Tag: best selling authors

Grace Burrowes, best selling author ~~ Interview (part 2)

Q. Where/when do you first discover your characters?grace_scotts-view

GB. If I’m lucky, I hear them. I hear them grousing about their life situation, or wishing on a star. What I’m after with a character is an understanding of their defining trauma or wound (neglect can hurt like heck without qualifying as a trauma, though it IS a trauma), because then I know how to build them that cave they most fear to enter, wherein their treasure will lie. When a book is really singing to me, I’m usually writing about one of my defining traumas, though I often don’t realize that until the manuscript is done and edited.

My brother Dick once gave me some great advice for how to build a character arc: Make the character choose between the competing demands of honor. The lady or the tiger is interesting, because either door leads to death for the person choosing, but add dishonor to those stakes, and you have the makings of quite a yarn.

Q. What first inspired you to write your stories?

GB. I have always loved to write, even before I could write cursive. I’ve also always loved to read, and romance novels, which are a lot more complicated than they look (when done right), were my fiction of choice. In the courtroom I see a lot of miserable-ever-after endings, and that creates a need for somewhere that I can make life happily-ever-after. When my daughter moved out, I had time, emotional breathing room, and an unsatisfied creative urge all coming together. The books blossomed, and I feel like I’ve found the thing I love to do so much, I lose track of time and self when I’m doing it.

Q. What comes first to you? The Characters or the Situation? Continue reading “Grace Burrowes, best selling author ~~ Interview (part 2)”

Interview with Best Selling Author, Grace Burrowes (part 1)

 grace-burrowsigning-use-this-2TS. Grace Burrowes is in my top three favorite historical romance writers. Great plots, well developed characters and humor! She granted this interview and I am thrilled.  The glimpse into her writing world is unique and fascinating!

Q. Where do you write? Do you have a special room, shed, barn, special space for your writing?  Or tell us about your ‘dream’ work space.

GB. I write at my kitchen table, though I don’t take meals there. The set up is me in the writing chair, a cat in my lap, or two cats curled up on the heated throw that covers the left end of the table. Writer dawg is at my feet, and I use a remote keyboard, so my laptop screen can sit at the ergonomically ideal height. This is bliss, to write with my four-footed buddies around, amid the peace and quiet of my nest.

Q. Do you have any special rituals when you sit down to write? (a neat work space, sharpened #2 pencils, legal pad, cup of tea, glass of brandy, favorite pajamas, etc.)

GB. I start the day with one cup of jasmine green tea, with agave nectar and table cream—more bliss! I try to end a writing sessions with some trailers, or in the middle of a sentence, so my fingers will have something to do when I next put them on the keyboard. I also end the day reading over whatever I wrote that day, and when I get up, I set the alarm at least 30 minutes early, so I can stay in bed, drifting on the alpha waves and letting my happy-besomimagination nosh on the book. This is a lovely way to ease into the day, and usually means I start a writing session with some creative compression. A line of dialogue, a symbolic detail of setting, something will get me out of bed and down to the computer.

Q. Could you tell us something about yourself that we might not already know?

GB. The older I get, the happier I am—and the more passionate. I didn’t see this coming. Continue reading “Interview with Best Selling Author, Grace Burrowes (part 1)”

The Cliffhouse Haunting by Thorne & Cross……….A Review

The Cliffhouse Haunting   A Review ~~~ reviews, authors, writingreviews, authors, writingreviews, authors, writingreviews, authors, writing 4 out of 5 quills

If you like being scared spit-less this is the book for you.  As if a vicious serial killer isn’t good enough, he’s paired up with a very unhappy spirit who haunts the Lodge and the Lake named for her.

In Thorne and Cross’s latest offering, Cliffhouse Lodge is famous for its ghosts. Overlooking Blue Lady Lake, Cliffhouse has just been renovated by its owners, Teddy and Adam Bellamy, and their daughter, Sara. Cliffhouse has not always been a place of rest and respite, though. Over the years icliffhouse-hauntingt has served many vices, from rum-running to prostitution – and although the cat house has been replaced by a miniature golf course and carousel, Cliffhouse retains its dark history; darkest during the Roaring Twenties, when a serial killer called the Bodice Ripper terrorized the town, and a phantom, the Blue Lady, was said to walk when murder was imminent. Death Walks With Her… Now, there’s a new killer on the loose, and the Blue Lady sightings have returned.

