I’d like to welcome the fabulous Susan Schwartz to the blog today for #ThisorThatThursday!

Things you need for your writing sessions: Pen, paper, highlighter, computer, a great idea, good writing music, big glass of unsweet iced tea

Things that hamper your writing: Playing on my phone, slow internet, household distractions – pets, laundry, dishes

Hardest thing about being a writer: Coming up with good ideas for new stories while the characters from previous stories keep asking when they are coming back for a sequel

Easiest thing about being a writer: Being an introvert, I love the solitary time I get to write.

Favorite foods: Chorizo, Salchichon, Manchego, Birch Beer, Pizza, Anything Italian or Spanish, some Vietnamese

Things that make you want to gag: Cilantro, Cottage Cheese, Mushrooms

Last best thing you ate: Grilled chicken breast with shrimps and crab meat

Last thing you regret eating: Sausage patties

Things you’d walk a mile for: Help out an injured animal or charity that I believe is doing great work

Things that make you want to run screaming from the room: Being accosted in a store, People who chew with their mouths open and those who think because they are chewing gum everybody wants to see and hear it,,,,,,,,,,We don’t!

Things you always put in your books: A little bit of me and my life experiences, a twist at the end

Things you never put in your books: Political or religious overtones

Things to say to an author: I love your book, how did you go about getting published, what is your favorite type of tea?

Things to say to an author if you want to be fictionally killed off in their next book: This book sucked and I would burn it, you are an awful writer who I will never read again………

Favorite places you’ve been: Rome, Pompeii, Madrid, Melbourne, Sydney, Australia Zoo, Paris, Seoul, and any Hard Rock we could find in any of those places

Places you never want to go to again: Orlando – just a really bad experience, Las Vegas – been 7 times, had enough, LOL!

Favorite books (or genre): Horror, Paranormal, Medical and Psychological Thrillers, some historical type fiction - for example, I loved The Girl with the Pearl Earring based on a painting by Vermeer. Da Vinci Code and subsequent sequels were also quite interesting.

Books you wouldn’t buy: Fantasy, Westerns, Historical Romance

People you’d like to invite to dinner: Stephen King, Bentley Little, Michael Palmer, Daniel Palmer, Penn & Teller, Tom Ellis, David Baldacci, Geoff Castellucci, Keanu Reeves, Thomas Jefferson, Stjepan Hauser, Luka Sulic, Lindsey Sterling

People you’d cancel dinner on: Any reality TV show person, Leland Gaunt (Needful Things), Hannibal Lecter (Silence of the Lambs), Dolores Umbridge (Harry Potter), Bill Sikes (Oliver)

Favorite things to do: Write, read, travel, traipse old cemeteries and graveyards, answer really weird questions, LOL!

Things you’d run through a fire or eat bugs to get out of doing: Writing, eating cilantro, organizing big projects, public speaking in front of non-peers, facing shots or blood draws

The coolest person you’ve ever met: John Barrowman, Star Trek Cruise 2017 – William Shatner, Marina Sirtis, Terry Ferrell, Ethan Phillips, John de Lancie, and a whole bunch more, really exciting to have them altogether. I also met John Grisham at the Virginia Book Festival one year, and he tried to tell me he was Stephen King.

The celebrity who didn’t look like he/she did in pictures/video: Teller because he actually talks – LOL!, Seeing some of the Star Trek people in street clothes was really a game changer, they didn’t look like themselves, especially those characters who played a Ferengi or other space creature.

Some real-life story that made it to one of your books: The short story called “I Thought You Did!” I incorporated some of what was happening in my son’s college adventures into the story. I just embellished it quite a bit.

Something in your story that readers think is about you, but it’s not: My story – The Sparkling Floor – Whenever OR people read it, they always tell me they know not to make me mad anytime soon. I just laugh maniacally…it couldn’t possibly be true to life or could it?

About Susan:

I have been an avid writer for around 25+ years doing everything from writing freelance articles to editing manuscripts for other authors. I also love to write horror stories that have a twist at the end. My alter ego is an Operating Room Nurse/Nurse Educator who loves creating tales from the interesting and weird things I have seen. I am a member of the Horror Writers Association and the Virginia Writers Club where I have served as President of the Richmond Chapter and 1st Vice-President of the state organization. I have two novels in the works, a paranormal romance and a medical thriller. My non-fiction book, Haunted Charlottesville, was released in May 2019. Another paranormal book, Haunted Inns and Hotels in Virginia, will be released August 2023.

Let’s Be Social:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/susanschwartzauthor/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Ncc17lu

Website: www.susanschwartzauthor.com

Instagram: @susan.schwartz3