#ThisorThatThursday Author Interview with Stephanie Caffrey

I’d like to welcome Stephanie Caffrey to the blog for #ThisorThatThursday!

Hardest thing about being a writer: Finding the time to actually sit down and write.

Easiest thing about being a writer: Creating the characters and their backstory.

Things you need for your writing sessions: My laptop, my folder full of research and character outlines, The Emotion Thesaurus, and my ear buds with my specific playlist for that project.

Things that hamper your writing: My children always seem to need me the second I sit down to write.

Words that describe you: Friendly, helpful, open, maternal

Words that describe you, but you wish they didn’t: Pushover.

Something you’re really good at: Things that are creative.

Something you’re really bad at: Spatial awareness and how it relates to filling that space with stuff.

Favorite music or song: I love classic rock, especially The Beatles.

Music that drives you crazy: Anything with heavy bass.

Things you’d walk a mile for: Really good food, specifically Greek food. We walked more than a mile in Dublin for Greek food last summer.

Things that make you want to run screaming from the room: Large insects and birds.

Things you always put in your books: Lots of humor.

Things you never put in your books: Open door sex scenes.

Favorite places you’ve been: Ireland and Turkey.

Places you never want to go to again: The Spook Cave.

Favorite books (or genre): Jane Eyre is my all-time favorite book.

Books you wouldn’t buy: Anything by talking heads.

Besides writing, what’s the most creative thing you’ve done: I’m really into crochet at the moment, and I made everyone I know stuffed animals.

A project that didn’t quite turn out the way you planned it: My attempt at doing a Bob Ross painting.

Some real-life story that made it to one of your books: In Mistaken Identity, Evelyn is traveling through London to get to Greece. We really did that on our honeymoon, and visited the place Evelyn is supposed to go on her dig.

Something in your story that readers think is about you, but it’s not: I haven’t had any experience with this yet, but I think once Be My Little Baby comes out people might think I’m sort of master baker, but I’m not. That’s my sister.

About Stephanie:

Stephanie R. Caffrey is a debut romantic suspense author who lives with her family in the Midwest. When she’s not working on her books, she’s a substitute teacher and loves to write fanfiction. She is a proud marginalized voice in the Mexican-American community. Besides writing, she enjoys sewing, knitting, and cross-stitching.  

Let’s Be Social:

 Website: www.srcaffrey.com

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#ThisorThatThursday Author Interview with Kendra Q. Dodd

I’d like to welcome Kendra Q. Dodd to the blog for #ThisorThatThursday!

Things you never want to run out of: Water (conceptually - LOL its the first thing that came to mind), My hair products (I have curly hair and the struggle is real),

Things you wish you’d never bought: Subscriptions (sometimes I get hopeful and purchase too much, even apps)

Things you need for your writing sessions: Sticky Notes, Stick Flip Chart Paper, Highlighters, Laptop, Dry Erase Board, Multiple Ink Color, Index Cards

Things that hamper your writing: Being Interrupted

Words that describe you: Energetic, Encouraging, Thought-Provoking, Great Speaker/Communicator,

Words that describe you, but you wish they didn’t: Opinionated/Judgemental

The nicest thing a reader said to you: That they purchase extra copies of my book and gift to people that seem to need them

The craziest thing a reader said to you: that wish my book was less of a journal and they I told more stories about me

Things you’d walk a mile for: Gelato in Italy

Things that make you want to run screaming from the room: Dead Body (key word is want to, I don't do it but I really don't do well with funerals, wakes, I've gotter better the older I am with love ones but if its a stranger, I really don't want to go in)

Favorite foods: Strawberries, Melons (almost any kind), Stir-Fry, Any style of Rice

Things that make you want to gag: The smell of chicken, the smell of eggs, the smell of bacon - most meats and the smell of it are challenging for me

Something you’re really good at: organizing, looking at things big picture, listening, asking provoking questions

Something you’re really bad at: coloring, repetitive tasks, administrative style work, totally relaxing

