do you have any advice for aspiring authors?
Our first two non-fiction books were essentially done through a traditional publisher. When we completed Book 1 of The Enigma Series, The Enigma Factor, we researched several avenues for publishing before deciding to use what was at the time Create Space. Going down that path we made some mistakes which we have corrected to a degree as we embrace small press. It was that learning experience I would have changed because it was a very expensive fix. We learned a great deal and also met some outstanding mentors who helped us make better decisions. That is one of the reasons we plan to release 2nd editions on each of the books and add to them all the improvements we have made in storytelling.
Aspiring authors each have their own path to take so there isn’t a one size fits all approach. Practicing their craft, engaging with writing groups and associations, taking care to check on any group that promising a contract then takes your money, leaving you lost and jilted. I reach out to several people I trust in this business and am associated with before engaging with some groups or paying fees. Like all industries, there are a lot of scammers in the world. I am happy to offer my opinions to anyone who reaches out to Authors@EnigmaSeries.com.
Is there anything you would like to say to your readers and fans?
I love readers and fans. I welcome anyone reading this interview to check out the website at https://www.EnigmaSeries.com for:
· sample chapters,
· sample audio version excerpts featuring our voice of the series Derek Shoales,
· downloading free stuff
· ordering signed paperback copies (shipped free in the continental US
· watching the book trailers
· our blog
· and/or just dropping us a note.
Please Connect and follow on Social Media:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlesbreakfield and
https://www.linkedin.com/in/roxanneburkey
Twitter: @EnigmaSeries and @1rburkey
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheEnigmaSeries/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6Vz4x5ctTnx3yUhZk1OJkw
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/enigmseries/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/enigmabookseries/
Bublish: https://bublish.com/author/breakfieldandburkey
Thank you, CJ. This has been a lot of fun. Appreciate you letting me BEE here.