#ThisorThatThursday Author Interview with Natasha Deen

I’d like to welcome author Natasha Deen to the blog for #ThisorThatThursday!

A few of your favorite things:

Friends, family, and tea!

Things you need to throw out:

Old mindsets about what it means to be a writer.

Things you need for your writing sessions:

Socks, white noise or music, treats (cookies!)

Things that hamper your writing:

Outside noise (construction), busy environments (coffee shops), myself ;-)

Things you love about writing:

Engaging readers with my stories and being one of the reasons they’ve had a good day/night.

Things you hate about writing:

Writer’s block.

Hardest thing about being a writer:

Baahahahaaaa!! Everything not connected with daydreaming the story.

Easiest thing about being a writer:

Daydreaming the story.

Things you’d walk a mile for:

My friends, family, and pets

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

Toxic people

Favorite books (or genre):

I love all of the genres!

Books you wouldn’t buy:

Anything that promotes/celebrates dysfunctional relationships, toxic masculinity, misogyny, racism, or homophobia

Most daring thing you’ve ever done:

Deciding to be a professional writer.

Something you chickened out from doing:

Sky-diving

The funniest thing to happen to you:

Too many to list—on the list, going to junior high/high schools and being mistaken for a new student.

The most embarrassing thing to happen to you:

Mixing up vehicles and almost breaking into the wrong car (thinking it was mine)

The coolest person you’ve ever met:

My parents and grandparents

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

Never met one.

The nicest thing a reader said to you:

Anytime a reader would like to chat with me, I think that’s pretty nice. ^_^

The craziest thing a reader said to you:

Not crazy, but adorable—doing a school visit and having one of the grade 3 students invite me home to dinner.

About Natasha

Guyanese-Canadian author NATASHA DEEN has published over forty works for kids, teens, and adults. Her novel, In the Key of Nira Ghani, won the 2020 Amy Mathers Teen Book Award and her upcoming novel, The Signs and Wonders of Tuna Rashad, is a JLG Gold Standard Selection and a CBC Top 14 Canadian YA books to watch for in spring 2022. She’s also the creator of the Lark and Connor Ba mystery series. When she’s not writing, Natasha teaches with the University of Toronto SCS and spends A LOT of time trying to convince her pets that she’s the boss of the house. Visit Natasha at www.natashadeen.com and on Twitter/Instagram, @natasha_deen.

#ThisorThatThursday Author Interview with Nicole Fanning

I’d like to welcome author Nicole Fanning back to the blog for #ThisorThatThursday.

A few of your favorite things: Benji, Rocky and Loki-my fur children!

Things you need to throw out: Sentimental clothing that I will never wear again, and nearly every old phone I have every owned.

Hardest thing about being a writer: Knowing exactly what is going to happen, but not being able to share it with anxious readers because you don’t want to spoil the story!

Easiest thing about being a writer: Knowing exactly what is going to happen!

Favorite foods: Pizza, Ice Cream

Things that make you want to gag: Wasabi, Pickled Herring, Brussel Sprouts

Favorite music or song: Everything but twangy country

Music that drives you crazy: Twangy Country

Favorite beverage: TEA

Something that gives you a sour face: Sports Drinks

Favorite smell: Apple Cinnamon

Something that makes you hold your nose: Fish

Something you’re really good at: Overthinking

Something you’re really bad at: Relaxing

Something you wish you could do: Wrap Presents

Something you wish you’d never learned to do: Sailing

The last thing you ordered online: My new Ducky Keyboard

The last thing you regret buying: A five-pound bag of flaxseed. Oops.

Things you’d walk a mile for: Any canine I could cuddle.

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

Things you always put in your books: Easter eggs. ;)

Things you never put in your books: Pet deaths.

Best thing you’ve ever done: Marrying my husband.

Biggest mistake: Dying my hair platinum blonde. “That was a lot of damage.”

About Nicole:

Nicole Fanning is a smitten wife and super proud dog mom to three rambunctious rescue dogs.

She’s an old school romantic and documentary enthusiast, with a proclivity for a little mischief. She also has small obsession with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and obscure boardgames.

