Rose Anderson Interview and giveaway!

Hello Rose! Thank you so much for being here today.

Thanks for having me Leagh!
Why don't we start off by you telling us a little bit about yourself.

I’m a relatively new author trying to learn how to balance promotion with actual writing. I’ve two books in print since March 2011 and several more irons in the fire.

What is your normal day like?

I think my day is pretty dull actually! I get up, make coffee, drink coffee, walk dogs, feed dogs, play with dogs (if I don’t then I’m hounded with squeaky toys until I do). Then I see to the details of being a new author. Any given day I might have 60 or more emails or I might have a guest post to write or an interview to complete. I’ll try to get to my own blog if there’s time. Whew. By ten o’clock I’m writing my work in progress. If the Muse is on my side that day, I might get several chapters completed. I’ve recently added a stint on the treadmill to my daily repertoire because sitting all day is turning my muscle to mush and a recent study says that is seriously unhealthy for my kidneys and my heart. If I could figure out how to duct tape my laptop and coffee cup holder to my treadmill, and have the dogs in tow behind me, I’d be all set!

What are some of your favorites ~ music, movie, drinks, foods, etc. Dislikes?

Oh my, where to start?
To combat shyness, I had a two semester stint as a DJ back in college so I love just about all kinds of music. My favorite anytime music would be Celtic instrumentals and American bluegrass.

There are a few movies I never tire of and it’s too hard to pick just one – Lord of the Rings (all 3), Harry Potter (all), Little Women, Pride and Prejudice, Casablanca, Gone with the Wind, Master and Commander, Carnivale (all), and Horatio Hornblower (all)

As far as potent drinks go, I’m a lightweight! I do enjoy a Fuzzy Navel (peach schnapps and orange juice) now and then. I also enjoy lemon in any form from lemonade to limoncello.

Foods would have to be the foods of my youth, those comfort foods everyone grew up with.  From my mother’s side of the family it would have to be spaghetti and meatballs. From my father’s side of the family, it would have to be sauerkraut. I wouldn’t walk away from a plate of either. lol

Dislikes? 

In music: I do not like rap, whiny country music, ear puncturing heavy metal (unless there’s actually a rhythm there), and some improv jazz. 

In movies and books I really dislike gratuitous violence. If violence is necessary to the story, then sure put some in. I’ve read an author not long ago who uses violence as filler to her stories. It doesn’t move the tale along. In many cases it had nothing to do with anything happening. At that point it merely appears to be torture and gore taking up so many pages to make a book longer. I recently saw the movie The Immortals. I had such high hopes for the story of Theseus but unfortunately I had to endure Mickey Rourke, as King Hyperion, torture, maim, and murder a poor soul once every five minutes. One time to illustrate what a bad guy he was would have been sufficient, twice even. I can extrapolate when someone is baked alive, I don’t need to experience it on the big screen nor need to see the aftermath just to remove any doubt that it just happened. Wow, how’s that for opinionated? LOL I wonder if Roger Ebert would agree with me. 

In drinks: I don’t like Guinness or hazelnut coffee. 

In foods: I can’t stand cilantro and a small piece will ruin anything for me. Also, having been force fed liver as a child, I wouldn’t touch organ meats with a ten foot pole. Other than these things, I think I’m fairly easy going and willing to give most anything a fair shot.

Tell us one unusual thing about yourself

This is funny. I’m sitting here writing this and my husband is sitting across from me working on his own book. I just asked him, what’s one unusual thing about me? He said, look around! Ok then. I am a collector. I love old and odd things. My kitchen and dining room walls are filled with kitsch. I’m drawn to 1930 -40’s pottery with their bold bright glazes and little things like Crackerjack toys and wiener whistles. I’m like a magpie. :)

Since it is the holiday season, what is your favorite thing about the holidays and which holiday is your favorite?

Christmas Eve is my favorite thing about the holidays of the winter season. When I was a child, my family celebrated on Christmas Eve. When my four siblings had all gone their separate ways, my older sisters always had the party at their houses. As time brings changes to all families when loved ones are lost, we eventually found ourselves with nowhere to go that night. So my immediate family decided we’d open our home to friends who also had nowhere to go or no family to spend Christmas Eve with. For nineteen years we’ve hosted this party. Last year we had 38 people crammed into my small house. This year I expect 42…so far. There are a lot of people with no one to spend the holiday with. I’ll often get asked if there’s room for one more.

I make all the food, and as everyone should have at least one gift for Christmas, everyone who comes gets a little brown paper goodie bag. My daughter handles the wish basket where people write out their wishes for the coming year. They say whether or not these wishes can be shared later in the evening and they’re always anonymous. Sometimes we sing, mostly we just laugh and enjoy each other. This big extended family is precious to me.

Next to Christmas with family and friends, Halloween is my favorite.

Do you have any traditions that you follow?

