Meet Marjorie Brody

Please welcome Marjorie Brody as my Wednesday's Guest today. I asked her for a quick introduction and she wrote: "I love scuba diving, the theatre, escaping into books, creating characters and stories from a blank page, my husband, our four children, and our five grandchildren—and not necessarily in that order. I met Maryann and her son at an Author and Artist event in Killeen, Texas, rapidly devoured her novel, One Small Victory, and hope our paths cross more often."

I second that motion, and since we both live in Texas, further meetings in person could happen. In the meantime, grab a glass of lemonade, sit back and enjoy the visit as we chat about... well, stuff.

Marjorie: Thank you for inviting me to It’s Not All Gravy, Maryann. I appreciate you reviewing my psychological suspense, Twisted, and especially admire your restraint in not giving away the ending. No apology needed for missing clues. While they begin on page one, they do remain subtle until Sarah needs them not to be. Thanks for reading her story. I hope it touched your heart. Now, you wanted to ask me some questions. I’m ready whenever you are.

Q.  If you could go back in time, what one thing would you change about yourself?
A. Ah, to have that kind of magic. I’d give myself more confidence earlier on, especially around academics. I think I’ve had an undiagnosed dyslexia and reading was always a challenge for me. I remember a teacher berating me because I reversed words in a sentence when I had to read in front of the class. “If the author wanted those words reversed, Margie, he would have written them that way.”

I can still feel my cheeks heat. I would try to figure out what section I’d be called on to read and would jump ahead to practice that section while my classmates read. Naturally, I heard nothing of what they read in class and would have to reread their sections at home. My first grade teacher told my parents never to expect too much of me academically, that I’d always be an average student. I wonder if that teacher’s definition of average included being on the Dean’s list, earning a doctoral degree, having three plays produced for the stage, publishing short stories and an award-winning novel. Wish I could speak with that first grade teacher now.

Q.  Before I ask the next question, isn't it great fun to be able to prove the nay-sayers wrong? I had a similar experience, but without all the degrees to follow. (smile) I know your background is in psychology, but I wonder if you have always wanted to be a writer?
A.  I’ve always written. In elementary school, it was poetry and what is now called flash fiction, in high school I wrote a novella. I continued to write poetry and short stories off and on, but didn’t know I would enter the field of fiction until 2001. My parents wanted me to become a teacher because, “God forbid something should happen to your husband (I wasn’t even married at the time), I would need a way to support myself and my children.”

I bet those beliefs must seem ancient to modern women.

I did teach for a brief time, but when my husband went on for a second Master’s degree and then a Doctoral degree, the competitive part of me wanted to keep up with him. Psychology and marriage and family therapy courses excited me and led me into a career as a psychotherapist. I developed a reputation for helping severely dysfunctional clients turn their lives around. I loved the challenge. It’s a sacred privilege when someone shares his/her journey with you. And when that person changes an unhealthy intergeneration behavior and makes things better for the next generation, wow, how awesome is that? But after decades in the field, my professional growth had peaked—and I always want to be growing and learning. Around the same time, my desire to write pushed to the surface and prompted me to attend the Santa Barbara’s Writing Conference (2001). I left that experience determined to write a novel. In 2007, I gave my clinical practice to a colleague and stepped into a full-time writing career.

Q.  It's wonderful that you were able to accomplish so much in another career and have now found your way to writing. On another note, I wonder what is your fondest childhood memory?
A.   Not only my fondest, but one of my earliest: I am 3 ½ - 4 years old. My parents, younger brother and I were visiting my grandparents in Florida. We were probably showing them my newest baby brother. My grandfather had a boat he’d take us out on (we kids would be tied by a cord so we didn’t fall over). He also had a mariner best friend we called Captain. One day during our visit—maybe because the new baby was getting so much attention—Captain took my brother and me to a toy store and told us we could buy anything we wanted. “Anything?” my brother asked, his eyes wide with excitement.

“Anything,” Captain said. The store seemed gigantic from my young eyes. I remember bicycles and tables and chair sets hanging from the ceiling. Captain waited at the register in the front of the store while I walked up and down aisles picking up and examining items of interest: tiny china dishes, games, doll houses, stuffed animals. I sat in cars that could really drive, walked in princess high heels, sat on a rocking horse twice my size. I finally decided on a four-foot high doll dressed in a long wedding gown, a veil and heels. She held a bouquet of cloth flowers in her hand. The box declared her Betsy the Beautiful Bride. I cherished that doll for years. What struck me so vividly about that experience was the vast freedom the Captain had given us. We could have anything we wanted. The power to choose. Hmm, I hadn’t consciously associated this memory with Sarah’s, my protagonist in Twisted, until this very minute, but for those of you who read it, you’ll understand the connection.

