#ThisorThatThursay Interview with Author Donna M. Cramer

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Today, I would like to welcome author, Donna M. Cramer, to the blog for #ThisorThatThursday!

Things you need for your writing sessions: I need coffee, time and a quiet environment.

Things that hamper your writing: Having too many appointments, noise, and self-doubt

Hardest thing about being a writer: It is a solitary activity without a lot of input from others unless you really reach out e.g. writer’s groups, conferences, etc.

The easiest thing about being a writer: having the privilege to express my thoughts and hopefully to help others. When the words flow through my fingertips, there is no better feeling.

Favorite foods: Anything Mexican or Italian

Things that make you want to gag: Not too much. I like food and like to try new foods. Not a fan of liver, though!

Favorite music or song: I’m a big Barry Manilow fan. I tend to really love his lesser-known work such as “All The Time” and “Please Don’t Be Scared.”

Music that drives you crazy: Not a fan of rap especially some of the misogynistic stuff.

Last best thing you ate: Delicious tacos from my favorite restaurant: Sol Toro.

Last thing you regret eating: A cream filled donut – way too sweet.

The last thing you ordered online: 12 small stuffed lions to go with my book series about Lester Lion.

The last thing you regret buying: A sweater ordered online. It looked cute, but when will I learn I need to try clothes on first!

Things you’d walk a mile for: A new book, almost any book, but especially one from my favorite authors such as Jodi Picoult, Lisa Jewell and Liane Moriarty.

Things that make you want to run screaming from the room: Politics especially disrespect directed toward others. We are all human.

Things you always put in your books: Names of people I know.

Things you never put in your books: Actual events that occurred

Things to say to an author: Tell me about your book. I understand the point you were trying to make.

Things to say to an author if you want to be fictionally killed off in their next book: Who helped you write it? Did you write it yourself?

Favorite things to do: Read, followed by writing at a very close second.

Things you’d run through a fire or eat bugs to get out of doing: Go to the doctor, although I do go when I need to!

Best thing you’ve ever done: Pursue my writing, never give up and get published!

Biggest mistake: Doubting myself and listening to others. Writing was never a waste of time because here I am now with two children’s books published and one adult novel. There are more on the way!

The coolest person you’ve ever met: Barry Manilow

The celebrity who didn’t look like he/she did in pictures/video: Rod Stewart much shorter than I thought, much shorter than me.

The nicest thing a reader said to you: Your book made a difference in my life.

The craziest thing a reader said to you: Did you really kidnap a baby? My novel is about a kidnapped boy. It is fiction, not a confession.

About Donna:

Donna M. Cramer is a retired special education teacher who lives in Massachusetts. She worked with young special needs students (preschool – first grade) for over 20 years. She sustained a life-altering brain injury while working at school, which forced her to retire early from teaching. Paul Is Missing is her first adult novel to be published. Donna has loved writing since childhood. Following her brain injury and during a long recovery, she came to realize that hope is so essential even during traumatic situations. Her brand is hope. She is also writing a series of children’s books featuring the character of Lester Lion. She stays busy writing, doing yoga and walking on the beach. She lives with her husband and two Maine Coon cats. Never give up, and always believe in hope!

Let’s Be Social:

Website: http://authordonnamcramer.com

Instagram: @donca4

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/donna.cramer.716

#ThisorThat Interview with Erica Miner

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I’d like to welcome Erica Miner back to the blog for #ThisorThatThursday!

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

Computer, phone, crystals, notepad, pens, highlighter, Bach Remedy Rescue pastilles, water bottle

Things that distract you from writing:

Noise, indoor/outdoor; husband interrupting me when my office door is closed; a sunny day (a rarity in the Pacific Northwest!)

Hardest thing about being a writer:

Getting right down to it in the morning

Easiest thing about being a writer:

Thinking up stories—I’ll never be able to write them all

Favorite snacks:

Trader Joe’s Cassava chips, dried fruits of all kinds, especially mangos and peaches (less like favorites, more like addictions)

Things that make you want to gag:

Beets, lima beans

Something you’re really good at:

Lecturing on writing and music; cooking, when I’m in the mood

Something you’re really bad at:

Giving someone bad news

Something you wanted to be when you were a kid:

A psychotherapist; I thought I could do that AND be a violinist!

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

Write opera mysteries!

