Friday Maggie Blackbird is Visiting and Talking About Who She Was Before #Canada's Indigenous People #Young Adult #Romance

 

1. What were you before you became an author? Did this influence your choices as a writer?

 

I was a program officer for an Aboriginal Employment and Training Organization for fifteen years.  This position took me all over the Treaty area (55,000 SQ miles) and then some (into Manitoba and Southern Ontario).  Did the position influence my choice as a writer?  No.  I was writing well before I landed that job.  But working for my own people did influence what I would focus on, and that is writing romance starring Canada’s Indigenous People.

 

2. Are you genre specific or general? I don’t mean major genres but subdivisions or romance, mystery or paranormal.

 

I wouldn’t say I’m genre specific.  I write Young Adult, LGBT, contemporary, etc.  But the book/story is always romance.

 

3. What is your latest release?

 

Knight Moves, the third book in the When We Were Young series.

 

4. What are you working on now?

 

I’m in the final stage of edits with my publisher for the final book in the When We Were Young series called Real Warriors.  I’m in the midst of self-edits for a time travel/historical romanced called Born for This.  And I’m fast-drafting a contemporary romance.

 

5. Does your reading choices influence your choice of a writing career?

 

No.  I read a lot of historical romance and my fave authors are Johanna Lindsey and Rosanne Bittner.  But they sure inspired me to write.

 

6. Where can we find you?

 

Everything you need to know about me can be found at my web site:  https://maggieblackbird.com

Friday - J. S. Marlo is visiting and talking about Panster or Plotter #BWLAuthor #MFRWAuthor #Panster #Plotter

 

Panster or Plotter

 

Day 1

 

1.      Are you a panster or a plotter or perhaps a bit of both?

 

I’m about 80% panster and 20% plotter. Before I begin a new novel, I have an idea of the main storyline...where it should start, the detours it should make, and how it should end. That’s usually enough information to start writing, but there’s always lots of rewrite in the first few chapters as I try to set the characters and the story.

 

Once the first three or four chapters are in line, the main storyline kicks me out of the driver’s seat and takes over. I become a passenger who writes what she’s told to write. The storyline often takes different detours than the ones that I’d imagined, and during those detours, subplots emerge. Based on how long I want my novel to be, I will embrace some of these subplots while discarding others.

 

Do I sometimes hit a wall? Yes, and I’ve often backtracked and deleted entire chapters, but I’ve also plowed ahead after spotting a tiny crack in the wall then stumbled on a great subplot.

 

The most important thing for me is to never lose sight of where I want to end up. As long as I’m heading in the right direction, I let the storyline take me for a ride.

 

2.      Which comes first - characters or plot for you?

 

At first, I was going to say the plot, but then I looked at the eleven novels I’ve published so far, and in ten of them, the characters came first LOL My latest novel, released last month, is the only one in which the plot came first. So, I guess the answer is: the characters.

 

3.      What are you working on now? Is this a book in a current series or something totally new?

 

I’m currently working on a romantic suspense time travel series “Unraveling the Past”. Each novel in the series is a stand-alone with different characters and different storylines, but time travel is experienced in all novels.

 

The first novel “Misguided Honor” came out in September 2019 and the second novel “Mishandled Conviction” was released last month (November 2020).

 

 

“Misplaced Loyalty” will be the third and last novel of the series. The main storyline and the characters are still blurry in my mind, so it may be a month or two before I start writing again, but I’m hoping for a late 2021 or early 2022 release.

 

4.      Do you have some kind of object or place that figures in most of your books? I use gems a lot, hospitals and caves.

 

I’m Canadian, so I like to set my novels in Canada or have Canadian characters if the story takes place elsewhere. I also like to add a few French words here and there, just because my first language is French. You can also expect a dead body, or two, hidden somewhere in the story since I write romantic mystery suspense novels.

 

5.      Do you write every day or just when the spirit hits?

 

Before Covid-19 hit, I would have said, I write almost every day. Since last March, I write when I’m not babysitting my granddaughter, which means I may write three days in a row then not touch my computer for a week. I take it one day at a time.

 

6.      Where can we find you?

 

You can find me in front of my fireplace in Northern Alberta or online at

 

Website: https://sites.google.com/site/jsmarloauthor/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100005715001393

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2079858.J_S_Marlo

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/J-S-Marlo/e/B071PBFDN8/

BWL: http://bwlpublishing.ca/marlo-j-s/

 

 

7.      Who are your favorite authors? What about a book you’ve enjoyed?

 

I don’t have “a” favourite author, I have too many to list. I also like many different genres, though I think I did read all Ken Follett’s, Barbara Cartland’s, and Danielle Steel’s novels.

 

I just finished two awesome books:

 

-          A Canadian Historical Brides novel by Victoria Chatham: the Alberta novel “Brides of Banff Spring”.

-          A murder mystery by Maureen Jennings: “Let Darkness Bury the Dead”.

                       

I’m currently reading a thriller mystery by Dan Brown: Origin.

 

Thanks for having me today! Take Care & Stay Safe! Hugs!

J.S. Marlo

 

Friday Joan Soggie is visiting and talking about Panster or Plotter

) Are you a Pantser or Plotter?

Pantser or Plotter, you ask? Well, I think I know what a plotter is. But what on earth is a Pantser?

