I'd like to welcome to the stage friend and fellow Romance Gem, Liz Flaherty! Liz agreed to answer some questions for me and tell us about her latest release...
Thanks for having me here today, M.J. It seems as if I’ve been all over the place with the first two books of Colors, the Harper Loch Trilogy. Both Pieces of Blue and Patches of Red are on sale for 99 cents for the next few days, so I hope your readers will give them a look!
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GXNQNJ1P
I had
fun answering the interview questions. I always feel as if I come to know
myself better in an interview. I’m not exactly sure what that says about me,
but there you go.
When did your love for writing start?
I have
two answers for that question, and they’re both accurate. When I was nine, I
read Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women and realized that I was Jo
March. I didn’t have a garret to write in, nor did I sell a story until many,
many years later, but I knew. I knew.
The
other answer is that, also when I was nine, my aunt let me type on her portable
Royal typewriter—I think to get me out of her hair and shut up for at least
five minutes. It took me all afternoon, but I wrote a story and dreamed up an
entire adult life comprised of living in the city apartment with a doorman,
writing books, and being fabulously rich.
One of
three isn’t bad.
I'm sure that doorman is just around the corner. :) What
is something you struggle with when you write?
I think
this will sound a little goofy … not to mention self-serving … but it might be
something some others identify with. What I struggle with most these days is
the limitations I put on myself because of my age. Let’s be honest here—some of
my grandkids are plenty old enough to be romance novel main characters. While I
love every single thing about them, we don’t even speak the same language. Our
core values mesh, pretty much, but our methods are poles apart. I not only
can’t speak their language, I usually don’t understand it. Which means I can’t
begin to write it.
I love
writing later-in-life romance and women’s fiction, but even then the dramas are
different, the angst is different, and I’m no longer sure the audience is
there. Doesn’t mean I’ll stop looking for it, but … yeah, struggle.
Let's hope we discover some of that audience today. Where do you live? Where would you love to
live?
I live
in the country in Indiana, where I have lived my whole life. Politics and other
difficulties aside, I love it here. What I’d love to do is be able to
take off on a trip whenever I wanted to. Since my husband doesn’t like to
travel, my options are kind of limited, but sometimes there are girlfriend
getaways and visiting the kids in other states. It’s all good.
What
is your concept of a fruitful day?
I love
this question! First, waking up feeling rested and then working in my office
until I’m ready to stop—ending the day with more words in the WIP than I
started with. Talking to family and friends, spending quality time with the guy
in the other recliner, and going to bed tired but pretty content.
That sounds wonderful! Name
your favorite children’s story.
There
were a lot of them, but my sister had a full set of the Raggedy Ann and Andy
books and I loved them. Just as I became Jo March later, I became the doll with
the candy heart when I first learned to read.
That’s
what I hope for when I write grownup books—that the reader will either want to
become the main character for a few hours or just be glad to spend some time
with her.
I sure do! I enjoyed PIECES OF BLUE so much that I purchased PATCHES OF RED! I can't wait to get at it! Thanks for joining us, Liz! I enjoyed your answers to my questions! Now let's find out more about PATCHES OF RED...
Blurb~
He’s
handsome but can’t even remember her name. She’s pretty, but her finickiness
drives him crazy.
After
twenty years as a nurse practitioner in the same practice, Ellie Wentz gives
notice. When office politics interferes with her job, it’s time to get a new
one. When her son and daughter-in-law buy her house and she has sold and given
away everything else that’s not attached to her heartstrings, she packs up what
remains and goes to Harper Loch to spend time with her best friend. She’ll
decide what to do and where to go from there. No matter how much the handsome
friend of her friends annoys her.
Jesse Grant comes to Harper Loch to help out his niece for a few weeks. He’s retired from the navy, his boys are grown, and he’s at loose ends. But he really likes the little lake community in Michigan—he thinks he might stay. Long widowed, he has no interest in getting married again, and neither does the redhead he can’t seem to avoid. And yet ...
Excerpt~
“You have all new days in front of you,” he said now.
“If a chance doesn’t work out, take another one the
next day until something sticks.”
“In theory, I agree,” she said after a moment. “In reality, I think I have some missing pieces. I need to find out what they are.”
He nodded. “Understood.” He’d never found his, just
stitched up all the torn places and gone on. But he remembered feeling just
like she did now. The memory made a painful ache.
They stood in her doorway, leaning against opposite
sides of the frame. Her arms were crossed and she’d put on some kind of sweater
thing over the long dress she wore. The sweater was a creamy color … not quite
white … and it looked soft. How could a woman who was completely covered up and
had her hair in a braid look so sexy?
He realized he didn’t know how to leave any more than
he and the boys knew how to say goodbye on the phone. He and Ellie weren’t
dating, although they were spending time together. They weren’t hooking up,
because it didn’t feel right. At least, not yet.
But he still wanted to stroke the sleeve of her
sweater to know if it was as soft as it looked, to feel the texture of her skin
through the thin fabric. He wanted to touch the long braid to see if it still
held the warmth of the day’s sunshine in it. He thought it probably did.
He wanted to make her feel better.
He was out of practice, he guessed. There weren’t a
lot of single women in his age group in the area, and none that had captured
his imagination beyond being friends. There were several he enjoyed talking to,
a few he’d shared casual meals or trips to movies in Willoughby with, but
somehow things hadn’t clicked.
He hadn’t wanted to touch the sleeves of their
sweaters. The thought made him chuckle, and then he shrugged, because he didn’t
know how to explain it to Ellie’s questioning gaze.
She smiled at him. “Thanks for the tour. I really did
enjoy it.”
“Me, too.”
When her arms came around his neck, her sleeves
touched his skin. They really were soft. So were the hands that linked at his
nape and tunneled into his hair. When she raised her face to his, he met her
halfway, meeting her soft lips in a long and sweet greeting and
farewell-for-now.
Things definitely clicked.
He didn’t try to stop her when she drew away, but he
didn’t take his hands from where he’d set them on her hips as they kissed.
“Well,” he said.
“Indeed,” she said.
“Thank you.”
“You, too.” She smiled at him, although uncertainty
flickered in the expression.
He bent his head, kissing her again. Gently. More
quickly. Just as a promise. Sort of. Because it was too soon for promises, and
he thought maybe neither of them was the promising type.
Had this been the reason for his anxiety earlier? It
didn’t make sense. Or did it? He didn’t do relationships. He wasn’t good at
them. And yet whatever was growing between him and the woman with the soft
sweater was … something. It lent an air of … well, something … to his days and
sometimes his nights. Unease, like he’d thought?
Or anticipation. Maybe.
“I’d better go,” he said, releasing her reluctantly
and stepping away. “See you later, Evelyn.”
“Ellie.”
Uh-oh!
To find out how Jesse gets out of this scrape, buy PATCHES OF RED here:
Amazon:
https://a.co/d/09fZR7nt
D2D: https://books2read.com/u/mZ98YJ
Bio~
Liz Flaherty thinks one of the things that keeps you young when you quite obviously aren’t anymore is the constant chances you have to reinvent yourself. Her latest professional incarnation is as a fledgling women’s fiction author and she is enjoying every minute that she’s not scared to death.
Website: https://www.lizflaherty.net/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/lizkflaherty
Amazon page: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Liz-Flaherty/author/B001J919R4
