Guest Posts

Introducing Andrea Laurence

Today I’m joined by fellow Harlequin Desire Author Andrea Laurence. I met Andrea at the RWA convention in New York City in 2011. I can honestly say she was the very first person to treat me like a rock star. And that, sadly, it only lasted for about three minutes before we figured out that we were very much alike. So, welcome to the Authorial Moms blog, Andrea! Tell us a little about yourself.

The awesome Andrea Laurence
Thanks for inviting me over. Where to start… Well, first I’ll admit I’m not a mom. To humans at least. My house is overrun with animals – 3 dogs, two cats and a boyfriend who makes a bigger mess than the other five. I live in Alabama, where I work by day for an Army contractor and work by night as an author of seductive romance for Harlequin Desire. What else? I like to bake. I’m always on a diet. And I love shoes. That about covers it.
What do you write? How many books have you written/published? How old are they?

My tagline is “Seductive Romance… With a Twist.” The genre may vary from contemporary to paranormal to suspense, but you’ll always get a sensual romance and a little bit of quirkiness, usually from my untraditional characters or plots. My first book with Desire comes out April 3rd and it’s called WHAT LIES BENEATH. The second book, MORE THAN HE EXPECTED, will be out in July of this year. I’m very excited to share these stories with everyone.
Tell me about a typical day.

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I get up at 4:30. No joke. My boyfriend does 12-hour shift work, so I get up and make his breakfast, care for the animals, pack his lunch, then fall back in bed until about 6:30. From there, it’s a mad dash to work, where I spend my day as a process improvement analyst for a software program. I roll back into my driveway about 5 that evening, make dinner, and collapse into my writing chair with my laptop. The rest of my evening is spent sitting there either writing, revising, promoting, or talking to someone about any of those things. Then I get up and I do it again.
When did you start writing? What was your journey to publication like?

I remember writing my first “book” in second grade. While other kids wrote about a dog, I wrote a family melodrama. In 10th grade, my short story turned into a mini-Intrigue with a sadistic serial killer and a psychic heroine. In college, I wrote my first real book, a YA about fairies that will hide under the bed forever. I got serious in 2004. I joined RWA, got involved in my local chapter and things took off from there. Uh… well, not so much. It took me eight years to sell after that, but I wrote 10 more books, learned a lot about writing and the business, and made great connections with industry people. I was on ‘the edge’ of selling for quite a long time. I almost quit at least twice. But my friends encouraged me to keep at it and eventually, I found the right project with the right editor at the right time.
Tell us about your pets. How many? What kinds? How cute are they?

First, the cats…I have a grouchy Maine Coon runt named Jell-o and a Blue Russian named Knight (pronounced Kuh-nigg-itt.  It’s a Monty Python thing.) I’ve had them both twelve years, so the girls are getting old. Then I have a beagle/chow mutt named Licorice, who’s 7 and a bulldog named Buddy. He’s 6. My most recent and aggravating addition is a giant Siberian Husky named Shadow. He’s beautiful, really. He has huge, ice blue eyes. And he sheds like you would not believe. He’s three and such a big puppy.  If you ever find a typo in one of my books, it’s because he put his head on the keyboard.
Becoming an author means having a public persona. How do you combine your regular life with the demands of a public life?

On a day to day private basis, it really just blurs together. I stop writing to make dinner, put a load of clothes in the dryer, etc. In terms of a public life as a “writer, “I sort of treat my writer self as an alter ego, a la Bruce Wayne and Batman. I wear different clothes, different shoes, do my hair differently… There’s a line between the two parts of my identity. I’m an introvert, so creating this other person helps me come out of my shell.
Most Moms I know have a limited amount of free time. Give me a few reasons why they should dedicate some of that time to your characters. What’s in it for us?

Books are an escape, whether they’re mine or someone else’s. It’s a chance to lose yourself in the feelings of new love, get wrapped up in the glamour of high society life, and experience a happily ever after every time they pick up a book. I promise my heroes will never leave their socks on the floor or dishes in the sink. I think a woman needs that, especially a busy mom.
Let’s have a little fun with fill-in-the-blanks. “The floor of my kitchen is so ___ you can ___ it.”

