Yes, playing with my
granddaughter who is now 3 and it’s the best job I’ve ever had.
What is your favorite thing to do when you aren’t writing?
I love to body
board and am lucky enough to spend 4 months in Mexico at a beach that is perfect
for boarding.
What is your favorite color? Why?
Red, because it’s so dramatic.
What is your favorite season? Why?
I love different aspects of each season –
the color of fall leaves and the crisp air, the white winter wonderland, the
vibrant green of spring, the warm summer sun, but I do admit that I don’t like
the bitter cold of winter.
If you could live anyplace on earth, where would it be? Why?
Right where I
am. I love my home on Vancouver Island and I love Canada. I’ve traveled a lot, but
there really is no place like home.
If you could have any car, what would it be?
A Nissan – top of the line. I
have an older Nissan Altima right now.
Tell us about your writing:
How long have your been writing? Was it a dream, a goal or is it just a
hobby?
I’ve been writing for over ten years, but it’s only been the last 3 or 4
that I’ve worked at it more seriously with the aim of being published.
How many hours a day do you devote to writing?
Not as much as I would like,
as marketing is a big job. Sometimes I don’t write at all, but then the muse
hits and write furiously for days. I do a short blog bit every week – mostly
humorous.
Do you have a set routine or do you write when the mood strikes?
I do have a
routine for marketing and writing and I try to be consistent, but my mood
definitely affects what I do when. Then of course real life gets in the way.
Is there some place special you like to be when you write?
Yes, at my desk
which has views of the ocean and mountains.
Do you listen to music or do you need a quiet place to write?
I definitely
prefer quiet.
Tell us about your book:
EMPOWERD is the second in the series. All of the
books can be read as stand alones. A being from “out there somewhere” took over
a woman’s life. Without revealing spoilers, I can only say that he’s a rookie
and he messed up the first time, but his superiors have given him a second
chance. It’s a love story (love triangle) set on Earth with a scifi twist that
gives it added magic.
Where did the idea come from?
LOL I had insomnia and played with the story
line trying to put myself to sleep. It didn’t work so I started to write the
first book. Originally I only planned one book. The story and characters took
over and one has grown to four.
Your other work:
Do you have any upcoming projects in the works or other books that have been
published? Yes, to both. My first book EMBATTLED is out already and I hope to
have the third, EMBRACED, out this fall.
to our blog today! He is the star of the book The Apple Tree
Created by Lynette Sofras
I'm a lucky girl... I just gotta throw that in there. As I'm sitting here waiting for my next guest to arrive, I stand looking out the window and holy cow! This amazing blue Lamborghini pulls up out front. Now some woman aren't into cars, but I am! So when this freaking hunk steps out of the car, I don't know which one to look at more closely!! Reminding myself I am a professional, I step away from the window and wait for him to come in.
Welcome Nicholas! So glad you could join us! Nice car by the way. Let's get started and tell me about this book you star in!
When I first saw Dr Juliet Sommerville in a
friend’s garden center, she immediately intrigued me and I could see the
interest was mutual.
lol... I love when that happens.... Immediate chemistry!
She mistook me for
someone who worked there and I found her error amusing and delightful. I should have set her straight from the
outset, told her I was a rather high powered business man, not a humble
gardener; but I couldn’t resist going along with the deception.
Funny and kind of wicked... lol...
It seemed harmless enough and it provided me
with a great excuse to see her again.
But deceiving her was my first mistake.
And sadly not my last.
Oh boy....
What I couldn’t know then was that she
wasn’t the only one to be deceived. The
idyllic weeks that followed were the best of my life. We were inseparable. I thought I’d found my soul mate; she was
everything I ever wanted, or so I thought.
That was before I discovered she was aka Juliet Gardiner – Mrs! In my anger, I sent her away – refused to
listen to her explanations. I thought I
knew myself. But the pain of that
discovery, not to mention the torment that followed it, was enough to change my
life. I had a lot of growing up to do
that summer.
Growing up isn't always bad...
Juliet disappeared after an argument and I
thought I’d lost her forever. The hole
she left in my life was too painful to describe. Then in late summer, she reappeared, but with
another man hot on her heels and she, too, had changed. She’d experienced a life-changing trauma and
I hardly knew her anymore. Had our
springtime romance meant so little to her?
Once we’d shared everything, now we couldn’t even share a full
sentence. We were like strangers. Was there any way I could rekindle our
springtime romance and prove myself worthy of her?
Sounds very intriguing! Let me ask you a few more questions...
