Sheila Deeth's Blog, page 100

BLOG TOUR: and another Flower Child review!

Thank you so much to Fran Lewis for posting reviews of Flower Child around the internet today. The Flower Child Blog Tour is visiting Facebook today, where Fran has given Flower Child five special angels! http://www.facebook.com/notes/fran-lewis/five-special-angels-for-author-sheila-deeth-and-flower-child/10150363171754647. I hope you'll go over there and see.















Fran Lewis is a prolific book reviewer at Hot Drink, Fireplace, Reviews that Sizzle (gabina49.webs.com). She's also the author of, amongst others, the Bertha books--My name is Bertha, and Bertha Speaks Out--hopeful stories for all children living with differences that so easily make them victims; and of Memories are Precious, and Because we Care, based on her experiences as caregiver to someone with Alzheimers. Plus she's a wonderful supporter of her fellow authors.

Thank you Fran for reading and reviewing Flower Child.

Fran Lewis:
gabina49@wordpress.comgabina49.webs.comallgenrereviews@blogspot.com

BLOG TOUR: Flower Child has another review!

Christine Amsden, author of the Immortality Virus (reviewed here on gather) posts a review of Flower Child today as part of the Flower Child Blog Tour (http://christineamsden.com/wordpress). Tomorrow she interviews me on her blog as well. Thank you so much for making me so welcome Christine.

Meanwhile, I've been reading another Christine Amsden book, A Touch of Fate, and will be posting my review here later today. (Just for reference, I loved it!) So... please visit Christine's blog, and come back later today for book reviews on mine.

BLOG TOUR: Meet Flickertail

Author Mary Russel is interviewing Angela from Flower Child today at http://maryrussel.blogspot.com/2011/10/interview-with-angela-from-sheila.html. Meanwhile, Mary's dear friend and character, Flickertail, has kindly agreed to let me interview him here. Flickertail stars in some wonderful children's stories filled with mystery, whimsy and word-play--don't forget to look for excerpts on Mary's blog. And, in case you're wondering, Flickertail's a llama.

So, hello Flickertail--you've got to tell us, how did you get your name? I have a white tail, while the rest of me is mostly a reddish brown. When I run, my tail flicks and it's the most outstanding part of me.

And your friend Paint? Where did Paint's name come from? She's a Painted Horse.

Where did Paint come from? How did you meet? Paint lives in Texas. We met online through Mary, my owner and Norma, Paint's owner. They had established an internet friendship on Gather.com.

So you started having adventures and solving mysteries together. Why? That was actually another friend's idea. Mary had been writing mystery stories to entertain her friends and she had also posted some photos of me when William suggested that she should write stories about me as a Private Eye. Later he suggested that I team up with Paint.

What's the most interesting place you've ever been to? Well we've been to Scotland, Ireland, and Bolivia and I've loved them all but I'd have to say Bolivia because I was reunited with my llama mama there. I also met another member of my family that I didn't even know about. I think Paint would say Scotland though. She loves ghosts and the history of Scotland.

What's the furthest you've ever traveled together? Bolivia.

What's the kindest thing Paint ever did for you? She's done so many kind things but helping me to find my mother would have to be at the top of my list.

And what's the kindest thing you ever did for Paint? I gave up a game I used to play on Facebook, when I realized it was making her unhappy. I was consumed by it to the point where our friendship and detective business were suffering.

Can you tell us a bit about the people and animals you live with? Mary and Tom are the humans and they live in the house with two dogs that they treat like babies. But I like the dogs anyway. The barnyard animals are usually hard to find when there is any cleaning to be done. For the most part though they are helpful, cooperative, and fun to be around. They tease each other but when the chips are down they are all loyal friends. We don't see Tom much. He works a lot. Mary spends quite a bit of time in the barn with us. She also spends a lot of her time writing about us. She's a bit scatterbrained at times and frequently needs our help. She loves all of her animals, treats us well, and we take good care of her.

