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Friday Five with Karen Heenan

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Hello and welcome to today’s Friday Five. I’m so happy to have author Karen Heenan on the blog today. Her novel, A Wider World, is available now! Let’s get started with our interview.

 

Describe your decision to become a writer.

I’m not sure if there ever was a decision. I just started doing it. Unlike all the other things I wanted to be as a kid – artist and ballerina were two of them – writing was something that I could actually do without special classes or art supplies or any of the things we couldn’t afford. Paper and pen were always handy, and the only real training I needed was to read a lot, which I already did.

What is your writing process like?

I envy writers who outline, but I wouldn’t want to be one of them. By my mid-fifties, I’ve come to accept my process, which is that I get an idea out of nowhere (or I read some tiny historical fact that spurs an idea) and I have to let it develop on its own. Sometimes that leads to a lot of wasted writing, but it’s not totally wasted because I’ve learned a lot about my characters, even if I have to cut.

Generally, I try to write about the first 20% of a book in order. Or mostly in order. Once I have an idea where I’m going and who my characters are, then I allow myself to write scenes as they occur to me, putting them in what I hope is chronological order. My least favorite part of writing is when I decide I might be done, and then I have to find a way to link all those scenes together. It’s not usually that bad, but it’s one of those chores that you dread, even though you know it won’t be bad.

In the last year or two, I’ve dictated a lot of my first drafts. This started pre-pandemic, but even after, it was a way to get out of the house and walk around my small town, masked and dictating into my phone. It comes out a bit rough, but then I go home and upload it onto my computer and clean it up. I can get a surprising number of words out if I’m just talking to myself, and it’s great for developing dialogue and voice.

What advice would you give to your younger self?

Stop worrying about what people think, or if you’re good enough. Stop telling yourself that you’re “writing just for yourself” and actually try to do something with it. I wrote for myself when I was in my teens; I was not writing just for myself when I was forty, but I wasn’t up for the rejection of attempting to publish, and self-publishing wasn’t an option at that point, unless it was through a vanity press.

Are you and introvert or extrovert? What’s that best thing about being an (introvert or extrovert)?

A lot of people assume I’m an extrovert, and I play one pretty well online – and even in public, after years of practice. Actually, I’m an introvert. I need a lot of quiet and time to recharge my batteries after I have too much people time. It’s difficult because I’ve learned to enjoy it, but it still takes a lot out of me and I need down time after to build myself back up. I think my writing stems from how much time alone I had as a kid, and how the people in my head are never as exhausting as “real” ones.

How long on average does it take you to write a book?

I joke that if Songbird, my first book, were a child it would be accruing college debt by now. Since I wasn’t writing to deadline (writing for myself, remember?), I just kept tinkering with it and deciding it was never going to be perfect.

With my second book, A Wider World, and Lady, in Waiting, the one I’m currently working on, it’s taken me about 9-12 months to produce a draft I’m willing to show people. Which means I “finished” in 6-9 months, and edited and rearranged and tinkered for 3. Since I write historical fiction, there’s also a significant amount of research time involved, but my process there is to get a basic framework in my head, write the draft – leaving brackets with notes of what needs to be filled in – and do further research before the second draft.

Thank you so much for being on the blog today, Karen!

About A Wider World

Memories are all he has…

Now they could save his life.

Returning to England after almost five years in exile, Robin Lewis is arrested and charged with heresy by the dying Queen Mary. As he is escorted to the Tower of London, Robin spins a tale for his captor, revisiting his life under three Tudor monarchs and wondering how he will be judged—not just by the queen, but by the God he stopped serving long ago.

When every moment counts, will the journey—and his stories—last long enough for him to be saved by Mary’s heir, the young Queen Elizabeth?

About Karen Heenan

Karen Heenan was born and raised in Philadelphia. She fell in love with books and stories before she could read, and has wanted to write for nearly as long. After far too many years in a cubicle, she set herself free to follow her dreams – which include gardening, sewing, traveling and, of course, lots of writing.

Connect with Karen on her website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or sign up for her newsletter.