We all want to be different, so what is
the one thing you wish your creator had done differently with you?
She should have given me a voice. Instead she chose to write entirely from
Juliet’s POV, while I stood around in silent anguish wanting to tell MY story!
If you could have added something to
the story, and your creator would have let you, what would that have been?
No one knows the
torment I went through the night Juliet left and I really think they
should. Seeing events from Juliet’s eyes
only made me look heartless. I should
have been able to put my point of view across.
What do you love best about yourself?
What do you like least?
I like to think I’m a good person and a loyal
friend. Other than that, I’m just an
ordinary bloke. I know I’m
stubborn. I thought my head ruled my
heart and that I could rationalise love.
I really believed I knew myself and had to learn my lesson the hard way.
What part of the book was the hardest
for you and your creator to work through?
After the summer, when Juliet returned, we found
ourselves often being thrown into each other’s path and it was quite painful at
times. You see we both had entirely the
wrong idea about each other and just couldn’t communicate properly. All my instincts told me to take her in my
arms and tell her my true feelings - and trying to justify why I couldn’t just do
that was not easy for either of us.
Is there a sequel for this book? If so,
what do you want to accomplish in the next book. If not, do you wish you could
continue your story?
No sequel planned but I have been keeping an eye on
reader’s comments and I know some of them want to hear more about us. At the moment, Juliet and I are busy planning
the wedding and I plan to surprise her with the most romantic honeymoon
imaginable; perhaps afterwards I might insist on a sequel – but this time from
MY point of view!
How should I put this? I regard fiction writing as my job. It’s just that at
the moment, it’s not a particularly lucrative one. For that reason, I also have
a “hobby” which pays substantially better. It involves writing content for
online university courses. It’s quite an enjoyable and interesting hobby but it
does take time away from my real job.
What is your favorite thing to do when you aren’t writing?
Thinking about writing. Well maybe not exactly. I do have a bit of an
obsessive mind so when I have a story idea going, I get pretty overtaken with
it. But otherwise, I have a pretty broad range of interests. When I can take
time away from the afore-mentioned hobby, there’s lots of stuff I like to do.
Sport and music are high on the list, but the main thing would be spending time
with my family – so they can say “will you stop thinking about writing for a
second?”
What is your favorite color? Why?
Green. Why? Because frogs are green and they’re my favourite animal. Why are
they my favourite animal? That’s obvious – because they’re green and green is
my favourite colour.
What is your favorite season? Why?
Definitely Autumn. The weather is great – not too hot or too cold. Plus the
football is just starting and I love football. Though the way my team is going,
maybe not so much at the moment.
If you could live anyplace on earth, where would it be? Why?
Anywhere there’s good food and good conversation and good music and a good
book to read.
If you could have any car, what would it be?
One that got me where I wanted to go without breaking down. Cars to me are
transportation – nothing more and nothing less.
Tell us about your writing:
How long have your been writing? Was it a dream, a goal or is it just a
hobby?
It’s something I always seem to be doing. When I was a little kid, I used to
write stories – when my parents moved house a few years ago, they found them
all up in a cupboard. I began thinking seriously about “being a writer” in my
late twenties – not going to tell you how long ago that was. It’s partly a
dream and partly a goal I guess. It’s something I love to do and something I
think I’m reasonably good at so it’s worth pursuing.
How many hours a day do you devote to writing?
It’s really hard to quantify. After time spent on my “hobby” and time with
the family, it’s about stealing whatever time I can. I tend to work in bursts.
For several weeks or months, I can be amazingly productive, and then I can go
for years without producing anything.
Do you have a set routine or do you write when the mood strikes?
As above, it’s really about when I can make the time. It’s also about having
the brain-space to let the ideas come and the writing flow. With all the
distractions in life, it can be hard to get your brain into that creative mode.
Do you listen to music or do you need a quiet place to write?
Definitely quiet. If I have music on, I start to tap my feet and clap my
hands and sing along, so I won’t end up getting anything done.
Tell us about your book:
It’s a humorous fantasy. I like to describe it as Tolkien meets Dr Seuss.
Just like in The Hobbit, it’s about a
character who is kind of small and shy and not very bold at all, who goes off
and has a big adventure in a world that is very different from ours, yet at the
same time all too similar.
What is the name of it and is it part of a series or a stand alone novel?
It’s called Magnus Opum. At the
moment it stands alone. Whether any sequels emerge remains to be seen, but I
have no plans at present.
Where did the idea come from? How long did it take to write?
