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author interview

 

AN INTERVIEW WITH…

MARILYN MEREDITH

By Barbara Hodges

When Marilyn is writing her Tempe Crabtree series, she is Marilyn Meredith. When she is writing her Rocky Bluff P.D. series, she is F.M. Meredith. I admire her, and her writing talent, in both personas.
I had the privilege of meeting Marilyn fifteen years ago at the Win-Win Writer’s Conference in Fresno, California.  She gave a workshop on electronic publishing and I attended. Even then she was a supporter of eBooks and knew in the future they would be big.
 Marilyn Meredith is the author of nearly thirty published novels and I’ve read almost all of them.
 Her latest in the Rocky Bluff P.D. crime series, from Oak Tree Press, is Angel Lost.
Marilyn is a member of EPIC, (The Electronic Publishing Internet Collation) Four chapters of Sisters in Crime, including the Internet chapter, Mystery Writers of America, and on the board of the Public Safety Writers of America. Visit her at http://fictionforyou.com
And her blog at http://marilynmeredith.blogspot.com

Angel Lost Blurb:

As plans for her perfect wedding fill her mind, Officer Stacey Wilbur is sent out to trap a flasher, the new hire realizes Rocky Bluff P.D. is not the answer to his problems, Abel Navarro can’t concentrate on the job because of worry about his mother, Officer Gordon Butler has his usual upsets, the sudden appearance of an angel in the window of a furniture store captures everyone’s imagination and causes problems for RBPD, and then the worst possible happens—will Stacey and Doug’s wedding take place?

And here’s one from a fellow author that I love:

"A pervert threatens women joggers on the beach, a robber threatens wealthy homes on the bluff, and an angel watches over the townspeople from a downtown window.  F. M. Merediths' latest Rocky Bluff P. D. novel is a gentle human drama about loneliness and change, through which the reader is pulled, page after page, by an assortment of compelling criminal curiosities."
C. N. Nevets is an author of psychological suspense.

 

A few of Marilyn Meredith’s titles:

Invisible Path
http://www.amazon.com/Invisible-Path-Marilyn-Meredith/dp/1606592394/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1305556230&sr=1-1-catcorr

Intervention
http://www.amazon.com/Intervention-Tempe-Crabtree-Mystery-Book/dp/1891940074/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1305556304&sr=1-3

Deadly Omen
http://www.amazon.com/Deadly-Omen-Tempe-Crabtree-mystery/dp/1891940031/ref=pd_sim_b_1

A few of F.M. Meredith’s titles:

 

No Sanctuary
http://www.amazon.com/No-Sanctuary-Dark-Oak-Mystery/dp/189234355X/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpi_1

Fringe Benefits
http://www.amazon.com/Fringe-Benefits-F-M-Meredith/dp/097716019X/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpi_3

 

Description: New Photo of Marilyn.jpg

 

 

 