Favorite smell: Vanilla

Something that makes you hold your nose: Paper Manufacturing Plants, Skunks (in college, could smell them), any artificial floral scent

The last thing you ordered online: compression socks

The last thing you regret buying: an electric hard egg cooker

Favorite books (or genre): Non-Fiction: History, Biography, Self-Help, Documentary

Books you wouldn’t buy: Romance Novels

Besides writing, what’s the most creative thing you’ve done: scrapbooking (manual and digital), video editing

A project that didn’t quite turn out the way you planned it: trying to refinish a table by using a marbleizing technique

About Kendra:

Kendra has devoted her life to creating environments of belonging, inclusiveness, and progression. Her tenacious and energetic disposition is engaging and yields proactive results.        

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#ThisorThatThursday Author Interview with Joanna Vander Vlugt

I’d like to welcome Joanna Vander Vlugt to the blog for #ThisorThatThursday!

Favorite thing to do when you have free time: I like to read fiction. I do so much reading when I’m writing, i.e., how to write a press release; my own stories when re-writing, but I like reading other people’s novels to escape from my own work. Also, I enjoy taking my two mini-schnauzers for walks.

The thing you’ll always move to the bottom of your to do list: I hate cleaning windows. I’ll wash floors, bathrooms, dust, but getting outside and cleaning windows, groan. The other thing I hate is cleaning blinds.

Things you need when you’re in your writing cave: I need my mocha (I make my own), and my two mini-schnauzers. One schnauzer is considered a “senior” because he’s 12, and the other one will be turning 2 in April. They’re quite the duo.

Things that distract you from writing: If my husband is watching TV in the other room, I find that distracting. He likes watching political podcasts. That’s when I close the door to my writing room/office.

Hardest thing about being a writer: The hardest thing being a writer is the marketing. Finding the right company or business that will help promote you and not scam you.

Easiest thing about being a writer: The writing is the easiest part of being a writer. When you get in that zone, and it’s not even fishing for words, you’re like a conduit and the words flood out.

Favorite snacks: My favorite snacks are my own protein balls that I make with peanut butter. I’m so predictable. That’s my morning breakfast, a protein ball, orange and mocha, and I take that into the writing room and the dogs follow.

Things that make you want to gag: Snails and liver. I like seafood. I like mussels but I will not eat octopus, snails, and liver. My mother use to make us eat liver. It doesn’t matter how much you coat in breadcrumbs or soak in ketchup, liver is awful.

Something you wanted to be when you were a kid: I wanted to be involved in magazines and marketing.

Something you do that you never dreamed you’d do: I never thought I’d have my own podcast. As a child I was a terrible reader. Thank goodness I found that one book that turned my world around. I started reading voraciously and then I became a writer. Now, I read short stories out loud on my podcast SAM Magazine.

Things to say to an author: Keep writing, even if it’s only fifteen or thirty minutes, because you never know when the magic might happen. You can’t predict anything when it comes to creativity.

Things to say to an author if you want to be fictionally killed off in their next book: If I were fictionally killed off in another author’s book, I’d want to be in a fancy hotel in New York City, wearing great clothes, and not a hair out of place. Don’t put me in a dumpster because I’m scared of bugs and rats.

Favorite places you’ve been: Kihei, Maui because it reminds me of Canada but with heat. It’s so relaxing to stay in Kihei. That town has such a zen attitude.

Places you never want to go to again: Some of your readers may be shocked when they read this, but Las Vegas. I’m not a gambler. I’ve seen it once and that was good enough.

The most exciting thing about your writing life: I would say the most exciting thing is when after one or two years of working on a novel, actually physically holding that book in your hands. That’s pretty exciting.

The one thing you wish you could do over in your writing life: I wish I had never taken a 20 year break from writing. But given my life circumstances, the break was understandable. I had different goals.

The nicest thing a reader said to you: It was the greatest compliment from a reader. She messaged me on Facebook and said, “Joanna, I can’t put this damn book down.” I will always remember that.