The floor of my kitchen is so well-guarded by a hungry bulldog, you can drop something and never know it. Seriously. He’s swallowed it before you can stop him and probably has forgotten he even ate anything. He’s on a constant mission to obtain food. Poor little guy was a scrawny stray when we found him and he’s made up for it ever since.
In what way have you turned into your mother? How are you coping with it?

Wow… that’s one I try not to think too much about, but honestly, I am very much my mother. I sing all the time. Some real songs. Some silly things. I have an answer for everything even if I don’t really know the answer. People also come to me for advice a lot. I wish I could cook like my mother. Unfortunately, I didn’t get that gene passed on to me.
What’s up next for you?

As always, I’m a busy girl. I’m going to be at the Romantic Times Conference this April, so if you’re in the Chicago area, you can come see me. My next book, MORE THAN HE EXPECTED, will be out in July and I will be at the RWA Nationals Conference in Anaheim. In 2013, I’m kicking off a new series based around four foster brothers with a dark secret. The first book will be out in January.  
Where can we find you and your books online?

My website is www.andrealaurence.com.  You can find me on my blog, The Writing Playground, Facebook and Twitter, too. My books are available most anywhere fine books are sold, but even after their release month, you can get them on Amazon or Barnes & Noble.
Thanks, Andrea! Readers, do you have a question for Andrea? I, for one, can’t wait to find out about that family of foster brothers!

Welcome Kira Sinclair!

