June 19, 2007

The Write Side of Life

ST: Good morning and welcome back. Several people emailed requesting to see the DRAGON IN THE SYSTEM book cover. So here it is:

ST: Cindy, what made you decide to be a writer?
CSP: I don’t know that it WAS a conscious decision. Like so many other aspects of life it just sort of evolved. Mostly so the voices in my head would have someplace else to talk.

ST: How long have you been writing?
CSP: Seriously, about 7 years. Full-time, since I mucked up my knee last fall, and couldn’t work at the nature center anymore.

ST: Do you find writing to be fulfilling? And in what way?
CSP: If I didn’t I think I’d be in the wwwrrrrrooongggg business! It’s nice to have a creative outlet, to help people find happiness even if they are imaginary.

ST: What’s a normal day like for you?
CSP: Define normal. It’s not a word I’m familiar with. An optimal day is when I throw the menfolk out the door to school and work, crawl back into bed and get another hour’s worth of sleep. Then I get up and write. Somewhere in there I usually shower and eat lunch, then write till the monsters come home. Feed, them, send them off to the teen center, if I’m lucky, and write for another 2 hours till the horde returns. And if you don’t believe three is a horde, you’ve never been around teenage boys! Notice I said this was optimal. In real life pesky things like errands, exercise classes, and housework keep getting in the way of my perfect plan.

ST: With your busy life how do you find time to write?
CSP: By learning to live with a messy house and learning to write on whatever flat surface I can find. I carry a notebook anywhere, and type while I’m watching TV some nights.

ST: Thank you again for your time. See you in the morning?
CSP: Without a doubt. Thanks to everyone who’s posted. I appreciate your comments and questions.

ST: Until tomorrow…

Happy Writing,
Sloane

June 18, 2007

Cindy Spencer Pape Tells All

ST: Hi, Cindy Spencer Pape, welcome and thank you for visiting with us this week.
CSP: Glad to be here! (looking around) At least I think I’m here. I could be somewhere else entirely.

ST: Tell us a about yourself.
CSP: Hmmm. Not nearly as interesting as the books.
OK—according to the IRS, I’m an unemployed zoologist. Hopefully next year that will change to well-paid author. There’s always hope. I live in Michigan, about an hour out of Detroit with my husband of 20 plus years, two teenage sons, a neurotic dog (or small horse, depending on your definition) and a stray iguana who followed me home. And some goldfish. I think. Haven’t checked the tank yet today.

ST: You had an exciting new release in May,

Please tell us about them.

GSP: Actually CRAZY FOR THE COWBOY came out as an e-book in March and in print on May 11. It’s Book #2 in the Love at the Crazy H series, which is a Yellow Rose contemporary western romance from The Wild Rose Press. It’s the story of the second Hall brother, Sheriff Fitz Hall, and Rhiannon Jakobowski, a new-age vegetarian from Detroit who inherits the bookstore under Fitz’s apartment. She arrives while Fitz is spending a couple of days on the family ranch, and assumes all the stuff in the apartment belongs to her dead great-uncle. So she boxes it up, gives some away, pitches some in the dumpster, and collapses into an exhausted heap. Fitz stumbles into the apartment after a late night car accident call, tired and sick, and doesn’t even notice there’s already somebody in his bed. The fun continues from there.

Dragon in the System is a paranormal romance from Cerridwen Press. I call this one my geek-fest book. Eric is a computer science professor. When he’s assigned to unmask a hacker who is embezzling from campus accounts, he winds up searching in the steam tunnels below campus. He’s not sure if he’s going crazy when he thinks he sees a giant lizard tail, so he enlists the support of herpetology professor Lori Tremain, who turns out to be both a big help and a major distraction. Given the title and that the story is a paranormal, wanna guess what they find in the steam tunnels?

