Showcase: Anthony Levy

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:  This is my first every book to be published. A chance meeting on holiday in Majorca changed my life forever and launched me into a 25 year career in a job that I never would have considered previously: working in Her Majesty's Prison Service. This book catalogues my personal experiences of working as a prison officer, from my early days at high security HMP Pentonville to my final years in therapy-based HMP Grendon. Filled with interesting observations and incidences, hilarious wind-ups and memorable characters, this autobiography is the story of a journey, from the happiest days in what will always be a potentially volatile environment to a complete state of disillusionment as an old dinosaur that no longer fitted into the modern prison service world. I give an honest account of my feelings, as someone who would never be a yes man and toe the party line, in the face of a constantly changing environment that had become increasingly controlled by political correctness gone mad and by budgetary needs rather than human needs. I am a man who cared, and even though my heart was sucked out of my job, I never lost my dignity or respect. Most importantly, I would never allow myself to be reduced to just a turnkey. 

I am a 60 year-old Tottenham born family man and former prison officer. After spending 25 years in the UK's prison service, and having become increasingly disillusioned with stifling modern prison service politics and practices, in 2008 I took my pension pot and ran, moving to Spain to spend my early retirement in the sun. My wife and I, however, have now moved back to the UK temporarily due to the current economic climate. This autobiography about my prison service life is my first book.

Q.  What inspires your writing?

 

A. People, I have always worked in industries that involve people be it prisoners, their visitors or professional visitors and now with the general public at an airport.

 
Q.  What is your favorite thing about being an author?
 

A. People coming up to me and saying ‘how’s your book doing’ It’s so surreal yet I feel pride when asked if a little embarrassed.

 
Q.  What is the toughest part of being an author?
 

A. For me who has only written and probably will only write one book, I have not found any of it tough. But I suppose trying to put on paper the actual events as they really happened, also making sure I did not deliberately upset anybody by revealing incidents they may not have wanted revealed to the world.

 
Q.  If you could not be author, what would you do/be?
 

A. My ambition when young was to be a professional footballer, but deep down I knew I never had the necessary skills. My Dad always wanted me to be an athlete something I was good at as an under 16 I broke the four minute mile barrier back in the days of cinder tracks (around 1965).

 
Q.  What would the story of your life be entitled?
 

A. Really hard questions here but ‘Me an author! Your joking’.

 
Q.  What is your favorite book of all time?
 

A. I have several books from different genres but the most inspirational book that conjures up pride in me would A History of the English-Speaking Peoples 4 Volumes by Sir Winston Churchill. Leon Uris Exodus is another really great read.

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

A. I’d love to say something like Sean Connery as James Bond or Jack Richer from Lee Childs books but I’d be lying so I suppose it would have to be My wife says Jack Nicholson’s character Jack Torrance in the Shining, but I’m not sure if this is a compliment or not.

 
Q.  What character from all of your book are you most like?
 

A. Easy me my book’s an autobiography although when I read it back I sometimes don’t recognize myself, have I changed that much?

 
Q.  What is your favorite season?
 

A. Spring in England.

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

A. My publishers Apex Publishers suggested the design and I loved it immediately.

 
Q.  Tell me something funny that happened while on a book tour or while promoting your book.
 

A. I was at a book signing at Waterston’s in Aylesbury England, sitting at the table with all my books displayed when my granddaughter walked in and asked if the books were all mine after replying yes, she then said ‘are you famous then’ to which I answered ‘well you know me so I must be famous’.

 
Q.  Are you working on something new?
 

A. Yes I have several ideas at present a follow up to my autobiography, and a series of one chapter true stories of working at one of the busiest airport in the world. Again this will be anecdotal about the passengers and how they react good or bad to being at an airport with all the modern security measures they have to go through.

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

A.  Please have a look at my book and read it. That is all any author can ask for.

Check Anthony out on GOODREADS * WEBSITE * FACEBOOK

Review: Bork Reveals The Real Deal About The Facts of Life by Terri Shearer Trenchard

About the author:  When Terri Trenchard searched for the perfect book to introduce the topics of puberty and reproduction to her growing son, she quickly discovered there was nothing that contained what she needed (and only what she needed). So Terri, wife and mother of two, began to write a book for her son and for anyone else who could use it.

Through humor and straightforward facts, Terri created the character “Bork” to help boys learn about everything from shaving to reproduction and the upcoming stages of physical development — in a comfortable and factual way.