The craziest thing a reader said to you: I thought it was another sweet compliment, but a reader had read The Unravelling, and she told me that in the next book, Jade needed to eat. She’s never eating, throw her a burger. So, in Dealer’s Child, I used the readers line about “throwing Jade a burger,” and it was a lot of fun to work that in.

Best piece of advice you received from another writer: Do not compare your success with another author’s success. Writing is such a volatile, twisting and turning career path with highs and low. Be true to yourself and always ask yourself, why do you write?

Something you would tell a younger you about your writing: Never say never. You’re going to go through some up and downs. You’re going to stop doing what you love, writing, and you’re even going to tell your friends, that you’re not writing anymore. But trust me, life throws curve ball, and you will get back to writing and when you do you, like Alicia Keys sings, “This Girl is On Fire.”

Recommendations for curing writer’s block: Trust the process of writing and don’t beat yourself up. Maybe go for a walk, take a 3-day break, get away from the desk and get outside. The inspiration will come back.

Things you do to avoid writing: Honestly, I don’t have this problem. I really do love writing. If I don’t write for three days, then I get jittery.

About Joanna:

JOANNA VANDER VLUGT is an author and illustrator. As a teenager, she drew charcoal portraits and wrote mysteries. Now, she uses Copic markers to illustrate motorcycles and scooters. Under the pseudonym J.C. Szasz, Joanna’s short mysteries Egyptian Queen, and The Parrot and Wild Mushroom Stuffing were both published in Crime Writers of Canada mystery anthologies. Her essay, “No Beatles Reunion” was published in the Dropped Threads 3: Beyond the Small Circle anthology.

The Unravelling, her debut novel, and Dealer’s Child were Canadian Book Club Awards finalists. Joanna draws upon her 13 years’ experience working in the prosecutor’s office and 10 years working in the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner for inspiration for her novels. Joanna is proud of her podcast SAM Magazine and the many authors she has interviewed. Joanna’s novels, art and podcast can be found at joannavandervlugt.com. As well, her quarterly publication SAM Magazine, can be found at sam-magazine.com.

Let’s Be Social:

https://www.bookbub.com/authors/joanna-vander-vlugt

https://www.amazon.ca/Spy-Girls-Jade-Sage-Thriller-ebook/dp/B0CJ3P9Z1B

https://www.instagram.com/joannavandervlugt_author_art/

www.joannavandervlugt.com 

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#ThisorThatThursday Author Interview with Elizabeth Crowens

I’d like to welcome Elizabeth Crowens to the blog for #ThisorThatThursday!

Things you never want to run out of: Money, milk, and coffee. I can live without sugar or honey in my coffee but not my whole milk, and I hate powdery coffee creamer—the fake stuff.

Things you wish you’d never bought: A bed-in-a-box that gets shipped to your house. They give you a 90-day free trial. The mattress felt fine for 90 days. Then it hurt my back. Also, they are too unwieldy to repack in the box they came in to return. Wasted close to $450 on a piece of crap.

Words that describe you: A progressive, “big city” liberal, Type-A, New Yorker personality (but without the accent), often a fish-out-of-water, especially in small, Southern towns.

Words that describe you, but you wish they didn’t: Pushy and aggressive to the point of being annoying, especially when I refuse to take “no” for an answer. Willing to still beat that dead horse. Extremely impatient.

Favorite foods: Katz’s Deli (Where Harry Met Sally) Kosher corned beef or pastrami sandwich with creamy coleslaw and homemade dill pickles, and steak fries. Junior’s cheesecake. Top-notch New York Pizza. Red bean sesame balls from Chinatown bakeries.

Things that make you want to gag: Natto, a Japanese fermented soybean that tastes like rotten beans swimming in spit. You’d never convince me to drink Mezcal and swallow the worm afterwards.

Favorite music or song: 30’s and 40’s jazz and blues, Swing music and big band. Rock and Roll – Fifties through select eighties (Queen, Punk, New Wave, Van Halen), and select Nineties (Green Day, Weezer, Foo Fighters), Classical music, Motown, Funkadelic, Soul.

