Q&A with Christine Brae

In This Life follows the story of Anna Dillon, who wants to escape her busy life in New York City before she starts medical school in the spring. She ends up volunteering on a medical mission in Thailand with her best friend, Dante. There she meets the passionate and enigmatic Jude Grayson. They’re immediately drawn to him and they share a brief, but fervent affair.

Then Anna has to rush home for a medical emergency, and Jude promises that he’ll stay in touch. But he doesn’t, and Anna tries desperately to move on.

Five years later, and she’s married Dante, after giving up hope that Jude will ever return. And then one day, in a chance meeting, they come face to face again. Anna then she learns the life-altering secret of why Jude never called, and why they can’t be together. But passion that ignited on that Thai beach never died, and it becomes impossible for them to stay apart.

How did you start writing? Was it always something you saw yourself doing?

I’ve been writing ever since I was a little girl. Mostly poems and love letters, to my loved ones when I was younger and then to a boyfriend when I was in high school and college. I always knew I would be writing. What I never imagined was that I would publish my words!  

What was the hardest part about writing this book?

I think that the most difficult part about writing this book was trying to find the best way to give every character a personality and a voice. This book is focused on Anna and her journey as a girl and as a woman. But it is also a story about friendship and destiny. I wanted to write a story that would express the answers that I was searching for a few years ago. Something happened to me, something so out of the blue – and since I’ve always believed that things happen for a reason, I wanted to let people know – hey you know what, despite all your wishes, and prayers and everything you do to make things work out in your favor, sometimes, it’s just not meant for you. It’s a hard thing to accept, you know? And it took two years for me to really figure things out. 

It was really a challenge to embody these characters with that one lesson.

What’s your favorite aspect about Anna? And Dante and Jude?

Do you know that all my characters in all my books have names that mean something?
Anna is strong and unapologetic. She does not hide her confusion, her fallibility and her stupidity. Anna means “grace”. I think she handles things so gracefully, especially as she grows and evolves as a woman.  Dante means “enduring.” This is his key quality. He is Anna’s loyal friend. Jude means “the chosen one.” Jude accepts his fate. He does not deny it. He lives in truth.

What about your least favorite?

I don’t like that Anna settled for Dante when she was in love with someone else. But we all do that. I did. I know so many people who do too. It’s human nature, the need we have to please, to do what people think is the right thing. Dante was perfect. There is nothing wrong with him! And Jude – I think he was too serious. He needed to lighten up a bit.

Is there anything else you’ve got planned for the future?

The movie option was the highlight of my 2016 year! I am so looking forward to the next phase of this process and seeing who will be cast as Jude and Dante! But I must tell you – I have a new book, Eight Goodbyes – which I just finished and am so proud to share with you this year. It’s a simple, not angsty, not tear-jerkery book that I really think you’ll enjoy. The movie and a new book and two book tours this year – I think I can tell you that I’ve got 2017 well covered.

Q&A with T.J. Kline

Q: Can you tell us a little about your book?

DARING TO FALL is the second in the Hidden Falls series. It’s a small-town, family saga following the McQuaid family, all seven siblings. This story centers around Ben McQuaid, the second oldest, a Hidden Falls firefighter who finds himself torn between his duty to protecting the town and his desire to protect a woman who might be threatened by the people of Hidden Falls. Emma Jordan, on the other hand, is returning to Hidden Falls and her father’s wildlife rescue, after his sudden death, to find that not everyone is excited about her return, or the fact that she’s taking over the sanctuary.

Q: How did you come up with the concept and the characters for the story?

With the Hidden Falls series, I knew I wanted a family saga but I wanted a diverse family unit that, at first glance, seemed so complex they couldn’t possibly be as close as they are. The McQuaids were born. Ben has always been the “responsible” guy, the Jiminy Cricket to the rest of his brothers, and exactly the kind of guy who does you expect of a small-town hero. He needed a woman who would appreciate those aspects of him, even if it meant fighting her attraction to them.

