Tell us a little about yourself.
Thanks so much for having me here
today, Marie. I'm really excited at the
moment because my fourth book, Dances of the Heart, just
came out Feb. 4th and it's taken a really long time to get this one
out! It's my first contemporary novel so
quite a departure for me, and for someone who has spent most of her life living
in England, it was difficult getting the Texas characters right. At the moment I'm sitting looking out my New
York window at a snowstorm, and trying not to be too nervous about how well I
did.
What do like the most and the least about writing?
I love immersing myself in a world
I've created and seeing where my characters go.
I hear the dialog in my head clearly and love getting those scenes down
on the page. In fact, I love the entire
creative process behind telling a story.
What I hate most is then being expected to sell it! The entire promotional side of writing, I
think, sucks the lifeblood out of it.
Writers are creative people, not salesmen, but then what's the point of
writing a book if no one is going to read it?
Give us a peek into your
latest published work?
Successful, workaholic author
Carrie Bennett lives through her writing, but can’t succeed at writing a man
into her life. Furthermore, her equally successful but cynical daughter, Paige,
proves inconsolable after the death of her fiancé.
Hard-drinking rancher Ray Ryder
can find humor in just about anything—except the loss of his oldest son. His
younger son, Jake, recently returned from Iraq, now keeps a secret that could
shatter his deceased brother’s good name.
On one sultry night in Texas,
relationships blossom when the four meet, starting a series of events that move
from the dancehalls of Hill Country to the beach parties of East Hampton, and
from the penthouses of New York to the backstreets of a Mexican border town.
But the hurts of the past are hard to leave behind, especially when old
adversaries threaten the fragile ties that bind family to family…and lover to
lover.
What’s next on the writing horizon for you?
I've been trying to get back to a book
that takes place in two different time periods, and which is more literary than
previous books I've written.
Unfortunately, I have a couple of health issues at the moment and that
is a real time-suck, but I'm feeling positive and hope to get back to my book
soon.
Excerpt:
Ray pointed to his pickup,
smirking slightly with the knowledge of what her reaction would probably be.
“You
must be joking.”
He
could hardly hear the mumbled comment, but it was exactly what he’d been
expecting.
She
glowered, a brow definitively arched in query.
“What year is this thing?”
He
attempted to wipe the amusement away from his face with a hand that rubbed his
stubble in a satisfying scrape. “Sorry, I left the Cadillac at home this time.”
A raised brow questioned if she took him seriously. “It’s an ’89, and still
runs as smooth as the day I got it.”
“Which
was, what? Last year?”
Ray
shook his head and proceeded to the passenger door. “You have the key,
sweetheart,” he said, patiently standing and waiting.
“Listen!”
Carrie put her hands out as if to stop any further conversation. “First off, I
am not your sweetheart. And second, if by any chance you think you just may
have gotten lucky tonight--”
“Whoa,
whoa now.” Ray was truly mystified at the turn events were taking. “Not that I
wouldn’t be honored and damn well pleased, but I sure as heck wasn’t thinkin’
along those lines...and truth be told, you know, I’m hardly up to it.” He
considered this for a second, a fog clearing for a moment’s view of the road.
“And I don’t mean I need Viagra either.” He noted her staring at the key as if
it might turn into something else. “No, it doesn’t open automatically,” he
informed her at last.
She
shoved the key into the handle and got the door open, climbed up into the cab
and reached across to unlock the door for him. Her gaze ran over the dashboard,
uncertainty scrunching her face like a bitter fruit.
Ray
folded himself into the passenger seat and slouched back, tipping his hat over
his eyes. “Just let me know when you give up. I’ll be right here, darl...” Yeah,
better not. He could almost feel her indignation, listening as she squirmed
around and adjusted the seat.
“It’ll
be a cold day in hell, mister, before I give up!” The key turned and the truck
sputtered to life, then died again.
“You
ever drive manual before?” he mumbled from under his Stetson, and sensed Carrie
eyeing him. “That’s what I thought,” he answered to her lack of response. “Put
your foot on the clutch, move her into first, release the brake, and get goin’,
slowly releasing the clutch.”
“Who
the hell drives stick shift anymore?” she muttered as she followed his terse
instructions. The truck lurched forward as she spun it off the grass toward the
road.
“Right,”
Ray directed, feeling suddenly nauseous with the pitch of the car. Bile rising,
he opened the door and spat before yanking it shut again. “Can you get the damn
thing into second? Foot on the clutch, move the shift and let’s go if we’re
going.”
“Fine!
You don’t have to yell at me.”
Ray
sat up, shoved his hat back from his eyes and glared at her, reining in his
frustration and anger. “I was not yelling at you, but you know dang well we’d
be far safer with me drivin’. As it is, I’m gonna need a new transmission.”
The
truck staggered again. “I know no such thing.” She bent forward to swipe at the
windscreen to clear it. “We haven’t got seatbelts on,” she murmured.
“We’re
not going fast enough to need them.”
Carrie
ignored his last remark and appeared to concentrate on keeping the truck
moving. It sputtered again, and Ray let out a sigh of resignation just as
flashing blue lights appeared in the side mirror. She pulled over, and the
motor unceremoniously died.
“Damn!”
she cursed, reaching down for her bag at Ray’s feet. “Let me get my license.”
Is there anything you want to tell readers?
Well, if there's one thing I'd like to
tell readers it's about the importance of reviews for our books. Good or bad, it's always nice to know what a
reader's reaction is, how we're doing.
Often a line or two is all it takes and it makes a world of difference
to us.
Bio:
Andrea
Downing likes to say that when she decided to do a Masters Degree, she made the
mistake of turning left out of New York, where she was born, instead of right
to the west, and ended up in the UK.
She eventually married there, raising a beautiful daughter and staying
for longer than she cares to admit.
Teaching, editing a poetry magazine, writing travel articles, and a
short stint in Nigeria filled those years until in 2008 she returned to
NYC. She now divides her time between
the city and the shore, and often trades the canyons of New York for the wide
open spaces of Wyoming. Family vacations
are often out west and, to date, she and her daughter have been to some 20
ranches throughout the west. Loveland,
her first book, was a finalist for Best American Historical at the 2013 RONE
Awards. Lawless Love, a
short story, part of The Wild Rose Press ‘Lawmen and Outlaws’ series, was a
finalist for Best Historical Novella at the RONE Awards and placed in the 2014 International Digital Awards
Historical Short contest. Dearest
Darling, a novella, is part of The Wild Rose Press Love Letters
series, and came out Oct. 8th, 2014, and Dances of the Heart,
her first contemporary novel, comes out in February, 2015.
Links to Social
Media:
WEBSITE AND BLOG: http://andreadowning.com
Twitter: @andidowning
https://twitter.com/AndiDowning
Linkedin:
http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=124888740&trk=nav_responsive_tab_profile_pic
AMAZON
AUTHOR PAGE: http://www.amazon.com/Andrea-Downing/e/B008MQ0NXS/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0
Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Dances-Heart-Andrea-Downing-ebook/dp/B00S46BGY6/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1421510959&sr=8-2&keywords=Dances+of+the+Heart
Thanks for being my guest today Andrea
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