Susan Russo Anderson – Plotting & a Large Load of Laundry

Plotting and a Large Load of Laundry

by Susan Russo Anderson

For me, plotting is like hanging up a large load of laundry.

Picture it, a beautiful Monday in June. The air is fresh, the breeze is flappy, and you’re doing three loads of wash. Don’t you dare use that drier. Get a rope and two poles.

• Tie one end of the rope to the house.
• Tie the other end to that big old maple at the end of the yard.
• Prop up the rope—the storyline—with two poles. Best to prop it at about the two-thirds point on the rope—roughly, the golden mean.
• Place the second pole somewhere after the three-quarter mark, Part Three of the story, the beginning of the climax leading to the end.
• That way you can hang all the light laundry on the long length of rope, scenes which develop core conflict and character and move the story. Clamp the heavier stuff to the smaller lengths toward the end of the rope.

When I start to plot, I know the beginning and the end and the two plot pivots, all subject to change of course. I jot in the bones of these five scenes intermingled with some character sketches, perhaps the arcs of the most important players, and pretty soon, the story is writing itself.

When I read fiction, whether it’s a short story or novella or novel, I look for those two pivotal plot points. Name them, re-read them, because it’s around these two points that meaning clings to the story like barnacles to a ship.

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Genre – Historical Mystery

Rating – PG13

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Website http://susanrussoanderson.com/

Orangeberry Book of the Day - Kaleidoscope World - Tomica Scavina

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Genre – Psychological Thriller

Rating – PG

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Website http://www.tomicascavina.com/

 

A collector of kaleidoscopes and lousy relationships, Dahlia Kasper leaves her possessive alcoholic mother and moves from New York to Barcelona. In search of lost bits of her childhood, she starts living in an apartment where her father was murdered when she was four. As soon as she enters the apartment, strange things begin to happen.
Her favorite kaleidoscope becomes a gateway to another dimension where she encounters a ghost of a famous physicist from the 19th century who tries to persuade her that reality is like a moth-eaten sweater - full of holes. He needs her to help him plug up these holes and save the world from vanishing, while the only thing Dahlia really wants to save is her sanity.
This is just a part of Dahlia's problems. An elderly cello-playing neighbor turns her emotional world upside down and her longing for lost home takes her further than she ever imagined she could go. To collect all the scattered kaleidoscope-bits of her life together, Dahlia needs to go through an intense inner transformation that takes courage and a sharp sense of humor.

Author Interview – Lee Strauss

Tell us a bit about your family. I’m married with four kids. Three boys and a girl- Joel, Levi, Jordan and Anastasia

What is your favorite food? Dark Chocolate. That’s a food group, right?

What dreams have been realized as a result of your writing? I’ve written and published my books. It’s amazing to see them on Amazon, itunes, Barnes & Nobles and to know that people are reading them. I love getting fan mail. I adore all the fellow writers I’ve met online, especially those in my writers group, The Indelibles ( http://indeliblewriters.blogspot.ca/)

Who is your publisher? ESB Publishing, owned by me.

Why did you choose to write this particular book? I watched a documentary on TV about how science is making progress on the effort to extend the human life span especially with genetic alteration. It got me thinking about how that would look globally if they succeed? Would everyone be able to do it and if not who would and who wouldn’t? How would it effect those who did and those who didn’t? Would people pursue this at any cost?

Will you write others in this same genre? Yes. Perception is the first in a series. Book 2 VOLITION is releasing April 16.

Eternal Life is To Die For

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Genre – YA SciFi / Romance

Rating – PG13

What doesn’t kill you…

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Genre – YA SciFi / Romance

Rating – PG13

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Orangeberry Book of the Day – Undertow by Elle Chardou

Five years ago, Evie Sandstrom and Finn Reilly were best friends and each other’s first love. Although neither has forgotten this time of their lives, they have moved on from one another and the secrets that continue to haunt them from the past.

Evie, now a college student, has decided to transfer for her junior year to Boston University to be closer to her family…and Finn Reilly is still there — waiting for her — in Charlestown.