Kira Sinclair, Awesome Author and Mom
  1. Today I’m thrilled to have author Kira Sinclair here on with us at the Authorial Moms! Kira writes sexy Harlequin Blazes, and I’m dying to see the answers to some of her questions, so let’s get to it! Welcome to the Authorial Moms blog, Kira! Tell us a little about yourself. How many kids do you have? How old are they? 
Thanks for having me! At first I read this question as how old are you…and my kneejerk reaction was to protest.  I’m currently wondering when I got old enough that I don’t want to share the number. J  Anyway, I live on a small farm in North Alabama with my wonderful husband and our two girls.  Sweet Pea is 10 and Baby Girl is 7. 
  1. What do you write? How many books have you written/published? How old are they?
There’s that age question again. J I write for Harlequin Blaze.  My 5th, 6th and 7th books (Bring It On, Take It Down & Rub It In) are out Feb, March and April of this year.  I sold my first book, Whispers in the Dark, in June 2007 and it hit the shelves in Aug 2008.  I guess that makes it…5 years old if you count from when I sold it.
  1. Tell me about a typical day. How do you write with kids around? Or do you have to ship them off to school or grandparents’ houses to get anything done?
I’m not sure there is a typical day.  But I am sure that I’m very lucky! I have a day job, but I work for my dad and his partner.  While I often have to write at night and on weekends when I’m on deadline, I do get a lot accomplished at work during down time.  And for those days I absolutely have to work at home my husband is amazing.  He occupies the kids and does all the cooking.  I couldn’t do this without him!
  1. Did you write before you had kids, or after? What changed with your writing when you had kids?
I started writing a month after my oldest daughter turned 1. She was becoming more and more independent and I found myself needing something for ME.  She came to the office with me for the first several years and I’d often spend her naptime with her asleep in my lap while I was typing away holding her.  I sorta miss those moments.
I did experience a period of writer’s block when I was pregnant with Baby Girl.  Although the words came back about the time she hit 6 weeks old.  You’d think having a newborn might have been tougher than being pregnant, but that didn’t seem to be the case for me.  And as the girls get older it becomes easier for me to find time to write even with them home.  They don’t want to sit in mommy’s lap and watch cartoons anymore.  They want to play their DS, Xbox, read a book or watch their own TV.
  1. How old will one or more of your children have to be before they’re allowed to read your books?
Well, I’ve told them they can’t read them until they’re 18.  I started reading Harlequins when I was 12 or 13 though.  I don’t have any problem with them reading other Harlequin books – including books in the Blaze line – when they’re younger.  But I think reading Mom’s books just adds another layer I’m not ready to deal with.  J
  1. Becoming an author means having a public persona. How do you combine motherhood with the demands of a public life? Do you feature your kids, keep them shielded under pseudonyms, or leave them out of the equation entirely? Have they asserted their opinion(s) on this matter?
I write under a pseudonym specifically because of my girls…although most everyone in their life knows that I write.  But I wanted them to have the option of telling their friends/classmates/teachers or not.  Middle school and high school can be difficult enough; I wanted to give them as much control over that as I could. Online I never refer to my girls by their name.  They have nicknames – Sweet Pea and Baby Girl – which I occasionally use in real life, but not often.  I never post pictures of them anywhere.  Even my husband has a nickname – Birdzilla (It’s a long story). And while I’ve given the decision to my girls, they’ve used it to tell anyone who will listen that their mom is an author.  My girls especially love starting a new school year and telling their teachers what I do.  Their enthusiasm humbles me.
  1. Most Moms I know have a limited amount of free time. Give me a few reasons why they should dedicate some of that time to your characters. What’s in it for us?
Escape! My newest series – Island Nights – is set on a private Caribbean island.  I don’t know about anyone else, but most days I collapse into bed wishing I could be on some warm, sandy beach.  With this series I got to be there every day while I was working. And of course an emotionally satisfying Happily Ever After.  As a reader that’s what I’m looking for so that’s what I deliver.  The ability to go on an emotional journey with my characters and come out at the end smiling because they’re happy and I get to experience the same bubbling sense of joy right along with them. 
  1. Let’s have a little fun with fill-in-the-blanks. “The floor of my kitchen is so ___ you can ___ it.”
The floor in my kitchen is so messed up you can see the subfloor through it.  Seriously.  Our dog ripped the linoleum up off the floor and I haven’t gotten around to fixing it.  I need to.  But at the moment I have a rug thrown over it so it’s the item on the to do list that’s out of sight out of mind. 
And I want to know why it was easier for me to tell y’all about my messed up floor than how old I was.
  1. In what way have you turned into your mother? How are you coping with it?
Hmm…this is a hard one.  Honestly, I’m exactly like my mom.  Which is why we butted heads during my teenage years.  The funny thing is that my oldest daughter is exactly like I am…and I already know we’re going to have issues when she hits her teens.  I was a good kid and so is Sweet Pea, but I wanted to grow up so quickly and be so independent that I resented being told what to do.  All three of us are stubborn and opinionated and headstrong.  The same qualities that let me know my daughter will be fine no matter what happens in her life are the ones that will make getting through the years on our journey to those moments a little scary.  But I don’t resent the upcoming struggles at all.  They’re going to be worth it because both of my girls will be amazing women – just like my mom and just like I hope I am.
  1. What’s up next for you?
In the near future my Island Nights series hits the shelves – Bring It On in Feb, Take It Down in March and Rub It In in April.  But I’m already at work on my next Blazes…a series of loosely connected books all set around a small Southern town.  I’m loving the chance to come back to my own small town Southern roots.  And I’m absolutely in love with my current hero – a wounded soldier.  There’s nothing I like more than a tortured bad boy who’s try desperately to be good…and failing miserably thanks to the temptation of a headstrong heroine. 
  1. Where can we find you and your books online?
You can visit my website at www.kirasinclair.com or at www.writingplayground.com
And my newest books are available here:
Bring It On
Take It Down
Rub It In

The fabulous Allie Plieter

Today I’m welcoming back the fabulous Allie Pleiter! I’m so excited that Allie and I are going to be doing a presentation entitled “Making a Career out of Category” at the upcoming Chicago-North RWA Spring Fling conference (See the sidebar for links). Today, though, she’s talking about her latest release, Falling for the Fireman. Take it away, Allie!

