Category Archives: Author Blog Tour

about writing, Author Blog Tour, MY BOOKS, The Writing Life

Here’s a new website that features my book, and a few books I recommend – SHEPHERD.COM

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Do visit the website for more lists of great books! This is a great website to follow to find exact books you’re looking for. Here’s my list below.

The best British books of suspense that will keep you up reading all night

Rebecca Nolen Author Of Deadly ThymeBy Rebecca Nolen

Deadly Thyme

By R.L. Nolen

Deadly Thyme

Buy this book at:

Bookshop.org

Amazon

When you buy a book we may earn a small commission.

Books I Recommend

The Chestnut Man

By Soren Sveistrup

The Chestnut Man

When you buy a book we may earn a small commission.

Left You Dead, (DI Roy Grace #17)

By Peter James

Left You Dead, 17

When you buy a book we may earn a small commission.

A Litter of Bones

By JD Kirk

A Litter of Bones

When you buy a book we may earn a small commission.

The Night Hunter

By Caro Ramsay

The Night Hunter

When you buy a book we may earn a small commission.

The Blackhouse: The Lewis Trilogy

By Peter May

The Blackhouse: The Lewis Trilogy

When you buy a book we may earn a small commission.

Random Book Lists

The best books about the Vikings

Dawn M. Hadley and Julian D. Richards Author Of The Viking Great Army and the Making of EnglandDawn M. Hadley and Julian D. Richards

The best books on Stalin and the Second World War

Sean McMeekin Author Of Stalin's War: A New History of World War IISean McMeekin

The best books on the background of the Pilgrim fathers

Derek Wilson Author Of The Mayflower Pilgrims: Sifting Fact from FableDerek Wilson

The best books on real conspiracies

Jan Stocklassa Author Of The Man Who Played with Fire: Stieg Larsson's Lost Files and the Hunt for an AssassinJan Stocklassa

Author Blog Tour, The Writing Life

A Radio Interview April 21, 2016

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Women of mystery panel2This is a photo of The Women of Mystery panel discussion at the Lone Star Literary Conference on April 8.

 

Here is a radio interview from last evening, where I am being interviewed interviewing Kimberly Morris.

April 29 to May 1 The Biggest and Best writing conference in Houston will be underway. Houston Westchase Marriott.

 

For those librarians and teachers now receiving this newsletter, I will be emailing you individually to share with you about school visits. Yes, the wasp has agreed to come with me. That’s what the BUZZ is all about.

Author Blog Tour, reviews

Author Highlight: A New Novel by Award-Winning author Pamela Fagan Hutchins

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pamela jan 2016 portrait

Big-haired paralegal and former rodeo queen Emily has her life back on track. Her adoption of Betsy seems like a done deal, her parents have reunited, and she’s engaged to her sexy boss Jack. Then client Phil Escalante’s childhood buddy Dennis drops dead, face first into a cake at the adult novelty store Phil owns with his fiancée Nadine, one of Emily’s best friends. The cops charge Phil with murder right on the heels of his acquittal in a trial for burglarizing the Mighty is His Word church offices. Emily’s nemesis ADA Melinda Stafford claims a witness overheard Phil fighting with Dennis over a woman. Before he can mount a defense, Phil falls into a diabetic coma, leaving Nadine shaken and terrified. Meanwhile Betsy’s ultra-religious foster parents apply to adopt her, and Jack starts acting weird and evasive. Emily feels like a calf out of a chute, pulled between the ropes of the header and the heeler, as she fights to help Phil and Nadine without losing Betsy and Jack.

I really go for books with a lot of action and I wasn’t disappointed by Hell to Pay. It could be read as the 3rd in the series starring Emily, but it works as a stand alone also. I recommend it!

