Fridays Firsts with ERIN McCAULEY

The first five lines of... THE CONFESSION

Aimee gripped the steering wheel, her stomach churning as she stared at the mansion in front of her and the reality of where she was sank in. She still couldn’t believe she’d come all the way to California, and she didn’t have any idea what to do now.

The towering front door opened, and a tall man in a T-shirt and tattered blue jeans emerged. His dark hair caught the light from the sun as he stepped off the porch, giving the impression of a glowing halo. She gasped when he smiled and waved at her.

Genre: Contemporary Romance
Publisher: Crimson Romance

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Crimson Romance

Available now!

 

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FUN FIRST FACTS ABOUT ERIN

1. What was the first Rated R movie you ever saw?

It was my birthday, I was either turning 12 or 13, and we told my parents the group of us were going to a Disney movie, but instead snuck into Halloween. I’m not sure you can even say I actually “saw” the movie, because I had my hand over my eyes the whole time (I still watch scary movies that way). After it was over and we met my parents out in the lobby, I was still shaking and told my mom I had the caffeine shakes. So when we were all loaded into the car, my mother mentions that they’d decided to go see the “new scary movie,” and how they couldn’t hear a word of it because of the group of teenagers sitting in the front row screaming their heads off. Sigh, yeah, she knew it was us. Luckily, she let the nightmares we all had that night be our punishment.  Don’t go see a scary movie for the first time when you live in the middle of nowhere and your mother doesn’t believe in curtains in the living room to block the view. Michael Myers was everywhere that night!

2. What’s the first thing you do when you sit down each day to write?

I read. I have to go back one to two chapters of my WIP and pull myself back into that world. I also find it helps me tremendously with the editing process. I’ve read each chapter a zillion times before I even start to do the serious edits.  For me, it’s a terrific way to catch some of the little things, and it does help me get a feeling for the flow of the story when you pick it up in the middle.

 

3. If you won the lottery, what’s the first thing you’d buy?
I dream of this moment constantly! I’m beginning to wonder if I would have a better chance of it happening if I actually bought a lottery ticket. The first thing I would buy is a house on the beach, somewhere relatively close, but a place with no television, small and easy to maintain, that I can run away to write. My girlfriend, who is also an author, rented a place on the beach and about once a month I run away with my perma-puppy (he’s only 3 pounds, so it doesn’t matter that he’s 7) to join her and write. I get more done there in two to three days than I do in a month at home. It is amazing, and I would love to have the ability to run away to my own place anytime I felt like it.

More about Erin: I was born and raised in Seattle, Washington, but as a military wife, I was able to experience the beauty of Alaska, the tundra of Iceland, and the warmth of North Carolina and California, and am able to use all of these locations in my writing. In the years that followed, I worked as a Bank Officer, and a Regional Sales Manager for a local winery, before settling down to work towards my dream of being a writer. 

I’m an active soccer mom, who spends hours in my car driving my little jock around. I currently live in the Pacific Northwest with my three children and my dedicated writing partner, Maxx, a three-pound Yorkie who never leaves my side.

You can find Erin online here:

Website: http://Erinmccauley.com

Facebook: Erin McCauley

Twitter: @ekmccauley

FRIDAY FIRSTS with Cathy Perkins

The first five sentences of... THE PROFESSOR

The body lay in dappled shade. Patches of light caught pale flesh—an ankle here, a hip there. Resurrection ferns spread lacy fronds, partially concealing the limbs. Mick wondered if the irony was deliberate.

Publisher: Carina Press

Genre: Romantic suspense/mystery

Available Now

Carina Press|Amazon|Barnes & Noble

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FUN FIRST FACTS ABOUT CATHY

1. Who was your first love?

My first love was Philip C. As long as I can remember, I’ve been a sucker for dark hair and blue eyes—and he had both. I don’t think we ever kissed, but it was True Love. We in first grade and were going to get married. I think it lasted a month. Which is an eternity when you’re six.

2. What’s the first thing you do when you start writing a new story?

My stories seem to grow out of day dreams, the snippet of an idea, a what-if. For example, my husband and I were hiking in a game refuge near our house. While pushing through dense undergrowth beside the Snake River, I glanced over my shoulder and said, “Wouldn’t this be a great place to find a body?” My current WIP grew from that What-if.

Once an idea takes hold, the plot and character evolve together. But – don’t throw things, Becky –  I’m a plotter, so the first thing I do when I think the idea has possibilities is sketch an outline of the plot. That outline grows and evolves as my characters’ personalities and motivations flesh out. Things that of course they’d do add layers or subplots as the story unfolds.

3. What was the first meal you made for your significant other?

I went to college on the combination of a scholarship and a part-time job, so I had no money. Seriously. None. My last year, I moved off campus into a tiny apartment and lived off things like peanut butter sandwiches and Ramen Noodles. My husband (who has dark hair and blue eyes, by the way) and I had just started dating when he brought over a bag of mushrooms. I had no idea what to do with them, but I had one, count ‘em, one cookbook. I thumbed through the index – the recipe had to be easy and couldn’t use a bunch of ingredients. And voila, stuffed mushrooms. Clearly, I’d never made this dish before, but apparently I did a bang up job because he still talks about those mushrooms. J

More about Cathy: Cathy Perkins’ suspense writing lurks behind a financial geek day-job, where she learned firsthand the camouflage, hide in plain sight, skills employed by her villains. Born and raised in South Carolina, the setting for THE PROFESSOR, she now lives in the Pacific Northwest with her work-a-holic husband and a 75-pound Lab who thinks she’s still a lap-puppy.

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Thanks so much for having me here today to talk about some of the “firsts” in my life. You can find me here online:

www.cperkinswrites.com

http://facebook.com/CathyPerkinsAuthor

http://twitter.com/cperkinswrites