Her debut novel, Catalyst, is the first incendiary installment of the Heart of the Inferno Series which follows the romantic entanglement of deadly billionaire mafia don, Jaxon Pace, and his unexpected paramour, Natalie Tyler.

…And this is only the beginning!

#ThisorThatThursday Author Interview with J. E. McDonald

I’d like to welcome author J. E. McDonald to the blog for #ThisorThatThursday!

Favorite thing to do when you have free time: Read of course! Especially romance.

The thing you’ll always move to the bottom of your to do list: Cleaning lol. Nothing like someone coming over to visit to make it spring right back to the top, though.

Things you need when you’re in your writing cave: Music, fast WiFi, coffee.

Things that distract you from writing: My children and our two cats.

Hardest thing about being a writer: Figuring out the whole marketing schtick.

Easiest thing about being a writer: Coming up with stories. There are way too many in my head.

Things you will run to the store for at midnight: Toilet paper.

Things you never put on your shopping list: Lamb, venison, liver.

The coolest thing you’ve bought online: A necklace that matched the one my heroine wore in Ghost of an Enchantment.

The thing you wished you’d never bought: This monkey toy for my daughter that played the same song over and over again. Noisy baby toys are the worst.

Favorite snacks: Loaded nachos with a side of guacamole.

Things that make you want to gag: Taking the garbage out when it has sat too long.

Something you’re really good at: Packing! I can make a pile of stuff fit into an itty bitty box.

Something you’re really bad at: Navigation. As soon as I’m out of my city, all bets are off.

Something you wanted to be when you were a kid: A marine biologist. Then I realized I lived nowhere near the ocean and scrapped that idea.

Something you do that you never dreamed you’d do: Publish a book. Until my mid-twenties, I always thought a person needed to belong to a special club to become an author.

Something you wish you could do: I’ve always wanted to own a bookstore, one dedicated to genre fiction, especially romance. I’d love for it to have a cozy atmosphere where a person could sit with a cup of coffee and visit with friends, or even where writers could set up their laptops for a couple hours.

Something you wish you’d never learned to do: This is a hard one. I can’t think of any skills I’ve learned that I now regret. Everything is useful at some point.

Last best thing you ate: Fresh cut pineapple on a beach in Thailand.

Last thing you regret eating: Taco Bell.

Things to say to an author: I couldn’t put your book down!

Things to say to an author if you want to be fictionally killed off in their next book: How’s the book coming along?

People you’d like to invite to dinner (living): Any of my friends that I haven’t been able to see over the past two years.

People you’d cancel dinner on: Politicians.

Favorite things to do: Camping with friends and family.

Things you’d run through a fire or eat bugs to get out of doing: Well, I’ve already mentioned cleaning, so I guess I’ll go with book marketing.

Best thing you’ve ever done: Had my three beautiful daughters.

Biggest mistake: Had my three beautiful daughters. (Lol. Just kidding.)

The nicest thing a reader said to you: A retired teacher emailed me out of the blue and gave me an A+ for my book.

The craziest thing a reader said to you: A family member said they wouldn’t read my book because they thought I was writing about myself and my husband. Ah, no. These books are just about the random people living in my head. (Nothing crazy here at all.)

The funniest thing that happened to you on vacation: This wasn’t funny when it happened, but about six years ago we took a trip across western Canada that had all the markings of a movie. In a bad way. Whatever could go wrong, did go wrong: flat tires, major traffic jams, holding up the ferry for hundreds of people, grizzly bears in the area, our trailer breaking down to the point of being scrapped. But now when we tell it, it just sounds absurd and makes people laugh.

The most embarrassing thing that happened to you on a vacation: I remember splitting the bottom of my swimsuit once. We were on the beach, and I had to wear a towel for the rest of the day. Ugh.

The most exciting thing about your writing life: Every time I release a new book, it’s the best feeling. A little intimidating too, yes, but it’s such a thrill to see the culmination of my hard work transformed into something I can hold in my hand.

The one thing you wish you could do over in your writing life: If the pandemic wasn’t happening during the release of my very first book, that would have been awesome

About J. E.