Friday Five with Benjamin Carr

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Hello and welcome to another edition of the Friday Five. I’m so happy to host author Benjamin Carr today. Benjamin’s novel, Impacted, is available now. Let’s get started with the interview.

What inspired your latest story?
I got this tacky, R-rated sentence stuck in my head. A variation on it is on the first page of the book. The initial idea was that someone married was cheating with their dentist.
But then I realized that I couldn’t get into the mind of a female narrator, for that is not an experience I can easily write about. Besides, there’s a book called Compromising Positions that uses that angle.
When I realized that I could write the story of a young gay man stressed by too many secrets, for that is a life I have known, Impacted came together.
What is your writing process like?
It’s a mix of brainstorming, self-doubt and procrastination that eventually leads to sentences on a page.
With Impacted, I had a daily word goal, a tracking spreadsheet, a distraction-free writing tool, a bulletin board full of index cards and a table at the 24-hour Dunkin Donuts where I wrote most nights.
What’s the best piece of advice you’re received for writing?
As I finished every chapter with a cliffhanger, I would send it to friends of mine, but I said not to give me any notes or feedback – because I didn’t want outside comments given too soon to dissuade me. I instructed them to please just tell me to ‘Keep going.’ And they were great about doing that.
So that’s the best advice I’ve ever received on writing a novel. ‘Keep going.’
What are some of your favorite novels and novelists, and why?
Jim Thompson’s ‘Pop. 1,280’ and Raymond Chandler’s ‘The Big Sleep’ probably influenced my book the most. I wanted to write a noir from the perspective of the dumb floozy who keeps making boneheaded mistakes, trying to stay one step ahead of the law. My floozy character is a guy named Wade Harrell. He’s in a murder mystery where the detective never shows up.
I like the blunt language of old pulp novels. I also like reading stories and novels from reclusive authors who were maybe unpleasant jerks: J.D. Salinger, Richard Yates, Patricia Highsmith and John Cheever. I love Michael McDowell’s ‘Blackwater’ series. And my friend Brian Panowich has three books out that are rollicking good Southern thrillers, beginning with ‘Bull Mountain.’
As modern novels go, no one beats Jennifer Egan’s ‘A Visit from the Goon Squad’ and Elizabeth Strout’s ‘Olive Kitteridge.’
I’m an extrovert. What’s the best thing about being an extrovert?
Being an extrovert served me by connecting me to the writing and storytelling community in Atlanta. It caused me to never let stage fright or embarrassment stop me from sharing a story, finding a way to connect.
There’s a sort of brazen audacity in anyone who dares to share their experiences – the good, the bad, the raw. Every voice has value. The most vulnerable stories, the ones that dwell in dark truths that polite societies refuse to discuss, intrigue me the most.
Thank you so much for being with us today, Benjamin!

Friday Five with AJ Super

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Happy Friday! I’m so thrilled to have author, AJ Super on today’s Friday Five.

AJ’s novel, Erebus Dawning, is available now.

Let’s dive into the interview!

Angela earned two Bachelors’ degrees from the University of Idaho in the Creative Writing and Theater programs. Currently, she lives in Kansas with her husband and fuzz-brained kittiots. Her debut from Aethon Books, Erebus Dawning, book one of the Seven Stars Saga, came out on May 11th, 2021.

What is your writing process like?

I am chaos incarnate in the world of writing. LOL! I’m a pure pantser. I write from a blank     page EVERY DAY. The most I plan is a quick brain storming session with the hubster the
night before I write a chapter. And honestly, it’s 50/50 whether I use that
information we think up. I tell my stories to myself, fresh, from the tips of my fingers. THEN,
when I do my first edit, I pretty much do the same thing. I run through the manuscript and find
what I feel isn’t working and fix it right on the spot. If it messes with something else down the
road, I keep a note in my brainpan and when I get to that spot, I fix it, but I don’t jump forward
and fix it until I’ve read what’s in between. Sometimes it means I have dozens of notes in my   head that I literally have to list before each editing session so that I remember them. But I have yet to forget an important change, alteration, edit, or such. Because if it’s not important, it’s not
worth remembering… Same goes with drafting. If I have an idea for a story while drafting, I don’t take notes. If I forget it before I get it down, it wasn’t worth putting in the story in the first
place. Like I said. Chaos incarnate. LOL!