I don’t cite myself as the “slightly untidy mother of two” in my bio for nothing.  There’s a canyon-wide gap of difference between “organized” and “neat.”
As I write this, I sit in icky track pants (I’m getting on the treadmill in a minute, and if I don’t write before I start my day, my day takes off with my brain and no writing gets done!) at a sticky kitchen counter.  There are dishes in the sink because I needed to research which trees are native to Nebraska.  I threw in a load of laundry, but not before I checked my Twitter feed for mentions of my newly released book.  I haven’t finished my synopsis because my son needs a ride to school while on crutches, and anyone who thinks I’m glamorous should have seen me picking up the dog’s “business” in the yard yesterday.
Still, I’m fabulously fortunate.  It’s important to remember that.  As an authorial mom, I get to meld the two best jobs in the universe.  I have freedoms directing my time and energy that other people would kill for.  I make people all over the country–all over the world–smile when they read my work. Honestly, who could complain when you put it that way?
Well, I can…some days.  It’s hard to convince a non-writer that this stuff is HARD WORK.  When I tell people that there are days writing is like shredding your soul one inch at a time with a rusty cheese grater, well, they look at me funny.
“Mother” and “Writer” have never been anything but synonyms for me.  Both roles seem to draw from the same well.  I’m never happier than my saddest child, and I’m never more satisfied than the progress of my slowest work.  They’re not my jobs, they’re essential parts of me.

Available from Amazon and B&N
And other fine bookstores
So go buy one!
My motherhood experience is deeply imbedded in Falling for the Fireman.  I took the desperation I felt guiding my son through a medical trial (he’s fine now, by the way) and poured it into Jeannie’s challenges with her son.  How could I not?  I hope you’ll find the story deeply touching to you as a mother–it’ll be my finest satisfaction and blessing if you do.
Falling for the Fireman
Harlequin Love Inspired February 2012
ISBN #978-0-373-87725-6
Back Cover Copy:
There’s something achingly familiar about the look in fire marshal Chad Owens’s eyes. Widowed mom Jeannie Nelworth knows firsthand what it is: loss, hurt and yes—bitterness. Ever since the fire that changed their lives, Jeannie’s young son has borne that same look, pushing everyone away. So she’s grateful when Chad tries to get through to the boy with the help of his trusty fire station dog.
But the man who’s all about safety and prevention keeps himself protected—from loving and losing again. Seems as if Jeannie will have to add his kind, guarded heart to her rebuilding efforts.
Author Bio:
An avid knitter, coffee junkie, and devoted chocoholic, Allie Pleiter writes both fiction and non-fiction.  The enthusiastic but slightly untidy mother of two, Allie spends her days writing books, buying yarn, and finding new ways to avoid housework.  Allie hails from Connecticut, moved to the midwest to attend Northwestern University, and currently lives outside Chicago, Illinois.  The “dare from a friend” to begin writing has produced two parenting books, fourteen novels, and various national speaking engagements on faith, women’s issues, and writing.  Visit her website at www.alliepleiter.com or her knitting blog at www.DestiKNITions.blogspot.com

Welcome Back Genevieve Graham!

Today I’m thrilled to welcome Genevieve Graham back to the Authorial Moms Blog–her debut book, Under the Same Sky, is out and I have to tell you, I loved it! Take it away, Genevieve!

