I’m so pleased to have Amy Gregory here today and she’s agreed to answer my questions. Yeah! You’re not going to want to miss her answers or the other nuggets she’s sharing. The blurb and excerpt from Mike’s Way Back. Plus, there’s a super cool giveaway.
Okay, Amy, let’s get started. Picture your favorite place in the world. Now, can you tell us a little bit about the place you’ve pictured?
A: I’ve been very fortunate to have visited a good portion of the States. However there is a beautiful private beach along the coast of Oahu that has the finest white sand, the clearest blue water and every day when we visited, it was just us, our kids and a few stray critters. It was one of the most relaxing weeks of my life and it warms my heart seeing the pictures again and again.
That sounds fabulous. I’ve never been, but it’s on my short list. Tell us about yourself: Who are you and why did you start writing?
A: I sort of fell into writing. I know that’s not the “I’ve known I was going to do this my whole life” typical answer. My first series is based on the world of professional motocross racing. Our family follows the sport and our youngest is a racer. However, my husband travels a lot and I never sleep well when he is gone. On one particularly long trip I kept having this dream that was so vivid, and each night, the story extended. After a few nights I started jotting it down with just pencil and paper. A week later I had over four hundred pages and one very bad case of writer’s cramp in my right hand! I couldn’t just bear to throw it all in a drawer so I dove in and researched what to do next and walla!
When you are not writing what are your favorite hobbies?
A: I’d be a bad writer if I didn’t first say reading! However, I shoot on a compound bow league with my husband, love to camp (in our RV so not the roughing it of our early days) and I’ve recently become the weird dog lady. We’ve always had animals in our house with the kids, but our babies are six month old little Maltese-Shih tzu puppies named Chloe & Bear. I have totally fallen in love with them.
That’s cool. I bet your arms are strong. Can you tell us about your challenges in getting your first book published?
A: This list could take forever. First things first, I just needed a lot of guidance. I still rely a lot on my editor for simple grammar and punctuation help. The writing of the actual story is the easy part, the rest is actual work.
Can you tell us about a criticism you’ve received that pushed you into a better writing place?
A: I had originally submitted Carter’s Treasure in present tense, when I was told to go back and change simple structure (keep in mind, that took FOREVER!) it made the whole world of writing make sense and made it much easier.
The first book I wrote, I did it in first person. After I typed “the end” I realized I wanted it in third. Ugh, lol. Which one of your characters would you most like to meet in real life?
A: My husband would tell you I’d say Eli Hunter hands down, but I still have a soft spot for Jesse Frost. However, my all-time hero that I’d love to –not just meet but become friends with, is now Det. Michael Sterling. Oh-la-la!
What turns you on creatively?
A: I spin from one book into another, so I typically have several books brewing as I am writing one, but I would say the one thing I spend time investigating is song lyrics. I can pull an entire book from one song.
What is your greatest fear?
A: I can tell you all the normal things, heights, etc, but I guess my biggest fear is failure. I want to succeed as an author so bad it drives me to the edge some days.
What is your greatest extravagance?
A: Hmmm. I guess I’m a cowboy boot addict, as well as Starbucks lol. However, my husband has surprised me with a couple of things. I do have the exact cross that Carter gave Molly, and what is funny, I didn’t have a picture, it was just in my head. He went and found it. Then my biggest toy would have to be Alex’s Jeep. It wasn’t intentional at all, but we needed a new vehicle and it’d been my dream car since I was fourteen. I’m not quite the girly girl type, so although I wear make-up and have way too many purses, I like my vehicles to get me through our snow and ice, as well as around our farm when it’s muddy.
I think we’d get along really well. 🙂 What is your favorite music (genre/artist/album/song)?
A: Genre – easy… COUNTRY! Artist… wow… I have so many, and for different reasons. I love Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert. They are crazy together and Blake and I could spar with the best of them. He’s as big of a smartass as I am. I love Jason Aldean, Luke Bryan, and actually, the TV show Nashville—I have every one of their songs on my iPod. They’re all amazing singers.
Country has been growing on me lately. It’s their story telling that I love. Shocker. Also, there’s a lot of talent in Country. What is the one thing you do after finishing a story?
A: I’m never done! I just flow right into the next one. I don’t want to ever be done.
Tell us a bit about the projects you are working on now?
A: Book #2 in the Finding Perfect series. You met Gabby James in Mike’s Way Back, but she has just turned into such a fire cracker. I was trying to tell my husband about my favorite scene so far and I had tears in my eyes because I was laughing so hard. He shook his head and said, ‘that’s my favorite part of your books, the sarcasm and humor’. I love writing the love and sex too, but it all comes back to me being a total smartass…I just can’t help it!
That was a log of fun. Thanks for playing along, Amy. 🙂
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Mike’s Way Back
By: Amy Gregory
Publisher: Amazon Digital
Length: 485 kb
Sub-Genre: Contemporary
BLURB:
When Detective Mike Sterling left the Chicago PD and returned to his hometown of Renlend Kansas, he tried to convince himself it was so his mother could stop worrying. The truth was, even Renlend wasn’t going to vanquish the dreams that tortured him at night.
When Taryn Watts landed in Renland Kansas to de- sign a client’s new cooking school she intended to stay just long enough to do the job and then go right back to her life on the East Coast.
When Taryn and Mike found themselves sharing a booth, one thing was certain, neither one of them thought it was a good idea. Mike still wasn’t over his ex-wife’s betrayal, and when Taryn found out Mike was a cop she wanted to run all the way back to Connecticut and never look back, but she couldn’t… Sitting outside his home late at night she watches him fight against his demons. Demons she already had too much experience with firsthand.
When Mike finally admits there is no way to outrun his demons, Tayrn knows she’ll do anything, or be anything, to help Mike find his way back.
EXCERPT:
He reached for the bottle, the dark glass still cold to the touch. Tipping it back for a long swallow, the slight burn of the heavy ale helped force his past back where it belonged. “Hey, Mike?”
Noises became sharper around him as he realized it wasn’t Molly’s voice calling his name this time. Silverware sliding across a plate and ice cubes falling into a glass were a far cry from an emergency room, especially when a round of cheers rose up around him. One glance was enough to know the baseball game he had zoned out on was now tied. Blinking, he separated his hellish past from pres- ent day and turned toward the bar to answer Jeff.
His friend was holding up a fresh bottle, yet to be uncapped. Mike blinked twice, hardly letting Jeff’s chuckle register.
Mike’s jaw wasn’t the only part of him to twitch.
It had nothing to do with the second beer the bartender just set on the counter for the waitress to deliver to him. No, it was all to do with the knockout in a black pencil skirt, toned bare legs and killer heels standing at the bar—talking to Jeff.
Buy Links:
About The Author:
When asked ‘when do you have time to write’, Amy Gregory simply laughs. The real answer is, “in bits and pieces”. She and her husband live in Kansas City with their three fantastic kids that keep them running in three very different directions. Because she sits so much, she always carries a note- book with her at all times.
She has an off the wall, snarky, off the cuff sense of humor that often shocks even those who’ve known her for years. And she loves that her children have all been blessed that ability to make oth- ers laugh as well. At least she’s grateful most of the time! Her husband often teases her about how she “makes this stuff up” when he’s reading a piece of her work. … The answer—“it just comes to me when I’m typing”. Scary thought, huh!
GIVEAWAY!!!
Amy is giving away 3 prize packs tour-wide!!! Enter to win an autographed print copy of Mike’s Way Back, a $10 amazon card, or an E-copy of the book!!!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
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S.J. Maylee 