What advice would you give to your younger self?

  Persist. Simply persist. This is a very hard business to be in. From the beginning, you’re told   no. There are terribly long waiting periods. And it doesn’t stop once you get published. It only   gets worse, because what happens if you can’t get your second, third, fourth books published? The anxiety is real and the imposter syndrome never goes away. But you have to persist
through it all.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve received for writing?

It isn’t even writing advice, per se. It’s just general life advice that made writing a possibility
in my life. And to top it off… It was a fortune cookie. “If you can shape it in your mind, you   will find it in your life.” If you can imagine it, so many things can come your way. Granted,   there are some things that I can’t even imagine that have happened to me so far that have   made   this journey interesting. But all through this, if I ever want something, I imagine it,   work for it, and I get it. Of course, the big caveat is the “work for it” bit. You can’t have   imagination without work.

What the hardest thing about being a writer?

The waiting. You are always waiting for something. Responses to queries. Edits. Approval of your next books. Book covers. ARCs. Whatever it is, you are always waiting. (Then suddenly
you’re not and have a TON to do and not a lot of time to do it in.)

Twitter: https://twitter.com/AllBrevityWit (@AllBrevityWit) 
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/angelajsuper/ 
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/angelajsuper/ 
(@angelajsuper)

Friday Five with Casey Dembowski

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Happy Friday! I’m so thrilled to have author Casey Dembowski on today’s Friday Five. Casey’s novel, When We’re Thirty, is available now.

Let’s dive into the interview!

Describe your decision to become a writer.

What an interesting question! For me, there was really no active decision. Being a writer is just who I am. That said, there was a decision to take it beyond my laptop and enter the writing community and put my work out there. It wasn’t an easy decision because so much of publishing is rejection. But I have to say, right now, I’m glad I made it!

What are some of your favorite novels (or your favorite novelists) and why?

My all-time favorite author is Sarah Dessen. But I go through phases with reading. I really love paranormal/fantasy romance series like Cassandra Clare’s Shadowhunter Chronicles and Deborah Harkness’ All Souls trilogy, but then this year I read a lot of rom-coms and historical romances, which has been so much fun. I really loved both books in Evie Dunmore’s The League of Extraordinary Women series. I also love a good, but light mystery like Marissa Meyer’s Truly Devious series.

What advice would you give to your younger self?

Take the writing course. Go to that writing conference. I’ve been a writer for most of my life, but when I was in late high school and college and making decisions about my life and career, I didn’t allow myself to study creative writing in a real way. I’d take a class there or go to a seminar there, but I felt like it wasn’t a path I could go down for a major or a career. Deciding to get my MFA was a huge step for me because it was the first time in my young adult life I allowed myself to go all in on writing.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve received for writing?

Maybe not necessarily advice, but the idea that if you write a page a day you’ll have a novel in a year. I’ve always done a million different things at the same time. During my MFA, I worked two (at one point three) jobs and had classes at a university an hour away from where I lived twice a week. Now I’m a #writermom and that mom-side takes a lot of time. Keeping in perspective that you can write a novel in a year really helps me push through the worry that I don’t have as much time for writing as I would like.

How do you balance writing and the rest of life?

I’ve learned to fit writing in where I can. In graduate school, it was the three hours in the middle of the day between my two jobs. Now, it’s early mornings and late nights and nap times. Being able to write a novel in half-hour increments is a skill I highly value.

About When We’re Thirty

Two friends. One pact. The performance of their lives. Hannah Abbott is stuck in a dead-end relationship and at a job she loves but that barely pays the bills. The four walls of her tiny New York City apartment have never seemed so small. She’s barely toasted her thirtieth birthday when her old college friend Will knocks on her door with an unexpected proposal.

Will Thorne never forgot the marriage pact he made with Hannah, but he also never imagined he’d be the one to initiate it. One ex-fiancée and an almost-career-ending mistake later, however, he finds himself outside Hannah’s door, on bended knee, to collect on their graduation-night pinky promise.

