#WriterWednesday with Melanie Smith

I’d like to welcome Melanie Smith to the blog for #WriterWednesday!

Hardest thing about being a writer:

Juggling all the other things that get in the way of writing. As an independent author, I am responsible for managing my brand, promoting my work, updating my website, publishing my next story and networking with other authors. Life often gets in the way of creativity. I am routinely trying to balance my private life and necessary tasks with my desire to just sit down and write.

Easiest thing about being a writer:

Writing. I know some authors complain about writer’s block. This has never been an issue for me. Maybe because I am constantly juggling multiple books at the same time. If I get stuck, or the plot isn’t moving forward, I simply refocus my attention on another story.

Words that describe you:

I asked my husband, and this is what he said — Competent, knowledgeable, family oriented, frugal, financially responsible, natural, adventurous.

Words that describe you, but you wish they didn’t:

Accommodating – I sometimes let those close to me take advantage. I am also stubborn. Sometimes this is a good thing, but not everyone sees it that way.

Favorite foods:

Mexican food of any kind.

Things that make you want to gag:

Hotdogs

Something you’re really good at:

Computer programs, graphic design and promotional art, grammar

Something you’re really bad at:

Remembering names, singing

Favorite music or song:

I love all kinds of music, but my favorite is anything from the 80s

Music that drives you crazy:

Rap music

Favorite smell:

Honeysuckle

Something that makes you hold your nose:

The smell of death

Things you always put in your books:

Strong characters with tight family bonds.

Things you never put in your books:

Politics – people read my stories for entertainment. They don’t need to know what I think or how I feel.

Favorite places you’ve been:

I really enjoy visiting Yellowstone National Park. I also had an amazing trip to Italy.

Places you never want to go to again:

East LA

Favorite things to do:

Ride my Harley and explore the backcountry on my ATV

Things you’d run through a fire or eat bugs to get out of doing:

Public speaking

Best thing you’ve ever done:

Conquer my fears and publish my first book

Biggest mistake:

For many years, I treated my writing as a hobby instead of a talent

Most daring thing you’ve ever done:

I have been skydiving, rappelled out of a ski resort tram, cliff dived at Lake Powell, and learned to ride a motorcycle on challenging canyon roads

Something you chickened out from doing:

Eating sushi or oysters

About Melanie:

Long before she delved into the world of fantasy and suspense, Melanie P. Smith served nearly three decades in the Special Operations Division at her local sheriff’s office supporting SWAT, Search & Rescue, K9, the Motor Unit, Investigations, and the Child Abduction Response Team. She now uses that training and knowledge to create stories that are action-packed, gripping, and realistic. In addition to writing, she is also the Editor-In-Chief for Connections eMagazine — a free quarterly publication focused on bringing authors and readers together.

You can find more about Melanie and her books on her website and social media platforms.

Let’s Be Social:

Visit Melanie on her website at www.melaniepsmith.com

Find her on Facebook at https://geni.us/MPSFacebook

Twitter https://geni.us/MPSTwitter

Instagram https://geni.us/MPSInstagram

YouTube https://geni.us/MPSmithYouTube

Locals Community https://geni.us/MPSLocals

BoobBub https://geni.us/MPSBookBub

LinkedIn https://geni.us/MPSmithLI

Pinterest https://geni.us/MPSPinterest

Goodreads https://geni.us/MPSGoodreads

#WriterWednesday with Karin Melberg Schwier

I’d like to welcome author Karin Melberg Schwier to the blog for #WriterWednesday!

Favorite foods: When I had a milestone birthday, my son and his wife in California sent me a “meat package” for my birthday. Sourced locally, it was filled with meat of all sorts. I am definitely a carnivore.

Things that make you want to gag: Mom and Dad, ever since my brother and I were little, used to make an abomination called “Milk Toast” when they were sick. Poached egg, toast, and hot milk in a bowl with a big dollop of butter greasing its way across the surface. Gag. My brother and I both agree on this; do not eat, no matter how sick you are.

Something you’re really good at: I’m a pretty darn good cartoonist and illustrator. I don’t do it often enough and you do get rusty if you don’t work those muscles, but I love it.

