A Genteel Giveaway!

I've been interviewed over at Pure Southern Genteel. The interview is fun and fast, and I hope you'll take a peek.

Leave a comment at Miss Mae's blog to be entered in an impromptu giveaway. Leave a comment here, and get a second entry. Tell someone else about the interview, and have them leave a comment mentioning your name at either spot and I'll enter you yet again! How's that for fun?

The prize is a secret, but I assure you it'll be something interesting. Oh! The contest runs until the end of the month.

Hope you have a wonderful Tuesday!

New Interview!

Exciting news this morning! Today I'm the featured author at Diane Craver's blog!

All week long Diane has interviewed some very talented women. Her guests have been Cindy Green, Debra Parmley, Jennifer Shirk and Anne Whitfield.

If you haven't had a chance to read their interviews I suggest you peek in. I'm always amazed to hear how other writers work, and to learn what inspires them. All four women are smart and witty and reading their interviews was a pleasure. I think you'll enjoy what they had to say. I know I did.

Today's my day! I'm thrilled to be included in Diane's Author Week.

I hope you'll come by and leave a comment. Everyone who comments on Diane's blog today will get an extra entry in my drawing this week.

I'm giving away three books this week so comment here and there and increase your chances of having your name pulled from the hat! And tell your friends. Your neighbors. Strangers on the street. The more the merrier!

And Author Week has prizes up for grabs, too. So be sure to comment and get your name in the pot for that, too.

I can't thank Diane enough for inviting me to join the party. Such an honor, and a fun way to tie up what's been a great week.

Hope you have a wonderful Friday!

Cozy with Cora!

Good news!

The always delightful Cora Applebaum has posted our chat at Orchard Hill Highlights. I am a big Orchard Hill fan so cozying up and chatting with Cora is definitely a high point for me.

Thanks Cora!

I hope you'll take a peek. :)

Interviews, the final frontier

I have a confession to make. I am--sometimes--apprehensive about being interviewed. I know, I know, you're probably surprised by that admission, but it's true. I get nervous just thinking about the whole interview thing.

Why? I'm always worried I'll sound like an idiot. Again, the unvarnished truth.

But today I'm being interviewed at Cheryl's Book Nook and I'm pleased to say the whole process was painless and fun. Who knows? I may be getting more comfortable with the experience. Cheryl was so kind when she asked me to do it I automatically said "yes!" and now I'm glad I did. Please, if you've got a minute, I'd love it if you'd head over there and visit with me.

I promise, it's painless and you might even have some fun! ;-)

Please welcome Marianne Arkins

I've got something special for you today. I've been fortunate enough to interview Marianne Arkins, who is on a blog tour promoting her newly released novel, One Love for Liv.

One Love for Liv is your first published full length novel. Did it feel different to write a long work instead of the shorter romances you're so well known for?

Actually, I’ve written more novels than I have short stories – it’s just terribly labor intensive to polish a novel for submission! I love to write shorts in between my novels, it’s such a great feeling to write “the end”, especially when you’re struggling through a novel.

Still, there’s a great accomplishment to finish a full length novel and edit and polish it to the point an editor thinks it’s good enough for publication. I loved writing Liv – it was my 2005 NaNoWriMo novel. It needed quite a bit of work before it could show it’s face in public, but I think it was worth it.

I've read nearly all of your Wild Rose Press stories. One of the things that always impresses me about your writing is your characters. They're realistic, with traits that make your reader feel like they're people they could--and maybe do--know. Where do you get inspiration for such interesting characters? Are they drawn from family and friends, or entirely from your mind? And I can't help but ask...is Liv completely fictional or is she based on someone you know? You don't have to tell us who Liv might be...unless you want to!

Aww… thanks! I prefer character-driven stories, so try to focus on my characters. I hope I manage to make them all individuals with both flaws and admirable traits. The hardest part for me is to make them all different. I think I have a tendency to like certain character traits over others, and when I think “hero”, I want all my heroes to have a particular trait. Obviously, that won’t work.

I’m sure I must draw on real-life examples for my characters, but no one character is based on someone else (well, except my heroine’s pet rat in a WIP – he is absolutely based on my own pet rat from years ago).

And Liv… what a hoot. Actually, I developed her as the complete opposite of most of my heroines. I noticed I was beginning to make all of my leading ladies tomboys, the kind who didn’t mind getting a little dirt under their fingernails, and lived in their jeans. That frustrated me, so I set out to make Liv as far opposite from that as possible. All my other heroine’s love animals? Fine, Liv hates them. They were all blue collar? Great—Liv became a wealthy, white collar businesswoman. The others cut their own hair with dull scissors and didn’t use makeup? Okay—Liv owns an upscale beauty salon and never looks anything but her best.

Of course, after setting her up that way, I had to throw her into a situation where she couldn’t be any of those things J . She wasn’t very happy with me.

What's next for you? Do you have any upcoming releases we'll want to know about (so we can mark calendars!). Are you working on anything now? Anything you'd like to share with us?

I have a 30,000 word story, “A Change of Heart”, coming from The Wild Rose Press—probably sometime in March, but I don’t have an exact date. I have another story submitted to Samhain, but due to an editor shuffle, won’t hear anything on that for a bit.

I’m working on getting my first mystery completed by the end of February, and also have two more light-hearted romances to polish and submit this year.

Thanks for visiting, Marianne! And good luck with the rest of your blog tour!

To keep up with what's happening with Marianne Arkins, visit her website at www.mariannearkins.com. Or read Marianne's blog, Reading, Writing, & Stuff That Makes Me Crazy.

One Love for Liv is available at Samhain Publishing.

I've already got my copy. I'm about halfway through and am loving it. As usual, Marianne's written an entertaining story with characters that are so realistic they practically jump from the pages. But what about you? Have you picked up a copy of One Love for Liv yet? Hmm?

Freedom's Touch Interview!

This is an exciting day for me!

Although it's not the first time I've been interviewed, but the first time I've been interviewed on Carol Ann Erhardt's blog, Inside the Writer's Mind.

I admit that when I first considered the idea of this interview I was a bit...wobbly-kneed. Yep, a little bit anxious about the whole thing. I guess I hoped I didn't sound like a dithering idiot in the interview, hoped I wouldn't embarrass myself. But it was all such a pleasant, fun experience, doing this interview with Carol Ann. She's easy to talk to, a charming hostess and I loved doing this. I'm hoping that she'll let me back on her interview stage sometime in the future, and that we'll get another chance to chat. Because really, I had a blast!

Oh, and did I end up sounding like a dithering idiot? One can never be completely certain of things like that, but I don't think I did. What do you think? You can decide for yourself, here is the link to the blog. Thanks for checking it out!