Interview with writer Sara Ohlin

Romance author Sara Ohlin joins me today to share a bit about her new contemporary romance, Handling the Rancher.

During her virtual book tour, Sara will be awarding a $15 Amazon or Barnes and Noble (winner’s choice) gift card to a lucky randomly drawn winner. To be entered for a chance to win use the form below. To increase your chances of winning, feel free to visit her other tour stops and enter there, too!

Bio:
Puget Sound based writer, Sara Ohlin is a mom, wannabe photographer, obsessive reader, ridiculous foodie, and the author of the upcoming contemporary romance novels, Handling the Rancher and Salvaging Love.

She has over fifteen years of creative non-fiction and memoir writing experience, and you can find her essays at Anderbo.com, Feminine Collective, Mothers Always Write, Her View from Home, and in anthologies such as Are We Feeling Better Yet? Women Speak about Healthcare in America, Take Care: Tales, Tips, & Love from Women Caregivers, and Chicken Soup for the Soul.

Although she’s the author of many essays about life, grief, motherhood and the connections we make through delicious food and shared meals, Sara loves creating imaginary worlds with tight-knit communities in her romance novels. She credits her mother, Mary, Nora Roberts and Rosamunde Pilcher for her love of romance.

If she’s not reading or writing, you will most likely find her in the kitchen creating scrumptious meals with her two kids and amazing husband, or perhaps cooking up her next love story.

She once met a person who both “didn’t read books” and wasn’t “that into food” and it nearly broke her heart.

Welcome, Sara. Please share a little bit about your current release.

In Handling the Rancher we meet the oldest Brockman brother, Cruz who has just returned home to inherit the family farm in Graciella (a fictional town on Oregon’s rugged coast). His tyrant of a father did not take good care of the farm or the employees, and it has been Cruz’s long buried dream to make Brockman Farms an amazing and thriving farm/ranch/community. Seemingly cold and closed off accountant, Miranda Jenks, arrives to potentially threaten his dream if her audit shows foul play.

Miranda hasn’t had much love in her life, even from her parents. Having recently lost her mother, she is literally alone in the world. Slowly, the beauty of the landscape, the lovely people and Cruz’s attention thaw the shell she’s built around her heart and she realizes she deserves love and happiness. The question is, can she convince Cruz that he too is worthy of her love?

What inspired you to write this book?

I was living in a place with not too many friends and family close by. I decided to write a fictional place that I would want to be a part of. A place full of gorgeous geography, great friends, community, delicious food and love.


Excerpt from Handling the Rancher:
Shouldn’t things seem easier between us? He’d apologized. They’d cleared the air on that whatever-it-was that had happened in the library. ‘Kiss’ was too mild a word. He’d practically blown all the fuses in her brain. He’d devoured her. Nothing felt easier. Instead the space seemed to shrink and she felt as though someone had sucked all the oxygen out of the barn. She started walking backwards toward the barn door.

“I should go.”

“I need to get—”

They spoke at the same time. He laughed and let a breath out as he faced her. “Miranda.”

“Yes,” she said, caught in his gaze.

“I’m not sorry for that kiss,” Cruz said, his face serious again as he pinned her with that look of desire. He took a step toward her. “I’m sorry for being rude, for putting you in an awkward position.” He continued walking closer. “But I’m not sorry for that kiss, for feeling what I felt. You confuse me.”

“Bossy accountant not your type?” She tried to joke, but the words came out jagged.

His strides were long. In an instant he’d caught up to her so their bodies were almost touching. “I don’t know what my type is.” His voice deepened. “I haven’t been in one place long enough or spent enough time trying to figure out if I have a type. The only thing I’ve ever been sure of is my work and this land, the farm, the people.”

He tucked a stray hair behind her ear. The intimacy startled her more than his gaze. She felt raw inside with need. She only had to stretch up a little to meet him. Her lips could be on his again. That delicious fire could consume her, which was exactly why she took a large step back and kept going.

What exciting story are you working on next?

I just finished Lily and Turner’s story, the 2^nd book after Handling the Rancher, which was so much fun! I also have another series debuting in December, also published by Totally Bound/Totally Entwined Group. It’s called Salvaging Love, and I’m working on the 2^nd book in that series. Writing 2 different series at the same time makes me feel like I have multiple personalities, but the characters won’t leave me alone!!! I’m also working on some essays.

When did you first consider yourself a writer?

I considered myself a writer from the time I started writing in 2000, but I didn’t actually say it out loud to others until years later. I always had other/additional jobs too so I would say, “I’m a teacher.” Or, “I work here.” before I ever mentioned I was a writer. Even today, with my first book out and my second book coming I still feel like someone is going to jump out and say, “Gotcha!!! It’s all one big joke!” Imposter syndrome is real!

