#WriterWednesday Interview with Kate B. Jackson

I’d like to welcome the fabulous Kate B. Jackson (K. B. Jackson) to the blog for #WriterWednesday.

Words that describe you: Optimistic, tenacious, reconciliatory

Words that describe you, but you wish they didn’t: Resting B* Face

Favorite foods: Anything Mexican, Shawarma, sticky toffee pudding

Things that make you want to gag: mushrooms and lima beans

Favorite music or song: I love oldies, but I’ve found there’s a Kelly Clarkson song for any occasion.

Music that drives you crazy: Morrissey and the Smiths. I’m sorry, I just can’t. I almost couldn’t date my husband because he enjoys it.

Favorite beverage: Coke Zero with fresh lime or an extra dirty vodka martini

Something that gives you a sour face: I have no poker face, so anything I don’t like!

Something you’re really good at: solving ancestry mysteries

Something you’re really bad at: sitting in the passenger seat while my kid learns to drive

Last best thing you ate: Diablo tenderloin bites in a spicy Argentinian cream sauce from El Gaucho Steakhouse. I have to restrain myself from licking the plate.

Last thing you regret eating: An entire box of mini Nilla Wafers

Things you’d walk a mile for: Tacos, my family, to fit into a dress. Not necessarily in that order.

Things that make you want to run screaming from the room: rodents, snakes, disrespectful bickering between spouses

Things you always put in your books: Easter eggs. There are specific methods I won’t disclose, but they’re always there.

Things you never put in your books: evil. I want to understand what would drive an average person to kill, so no serial killers or sociopaths.

Things to say to an author: Where do you prefer I leave my review?

Things to say to an author if you want to be fictionally killed off in their next book: I know you’re on deadline but what are you making for dinner?

Favorite places you’ve been: England (York, Bath, and London)

Places you never want to go to again: The emergency room in Willows, CA where I spent several hours after rolling my suburban filled with my 4 kids and all my photo albums across I5 while moving from Socal to Washington State.

Some real-life story that made it to one of your books: An encounter with a raccoon

Something in your story that readers think is about you, but it’s not: I hope my mother doesn’t think Audrey’s mom is based on her, because she absolutely is not!

About Kate:

Kate B Jackson (KB Jackson) is an author of mystery novels for grownups and mystery/adventure novels for kids. She lives in the Pacific NW with her husband and has four mostly grown children. Her debut middle grade release is “The Sasquatch of Hawthorne Elementary” (Reycraft Books) about a twelve-year-old boy hired by the most popular girl at his new school to investigate what she saw in the nearby woods. Book one in the Chattertowne Mysteries series, “Secrets Don’t Sink,” (Level Best Books July 2023) introduces Audrey O’Connell, a small town feature reporter who, when her former boyfriend’s body is found floating in the local marina, uncovers the depths to which some will go to keep secrets submerged.

Her debut novel in the Cruising Sisters mystery series, Until Depths Do Us Part (Tule Publishing) will be released Spring 2024.

Let’s Be Social:

LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/kbjackson

#WriterWednesday Interview with Jamie L. Adams

I’d like to welcome Jamie L. Adams to the blog for #WriterWednesday!

Things you need for your writing sessions: Water, I like to drink a lot of water.

Things that hamper your writing: Phone calls. Sometimes I forget to mute the phone.

Hardest thing about being a writer: Plotting is hard, but the story comes out so much better we you do.

Easiest thing about being a writer: Creating characters is easy and fun. I’ve always been a people watcher and there are a million characters in my head just waiting to get their say.

Words that describe you: Kind and giving are words that describe me.

Words that describe you, but you wish they didn’t: I’m also shy and quiet.

Favorite foods: I love chocolate, pizza and cereal. My taste buds refuse to grow up.

Things that make you want to gag: Shrimp. Everyone in my family loves shrimp but me.

Favorite beverage: I love to drink water.

Something that gives you a sour face: I associate 7Up with being sick.

Something you’re really good at: I’m really good at baking cookies.