Last best thing you ate:

Chocolate chips (sugar free)

Last thing you regret eating:

Chocolate chips (sugar free)

Favorite places you’ve been:

Florence, Italy; all of California (used to live in So Cal); Paris, and all of France;

Japan is especially delicious, in every way

Places you never want to go to again:

Mexico; I got really sick there

Favorite things to do:

Sit out on the deck in warm, sunny weather (priceless when it happens in Seattle)

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

Cleaning oven racks

Most daring thing you’ve ever done:

Traveled through Europe solo (chronicled in my first novel, ‘Travels with my Lovers’)

Something you chickened out from doing: Scuba diving

The most exciting thing about your writing life:

Engaging with readers, both in person and online, and speaking about my books at events

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

Learn the importance of marketing and promotion before I started writing full time

The nicest thing a reader said to you:

“Her scene-setting in the opera world, replete with detestable divas, wannabe stars, and snarky stagehands, makes for a delicious read”

The craziest thing a reader said to you:

“You can’t see the stage from the Met Opera pit.” (Nonsense. Of course you can. I watched the stage for 21 years from my position as a first violinist. Has this reader ever sat there and looked??)

Recommendations for curing writer’s block: Journaling. Get those thoughts out of your head and onto the page.

Things you do to avoid writing: Surf through Facebook; but it’s also a great way to network

About Erica:

Award-winning Seattle-based author, lecturer, screenwriter and arts journalist Erica Miner believes opera theatres are perfect places for creating fictional mischief! Drawing on her 21 years as a violinist

at the famed Metropolitan Opera, Erica balances her reviews and interviews of real-world musical artists with fanciful plot fabrications that reveal the dark side of the fascinating world of opera, guiding readers through a dramatized version of the opera world in her Julia Kogan Opera Mystery series.

Erica’s young violinist sleuth, Julia Kogan, investigates high-profile murder and mayhem behind the Met’s “Golden Curtain” in Book 1, Aria for Murder (2022), finalist in the 2023 Eric Hoffer Book Awards and Chanticleer Independent Book Awards. In Book 2, Prelude to Murder (2023) (‘A skillfully written whodunit of operatic proportions’—Kirkus Reviews https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/erica-miner/prelude-to-murder/, Distinguished Favorite, 2024 NYC Big Book Awards, further operatic chaos and ghostly apparitions plague Julia at the Santa Fe Opera. In Overture to Murder, releasing in Oct. 2024, Julia finds herself in jeopardy once again at the 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 Writer’s Digest, Santa Fe, and WinFemme competitions. When she isn't plumbing the depths of opera houses for murderous mayhem, Erica frequently contributes reviews and interviews for the well-known arts websites www.BroadwayWorld.com, www.bachtrack.com, and www.LAOpus.com.

 Let’s Be Social:

Website: https://www.ericaminer.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/erica.miner1             

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

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/emwriter3/


#ThisorThatThursday Interview with donalee Moulton

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I’d like to welcome donalee Moulton to the blog for #ThisorThatThursday!

Things you never want to run out of: Chocolate, sweatpants, downward dogs

Things you wish you’d never bought: White chocolate, stilettos, a gym membership

Hardest thing about being a writer: Writing

Easiest thing about being a writer: Talking about writing with other writers

Favorite foods: Miso chicken, mashed potatoes with gravy, baked gnocchi with Italian sausage

Things that make you want to gag: Snails (even if you call it “escargot”), lima beans, coconut

Favorite music or song: I like music I can move to or with lyrics that move me

Music that drives you crazy: Opera (sadly)

Last best thing you ate: Cider doughnuts

Last thing you regret eating: Some waxy wrap thing with shredded carrots

The last thing you ordered online: A catio for Wiley Bob so he can safely go out in the sunshine

The last thing you regret buying: A wool winter coat that’s itchy to look at and itchy to wear

Things you always put in your books: Humor

Things you never put in your books: Blood, guts, gore (at least so far)

Favorite places you’ve been: Sable Island, Thailand, Sweden

Places you never want to go to again: Retreats with yurts

Favorite books (or genre): Charlotte’s Web, Where the Crawdads Sing, The Marriages Between Zones Three, Four, and Five

Books you wouldn’t buy: Horror

Best thing you’ve ever done: Written books and stories and poems and articles

Biggest mistake: Going to the opera ties with joining a gym

The nicest thing a reader said to you: One reader posted a picture of themselves lounging in the sun reading Hung Out to Die. They captioned it “Perfect afternoon.”

