My interview this month is with Mary Alice Pritchard.  Mary Alice has just had her debut novel SEE HOW THEY DIE come out at Triskelion Publishing and I do have to say that it is one of the best romantic suspenses that I have had the pleasure of reading this year.  I heartily recommend that all lovers of this genre rush out and pick up a copy of their own.

Welcome to Love Romances & More Mary Alice and thank you for taking the time out of your busy day to give our readers a chance to learn more about you.  Could you please tell us a little about yourself? 

Thank you for having me, I can tell this is going to be fun.  I’m a southern girl, raised in Mississippi and though I’ve lived in both Arkansas and Louisiana, Mississippi is my home.  Besides writing, I love to read, garden, and spend time with my animals.  I also enjoy traveling and when I drive anywhere, I listen to books on CD.   

Would you mind sharing with our readers one tidbit that no one else knows?  Any secret addictions? 

Oh goodness, am I on The Tonight Show or Late Night With David Letterman?  Besides the normal female addiction to chocolate, I’m addicted to reading and writing.  I can’t stand it if I don’t have time to read and write.  Something no one knows about me would be that I play a thunder and rain CD to sleep by at night.  

SEE HOW THEY DIE is one novel that doesn’t like to let the reader come up for air.  Where did you get the idea for this wonderful book? 

I didn’t really have any idea, it all started with Gavin and Rhi.  They created the book as I wrote it.  I know that Rhi’s nursing came from my own nursing background but I don’t know where the rest came from.  I listened to them tell me the story. 

I really like how you delved deeply not only into the psychology of the villain but also into the heroine, Rhi’s.  Do you have a background in this field or was there a lot of research involved? 

Wow, I’m glad it came through in the book.  I know when I read a suspense type book I want to know what makes the villain who he is and why he does what he does if it can be explained.  That was what I wanted to bring out in See How They Die as well.  I wanted the readers to feel for Rhi and know why she lived like she did.   

I have a little background with the psychology as a nurse but mostly the villain’s background and psyche developed through my years of reading and researching criminal behavior and criminal history.  I read constantly and I’ve spent a lot of time reading forensic psychology books.  

Gavin has to be one of the best anti-heroes that I have ever come across.  Tall, bald and a bad boy to the bone!  Was he based on anyone you know? 

Oh, don’t I wish!  Gavin is a man I’d love to meet and fall in love with.  He’s a combination of a lot of male qualities I admire and would like to learn more about.  I like to read and write about men who aren’t perfect and who won’t change over night.  If a man will change over night just by falling in love, they’ll fall out of love just as easily.  It’s a process that moves not only the hero but the heroine through changes and self discovery.   

Which character in SEE HOW THEY DIE is the most like yourself?

Definitely would be Rhi.  Not only is she a nurse, but she doubts herself in the beginning.  I’m very much an introvert and don’t have a lot of self confidence.  I enjoy seeing my heroines turn into women I’d like to be.  They handle situations and say things I always wish I’d said after the fact.   

If Lifetime came to you today and wanted to turn SEE HOW THEY DIE into a movie, whom would you cast as Rhi, Gavin, Matt, Sandy & Gail?

Well, Gavin would have to be Vin Diesel.  Hands down.   Matt would be maybe Nicholas Cage or maybe, Orlando Bloom.  I could see Rachel Hunter as Sandy but I can’t figure out who Gail would be.  I’ll have to think on that one. 

Mary Alice, you obviously have a true talent for romantic suspense.   Are there other genres that you would like to explore? 

Thank you.  I write paranormal romances and paranormal romantic suspense…with a little southern comedy thrown in as well.  I’m presently also working on a contemporary and it’s a different style for me.  It’s something I’m trying out so I suppose you could say I’m exploring the contemporary scene now.  

Do you have any upcoming works that you would like to share with our readers?

I have a trilogy, Unfinished Business, with the first book coming sometime the end of this year.  I don’t have dates on these yet.  Ghostly Mistakes is the first book in the series with Ghostly Intentions and Ghostly Regrets to follow. 

I also have a Jaguar shifter series I’m shopping around right now.  It’s a paranormal romance that has a little suspense in it as well.  I’m hoping to find a home for this series soon. 

How long does it actually take you to sit down and write a novel? 

Let’s see.  It took me three months to write See How They Die and another three months to polish it with edits and such.  I think it depends on two things for me.  First, how much time I have each day and on the weekends to write and second, am I letting the book write itself or do I fight it.  You see, sometimes I begin a book and decide how I think it should progress and where it should go and the characters don’t agree.  If I fight them, it takes a lot longer to finish the book.  ;-)  They win in the end anyway, but sometimes I’m stubborn. 

Mary Alice, is writing your only profession or are you still working the day job to support the dream? 

