Wednesday, October 19, 2011

ROCCO welcomes...EDIE RAMER to his "hotseat"

Meow!
In my hotseat today is EVERY WITCH WAY BUT WICKED contributor Edie Ramer.  She’s also the author of a paranormal I especially love: CATTITUDE! I'm especially fond of the saying on the cover: anything a human can do, a cat can do better! So true, meow! 
 She also wrote a short story in another anthology, ENTANGLED, called THE FAT CAT! (The Human thinks I might have been the inspiration – did you ever! I only weigh 30 lbs., lol – Hey Edie – it wasn’t me, right? Right??????)
Edie is funnier on the page than in person. She lives in southeastern Wisconsin with two dogs, one husband and one special cat. She sold short stories to print mystery magazines, won multiple writing contests and had four agents before self-publishing her books. Now she’s a happy indie author.

Readers can find out more about Edie and her books at her website. They can follow her at Facebook, Twitter and Goodreads.
And now without any further ado…Edie!
R:  Hello and welcome to my hotseat, Edie. Let’s start off by hearing a bit about yourself and your novels.
E:  Thanks so much for spreading the word about Every Witch Way But Wicked and for having me at your very cool place. I’m thrilled to be a part of it, and I feel right at home with all these gorgeous cats.
I have 3 paranormal books out (Cattitude, Dead People and Dragon Blues)  and one sci fi romance (Galaxy Girls). But this turned into my season for charity anthologies. Misty Evans and I put together Entangled, a Paranormal Romance, which also has a Halloween theme. All proceeds going to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. I also have an essay in Author Moments, with the proceeds going to Cancer Research UK.

I have other projects coming soon, including a fun mystery I co-wrote with Karin Tabke. I’m looking forward to the release. It’s different from anything either of us have done before.

R: I  LOVE the fact you’ve written a paranormal starring a cat! How did you come up with the idea for Cattitude?
E: Thank you! We’ve always been dog people, and I actually got my cat to keep my hyper English setter company while I was gone. I didn’t expect to love her so much, but I did. I remembered talking with 8 co-workers at a former job about what animal we’d be if we had the choice. At least half of my co-workers said “cat.” With my kitty purring in my lap, I finally understood why they said that. Then I wondered what would happen if the opposite were true. What if the cat traded bodies with a woman? And kept her cat attitude? From that “wonder,” Cattitude was born.

R: Did you always know you wanted to be a writer?
E:  I originally wanted to be a tightrope walker in a circus. Or a flying trapeze lady. That’s when I was seven. Then I fell in love with Nancy Drew books and wanted to be a private detective. I married fairly young and had my son, and it wasn’t until I was in my thirties that I wrote my first book with the great title of Cat and Dog. Unfortunately, the title was the best thing about the book. Shortly afterward, I went to a conference with other writers and roomed with a published writer. She read the beginning, said nice things about it—I’m sure nicer than it deserved—and gave me great advice. By then I was hooked.

R: Tell us what is the one BOOK you’re proud of most and why?
E: My books are all character driven, so I’m proud of them all for different reasons. I do have a women’s fiction sitting in my computer that I love, but I decided to stick with my paranormals for a while. I’m making an exception for the book I co-wrote with Karin Tabke because it’s so much fun.

R: What is most challenging for you as a writer?
E: Plot. I’m a bad plotter, which sometimes leads to massive rewriting. I know I’m not alone – most of my writer friends rewrite, even one who is a plotter.  

R: Can give us a sneak peek to what you are currently working on now?
E: I’m writing a novella with characters from Galaxy Girls. Another Galaxy woman is ovulating. And when they’re ovulating, there’s trouble. (And it’s not erotica!):

 Without a warning, faster than she could blink, a vision howled into her head. Knocking normal to the ground and stomping on it. Hard and fast and vicious. One second she was gazing at the pale brown dough wrapping around blueberries. The next she was in a familiar, grassy area. Two wolves snarled, their eyes glowing yellow. Between them stood a lamb they both wanted to sink their teeth into and devour. She was inside the minds of all three animals. Their anger and hunger and fears screamed at her, pounded at her nerves and smashed down her mental barriers like toothpicks in the path of a bulldozer.
The bowl crashed on to the floor. She dimly heard the bounce of the stainless steel bowl off the tile. Felt dough splash against her pants legs.
The vision snapped away. Whimpers mewled out of her mouth. She grabbed the edge of the counter to keep from falling to her knees amid the muffin batter. Bending over the counter, she sorted out the meanings of the vision.
She knew three things.
The grassy area was her back yard.
The wolves were men.
The lamb was her.


R: Now, Just for fun, your favorite:

E:
TV show?
 I just watched Revenge, and I’m loving it! Brilliantly written. The writers managed to make this young woman obsessed with revenge sympathetic. I’m rooting for her.
Movie?
Love Actually – It has multiple stories, each different. Some happy, some sad, some poignant, some funny. So many levels and nuances. Very well done.
Drink?
Beer and tea and hot chocolate. Not together.
Spies or Spooks?
 Spooks.
Cats or Dogs?
Impossible to pick. I have two dogs and one cat. But I’ve got to admit the cat really does seem smarter than the dog  (AHEM – of course they are!)
.Day or Night?
Day. Love the sunlight.

R: Tell us something your readers would be surprised to learn about you?
E: My terribly messy office. I work in chaos. They’d also be surprised how much my writing day is interrupted by my cat and dogs. I’m the door woman for my dogs and a petting machine for my cat. If they could talk, they’d say the real reason I was born is to take care of their every need. The dogs would also say I should feed them more often.

R: What do you hope readers take away from your writing?
E: That I wrote a great story with great characters. I want them to feel the glow inside that I feel after I’ve read a really good book. Sometimes I’ll love a book so much, I don’t want to put it down after the last page. I’m not ready to let go.

Thank you so much, Edie!
Okay, kitties…now that you know a bit about Edie, go – right now!  Visit Amazon and order EVERY WITCH WAY BUT WICKED and support KIDS NEED TO READ…then check out Edie’s books!



Tomorrow….Camilla Chafer!
And don’t’ forget – pay attention! There will be a quiz after all the interviews…three lucky people will win a copy of EVERY WITCH WAY BUT WICKED!

MEOWINGLY YOURS,
ROCCO
SCI FI BLOGGING CAT





3 comments:

  1. Rocco, no, I wasn't thinking of you when I wrote The Fat Cat. You look very sleek and handsome in your photo. A sophisticated tuxedo cat. :)

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  2. Hi Edie and Rocco!

    Wow, you do look good, Rocco. I've read Edie's awesome story and you are not the same image at all!

    Love the sneak peak, too, Edie. Sounds like a winner.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Dale, thanks for stopping by. I love your story, too. In both anthologies!

    Wait until you read the book Karin and I co-wrote. I think you'll love it.

    ReplyDelete