Something you’re really bad at: Much to my older brother’s chagrin, I cannot whistle properly, and I really am a bad bike rider. Not motorcycle bike, well, that, too, but just plain old bicycle.

Favorite music or song: John Mayer, Great Big Sea, The Coors, Beatles, John Fogelberg, Joni Mitchell, Little River Band, jeez, I can’t think of them all! I can’t leave out Rhye, the band my son Ben plays with (keys).

Music that drives you crazy: Rap. My son insists there’s something to appreciate in all music. But. I’m sorry, I just can’t.

Favorite smell: Rosemary.

Something that makes you hold your nose: Cat barf. I get more of the latter than the former.

Last best thing you ate: Leg of lamb. I love lamb. I have spent a lot of time in New Zealand; once when I was 20, I worked on a dairy farm and lived with the family. Daphne prepared huge lamb roasts, and I was in heaven.

Last thing you regret eating: Our friends in Australia just sent my son a bag of chocolate covered goji berries called Koala Poop. I had some. Mistake.

Favorite places you’ve been: New Zealand, Turkey, Italy, Australia, England, Scotland, Catalina Island.

Places you never want to go to again: Las Vegas. Could be because we hiked many miles along the South Rim of the Grand Canyon that day, and I found LV to be hugely irritating.

People you’d like to invite to dinner: Yann Martel and Alice Kuipers, which wouldn’t be a big stretch since they’re neighbors. Other favorite authors like Elizabeth Hay, Guy Vanderhaeghe, Marina Endicott. Ernest Hemingway, wouldn’t that be fascinating? Stephen King, absolutely. We want to talk to him about a chapter book he offered online, one chapter at a time called The Plant. “Don’t cheat the blind guy selling pencils.” If anyone stole a chapter, he’d shut it down. We always paid, and then he shut it down anyway. We have a bone to pick.

People you’d cancel dinner on: Donald Trump. Anyone who thinks Donald Trump is a brilliant man.

The coolest person you’ve ever met: Hmm, tough one. I guess Madelyn Davis, who was the writer on the I Love Lucy series. She was my step-kids’ step-grandmother, if that makes sense. I could talk to her all day about writing.

The celebrity who didn’t look like he/she did in pictures/video: Rodney Dangerfield, in an elevator at the Beverly Hilton hotel. He looked a bit more ragged than I expected.

The nicest thing a reader said to you: Your novel took me back to my childhood on the farm. I could feel it and smell it. (This was my 92-year-old father-in-law after reading an early draft of my first novel).

The craziest thing a reader said to you: “I won’t read your novel because it’s not science fiction.” (This was my dad.)

Besides writing, what’s the most creative thing you’ve done: I think drawing, illustrating. I’ve always thought I’d like to learn to paint but so far I’ve just stuck with pen and ink drawing.

A project that didn’t quite turn out the way you planned it: I’m still trying to get going on this. I thought I’d be farther along. My dad is 97 and has dementia; I started a short non-fiction story about our experience, and I’ve wanted to get going on a book-length project, but this is hard.

Some real-life story that made it to one of your books: A young girl with Down syndrome was raped by a neighbor farmer and her baby was taken as soon as he was born. The farmer was charged with “carnal knowledge of a woman known to be feeble-minded” — that was a real law in the Criminal Code — and sentenced to the lash and prison time. His wife disowned him, banished him to the barn, and he died of pneumonia. I changed the cause of death. The young girl always wanted to see her baby “just one more time.”

Something in your story that readers think is about you, but it’s not: In my novel, a character on his 13th birthday rides a horse without permission, and it runs wild with him, and he dies in an accident. I’ve had people who assume that was me (not the dying part), but that I lost control of a horse.

About Karin:

A freelance writer, editor and illustrator in Saskatoon, Karin edits and writes for Saskatoon HOME and contributes to Prairies North magazines. She began her career as a reporter for a northern Alberta weekly newspaper while still in high school. Her series of profiles on pioneers of the Peace River country was published as a book, Yesterday’s Children, when she was 19. In Saskatchewan, she spent over 25 years in communications work for an advocacy organization for people with intellectual disabilities, and produced an award-winning newsmagazine.