Do you write full-time? If so, what's your work day like? If not, what do you do other than write and how do you find time to write?

I try to write every day after my kids get to school, for several hours. I’m much more productive if I stay off social media! But I also love connecting with people, so I often let Friday be my day when I’m more involved with social media. Although that can change based on if I’m trying to promote something for myself or my writer friends. When I’m really jamming on a story or a deadline, I write in the evenings too. I have two kids, a husband and a dog, so there’s lots of other stuff going on!!

What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?

I’m usually carrying on conversations in my head with my characters at 3am. Ahhh, insomnia! Sometimes it drives me crazy, but often that’s how I solve problems in my manuscript.

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

A writer, a chef, and a restaurant owner.

Anything additional you want to share with the readers?

I would love to hear from you!! The writing life is great for an introvert like me, but it can also be really lonely. And it’s the connections with readers and other writers and other people obsessed with making the perfect French macaron that keep my heart happy.

Links:

Website | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | Pinterest | BookBub | Amazon | Amazon UK | Kobo | Barnes and Noble | Totally Bound

Thank you for being a guest on my blog!

Thank you so much for having me!!!!

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Interview with suspense author M.T. Bass

Author M.T. Bass is here today to chat about his new suspense novel, Article 15. It has a touch of thriller and romance, too.

During his virtual book tour, M.T. will be awarding a $50 Amazon or Barnes and Noble (winner’s choice) gift card to a lucky randomly drawn winner. To be entered for a chance to win, use the form below. To increase your chances of winning, feel free to visit his other tour stops and enter there, too!

Please share a little bit about your current release.

I used to joke that if John Grisham, E.L. James and Vince Flynn had a ménage à trois and collaborated on a book, it would be Article 15: Fifty Shades of Mitch Rapp at the Firm. This story is the first contemporary piece I have written. I’ve worked the past and the future, but never the present, until now. And though the idea had been fermenting in the back of my mind for a decade or so, it suddenly came together with the uber-rich, uber-manipulative Helena Nicholson, who hires ex-Navy SEAL Griffith Crowe to supposedly find her father’s journals—but really she wants him to dig into her father’s suspicious death in a helicopter crash, set against the backdrop of C.I.A./Silicon Valley intrigue.

What inspired you to write this book?

Body Heat is one of my all-time favorite movies. I loved the film noir feel, the darkly twisted plot and more than anything else Kathleen Turner's character, Matty Walker. A great, great femme fatale. From there I wrote the first line: “She was one in a million and the day I met her I should have bought a lottery ticket instead.” That opening festered in my notes for years and years, until it all came together with Helena and Griff:

Excerpt from Article 15:

When Griff & Helena Meet for the First Time

Lance pulled up to the security gate by Atlantic Aviation at the approach end of Runway 16. He rolled down his window and punched the security code into the keypad. When the chain link gate opened, he pulled onto the tarmac and parked next to Griff’s Cirrus S-22. “I had them pull it out of the hangar. All gassed up and ready to go. Thank you very much.”

“Thanks, pal.”

They got out of the Escalade. Griff loaded his duffel bag into the plane and started his pre-flight inspection.

Lance checked FlightAware on his iPhone, then scanned the approach to Runway 16. Soon landing lights glared down the glide path. A Learjet 31 quickly crossed the threshold and touched down with tiny puffs of blue-gray smoke off the mains. Lance watched it roll out, then taxi their way. He smiled.

Griff came around the left wing and stood next to Lance. They watched the Learjet turn onto the apron in front of the Atlantic Aviation hangars and get marshaled to a stop by a baton-waving line boy. Another stood by with a rolled up red carpet, which he placed by the cabin door as soon as the engines spooled down.

“I love the smell of kerosene on the tarmac,” Lance said.

Griff looked at Lance staring at the Learjet.

“Wait for it…”

The cabin door opened like a clamshell. The co-pilot scurried down the stairs and stood ready to assist the deplaning passenger.

A slender blonde in Ray-Ban Jackie-Ohh sunglasses, a skin-tight red dress frosted at the shoulders with a sheer white shawl, and stiletto heels took the co-pilot’s hand and stepped down onto the tarmac into the hungry stares of the line boys. Griff pulled off his sunglasses to watch her sashay across the apron, chased by the co-pilot who held the door to Atlantic Aviation open, then followed her in.

“Don’t tell me. The stubborn possessor of a priceless Jackson Pollack,” Griff said, looking at Lance.

“Now, who owes who?”

Griff put on his sunglasses again, then headed towards the fixed base operator’s lobby. “Guess I better go pay my fuel tab.”