Q.  Ah, I do see the connection. It is so interesting when one of our childhood memories slips into a story. I know you like books and theatre, but I'm curious if you have a favorite movie?
A.  I’m not sure I have a favorite movie, but I do have a  favorite scene. In Camelot, King Arthur (Richard Harris) and Guinevere (Vanessa Redgrave) dance to the song “What Do The Little Folk Do”. I have never been fond of that song, but there is a moment when they are dancing and the viewer knows that King Arthur knows that Guinevere is having an affair and Guinevere knows that he knows, and he knows that she knows he knows—you get the idea—and not one word is said directly about their painful awareness. Wow, what powerful subtext. That’s one of the things I like in novels too, when the reader can tell that something else is going on under the surface but it’s not overtly written on the page.

Q.  That is a good point about things not being overly written on the page or shown in a scene. I love an actor's ability to say so much without one word. Now the final question, just for fun,  do you have a pet?
A.  Oh, I’m so glad you asked that, Maryann. I do. in the past I’ve had cats, as well as medium-sized dogs—often at the same time. Now, I have the sweetest nine-pound Yorkiepoo, named Cuddles, who lives up to her name. Like a proud Momma, I’ll share this picture with you.

 Thanks for the picture of Cuddles. As my friend LD Masterson would say, "Aw!" Also, thanks so much for the fun interview and the great read.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:  Marjorie Brody is an award-winning author and Pushcart Prize Nominee. Her short stories appear in literary magazines and the Short Story America Anthology, Vols. I, II and III. Her debut psychological suspense novel, TWISTED, delves into the secrets that emerge following a sexual assault at a high school dance and features a remarkable teen who risks everything to expose the truth. Twisted was awarded the 2014 Best Young Adult Fiction Book Award from the Texas Association of Authors and an Honorable Mention at the 2013 Great Midwest Book Festival. Twisted is available in print and ebook at

The second Tuesday of each month you will find her blog at the Stiletto Gang (a group of female mystery writers) Marjorie invites you to visit her website or on Twitter  @MarjorieEBrody1 or on her Facebook page She can be reached via email at marjorie@marjoriespages.com

BOOK BLURB: Timid fourteen-year-old Sarah wants her controlling mother to stop prying into what happened the night of the freshman dance. Confide in the woman? No way. Her mother will say Sarah is totally to blame for what the boys did—which Sarah believes is true. Confess to the police? Get real. She just needs to hide the truth. From Momma. From the police. From everyone.

A mysterious connection pulls her toward Judith, a beautiful, confident, eighteen-year-old with the seemingly perfect life. Acting as Sarah’s sole confidante, Judith gains the power to expose Sarah’s secret. Will the truth be worth the sacrifice? Or will Sarah stop at nothing to keep Judith quiet?

Author Interview - S. Cameron Roach

Please welcome S. Cameron Roach - Scott - as today's Wednesday's guest. As I said on Sunday, when I posted the review of his book,  I met Scott at the art festival in Killeen, Texas a couple of months ago. We were table buddies, meaning our book tables were next to each other. I enjoyed visiting with Scott when we weren't talking with other folks, and he has a good sense of humor. I asked him for a bio for his appearance today, and this is what he sent: 

(short version) I was born, I have lived for 47 years, the when of my death is yet to be determined.

(not as short version) S. Cameron Roach was born a U.S. Navy brat in Virginia but was moved when he was three to San Diego whereupon he endeavored to grow up as best he could. After 18 years, he found himself married to a wonderful woman named Kelli to whom he is still married, and will in fact celebrate their 26 anniversary on this very blogging day, 23 April. Shortly after getting married, he joined the U.S. Army and retired in Texas as a CW3 after 24 years of service, while in that span begetting two sons, Brandon and Christian .  Now he questions why he opened his own franchise business, Safe Ship, instead of taking to the open road to pursue his craft of writing.

Scott admitted to me that he doesn't blog and is not all that familiar with blogging, but he has done quite well at this, his maiden voyage. I do hope he doesn't mind the navel reference being Army and all that, but he did grow up with the Navy. So grab a glass of tea - it is finally warm enough for tea here in Texas - and enjoy the visit with Scott, author of the YA fantasy The Scrolls of Udanadar.

Image Courtesy of Kitchen Talks

I think another story is brewing.

Q.  What is your fondest childhood memory?
A. When I was in a junior high school choir, my choir competed in the high school division in both the Youth and Music Festival in Vienna, Austria, and the Vancouver World Expo. We won first place in both. The fun part, of course, was experiencing Europe and Canada as a teen.

Q.   How did you come to write in the genre you chose?
A.  When I was growing up there was no YA genre, we read what the adults read, which was not always appropriate or completely understandable. Then when the YA genre was nascent, it seemed lacking in any substantive meaning or any intellectual challenge to the young reader. In essence, it was bubblegum for the brain. So, at a time when my children were being homeschooled and reading the classics, I decided I needed to write fun fantasy that would not talk down them but challenge them with deep themes.

Q.  What are your favorite movies?
A.  Serenity, Dragonslayer, John Carter on Mars, Fifth Element, Stargate, and Brave, but I am sure the list isn't complete, just what I can recall.  I can watch them over and over again and still be amused, enjoy, or marvel.