Music that drives you crazy: Heavy Metal and Rap gives me a headache.

Favorite beverage: Coffee

Something that gives you a sour face: Lemon-flavored Magnesium Citrate (colonoscopy prep solution!)

Favorite smell: Pungent roses. These tend to be garden grown. So many flower sellers have roses with no smell.

Something that makes you hold your nose: Cigar smoke!

Something you’re really good at: photography and graphic design

Something you’re really bad at: putting together Ikea furniture.

Things you’d walk a mile for: A Haagen Daz or Van Leeuwen ice cream parlor.

Things that make you want to run screaming from the room: Listening to a recording of Yoko Ono.

Things you always put in your books: Humor and/or history

Things you never put in your books: I’m a big fan of Victorian paranormal and ghost stories and Gothic horror like Poe, Shelley, and the Hammer Horror films, but am turned off by spatter punk, body horror, and zombies just don’t do it for me.

Things to say to an author: I just read your latest book and gave you a five-star review on Amazon, Goodreads, on social media, my blog, and everywhere else I could post it.

Things to say to an author if you want to be fictionally killed off in their next book: I just read your book and gave you a one-star review, because Golden Age of Hollywood-style mysteries with celebrities aren’t my thing. I posted my opinion on NetGalley and Goodreads and told my book club that I would never recommend it.

Most daring thing you’ve ever done: When I was in college, one of my best friends and I hit a few bars on Ft. Lauderdale beach looking for cute guys and a party, but we kept striking out with dull crowds and nothing going on. Then my friend came up with a crazy idea.

She said, “Why don’t we hop in your car and hang out in Marco Island?”

My response: “Where is Marco Island?”

Her response: “Through the Everglades across Alligator Alley.”

It was already 11 pm. Without thinking and with seven dollars cash in my pocket with no credit card, we went for it, managed to find cute guys to buy us drinks, and realized it was 2:00 am and we couldn’t afford a hotel. She wanted to sleep on the beach. The bartender found us a friend’s vacant apartment where the furniture had been left behind. We crashed there, gave phony room numbers, and got free mimosas on the beach at a local hotel the next morning before driving home. I can’t believe we did it and got away from it but would never do that again. Ah, youthful folly!

Something you chickened out from doing: Diving off a high diving board. Always pissed off the lifeguards.

About Elizabeth:

Elizabeth Crowens has worn many hats in the entertainment industry in NY and LA for over 25 years. Writing credits include short stories and articles in  Black Belt, Black Gate, and Sherlock Holmes Mystery magazines, stories in Hell’s Heart and the Bram Stoker Award-nominated A New York State of Fright, and three alternate history/SFF novels, which she self-publishes under the name of Atomic Alchemist Productions.

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#ThisorThatThusday Author Interview with Margaret Montet

I’d like to welcome Margaret Montet to the blog for #ThisorThatThursday!

Things you need for your writing sessions: I need Sharpie pens in many colors and a notebook. All of my first drafts are written in longhand. My first revision happens when I type up my sloppy, colorful mess of a first draft.

Things that hamper your writing: Noise and hunger.

Things you love about writing: I love the act of putting my ideas onto paper in order to tell a story in a unique but logical way. I love talking about my writing, answering questions about my writing, researching ideas, and meeting other authors and finding out their processes and ideas. I love reading books about writing.

Things you hate about writing: I hate when I don’t have time to write when a clever idea occurs to me, and I have to wait until I have a way to put this all down in detail. By then there are probably fewer details.

Favorite foods: I like pizza, burritos, Boston Cream donuts, blackberries, and lately, chicken & waffles.

Things that make you want to gag: Coffee, Brussels sprouts, fish

Favorite music or song: I love classical music (including opera), Bruce Springsteen, Prince, the Glenn Miller Band and swing, Dexter Gordon and saxophone jazz.