 
Author Bio:
Pamela Fagan Hutchins writes overly long emails, the best-selling, award-winning What Doesn’t Kill You romantic mystery series (WINNER USA Best Book Award, Fiction: Cross Genre) and hilarious nonfiction. She is a recovering attorney and investigator who resides deep in the heart of S/Nowheresville, WY and TX with her household hunks—husband Eric, one-eyed Boston terrier Petey, and house goat Peyton Manning. Pamela has a passion for great writing and smart authorpreneurship as well as taking long walks, experimenting with her Keurig, and traveling in the Bookmobile.  Follow Pamela at http://eepurl.com/lq-bP and get her exclusive free e-book Puppalicious and Beyond. Visit her at http://pamelafaganhutchins.com (where you can discover which of her novels she’s currently offering for free download) or drop her a note pamela at pamelafaganhutchins dot com. And if you would like her to visit your book club, women’s group, writer’s group, or library, all you have to do is ask.
Author Blog Tour

Hosting the Blog Tour of JOHN FIORAVANTI

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Author PhotoTHE GENESIS SAGA TOUR

I’m grateful to my host of this eighth post of THE GENESIS SAGA TOUR, and to Nonnie Jules of 4WillsPublishing who arranged it all! The full lineup for this tour can be found @ http://wp.me/P43s9i-2g

My purpose, is to give readers a greater familiarity with planet Genesis – within the Equations universe created by author and friend, Kenneth Tam.

To this end, we embarked upon a series of interviews of some key players in Book One of The Genesis Saga: PASSION & STRUGGLE. Nonnie Jules of the famed interviews, ‘Who’s On The Shelf With Nonnie Jules?’ agreed to lend her formidable skills to this process. She gave me the nickname “Fio” a while back – so keep that in mind in case she opts to use it!

Nonnie and I have followed our host, Professor Marco Rossini, back into the kitchen of his home on the University of Genesis City (UGC) campus. Marco found an apron in a storage slider and handed it to Nonnie to put on. She reads the writing imprinted on the material and immediately lashes out at her host.Book Cover

NJ:         (Indignantly) Marco! You expect me to wear this sexist apron?? (Marco opens his mouth to explain, but Nonnie continues…) Well sir! You have misjudged me and…

MR:       (Holding his hands up in surrender) Nonnie, please! It’s just a joke between Pat Conroy and me. He gave it to me as a gift before the Quest Fleet left Genesis almost five years ago.

NJ:         (Somewhat mollified) Oh. I feel silly. (Turns to Fio) Maybe it’s time…

JF:         To help me with the salad. Tell you what, I’ll chop the lettuce and you chop that onion over here…

An hour and two glasses of wine later, the trio sit at the kitchen table to enjoy their meal. Marco tells his visitors a couple of stories about growing up with the Conroy brothers in Darymanis City, until Nonnie reminds Marco of his promise.

MR:       Of course… Divine Scepter! Now that was one impressive ship!

Any way one looks at this starship, it was a technological marvel. It was built over a fifteen-year period by the Untied Nations Space Agency (UNSA) in their Lunar Yard facility, and completed late in 2084. Divine Scepter, originally intended as a long-range exploration ship, had design features that made it possible to expand the ship’s size from parts manufactured aboard.

The industrial deck, dubbed the Plant, was prodigious. It housed massive, computer-driven fabricators – evolved from 3D printers created earlier in the century. The fabricators along with the huge stores of raw materials made Scepter a self-sufficient entity in space. In the Plant, both civil and military needs were met: from weapons to domestic appliances to computers, and the like. Spare parts were manufactured at will.

NJ:         Hey Fio, that sounds just like Star Trek!

MR:       (Looks to John in his confusion) Star Trek? Is that another ship?

JF:         (Gives Nonnie a look) Not sure, Marco. Continue, please. (Marco shrugs and carries on.)

When they decided to use the colonizer, to assist a select group to escape from Earth and the Omega virus, ship designers and builders were among the technical specialists chosen to board Scepter. The original ship had seventy-five hexagonal pods attached to each other and to the outer hull of Scepter. Each pod had an access hatch to each pod it touched as well as to the interior of the ship’s hull. Exoskeletons of new pods were manufactured in the Plant and assembled on the hull’s surface, where the assembly specialists were protected by Scepter’s shields.

The residential pods were small cities with roughly 20,000 citizens each. As the population grew, new pods could and were built throughout the ninety-five year voyage to Genesis. They resembled the towns and small cities on Earth, with comfortably large attached housing units, schools, entertainment centers and business districts all connected by streets laid out in grids. The lighting within the pods mimicked the shifting shades and hues of natural daytime light on Earth’s surface. When appropriate, the pod’s ‘sky’ went dark and street illumination was activated.