***~~~***

 He deemed it tactically unsound to confront a woman emerging from the Ladies Room, so he turned down the hall on his right to lay his ambush in the pilot’s lounge.

“That didn’t take long. I didn’t think it would.”

The low, almost husky yet honey smooth female voice poured seductively over Griff and blanked his mind as he turned into the pilot’s lounge. Though dimly lit, as they all were to facilitate napping, her red dress glowed like a hearth, yet she still wore her sunglasses as she studied her iPhone’s screen, slouching and sitting askew in one of the La-Z-Boy recliners with her legs crossed. Griff’s eye was drawn to the slow but rhythmic bounce of her stiletto heel. Predator had become prey.

She took off her Jackie Ohhs, looked Griff up and down, then took a deep breath. “Mmmm…tall, dark and dangerous…just the way I like them.”

Griff locked onto her blue-gray eyes and surrendered. He leaned against the door jam. His inside voice taunted, No plan survives contact with the enemy.

“I couldn’t help but notice Lance’s Escalade on the ramp. He is a conniving bastard, isn’t he? Of course, he is a lawyer, but he does excel at it. Not to mention the unseemly delight he takes in it.”

“Always has,” Griff said. “As long as I’ve known him.”

“Then, you really shouldn’t be surprised.”

Griff smiled, realizing it wasn’t Mayor Daley’s fault that he was still on the ground in Chicago. “Name’s Griff.”

“Yes. I know.”

He waited, his face an implacable facade, one molded and hammered into place on the Coronado Beach while enduring BUD/S training. “You got a name? Or will you answer to minx or vixen?”

 “Hmmm…you like the ‘X’ words. I prefer Helena.”

“So…how long will we be playing Three Card Monte with modern art…Helena?

“Oh, that. The Pollack is already crated up at a friend’s gallery in LA waiting to be shipped off.”

“Which gallery?”

“Now, Griff. Have we come to an understanding yet?”

As a Navy SEAL, he had been well-trained never to sigh out loud. “I’ve found understandings to be vastly overrated and all too often unreliable.”

“Hmmm. So, it often is.” She sat up straight, arching her back. She ran her fingers through her blonde hair. “Lance speaks highly of your…work.”

“I’ve solved a problem or two for him—or should I say his clients. What is it you need?”

“Trust me, there is precious little that I need.” Helena smiled coyly.

“Well, then, what is it that Helena wants?”

“You’re kind of a no-nonsense guy. Don’t you believe in foreplay?”

Griff laughed. “Why, yes. Yes, I do. But you and I are a bit too vertical right at the moment. So, it’s more like teasing.”

“Huh. Men. Why must you all be so literal?”

“Because literal is where we live and work and play.”

“Well, Mr. Griffith Crowe, this has been a fascinating conversation, but I must be going. I have an engagement to get to, and my limo is surely out front by now.” Helena stood up and walked up to Griff. She put her index finger on his chin.

“So, did I pass the audition?”

She pushed his head to the left, then back to the right. “Eh, you’ll do.”

Griff broke protocol and sighed heavily.

“I’ll be in touch,” Helena said as she slipped by, brushing his arm with her body.

Griff watched her leave, contemplating the possibility of foreplay—predator, again.

***~~~***

What exciting story are you working on next?

I’m working on a sequel to my very first book, My Brother’s Keeper. I always intended it to be a series based on a P-51 Mustang fighter pilot, who gets involved in all kinds of flying adventures through the years. This one takes place in Congo during the Sixties when the country was torn apart by civil war after being liberated as a Belgian colony and Hawk gets involved fighting the Simba rebels as a mercenary pilot. The title is Jungleland.

When did you first consider yourself a writer?

I just used a quote from Faulkner on my blog for his birthday: “Don't be ‘a writer'. Be writing.” And that's how I feel about it. It's not about what I am. It's what I do. And truth be told, I am more of a rewriter. That's where the heavy lifting really takes place.

That being said, I started scribbling out stuff of, say, an “artistic” nature in high school and then as an English major in college I didn't specialize in a specific period of literature. I studied creative writing and was lucky enough to be mentored by a great novelist and poet, Robert Flanagan, who I can't thank enough. When I got out of school, I just started putting words to paper and kept on going. Kind of the Satchel Page thing: “Don't look back. Something might be gaining on you."

Do you write full-time? If so, what's your work day like? If not, what do you do other than write and how do you find time to write?

