Guest Interview - Lavanda Dee

Welcome Lavanda. I'm so glad you were able to stop by today for an interview. You new book sounds great, I'm sure my readers will want to get it on their Christmas wish list!
1. What is your favorite thing to do when you are not writing?
Other than reading, I love traveling. We've had the good fortune to be able to travel out of the country as well as in the U.S. We've been to China, New Zealand, Australia and Africa to name a few. Also on some great cruises one of my favorites was a Baltic one where the ports of call included St. Petersburg, Germany, and Finland. Recently we've take a couple of river cruises, the ships are smaller and they are more informal.
2. What books are sitting in your TBR pile right now? What isn't might be an easier question to answer. I read a myriad of different genre. Having so many is one of the reason's I joined Goodreads. I was finding I was purchasing more than one copy. Just finished Margaret Mallory's The Sinner, great story. It's the second book in her The Highlanders series. So lets see, a couple of what's in my massive TBR pile is Dangerous Desires by Dee Davis, and The Copper Beech by Maeve Binchy. Both of these authors are new to me. My favorite authors don't seem to stay in the TBR pile very long.
3. How did you come up with the name and settings for Holiday Magic The Gift of Love?
This is a two story anthology I did with a dear friend and fellow author. Laurie and I share an almost surreal connection. We didn't know each other when we were younger and yet we named our children with the same or similar names. The other day we were at an event and even though our ticket numbers were miles apart. Mine was drawn and hers was drawn next. This was in a pot of around a hundred tickets. No wonder when we handed each other our stories for critique we found that they had the same flavor. Both are about family. Both have a heroine who is going it alone until . . . The one thing we did purposely decide was that it would be a Christmas book. We didn't come up with the Priceless Love "For Richer, For Poorer" and Healing Love "In Sickness and in Health" until after the stories were well underway. Mainly because the one thing we do differ in is that Laurie is a plotter while I'm a seat of the pants author.
4. What is your favorite TV shows?
I seem to keep loyal to the ones that have been around for a while. Criminal Minds, and CSI. I like the new shows Body of Proof and Charlie's Angels. I'm into a few of the reality shows. The Amazing Race for one. We find we've been to some of the places and it fun to see things a tourist wouldn't see. Another is Survivor; I could never rough it to this degree. And I love watching The Biggest Loser. While I'm stuffing my face with popcorn J.
5. What is in works for the future?
I want to finish some of the stories I have started. And, I have the first book in a series called The Blackhawk Brothers coming out in February 2012. It's a contemporary set in western Montana. This story is Coopers. I hope to have Grants contracted and out in 2012 as well.
Thanks Lucy for allowing me to stop by today! I hope your readers will leave a comment or two, I'll be checking in all day.