Music that drives you crazy: Country (except Johnny Cash)

Favorite beverage: Diet Coke, Chocolate Egg Cream, Shirley Temple, spring water

Something that gives you a sour face: anything with coffee mixed in: mocha is not an approved flavor.

The last thing you ordered online: Drawer dividers for the kitchen in the beach house.

The last thing you regret buying: That black winter coat with the soft fake fur around the neck which is plenty warm, but the zipper that worked in the store refuses to work in real life. It has snaps, too, but the zipper would be better.

Things to say to an author: I’ve read your book many times, and it becomes more meaningful with every reading.

Things to say to an author if you want to be fictionally killed off in their next book: How long did it take you to write this?

Favorite places you’ve been: Cape May, NJ; Philadelphia, Manhattan, Colorado, Brooklyn, Paris, Vienna, Barcelona

Places you never want to go to again: I can’t think of any. I’d go anywhere again just to see if it changed, or I noticed something new!

Favorite books (or genre): Nonfiction, memoir, literary fiction (I read pretty broadly)

Books you wouldn’t buy: horror, fantasy, romance

People you’d like to invite to dinner (living): Bruce Springsteen, John McPhee, Colin Firth, Elizabeth Gilbert, James McBride

People you’d cancel dinner on: Miley Cyrus

The nicest thing a reader said to you: “I read a lot of your book on the beach, and it made me LAUGH!”

The craziest thing a reader said to you: “Margaret probably has a lot of money because she writes commercially.” Actually this probably wasn’t a reader, just another writer in my circle. It has been a couple of years, and I am still trying to figure out what she really meant.

About Margaret:

Margaret Montet's narratives of place feature music, memoir, culture and occasionally genealogy. Also a college librarian, Margaret holds an MFA in Creative Nonfiction, teaches public speaking, and presents multimedia music-centered lectures at lifelong learning venues. Her creative nonfiction has been published in many journals and anthologies. Margaret’s first collection of travel essays is Nerd Traveler (2021). Brooklyn Family Album will be published in September 2024.

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#ThisorThatThursday Interview with Alethea Lyons

I’d like to welcome the amazing Alethea Lyons to the blog for #ThisorThatThursday!

Things you need for your writing sessions: Laptop if I’m editing or notebook for new ideas, coloured pens and post-its for plotting, background music is preferred

Things that hamper your writing: My toddler waking up early, unexpected noise, the internet, other story ideas

Favorite foods: Chocolate, ice cream, cheese, pizza, most Italian food, my husband’s roast potatoes, hot sugared pecans, curry… basically, I’m a bit of a foody.

Things that make you want to gag: Tuna (intolerant or something), scampi (I used to work in a scampi factory), mint sauce (Savoury mint sauce. Weirdly I do like the sweet.)

Favorite beverage: Tea – comfort drink is Assam with a touch of milk, but I like most types of plain tea. Flavourings added to tea are very hit and miss.

Something that gives you a sour face: Coffee. I hate it. Can’t even stand the smell.

Something you’re really good at: Writing (I hope), listening, finding my way

Something you’re really bad at: Anything with balance e.g. bike riding, skating

Things you always put in your books: Found family, queer rep, mental health rep – these aren’t always intentional, I guess it’s just the kind of character who lives in my head

Things you never put in your books: Abusive relationships, heavy gore

Things to say to an author: “I love your book.” “I like character because…” “I enjoyed [element of book], that really touched me.”

Things to say to an author if you want to be fictionally killed off in their next book: “[Famous Person] has to query [some ridiculously low number] of agents/publishers and now they make hundreds of thousands of pounds.”

Favorite places you’ve been: Italy (Rome & Venice), Arches National Park, The Yorkshire Dales, The John Rylands Library

Places you never want to go to again: Any food factory, inside an MRI machine

Favorite books (or genre): Fantasy although I also like sci-fi, thriller, crime fiction, and historical fiction

Books you wouldn’t buy: Straight up horror that’s really gory, contemporary romance without any speculative elements. No problems with them as genres, just not my personal cup of tea.