Something you’re really bad at: I’m really bad at drawing anything other than stick figures.

Favorite places you’ve been: The Crater of Diamonds in Arkansas.

Places you never want to go to again: Disney World in Florida.

Favorite books (or genre): I love historical romantic fiction and cozy mysteries.

Books you wouldn’t buy: I hate stories where someone is falsely accused.

Favorite things to do: My favorite thing to do is write.

Things you’d run through a fire or eat bugs to get out of doing: I’m terrified of driving in winter weather.

Best thing you’ve ever done: The best thing I’ve done was to follow my heart.

Biggest mistake: Going back for that second degree in college when I had a great job waiting for me.

About Jamie:

Jamie L. Adams fell in love with books at an early age. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott opened her imagination and sparked a dream to be a writer. She wrote her first book as a school project in 6th grade. Living in the Ozarks with her husband, twin daughters, and a herd of cats, she spends most of her free writing, reading, or learning more about the craft near to her heart.

Let’s Be Social:

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

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7116183.Jamie_L_Adams

website: https://www.cozylanternmysteries.com/

#WriterWednesday Interview with Erica Wynters

I’d like to welcome Erica Wynters to the blog for #WriterWednesday.

Things you never want to run out of: Iced Tea and Stevia. Those mixed together are my writing fuel. Let’s face it - they’re my getting through the day fuel.

Things you wish you’d never bought: I am a sucker for Instagram ads and have definitely bought some things I’ve regretted. The main one was a dryer vent cleaning kit that arrived six months after I ordered it, and immediately broke!

A few of your favorite things: I love plants and have way too many in my house. It’s hard for me to walk past a new display at the grocery store without wanting to add to my collection.

Things you need to throw out: Sadly, I have a few plants that are dead and dying, and I probably just need to throw them out, but it’s hard for me to admit defeat.

Things you need for your writing sessions: I’m really lucky that I can manage to write anywhere with any kind of background noise. In fact, I often get the most done on an airplane.

Things that hamper your writing: Instagram! I need to keep my phone far away from me when I’m writing.

Favorite foods: I love Mexican food, and chicken fajitas are my favorite!

Things that make you want to gag: Anything with mushrooms. It’s sad because I know they are so healthy, but I just can’t do it.

Favorite music or song: My thirteen year old daughter has gotten me into Taylor Swift, and we’ve bonded over singing her music at the top of our lungs in the car.

Music that drives you crazy: I can usually find something in almost any genre of music that I can like, but I can’t stand music where the lyrics regrade women. I won’t do it!

Favorite beverage: I already mentioned iced tea, so I’ll add another one. I love a really good root beer.

Something that gives you a sour face: My husband loves kombucha, but I just can’t do it!

Things you always put in your books: My books always have a lot of romance and mystery. That combination is my favorite. I love watching two people fall in love and writing all the swoony moments, but if that’s all a book is, then I get bored. Add in a little danger? A little murder? It’s the perfect combination for me.

Things you never put in your books: I never celebrate anything relationally toxic. I’m a therapist when I’m not writing, and you’ll always read healthy relationships in my books. If someone isn’t a healthy person, it’ll be pointed out, not seen as attractive.

Things to say to an author: I just read your new book and loved it. I’m off to leave a review right now!

Things to say to an author if you want to be fictionally killed off in their next book: I would write too, if I had the time.

Favorite places you’ve been: My favorite place in the whole world is Kaanapali Beach on Maui. I could spend all day floating in those crystal blue waters!

Places you never want to go to again: I love to travel and have different experiences, so this is a hard one. I’ll say this – last year I visited Minnesota in November and the air temperature was eleven degrees with the wind chill below zero. I lived in Wisconsin, Illinois, and Minnesota for the first 33 years of my life, but I do not miss winter. I’ll visit those places in the summer when they’re green and beautiful.

Favorite things to do: I love to travel with my husband. I like big trips, but I also love a weekend away at a new spot we can drive to like Bisbee, Arizona, Idyllwild, California.