I am up at 5 or so in the morning and the first thing I do—I mean after I get coffee, but before I check emails, read the news, or look at social media—is write. I spend the first hours of my day piling up words while I'm still fresh, my mind is clear and I'm at my most creative. It's pretty amazing, because before you know it, you have 50-60,000 words of a story and then the real fun begins. To me the writing process is a lot like woodworking. You just don't pound a few pieces of lumber together and call it a day. You go over the piece again and again and again, fixing and hiding flaws, then polishing it to as fine a finish as you can get before you throw it out into the world. Even then, years later, I still find things I missed or could have gotten better. But that's okay, with eBooks, you can tinker on and on and on…

What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?

I just can't resist sneaking in hidden “easter eggs” from The Little Rascals, Firesign Theater, Looney Tunes, Hitchcock movies, lyrics from favorite songs, etc. Sometimes the characters are in on it, like at Mount Rushmore, when Lance compares Helena and Griff to Eva Marie Saint and Cary Grant in North by Northwest. Other times, the characters use phrases that will sound very familiar to those in the know, like when Maura tells Griff to “Put a sock on it, Pablo.”

I once got dinged in a writer's group for repeating the phase, “luckless pedestrian” from the song “Don't Take me Alive” in a different book, Murder by Munchausen. Obviously, my critic was not a Steely Dan fan. Just having some fun. That's all.

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

Bigger.

Anything additional you want to share with the readers?

I take my writing seriously, but then again, I'm just making stuff up and having a ball doing it. I hope you enjoy my scribblings.

Social links:
Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

Buy pages:

Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Koko | iTunes | Smashwords

Thanks for joining me today!

Thank you for being a guest on my blog!

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Interview with romance author Melody DeBlois

Today’s author spotlight shines on Melody DeBlois. She’s here to chat about her new contemporary romance, That April in Santa Monica, releasing on Oct 23^rd.

During her virtual book tour, Melody will be awarding a $50 Amazon or Barnes and Noble (winner’s choice) gift card to a lucky randomly drawn winner. To be entered for a chance to win, use the form below. To increase your chances of winning, feel free to visit her other tour stops and enter there, too!

Bio:

Born in California, award winning author, Melody DeBlois follows the sun. When she isn’t swimming laps, she’s writing sweet and sassy romances. Her heroines are self-reliant and smart and her heroes are kind by nature and love dogs. She lives in California during the summer and spends winters in Arizona with her husband. She has plotted her novels while hiking the beach or trekking across the desert. Her most treasured possession is family.

Welcome, Melody. Please share a little bit about your current release.

Madison receives acclaim for running a talent agency for people with disabilities, but she doesn't know how to take care of herself. When her altruism becomes life-threatening—a matter of either develop healthy habits or die—she joins a reality TV show that pairs her with hot, raven-haired Brandon. He is witty, sexy, and her teacher. That makes him off limits.

After a successful run on a soap opera, Brandon stepped away from empty fame and now focuses on his work as TV's most noted health teacher. He has one fast rule—never fall for a student. But when he meets Madison, their chemistry is combustible. There's no hiding their conflict or their attraction, especially when it's all caught on film.

The book won a first-place award for Contemporary Romance at the 2017 Diamonds in the Desert Writer’s Conference. It had a different title: I’ve Grown Accustomed to Your Face.

What inspired you to write this book?

I was watching a health coach on reality TV and wondered what would happen if he fell in love with a student.

Excerpt from That April in Santa Monica:

“Don’t you feel the sun’s energy balancing and healing you?”

What Madison felt was Brandon’s body heat radiating through her, tightening her muscles, skimming up her spine. That kind of warmth should come with a warning— exposure might cause side effects. Maybe she could have blamed it on chemistry or like attracting like— called it a lethal injection. She was dying for want of him.

She managed to say, “I see a halo around the sun.”

“Feel it vibrate?” he asked, turning to look at her, and his eyes turned molten-blue.

Somehow, she didn’t think watching the sky had anything to do with it. The heat had gathered at the sweet place between her legs— another side effect of her being close to him. If this didn’t end up in a kiss, she didn’t think she’d be able to bear it.

Drawing in a long shaky breath, she said, “I do feel the vibration.” Oh, did she!

“Being out in the middle of nature, with the birds and the sea creatures, it does something to a person, don’t you think?”

“Amen to Mother Earth,” she said dreamily.

“There’s harmony in the sounds.” His breath seemed to have caught in his throat.

“Yes, a more beautiful melody could not exist.”

“Do you feel your eyes blur? It’s the sun cleansing you.”

Cleansing? Try heating up as if some crazy so-and-so had switched on the gas.

She moaned, “My eyes have become pools of marvel.” No, that wasn’t right. They were pools of longing, no mistaking

What exciting story are you working on next?

I am currently writing Undercover in Venice Beach; Book 2 in the Love is a Beach Series.