With both of their futures at stake, Hannah and Will take a leap of faith. Now, all they have to do is convince their friends and family that they’re madly in love. As long as they follow the list of rules they’ve drafted, everything should go smoothly. Except Will has never been good with rules, and Hannah can’t stop overthinking the sleeping arrangements. Turning thirty has never been so promising.

About Casey

Casey loves to write stories that focus on the intricacies of relationships–whether they be romantic, familial or platonic. Her novels focus on the inner workings of women and how everything in their lives leads them to exactly where they are, whether they like it or not. Casey lives in New Jersey with her husband, daughter and their two cats. She has an MFA in Fiction from Adelphi University, and currently works in corporate marketing communications. In her (limited) spare time, she enjoys reading, baking, and watching her favorite television shows on repeat.

You can connect with her on her website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Goodreads, or Bookbub.

 

 

Author Interview with Kathleen Basi

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I’m so excited to welcome author Kathleen Basi to the blog today.

Kathleen’s novel Song for the Road is available now. Let’s dive into the interview!

What inspired your latest story?

I woke up early one morning from a vivid, emotional dream in which I was standing in a beautiful place at the end of a long journey, looking at the place where my family had died. But it wasn’t a nightmare—in fact, it was a breathtakingly beautiful moment. How was that possible? I knew I had the kernel of an incredible story, but it took several years and many iterations before I was able to draw Miriam’s story out of that single, poignant image.

Describe your decision to become a writer.

I can’t imagine “deciding” to write! I just… do. The first stories I wrote were fanfic about Annie, written in the back of the bus after school when I was in the second or third grade. I literally cannot remember a time when I wasn’t writing. I didn’t realize I was writing novels until I was in college and finally took the time to find out how long a novel is—and it wasn’t until I was married that I got serious about learning to craft stories. Obviously, I was kind of late in deciding to do this seriously!

What are some of your favorite novels (or your favorite novelists) and why?

Station Eleven—who would have guessed you could use the words “lyrical” and “hopeful” to describe dystopian sci-fi?

Jane Austen—because, of course.

Harry Potter—magical (pun sort of intended), and a wonder of multi-book plotting. I’m in awe every time I read them.

Susanna Kearsley—I can’t put her books down!

Louise Miller (The City Baker’s Guide to Country Living)—Love, love, love these quirky characters and small towns!

Scott Wilbanks (The Lemoncholy Life of Annie Aster)—just enchanting.

What the hardest thing about being a writer?

The uncertainty. Everything is so subjective. What one person loves, another person hates, and sometimes the same person will react differently from one day to the next. It’s like sharpshooting in an earthquake! (Like my analogy?) This is not a business for the faint of heart!

How do you balance writing and the rest of life?

I am a mother of four, and one of those is a daughter with Down syndrome. I also write music for Catholic worship, and I’m deeply involved in the community of pastoral musicians at the national level. What I’ve learned over the past 15 years of balancing parenthood, disability advocacy, marriage, and writing is that balance is not static. Balance means you’re constantly tottering this way or that, nearly falling off the tightrope on side and then the other. Dropping one thing, then grabbing it and setting down something else. My life is a stream of logistics and detailed plans that usually get tossed out the window within five minutes of setting them into motion. (Miriam and I have that in common!) But you have to make the plans, because that’s how you keep all the important things in mind. If you have everything in mind, then you be more adroit at adjusting on the go.

So for instance: when schools shut down in spring 2020, I basically quit writing for several weeks, because I had to be teacher and paraprofessional to my daughter, as well as the anchor for the mental health of the entire household. (I took advantage of free telecounseling through my husband’s work for my own anxieties.) But then it came time to prepare presentations for the national music convention, and I had to email all the teachers and say, “Sorry: now I have to work. School’s out for the year.” It’s not ideal, but we did what we had to do.