NJ:         No wonder JoJo didn’t realize he was in a space ship! (Marco smiles and continues.)

 Some specialty pods produced food products, safe water, and oxygen for the entire ship community. Others housed research labs, higher educational facilities, and hospitals. Many of Earth’s plant species were preserved in bio-pods. A defensive force field was designed to surround and protect the ship from space matter and attacks from any alien encounters.

Within the ship’s hull were many decks connected by high-speed vertical elevators, called ‘Lifts’ and horizontal transport tubes. The transport vehicles that traveled the various ‘Tubes’ were dubbed ‘Bullets’. So moving from upper to lower decks was as quick as moving aft to forward, and port to starboard. The interior decks housed the propulsion, navigation, environmental systems, weapons systems, and the military. The Crusader Army controlled by the Church was larger and better equipped than the Navy Marine Corps. Navy personnel controlled and navigated the ship. These two military groups were housed on different decks at opposite ends of Scepter. The massive Landing Bay occupied the aft section of the ship, four decks high. Several shuttle craft of differing sizes and purpose occupied about one-third of the Bay.

For ninety-five years, this mighty starship – the only one of its kind – carried the hopes and dreams and the only remnants of humankind remaining in existence, to their final destination. Genesis would be humanity’s new beginning.

NJ:         (Stifles a yawn) Thank you Marco, you’re very sweet. I’ve enjoyed our visit a

lot, but Fio, I think it’s time…

JF:         (Reaches out and touches Nonnie’s arm.) As you wish…

Join us tomorrow for another adventure with Nonnie and… Fio!

Author Bio:

 John Fioravanti is a retired secondary school educator who completed his thirty-five year career in the classroom in June, 2008.

 Throughout his career, John focused on developing research, analysis, and essay writing skills in his History Classroom. This led to the publication of his first non-fiction work for student use, Getting It Right in History Class. A Personal Journey to the Heart of Teaching is his second non-fiction work; it attempts to crystallize the struggles, accomplishments, and setbacks experienced in more than three decades of effort to achieve excellence in his chosen field.

 John’s first work of fiction is Passion & Struggle and is set within Kenneth Tam’s Equations universe (Iceberg Publishing). He claims that, after two non-fiction books, he’s having the time of his life bringing new stories and characters to life!

 At present, John lives in Waterloo, Ontario with Anne, his bride of forty-one years. They have three children and three grandchildren. In December of 2013, John and Anne founded Fiora Books for the express purpose of publishing John’s books.

 

The Genesis Saga Trailer: www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUqwuCcAEyU

 

Contacts:

 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Fiora-Books/516763875088924?ref=hl

 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/FioraBooks

 

Website: https://fiorabooks.cm

 

 

Book Purchase Links:

 

Amazon USA: http://www.amazon.com/ebook/dp/B00O7X5SXK/

 

Amazon Canada: http://www.amazon.ca/ebook/dp/B00O7X5SXK/

 

Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/ebook/dp/B00O7X5SXK/

 

Amazon Australia: http://www.amazon.com.au/ebook/dp/B00O7X5SXK/

 

Chapters/Indigo Canada: http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/9780993655821

 

Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/1120573892?ean=9780993655821

 

 

Blog Tour Links:

 

Goodreads Event Page – https://www.goodreads.com/event/show/953117-the-genesis-saga-tour

 

Rafflecopter Giveaway Page – http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/4af5be7f10/?

 

