Writing as Catharsis with Andrew Robinson

After a head injury, Drew Robinson decided to turn his stress and anxiety into a play. While he never published that one, it opened the door to discovering his creative side. Host Alison Nissen chats with light and quirky author Andrew John Robinson, a transplanted New Englander, whose first novel, Lexa and the Gordian Maze of Terra, a children’s science-fiction work, and its sequel, Lexa and the Smugglers of Cyclo, both published by Amira Press. Many of his short stories are on www.grubstreet.ca. Dragonspeak: Drew, the Boy Who Talked to Dragons is his first children’s fantasy. It was a finalist in the 2010 RPLA Royal Palm Literary Award). He was Regional Director of Central Florida for the Florida Writers’ Association, a non-profit group dedicated to helping writers, and president of Cricket Cottage Publishing, LLC, which he sold a few years ago. He now leads the Orlando Chapter of the group. Married, he has one daughter, which is why many of his stories revolve around strong and determined women. His time travel fantasy, Worst Date, Greatest Adventure, was published by Champagne Book Group and is similar to Outlander. The sequel, Worst Date, Greatest Challenge, is coming out this year, and he is working on the final book in the trilogy. Champagne also published his teen vampire adventure book, Vampire Academia, and he makes it clear that it is not like Twilight! His screenplay Wiccans’ Lair was produced by PC Productions, an indie film company here in Central Florida, and he has a library of more than a dozen more running the gamut from family-friendly fantasy to rom-com and even musicals. He currently writes comedy skits for the group “The EGOs”, which are shown on YouTube and their streaming service ENV. drwhoar@hotmail.com Florida Writers Group