#ThisorThatThursday Author Interview with Colleen Shogan

Please join me in welcoming author Colleen Shogan to the blog for #ThisorThatThursday. Happy Thanksgiving!

A few of your favorite things:  I love pizza, swimming, and dogs. All dogs.

Things you need to throw out:  My old t-shirts from college and graduate school. I can’t bear to part with them since they represent good memories.

Things you need for your writing sessions: My dog Conan, my trusty iPad Pro, a glass of wine or a cup of coffee, and a pleasant breeze (if I’m writing outside).

Things that hamper your writing: Constant interruptions, loud music, and television. I can’t multi-task and write well.

Things you love about writing:  Creating characters! Talking to readers about them!

Things you hate about writing: Constant promotions. I feel as though it takes away from my writing time, which is scarce.

Things you never want to run out of: Wifi, coffee, and clean running shorts.

Things you wish you’d never bought:  Those three chocolate bars I bought on my birthday. Sigh.

Words that describe you: Fun, hardworking, intellectually minded.

Words that describe you, but you wish they didn’t: Political, guilt-ridden, impatient.

Favorite foods: Pizza, Indian, and Italian.

Things that make you want to gag:  Korean, beets, and olives.

Favorite beverage: Gin and tonic with Bombay Sapphire and lime.
Something that gives you a sour face:  Whiskey

Something you’re really good at:  Talking. If you put a microphone in front of my face, I will talk.
Something you’re really bad at:  Singing. I’m tone deaf!

Last best thing you ate:  Palak Paneer (Indian).
Last thing you regret eating:  Buffalo wings.

Things you’d walk a mile for:  Good friends, good company, good food.

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

Things you always put in your books:  Happy hours!
Things you never put in your books:  Gratuitous violence or sad storylines concerning animals

 Favorite places you’ve been:  London, Florence, and the Outer Banks
Places you never want to go to again:  Iowa (sorry!)

Favorite books (or genre):  Definitely traditional mystery or cozy mystery.
Books you wouldn’t buy:  Westerns or explicit romance

The coolest person you’ve ever met:  Stephen King

The celebrity who didn’t look like he/she did in pictures/video: RBG

The nicest thing a reader said to you: A blind reader said she really enjoyed listening to my books from the National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled. That was great!

The craziest thing a reader said to you: You should put more sex in your books.

 About Colleen:

Colleen J. Shogan has been reading mysteries since the age of six. She conceived of the plot of her first novel one morning while taking a walk in her suburban Washington, D.C. neighborhood. A political scientist by training, Colleen has taught American politics at numerous universities. She previously worked on Capitol Hill as a legislative staffer in the United States Senate. She’s currently the Assistant Deputy Librarian for Collections and Services at the Library of Congress. “Stabbing in the Senate” won the “Next Generation Indie Prize” for best mystery in 2016. Her subsequent books have been finalists for the RONE award and Killer Nashville. She lives in Arlington, VA with her husband and beagle mutt, Conan.

Let’s Be Social:
www.colleenshogan.com

 https://twitter.com/cshogan276

 https://www.facebook.com/washingtonwhodunit/

 https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1269678.Colleen_J_Shogan?from_search=true