Book Review: A Perilous Pursuit by Diane Gilmore

I want to introduce you to a new author that I think you'll like. Diane Gilmore is a fellow SoulMate author who writes romantic suspense. Her novel, Perilous Pursuit, will be released on Amazon on March 22, 2017. I was lucky enough to get my hands on an Advance Review Copy in exchange for my honest review. So without further adieu, here's my review.

 

4.5 out of 5 stars

A Perilous Pursuit, by Diane Gilmore, is a well-crafted romantic suspense that kept me engaged and entertained throughout. Spanning three countries and several months, the book follows the lives of music insider, Taylor Fairchild, and musician, Craig Phillips, as they fall in love. While Craig’s rock band rises to fame under Taylor’s expert guidance, it’s his shady past working with a drug kingpin that threatens both his career and his life.

 Overall, I enjoyed the way the love story played out. The author does a fabulous job of incorporating realistic details in both the narration and the dialogue, allowing the reader to visualize each unique setting as the book progressed. The characters were well written and had some depth to them. It was clear right from the start, that Craig’s past would threaten their relationship in some way. It was a matter of when, not if. Equally apparent to the reader was the notion that Taylor was an independent woman, which makes her actions at the end more plausible.

I’d definitely recommend this book to anyone who loves romantic suspense.

BUY LINK

AMAZON: http://a.co/ffgBbx5 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Diane Gilmore is a multi-published author in both the legal and medical fields. She has over 24 years of legal experience, working from the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Washington, D.C. to the high stakes “Dodge City” environment of the South Florida legal community. Her medical experience includes over 18 years in the area of healthcare documentation creation and editing services. In both fields, she has served in national association activities in various board positions, received certification designations and professional honors, and is a peer instructor involved in management and curriculum design. She is the author of several post-secondary textbooks as well as several articles and music reviews for a South Florida music magazine. A Perilous Pursuit is her first mainstream fiction novel.

Diane lives in rural Tennessee with her husband Jim where they work together on a self-sufficient lifestyle. She loves to read, garden, and spend time with family and friends. She enjoys novels that are action-packed and move fast with strong bonds between protective alpha men and independent heroines. Diane believes great stories are everywhere — all you have to do is open your mind to them.

GET CONNECTED

Website:  www.dianegilmore.net

Facebook: www.facebook.com/dianegilmoreauthor/ 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/GilmorecmtDiane

Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/author/show/2775769.Diane_Gilmore

Book Trailers:

Today I made a book trailer for Assassin P.I. My first ever. And it got me thinking. WHY?

Why in the world was I spending time on creating a video about my book? Was I wasting my hard-earned money on a useless venture? Would anyone care? Would it help entice others to purchase my story? Would anyone even watch it?

I should have been at a soccer tournament today, cheering my son on. Or at the birthday party my daughter was invited to and attended without me. Or decluttering my house in preparation for putting it on the market. But I wasn't. Instead, I was creating a book trailer.

Book trailers can be a great way to spark interest in potential readers. Sort of like a commercial would. Now, in my mind, a good book trailer should do 5 basic things.

1. Match the tone of the book by using the right music and images
2. Get people curious and asking questions about the plot
3. Leave readers wanting more
4. Get people talking 
5. Entice people to buy your book

Here's an example of a great book trailer for a picture book I happen to have in my classroom. It's a great story and a good example of how effective a trailer can be. 

Effective, right? I hope you all run out to buy this picture book. I promise you'll love it!

So it was this marketing mindset that I attempted to create my own book trailer. Now mind you, it was my first time but in truth, it wasn't all that hard. Time consuming, certainly, but not difficult. I spent my morning scouring the web for suitable, noir-inspired images (which I then had to pay for). I used Fotolia and spent a whopping $20. Once I'd selected the perfect pics, I had to figure out how to wrangle them into video format. I used Animoto.com because I've used it before. It's pretty simple and straightforward. The only problem was that I was using a trial version. In order to remove the "Free Trial" watermark, I had to sign up and pay for a month-long subscription to Animoto. No biggie. $14 well spent. (I found an online discount code)

Or so I thought. Both the song and theme I'd used, were not included in that "Personal" level of membership. In the end, I wound up paying additional money ($27 and change) to upgrade to the "Professional" level in order to use the song I'd selected. But it was worth it.