Karin has written or co-authored six non-fiction books and two illustrated children’s books exploring the lives of people with disabilities, and edited several others. Other creative non-fiction has appeared in anthologies in Canada and the U.S. In 2013, Karin received a YWCA Women of Distinction Award (Arts, Culture and Heritage) for her writing on disability issues.

Small Reckonings, first published by Burton House Books in 2020 and now out in a new edition from Shadowpaw Press, is her debut novel. It received the 2019 John V. Hicks Award for Fiction, a Saskatchewan Book Award in 2021, and was recognized by the national jury for the inaugural Glengarry Book Award in 2021, named to the Jury Short List, Recognition of Literary Excellence. Most recently, the sequel to her debut novel was awarded first prize in the 2022 John V. Hicks Award for Fiction, the first time an author has won this genre category twice in a row.

She lives in Saskatoon with husband Richard, Professor Emeritus, University of Saskatchewan, and son Jim. She has two other children, Benjamin (Julia, grandaughters Pearl and Dahlia), and Erin (Michael, grandson Alexander).

#WriterWednesday with Joel McKay

I’d like to welcome Joel McKay to the blog for #WriterWednesday!

Things you never want to run out of: Books, toilet paper, chicken wings.

Things you wish you’d never bought: Boat loader

Hardest thing about being a writer: Quieting the negative voices in my head

Easiest thing about being a writer: Finding the places I want to escape to

Things you need for your writing sessions: A computer and charged battery, ambient music, something to drink

Things that hamper your writing: Lyrical music, too much noise, constant interruption

Words that describe you: Passionate, friendly, funny, hard working

Words that describe you, but you wish they didn’t: Bad memory for everyday things, a tendency to take on too much, stubborn, impatient

Favorite foods: Chicken wings, Indian food, sushi, Chinese food

Things that make you want to gag: turnips

Something you’re really good at: Talking to people

Something you’re really bad at: Sitting still

The last thing you ordered online: Glamdring (Gandalf’s sword)

The last thing you regret buying: Again, that damn boat loader

Things you always put in your books: British Columbia

Things you never put in your books: Real people

Favorite places you’ve been: Barbados, England, Yukon

Places you never want to go to again: Surrey

Favorite things to do: Write, play games, hang out with my daughters, fish

Things you’d run through a fire or eat bugs to get out of doing: Kids birthday parties, Christmas concerts, parent teacher meetings, conferences

Most daring thing you’ve ever done: Packed up and moved to Northern B.C. shortly after a divorce without knowing anyone there

Something you chickened out from doing: Bungee jumping

About Joel:

Joel McKay is the author of the horror comedy Wolf at the Door and the anthology It Came From the Trees and Other Violent Aberrations. His fiction has appeared in multiple anthologies. He is an award-winning writer who calls Northern British Columbia home.

Let’s Be Social:

X - @Joel Mckay 

Instagram/ threads - @author_joel_mckay

Linkedin - @Joel Mckay 

Website - www.joelmckay.ca 

#WriterWednesday with Belinda Betker

I’d like to welcome Belinda Betker to the blog for #WriterWednesday.

Favorite thing to do when you have free time: I’m a life-long voracious reader, and I often read up to five or six books at a time. I particularly read poetry, memoirs, and novels that have been recommended by friends. I also love word puzzle magazines, especially when I need to think things through about my own writing. I love walking with my wife and dog in a 300-acre forest close to city limits. I love spending time with friends, family, and the groups I volunteer with.

The thing you’ll always move to the bottom of your to do list: Washing floors and walls.

Things you need when you’re in your writing cave: I keep a good supply on hand of my favourite style of journal – 6”x8”, soft cover, with ruled lines and built-in ribbon page marker. My favourite pen is a Uni-ball JetStream, blue ink. Beyond that, I need my PC, good lighting, and good music when I write and edit.

Things that distract you from writing: Necessary housework; or an invitation out for tea, a meal, a good movie, or a great concert.

Favorite snacks: Flavoured potato chips, especially dill pickle, or sour cream & onion.

Things that make you want to gag: Bananas – the texture is horrible, but I can tolerate them when they’re baked into cakes or a loaf.

Something you’re really good at: I excel at procrastination!

Something you’re really bad at: Tackling tasks and chores that should be done that I really don’t want to do.