Emma Jordan sort of created herself. The same things that draw her to Ben, frighten her and, oddly enough, are the same things putting her into the predicament she finds herself in. She’s tenacious, loyal and a hero in her own right. Determined to save others who can’t save themselves. However, the idea for an animal sanctuary came because, in spite of all my ambitions to be a writer when I was young, this was the other job I wanted to have – saving (or training) wild animals.

Q: What did you enjoy most about writing this book?

I loved the research for this book. As a kid, I spent hours reading about a wide variety of animals, sure that one day that information would serve me. It did, in DARING TO FALL. I would spend one day researching bobcats and the next figuring out exactly which type of dart gun and dosage of medication should be used. Not to mention that I was able to reach out to wildlife rescues, trainers and fireman. What could be better than that?

Q: What gave you the most trouble with this story?

Staying concentrated on the external conflict of their situation. I had a hard time with these two characters not wanting to keep their hands off one another. They have a great chemistry – it burns hot but both have reasons to hold back – and it meshed together well to create a very “real” couple with ups and downs. Unfortunately, if I’d left them to their own devices, I’m not sure the animals would have ever gotten fed.

Q: Name one thing you won’t leave home without.

Easy! My cell phone. I live on it. I made sure the last time I upgraded that I purchased one that would serve me, and my writing, on the go. I do everything from it – reading, emails, texts, appointments, even writing. I can even set my home alarm from it. I even use it to set up playlists for while I’m driving. I’d be lost without it (which is why it has frequent backups!)

Q: What do you like best about being a writer? What is the most challenging part?

The best? The fact that, most days, I don’t even have to brush my teeth if I don’t want to. I do, every day, I swear! But I don’t HAVE to. I have the freedom to style my hair or not, wear PJs all day or dress up. I can set a doctor’s appointment whenever I want to rather than in limited “free” time. I work around vacations and trips, around my kids’ schedules and when I want to. Being a writer has given me more freedom than any job I could ever imagine.

The most challenging? The freedom. When you don’t HAVE to do anything, you have to be self-disciplined to still get up every day and do what needs to be done. There are times, under deadline, when I’ve planned poorly and forgo a trip to the movies. Or, even more difficult, when I’m not under deadline to actually sit in the office chair and put words on the page knowing no one is keeping tabs and I have an entire season of Hart of Dixie waiting for me on my DVR.

Q: What do you do when you are not writing?

When I’m not writing, you can either find me hanging out with my husband and kids (two- and four-legged). If I’m not out working with my horses – is it work if it’s something you LOVE to do? – the family loves being outdoors. We’ll take off and go to the beach for the day, hiking in the mountains, or playing in the snow. Living in California, we can pick from all three, in the same week even, and I’ll be taking pictures the entire way. If weather doesn’t permit, you can find us watching movies together with popcorn, pizza, candy and sodas.

Q: Do you have any advice to give to aspiring writers?

Be prepared for the “real” life of writing. It’s not all fun and games, pajamas and book signings. Most days, it’s ugly, hard, gut-wrenching work. You will doubt yourself, listen to people rip your work apart and feel like you are crazy for attempting to make this your life. It’s okay…we all live there. It doesn’t matter whether you’ve written one book or nearly twenty, writing is always hard work. But, as I said earlier, is it really work if it’s something you love to do? Never give up on what you love to do, whether it’s writing, painting, acting, debate, mathematics, history, woodworking…do what you love and it will show in the results.

Q&A with Jennifer Seasons

Describe yourself in five words or less.  

My daughter just wrote an essay about me for school and used the words “kind-hearted, friendly, charming, calm and cheerful” to describe me.  I’d say that’s pretty accurate (and super sweet of her). 

Can you tell us a little about your book?  