Q.  What is the hardest thing about writing?
A.  Time, peace of mind, environment.

Q.  Where do your stories begin? With character or plot?
A.  One feeds the other.  A plot makes people interested but character keeps them reading. You can have a mediocre plot and survive only if you have engaging characters anchoring your story.  People care about people, especially if they can relate to the plight or situation, and if the dialogue and emotions are authentic. (For a book, not a movie, mind you, at least in my opinion.)

Q.  Do you have a pet?
A.  Yaahh!  Three awesome boxer dogs, the dogs that are closest to being human—Anja (9 ½ yo and acquired in Germany), Kaiser the reluctant pack leader, and Phineas Fogg, a rescue boxer whose rescue name was supposed to be named after the hero in "Around the World in 80 Days," which is actually Phileas Fogg, but we liked Phineas better, so we kept it.

Q.  What is the most interesting job you ever had?
A. The career is the U.S. Army, but what was most interesting about the job was being part of an office hunting down Afghani terrorists who were planting improvised explosive devices to kill U.S. Military personnel. I actually helped to uncover an Iranian intel network stealing US equipment.

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In The Scrolls of Udanadar, young Bartholomew Fix, who finds life mundane and meaningless, becomes infected with the spirit of adventure by the bite of the Wandering Bug. He is compelled to seek out an agent of the universe who transports him to another planet to seek his off-world energy and awakens in the home of a great urKa'uun.

There is no magic, only Ka'uun—the energy of creation—and the urKa'uun are its users. Bartholomew becomes an apprentice and learns quickly how to use the energy. He is then sent out on an important mission with the urKa'uun's other ward, a skilled girl born of the wild-wise Duvar, for the Thousand-Year King is dying too soon. The two must bring back the Scrolls of Udanadar used in his creation as they may hold the answers; failure would bring all-out war between kingdoms of the Realm and with the Urilok, an ancient and fierce enemy.

A simple mission is never so simple so the two find themselves traveling the realm on an exciting quest where they discover danger, a budding romance and humor in the most unlikely places. Once a naïve, self-absorbed boy, Bartholomew grows into a brave hero by learning what it is to sacrifice in order to achieve a higher goal.

An International Guest

Please grab a donut and your beverage of choice, and help me welcome Shuchi Singh Kalra as today's Wednesday's Guest. She wrote the light-hearted romantic comedy Done With Men that I reviewed here on Sunday. Shuchi lives and works in India, and I am so pleased to have my first international guest. While we're visiting with Shuchi here, I am at the Blood Red Pencil today talking about romance and sex. After all, they do go together.

Welcome Shuchi and please tell us a little bit about who you are and what you write.

I like to think of myself as a thinker and a dreamer. I live in my own idealistic little world and am cruelly jolted back to reality every once in a while when earthly responsibilities beckon. I am a proud military wife and mother to a beautiful two-year old girl.

I have been writing professionally for over seven years now as a freelance writer and editor, and I also run a small firm that goes by the name of ‘Pixie Dust Writing Studio’. While I have contributed to some anthologies in the past, Done With Men is my first solo offering. It is essentially a romantic comedy and I had tremendous fun writing it. I am keen to see how western readers will accept a story set in modern, urban India.

Are you a romantic at heart? Is Valentine's Day special for you? Romantic yes, but not hopelessly so – I do have my moments of cynicism every once in a while. I am not really big on “days” as such, because they somehow don’t fit in with my idea of romance. In fact I find them very cliché and pointless. But this Valentine’s Day is going to be special – very special!

 If you could go through a wormhole, would you go into the future, the past, or stay right here? Why? I would choose to stay in the now because this is such a fabulous time in my life. My life-long dream of publishing a book is coming true and I would like to savor every moment of it.

Have you always wanted to be a writer, or have you come to writing after another career? What was that career? I have always loved writing but I never thought I would one day take it up as a career. Few people know this, but I was an Optometrist before I took to writing. I worked at a leading eye hospital in India and soon realized that peering into slit-lamps and prescribing glasses wasn’t my thing. My family thought I was crazy to dump a seemingly good career to become a full-time writer but looking back, I believe it was the best decision I ever made.

What is your fondest childhood memory? I spent my childhood in Libya, where my parents worked for some years before coming back to settle in India. We had this huge Spanish villa in a campus with a sprawling green belt around it. There I had my own make-shift tree house that I had built with palm leaves and some branches. It was pretty neat looking and quite sturdy too. I would sit in it all day with a bag of oranges and a pile of books.

How did you come to write in the genre you chose? I chose chick-lit/rom com for my first book because that is the genre I read and enjoy the most. Also, it was relatively easier to write about a theme that I identified with at a personal level. However, that does not mean I will never step out of my comfort zone – this is just my first novel and I would love to experiment and stretch my boundaries as I gain more confidence in my skills as a novelist.

