QUEST APPEARANCE M KATE QUINN

Relax and grab your favorite cup of coffee, or tea, and join me in welcoming Marykate Quinn to a special Monday morning interview.  Summer Iris is her latest release, from The Wild Rose Press.  Moonlight and Violet will be releasing in April 2011.

1)      When did you first start writing? I’ve been writing all my life.  My earliest recollection was in the second grade when my teacher, Mrs. Sprowl, wrote a partial sentence on the blackboard that went something like “Once upon a time there was a little girl…” and it was our job to write what comes next.  I was in ecstasy.

2)      What genre do you write in?  Why did you choose it? I write romantic comedies.  I am a natural wise guy.  I’m the comic relief at a party, as my stepson, Keith, just recently pointed out to me.  Also, I am a diehard romantic.  I watched the same movie “Scaramouche,” a gazillion times when I was a kid because I fell madly in love with Stewart Granger who was the swashbuckling male lead.

3)      Would you work on a series?  If yes, what do you like about it? What made you decide to do it? I am currently writing a series I call “The Perennials,” which is a series of romantic comedies about middle-age-ish women meeting life’s ups and downs and coming to realize they are resilient, just like perennial flowers.  The only thing that links all three books is the type of women they are and the face that they each have the name of a flower.  They are:  “Summer Iris” (available now through The Wild Rose Press); “Moonlight and Violet” (releasing April 2011 from The Wild Rose Press); and “Brookside Daisy” currently in the edit stages.

4)      Do you have a ritual before sitting down to write?  Do you listen to music, light candles, or wear something sexy to put you in the mood for creating love scenes?    If I’m writing a romantic scene I do like to have music playing the background.  Something like Michael Buble maybe or Rod Stewart’s CD of remakes of the standards.  I often light candles when I begin my work day as a mood setter and as inspiration, very “New Age-ish.”

5)      Do you work on more the one project at a time?  If you do, how do you keep the stories from meshing together?Yes, I do manage to juggle a couple of things at the same time and it can be maddening.  For me that tends to happen when I’m working on a new manuscript while tending to edits of the previous one. 

6)      How much time in your busy day do you spend on your craft?  I consider myself extremely lucky as I get to write full-time.  I retired from the business world three years ago and since then have devoted myself to writing.

7)      Since the holiday season is approaching, do you have a favorite holiday movie or special event and why do you love it?  How can you not love “It’s A Wonderful Life,” right?  I mean, when George finds ZuZu’s petals in his pocket is a killer.  Also, I like a sleeper called “Home for the Holidays” that’s a comedy but has such poignancy to it about families.

8)      What season do you find to be the one that sparks more new romances, and why? Well, Christmas is a very heartfelt time of year, and the whole Currier and Ives mindset is conducive to the cozy fire and mulled cider atmosphere.  Yet, I am drawn to all seasons for their special aspects.  I love the beach in the summer but I love it in September, too.  I think autumn is lush and hearty.  All the seasons are full of sparks.  (I really like this question…lol.)

9)      If your most recent novel was made into a movie, who would you like to see cast in the lead roles, and why? For Summer Iris, I’ve had the idea of Valerie Bertinelli as Iris and her best friend, Yvonne, I thought Joan Kusak would be awesome.  I love her.  And for the TWO men in the book I see Ted Dansen as Sam and Tony Danza as Eddie.

10)  Do you have a particular author whose work inspires you?  If yes, who, and why? I have so many favorite authors, each a fave for different things.  I am a big fan of Jennifer Weiner for her funny way at seeing life, Debbie Macomber for her wholesome relationships, Anita Shreve for her incredible writer’s eye.

11)  Can you give away any of your secret indulgences?  We promise not to tell. Well, if I said red wine there’s almost no one on the planet that doesn’t know that about me, so that’s no secret, however it’s one of my favorite indulgences.  So, I’ll tell you this one, I watch “All My Children.”  I can’t help it.  I’ve watched it since it came on and I was a kid.

12)  Would you give us a hint about your work in progress?  We’re dying to know what’s coming next. What’s coming next is “Moonlight and Violet,” which is a story about a forty something single career woman faced with going back to the lodge in Vermont where her family vacationed while she was growing up.  It’s her baby sister’s big fat wedding and the week-long event throws Violet into her Italian mother’s clutches, her sister’s idiosyncrasies, and reunites her with her first love, Logan Monroe, the man who broke her heart many years ago.

 Can you share an excerpt of your latest release?

The only time in my life that ever turned out like it

does in the movies, of course, was now.

            Eddie put the key into the lock, gave it a good hard twist and it opened easy as pie. Sadly I didn’t have a pie on me, because the look he gave me deserved a pie to be tossed right smack in his face.

            As he handed the key back to me, he gave the keychain a look.

            “Thank you,” I said, reaching for the key, which he did not immediately relinquish.

            “You’re welcome,” he said, then read the inscription aloud, “the voice of the sea speaks to the soul.” Then he gracefully placed the keychain into my waiting palm. I did not comment.

            “A special meaning of some kind?” he asked.

            Oh, brother. I am not getting into a lengthy discussion with him. “It’s just a message from a friend.”

            “Oh, a message from the friend that gave you the key?”

            “Yes,” I said as he stepped away from the doorway.

            “Well,” Eddie said with a devilish smile as he stepped off the front porch. “Tell your friend to spray that lock with a little WD-40 so it doesn’t stick when you want to open it.”

            Oh, I intended to talk to my friend all right. I could not wait to tell Yvonne that her birthday cottage came with its very own gorilla.

13)  Where can we find you? Website, face book, blog, email?

My website is: http://www.mkatequinn.com/.  I’d love to hear from your readers.

My blog is: http://www.mkatequinn.blogspot.com/

Thank you so much Marykate for making a guest appearance today.  We’ve enjoyed spending time with you and look forward to reading your latest release.