Familiarise Friday reveals - Mitch from Captive Hero - by Donna Michaels

On Familiarise Friday I'm delighted to welcome Mitch from Captive Hero (Time-shift Heroes Series-Book One).  He's just popped in with his creator, Donna Michaels, to let us know a little something about him. 

World War II is a historial period that I loved learning about myself, and loved teaching to the 11-12 year olds in my classes when I was teaching. Reading the blurb for Captive Hero makes me want to write about the era myself! 

Read on to find out more about this time-shift novel as we meet Mitch.

Hello Mitch. I'm very pleased you've managed to stay in one place to visit me today, and glad you've come to chat. I can see how handsome you look in your uniform, but for the readers let's give them a little idea of what you're like.

Mitch? Can you please describe yourself using only 6 words?  A Black Sheep Marine Pilot Ace

Aha! A black sheep? Murky past, or just a guy not wanting to be tied down? Where are you from? 

1943.  I was flying my corsair in the middle of a dogfight in the South Pacific when I was hit by a hail of bullets from a Japanese Zero. My buddy said he’d witnessed only a few hitting me because the others just disappeared. I figured he was suffering some sort of dementia. The bullets that hit me caused enough damage that I had to leave the fight and limp back to base. Once I was there, talking to the mechanics, I got this weird feeling like I was being watched. Sure enough, when I snuck through the trees, I found this beautiful woman spying with binoculars. Even though she was dressed really strange, she seemed familiar. The next thing I know...it was lights out.

That's a very strange thing to happen. So... where are you currently living?  

Colorado present day. Yeah, seventy years later. When I first arrived and came out of my drug-induced slumber, I awoke to a deserted cabin in the middle of nowhere. I must admit, I thought I was in Germany near the Austrian border. Figured the pretty dame to be a German spy. Boy, was I wrong.

Wow! Seventy years is a long time to catch up from. You were a pilot back then but what’s your main occupation just now?

Right now, I’m a mechanic at a small charter service, get this...that my old WWII buddy owned. I know. Weird. And what’s weirder, is, it was his granddaughter Samantha who drugged me and took me from the war.

That was quite a transition to make. What makes you happy now ?

Being with Samantha. I don’t care what year, what century, I’m only happiest when I’m with Samantha. She’s so strong and giving and beautiful she takes my breath.

Since you've had such a traumatic thing happen to you, you've been granted a whole week where you can choose every single thing you want to do. What would that be? (Ahem. Answers within reason for the average blog visitor please!)  

Okay, that takes away most of my answer. lol I’ll just keep it clean and say I’d love to be dropped off at the cabin with Samantha like we were when I first arrived.

What’s your favourite reading material?

Samantha. J

I had a feeling you might say something like that! Okay. Broaden your horizons. You’re going to begin a new hobby. What would it be?

Will you hit me if I say Samantha again? Because it’s true. As for new, heck, everything is new to me. The appliances in the kitchen alone are enough to keep me occupied for the rest of the year. I’m a mechanical engineer, so I love to take things apart, see how they work, then put them back together again. I was banned from touching anything in the family room until I put the blue ray player back together. I’m still working on that...right now it’s in several pieces on the desk.

I sure do hope all the bits fit back in place properly. Who, or what, is the love of your life?

Without a doubt, Samantha. We always find each other.

Oh, my! This is posting on the day after Valentine's Day! What can I ask now? What is your biggest goal for 2013?

To make Samantha happy. And if I could just convince her to apply to NASA and follow her childhood dream of piloting the space shuttle, I know my girl could not only reach for the stars, she could fly to them.

  

Captive Hero Blurb:

When Marine Corps test pilot, Captain Samantha Sheppard accidentally flies back in time and inadvertently saves the life of a WWII VMF Black Sheep pilot, she changes history and makes a crack decision to abduct him back to the present. With the timeline in jeopardy, she hides the handsome pilot at her secluded cabin in the Colorado wilderness.

But convincing her sexy, stubborn captive that he is now in another century proves harder than she anticipated—and soon it becomes difficult to tell who is captor and who is captive when the more he learns about the future, the more Sam discovers about the past, and the soul-deep connection between them.