Struggling small business owner Audrey Powell has just lost her mother. In secret, she’s returned to Venice Beach to take over the tea house her mother made so special. She’s determined to keep Mama’s spirit of helping others alive. But she has no one to help her run things—until enter Liam James, the hunky poet who works miracles with food.

Liam James is a spy with British Intelligence. He sets up surveillance in the tea house where secrets are being leaked that threaten national security. To fit in with the clientele, he must work under the guise of a bloke who opposes technology. Never has he allowed a woman to get in the way of a mission until he meets Audrey. Trouble is, she isn’t who she claims to be.

When did you first consider yourself a writer?

All my life I wrote stories and books, but it wasn’t until my youngest son went off to school that I wrote a book at the dining room table and sent it off to Bantam. It was rejected, but the note was so very kind I felt encouraged. I haven’t stopped writing ever since.

Do you write full-time? If so, what's your work day like? If not, what do you do other than write and how do you find time to write?

I’ve written full-time for three years. I am a slow writer. I begin with a draft of 50,000 words at least, which takes a month, but after that, my method is one of constant revision. While working my way through a book, I loop back to earlier sections to rewrite in order to remain consistent, fluid, and to maintain voice. I’m trying to step up the process. Most writers only take a few months to finish their books. A single chapter can take fifty rewrites before I am satisfied enough to move on. There are times I want to toss the WIP out, but I just keep plugging along, a turtle in a world of hares, and even when I’m in the last phase of the copy-editing, I find a word here or there I want to change.

What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?

I dream a book into existence, in that every night I’m writing in my sleep. And, yes, it gets exhausting at times. Mistakes in the writing pop up in nightmare form, startling me awake. A-ha moments happen around three in the morning—the witching hour.

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

I vacillated between wanting to be an actress and longing to write. In my early twenties, I wrote plays for the neighborhood children. I directed sometimes as many as sixty children, made the costumes, and choreographed the dances. The strange part was I never had a dance lesson, and even with a name like Melody, I couldn’t sing a note. I was playing, but my playing was profitable. We made lots of money that we donated to local charities. It was a good time in my life. I hadn’t yet been hit by any sort of rejection. I thought I could do anything.

Anything additional you want to share with the readers?

I’ve always lived by a quote by Henry David Thoreau:

If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.

Links:

Website | Facebook | Pinterest | Instagram

Buy Links:

Amazon - Kindle | Amazon – print | Nook | Barnes and Noble - print

Thank you for being a guest on my blog!

Thank you for having me on your blog. It was a pleasure!

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Interview with author Evi Rhodes

Today’s welcome goes out to novelist Evi Rhodes who is with me to chat about her new paranormal romance, Wicked Night, book 1 in A Warrior’s Promise Series.

During her virtual book tour, Evi will be awarding a $20 Amazon or Barnes and Noble (winner’s choice) gift card to a lucky randomly drawn winner. To be entered for a chance to win, use the form below. To increase your chances of winning, feel free to visit her other tour stops and enter there, too!

Bio:

Evi Rhodes has always had a passion for writing and likes to spend as much time as possible hanging out with the array of rescue animals on her farm in Ontario, sipping on a cup of coffee and typing on her laptop.

In addition to getting her degree in business as well as competing in her favourite equestrian sport, dressage, she is an entrepreneur, and has coached many of a riding enthusiast, but she has always found herself coming back to wanting to write full-time.

“I just want to be me and to be authentic. To tell a story that others can immerse themselves in and enjoy is what I have always wanted.”

Welcome, Evie. Please tell us a little bit about Wicked Night.

Follow the journey of a strong, independent, yet caring woman as she navigates the supernatural world she is thrust into. Gwen steps out of a dysfunctional family life and into a world filled with danger she never realized lives at every turn, fiery passion, and a love that is ever binding. How will she handle her strange new surroundings as well as the man with the intense and overbearing personality who threatens to destroy the emotional barriers around her heart?

Wicked, the next in line to become the vampire king, is caught off guard when he grudgingly agrees to take on a charge, something he never wanted to do. He is unsure how to handle the fierce and vibrant woman with the unsettling green eyes. It doesn't take long for them to clash, but will it end passionately or burn down around them?

What inspired you to write this book?

I’ve always loved to write and had jotted down notes for this novel long ago. I really wanted to write a story that pulled the reader in and gave them characters they could root for as well as had a little of everything that I love in a novel. I also like to touch on serious topics and people’s stories that I felt were worthwhile in sharing in part or whole. I am truly inspired by the world around us as well as picturing what the world would be like if those from the paranormal walked among us out in the open.

Excerpt from Wicked Night:

He slowly turned around and there she was, the one thing in his life that made him smile, and he pulled her forward so she could stand between his legs. She hugged him tightly to her as he held on to her small body.