I would love to! TALKING DIRTY is a fabulous friends-to-lovers story about two people who’ve been driving each other crazy for forever. Apple is a big-hearted, shy librarian who dreams of being a published author. There’s only one thing standing in the way of her making that dream come true: Jake Stone.  Fortune, Colorado’s bad boy pub owner who’s holding hostage the key information she needs to finish her book. To get him talking, she agrees to one seriously revealing arrangement.
It’s a story full of fun, heart, steamy sexy times—and big love.  You don’t want to miss it, trust me. 

What 5 things should readers know about you?

1. I will fight you—and fight dirty—for chocolate. MINE. Enough said. 
2. I love baking.  It’s my happy place.  If I’m stressed, sad, restless, anxious, or having a bad day, baking up a batch of cookies or bread makes me feel enormously better.  It’s hard to stay glum while munching your way through a freshly made batch of blueberry muffins.
3. The hardest thing about being an author for me is that I’m an incredibly shy person—a true introvert.  Getting out there on social media and mixing it up takes a lot of energy. As such, my kids are more popular and social than I am.  Heh. ☺  Have patience with me, all.
4. Every weekend when my husband takes the minivan to the store to buy groceries, I pack the garbage and drive the SUV to the dump.  How’s that for empowering gender role reversals? ☺ 
5. I can ride a horse, speak Spanish, dance the waltz, sing Latin requiems, paint like Matisse, build a wooden fence, rope a cow, run a backhoe tractor like a pro, and hold conferences with Rwandan officials without breaking a sweat.  But I can’t—and I mean I can’t—whistle. That skill is way beyond me.    

Do you have any advice to give to aspiring writers? 

Ha! Boy, do I. You ready?  Here it is: Not everyone is going to get your work, or like it.  That’s okay. It really is! Diversity of thought is a good thing.  Don’t ever internalize criticism you receive as some measure of your self-worth or ability. It isn’t.  It just isn’t.  You created something.  From nothing, and your own imagination.  That’s freaking amazing!  So write the stories you want in your way, with characters who you can appreciate, and let the rest be.  Trust me, it’s easier this way--and you’ll keep your sanity. ;-) 

Is there anything that you would like to say to your readers and fans?  

Thank you so much for reading my stories! Because of you all, I get to do what I love—and that’s create stories filled with characters I truly adore.  It’s a wonderful thing to know you adore them too. 

Guest Post Feature: Valentina Giambanco, author of BLOOD AND BONE

IF IN DOUBT, ASK

Research is a wonderful thing. If you are a writer, research is the magical thing that gets your plot from A to B, and the essential nugget of knowledge that will help you fathom a solution to a seemingly impossible problem. There are many kinds of research: some you do before you start writing and some you only find out you need when you are elbow deep in your story.

On my first visit to New York – long before I started writing the Alice Madison series – I decided that I needed to find out more about the witness protection program and how it worked. This was in the days before internet and Google; so I looked up the telephone number for the New York office of the US Marshals and I called them from my hotel room. The phone call went something like this:

ME: Hello, I wonder if you could help me. Would it be possible for someone from your office to talk to me about how the witness protection program is run? I’m a writer and I live in London. I would love to find out more about how you give witnesses new identities and protect them in their new lives.

(a very long silence)

US MARSHALS: May I have your name?

ME: Sure, it’s Valentina Giambanco and–

US MARSHALS: You need to talk to our media office and they’ll process your request, it will take a couple of weeks.

ME: Oh Gosh, I’m only in New York for a couple of days.

(another long silence)

US MARSHALS: Let me see what I can do.

ME: That would be great, that would be brilliant. Thank you so much. I’m staying at the–

US MARSHALS: It’s okay. We know where you are. Someone will call you back.         

The reason why they knew exactly where I was was that my phone call had been traced to the Lexington Hotel on 53rd.  The reason they traced my call was that I was breezily asking them about procedures and processes that are highly confidential and only my peppy English accent (I sound British only when I’m in the USA) told them that I was not in fact a Mafia spy come to learn their secrets. As it happens, I am half-Sicilian but that did not seem to matter a jot.

