#ThisorThatThursday Author Interview with Leah Dobrinska

I’d like to welcome the fabulous Leah Dobrinska to the blog today for #ThisorThatThursday!

A few of your favorite things: I love pretty notebooks; the smell of books, both old and new; my husband and our kids; monthly game night with friends; book club meetings; Nancy Drew; going to the library; running through the local park; vanilla lattes; Christmas; changing seasons; and pictures in frames.

Things you need to throw out: My old college textbooks. They are taking up prime book-shelf real-estate, and if I haven’t needed them in over a decade, I probably am not going to, right?

Things you need for your writing sessions: My computer and a timer—usually just the stop-watch app on my phone. I draft entire books using (almost) exclusively brief writing sprints. I set my timer for thirty minutes and get as many words on the page as possible in that amount of time. As a result, I don’t stop to sip any type of beverage, and I don’t require much!

Things that hamper your writing: Music. I love listening to music in general, and I make a specific playlist for each of my books, but I can’t listen to it while I’m writing. I can’t come up with my own words when I’m focused on someone else’s!

Things you love about writing: I love creating fictional worlds. I love crafting characters with whom I’d want to be friends and inventing places I’d want to visit in real life. I love the moment when I story clicks, or a scene comes together, or even when I write just one really great line. I love that I feel the most like myself when I’m writing.

Things you hate about writing: I hate the feeling I get in my gut when I don’t have the solution to a plot problem. I’m getting better at realizing that it’s all part of the process, and I will figure it out, but when I encounter a plot hurdle, it can be all-consuming for me until I work through how to resolve it, and I don’t love that.

Favorite foods: Fruit of any kind; Pasta of any kind; Ice cream of any kind…it’s all about balance.

Things that make you want to gag: Raw meat.

Favorite music or song: I am a huge fan of Taylor Swift’s music. I am so inspired by the way she tells complete, intricate, clever, thought-provoking stories within the confines of a three to five minute song. If I had to pick a favorite song of hers, I’d go with “All Too Well”.

Music that drives you crazy: Anything with lyrics I can’t understand. I’m all about the words, so if I don’t know what an artist is saying, it’s going to be a no from me.

Favorite smell: The smell of northern Wisconsin in July. So many of my core memories are tied to summers in the Northwoods, that the scent of lake musk, pine trees, damp sand, and sunshine will forever give me a hit of serotonin. So much so, in fact, that I based Larkspur, the location of Death Checked Out, off a small town in Northern Wisconsin.

Something that makes you hold your nose: Sour-smelling laundry.

Last best thing you ate: Carbonara from a small family-owned restaurant in Rome, Italy. I will dream about that meal for the rest of my life.

Last thing you regret eating: The tuna casserole I made last week. Everyone else in the family loves it and will eat it (no small feat with four children), so I made it for them, and I choked it down.

The last thing you ordered online: Mint green library card notecards. I love to write little notes on them and send them with copies of my books for giveaway winners or folks who order directly from me. There’s something so nostalgic about them, and readers have told me they use them as bookmarks. The mint green ones are especially appropriate because Greta, my amateur sleuth in Death Checked Out, is a library director and the books cover is a beautiful green!

The last thing you regret buying: All the toys with sound that we gave our kids for Christmas.

Things you always put in your books: Happy endings! Whether I’m writing in the mystery genre or the romance genre, my books will never not have a happy resolution. That, and I’ve consistently written a café into each of my books. It’s such a perfect gathering place, and especially in small town communities, it’s a great place to spread, share, and learn information. I wish I could visit Mugs & Hugs, the café in Death Checked Out in real life.

Things you never put in your books: Explicit content. It’s not my style.

Things to say to an author: “You’re doing a great job. I loved your book. It should totally be made into a movie. I want to live in Larkspur! I want to be friends with (insert character name here)! I’m going to go leave a 5 star review online and tell all my friends!”

Things to say to an author if you want to be fictionally killed off in their next book: “I loved everything about this book. 3 stars!”