Something you wanted to be when you were a kid: I thought I’d be an early-grades elementary school teacher.

Something you do that you never dreamed you’d do: I never dreamed I’d have a proverbial ‘room of one’s own’ to write in, and that I’d become a published poet.

Something you wish you could do: Sky diving, parasailing, ziplining, etc. – anything where I could safely experience free-falling or moving quicky through the air.

Something you wish you’d never learned to do: Housework – I really dislike housework!

Things to say to an author: I absolutely love your book, & this is why (& then be specific.)

Things to say to an author if you want to be fictionally killed off in their next book: I don’t like your writing style or what you write about.

Favorite places you’ve been: Australia – everywhere there I’ve already been to, and I’d go anywhere there I haven’t been yet. I’ve also enjoyed all the major Canadian cities I’ve visited, as well as numerous smaller cities, towns, and national/provincial/regional parks.

Places you never want to go to again: Anywhere I’ve been has been interesting enough to be worth the experience.

Favorite things to do: Write and read haiku, poems, and memoirs; people-watch anywhere and anytime; spend time with my favourite people; walk and play with our dog; attend literary events, concerts, and non-mainstream films; travel; spend time in nature; eat great food; and find some joy in every day.

Things you’d run through a fire or eat bugs to get out of doing: I don’t like doing housework, but I do it because I really like a clean home.

Most embarrassing moment: Realizing that someone I thought liked me really didn’t.

Proudest moment: My first book launch, and seeing all the people that attended from all different areas and times of my life.

The nicest thing a reader said to you: “I love your book, and I especially love your poem Why a Parade.

The craziest thing a reader said to you: “What did you eat for breakfast today, and why?”

The most exciting thing about your writing life: How much fun it is to write, edit and get published.

The one thing you wish you could do over in your writing life: Start writing seriously much earlier in life.

About Belinda:

Belinda's poetry and award-winning haiku are in various anthologies, literary journals, and chapbooks. Her poetry collection, Phases, was a 2020 finalist for two Saskatchewan Book Awards. The second edition, published in 2022, contains thirty-one additional new poems.

Belinda is a founding member of two long-running Saskatoon writing groups, Sisters' Ink, and The Obsessors. Beyond writing, she is a Board member of both Spark Your Pride, and Queer Seniors of Saskatchewan.

When she’s not writing, editing, mentoring, or volunteering, Belinda reads voraciously, especially poetry and memoirs. She lives in Saskatoon with her Australian wife and their rescue dog, a springer-spaniel/terrier cross.

Let’s Be Social:

http://belindabetker.com

#WriterWednesday with Jacquie Wilvers

I’d like to welcome Jacquie Wilvers to the blog for #WriterWednesday!

Things you need for your writing sessions: A cup of tea and chewing gum.

Things that hamper your writing: My cell phone, when it’s in the room with me.

Something you’re really good at: Delegating.

Something you’re really bad at: Decluttering my desk.

The last thing you ordered online: Slippers

The last thing you regret buying: Itchy wool sweater.

Favorite places you’ve been: Venice, Pompeii, Jerusalem, Petra, Cairo.

Places you never want to go to again: The city of Edfu.

Favorite books (or genre): Mysteries.

Books you wouldn’t buy: Horror.

Most daring thing you’ve ever done: Fly in an open cockpit biplane.

Something you chickened out from doing: Flying upside down in the open cockpit biplane.

The nicest thing a reader said to you: May I have your autograph?

The craziest thing a reader said to you: “You’re not the person I thought you were” after reading my gritty crime fiction short story, Underbelly.

The first 8-track, record, cassette, or CD you ever bought: Hotel California.

A type of music that’s not your cup of tea: Rap.

My favorite book as a child: Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak.

A book I’ve read more than once: The Art of Happiness by the Dalai Lama.

Your favorite movie as a child: Mary Poppins.

A movie that kept you awake at night as a kid: Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte.

About Jacquie:

Jacquie’s debut short story, “Underbelly,” appears in Angel City Beat, a Los Angeles mystery anthology. This gritty fictional story takes the reader on a journey of betrayal and murder inside the Hollywood film industry. In the niche world of screenwriting, the players are known and the competition fierce. When a talented newcomer appears seeking fortune, the plot turns murderous. Anything goes to get a hit film made.

