Make Note of Lois Winston
Greetings, Noters!
How is it already September?? I feel like it was just yesterday that I was prepping myself for a productive summer, and now, we’re already in the back-to-school mindset. With Too Much to Candle’s release right around the corner, I’m gearing up for launch-party mode. I’ve already received some fabulous reviews from fellow authors which makes me even more excited to share Hazel and Poppy’s next adventure. Also, if you pre-order Too Much to Candle on Kindle eBook before October 13th, you can lock in the book at a special $2.99 price. On release day, it will be available for download on Kindle for $4.99, so make sure you don’t miss that 40% discount. Paperback and hardcover editions will also be available on October 13th, as well. And mark your calendars! I’ll be celebrating Too Much to Candle on The Bookish Hour’s Season Two premiere! Lots of fun to be had.
My guest this week knows quite a bit about the fun of launch days. She’s currently celebrating the eleventh book in her mystery series. Without further ado…
A Bit About the Author: USA Today and Amazon bestselling and award-winning author Lois Winston writes mystery, romance, romantic suspense, chick lit, women’s fiction, children’s chapter books, and nonfiction under her own name and her Emma Carlyle pen name. Kirkus Reviews dubbed her critically acclaimed Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery series, “North Jersey’s more mature answer to Stephanie Plum.” In addition, Lois is a former literary agent and an award-winning craft and needlework designer who often draws much of her source material for both her characters and plots from her experiences in the crafts industry. Learn more about Lois and her books at her website www.loiswinston.com where you can also sign up for her newsletter and follow her on various social media sites.
Lois, thank you so much for joining me today here at Noteworthy. I always say all great writers are readers, first and foremost. What book made you first fall in love with reading?
I started reading at a very young age. I grew up in an extremely dysfunctional and often abusive family. Reading was a way of escaping that reality. There was no one book that caused me to fall in love with reading. I read everything I could get my hands on, but one of the earliest books I remember reading was The Five Little Peppers and How They Grew by Margaret Sidney. I think I was about five years old when I first read it.
Reading is such a haven and a safe space for many. I’m heartened to learn you had reading as an outlet to get away from all that was going on around you. How did you begin your writing journey?
Strange as it sounds, it all started with a dream that kept haunting me. Eventually, I decided to write it down and wound up with a 50,000-word romance that spanned thirty-five years. I had no idea how completely unpublishable such a book was, but I’d enjoyed the process so much that I joined a few writing organizations and attended workshops and conferences to learn how to “write right.” Ten years later, I sold my first book, Talk Gertie to Me, a humorous chick-lit novel. Shortly after that, I sold Love, Lies and a Double Shot of Deception, which was the reworked version of the “dream” manuscript transformed into a romantic suspense. It was at that point that I was asked to write a crafting-themed cozy mystery series which became my Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mysteries, now at eleven books and three novellas.
I had to laugh at your “completely unpublishable” comment. The first full manuscript I ever completed is very much in this category. I tell myself I’ll make it publishable one of these days, but you know how plans often go. Let’s talk a little bit about the mechanics of story crafting. Do you outline your books? What’s your plotting process like?
I’m a complete “pantser.” I’ll get an idea and jot down a few paragraphs similar to back cover copy, then run with it.
I am in awe! And speaking of admiration, what trait do you admire most about your protagonist?
Poor Anastasia! I’ve really heaped quite a bit on her plate, not to mention the countless dead bodies, but she handles it all with humor and aplomb. I’m the kind of person who always thinks of just the right quip hours too late. Anastasia is the complete opposite. Her self-deprecating and observational wit see her through all that I throw at her.
I do love a character who can laugh at themselves. I think it makes them all the more relatable. Where is the ideal place for you to write about Anastasia’s wit?
In my dedicated office with complete silence other than the clickity-clack of my keyboard.
What are three things in your dedicated office space that you need to write?
My laptop, a cup of coffee, and my backup drive. I’ve heard too many woeful tales of authors who have lost their entire manuscripts because they didn’t routinely back up their work.
Oh, yes, the dreaded “Where’d it go?” question. Thank goodness for the cloud. How do you celebrate a big professional accomplishment?
With a Snoopy dance! Then I cajole my husband into taking me out for a nice dinner.
Food is always a great way to celebrate. That’s how most of my characters celebrate their major milestones, too. What is your favorite, can’t-live-without writing tool?
OpenSource Shakespeare because Anastasia inherited an African Grey parrot with the uncanny knack of being able to squawk situation-appropriate quotes from the Bard.
Wow! What a clever little bird! How fun. And you know what else is fun? Going on a vacation. For our final question, what literary hero do you enlist to be your travel companion? Why?
Don’t tell either my husband or Anastasia, but I’ve fallen madly head-over-heels in love with Zack Barnes. He’d make a great traveling companion since he’s been around the world countless times. He’d also know what to do if we ever found ourselves in the sort of dicey situations in which Anastasia is prone to finding herself. That’s because along with being a photojournalist, Zack is probably a spy (even if he won’t admit it.)
Your secret is safe here! Lois, thank you so much for taking time out of your schedule to visit us here at Noteworthy. Book 11 in the Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mysteries, Guilty as Framed, is available wherever books are sold!
Guilty as Framed: When an elderly man shows up at the home of reluctant amateur sleuth Anastasia Pollack, she’s drawn into the unsolved mystery of the greatest art heist in history.
Boston mob boss Cormac Murphy has recently been released from prison. He doesn’t believe Anastasia’s assertion that the man he’s looking for doesn’t live at her address and attempts to muscle his way into her home. His efforts are thwarted by Anastasia’s fiancé Zack Barnes.
A week later, a stolen SUV containing a dead body appears in Anastasia’s driveway. Anastasia believes Murphy is sending her a message. It’s only the first in a series of alarming incidents, including a mugging, a break-in, another murder, and the discovery of a cache of jewelry and an etching from the largest museum burglary in history.
But will Anastasia solve the mystery behind these shocking events before she falls victim to a couple of desperate thugs who will stop at nothing to get what they want?