Someone did call me back and two hours later a US Marshal met me in the hotel bar, quickly checked my passport to make sure I was who I said I was, and then, over a Coke and a coffee, proceeded to tell me what he could about his job.

He was Italian-American and was the spitting image of Roy Scheider in Jaws – down to the deep tan and the glasses. He had a background in naval intelligence and had joined the Marshals a few years earlier.

I could not believe what was happening. I was actually talking to a Marshal. Someone who was helping to protect witnesses against one of the most ruthless and dangerous organisations the world has ever known. He had recently worked in Italy – helping the Italian police to set up the same sort of program they had in the USA.

Did he explain to me how the system worked? How they create new identities and resettle people who live with bounties on their heads? No, he did not. But he was very patient and answered as many questions as he could. And he took the trouble to come and meet me because I was about to leave town and couldn’t go through the regular channels. I was amazed; I still am. And all because I picked up the phone and asked.

Incidentally, only a few years ago, while doing research for the Alice Madison series in Seattle, I approached two patrol officers in the street – I’m getting very good at this now and I can weather the initial befuddled expressions – and I asked them whether I could interview them.

Forty-eight hours later I spent the day on a ride-along with a phenomenal police officer – a thirty-year old veteran of the Seattle Police Department who, in single eight-hour shift, forever changed my perception of policing.

I will never get over how people – in my case, officers and agents – have been willing to help and have been ready to give their time just for the pleasure of talking to me about their jobs. Google is all well and good but I recommend picking up the phone. Even if, occasionally, the call gets traced.

Guest Post Feature: Jennifer Ann, author of Fighting for Phoebe

Find it online: Amazon | Barnes and Noble

I’ve always wholeheartedly believed that real heroes don’t wear capes, they wear dog tags. Having grown up with a father, sister, and brother who all served in different branches of the US military, it would seem patriotism for this great nation runs deep in my blood. My mom and I were the proverbial black sheep, willfully choosing the civilian life. At least she was a nurse, still dedicating time to helping Americans in a different way. Before becoming a full-time author, I filed documents for the government. It wasn’t exactly a noble profession, though maybe a part of me was still trying to chase the military way of life.

When I think back to when I was eighteen, the only reason I can surmise for not enlisting would be because I was (and still am) a lazy wuss. A couple of years ago, some friends suckered me into a “mini boot camp” type training/hell, and I hardly made it through one session. Simply getting me on the treadmill every now and then is a serious ordeal, and often involves bribes of one kind or another. So it’s probably safe to say that the military just wasn’t for me.

But thankfully it was for my brother. And bless his heart for joining the Marines when I was in high school, because there was never a shortage of hot new friends for him to bring around. Some may say I have a slight obsession with Devil Dogs as every single one of my romance books to date includes a Marine. But as with the Marines I know in real life, there’s something special about my fictional jarheads that goes beyond simply being ripped and smoking hot (although that never hurts to expedite the fantasy).

Every Marine I’ve ever met is brave, loyal, and dedicated to their country. They’re true patriots even after they’re no longer on active duty. They’re also the kind of people you’re glad to know, because they’d have your back in a heartbeat. The Marines in my life may tend to get a little crazy, but they know how to have some serious fun. Whatever you do, don’t call them an ex-Marine, because they’re always and forever dedicated to that way of life.

In Fighting for Phoebe, Jace immediately feels a duty to protect Phoebe from her ex. Before anyone says “but they just met,” the idea of a Marine physically stepping up to a stranger in the bar, determined to honor what they felt to be the right thing, was drawn from real life experiences. I’m telling you, they’re an exceptionally loyal crew, driven by what they believe in their hearts.