From a variety of places. Partly from reading Tolkien and other fantasies of
that ilk and thinking it would be fun to try my hand at a similar sort of
story. I especially wanted to try a different approach to epic fantasy. It
seems like the same stock characters are always reeled out – wizards and elves
and goblins and the like. I wanted to create a world populated by a bunch of
totally different and new races.
How long it took to write is another difficult question. I wrote bits of it
in bursts, then left it for quite a long time, then came back to it. All up,
from beginning to publication, is probably close to 10 years.
Your other work:
Do you have any upcoming projects in the works or other books that have been
published?
I have published two other books:
Doodling – the story of a man who
fell off the world (because it was moving too fast). I like to describe it as
Douglas Adams meets Lewis Carroll
Flidderbugs – a mix of political
satire, fable, and funny little story about a bunch of bugs with some very
peculiar obsessions.
As for works in progress, I’m currently working on a sequel to Doodling, tentatively titled Scribbling. There’s also a YA fantasy
novel I’ve been plugging away at for ages which I really want to get back to.
The tentative title is Beyond the Flame
– and this is the first time I’ve actually announced that so there you go – you
just got a scoop.
Watch a Video Trailer:
Where can readers connect with you?
Via the links down below – I’m easily tracked down, reasonably friendly, and
I don’t often bite.
to our blog today! She is the star of the book Between Boyfriends
Created by Sarka-Jonae Miller
Welcome Jan! Wow... Love your hair cut!! All those layers look so cute in your blonde hair! I'm so glad you are here today! Have a seat and tell us about the story you star in!
Between Boyfriends is a story about how my jerk ex-boyfriend cruelly
dumps me and I bravely soldier on.
Good for you! Men aren't always worth it!
I realize that dating is insane. It
never works out.
Well sometimes they do....
Hearts just get broken and there are many more
important things to worry about, like getting a job and paying for my
apartment after my mother decides to no longer support me once I drop
out of San Diego State University.
Ouch!
She doesn't understand that college
is a waste of time. It's really hard and nobody gets a job. I started
taking massage therapy classes because there is a much better chance of
me finding a job after I graduate.
Oh cool! I love massages!
Life is a lot harder than I thought
it was. Thankfully I make some great friends and figure out a way to pay
for school. But I do miss my credit card.
lol.... I hear ya! Jan - Let me ask you a few questions...
We all want to be different, so what is the one thing you wish your creator had done differently with you?
She describes me as "mostly thin." Later on I get more fit, but couldn't
she have just given me to body of a super model? Or at least make me a
size 6?
We can all dream! If you could have added something to the story, and your creator would have let you, what would that have been?
A nice revenge scene where I go all Carrie Underwood on my ex's car would have been fun.
lol! Baseball bat and all, huh!
What do you love best about yourself? What do you like least?
I really love that I am changing. I used to feel crazy lonely if I was
by myself for too long. I would freak out if my boyfriend wasn't calling
me or if my friends weren't answering my texts. Now that I have more
going on with my classes and I got back into playing tennis I don't
worry as much that not everyone seems to like me very much. But that's
sort of what I like least about myself too. I seem to rub people the
wrong way and my boyfriends all break up with me no matter what I do or
how hard I try to keep them. Even my parents don't like me very much and
I can't seem to track down my grandparents. I'm an only child and I
guess I wish I knew how to be more likable.
I bet you figure it out during the story! What part of the book was the hardest for you and your creator to work through?
Confronting my parents was the hardest thing. I've never been close to
either of them and I'm kind of afraid of my mother. She's just really
critical. But there were some secrets they were keeping from me and I
had a right to know.
Is there a sequel for this book? If so, what do you want to
accomplish in the next book. If not, do you wish you could continue your
story?
There is a sequel coming up soon. I get to go spend a semester in
Thailand. Maybe I'll even get to start dating again. We'll see if I'm
ready for it.
Rosemary McCrackenis
a Canadian journalist who specializes in personal finance services industry.
Her mystery novel, Safe Harbor, was
shortlisted for Britain’s Debut Dagger award in 2010.
Tell us a bit
about yourself:
Do you work
another job when you are not writing?:
I’m a
freelance journalist based in Toronto, Canada. I’ve been a journalist for 35
years, worked for newspapers across Canada as a news reporter, arts and
entertainment writer, and editor. For the past 12 years, I’ve been working
freelance, meaning that I’m self-employed and accept assignments from whatever
publication offers them to me. For the past several years, I’ve specialized in
writing about personal finance – which gave me the idea for Safe Harbor’s central character, Pat
Tierney. Pat is a financial advisor.
