Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Romance and the Writer: An interview with author, Regina Puckett

I am so pleased to be interviewing Regina Puckett today, the author several great romance novels.  First of all Regina, can I ask you how you became an author?  

I believe most writers are born to write.   I can’t remember a time when I didn’t enjoy putting the written word down onto paper.  I seriously begin writing my first full length novel in my early twenties.  Back then I thought the book was a masterpiece.  I received a few rejection letters on it and reading it now I can see just how bad it really was.  Fortunately I discovered along the way that the more I wrote the better my writing became. It took many years but finally Publish America and Whimsical Publications gave me the opportunity to share my books with other people.

Saturday, November 26, 2011

The Royal Sheikh - The Facts Behind the Fiction



My contemporary romance, The Royal Sheikh, is based in a fictitious country in the Middle East and in the words of a recent review on Readers Favorite, it mixes 'fantasy and fiction'.  But what is life really like in the Middle East?  Rather than write about it myself, as I might slip back into the realms of fantasy, I asked Chris Combe, an experienced expat author, if he could give my readers a glimpse into life out here and he kindly provided me with this excerpt from his best-selling guide to living in Dubai, 'One Year in Wonderland':

Friday, November 25, 2011

In Name Only - 5 Star Romance by Ellen Gable

I recently interviewed author, Philip Catshill, who talked about what inspired him to write the Mike Newman mystery stories.  In his interview he also mentioned the amazing power of prayer in his life.  Although Philip's murder mysteries don't have a Christian message, his comments did make me think that I should read more faith-based novels.  As a huge romance fan, I naturally went searching for some Christian romance and while I was doing so, I came across In Name Only, by Ellen Gable.  What attracted me to the book?  Not only is it an historical Christian romance, but it also won a Gold Medal for religious fiction in the 2010 Independent Publisher book awards.  Not surprisingly, on Amazon it has received an amazing twenty-one, 5 star reviews!  So, what are people raving about?

Friday, November 18, 2011

Murder, Ballet and God: An interview with Philip Catshill, author of the Mike Newman mysteries


Last September I did a blog post called ‘When Good Guys Go Bad’ about the mystery novel ‘Who Else IsThere?’ and today I am thrilled to be interviewing the author of the Mike Newman mysteries, Philip Catshill. First of all Philip, can I ask how you become an author and what led you to write your first book, ‘Who Else Is There?'

My original intention was to write a brief account of an accident and illness I had 30 years ago, and the eighteen months it took to get back to my work as a police sergeant. It was one of those serious illnesses where, at the time, the likelihood of living another 30 hours seemed pretty remote.

Friday, November 11, 2011

Upgrade your life!


UPGRADE has been upgraded

Stephen Hise has recently upgraded the book cover for ‘Upgrade’, a romantic suspense novel about a man who decides to upgrade his life. Personally, I love the new cover and it reminded of when I upgraded the cover for my book ‘The Royal Sheikh’ (see my earlier, rather succinct post, ‘New book cover’).  It also got me thinking about the whole topic of ‘upgrades’.

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

The Superhero in all of us

Recently, Indies Unlimited very kindly invited me to do an author interview with them and the extremely funny host, Stephen Hise, depicted me as a sort of superhero!  This set me thinking about some of the ‘superheroes’ that I’ve known in real life.  I’ve never met any of the more famous examples, such as Nelson Mandela, but I have met many people who achieve amazing things in their everyday life.  Take, for example, the life of a working mother.  In an average week she may be expected to do all the following: