#WriterWednesday Interview with Eric Raglin

I’d like to welcome Eric Raglin to the blog for #WriterWednesday holiday edition!

Favorite treat: Ginger cookies, especially this time of year. Such a cozy treat!

A treat that makes you gag: Even before I became a vegetarian, I was grossed out by pork rinds.

Something crazy you did on vacation: Climbed a fourteener in Colorado. It was brutal but 100% worth it.

Something you’d never do again on vacation: The first time I visited Sweden, I forgot to book a place to stay for my last night in Stockholm. I scrambled to find a new one as the sun was going down. I’d like to never do that again.

Best vacation memory: Jumping into the waves at Secret Beach in Hawaii. Absolute magic.

A vacation disaster that you’d rather forget: Getting sick on a cruise ship from Sweden to Finland with an annoying cabinmate. It was awful.

Most favorite place to write/edit: I love writing in a cozy coffee shop.

The worst place to try to write because of all the distractions: I hate writing when someone has a TV on loud. It’s impossible to focus.

The thing you like most about being a writer: Making friends and sharing stories with other morbid, creative weirdos.

The thing you like least about being a writer: Marketing. I’ve never enjoyed selling things.

The thing that you will most remember about your writing life: As cheesy as it sounds, the friends I met along the way. Truly lovely people!

Something in your writing life that you wish you could do over: I wish I had never worked with presses that don’t pay.

Most daring thing you’ve ever done: Quit my job with no other job lined up. That might sound basic, but it was terrifying.

Something you chickened out from doing: I chickened out of snorkeling the second I saw a shark. Didn’t feel like getting eaten that day!

The funniest thing to happen to you: I have a thousand hilarious stories from when I was a teacher. One that sticks out is the time a ninth grader (yes, ninth grader) attempted to shotgun an energy drink in my class and wound up spraying half of it on my face. Annoying in the moment, but so funny in retrospect. I hope that kid is doing okay now.

The most embarrassing thing to happen to you: When I was a high school senior, I read a super raunchy poem I’d written out loud to the class, and I still look back on it with horror. What was I thinking?!

The nicest thing a reader said to you: A reader told me she’d never look at ticks the same after reading my story “A Most Bulbous Congregation.” I’m proud of that one.

The craziest thing a reader said to you: I don’t tend to read reviews, but I’m sure some wild comment is lurking out there somewhere. I’ll try my best not to discover it.

The best job you ever had: Teaching high school English. I got to work with so many great students. Plus, I got to teach Horror Lit and Creative Writing—an absolute dream.

The worst job you ever had: Detasseling corn. Most Nebraskan teenagers do it at some point. Waking up at 4 a.m., walking through wet fields, and getting corn rash, all for a minimum wage paycheck.

About Eric:

Here is my author bio: Eric Raglin (he/him) is a Nebraskan horror/Weird fiction writer and the editor for Cursed Morsels Press. He frequently writes about queer issues, the terrors of capitalism, and body horror. His debut short story collection is Nightmare Yearnings and his second collection Extinction Hymns will come out December 2022 through Brigids Gate Press. He is the editor of Shredded: A Sports and Fitness Body Horror Anthology and Antifa Splatterpunk.

Let’s Be Social:

Find him at ericraglin.com or on Twitter @ericraglin1992.

#WriterWednesday Interview with Joyce Woollcott

I’d like to welcome Joyce Woollcott to the blog for #WriterWednesday.

A few of your favorite traditions: I usually like to make a Christmas Eve supper with special treats. Smoked salmon, nice cheeses and tasty hors d'oeuvres, and champagne of course!

Something holiday-related that you’ll never do again: Shop at Ikea on Christmas Eve.

Favorite holiday song: I love Silent Night, sung by King’s College Chapel choir.

Holiday song that always gets stuck in your head for the wrong reason: Feliz Navidad.

Favorite holiday treat: (Not traditional) but Banoffee Pie and Sticky Toffee Pudding.

A holiday treat that makes you gag: Royal icing and Christmas cake in general, always too sweet and dense for me.…

Favorite holiday show or movie: A Christmas Story.

A holiday show or movie that you’ve seen too much: Wizard of Oz.

