The Right Combination
Today I’m pleased and excited to introduce Nancy Loyan. She’s celebrating her newest Crimson Romance release, The Right Combination. As you’ll see in the interview, Nancy gets the very most out of life, and that spirit translates to her writing. Thanks, Nancy, for being my guest today…
Thank you, Liv, for having me as a guest on your wonderful blog. I’m honored.
1. LR: In reading through the bio on your website, all I could think was, “Wow, when this woman says ‘Been there – done that”, she MEANS it. Which bullet point on your resume do you lean on most heavily for your fiction?
NS: Travel experiences tend to play an important role in my fiction. Exotic and unusual locations, people, and cultures tend to provide ideas for my novels. My travel resume and my novels tend to have a great deal in common.
My first published novel, Paradise Found was inspired by three weeks spent in the exotic Seychelles Islands, where William and Kate had their honeymoon.
My Crimson Romance debut Lab Test is set in Detroit and its suburbs because my oldest brother lived there and I summer camped in the area. Plus, my beloved Lab mix, Ebony, inspired the story about a woman turned into a black Lab.
The Right Combination, my May 27 release, is set on Maui, my favorite Hawaiian island. The safe industry is an integral part of the plot because I collect and have written about antique safes and vaults.
2. LR: The Right Combination looks like a great read! I’m a UH grad, so stories set in Hawaii are right up my alley. What do you think is the most compelling thing about it, the thing that kept your butt in the chair through hours of writing and revising?
NS: I would say that the lush setting, unique plot and hot hero kept me glued to my seat. The true joy was writing about safes and vaults, the industry and the people. Incorporating what I know and sharing an unusual occupation and product made it fun. Creating a plot about a serial killer stalking safe and vault technicians allowed my imagination to run wild. The theme is ‘no man or woman is an island’, since my hero is of Cuban descent and my heroine a native Hawaiian. Pulling all of the elements together into a novel was fun.
As for setting, I realize that I tend to write about tropical islands during the harsh Ohio winters.
3. LR: Given your varied experiences as a writer, do you ever teach writing classes? If you had to recommend one writing resource, either a class or a book or a workshop, what would that be?
NS: Funny that you would ask. I am instructing a course, “Beyond Fifty Shades: Writing the Romance Novel and Women’s Fiction” at the esteemed Chautauqua Institution in New York State for a week in August this year. This is the second time that I was selected to teach a writing course there. It will be my sixth year, however, instructing Middle Eastern belly dance for two weeks at the Institution. It’s an honor because one has to reapply every year and getting selected is like being accepted to Harvard.
The same writing course that I’m instructing at the Institution is being offered as an adult education class in conjunction with the local school system and the YMCA this fall.
My all time favorite writing books is Stephen King’s On Writing. He’s the best and most realistic.
LR LR: Clutter or quiet? Describe your perfect writing situation.
NS: (grin) When my husband is out of the house and I’m alone and it’s quiet. As for clutter, I’m surrounded by clutter. After all, “A clean house is the sign of a misspent life.” It’s the writer’s mantra!
5. LR: How to you juggle all your hats (fiction/nonfiction writer, actor, belly dance instructor)?
NS: I ask myself that question quite often. Somehow, I manage. I’m a master multi-tasker. By day, I wear out my mind by writing, blogging, and spending too much time on the computer. At night, I wear out my body as a Middle Eastern belly dance instructor for the YMCA and private students. I occasionally perform at family friendly private events and with a world music band, UZIZI. I also give dance lecture-performance workshops for women’s organizations and groups.
6. LR: Tell us about belly dancing. How did you get into it in the first place? Are you still performing and teaching?
NS: Ever since graduating from high school, I made a pact with myself to learn at least two new skills a year. I’ve kept it, too. One of those skills was signing up for a belly dance class through a local recreation department. A veteran cabaret dancer taught the class and belly dance was love at first sight. As a child I always wanted to study dance but finances and such wouldn’t allow it. Belly dance, unlike so many other dance forms, is for all ages. Discovering it opened up a whole new world. That was thirty years ago and I’m still dancing. I have attended dance workshops, seminars and have studied with many instructors. The highlight was a trip a few years ago to the famous Ahlan Wa Sahlan dance festival at the base of the Pyramids in Cairo, Egypt. Spending three weeks in Egypt, touring, learning about the cultural roots of the dance, studying with Egypt’s best, observing performances and shopping was the most memorable part of my dance journey … so far.