Her book helps open the door to questions and discussions about sex, development, maturation, and reproduction by engaging boys and empowering them with knowledge. She recognized the current popularity of witty, edgy children’s books and wrote her book in a similar fashion to be best embraced by the pre-teen audience.

Terri has a master’s degree in Education and Human Development from The George Washington University, and a bachelor’s degree with a concentration in Psychology from Bucknell University.

As a former teacher, manager, and organization development specialist, Terri applies her knowledge and experience in various educational, leadership, and spiritual settings with children. She lives in Ellicott City, Maryland with her husband and their two children.

Terri is currently developing a similar title for girls, Corky Gives the Whole Scoop about the Facts of Life, as well as additional titles about topics of interest to young adults, including summer jobs and college.

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As a mother of two boys I was overjoyed to get asked to read and review this title.  I read it with my husband and we were both blown away how Trenchard  made the tough and uncomfortable topics of puberty and adolescence into funny and conversational tidbits to help us navigate the adventure of having two boys.  I have already recommended to to many of my friends with boys of all ages.  This will be a invaluable tool that I will use throughout the various stages in my boys life.  I absolutely loved it and rate it 5 stars!!!!

Book Description

Publication Date: February 27, 2012

A humorous, fact-filled description of puberty, adolescence, and reproduction. With all the essential facts and easy-to-understand format, the witty and edgy style of this book will appeal to boys ranging from nine to thirteen years old. Puberty and adolescence have never been told in a more fun and relaxing way! The reader will understand that a boy’s physical, emotional, and social development during puberty is normal and common to all. Main character Bork empowers the reader with all the necessary and objective facts, and includes an interactive element to engage the reader in simple and entertaining activities. This book is a great resource to introduce the topic to younger, pre-adolescent boys, and also serves as a perfect complement to the sex ed courses taught in the upper elementary grades. Using a unique and careful approach, the author includes only the basic, factual necessities of sex and reproduction without venturing into other subjective areas—and the many values and judgments that often accompany this topic. This is the one guide that provides boys with everything they need to know without delving into the more complex areas that can surround this important and sensitive topic. For all families with boys, this is a book that should remain on the shelf as their pre-teens mature and become more inquisitive about their bodies. The book also serves as an effective resource for parents, pediatricians, librarians, and school counselors.

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Showcase: Maxine Kenneth

Book Two

When young Jackie Bouvier receives her second assignment from the CIA, she knows it will go better than her first. She managed to survive the Paris job-while looking her best in Givenchy, no less-but now she's completed her official CIA training. So she's excited to show her boss exactly what she can do for her country.

Her new mission: Go undercover in sultry Havana and investigate a young revolutionary named Fidel Castro. But before Jackie can infiltrate the communist cabal, she's in past her hemline in danger. In another exciting adventure, she colludes with Grace Kelly, dances with Frank Sinatra, and flirts with an up-and-coming congressman from Massachusetts.

As the international intrigue escalates, Jackie must use all her finely honed skills to stay ahead of her enemies . . . and make sure spying never goes out of fashion.

Book One

Young Jacqueline Bouvier's first CIA assignment was supposed to be simple: Meet with a high-ranking Russian while he's in Paris and help him defect. But when the Comrade ends up dead, and Jackie-in her black satin peep-toe stiletto heels-barely escapes his killer, it's time to get some assistance. Enter Jacques Rivage, a French photographer and freelance CIA agent who seems too brash and carefree to grapple with spies, though he's all too able to make Jackie's heart skip a beat. 

Together the two infiltrate 1951 high society in the City of Lights, rubbing shoulders with the likes of the Duchess of Windsor, Audrey Hepburn, and Evelyn Waugh. Jackie, no longer a pampered debutante, draws on her quick intelligence, equestrian skills, and even her Chanel No. 5 atomizer as a weapon to stay alive in the shadowy world of international intrigue-and to keep her date with a certain up-and-coming, young Congressman from Massachusetts . . .

