I’d like to welcome author, Stephanie LaVigne to the blog this week for #ThisorThatThursday!

Things you need for your writing sessions: A “special beverage” in a mug or cup that is visually sizable enough to remind me that I don’t have to get up for a refill anytime soon. Usually filled with coffee, hot chocolate, or some weird concoction like chai w/ lion’s mane.

Things that hamper your writing: People. Especially people who live in my house and are very loud and like to visit me. (*Strangers in coffeeshops are not a problem. However, I never get to write in coffee shops any more, soooo….)

Favorite beverage: (I’ll go adult beverage on this one, even though I hardly drink.) White Russian or anything with cream, Kahlua, Bailey’s, Amaretto, etc.

Something that gives you a sour face: Only time I ever throw up is when drinking something with a sour base, like Whiskey Sour, Margherita, etc. (I’d have to drink quite a bit to get sick, but for some reason I can’t stomach this type of drink.)

Favorite smell: Fresh baked chocolate chip cookies. Satsuma oranges. Not together though.

Something that makes you hold your nose: Pepper. Like, sniffing a pepper grinder is really off-putting to me. Why I have done this enough times to know that is its own question.

Something you’re really good at: Dealing with emergency situations, finding silver linings in any situation, and coming up with out-of-the-box ideas.

Something you’re really bad at: Time management. Regular maintenance of normal, reasonable things. Thinking inside the box.

Something you like to do: Trying new things, learning new things, giving advice, and laughing. (Ex: for my bff’s bachelorette party we did a treetops ropes course, rented mini-boats, took aerial silk and pole dancing classes, played board and trivia games, went to see comedy shows, and went dancing. I planned the week and it was basically my dream vacation…hers too, don’t worry.)

Something you wish you’d never done: One of the only things I ever feel regret over are times where I was unnecessarily mean or dismissive of someone. I haven’t done it a lot in my life, but the times I’ve acted too cool for school or maybe made someone feel bad, those memories haunt me. Even when I was in my first two years of college and didn’t call my parents back a lot or did dangerous things that I now realize really scared or worried them make me feel awful.

Things you always put in your books: I think I always add personality traits of people I know or have met to characters, and/or use name inspiration from people I’ve known.

Things you never put in your books: I try to avoid adding things that are graphically traumatic. I don’t want to propagate, normalize or glamorize violence, so I try to curb it. I’m also fairly empathetic and tend to not be able to get awful things out of my head once I’ve visualized them, so I try to not let those things spend too much dancing around in there.

Favorite places you’ve been: I don’t tend to have favorites, in general, but I really want to return to Iceland, Canada, and the Azores for starters.

Places you never want to go to again: I always seem to have bad luck in Savannah, Georgia (though I’m sure I’ll visit again at some point.)

Favorite books (or genre): I like a good Private Eye-type series, especially if it has some laughs (ex: I loved Edna Buchanan’s Britt Montero series even though she was technically a journalist.) I also love weird Florida authors like Carl Hiaasen. I also buy a LOT of reference and non-fiction books.

Books you wouldn’t buy: Generally I’m not into space/war/historical/future/dystopia stuff. I can get into anything if I give it a chance, but I won’t purposefully choose those styles. They give off a very drab, grey-brown feeling to me, and I feel like it’s just going to be heavy and depressing.

People you’d like to invite to dinner (living): Lily Tomlin, Sally Fields, Jane Fonda, Susan Sarandon, Kathy Bates, Carol Burnett, Goldie Hawn, Dolly Parton

People you’d cancel dinner on: Certain politicians that shall remain nameless. (Not being political. These are some of the only people that I can think of off the top of my head that may be too boring or untrustworthy to have a meaningful conversation with. To be clear, I have some amazing, interesting, pure-hearted friends who are in politics, so I’m not saying the above as a generalization or a slur or anything. There are just some politicians that I would cancel a dinner on, if I had to choose someone.)

Favorite things to do: Going on adventures. Planning cool travel itineraries and then doing them. I love wandering around a new place, trying food from there, exploring, trying a new activity.

Things you’d run through a fire or eat bugs to get out of doing: Skydiving. I do not enjoy the feeling of free falling. And adding a couple thousand feet to that equation makes me want to cry.

Things that make you happy: Unique lodging: yurts, treehouses, houseboats, earthhouses, cool hotels, sprawling estates, etc. Researching things. And trying new things in new places.

Things that drive you crazy: Feeling like I’m stuck in a life of never-ending obligations and status-quoness. When I can’t see that I am moving forward, and instead life seems to be a perpetual recycling of days and activities, I get really freaked out that life is passing me by and I’m not living it in the way I want. It makes me feel crazy.

About Stephanie:

Stephanie LaVigne comes from a long line of mystery lovers. In an effort to keep them in her good-graces, her books combine intrigue, quirkiness, and adventure with a healthy dose of humor and wit.

She has published over fifty popular, often bestselling, novels under her name, as well as pen names, in both romance and mystery.

From hopping trains across the US to crewing a sailboat on a trans-Atlantic crossing, from mushing dogs on a Canadian dogsled to unwittingly hiking Mount Washington, she’s been lucky enough to have incredible adventures alongside all kinds of real-life characters. One of her missions is to introduce readers to the kind of colorful personalities that have shaped her life.

She currently lives in her favorite South Florida neighborhood surrounded by palm trees, peacocks, a few wild kids, one wild husband, and a handful of incredible family members and friends. She is a member of Mystery Writers of America and Novelists, Inc.

Let’s Be Social:

www.StephanieLaVigne.com

https://www.facebook.com/thestephanielavigne

https://www.instagram.com/thestephanielavigne

https://twitter.com/stephunderwater

https://www.amazon.com/Stephanie-LaVigne/e/B014DUTKOY

https://www.bookbub.com/authors/stephanie-lavigne

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/14291865.Stephanie_LaVigne