J.E. McDonald was born and raised in Saskatchewan, Canada, The Land of the Living Skies. As a child, she was either searching the clouds for identifiable shapes, or star-gazing way past her bedtime. She’s an anti-morning person who wakes up at 5am to write. Needless to say, coffee is a morning requirement. She cut her teeth watching Star Trek, James Bond movies, and reading the Harlequin novels her mother left in the bathroom—which resulted in an extremely skewed sense of sex education by age eleven. All of these factors contribute to her love of writing paranormal romance with humor, mystery, and lots of spice. J.E. resides in Saskatchewan with her husband and three daughters.

Let’s Be Social

Website: https://www.jemcdonald.net/
Other social media links via Linktree: https://linktr.ee/JEMcDonald
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/J-E-McDonald/e/B08BXD1R2P/ref=aufs_dp_fta_dsk

#ThisorThatThursday Interview with Gregory Phillips

I’d like to welcome author Gregory Phillips to the blog for #ThisorThatThursday!

Things you need for your writing sessions: A cup of strong black tea. Other than that, I can write anywhere as long as I’m feeling inspired.

Things that hamper your writing: Distractions. For the most part, distractions are mental, and a successful writing session depends on getting your mind in the right place to enter the world you’re trying to create.

Things you love about writing: When a story gets moment and just takes off. When the characters start to feel so real that it feels like you’re watching them and simply writing down what you see, rather than creating it from your own head. That’s when I get really excited about what I’m writing.

Things you hate about writing: Terrible to admit this, but I kind of hate editing.

Words that describe you: Joyful, positive, optimistic. This is how I try to live each day and I hope my books can transmit some of this outlook back to my readers.

Words that describe you, but you wish they didn’t: Great question! Deliberate and sometimes slow-witted. I’m the guy who thinks of the perfect comeback ten seconds too late. Probably a reason why I’m drawn to the written word.

Favorite foods: At this time of year, strawberries! I just picked up some amazing strawberries from my local farmers’ market and I can’t get enough of them.

Things that make you want to gag: Mayonnaise and sour cream. I just can’t and I don’t understand how y’all put that on everything!

Favorite music or song: I’m a real classical music nerd. Hard to pick a favorite but I’m currently enamored with Prokofiev’s second violin concerto.

Music that drives you crazy: Directionless jazz.

Favorite beverage: A dry gin martini with olives.

Something that gives you a sour face: A dirty vodka martini.

Favorite smell: Evaporating rain on a warm summer day.

Something that makes you hold your nose: Fabreze. It’s worse than whatever you were trying to cover up with it.

Something you’re really good at: Dancing. I love partner dancing, especially tango and salsa and like to think I’ve gotten pretty good at it.

Something you’re really bad at: Creating visual art (painting, drawing, graphic design). My lowest college grade was in drawing class even though I never missed a class or assignment.

Things you always put in your books: Hope and aspiration. Everyone needs more of this and there is room for it even in the darkest stories if you know where to look.

Things you never put in your books: A pet peeve of mine—novels about novelists. So many authors do it and it annoys me, though in an ironic and hilarious way.

Favorite books (or genre): I’m not particular about genre as long as a story pulls me in. A few favorites are “East of Eden” by John Steinbeck, “For Whom the Bell Tolls” by Ernest Hemmingway, “Housekeeping” by Marilynne Robinson and “Written on the Body” by Jeanette Winterson.

Books you wouldn’t buy: Ones that adhere to a formula. I won’t call out any authors by name but there are those who seem to plug characters into a mold that works. However, that’s not how life works and I find myself quickly bored by a formulaic novel.

Most embarrassing moment: There are definitely highs and lows in life as an author. Most embarrassing was when I was doing a signing outside a book store and one person came. It was at a busy shopping center and people were passing by, avoiding eye contact because they seemed to feel sorry for me. Embarrassing at the time, but I get a good laugh about it now.

Proudest moment: The first time I won a literary contest. It was the moment that launched my career, really, but it also felt validating after all the years of work to get to that point.

