I’d like to welcome Erica Miner back to the blog for #ThisorThatThursday!

Things you need when you’re in your writing cave:

Computer, phone, crystals, notepad, pens, highlighter, Bach Remedy Rescue pastilles, water bottle

Things that distract you from writing:

Noise, indoor/outdoor; husband interrupting me when my office door is closed; a sunny day (a rarity in the Pacific Northwest!)

Hardest thing about being a writer:

Getting right down to it in the morning

Easiest thing about being a writer:

Thinking up stories—I’ll never be able to write them all

Favorite snacks:

Trader Joe’s Cassava chips, dried fruits of all kinds, especially mangos and peaches (less like favorites, more like addictions)

Things that make you want to gag:

Beets, lima beans

Something you’re really good at:

Lecturing on writing and music; cooking, when I’m in the mood

Something you’re really bad at:

Giving someone bad news

Something you wanted to be when you were a kid:

A psychotherapist; I thought I could do that AND be a violinist!

Something you do that you never dreamed you’d do:

Write opera mysteries!

Last best thing you ate:

Chocolate chips (sugar free)

Last thing you regret eating:

Chocolate chips (sugar free)

Favorite places you’ve been:

Florence, Italy; all of California (used to live in So Cal); Paris, and all of France;

Japan is especially delicious, in every way

Places you never want to go to again:

Mexico; I got really sick there

Favorite things to do:

Sit out on the deck in warm, sunny weather (priceless when it happens in Seattle)

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

Cleaning oven racks

Most daring thing you’ve ever done:

Traveled through Europe solo (chronicled in my first novel, ‘Travels with my Lovers’)

Something you chickened out from doing: Scuba diving

The most exciting thing about your writing life:

Engaging with readers, both in person and online, and speaking about my books at events

The one thing you wish you could do over in your writing life:

Learn the importance of marketing and promotion before I started writing full time

The nicest thing a reader said to you:

“Her scene-setting in the opera world, replete with detestable divas, wannabe stars, and snarky stagehands, makes for a delicious read”

The craziest thing a reader said to you:

“You can’t see the stage from the Met Opera pit.” (Nonsense. Of course you can. I watched the stage for 21 years from my position as a first violinist. Has this reader ever sat there and looked??)

Recommendations for curing writer’s block: Journaling. Get those thoughts out of your head and onto the page.

Things you do to avoid writing: Surf through Facebook; but it’s also a great way to network

About Erica:

Award-winning Seattle-based author, lecturer, screenwriter and arts journalist Erica Miner believes opera theatres are perfect places for creating fictional mischief! Drawing on her 21 years as a violinist

at the famed Metropolitan Opera, Erica balances her reviews and interviews of real-world musical artists with fanciful plot fabrications that reveal the dark side of the fascinating world of opera, guiding readers through a dramatized version of the opera world in her Julia Kogan Opera Mystery series.

Erica’s young violinist sleuth, Julia Kogan, investigates high-profile murder and mayhem behind the Met’s “Golden Curtain” in Book 1, Aria for Murder (2022), finalist in the 2023 Eric Hoffer Book Awards and Chanticleer Independent Book Awards. In Book 2, Prelude to Murder (2023) (‘A skillfully written whodunit of operatic proportions’—Kirkus Reviews https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/erica-miner/prelude-to-murder/, Distinguished Favorite, 2024 NYC Big Book Awards, further operatic chaos and ghostly apparitions plague Julia at the Santa Fe Opera. In Overture to Murder, releasing in Oct. 2024, Julia finds herself in jeopardy once again at the San Francisco Opera.

Erica’s debut novel, Travels with My Lovers, won the Fiction Prize in the Direct from the Author Book Awards. Her screenplays have won awards in the Writer’s Digest, Santa Fe, and WinFemme competitions. When she isn't plumbing the depths of opera houses for murderous mayhem, Erica frequently contributes reviews and interviews for the well-known arts websites www.BroadwayWorld.com, www.bachtrack.com, and www.LAOpus.com.

Let’s Be Social:

Website: https://www.ericaminer.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/erica.miner1

X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/EmwrtrErica

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/emwriter3/

I’d like to welcome Erica Miner to the blog for #ThisorThatThursday!

A few of your favorite things: Roses. BBQs. Summer in San Diego. The ocean. Writing. Lecturing.

Things you need to throw out: Those size 2 jeans that I never again will be able to wear. Sigh.

Things you need for your writing sessions: Peace and quiet. My backless desk chair.

Things that hamper your writing: Noise. Interruptions (my husband is usually the guilty one).

Things you love about writing: Telling stories!

Things you hate about writing: Starting from scratch with a blank screen in front of me.

Hardest thing about being a writer: Putting aside all distractions and committing to the process.

Easiest thing about being a writer: Expressing my desire to tell stories. When the creative juices are flowing, this is the easiest thing ever.

Favorite foods: Mangoes are #1, but pretty much every fruit on the planet, especially tropical.

Things that make you want to gag: Beets and lima beans

Favorite music or song: As a writer of Opera Mysteries, of course I’m a classical music geek. Favorite opera is by Puccini, composer of the famous La Bohème and Madame Butterfly: his first big hit, Manon Lescaut, is filled with youthful passion and endlessly beautiful melodies.

Music that drives you crazy: Heavy Metal, Rap, Country Music.

Favorite smell: Croissants baking

Something that makes you hold your nose: diesel fumes

Last best thing you ate: A fresh, perfectly ripe mango, so ripe you could almost drink it from a straw.

Last thing you regret eating: Chocolate that was almost all lecithin and lacking in true chocolate flavor.

Favorite places you’ve been: Italy, France, Switzerland, San Francisco, San Diego, New York

Favorite books (or genre): The classics: Dickens, Austen, the Brontës.

Books you wouldn’t buy: Anything gratuitous violence and/or mistreatment of kids or animals

Most daring thing you’ve ever done: Waterskiing.

Something you chickened out from doing: Diving off a high board.

The nicest thing a reader said to you: ‘Death by Opera is better than Death by Chocolate!’

The craziest thing a reader said to you: ‘You can’t see the stage from the Met Opera orchestra pit.’ That is patently false. Anyone who’s ever sat in that pit knows better.

About Erica:

Formerly a Metropolitan Opera Orchestra violinist for 21 years, ERICA MINER now enjoys a multi-faceted career as an award-winning author, lecturer, screenwriter, and arts journalist.

Known for “Bringing Murder and Music together” Erica’s 3-part Julia Kogan “Opera Mystery” novel series is due for re-publication by Level Best Books starting in September 2022. The first novel draws on Erica’s real-life experiences working at the Met. The series continues with novels that take place at Santa Fe and San Francisco Opera.

Erica’s debut novel, Travels with my Lovers, won the Fiction Prize in the Direct from the Author Book Awards. Her screenplays have won awards in the Santa Fe, WinFemme and Writer’s Digest competitions. She writes for such arts websites as BroadwayWorld.com, USBachtrack.com and LAOpus.com.

A resident of the Pacific Northwest, Erica is a top speaker and lecturer on opera and writing. Her presentation venues include the Seattle Symphony the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at University of California San Diego and University of Washington; the Creative Retirement Institute at Edmonds College (Seattle); and Wagner Societies on both coasts and Sydney, Australia.

Let’s Be Social:

https://www.ericaminer.com

https://www.facebook.com/erica.miner1

https://twitter.com/EmwrtrErica

https://www.instagram.com/emwriter3/