Favorite holiday beverage: Wine 

A drink that gives you a sour face: I don’t like sweet colas, Dr. Pepper, and pop like that. And sherry is too sweet for me.

Favorite holiday smell: Oh, roast beef! And Turkey of course. Although I find turkey can be dry sometimes.

Something that makes you hold your nose: The smell of burning just before Christmas dinner––and we won’t go into that!

Favorite holiday candy: Always chocolate, I know it’s sweet…

A holiday candy that gives you a pickle face: Those holiday tray bakes with cherries and icing and marshmallows and cool whip.

Best holiday memory: Waking up to a winter wonderland of snow on Christmas morning. It had snowed late on Christmas Eve.

Something you’d rather forget: Going to a friend’s house for Christmas long ago. When we arrived, there was no smell of cooking. We sat and chatted and finally her mum disappeared to the kitchen. Half an hour later she served dinner. She had cooked the turkey the night before to save time and all the veggies too. And had reheated everything… Oh dear.

Best holiday gift ever: When I was a young girl in the N. Ireland my parents always bought me lots of books for Christmas, I loved Enid Blyton. The Famous Five and the Secret Seven. When I was very young, I used to get the Rupert The Bear Annual, and the Judy and the Bunty! Girl’s annuals. I loved them.

Something you wished for but never received: A dog!

Best holiday gift you gave to someone: A lovely, dove grey linen dressing gown.

A gift that needs regifting: A wine cork remover the size of an engine block.

A tradition you share with others: On Christmas Eve, the whole family listen to Dylan Thomas read a Child’s Christmas in Wales.

A tradition that can be retired: Cooking Christmas dinner for the whole family by myself.

Best thing you ever cooked/baked for the holidays: A big prime rib with all the trimmings, gravy, Yorkshires, roast potatoes, gravy–– and a breast of turkey, with everything, cranberry sauce, gravy, sprouts and stuffing.

Your worst holiday kitchen disaster: The kitchen after that meal…

Favorite place you spent the holidays: At home.

The worst place to spend the holidays: On holiday.

About Joyce:

J. WOOLLCOTT

J. Woollcott is a Canadian writer born in Northern Ireland. She is a graduate of the Humber School for Writers in Toronto. A Nice Place to Die won the RWA Unpublished Mystery/Suspense Daphne du Maurier Award in 2019 in New York, was long-listed in 2019 and 2020 in the Crime Writers of Canada Awards of Excellence and was short-listed in 2021. A Nice Place To Die is published by Level Best Books.

She is a member of Crime Writers of Canada, Sisters in Crime, International Thriller Writers, and the Suncoast Writer’s Guild.

Let’s Be Social:

Website

Twitter: @JoyceWoollcott

A NICE PLACE TO DIE

The body of a young woman is found by a river outside Belfast and Detective Sergeant Ryan McBride makes a heart-wrenching discovery at the scene, a discovery he chooses to hide even though it could cost him the investigation – and his career.

The victim was a loner but well-liked. Why would someone want to harm her? And is her murder connected to a rapist who’s stalking the local pubs? As Ryan untangles a web of deception and lies, his suspects die one by one, leading him to a dangerous family secret and a murderer who will stop at nothing to keep it.

And still he harbors his secret ...

Book and Ebook available on Amazon and to order from most major booksellers and sites.

See my website for quick links.

BLOOD RELATIONS

Due for release August 2023

Retired Chief Inspector Patrick Mullan is found brutally murdered in his bed. Detective Sergeant Ryan McBride and his partner DS Billy Lamont are called to his desolate country home to investigate. In their inquiry, they discover a man whose career was overshadowed by violence and corruption. Is the killer someone from Mullan’s past, or his present? And who hated the man enough to kill him twice?

#WriterWednesday Interview with Freddy Cruz

I’d like to welcome Freddy Cruz to the blog for #WriterWednesday!

A few of your favorite things: Good running shoes, books, and soap that smells like eucalyptus.

Things you need to throw out: Junk mail, mismatched socks, the nearly empty milk carton in the back of the fridge.

Things you need for your writing sessions: Me, a pen, and a notebook.