 
“This tour sponsored by 4WillsPublishing.wordpress.com.”
Author Blog Tour

Blog Tour: Meet JEFFREY VON GLAHN​

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GetAttachment.aspxToday’s blog tour is with Dr. Jeffrey Von Glahn.
Jessica had always been haunted by the fear that the unthinkable had happened when she had been “made-up.” For as far back as she could remember, she had no sense of a Self. Her mother thought of her as the “perfect infant” because “she never wanted anything and she never needed anything.” As a child, just thinking of saying “I need” or “I want” left her feeling like an empty shell and that her mind was about to spin out of control. Terrified of who––or what––she was, she lived in constant dread over being found guilty of impersonating a human being.Jeffrey VonGlahn, Ph.D., an experienced therapist with an unshakable belief in the healing powers of the human spirit, and Jessica blaze a trail into this unexplored territory. As if she has, in fact, become an infant again, Jessica remembers in extraordinary detail events from the earliest days of her life––events that threatened to twist her embryonic humanness from its natural course of development. Her recollections are like listening to an infant who could talk describe every psychologically dramatic moment of its life as it was happening.Jeffrey Von GlahnWhen Dr. Von Glahn met Jessica, she was 23. Everyone regarded her as a responsible, caring person – except that she never drove and she stayed at her mother’s when her husband worked nights.

For many months, Jessica’s therapy was stuck in an impasse. Dr. Von Glahn had absolutely no idea that she was so terrified over simply talking about herself. In hopes of breakthrough, she boldly asked for four hours of therapy a day, for three days a week, for six weeks. The mystery that was Jessica cracked open in dramatic fashion, and in a way that Dr. Von Glahn could never have imagined. Then she asked for four days a week – and for however long it took. In the following months, her electrifying journey into her mystifying past brought her ever closer to a final confrontation with the events that had threatened to forever strip her of her basic humanness.

​Twitter Handle:  @JeffreyVonGlahn
Website:  http://jeffreyvonglahn.com

This excerpt is the extreme lengths Jessica went to to avoid seeing herself in a mirror. Here she’s 17.

She stood in front of her dresser. Behind her, on the other side of the room, a small lamp on the nightstand next to her bed cast a pale yellow glow. Pictures of dogs with soulful eyes hung from the sky-blue walls.

She reached for her hairbrush on the dresser and slowly raised her arm until her hand was poised just above her head. Then she locked her arm in place. With her eyes glued to the silhouette of her head directly in front of her, she tightened her grip on the brush. With a slow, deliberate stroke, she guided it through her long, brown hair. As her arm moved downward, her eyes tracked the moving shadow on the wall. Her mind automatically cemented into place the trace of the brush. The mental image of the slightly curved arc on the wall was her only guide as to where to comb next, besides a sixth sense based on touch. After several minutes of concentrating on her silhouette, Jessica decided she had run her brush through her hair about as many times as it usually took to get a compliment. She quietly placed it back on the dresser.

Jessica had always been terrified of mirrors. As far back as she could remember, mirrors seemed to exist for one reason: to torment her. Any reflecting surface was like a torture chamber that held a sinister being whose only goal was to take pleasure in her misery. Whenever her antennae failed to warn her and she unexpectedly caught a glimpse of herself in one, she felt a terrifying urge to rocket backward and shriek, “Who are you?!”

This tour sponsored by 4WillsPublishing.wordpress.com

Author Blog Tour

Hosting an author: Welcome Rhani D. Chae!

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Shadow of the Drill by Rhani D. ChaeEXCERPT FROM SHADOW OF THE DRILL:

 

His gloved fingers probed the Betadine-stained area above the wound as he prepared to make another incision, but he stopped when Rudy moaned in response. “Char,” he said without looking up, “he’s too close to the top. We need to put him back down. I know the pills are gone, but is there any more booze?”

The woman clenched her hands together, unable to hide her stricken expression. “No. I gave him the last of it just before you started. There might be more somewhere, but I don’t know how much.” Her voice broke in a frustrated sob. “Or where it would be.”

Decker frowned again, thinking of and weighing the options. “Well,” he said, swallowing hard against the dread that threatened the strength and accuracy of his hands, “I guess we’ll just go ahead and finish it. Hopefully, he’ll pass out before we get too far.”

Another sentence followed, too softly for Charlene to hear. “What did you say?”

“I said if there’s a God in Heaven, he will.”    

The bloodstained gloves hit the floor, and Decker’s hands cupped Rudy’s face, one finger tracing the clenched jaw with a lover’s smooth touch. His lips tightened at the thought of what his friend would still have to suffer at his hands, but then he straightened, all emotion locked safely away until the job was done.

“Ready?” The sound of fresh gloves snapping around his wrists accented the word.

Charlene caught her breath, but managed to keep her voice from shaking too badly. “As ready as I’m gonna be.” She pressed her palms against Rudy’s shoulders, leaning her weight forward while bracing her feet against the base of the wall behind her.