Q. What inspires your writing?

A.  I’ve always been a compulsive scribbler, writing down my ideas that have sprung up in reaction to something I’ve read or heard or experienced personally and seeing if these concepts can be developed into articles or books.  My nonfiction writing has been largely inspired by my work as the founder in 1974 of a marital hotline in Philadelphia called Wives Self Help—the first of its kind in the country--which developed into a state-licensed mental health agency with a City Police and Fire Counseling Service subsidiary still in operation today. Over the years, the thousands of calls to the hotline from women pouring out their hearts over their troubled marriages and love relationships found their way into books (Your Marriage; Limits: A Search for New Values; Every Woman Can Be Adored) and my magazine articles as a contributing editor with Woman’s Day. The most painful book for me to write, What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Stronger (DaCapo, 2003) was inspired by a family tragedy that occurred when my younger daughter Rona, a beautiful 21-year-old journalist with a brilliant future ahead of her, was seriously brain-injured in an auto accident caused by a drunk driver. Her heroic struggle to reclaim her life, as well as interviews with hundreds of others battling back from all kinds of adversities, led me to formulate a four-step process for turning bad breaks into blessings. The impetus for writing this kind of inspirational book is twofold: it mines some meaning from loss for oneself and others who are still sending me deeply gratifying letters that say, “This book saved my life.”

As for fiction, the only novel I wrote before collaborating on Paris to Die For and Spy in a Little Black Dress was a spoof of the dirty book business entitled The Broadbelters. And I have to admit that it was inspired by unadulterated anger. Well, maybe anger adulterated with a little jealousy. I was furious that Jackie Susann, a so-so writer but a genius at self-promotion, was selling millions of copies of her soft porn potboiler, Valley of the Dolls, while my work was hardly being noticed by anyone beyond my immediate family. The Broadbelters laid bare the formula for writing a soft porn bestseller—C=2BS+N or a Chapter equals Two Bedroom Scenes plus Narrative and had a book within the book that rivaled anything Jackie Susann ever wrote for pure x-rated filth (my mother was scandalized). I have since come to realize that anger at injustices—perceived or real—is a strong motivator for writers of every stripe, from the satirical to the implementers of great change.

In general, what most inspires me to write is the example of courageous women who, against all the odds thrown against them, manage to prevail. That’s what drew me to collaborate on a series of novels about Jackie Kennedy, a woman I greatly admired for her strength of character in situations that sorely tried her soul. Although these lighthearted thrillers conjured up an alternative reality designed for entertainment value, they are still true to the person Jackie really was, and I jumped at the chance to write about that iconic person.

Q. What is your favorite thing about being an author?

A. Being an author takes me out of my everyday world of annoying frustrations and preserves my sanity by giving me something else to think about (I can relate to Patrick Stewart’s Twitter feed: “All I wanted to do was set up a new account with @TWCable_NYC but 36 hours later I’ve lost the will to live”). I love the whole creative process: playing with words, writing, deleting, and writing again until I think I’ve shaped sentences that hit the mark; fashioning dialogue that rings true; hitting upon plot points so that they bounce off each other like well-aimed billiard balls; and getting inside the minds of characters and fleshing them out until they start to have lives of their own. It’s so exhilarating when you get to the final stretch of a book or article and it’s moving so fast that it seems like someone else is writing it and you’re just typing the words.

Q. What is the toughest part of being an author?

A. For me, the toughest part of being an author is occasionally having to throw out pages and pages you’ve slaved over only to realize (or be told by your editor) that they have to go.

Q. If you could not be an author, what would you do/be?

A. There was a time in my life during the 80s and 90s when I had to give up writing because my job as a CBS radio talk show host in Philadelphia and then on WMCA in New York was completely time-consuming. I missed the quietude of writing, but being a talk show host was a less lonely occupation and afforded the same opportunity to get my ideas and opinions out there with the advantage (or disadvantage) of immediate feedback. As a media personality in New York City, I was frequently invited to be a guest on television shows like Oprah (six appearances) and was even given the opportunity to do a pilot for my own national TV show as an advice-giver called “Dear Max.”  The pilot didn’t sell, but doing it was such a wonderful experience that if I couldn’t be an author, I’d love to be the host of a television show, preferably one which couldn’t be canceled no matter how lousy the ratings were.

Q. What would the story of your life be entitled?

A. “Fifty Shades of Black and Blue”

Q. What is your favorite book of all time?

A. I know I should name some monumental literary classic like Herman Melville’s Moby Dick or Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment or James Joyce’s Ulysses, but to be perfectly honest about it, my favorite book of all time is Erica Jong’s Fear of Flying. She had me at the first zipless f-bomb. Perhaps Jong’s book has had such a deep and lasting impression on me because it was originally published in 1973, a year before my first marriage broke up. The book was like an agonizingly funny and outrageously honest call to arms for me and so many other conflicted women swept up in the feminist zeitgeist of our time. Jong’s style was so witty and passionate and her observations so brilliant that I found myself reading her book over and over again, laughing out loud in places and tearing up in others. In the end, Isadora Wing became a mentor for women like me, encouraging us to liberate and redefine ourselves in the larger world through adventure, sexual experience, and work (writing, in the author’s case and in mine). Actually, a reviewer for the Wall Street Journal at the time wrote that Fear of Flying transcended being a woman’s book and became “a latter-day Ulysses, with a female Bloom stumbling and groping, but surviving.” To which I could only say, amen.