Things that hamper your writing: Imposter syndrome, the doorbell, and my dog’s incessant barking at whoever rings the doorbell.

Things you love about writing: Playing with imaginary friends and enemies.

Things you hate about writing: Imposter syndrome.

Favorite foods: Cranberry-orange scones, Power Crunch bars, stinky cheese.

Things that make you want to gag: Halitosis, tofu, complaining.

Favorite music or song: Anything by Lana del Rey (aka Lana del SLAY, aka The QUEEN)

Music that drives you crazy: Good crazy? Lana del Rey. Bad crazy? Death metal.

Favorite beverage: Coffee.

Something that gives you a sour face: Pickles, but I love them.

Something you wish you could do: Write 10,000 words a day.

Something you wish you’d never learned to do: Deep fry chicken.

Things you always put in your books: Complicated people, unsavory people who think they’re doing the right thing.

Things you never put in your books: Invincible protagonists who do nothing wrong.

Favorite places you’ve been: Santa Rosa Beach, Florida, San Diego, California, DC, NYC.

Places you never want to go to again: New Orleans. But I’d go again if you were to give me a large sum of money and armed security (yes, I had a bad experience).

Favorite books (or genre): Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk, The Alchemist by Paulo Coehlo, The Gulag Archipelago by Alexandr Solzhenitsyn, The Laws of Human Nature by Robert Greene.

Books you wouldn’t buy: Anything romance.

Favorite things to do: Talking to people, running, reading.

Things you’d run through a fire or eat bugs to get out of doing: Laundry, kettle bell swings.

The coolest person you’ve ever met: Former Navy SEAL/author Jack Carr.

The celebrity who didn’t look like he/she did in pictures/video: JLo (pics don’t do her justice). And yes, she was nice.

The nicest thing a reader said to you: A reader said one of my books was “like 1984 on steroids.”

The craziest thing a reader said to you: Quite a few seem to think my second book is an autobiography. It’s not. But it IS based on actual events.

About Freddy:

The Greater Houston area has heard Freddy Cruz’s voice for more than seventeen thousand hours across three decades.

In 2022, he launched his own media company, Freddy Cruz Creative Works, and is the host of Freddy’s Huge ASK Podcast.

When he's not in the lab writing or creating auditory satisfaction, you can find him nose deep in a book or snuggling with his dog Sparrow.

Let’s Be Social:

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#WriterWednesday Interview with Liz Boeger

I’d like to welcome the fabulous Liz Boeger to the blog for #WriterWednesday.

A few of your favorite fall traditions: Wearing long sleeves for a day or two when a Florida cold front swings through. We don’t put on the closed-toed shoes until winter.

Something autumn-related that you’ll never do again: Make sand angels on the beach. Not because its not fun, but the shells can be a little sharp.

Favorite fall treat: Humongous chocolate and peanut covered caramel apples-no sharing.

A fall treat that makes you gag: Circus Peanuts candy—those orange marshmallow things.

Favorite autumn beverage: Mulled wine by the fake fire on the big screen television.

A drink that gives you a sour face: Pour quality orange juice with pits.

Favorite fall smell: Cinnamon, ginger, allspice, and all related baking spices

Something that makes you hold your nose: That sweaty odor from wearing a plastic face mask on Halloween when you were a kid.

A tradition you share with others: I always bring my fall crafts to show with my students and to decorate the classroom. They love the tabletop quilts (Halloween and Thanksgiving), fabric pumpkins and decorated basket. I used them this year in science to teach the concept of “transformation" when we studied energy.

A tradition that can be retired: Cooking the BIG Thanksgiving dinner. Too much work and too many calories. We can still get together and enjoy family and friends without the sweat and mound of dirty dishes.

Best thing you ever cooked/baked in autumn: I hacked store bought sugar cookies into Ginger Snaps by adding fall spices and minced up crystallized ginger. Yum! They are a quick stand in for my sister’s famous Ginger Snap cookies, which is a rare treat.

Your worst kitchen disaster: Probably the chocolate chip cookies with too many chips that turned into brick-like discs.

Favorite place you spent a fall day: Outside with clear blue skies a slight breeze and coolish 60-70 degrees at a pumpkin patch and farm when my sone was a toddler.