What is your
favorite thing to do when you aren’t writing?:
Kayaking
at my summer home in the Haliburton Highlands, which is about 2.5 hours north
of Toronto. Unfortunately, Canada’s winters take a big bite out of kayak season
so I spend months looking forward to it, but not actually doing it.
What is your
favorite color and why?
I love color in general,
probably because of our white Canadian winter landscapes, and I have lots of color
in my home. My favorite, however, is green. It’s the color of spring, new
growth and hope – and the return of kayak season.
What is your
favorite season and why?
Summer, which is far
too short in Canada. It’s the time when we northerners can shed our parkas and
boots, and many of us here in the central part of our country head to the woods
and lake country. Autumn, when the leaves change color, is spectacularly
beautiful here, but it’s also a sad season for me because it means winter is on
its way.
If you could live
anyplace on earth, where would it be and why?
The Haliburton Highlands in the spring, summer and early autumn. And down the
road, I’d love to spend winters in a warmer climate. From what I’ve seen of
Arizona, I think that would be lovely. Gorgeous rocks.
Tell us about
your writing:
How long have
your been writing? Was it a dream, a goal or is it just a hobby?
I went into journalism because I wanted to write, and I also knew
that I needed a career that would pay the bills. More than 30 years later, I’m
still writing and editing newspaper and magazine articles. But about 15 years I
began listening to the little voice at the back of my mind telling me that this
was not enough. Slowly, I started moving away from just relating facts in my
writing to creating worlds of fiction. One day, I may be able to transition
completely to fiction writing.
How many hours a
day do you devote to writing?
I’d like to
devote three or four hours a day, five days a week, to fiction writing – first thing
in the morning, when my brain is rested. But, unfortunately, it doesn’t work
out that way most of the time and that’s because of my non-fiction writing. I often
have a telephone interview for an article in the morning, and then I need to
type up my notes. And when I’m in the middle of a newspaper article, I try to finish
it to get it out of the way, and then another one lands on my plate. So I tend
to do my fiction writing when I’m at the cottage in Haliburton. And I’ll write
most of the day when I’m there.
Is there some
place special you like to be when you write?
Because
of the two different types of writing I do, non-fiction and fiction, I feel a
real need to have two different places to write. I do my journalism writing in
Toronto. And now that Safe Harbor has
been published, I also do my book marketing in the city. I get most of my
fiction writing done at the Haliburton Highlands cottage. I spend most of the
summer there, and a fair bit of time in the spring and early fall. Even in the
winter when there’s tons of snow and temperatures way below freezing, I make a
point of spending a few days there every two weeks or so checking on things and
writing. It’s another world, far away from the bustle of the city.
Do you listen to
music or do you need a quiet place to write?
I
need absolute quiet when I write. No music, no chatter. That’s why I get my
best work done at my country home – and when I’m completely alone, not when I
have guests or even my husband with me. Fortunately, I have a wonderful husband
who doesn’t mind me going off without him. And I don’t mind being alone out in
the middle of nowhere. A friend once asked me, “Given all creepy books you
read, books about serial killers and stalkers and other nasty people, aren’t
you terrified being out there all by yourself?” I’m not. I’m sometimes afraid
of having an accident while driving there, but once I arrive I feel completely
safe.
Tell us about
your book:
What is the name
of it and is it part of a series or a stand-alone novel?
Safe Harbor is the first murder
mystery in a series featuring Pat Tierney, a fortysomething financial planner.
Why do you write
crime fiction?
I started writing crime fiction
because, as a beginning fiction writer, I liked its emphasis on plot. I believe
a novel’s characters have to drive its plot, but I needed the clear plot points
of the mystery or suspense genres to help me structure my novel. I began
reading a lot of crime fiction, and I got hooked. I also like the sense of resolution
at the end of a mystery or suspense novel. Over the course of the book, the
protagonist’s world may have been changed, the villain may even have got away,
but some kind of order is generally restored, even if it is only
temporary.
Where did the idea for Safe
Harbor come from?
I wanted to write a
mystery and I needed an interesting central character. I considered a
journalist, because that’s a line of work I know very well. I quickly trashed
that idea because it was too close to home. I needed some distance. And I wanted
to explore another world.
As
I said above, I’ve written about personal finance in recent years. I’ve
interviewed a lot of financial professionals: financial advisors, investment
managers, financial analysts. I attend their conferences. I know the issues
they face and their concerns. They work in a challenging business. Investment
markets have been murder in recent years. The best of these people are
committed and caring; they help their clients realize many of their dreams. There
are some bad apples in circulation, and there always will be. The financial industry deals
with money, and therefore provides opportunity for people who are clever and
greedy enough to challenge the system.