AndMary, when she writes your stories, d'you think she gets things right? Sheusually listens to us when we tell her what we want her to say. Paint thinksMary should write about her more but Paint's a bit of a diva even though shehas a heart of gold. 

Does she listen to you if you tell her to change something? Of course. She recognizes who the real talent is and she knows the book wouldn't be half as good if she didn't listen to us. Ha ha ha. 

D'you have any other human friends besides Mary? All of the neighbors and their children. Mostly all of the people we meet.  And I hope all of our readers are our friends.

Is there anything else you really want us to know? Our philosophy. We are peace lovers and peace keepers who believe in helping our friends whenever and however we can. Since we don't have any money, we often have to be pretty creative to do that but that's all part of the fun of Flickertail & Paint, Barnyard Sleuths.

You can find Flickertail and Paint and other books at Mary's bookstore http://www.maryrussel.com/store.php or on Amazon, etc.

Thank you for hosting me, Mary. And thank you Flickertail for answering my questions.

BLOG TOUR: Meet the girl who loved Rudolph

The Flower Child blog tour is stopping at Mary Russel's blog today http://maryrussel.blogspot.com/. with a post on writing genres and pen names. I hope you'll wander over there and learn what genre Flower Child might fit into.

Meanwhile Elizabeth, from Mary Russel's novel Rudolph, A child's love story, has agreed to join me here for an interview. I hope you'll enjoy meeting her as much as I have.


[image error] How old are you Elizabeth? I'd be63 now if Mary hadn't killed me off in my late 40s.
Can you tell my readers what youlook like--what you see when you look in a mirror? In my mirror, a fat, grayhaired woman. In my mind, I see a woman who has discovered that I am asurvivor, a woman who has seen enough of life to be able to feel for others.
Do you have lots of friends? No,I have a few very close friends.
What do people say about you--toyour face? My closest friend says I am talented and she admires what I haveaccomplished. On the other hand she also tells me I have no self-confidence andthat I am too withdrawn.  Behind your back? What do you think they'resaying about you? Probably nothing I would want to hear.
What do people like about you? ThatI'm strong, compassionate, and helpful. 
Do you want to be liked? Toomuch I think. Before I learned to like myself, I often sacrificed my identityto become what I thought others wanted me to be so they would like me. That wasbefore I learned that it is more important that I like me and I couldn't dothat if I wasn't being me.
What do you like about yourself? Thatmy past has made me strong, adaptable, and caring.
Okay, can you tell us your biggestsecret? I used to dream that I killed my first foster parents. They made meso angry when they would accuse me of things I didn't do and then would not letme defend myself.  It's like they were determined to believe the worst ofme.
What's the worst lie you've evertold--the worst you'll admit to I mean? Strangely my lies, are more lies ofomission than actually expressed. I let people assume certain things and Idon't bother to correct their assumptions.
What's the hardest thing you've everdone? To forgive, accept, and embrace my past.
Was it worthit d'you think? Oh most definitely! I had to in order to move forward.
Are you happy now? Happier
D'you think you will be happy, asyears go by? Each day it gets easier to accept that I am worthy ofhappiness, so yes.
Isthere something else you'd really like us to know? I hope my story as toldin Rudolph, a Child's Love Story will help others who are strugglingwith acceptance learn how to accept themselves. We all want and need others tolove us but we can never find true peace and happiness until we love ourselves. 
  How very true, Elizabeth. Thank you for letting me interview you.
If you want to know more about Elizabeth, you can find Mary's book on Amazon or in Mary's bookstore at http://www.maryrussel.com/store.php Don't forget to look at Mary's other books while you're there, the Sleuth and Scribe teen-safe mysteries, plus Flickertail and Paint of course (see tomorrow's post!).


And thank you Mary for hosting Flower Child on your blog today. 

BLOG TOUR: What's your story about?

Haveyou ever told someone you're a "wannabe writer," or worse, that you don'treally have a job? Friends would say to me, "You write, so you're a writer,"but it never seemed that simple when it came to answering the question, "Whatdo you do?" 