By the time end of the day, I'd spent a grand total of $62. Hopefully it was money well spent, money I'll recoup in the form of book sales. At the very least, I had fun creating it and wound up with a product I'm proud to show off. 

So here it is. You tell me. Was it worth the time and money I spent? 

Book Trailer for Assassin P.I. 

Cover Reveal: Assassin P.I.

This past weekend was a flurry of excitement for me. While I scrambled to complete my final edits in under four days, pen an eloquent back blurb, condense it down to a witty-but-short Facebook hook, write my acknowledgements page (while trying not to forget anyone), and come up with a heartfelt dedication page,  my son had a yard sale for his Mountain Bike Club (which I missed), and a soccer game (which I also missed). 

AND as if that wasn't enough to deal with, my Mister and I took time out to tour a new model home, which we then decided to purchase. We're buying a new house! EEK! 

But despite all the chaos that is my life, I survived. Good thing too, because there's only two more weeks until Assassin P.I. hits Amazon's virtual bookshelf! Although a little birdie told me it will be up for presale very soon. Can you believe it? The suspense is killing me. I have so many fun scenes I want to share with you all. But I can't. Not yet. But soon, I promise. 

In the meantime . . . would you like to see the cover for Assassin P.I.?

You ready for this? 

Coming Soon!

The wait is almost over.

Coming Soon: March 23, 2016

Perfectly Reasonable by Linda O'Connor

I have a special treat for everyone today! My fellow Soul Mate author, Linda O'Connor, is here today to tell us all about her latest release, Perfectly Reasonable. Not only that, but she comes bearing gifts! Be sure to comment on the post for a chance to score a free copy of one of Linda's books.

Please help me give Linda a warm welcome! 

Elizabeth - thank you so much for inviting me!

No prob. I can't wait to hear all about it. 

Perfectly Reasonable is a romantic comedy about Margo and Trace who are both considering a career in medicine – but from opposite ends of the spectrum. Margo has finished medical school and doesn’t know whether she wants to continue, and Trace wants to write the perfect medical school application to get in.

In the story, Margo agrees to help Trace apply to medicine and she quizzes him with a variety of patient scenarios to teach him about empathy and to help him understand how a doctor would approach patient problems. Play along and see how you would do!  

“Any of those muffins left?” 

Trace pointed to the container still sitting on the island counter. 

“Help yourself. I’ll get you a plate. Coffee?” 

Margo shook her head. “Just the muffin.” 

Trace returned with a bowl of Cap’n Crunch cereal and a plate for her. 

Margo set her brush down and walked over to sit on the stool at the island. “Aren’t you too old to be eating sugar for breakfast?” 

“Breakfast of champions.” He grinned with his mouth full. 

“All part of your strategy?” 

“You bet.” He scooped another mouthful. “Okay, ready. Hit me.” 

“Here’s the scenario. A twenty-six-year-old single mom brings her three-year-old daughter into the Emergency Department with severe asthma. The child ends up in the intensive care unit intubated and on a respirator. Mom smokes at home. This is the third time the child has been admitted. There’s some discussion about whether the child needs to be put in foster care. How would you talk to the mom about this?”

Hmm…not that easy. Here’s another:

“A thirty-six-year-old truck driver comes in for a physical exam to renew his driver’s license. He has epilepsy and hasn’t had a seizure for seven years – until three weeks ago. He was partying, celebrating his wife’s pregnancy, and forgot to take his medication. The next day he had a seizure. He doesn’t want you to write it down because he’ll lose his driver’s license for a year. He needs it, especially now with the baby coming. He swears he’ll never forget his medication again. What do you do?” 

“Put myself in his shoes. You gotta feel sorry for him. A bun in the oven, his livelihood on the line. I’d have to say I’d side with the dude and pretend he never told me.” 

Margo nodded and rolled the paint on the wall. “The following week he’s driving on the highway, has a seizure and causes an accident, killing three people, one of them your Aunt Teresa.”

Yikes! He’s not quite ready yet. One more scenario:

“K. Here’s another. You’re a surgeon.” 