Favorite books (or genre): Pride & Prejudice is my all-time favorite book. I love me a classic. Lately, I’ve been reading mostly romcoms and cozies, so a couple recent favorites include Faking Christmas by Cindy Steel, and the Christmas Tree Farm mystery series by Jacqueline Frost.

Books you wouldn’t buy: Anything dark and/or gory.

Most embarrassing moment: My two year old son pulled the fire alarm at his older sisters’ school and I have never been more embarrassed in my life.

Proudest moment: Watching my kids show kindness to other kids.

The nicest thing a reader said to you: Anytime a reader tells me that my books got them back into reading, I take it as the highest compliment. That, and when they tell me that they wish my characters and settings were real.

The craziest thing a reader said to you: “This book was so predictable…I didn’t figure out what was going to happen until the very end.” And yes, that was all in the same review.

About Leah:

Leah Dobrinska is the author of the Larkspur Library Mysteries, a cozy mystery series set in the Wisconsin Northwoods, and the Mapleton novels, a series of award-winning standalone small town romances. She earned her degree in English Literature from UW-Madison where she was awarded the Dean’s Prize and served as a Writing Fellow. She has since worked as a freelance writer, editor, and content marketer. Leah lives in Wisconsin with her husband and their gaggle of kids. When she's not writing, handing out snacks, or visiting local parks, Leah enjoys reading and running. Find out more about Leah, join her newsletter community, and connect with her through her website, leahdobrinska.com.

Let’s Be Social:

Website: https://leahdobrinska.com/

Newsletter: https://leahdobrinska.com/newsletter

Amazon Author Page: https://amzn.to/3zB9eeg

The Mapleton Series (Amazon): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09BFXFBS3

The Larkspur Library Mysteries (Amazon): https://amzn.to/3ULbXch

Death Checked Out Purchase link (Amazon): https://amzn.to/3T4XK9n

Death Checked Out Purchase link (Barnes & Noble): https://bit.ly/bndeathcheckedout

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

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

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@whatleahwrote

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/leah-dobrinska

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/leahdobrinska

#ThisorThatThursday Author Interview with Fern Brady

I’d like to welcome author Fern Brady to the blog for #ThisorThatThursday!

Favorite thing to do when you have free time:

Free time? I’ve heard of this mythical beast. All kidding aside, I love to read or binge watch shows and movies. On my next binge watch wish list is to see all the Star Wars movies and series and shorts and animated series in the chronological order that they would have happened if the Star Wars universe existed. That means it will be summer before I can even begin to expect to have enough time to be able to do this.

The thing you’ll always move to the bottom of your to do list:

Laundry. I have so much clothes that I could probably go at least six months without having to actually do laundry. However, I almost always wear the same clothes. I have a bad case of a closet full of nothing to wear. But if I can procrastinate laundry, I will.

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

I need my posters and my dragon figurines and my sword collection. Having these and all my reference books as well as my book outline on sticky notes up on the wall make my writing space ready for me. Plus having the view of trees or water out the window. At home, I have two windows that let in sunlight and from which I see the beautiful trees that grow in our neighbor’s front yard. It’s a nice view, though I miss my old house where I could see to the backyard with our pool.

Things that distract you from writing:

Music with words will distract me from writing. I find myself singing along and listening to the lyrics and losing track of the storyline. Interestingly, I can write in a public space with people talking all around me, and I can write while others in my family watch the TV even when the sound of it flows up to my study. Yet, music with words, song lyrics, they do me in every time.

Hardest thing about being a writer:

Finding time to write. Sadly, I don’t make enough money yet as a writer or publisher to be able to focus on this profession full time. I have a day job like most other authors. So finding time to write, making writing a priority in my allocation of time can be very difficult. Besides the day job, there are other things that require time such as family, laundry, cleaning house, cooking, and even other friends that need help. Finding balance between work and life and writing can be challenging.

Easiest thing about being a writer:

Creating new worlds. I am a world builder. I love creating new cultures, languages, political affiliations, religious traditions, and all manner of other background elements that will make a story for my novel come to life. As a science fiction fantasy author, the universe of my books is vast and nuanced and creating the elements of it is the best part of my time as a creative writer.

