Spotlight Author
Thriller/Supernatural - Fantasy/Contemporary Light bulbs talk to River Madden; God doesn't. When the homeless schizophrenic unintentionally fractures a d
What inspired this specific retelling of Emma? My kids have both been on robotics teams for years, and I’ve spent a lot of time watching their competitions and being in awe of how brilliant and innovative these middle and high school students are in STEM. I got the idea to write about
I'm happy to welcome award-winning author Vicki Batman. Today, Vicki shares her writing journey and latest release, Sommerville Days. Here's Vicki! *Waving* Hi, everyone! So nice to see you today. Thank you, Joanne, for hostessing me on your blog. Some writers have always known they wanted to write. Some studied creative writing. But that isn’t…
If you could sit and write in a different country where would it be? England, probably the Lake District or the Cotswolds. My fantasies generally do not involve sexy guys—they involve peaceful little cottages on a hillside overlooking a beautiful lake. Oh, and tea, scones, and a nice glas
A monster lives inside every girl. Sometimes it’s a big one that drowns out all the others. Sometimes it’s not. Sometimes it’s a crowd. Sometimes it’s just one. My biggest monster was a creative beast that craved chocolate and felt good if I drowned her in starch and, on occasion, an overabundanc
What is the best thing about writing? To me, it’s the same as the worst thing: riding the whiplash between peril and promise. I think that’s a fairly universal experience for people whose careers – and vocations- lie in the arts, whether fine art, literary art, or performing art. And with the except
Tell us about your latest book. Who are the main character(s) and what can readers expect when they pick up Last Duke Standing? Princess Justine Ivanosen is going to be queen of Wesloria sooner than she hoped—her father, the king, is dying from tuberculosis. Because he is declining, a marriage bec
Do you plan your books in advance or let them develop as you write? Both. Sometimes the story just unfolds, and sometimes I have to relentlessly work on themes and turning points and characters’ points of view. Every book is different, every book has its own unique challenges. I’m always thinking a
Love at First Spite is your debut novel. Tell us about your journey to get here. I started writing full-length fiction twelve years ago when my kids were little as an escape from the eating/sleeping/changing diapers rut. Initially, it was just a fun experiment, but my perception of my writing as
Where/When do you best like to write? I’m an early riser. I like the morning quiet, a cup of coffee, an open laptop and a blank screen. For most of my life I wrote with pen and paper, typing up my stories later. Writing on my laptop is faster, easier, and I’ve gotten good at the brain-heart-finger
Albert Einstein says, "Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better." My favorite natural fact is that we are all made of “star-stuff.” It lives above us, around us, and within us all. It is from the beginning of time with the power to overcome darkness of any kin
What was the hardest scene to write in The Iron Raven? What was the easiest? I can't say too much without giving away spoilers, but the hardest scene in The Iron Raven was near the very end of the book when they're fighting the final Big Bad, and Puck does a completely Puck-ish thing to give them
Embarking on the writing of a novel is a truly novel (ha!) experience. As a physician, researcher and teacher, who wrote extensively throughout my career in academic medicine, including an introductory anesthesiology textbook with my mentor, I assumed the words would flow and a book would appear. I
How did you get the idea for THE DAZZLING TRUTH? The Dazzling Truth was initially inspired by the Japanese art of kintsugi – the practise of repairing broken pottery with powdered gold, silver, or platinum. The breakage, and the repair, remains visible to show the history of an object rather tha
In my newest book, Bridesmaid Blues , Dani Brown, the maid-of-honor, has to keep the best man, her ex-boyfriend, away from the groom as a favor to the bride. Dani and Jamie’s relationship didn’t end well, and she was left trying to figure out why he bolted days after she said the L-word. That got m
Like many of my books, JOHNNY BE GOOD is set on the North Shore of Long Island where I currently live. And like my other books, it also examines the delicate balance of mother-daughter relationships in a middle-class Irish-American family. As you may have guessed from my name, I’m
I am a dyed-in-the-wool, unrepentant lover of short stories. In high school, I fell in love with Kiss Me Again, Stranger, Daphne duMaurier’s outstanding collection of short stories. The last one in this collection, “No Motive,” is branded into my literary consciousness. Therefore, it is no
Describe yourself in five words or less. Feminist who believes in HEA. Can you tell us a little about your book? Alexander Lewis, the Duke of Greyland, met a beautiful, destitute widow and lost his heart to her—but she disappeared. Two years later, the duke finds Cassandra again as she manages a
When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer? Or what first inspired you to write? Many things. Firstly, publishing my father’s life story gave me my first true experience of putting together an interesting personal story and the processes involved – it was a hard back full-colour coffee t