During part of a gorgeous summer, the beauty of their love is rekindled again only to be torn apart by Evie’s mother, the beautiful and untouchable superstar, Athena Donahue.

Evie, angry and humiliated, is determined to avenge her mother for what she has done. Athena’s recently married Etienne Fournier, a thirty-year-old French model, and he is dangerously attracted to Evie.

Love and lust collide in the cruelest ways and now Evie finds herself conflicted, swept in the undertow and caught in the crossfire of temptation and desire for Etienne though she desperately wants to maintain the loyalty and fidelity she has promised to Finn.

Evie learns the most valuable lesson of all: falling in love is easy but for a young woman who doesn’t like to commit, maintaining a relationship is the hard part.

Publisher’s Note: Due to mature behavior, sexual references, drug references and language, this novel is recommended for those 17+.

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Genre – Contemporary Romance

Rating – R

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Blog http://thebeautifulpeopleawritersjourney.blogspot.com/

Author Interview – Karin Cox

Tell us a bit about your family. I am one of those blessed people whose family is wonderfully loving and supportive. I am one of four children, so I have an older sister and two younger brothers, and I grew up on a farm on the Sunshine Coast of Queensland, Australia. We never had a lot of money, because everything went back into the farm, but there was always plenty of love and encouragement to go around and we had a menagerie: horses, dogs, cats, guinea pigs, guinea fowl, a galah, a cockatoo, cockatiel, peacocks, ducks, chickens, turkeys, turtles, even rabbits. We were madcap country kids, riding horses at breakneck speed, swimming in murky dams and creeks, zooming down steep hills of blady grass on cardboard box slides. I am surprised we all made it to adulthood unscathed, to be honest. It makes me kind of sad that I live in the city now, so my child probably won’t have a crazy childhood like that; although, I would love to move back to the country.

What are you most proud of accomplishing so far in your life? I’m pretty proud of giving birth without needing an epidural. That was probably my biggest accomplishment. Look, I’m thrilled with the success I’ve had writing. I’ve won two Whitley Commendations for my natural history writing, been picked up by publishers, and received lots of great accolades and reviews. I’m particularly proud of a book I wrote about Australian wildlife conservation. And yet, I still think that there is some truth to “the hardest thing you’ll ever learn is just to love, and be loved in return.” Truly, my biggest accomplishment in life is my family. It’s not always easy to keep it all together when you’re a solitary, stubborn, and sometimes absent, author, but my partner and my child are the dearest things in my life. I love them, they are more multi-faceted and clever and accomplished than any character or piece of writing I could create, and they’re what I am most proud of.

When and why did you begin writing? I’ve always had the gift of the gab, but I started out mostly writing poetry when I was a kid, so I’ve been a writer as long as I can remember.

What inspires you to write and why? Strangely, I often feel like I hate writing while I am doing it. I’m like Dorothy Parker—“I hate writing; I love having written.” I am one of those weird creatures who finds editing much easier than writing (it comes with my day job as a freelance editor), so grinding out the first draft can be a real chore because I obsess over details and nitpick words. Often, I even convince myself to quit. I need to just let go and write and worry about it later.

But writing is such a freeing experience in many ways. What mostly inspires me is that I have these ideas that just won’t quit, or I have emotions I need to get down on paper.

Who or what influenced your writing once you began? I suppose I have been influenced by a lot of authors over the years. I have always been a voracious reader. Those who have probably influenced me most strongly are Mary Renault, CS Lewis and Phillip Pullman.

What made you want to be a writer? I am a Scorpio and I like exploring the darker side of human nature. I love philosophy and profound thought. I like to go deep, sometimes too deep. Writing seemed like a perfect fit for my nature.

Have you developed a specific writing style? I like to think so, but I also tinker with my style depending on what I’m writing. My style for young adult is quite different to my style for adults. Also, for Cruxim, I deliberately tried to write in a gothic style, because this is not a book set in the modern era.

What is your greatest strength as a writer? I think writing poetry really helps with lyricism in everyday novel writing. I know my style will be too embellished for some readers, but I can’t help it. I have a love affair with words as much as with characters or plot.