What did it say about you in your high school yearbook? It says “The Tomboy”. As a teenager I always thought I was being all pretty and feminine (what with all the male attention) but I guess people didn’t see me that way (smile).
____________
Shuchi Singh Kalra is an internationally published writer, placing work in popular magazines such as Femina.in, Good Housekeeping, Home Review, Parent & Child, Vista, Investors India, Dogs & Pups, Women's Era and Time 'N' Style. Her short stories have been published in anthologies such as Love Across Borders and New Asian Writing's upcoming collection. She is the owner of Pixie Dust Writing Studio, a writing and editing firm that services a global clientele, and the Indian Freelance Writers Blog.

You can find out more about her at her website, read her blog, and meet her on Facebook and Twitter.

Book Blurb:

Travel journo, Kairavi Krishna (Kay) has had it with men. After a series of disasters (losers, philanderers, leeches, mama's boys and possessive psychos), she is all too tempted to walk out on the prospect of ever finding love. Accompanied by her best friend and flat-mate Baani, she sets off for Goa, hoping to get away from her miserable love life and vowing to stay clear of the male species.

Goa however, packs more surprises than she bargained for. Ricky, her pesky ex-boyfriend, is busy painting the town red with his hot new girlfriend. Now what is poor Kay to do other than overdose on vodka, smoke pot, get an outrageous tattoo and fall off the hotel balcony? She wakes up in the hospital to the tender ministrations of Dr.Vivian D'Mello--young, suave and handsome as hell. Will Kay stick to her guns or will she fall for his ridiculously sexy charms? And what's up with the mixed signals he's giving out?

BUY LINK

If you would like to ask Shuchi any questions, I'm sure she'd be happy to answer them. I'm hoping she might share what is going to be special about this Valentine's Day.

Author Marie Flanigan

Please help me welcome today's Wednesday's Guest, Marie Flanigan, a freelance writer in northern Virginia. She writes video game and book reviews as well as the occasional blog post for The Motley Fool. Her first novel, One Big Beautiful Thing, was released in May. We will have latte's from the coffee shop in town, so pull up a chair and join us.

Welcome Marie. My first question has to do with how well you handled the issue of grief  in your story. Did you draw from experience for that?

I have never lost a significant other like Kate lost Robert, but I have lost friends and family and I have been close to friends and family who have lost significant others. It’s a gut wrenching thing to watch and it’s confusing, because you have your own feelings of loss, which have to be set aside to help the other person through their much more significant loss. The aftermath of death is so painful and no one is really prepared for it despite the fact that we all have to go through it. Pretty much anything I find challenging or interesting or painful in my life eventually ends up in my fiction in one form or another.

You also seem to understand the mind of an artist. Do you have a background in visual art?

Sadly, no, but my sister is a wonderful artist as is a very close friend of mine, who actually did the cover of my book. I based a lot of Kate’s feelings about art on conversations with them and other artists I’ve come in contact with over the years. I really respect artists of all types. It’s a tough task to put your work out there to be judged, knowing that everyone is not going to like it, and possibly no one will appreciate what you’re trying to do.

Kate is such a wonderful, conflicted character. Was she hard to write?  

Aspects of Kate’s personality were definitely hard to write, if only because I’m so different from her, that I have to separate decisions I would have made from decisions she would make. My parents, unlike Kate’s, are still married and are wonderfully supportive of me, so I started with higher self-esteem than Kate did. I’m more confident and more decisive. I’m also less impulsive and less adventurous. People close to me have overcome some of the same difficulties Kate has overcome and I have tremendous respect for that.

What other creative things do you do?

I’ve attempted to do many other creative things. I tried to learn to play an instrument only to discover I’m basically tone deaf. I’ve tried my hand at painting. I went to a class recently with my sister-in-law, my sister, and my niece. We were supposed to paint a butterfly on a branch, but that was too complicated for me, so I painted one of my dogs eating a butterfly. Had I been twelve-years-old, that painting would have shown real promise. I did some acting in high school, but my monologues ended up taped all over the stage, because I’m not very good at memorization. I was good at improvisation though, which I eventually realized meant that I’d rather write the script than act it out. Writing is pretty much it for me creatively.

We can't be working all the time. When you are not, what do you do for fun?

I’m a hangout person. I like to sit around with friends, family, strangers, whoever and talk and eat. Whether I’m doing that on my own back porch or at the beach or in a foreign country doesn’t matter. People are what I find most interesting and talking to them is what I enjoy most.

So when you are back to work, where do your stories begin? With character or plot?

Character. Always character. Character makes or breaks a book for me. If I like the characters, I can forgive a lot. If I don’t like the characters, the most well thought out plot won’t hold my interest. If you have interesting characters, they can be doing just about anything and it will be fun to read.

As writers we draw from people and places around us. Tell us what you like best about where you live.

The diversity really appeals to me. We live in one of the most ethnically diverse places per capita in the United States and I love it. I love interacting with all kinds of people from all over the world and I love all the different kinds of restaurants and entertainment that are available to me because of that diversity.