The craziest thing a reader said to you: Some readers see sexual tension between two characters in Hung Out to Die. I just don’t see it.

Some real-life story that made it to one of your books: I can get up off the floor without using my hands. So can one of my characters.

Something in your story that readers think is about you, but it’s not: Love of coffee. I don’t drink caffeine.

About donalee:

donalee Moulton’s first mystery book Hung out to Die was published in 2023. A historical mystery, Conflagration!, was published in 2024. It won the 2024 Daphne du Maurier Award for Excellence in Mystery/Suspense (Historical Fiction).

A short story “Swan Song” was one of 21 selected for publication in Cold Canadian Crime. It was shortlisted for an Award of Excellence. Other short stories have been published recently in After Dinner Conversation, The Antigonish Review, and Queen’s Quarterly. donalee’s short story “Troubled Water” was shortlisted for a 2024 Derringer Award and a 2024 Award of Excellence from the Crime Writers of Canada. 

donalee is an award-winning freelance journalist. She has written articles for print and online publications across North America including The Globe and Mail, Chatelaine, Lawyer’s Daily, National Post, and Canadian Business.

As well, donalee is the author of The Thong Principle: Saying What You Mean and Meaning What You Say and co-authored the book, Celebrity Court Cases: Trials of the Rich and Famous.

Let’s Be Social:

Website: http://donaleemoulton.com

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

LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/donaleemoulton/

Twitter: @donaleeMoulton

Instagram: donaleemoulton


#ThisorThatThursday Author Interview with Skye Alexander

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I’d like to welcome Skye Alexander to the blog for #ThisorThatThursday!

Favorite things to do when you have free time: Eat lunch or drink wine with friends, take a walk in the countryside, go to art galleries, and of course read.

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

Hardest thing about being a writer: Spending so much time alone, but it’s a necessary evil in this job.

Easiest thing about being a writer: I know some writers don’t like doing research, but I enjoy it. I learn so much and get wonderful ideas that I can incorporate into my stories. For example, while researching the sixth book in my Lizzie Crane series, I learned about “poison damsels,” usually slave girls who from infancy were fed minute doses of poison so that they built up an immunity to it. However, the poison in their bodies made them dangerous to men who had sex with them, so they were used by powerful men in ancient India and parts of Europe as human weapons to assassinate their owners’ enemies. Fascinating, right?

Something you’re really good at: Astrology and tarot. I’ve been an astrologer for fifty years––I’ve even helped police in seven states solve crimes using horary astrology––and I’ve been a tarot reader and artist for twenty-five years. In several of my books I use tarot readings to plant clues and foreshadow coming events.

Something you’re really bad at: Handling my finances. I’ve never even balanced my checkbook.

Something you wanted to be when you were a kid: Even before I started school, I knew I wanted to be an artist and writer. I began telling stories before I could actually read or write, and I still have drawings I did when I was three that are easily recognizable as various kinds of animals. Fortunately, I’ve been able to spend my life doing what I always wanted to do and to make a good living at it. I’m very grateful.

Something you do that you never dreamed you’d do: Live on a cattle ranch in Texas, which I’ve done for the last nineteen years.

Something you wish you could do: Sing and play a variety of musical instruments. I can’t carry a tune, and although I tried piano, guitar, violin, flute, and harmonica none of them took. (I’m not bad on an African djembe, though.) My protagonist Lizzie Crane, a soprano in a NYC jazz band during the 1920s called The Troubadours, fulfills that role for me.

Something you wish you’d never learned to do: Actually, I can’t think of anything I wish I’d never learned to do, only things I wish I’d learned to do better. My quest for knowledge has led me in all sorts of directions, from art and writing to renovating antique houses to metaphysical and spiritual practices. Every day I learn something, and I hope to keep on learning for the rest of my life.

Favorite places you’ve been: New England, where I lived for 31 years. Old England, especially Glastonbury and Stonehenge. Ireland and Scotland, most of all the Isle of Skye for which I’m named. Barcelona, Rome, Florence, the Greek Isles. New Orleans.

Places you never want to go to again: New York’s subways. Mississippi in the summertime. Any NASCAR race.

Most daring thing you’ve ever done: Hitchhiked around Europe for six months when I was twenty-one.

Something you chickened out from doing: Skydiving.