Find out how I answered this and the follow-up question, what's your story about? on Sutton Fox's blog today where Flower Child makes its next tour stop http://suttonfox.blogspot.com/. 


Sutton Fox's latest Christmas book has just come out from Gypsy Shadow, so if you're looking for an intriguing seasonal romance, you might want to look it up. Here's a blurb to pique your interest:




[image error] GloryDawson needs to catch a break. Thanks to the economic downturn, she's lost herjob, her home, and her child. Just when things can't seem to get worse, theyget weird. A crazy grandmother, muggers, heirlooms, and armor. Armor? Just whata girl needs to save the day.
ChristianKnight has spent his life trying to make sense of his family's patriarchallore. In the process, he's built a dynasty. It's given him everything. Andnothing. Despite his sibling's best efforts, he still spends every Christmas,and most of his life, alone. 
In thesearch for true love, do two kindred souls look to the future, or the past?
http://www.gypsyshadow.com/SuttonFox.html#CKnighthttp://www.suttonfox.blogspot.comOn twitter – suttonfox
Thank you for hosting me, Sutton, and I hope Christmas Knight finds many readers before Christmas night.

BLOG TOUR: I love my book cover

Have you ever wondered how Flower Child got such a lovely cover, or how books get their covers in general? I've written a post about my Gypsy Shadow book covers for Paula Mitchell; you'll find it on the Community Book Stop today at http://communitybookstop.blogspot.com/2011/10/guest-post-sheila-deeth.html. There's a review of Flower Child too at http://communitybookstop.blogspot.com/2011/10/flower-child-by-sheila-deeth-review.html , and lots of other good books highlighted there, so don't forget to take a tour. Hope to see you there.
[image error] Meanwhile, I've been reading and editing. The edits are going pretty well I think--I've searched for "and" and "but" throughout my novel, tidied a few "that"s and "...ing"s, and cut the word-count by two thousand. It feels like an achievement.  Tomorrow I'll start the hunt for "was" "so" "meanwhile" "then" and other much overused words.>
Today there's laundry, leaves, food-shopping and housework calling me. If there's time afterwards I'll write some book reviews...

BLOG TOUR: Memories, and Where it all started

Lyn Hywela has kindly invited me to her blog today. If you go to http://hywelalyn.blogspot.com/2011/10/flower-child-by-sheila-deeth.html you'll find my post on how memories inspired the writing of Flower Child. You'll also find the author who indirectly led me to  Gypsy Shadow Publishing.

I was a beginning writer, dreaming of being published, slowly collecting that drawer-full of rejections, and wondering if I'd ever make it. I'd scarcely even heard of ebooks and had no intention of writing one. But I'd learned somewhere that to make it, these days, you need an internet presence. I started a blog and visited other blogs, leaving occasional comments, and slowly making friends. Finding my comment on Lyn's blog won me an ebook was a very nice surprise, especially since the ebook was a wonderful fantasy by Aubrie Dionne. After reading the ebook I visited the publisher's website where I found an intriguing competition... and the rest is history, with my most recent ebook released from Gypsy Shadow being my beloved Flower Child.


It feels kind of appropriate that Flower Child's tour is now visiting Lyn's blog. Maybe someone will read the post (read the book even?) then visit the publisher and...

Thank you Lyn, for inspiring and directing and hosting me!

Hywela Lyn is the author of Starquest,  Children of the Mist and Dancing with Fate, all available from amazon.com

BLOG TOUR: Name that character, with Dawn Colclasure

Author Dawn Colclasure is hosting my Flower Child Blog Tour today with a post on the parallel joys of math and writing http://dawncolclasureblog.blogspot.com/. Meanwhile I'm delighted to host Dawn here in yet another intersecting blog tour.


