Friday Special with Marsha R West!
On occasion I write a Friday post. Today is a special one for a special friend. We’re celebrating Marsha West’s release of her debut novel, VERMONT ESCAPE!
I’m super pleased to be visiting you, Jerrie, on the birthday of VERMONT ESCAPE because you played a big part in the book making it to publication. Guests can expect chocolate cake, Merlot, tea and coffee (iced or hot depending on the temps where you are.) balloons and who doesn’t love bubbles? We’d do fireworks, but they’re outlawed most places.
Marsha, I’m honored to be the first to host you as a published author! 
We should really warn folks. When we get together the conversations are LENGTHY! 
So, Jerrie, let’s see what you want to know.
Q. Do you do any special research for your novels?
Depending on the book, I do. VERMONT ESCAPE deals with a gambling threat and I needed to know where Vermont was on that issue. For Texas, I keep up with all that, just by reading the paper every morning. (I know there aren’t many of us left, but I still like the feel of the newsprint.J)
I went on-line to Vermont.gov and found lots of info. They call their legislature the assembly. The body meets every year as opposed to in Texas, which meets every other year. Because of story issues, I had to know when the term ran. What were their gambling laws and their gun laws? I’d visited Woodstock two times and had maps and info on business and things like that. It really helped to have been there. (I just realized I failed to mention in my acknowledgements in the book the friend, Klaran Warner, who several years ago introduced me to Woodstock. L Nothing is perfect, try as hard as we might.)
Even during the final edits, my heart stopped when I thought for a moment I’d messed up about electronic cigarettes. Quick search of the internet led to a big sigh of relief. What I’d written was okay.
For other books, I’ve checked out how you join a police department, how/where can you do paternity testing in Fort Worth. The internet is amazing. But best are real live people. Info on gas leasing came from DH and a son-in-law. Real Estate info came from Daughter 1.
I usually write about stuff that I’m familiar with. However, I remember with my third book about a small town theatre a contest judge told me I was wrong on some specifics of what was going on in the theatre. Really reamed me out for writing about stuff I didn’t know or hadn’t researched. Again, I called my resident expert, this time Daughter # 2, who’d worked in the particular theatre I modeled the one in my story on, and in New York. She confirmed I was right. I refrained from writing the judge back to correct her, just learned from the experience. When I judge and notice something odd, I ask if they’re sure of their facts, but never tell them they’re wrong.
Q. What made you pick your particular genre?
I’ve always been a reader because my parents read to me. I can remember being a little girl, lying in bed at night, and they took turns reading The Bobbsy Twins to me. As a kid, I read Nancy Drew and the Danna Girls. Loved the mystery. My mother shared her Emily Loring books with me, and I was captured by that Happily Ever After. They sometimes had a tad of mystery to them. When they didn’t, I realized I missed that. Then of course, after reading Rebecca by Daphne du Mauier, I was totally hooked on romantic suspense. I went on to read Victoria Holt, Mary Stuart and Phyllis Whitney. I like romances. I like mystery/suspense. But when they’re put together? That’s just perfect.
LOL So the short answer to your question is I write what I love to read.
Q. What are you working on right now? Can you tell us about it?
I thought I’d be submitting TRUTH BE TOLD (SWAT member wants to stop her father’s blackmailer. Brother’s former partner struggles with physical limitations received saving her brother’s life.) to my publisher by now, but pre-publication activities have swamped me. I might still get it in before Friday, which was my goal. So I’m not writing anything now. Just doing the marketing end of the writing business. Whenever I get TRUTH submitted, then I’ll finish off SECOND CHANCES, which follows up with a secondary character from VE. Gosh, then I’ll begin writing something brand new. Should be a follow up the Second Chances.
Q. Do you ever hit the wall or find you’ve written yourself into a corner? How do you turn that around?
You know I’m a plotter, Jerrie, but even with doing that, I find times when I scratch my head and say, “What now?” I’ll go back to my internal/external conflict charts, which I use to plan what’s supposed to happen next. I’ll re-read the last chapter to see if that won’t stir some things up. When those two things don’t work, I call real live people and bounce ideas off them. J One of those usually works.
Okay…enough with the business questions! How about some fun stuff. You know, just between the two of us.
Q. The opportunity to go on a surprise vacation arises. You have 90 minutes to pack and get to the airport. Where will you go and what will you pack?
I love this question. Anybody who knows me knows I’m taking off for New England, probably somewhere along the rocky coast of Maine: Camden, Bar Harbor, Rockport, and York Beach (though this is a sandy beach). Moosehead Lake up northwest is also spectacular. Perhaps Booth Bay Harbor where we’re going in October will become my favorite. I love the history, the old homes and buildings, the gorgeous trees. Along that rocky coastline, the stone is amazing. Add in the crash of the waves with highs seldom in the 90s, and I’m a happy camper.