How do you promote this book? At present, I’m still in the early stages of releasing it. Cruxim has been out less than a month, so I’m doing a lot of promotion. Blog tours, banner ads, social media networking, advertising—you name it, I’ll try it. I’m currently on a mission to get a lot more book bloggers and reviewers on board, so I have emails out there everywhere asking for review requests too. I’ll also be doing some more giveaways.

Will you write others in this same genre? Yes, this is the first in what I imagine to be a trilogy about Amedeo the Cruxim. I’m currently working on the second, tentatively titled Creche, and the third will probably be called Creed. I hope to have Creche out by Easter and Creed out before Christmas.

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Genre – Paranormal Romance

Rating – PG15+ (some violence & swearing. No sex)

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Blog http://karincox.wordpress.com/

Author Interview – Dr. Heather Manley

What genre are you most comfortable writing? I, happily and excitedly, write for the childrens’ book market for ages 4 to 10.

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre? I feel that Human Body Detectives series is the modern version of Magic School Bus.

What inspired you to write your first book? Basically, I was flipping pancakes one Sunday morning when it dawned on me that I could write a series of entertaining and educational adventure stories through the different systems in the body; however, it all began in the classroom. When my kids were younger, I spent time in their elementary classrooms, talking about the digestive system and nutrition. It was quite obvious that kids loved learning about how their bodies work and what foods best fueled them. I searched through the library, book stores and Amazon but was unable to find any books about the human body that were engaging. When I was flipping those pancakes, I was pondering all this and knew that kids would gravitate towards these books and in return, would provide a profound, long-term healthy effect on them. Human Body Detectives, specifically, The Lucky Escape: An Imaginative Adventure Through the Digestive System, was then born.

Do your books have a teaching objective?  If so, what is it? Yes! But what is so wonderful about the series is that kids do not even realize they are learning. My goals for students are:

• Have a basic understanding on how each body system functions, how they work independently, yet are dependent on each other to function optimally.
• Understand the important role nutrition plays in having a healthy body.

What is your writing schedule? I usually spend a few hours in the morning writing down ideas and key medical points for the story and then begin writing. It maybe a little backwards but I like to just get writing as you can always edit!

 

 

 

For those wanting to know a little more about Dr. Heather: Dr. Heather Manley, who in 2001 received her medical degree from the National College of Naturopathic Medicine in Portland, Oregon, is a practicing physician whose primary interest is preventative healthcare for families. She is the author of the award winning Human Body Detectives, her children’s educational series of story-telling books, eBooks, and iPhone/iPad apps.  She also promotes wellness and naturopathic healthcare on her website DrHeatherND.com. She lives on the Big Island of Hawaii with her husband and two daughters, and is currently at work on the next human body adventure for kids.

 

 

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Genre – Children’s Book

Rating – G

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Orangeberry Book of the Day - Secrets by Liz Schulte

While Olivia Martin observed life through her camera, the Abyss gazed back at her. She discovers mysterious men follow her around, people close to her are dying, and her dreams are no longer her own as she falls head over heels for a perfect stranger. A chance encounter leads to an obsession that could destroy everything she has ever known or loved. Olivia is about to find out there is a lot she doesn’t know and sometimes what you don’t know can kill you.

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Genre – Paranormal Romance

Rating – PG13

Connect with Liz Schulte on Facebook & Twitter

Website http://www.lizschulte.com/

Author Interview – Catherine Astolfo

Tell us a bit about your family. My mother is quite elderly now and has dementia, but when we were kids, she was a fabulous storyteller. My four younger sisters and I loved listening to her tales. I think that’s where I got my drive to be a writer. Now we’re all older and have kids (and grandkids), but the storytelling continues.

What is your favorite food? Pasta! It’s also my downfall. Bread smothered in butter, pasta in any kind of sauce piled high on the plate – they make me swoon. And swell.

Do you recall how your interest in writing originated? I’ve always had the feeling I was born with it. I don’t remember a time when the words weren’t floating in my head. The compulsion to share my stories seems to have been part of me forever.