Things you’d run through a fire or eat bugs to get out of doing: Camping, which ironically includes fire and bugs. It’s the bugs for me. And the sleeping on the ground.

Most daring thing you’ve ever done: I went bungee jumping at Wisconsin Dells when I was sixteen. Wisconsin Dells is a tourist destination in central Wisconsin and I was there with a bunch of my friends. I was the only one under eighteen and we lied about my age so I could go. No one checked my ID, and I survived. It was so worth it!

Something you chickened out from doing: Last year, I was on Maui with my family, and we had the opportunity to go cliff jumping. Some from our group went, but I didn’t. I was happy to watch and cheer from the water.

Some real-life story that made it to one of your books: Marigolds, Mischief, and Murder is set in a fictional town in rural Illinois called Star Junction. I grew up in a rural, small town in Wisconsin. While there are no specific stories in my book that are taken from my life, there are a lot of details that come from my history. There is a restaurant in the book called Bucky’s and there’s a Bucky’s in the town I grew up in. My main character was on the swim team in high school, and so was I. The biggest thing that translated from my real life into the books is the sense of community that you find in a small, rural town, the way people are willing to help one another out, and the way gossip can spread like wildfire!

Something in your story that readers think is about you, but it’s not: I mentioned the bar/restaurant Bucky’s lives in the book and in my real-life hometown. That was a total accident. I didn’t even remember there was a Bucky’s in my home town until the book came out and people I grew up with started reading it. I got multiple messages about Bucky’s and how I’d used that in my book. How Bucky’s in my book got its name is an interesting story. The book has been through a lot of revisions. At first, the main character, Gwen’s, best from was named Marley. But I had another character named Margie, and my editor said I had to change one. I thought long and hard about it, and changed Gwen’s best friend’s name to Penny. At the time, the bar/restaurant that they go to was named Benny’s. Now I had another problem. I couldn’t have a Benny’s and a Penny, so Benny’s had to go. I made a split section decision to rename the business Bucky’s. I’m sure my subconscious remembered driving past Bucky’s on Main Street in my hometown for all those years, but I didn’t make the connection until the book came out.

About Erica:

Erica Wynters may have lived most of her life in the frigid Midwest, but now she spends her time in the warmth and sunshine of Arizona. She loves hiking, hunting down waterfalls in the desert, reading (of course), and napping. Can napping be considered a hobby? When not weaving tales of mystery with plenty of quirky characters, laughs, and a dash of romance, Erica works as a Marriage and Family Therapist helping others find their Happily Ever Afters.

Let’s Be Social:

www.facebook.com/ericawynters

www.instagram.com/ericawyntersbooks

www.ericawynters.com

#WriterWednesday Interview with Jayne Ormerod

I’d like to welcome one of the best beta readers on the planet and good friend, Jayne Ormerod to the blog today!

Things you never want to run out of: Diet Coke, Wine, and Books.

Things you wish you’d never bought: In an attempt to avoid dog urine spots in my yard, I bought this fire-hydrant-looking thing that supposedly encourages my canine companions to wee-wee in a certain area. I placed it in a no-man’s-land area of mulch. They sniffed it and walked away. It’s still there, testament to my gullible nature.

A few of your favorite things: My comfy sweatshirts, my Crabby wine glasses, and my gardens.

Things you need to throw out: Early printed versions of manuscripts, 100+ rejection letters, and a box of chocolates that got left in a hot car and melted into puddles. But, well, throwing out chocolate is a class-3 felony, isn’t it? (If not, it should be!)

Things you need for your writing sessions: My muses (aka:dogs) at my side. And a really good idea!

Things that hamper your writing: Facebook. ’Nuff said.

Hardest thing about being a writer: Selling books!

Easiest thing about being a writer: Working from the comfort of my La-Z-Boy. Feet up. Music playing. Words flowing!

Words that describe you: Goal-oriented and slightly superstitious.