Even though, I’ve been fortunate to go there many times, in all honesty, I don’t think I can pack in 90 minutes. I’m a planner. I try to make outfits coordinate. Limit the number of shoes. That sort of thing takes a while. Let’s assume everything was clean and I could fit into everything J then…jeans, long & short sleeved Ts, sweaters, good walking shoes, probably car coat (regardless of the season, it can turn really chilly, though I have friends up there who say, it’s unseasonably warm right now-like low 90s), lap top, I-phone, Nook, and DH. Oh and skin care products so I stay young looking. LOL
Q. Are you more likely to be spotlighted on the TV show Hoarders or Fashion Police?
Think I’m going with Fashion Police even though most days you’ll find me around the house in jeans and a t-shirt. (Perhaps one with a collar, but still a t-shirt) So I’m not a likely candidate for the fashion show. If we’re going somewhere, I spend a lot of time figuring out what to wear, maybe even shopping for something. I also notice what other people are wearing and what’s in the stores in the mall.
Q. If they make a movie about your life, who do you want to play your part?
Sally Field. I really identified with her in Steel Magnolias. Her character and I both wore our hair the same way for 20 years. LOL But there have been times in our lives when Patty Duke and I really resembled each other. Both of these are short and have played strong women. Of course, I haven’t been as small as they are in many moons. I wouldn’t think it necessary for them to put on weight to play the role. LOL
Q. Tell us one thing about you that might surprise us…it can be a secret…we won’t tell.
Well, only if you promise. When I was in 8th grade, I wanted to be a US Senator. Think I’d just learned about Claire Booth Luce. She was cool, and powerful, and she wrote the wonderful play, The Women. It was so fun to watch the original movie on TV just the other evening.
Here’s a few quickies. What’s your favorite:
Sound?
Ocean crashing on the shore
Romantic song?
Almost anything by Barry Manilow: Weekend in New England, Can’t Smile Without You, Looks Like We Made It to name a few.
Day?
Any day I can stay home and get a lot of work done. Any day I’m on vacation. (What can I say? I must have something of a split personality. J)
Smell?
Tea tree oil my daughter uses to clean her Pilates studio. It makes me think of a spa. Also Lavender/Vanilla body soufflé from Origins. And popcorn. (Sorry, I couldn’t do just one.)
Blurb:
Jill Barlow flees to Woodstock, Vermont after her husband and then her father are murdered. The gambling syndicate will kill again for the damning evidence she possesses.
Considering buying a crystal store, Jill is surprised by the attraction she feels for the owner’s son, Jerrod Phillips. He’s a Vermont State Assemblyman and seems to resent her presence in his town. A terrifying series of break-ins shatter her peaceful new life. Will Jerrod put aside his suspicions to help her? Jill is scared but doesn’t tell her adult children that violence continues to stalk them.
Despite having lost so much already, with the lives of her family and friends at stake, will Jill be required to make more sacrifices?
Excerpt VERMONT ESCAPE:
Jill Barlow reached for her make-up kit and brushed against the one thing she’d been doing her damnedest to avoid. Her heart rate tripped into overtime.
The package she received days after her dad was murdered. One month ago, but she couldn’t face opening a reminder of the nightmare.
Pictures of her vigorous father mixed with recent images of his closed casket. Nausea hit. Again. Damn. Why would someone blow off her father’s head? She didn’t stay to find out. She ran.
She’d pushed herself on a four-day trip from Texas to Vermont. Emotionally and physically exhausted, all she wanted to do was unpack her pajamas and climb into bed. Habit required she clean and moisturize her face. Habit provided comfort when life was chaotic. Habit could get her through the worst. Or not.
In the Woodstock Inn suite, her hand trembled when she removed the package and dropped it onto the bed where it lay on the white coverlet like a scorpion.
Hands propped on her knees, she leaned over, drew in needed oxygen. A minute passed, and then she straightened.
“Okay, open this. Every time you’ve come across the thing, you implode, morphing into a quivering mass of mush.”
Hey, guys, sorry for sending another post, but I didn’t send a good link yesterday. Here are 3 good ones.
B & N http://goo.gl/1lR6D
Amazon http://goo.gl/qhzBm
BIO:
Marsha R. West, a retired elementary school principal, is also a former school board member and threatre arts teacher. She writes romantic suspense. Experience required. Her heroes and heroines, struggling with life and loss, are surprised to discover second chances at love.
Marsha, who loves to travel, lives in Texas with her supportive lawyer husband. They’ve raised two daughters who’ve presented them with three delightful grandchildren. She admits to being at the beck and call of two dogs, who run her home.
She’s currently editing her latest work in progress.
Social Links
http://www.marsharwest.com/category/blog for Thoughts on Thursday and Tuesday Author Chats
https://www.facebook.com/#!/marsha.r.west
http://www.twitter.com/Marsharwest
She’d love to hear from you.