 Many writers share their workspace with a dog or a cat, or more than one dog or cat. Do you have a pet?

My husband and I have three dogs: a twelve-year-old basenji, a seven-year-old border terrier, and a two-year-old miniature pinscher. They are probably too spoiled but at least they’re small. The miniature pinscher is my travel buddy and the one that goes out to my writing studio with me and keeps me company while I work.

Meet Author Elizabeth Buhmann

Please welcome Elizabeth Buhmann as today's Wednesday's Guest

Hello, and thank you, Maryann, for inviting me to be a guest here on It’s Not All Gravy. I’m Elizabeth Buhmann, author of Lay Death at Her Door, a murder mystery which has just been released by Red Adept Publishing. I live in Austin, Texas, where I worked for twenty years at the Texas Attorney General’s Office doing research and writing on criminal justice and crime victim issues. Lay Death at Her Door is my first novel.

Hey, we're fellow Texans. 

1. How did you come to write in the genre you chose?

I have always loved the mystery genre. I started reading Nancy Drew when I was a child and graduated to Erle Stanley Gardner as a teenager. From there, I moved on to PD James, Dorothy Sayers, Raymond Chandler, Ross MacDonald, and Ruth Rendell, to name just a few. Among contemporary writers, I love Sue Grafton, Michael Connelly and Gillian Flynn—and others! I would bet that half the books I’ve read in my life have been murder mysteries. I love the intellectual challenge of a good murder mystery, and to me, it’s satisfying when a killer is dragged out into the open and brought to justice.

2. What is a typical writing day like for you?

I get up blindingly early in the morning—often as early as four—while it’s still dark outside. I make a pot of tea and sit in my office with my dog at my feet to tackle the most important and creative work I want to do on that day. I break at about 7:30 to walk, have breakfast, and feed the chickens. I work off and on as the day progresses, shifting to more analytical tasks like editing, revising and polishing, or writing shorter pieces.

Oh, my, I did not realize four in the morning actually existed. So glad you verified that for me. (smile)

3. What is the most unusual or interesting research you have done for your books?

The main character in Lay Death at Her Door—her name is Kate—was born in Africa of expatriate American parents and came to the States as a teenager. I lived in other countries myself as a child, so I know what it’s like to reenter American culture from abroad. But I’ve never been to Kenya, where Kate is from. I loved reading about Kenya! So much so that I got carried away and put too much Kenyan history and politics in the manuscript. (Don’t worry—my editor took it back out.)

Thank goodness we have editors. Mine have been so helpful with the cutting. 

4. What gives you the most pleasure in writing?

I love everything about what I’m doing. I love giving free rein to my imagination, then following out the logic of a story and working within the boundaries of craft. I like working out the details—what year would Kate have been born, and where exactly in Kenya? What was her mother like, and how did that help shape who she is? What sorts of flowers would be growing in Tony’s garden at the house in Sedgewick? How would Max go about trying to find the mysterious missing man that Kate eloped with during a drunken weekend fling twenty years ago?

5. What other creative things do you do?

I draw and paint—you can see some of my watercolors at www.pommelhouse.com. I’ve maintained that large and rambling website for more than ten years—purely for my own entertainment. It’s like an online journal—my virtual home. I’m also a very ambitious gardener—out of control! I have nearly an acre, and the whole thing is planted and bedded and riddled with paths and benches and little rock walls. It’s always changing, never finished, and occupies an inordinate amount of my time.

I, too, love gardening, but mine is much more primitive. I hope my readers visit the website and view your art. Quite nice. 

6. What do you do for fun?

Tai Chi. I have a black sash, and I’m currently learning Chen style.

7. Where do your stories begin? With character or plot?

I love that question. I begin with the major act, the crux of the plot, which to me defines the main character. Every trait and quirk and habit of a character relates, at least in my mind, to what that character will do in the overarching plot of the story. And the actions that make up the plot reveal the truth about the characters. So I would say that for me, character and plot are inseparable and evolve together.

Lay Death at Her Door is built around the character of Kate Cranbrook—a woman who lied on the stand about murder, in order to protect herself. She’s a dark protagonist, and her character is key to understanding the heart of the mystery—what happened and why.

Thank you so much for your candid responses, Elizabeth. Readers, do you have any questions for her? 

While Elizabeth is in the spotlight here, I have cloned myself and am at two sites today. I'm sharing some writing tips from the comics at The Blood Red Pencil and having some fun at The Lightstealers Song.

Author Interview - J.H. Bogran

Today I am over at The Blood Red Pencil with some writing tips from the comic strips. Come on over and join the fun, but first say hello to mystery author, J.H. Bogran, today's Wednesday Guest at It's Not All Gravy. He's here today as part of his blog tour to celebrate the release of his latest story, The Assassin’s Mistress

Welcome to this little corner of cyberspace, Jose. Please tell folks a bit about yourself and what you write.