“Are you sure?” Decker’s voice was steady, almost as if his fright had never been. She bobbed her head in reply, and he poised his hands over Rudy’s abdomen. “Okay then,” he said, forcing his eyes away from Rudy’s face. “Here we go.”

The scalpel slid into the skin, forcing a throaty groan from Rudy’s lips. Blood flowed, causing Charlene’s heart to skip a beat.

There’s so much!

Rudy’s legs thrashed while Charlene fought to hold his upper body against the table and she dug the heels of her palms into the front of his shoulders. “I can’t hold him,” she cried, struggling against Rudy’s greater strength. “Deck, I’m losing him!”

“I’m almost there,” he replied as the scalpel went deeper. “Just a little more, and I’ll have it!” 

He tossed the blood-covered instrument onto the tray before picking up the forceps. “Okay,” he said, more to himself than to Charlene. “Okay, steady now. Easy . . . easy . . .”

Rudy cried out when Decker reached in for the elusive piece of metal. His head rolled from side to side while his hands flailed, even though Decker tried to hold the closest one against the edge of the table with his body. His expressive brown eyes were wide and pain-crazed, but beneath the pain was something else. Something that, to their dismay, both Charlene and Decker recognized.

Awareness.

Rudy should have been beyond all feeling, but instead he remained awake. Awake and aware.

Shadow of the Drill centers around a man whose life was destroyed by violence, who then embraced violence as a means to a very brutal end. It follows Decker and Rudy as they come face to face with their oldest enemies and attempt to close that chapter of their lives. The book contains graphic violence as well as sexual situations, and is not intended for young or easily offended readers. Shadow of the Drill is the first in the Drill series and the second book, Winter of the Drill, will hopefully be completed in the next month or two.

Thank you all so much for allowing me to share a bit of my journey with you today.  To follow the rest of my tour, please visit 4WillsPublishing.  Rebecca, you were a great host and thank you so much for having me!

BIO:

RHANI D’CHAE spent her teen years bouncing between WA, OR, and OK, but has lived her adult life in Tacoma, WA. She likes to read, though she doesn’t read as much as she used to due to diabetic vision loss, and is a fan of Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, Brian Lumley, and James Clavell. She loves The Walking Dead, and any zombie film with a high body count. Ms. D’Chae enjoys connecting with people on social networking sites, and loves getting feedback from those who have read her work, so please don’t leave without sharing your comments. 

 

PURCHASE LINKS:

“SHADOW OF THE DRILL” by Rhani D. Chae  www.amazon.com/dp/B00GBHQZZU

CONTACT INFO:

Twitter:  @rhanidchae

Facebook:  www.facebook.com/rhani.dchae

Google +:  http://google.com/+RhaniDChae

Website:  www.rhanidchae.com

Review of Shadow of the Drill at NONNIE’S “RAVE” REVIEWS

 

Author Blog Tour

Author Spotlight: SHIRLEY HARRIS-SLAUGHTER

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                                                                                                                                                                                                           AuthorTHINGS WE CANNOT CONTROL!!

BIO

SHIRLEY HARRIS-SLAUGHTER, AUTHOR

Shirley Harris-Slaughter is a Michigan native. She is a community activist having been a school board trustee in the Oak Park School District and mentored four freshmen girls in the Winning Futures Program. Shirley loves trains, vintage clothes, and old buildings with historic significance. So it was a natural that she would write about growing up in historic Royal Oak Twp. and keep alive a catholic community that was about to lose its history and identity. It seems that everything she loved closed down and she was not about to let any of it be forgotten. Shirley joined Rave Reviews Book Club because she recognized the need to support fellow authors in order to move forward in her own endeavors. She already had a thriving relationship with like twitter followers that lead her here. “We all had the same goals so it was a natural fit.”

 

The continuing saga of this story is played out in an excerpt presented here…

 

Book Excerpt

With the help of our godmother, Martha Palms-Williams, my severely

retarded brother, Rudolph James, was baptized a year before the rest of the

family and placed in an institution in Lapeer, Michigan. When they took him

away, he turned around and reached out his hands for Mother. It was so

amazing that he knew that he was leaving her. He knew who she was in spite

of his handicap. It was also a sad thing to see, and I cried so hard for him and

my mother that day. Yet I was relieved. It had been very stressful on the family.