*View more on Maxine HERE

Diane Chamberlain visits MMBBR's!!!!!

Since I have become a book blogger I have gotten to "meet" some of my all time favorite authors.  Every time a favorite author visits MMBBR's I am honored, humbled and so very excited.  Today, I have Diane Chamberlain here to answer some questions.  I hope you enjoy getting to know Diane better and take a few moments to check out her books.

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Q.  What inspires your writing?

A. Everyday living. When it's time for me to come up with a new book idea, I open my mind to everything around me: newspaper articles, overheard conversations, dreams. When an idea finally takes root in my imagination, I can't wait to start writing. 

Q.  You have written so many novels each so different from the others.  How do you keep coming up with such amazing stories?

A.  I don't generally like writing connected books, although I have written a few that I love, most notably the Keeper of the Light trilogy, which is being reissued to a new, enthusiastic audience right now. For the most part, though, I like to start fresh with each book, with a new set of characters facing a new set of dilemmas.

Q.  I first fell in love with your novels with the book The Secret Life of CeeCee Wilkes.  It is by far one of my favorites of your novels, did you know it would be a hit as you wrote it?

A. CeeCee was not actually a "hit" when it was first published. I knew I'd written a good book, but it takes much more than that for a book to become widely read. The publisher really needs to be behind it and make sure it gets to the public in big numbers with great promotion. Unfortunately, that was not the case with CeeCee. . . until a year or so after her (yes, I think of this book as a "her") publication. That's when the fifteen person team at Target selected her as their summer bookclub read. Suddenly CeeCee was in Targets all across the country and she found thousands of new readers. . . and I found thousands of new fans. I'll always have a soft spot in my heart for Target!

Q.  What is your favorite thing about being an author?

A. Getting to touch so many readers with my words. My first career was as a hospital social worker and psychotherapist, and I loved knowing I was helping people, one at a time. Now I feel as though I'm part of the lives of thousands at once and it's a great feeling. 

Q.  What is the toughest part of being an author?

A. Deadlines! The last two months before a book deadline probably take years off my life. It's like cramming for an exam, only for months instead of hours. 

Q.  You seem to do a lot of research when writing novels.  Is that something you enjoy or is it just part of the job?

A. Oh, I love the research. I love it too much, actually. It's so easy to get caught up in learning new things that it's sometimes hard to get back to the writing. 

Q.  If you could not be author, what would you do/be?

A. I would go back to being a social worker, probably in a hospital. That was hard but very rewarding work. 

Q.  What would the story of your life be entitled?

A. The Scaredy Cat Author. Fear's always been a big part of my life and my characters often have fears of their own, you may have noticed. I have Georgia O'Keeffe's quote above my computer and that helps me be brave: "I've been absolutely terrified every moment of my life--and I've never let it keep me from doing a single thing I wanted to do." 

Q.  What is your favorite book of all time?

A. Charlotte's Web by EB White. It has wonderful characters who are noble and brave. 

 Q.  What character from all of your book are you most like?

A. I relate most strongly to Kate in my older book, Secret Lives, which is only available right now as an e-book. I was agoraphobic as a teen and young adult and I relate strongly to Kate and her fears, although I would never have lived in a cave as she does!

Q.  What is your favorite season?

A. Spring, mostly because I love summer and spring is full of happy anticipation for me. Not so crazy about winter. I miss having leaves on the trees. 

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

A. I've had very little input into my covers, which is typical of most authors. The marketing and promotional teams at the publisher have the greatest say, so my covers are often a surprise to me when I see them. I have several favorites, and The Secret Life of CeeCee Wilkes is definitely one of them. I can't tell you how many readers have written to me to say they were drawn to the book by that little red headed girl!

Q.  Tell me something funny that happened while on a book tour or while promoting your book.

A. Well, I'm more of an emotional writer than a funny one, so it's no surprise that the situation that comes to mind is more poignant than funny. I was doing a signing in a bookstore when two men came in. They looked like they might be homeless, wearing many layers of clothing and coats, although it was spring. They were unshaven and wild-haired. The store manager was trying to figure out how to get them to leave when I noticed one of them was holding a tattered paperback copy of my Keeper of the Light so I invited them to the table where I was signing. They told me they'd bought the book in a grocery store a couple of years earlier and both loved it and reread it many times. Would I sign it for them? You bet! It's probably been fifteen years since that signing but I'll always remember those two guys fondly. 

