Daily Archives: February 5, 2012
Spotlight On, Julie Anne Lindsey
In a town filled with her past, she never expected to find her future…
Seven years ago Cynthia left Honey Creek with a broken heart. Three years ago Mitchell arrived with one. Now Cynthia’s come home, and these two hardened hearts can’t stop arguing. If they’d only take a break long enough to find some common ground, they might be surprised to find love can grow anywhere.
If they’ll let it, love will find a way to Bloom.
*Bloom is book one in my new Seeds of Love series. I’ll be planting those seeds all year.
Please tell us about yourself and what made you start writing?
My name is Julie Anne Lindsey and I am an obsessive reader, a writer, a blogger, a wife & a mother of three. I used to write for posterity, to log the ins-and-outs of my kids’ lives. I read a book a few years ago that captivated me, and a switch flipped. After that, I wanted to write a story that would affect other readers the way my favorite authors have affected me. Suddenly, I wanted to impact someone too. I want to reach out and put a smile on a stranger’s face. This is me trying.
Can you tell us a little bit about your new release? How did you come up with the idea?
Bloom is the story of a heart broken girl who ran away from her grief for a long time. Now, she has to come home and it’s harder than she expected. Everyone has moved on. She’s not the town sweetheart anymore. Her friends have families and the town has a new golden boy – who seems to hate her for no good reason.
The story was born of one of my favorite sayings: Bloom where you’re planted. And the sassy heroine was inspired by the Reese Witherspoon character in Sweet Home Alabama. Best movie ever.
What propelled you to write BLOOM?
I feel like I have a special connection with Honey Creek. I grew up in a small Ohio town and got into my share of trouble. Avoidance was my way of dealing with lots of things for many years. The head-in-a-hole method works amazingly well until it doesn’t. Writing Bloom, I wondered how a heroine who ran away from her life would handle having to come home…even just for a visit. Plus, everyone deserves an epic romance, a toe curling love, especially someone who’d been so sad for so long. I had to help her!
Did you have a solid support system when you chose to write romance or did you have anyone disapprove of your decision?
I write sweet romance, so I don’t have the same issues and considerations many of my fellow romance writers have. I didn’t need to consider a pen name or what my church, family, or children’s teachers would think. For what it’s worth, I think all that junk is extremely unfortunate. Writers are artists and we should be able to write from the heart, uninhibited, and tell the story we have to tell without all those stone-tossing-glass-house-dwellers…but then again no one asked me and who am I anyway? LOL.
Do you have a daily ritual to get you in the “writing zone”?
No, no ritual unless frenzy could be considered a ritual. I write all day every day, anytime I can steal a minute. I have three kids 8 and under, so those writerly moments are fast and fleeting. I do what I can before they get up and again after they go to bed. I’ve also been known to blog from my phone while locked in the bathroom. Though, a closed door isn’t much of a deterrence for these guys. I just keep plugging away believing every word counts.
What is the most difficult part of your writing journey? What is the most exciting part?
I have a tough time with the waiting and the rejection. Waiting is part of the life, I know but I am always waiting on things and it drives me bazonkers. The rejection is hard too, especially when you think something is perfect and others don’t. Again, I know, that’s how it goes. But, it can be tough. The “We love this…but no.” is the worst. LOL. Those can make a girl drink from the bottle.
My favorite part is all the other writers I’ve met, both online and in person. I feel a sisterhood with complete strangers and I love it. This is a great business to be in if you love people because the writing community is brilliant. They are funny and encouraging and downright inspiring. I keep trying harder thanks to all the wonderful friends I’ve made through writing.
What is the most extreme or wildest thing you’ve done and what did you learn about yourself?
Until I had my first child, my whole life was a series of crazy decisions and impulsivity. In high school I got a tattoo from a skeevy looking guy who accepted a 40 oz of malt liquor and a pack of Marlboro menthols as payment from a 16 year old. In college I had my belly button pierced during a night I barely recall. I’ve walked the plank form an actual pirate ship in Barbados and peed in a bathroom marked “Wenches.” It’s only during these last 8 years that I’m learning to find adventure in the understated. I know from my past that I’m fearless and from my present that I am tenacious. By looking at the big picture, it’s easy to see how much people can change.
Any last words for your readers?
Writing this sweet romance series was a wonderful experience for me. The characters are close to my heart and more than once I’ve thought of them in terms of calling for some reason, only to remember they aren’t real. LOL. Sleep deprivation +caffeine & a great imagination do those things. I hope you’ll consider a visit to Honey Creek. It’s a beautiful place where anything can happen. Kick off your shoes, relax into that porch swing and cuddle up to a steamy mug of hot tea. Taking a trip to Honey Creek is as easy as Amazon : ) See you there!
What should we expect from you in the future?
I have a series of sweet romances coming to Honey Creek this year. The series is called Seeds of love and I’ll be planting those seeds throughout 2012. I also finished a novel length sweet romance coming next year for the same line.
Outside of romance, the first book in my Killer Confections Saga is coming in April. The title is Death by Chocolate and it’s delicious tale of murderous proportions.
I am a mother of three, wife to a sane person and Ring Master at the Lindsey Circus. Most days you’ll find me online, amped up on caffeine & wielding a book.