Because he was so handicapped, we could not lead a normal family life.

We never saw him again. I do not recall him getting baptized before the rest

of the family, but there it was in the records. I can certainly see the urgency of

it, looking back. We got help for him only after coming to Our Lady of Victory

and meeting those wonderful, Christian people.

 

Years later, Mother received a letter from the State of Michigan informing

her that Rudy had been dropped during the birthing process, and that was the

cause of his retardation. Apparently, there had been an investigation. Mother

could have filed a lawsuit, but her faith in God would not allow it. The faith

came from her association with Our Lady of Victory. This church profoundly

influenced her, and it helped her through this stressful period in our lives. As I

sit here at my computer writing about this incident, I am emotionally distraught. It still hurts after all these years, and I still feel the guilt of leaving him in that institution, even though I had nothing to do with any of it…Slaughter CoverImage

 

This excerpt is something that played out in my mind for many years. It was something I planned never to talk about. But when my editor told me that I needed to tell my story, since I’m the author, this became part of it along with other incidences that were buried deep within; things that I was too ashamed to discuss let alone put in a book. Like the time my brother and I were put back a grade just to get into a Catholic School for the first time in our lives. Talk about humiliation; I would not speak of this for many years because I was too ashamed. I get butterflies in my stomach every time I think about it. Our parents were willing to sacrifice a lot to give us a good education, even sacrificing us if that’s what it took to get it. They weren’t trying to hurt us – they were just that desperate to do whatever it took to give us a good start in life.

 

Question: Did you ever feel desperate enough to do whatever it took to reach your goal – trying to control something you had no control over?

Book title: Our Lady of Victory, the Saga of an African-American Catholic Community. RRBC Seal of Excellence

Genre: Biography; Narrative History

Amazon.com

Createspace Twitter Handle: @sharrislaughter Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sharrislaughter3 Email: sharrislaughter@gmail.com

Website: http://shirleyslaughterblog.wordpress.com/

Author Blog Tour

Author Spotlight: Hilary Grossman

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I’m spotlighting a new author. Hillary Grossman wrote a book about her relationship struggles with a man she loved but who would not commit. This is Hillary’s story:

 

headshot 1 -not shrunkIt could have been a scene from a movie or a chick lit book. It was like fate orchestrated the encounter. I was twenty-seven years old when I met him, the man of my dreams.  He was everything I could wish for. He was smart, funny, successful, an amazing cook, and he lived in a beautiful home on the beach!  I was so happy, initially.  But soon I learned there was a problem.  A big problem.

He was beyond commitment-phobic.  Forget about not wanting to get married, he barely wanted to have a relationship….

Call me naive or call me stupid, I didn’t let this bother me.  It may have something to do with the fact that I was extremely familiar with commitment-phobic men.  You see, my dad was one too!  Not only did he live next-door to my mother, he dated my mom for close to seven years before he came to his senses and realized he couldn’t live without her….  Her breaking up with him may or may not have had something to do with that decision but I digress….

Back to my relationship….

Weeks became months and months became years. I continued to date him.  I was content to let nature take it’s course. I didn’t pester him about taking our relationship to the next level.  But then again, I didn’t have to.  His friends and family were taking care of the dirty work for me.  And some of the stunts they pulled were doozies – including throwing an impromptu faux engagement party! Who am I fooling? I had multiple faux engagement parties. That carat kept being dangled.

There was so much drama, I decided to write a book, DANGLED CARAT, about it…

Hilary Grossman dated a guy so commitment-phobic that she was able to write a book about their relationship. She is currently the CFO of a beverage alcohol importer and lives on Long Island.

 

Dangled Carat is available on Amazon DangledCarat-1600-Barnes-and-Noblehttp://www.amazon.com/Dangled-Carat-Hilary-Grossman-ebook/dp/B00F55HITQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1399751888&sr=8-1&keywords=dangled+carat and Barnes & Noble http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dangled-carat-hilary-grossman/1117017818?ean=9780615860350

 

You can connect with Hilary on her blog http://www.feelingbeachie.com on Twitter @feelingbeachie or on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/pages/Hilary-Grossman-Author/490726971020296

 

Author Blog Tour

Author Blog Hop 2014

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woman on stack of books uid 3
Ready? Set to take off on a new writing adventure? Go!