The most magical thing that happened to you: I liked your questions about the funniest thing and the most embarrassing thing that happened to me and tried to answer them, but nothing very funny or embarrassing has happened to me. So, I decided instead to share one of the most magical/romantic things that happened to me and, additionally, one of the scariest. First the most magical: I was hitchhiking through Yugoslavia in 1971, and a young man picked me up. When I told him I was on my way to Greece, he said he had a friend staying on the island of Mykonos. He sketched a map on the back of an envelope and wrote down his friend’s name.

A few weeks later after a series of synchronicity events, I ended up in Mykonos and found the envelope at the bottom of my backpack. Following the hand-drawn map, I walked four miles from the port along a dirt path where (at that time) no cars drove and there was no electricity. The first person I met was the young man’s friend, a white guy who’d been born in South Africa in the late 1940s. He left when he was eighteen due to the racial situation there and walked all the way through the continent. He’d been traveling the world for seven years when I met him, with only the possessions that he could carry on his back. I lived with him for four magical days in a cave overlooking the Agean Sea, before he journeyed on. It was the happiest time of my life.

One of the scariest things that happened to you: In 2005, I moved from the Boston area to live on a cattle ranch in the heart of Texas. Being a city girl, I didn’t know diddly about bulls. One afternoon while walking in a pasture the size of five football fields, two longhorns charged me across that vast, open space. If you’ve never seen these monsters, they have horns longer than my arms and they weigh about 2,000 pounds. Plus, they’re cantankerous and unpredictable.

With no place to run, no place to hide, no cellphone reception, and no other people anywhere, all I could do was yell and wave my arms at the beasts, trying to scare them away. The two longhorns stopped a couple feet in front of me, eyeing me curiously. Praying as hard as I could, I held out my hands and placed a palm on the forehead of each bull. I hadn’t a clue how I’d extricate myself from this situation––maybe I wouldn’t. The bulls started knocking at my arms with their horns and I realized that even if they didn’t mean any harm, they could gore me accidentally. I don’t know how long I stood there like that before I saw an old pickup truck driving across the field. I waved and called out to the driver, who stopped long enough for me to jump into the back of the truck. That night, I went out to dinner and ate steak.

Best piece of advice you received from another writer: Don’t use variations of the verb “to be” more than a few times per chapter, and never start a sentence with “There was” unless somebody’s holding a gun to your head. Her advice alerted me to the importance of active verbs and how they enliven my prose. Something you would tell a younger you about your writing: The writing life isn’t easy and the really good, successful writers work very hard at it. Believe in yourself and don’t give up.

Recommendations for curing writer’s block: When I get stuck, I usually do research. Because I write historical mysteries, I might Google “what happened” on a particular date, which sometimes yields interesting info. I did this when writing the fifth book in my Lizzie Crane series When the Blues Come Calling (scheduled for 8/25 release) to see what happened in Greenwich Village, NY (where my protagonist lives) on June 11, 1926. I discovered that a bohemian tearoom in the Village was raided that night. Its Jewish proprietor, who went by the name Eve Adams, was arrested for having written a book titled Lesbian Love. The police imprisoned her in a workhouse and authorities eventually deported her to Poland where she died in a concentration camp. Eve’s story became part of my book.

About Skye:

Skye Alexander is the author of nearly 50 fiction and nonfiction books. Her stories have appeared in anthologies internationally, and her work has been translated into fifteen languages. In 2003, she cofounded Level Best Books with fellow crime writers Kate Flora and Susan Oleksiw. So far her Lizzie Crane mystery series includes four traditional historical novels set in the Jazz Age: Never Try to Catch a Falling Knife, What the Walls Know, The Goddess of Shipwrecked Sailors, and Running in the Shadows. After living in Massachusetts for thirty-one years, Skye now makes her home in Texas.

Let’s Be Social:

https://www.facebook.com/skye.alexander.92

https://skyealexander.com

#ThisorThatThursday Author Interview with Alison McBain

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I’d like to welcome Alison McBain to the blog for #ThisorThatThursday!

A few of your favorite things: Cats, chocolate, coffee, comedy… I guess pretty much everything that starts with the letter “C.”

Things you need to throw out: All those clothes I wore when I was half the age I am now and that I’ll probably never wear again. But I save them just in case…

Things you need for your writing sessions: Almost nothing. I can write with paper and pen or on my laptop or perhaps even lipstick on a cocktail napkin—any medium and any place will do.

Things that hamper your writing: Noise! If my kids are running around like a herd of stampeding elephants, I find it hard to concentrate. I have a huge box of earplugs to help.