Things you will run to the store for at midnight:

Okay full disclosure, I’ve never actually run to the store at midnight, but I have had door dash bring me donuts at midnight. Which I have to say I was surprised I found a donut shop that delivered that late, but then again I was like in New Orleans at the time, so they do have a lot more stores and shops open late. I think if I had to go out, it would probably be for something sweet like Oreos or cake or ice cream. I have a terrible sweet tooth.

Things you never put on your shopping list:

Vegetables. I don’t really like vegetables. I mean like potatoes, tomatoes, or avocado are great, but broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, yeah, no. I’m not a healthy food person as you can clearly tell. I’m getting better though at balancing my eating. Having been diagnosed with diabetes, I am scared enough to have made some adjustments and added more vegetables, but mostly just reduced amount of sweets and cut out sodas entirely.

Favorite snacks:

I love Target’s monster mix. That is yummy. Now they have a Peanut butter monster’s mix which is event better because I love peanut butter. Now when I’m really trying to be good, I enjoy an apple with lots of peanut butter.

Things that make you want to gag:

Oysters. To be honest, they just look dreadful, like snot. I’ve been told they aren’t actually gross in texture, but the look is just not appealing. I would also add escargot to this answer and Brussel sprouts. Though in all fairness to Brussel sprouts, a very dear friend once cooked some in the oven and they were delicious.

Something you’re really good at:

Training dogs. I’m actually really good at training dogs to behave for indoor living. I don’t use a lot of treats, just a few every once in a while. Instead, I use repetition and a lot of praise and hugs. Dogs really want to please you, so just showing them how proud you are that they sat until you told them to move will make them willing to keep doing it. They are the best and most noble of animals.

Something you’re really bad at:

Remembering people’s names. It is very hard for me to remember people’s names for some reason. It can be a terrible thing because many remember me because I’m the head of the Houston Writers Guild or because of Inklings Publishing, but then I’m standing there searching and getting nothing for who they are and I feel terrible. I don’t know what it is about it, but even when I was a teacher full time, I always had the kids in a seating chart so I could remember their names by looking at where they sat on my cheat sheet.

Something you wanted to be when you were a kid:

I wanted to be an actress. I thought it would be so great to become an actress and be in movies. I grew out of it fast because I was too chubby to make it in Hollywood. For a short time, I wanted to be a lawyer, mostly because of my dad. But eventually, I realized that didn’t really fit as well. I loved being a teacher and still stay in the classroom as much as I can. Writing, however, has been at the heart of my life’s passion since I was a kid.

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

I never dreamed I’d have my own company. I thought I would work for someone else always. I enjoy working for myself and helping authors get their books published. Being the head of the Houston Writers Guild is great as well for this very reason. But owning Inklings Publishing, watching it grow to the good reputation it has today, well, that’s something totally unexpected.

Something you wish you could do:

I wish I could retire to a small cabin in the highlands of Scotland and just write. Do nothing else but just write. NOW that’s the dream of a lifetime.

Something you wish you’d never learned to do:

I can’t honestly think of a good answer for this one except for maybe I wish I’d never had to learn to be resilient. When you are strong and resilient it’s because you’ve had to handle some difficult and heart wrenching things in your life. Honestly, I could have done without all the hard knock lessons and heartbreaking betrayals and losses. But, I wouldn’t be the person I am today if I hadn’t gone through what I did, so I guess they were needed.

Things to say to an author:

You don’t need to be published to feel like you’re a legitimate author; You don’t need anyone to tell you they like your writing to be a legitimate author; you don’t need anyone to even read it to be a legitimate author. You are an author because a story is in you, and you feel the need to write it. That’s what makes you a writer, an author. The fact that you desire to do it.

Things to say to an author if you want to be fictionally killed off in their next book:

So, when are you going to finish writing this book?

Favorite places you’ve been:

Oh, my favorite place to visit is Paris, France. There really is something magical about Paris and the heart of an artist. I’d love to get to go there again and just visit special places and sit and write in that energy of creativity and love of life. I am also really fond of Scotland. If I could live there, in those mountains by a lake, I would be in heaven.