The Angel City Beat anthology includes stories about life in Los Angeles. Hidden beneath its shiny surface are misdeeds, miscreants, and murderers. Angel City Beat shows life behind the plastic smiles of the rich and famous, the desperate pleas of the overlooked, and the promises of dreams forgotten. Angel City Beat is the beat of a city told by those who love her and can be found on Amazon.

Jacquie also recently finished writing her first book-length cozy mystery, A Venetian Moonlight Murder, which was inspired by a visit to the City of Lovers, Venice, Italy. She is currently polishing the manuscript for submission later in 2025.

A long-time resident of Long Beach, CA, Jacquie became an early mystery fan when she discovered Nancy Drew, Cherry Ames, and the Hardy Boys. She is a member of Sisters in Crime – Los Angeles, Orange County, and Guppy chapters. She is also a member of California Writer’s Club Orange County and the Author’s Guild.

Let’s Be Social:

Website/Newsletter Sign-up: http://jacquiewilvers.com

She earned a BA in newspaper journalism, an MA in theater arts management, and an MPA in Public Policy and Administration. Jacquie worked as a newspaper reporter, aerospace publication editor, and public education grant writer. She likes to create characters who misbehave and delights in reading other writers who do the same. She enjoys traveling, reading mysteries and historical novels, and spending time with friends and family.

The SinC Los Angeles Chapter has arranged for an official book launch of Angel City Beat. It will be at Vroman’s bookstore in Pasadena on Monday, February 24, at 7 p.m.

https://vromansbookstore.com/event/2025-02-24/sisters-crime-la-host-discussion-angel-city-beat-sisters-crime-los-angeles

#WriterWednesday Interview with Ann Charles

I’d like to welcome Ann Charles back to the blog for #WriterWednesday!

Things you never want to run out of: Ha! That’s an easy one: coffee. Wait! Maybe dark chocolate. It’s a tie.

Things you wish you’d never bought: All of the clothes I think will look good on me and didn’t try on before buying them (many are still hanging in my closet because I can’t bring myself to get rid of them).

Hardest thing about being a writer: The constant marketing work—and the never-ending bookkeeping.

Easiest thing about being a writer: Signing an autograph

Favorite music or song: I don’t have a favorite type. I enjoy various songs from over the years from genres like classic rock, country, pop, alternative, old time classics and soundtracks from the 1940-1960s, disco tunes, and more. I think this comes from being the youngest kid in a big family where I often listened to my parents’ and siblings’ music. When I write, I like to listen to old songs in the background with a rain sound playing over them. Something about that is calming and allows me to focus.

Music that drives you crazy: Anything with screeching or loud screaming instead of singing. Also, anything with too much saxophone.

Favorite smell: Baking bread

Something that makes you hold your nose: Red Onions

Last best thing you ate: A fresh, breaded halibut sandwich at Mo’s restaurant in Yachats, Oregon.

Last thing you regret eating: Bad crab meat in Mazatlán, Mexico.

The last thing you ordered online: Books—author copies of my own books that I sell out of our online store. Oh, and cat treats. Our cats threatened to smother me in the night if I didn’t.

The last thing you regret buying: Cat treats—they eat them so fast I just know they don’t appreciate them.

Things to say to an author: Thank you for writing such a great story. It made me love reading and I didn’t want the book to end.

Things to say to an author if you want to be fictionally killed off in their next book: “Do better.”

People you’d like to invite to dinner: Anyone who is quick to laugh, loves to read books or to watch fiction movies/tv shows, and has crazy real-life stories to share.

People you’d cancel dinner on: Anyone who is going to REQUIRE me to dress in formal attire.

Favorite things to do: Take back roads while traveling, explore new-to-me places, laugh while reading, eat soft pretzels, drink frozen Coke Slushees.

Things you’d run through a fire or eat bugs to get out of doing: Bookkeeping work

The coolest person you’ve ever met: A fun old guy named George who taught me how to play horseshoes and kept me laughing the whole time.

The celebrity who didn’t look like he/she did in pictures/video: Louie Anderson, the comedian, looked like he did in videos, but he was even funnier in real life when we went to see him in Las Vegas. The way he worked with the audience to make the show more hilarious was amazing.