About the author:  Dawn Colclasure is a writer who lives in Oregon. Herarticles, essays, poems and short stories have appeared in several newspapers,anthologies, magazines and E-zines. She is the author of seven books, amongthem BURNING THE MIDNIGHT OIL: How WeSurvive as Writing Parents; 365 TIPSFOR WRITERS: Inspiration, Writing Prompts and Beat The Block Tips to TurboCharge Your Creativity; Love is Likea Rainbow: Poems of Love and Devotion and the children's book The Yellow Rose. She is co-author of thebook Totally Scared: The Complete Book onHaunted Houses. Her dark fantasy novel, Shadowof Samhain, is due out in Winter 2011. Her Web site is at http://dmcwriter.tripod.com/
Over to you Dawn, and thank you for visiting my blog and hosting my tour. I know this is going to be blogpost I'll come back to again and again--naming my characters always feels like the hardest part of writing, as if by inventing them I've given them the right to choose their own names, and nothing I come up with is good enough.


How to Come Up with Character Names
Character names are probably more important than the titleof your novel or short story collection. The names you give to your charactersshould "fit" them in some way. By "fit," I mean ethnically, characteristically(their name's meaning describes them or their personalities match their names)or creatively (it goes with the story's genre). Your character's name shouldalso be something that readers will remember them by. A name of "Joe Smith"isn't very memorable, least of all important. But a name like Ellerby James orBlake Kristoffsen are names that stand out.
But when trying to come up with a name for their character, what'sa writer to do in finding them? Here are some of the things that I do:
Name books. Youknow those little "baby naming books" they sell in the checkout aisle atgrocery stores? I have been known to page through them a time or two – but notbecause I was expecting a little bundle of joy. It was because I was on thehunt for a good character name. One character naming book I used to cling toand make notes in was Character NamingSourcebook, by Sherrilyn Kenyon, Hal Blythe and Charlie Sweet. This is the link: http://www.amazon.com/Writers-Digest-Character-Naming-Sourcebook/dp/0898796326. Alas, I lost my copy of this book in one of my moves to a newhome, but I've plans to pick up a new copy soon.
Baby naming web sites.Thanks to technology, finding a name for characters is just a click away. Youcan visit sites such as Baby Names (Signs, advertisementsand flyers. Don't throw out your junk mail just yet; check out that letterendorsing a group or that flyer advertising a company special to see if thereare any unusual or interesting names lurking within those pages. While I wasvisiting mt brother in L.A. one day some years ago, I saw a sign encouragingpeople to "vote for Napolitini." That name really caught my eye and I laterused it in my NaNo manuscript.
The people you know.This trick can work in two ways. The first way is to use the names of peopleyou know for character names. If you can't come up with a name for yourcharacter as you are writing the first draft of your story, use names of peopleyou know. Then, as you revise your story later and have your character fleshedout better, choose a different name. The second way this works is by talkingwith friends or family members about character names. Ask for theirsuggestions. I once asked a friend of mine if I could use her last name for thename of a character in Shadow of Samhainand she gave me her blessing. (This kind of thing can be tricky. For a minorcharacter, it's not so much of a risk. However, for a major character, oneneeds to be careful. In my forthcoming book, The Ghost of Sarah Travers, I have a character in that story namedVincent. The thing of it is, this character appeared in the story lookingexactly like my daughter's friend, who happens to be named Vincent! I receivedpermission from his father to proceed with the name, but I'm playing it safehere. No, I won't "baby" this character and make sure nothing bad happens tohim, but I will make sure he is a character the real Vincent will think ispretty cool and something he'll be proud of. All the same, I'm writing thesestories praying I won't be hit with a lawsuit someday. "How dare you make myson's character dance with a ghost in Book Two!")
Use throwaway names.Throwaway names are names that don't make the cut. If you know a writer whodecides not to use a name for a character but it's a name you are crazy about,use it yourself. The same goes when someone suggests a baby name that youreally like but the expecting mother doesn't like the name at all. In anotherexample, one of my sisters recently had a baby and my cousin posted the wrongmiddle name. I liked the middle name, but spelled differently. Once I learnedthis was not the correct name, I added this name to my list of future characternames.
Read, read, read.When I was working on earlier drafts for Shadowof Samhain, I needed a name for one of my characters. Nothing seemed tohelp me come up with a name but I pressed onward hoping to find one eventually.During my research on Druidism, I came across the name of a priest "Jovan." Iliked that name, but spelled with an "I" instead. Thus, the name "Jovin" wascreated for my character, and it fit him perfectly.
Let your characterspick the names. I Know this sounds crazy. How dare we writers allow ourcharacters to choose their own names? But, a lot of the times, our charactersknow what kind of name they should have. In fact, many of my characters havecome to me fully developed and with their own names. Sometimes I get the namefrom them quite easily (as with my character Janay) but sometimes I'll need todo some prodding and encouraging to get the names out of them (such as with mycharacter Alice Crenshaw).  And speakingof characters in Shadow of Samhain, Iwas recently asked to change the name of the character John. The pairing of"John/Jonathan" in the story might confuse readers, so I had to change thename. In order to figure out what name to use, I turned to John's mother,Janay. I "put myself into her mindset" so to speak and asked her what shewould've named her firstborn. To my surprise, she had really wanted to name herson something else: Tom. This name has special meaning to her, because as  a teen, her older brother, Tom, had beenkilled by a drug dealer during a traffic stop. (Tom was a police officer.)She'd been close to her brother and his murder had always been hard for her toaccept. So "Tom" was the name she preferred for her firstborn child.
The above strategies are just some of the tricks I use toname my characters. There are lots of other ways, of course; playing aroundwith words, using anagrams or even getting the name from your dreams. Take sometime to think about character names because they are an important part of yourcharacter and can add value to your story. With the right name for yourcharacter, your story has a better chance of leaving a lasting impression onyour readers and encourage them to keep coming back for more.