I’m J. H. Bográn, well, José for friends. I was born, and still live, in Honduras; a five-star country right in the center of the American continent. I grew up reading Agatha Christie, Arthur Conan Doyle among others. Then the works of Clive Cussler, Ken Follett, Tom Clancy, Robert Ludlum and many other consummate professionals made be believe writing would be easy. Yeah, right. Anyway, it was too late to go back since I found the love talking—and paying attention—to my muse. My preferred genres are suspense and thrillers; however, I can’t help myself and always tinge my stories with a measure of romance.

1. If you could go back in time, what one thing would you change about yourself?

“If I could turn back time, if I could find a way, I’d take back those words that hurt you, and you’d stay.” I know it’s a song performed by Cher. The tune stuck in my head since I read the question so now I just passed the curse to you. Ha! 

Although I feel sorry for some of the mistakes I’ve made, I think I’ve learned from every single one of them. Yes, I’d like to go back and correct a few things, but I’m afraid those decisions would affect me and then I’d be someone entirely different and I guess I would still have regrets—albeit different ones—but regrets nonetheless. So, you know what? I just realized this is a trick question!

For the sake of argument, I’d go back and work harder to improve my school grades.

2. What was the first thing you ever had published?

The very first was a lame poetry dedicated to mothers for a newspaper contest. I was around eight years old at the time. At least I think the stuff was lame now, however, it won the third place. Go figure! My prize consisted of gifts from the sponsors, including a couple of 45 rpm vinyl records. Now go do the math on my age! : - )

3. What is the most unusual or interesting research you have done for your books?

I just came from a visit to The Big Easy. A cousin of mine lives in New Orleans, and he arranged a grand tour of the city, the night life, the wild life (I mean the swamps, of course). It was the first time I willingly walked into a police station to search for a cop. I met with the Sergeant in charge of the homicide division. With the help of some contacts, I was let in to a guided tour of the city morgue. Yes, this new novel has plenty of dead bodies.

4. If you could go anywhere in the world, where would it be and why?

I’d love to go backpacking through Europe. Why? Well, like most people, I have my bucket list.

5. What is the hardest thing about writing?

Besides finding an agent and publisher? The initial rejection letters. They are form letters, but they hurt like hell. When I was starting, as a naïve and insecure amateur, I invariably tried to read between the lines and find codes or hidden insults. This was a mistake, of course (Can we go back to the time travel question). 

Now I understand the letters just meant I wasn’t ready. Once that settled in, I took the time to read and learn, hone the craft. Eventually, some of the form rejections changed or came with feedback. Then, when I least expected, a couple of “yeses.”

6.  What do you do for fun?

I’m a huge movie fan. Particularly "Star Wars", any movie with superheroes, "Star Trek",  the James Bond movies, and "Indiana Jones". Some of the dialogue I know by heart, and sometimes I catch myself quoting from them. 

Once I began a family, playing with my kids became a fun endeavor. One that has morphed from playing on the floor with cars and castles to going outside to play ball. They are also good at kicking my butt   in video games.

Music is the other companion in my life. I enjoy good performers: Frank Sinatra, Adele, Julio Iglesias, Alejandro Sanz, Eminem, and even some new stuff I got exposed to through my kids.