Hardest thing about being a writer: Procrastination gets me every time. If it’s what I’m SUPPOSED to be doing, it’s the last thing I often want to do.

Easiest thing about being a writer: Writing. I love to write and could do it till the cows came home.

Favorite music or song: “I Feel Fine” by The Beatles is my absolute favorite, but anything of that era—Simon & Garfunkel, Otis Redding, Elvis Presley, Aretha Franklin… they’re fabulous.

Music that drives you crazy: I’m not a big fan of country. It doesn’t drive me crazy, and there are some individual songs that I enjoy, but overall it’s not my jam.

Favorite beverage: Coffee. Coffee. Oh, yeah, and coffee.

Something that gives you a sour face: It’ll sound crazy, but plain water. It always tastes bitter/minerally to me.

Things you’d walk a mile for: My kids. No matter what, I’m always there for them.

Things that make you want to run screaming from the room: My kids. And that contradiction, folks, is one of the many joys of parenting.

Things you always put in your books: Diversity. As a bi-racial author, I’m committed to expanding diverse books and voices, starting with my own.

Things you never put in your books: Poor research. I’m a stickler for details, so I always try to make sure everything I put into my writing (as far as I know) is accurate.

Things to say to an author: I just bought your new book and can’t wait to read it! I’ve loved everything else you’ve ever written.

Things to say to an author if you want to be fictionally killed off in their next book: Your newest book sucks and here are all the reasons why…

Favorite things to do: Play board games or do anything creative (draw, paint, sew, write, etc.).

Things you’d run through a fire or eat bugs to get out of doing: Eating bugs, actually. That’s a huge NO from me.

Most daring thing you’ve ever done: Have kids. It’s an adventure every day!

Something you chickened out from doing: Everything else. I’m pretty risk-adverse.

The nicest thing a reader said to you: That they were only going to read a couple chapters of my book but ended up staying up all night to finish it—they couldn’t put it down!

The craziest thing a reader said to you: That they didn’t like the genre that I wrote but decided to read my book anyway—and found out that they still didn’t like the genre after reading my book. It was baffling to me that they knew they hated a genre and then chose to read it anyway. No, my writing won’t make you love something you really hate. It would be nice if it did, but I don’t have that superpower.

Besides writing, what’s the most creative thing you’ve done: I draw a webcomic occasionally called Toddler Times. It’s loosely based on the more ridiculous aspects of parenting I’ve discovered over the years.

A project that didn’t quite turn out the way you planned it: EVERY project, LOL. There’s always something that I don’t anticipate, no matter how well I plan for it.

About Alison:

Alison McBain’s novels are the recipients of over 13 awards, including the Foreword INDIES. Her latest novella Dual was longlisted for the 3-Day Novel Contest. When not writing for herself, she’s a ghostwriter who has penned over two dozen books for clients, as well as an award-winning editor who has worked with both celebrity and NY Times-bestselling authors. She’s currently pursuing a project called “Author Versus AI,” where she’s writing a book a week over the course of a year, using NO AI at all (52 books total). When not writing, Ms. McBain is associate editor for the magazine ScribesMICRO and draws all over the walls of her house with the enthusiastic help of her kids. She lives in Alberta, Canada.

Let’s Be Social:

Author Versus AI website: http://www.authorversusai.com/contact.html

Author website: https://www.alisonmcbain.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alison.mcbain.9

Twitter: https://x.com/AlisonMcBain

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

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alison-mcbain-0a026a266/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCm9PMu4p4urp_un0oy1vroQ

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@1authorversusai

Medium: https://medium.com/@amcbain

#ThisorThatThursday Author Interview with Emil Rem

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I’d like to welcome Emil Rem to the blog for #ThisorThatThursday!

Things I never want to run out of: Books and a radio.

Things I wish I’d never bought: Clay Greek urns that almost melted and discoloured when used as a vase.

A few of my favourite things: A type-written letter from my father- the only one I have.

A beige headband with black lettered message : Love from Baguio.

Things I need to throw away: All my accounting records.

Things I need for writing sessions: Peace and quiet.

Things that hamper my writing sessions: Too many ideas.

Hardest thing about being a writer: Believing in myself and believing I have something worthwhile to communicate.

Easiest thing about being a writer: Writing as a drug I cannot do without.

Words that describe me: Genius, funny, entertaining.

Words that describe me, but wish they didn’t: (as an accountant) Can’t add up. Talks too much. Maverick.

Something I’m good at: Captivating and charming people.