About Song for the Road

It’s one year after the death of her husband and twin teenagers. Miriam Tedesco has lost faith in humanity and herself. When a bouquet of flowers that her husband usually sends her on their anniversary shows up
at her work place, she completely unravels. With the help of her best friend, she realizes that it’s time to move past these deaths. Step one is not even cleaning out her family’s possessions, but just to take inventory starting with her daughter’s room. But when she opens up her daughter’s computer, she stumbles across a program written by her daughter to embark on an automated cross country road trip, for her and her husband to take when they would have begun their empty-nesting in a few more months.

Seeing and hearing the video clips of her kids embedded in the program, Miriam is determined to take this trip for her children. Armed with her husband’s guitar, her daughter’s cello, and her son’s unfinished
piano sonata, she embarks on a musical pilgrimage to grieve the family she fears she never loved enough. Along the way she meets a young, pregnant hitchhiker Dicey whose boisterous and spunky attitude reminds Miriam of her own daughter and forces her to look harder at what she had rather than what she’s lost.

Tornadoes, impromptu concerts, and an unlikely friendship… whether she’s prepared for it or not, Miriam’s world is coming back to life. But as she struggles to keep her focus on the reason she initially set out on this journey, she has to confront the possibility that the best way to honor her family may be to accept the truths she never wanted to face.

Hopeful, honest, and tender, A Song for the Road is about courage, vulnerability, and forgiveness, even of yourself, when it really matters.

Advance Praise for A Song for the Road:

“An emotionally complex story about reconciling love with loss, and the healing power of music…I loved every scene from the first to the last.”
—Barbara Claypole White, bestselling author of The Perfect Son and The Promise Between Us

About Kathleen Basi

Kathleen M. Basi is the quintessential jack-of-all trades writer: musical composer and songwriter, feature writer, essayist, nonfiction author, and of course, storyteller. Basi spent her childhood drawing inspiration for stories from the fields and trees on her family’s farm…when she wasn’t climbing on tractors and jumping off hay bales. Now, as mother to three rambunctious boys and one chromosomally-gifted
daughter, she doesn’t have to look any farther than her kitchen table.

Find her at her website, on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest.

 

Friday Five with novelist Melissa Wiesner

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Happy Friday, everyone! I’m so happy to welcome author, Melissa Wiesner to the blog today.

Melissa’s novel, Her Family Secret, is available now.

Let’s dive into the interview!

What inspired your latest story?

The setting probably came to me first, before anything else. In the fall of 2019, my family was invited to a wedding in the Pacific Northwest and our family decided to make a vacation out of the trip. My husband, two children, and I spent a lovely week winding our way north from Seattle to Bellingham, Washington, stopping to hike, explore the cliffs along the ocean, and search for wishing rocks on the shore. Six months later, when the world shut down due to the Covid-19 pandemic and I found myself locked down with my family, my mind was often drawn back to those pine forests, fields of wildflowers, and sunsets over the Puget sound.

From that amazing setting, the story sort of fell into place. The cloudy, rain-soaked Pacific Northwest is such a moody, atmospheric location that it seemed the perfect place for Caleb, a brooding, reclusive artist to make his home. And then, of course, my main character, June arrives with her two kids and her sisters to bring the sunshine and light and inspiration that Caleb didn’t know he’d been missing.

Describe your decision to become a writer.

I don’t know that it was a conscious decision to become a writer so much as a need to get back a piece of myself once my kids weren’t babies anymore. In a lot of ways, I relate to my main character, June. Not her cheating husband, thankfully! But like June, I’m a former artistic-type-turned-mom of two little kids, and I also spent a decade and a half of my life working a “regular” job and neglecting my creative side. When I started writing, it was at night, after my family went to bed, and I didn’t tell anyone about it for a very long time. Now I believe that anyone who writes is a writer, but it took years to start thinking of myself that way.

Imagine that you are ninety years old, what advice would you give to your present self?

When I was in my 20’s and 30’s, there were so many little things I worried over that seemed important at the time, but now I have the wisdom to know better. I look back and wonder why I didn’t spend more time appreciating life and enjoying being young. So, I imagine my 90-year old self would say a version of the same thing: “You’re not getting any younger. Appreciate what your healthy body can do and the time you have with the people you love!”

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve received for writing?