Trace’s face lit up. “Always wanted to be a surgeon.” 

Margo laughed. “You operate on a three-year-old child to remove a mass. During the operation, the specimen is sent to a pathologist and you’re told it’s cancer. Immediately following the surgery, you tell the parents. Obviously they’re devastated. The next day, the pathologist calls you and tells you that now that they’ve had a chance to look at the sample more closely, do further testing, and consult another pathologist with more expertise, they’ve determined that it’s benign. It’s not cancer.” She paused. “What do you do?”

Not as easy as it sounds! The bottom line? “Empathy isn’t about avoiding harsh decisions. It’s about supporting patients when those harsh decisions come down the wire.” Margo has great advice for Trace, but is she as clever with affairs of the heart?  

Perfectly Reasonable
(Book 2 Perfectly Series)

Love what you do and do what you love. Sounds perfectly reasonable, but chances are, you’ll find your passion in the last place you look . . .

Margo MacMillan finished medical school, but in the process, her self-confidence and self-esteem took a beating. So for the sake of self-preservation, she’s stepped away from medicine to re-group. In the meantime, painting soothes her soul and pays the bills. 

Trace Bennett set his sights on a medical degree and has to prepare the perfect medical school application. His big plan is to paint his condo for a little feng shui divine luck. When Margo shows up to paint, he realizes he’s found exactly what he’s looking for. He just has to convince Margo to share more than the art of medicine.

She’s got it. He wants it. It’s Perfectly Reasonable.  

http://www.amazon.com/Perfectly-Reasonable-Linda-OConnor-ebook/dp/B0143ZW2P8    


Perfectly Reasonable sounds perfectly fabulous. I can't wait to read it. Let's check out your book trailer. You know how much I love a good book trailer. 

  

I love the way you do your book trailers. You come across sounding so natural and approachable. Wish I could do that. 

Meet Linda O’Connor ~ 

Linda has been writing romance novels for four years and is very grateful to Debby Gilbert at Soul Mate Publishing for the ultimate encouragement to her writing - with the leap to publishing. She has many titles including Doctor, Mom, and proud Canadian, but “Linda O'Connor - hereinafter called the Author” is one of the sweetest.

Contemporary romantic comedies are her favorite novels to read and write. Linda balances writing with her work as a physician at an Urgent Care Clinic and being a mom to three sons (luckily grown and capable of throwing together a decent meal, in a pinch). She also likes to keep active and cycle, cross-country ski, skate, walk, or dance every day.

Laugh every day. Love every minute.  

Linda loves connecting with readers:
Website: http://www.lindaoconnor.net 
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LindaOConnorAuthor
Twitter: https://twitter.com/lindaoconnor98
Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/Linda-OConnor/e/B00S7CNLEA 


Thank you, Linda! It's always a pleasure when you join me. Be sure to leave a comment for Linda. Who knows? You just might win a free copy of either Perfectly Reasonable or Perfectly Honest. 

A Healthier Me

Back in August I decided it was high time I get my butt in gear and back into shape. After a whole summer off work, my weight had slowly crept up. Attending the AVID conference in San Diego with my fellow teacher friends definitely didn't help the situation any. Several days of a sedentary life, coupled with dining out three meals a day, sent my summer vacation weight loss goals packing. I was not happy with the image staring back at me in my mirror. And with my family's history of cancer, heart disease, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol, ever present in the back of my mind, I knew I had to do something sooner rather than later.

I started off doing Beachboy's 21 Day Fix. The first day alone nearly killed me! I pulled a muscle that sidelined me for the next few days, but reluctantly, I forced myself to give it another shot. I don't know what's worse, getting up every morning at 4:30 to exercise, or denying myself all my favorite ooey, gooey desserts. After a week of working out for 30 minutes each day, I faced up to the fact that I had to make some adjustments to my diet: eat more veggies and fruits, cut back on the carbs, eat balanced meals. For many people, it's called common sense eating, but I'd never been one to really eat my veggies, or count calories, or pay attention to portion size.

Even my hubby and the kids have gotten into the act. When I reach for an illicit sweet treat, my daughter loves to remind me that it doesn't fit into my healthy diet plan. And on cool nights, we go for 2-3 mile walks around the neighborhood.