Q.  Are you working on something new?

A. I just completed my next book, a true book of my heart that I've wanted to write for a long time. I'm changing publishers with this book and I'm very excited. The book has no title yet, but it's about the Eugenics Program in North Carolina in 1960, when many girls and women, boys and men, were sterilized against their will. It will be out sometime next summer. 

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

A.  If you haven't already read any of my books, I hope you'll give one a try. My aim is always to keep you turning those pages until late into the night. Please let me know if I succeed!

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Read more about the books HERE
Click the book for book details....

Blog Tour: Finding Lucas by Samantha Stroh Bailey: Q&A and Excerpt

Follow the tour HERE

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                   Book Description

Can you ever really go back to the past?

On her fifth anniversary with boyfriend Derek, Jamie Ross finds herself in a Montreal hotel room wondering how the carefree guy she met in a Chicago bar has turned into “the quintessential metrosexual.” Weighed down by Derek’s disdain for her second hand wardrobe, her unusual family and her low-paying job as an associate producer of a daytime talk show, Jamie reaches a breaking point. And when her new boss plans to reunite lost loves on the show, she remembers Lucas— the boy she’d loved and lost ten years earlier. What follows is a quest that is at times hilarious and at others disastrous as Jamie’s life transforms from run of the mill to absolutely crazy. But will finding Lucas give Jamie everything she’s looking for?

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"Jamie Ross? That is you!"

No. Please no. Not when I'm red-faced, sweaty and looking like an electric blue sausage. I recognize that husky, snide voice instantly, and I slowly turn around. Yup, it's Claire Howard. The high school nemesis I was just talking about last night. The one who stole Lucas right out from under me. Who was it who said that when you talk about someone you see them?  

And she's breathtaking. Still. Long, shiny, strawberry blonde hair, startling grey eyes and porcelain skin. Not the pasty, dehydrated kind, but the creamy, smooth kind. Diamonds drip from the sparkling studs in her perfectly adorable earlobes to her little toe ring.

I look at Derek. He's staring; his mouth, hanging open slightly. I want to smack him. She kisses my clammy, crimson cheek with cinnamon lipstick. Just to leave a mark, I'm sure.

"God, Jamie, how long has it been?"

"Fifteen years, Claire."

Like you don't know, you man-stealing slut. I probably wouldn't be so angry if Lucy hadn't dredged up all that stuff about Lucas last night. But now it feels like it just happened yesterday.

"You look exactly the same," she tells me, moving her left hand in front of my face just so I can catch the massive rock on her finger.

She is not giving me a compliment. I've already mentioned my unfortunate awkward years, and to add to the pear-shaped body, I also had glasses and braces. But I was smart and funny, and that's what got me Lucas. I'm sure the adoring gazes I'd constantly shot in his direction didn't hurt any. But, Claire had the Southern Belle accent (her family had moved to Chicago from Savannah) and the DD chest.

Looking at her now, the chest looks suspiciously higher and firmer than it should be after all of these years. With small boobs, you never really worry about sagging and future nips and tucks.

"Jamie, introduce me," Derek says, scowling.

"Oh goodness, how rude of me. Derek, this is Claire, a, um, girl from high school. Claire, this is my boyfriend, Derek."

Her eyes are huge with amazement that I could have a boyfriend who looks like Derek. Clanging warning bells go off in my head. What if she does it again? Steals him too? If I turn my back for a second, she might toss him over her satiny shoulder and walk right out. Maybe that's not such a bad idea. They're both looking at me strangely. Perhaps because I'm grinning like an idiot and laughing to myself.

"Do you live around here, Claire?" Derek asks, slipping an arm around my waist.

Considering we weren't even speaking two seconds ago, I know this means he wants me to invite her over. I know that he doesn't know who she is to me, but can't he see how stiff and uncomfortable I am? After five years, you'd think he'd be able to read my body language.

"Oh no, not down here," she says, eyeing me up and down and smoothing her yellow wrap dress so it hugs her curves even more tightly. "I was at a breakfast meeting for my new marketing campaign. I'm the advertising director at Goldman Sachs. We live in the Gold Coast. Do you know the new gated community?"           

I wish I had a sweatshirt to cover my huge butt.