The worst place to spend a fall day: Stuck inside grading papers, which I really need to do today.

Your best Halloween costume: An octopus I made for a young friend. She was the star of her school show.

A Halloween costume that wasn’t quite what you imagined: The Star Wars inspired alien get up I wore to my high school job at a local department store. I looked more like a space janitor with a unibrow.

Favorite pumpkin spice item: Hands down--old school Pumpkin Pie

Something that should never be pumpkin-spiced flavored: Key Lime Pie

Elementary principal Ana Callahan knows a thing or two about flipping failing schools, but she’s discovered the learning curve on solving murders is steep.

Now in the second year of her school rescue, in Moccasin Cove on Florida’s Gulf coast, Ana is on the verge of winning a pivotal grant award. But her grand plan hits a snag after a teacher is murdered and the crime is pinned on a runaway teenager Ana mentored. The story goes viral. Ana’s campus is besieged by the media, angry parents, and complex questions about the dead teacher’s past. Worse, the myopic rookie detective assigned to the case has her sights set on all the wrong suspects.

While grieving the teacher’s death, Ana starts her own investigation, but her discovery of a body on the beach pins a bullseye on Ana’s back. In her quest to solve two murders, locate the missing teen, and salvage the grant win, Ana unwittingly unleashes a riptide of childhood secrets that force her to learn a hard lesson...

It takes a village to raise a child, but it may also take your life.

2021 Finalist: Daphne Du Maurier Award for Excellence in Mystery/Suspense

2015 Finalist: Royal Palm Literary Award, Florida Writers Association

About Liz:

Tampa native, Liz Boeger, writes the award-winning Moccasin Cove Mystery Series about an elementary school principal who has a lot to learn about murder. If you like your traditional mysteries with a cozy edge, a hint of Southern snark, a beachy vibe, and always a happy ending, this series is for you. Don’t worry, she promises the suspicious search history on her laptop, the crime scene tape on her bookshelf, and her real-life run-in with the US Secret Service all have perfectly reasonable explanations.

Let’s Be Social:

Moccasin Cove Mysteries

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Misterio Press

#WriterWednesdayInterview with Lori Robbins

I’d like to welcome Lori Robbins to the blog for #WriterWednesday!

A few of your favorite fall traditions: I never miss an opportunity to go apple and pumpkin picking.

Something autumn-related that you’ll never do again: Overestimate how many apples and pumpkins I need, which results in two weeks of making vats of applesauce and watching the pumpkins wither as I debate how many pumpkin seeds one can reasonably be expected to roast and eat.

Favorite fall treat: I love roasted chestnuts and candy apples.

A fall treat that makes you gag: Pumpkin spice malted milk balls. How can such a thing exist?

Something you only do in the fall: I hide candy from the rest of the family and then eat it myself.

Something you’d never do in the fall season: Go outdoors when the temperature dips below 50 degrees. Maybe 60. As a resident of northern New Jersey, this does pose a few problems.

Favorite autumn beverage: My favorite autumn drink is an apple brandy cocktail that’s topped with champagne. After drinking a few you still have a half bottle of opened champagne, which I think of as a win.

A drink that gives you a sour face: I know this is heresy to many, but I don’t drink tea. Ever.

Favorite fall smell: Wood smoke is my favorite and has the added advantage of not triggering any allergies.

Something that makes you hold your nose: Every brand of tea [see above] with the possible exception of chamomile.

Best fall memory: My first Halloween in suburban New Jersey. We had just moved from NYC, and it was a great way to meet the neighbors!

Something you’d rather forget: The year I dressed as a black cat and got my tail stuck in an elevator door. Twice.

Funniest autumn story: Finding an empty bag of hidden Halloween candy with a note from my kids that said We always enjoy the hunt, heh, heh, heh

Something embarrassing that happened during the fall: Showing up at a Halloween party and finding out no one else was wearing a costume.

Best thing you ever cooked/baked in autumn: Apple pie, for sure!

Your worst kitchen disaster: Making pumpkin pie from an actual pumpkin. There’s a reason the canned stuff is so popular.