Something I’m really bad at: Accounting.

Things I always put in my books: Personal anecdotes and reflections.

Things I never put in my books: Boring stuff.

Favourite places I’ve been to: Cyprus, Zanzibar, Bahamas. (Notice, all islands in the sun.)

Places you never want to go again: New York in winter; Dar-es-Salaam,Tanzania.

Favourite books: The Mystery of the Blue Train by Agatha Christie;

The Honourable Schoolboy - John Le Carre; Thank You Jeeves-P.G> Wodehouse.

Books I wouldn’t buy: Self-help books.

Best things I’ve ever done: Write. Travel.

Biggest mistake: Becoming an accountant.

The nicest thing a reader said to me: I like your book so much, I’m going to buy a 100 copies to give to my family and friends for Christmas (how I wish).

The craziest thing a reader said to you: Panning my book, telling me to retire before I published it. THEN, spending 30 minutes discussing a character in my book he didn’t like…SHEESH.

About Emil:

Emil Rem—an eccentric accountant, has become a writer of eccentric characters in exotic locales—using his stories to take us on a trip into his fascinating twisted world. Born to a close-knit, Muslim, East Indian family in Dar-es-Salam in the 50’s, he then moved to Maidenhead, England at the age of five. The next twenty years were spent shuttling between England and East Africa—attending Christian church wearing a St. Christopher’s Cross one minute, to wearing a green armband at Muslim religious classes in Africa the next. These days, Emil and his wife (originally from the Philippines) live in Calgary, Canada. They have two sons.

More information can be found at:  Meet Emil Rem | Author

#ThisorThatThursday Author Interview with Steffanie Costigan

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I’d like to welcome Steffanie Costigan to the blog for #ThisorThatThursday!

Hardest thing about being a writer: For myself the hardest thing about being a writer is my struggle with my learning disability having dyslexia makes me take longer than the normal writer luckily, I have tools to help me work with my dyslexia.

Easiest thing about being a writer: Coming up with stories; I am really an outside of the box thinker and it helps me develop unique ideas and takes on stories.

Things you need for your writing sessions: My phone and other devices that help me write despite my dyslexia. Music is another thing I find helpful and for my own comfort a nice warm drink next to me.

Things that hamper your writing: Hehe well I am a mother of four kids ages ranging from eight to three months; so, as you can imagine at times it’s not easy.

Things you always put in your books: I enjoy writing mainly in first person perspective. You will notice that style in a lot of my books.

Things you never put in your books: Steamy romance hehe, not my style.

Things to say to an author: Tell me about your book, or how did you come up with such and such for your book?

Things to say to an author if you want to be fictionally killed off in their next book: I have never heard of your book, just joking hehe. “There is not enough steamy romance in your book.” Not all books are steamy romance just a heads up to the steamy romance lovers. Just because characters fall in love doesn’t mean there has to be steamy romance.

Favorite places you’ve been: Australia Adelaide! Met my husband there.

Places you never want to go to again: Hehe Alberta Canada during a blizzard.

Favorite books (or genre): I like fantasy reads, history, murder mystery, utopian. But some books that I have read as a kid have still stayed close to my heart such as Where the Red Fern Grows, The Whipping Boy, Last Unicorn, Tuck Everlasting. I really liked the Phantom of the Opera as a teenager.

Books you wouldn’t buy: Mommy porn books hehe; not my jam.

Favorite things to do: Write Hehe, I enjoy painting, spending time with my family.

Things you’d run through a fire or eat bugs to get out of doing: Hehe nothing, I would not run through a fire or eat bugs to avoid doing anything. I just simply wouldn’t do it. But somethings I don’t enjoy doing is the never ending dishes they are despicable.

Best thing you’ve ever done: I have accomplished a lot but for me the best thing I feel I did was marry my husband.

Biggest mistake: Not finishing high school. After high school education cost a lot of money, so I invested a lot for up grading in post-secondary. Wish I was able to finish in high school but unfortunately my circumstances made it difficult for me.

Most daring thing you’ve ever done: When I was a young girl, I was such a risk taker. Being around 18 at the time I free climbed up this mountain with no climbing gear and one of the rocks I stepped off of collapsed just as I stepped off of it near the top. Definitely not recommended.