When did you first know you could be a writer? In Grade 8, a teacher read my stories and told me I had a terrific style. He thought I was a writer already. I agree with his assessment. Anyone who has the urge to put words on paper might be a writer. It’s the follow-through that counts. Sometimes I use the word “author” to make the differentiation. For me, an author is a writer who wants his/her creation to be read by others. You have to be willing to rip apart your initial output and edit, edit, edit. It’s a lot of work. Only authors are dedicated (obsessed?) enough to put in the time.

Who or what influenced your writing once you began? When I first retired and began serious work on my unfinished novels I was advised by a friend to join Sisters in Crime and Crime Writers of Canada. These organizations led to critique groups, mentors, friendships and networks. In the last couple of years, my publisher, Cheryl Tardif of Imajin Books, has been a huge influence.

Have you developed a specific writing style? I’d say I’m a fairly descriptive writer, bordering on “literary”, that is, well-developed vocabulary and expressive prose. I love to write in first person and present tense.

Have you ever had writer’s block? If so, what do you do about it? I often suffer from writer’s block. What I do is this: I sit down at the laptop and I write. I write anything. A journal of my day. An outline of the current book. A diatribe against myself for having writer’s block. Anything that dislodges the obstruction and starts the writing flowing again.

Can you share a little of your current work with us? I recently gave birth to book baby #5. It’s a standalone, a bit of a hybrid of romance, psychological thriller, mystery and historical fiction. How’s that for multiple personalities? Before this one, which is at the moment unpublished, I wrote four books in the Emily Taylor Mystery series. They’re published by Imajin Books. The title of the first one is The Bridgeman.

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Genre – Mystery

Rating – 18+

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Orangeberry Book Tours – The Lucky Escape by Dr. Heather Manley

Merrin and Pearl’s little brother Robbie has swallowed a penny. Now through magic and imagination they find themselves on an adventure through his digestive system where they must grab the penny, save Robbie, and narrowly escape his poopy diaper.

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Genre – Children’s Book

Rating – G

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Orangeberry Book of the Day – Genetically Modified Foods vs. Sustainability – Bruno McGrath

“We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.” – Albert Einstein

This ebook points out the surrounding issues of genetically modified fruit and vegetables that consumers are unaware of. While several parties defend the use of technology to create food, there seems to be little being done to increase awareness about this matter to the end consumer. It also points out alternative food sustainability options such as organic farming and land management.

This ebook will indicate that although some parties agree that genetically modified food items are cost effective and considered safe, its long-term results have not been adequately researched and the use of pesticides on these items are far higher than for other types farming or food products.

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Genre – Food & Cooking (PG)

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Website http://moonstarluxury.com/

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Orangeberry Book of the Day - Excuse Me, My Brains Have Stepped Out - Pandora Poikilos

Anya Michaels is having the time of her life. She has the man of her dreams by her side. She has graduated at the top of her class. She has the job others were lining up for. Between late night drinks at her favourite bar and fancy dinners at the most expensive restaurants, she has a string of adoring friends. Everything changes when she hears the dreaded words, “You are sick.”

Being diagnosed with a rare neurological disorder, her world starts to fall apart, one piece at a time. Now dumped, her four year relationship is nothing but a memory filled with pictures, thoughts and a very broken heart. Her job becomes an even further challenge as she tries to hide her condition. Her friends suddenly have more important things to do, what is a party without a party girl? Perfect could not crumble any faster.

Soon, caught between situations, people and pieces of life that she never dreamed of planning for herself, Anya begins to wonder if her brain condition is all that bad. As she absorbs the changes in her life and realization sets in, she begins to wonder if she is the only one saying: Excuse Me, My Brains Have Stepped Out.

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Genre – Women’s Fiction

Rating – PG

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Website http://moonstarluxury.com/

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Orangeberry Book of the Day - Perception & Volition by Lee Strauss

Eternal Life is To Die

For seventeen year old Zoe Vanderveen is a GAP—a genetically altered person. She lives in the security of a walled city on prime water-front property along side other equally beautiful people with extended life spans. Her brother Liam is missing.

Noah Brody is a natural who lives on the outside. He leads protests against the GAPs and detests the widening chasm they’ve created between those who have and those who don’t. He doesn’t like girls like Zoe and he has good reason not to like her specifically.