Things that make you happy: Family, stories, hilly scenery, music, sunshine

Things that drive you crazy: Inefficiency, ‘because we’ve always done that,’ books in the wrong order.

Most daring thing you’ve ever done: Either the first time I went to see my now-husband after breaking up with my then-boyfriend (see below about how I feel about talking to people!) or rock wall climbing after getting halfway up and getting literally frozen with terror, then doing it again because I was stubbornly determined to get to the top. I then had to do it a third time so my mother could watch.

Something you chickened out from doing: A lot of times when I kept thinking I should talk to someone and couldn’t work up the nerve. Starting conversations with strangers, especially if I have to talk about myself, e.g. if it’s a date or about my book, is so hard!

The nicest thing a reader said to you: That one of the scenes in The Hiding was like a cross between Neil Gaiman and Guillermo Del Toro.

The craziest thing a reader said to you: When people say they don’t like the romance subplot in The Hiding, because, as far as I’m aware, there isn’t really one. Also two people who read the same chapter one in the same week and one said it made perfect sense and the other said they didn’t understand anything that was going on. Really drives home how subjective things are.

About Alethea:

Alethea Lyons (she/ze) writes various forms of SFF, with a particular love for science-fantasy, dark fantasy, dystopias, and folklore. Her debut, The Hiding, is out March 5, 2024 as part of a three-book deal with Brigids Gate Press. Her short stories can be found in a variety of publications. Alethea lives in Manchester, U.K., with her husband, little Sprite, a cacophony of stringed instruments, and more tea than she can drink in a lifetime. Buy works or follow on social media at https://linktr.ee/alethearlyons

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#ThisorThatThursday Author Interview with Anna St. John

I’d like to welcome the fabulous Anna St. John to the blog for #ThisorThatThursday!

Things you never want to run out of: Coffee, pens, time.

Things you wish you’d never bought: Wrinkle cream. It didn’t work.

Things you need for your writing sessions: A quiet place, my computer, and a candle

Things that hamper your writing: Phone calls, household chores, rabbit holes when I’m doing research.

A few of your favorite things: A collection of Madeline dolls, a super soft sweatshirt, and my desk chair.

Things you need to throw out: Outdated clothes in my closet, and a lot of cookbooks I have never used.

Favorite foods: Potato soup, pecan pie, and ice cream sundaes.

Things that make you want to gag: Turnips, horseradish, and steak when it’s served too rare.

Favorite music or song: Songs from the 60’s, because they make me smile.

Music that drives you crazy: Rap, because I can never understand the lyrics.

Favorite smell: The sweet scent of lilacs reminds me of my mother’s garden.

Something that makes you hold your nose: Skunk spray.

The last thing you ordered online: Silver polish.

The last thing you regret buying: Silver polish. Now I have no excuse to avoid cleaning my tarnished tableware.

Things to say to an author: I love your characters and your books.

Things to say to an author if you want to be fictionally killed off in their next book: Writing cozy mysteries must be so easy.

Favorite books (or genre): Mysteries, Biographies, Historical Fiction, Romance, and Beach Reads.

Books you wouldn’t buy: Diet books, math books, or anything about taxes.

Besides writing, what’s the most creative thing you’ve done: I once painted our large college dorm window to look like a stained-glass image of the three wise men for the holidays. (I haven’t accomplished anything that ambitious, since.)

A project that didn’t quite turn out the way you planned it: I knitted a sweater for my boyfriend and the sleeves stretched…and…stretched…and stretched, until they were waaay too long. He claimed he liked them that way. Shoved the sleeves up to his elbows and wore the sweater everywhere. I married him.

About Anna:

Anna St. John writes cozy mysteries featuring a mature, yet feisty, fomer crime reporter, Josie Posey, as the amateur sleuth.

Her debut novel, DOOMED BY BLOOMS, was released by Level Best Books in February 2023. CLOCKED OUT is the second book in her Josie Posey Mystery Series.