It was actually easier than I thought. While I can't say that I've shed a ton of weight, I have noticed a bit of a change. So far I've lost:

10 pounds 

2 1/2 inches around my midsection

For the most part, the changes to my lifestyle have been fairly easy to maintain (granted it's only October). I still hate all things cardio, and I still hate getting up at 4:30 in the morning, but I love my curves. I'll never be 125 pounds ago, nor do I want to be. Healthy is all I want to be.

Why Do I Teach?

Most days I love being a teacher. But lately? I'm not so sure anymore. The job is tougher than it was when I first began teaching 14 years ago. Sure the kids are the same, but the stakes are higher, the support is lower, and the standards are more rigorous.

There are days - lots of them - when I feel like I have a giant target on my back and every parent in my class is gunning for me. It doesn't matter that my homework is posted on a website I created, or that I send home weekly -- or sometimes daily -- messages to my families so they know what's happening in my classroom. Someone is always unhappy. I don't communicate enough. I communicate too much. I give too much homework. I don't give enough homework. You get the picture, right?

It's enough to make any teacher ask themselves, "Why do I teach?"

Good Lord, let me tell ya, it's a question I have asked myself time and time again. Some days, I don't have an answer to that question.

And then you get a message like this one from a former student.

This is why I teach. For kids like this one. 

Yes, honey, I will help you. 

Assassin P.I. News

I've got big news! 

So, a couple months ago, I entered into a Pit2Put pitchfest on Twitter. Here's how it works. You tweet your logline - a one sentence description about your book - along with a couple of hashtags to indicate which genre your book fits in to. Here was my pitch:

The vigilante justice business gets mighty complicated when the killer you’re tracking . . . might turn out to be you. #Pit2Pub #A #RS

Editors and agents are standing by watching their twitter feeds. If they stumble across a pitch they are interested in, they favorite your tweet. Within seconds of posting the above tweet, Deborah Nemeth of Carina Press favorited it. EEK! My heart stopped and then I reached for the phone. Who to call first? My husband? My sisters? 

While on the phone to my hubby, I got another favorite, and then another. Cheryl Yeko from Soul Mate Publishing was interested in my manuscript as well. By now I was on the verge of hyperventilating. By the time I'd called everyone in the family, I had 4 publishers interested in my little old noir romance. Now what? 

After giving it some serious thought, I decided I was only interested in working with either Carina Press or SMP. I quickly finished my final edits, gave it one last read-through, and hit submit.

Fairly quickly, I heard back from Cheryl from SMP. Based on my synopsis, she wasn't so sure she could take on a hero with such a shady past (and trust me, Jack Gaines is definitely not squeaky clean). I could see her point. Jack was a risky character, but one I truly loved writing. He deserved to have his time in the spotlight, so I suggested making a slight alteration to the ending. Cheryl agreed to give him a chance and I sent her my revised manuscript. 

Waiting is always the worst part, no? After what seemed like forever, I finally heard back from Carina Press. After careful consideration, they'd decided to pass. They felt my story worked better as a mystery rather than a romance, but they invited me to submit to them again. The rest of their feedback was spot on, and while I was sad they were rejecting my manuscript, I appreciated their comments. 

The very next day, I kid you not, I heard back from Soul Mate Publishing. They wanted to offer me a contract. Hallelujah! 

I immediately called my hubby and told him the good news.

"Are you going to accept their offer?" he asked. 

"Of course I am!" After calling my sisters and the rest of my family, I filled out my contract and sent it back to be signed. And now the waiting begins again. 

Months ago, I created these promo cards in hopes that someday Assassin P.I. would find a home. While Jack and Angie scurry off to get their final polish, I'll leave you today with a bit of tease. 

Summertime Fun

Thanks for stopping by today! If you found me by way of LaNora Mangano, welcome! Today on the Romance Weekly Blog Hop, Fiona Riplee wants the inside scoop on our summer. She's posed three questions for us to answer. 

What is your favorite summer memory?