I’m Proud Of All My Babies
As a mom, there’s nothing on earth as moving as watching your child do something truly wonderful. It can be something as fantastic as performing on stage or something as sublime as holding a door open for someone. Or it could be when your toddler first switches from “no” to “please”. Baby steps, right?
Then one day, someone comes to you and says something like, “I just wanted to tell you how much I like your child. She’s so respectful/funny/happy/smart/polite/whatever.” The first time someone said something like that to me I thought I might burst, my grin was so big. Once I got over that incredible high, the realization settled into something even more satisfying, though on a different level: I had something to do with that.
Sure, there will always be someone who says your kid is too noisy/mopey/whiney/wild/whatever. Critics, right? Everyone’s a critic.
In my editing business, I regard everyone’s novel as if it were their “baby”. I understand the love, the pride, the connection that exists between an author and their book, and I know that submitting a novel to an editor is scary—like the first day of school. Will my kid be popular? Will they be a wallflower? Will they fit in or is the teacher going to call me about their bouncing uncontrollably outside the box?
My husband and I have two beautiful daughters, 11 and 13 years old. They’re hardly babies. But I have an announcement: I have a newborn, too.
No diapers, no 2 a.m. feedings, but this one has me almost as excited. Like our girls, they were created from nothing but love, though the labour was hard work and took a little longer.
Under the Same Sky is my debut novel. And all of a sudden people are coming to me saying things like, “I just wanted to tell you how much I love your book.” I’m so proud of the book: the characters I love, the story that raked me over the coals, the settings that made me long for a vacation … and I’m proud of myself.
Sarah knows what I’m talking about. Her debut novel, A Man Of His Word met with terrific reviews! Congrats, Sarah!
I didn’t write Under the Same Sky until after I turned forty. I was so busy with our kids that I didn’t even read much until a few years ago. I’d never imagined myself as an author, but having started, I can’t stop. I love to write, to create, to bring new characters and stories into the world. When readers connect to those stories then feel compelled to recommend the book to a friend … well, I don’t think the thrill will ever fade.
Genevieve Graham graduated from the University of Toronto in 1986 with a Bachelor of Music in Performance (playing the oboe). While on a ski vacation in Alberta, she met her future husband in a chairlift lineup and subsequently moved to Calgary to be with him. They have recently settled in a small, peaceful town in Nova Scotia with their two beautiful daughters. Writing became an essential part of Genevieve’s life a few years ago, when she began to write her debut novel, Under the Same Sky.
CONNECT ONLINE

Emma Lai Guest Post

Today I’m welcoming author Emma Lai to the Authorial Moms blog! Emma is a super Twitter friend–I highly recommend following her. Take it away, Emma!

I’m one of those women who thought she’d never had a child. Then at thirty, we decided if we were going to be parents, we had to give it the old college try. A couple of years went by, jobs changed and the end of grad school was in sight, but still no baby.

 I took a year off to study for comprehensives, got bored and decided to write a story. After much encouragement and pressure from my wonderful family, I submitted, and lo and behold, I received an offer for His Ship, Her Fantasy: Mates of the Guardians Book 1, a short launched by the image of a woman talking to a space ship. Oh, the possibilities.

Wonderful news quickly eclipsed by finding out I was pregnant. (Of course this occurred the week after I accepted I wasn’t going to be a mother and instead would concentrate on growing my fledgling writing career.)
There was no morning sickness, no fatigue or cravings (except for beans, which is no hard thing to satisfy), but there was a horrible fog that seemed to keep my bottom firmly ensconced on the couch while an endless stream of movies played out on the television.
Somehow I managed to write another short, His Hope, Her Salvation: Mates of the Guardians Book 2 (inspired by the image of a desperate woman walking in on a couple in the throes of passion), but then baby was here, and the fog became impenetrable. I have only the vaguest of recollections of the first five or so months of my little one’s life. During a lucid moment, I managed to crank the following out.
Superwoman, I am not.
Baby needs
Changing, feeding, play.
Rinse and repeat.
Breakfast? Lunch? Dinner?
Oh yeah, a mom must eat, too.
Dishes pile up.
Laundry never stops.
What is dusting?
What is sweeping?
What is vacuuming?
Do the chores never end?
Time.
Where does it go?
Oh, that’s right.
Baby needs
Changing, feeding, play.
Rinse and repeat.
Then after the fifth month, the lights came back on, the “nobody’s home” sign was put aside, and I started writing again.
The funny thing is that though baby is now toddler the above poem still applies. So, when do I find to write? Sometimes it’s only thirty minutes here or there. Other times, dear hubby takes charge and I get hours. There’s no happy formula for me. No actual “rinse and repeat” for my daily schedule. But I have somehow managed to make it through the first couple of years with only a few additional gray hairs, a healthy and happy son and multiple published shorts and novellas under my belt.
Coming in April, His Capture, Her Rescue: Mates of the Guardians Book 3.
Masquerading as an American, Eallair, a Guardian Steward from another world, is searching Victorian England for the kidnapped mate of a fellow Guardian. When he meets Miss Harriet Cartwright, he knows her for the spirited, intelligent mate he has longed to find.
Since the death of their parents, Harriet has used her intelligence and sharp tongue to guard her sister from fortune hunters, but now that Prudence is close to choosing a husband, Harriet can consider her own future—one hopefully filled with adventure. When she meets Eallair, an American rancher who likes to travel and isn’t put off by her outspokenness, she is intrigued.
But before Harriet and Eallair can explore their attraction, she and her sister are kidnapped. While Eallair scours the countryside for them, Harriet discovers Eallair’s off-world origins. Now she must decide: just how much adventure does she want in her future? 
Twitter: @emmalaiwrites

