Wednesday, March 2, 2016

#MMBBR Showcase: The Oys & Joys by @MarciaFeldt


Meet the Oys & Joys--Lizzie, Sassie, Grace and Ruby 

Baby boomers reaching for the moon. Until decades of old baggage flood their lives. 
And not like a hurricane. Like a tsunami.

A story of unlocking the truth. Of defeating regret. Of the power of steel-laced friendships. But sometimes, the back side of middle age shoves the past, and the secrets it harbors, into the present.

Marcia Feldt

Marcia Feldt isn't a New York Times bestselling author -- The Oys & Joys being her debut novel and only recently released. But definitely high up there on her Bubble Bath List! Marcia graduated from UCLA, worked in Public Accounting (CPA), and when her entrepreneurial spirit came knocking, founded Feldt Personnel Consultants where she matched candidates to new career opportunities. After selling her business, she dabbled in real estate, built a lake house and started to write. And write and write. Then shattering events bombarded her life and one day, after many days, she started to write again. The Oys & Joys sang to her and the ladies insisted she write their story. Marcia lives in Austin, Texas, sometimes at Lake Conroe, and enjoys a blended family of three married daughters, three grandchildren, and six dogs.

Visit:
for more about Lizzie and the girls,
Ruby's Italian dinner recipes, and
a list of wines sipped throughout the story.


Q.  What inspires your writing?

A. Breathing. Really, just being alive and enjoying life--writing calms me and allows me to enter the heads of my characters which gives me new perspectives.
Q.  What is your favorite thing about being a writer?

A. Being able to go many places and experience many things--sometimes in my imagination and sometimes for real. In The Oys & Joys, there's a chapter about "pole dancing for seniors." So I signed up for five lessons. Wow, I didn't so bad either!

Q.  What is the toughest part of being a writer?

A. Putting the story together in a format that will work.
Q.  If you could not be writer, what would you do/be?

A. Well, I waited until my kids were grown and my business sold before starting to write.  Have two murder mystery/suspense drafts in boxes. But the characters in The Oys & Joys sang to me and I started to write their stories about two years ago.
Q.  What would the story of your life be entitled?

A. Ooops.
Q. What is your favorite book of all time?

A. Tough question. But looking back, the book that impacted my life at the time I read it was Marjorie Morningstar by Hermann Wouk.

Q.  Which character from ANY book are you most like?

A. To continue with MM above, I grew up in a conservative Jewish home and yearned to "escape" to excitement and experience the world. Ended up at UCLA (from Texas) in the late 1960's. A bit of a culture shock there, without the intense love affair.
Q.  What character from all of your book are you most like?

A. There are bits and pieces of me in each of the four women in my book. Personality wise, probably more like Lizzie--much more comfortable in a 2+2=4 world, definitely have Grace's 'quirkiness' though, and loved experiencing "voyeurism with a papertrail" as does Ruby.
Q.  Which book would you love to take a weekend vacation inside of?

A. The Bridges of Madison County
Q.  What is your favorite season?

A. Spring
Q.  What inspired your book cover(s)?  Or what is your favorite book cover and why?

A. Did not want the 'beach, empty chair' look, porch with flowers . . . not anything related to many women fiction books. Wanted to express a yearning for--well, not sure what exactly--but loaded with 'soul' and personality. The boatless boat slip has a special meaning in the book as does the lake. The girls are boomers, crossing the sixty-year-old
line and thinking their life should be less hectic, more relaxed. But find that old baggage floods their lives--and not like a hurricane. Like a tsunami. So they're 'reaching for the moon', falling on the moonbeam. Sort of a noir feeling to the cover, too that I liked. I drew a very rough sketch and gave to an artist to create.

Q.  Are you working on something new?

A. In my head. Want to spin off novellas, focusing on each character in The Oys & Joys. Also have another fiction story buzzing around.

Q.  Anything you want to say to followers of this blog or those that are just stopping by?

A.  If you're not in the Wedgie Generation yet, you will be eventually. So at some point, either face regret and take an action or 'let it go.' And remember, secrets never die quietly.


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