This is exciting! I’ve been asked if I would participate in an author blog hop. There are four questions I’m to answer and that wasn’t the first one.

I received the invite from Megan LaFollet an editor (She edited my novel The Dry) and a writer. Click on her name to find out more. Her upcoming sci-fi/f novel sounds like something I’d love to read.

Here’s more about my writing:

What are you working on?

Good question, wait…that’s the first one isn’t it? Okay, I’m so prepared. Let’s see, notes? No notes.

To be totally honest I’ve just received my novel Deadly Thyme back from my copy editor, Rhonda Erb. Wow, I’ve got some small rewrites to finish up and then the new improved Deadly Thyme will be available on Amazon …perhaps within a month. Finally! Yes, I know.

Here’s where it gets interesting. I do have a new novel I’m working on. It’s a historical YA. It takes place in Houston in 1970. In the story there are three major conflicts surrounding the main character, one involves a dangerous school environment, one involves abuse in her family, and one involves the Vietnam war because her brother comes home permanently disabled.

How does your work differ from others in the genre?

I have read books about the Vietnam war, I’ve read YA books about family abuse, and I’ve read YA books about conflicts in school. But I haven’t read any historical YA books where the story takes place in 1970, much less in Houston. I think it might be a bit unique.

Why do you write what you do?

The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind. Oh wait, that’s from a song Bob Dylan sang in 1962.

I’ve finished two novels, one is an adult psychological suspense, Deadly Thyme, set in Britain. I wrote it because I love page-turning suspense and mysteries set in Britain. The Dry is a children’s fantasy book and I wrote it because the story in my brain wouldn’t leave me alone. And I’m fascinated by insects. Thank the Lord they are small.

The present YA I’m writing because this story has been part of my life for forty years. Yes, it is autobiographical, but I’ve created a character who is nothing like me – to make it more readable. You’re welcome.

How does your writing process work?

I clear my work space, and lay out paper and a good pen. To begin with I write scenes long hand. I love the feel of the pen and the quick scribbles and mark-outs. It feels like I’m doing something. When I go to type what I’ve written in Word I tend to add and embellish but the original pen to paper writing is where the real story gets created. If I get stuck in the story I go back to pen and paper and usually the pieces fall back into place there.

I listen to music while I’m writing. At present, as you may have guessed, I’m listening to songs from the 60’s and 70’s. Good stuff. If that doesn’t make the story flow I listen to wordless music, usually Vivaldi. Classical guitar music makes my heart soar and ideas to pop into place. If you want music, it’s important to use music with the Adagio tempo, as the rhythm falls in with the human heartbeat.

For my first two novels I did not use any sort of charts or outlines. Each first draft took about a year to write. I started rewrites. Yes, I worked on both at the same time. Ten years later and I was still thrashing about with the muddle at the middle of each. I had written out the original story on a few pages and that became my fall-back outline. Otherwise, I’d still be working on them.

My first drafts tend to be too visual, so I have to wedge in the taste, touch, feel, and the smelly bits into later drafts.

With each of these novels I sought out advice and help from my writing instructor Chris Rogers, and from my good friend Kimberly Morris who has over sixty-five published books.

So, for my new YA I have an outline, and a timeline stretched across the wall of my studio.SAM_1027

It has already helped. I’ve been interrupted more times than I can count, and I don’t mean just because the dog wants to go out and bark at the garbage truck again, or because dinner needs cooking. Life interruptions can last days, or weeks, or months. Fortunately, because I’m more organized, when I come back I know where I was and can start again.

Now I’m going to recommend that you check out what these authors are up to and how their writing process works.

See Susan Klopfer’s books and blog at http://ebooksfromsusan.com/

And look what Lilia Fabry is up to at http://www.lfabry.com/blog/?wref=bif

Here’s Regina Puckett’s blog http://reginapuckettsbooks.weebly.com/blog.html