It's Writer Wednesday and we are happy to have
Rosemary McCracken, author of Safe Harbor
here with us today!
Welcome!!
Rosemary McCracken is
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.
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?
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.
Watch the Video Trailer
Where can readers
connect with you?
Website: www.rosemarymccracken@rogers.com
Blog: rosemarymccracken.wordpress.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rosemarymccracken
Twitter: @RCMcCracken
Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/book/show/13565642-safe-harbor
Where can we buy
your books?
Amazon
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