BMH: Tell us your favorite joke. Make it a clean one.
MM:   I can’t ever remember jokes and if I do, I forget the punch line.
BMH: When's the last time you used profanity?
MM:   The only two so called profane words I ever use are s--t and c--p and I suppose that might be because of all the dirty diapers I change over the years.
BMH: How many hours of sleep do you get (on average)?
MM:    About 7. I’m an early to bed, early to rise person, usually getting up around 4:30 or 5.
BMH: Describe your level of ambition.
MM:   I’m not all that ambitious anymore, I’m more of a plodder. I make lists about what I need to get done and plod along and do them. Don’t get me wrong, I’d be thrilled to have more people read my books—and I do strive to get the word out about them.
BMH: You're president of the United States for enough time to only make one executive decision. What is it?
MM:   Make everyone pay the same percentage of income tax on what they make.
BMH: What's a common and accepted practice for Americans nowadays that you think we'll look back on with regret?
MM:   Not getting married until after the children arrive. Too many times the marriage never happens and the child is left without a mom and a dad.
BMH: What would you attempt to do if you knew that you could not fail?
MM:   I don’t even think in those terms. Because I’m getting older, I’ve learned to only tackle what I think I can probably do—which is usually too much.
BMH: Describe a few pet peeves of yours.
MM:   Laziness. People who don’t read things all the way through and make mistakes because of that.
BMH: How often do you Google yourself?
MM:   Not so much these days, used to do it two or three times a week when I first learned about Googling your own name.
BMH: What do you know now that you wished someone had told you ten years ago?
MM:   How things were going to change in the e-publishing world and how long it was going to take. Though I’ve been e-published for more than ten years, I’d hoped the whole e-pubbing business would take off sooner.
BMH: What childhood event shaped or scarred you the most?
MM:   My mom was always afraid I’d be disappointed and didn’t encourage me to step out and be brave. I soon decided not to worry about being safe, but to try new things and that’s what I’ve always done.
BMH: Why did you choose to write suspense fiction?
MM:   Easy question, because that’s what I like to read.
BMH: Did you try other genres?
MM:   I’ve written historical family sagas, romance with a touch of the supernatural, psychological horror and Christian horror. The family sagas were based on my own genealogy, the romance and psychological horror were both based on events that actually happened in our family, and the Christian horror was fun because they are really scary but the main characters are Christian.
BMH: Would you rather live without music or live without TV?  
MM:   Without music. I wouldn’t like it, but I enjoy TV in the evening when my brain has turned to mush.
BMH: be gossiped about or never talked about at all? 
MM:   Be gossiped about—I’ve never worried about what people had to say about me.
BMH: Do you blog? If so, why and what do you usually blog about?
MM:   Oh, yes, I blog nearly every day at http://marilynmeredith.blogspot.com and I blog about what’s going on in my life, about writing, about my books, and I host guest authors.
BMH: Have you ever done a blog book tour? What was that like and would you do it again?
MM:    I’ve done a blog book tour for all my latest books. I think it’s great fun and the numbers go down on Amazon for that particular book while I’m touring. However, it does take a lot of work. You need to promote each blog on the day you visit, check to see if people have made a comment and comment back. And sure, I’ll be doing it again as soon as I have a new book out.
BMH: Do you enjoy doing promotion?
MM:    I do enjoy it, but it takes a lot of time. I’ve been promoting my latest, Angel Lost on the net and doing lots of in-person events. My work-in-progress is suffering. I do enjoy talking to people about my books though no matter in what form.
BMH: What’s the oddest thing you’ve ever done to promote your work?
MM:   Nothing too unusual though I’ve had book launches in many different places like art galleries, an Inn,  a recreation center, and even my own home.
BMH: What’s the strangest fan question/request you’ve ever gotten?
MM:   Where’s the bathroom? This happens a lot when you’re doing a signing in a bookstore. And of course there’s always the wannabe writer who either asks you how to get published, or tells you the whole plot of their book, and the person who wants you to write his book for him and share the profits.
BMH:   Respond to these pairings and tell why you respond the way you do:
a.    Series or stand-alone books
                        MM:    I write two series now, but I have written stand-alone books. I also like to read either kind.
b.    Outliner of A-Seat-of-a-Pantser
MM:   A do a bit of both. I never outline the whole book, but I begin with the characters and write down things I know I want to happen.
c.     Lots of research or make it all up
MM:   I do some research, usually begin with a bit of research—and will do research when I need to, but I make up my main settings though they are anchored in real places with new names though often the same landmarks.
d.    Neat or sloppy
MM:   If you’re talking about my workspace—sloppy. Wish I were neater, but I have too many things going on.
e.    NY or DC
MM:   I wouldn’t want to live in either place. Would like to spend more time in NY though.
f.       Carnivore or vegetarian
MM:    I could be a vegetarian for awhile—then I’d be dreaming about a nice rare steak and fall off the wagon.
BMH: How have you grown as a writer?   What has gotten better?
MM:   Since I’ve been writing and publishing for years, I know I’ve become a far better writer than I was in the early times.
BMH: What things have you dropped along the way?
MM:   I don’t keep up with my friends as much as I should.
 BMH:            What helped most in your growth as a writer?
MM:   This one’s easy, my writing critique group. I learned more about writing from them over the many years I’ve belonged than any other learning experience.
BMH: What historical or present day famous figure would you like to have dinner with?
MM:   That’s too hard to break down to one. I’d love to have dinner with Jesus, but if you’re talking about writers, I’m not sure.  What I really like to do is have dinner with some not as famous writers that I only get to see once in awhile. My interviewer is one I love to have dinner with.
BMH: What would you talk about?
MM:   When it’s a fellow writer, we talk about everything and anything to do with writing and lots more.
BMH: What book do you wish you had written?
MM:   Any best seller that was well-written, I suppose.
BMH: Do you have children, grandchildren?
MM:   Oh yes, 5 children, 18 grands and soon, 13 great-grands.
BMH: What would you say to them if they told you they wanted to be authors?
MM:   I’d definitely encourage them and give them advice along the way.
BMH: What advice do you wish someone had given you when you first started out on the path to being an author?
MM:   Learn as much as you can about the craft of writing so that you can handle point-of-view and other tricky issues.
BMH: What is the worst and best advice you’ve received about writing?
MM:   I can’t remember any worst advice—if I heard it I recognized it for what it was. Best advice was how to handle POV.
BMH: What surprised you most about your writing journey?
MM:   How hard it was to find and then keep a publisher. I’ve had two publishers die and two publishers who were crooks—one even ended up in jail.
BMH: What are you working on now?
MM:   I’m working on a new Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery and editing another Rocky Bluff P.D. crime novel.
BMH: Where can we find your books?
MM:   On line though any bookstore can order them through Ingram. And if you’d like to have an autographed copy, you can go to my website and order most of my books at http://fictionforyou.com