ST: You also have THE COWBOY’S CHRISTMAS BRIDE available. Tell us a little about it.
CSP: The title is pretty self-explanatory, isn’t it? Just kidding. Allison finds out the day of her wedding that her fiancé is gay, so she takes off, and winds up driving through a freak Wyoming snowstorm. She takes shelter at the Crazy H ranch, and offers to help take care of the rancher’s baby nephew in exchange for her keep till the storm ends. CJ Hall is fascinated by his unexpected guest, but he has secrets of his own that keep him from making a serious move. And then his whole big crazy family shows up for Christmas, and decides that Allie would be the perfect match for the youngest brother, Trip. There also may or may not be family ghosts mixing things up. It’s a fun story, or at least that’s what the reviewers said!

ST: What is the heat level of each book?
GSP: Pretty tame by e-book standards, but spicy enough to horrify my dad’s 80-year old cousin. The cowboy books are about the level of a Silhouette Desire or a Harlequin Temptation. DRAGON is a bit hotter. My October Quickie from Ellora’s Cave is—well—scorching!

ST: How did you come up with all the story lines?
CSP: I’m pretty sure that answering that question would take several years and the services of qualified professionals. In all honesty, I have no idea. They just sort of evolve and grow in my brain like parasites. I started the cowboy series because my mother liked cowboys and didn’t care for all my paranormal stuff. The fictional Wyoming town of Shirley is named after her.

ST: And where and can we buy CRAZY FOR THE COWBOY, DRAGON IN THE SYSTEM, and THE COWBOY’S CHRISTMAS BRIDE?
CSP: You can check them all out at my website
The Cowboy books are available in print at Amazon, and electronically at Wild Rose Press. And on June 21, DRAGON IN THE SYSTEM will be at Cerridwen Press.

ST: Thanks for all your time today. Are you available tomorrow for more questions?
CSP: I think I can pencil it in. In all honesty, I’d love to stop by again!

ST: Please feel free to ask any questions you have. Cindy will be happy to answer. See you all tomorrow. Until then…

Happy Writing!
Sloane

June 17, 2007

PRESENTING…

June 14, 2007

Ooh! A Nice Surprise.

I was very pleased to find an new promo bit for me on the internet. Check it out on Rachelle’s blog. The site may load slow, so please be patient.

While you’re there, be sure to check out her contests.

Happy Writing!
Sloane

June 8, 2007

Gazing into the Crystal Ball

ST: Welcome back for our last day with the Amazing Gabrina. All set, Ms G?
GG: Go for it!

ST: What does the future hold for you?
GG: A whole lot of hustling! I have a lot of stories coming out this year, some fantasy, some mainstream, a vampire story, a women’s fic, and time travel/futuristic. I am trying to sate my own nerdome!

ST: If you had one wish that would be granted, what would it be?
GG: It actually wouldn’t be related to writing. Everyone who knows me has heard me harping on about animal rescue, so my wish would be to end the pet overpopulation problem and animal cruelty like dog fighting and such. By ending that, I think we could end a lot of horrible violence in the world. I just don’t talk about it, though. As I said earlier in the week I foster homeless animals and I also donate time and money into rescues. Violence toward animals usually leads to violence toward children and people, so by cracking down on the source cycles of violence could be ended.

My non-Miss America answer would be a trip to New Zealand to see where the Hobbits lived. See, I’m a nerd. But I’m a caring nerd!

ST: LOL. What’s in the works for the future?
GG: Tons! Bookmark my website and subscribe to my newsletter because I have a whole summer worth of giveaways and hot reads. This year I have books coming out every month from now pretty much through February by what it looks like, so by all means check it out. Next month SEX BETWEEN STRANGERS arrives and it’s one of my favorite stories, something completely different from what I’ve worked on in the past.

ST: Thanks, Gabrina, for spending so much time with us. It’s been a great week and I’ve enjoyed learning more about you. The very best to you in the future and keep us posted on your future releases.
GG: I’ll be happy to, Sloane. Thanks for having me come out and play.

ST: I’ll be back next week with a couple of blogs and the following week we have Cindy Spenser Pape as our guest. Until then…

Happy Writing!
Sloane