I enjoyed the twist on a ‘normal’ family unit. Teddy and Adam are a married, gay couple who have a biological daughter (through surrogacy), Sara.
The characters (and I do mean characters) who wander in and out of the Lodge are well drawn and entertaining.  This writing duo is clever, indeed.

Did you miss my INTERVIEW with Tamara Thorne and Alistair Cross? Click here
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DON’T MISS UPCOMING BLOGS featuring INTERVIEWS with  best-selling AUTHORS!   October Author, Lisa Jackson.  November will be best selling author, Grace Burrowes and in December, Reed Farrel Coleman, ghost writer for Robert B. Parker ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Check out Motivational Moments…for Writers!

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Interview (part 2) with internationally known author, Lisa Jackson

jackson-dogQ. Where/when do you first discover your characters?

LJ. I write from a synopsis, so I’ve met them before I actually write the book, but I don’t really know them until about 150 pages in, so, of course, I have to go back to page one. They surprise me and new ones tend to pop up as I write the real book, but I don’t know them until well into the writing.  They are unique unto themselves and I don’t pattern them off of people I know per se.

Q. What first inspired you to write your stories?

LJ. Sister Nan saw an article in Time magazine in 1980. The article was about young mothers making their fortunes writing romance novels.  She thought we could do it.  I had read the same article but had dismissed it as both aftershes-mmpNancy and I, like our parents before us, were mystery buffs.  We’d never even read a contemporary romance novel.  But, after my first arguments, I sat back and thought, “Why not?”  I was broke, broke, broke at the time with two little kids.  Who was I to say “no.”  So, we gave it a whirl and eventually found our footing, both publishing at Silhouette Books.

Q. What comes first to you? The Characters or the Situation?

jackson-writingis-such-hard-workLJ. It depends. I need the situation, of course, the crisis, then the characters come to the story.  I’m usually inspired by what I find as a unique predicament for the characters.

Q. Do you ‘get lost’ in your writing? Continue reading “Interview (part 2) with internationally known author, Lisa Jackson”

Guest Blog from Best Selling Author, Jodi Thomas

Jodi.photo (Small)How to Jump Start a Writer’s Day ~~ My Guest Blogger, Author, Jodi Thomas

‘ As I was saying in Trisha’s Motivational Moments for Writers: The hardest thing a writer does each day is sitting down to work.  In 28 years as a working writer I’ve published 45 books and 13 novellas.  The hardest thing wasn’t learning to write, but learning to managing time. I picked up a few tricks but it is still the dragon I fight every day.

First, remember this is your job.  If you worked in an office or taught school you wouldn’t stop and answer every friend’s call.  So leave the phone in the kitchen or garage.  You’re at work.  One phone call might not knock you out of fiction, but the third one might.

Second, build your nest.  I find this makes it easy for me to step into fiction.  It doesn’t matter if your nest is in a secret room in the attic or a small desk in a hotel room, it needs to be your nest.

I usually start with a notebook.  My facts book, my bible for the series.  It includes all characters’ names and basic facts.  Maps of the area—if you’re making up a town, make up the map.    Sometimes pages of research like maps of the area or dates that need to be considered.  If you’re writing about a time in history you need to be aware of what was happening on that day in history.  If Lincoln was shot or 9/11 happened your fictional characters need to react. Continue reading “Guest Blog from Best Selling Author, Jodi Thomas”

A Review ~~ ‘Mother’ from duo-writers, Thorne & Cross

reviews, authors, writingreviews, authors, writingreviews, authors, writingreviews, authors, writingreviews, authors, writing

(5 out of 5 quills)                                                                  MOTHER ~~ A ReviewMother

 

How to write a review without it being filled with spoilers! Like Dean Koontz (and early King) this writing team blends a common-place event with chilling anticipation.  A young couple falling on hard times, goes back to live with the parents (in this case Mother) knowing full well it’s not a good idea. To add to this reviewer’s anxiety, the young wife is pregnant. Has Mother changed her ways? Has time mellowed her out?