Favorite place you spent a fall day: My daughter’s September wedding at the Jersey shore was magical. She got married on the beach, and a crowd of late-season beach goers joined in.

The worst place to spend a fall day: My backyard is the worst place to be in October and November. I’m fairly certain my allergy to leaf mold was born out a disinclination to wield a rake.

Funniest pumpkin-carving story: Carving a pumpkin and having people think the kids must have done it.

Your worst pumpkin-carving story: Trying to carve a pumpkin with one of those flexible knives that come in pumpkin carving kits, deciding a kitchen knife would work better, and then slicing three fingers instead of said pumpkin. On the other hand, blood from the wound was definitely on brand for Halloween.

Best Halloween memory: Playing Scrabble with friends while answering the door to trick-or-treaters.

Worst Halloween experience: Losing every single Scrabble game because it was my house, and I was the one doling out candy. As a matter of record, I’d like to make a case for including the word “rebeaner” in the Scrabble dictionary. What other word would you use to describe someone who repeatedly beans another person on the head with a bag of candy? Had my fellow Scrabble players agreed, I would have won.

About Lori:

Lori Robbins began dancing at age 16 and launched her professional career three years later. She performed with a number of modern dance and classical ballet companies, including Ballet Hispanico and the St. Louis Ballet, and her commercial work included featured spots for Pavlova Perfume. After ten very lean years onstage she became an English teacher and now writes full time.

Lori is the author of the On Pointe mysteries; the third book in that series, Murder in Third Position, is due out in November and is set in a fictional New York City ballet company. The first book in her Master Class series, Lesson Plan for Murder, features a crimefighting English teacher and will release in early 2023. She won the Indie Award for Best Mystery, the Silver Falchion for Best Cozy Mystery, and was a finalist for both a Readers’ Choice and Mystery and Mayhem Book Award.

Short stories include “Accidents Happen” in Murder Most Diabolical and “Leading Ladies” in Justice for All. She’s also a contributor to The Secret Ingredient: A Mystery Writers Cookbook.

As a dancer, writer, English teacher, and mother of six, Lori is an expert in the homicidal impulses everyday life inspires.

Let’s Be Social:

https://linktr.ee/lorirobbinsmysteries

https://www.lorirobbins.com/

https://www.instagram.com/lorirobbinsmysteries/

https://www.facebook.com/lorirobbinsauthor/

https://twitter.com/lorirobbins99

https://www.bookbub.com/profile/lori-robbins

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16007362.Lori_Robbins

http://lorirobbinsauthor@gmail.com

#WriterWednesday Interview with Glenda Benevides

I’d like to welcome author and musician, Glenda Benevides, to the blog for #WriterWednesday!

Words that describe you: Compassionate, thoughtful and understanding - Global Badass Goddess - BADASS B= Beautiful A= Accessible D=Daring A=Abundant S=Savvy S=Sassy

Words that describe you, but you wish they didn’t: Sometimes too trusting and I give people the benefit of the doubt too many times and still get taken advantage of.

Favorite places you’ve been: Edinburgh Scotland - the most beautiful and charming city in the world.

Places you never want to go to again: I can always find something I like no matter where I go but I would say most likely, very hot humid places on the planet also places like Oklahoma and TX.

Favorite music or song: Music to me is personal and it is mood driven. Sometimes ya wanna hear romantic or sexy or maybe even chill - just depends. It’s more like “my favorite artist” and that would be Rochelle Ferrell. She’s an extraordinary r&b/jazz soulful singer, songwriter who has it all.

Music that drives you crazy: Most likely makes me Sad, not so Crazy, because music is an art form not just a product to be used only. Music invites you to feel the depths of your own soul, to bring on joy, to dive into thoughts that need to be investigated! Music that has no soul, emotion and is prefabricated is sad and the market is flooded with unfortunate, superficial nonsense.

Things that make you happy: Excellent pizza, great conversation and all animals!

Things that drive you crazy: unorganized lives, messy junked up rooms and people who are always late and have no consideration for others.

Most embarrassing moment: When I was performing in Lake Tahoe on stage, all eyes were on me. I was dancing and missed stepped and landed on my ass with a loud echoing boom through the whole club. I had to get back up and keep going and finish singing my song - I felt embarrassed and wanted to go hide backstage.