Thank you Dawn. I really enjoyed reading this. A great topic, and I loved reading how John/Tom got his name!

BLOG TOURS: Angels, Flower Child and book reviews

[image error] The Flower Child blog tour is visiting Erin O'Riordan's blog today with a post on angels at http://erinoriordan.blogspot.com/. Erin's the author of some wonderfully intriguing and sensual fantasies. The first of her stories I read was the beautiful Butterfly Boy in an anthology called Wonder (Wonder reviewed on gather.com here)--if you look at the cover you'll see why it's singularly appropriate that my post on Erin's blog should be about angels. But Erin's stories can be very down-to-earth too; I've just finished reviewed her novel Eminent Domain, written with her husband and co- author Tit Elingtin--a fascinating novel that combines sweet romance with abject dejection, hopeful construction with unfettered despair, and beauty with miserable evil in the tale of an eager young couple driven to distraction by the law. (Eminent Domain is reviewed on gather.com here.)


I hope you're having as much fun following this blog tour as I am. But I'm still trying to catch up on my reading too, so here's a few more book reviews, just to prove I can read and blog (and drink coffee) all at once. As usual, the ratings of for my coffee recommendations--some books just need a dark strong flavor while others bounce happily to something lighter.

This being October, I'll start with a short ghost story found on Smashwords--The Ghost in Blackwell Station by Shani Bush. Short and quick, this one reminds me of those black-and-white ghost stories I used to watch on TV--unpolished but intriguing enough to read while snatching a 1-star crisp light coffee.

A set of three short stories comes next in Lindsay Downs' Emily Dahill, CID Part I. A strong female protagonist is paired with a truly wonderful dog, scary action with humor, and fear with generous relationships in these tales of a woman embarking on her career in the army CID. Sip a lively cup of 2-star easy-drinking coffee with this one.

Now for a novella--still short but not quite a short story. The Start-up by Sadie Hayes is the beginning of a fascinating series of novellas set in the worlds of high-finance and high-tech, pitting computer geek against cheating financiers. I read an e-ARC so I'm not sure it's available yet. When it comes out you'd better stick to a 1-star crisp cup of coffee or the caffeine'll keep you awake waiting for volume 2.


