Giveaway and Author Interview: Ten Plagues

Welcome back Mary (Con)Nealy! Since this is the third time for you to visit, I thought I would throw in some fun questions, maybe some that aren’t part of the norm in other interviews. J

If you could go anywhere on vacation where would it be? 

I'd like to go to the Del Coronado Hotel in San Diego and sit in the sun on their beautiful beaches. Of course I burn easily. So maybe I'd sit under an umbrella. I could figure it out. 

Do you have any pets?

No, well, a couple of cats so wild I can't touch them and rarely see them, but they live here, skirting along the edges of our lawn, leaping in the tall grass if I come outside. But we feed them scraps. This is the temperament I like in a cat. Their job is to eat mice and why would they do that if they can get me to feed them, huh?

Your favorite book that you have written? 

Well, honestly, Casey, that's a kind of mean question. Honestly, I'm usually in love with the book I'm writing NOW, so it's not a fair test. But right this minute, I just turned in Book #3 in the Kincaid Brides series and I just loved it. Seth, the crazy brother and a wife so mad she reaches for her shot gun every time he opens his mouth. 

What is your favorite pastime?

Reading and writing. I know, like it'd kill me to take a walk once in a while.

Favorite book?

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. A close second is, A Lantern in Her Hand by Bess Streeter Aldrich

Favorite movie?

While You Were Sleeping, I absolutely adore that movie. Every moment is worth watching, sweet, simple, romantic, funny. A perfect romantic comedy.

What people have inspired you in your writing journey?

Francine Rivers taught me just how much power could be created with the written word in her Mark of the Lion Trilogy. Julie Garwood made me laugh so many times with her Scottish Lairds and English Maiden mis-matches. Tina Radcliffe has taught me how beautifully hard work can pay off.

What character in a novel you have read has stood out and seemed to stand the test of time?

My favorite character of all time is a very obscure choice. There is a book called The Invitation, a trilogy in one book by Jude Deveraux. The heroine in that book, Cale Anderson, is the crankiest, funniest heroine ever. This is the second book in that trilogy and it is a strange book, written all wrong. The heroine is in first person, the hero is in third, the book is ridiculously short even for a novella and the whole book reads like Jude is furious with the whole world and wrote the book in a long, caffeine soaked weekend to make some deadline, Cale spends the whole book raging at pubishers, editors, friends, men, parents, and herself. She's an author who writes bestselling books by literarily killing off all the people who had done her wrong. It is hilarious.

If you could meet one person from history who would it be and why?

 You know, Casey, these are tough questions. You need to take a short time out and just THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU'VE DONE!!! A person in history? Well, I would love to stand in the presence of Jesus. That's so obvious it feels like cheating but who else? One person in history who isn't Jesus. Wow, I've spent too long thinking on this. Let's just go with Jesus.

Okay, last one and a fun one for our readers today: If you were stranded on a desert island and could only take one thing, what would it be? Why?

Hmmm…can I take a ship that would take me back to the mainland? Probably not, huh. Food? Let's assume there's food. If I could have my laptop and it wouldn’t run out of power, then I could just write. I could keep pretty busy for a long, long time with that.  Then I'd eventually get rescued and I'd turn in twenty books and everyone would say, "She made good use of her time, that woman."

Too fun, thanks for joining us for a third time!! It is a privilege. J

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