BLOGAVERSARY CONTINUES...WITH TRACI HOHENSTEIN!

Folks, you might remember Traci Hohenstein from my interview with her last year on her debut novel, ASYLUM HARBOR.  For those who don’t, here’s a bit about  her:

She lives in NW Florida with her firefighter husband and three children. She’s a full-time writer but in her spare time she loves to paddleboat – something she and her character, Rachel Scott, have in common.

Fun fact about her Rachel Scott books:  if you look closely at the covers you'll see a silhouette of the missing person in each cover. There is a firefighter in the background of Burn Out and a young woman in the water of Asylum Harbor. The paperback version of Burn Out and Asylum Harbor is called The Rachel Scott Adventures Volume 1 and features foot prints in the sand.  Traci loves to hear from readers. You can reach her at tracihohenstein@gmail.com or visit her blog at msthriller.wordpress.com.

And now…I’m turning the blog over to Traci!

Thank you, ROCCO!

What’s in a name???

I love to write. It’s in my blood. I love to dream up situations and put my ideas on paper. The only place where I sometimes get stumped is naming characters. Every once in a while a great name will come to me and will fit that character to a “T”. Other times I find myself struggling to find the right name. What’s a girl to do?

While cleaning one day, I ran across my old high school yearbook. (How old? I’ll never tell.) As I was reminiscing about the old days, I noticed some of my high school friends had some pretty cool names. Voila! Problem solved. I took out a notepad and wrote down which names I thought had potential. I didn’t think it’d be a great idea to use the actual first and last name of someone I hadn’t spoken to in several years, especially if I made that person an ax murderer or something, so I mixed up the first and last names. As a result, I had a nice list of names that I could use for characters.  

Another idea I had was to run a contest on Facebook and the winner would have a character named after them. Everyone wants to see their name in a book, right? Well, most people, if you agree to make them young, rich, and fabulous. Also, if someone was helpful in doing research for me, then I’d ask permission to use their name. That’s how Suzette Breland, attorney-at-law in real life and high school friend, became an important character in Burn Out. Also, Cyndy Krapek, another high school friend, lent her name and became a FBI agent in Asylum Harbor. Leigh Ellen Barnes, another friend, won a Facebook contest and was forever eternalized as a Hollywood starlet in my latest romantic comedy, Special Delivery.

Want to see your name in lights? Comment on this post and I just might choose your name for a character in my next book, Split Decision, which will be out sometime this spring.

Now, if I could just get Rocco to agree to guest star in my next novel? I think he’d make a great character!

MEOW! I would definitely guest star in one of your novels, Traci!  The HUMAN says I’m nothing if not a big ham…

Folks, not only will Traci give one lucky reader an opportunity to see their name in print in her next book, she’s also giving away a copy of her e-books, ASYLUM HARBOR and SPLIT DECISION!  So, what are you waiting for?  Leave a comment below, along with your email address!  For extra entries, you can friend myself and/or THE HUMAN on facebook, follow me on Twitter @RoccoBlogger, tweet and/or FB about this contest, and friend Traci on FB! Just be sure to mention all you’ve done in your comment!

Contest closes midnight, Jan. 22 – we will announce the winner Jan. 23!

AND SPEAKING OF WINNERS....Selected once again using random.org, Fluser2010 is the lucky winner of a copy of Adrienne Giordano's book, RISKING TRUST!  Congrats!

GET BUSY! And don’t forget – next week is my day of tribute, and MaryJanice Davidson shares teasers of UNDEAD AND UNSTABLE – my blog is the ONLY place you can read this!

MEOW!

ROCCO

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