Words that describe you, but you wish they didn’t: Unathletic and “Fluffy”. (I think the two might be connected?

Favorite foods: Anything from the potato family, be they fries, chips, baked, au gratin, etc.

Things that make you want to gag: Seafood. Just the smell in the grocery store has me scurrying for the odorless cereal aisle.

Favorite smell: Flowers: Gardenias, Magnolias, Honeysuckle, Ligustrums, Lilies!

Something that makes you hold your nose: Collard greens simmering on the stove!

The last thing you ordered online: Construction truck-themed birthday decorations for my grandson’s 2-y/o birthday party.

The last thing you regret buying: A pair of shoes that looked really fun on the web page, but they are bright and garish and fan out in the toe area…think “clown shoes”.

Most daring thing you’ve ever done: Skied down a double black diamond in Banff! (Truth be told I slid on my backside most of it!)

Something you chickened out from doing: Parachuting. No way. Un-unh. Not gonna do it!

The coolest person you’ve ever met: Sue Grafton! So cool! Beyond cool. Amazing person.

The celebrity who didn’t look like he/she did in pictures/video: J.B. Fletcher, of Murder, She Wrote fame. Donald Bain (the actual author, along with his wife Renee Paley-Bain) bear no resemblance to the author photo, that of Angela Lansbury, who of course, played J.B. on the TV show.

Some real-life story that made it to one of your books: The “fire” my son “put out” in my oven, the first time he cooked with my new gas range.

Something in your story that readers think is about you, but it’s not: That I stumble across dead bodies all the time. I do not! Only ever seen one “prettied up” at a funeral.

About Jayne:

Jayne Ormerod writes coastal cozies with a splash of humor. She grew up in a small Ohio town and attended a small-town Ohio college. Upon earning her accountancy degree, she became a CIA (that’s not a sexy spy thing, but a Certified Internal Auditor). She married a naval officer, and off they sailed to see the world. After nineteen moves, they, along with their two rescue dogs Tiller and Scout, settled in a cottage by the Chesapeake Bay. Jayne writes what she knows: small towns with beach settings.  The dead bodies are purely a figment of her imagination. 

 Let’s Be Social:

Website: http://JayneOrmerod.com

blog: http://JayneOrmerod.blogspot.com  

Facebook: Jayne Ormerod (be careful there are two of us) or Jayne Ormerod, Author  

#WriterWednesday Interview with Amy Young

I’d like to welcome Amy Young to the blog for #WriterWednesday!

A few of your favorite things: I love my bookcases in my office (they’re new and I’m obsessed), my yoga mat, and my Apple TV 4K.

Things you need to throw out: Old clothes that don’t fit anymore. I hang onto everything, then I donate it all in one fell swoop. It’s time for a culling.

Things you love about writing: I love being able to tell a story that comes into view in my head. I love coming back to something I wrote the day before and being able to continue the story.

Things you hate about writing: The self doubt. My inner critic is loud and sometimes, I can’t drown it out. I’m an oldest child and, at least for me, that comes with a massive fear of failure.

Words that describe you: Tenacious, loyal, honest

Words that describe you, but you wish they didn’t: Bossy, stubborn, selfish

Favorite beverage: Red wine

Something that gives you a sour face: Kombucha. But I drink it anyway because it’s good for you 😂

Something you’re really good at: Swimming. I’ve been swimming since I could walk and taught lessons for years. I think I’m more at home in the water than I am on land.

Something you’re really bad at: Drawing. Like, painfully bad. Don’t play Pictionary with me.

The last thing you ordered online: A dress from Wolf & Badger that I’ve been eyeing for months. I love that website.

The last thing you regret buying: An Uproot reusable pet hair remover. Seemed like a miracle product; in reality, it tears fabric and carpet unless you’re super careful.

Things you always put in your books: Strong female friendships.

Things you never put in your books: Animal cruelty.

Favorite places you’ve been: Antigua, Vail, Malibu, the Outer Banks.