About Gregory:

From a prolific literary family, Gregory Erich Phillips writes aspirational stories through strong, relatable characters that transcend time and space. Readers frequently describe being transported into the world of his stories. His most recent novel, “A Season in Lights,” won the Grand Prize in the Somerset Awards, and was named the book of the year by The Write Review. This continuing the award-winning tradition of his first two novels, “Love of Finished Years” and “The Exile,” each of which won a major award. Gregory is also an accomplished tango dancer and musician.

Let’s Be Social:

http://gregoryerichphillips.com/

https://www.facebook.com/gregoryerichphillips

https://www.instagram.com/gregoryerichphillips/

#ThisorThatThursday Author Interview with D. C. Gomez

I’d like to welcome author, D. C. Gomez, to the blog for #ThisorThatThursday!

Favorite summer treat: Narrowing down my favorite summer treat is such a hard question. I’m a fruit fanatic, so summer is my season to indulge. Some of my favorites are Rainier cherries, watermelons, frozen grapes, and persimmons.

A summer treat that makes you gag: Summer is the season for crawfish in Texas. We have tons of local vendors selling them around my town. I’m the weird kid that can’t stand the textures of it and would gag trying to eat them.

Favorite summer beverage: I’m crazy about Horchata. It’s a traditional Mexican drink made with rice. To me, this is just a perfect summer drink.

A drink that gives you a pickle face: Regardless of how many times I tried it, I still can’t stand sparkling water.

Best thing you ever grilled in spring: The best thing I have ever grilled was chicken and beef kabob. I spend a summer during high school making/selling them as a fundraiser for a club at school. By the end of the summer, my best friend and I were pros. To this day, my family loves it when I make it. Too bad it takes a bit to prep.

Your worst kitchen or grilling disaster: I love experimenting in the kitchen. One year I tried to make making a tiramisu from scratch. My kitchen looked like a tornado hit it. I had a messed everywhere, and somehow, I could not make the crazy dessert taste right. After that, I had a new respect for the dessert.

Best summer vacation memory: The summer before getting deployed to Iraq, my then boyfriend and I took a cruise. It was a four-day cruise to that stopped in Playa Del Carmen. I had never been on a cruise before, so that vacation was full of first-time experiences.

A summer vacation disaster that you’d rather forget: A vacation disaster happened a few years ago. I had the brilliant idea of taking my parents on a road trip from my town in East Texas down to Galveston. Somehow, I manage to forget how much my parents hated road-trips. I was so excited to take them to a beach that underestimated the six-hour drive in a tight vehicle. We will drive nowhere for long periods of time again.

Most favorite place to write/edit in the summer: Favorite place to write in the summer is my local bookstore. There is an energy of excitement in the air that is contagious. I enjoyed sitting with my laptop at the café and watching people shop around and just browse the books.

The worst place to write in the summer because of all the distractions: This might sound odd, since I enjoy writing in busy places. I have a hard time concentrating when I visit my family during the summer. Every year, I take all my notes with me to work on my books, but it never happens. I’m distracted by the things my family has going on.

Favorite thing to do on a summer evening: Summers in Texas can be murderous with our heat index. The evenings, on the other hand, are the perfect time to take long walks around the park. This is a fun way for me to relax and let go.

Least favorite thing about summer: The humidity in Texas is probably my least favorite thing. When all you have to do is step outside just to sweat, you know it’s too hot and sticky.

The thing you like most about being a writer: What I love the most about being a writer is being able to create new characters. The initial process of developing a story is so much fun for me. I enjoy playing with scenarios and new characters.

The thing you like least about being a writer: The marketing side of being a writer is probably the hardest for me, and my least favorite. It’s the part that pushes me out of my comfort zone. While not my favorite, it is still part of the process and I take it seriously.

The thing that you will most remember about your writing life: The one thing I would remember more about my writing journey is the amazing community of readers and writers that I have met. It has blessed me to connect with incredible people who love books and have embraced my works. I’m extremely grateful for this community.

Something in your writing life that you wish you could do over: If I could do something over in my journey, I would have started sooner. It took me a while to conquer my fears and take the leap to publish.

Most daring thing you’ve ever done: To this day, joining the U.S. Army is probably the most daring thing I have ever done. I was a junior in college when I enlisted. To this day, my family is in shock that I joined. I was the first person in my family to do it.