Zoe’s carefree life takes a traumatic turn. She’s in trouble and it turns out that Noah, the last guy on earth she should trust, is the only one who can help her.

Want to read PERCEPTION? It's FREE on Kobo itunes B&N Smashwords
and .99 on Amazon!

VOLITION is the exciting continuation of Noah and Zoe's story from Perception.

 

What doesn't kill you ...

Zoe Vanderveen is on the run with her captor turned rescuer, Noah Brody.

They're in love.

Or at least that’s what he tells her. Her memories have returned but her feelings are dreamlike—thin and fleeting. Her heart can’t be trusted. Just look at what happened with Taylor Blake.

Senator Vanderveen’s new team of cyborg agents are in hot pursuit, and a reward for their capture is broadcast nationwide. Record breaking cold and snow hinder their escape. Someone dies helping them.

And their fight for survival has only begun.

Mark to read on goodreads.

To celebrate Lee Strauss is giving away a $200.00 Amazon, Nook or itunes gift card!

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About the author

Lee Strauss writes historical and science fiction/romance for upper YA and adult readers. She also writes light and fun stuff under the name Elle Strauss. To find out more about Lee and her books check out her facebook page. Follow her on Twitter at https://twitter.com/elle_strauss To find out about new releases sign up for her newsletter at www.ellestraussbooks.com

Author Interview – Scott C. Smith

What is your favorite color? I like dark colors, and black happens to be my favorite.

What is your favorite food? I love Indian cuisine. I could eat it every single day and not get bored. It’s so flavorful. Portland, Oregon is home to many great Indian restaurants.

What’s your favorite place in the entire world? As a Navy journalist, I was fortunate to be able to travel all over the world. My favorite place was Japan. I was stationed in Yokosuka from October 1990 to July 1992. It was my first time outside of the United States. I met a lot of great people in Japan, and it was quite the experience for a young man of 22.

Do you recall how your interest in writing originated? While I remember writing a short story when I was in the sixth grade, it wasn’t until I was around 15 that I became passionate about writing. After finishing “The World According to Garp” by John Irving I thought, I want to be a writer.

How long have you been writing? I can remember writing my first story when I was in the sixth grade — it was a parody of “Star Wars.” It wasn’t until I was 15 or so that I started writing on a regular basis. I also wrote for my high school newspaper.

What genre are you most comfortable writing? At the moment it seems to be science fiction and fantasy. In the near future, I’m going to write something in the horror genre.

What inspired you to write your first book? I was inspired to be a writer by John Irving; his novel “The World According to Garp” was a huge influence on my wanting to become a writer.

Who or what influenced your writing once you began? I joined the Navy right after high school, and served for six years as a military journalist. I met a lot of great people during that time, and many of them were also writers of fiction. They shared lots of great ideas with me, and were very encouraging of my own desire to become a novelist.

What made you want to be a writer? I read “The World According to Garp” by John Irving in 1982 or 1983, and that book changed my life. After reading it, I wanted to be like T. S. Garp, aside from the horrible tragedy he experienced. Stephen King was also a huge influence. I taught myself manuscript format by emulating the layout of “Christine.”

What do you consider the most challenging about writing a novel, or about writing in general? The most challenging part is finding the conflict central to the story. I’m working on my next book now, and it wasn’t until I was about 11,000 words in that I realized what the conflict would be, and how my protagonist would resolve it. When I wrote my first novel, “Awake,” it took even longer.

Do you intend to make writing a career? I really hope so. Self-publishing through places like Amazon and Smashwords has made this a realistic possibility for many authors. With my new book coming out soon, as well as an audio book I’m having produced for “Awake,” I’m hoping that this is the year I can quit my day job.

What is your greatest strength as a writer? I’m really good with dialogue and setting a mood.

Can you share a little of your current work with us? I’m working on a book called “…A Thousand Words.” It’s about a man who discovers that, in a book about World War II, he finds a photograph of someone that looks just like him — a German soldier from 1941. He is able to travel back to the time of that photograph, but in doing so, he discovers he has changed the future. The consciousness of that German soldier is able to travel from 1941 to the present, and essentially takes over the body and mind of the main character. Now the German soldier wants to carry out The Final Solution in 2013. Can my protagonist regain control over his body and mind and prevent this from happening? Stay tuned!