Places you never want to go to again: Gary, Indiana. That might seem like an odd place to choose; I had to stop for gas there on my way out of Chicago and got lost, and it wasn’t the best experience.

Favorite books (or genre): Thrillers, mysteries, suspense.

Books you wouldn’t buy: Religious books written by someone who is trying to recruit for their religion.

People you’d like to invite to dinner (living): Kevin Smith, Suzy Izzard, Lisa Vanderpump, Andy Cohen.

People you’d cancel dinner on: Any cast member from The Jersey Shore.

Best thing you’ve ever done: Moving to Los Angeles and writing my first book. I didn’t think I’d ever leave Ohio, and I ended up spending a decade in LA.

Biggest mistake: Starting smoking. I’ve long since quit, but if I could go back, I would never take up the habit.

The coolest person you’ve ever met: Bruce Campbell

The celebrity who didn’t look like he/she did in pictures/video: Believe it or not, every celebrity I’ve come in contact with looks exactly like their pictures.

About Amy:

Amy Young is an author, comedian, and actor based in Cleveland. After spending a decade in Los Angeles working in the entertainment industry and writing her debut novel, The Water Tower, she returned to Ohio to be closer to family. Amy is working on her second book, a thriller, and in her free time she enjoys going to the theatre, bingeing reality TV, and spending time with her husband and many, many cats. She has a B.A. in English from Kenyon College.

Let’s Be Social:

Instagram: https://instagram.com/amypcomedy

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

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/authoramyyoung

Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@amypyoung1

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

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/amy-young

Buy link: https://books2read.com/TheWaterTower

Website: https://www.authoramyyoung.com

#WriterWednesday Interview with Nancy Cole Silverman

I’d like to welcome the fabulous Nancy Cole Silverman to the blog for #WriterWednesday!

Things you never want to run out of: Ideas. I love the blank page when I begin a story, and I’m always surprised what shows up when I sit down to write. I hope I never run out of ideas and that enthusiam. It’s a terrific gift, and I try to honor it daily.

Things you wish you’d never bought: Online noname clothing. I’m a sucker for a pretty dress and during the pandemic I enjoyed online shopping, only to be disappointed when the item showed up in the mail and looked nothing like what I had ordered. I tried to return a dress once, and the sender didn’t want it back. We negotiated back and forth for a refund. The sender increased the amount of the refund with each email. I felt like I was battering and it became a game for me. Finally, the website refuned my entire purchase price plus mailing cost and told me to keep the dress!

A few of your favorite things: Obvioulsy my favorite things are my family and my pets. The older I get the more I charish older items, like old clothes—those that still fit—pictures and jewelry that remind me of special times.

Things you need to throw out: Old shoes! I’ve a closet full.

Words that describe you: Tall, blonde, female and determined.

Words that describe you, but you wish they didn’t: klutzy. I’m a lefty and constantly confusing my right for my left.

Favorite music or song: There are so many, but my favorites are Broadway tunes. I’m a real Broadway Baby when it comes to stage tunes. The minute I hear a familiar tune I sing along.

Music that drives you crazy: Some heavy metal. It’s nervewracking to me, and I have to turn it off.

Favorite beverage: Wine! Unless it’s really hot and then it’s water, followed by wine.

Something that gives you a sour face: Unsweetened lemon juice. We have a lemon tree in our yard and I enjoy making fresh lemonade but please....add plenty of sweetner!

Last best thing you ate: That’s an easy one. Last night we went to a favorite restaurant and I order Chicken Marsal with mushroom in a creamy wine sauce. Supurb! Loved it!

Last thing you regret eating: The chocolate and caramel ice cream bomb I ate after finishing my main course. Couldn’t resist it...but wow...talk about a sugar high!

Favorite books (or genre): Mysteries. Historical Fiction.

Books you wouldn’t buy: Books with a racy cover.

Best thing you’ve ever done: Travel. Visit historical sights. Take cooking classes. Walk through medieval towns and enjoy a glass of wine while reading a book.