Something you chickened out from doing: While I joined the Army and had an incredible experience. I discovered I’m terrified of heights. Information that would have been useful prior to enlisted in Airborne School. During the training, we practiced jumping out of a 34-foot tower. I learned quickly that jumping out of a plane was not in my future. That was the first program I was happy I did not complete.

The nicest thing a reader said to you: The nicest thing a reader has ever told me was that my books helped them during difficult times. They could escape the tension of their everyday life and laughed along with the adventures of my characters. Their words humbled me.

The craziest thing a reader said to you: A reader once asked me if I was following them around and capturing their life story on the page. Considering they were referring to my book Death’s Intern, an urban fantasy tale based on the four horsemen of the Apocalypse, I had to blink. I really wasn’t sure if this person was serious about the claim or just messing with me.

The best summer job you ever had: The best summer job I ever had was a program sponsored by the city of Salem. They hired me to work at the local access TV station that was newly opened in the city. It was the place I felt in love with storytelling. That was the summer between my freshman and sophomore year.

The worst summer job you ever had: The city of Salem also sponsored the worst job summer job I ever had, ironic. They hired a group of high school students to do manual labor at an alternative school that was being renovated. I learned how to set sheet-walls and even ceiling tiles. After that summer I appreciated the hard-work it took to renovate a building and working in hot painful conditions. It made me realized I did not want to do that when I graduated high school.

About D. C.:

D. C. Gomez is an award-winning USA Today Bestselling Author, Podcaster, motivational speaker, and coach. Born in the Dominican Republic, she grew up in Salem, Massachusetts. D. C. studied film and television at New York University. After college, she joined the U.S. Army, and proudly served for four years.

D. C. has a master’s degree in Science Administration from Central Michigan University, as well as a Master's in Adult Education from Texas A&M- Texarkana University. She is a certified John Maxwell Team speaker and coach, and a certified meditation instructor from the Chopra Center.

One of D. C. passions is helping those around her overcome their self-limiting beliefs. She writes both non-fiction and fiction books, ranging from Urban Fantasy to Children’s Books.

Let’s Be Social:

Website: www.dcgomez-author.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/dcgomez.author

Instagram: www.instagram.com/dc.gomez

TikTok: www.TikTok.com/@dcgomez_author

#ThisorThat Author Interview with Matthew Hughes

I’d like to welcome author Matthew Hughes to the blog for #ThisorThatThursday!

A few of your favorite summer traditions: swimming in the municipal pool in Kitchener, Ontario, in the dog days of the 1950s, even though the pool was too full of screaming, splashing kids to actually swim

Something summer-related that you’ll never do again: going to the be-ins in Vancouver’s Stanley Park in 1967. Those days are gone.

Favorite summer beverage: ice-cold Guinness

A drink that gives you a pickle face: weissbier. It always gives he heartburn

Best summer memory: 1968, when my wife and I first got together. There’s nothing like young love in the summer.

Something you’d rather forget: 1958. My father took us on our first ever camping vacation, so we could be away while his brother burned down our house to get us out of a mortgage dad couldn’t pay. I had to be dressed by the Red Cross relief people.

Your favorite thing to get from the ice cream truck: Creamsicles, 1950s vintage.

Some dessert that you wish you’d never bought: Sorry, I’ve never met a dessert I didn’t like.

Most favorite place to write/edit in the summer: House-sitting in Tea Gardens, NSW, Australia. I shared a back porch with a Sylvester-type cat, overlooking a tropical garden.

The worst place to try to write in the summer because of all the distractions: house-sitting an apartment overlooking the Anarchist’s Quarter in Athens: searing heat, machine-gun- toting “special” police, nightlife that went on until 3 a.m.

The thing you like most about being a writer: I have a fragmented psyche, but it mostly all comes together when I write.

The thing you like least about being a writer: I spent most of my career as a freelance speechwriter, and sometimes I had to write speeches I very much disagreed with. Encompassing the world view of the speaker left a bad taste in my mind.

The thing that you will most remember about your writing life: winning the Arthur Ellis Award from the Crime Writers of Canada. Total surprise. I had no idea I was even on the shortlist.