7. Where do your stories begin? With character or plot?

It depends. Sometimes I’d think of a plot, then I develop the idea and create the characters that would serve the story best.In other instances, I’d think of a character, a fully formed and defined character, then I’d agonize to find a story that would fit.

~~~~~~~~~

Author Bio: 

J. H. Bográn, born and raised in Honduras, is the son of a journalist. He ironically prefers to write fiction rather than fact. José’s genre of choice is thrillers, but he likes to throw in a twist of romance into the mix. His works include novels and short stories in both English and Spanish. He’s a member of the International Thriller Writers where he also serves as the Thriller Roundtable Coordinator.

Website  ** Blog ** Facebook **Twitter: @JHBogran

The Assassin’s Mistress

A random encounter leads to deception, love and murder. While vacationing at a ski resort, professional hitman Robert Prescott meets a strange and beautiful woman. They discover passion and embark into a dangerous game hiding their relationship from her powerful husband. Then a further twist of fate makes Robert’s occupation collide with his new found love.  

“He enjoyed his Gold Label scotch served neat ... and his victims dead. "Take my hand if you want to live!" J. H. Bográn’s well-crafted crime thriller takes you where you'd never want to go. Highly recommended for a chilling few moments of your reading life.”

~ Bonnie Turner, author of Face the Winter Naked

“José Bográn’s short story THE ASSASSIN'S MISTRESS is an unusual, gripping and surprisingly fun ride on a killer roller coaster.”

~ Lauren Baratz-Logsted, author of The Bro-Magnet

Not your Normal Interview

Robin Spano's first book, Dead Politician Society, was  released  Sept. 1 in hardcover   from ECW Press. She has been visiting blogs recently to introduce people to her work and today let her central character ask her a few questions. Enjoy....

Clare Vengel: Why would you want to write books all day? Don’t you get bored?

Robin Spano: Are you kidding? I love writing. Sometimes it frustrates me and I want to scream, but I’m almost never bored.

Clare: I’d go mental. I’d rather be out in the world doing things. Want a cigarette?

Robin: I’d love one. But I quit years ago.

Clare: At least have a beer.

Robin:  Gladly.

Clare:  So…you ride a motorcycle. At least you haven’t given that up in your old age. Do you do your own repairs?

Robin: I wish. I tried to at first. But I’m a lousy mechanic.

Clare: You need focus to be a mechanic. And you need to groove with your machine.

Robin: Yeah. I can’t do it. I can focus and groove with my writing, though.

Clare: Okay, I kind of get why you wouldn’t be bored. Have you always wanted to be a writer?

Robin : I think so, but I’ve spent most of my life trying to do everything but write.

Clare: Why?

Robin: I think I was afraid of it. Of not succeeding. Then not having the dream anymore.

Clare: That’s stupid.

Robin: I agree.

Clare: How did you get over that?

Robin: It was my husband. He couldn’t understand why I would possibly NOT spend my life doing what I love. His favourite saying is that life is not a dress rehearsal, and one day I understood what he meant.

Clare: Why crime fiction? Is it because you live such a boring life, you need to spice it up with some adventure?

Robin: That’s not it. I used to have a lot of trouble with plot. With a mystery, you’re forced to spend a lot of time crafting the plot. So I couldn’t run away from my main weakness as a writer.

Clare: Okay, that’s boring. I don’t care about writing technicalities. Why did you write about dead politicians? Do you follow politics in real life?

Robin: Politics entertain me. Sometimes I get riled up about an issue, but mostly it just cracks me up how these grown men and woman happily sling mud around while they’re supposed to be making the world a better place.

Clare: Why did you set your book at a university?

Robin: Because it’s such a great age. People in their late teens/early twenties reason like adults but are ruled by their emotions and ideals. They still see a lot of the world in black and white, but they’re starting to understand that gray might have some merit. For the political murders and their motives, I needed a group of intelligent characters at that stage in life.

Clare: So what’s my job?

Robin: You’re undercover as a student. You have to befriend the suspects, try to get into the secret society, and find the killer if you can.

Clare: But I don’t know anything about politics. Or university.

Robin: The politics don’t matter. This is all about the people.

Clare: Will I do a good job?

Robin: You’ll have your moments.

Clare: Will I end up solving the case?

Robin: How would I know? You have to go in and do the best job you can. That’s all we can ever do.
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Robin Spano grew up in Toronto, studied physics in New Brunswick, then dropped out to travel North America on her motorcycle. She met her husband, Keith, while working as a waitress, and helped him run his Toronto pool room until they moved to Vancouver. She unwinds by snowboarding, boating, or arguing about politics.

Robin's  Web site 

 See the book Trailer HERE
 

Meet Author Donna Crow

I am pleased to have as my guest today, Donna Fletcher Crow, who is the author of 35 books, mostly novels dealing with British history.

Instead of detailing her publishing history, I will let the interview we did introduce you to Donna and her work.

She titled the interview "The Power of Story" and I found that an intriguing title.

Q. What was your favorite book when you were a child? Tell us a little about it.

DONNA: Well, my mother read the classics to me: Bambi, Heidi, Hans Brinker. As an only child I loved reading The Bobbsey Twins series. I thought living in that family would be heaven— having adventures with brothers and a sister was the way I wanted to live. I especially remember The Bobbsey Twins and Mystery Mansion, The Bobbsey Twins at The Seashore.

The point isn’t really what I read, because I didn’t move on to great literature until my sophomore high school English teacher required that I read Wuthering Heights and I never looked back after that. But the thing is that I LOVED to read! I was an only child growing up on a farm in the days before television. Now that dates me, doesn’t it? I spent days on end lost in books. And I never came out. I suppose I do the same thing now when I’m writing.

Q. When did you know you wanted to be a writer?

DONNA: As you can tell, my original passion wasn’t writing, it was reading, although I did write poetry and short stories as a child, mostly I just wanted to read. I loved stories. And when I didn’t have a book in front of me— late at night in bed— I would tell myself stories. It was always stories: stories I read; stories I told myself.