I don't think I have one specific summertime memory, but I have lots of little memories I hold dear. Camping at Lake Cachuma with my family as a kid, and going to church camp in Big Bear as a teenager are two of my favorite memories. As far as this summer goes, I would have to say my favorite memory will be watching my daughter finally learn how to swim. Until this year, she's always struggled with her confidence in the water but is finally overcoming her fears. Hopefully the video of her swimming works.

What you enjoy the most about summer?

You'll laugh, but all you teachers out there know what I'm talking about. What's best about summer? 

1. I get to pee whenever I want to. I don't have to pee on a schedule dictated by my school. 
2. I don't have to wake up at 5:15 to get ready for work. I can sleep in every day of the week. Like until 6:15. 
3. I can spend huge chunks of my day locked away in my room, writing. 
4. I can pretend to be a fabulously organized housewife and stay at home mom. I cook more, get the house cleaned and organized, and spend time with my kids dragging them to swim lessons and the public library. Pinterest and FlyLady.com become my favorite go-to websites for recipes and cleaning challenges. 

How do the warm days and sunshine affect your writing habits?

C.C. 2.0 - https://www.flickr.com/photos/124075341@N03/14480063966 

I live in SoCal, where most of my days are warm and sunny except for the crazy weather we've had this past week. 

But for me, warm days and sunshine means school's out and I can spend my days writing. This year, my in-laws took my kids on vacation with them to San Diego for six days. I missed them like crazy, but with a quiet house and no swim lessons to get to, I was able to complete all of my revisions on Assassin P.I. I even had enough time to participate in #Pit2Pub, a pitchfest held on Twitter. Within an hour or two I had four different editors request my manuscript. Now I get to spend the rest of my summer waiting on pins and needles while Carina Press and Soul Mate Publishing review my submission. In the meantime, I'll be busy plotting out book number three. 

Next up? Check out what Jami Denise http://jamidenise.com/blog enjoys about summer. 

Composing a New Career

Welcome to the Romance Writers Weekly Blog Hop. We're a merry band of writers who love to chat about romance, writing, and pretty much everything else under the sun. If you found me by way of Xio Axelrod http://www.xioaxelrod.com, welcome! I hope you're enjoying this week's blog hop.

This week's question comes from Xio Axelrod. "If you weren't a writer, what other creative career would you most want to try?"  

Ooh! Such a fun question this week with so many options to choose from.

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/ 

I think of myself as a pretty creative person. It's just part of who I am. When you think about it, most of the jobs I've held in my life, require a lot of creativity. Teaching definitely allows me to tap into my imagination when I'm building my unit lesson plans, especially now that we have a bit more freedom with Common Core.  No two days are alike. 

Photography allowed me to view the world (and people) in a more artistic way, finding the beauty within each of my subjects. It's a relaxing but expensive hobby of mine. 

Designing websites was the perfect blend of art and science and allowed me to use the skills I'd learned as a type setter. I could let my imagination run wild with the design, yet had to be meticulous in order to make everything run smoothly. 

Heck, I've even been a color guard instructor for a local high school. I taught teenagers how to spin a flag and rifle and then wrote routines for them to perform. In a way, it allowed me to bring the music to life for the captive audience. 

But if I could choose any artistic endeavor to pursue, I would want to be a composer. I began writing music, or at least composing songs, when I was around 14. I'd only been playing the piano for a year but I'd been singing in the church choir for kids since I was six, so I'd been raised around music. You know how writers say they can hear the characters talking in their heads? Yeah, music was like that for me as a teen. I could hear the songs playing in my head and would stay up until midnight working it out. 

Composing music is one thing but actually putting it to paper? That's a whole other beast. My skills are seriously lacking in that department. To the right is a picture of my piano/keyboard and some of the songs I've written. My music isn't pop or rock music, though. I tried to include a clip, but fortunately for you, Blogger was too horrified to even let me share it with you. 

Writing music was always a way to process my emotions. Like writing, it's a fairly solitary process for me. I truly wish I could have taken my music farther. Maybe in a different life, I could have played a ton of different instruments and been a composer. Who knows?!

Next up on the blog hop is Fiona Riplee http://fionariplee.com/blog. Hop on over to see what artistic career choice she would like to try. 