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Author Bio

Samantha Stroh Bailey has been a writer ever since she could pick up a pen. In fact, she even sent her first manuscript, Freddy the Flame, to publishers when she was ten years old. Sadly, it was rejected, but a lifelong passion to write was born.

After 15 years of teaching ESL to adults, including at the University of Toronto, she decided to live her dreams of being a fulltime writer and editor. Now the owner of Perfect Pen Communications, she not only gets to write novels, but also writes and edits for magazines, websites, businesses, students and other writers.

Her work has appeared in Now Magazine, The Village Post, Oxford University Press, Abilities Magazine, on Mommyish.com and many other publications. Samantha also has a Master of Education in Applied Linguistics. 

She lives in Toronto with her husband and two children. Finding Lucas is her first novel.

Connect with Samantha!

Twitter: @perfectpen

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Samantha-Stroh-Bailey/420736011289684

Goodreads Author Page: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5832614.Samantha_Stroh_Bailey

Goodreads Finding Lucas Page: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13641194-finding-lucas

Blog: http://samanthastrohbailey.blogspot.ca/

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Hi, Emily, thank you so much for having me here.

Q. What inspires your writing?

I’d have to say everything. My friends, family, conversations I shouldn’t eavesdrop on but do, current events. I love to hear about people’s lives, and though I never break a confidence, real stories are much of the inspiration for my writing. My friends love when they read something that might have been (loosely) based on them.

Q.  What is your favorite thing about being an author?

Most people don’t get the chance to live their dreams, and I do, every day. Being an author is something I’ve wanted for as long as I can remember. That people actually read Finding Lucas and like it makes me giddy with excitement. It also allows me to be with my kids more, which is something I treasure. Not an easy juggle, as any mom knows, but so worth it.

Q.  What is the toughest part of being an author?

That’s an excellent question because there are a lot of tough parts. The self-promotion ranks up there quite high because I have never exposed myself on the Net so much. I used to lurk in online writing communities, too afraid to actually say anything because I didn’t know if anyone wanted my opinion.

Another difficult part is that it has become a fulltime job on top of my two other fulltime jobs—I’m a freelance writer/editor and a work at home mom. Balancing it all can be a struggle, but it’s a welcome one.

Q.  If you could not be author, what would you do/be?

I’d love to say rocket scientist, but since that is an absolute impossibility, I think I’d be a relationship therapist. I find people’s relationships fascinating, and I’ve been told I’m easy to talk to. I like to listen (and talk!) to people about their problems .

Q.  What would the story of your life be entitled?

Juggling it all. Oops, I dropped my balls.

Q.  What is your favorite book of all time?

This is such a hard question because there are so many that have touched me, and I’ve never forgotten them. I love both serious and funny books so I’d have to say Mercy Among the Children by David Adams Richards, The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera, The Lorax by Dr. Suess and Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding.

Q.  Which part of your book was the easiest to write?

For me, the beginnings are always the easiest. Once I have that opening line, I just write and write. Of course, I change it all later!

Q.  Which part of your book was the hardest to write?

The ending. I had a few different versions until I finally chose the one that I liked the best.

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

I am probably a combination of all of the characters. I can be insecure like Jamie, a neurotic list maker like Derek, a bit flaky like Leah, talkative like Amy and like Lucy and Hanna, have no filter.

Q. Can you tell me a little about the inspiration behind your book cover?

I have always liked simple, bright covers with an image or picture that hints at the story inside. I spent months thinking about what the cover should look like, and it was very hard for me because I am not a visual person at all. I can’t even draw a straight line. But, in the end, I wanted the three things that represent Jamie’s journey: her high school yearbook, a photo of Lucas and old letters he had written her.

Q.  What is your favorite season?

Summer! In Canada, we have about eight months of winter and an almost non-existent spring.

Q.  Tell me something funny that happened while on a book tour or while promoting your books.

Well, Finding Lucas opens with quite a bang so I think it’s very funny when my parents’ friends tell me they’ve read the book, and then they look down at the floor, blushing, refusing to meet my eyes. But, I so appreciate that they bought and read it!

Q.  Are you working on something new?

Yes. I’m working on my second novel and hope to have it out by Christmas, but with my work and kids, it might be a bit later than that. It’s chick lit, but has a more serious tone than Finding Lucas. Anyone who has ever wanted to have a baby will relate to it. I hope!

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

I can’t thank you enough for your support, especially of indie authors. The readers, author friends, bloggers and reviewers who have bought and read Finding Lucas or who have welcomed me into their lives mean so much to me.