Something in your writing life that you wish you could do over: George R.R. Martin asked me if I wanted to be one of his Wild Cards co-authors. I didn’t have the confidence to say yes.

Most daring thing you’ve ever done: Northern Alberta, 1968. I was an eighteen-year-old kid running a rec center on a remote Metis colony. I’d got a guy to put in a juke box so we could have dances on Saturday night. But one of the dances turned into a brawl. I shoved my way through a dozen fist-swinging and boot-flying brawlers to shield the juke box from damage

Something you chickened out from doing: waiting for a midnight train in Foggia, Italy, I saw what looked like Mafiosi punching and slapping some frightened guy. Nothing I could do.

The nicest thing a reader said to you: [Your] books make me feel like a mouse whose pleasure centres are being deliberately tripped in a scientific experiment upon its brain.

The craziest thing a reader said to you: “It’s a privilege to meet you.” I replied, “Not a privilege, but I’m shooting for ‘It’s a pleasure.’”

The best summer job you ever had: working with my dad and uncle framing up for pouring concrete foundations.

The worst summer job you ever had: ten- and twelve-hour days in a factory that made school desks. I stood in the box car at the end of the production line, stacking boxes of desks – two to a box – that weighed 96 pounds each. I weighed 135.

About Matthew:

Matthew Hughes writes fantasy, space opera, and crime fiction. He has sold 24 novels to publishers large and small in the UK, US, and Canada, as well as nearly 100 works of short fiction to professional markets.

His latest novels are:  Barbarians of the Beyond, an authorized companion novel to Jack Vance’s Demon Princes series, and Baldemar, a fix-up of a series of stories that originally ran in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction and two anthologies.

He has won the Endeavour and Arthur Ellis Awards, and has been shortlisted for the Aurora, Nebula, Philip K. Dick, Endeavour, A.E. Van Vogt, Neffy, and Derringer Awards.  He has been inducted into the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association’s Hall of Fame.

In order to live on the earnings of a modern midlist author, he has given up having a permanent address to become a full-time housesitter.  In the past fifteen years, he has lived in twelve countries and passed through several more.  He has no fixed address.

Let’s Be Social:

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

Twitter: (2) Matthew Hughes (@hapthorn) / Twitter

 Website: https://www.matthewhughes.org

#ThisorThatThursday Interview with Julie Bates

I’d like to welcome author Julie Bates to the blog for this edition of #ThisorThatThursday!

A few of your favorite summer traditions: freezing and canning. I like making strawberry and blackberry jam. I also make pretty good apple butter. Summer is also my time for getting large stacks of books from the library and working on crafts like knitting and quilting. I love being home and having time to do the things I love.

Something summer-related that you’ll never do again: Anything that involves long periods of time outdoors. I am not a good DIYer.

Favorite summer beverage: A large Chick fil A lemonade

A drink that gives you a pickle face: Dr. Pepper

Best summer memory: Among my favorite memories stems from my early childhood in Michigan. My dad worked for GM and left for work before we went to school. Afternoons he’d come home tired, so weekends were a treasure. In the summer we would pack up and go to Point Huron and play on the beach all day. Then we would go to a nearby restaurant where they served shrimp and fries in a basket lined with a red checked napkin. I still love almost anything to do with water.

Something you’d rather forget: Summers are HOT here in NC. One time I tried a huge garden and completely overwhelmed myself. I fought bugs, ground hogs and clay soil all summer, not to mention weeds from hell. I keep my gardening small and contained these days.

Best thing you ever grilled in spring: Chicken breast or burgers.

Your worst kitchen or grilling disaster: Do not ever use sesame oil in a wok! I very nearly set my kitchen on fire. My exhaust fan was charcoal and smelled awful.

Most favorite place to write/edit in the summer: I have a chair near a window where I can watch the birds. In my dreams I will renovate our back porch into a sun room and hang out in there.

The worst place to try to write in the summer because of all the distractions: The living room. My husband keeps the TV going constantly and it drives me cuckoo.

Favorite thing to do on a summer evening: Go star gazing

Least favorite thing about summer: The HEAT!