“I love you,” she said over and over again into the side of his neck as she ran little kisses up and down his skin.

            His big body started to shake and he gave in and did something he hadn’t done in a very long time: he cried. He was hanging on to her for dear life as the sobs racked his body and still she just kept repeating how much she loved him, and she was there for him. As small as she was, physically, in comparison to him, in this moment she was the strong one; she was his rock. He needed her, he needed to wipe away what happened tonight; he needed to bury himself into her warmth and have her wash away the darkness with the strength of who she was and who they were to each other.

            He looked up into her eyes and he saw only love. There was no pity. There was no sadness or disgust at how weak he was being, there was only love for him and a strength of character that spoke of her virtuous nature. He took her face in his hands and crushed his lips to hers and she moaned in response, allowing him to completely dominate her as he ran his hands up her body and explored her mouth with his tongue. He broke away from the kiss only long enough to make sure the door was locked.

What exciting story are you working on next?

The second book in the series, Unusual Night, is already published but I am currently working on book three, Orion’s Night which is almost complete. It is a deeper look into Orion and his life; he is and interesting character in the continuing story of Gwen and her journey. Although this book will predominantly be about Orion it will also give us an outside perspective into Gwen’s life and the ongoing turmoil around the mansion. A different and unique way to view our heroine and those that surround her.

When did you first consider yourself a writer?

I’m honestly still in shock that my work is in print, maybe when the surreal wears off I will feel like I’m a writer.

Do you write full-time?

No, unfortunately, I don’t write full time, but would love to. I actually own my own small business, as well as I’m currently working in an office as an administrative assistant. I tend to write late into the evening and on weekends for the most part. It is hard juggling everything, but I make sure that I sit down at the computer every day for at least a half-hour even if it is just to look over something that I have already written. I feel that it’s important to stay active with my work even when I’m crazy busy; not only does it keep me in touch with my characters, but many times it is what calms my mind and allows me to unwind.

What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?

I’m not sure if this is quirky, but I cannot write a single page unless I have a coffee in hand and my writing table set-up the exact same way every time. I also love to listen to music when I write and whenever I have a fight scene or a romantic scene etc… there are certain songs I absolutely must listen to, they just get the right creative juices flowing.

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

As a small child I had two dreams the first was to become a veterinarian because I absolutely love animals and wanted to be able to help them all; unfortunately my scientific academic acumen was not where it needed to be for this particular dream. The second was to become an Olympian in the equestrian sport I ride in. Not once did I dream that one day I would become a writer, in fact as a child I had enormous trouble learning to read and write. I was held back in class after testing proved I was comprehending at a level at least two grades behind my classmates. I was diagnosed as dyslexic and proven to have a short-term memory issue. Honestly, if it wasn’t for the persistence of my parents to make sure that I got caught up by sitting and studying with me every night to learn how to properly read, write, and spell, I’m not sure I would’ve ever found my love for writing.

I was asked the other day if I thought my time riding and competing with horses had taught me any life lessons.

I can say without a doubt that, yes, they most certainly did. Not only did the horses teach me about responsibility, but they taught me respect, how to listen and speak without using words as well as how to put another’s needs before my own. When you get into horses the very first thing you learn is that you don’t eat until your horse does, you don’t drink until your horse does, you don’t rest until your horse has been brushed, their stall has been cleaned and your tack has been put away. They are your number one focus and what they need comes above everything else. Also I have to say horses are a great judge of character, best way to know if you have a good girlfriend or boyfriend is to bring them around your horse, they will tell you quick enough if you should say adios. My stallion always put a boyfriend through the acceptance test more thoroughly than any parent, friend or sibling would and the only one that truly passed, I’m now married to.

Links:

Website | Facebook | Instagram | Goodreads | Amazon Canada | Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Indigo

Thanks for joining me today! All the best with your writing.

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Interview with YA paranormal author Christine Potter

Welcome, readers. Today’s guest is novelist Christine Potter. We’re chatting about her newest YA paranormal romance novel with a dash of time travel, Gracie’s Time.

During her virtual book tour, Christine will be awarding a $30 Amazon or Barnes and Noble (winner’s choice) gift card to a lucky randomly drawn winner. To be entered for a chance to win, use the form below. To increase your chances of winning, feel free to visit her other tour stops and enter there, too!

Bio:

Christine Potter lives in a very old, haunted house, not far from Sleepy Hollow. She’s the author of the time-traveling Bean Books series, on Evernight Teen: Time Runs Away With Her, In Her Own Time, What Time Is It There? and Gracie’s Time. She’s also a poet, with several books in print (the most recent is called Unforgetting). Christine loves all kinds of music, DJ’s, and plays dulcimer and guitar.