I currently instruct for the YMCA and have private students. I have been selected for the sixth “Season” to instruct belly dance for two weeks at The Chautauqua Institution. A couple of years ago I was the first non-ballet presenter/dancer before their prestigious Dance Circle and was featured in The Chautauquan newspaper. I’ve been interviewed by Jamestown radio and am in advertising videos for the Institution. It’s been an honor and a privilege to be a part of such a renowned educational program.
I perform occasionally at family friendly events and perform with a world music band, UZIZI. I also give lecture/performance programs with audience participation.
7. LR: Football, basketball, baseball or soccer? Which one gets your blood moving the fastest – or is there another sport you prefer?
NS: Actually, I’m neither a jock nor do I watch spectator sports or enjoy group sports. I enjoy participatory activities. When I had the time, I was a figure skater, cross-country and downhill skier. If I had the time, I’d hike and bike. Can’t you tell that I was the last one chosen for basketball in school gym class? My physical activity at the present is relegated to belly dance and lifting weights.
8. LR: What’s next on your horizon? Describe your current WIP(s) or other upcoming project.
NS: Let’s just say that I have two WIP’s. Of course, each one takes place in my favorite locations. Not telling yet.
I do, however, have two future releases with Crimson Romance.
Special Angel , to be released in October. Is about the world’s most famous singer and the journalist assigned to uncover her mysterious past. He gets more than he bargained for.
Champagne for Breakfast, a future release, is more women’s mainstream fiction. An historical, it takes place during the 1970’s and 1980’s. It is about a famous architect with a mysterious past wand deep secrets and the naive fashion model who loves him. I call it my Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn inspired novel and it takes place in my favorite cities: Cleveland, New York City and Paris.
Thank you for having me as your guest.
And thank you, Nancy, for being my guest 
Blurb for The Right Combination.
Raphael (Rafe) has prided himself in being in control of his life, but now he’s adrift. He’s a Hispanic man uncomfortable with his heritage, a playboy who knows he has to settle down, a man who pretends that family doesn’t matter when it does, and an FBI agent who thinks he’s at the top of his game only to be demoted by a serial killer.
Nalani Hana is far removed from the US Mainland and prefers it that way. Though a descendent of Hawaiian royalty, she prefers the simplicity of her secluded cottage on Maui. Born and raised into the safe business, she carries on her father’s legacy at N. Hana Safe & Lock Company.
Now someone is murdering the country’s legendary safe and vault technicians. Once a month, a safe man is found strangled and stuffed into a safe with three fingers severed. Raphael has to find the killer before he strikes again. The question is whether Nalani Hana is a suspect or the pawn of a demented killer.
The Right Combination is available from Crimson Romance, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, ARe, and other fine ebook retailers.
Here Nancy demonstrates her safe-cracking skills
Biography
Purveyor of the written word, Nancy Loyan Schuemann has been writing ever since she began composing picture books for fellow students in elementary school.
After graduating with a BSBA degree in marketing from John Carroll University, she pursued a career in sales and marketing. During the past ten years she has incorporated those skills into a professional writing career. She is a freelance writer specializing in construction, design, architecture, histories, profiles, antique safes, dance, travel and special interest in local and national publications. She has taught writing at the prestigious Chautauqua Institution in New York State.
Nancy is a Cleveland, Ohio native who shares her knowledge of the city as author of “Cleveland, Ohio: A Photographic Portrait” and “On the Threshold of a New Century: The City of South Euclid, 1967-1999.” Her love, however, is writing women’s fiction. Her first novel, “Paradise Found,” a multicultural romance set in the exotic Seychelles Islands was published in 2011. She has since contracted with Crimson Romance (a division of Adam’s Media) for several novels, her first release being “Lab Test,” a humorous paranormal romance.
She incorporates her love of dogs and travel into her novels. Travel has taken her around the world, including trips to Europe, Great Britain, South America, Egypt and the exotic Seychelles Islands. When she’s not writing, Nancy teaches and performs, Middle Eastern dance as “Nailah.” She shares her life with her husband and her Pointer/Labs, Amber and Topaz. Her web site is www.NLSScribe.com
You can contact Nancy at…
Her Amazon author page http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=nancy+loyan
On Facebook www.facebook.com/nancy.l.schuemann
On Twitter https://twitter.com/NLSScribe
On Pinterest https://pinterest.com/9nls
And on her website(s) www.NLSScribe.com
