Elizabeth Bass and Cathy Lamb
so here's everything you ever wanted to know about them but were afraid to ask.
Mary Carter:
Q&A with Mary Carter
You’re Still The One – A Kiss Before Midnight
Debbie
- Mary welcome back- Mary as many of you know was omy month long featured author in July of 2012 when we read and discussed her novel The Pub
Across The Pond at B&N.com.
Tell us about your novella A Kiss Before
Midnight.
Mary
- First, thank you for having me back. A
Kiss Before Midnight is about a woman who returns to New Orleans to search
for her first love, a man she only spent a single day and night with, so she
can finally tell him they have a son. It may just involve a little bit of jazz,
fortune-telling, voodoo, and a lot of love.
I as a reader love a second chance romance. What
is the appeal for authors?
Well, there’s nothing quite like your first kiss, first crush, first time. In this story, Grant was all of that for Rebecca. It’s exciting to return twenty-one years later and still find you still have that same magnetic attraction to someone you knew so long ago. It’s quite magical and special, and makes it that much more fun to write about. So many things have changed, but the essence has stayed the same.
What are you working on now?
I
just finished my seventh novel, ThreeMonths in Florence. It’s about a woman who discovers her husband has a
mistress in Florence, Italy, and she immediately takes her family abroad to
confront her husband and his mistress. Florence is another absolutely magical
place, where anything is possible, and it was a wonderful place to spend a
year—if only in my imagination. (I have been to Florence, but only for a few
days). The novel will be out July 30th of 2013. I am now working on a Christmas
novella for 2013, a summer novella for 2014, and my eighth novel for 2014.
Oh, I’m a huge reader. Lately I really enjoyed Gone
Girl by Gillian Flynn. I read a Sandra Brown novel on the plane over the
holidays. I read another Kensington Author, Rosalind Noonan, All She Ever Wanted. I read a lot of
books on Florence: the history, tourism, and people’s personal experiences. And
I laughed my head off standing in Skylight Books in Los Angeles as I stood
reading: I Want My Hat Back, a
children’s story (funnier to adults) written by John Klassen. I am constantly
reading books on writing. I am teaching writing now at my own little space, The
Manhattan Writers Den in NYC, and I love reading the works of my students. Life of Pi is waiting for me on my table,
and then I will go on a search for whatever is next. I am eagerly awaiting
Colum McCann’s next novel. I should stop now, but I could go on.
Mary thank you for keeping us in the loop of what’s going on with you. Please feel free to stop by the forum and check in. I know the members would love to e-hear from you. They loved the novel and your participation too.
Good luck with the new Anthology.
Thank
you so much for keeping up with me, and I will be sure to stop by the forum.
Elizabeth Bass:
Q&A w/Elizabeth Bass
Romeo & Juliet...And Jane
Romeo & Juliet...And Jane
Thank you so much for inviting me! Romeo & Juliet…and Jane is a story
about high school sweethearts from a small town who grew apart and are now
thrown back together. Jane is a vet who has stayed in their small hometown
while Roy, the impulsive Romeo of her youth, ran off and made his fortune. I
grew up in a small town and always wondered about those inseparable high school
sweetheart couples. What happens to them when they’re buffeted by life after
high school? It’s a story I had been hoping to write for a while, and the You’re Still the One anthology finally
seemed like the perfect home for it.
You also have a solo novel coming
out in June, The Way Back To
Happiness. I love the cover, by the way.
Thanks! I’m very excited about the cover
and the story. It was a lot of fun to write because most of the action takes
place in the mid 1980s, which was when I was in high school but now seems a
little like ancient history. I thought writing it would be a snap, but I
actually found myself having to stop and research a lot of details I’d
forgotten—things like, how much was a local phone call? What day of the week
did Knight Rider come on? And of
course, there were times when I would fall down the memory hole that is
YouTube, “researching” old music videos, or commercials. I also feel a lot of
love for the main characters in the story—a girl grieving the loss of her
mother, and the aunt, a home economics teacher, who takes her in.
Tell us
the biggest challenge of writing a novella when your usual format is a full
length novel?