Places you never want to go to again:

The dentist’s office. Honestly, if I could just avoid those people, life would be near perfect. It isn’t so much pain, because they numb the area, and you don’t really feel pain. Some discomfort afterwards for sure. It’s the noise and the vibration of the tools. Why can’t they find a way to make those machines less stressful in terms of the noises they make? Surely there must be something to be done about that?

People you’d like to invite to dinner (living):

George Lucas, George R Martin, Dean Koontz, and Stephen King. To have a dinner party with these amazing authors and creators, to hear them talk about their writing process and share their journey with me would be so cool.

People you’d cancel dinner on:

As an introvert, I am actually very prone to canceling plans and often last minute. I’m all excited to see friends or family when I make the plan, but then, somedays, there’s that introverted part of me that just doesn’t want to go. It’s too peoply out there, and I prefer my happy little lair. Now, once I get myself out the door and am present with them, I enjoy every minute of it, but getting motivated to go can be hard. And if I’m going through a tough season, I’m definitely canceling on everyone. You’ve been warned.

The most exciting thing about your writing life:

Getting to create worlds and build characters that come alive in my mind. The sheer joy of the creative process, the map making, the background writing, the creation of symbols and other props of the world, the research into the science of things to extrapolate and see what marvels might be possible… all these are the things I love most.

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

I wish I had chosen to be a writer sooner instead of doing the sensible thing and getting a job as a teacher. Make no mistake, I love teaching and those year’s in the classroom teaching social studies world cultures and reading and writing influenced my writing in marvelous ways. But if I could, I would go back to when I finished my masters, and forge a career as a writer of creative fiction from the word go. If anyone has a time machine, let me know and I am happy to help test it.

About Fern:

Fern Brady is the founder and CEO of Inklings Publishing. She holds multiple Masters degrees and several certifications. She began her professional life as a foreign correspondent, then taught for 15 years in Alief ISD. She has published numerous short stories, two children's picture books, and a couple of poems. Her debut novel, United Vidden, which is book one in her Thyrein’s Galactic Wall Series, was given a glowing review by Dr. Who Online, the official site of the fandom. It also won the silver medal in the Global Book Awards for 2022. She has returned to the leadership of the Houston Writers Guild, with whom she served as CEO for four years previously. She co-hosts Author Talk and is a member of various organizations in Houston, including Women in the Visual and Literary Arts (WiVLA), Blood Over Texas, Romance Writers of America, and American Booksellers Association. Follow Fern's writing at: www.fernbrady.com

 You can contact her at: fernbrady@inklingspublishing.com

#ThisorThatThursday Author Interview with K.C. Grifant

I’d like to welcome author K. C. Grifant to the blot for #ThisorThatThursday!

Favorite thing that you always make time for: Browsing bookstores and finding new coffee shops.

The thing you’ll always do just about anything to avoid: Car tune-ups and grocery shopping.

Things you need when you’re in your writing cave: Sugary coffee drinks and one of my dozens of curated playlists.

Things that distract you from writing: My newborn, but that’s to be expected!

The thing you like most about being a writer: Creating new worlds and not having to compromise on a vision.

The thing you like least about being a writer: How long it takes to create a clean draft. I always underestimate the time from writing a first draft to getting a piece close to final.

Things you will run to the store for in the middle of the night: Coffee if we’re out and (currently) baby diapers.

Things you never put on your shopping list: Anything with licorice.

The coolest thing you’ve bought online: Most recently, a signed print from the movie Jaws and miniature books featuring the covers of my stories from anthologies and magazines.

The thing you wished you’d never bought: Adult wheeled sneakers. They are a disaster waiting to happen.

The thing that you will most remember about your writing life: How kind and supportive friends, family and strangers can be, as well as how friendly the indie/horror community is.

Something in your writing life that you wish you could do over: There’s never enough time, so writing more, and earlier.

Something you wanted to be when you were a kid: An astronaut. I was serious enough that I made plans to go to space camp and learn to pilot—neither of which came to pass.