Some real-life story that made it to one of your books: My family and I once stumbled upon a real-life sword swallower in Uranus, Missouri at a circus museum. We were in the museum alone and she was happy to shock us with various swords that she slid way down her throat. I’ll never forget that day, nor worrying with my husband if we’d need to rush her to the emergency room if something went sideways.

Something in your story that readers think is about you, but it’s not: Readers often think that I based Violet Parker, the heroine in my Deadwood Mystery series, on me and my life. She may share a sense of humor with me and have two kids, same as me, but she is far more daring than I am. I often advise her not to chase after supernatural troublemakers, but she rarely listens to me.

About Ann:

Ann Charles is a USA Today Best-Selling author who writes spicy, award-winning mysteries full of mayhem, adventure, comedy, and suspense. She writes the Deadwood Mystery Series, Jackrabbit Junction Mystery Series, Dig Site Mystery Series, Deadwood Undertaker Series (with her husband, Sam Lucky), and AC Silly Circus Mystery Series. Her Deadwood Mystery Series has won multiple national awards, including the Daphne du Maurier for Excellence in Mystery/Suspense. Ann has a B.A. in English with an emphasis on creative writing from the University of Washington and is a member of Sisters in Crime and Western Writers of America. She is currently toiling away on her next book, wishing she was on a Mexican beach with an ice-cold Corona in one hand and a book in the other. When she is not dabbling in fiction, she is arm wrestling with her two kids, attempting to seduce her husband, and arguing with her sassy cats. 

#WriterWednesday with Lynn Slaughter

I’d like to welcome Lynn Slaughter to the blog for #WriterWednesday.

Things you need for your writing sessions: My copy of WALKING ON ALLIGATORS, A BOOK OF MEDITATIONS FOR WRITERS by Susan Shaughnessy (I always read one of the meditations before beginning day’s work), computer, scented candle, music, water, LOTS of coffee.

Things that hamper your writing: Scam calls, any other phone calls, pop-ups on computer I can’t seem to get rid of!

Words that describe you: warm, empathetic, good listener, hardworking, perseverant, analytical, humor lover

Words that describe you, but you wish they didn’t: naive, overly sensitive, mechanically challenged

Favorite foods: anything pasta, chocolate

Things that make you want to gag: eggs, liver, brussel sprouts, seafood

Something you’re really good at: listening, observing people, loving, laughing

Something you’re really bad at: driving directions, putting anything together, technical stuff, overall, mechanically challenged!

Favorite music or song: Love classical music from romantic era, the American Songbook, jazz, classical rock

Music that drives you crazy: misogynistic rap

Things you always put in your books: romance, mystery, conflict, flawed characters

Things you never put in your books: excessive violence, erotica

Favorite books (or genre): contemporary realistic young adult, romantic mystery, suspense

Books you wouldn’t buy: Not a big fan of science fiction or horror

Favorite things to do: hang out with my husband and grandchildren, write, go to libraries and bookstores, read, watch movies from the 1930s and 40s, sing with my community chorus, shop at consignment stores, estate sales, and yard sales

Things you’d run through a fire or eat bugs to get out of doing: I’m very good at procrastinating when it comes to cleaning my house or organizing my gobs of books, files, stuff!

The nicest thing a reader said to you: “The ending brought tears to my eyes.”

The craziest thing a reader said to you: (After reading one of my YA novels): “Your writing is so good you could probably write a novel for adults someday.”

Besides writing, what’s the most creative thing you’ve done: During my dancing days, I choreographed a lot of dances!

A project that didn’t quite turn out the way you planned it: I was trying to impress my new boyfriend (who later became my husband) for a dance company party by roasting a turkey. When he went to carve it, he discovered I’d never taken the giblets out. So much for my culinary skills.

About Lynn:

Lynn Slaughter is addicted to the arts, chocolate, and her husband’s cooking. After a long career as a professional dancer and dance educator, Lynn earned her MFA in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University. She is the award-winning author of five young adult romantic mysteries: MISSING MOM, DEADLY SETUP, LEISHA’S SONG, IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN YOU, AND WHILE I DANCED, as well as an adult mystery, MISSED CUE.  Lynn lives in Kentucky, where she’s at work on her next novel.