Every page subtly tells the reader this is not going to end well.  Just turn the next page and it will get better, won’t it?  The authors deliver!

I highly recommend this latest offering by Tamara Thorne and Allistair Cross.  I guarantee you will never look at your mother-in-law in the same way  again.

If you missed my INTERVIEW with this exciting writing team, CLICK HERE
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DON’T MISS UPCOMING BLOGS featuring INTERVIEWS with  best-selling AUTHORS!  A long awaited interview with Kathleen Grissom (The Kitchen House) September’s author will be Joseph Drumheller and October: Andrew Snook.  Check out Motivational Moments…for Writers!

To receive my posts sign up for my blog, blogs, blogger, writer, author, playwright, books, plays,fiction  On the home page, enter your email address.  Thanks!

An Interview with Bestselling Author, Robyn Carr

TS: Although Robyn’s earlier novels were historicals, she found the voice that has resonated with readers by writing a blend of contemporary romance and women’s fiction—books that not only entertain but also address sensitive issues, such as domestic violence, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, workplace burnout and miscarriage, anything that can compromise a woman’s happiness because she’s female. There have been standalone novels—and wildly popular series.

Robyn.Carr.photo.2 Q. Where do you write? Do you have a special room, shed, barn, special space for your writing?  Or tell us about your ‘dream’ work space

RC. I work in an extra bedroom that has built-in desktop, drawers and bookshelves to the ceiling.  I really outgrew it years ago – I’ve been in this house and office for 17 years.  I share the space with my husband who takes care of all our family business and attempts to help me with my business and since he tends to stack things, it’s become small and messy.  I have the half with the desk and desktop computer – he has the half with the file drawers, not that he actually files.  My desk is cluttered with everything from checkbooks to unanswered mail.  Given our computerized and internet lives, most of the unanswered mail remains unanswered.  If I can’t do it on the computer, it’s just impossible to get to.  This office that houses two people and a million books is only 10X12.  But it’s where I’m most at home.  The chair is curved to my butt and the screen is exactly the right distance from my eyes.  All the letters are worn off the keyboard because I like the keyboard.  Continue reading “An Interview with Bestselling Author, Robyn Carr”

A Review ~~ The Innocents by Ace Atkins

reviews, authors, writingreviews, authors, writingreviews, authors, writingreviews, authors, writingreviews, authors, writing Five out five quills     A Review    The Innocents by Ace Atkins

Ace is  a quintessential storyteller.  He takes us to the back waters of Mississippi and seduces Ace.Book..Scanus with his wonderful, oh-so-human characters.  So richly drawn that we fall in love with every one of them.  Quinn Colson, the ex-war hero turned part-time sheriff’s deputy; Lillie Virgil, the female Sheriff with a no-nonsense-get-things-done attitude, lashing the bad guys with a dirty mouth.  A train load of other fascinating, and sometimes funny, cast of characters. My favorite type of book; one in which I can revisit the environs and the people and read about what they’ve been up to since I last visited.

And the funny thing is you had no interest in visiting these little one horse towns such as Blackjack, Sugar Ditch, and Jericho; much less meet all these rednecks.  But if you trust me not to steer you wrong, you’ll definitely enjoy yourself in the new book by Ace Atkins, The Innocents.

(A preview from amazon.com) ‘Quinn Colson didn’t owe his home town of Jericho, Mississippi, a damn thing. After serving for more than a decade as a U.S. Army Ranger, he’d returned, been elected sheriff, and tried to make the town and surrounding Tibbehah county a better place. He was rewarded with being voted out of office, and went back to the war zone he’d left.      Now, back in Jericho, trying to fix things with his still-married high school girlfriend and retired Hollywood stuntman father, he’s drawn to becoming a lawman again. This time, he accepts a badge from acting Sheriff Lillie Virgil, a foul-mouthed law woman with shades of Calamity Jane. But what they must confront together is something brand-new. When a former high school cheerleader is found walking a back road completely engulfed in flames…..’