Homegrown Muse, by Sally P. Bennett, is a full-length novel that tells of business relationships and romance in the complex worlds of construction and ecology. Blending high-tech and natural world, broken relationships and truly fascinating family dynamics, it's a surprisingly fascinating and enjoyable tale, best enjoyed with a 3-star well-balanced, smooth cup of coffee.

Okay... Now for something completely different.The Snowman's Revenge by Mark Smythe is a delightful picture book for winter--and winter's surely coming as the weather turns cold. Drink some 2-star easy-drinking coffee while sharing the wonderful pictures and delightful story with your kids (or grandkids)--just the right frisson of fear to evoke smiles without causing nightmares.

Finally, two non-fiction books that I've really enjoyed reading:

The Language of Science and Faith by Karl W. Giberson and Francis S. Collins: If you know me you'll know why I have to love this book, faith and science being my twin passions. But I love it especially for it's insights into the history of Christian belief about evolution and it's clear, well-illustrated explanations of the issues and arguments. A wonderfully well-balanced book, to be enjoyed with a 3-star well-balanced coffee.

And What Everyone Should Know about Islam and Muslims by Suzanne Haneef--a book written from the point of view of a former Christian, I picked this out since I wanted to read from the point of view of a believer rather than someone tearing down belief. It was actually quite intriguing to see my own faith from the point of view of a non-believer as I read, but the book is really interesting and taught me just what I wanted to learn. I'd go for a 4-star complex coffee with this one.

So that's my reading for this week... Now back to the blog tour...

Intersecting blog tours: Say a Little Prayer

We're intersecting blog tours again--this time Flower Child's tour and Catherine Cavendish's Say a Little Prayer.

I'm delighted to introduce a fellow Gypsy Shadow author today--Catherine Cavendish, author of the wonderfully musical, whimsical and intriguing tale, Say a Little Prayer (read my review here). While Catherine interviews me on http://www.catherinecavendish.com/2011/10/flower-child-interview-with-sheila.html I get to ask her some questions of my own, but first, let me introduce her book:


Say A Little Prayer – theblurb:


Everynight, Jane Furnival prays for the souls of the dead celebrities she mostadmires. Somewhere, in a parallel dimension, those she prays for must gatherand it's an odd assortment of stars – from Jim Morrison, John Lennon andMarilyn Monroe to Agatha Christie who's still writing plotlines in hernotebook. But can they help her resolve the biggest crisis in her life? Herformidable, long-dead Aunt Margaret decides if anyone can, Jim Morrison's herman, so accompanied by Marilyn Monroe in a skin-tight gown, the two set off ona mission to find $5000 before breakfast.


[image error] And now the interview:



Hi Catherine,I'm so glad you're going to let me interview you.
1. I love John Lennon's voice in your story Say aLittle Prayer and I notice you say you live in the North of England. Do youlive near Liverpool? Have you been to any of the Beatles sites? 

I lived in Liverpool for a number of years and it's a fascinating, vibrant city. It's not allthat big as cities go but punches well above its weight and was recentlyEuropean City of Culture – a title it well deserved. The Beatles are only partof its rich heritage but I have done some sightseeing. I have been to MathewStreet a number of time; the original Cavern is long gone but there is a'replacement'. I've traveled along Menlove Avenue, seen Strawberry Field(well  the gates anyway!). I used to parkmy car a short distance from the house in which George Harrison grew up, inWavertree .

2. Your website says you have a novella coming out soonwith Etopia Press. Can you tell us anything about it? 

It's a horror called 'Cold Revenge'. Four couplesare invited to a dinner party at the opulent home of leading fashion writer,Erin Dartford. You've heard the expression 'revenge is a dish best servedcold'? Well that will give you a hint of what is to come...

3. Are your stories connected to each other? D'you thinkyou'll use the gang from Say a Little Prayer again sometime?

No, so far, my storieshave been 'standalones' but I had so much fun with Jim and Marilyn, they mayjust go on another mission together one of these days.