As their flames of desire burn into overdrive, her flying Ace makes a historical discovery that threatens her family’s very existence. Sam’s fears are taken to new heights when she realizes the only way to fix the time-line is to sacrifice her captive hero...or is it?

Can love truly survive the test of time?               

Buy Link:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009XLK6CY

 Here's a bit about Donna Michaels:

I live in Northeast Pa with my fulltime military husband, our 4 kids, my parents and several rescued cats. Yeah, never a dull moment in our household. It’s a wonder I find time to sleep, let alone write. lol  But I do.

I’m currently revising 3 books, and writing 3 books. Not enough time in the day! Right now the new ones I’m writing are Future Hero- the second book in the Time-shift Heroes Series, Maria’s story; Cowboy Daddy Squared—the sequel to Cowboy-Sexy, Brett’s story; and the first book in my Dangerous Curves Series about female agents in a D.C. based company—Locke and Load. I do love variety, but they will all have the same sexy humour.

If you want to keep up with my news, join my newsletter for exclusive excerpts and contests here on my website:   www.donnamichaelsauthor.com

You can find me here:

FaceBook:   https://www.facebook.com/DonnaMichaelsAuthor

Blog:  http://donnamichaelsauthor.blogspot.com/

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/Donna_Michaels

Pinterest:  http://pinterest.com/donnamichaels/

Goodreads:  http://www.goodreads.com/Donna_Michaels

That was great meeting Mitch today! Thank you for visiting Familiarise Friday, Donna, and my very best wishes for the success of all your novels. 

Slainthe!

Kim Hornsby visits today.

I'm welcoming Kim Hornsby today, a fellow Wild Rose Press author. I can truly sympathise with Kim since two of her novels have been released in the same month and I know exactly how much time and effort it can take. My situation last August was having two very different romance sub-genres (one a fun contemporary and the other a historical) published by two different Publishers. I thought it was an exciting, exhilarating, but hard time back then. 

What Kim has just had happen is even more so.  Let's find out what she's been up to...

I Had Twins a Month Apart! (Publishing Two Books in the Same Month)

I happened to publish two novels in the same month quite by accident and now I feel like the mother of twins. Well not quite, but it’s a busy time promoting two books. The experts say that, like twins, one will amuse the other, and in this case, I’ve seen a lot of crossover business. If a reader likes one, they’ll probably buy the second. Can’t complain about that. Actually, I can’t complain about anything except that one lady who wrote a bad review, but that was Wednesday’s blog and I’ve moved on. 

A year ago, I hit a wall as a writer. Over the course of six years, I’d sent out roughly 100 queries for representation, on three books. I’d attended 6 conferences, driven many agents to and from the airport, schmoozed with several to the point of lending them my boots and one my wiglet, and been continuously rejected. Not being a standard romance writer (not formulaic enough, one agent said) I’ve seen a lot of rejection. 

I write what I call Romantic Women’s Fiction which means the story centers around the woman’s journey but there is a heaping helping of romance. Now the RWA is including our ‘genre’ but six years ago, not so much. The thing that kept me writing over years of rejection letters was that I got close to securing an agent at least five times, but for various reasons, it didn’t happen. (Boots, wiglet, but also phone calls, genuine interest) I couldn’t submit to editors at publishing houses because I wasn’t writing standard romance. 

Then I saw a call from an upstart indie publisher online. She wanted a fairytale-type story and I submitted my second novel which is loosely based on Goldilocks, and while I waited for them to offer me a publishing contract (ever the optimist) I submitted it to a second publisher, to start a bidding war. (optimist) Long story short, the second publisher wanted my second book and had enough insight to suggest some changes that would allow the story to fit into their romantic suspense line. I signed a contract, did the changes and waited for a cover. While that was happening I had my third novel with the editor, in preparations to self publish. It was a scary thought but two of my critique partners got theirs out before me and I was ready to forge ahead with my third novel. 

Things move slowly in publishing and I was finally told that the novel I’d submitted in June 2012 would be officially published with The Wild Rose Press April 5^th. 