You can find my blogging about the writer life at Musings from the Slush Pile
Tweeting my crazy at @JulieALindsey
Reading to soothe my obsession on GoodReads
And other books by me on Amazon
Author of the Month, Grace Greene
In the midst of her personal disasters, Beth is called back to her hometown of Preston, a small town in southwestern Virginia, to settle her guardian’s estate and runs smack into the mess she’d left behind a decade earlier: her alcoholic father and the long-ago sweetheart, Michael, and the poor opinion of almost everyone in town. As she sorts through her guardian’s possessions, Beth discovers that the woman who saved her and raised her had secrets, and the truths revealed begin to chip away at her self-imposed control.
Michael is warmly attentive and Stephen, her ex-fiancé, follows her to Preston to win her back, but it’s the man she doesn’t know who could end, forever, Beth’s chance to build a better, truer life.
It’s February. The view from my desk shows leafless trees and, except for hollies and evergreens, the landscape is brown, brown and more brown. Days are short and sometimes the wind rattles the house and cold sneaks through the cracks.
I turn on my computer, open my most recent WIP and suddenly, I’m in a different place. The locale is usually warm and sunny and exciting stuff is happening – a little romance, a little danger. It’s a world I’ve built, can change at will, and have populated with the characters of my choice. Is it any wonder that I love to write?
So, it’s February – the month of Valentines and lovers. It’s the time for mid-winter revels of the heart. Flowers, syrupy cards and chocolate – for everyone. From the time our chubby little fingers can clutch a pair of safety scissors and cut a rough heart from red construction paper, we are in the game.
Love is joyful.
I’m not a romantic, except in my novels. What about you? Do you remember important dates, send flowers, find special gifts throughout the year for your loved one? When you prepare a meal, do you pay attention to the lighting and the ambience? Do you smile sweetly and hold your punches when you want to clobber him?
Love is patient.
What about a new love? Are you brave enough to risk rejection and possible humiliation? Are you able to bounce back and willing to try again? When it comes to romance novels, Valentine’s Day celebrations apply to the beginning and the end – and while everyone loves the sweet, happy stuff, it’s the anguish in the middle that drives the story and keeps us reading.
Love is tough.
In my newest release, KINCAID’S HOPE, Michael slipped a paper heart into Beth’s backpack when they were children. Beth kept it and two decades later, it resurfaces, and so does Michael. But the old issues are still there and without forgiveness they’re stuck in the past where love can’t flourish. KINCAID’S HOPE is about timing – how each piece of life, the elements of our living, has its own time. A true life and genuine love can’t be fabricated or forced, but if your heart and head are open and free of bitterness, you might be able to recognize the real thing when it happens.
Love is worth the effort.
My debut release, BEACH RENTAL, also deals with love in its many types. I mention it here because BEACH RENTAL has a Valentine scene set at a real event: the Carolina Chocolate Festival in Morehead City, North Carolina. Chocolate and charities – hard to beat that, but if you’re interested, you have to move quickly because the festival happens the first weekend in February and is a delightful jumpstart to a month of Valentines and lovers of all kinds.
My Valentine to you is an excerpt from both books, KINCAID’S HOPE and BEACH RENTAL, at this link: http://gracegreene.wordpress.com
Also, (and this is the first time I’ve ever done this!) to celebrate the release of KINCAID’S HOPE, use the coupon codes below to save $1 on the purchase of BEACH RENTAL (eformat) at Smashwords or at the Turquoise Morning Press Bookstore! The coupon codes are valid through February 15th, 2012.
Save $1 on BEACH RENTAL at Smashwords: TF98J
Save $1 on BEACH RENTAL (eformat) at the TMP store: BEACH25
Here’s a short synopsis of KINCAID’S HOPE:
Beth Kincaid left her hot temper and unhappy childhood behind and created a life in the city free from untidy emotionalism, but even a tidy life has danger, especially when it falls apart.
In the midst of her personal disasters, Beth is called back to her hometown of Preston, a small town in southwestern Virginia, to settle her guardian’s estate. There, she runs smack into the mess she’d left behind a decade earlier: her alcoholic father, the long-ago sweetheart, Michael, and the poor opinion of almost everyone in town. As she sorts through her guardian’s possessions, Beth discovers that the woman who saved her and raised her had secrets, and the truths revealed begin to chip away at her self-imposed control.
Michael is warmly attentive and Stephen, her ex-fiancé, follows her to Preston to win her back, but it is the man she doesn’t know who could forever end Beth’s chance to build a better, truer life. (Sweet, Mild Heat)
KINCAID’S HOPE is available in trade paperback and e-formats at these links:
Amazon Print Amazon Kindle B&N Print B&N Nook Smashwords TMP Bookstore – Print TMP Bookstore – eformats
Grace Greene writes fiction with romance, suspense and inspiration, always with a strong heroine at its heart and a happily-ever-after ending. Her debut novel, BEACH RENTAL, released in 2011 and her second novel, KINCAID’S HOPE, released in January 2012.
Grace is also an artist and photographer and these interests show up on the pages of her books. She lives in central Virginia.
Contact Grace via her website:
www.GraceGreeneAuthor.com and on Facebook and her Twitter handle is @Grace_Greene