Welcome, Christine. Please share a little bit about your current release.

Gracie's Time is Bean Four, the fourth book in the Bean series. Gracie Ingraham is a high school sophomore during the Cuban Missile Crisis and her parents believe the world is on the edge of nuclear war. Fortunately, they have something planned to keep their daughter safe. The Ingrahams are Travelers—time travelers--and Gracie shares their gift. So they decide to send Grace to the 1890s and a wealthy uncle in Victorian-era Manhattan. Problem is, she's never traveled in time before. She goes forward instead of back—and lands in 2018. Gracie has gone from transistor radios to iPhones, from duck-and-cover drills to active shooter drills. Because this is indeed a Bean book, characters from the original series have good-sized roles—but maybe not how you'd think. Gracie's Time makes a perfectly good stand-alone read, by the way, but I bet you'll want to read the first three books when you've finished this one!


What inspired you to write this book?

I was originally thinking of a story separate from the Bean characters, maybe one that would be short story length for an anthology. I wanted to write it in first person, from Gracie's point of view. And then, not so many words into my first draft, the Parkland shooting happened. I already had Gracie in 2018 by then. I knew I had to deal with the threat of gun violence in schools. So I did.

Excerpt from Gracie’s Time:

I heard a snoring sound in the sky then, but it was only a plane. For a moment I thought about how terrible it would be if a nuclear war started right that minute, before I could escape to the past. Then I thought about Mom and Dad. I hoped they’d come get me from the 1890s if there weren’t a war. I didn’t want them to die. I didn’t want anyone to die. I really wanted there to be a future.

Mr. Mahoney and I walked past the train station and out onto the empty platform. He looked over his shoulder to be sure no one was around. “Are you ready?” He took my hands, squeezed them, and then he let go. “It’s the right time and place! Go on back, Gracie!”

At first, I thought nothing had happened, except then it wasn’t evening anymore. It was morning—and certainly not the 1890s. Nobody named Augustus introduced himself to me.

Dad always told me that if you get confused when you Travel, you should always look at what kind of lights there are in buildings and what clothing people have on to help place yourself. But what I saw only confused me more.

A freezing wind came off the river and cut right through my corduroy jacket. People in puffy grey and brown overcoats stood in clumps, staring at what I first thought were really tiny transistor radios. I learned that same day those things are called smart phones. I’d missed the 1890s by over a hundred years—and in the wrong direction.

A sleek, silvery train roared into the station from the north and everyone got on it but me. Bingo, the future! I’d just broken one of the biggest Rules there is.

What exciting story are you working on next?

I also write poetry, and I've been busy submitting a lot of new work. I'm trying to decide what's next for Gracie. There's a real ending on this story, but there are plenty of places my new (and old) characters could go next.

When did you first consider yourself a writer?

I can't remember a time in my life when I couldn't read—I taught myself before kindergarten—and so I can't really remember a time when I wasn't making up stories and poems. I actually wrote some (bad) time travel stories and ghost stories when I was in junior high. I think I started calling myself a writer confidently when the first book in the Bean series came out a few years ago, even though I had published a whole lot of poetry by then. Somehow or other having a novel in print gave me the right to own the word.

Do you write full-time? If so, what's your work day like? If not, what do you do other than write and how do you find time to write?

I'm a retired high school English teacher. I guess that's why I never had fiction in print until I got out of the classroom: not enough hours in the day. I write every day now, either poetry or fiction. I get up, read the news, update my social media, and head for my office. I take an exercise break midday and then go back to writing until my musician husband gets home from practicing. He's a church organist, so he does an awful lot of that outside the house. He has a practice organ at home that is NOT a friend of my writing!

What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?

I love both pop and classical music. All of my books have a lot of music in them—and characters who are musicians and DJs. Bean Four, Gracie's Time, has everything from "Over the Rainbow" to the soundtrack to Hamilton.

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

I wanted to be a writer pretty early on. I had a brief flirtation with wanting to be an archeologist, but then I realized I'd probably be excavating graves and that freaked me out.

Anything additional you want to share with the readers?

I am the world's oldest young adult. As a retired teacher, I believe you become the age of the kids you teach. I taught high schoolers. A large part of me has been sixteen years old—for decades!

Buy Links:

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Interview with mystery author Robert McCaw

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Welcome, readers. Today’s special author interview is with Robert McCaw. We’re chatting about his new mystery, Off the Grid.