Now that my teenaged son participates in federally funded youth program with the U.S. Navy, I’m cheering on our military with an entirely different role, one that will forever create tears of pride. And if my son enlists after high school as planned, I’ll probably have a hard time writing romance that involves young sailors, mostly because I wouldn’t want him or his new friends to be weirded out. But that doesn’t necessarily rule out the appearance by a hot Naval officer or two. ;)

Q&A with S.M. Harris, author of The Northeast Quarter

Here's a sneak peak:

Do you want revenge or do you want your land back?

Winfield, Iowa. 1918. Colonel Wallace Carson, the ruler of a vast agricultural empire, asks Ann Hardy, his ten year old granddaughter and eventual heir, to promise she will safeguard The Northeast Quarter, the choice piece of land from which the empire was founded.  Ann readily accepts – little knowing what awaits her.  When The Colonel is killed unexpectedly the same afternoon, the world around Ann and her family begins to fall apart.

Q&A with Ann Hardy, the heroine in The Northeast Quarter

When the novel starts, Ann,  you around 10 years old and your grandfather dies, and the estate and his legacy is almost destroyed by you step-grandfather, Royce Chamerblain. Did you ever expect to go through so much after your grandfather died?

Ann:  Between 1918 and 1929, I had to grow up pretty fast. I had to learn to stand on my own feet. The events in the story prevent me from doing much introspection.  I was like a soldier on a battlefield – dealing with whatever is in front of him.  Looking back at the skirmishes, I would say I come through it pretty well.

Do you embrace conflict?    

Ann:  I try not to.  When you stand up for something, sometimes conflict seems to embrace you.   I fight when I have to.

Do you run from conflict? 
 
Ann:  I don’t.  But basically I try to avoid it.  I find it’s better to match wits with an opponent until you spot his weak points.  Then if you have to fight, you fight to win.

Against the background of America sliding from a post-war boom into The Great Depression, The Northeast Quarter tells the story of Ann’s struggle to keep a promise no matter what. She witnesses the remarriage of her grandmother to Royce Chamberlin, the seemingly humble banker who institutes a reign of terror over the household and proceeds to corrupt the entire town.

How do you see yourself?       

Ann: I had to learn how to cope very early in life.  I’d say I’m loyal to friends and family, ethical in my dealings with the world and implacable toward my enemies.  My enemies were good teachers.  They taught me about human character.

How do your friends see you?      

Find it online: Amazon

Ann: In addition to being strong and loyal, they see me as mature for my age.  They see me as a little mysterious because I keep a lot inside. They see me as very brave.  Maybe I am, but whether this is true or not, I don’t let people see when I’m afraid.

Over the next ten years, she matches wits with Chamberlin, enduring betrayal, banishment and even physical violence.  She grows from a precocious child into a tough-minded young woman – watching, observing her enemy and waiting for the moment to make her move.
And when the moment comes in July 1929, life in Winfield will never be the same.

How do your enemies see you?

Ann: Since my story begins when I am ten, they thought I was harmless at first.  Then they began to see me as an adversary.  At the end, when I go after them, they see me as an equal.

Ann, seeing your circumstances, I want to ask if you actually get to keep that promise to your grandfather? 

Ann: You will have to read the book to find out the answer. 

About the Author

Stuart M. Harris began writing for the theater professionally in 1991 when he was invited by the Ensemble Studio Theatre in New York to attend a summer conference.  The experience led the native Californian to move to New York to become a playwright.  Several of his plays have been produced Off Broadway and around the country, among them. Oona Field produced by Diverse City Theater Company and Colleen Ireland, about a 90-year-old retirement home resident and her great granddaughter, that played in New York, Spokane and other cities, including Hamilton, OH, where it won ‘Best Play’ at The Fitton Center One-Act Playwriting Contest. A follow-up to Colleen was Spindrift Way, the first of ten more plays in the series.  The Northeast Quarter began as a full-length play developed by the Works in Progress Theatre Lab at Manhattan Theatre Club Studios.  Harris put playwriting on hold in order to weave the story of generations of Iowan farmers into his new historical novel. He lives in Brooklyn.

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