Let’s Be Social:

Website: https://lynnslaughter.com

 X: https://twitter.com/lslaughter2

 Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/lynnslaughter

#WriterWednesday with Luce Sutherland

I’d like to welcome Luce Sutherland to the blog for #WriterWednesday! And many thanks for being the first interview for 2025!

Things you never want to run out of:

Migraine medication, vanilla Macadamia nut coffee from Maui Coffee Co., electricity, the internet, and colored pens. Oh, and good books to read!

Things you wish you’d never bought:

Nutri bullet blender as I’m over my smoothie craze. The last winter coat I bought (I live in Florida!). All the cute high heels I can’t walk in for more than five minutes.

Hardest thing about being a writer:

Learning all the systems – KDP, Goodreads, Ingram Spark, Bowker, Instagram, all the rules and guidelines for the above. It is endless and daunting!

Easiest thing about being a writer:

My first response to that was “there is nothing easy about it.” Upon further reflection, it’s the actual writing and creating…when its flowing and you aren’t worried about grammar and adverbs and commas, oh my!

Things you need for your writing sessions:

Peace and quiet. Time to ruminate which I do during a massage and in the morning hours between sleeping and waking. And I like a bit of time pressure.

Things that hamper your writing:

My husband at my office door with ridiculous questions when I am trying to concentrate. My son FaceTiming when he cannot find something. The social media rabbit hole I take myself into!

Words that describe you:

Genuine, wise, funny, smart, and she swears like a truck driver but with a very classy style.

Words that describe you, but you wish they didn’t:

That I am too nice or too soft.

Favorite foods:

Linguini in white clam sauce, ribeye steak, pecan pie and ice cream, Vermont cheddar mac & cheese.

Things that make you want to gag:

Anchovies, super spicy stuff and boiled Brussel sprouts.

Something you’re really good at:

Making to do lists. Finding space for things that I shouldn’t be holding on to. Karaoke and dancing to electronic dance music. Unless people have been lying to me…

Something you’re really bad at:

Racquet sports, any type of coordinated aerobics, throwing stuff out and negotiating to get a better price.

Favorite smell:

When you open the windows during the first cool day and the breeze comes in. Or the smell of a ribeye sizzling on the barbeque, or pies baking…

Something that makes you hold your nose:

Cigarette smoke, sewage, the smell of weed, and bad broccoli.

Things you’d walk a mile (or 5) for: A good charity, to burn off the pecan pie, to meet my dearest friends or family, to greet fans of my book.

Things that make you want to run screaming from the room:

Cockroaches, mice and all fast flying bugs.

Favorite places you’ve been:

Edinburgh, Tokyo, Rome

Places you never want to go to again:

China

Favorite books (or genre):

Dark or steamy or erotic romance, and romantic suspense.

Books you wouldn’t buy:

Horror or true crime.

Best thing you’ve ever done:

Finished a book!

Biggest mistake:

Choosing the wrong date in the Amazon system when setting up the pre-order for my book! Only one revision is allowed – so I landed unexpectedly on a January 17th release date!

Some real-life story that made it to one of your books:

I don’t think I can say it here.

Something in your story that readers think is about you, but it’s not:

That I did the same research as my FMC to write my book!

About Luce:

Luce Sutherland has been reading juicy, erotic romance since before it was mainstream... when you couldn’t hide behind a Kindle, and you had to bring the illicit book to the register - and be judged by the cashier.

When those books became harder to come by, she resorted to writing her own stories about dominant, delicious, alpha heroes and the bold, sassy heroines they aimed to tame.

Luce lives with her own alpha husband in the Sunshine state, even though she gets sunburned walking from the car to the grocery store.

She is passionate about living each day to the fullest, which includes nurturing authentic friendships, savoring Maui coffee, and indulging in Scottish gin. Luce is also a devoted advocate for the benefits of self-care.

Her motto is LIVE LIFE JUICY - and you can find out more by signing up for her juicy blog.

Let’s Be Social:

Website:  https://lucesutherland.com/   

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100087012444165   

(Luce Sutherland Writes)   

Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/lucesutherlandwrites/     

Blog:  https://lucesutherland.com/blog/