The committed, caring
professionals want to see tougher penalties for fraudsters; they want to see
them gone. These are the people who sparked the character of Pat Tierney. Pat
cares about her clients, and she has sleepless nights during down markets.
She’s a champion of small investors and doesn’t want to see them get taken.
How long did Safe Harbor take to write?
Safe Harbor took about
two years to write, but I’ve been writing novels featuring the character of Pat
Tierney for more than seven years. Last
Date, the very first Pat Tierney novel, was shortlisted for Crime Writers
of Canada’s inaugural Best Unpublished First Crime Novel Award in 2007. That
honor generated some interest from agents and publishers, but the publishing
market had tightened and nothing happened. I kept on writing. I tweaked the
second Pat Tierney novel, Safe Harbor,
to stand as the first book in the series, and that manuscript was shortlisted
for Britain’s Debut Dagger in 2010. That generated a lot of interest, but
nothing substantial until Imajin Books, a small, independent Canadian publisher,
took it on last summer. I’m currently finishing the first draft of the sequel
to Safe Harbor, which has taken me about two years to write. I figure I’ll need
another four or five months to do a rewrite and copy edit.
What is Safe Harbor about?
Safe Harbor opens when a frightened
woman barges into financial advisor Pat Tierney’s office with the shocking
request: “Look after my boy. He’s your late husband’s son.” The next day, the
woman is murdered, and the police say the seven-year-old may be the killer’s
next target.
Pat overcomes her bitterness over her husband’s infidelity
and rallies to protect the boy. Her search for his mother’s killer uncovers a
deadly scheme involving money-laundering and illegal immigrants.
On one Tuesday each month we bring you a few new video trailers and some great info on
some books you might not know about. Enjoy your visit and enjoy the
videos!
The Treasure Hunters Lady
Allison Merritt
Book Blurb:
For
years, Romy Farrington traveled at her world-famous archeologist
father's side, exploring new lands and uncovering ancient secrets. It
was everything she ever wanted, until a near-fatal encounter with
hostile natives forced her and her father into a life of retirement in
Boston and an undesired advance into proper society.
Everything
changes again when she's saved from an accident by a brash Texan in a
back alley. Abel Courte may act like a care-free cowboy, but he's
harboring a secret—he's searching for the Diamond of Uktena, a legendary
jewel that can cure any disease known to man. He needs information
Romy's father has in order to get to the jewel. When he traces the
origin of the Diamond to Dakota Territory, he sets off to claim the
treasure, only to find the archeologist's fiery redheaded daughter stuck
to him like a bug in sap.
In
a race against time, Romy and Abel must learn to trust each other as
they undertake a
cross-country journey that will expose them to lands
uncharted by white men, a deadly
battle against the fearsome creature in
possession of the Diamond and a fight to return to
civilization where
they might make the greatest discovery of all—love.
Available on Amazon:
Follow Allison Merritt on Twitter at @allison_merritt
Book Blurb: America is falling, ready to join the Roman Empire as a
distant memory in the annals of history. The year is 2027. Tired and
desperate, the American people are deep in the middle of The Second
Great Depression. The Florida coastline is in ruins from the most
powerful hurricane on record; a second just like it is bearing down on
the state of Texas. For the first time in history, the Middle East has
united as one and amassed the most formidable army the world has seen
since the Third Reich. A hidden army of terrorists are on American soil.
This is the story of three men - Howard Beck, the world’s richest man,
also diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome, Richard Dupree, ex-Navy SEAL
turned escaped convict, and Maxwell Harris, a crippled, burned out Chief
of Police of a small Texas town. At first they must fight for their own
survival against impossible odds. Finally, the three men must band
together to save their beloved country from collapse
Available on Amazon:
Follow Richard Stephenson on Twitter at @collapsethenovel
Book Blurb: Caught in a violent and abusive relationship, Serenity thinks there
is no escape. On the day she fears her life can get no worse, she
meets a stranger, Sebastian, who shows her the possibility of a
different future.
Only Sebastian has a dark secret; he is a vampire.
As
Serenity's life takes a terrifying turn, she finds herself drawn into a
world she never knew existed; one of murder, love and immortality. She
is forced to confront her own weaknesses to save both her own life and
that of the vampire she has come to love. But in the end all that
matters is; can she find the strength to be Alone?
Available on Amazon
Follow Marissa Farrar on Twitter at @MarissaFarrar