Saved by a Superpower

Love to read? Love romance? Then you've come to the right spot. Each week, a crazy troupe of romance writers put together a blog hop for your personal reading enjoyment. We chat about just about everything under the sun: love, sex, writing, food, and this week's topic . . . superpowers.

If you found me by way of Leslie Hachtel http://lesliehachtelwriter.wordpress.com, welcome! This week's fun topic is courtesy of Susan Scott Shelley. She asked, "You've been gifted with a super power. Which would you choose? Why?"

Just one?! I imagine when Susan posed this topic, she did it with a maniacal laugh, knowing choosing only one superpower is downright torturous for me. Well played, Susan, well played.

 

www.flickr.com/photos/venosdale/6109506769

I have come to the unfortunate conclusion that I am not Superwoman. This pains me something awful to admit, but I can't seem to get my sh** together recently. I can either do all the errands or get the kids to their swim and soccer practice. Either write or clean the house. Not both. The house is clean (for the most part) by the way, but the edits are crawling along slower than a sloth at this point in time. If it weren't akin to career suicide, I'd be tempted to just send my editor my first draft and say to hell with it. 

If I had to pick a superpower to be imbued with, it would have to be the ability to clone myself. One of me could take the kids to the park, library, and sports lessons each day, while another me takes care of the housekeeping and cooking. Of course, I'd have to clone another me to be the dedicated teacher I want to be, while another me can spin stories all day long, becoming the prolific author I so long to be. It's a nice dream, don't ya think? 

What about you? What superpower would you like to have? 

Next up on the RWW blog hop?  Victoria Barbour http://www.victoriabarbour.com/blog. 

Character Interview

I'm finally back. Whew! The past few weeks have been a whirlwind of activity, but today I'm back where I belong on the Romance Weekly Blog Hop. If you found me by way of Fiona Riplee's website http://fionariplee.com/blog, welcome! 

To refresh your memory (and mine!), Romance Writer's Weekly is a motley crew of romance writers. Each week, RWW puts together a blog hop where we chat about pretty much everything under the sun. Writing, books, romance, love, sex, recipes, nothing is taboo with us. Once you've finished reading my blog, you can follow the link at the bottom and hop on over to the next writer's blog and so on. See? Totally fun, right? 

This week, Xio Axelrod challenged us to interview one of our characters and gave us five questions to answer. Since I'm still totally obsessed with the hero from Assassin P.I., my current work in progress, I decided to interview Jack Gaines, former cop-turned vigilante assassin. 

1. What's your favorite word?

Justice. The world needs more of it. If Ellington Bay P.D. can't do their job, I'll just have to do it for them. 

2. What is your fondest childhood memory?

When I was a child, my father and I would spend a couple weeks in a cabin in the woods each year. We'd go fishing and he'd teach me how to hunt. He's the one who taught me how to shoot a gun, taught me right from wrong. He was the one who inspired me to become a cop, just like he was. But it was a simpler time back then. Now he's dead, and I'm left to finish what he started. 

3. What one thing in your past do you wish you could do differently?

Everything! But if I could only do one thing differently, I would take back all the hurt and pain I caused Angie. I should have never walked away from her. Now, it might be too late to get her back.

4. Vanilla or Chocolate?

Vanilla. It's one of those simple pleasures in life. Uncomplicated. 

5. If you could have lunch with one famous person (alive or not) who would it be and why?

Sam Spade. Fictional or not, that man knew how to solve a crime.  

Next up on the blog hop? Carrie Elks http://carrieelks.com/blog/! Hop on over and show her some love. See y'all next week! 

Interview with Zen DiPietro

Can you believe that it's almost Friday already? This first week back to school after Spring Break has flown by, and now it's time to introduce you to another fabulous new author. Zen DiPietro hails from the SciFi and Fantasy Branch of my Soul Mate Publishing family tree. She's quirky and just downright fun to get to know. Let's quit wasting time and jump right in to our interview.


EJ:  What was high school like? Were you in drama, journalism, or yearbook? Or something else?

ZD:  I was in a lot of clubs! Honor Society, French club, Spanish club, math club, band, Junior Council on World Affairs, Peer Listeners, Prom planning committee . . . and probably some others I’m not thinking of. What can I say? I have always been and will always be a geek.