When you’re a writer, you put your heart out into the world, hoping that someone connects with it. But in the process, you offer it up for discussion, critique, and often criticism. One of my author-heroes, Kristan Higgins, told me that in this business, you have to let go of the things you can’t control and focus on the things you can. These words are true for everything in life, but I think they’re especially true for writers. It’s so easy to get hung up on a bad review, a painful rejection, or how another author’s success compares to your own. But the only way to survive this business is to keep your head down, write your books, and don’t obsess over things outside your control.

Who would you cast as the hero and heroine of your latest release?

a. I absolutely love the idea of Jennifer Garner as my heroine, June. June is a mother in her late-thirties, so Jennifer Garner would be an age-appropriate casting, which doesn’t always happen in Hollywood! And Jennifer Garner strikes me as so approachable, like the neighborhood mom you’d want to drink wine with on your front porch. You get the sense that, even as a successful film actress, she understands the stresses of juggling parenting and work, and she could relate to June’s longing for more in her life.

 

And as for my hero…Taylor Kitsch has projected that brooding, unapproachable vibe ever since he played Tim Riggins in Friday Night Lights. I could absolutely see him as Caleb—walking the rain-soaked cliffs above the Pacific Ocean, searching for artistic inspiration.

Thank you so much for being on the blog today, Melissa! Be sure to buy your copy of HER FAMILY SECRET today!

Continue reading to learn more about Melissa and her latest novel.

About Her Family Secret

June Westwood is devastated by the news the father she never met has died. Now the truth about why Jasper abandoned her as a child will be buried forever. Escaping to the secluded beach house she’s inherited, June hopes to spend time bonding with her two little daughters, away from her hectic job and failing marriage.

On the wild shores of the Pacific Northwest, her father’s hideaway leaves June breathless. But it’s his oil paintings decorating every wall that surprise her most. How could someone paint other people so beautifully, but reject those closest to him? And why is every drawer in her father’s workshop locked? June hopes her new neighbor—her father’s apprentice Caleb—will provide the answers. But Caleb won’t talk about the past.

Then, hidden in her father’s workshop, June discovers a box of newspaper clippings that reveal the shocking reason why her father left years ago—and uncovers Caleb’s own devastating secret…

When her old life comes calling, June has an impossible decision to make. Unsure what’s best for her girls, and if she can trust Caleb, will digging deeper into her father’s dark past heal or destroy her precious family?

An absolutely heartbreaking and emotional page-turner about the incredible strength of family bonds, how we can hurt those closest to us, and the healing power of love. Fans of Diane Chamberlain, Kerry Lonsdale and Kerry Fisher will devour this powerful read from award-winning author Melissa Wiesner. 

Order now from Amazon

REVIEWS

It’s seldom that a debut novel is this stunning. Wow…This was one I struggled to put down until it was finished! Excellent read! —NetGalley Reviewer

I just loved this book! The writing was just fantastic. Now I’m on the hunt for more by her! This book has every emotion jerker possible! —NetGalley Reviewer

About Melissa Wiesner

Melissa Wiesner is a night-owl who began writing novels about five years ago when her early-to-bed family retired for the evening. She is the author of HER FAMILY SECRET from Bookouture, and her second novel will be published in August 2021. Her awards include the 2019 RWA Golden Heart® Award in the Mainstream Fiction Category. Melissa holds two Master’s Degrees in Public Health and Community Agency Counseling. Her day job is in Social Work where she often encounters people knocked down by hard times but who pick themselves up and keep going, just like the characters of her novels. Melissa lives in Pittsburgh, PA with her charming husband and two adorable children.

Friday Five with Amy Suiter Clarke

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I’m so happy to host suspense author Amy Suiter Clarke on today’s Friday Five.

Her novel, Girl, 11, is available now. Let’s get started!

What is your writing process like?

I tend to do my best writing in the late morning and early afternoon. I work part-time in my day job now, so I set aside two weekdays for writing, and I also work weekends when I’m in the middle of drafting or revising a project. I will try to get any housework or administrative tasks done in the early morning, so by the time I sit down to write, I don’t have any excuses to avoid it. I love writing, but I mostly don’t love it until I’m doing it. Once I’ve started, I usually get in the flow pretty quickly, and I find it hard to pull away.