Something you chickened out from doing: It’s funny cause I was a crazy risk taker as a teen to young adult. After having my first child something just clicked in me, and I don’t know why but I became so scared and cautious. So going to this place full of rides I chickened out of going on this roller coaster with my husband, and I would not let him go on it either for fear the roller coaster would crash and everyone die. But in my defense that roller coaster does have a reputation, and it was shut down for years due to the roller coaster going off the track and everyone on it dying. I believe it happened in the 1970s or 80s and it was at West Edmonton Mall in Galaxy Land.

The nicest thing a reader said to you: Something that really touch me was a reader that was recovering from surgery in the hospital shared with me despite the pain they were in they found hope from reading my book Land of the Dragon. It really touched my heart.

The craziest thing a reader said to you: Oh gosh, I can’t go into details fully because of how messed up the email was but basically a gross man making sexual comments towards me. He got blocked really fast.

Besides writing, what’s the most creative thing you’ve done: I am an artist, so I really enjoy painting and drawing. I also am involved in theater mainly directing and play writing.

A project that didn’t quite turn out the way you planned it:

Some real-life story that made it to one of your books: Well, this is a bit graphic but it’s from a true story. In my book Land of the Dragon there is a scene that my main protagonist female character Eleanor being in the setting of Nazi Germany 1940s comes across some children throwing pebbles into the open mouth of a corpse. This is a true story growing up my next-door neighbors were immigrant from Germany and lived in their youth during World War II in Germany and they told me how desensitized the kids were and how normal it was to see kids poking or throwing rocks into the open mouth of a dead corpse. So that was something I added into my book to really pain the scene of how awful that time was.

Something in your story that readers think is about you, but it’s not: I don’t think I have had someone think a story was related to myself yet.

About Steffanie:

Steffanie Costigan holds a strong passion for writing despite her severe disability with dyslexia. She has previously released a historic fantasy Land of the Dragon an award-winning novel, and children’s book “A Stony Gaze,” and her new children’s book coming out in December Crazy Potatoes. She hopes to release many more books in the future.

She resides in Canada, where she was born and raised with her husband and four children. Steffanie is a journalist and hopes to continue her passion for writing books and her dream of continuing as a journalist. Steffanie studied creative writing and took her program in digital communications and media at Lethbridge Polytechnic.

She hopes her writing will resonate with people and inspire those that read her writings. Her passion for writing started at the young age of three years old; She has written a couple of plays. Steffanie also wrote “A Stony Gaze” in a play format and had the opportunity to direct it in 2021.

#ThisorThatThursday Author Interview with Mary Dutta

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I’d like to welcome the amazing Mary Dutta to the blog for #ThisorThatThursday.

Things you never want to run out of: coffee and half-and-half

Things you wish you’d never bought: The air fryer collecting dust in the closet

Hardest thing about being a writer: Getting plot twists right

Easiest thing about being a writer: Brainstorming the start of a new story

A few of your favorite things: Mechanical pencils, yellow legal pads

Things you need to throw out: All the annual planners I never used

Favorite foods: Any variation on pork and potatoes

Things that make you want to gag: oysters

Something you’re really good at: Teaching

Something you’re really bad at: Directions

Favorite music or song: Anything I can sing along to

Music that drives you crazy: Anything electronic

Favorite smell: Lilacs

Something that makes you hold your nose: Roses

Things you always put in your books: Humor

Things you never put in your books: intense violence

Favorite books (or genre): Nowadays, mysteries. Back in the day, Victorian novels

Books you wouldn’t buy: Horror or anything graphically violent

Favorite things to do: Reading, cooking, hanging out with the people I love

Things you’d run through a fire or eat bugs to get out of doing: Camping (which I imagine includes running through a fire and eating bugs)

Best thing you’ve ever done: Having my kids

Biggest mistake: Waiting too long to start writing fiction

Besides writing, what’s the most creative thing you’ve done: Designed classes so I get to teach on cool things like the Marvel Cinematic Universe

A project that didn’t quite turn out the way you planned it: The novel that lives in a drawer

About Mary:

Mary Dutta is the winner of the New England Crime Bake Al Blanchard Award for her short story “The Wonderworker,” which appears in Masthead: Best New England Crime Stories. Her work can also be found in numerous anthologies including the Anthony-nominated Land of 10,000 Thrills: Bouchercon Anthology 2022. She is a member of Sisters in Crime and the Short Mystery Fiction Society. She lives outside of Birmingham, Alabama (the Magic City) and teaches at The University of Alabama at Birmingham. Visit her at marydutta.com and enjoy her blog at Writers Who Kill.