Favorite place to visit in Virginia: Colonial Williamsburg

Somewhere you’ve visited way too much. Been there. Done that. Got the T-shirt: Amusement Parks. I outgrew those when my son reached adulthood.

The thing you like most about being a writer: The freedom to create my own world, painting an imaginary canvas in all the colors of the rainbow with words and thoughts and feelings.

The thing you like least about being a writer: deadlines. I always feel there is more I should have accomplished, done better, researched more. I can drive myself batty with details.

Things you will run to the store for in the middle of the night: Coke zero, chocolate, missing ingredients for what I plan to cook for dinner.

Things you never put on your shopping list: collard greens, liver, sardines

Most daring thing you’ve ever done: Riding a roller coaster

Something you chickened out from doing: Mountain climbing. I’m fine with hiking but I’m not crawling up a bare rock face.

About Julie:

Julie Bates grew up reading little bit of everything, but when she discovered Agatha Christie, she knew she what she wanted to write.  Along the way, she has written a weekly column for her local newspaper and published a few articles in magazines such as Spin Off and Carolina Country.  She has blogged for Killer Nashville and the educational website Read.Learn.Write.  She currently works as a teacher for special needs students.  She is a member of Mystery Writers of America, Southeastern Writers of America (SEMWA) and The Historical Novel Society.  When not busy plotting her next story,  she enjoy doing crafts and spending time with her husband and son, as well as a number of dogs and cats who have shown up on her doorstep and never left.

Let’s Be Social:

Facebook: (3) Julie L Bates, author | Facebook

Instagram: Julie Bates (@juliebates72) • Instagram photos and videos

Twitter: Julie L Bates (@JulieLBates03) / Twitter

Website: http://uliebates.weebly.com

#ThisorThatThursday Author Interview with Katherine Lawrence

I would like to welcome Katherine Lawrence to the blog for #ThisorThatThursday!

Things you need for your writing sessions: Paper, pencil, laptop.

Things that hamper your writing: Noise, negative self-talk.

Things you love about writing: I love my ideas, my images, my inventive language, my honesty on the page, and the way writing puts me in touch with my true self.

Things you hate about writing: Discovering a typo AFTER the book has been printed.

Hardest thing about being a writer: Promoting my books.

Easiest thing about being a writer: Giving a reading.

Things you always put in your books: Details, specific moments, all six senses.

Things you never put in your books: animal cruelty.

Things to say to an author: “Love your book! I’m giving a copy to everyone I know.”

Things to say to an author if you want to be fictionally killed off in their next book: “I could’ve written that.”

Favorite places you’ve been: Canoe trips in northern Saskatchewan, specifically the Churchill River.

Places you never want to go to again: Las Vegas, bingo halls, casinos, shopping malls.

Favorite things to do: Writing, sharing food with the people I love, hiking, canoeing, reading a good book at night in my terrycloth housecoat.

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

Things that make you happy: Writing.

Things that drive you crazy: Not writing.

Most embarrassing moment: Discovering a piece of spinach had been stuck to my front tooth while I was talking to a CEO about business.

Proudest moment: The launch of my five books: Black Umbrella; Stay; Never Mind; Lying to Our Mothers; and Ring Finger, Left Hand.

Best thing you’ve ever done: Marry my husband.

Biggest mistake: Working in jobs that bored me silly.

Most daring thing you’ve ever done: Write my young adult novel in verse, Stay.

Something you chickened out from doing: Sitting bedside with my dying father. I waited until his final hours.

The nicest thing a reader said to you: “I’m your biggest fan!”

The craziest thing a reader said to you: “I don’t read poetry.”

About Katherine:

Katherine Lawrence is a writer who loves troubled characters, poached eggs for supper, a messy desk, and green wool socks. Read her young adult verse novel, Stay, or any of her award-winning books of poetry: Black Umbrella; Never Mind; Lying to Our Mothers; Ring Finger, Left Hand. Katherine lives in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, the trapezoid-shaped province above North Dakota. She has an MFA in Writing, is a former writer in residence at Saskatoon Public Library, and coaches emerging and established writers.  www.katherinelawrence.net

Let’s Be Social:

Website: www.katherinelawrence.net