I’d like to welcome the fabulous Leah Dobrinska to the blog today for #ThisorThatThursday!

A few of your favorite things: I love pretty notebooks; the smell of books, both old and new; my husband and our kids; monthly game night with friends; book club meetings; Nancy Drew; going to the library; running through the local park; vanilla lattes; Christmas; changing seasons; and pictures in frames.

Things you need to throw out: My old college textbooks. They are taking up prime book-shelf real-estate, and if I haven’t needed them in over a decade, I probably am not going to, right?

Things you need for your writing sessions: My computer and a timer—usually just the stop-watch app on my phone. I draft entire books using (almost) exclusively brief writing sprints. I set my timer for thirty minutes and get as many words on the page as possible in that amount of time. As a result, I don’t stop to sip any type of beverage, and I don’t require much!

Things that hamper your writing: Music. I love listening to music in general, and I make a specific playlist for each of my books, but I can’t listen to it while I’m writing. I can’t come up with my own words when I’m focused on someone else’s!

Things you love about writing: I love creating fictional worlds. I love crafting characters with whom I’d want to be friends and inventing places I’d want to visit in real life. I love the moment when I story clicks, or a scene comes together, or even when I write just one really great line. I love that I feel the most like myself when I’m writing.

Things you hate about writing: I hate the feeling I get in my gut when I don’t have the solution to a plot problem. I’m getting better at realizing that it’s all part of the process, and I will figure it out, but when I encounter a plot hurdle, it can be all-consuming for me until I work through how to resolve it, and I don’t love that.

Favorite foods: Fruit of any kind; Pasta of any kind; Ice cream of any kind…it’s all about balance.

Things that make you want to gag: Raw meat.

Favorite music or song: I am a huge fan of Taylor Swift’s music. I am so inspired by the way she tells complete, intricate, clever, thought-provoking stories within the confines of a three to five minute song. If I had to pick a favorite song of hers, I’d go with “All Too Well”.

Music that drives you crazy: Anything with lyrics I can’t understand. I’m all about the words, so if I don’t know what an artist is saying, it’s going to be a no from me.

Favorite smell: The smell of northern Wisconsin in July. So many of my core memories are tied to summers in the Northwoods, that the scent of lake musk, pine trees, damp sand, and sunshine will forever give me a hit of serotonin. So much so, in fact, that I based Larkspur, the location of Death Checked Out, off a small town in Northern Wisconsin.

Something that makes you hold your nose: Sour-smelling laundry.

Last best thing you ate: Carbonara from a small family-owned restaurant in Rome, Italy. I will dream about that meal for the rest of my life.

Last thing you regret eating: The tuna casserole I made last week. Everyone else in the family loves it and will eat it (no small feat with four children), so I made it for them, and I choked it down.

The last thing you ordered online: Mint green library card notecards. I love to write little notes on them and send them with copies of my books for giveaway winners or folks who order directly from me. There’s something so nostalgic about them, and readers have told me they use them as bookmarks. The mint green ones are especially appropriate because Greta, my amateur sleuth in Death Checked Out, is a library director and the books cover is a beautiful green!

The last thing you regret buying: All the toys with sound that we gave our kids for Christmas.

Things you always put in your books: Happy endings! Whether I’m writing in the mystery genre or the romance genre, my books will never not have a happy resolution. That, and I’ve consistently written a café into each of my books. It’s such a perfect gathering place, and especially in small town communities, it’s a great place to spread, share, and learn information. I wish I could visit Mugs & Hugs, the café in Death Checked Out in real life.

Things you never put in your books: Explicit content. It’s not my style.

Things to say to an author: “You’re doing a great job. I loved your book. It should totally be made into a movie. I want to live in Larkspur! I want to be friends with (insert character name here)! I’m going to go leave a 5 star review online and tell all my friends!”

Things to say to an author if you want to be fictionally killed off in their next book: “I loved everything about this book. 3 stars!”

Favorite books (or genre): Pride & Prejudice is my all-time favorite book. I love me a classic. Lately, I’ve been reading mostly romcoms and cozies, so a couple recent favorites include Faking Christmas by Cindy Steel, and the Christmas Tree Farm mystery series by Jacqueline Frost.

Books you wouldn’t buy: Anything dark and/or gory.

Most embarrassing moment: My two year old son pulled the fire alarm at his older sisters’ school and I have never been more embarrassed in my life.

Proudest moment: Watching my kids show kindness to other kids.

The nicest thing a reader said to you: Anytime a reader tells me that my books got them back into reading, I take it as the highest compliment. That, and when they tell me that they wish my characters and settings were real.

The craziest thing a reader said to you: “This book was so predictable…I didn’t figure out what was going to happen until the very end.” And yes, that was all in the same review.

About Leah:

Leah Dobrinska is the author of the Larkspur Library Mysteries, a cozy mystery series set in the Wisconsin Northwoods, and the Mapleton novels, a series of award-winning standalone small town romances. She earned her degree in English Literature from UW-Madison where she was awarded the Dean’s Prize and served as a Writing Fellow. She has since worked as a freelance writer, editor, and content marketer. Leah lives in Wisconsin with her husband and their gaggle of kids. When she's not writing, handing out snacks, or visiting local parks, Leah enjoys reading and running. Find out more about Leah, join her newsletter community, and connect with her through her website, leahdobrinska.com.

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Website: https://leahdobrinska.com/

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Amazon Author Page: https://amzn.to/3zB9eeg

The Mapleton Series (Amazon): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09BFXFBS3

The Larkspur Library Mysteries (Amazon): https://amzn.to/3ULbXch

Death Checked Out Purchase link (Amazon): https://amzn.to/3T4XK9n

Death Checked Out Purchase link (Barnes & Noble): https://bit.ly/bndeathcheckedout

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