4. I'm guessing you used your own favorite characters in Saya Little Prayer. Is that right? How did you choose them, and how much didyou need to research them to make them seem so real (albeit dead)?

I have collected booksand been fascinated by the stories of both Jim Morrison and Marilyn Monroe foryears now so I have learned quite a bit about them and you're right, t hey aretwo of my all-time favorites. They are both so much more than the publicperception of them. John Lennon is another favorite and there are books on myshelf and DVDs in my collection about him too. His wit and accent, whiledistinctive, are echoed in characters I have met in Liverpool on manyoccasions. Liverpudlians (or 'Scousers') have a unique sense of humor. I alwaysimagined Agatha Christie to share characteristics with her sleuth, Miss Marple,so I just tapped into that

5.      Do you think your own experience feeds into yourstories? I guess the usual question is how much of yourself do you put intoyour characters, but I don't imagine there's room for anyone else in thecharacters of Say a Little Prayer, except in Jane perhaps.

I don't think I'm in'Say A Little Prayer' at all but it is true to say that I have recognized bitsof myself in other stories I have written. Sometimes, I will give a character ajob I once had or a situation that I have experienced. On other occasions, Ifind they react to a situation in much the same way I would

6.      Does your cat see ghosts?

Quite possibly, althoughI have a theory that, if she does, she just thinks of them as part of the worldaround her and accepts them. She no doubt sees me as some sort of  two-legged creature who never got the hang ofusing all four paws simultaneously and who is responsible for catering to herevery need. Maybe she sees ghosts as a slightly fuzzier version of that!

7.      On your website you mention seeing an apparition whichno-one else could rationally explain. Is that something you'd be willing toelaborate on? (No problem if it's not.) 

Some three or four years after she died, I saw the cat Igrew up with jump out of a cupboard she used to try and get in at everyopportunity. In life she was jet black but in this momentary experience, shewas grey - as if on a photographic negative. It was at my parent's house andthere were no other cats there. I can still recall it now. It was on a Sunday,just after lunch and I was clearing plates away

8.      You say you wander round Litopia and Facebook. I don'tknow Litopia, but are there other sites besides Facebook that you wouldrecommend to an aspiring writer trying to network?
  
Litopia ( www.litopia.com )is an amazing writers' community and I would recommend anyone who is seriousabout their writing to join it. I know I wouldn't be published now if I hadn'tbecome a 'Litopian'!

9.      What's the most impossible predicament you've put aheroine into in one of your stories to date?

Ah, that would betelling! All I will say is that the answer lies in 'Cold Revenge'!

10.  Is there a question you'd love to answer that no one'sthought to ask you yet? If so, would you like to answer it here?

Do you know, Sheila? Icannot think of one except I would love a publisher to ask me if I would behappy to accept a $500,000 advance for a three book deal! Do I need to tell youmy answer?
 

AuthorInfo:

CatherineCavendish lives in the North of England and in Wales, with her longsufferinghusband and a slightly eccentric tortoiseshell cat. She has had a lifelongfascination with the paranormal which intensified when she saw an apparitionwhich no-one has ever been able to rationally explain. She is currently workingon a number of new projects, including short stories, a novella and a novelfeaturing a circle of ancient standing stones.


Youcan find Catherine at:

www.CatherineCavendish.com
http://www.facebook.com/CatherineCavendishwww.goodreads.com as Catherine Cavendish 
http://twitter.com/#!/cat_cavendish 


You can purchase 'Say A Little Prayer' from thepublishers:
http://www.gypsyshadow.com/CatherineCavendish.html#Prayer

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Say-a-Little-Prayer-ebook/dp/B005PI7WMG/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1317643991&sr=8-4

Barnes and Noble http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/say-a-little-prayer-catherine-cavendish/1105937785?ean=2940013414914&itm=1&usri=catherine+cavendish

And other online booksellers