What are some of your favorite novels (or your favorite novelists) and why?

I find it too hard to pick favorite books, but I have a lot of authors who inspire my work or whose work I just love as a reader. Candice Fox, S.A. Cosby, Harlan Coben, Wendy Walker, Tana French, and Kellye Garrett are some of my favorite crime and thriller authors. I also love everything I’ve read by Liane Moriarty, Sarah Gailey, Lesley Nneka Arimah, Bethany C. Morrow, Clint Smith, Colson Whitehead, and Celeste Ng.

What the hardest thing about being a writer?

For me, it’s learning when to let a project go and send it to someone. I could just keep working on something forever, but eventually, you have to share your work and find out how it can be improved by someone who is not you. I always struggle to know when that point is in my own writing—when my own edits stop helping the manuscript get better and instead are just treading water to avoid letting someone else read it.

What’s the best thing about being a writer?

The buzz and fulfillment of creating a whole story out of thin air! When writing is going well, I have a hard time sleeping because I’m so amped up on adrenaline and excitement for the book. It’s like a huge serotonin boost. I love when the story is coming together, when I know the characters inside and out, and when I can’t wait to get back to the computer and keep writing.

Are you an introvert or extrovert? What’s that best thing about being an (introvert or extrovert)?

I’m definitely an introvert. I run out of energy fast when I’m in a group of people, even when they’re close friends. I think the pandemic has actually made that side of me even stronger. I crave time alone, and I get out of sorts when I don’t have enough of it. The best part about being an introvert is that, since I’m a writer, I have to spend a lot of time alone anyway. Instead of draining me, those sessions drafting alone in my office give me a lot of energy.

Amy Suiter Clark

About Amy

Amy Suiter Clarke is a writer and communications specialist. Originally from a small town in Minnesota, she completed an undergraduate in theater in the Twin Cities. She then moved to London and earned an MFA in Creative Writing with Publishing at Kingston University. She currently works for a university library in Melbourne, Australia. Girl, 11 is her debut novel and will be published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in the USA, Text Publishing in Australia, and other publishing houses all over the world in 2021.

You can follow Amy on Twitter, Instagram and TikTok at @asuiterclarke.

About Girl, 11

Elle Castillo once trained as a social worker, supporting young victims of violent crime. Now she hosts a popular true crime podcast that focuses on cold cases of missing or murdered children.

After four seasons of successfully solving these cases in Minnesota’s Twin Cities, Elle decides to tackle her white whale: The Countdown Killer. Twenty years ago, TCK terrorized the community, kidnapping and ritualistically murdering three girls over seven days, each a year younger than the last. But after he took his eleven-year-old victim, the pattern—and the murders—abruptly stopped. No one has ever known why.

When Elle follows up on a listener tip only to discover the man’s dead body, she feels at fault. Then, within days, a child is abduct­ed—a young girl who seems to fit suspicious­ly into the TCK sequence. While media and law enforcement long ago concluded that TCK was dead, Elle has never believed it. She had hoped her investigation would lay that suspicion to rest, but instead, her podcast seems to be creating new victims.

Order Girl, 11 today from Bookshop, Indie Bound, Target, Walmart, Barnes & Noble, or Amazon today!

Friday Five with author Katherine Forrister

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Happy Friday, folks! Today I’m thrilled to have fantasy author, Katherine Forrister on the blog. Her debut fantasy novel, Lodestone, is available now!

Let’s dive into our interview with Katherine.

What inspired your latest story?

Lodestone grew from two seeds of ideas. First, I imagined what would happen if raw magic could be sold and how that might affect people who were willing to, or due to economic circumstances, had to deplete their own power to make ends meet. How would it feel to weaken yourself to make others stronger? The second seed was a question regarding the “evil dark lord” trope. What would a story be like if told from the point of view of someone who chose to serve the villain? Lodestone combines these two ideas and expands them into a full-fledged dark fantasy novel that explores the gray area between good and evil and the reasons why society leans into prejudices that create the two perceived extremes.

Describe your decision to become a writer.