How did you come up with the title? “Awake” came from the fact that my main character, Charles Matheson, is an insomniac, just like me. As that book opens, Matheson had gone several days without sleep.

Who designed the cover? My friend Mary Nichols designed it.

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Genre – Science Fiction / Fantasy

Rating – PG13

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Orangeberry Book of the Day - Ethan Justice: Origins by Simon Jenner

He’s a new kind of hero. Join him for his very first adventure.

John Smith’s life is dull and uneventful. Despite a privileged upbringing and education, he is an underachiever of the highest calibre. When Smith wakes up with Savannah Jones, an escort provided by his best friend, Mark Bradshaw, his life is changed forever. Eager to pay Jones, to avoid her pimp breaking his legs, he confronts his friend for the money – but there is one small problem – Bradshaw is dead. But what was the murderer after?

Fisher has lost his job and wants payback. Bradshaw had the one weapon that could grant him the ultimate revenge but torture hadn’t loosened his tongue. Smith and Jones are dragged into Fisher’s grand plot to destroy the bureaucrats responsible for taking the one job where his lust for murder was an asset. No longer part of the elite SAS, Fisher’s licence to kill is revoked. With only vengeance and an unnatural lust for his sister on his mind, Fisher will relish the destruction of anyone that stands in his way.

Jones, an escort for less than a day, must pay her pimp a thousand pounds or be sold to an interested third party with highly unsavoury tastes. Jones needs Smith to pay the money and Smith needs Jones to… well he’s not quite sure, but he clearly likes having her around. Together, armed with nothing but their wits, they become the pawns of an anti-terrorist agency in a plan to capture Fisher before he exacts a revenge that will take thousands of innocent lives.

Can the underachiever become the hero, save the day and get the girl? Find out in this dark story of murder, deceit, lust and revenge. It’s a fun and wild ride into a disturbing world.

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Genre – Action / Adventure

Rating – PG15

Connect with Simon Jenner on Facebook

Website http://simonjenner.com/

Orangeberry Book of the Day - A Stairway To Danger - Ben Woodard

1923. An eyeless body. A menacing stranger. And a tangled mystery.

If Clive Cussler and Lee Child wrote a teen book featuring a deadly gang, resourceful boys, and nonstop excitement it would be A STAIRWAY TO DANGER.

Fourteen-year-old Tom is learning farm life from his older cousin, Will, when they stumble on a deserted barge—or is it? The boys smell a mystery and snoop around, but what they find is bigger and more dangerous than anything they could have imagined.

A STAIRWAY TO DANGER is a fun, page-turning thriller with a dark side.

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Genre – YA / Mystery

Rating – PG

Connect with Ben Woodard on Twitter

Author Interview – Lara Nance

Tell us a bit about your family. My husband and I live on our sailboat with our Yorkie, Rio. He’s our child and rules the boat.

What is your favorite quality about yourself? Creativity.

What is your least favorite quality about yourself? Impatience.

What is your favorite quote, by whom, and why? That which does not kills us makes us stronger.  Friedrich Nietzsche

What are you most proud of accomplishing so far in your life? The many novels I’ve completed and published.

What is your favorite color? Green

What is your favorite food? Pizza

What’s your favorite place in the entire world? The Bitter End Yacht Club in the Virgin Islands.

How has your upbringing influenced your writing? I’m not very comfortable writing love scenes…

Do you recall how your interest in writing originated? In 1988, I was reading a lot of StarTrek novels after my company moved me to a new city where I didn’t know anyone. I decided I wanted to write one, so I wrote one in a spiral notebook in pencil. That was when I knew I wanted to be a writer.

How long have you been writing? Since 1988 as a hobby, then to be published in the last 5 years.

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Genre – Paranormal Romance

Rating – R

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Website http://www.laranance.com/

Orangeberry Book of the Day – Grimm End by ST Cameron

Sara Cross never knew that her great-grandfather was still alive until an evil creature sent by his enemies burns down their house and sends her family to seek refuge at his estate on the shores of Lake Superior in northern Minnesota.