I
love novellas. As a reader, I enjoy the shorter format sometimes—it gives me
the chance to gobble down a book in one sitting, as well as an opportunity to
get a quick taste of authors I’m unfamiliar with. And they’re pure pleasure to
write. If long novels are marathons, novellas are short joyous sprints. I
suppose the challenge is presenting a conflict and resolving it in so short a
time. On the other hand, I started out my career writing short, sweet romances,
so the novella form always seems to me to be a refresher course in why I fell
in love with writing in the first place.
.
In your
bio it says you’re a freelance editor. Do you think that makes you a better
writer?
I wish! When I’m working with my editor, I’m always astounded at
the mistakes and missteps that I don’t see in my own writing. If I were to
present a book to the world without an editor, it would be like a doctor
performing his own appendectomy. Very gruesome. On the other hand, I like to
think that being a writer makes me a better, more understanding editor. When
I’m critiquing a book, I understand how the author will feel when he or she
reads it.
So
pretend you’ve got a cat sitter and you’re off to a dream vacation. Where would
it be?
There are so many places I want to see—Australia, Scandinavia, Russia. (Is Moscow a dream vacation destination?) But I suppose my big dream would be to load up my ereader, take a month off, and park myself somewhere gorgeous and infinitely interesting, like Greece.
Elizabeth, thanks for letting us
in on a few of your secrets. Good luck with the new Anthology and your new
Novel coming out in June too.
Thank you again for the opportunity to
reach out to your readers on the forum. It’s been fun!
Cathy Lamb:
Q&A
w/ Cathy Lamb
You’re Still The One – The Apple Orchard
You’re Still The One – The Apple Orchard
Debbie - Cathy,
welcome.
Tell us about your novella, The Apple Orchard, in the
Anthology, You’re Still The One
My story is about is about Allie Pelletier, who
escaped from her dangerous life in a trailer park as a teen, fell in love, and
lost that love. It’s about an inherited apple orchard, quirky pets, leaving a
career that had no meaning, Yellowstone, apple pies, a secret pain, a barn
dance, and re - finding the lost love.
Your bio says “I am slightly
obsessive, okay very obsessive, about the types of books I read.” What types of
books do you read?
I read all kinds of books. Fiction, nonfiction, memoirs, historical, classics, all across the spectrum. I constantly have a book going and I always look for excellent books. Some of my favorites: Night, Infidel, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Unbroken, The Color Purple, The Color of Water, The Book Thief, One Thousand White Women, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society, The Art of Racing In The Rain, Ellen Foster, The Time Traveler’s Wife, Of Mice and Men.
I read all kinds of books. Fiction, nonfiction, memoirs, historical, classics, all across the spectrum. I constantly have a book going and I always look for excellent books. Some of my favorites: Night, Infidel, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Unbroken, The Color Purple, The Color of Water, The Book Thief, One Thousand White Women, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society, The Art of Racing In The Rain, Ellen Foster, The Time Traveler’s Wife, Of Mice and Men.
Anything
by Geraldine Brooks.
Why are you obsessive about them?
I’m obsessive about which books I read because there are so many books to read, and so little time…I choose books that I believe I’ll love, but I also choose them so I can learn something, as a person and as a writer. I like to study the rhythm and tone of the author’s work, the character and plot development, the word choice and pacing.
I’m obsessive about which books I read because there are so many books to read, and so little time…I choose books that I believe I’ll love, but I also choose them so I can learn something, as a person and as a writer. I like to study the rhythm and tone of the author’s work, the character and plot development, the word choice and pacing.
Does release day of an Anthology differ from a solo
endeavor?
A little,
but it’s still exciting, and I’m so thrilled that I’m in a book with Janet
Dailey. I read Touch The Wind when I was a teenager. I still remember how
compelling Rafaga was…
You said that you met your husband on a blind date and that
it was love at third sight. Why not first or second?
When I
first met him I thought we would be good friends. He was fun, and funny, but
his personality was a bit much. I felt a little overwhelmed. By the third date
we’d talked for hours on the phone so I knew him better and the friend became
the boyfriend who became the fiancé, then the husband, then the dad to our
three kids. It’s been almost twenty years now…
Thank you for chatting with us and good luck with the novel.
Thank
you!
CathyLamb.net
CathyLamb.net
No comments:
Post a Comment