Google told me. A Pantser is a writer who flies by the seat of her pants, like a bush pilot. A Plotter, on the other hand, devises a careful plan and follows it, the way an architect or engineer would.

                I guess that as a writer - and probably in most other ways - I am both.

I start with a concept, an idea or a character. Prairie Grass had its inception in a story my Dad told of an incident from his early childhood. It happened in Saskatchewan homesteading days, while he and his parents and baby sister still lived in a sod house. He was only 3 years old - so young that he probably had no clear recollection but remembered it instead as a bit of family folklore. That 1915 settler vignette took root in my mind. I wondered why it was important to him, a farmer who would freely discuss The Land but avoided talking about himself.

Of course, that little story was only one of the questions that tickled my curiosity bone. Living all my life in the prairies had made me keenly aware of the many mysteries that clouded our past. When I dug into the pre-settlement history of Saskatchewan, I was troubled by the cursory treatment given monumental personalities and events outside the mainstream political scene. It became clear that our official history was written to suit the colonial narrative. It also became clear that everything that had happened here connected to the land. Prairie Grass began to take shape.

Time for the Plotter to step in!

An historic novel that spans a few centuries takes a lot of planning, I discovered. Timelines plotting characters’ life stories were just the beginning. Next came timelines of historical events spanning two centuries and thousands of miles. My “plotter” side worked overtime, locating events and characters in the prairie landscape. The basic plot was re-written multiple times, but the original fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants images remained key.

2)Which comes first? Character or plot?

For my novel Prairie Grass, the characters came first. I was fascinated by the 19^th century Cree Chief Maskepetoon, the Peacemaker, and by bits and pieces I’d come across or heard in conversation about a Metis family in the area of Saskatchewan where I grew up. I thought about how the qualities of their personalities matched the strictures of the land. The prairie climate - physical, social and political - shaped them, just as it shaped my father and others like him. I began with the notion of these characters having this common bond, the land that was their home. The plot grew out of the history of that land.

3)What are you working on now? Current series or something totally new?

My current project is brand new – the story of a pioneer immigrant woman. Rikka is loosely based on a real person, my husband’s grandmother, who immigrated to Canada from Norway with her husband and small children in 1903. Her story is replete with tragedies as they struggled to adjust to conditions in a new country. So, in a way, Rikka is a continuation of the same theme, our connection to the land and how it moulds us.

4) Do you have some kind of object or place that figures in most of your books?

 Because the prairie is innate to my life, it naturally plays a big part in everything I write. This was not intentional. It just grew out of my own experience. In every season I walk the prairie, listen to the birds, notice coyote and deer tracks in the snow.  I love learning about the plants and animals, the history and folklore. What I once took for granted becomes unique and precious as I learn more about it.

Native prairie is one of the most threatened ecosystems on the planet. Understanding how we humans can relate to it is key to its survival.

5) Do you writ every day or just when the spirit hits you?

Every day is my ideal. Sporadic writing is my reality.

6) Where can we find you?

                https://books2read.com/Prairie-Grass

https://bookswelove.net/historical-literary-fiction-authors/soggie-joan/

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/50375672

Friday Joan Soggie is talking about Who She Was Before #MFRWAuthor #BWLAuthor #Prairie farm #Reader

1.      What were you before you became an author? Did this influence your choices as a writer?

Before I was an author, I was a reader                                                        ,

I grew up on a prairie farm in the days before internet or television. Books naturally became my gateway to other places, other times, other ideas. But the prairie itself, its changing moods and seasons, was also a major player in my life. The world of books and the natural world together inspired me to write lots of bad poetry and unfinished stories.

 A few years at university awoke a taste for research that, combined with my love of books, led inevitably to work in libraries, which continued sporadically after I met and married my first and only husband. We grew a farm and raised four children. My writing time dwindled as my curiosity grew about this land’s pre-settlement history.  Whenever possible I scoured library archives or second-hand bookstores for stories by or about early visitors to western Canada. My first published writing were short articles based on that neglected history.

2.      Are you genre specific or general? I don’t mean major genres but subdivisions or romance, mystery or paranormal.

Because of my consuming interest in the natural and human history of the prairies, my writing, whether fiction or non-fiction, is grounded in the land. I guess you could call my genre eco-historical.

My first book was a short piece of nonfiction told as a mythical tale: Mistaseni:  Buffalo Rock of the The Elbow. My second book, Looking for Aiktow, traces the centuries-long history of this region of Saskatchewan through true stories based on historical accounts.

3.      What is your latest release?

Prairie Grass, released in January 2020, is historical fiction set in the northern plains.

4.      What are you working on now?

I’m working on a novel exploring the life of an immigrant woman of the last century. This time the story begins with her troubled family relationships, which she carries with her from the old country to her new home.

5.      Does your reading choice influence your choice of a writing career?

Yes, most definitely it does. I want to write the kind of books I love to read, books about strong characters with deep attachments and convictions that sometimes lead them into impossible situations.

6.      Where can we find you?        

Follow this link to my author page on  Books We Love http://bookswelove.net/fb/soggie-joan/

You can find me on my Facebook page Looking for Aiktow.

My website is http://www.looking-for-aiktow.com

Prairie Grass is available from Amazon, Kobo, Indigo and all participating bookstores. https://books2read.com/Prairie-Grass