Arriving in the small, isolated town of Shadow Bluffs in the valley below his estate, they find that they have stepped into a strange world filled with magic wielders, shape shifters, and the living dead. It is also home to the Moira Sisters, three dark wielders who want to use Sara and her family to steal from her great-grandfather a centuries-old chest containing a dangerous power.

Sara’s family, already fragile after the disappearance of her father several years earlier, is brought to the breaking point as Sara, trying her best to hold her family together, sees them torn apart one-by-one by the strange creatures that inhabit the dangerous town.

When Sara learns that she too has an ability to wield magic, will it be enough combined with the developing talents of her two brothers to fight back against the Sisters? Can she rebuild what is left of her family and keep them together and, more importantly, alive?

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Genre – Paranormal Horror

Rating – PG15

Connect with ST Cameron on Facebook & Twitter

Website http://stcameron.com/

Author Interview – George Bernstein

What’s your favorite quality about yourself? That I’m driven. Once I start something, I want to finish it, and I’m not satisfied until I’m sure it’s absolutely right. There’s a bit OCD there, I guess.

What’s your Least favorite quality about yourself? That I’m driven! I have to force myself to say, “enough is enough,” and stop editing and rewriting. At some point, I’ve got to say, “This is ready to go.” Then I can leave it up to an editor to see if something else needs to be done.

What’s your favorite place in the entire world? I probably should say, “Home with the wife and my granddaughter,” to keep my head in place. But actually, it would be a tie between being on a remote, northern Canadian lake, fly-fishing for big pike, or wading a medium-sized wilderness river, fly-fishing for smallmouth bass. Those are places where the world disappears for me, and I can live in the moment, challenging great game fish with the long rod.

How long have you been writing? Probably as a pre-teen. I always love to tell stories and invent adventures. My various English teachers always seemed to pick my essays to read to the class.

When and why did you begin writing (novels)? In 1990, when I was able to “semi-retire” at a pretty young age, my wife said, “You need something to keep busy, and you don’t want to play golf every day. You always loved to write. Why don’t you write a novel?”

What inspired you to write your first book? So my wife and I began brainstorming for a subject, and Dolores thought of a neighbor, when we lived in north suburban Chicago, who became comatose after an anesthetic accident during plastic surgery. I took her condition, but imagined that, while trapped  in a dead shell of a body, her mind was still active, and I gave her the ability to use her eyes. And TRAPPED became the obvious title. I only learned many years later that “Locked-in Syndrome” is a real condition.

What Influenced your writing, once you began? After finishing and reworking my first draft of TRAPPED, I began seeking agents. One agency liked the idea of the book, but asked me to work with a professional editor, Dave King (“Self Editing for Fiction Writers”). Dave was very helpful in my better organizing the story and developing my “voice,” and  he also suggested I totally remove a side plot that I and created with Phil, the husband, to create more action. The heroine, after all, was paralyzed, so I felt we needed some action, but Dave felt it detracted from the main plot. Nothing developed through that agency, but another top agent later made the same recommendation, so I took out the side plot. He still didn’t sign me!

In the meantime, I began attending writers conferences and started learning that, as good as I (and many others) thought I was as a writer, I had a lot to learn about what makes good writing. Those classes were a great asset in developing my craft. As a side note, I took Dolores with me to several conferences. The good news was that she also learned what make great writing, and she’s my stiffest critic. The BAD NEWS was that she learned what makes writing good (!!), and suddenly all the books and movies she used to enjoy were not always so great!

What genre are you most comfortable writing? I write Suspense. My 2^nd novel, A Third time to Die, might be classified as a Romantic Suspense. I’ve also written two non-procedural Detective novels, featuring a Miami-Dade homicide cop, and am working on two more in his series.

