Welcome to the Tasty Summer Reads Blog Hop!
Since we were published together in the Valentine’s anthology Codi Gary and I have become fast friends so when she asked if I wanted to do a blog hop with her I was like, heck yeah! Here’s the deal. Each author invites other authors to post a blog and we all act like crazy people. Okay, no we don’t… much. We talk about our latest releases or, like me, our works in progress then we post a yummy summer recipe. There are links on Codi’s page to the other author’s she’s invited.
So read, eat (or drink) and enjoy!
My work in progress is titled Caught in the Crossfire and it’s a funny, action filled romantic suspense about a woman, Tracy, who stumbles across a dying man, unaware that he slips a piece of evidence in her purse as she’s helping him. Someone wants this evidence back and they have no qualms about killing Tracy to do it. So she finds her life in the hands of a sexy stranger who’s dark past makes her wonder if it’s smart to trust him. Or, more important, if it’s smart to fall for him.
And here are the questions asked by the lovely and talented Codi Gary and answered by the self-proclaimed lovely and talented me! :)
1) When writing are you a snacker? If so sweet or salty?
I am a snacker. And not just when I’m writing. I love snacking. While writing I usually reach for popcorn… but not the microwave stuff, I’m a purist! I pop it on the stovetop and put lots of butter on it. If I reach for a sweet snack, I tend to do a mocha (okay, not really a snack but I feel like coffee transcends definitions. Because coffee, that’s why!)
2) Are you an outliner or someone who writes by the seat of their pants? And are they real pants or jammies?
Outliner, for sure! It’s the first thing I do. I outline my book using 4 acts and I have to know my main turning points. I’m not rigid about it, though. I will change the story as I go if it needs it. When I wrote Love, Guns, and Heart-Shaped Chocolate it stuck really close to the outline I started off with but the book I’m working on now, Caught in the Crossfire, looks nothing like the original outline. I’ve added in car chases and shootouts that were not even a thing in my outline. Also, I do a storyboard collage as I go that’s like a visual outline of the plot. I put main turning points, visuals of settings, anything that evokes the emotions of certain scenes, or song lyrics that remind me of my characters.
And to answer the second question, I don’t wear what I like to call “real people clothes” while I write. (“Real people clothes” are essentially anything that’s acceptable to wear in public.) I stuff myself into a t-shirt (my favorite being the lime green one with 3 eyes that look like the little Pizza Planet aliens from Toy Story) and yoga pants (they’re kinda like real pants)
3) When cooking, do you follow a recipe or do you wing it?
I open the box and hope for the best. Okay, okay, I do like to cook and I’ve been known to wing it or make things up but for the most part I’ll follow a recipe. I’m addicted to the Food Network and I don’t cook very much but I know how to in theory :)
4) What is next for you after this book?
I’m working on a new series that I will hopefully be submitting to my editor very soon. It’s tentatively titled my Guarded Hearts series and it follows the agents of an elite private security company. Very action packed with a lot of romantic tension. And if you've read Love, Guns, and Heart-Shaped Chocolate you’ll recognize the heroine in the first book as Tracy Cross, the best friend who endured the horrific blind date.
5) Last question...on a level of one being slightly naughty and ten being whoo hoo steamy, how would you rate your book?
Somewhere in the middle, probably a 6. I try to get a good amount of face-fanning blush-worthy moments in there. Enough that it makes me blush when my co-workers recite lines from it, anyway lol.
Aaaaaaaand last but not least, my recipe.
This cocktail tastes just like cherry Starbursts (and aren't those everyone's favorite? Yeah, that's what I thought)
Since we were published together in the Valentine’s anthology Codi Gary and I have become fast friends so when she asked if I wanted to do a blog hop with her I was like, heck yeah! Here’s the deal. Each author invites other authors to post a blog and we all act like crazy people. Okay, no we don’t… much. We talk about our latest releases or, like me, our works in progress then we post a yummy summer recipe. There are links on Codi’s page to the other author’s she’s invited.
So read, eat (or drink) and enjoy!
My work in progress is titled Caught in the Crossfire and it’s a funny, action filled romantic suspense about a woman, Tracy, who stumbles across a dying man, unaware that he slips a piece of evidence in her purse as she’s helping him. Someone wants this evidence back and they have no qualms about killing Tracy to do it. So she finds her life in the hands of a sexy stranger who’s dark past makes her wonder if it’s smart to trust him. Or, more important, if it’s smart to fall for him.
And here are the questions asked by the lovely and talented Codi Gary and answered by the self-proclaimed lovely and talented me! :)
1) When writing are you a snacker? If so sweet or salty?
I am a snacker. And not just when I’m writing. I love snacking. While writing I usually reach for popcorn… but not the microwave stuff, I’m a purist! I pop it on the stovetop and put lots of butter on it. If I reach for a sweet snack, I tend to do a mocha (okay, not really a snack but I feel like coffee transcends definitions. Because coffee, that’s why!)
2) Are you an outliner or someone who writes by the seat of their pants? And are they real pants or jammies?
Outliner, for sure! It’s the first thing I do. I outline my book using 4 acts and I have to know my main turning points. I’m not rigid about it, though. I will change the story as I go if it needs it. When I wrote Love, Guns, and Heart-Shaped Chocolate it stuck really close to the outline I started off with but the book I’m working on now, Caught in the Crossfire, looks nothing like the original outline. I’ve added in car chases and shootouts that were not even a thing in my outline. Also, I do a storyboard collage as I go that’s like a visual outline of the plot. I put main turning points, visuals of settings, anything that evokes the emotions of certain scenes, or song lyrics that remind me of my characters.
And to answer the second question, I don’t wear what I like to call “real people clothes” while I write. (“Real people clothes” are essentially anything that’s acceptable to wear in public.) I stuff myself into a t-shirt (my favorite being the lime green one with 3 eyes that look like the little Pizza Planet aliens from Toy Story) and yoga pants (they’re kinda like real pants)
3) When cooking, do you follow a recipe or do you wing it?
I open the box and hope for the best. Okay, okay, I do like to cook and I’ve been known to wing it or make things up but for the most part I’ll follow a recipe. I’m addicted to the Food Network and I don’t cook very much but I know how to in theory :)
4) What is next for you after this book?
I’m working on a new series that I will hopefully be submitting to my editor very soon. It’s tentatively titled my Guarded Hearts series and it follows the agents of an elite private security company. Very action packed with a lot of romantic tension. And if you've read Love, Guns, and Heart-Shaped Chocolate you’ll recognize the heroine in the first book as Tracy Cross, the best friend who endured the horrific blind date.
5) Last question...on a level of one being slightly naughty and ten being whoo hoo steamy, how would you rate your book?
Somewhere in the middle, probably a 6. I try to get a good amount of face-fanning blush-worthy moments in there. Enough that it makes me blush when my co-workers recite lines from it, anyway lol.
Aaaaaaaand last but not least, my recipe.
This cocktail tastes just like cherry Starbursts (and aren't those everyone's favorite? Yeah, that's what I thought)
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