Proudest moment: Was accepting an award for my song “Change” and performing it at AOF film festival in LA. https://www.actiononfilmfest.com/

Best thing you’ve ever done: Support a friend going through a dire ruff time and I plant trees every time someone buys my song or a book - One Tree Planted https://onetreeplanted.org/

Buy a Book or a Song = https://glendabenevides.com/courage-handbook-goddess-album

Biggest mistake: I don’t really believe in mistakes but more like, wrong choices from not listening that brings on grief with lessons. I have been con’d many times but I always learn something new about myself and why I chose to not listen to my inner guidance.

Most daring thing you’ve ever done: Date the wrong person! Just joking… I bungie jumped 250 feet straight down! I was scared to death but I made myself!

Something you chickened out from doing: Not asking Carl Anderson to sing a song I wrote for him and by the time I did, he had passed away. Carl was a singer of film and theater. He was an actor best known for his portrayal of Judas Iscariot in the Broadway and film versions of the rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice.

The funniest thing to happen to you: When I stopped looking so hard for a manager and someone to believe in me, and it happened on its own, and they found me.

The most embarrassing thing to happen to you: Over all is not being prepared for my own podcast interviews! I try not to embarrass myself by being prepared.

The coolest person you’ve ever met: Rachelle Ferrell amazing human being! High vibrational spiritual being, musician and more!

The celebrity who didn’t look like he/she did in pictures/video: Most people don’t look like their pictures!

The nicest thing a reader said to you: That I touched their heart and moved them so much they had to go home and think about what I said.

The craziest thing a reader said to you: That they felt they couldn’t do what it takes to have Courage.

Something you’re really good at: Being with people, giving them the freedom and acceptance for who they are, no judgement in the space. I find people, places and ontology fascinating. Also, singing and telling impactful stories that help people dive into who they are and want to be.

Ontology: branch of philosophy, is the science of what is

Something you’re really bad at: Math

About Glenda:

Glenda Benevides is an Award-winning, RECORDING ACADEMY {#IAmTheAcademy}, Voting Member, and GRAMMY® considered artist and author, is tireless when it comes to inspiring others to embrace their strength, listen to their heart, chart their course, feel inspired and dive into a musical, emotional and thrilling ride. Like a wild tent revival preacher, Glenda’s sermon is empowerment, enlightenment and builds bridges of understanding all wrapped together in powerful vocal expression that sways you from the tip of your head to the toes of your feet!

Let’s Be Social:

Website: glendabenevides.com

Spotify: glenda benevides - https://open.spotify.com/artist/7iEMzMaMTNsw7uw1Ivq59S

IG: glendabenevidesmusic

FB: Glenda Benevides

YOUTUBE: YouTube.com/c/glendabenevides  (interviews and music videos)

To buy music plant a tree: https://bandcamp.com/glendabenevides

#WriterWednesday Interview with Daniele Cybulskie

I’d like to welcome Daniele Cybulskie to the blog for #WriterWednesday!

Things you need for your writing sessions: A cup of tea, a glass of water, a clean desk, and a good notebook and pen to hand for catching stray ideas as I type.

Things that hamper your writing: Noise and clutter. Interruptions! I need a block of quiet time to deep think, whether I’m planning, editing, or crafting sentences.

Things you love about writing: I love that it’s a way of reaching out to people and connecting. For me, the flow state comes when I’m writing about something really interesting that I can’t wait to share. As a non-fiction writer, it’s all about showing people things and saying, “Look! Isn’t this cool?”

Things you hate about writing: It’s hard! It takes a lot of revision, and reading from different perspectives, and rethinking – but not overthinking. It also takes a thick skin, learning to accept feedback from editors, copyeditors, and then readers. But the benefits outweigh the pain.

Things you never want to run out of: Tea! Good pens, notebooks with the right line spacing, and Post-It Notes. Also time, but I frequently find myself running out of that….

Things you wish you’d never bought: Sometimes I impulse-buy lipstick, but I always regret the seriously pink ones.