Authorial Mom Ann Charles

Authorial Moms:   Welcome to the Authorial Moms blog! Tell us a little about yourself. How many kids do you have? How old are they?
Author Ann Charles

Ann Charles: Thank you for the having me here, Sarah. A little about me:  I’m a full-time technical writer by day and a full-time fiction author by night (almost makes me sound like superwoman, huh? I want to wear purple tights, though!). In between, I am a wife and a mom of two young kids. My husband keeps me fed and my gray hairs colored, and my kids keep me laughing and grounded—there is nothing like having to wipe your child’s hind end to keep you from getting too big for your britches. My life is crazy busy, and my head often spins so much I am unsure which way is up. But each day is full and fun, and all of the insanity makes for great fiction. I’m sure all of you author moms can relate.   

AM:  What do you write? How many books have you written/published? How old are they?
AC: I write humorous mysteries mixed with romance (or “sex,” as I tell the guys) and paranormal. I have written eight full manuscripts, but only the last five are publishable. The first three were all about learning how to write (and how to NOT write)—in other words, they suck and aren’t allowed out in the light of day. I’m currently working on my ninth story, which is book three in the Deadwood Mystery Series. As for actual published books—Nearly Departed in Deadwood is my first published book. Whew! Lots of numbers there. I feel like I slipped into the body of my old math teacher. We should find a way to make this paragraph into a story problem and have a test at the end of the article.

I started writing in the mid-nineties. The first three books were written before 2000. The remaining ones came after 2002, when I finally finished with my college degree and had time to write something other than two-page papers on this, that, and anything else my teachers instructed. Nearly Departed in Deadwood was written in 2009. I wrote the second in the series, Optical Delusions in Deadwood, in 2010.     

