I would like to welcome author, Susan Van Kirk, to the blog for #ThisorThatThursday!

Things you need for your writing sessions: First, I need total quiet. I can’t listen to music because I might write the lyrics into my book. I also need my notes and research, my laptop (obviously), and my list for the day. I outline what I plan to do the next day so when I’m ready to write I know where I’m going.

Things that hamper your writing: I can get unfocused by phone calls or email, especially if either involve something that needs to be done immediately. Leaving my computer to get more coffee or water… and things over which I have no control, like my next-door neighbor mowing his lawn.

Things you love about writing: Typing “The End.” I would much rather edit what I’ve written
than actually write it.

Things you hate about writing: Discovering that the murder timeline won’t work…for the
third time.

Hardest thing about being a writer: Having patience.

Easiest thing about being a writer:

Researching interesting ideas, especially if they are historical. I was a history major in college but ended up teaching English my whole career. Since I love history, I’m currently writing a series that goes back to different historical time periods. I must drag myself away from the research if I’m going to get the book written.

Favorite foods: This is easy. Dark chocolate or anything with the word
“dessert” in the name.

Things that make you want to gag: Curry…can’t even stand the smell of it. Leek soup…I had that too many times on a tour of the United Kingdom. Arugula…It’s too bitter for me.

Favorite music or song: Classic Rock…I have so many memories tied up in that music.
The Beatles, Rod Stewart, Joni Mitchell, Donovan, the Beach Boys, the Eagles, Bob Dylan. I was in high school and college in the 60s.

Music that drives you crazy: Heavy Metal…Too loud and not my style.

Something you’re really good at: Collaborating with people on writing projects. I began
writing literary CliffsNotes in the 90s, and I had to learn to work with three editors at a time. I loved it, and I learned the skills I needed for writing novels and collaborating with people from that experience. Of course, a career in teaching also involved a lot of collaboration.

Something you’re really bad at: Keeping my mouth shut when my adult children don’t ask me for advice. Part of me thinks a lifetime of experience should be helpful, but then my brain takes over and says, “Just shut up.” Occasionally, I listen to my brain.

Something you like to do: I love to have the time to get lost in a great book. Right now I’m reading Erik Larson’s The Splendid and the Vile about the Churchill family in WWII. But I must read in snippets since I have a deadline looming. Sigh.

Something you wish you’d never done: Locked my car keys in the trunk of my car after buying groceries. I set my purse down in the truck with the keys in it, and shut the truck, forgetting my purse was there. Fortunately, I had my phone, but my house keys were in the purse, and my other set of car keys was in my house. With the brand of car I have, I thought I couldn’t lock it with the keys inside, but I guess that safety setting didn’t involve the trunk. Not going to do that again.

The last thing you ordered online: A set of ten Nancy Drew books for my twin granddaughters who are turning nine.

The last thing you regret buying: A gift for a friend that I ordered from a website, not realizing my order would be shipped from China. It was only six weeks late.

Things you always put in your books: Secrets, small towns, murder, and a likeable protagonist.

Things you never put in your books: Overt violence. There is enough of that out in the real
world.

Things to say to an author: I couldn’t put your book down, so when does the next one
come out? Can’t wait.

Things to say to an author if you want to be fictionally killed off in their next book:You have a typo on page 205. Just thought you’d like to know it.

Favorite places you’ve been: The Lake District in England. It is so beautiful, and the
flowers and gardens are handled with such care. I think if God lived somewhere on earth, this would be the place.

Places you never want to go to again: Florida. I’m sure there are people who love Florida, but it is too hot, too humid, and has too much traffic for me.

The coolest person you’ve ever met: President Barack Obama, but only with a handshake and a few words. He was running for the US Senate from Illinois, and I heard him speak at the local small college where I worked. Loved his eloquence, his intelligence, and his leadership qualities. Coolest person I’ve ever met.

The celebrity who didn’t look like he/she did in pictures/video: Robert Redford, not that I met him. My brother interviewed him one time and took a photo with him. He was far shorter than I imagined he would be, and I was surprised. However, that didn’t change his good looks or that million dollar smile.

The nicest thing a reader said to you: You made that small town come alive so I could see it. She was referring to my small town of Endurance and a book, Marry in Haste, where I had to imagine the town in the present day, as well as one hundred years in the past. That was great fun.

The craziest thing a reader said to you: Where did you come up with the name Grace Kimball? That’s my name, and I know we don’t know each other.

About Susan:

Susan Van Kirk is a writer of cozy mysteries. She lives at the center of the universe—the Midwest—and writes during the ridiculously cold and icy winters. Why leave the house and break something? Van Kirk taught forty-four years in high school and college and raised three children. Miraculously, she has low blood pressure.

Susan Van Kirk’s Endurance Mysteries: Three May Keep a Secret, Marry in Haste, The Locket: From the Casebook of TJ Sweeney and Death Takes No Bribes. Encircle Publications published
her latest book, A Death at Tippitt Pond. Three May Keep a Secret will be published once again by Harlequin’s Worldwide Mystery imprint July 1, 2020. She is a member of Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, and the online Guppy Group.