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Genre – Mainstream / Suspense

Rating – PG13

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Connect with George Bernstein on Facebook & Twitter

Blog http://georgeabernstein.wordpress.com/

Website http://suspenseguy.com/

Orangeberry Blast Off - Cargon: Duty & Sacrifice by Kimberly Gould

In a post-apocalyptic world, Eve has discovered power of more than one nature. In Honour and Privilege, Eve became heir to the throne. In Duty and Sacrifice, she explores and defines the power of the elite. At the same time, electricity is being harnessed for the first time in centuries, providing the first glimpse into the ancient people who left the world as it exists. The horror of this revelation could shake their society as much or more than a servant becoming monarch.

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Genre – YA / Sci-Fi Fantasy

Rating – PG13

About the author

In 2009 Kimberly returned to writing beginning by expanding on the work of others, filling in scenes left out of books she enjoyed, elaborating back stories of lesser known characters, and in some cases, writing beyond the end of a book or series.

With these stories, she learned how to craft a novel of her own and finally saw the opportunity to explore ideas she had jotted down, not expecting to return to again. She also found she enjoyed the endeavour so much that the need to write and create filled her. Now she can’t imagine going a week without writing a short story or a chapter for a novel.

Kim and Allen still live in Edmonton with their daughter Delilah, born at the end of 2006.

Connect with Kimberly Gould on Facebook & Twitter

Website http://kimmydonn.com/

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Street Team - Dark Side of Sunset Pointe - Michael Allan Scott

 

Excerpt:

Early evening in Phoenix. A blazing sun still high above the western horizon. One hundred nine degrees in the shade. Those with the wherewithal and accumulated vacation time fled north to the cool pines or west to the balmy California coast weeks ago. Only the dregs of humanity, conscripted company workers and hardcore entrepreneurs are left to bake in the Valley of the Sun’s August heat. Yet beneath the surface layer of superheated atmosphere and social veneers there is another, more subliminal furnace raging—its fumes, stoking the fires of Hell.

Just off the intersection of Greenway and Tatum a white stucco box of an office building squats under a clay tile roof, heat rising off the reddish tiles in shimmering sheets. Mounted on the wrought-iron entry gate, the building directory announces the tenants: Suite 101—Whiting Realty & Development. The office is closed for the day yet the overburdened air conditioning units grind away, sheltering the last remaining occupant from the sweltering heat.

Bloodshot eyes stare at a spreadsheet, the monitor’s image shimmering with harsh reality. Too many negative numbers expose an ugly truth. Anxiously perched on the edge of his high-backed leather executive chair, Gary Whiting waits with the phone to his ear. Dreading the final ring, Whiting lets it go to voicemail, again. He loosens the knot in his power tie and hangs up. This time, without leaving a message.

The four Excedrin have knocked his headache down to a dull throbbing at the base of his skull, but his eyes still ache. He’s been crunching numbers for their Sunset Pointe development project, staring at the monitor all damn day. He rubs at the knots in his stomach through his rumpled white dress shirt, thinking maybe he should eat or maybe he should just shoot himself. He taps the return key with a jittery thumb, hitting it too many times, trying to put the numbers out of his mind. He needs to talk to his partner, Rodriguez. As a last resort Whiting tries Rodriguez’s home number and gets his wife, Connie.

“Is Mike there?”

“Hi Gary. Did you try his cell?”

“Yeah, a couple times”

“Try again in a couple minutes. He’s not around here, haven’t heard from him all day.”

“Thanks Connie, tell him to call me if you talk to him.”

As he hangs up, his pulse pounds in his temples. Shit! Got to get ahold of that asshole, Rodriguez.

Whiting runs a trembling hand through thinning hair, his scalp hot and moist. They’ve got to do something about these numbers. Short stubble on raw cheeks twitches as he anxiously works his jaws. They could lose the whole damn project. Thirty million! He can’t believe it, he’s bet everything on this project. And with the hard-money loan, they’ve got a bigger nut than ever. Shit! Those hard-money bastards, they’re Rodriguez’s contacts. Of course they had to have the money to finish—all the construction cost overruns. Fucking Rodriguez. His fingers manically drum on the hardwood desktop, their nails ragged, bitten to the quick. They’re in way too deep to quit now.

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Genre – Mystery & Thrillers

Rating – R

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Connect with Michael Allan Scott on Facebook & Twitter

Website http://michaelallanscott.com/