Anna is a former journalist, award-winning advertising copywriter and ad agency owner. She is a member of Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, and the Kansas Authors Club.

Anna is represented by Cindy Bullard, of Birch Literary Agency.

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

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

Website: www.anna-stjohn.com

About CLOCKED OUT

Josie Posey and her posse of Mahjong Mavens are at it again, in this cozy mystery where the retired big city crime reporter turned small town crime solver uncovers another murder in picturesque English Village.

When the clockmaker’s daughter returns home for a visit, reporter Josie Posey is assigned the task of interviewing the talented watch designer. That very afternoon the young woman falls from a ladder while inventorying antique clocks.

At first, Josie is certain the fall was an accident. Everyone loved Ella McGregor Benjamin. But Ella’s deathbed statement is a mysterious riddle that can’t be ignored. With her Old English Sheepdog Moe by her side, and an ever-growing list of suspects, Josie scrambles to identify the killer before anyone else gets hurt.

The local police chief wants Josie to help solve the puzzle, but stay out of his murder case. The editor of The Village Gazette wants an in-depth story for the next edition. And somebody wants Josie to stop asking questions. Deadlines loom.

In this fast-paced rollercoaster ride of a mystery, the clock is ticking as Josie vows to find the killer before time runs out.

#ThisorThatThursday Author Interview with Ruth J. Hartman

I’d like to welcome my friend, the fabulous Ruth J. Hartman, back to the blog for #ThisorThatThursday!

Favorite thing to do when you have free time: Right now, I’m watching Gray’s Anatomy. I didn’t watch it when it was on the first time, and I’m hooked!

The thing you’ll always move to the bottom of your to do list: Anything to do with dusting. I mean, dust bunnies aren’t even cute!

Things you need when you’re in your writing cave: A diet 7UP, chocolate, and a cat asleep on my lap.

Things that distract you from writing: A cat sitting behind me, chewing on my hair!

Things you will run to the store for at midnight: Pizza, chocolate, and chips.

Things you never put on your shopping list: Anything Beet-related.

Something you’re really good at: Making people laugh, even when I’m not trying to be funny.

Something you’re really bad at: Remembering somebody’s name when I’m introducing them to someone else!

Something you wanted to be when you were a kid: Something to do with cats (not sure what!)

Something you do that you never dreamed you’d do: Work in a dental office – I’m a retired hygienist!

Things to say to an author: I love your books! Can’t wait to read the next one!

Things to say to an author if you want to be fictionally killed off in their next book: Do you want to know how many typos I counted in your last book?

Favorite places you’ve been: Alaska (7 times!)

Places you never want to go to again: New Orleans. It has a weird smell.

Favorite things to do: Take a walk with my husband on the trail close to our house.

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

The most exciting thing about your writing life: When I’ve hit the bestseller categories for my mysteries.

The one thing you wish you could do over in your writing life: Not wait until I was 45 to write for publication.

The nicest thing a reader said to you: Your books give me a vacation from my troubles.

The craziest thing a reader said to you: I don’t think you know anything about cats. Why do you even have them in your books?

Best piece of advice you received from another writer: Don’t ever compare yourself to other writers. Everyone has their own path.

Something you would tell a younger you about your writing: Don’t give up just because it’s hard. It will be worth it in the end.

About Ruth:

Ruth J. Hartman spends her days herding cats and her nights spinning mysterious tales. She, her husband, and their cats love to spend time curled up in their recliners watching old Cary Grant movies. Well, the cats sit in the people's recliners. Not that the cats couldn't get their own furniture. They just choose to shed on someone else's.

Ruth, a left-handed, cat-herding, farmhouse-dwelling writer uses her sense of humor as she writes tales of lovable, klutzy women who seem to find trouble without even trying.

Ruth's husband and best friend, Garry, reads her manuscripts, rolls his eyes at her weird story ideas, and loves her despite her insistence all of her books have at least one cat in them. See updates about her cozy mysteries at Ruthjhartman.com.

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