Something you do that you never dreamed you’d do: I never thought I’d live in California. As someone who grew up on the east coast, the west coast seemed like a fairytale place where the scenery and weather were too good to be true.

Things you always put in your books: Diverse women characters.

Things you never put in your books: I try to avoid stereotypes as much as possible. Also, I’m too squeamish to write extremely graphic violence.

Things to say to an author: You’ll buy/read/recommend their book.

Things to say to an author if you want to be fictionally killed off in their next book: Pointing out a nitpicky error on a published work (e.g., the scrunchie incident in Sex & The City).

The best job you ever had: Science journalist and communicator, where I get to learn about fascinating cutting-edge research every day.

The worst job you ever had: An underpaid receptionist for a sketchy chiropractor.

The one thing you cook/bake that is better than a restaurant dish: I’ve perfected my stovetop popcorn recipe so it’s on par with movie theater popcorn.

The one thing you cooked/baked that turned out to be an epic disaster: Everything else.

About K. C.:

KC Grifant is an award-winning author based in Southern California who writes internationally published horror, fantasy, science fiction and weird west stories for podcasts, anthologies and magazines. Her tales have appeared in Andromeda Spaceways Magazine, Unnerving Magazine, Cosmic Horror Monthly, Dark Matter Magazine, the British SF Association’s Fission Magazine, Tales to Terrify, the Lovecraft eZine, and many others.

In addition to a Weird West novel, MELINDA WEST: MONSTER GUNSLINGER (Brigids Gate Press, Feb 2023), she has also written for dozens of anthologies, including: Chromophobia; Musings of the Muse; Dancing in the Shadows—A Tribute to Anne Rice; Field Notes from a Nightmare; The One That Got Away; Six Guns Straight From Hell; Shadowy Natures; Beyond the Infinite - Tales from the Outer Reaches; and the Stoker-nominated Fright Mare: Women Write Horror.

Let’s Be Social:

Website:  www.KCGrifant.com

Newsletter sign-up: http://eepurl.com/hmZGVb

Book page: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BNWR19WN

Instagram: instagram.com/kcgrifant/ 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/kcgrifant

Facebook: facebook.com/kcgrifant

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@kcgrifant

#ThisorThatThursday Author Interview with James Hill

I’d like to welcome James Hill to the blog for #ThisorThatThursday!

A few of your favorite traditions:

BBQ, I love to cook outdoors over charcoal or wood fires. I also love fishing, freshwater or saltwater fishing is a relaxing pastime.

Something that you’ll never do again:

Driving cross-country is a grueling undertaking that turned out to be less fun than imagined.

Favorite treat:

Rum floats. For those who don’t know what this is, it’s ice cream (any flavor but I like chocolate), a little Coke Cola (although Cherry Pepsi works too), and a good brand of rum (I like Captain Morgan or Bacardi Black).

A treat that makes you gag:

If it makes you gag, I will not consider that a treat, but milk.

Best memory:

Sailing on the Nile River on a felucca. That trip made it into my novel Killer With Three Heads.

Something you’d rather forget:

Hitting a patch of black ice and crashing my car into a traffic pole.

Funniest summer story:

We were having a firework war with some guys. They were firing rockets from their third-floor window, and we fired from a porch across the street. We unleashed a barrage of twenty-five-ounce rockets and set their curtains on fire. We won the war.

Something embarrassing that happened to you:

I went swimming at the beach and the lifeguard thought I was drowning. He rushed in and pulled me out. I wasn’t drowning but was drunk and doing handstands in the water.

Best thing you ever grilled:

I grilled a turkey for a homecoming for my son.

Your worst kitchen or grilling disaster:

I took a pan out of the oven with my bare hands. For some reason I didn’t think it was hot. It was.

Your favorite thing to get from the ice cream truck:

Super Deluxe Banana Split.

Some dessert that you wish you’d never bought:

Cheesecake, bad cheesecake feels like you ate rocks, and good cheesecake taste better but feels the same.

Best vacation memory:

Was a working vacation at the Miami Book Fair and we stayed on South Beach. It was a nonstop party.