Things you always put in your books: Jokes, and a sprinkling of sarcasm. History doesn’t need to be serious all the time. Some of the best-researched history books I’ve read have also made me laugh out loud at a well-timed joke.

Things you never put in your books: Insults. I want my books to be uplifting overall, so I avoid putting people (living or dead) down as much as possible.

Favorite places you’ve been: Scotland. Edinburgh is my favourite city. I’ve been to Scotland several times (lived there for a while), and every time I leave it’s heartrending. It’s just an absolutely beautiful, friendly, and historically rich country.

Places you never want to go to again: My old apartment. I honestly had a nightmare about it the other day.

Favorite books (or genre): I read a lot of books on positive psychology, so I was thrilled to be able to connect this scientific work to history in How to Live Like a Monk. These books give me a mood boost, and I’m really interested in the different ways we can test and challenge ourselves. I find human nature endlessly fascinating.

Books you wouldn’t buy: I don’t buy true crime. I would much rather investigate lives from long ago.

Things that make you happy: I’m a really simple person at heart. I live for sunshine, a cup of tea, and a good book. Time with family and friends. I love the physical challenge of Krav Maga, and the mental release of meditation. A quiet existence!

Things that drive you crazy: Unkindness. Casual rudeness – usually on the road! Injustice. Selfishness. Everyone is stressed these days, so it’s worth it to take two seconds to smile, wave, thank someone, or stand up for someone. Small gestures of kindness can change the world.

About Daniele:

As a writer, TEDx speaker, former college professor, and podcaster, Danièle has made medieval history fun, entertaining, and accessible for millions of people around the world. As well as introducing a general audience to the fascinating world of the Middle Ages, her books, articles, videos, and weekly podcast have been used as resources in schools and universities across North America. Danièle’s mission is to share the joy of history by highlighting our common humanity across time and space. When she’s not reading, writing, or recording, Danièle can be found drinking tea, doing Krav Maga, or sometimes building a backyard trebuchet.

Let’s Be Social:

Author/Podcaster/Historian

Website: www.danielecybulskie.com

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TedTalk:  History in Three Dimensions

#WriterWednesday Interview with Judith Copek

I’d like to welcome author Judith Copek to the blog today for #WriterWednesday.

A few of your favorite things: Paintings, books, mid-century modern furniture

Things you need to throw out: Old memorabilia, junk, research for published novels

Things you need for your writing sessions: computer, thesaurus, list of characters, ideas, or plot points

Things that hamper your writing: interruptions, too many other tasks to do, reluctance to plant butt in chair

Things you love about writing: when the words are flowing

Things you hate about writing: when the words don’t come

Favorite foods: chicken, strawberries, home-grown tomatoes

Things that make you want to gag: runny eggs, low-fat anything, margarine

Favorite smell: lilacs, roses, meat roasting, bacon frying

Something that makes you hold your nose: cat barf, wet wool, rotting vegetables

Something you’re really good at: cooking, writing, gardening

Something you’re really bad at: ice skating, calculus, networking

Something you like to do: watch mystery programs on television

Something you wish you’d never done: sassed my mom so often

Last best thing you ate: cranberry-apple crisp

last thing you regret eating: second bowl of spicy chili

The last thing you ordered online: bread baskets

The last thing you regret buying: the wrong cat food

Things you always put in your books: food and romance

Things you never put in your books: graphic violence and graphic sex

Favorite places you’ve been: Yellowstone Park, San Francisco, Paris

Places you never want to go to again: Tijuana, Hospital, Aldi in Taunton, MA

Most daring thing you’ve ever done: Attended Burning Man (3 times)

Something you chickened out from doing: downhill skiing

About Judith:

Such Stuff As Dreams is a leap into another genre for Judith, a historical novel set in the twenties. She discovered that bad guys and scary situations are not limited to mystery fiction. Judith belongs to The Historical Novel Society, Mystery Writers of America, and Sisters in Crime. In addition to five crime-fiction novels, she’s published memoir, poetry, and short stories.

Let’s Be Social:

Amazon link to author page. https://www.amazon.com/author/judithcopek

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

Blog: http://lynx-sis.blogspot.com/judyinboston

Twitter: https://twitter.com/judyinboston

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