Oh, I’m still working my day job.  Need it to support my habits of reading books, eating, and that health insurance really comes in handy when I need new glasses or drop a book on my foot.  J  I hope to one day be able to go to part time and write the majority of the time.  Till then, I write during all my spare time.   

Most authors are avid readers.  If I was to look through your bookcase what names would I find?   

Oh, you’d have to look through all of my bookcases!  LOL I have over 12 bookcases in the house and my bedroom and another 10 or so in my office next door.  As to what authors would you find?  Diana Palmer, J.D. Robb, Laurell K Hamilton, Charlaine Harris, Tami Hoag, Joan Johnston, Iris Johanson, Lee Child, Linda Lael Miller, Sharon Sala, James Patterson, Linda Howard, Jonathan Kellerman, Tonya Huff, Ann Rice, and I could go on and on.  I read just about anything I can get my hands on.    

What authors would you say influenced you the most? 

Laurell K. Hamilton, Tami Hoag, Iris Johanson, and Tanya Huff are probably the main ones. 

If you were given the opportunity to write an anthology with any four authors, alive or dead, who would you pick and why? 

J. D. Robb, Tami Hoag, Iris Johanson, and Linda Howard.  I suppose because I enjoy their books and some of what I write is similar.  I think an anthology on serial killers or stalkers would be fun to write! 

Mary Alice do you have a ritual for when you complete a book?

Not really.  I usually don’t quite believe I’ve finished and just sit there a few minutes.  Then I do all the saves and start thinking about what book I want to read.   I try to skip a day or two before I start working hard on another book.  I’m usually writing on two or three at once and I never finish them all at the same time. 

I just have to ask this.  What does your office look like?  

Some days it’s very messy and some days it’s only sort of messy.  ;-)

I am lucky in that I have a small office next door to my house.  It was once a small dentist office the owner built after his retirement when he didn’t quite want to give up working.  The front office and reception area is my office part.  I have a desk with my computer and my writing stuff in a corner and book shelves all around the room and down the hall.   

I love calendars, so I have four of them around the office.  Two are hunky calendars and two are cat calendars.  I also have a cat tree for the cats and a cabinet for my office supplies.   

I also have to ask how you write.  Do you write everything out in longhand and then transcribe it onto a computer or is Word your savior?  Do you have certain music and scents floating thru the air? 

If I wrote in longhand, I’d never get a book written.   I have terrible handwriting.  I use the computer religiously and word is my best friend!  I love rock music and will play it fairly loud when I can get away with it.  Bands like Aerosmith, Led Zepplin, Black Sabbath, 3 Doors Down, Nickleback and such.   

If the cats are inside, the music is softer.  I don’t do scents as I have asthma.  The cats are my muses and tend to keep me on track.  When I’m stuck on a word I just can’t seem to find, they create a disturbance and the word always comes to me in the middle of dealing with them, cleaning up after them or chasing them.  

Does your family support you?  And would you be proud or horrified if your family read your work? 

My parents seem to support me thought they can’t quite figure out that writing takes time and not a few minutes in between shopping or going to eat or cutting the grass.  My mom always reads what I write…well, let me rephrase that.  She reads most everything I write.  I’ve written a few hot short stories I haven’t given her to read, but for the most part, I’m very proud for them to read what I write.  After all, my mom and I read the same books.   

What was the trigger that caused you to start writing?

I started writing when I was a child.  I wrote stories to entertain myself.  I day dreamed them and then wrote them down.  Later, when I’d read everything in the local library they would let me read, I wrote my own stories until I could find something new to read.   

Reading and writing were my main forms of entertainment and it continued all through high school.  I got married and dropped off the writing for a couple of years and then reverted back to my best friend because I knew reading and writing would never disappointment me. 

Any suggestions that you would like to give to aspiring authors? 

Write constantly.  It doesn’t matter what you write, just keep writing.  Even when you don’t think what you write is good or even readable, write.  The more you write and read what other’s write, the better you will get at it and the more you will come to realize your voice and what you are good at writing.   

Take courses online and read books on writing.  Even if you are a natural writer, you need to learn what is going on in the publishing world and how to push your work.  So write, write, write and read, read, read. 

Can you think of anything that I have forgotten that you would like to share with our readers? 

Oh goodness, I don’t think you’ve left much for the imagination!  You’ve just about covered it all.   The one thing I can think of is to tell readers to read my blog as much as you can.  Not only do I have contests there occasionally, but my blog is managed by Lizzy, one of my feline muses and she and the other muses are constantly causing trouble or trying to avoid it.   www.maryalicepritchard.com/blog 

Thank you so much for taking the time out of your busy day to spend with Love Romances & More Mary Alice!  And good luck in all of your future endeavors! 

Thank you again for having me!  I’ve had a wonderful time.