I was recovering from a tough time in my life and didn’t know what my path forward should be. Other career paths hadn’t worked out for various reasons, and once I had my daughter to care for, I wanted to find something that I knew I would be capable of pursuing and sticking with. I started writing down stories as both a personal healing process and because writing had been a childhood dream of mine and was always something I thought would be fun to do. “Fun” became “fulfilling”, and now I can’t imagine a life without writing.

What is your writing process like?

As soon as I have a spark of an idea, I jot down notes, and then I play out the events of the story in my head. I pause to write down the good parts that have potential. I outline as I go and revise the outline to tie in themes and home in on characters. Then I start writing. Sometimes, the entire outline is not finished when I start the first draft, but the majority usually is. After the first draft, I research every detail that I glossed over (this is particularly important for my historical fiction novels), and edit the information in. Then I write the second draft, revise, third draft, revise, again and again. Eventually, something good enough to query comes out of all that process!

What are some of your favorite novels (or your favorite novelists) and why?

I’m a sucker for classics. Wuthering Heights is my favorite novel. Its characters are dark and brooding, the story is dramatic and emotionally-driven, the houses and setting themselves are practically characters because they are so omnipresent. The prose is also phenomenal. My other favorite novel is The Count of Monte Cristo, a visceral tale of all-consuming revenge gone wrong. I can’t get enough of it.

What’s the best thing about being a writer?

Writers get to wear so many hats. I love writing first drafts because I get to pour my thoughts onto a page unhindered by perfectionism. I look forward to editing because I get to fix and enhance my initial ideas and words. I love collaborating with editors to push the book even further, and even marketing can be fun! Through all that, my favorite part is sharing my silly daydreams with other people, hoping that what brings me joy, entertainment, and inspiration will touch others in the same way.

About Lodestone

“LODESTONE is a dark fantasy tale with immersive world building and a compelling heroine following a plot with hints of Beauty and the Beast. Only this time Beauty goes to the Beast on purpose, and she does it with the intention of making herself stronger.” — Gabrielle Ash, Author of THE FAMILY CROSS

“If you are a fan of dark fantasy, morally grey characters with room to grow, and fascinating, original magic systems, don’t miss it! The magic system in LODESTONE was unlike anything I personally have read before. Overall, I devoured this book. There were twists and turns, fascinating magic and terrifying enemies!” — M. J. Kuhn, Author of AMONG THIEVES

Lodestone-peddler Melaine is desperate to stop hustling her raw magic for a tuppence. Her rare gift of infusing her magic into a lodestone to sell for another’s use and never keeping any for herself is nothing but a degrading path to an early grave.

Yearning for a better life, Melaine turns to her unconventional childhood idol, the powerful but sinister Overlord, sorcerer-ruler of the Centara. When she achieves an audience and arrives at his reclusive retreat of ancient Highstrong Keep, she finds that the compelling, handsome man who conquered a kingdom by the age of twenty is now a weak, shadowed husk, and he needs her lodestones to give him strength. In exchange, he will take her on as his apprentice.

Trapped in Highstrong with a half-crazed prisoner, a strict servant, and the Overlord, Melaine learns that they may all be prey to far more malevolent forces than the Overlord’s black-magic experiments. Faced with menacing apparitions, ancient curses, and an even greater horror that could threaten the entire kingdom if unleashed, Melaine’s penchant for survival is contested by her growing feelings for the Overlord and her path toward finding a deeper meaning to life than the pure power she once craved.

Order Lodestone today!

About Katherine Forrister

Katherine Forrister is an author of speculative fiction with a love of fantasy, history, science, and romance. Her dark fantasy romance novel, Lodestone, is forthcoming from GenZ Publishing in 2021, her historical fantasy romance, The Hand-me-down Maiden, is forthcoming from GenZ Publishing in 2022, and her science fiction romance novel, Curio Citizen, is forthcoming from Inkshares, Inc.

She lives near Kansas City with her family, where she enjoys local festivals and conventions, hiking, playing open-world video games, and curling up on the sofa to read on cold winter days.

You can connect with Katherine on her website, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, and Goodreads.