AM: Tell me about a typical day. How do you write with kids around? Or do you have to ship them off to school or grandparents’ houses to get anything done?
AC: Warning—this answer may cause drowsiness. Do not read while driving … My typical day is pretty normal. I work a full-time day job as a technical writer, so the morning starts out with dragging my butt out of bed around 6:00 a.m., checking email and Facebook/Twitter, and then getting the kids up and moving. My husband gets breakfast going while I get the munchkins dressed and ready for school/preschool. Then I head to work and play technical writer for eight hours, but my brain is constantly dabbling in fiction during long meetings and on “slow” days. I go home in the evening, hang out with the family until the kids go to bed around nine, and THEN I get to start working on writing. I usually stay up until around 1:00 a.m., then crash and start over again when the alarm goes off at 6:00 a.m. By Friday, I’m existing solely on caffeine and sugar and look like an extra from a zombie flick, minus the craving for brains. Saturday morning, my husband keeps the kids busy so I can sleep in and return to looking somewhat human. The weekend nights are major writing time, too. Then Monday roles around and I’m back to the weekday grind. Someday I hope I can drop the day job, but that’s far into the future at this point.
AM: Did you write before you had kids, or after? What changed with your writing when you had kids?
AC: I wrote both before and after. What changed was how much sleep I got a night. I used to sleep closer to seven hours a night, but now I average five hours. Also, I have to juggle a lot more, and I find that I deal with guilt issues if I have two writing-related events during a week that keep me away from my family. Since I work during the day, being gone in the evening is tough on all of us, so I have to be very picky about what writing events I attend. I used to participate a lot more in local writing chapters, serving in volunteer positions. Now I just can’t. There is no time for that, which is a bummer, but I figure in time that will change as my kids reach the age when they want nothing to do with me because I’m so uncool. Then I’ll happily be “lame” and hang with my writing friends again.
AM:  How old will one or more of your children have to be before they’re allowed to read your books?
AC: Twelve seems like a good age. By then, they’ll have heard all of the swear words plenty of times that I use in my stories. But we’ll skip the sex scenes for a few more years after that. Maybe I’ll lie and tell them that the sex scenes are all about their father and my love life and scar them for life. LOL! Ah, it’s so fun to be a parent sometimes. 
AM:  Becoming an author means having a public persona. How do you combine motherhood with the demands of a public life? Do you feature your kids, keep them shielded under pseudonyms, or leave them out of the equation entirely? Have they asserted their opinion(s) on this matter?
AC: I call my kids “Beaker” and “Chicken Noodle” in public, whether they like it or not. J Those are some of the nicknames I gave them as babies, and they roll into my writing life perfectly. I want to shield them as much as possible, which I think most parents understand. They are too young yet to have a vote on how they are represented in public, but I’m sure my youngest, Chicken Noodle, will make her opinion know before too long. She’s a chip off the old block, and I feel very sorry for her poor, poor father. 
AM:  Most Moms I know have a limited amount of free time. Give me a few reasons why they should dedicate some of that time to your characters. What’s in it for us?
AC: Laughter, and lots of it. I love to laugh, and my hope is that I get a smile or a chuckle or more out of you while reading about Violet Parker’s crazy life. Kids make us all a little crazy. In between the yelling and cleaning and snuggling and yelling some more, we all need to decompress and share some laughs. Also, Violet is a mother of twins, so her struggle with raising her kids is something with which many moms (and dads) can identify with, grin about, and shake their heads over.
AM:   Let’s have a little fun with fill-in-the-blanks. “The floor of my kitchen is so ___ you can ___ it.”
AC: “The floor of my kitchen is so freakin’ cold you can chill champagne on it. But on a miserably hot summer evening, it’s wonderful to lie on in in your bra and underwear.”
AM:  In what way have you turned into your mother? How are you coping with it?
AC: My mom has always been a kick-butt saleswoman and a wily entrepreneur, so I’m trying to follow in her shoes. She’s been one of my biggest advocates in the writing business, and she’s constantly teaching me lessons on salesmanship, marketing, and promotion. I bow to her skills. That being said, I also now catch myself saying some of the same things to my kids she said to me, and that makes me groan. Things like, “Don’t you talk back to me,” “Give me that look one more time and you’ll be sorry,” and “Keep it up and I’ll give you something to cry about.” Dang my kids for bringing out that side of my mother in me. LOL! 
AM: What’s up next for you?
AC: Besides promoting the second book in the Deadwood Mystery Series, finishing with writing the third book, and then plotting book four, I might try to get a few extra hours of sleep here and there. I also have an Arizona Mystery Series—the first one is called Dance of the Winnebagos—that my publisher is working on getting out there in a different format. We’re considering something audio. This book was a finalist in the Pacific Northwest Writers Contest about five years ago, and we decided it would be a good “in between” book to put out while I continue writing the Deadwood Mystery Series.
AM:  Where can we find you and your books online?
AC: You can find me at www.anncharles.com/deadwood. I am also at www.anncharles.com, but that site is about to go “Under Construction” while we give it a facelift. 
I am the co-owner of www.1stturningpoint.com, a website where authors can go to teach, share, and learn about marketing and promotion. Also, I’m at www.plotmamas.com once a month and http://blackinkwhitepaper.wordpress.com/ twice a month.
BUY LINKS:
You can either just go to my websites Buy Links page: http://anncharles.com/deadwood/?page_id=769
Or click the following links:

EBooks:

·         Amazon
·         Barnes & Noble
·         Sony Reader Store
·         Smashwords
·         Diesel eBook Store

Print Books:

·         Amazon
·         IndieBound
·         Barnes & Noble
·         Powell’s Books
·         Borders
·         Romance Books
·         (Bookstores & Libraries) Also available through Ingram

AM:   Ann, thanks so much for stopping by today!