Well we do cut our own tree. That was hard for me initially but I began to look at tree farms as open space habitat and the tree itself like a rose. They’re grown to be cut and in the interim between planting and growing large enough to make an appealing Christmas tree, they provide shelter and seeds. The goal for our family is to find an old bird’s nest for luck. If we find one in a tree, it doesn’t matter of the tree is perfect or homely. That’ll be the one for us. More than once we’ve decorated a Christmas bush or Christmas telephone post. Occasionally we’ll get a tree that looks the part. :) 

Ok so now onto the book...

DREAMSCAPE is a book with a ghost hero, what prompted you to write about that?

I have a poet friend, a penpal, and he and I were exchanging emails one day and got on the subject of the impossible scenario. I remembered the old black and white movie The Ghost and Mrs. Muir. Now there was an impossible love story. I thought I could make that work. I like writing challenges of that sort.

Can you tell us a bit about the book?

I’ll give you the blurb. Blurbs are so hard to write and this one sums up the story perfectly:

 Unable to deny his own translucence, Dr. Jason Bowen determines his lack of physical substance could only mean one thing—he’s a ghost. Murdered more than a century before, Jason haunts his house and ponders the treachery that took his life. When Lanie O’Keefe arrives with plans to renovate her newly purchased Victorian mansion, Jason discovers, ghost or not, he’s still very much a man. Despite its derelict condition and haunted reputation, Lanie couldn’t be happier with her new home, but then she has no idea a spirit follows her every move throughout the day and shares her captivating warmth at night. Jason soon discovers he can travel through Lanie’s dreams and finds himself reliving the days before his murder with Lanie by his side. It took one hundred and twenty years for love to find them, but there’s that insurmountable little matter of Jason being dead.

Is this a series and if so, how many books are you planning?

No, Dreamscape is a story that ends with the last chapter. My next story coming soon is a two-book tale.

Where did the character and plot ideas come from for this book?

I’m one of those write by the seat of my pants authors. I literally start writing and the characters come in from the sidelines and tell me who they are. Lanie, the modern woman is a doctor on a mission to rehab an old Victorian property into a living space for her and the old coach house into free clinic. Jason Bowen is also a doctor of the Victorian era. They had a lot in common but were separated by death.

I started out just writing a love story along the lines of The Ghost and Mrs. Muir. But as I completed the second chapter, I realized my ghost didn’t know how he came to be a ghost. It was a mystery. I recalled that as a child I enjoyed reading Agatha Christie, and the idea for the rest of the plot just popped into my head. Dreamscape is a contemporary erotic romance but it’s also a ghost story, a murder, a mystery, a suspense, a time travel of sorts, and on top of all that, it’s a literary puzzle. Under Agatha’s influence, I decided I’d make it an Easter egg hunt for my readers. Going back to the first two chapters with that in mind, I inserted clues. I’ve laid out so many clues, a savvy reader could uncover the story running behind the scenes. Most readers who comment are blown away by the ending because they thought it was going one way, then they changed their mind and thought it would go another way. In the end, it goes Jason and Lanie’s way. And it’s a surprise! :)

What was your favorite part of this book, without spoiling it for your readers of course?

Jason has no recollection of his murder and not knowing has dogged him for one hundred and twenty years. Once he realizes he can ride Lanie’s dreams to his time period, he looks for every opportunity to do so. My favorite scene takes place in Jason’s past where he and Lanie overhear a conversation between his wife and her accomplices as they plot his death and their reasons for it.

Are you planning on continuing with more stories like this one?

I might write another literary puzzle one day, but I don’t see another ghost story on the horizon. For now I’m finishing book two of my shape shifter series. Then after that it’s back to my novel set on the Isle of Sky – I was nearly half-way into that one, but the shape shifter knocked hard on my imagination and demanded his story go first. And unless the Muse has other plans and gives me another story to write, I’ll finish my 4-year-in-the-making, 5-book, as yet unnamed Magnum Opus. In between, I’ll publish three childrens’ books. Whew. I’m busy!

Thank you so much for being on my blog today. It was a pleasure having you!!!

Thanks  again Leagh. I appreciate the time it took to come up with such interesting questions! Should anyone be interested in my books or in contacting me, I can be found just about anywhere these days. Here are several of my links. I’d love when people stop and say hi. :)

My blog: http://calliopeswritingtablet.com/

My page at my publisher's site: Siren-Bookstrand_RoseAnderson   

My book trailers:  MusesWritingTablet

Yes I tweet, let's be friends! @roseanderson_  (notice the _  at the end) 

And we can be friends here too! Google+ Circles (I'm not on Facebook)

Now for the contest! One random commenter will have the option of either a Love Waits in Unexpected Places T-shirt or tote bag. Please leave a comment with your email address telling us what you think about having a ghost as a hero. Winners will be chosen on Friday and notified early next week. You will have 48 hours to contact me or a new winner will be announced.

* Email is required for entry. Sorry but no email means no entry.