Biggest mistake: Getting lost on a freeway with an almost empty tank of gas in a city I didn’t know.

The funniest thing to happen to you: I won’t say the following incident I’m about to share is the funniest thing to have ever happened to me, but it is the most recent and poigant event in my life and will remain forever a happy memory.

My ninty-nine-a-half year old mother recently passed. Fortunately, I was able to spend her last week with her and she was in good spirits to the very end. We spent that week reminessing and enjoying the time we had left. The day before she died, I arrived at her apartment early and found her sitting up in bed. She had taken the oxygen tube from her nose and was dangling her legs over the side of the bed, tying to get up.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

She answered in a very determined manner. “Don’t we have an appointment today?”

I realized she was confused and picked up the oxygen tube, and not wanteing to stress her, gently put my arms around her and tried to help her back into bed.

“I’m not sure,” I said. “I’ll have to check my calendar. Meanwhile, why don’t you lay back down on the bed...”

“Nancy! Chickens lay. People lie.”

I laaughed outloud. My mother was an English teacher to the very end. She had a gret sense of humor and I’ll never forget her.

The most embarrassing thing to happen to you: I’ve had many. Some I’d like to forget. But one I’ll share had to do with a clothing malfuction. In high school I was active in a lot of theater productions and I was tapped to be included as a dancer in a road show that appeared at a local theater. I didn’t know much about dancing, but the director was looking to fill out his dance team with a couple of local kids. The only qualifications I had was that I was tall, slim, and had a long ponytail, which evidentally was the look he needed to round out his dance troupe.

The incident, my most embarrassing moment in my then 15 years, happened on stage. I split my pants during a dance number. I was mortified, and being that the performance was before a sell out crowd and on a circle stage, or theater-in-the-round, there was nothing I could do about it. I remember finishing the number and waiting—my face as red as the red underpants I had worn that day—until it was appropriate to exit the stage.

The coolest person you’ve ever met: Brad Pitt. I was sittingin a doctor’s office when he walked in. He was wearing a baseball hat and dark glasses and carrying a book. I wish I could report it was one of my books, but it wasn’t. All the same, he smiled and sat down, and I was in awe. He’s nicer looking in person than on the big screen and if his aura that day was any indication of who is, he’s a really nice guy.

Besides writing, what’s the most creative thing you’ve done: I like to sketch and garden. And when I’m between books I usually do a little of each. I think they help to organize my thought.

A project that didn’t quite turn out the way you planned it: My garden. Much as I enjoy it, I’ve made mistake and had to pull things out that never seemed to grow and start again. But then, that’s the fun in gardening. You can always start again.

About Nancy:

Nancy Cole Silverman spent nearly twenty-five years in news and talk radio, beginning her career in college on the talent side as one of the first female voices on the air. Later, on the business side in Los Angeles, she retired as one of two female general managers in the nation's second-largest radio market. After a successful career in the radio industry, Silverman picked up her pen to write fiction, her short stories, and crime-focused novels--the Carol Childs and Misty Dawn Mysteries are based in Los Angeles, while her newest series, that Kat Lawson Mysteries, takes a more international approach. Kat Lawson, a former investigative reporter has lost her job due an office romance gone terribly wrong. Her boss they promoted. Her they fired.  And now, Kat finds herself working undercover for the FBI as a feature writer for a travel publication. Expect lots of international intrigue, vivid descriptions of small European villages, great food, lost archives, and non-stop action. Silverman lives in Los Angeles with her husband and thoroughly pampered standard poodle.  

Let’s Be Social:

Website: Nancy Cole Silverman

#WriterWednesday Interview with Sarah Bewley

I’d like to welcome author Sarah Bewley to the blog for #WriterWednesday.

A few of your favorite things: Signed copies of favorite books, dogs, baseball, ice cream, and Pat

Things you need to throw out: The old padded envelopes that I keep saving for some reason.

Things you need for your writing sessions: water and quiet

Things that hamper your writing: noise

Things you love about writing: creating stories

Things you hate about writing: proofreading - which is why Pat does it for me.

