Happy New Year! 2020! What? Last year flew by. I’m super excited to start 2020, I have a lot planned for my blog and for my life. With that being said, today is 1/1/20 and kicks off my new series – Authors in the Hot Seat. I will be interviewing 12 lucky authors this year. Asking the tough questions that need answers. 🙂 As always, if there is an author you know who would want to be in the Hot Seat or an author you would like interviewed for the Hot Seat, please let me know. 6FeetUnderBooks@gmail.com
Today we have Michelle Deerwester – Dalrymple. Author a recently released historical romance book. It just dropped on December 20!! The book is called The Jewel of the Glen.
Blurb of your book :
What happens with a striking beauty finds herself at the mercy of kings and lords?
When Caitrin MacCollough returns to her brother’s lands, she believes she has found a safe haven, a sanctuary.
A striking beauty, one that is legendary in the Highlands, she attracts attention from everyone, including the king of Scotland, Sir Robert the Bruce. But after a lifetime of loneliness, the pandemonium of Clan MacCollough doesn’t sit well with the young Caitrin. To hide from all the chaos, she often hides her looks and retreats to animals in the barn, finding peace and quiet.
When the King decides that a beauty such as Caitrin shouldn’t be hidden away, but instead used as a bartering chip to make alliances with another Highland chieftain, panic consumes her.
With the help of the MacCollough giant, Torin, they embark on a radical, secret plan that amounts to treason. To accomplish this task, however, Torin must give up his own solitary life and do something he hasn’t done in years: open his heart to another.
They believe their secret plan successful, only they don’t know an English Earl has his own plans for the Scottish lass.
Amid a rich backdrop of fighting to reclaim a nation and a crown for Robert the Bruce, Caitrin and Torin must rely on each other to survive.
Can they open their darkest hearts and find love with one another? Start this exciting, passionate series today!
Michelle is an award-winning author, college professor, wife, and mom of five. She has been writing since she was five, when she wrote funny short stories about her family. To Dance in the Glen is her first major piece of historical romantic fiction. She enjoys spending time with her family, reading, and writing. She is presently at work on book 5 of the series.
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Without further ado, let’s roll to the Hot Seat Q and A portion of our interview. What you’ve all been waiting for!
Can you hear the sizzle and pop from that chair fire? I swear I can feel the heat from the picture too!
1. What inspired your book, The Jewel of the Glen: The Glen Highland Romance and who inspired the characters?
I have always had a fierce passion for historic romances, especially Scottish romance. I started with Book 1: To Dance in the Glen, about 15 years ago to write my own, but it just sat on a shelf until last year. Once I decided to do something with it, a historian friend made a few recommendations, which started me on researching Robert the Bruce more. His journey served a the back ground for books 1-3, but we finally get to really meet him and join his army in this book. But I don’t write war books, and when I introduced Torin and Caitrin as characters in a previous book, I knew I would come back to each of them. This is their book.
2. Besides fame and fortune, what swayed you to write?
Ha, ha. I have always written — I started with short stories as a kid, then I got accepted into college writing a poem as one of my essays. As a grad student and a college professor, my writing focused more on academics for a long time. I think that’s why it took me so long to get here.
3. We’ll be starting a new year and I’ve seen lots of posts about new years’ resolutions. Do you have anything special that you’ll be focusing on this year?
Work out more, diet, save money . . . Lol. I have a book plan that I am forming resolutions about. And to spend more time on myself and family.
4. What famous author do you wish would be your mentor?
Either Diana Gabaldon or Stephen King. I love both of their writing styles, structures, and voice. I have a bit of a mentor right now with Kathryn Le Veque who I was fortunate to bump into at a writing retreat and I am grateful for that beyond measure.
5. Describe a typical writing day. Writing in the morning? Evening? Music, no music?
Usually whenever I can grab time — I bring my iPad with the keyboard almost everywhere. Usually at night is when I get the most work done. I’m a night owl. But during finals, I bring my iPad and type away as the students take their tests!
6. If you could choose three people to invite for a dinner party, who would they be and why?
Holy cow! Well, Diana Gabaldon and Stephan King of course. Then probably a major mover and shaker from history — Queen Elizabeth or Eleanor Roosevelt? — because they ran the most powerful countries in their times. I would love to know how that changed them, shifted their perspectives.
I notice that I’m not added to the list of people to invite to dinner!?! What gives??
Stay tuned for next month, when author Pheobe Alexander takes her seat in the Hot Seat. Remember to like and share! I appreciate it. Also, if you have an author you want to sit in the Hot Seat, let me know or send them my way!
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