The mystery aspect is just too delicious.  I never saw it coming…who really killed the cheerleader. Atkins takes us on a twisted road of investigative prowess.

And let us not forget Ace Atkins is the same writer who has kept Robert Parker’s books alive.  He writes as Parker so fans can continue to enjoy another brilliant storyteller.
I highly recommend Ace’s latest offering.  You won’t regret it!!  Released July 12th.

Did you read my INTERVIEW with Ace Atkins?  Click Here

 

 

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DON’T MISS UPCOMING BLOGS featuring INTERVIEWS with  best-selling AUTHORS! In April, a long awaited interview with Kathleen Grissom (The Kitchen House)   Michael Saad, Canadian author, was June’s author. Robyn Carr is July’s author. Check out Motivational Moments…for Writers!

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Motivational Moments…for Writers! # 6

1..girl.write..mouse_1Writers! Jump-start your day with more Motivational Moments!

Don’t worry about a story that you haven’t finished.  It’s okay to let it ‘rest’.  There have been times when I have had three books waiting for me to finish.  Just the other day I pulled up my GAN (great American novel) and realized that it had been ‘resting’ for over a year. Life and other stories had gotten in the way.

The good news is that it’s only about 50-75 pages from being a completed first draft.  And, I am looking at it with fresh eyes.  What a difference that makes. It’s almost like reading someone else’s work and I am revitalized and eager now to complete it and begin rewrites.

BTW, I am calling Song of the Yukon my great American novel; not out of ego but very much with tongue in cheek. Rather it is my largest effort to day and took the most research, blood and sweat.

“Books are the carriers of civilization. Without books, history is silent, literature dumb, science crippled, thought and speculation at a standstill. I think that there is nothing, not even crime, more opposed to poetry, to philosophy, ay, to life itself than this incessant business.” Henry David Thoreau

 

 

“It is a funny thing about life; if you refuse to accept anything but the best, you very often get it.”  W. Somerset Maugham

“Ignorance is the night of the mind, but a night without moon and star.” Confucius

 

 

 

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DON’T MISS UPCOMING BLOGS featuring INTERVIEWS with  best-selling AUTHORS!  A long awaited interview with Kathleen Grissom (The Kitchen House) Best selling author, Robyn Carr is July’s author. Check out Motivational Moments…for Writers!

To receive my posts sign up for my blog, blogs, blogger, writer, author, playwright, books, plays,fiction  On the home page, enter your email address.  Thanks!

Writers! Leave Yourself Open To Stories!

If you’ve been reading my blog for any length of time you know that I am a proponent of keeping yourself open to life, stories, and snippets of tales.

shrimp-and-gritsI recently heard this question asked of a West African chef, “How did you feel when you heard a fat, rich, white woman (cooking show) claim that her recipe had been handed down from  generation to generation in her family? When actually the dish (Shrimp and grits) has been cooked on the west coast of Africa for hundreds of years?”
The answer?
The chef/host who was giving an intimate dinner party in his home in Dakar, Senegal, West Africa (each syllable drips with mystery, fish.senegaldoesn’t it?) smiled and said, “Gratitude that our cuisine lives on and is enjoyed in the United States.”

And Gumbo is another example. Louisiana claims it originated there. A poor man’s dish. Ingredients: Fish/seafood from the river out back, tomatoes and other veggies from the garden, a roux from pork drippings,(from the pig pen out back) butter  and flour.  Again, Africa via France and brought to the south with the Cajuns.

When I heard this conversation (above) what this writer’s ears heard was:  “MamaBelle, cook up some of your shrimp and grits as a side dish for my guests!”  The fine lady, from the senegal.Mamabellmansion on the hill, had walked down to the kitchen house to talk about the menu for her dinner party.  MamaBelle had been the head cook on the plantation for decades but still had knife-sharp memories of arriving in Georgia, bound in shackles, barely surviving the trip on the slave ship from West Africa. Put on the block for auction, teeth examined, hips examined (for breeding) stripped naked. Being marched miles and miles to the plantation. Working the fields until it was discovered that she was of better use in the kitchen. Living through the horror of her children being sold off when the Masta’ needed ready cash. Continue reading “Writers! Leave Yourself Open To Stories!”