By this time it was December and I tell you, if I didn’t have the other one coming out I would’ve been a wreck, waiting. Well, probably I’d have written another novel by now to keep myself busy but I didn’t have to. Not yet. I’d been preparing my third book for months and was ready to self publish, push the button and send my words into cyber space for everyone to see and love. I published my first novel November 19^th but didn’t tell anyone until December because it wasn’t quiet ready. I hadn’t realized when I clicked on a certain button that it would be up there and available. I’d thought there was at least one more step similar to pushing the button from the station in the Arctic to release nuclear warheads. But no, I was published and didn’t even have a finished version of a cover. Eek! When I finished my cover, I told everyone, sent out a huge email to my address list and sat back to watch the sales come in. 

And they did. I wasn’t disappointed, except for the fact that as I read it, I found a few typos and had to go back to fix them. Which, I’m pleased to say, I can, because it’s my publication and I can change the price daily, the text every 10 hours, or fiddle with the cover. I’ve done all of those things many times because I just can’t seem to leave the book alone. (I mother this way too—poor kids).

So now, I have both experiences under my belt, of having a publisher behind my second book and me behind my third book. There are definite advantages to each situation. One eliminates the hundred hours I spent finding a photo for the cover of my book, the cost of an editor and the relief that I’m appreciated in the publishing world, the other has me in complete control of my novel and getting more money. 

I’m not sure what I will do for the third book, coming out this summer, but because it’ll be a few months, I can think on it awhile. At least I didn’t have triplets two months apart.

Kim Hornsby is the author of Necessary Detour with The Wild Rose Press and...

The Dream Jumper’s Promise with Top Ten Press. 

Both are available on Kindle, the latter available in print late March.

http://amzn.com/B00AU50M76

http://amzn.com/B00AA4FAJC

The Dream Jumper’s Promise

Necessary Detour

Contact Kim at: 

www.kimhornsby.net

www.kimhornsby.blogspot.com

http://twitter.com/kimhornsby

Thank you for visiting today and sharing your story, Kim. My best wishes to you for all your new novels!  

Slainthe!

Welcome Wednesday says hello to Doris McCraw

Welcome Wednesday has a fantastic guest today - Doris McCraw. I'm delighted, because she is the first poet I've had the opportunity to interview on the blog. Like myself, Doris, is a member of a group of writers called Writing, Wranglers and Warriors who blog on a daily basis.

Nancy Jardine - from my accessible poetry collection

I confess I don't make the time to read poetry, these days, though I have a fair collection of poetry books - many collected for different reasons. Some are from my own school and university days; some for kids were bought when I was teaching or for my own daughters; and some were bought just for pleasure!

But, let's hear a little more about the work Doris produces every day. 

First let me thank you,  Nancy, for having me on your blog to share my love of haiku and the joy I have in all creativity.

I know you mainly as a writer of poetry. Would you say that’s how you would like to be known, or do write in other genres too?

I have written short stories, a novel (still to be edited and published) along with non-fiction articles and am currently working on a biography of a local photographer.  In addition to the above I also write murder mystery script for Red Herring Productions, a murder mystery company I work for as an actor and I also cast all their shows.

That sounds like a fantastic job, Doris. I can see a little scrap of paper being dropped with the remnants of a poem on it ...or maybe there's a few lines from a poem easily found on the computer?.... But back to the interview. What's your favourite form of poetry?

I truly love reading all forms of poetry. Some of the poets I enjoy are Tennyson and Helen Hunt Jackson. With Helen that is good, for I am booked to speak as her or in some cases to speak about her. I also am a fan of cowboy poets Jane Morton and Michael Stevens.

Nancy Jardine - My dogeared Tennyson

Tennyson, I have definitely read but I have to confess to not knowing about the others. How many types of poetry have you tried to write?

I've tried most types by find that I have and affinity for haiku and I love the freedom that the form gives me.  With a limited number of syllables, seventeen to be exact in the form of five in the first line, seven in the second, and five in the third, each word is important and the meaning is open yet set. Additionally, in the original Japanese form the haiku was accompanied by a drawing.  I use a photograph as a substitute.