A vacation disaster that you’d rather forget:

The time we went fishing and I got hit in the head with a rock. My brother and I were playing war, he told me to run, and he was going to throw a hand grenade at me. He had impeccable aim.

Best summer vacation ever:

Scuba diving in the Caribbean.

Somewhere where you don’t ever want to return:

There isn’t any place I would not go to again.

Most favorite place to write/edit:

On my boat in the marina, Ummagumma is a floating bar most of the time and very laxing.

The worst place to try to write because of all the distractions:

The beach, too much to look at and sand gets everywhere. Also never take a laptop to the beach.

The thing that you will most remember about your writing life:

Finishing my adult urban crime series, Killer With A Heart, Killer with Three Heads, Killer With Black Blood, and Killer With Ice Eyes.

Something in your writing life that you wish you could do over:

Start publishing my stories earlier. Waiting to get published was a huge waste of time.

About James:

James L Hill, a.k.a. J L Hill, is a native New Yorker from the South Bronx, Fort Apache, of the turbulent 60’s.

He earned a degree in computer programming, his other love. A multi-genre author, his experiences seasoned his novels and the worlds he imagined.

James started RockHill Publishing LLC to publish his own work and give others access to the literary world.

The four-part adult urban crime series, The Killer Series, is complete. Killer With A Heart, Killer With Three Heads, Killer With Black Blood have all received five-star reviews. Killer With Ice Eyes, the final chapter of the boys from the Bronx, is available now.

He is currently working on a three-part historical fantasy Gemstone Series; The Emerald Lady is in publication to rave reviews. The Ruby Cradle and the third book, The Diamond Warrior, is coming soon.

Then there’s the psychological dystopian science fiction thriller, Pegasus: A Journey To New Eden for your reading pleasure.

Let’s Be Social:

Readers and Writers Podcast:

https://anchor.fm/rockhillpublishing

YouTube Channel:

 https://bit.ly/RockHillYouTube

RockHill Publishing Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rockhillpublishing

Author J L Hill Facebook:

 https://www.facebook.com/jlhill57

#ThisorThatThursday Author Interview with Emmie Caldwell (Mary Ellen Hughes)

I’d like to welcome Emmie Caldwell (Mary Ellen Hughes) to the blog for #ThisorThatThursday!

A few of your favorite things: I like gardening, chocolate ice cream, and amazing sunsets.

Things you need to throw out: Clothes that looked frumpy ten years ago but are still usable.

Things you need for your writing sessions: A window, a bottle of water, oh, and a laptop.

Things that hamper your writing: Phone calls, Amazon deliveries, hunger.

Things you love about writing: I love creating a new character – good or evil.

Things you hate about writing: I hate discovering plot holes that require major rewriting.

Hardest thing about being a writer: The hardest thing is reading other books and not mentally editing them as I do my own writing.

Easiest thing about being a writer: The easiest thing about being a writer is writing a scene when I know exactly how I want it to go. The words just flow!

Favorite music or song: I lean toward classical music after studying piano for some years.

Music that drives you crazy: The kind that is all drums and shouting and no melody.

Things you always put in your books: An animal, well, almost always.

Things you never put in your books: Violence to an animal

Favorite places you’ve been: I love northern climes and particularly enjoyed trips to Alaska, Montana, and Norway.

Places you never want to go to again: Airports, only because of too many miserable delays and cancellations. I may change my mind, but for now I’d rather drive.

Favorite things to do: A game of doubles tennis; planting a flower garden

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

Things that make you happy: Being with family or friends.

Things that drive you crazy: Movies based on a book that don’t follow the book.

Most daring thing you’ve ever done: Landed on a glacier via a helicopter.

Something you chickened out from doing: Riding Space Mountain at Disney World

The nicest thing a reader said to you: One reader told me that the problem one of my characters dealt with helped her with her similar problem.

The craziest thing a reader said to you: “I thought you wrote children’s books!”