Favorite foods: Anything I didn’t have to prepare.

Things that make you want to gag: Pickles and mayonnaise

Favorite music or song: piano jazz

Music that drives you crazy: anything that’s autotuned

Something you like to do: rock climb

Something you wish you’d never done: white water rafting

Favorite books (or genre): The Second Coming by Walker Percy, Children of Light by Robert Stone, and The Hawk Is Dying by Harry Crews

Books you wouldn’t buy: Self Help Books

Favorite things to do: reading, rock climbing, boxing lessons, watching baseball

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

Best thing you’ve ever done: Falling in love with Pat

Biggest mistake: Discovering that cold brewed coffee doesn’t upset my stomach. I love it.

The coolest person you’ve ever met: Stephen Hawking

The celebrity who didn’t look like he/she did in pictures/video: Keanu Reeves. He’s even MORE handsome in person.

About Sarah:

Sarah Bewley writes, climbs rock walls and takes boxing lessons. She was born young, grew old very quickly, then entered into her second childhood which she found far more satisfying than her first. BURNING EDEN is her first mystery and the first book in the Eden County Mysteries series. She shares her life with Patrick Payne, who likes things that burn and explode, knives that are too sharp, and is a photographic artist. She's worked as a licensed private investigator and now works in utilities security, which is physical protection for critical infrastructure.

Let’s Be Social:

Website: http://www.sarahbewley.com

Twitter: https://www/twitter.com/WPAdmirer

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sarah.bewley.50/

Book Trailer: https://youtu.be/uW3r8rCC4kk

#WriterWednesday Interview with DonnaRae Menard

I’d like to welcome author DonnaRae Menard to the blog for #WriterWednesday where she talks about her two latest books.

Murder in the Village Proper

Katelyn Took came home to settle her grandmother’s estate, only to discover not only did Gram have seventeen cats. But Ruth Beauregard, a childhood chum, had moved in. Ruth was confused, penniless, and abandoned by her in-laws because they believed she had murdered her husband. Ruth had improved, physically and mentally, but she still lived under the stigma of the Beauregard family’s accusations. Katie wanted her adopted aunt to be happy, but to make it so, she’d have to look for dirt under a lot of rocks, and it was looking like someone was going to throw those same rocks back. Hard. She could duck and weave, but could Katie find the truth without getting stoned to death?

The Wait and the Warlord

A foreign born orphan child, Rhys, is presented to the Warlord Most High as tribute. Her people are savages exhibiting fearful traits. It is the Warlord's plan to train Rhys as a child gladiator for his blood sport. But the wizard living in the castle believes Rhys has a different destiny. Custom dictates every man standalone and call forth a dragon. Only such a pair can rule. The Warlord's dragon is the most vicious ever seen. Never has a girl been granted such a prize.

About DonnaRae:

My unofficial writing career began in the seventh grade. While writing descriptive notes about fellow classmate, I was apprehended and sentenced to reading those notes to the class. The episode went far in undermining my popularity and was the start of my training for the hundred-meter relay. Though it was an embarrassing event it didn't deter my fascination with the written word. I followed the course of diaries, pen pals and eventually to a children's story published in a High School anthology. Though my education was non-contemporary, I continue to attend writing courses, seminars, conferences, and even book signings learning from authors about their works and how they moved through the publishing process. I wrote bi-weekly visual pieces for the local newspapers, one in the About Town column and another featuring my Golden Retriever as the traveling star.

Every job I have had has offered me an opportunity to examine the human conditions that are reflected in my writing.

For twelve years I was a member of Toastmasters International, an organization established to promote public speaking. Four of those years, I was an award-winning international competitor in the areas of motivational, humorous, and Table Topics, an exercise which requires you to think on your feet.

Let’s Be Social:

Website: http://DonnaRaeMenardbooks.com

 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DonnaRae-Menard-103359971477217

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

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/donnarae-menard

Twitter: @DonnaRaeMenard