Bio:

Robert McCaw grew up in a military family traveling the world. After graduating from Georgetown University, he served as a lieutenant in the US Army before earning his law degree from the University of Virginia. Thereafter he practiced as a partner in a major international law firm in Washington, DC, and New York City—and maintained a home on the Big Island of Hawai’i. McCaw brings a unique authenticity to his Koa Kāne Hawaiian mystery novels in both his law legal expertise and his ability to portray the richness of Hawai’i’s history, culture, and people. McCaw lives in New York City and La Jolla, California, with his wife, Calli.

Welcome, Robert. Please tell us about your current release.

Off The Grid is a mystery/political thriller set on the Big Island of Hawaii—the real Hawaii, beyond the palm trees, hula skirts, and tropical drinks of tourist Hawaii. In many ways, Hawaii itself, its history, multicultural diversity, and language is a character in the novel.

My protagonist, Koa Kāne, is the chief detective of the Hilo, Hawaii police. He’s a cop with a secret past, one that gives him an insight into the criminal mind, while fueling his relentless pursuit of justice for victims. In Off The Grid, Koa’s day starts when he’s called to the scene of a staged traffic accident and escalates when a body turns up in a lava field. It doesn’t take Koa long to discover that the victims are loners living under false identities off the grid in rural Hawaii. His quest to learn their identities creates conflicts with powerful government agencies and ultimately his own police chief. The trail leads to one of the most bizarre, real-life, international events of the recent past and to a surprise ending.

What inspired you to write this book?

Hawaii inspired me to write the Koa Kāne mystery series, starting with Death of a Messenger in 2015, followed by Off The Grid in 2019, and Fire and Vengeance, to be published next year. I first visited the Big Island in 1986 and fell in love with its magic. Living there part-time for 20 years, I immersed myself in its history and culture, talked story with local friends, both haole (western) and Hawaiian, and visited most of the places where my stories take place.

Two unrelated experiences inspired significant parts of Off The Grid. My wife and I went to the home of a Big Island artist we had commissioned for a Hawaiian themed painting. After a number of twists and turns in a remote part of the island, we arrived at an isolated dwelling deep in the rain forest. Largely off the grid, it was filled with mismatched objects, artist’s supplies, and half-finished paintings. As I entered and scanned the great room, I knew I’d discovered a ready-made template for a scene in a novel. The fact that the artist’s retired husband seemed to have some clandestine military history only added intriguing mystery possibilities.

Not too much later, my wife and I drove up the somewhat more developed Kohala Coast to the picturesque town of Hāwī to dine at one of our favorite casual restaurants, only to find the place closed. We learned that the proprietor had been arrested as a fugitive from justice. A little research revealed that he was far from the only wanted man hiding out on the Big Island.

And so pieces of Off The Grid came together.

What exciting story are you working on next?

Fire and Vengeance, another unique and exciting Koa Kāne mystery, is coming next year. It begins when a volcano erupts under an elementary school, and Koa learns that the builders knew of, and concealed, the risk. The ensuing investigation leads Koa into one of the most challenging investigations of his career as he fights entrenched politicians to discover a shocking and long-buried truth.

When did you first consider yourself a writer?

Given my former career as an attorney, it seems as though I have been writing most of my life. I first turned to serious fiction when I started Death of a Messenger in the late 1980s while I was still pursuing a full-time legal career. I worked on that novel off and on until I retired and finally finished it. So if “writer” means producing books for publication, you could say I’ve been “becoming” a writer for a long time.

Do you write full-time? If so, what's your work day like? If not, what do you do other than write and how do you find time to write?

I write regularly, but my days encompass many other activities, including time with family and friends, travel, exercise, reading, cooking, and even a video game or two, but little or no TV. That said, I try to spend some time every day working on my latest writing project. That might entail sitting down at the computer, researching, or just thinking and planning the next chapter or scene. I agree with authors who say that successful writers are voracious readers and believe that life is in many ways the best research for writing fiction. Thus, I am always on the prowl for locations, situations, or characters that might fit with my current project or inspire parts of the next one.

What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?

I avoid the word “very,” and think of my father every time that word crosses my mind. He told me that whenever I use the word “very,” I should change it to “damned,” – as in damned pretty -- and then delete it!

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

The list is endless. My grandfather worked on a railroad, and I grew up with model trains. So I wanted to be an engineer. My father was a military lawyer, so I wanted to be a soldier, but not a lawyer. That only came later. We always had tools and a workshop, and I tried my hand at cabinetry. I loved numbers and wanted to be a mathematician until I figured out that math would likely be a pretty solitary profession. Always fascinated by the stars, I seriously considered being an astronomer. At one point, I even wanted to be a professional ping-pong player.

Anything additional you want to share with the readers?

The luckiest people are not, as commonly believed, the wealthiest. They are instead those blessed with the power to make a life doing what they love. So go for it.

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