Haiku was something I loved teaching to the 11-12year olds in my class. They produced some spectacular work even if their fingers were worn to the bone, and the classroom resembled a monastery for a while as the drone of practising the syllables went on. Their haikus ( and sometimes 'tankas') tended to be related to the historical theme we were working on, or to our Japanes studies - to spark their imagination. The illustrations produced to accompany the poems were often quite spectacular, too.

www.123rf.com

I’ve popped in to read your daily haiku sometimes. You’re very dedicated with the posts to ensure they really are different and are well illustrated. Can you describe your process for creating your work?

Writing the haiku started as a writing practice/discipline that has taken on a life of its own. Sometimes I start with an idea and other times it is a photograph. That forms the basis and then I work to express the thought within the structure of the haiku as described above.  There are other forms but I prefer the five-seven-five. There are times when the haiku comes together quickly and others where it may take most of the day to find just the right word combination. Then of course if I don't have a photograph I need to find one that fits.  These can be found at http://fivesevenfivepage.blogspot.com

Readers- I urge you to pop on over to Doris's haiku blog and spend a few moments browsing...  and maybe relaxing. 

Where do your images come from?

I take all of my own photographs.  I usually have a camera during the spring through fall in the car with me in case I see something that just grabs my imagination. I will also take a day about once a month and head out and take as many photographs as I can of whatever catches my eye.  In many ways it is very relaxing and helps feed my creativity.

Do you write a week’s worth ahead of the time …or are they mainly topical?

I write the haiku on the day that I post it.  I may be thinking about it over a period of time, but the actual writing is done that day.  I find that the work reflects that immediacy and allows a larger connection for the readers and myself.

Does the place you currently live influence your writing?

Where I live plays a large part in my work.  Living in the high desert near the foothills of the Rocky Mountain Front Range allows for a variety of photographs and writings.  It is also a very short drive and I am in the mountains themselves. There is also such a rich history to the area. I know that also influences all of my writings.

I've seen some of your photographs and they are often stunning and thought provoking. Have you always been inclined towards poetry or is it a love that has transpired over the years?

I have always loved poetry.  I can remember making my mother read to me before I could read and a lot of that was childhood poems.  I also remember writing them in school.  Of course I also wrote plays and stories. 

Do you have any particular writer that you emulate?

I read and enjoy a number of writers.  Susan J. Tweit www.susanjtweit.com, also writes haiku as a writing practice.  However she has chosen a different form from myself.  Her “Writing Nature Home” is a book I wish I could write. I also enjoy Robert Crais, Lee Child, and of course Jim Butcher's Harry Dresden books.  All of these writers, along with so many others, give me glimpses of what I am capable of.

Do you have plans to compile your daily haikus (or other poems) into a book someday soon?

My fondest wish would be to publish, and I will, the haiku along with other publication forms that the photographs and haiku fit into.  Calendars, journals, note cards are all possibilities.

Those items sound like they would lend themselves very well to a display of haikus. But...  a bit more about yourself now. What is the preferred genre for your own leisure reading?

I can probably best answer this one with the standard I have used for many years. It is a gift from my ex. “You are trying to read everything ever written and you are about ten thousands years behind.” I simply love to read and whether it is fiction or non-fiction I can learn something, even if it is how not to write that type of book.

What hobbies do you indulge in outside of writing, or any other regular daily pursuits you might have?

I could probably write a book on this question. Perhaps it is best just to list them.

I work in the tourism industry, teach acting, offer workshops for writers who have problems speaking in public, actor, crocheting, knitting, watching and critiquing movies and anything else that happens to catch my eye.

 

That's a busy list! I'm so pleased you've been able to share this with us, today, Doris.

Nancy, this has been great fun, and again I thank you for letting me share my love of all things creative with your readers.

Doris can be found at:

Blog: http://fivesevenfivepage.blogspot.com/

Blog: http://renawomyn.blogspot.com/
Web: http://www.dorismccraw.net
Twitter: http://twitter.com/renawomyn/
http://www.google.com/profiles/111918904215978331863.

Best wishes with all your projects, Doris.

Slainthe!