I guess I’ve always been fuzzy. When I was writing my grail search epic Glastonbury my daughter’s high school friends would say I was “Lost in Glastonbury” whenever I did something particularly spaced-out.

Q, What was the first thing you wrote? The first to get published?

DONNA: Well, if you don’t count the series of adventure novels I wrote and illustrated in the 6th grade— starring myself and my friends and each lasting about 5 pages— my first writings were plays for our church drama group because after we had done “The Robe” and “A Man Called Peter” there wasn’t much else available. I still use the dramatic approach in writing my novels— arranging the action in terms of scenes and watching it all play out in my head.

My first published? Oh, my goodness— can you believe I had to get the books out and look at the copyright dates to be sure? The confusion is, they weren’t published in the order I wrote them. My first novel was a Regency-style historical novel, Brandley’s Search which was eventually published in 1986 about 7 years after my first draft and about a hundred rewrites. My first published were two inspirational category romances, Greengold Autumn in 1984 and The Desires of Your Heart in 1985. Writing category fiction was a great way to learn my craft, but as soon as I realized I couldn’t read it any longer I had to quit writing it.

Q. How many years did you submit before your first publication?

DONNA: Oops, I answered that last question all wrong. My first book to get published (I had done a lot of short things before that) was The Frantic Mother Cookbook in 1982. I never imagined a writing career for myself. I was a mother and a retired (I hoped) English teacher. But after 3 sons we wanted a girl. And I didn’t get pregnant. I had to do something, so I started developing my writing skills. Writing the long-unpublished Brandley’s Search was part of that process. Then in 1980 Elizabeth was born. The Frantic Mother Cookbook was my response to survival with four children, one in high school, one in junior high, one in grade school and one in diapers. A through line is, “Will someone pick up Elizabeth? She’s crying again.” (Which is actually libel because she wasn’t a fussy baby.)

Q. What kept you persevering? What helps you now when the frustrations of the business mount?

DONNA: Mmm, good question. I suppose there was really never anything else I really wanted to do. There was always another story I wanted to tell, even most recently when I came through my 10 years-long “Wilderness.” I was still writing, I just wasn’t publishing. A Very Private Grave is one of the products of the wilderness. A supportive husband and writing community have been great helps in keeping going, but in the end, it has to come from inside oneself. And that comes down to Faith.

Q What do you like to do when you are not writing?

DONNA: I’m a passionate cottage gardener. You can see pictures of my garden on my Web site. I also love to drink tea with family and friends and read, read, read. I have 10 grandchildren that I adore spending time with but since they are spread from California to England I don’t get to spend nearly as much time with them as I would like.

Q. What feeds your creativity?

DONNA: Reading. Mostly English mysteries. I love those who write in my genre of ecclesiastical thrillers: Kate Charles, Phil Rickman, Susan Howatch. . . Also the classics: Jane Austen, Dorothy L Sayers, P. D. James. . .

Travel to favorite sites in England also feeds my creativity because background is so important to me in my writing— and also in my choice of reading— so there we are full circle.

Q. What is the best book you have read this year?

DONNA: Connie Willis’ To Say Nothing of the Dog. It has everything: history, sci fi, mystery, humor. I love the concept of time travel because I get as close to that as possible when I research the background for my books, and in this case the device of rebuilding Coventry Cathedral really gripped me because I have always been emotional about its bombing.

Q. What have you been dying to tell readers that no interviewer has asked so far?

DONNA: Since I’ve spent so much time in this interview looking back on the early days, it’s fun to recall how I wrote my first novel Brandley’s Search. We had built and moved into a new home, (our dream home, if you will, lots of room for the family inside and out) and I was exhausted. I felt like an avalanche victim covered in all those cardboard boxes. When I tunneled out I spent days— weeks— on end sitting in a comfy chair in our bedroom reading Georgette Heyer.

And then I read her Venetia and was consumed by the character of Venetia’s little brother. I can’t even recall his name now, but I had to know what happened to him. I would wake up in the middle of the night and scribble ideas. I would pull over to the curb when driving to make notes. I wrote all over my shopping list in the grocery store. It was like being pregnant. That story had to come out. And the first draft took me about nine months, too. I have often wished all my stories would come that easily, but it was a great way to start.

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Donna's latest books are A Very Private Grave, book 1 in the Monastery Murders series and The Shadow of Reality, a romantic intrigue that will be published later this summer.

A Very Private Grave features Felicity Howard, a young American woman studying for the Anglican priesthood at the College of the Transfiguration in Yorkshire. She is caught up in a mystery when she finds her beloved Fr. Dominic brutally murdered. This is a contemporary novel with a thoroughly modern heroine who must learn some ancient truths in order to solve the mystery and save her own life as she and her church history teacher, Fr. Antony, flee a murderer and follow clues that take them to out-of-the way sites in northern England and southern Scotland.

“With a bludgeoned body in Chapter 1, and a pair of intrepid amateur sleuths, A Very Private Grave qualifies as a traditional mystery. But this is no mere formulaic whodunit: it is a Knickerbocker Glory of a thriller. At its centre is a sweeping, page-turning quest – in the steps of St Cuthbert – through the atmospherically-depicted North of England, served up with dollops of Church history and lashings of romance. In this novel, Donna Fletcher Crow has created her own niche within the genre of clerical mysteries.” – Kate Charles, author of Deep Waters


Donna and her husband have 4 adult children and 10 grandchildren. She is an enthusiastic gardener and you can see pictures of her garden, watch the trailer for A VERY PRIVATE GRAVE, and read her international blog on her Web site