About Emmie:

Emmie Caldwell, author of the Craft Fair Knitters Mystery Series, is the pseudonym for Mary Ellen Hughes, the national bestselling author of the Keepsake Cove Mysteries, the Pickled and Preserved Mysteries, the Craft Corner Mysteries, and the Maggie Olenski Mysteries. A native of Wisconsin, Mary Ellen has lived most of her adult life in Maryland, which has inspired many of her stories.

Let’s Be Social:

http://www.emmiecaldwell.com

http://www.maryellenhughes.com

http://www.facebook.com/MaryEllenHughesauthor

Mary Ellen Hughes/Emmie Caldwell (@mehughesauthor) / Twitter

#ThisorThatThursday Author Interview with Erica Miner

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/

#ThisorThatThursday Author Interview with Lynn Chandler Willis

I’d like to welcome the fabulous Lynn Chandler Willis to the blog for #ThisorThatThursday!

A few of your favorite things: Blankets and fuzzy socks

Things you need to throw out: Blankets and fuzzy socks

Things you need for your writing sessions: A playlist created on Spotify specific to that book, and visual images of how I envision my characters.

Things that hamper your writing: Certain songs on said playlist have such an emotional pull on me that I’ll find myself changing the direction of the scene to fit the song.

Things you love about writing: Letting my mind wander with all the what-ifs and when it all comes together in a complete story.

Things you hate about writing: Coming up with character names! The names have to have meaning and contribute to the characterization.

Words that describe you: Warped.

Words that describe you, but you wish they didn’t: Perfectionist, until I’m not.

Favorite foods: Pizza and anything Mexican. Oh, and Asian! Friday nights are my indulgence nights and I rotate between ordering pizza, Mexican, or Asian. It’s sadly predictable.

Things that make you want to gag: Sardines.

Favorite smell: Fresh linen. Remember the smell of freshly washed sheets air drying on a line in the backyard? Cleanest smell ever!

Something that makes you hold your nose: Certain types of cheese. And I’m a big fan of cheese so that one is tricky.

Something you wish you could do: Stick to an exercise routine.

Something you wish you’d never learned to do: Play Wordle.

Something you like to do: Walk Finn (my brown border collie) around the farm and easy-to-moderate hikes.

Something you wish you’d never done: Tried hiking a rocky trail up the side of a local mountain. No guardrail––nothing to keep you from falling. It was meant for mountain goats and I’m not a mountain goat. It was terrifying! You know when you’re in that moment of sheer panic that you just can’t move? That was me.

Favorite books (or genre): Anything by William Kent Krueger and/or Tana French

Books you wouldn’t buy: Epic fantasies. This world is hard enough for me to understand.

Most embarrassing moment: Misspelled my own name in a by-line

Proudest moment: When the whole family turned out for my first book signing.

Best thing you’ve ever done: Adopt Finn (the brown border collie) from the shelter

Biggest mistake: Bringing home two sibling, 8-week-old puppies. As much as I love puppies, they’re especially nice when you can enjoy puppy kisses when they belong to someone else.

The nicest thing a reader said to you: I made a difference.

The craziest thing a reader said to you: I had a reviewer take me to task for my acknowledgements.

About Lynn:

Lynn Chandler Willis is a best-selling, multi-award-winning author who has worked in the corporate world, the television news industry, and had a thirteen-year run as the owner and publisher of a small-town newspaper. She lives in the heart of North Carolina on a mini-farm surrounded by chickens, turkeys, ducks, nine grandkids, a sassy little calico named Jingles, and Finn, a brown border collie known to be the best dog in the world. Seriously.

Let’s Be Social:

Website

Facebook

Book Preorder Link

#ThisorThatThursday Author Interview with Scott Overton

I’d like to welcome the talented Scott Overton to the blog for #ThisorThatThursday.

A few of your favorite things: Books, books, and more books. My house is insulated with books. Also my 12-string guitar.

Things you need to throw out: Fifteen jackets (mostly leather). Twenty-five sweaters. Ninety-five percent of the junk I have stuffed into every available drawer.

Things you need for your writing sessions: A keyboard and a healthy supply of good coffee (especially in my Ember self-heating mug).