EJ:  Me too, but we didn't have that many clubs we could join. Sounds like you had fun in high school. So when you went to college, what was your major? 

ZD:  My undergrad degree is in Anthropology. That lent itself well to becoming a sci-fi/fantasy writer because it gave me a great deal of insight into cultural evolution, cultural relativity, and what stressors shape people as a whole.


EJ:  Do your children know what you write? How do they feel about it?

ZD:  They haven’t read my work but they want to. I told them in a few more years. Too many adult themes for tender young ones. But I gave them each a bookmark with my book cover and they take very good care of them. They do tend to forget that I have a “real job,” though.


EJ:  Where do you get your inspiration?

ZD:  Everywhere. Movies, music, people-watching, tv shows, other books I read, experiences I’ve had. Anything and everything can be that spark that ignites a creative furor.

EJ:  I struggle with making time for my writing. How do you find the time?

ZD:  Sometimes I don’t. But when the kids are at school, it’s “go” time. Evenings can be useful too, though my husband often has dibs on that time. He sometimes likes to actually talk to me when kids aren’t vying for our attention.


EJ: Before we chat about your current project, let's show the readers at home a little about your book. 

An earth-like world of high-tech humans faces the reality that their world is not as safe as they thought it was. Five people are thrown together to quietly get to the bottom of an unfathomable event that must stay quiet. If the population of Terath becomes aware of the truth, it will spark a civil war. That war would pit the majority of the population against the powerful minority with the ability to harness and manipulate mana. The resulting cataclysm would decimate the population and tear apart the foundation of society.

The five people chosen for this must reconsider everything they thought they knew about mana, even as they learn to trust one another’s abilities. They must embrace everything they never wanted in order to prevent the devastation of their world. One of them will be forever changed. Love will be denied, badassery will be unleashed, and Terath will never be the same.

Even success comes at a price.



EJ:  WOW! That's a great blurb. Very well written. So what are you working on right now? Give us the first paragraph of your current WIP.

ZD:  Yikes. Okay. This is Book 3 in my Guardians of Terath series, and I can’t promise it won’t change a bit because I have a lot of work to do yet. But here goes:

A man sees the woman he loves standing in the wedding arbor. He thinks about a long and happy life with her. Then he offers his hand to the bride beside him. Arc was pretty sure there was a joke in there about a guy marrying the wrong woman, but he had no further time to consider.

That’s right. There’s a wedding coming up, but you’ll never get me to say who is marrying whom.


EJ: You evil woman! Not even a small spoiler? Fine. I guess I'll have to torture you with my rapid fire questions next. See if you can keep up with me. 

Rapid Fire Questions 

Salty or Sweet?  Sweet

Coffee or Tea?  Hot coffee, iced tea

Coke or Pepsi?  Neither

Chocolate or Vanilla?  Depends on the type of dessert.

Cat or Dog?  Cat

Extrovert or Introvert?  Way introvert

MEET THE AUTHOR

Zen DiPietro is a lifelong bookworm, a fantasy/sci-fi writer, a dancer, and a mom of two. Also red-haired, left-handed, and a vegetarian geek. Absolutely terrible at conforming. Particular loves include badass heroines, Star Trek, British accents, baba ganoush, and the smell of Band-Aids. Writing reviews, author interviews, and fun stuff at www.womenofbadassery.com. Very active on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.

CONNECT WITH ZEN DIPIETRO

Website: http://www.womenofbadassery.com
Twitter: @ZenDiPietro
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/zendipietro/
https://www.facebook.com/ZenDiPietroauthor
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24973127-guardians-of-terath?from_search=true
Amazon http://amzn.com/B00UMA9X5Q 

EJ:  It was really fun getting to know more about you, Zen. Please do come back again and tell us when your next book hits Amazon. See you next time! 

Thanks for tuning in today. What's up next for me? I'm taking next week off from the blog so I can tackle those final revisions for Assassin P.I. Can't promise I'll get everything on my to-do editing list checked off, but the only way I'll know is if I duct tape myself to my seat and remove all the batteries from the TV remotes. If all goes well, I should return the following week with another Romance Weekly Blog Hop, a new author to chat with, and a quick recap of my time at the California Dreamin' Writers Conference. See you soon!