SOMETIMES A SENIOR MOMENT TAKES OVER.
SOMETIMES I FORGET TO CHECK MY CALENDAR.
SOMETIMES I GOOF UP AND NEED TO APOLOGIZE.
YESTERDAY WAS THE RELEASE OF MY GUEST'S BOOK PURGATORY,
AND I FORGOT TO POST HER RELEASE DAY PARTY. DENISE, I AM SO SORRY!
My guest today is the lovely--and forgiving--Denise Moncrief. She's a Southern girl, who's lived in Louisiana all her life. And yes, she has a drawl. She's been writing off and on since she was seventeen, when she wrote her first "novel." Seventeen handwritten pages on school-ruled paper that was an obvious rip-off of the last romance novel she'd read. Now before you tell us a little about your family, Denise, have a piece of my pumpkin roll. This has got to be my favorite dessert. I've been in a baking frenzy like most everyone else this week.
Thank you, Vonnie. Looks great. I'd love to talk about my wonderful husband and my two incredible children. They not only endure my writing moods, but also encourage me to indulge my passion. Which is a good thing since the urge to write won't let go. Back in my twenties, I started another novel, only to abandon it after Chapter Four to Five. The timing wasn't right, I guess. I started writing seriously about eight years ago and have already published several stories.
What an awesome story, Denise. How about some coffee to wash down that pumpkin roll? Do you like chocolate covered strawberries? I made a few. And I think there may be some other goodies around here too.
Now, darlin', share your book's blurb with us.
Blurb...
Five years ago, a
tragic accident robbed Chris Smith of a normal life. Left with only a jagged
scar, a set of wedding rings, and bits of memory—smells, sounds, and fleeting
feelings—she copes with the loss of her identity. Amnesia has made her life a
living purgatory…until she meets Steve West.
Steve’s construction
company is remodeling the ski lifts in Purgatory, Colorado. However looking at
Chris is seeing the face of his deceased wife. Now the truths he’d been forced
to believe have him searching for answers.
Murder, deception
and missing ransom money. Can Steve protect Chris…and prove she’s the wife he
never believed dead before the killer tries again?
Excerpt...
A swoosh of wind
burst through the front door as a man entered the building. Dragging her
attention away from the magazine, she turned to greet him. He hesitated for a
fraction of a second as if to get his bearings before trudging through the lobby
toward her. As soon as their eyes met, her words of welcome froze on her tongue
and the pain began—flashes of light across her vision—tightness in her
throat—intense, piercing sensations in her head. Panic and the desire to run
soon followed.
She massaged her
forehead, trying to rub away the stabbing pain that throbbed between her eyes,
and then returned her attention to the man in front of her, pulling the computer
keyboard toward her, determined to do her job despite the sudden fear gripping
her insides.
She attempted her
most professional tone. “Good morning. Welcome to the Inn at Purgatory. How can
I help you?”
No
response.
She glanced up at
him. To her dismay, he presented all the indications of a panic attack. She
recognized the signs well. His forehead glistened with tiny beads of sweat. The
vein in his neck pulsed. Anxiety flashed in his eyes as he struggled with each
new breath he took.
“Mister, are you all
right?”
He braced against
the counter and rubbed a hand over his face. “Yeah. It’s just…you look like
someone I used to know.”
Chills ran down her
spine. He wasn’t creepy, not in the least. On the contrary, she sensed an
unmistakable connection to this stranger. She recoiled from the feeling, but
nothing could have pried her eyes from his for a few brief, intense
moments.
Whew, after an excerpt like that, let's break out the bubbly and celebrate your awesome release in style, shall we? Tell us how you write. What process do you use?
I know where I want
to begin a story and know where I want the story to end. In the middle, I allow
my characters and their evolving personalities to dictate where the action goes
from there. I ask myself how the character would react in a given situation, how
the characters would relate to each other, and what consequences would come out
of those choices. The character’s story sort of writes itself.
I like writing characters who do and say things I never
would, as well as characters who do and say things I wish I could. Do you have
characters who fit into one of those categories? Who, and in what category do
they fall?
I love to write my
characters saying and doing things I’ve only thought about. You know, when
you’ve finished with a confrontation and you think about that one thing you
wished you’d said? That’s what I love to make my characters say. A writer can
get brave hiding behind a character!
BUY LINK FOR PURGATORY:
Whew! Even a day late, we have partied hearty!
Denise, good luck with sales of PURGATORY!