Things that hamper your writing: Like everyone, the constant availability of the internet is both a blessing and a curse. Has there ever been such a potent distraction? (Sex doesn’t count.)

Things you love about writing: Creating something from nothing, then hearing a reader tell you how much they loved it.

Things you hate about writing: The fact that there’s no magic spell that will carry your words and thoughts from your mind to your reader’s without the obstacles of publishing, distributing, and marketing getting in the way.

Things you never want to run out of: Kleenex. As long as I have boxes of Kleenex all around the house, I don’t feel poor.

Things you wish you’d never bought: Do we have that much space? How about a battery-powered rotating tie rack? Sheesh!

Favorite music or song: I love so many I could never pick one favorite song or genre. But the full-length version of Don Henley’s “Heart of the Matter” is one of the most amazingly well-crafted songs I know.

Music that drives you crazy: I try to appreciate rap, but I just can’t.

Favorite beverage: Home-roasted, freshly ground coffee brewed in a French press.

Something that gives you a sour face: Sour craft beers. I love most craft beers, but I just don’t get the appeal of the sours.

Favorite smell: My wife’s freshly baked bread. Isn’t that in everyone’s Top 5?

Something that makes you hold your nose: We have outhouses on our property, but cleaning the trap of a kitchen sink smells even worse.

Something you’re really good at: Talking to an audience, any audience (I was a career radio host).

Something you’re really bad at: Asking favors. I really hate to inconvenience anyone. It might be my inner Canadian coming out. I’ve always hated phoning people too, in case I was interrupting something. Texting is only marginally better.

Things you always put in your books: A love story. Falling in love is one of the most essential parts of the human experience, and compensation for all the bad things in life.

Things you never put in your books: I don’t write gruesome or gory. Sick people can do horrible things to other people, but that’s not entertainment to me.

Things to say to an author: I loved your book so much! (And I just posted a 5-star review on every online site I know.)

Things to say to an author if you want to be fictionally killed off in their next book: I don’t read and I don’t understand how you can waste your time just making stuff up.

Favorite books (or genre): Lord of the Rings. Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell. Books by Larry Niven or Robert J. Sawyer.

Books you wouldn’t buy: I have no interest in celebrity confessions or salacious scandals. Who cares?

Things that make you happy: Nature makes me happy. The sun on water, the moon on water. Loon calls. The smell of pine needles. Bright stars, northern lights, and utter silence.

Things that drive you crazy: Bad drivers who risk my life as well as their own.

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

Biggest mistake: Believing anything a boss promised me.

Most daring thing you’ve ever done: (Daring? Or just stupid?) I skated down a hill after an ice storm (and didn’t die!)

Something you chickened out from doing: Sky-diving (though, to be fair, I had a commitment to fulfill at the time, and a young son watching if I’d gone splat.)

The coolest person you’ve ever met: An actor named Don Harron — most people might know him as the comedic character Charlie Farquharson, who appeared on Hee Haw, but he was a true Renaissance man who could do everything and do it well.

The celebrity who didn’t look like he/she did in pictures/video: As a radio host, I met dozens of celebrities and they all looked like I expected. They didn’t all act like I expected. But most were genuinely nice people.

About Scott:
A radio broadcaster for more than thirty years, Scott Overton described that world in his first novel, the mystery/thriller Dead Air, shortlisted for a Northern Lit Award in Ontario, Canada. Now he writes science fiction including his 2020 SF-thriller The Primus Labyrinth, the 2021 SF-adventure Naïda, 2022’s SF-psychological thriller The Dispossession of Dylan Knox, and the 2022 cautionary tale Augment Nation. His short fiction has been published in numerous magazines and anthologies.

Drawing on university training in theatre arts as well as his radio career, he’s also a freelance voice talent, including narrating audiobooks in his home studio on a lake in northern Ontario. His website is www.scottoverton.ca 

Let’s Be Social:

Buy the Books   https://books2read.com/ScottOverton  
Facebook  https://www.facebook.com/ScottOverton.author  
Twitter @SFtruenorth

Goodreads www.goodreads.com/ScottOverton

Amazon amazon.com/author/scottoverton