July 04, 2010

Author Interview and Giveaway

This past week we had the chance to have a short interview with Author Susan Mallery. We love reading her books and chatting with her every chance we get on Facebook or Twitter. Not that long ago Susan was running a contest on her Facebook, where she was looking for her biggest Cheerleader. I (Dee) entered and actually won, and now I am the Head Cheerleader and Prom Queen of Fool's Gold. :-) 

::: WAVES POM POM :::


And now for our short interview with Susan...

Make sure to keep scrolling down for some more information on Susan, and for your chance to win the first two books of her Fool’s Gold Series “Chasing Perfect” and “Almost Perfect.”



* When did you know that you wanted to be a writer? Did you take writing classes before getting published?

These two questions go hand-in-hand in my story. I was in college, pursuing a degree in accounting, and I kept seeing little flyers for an evening class in writing romance novels. I had loved reading romances since I was in middle school, but writing them seemed out of reach to me until I saw the flyer. I was really busy with classes already, so adding one more class on top of my already full schedule seemed foolish, but I really, really wanted to take that class.

So I did. And I was about halfway through the class when I realized that I wanted to be a novelist, not an accountant. I finished my degree, turned down a great job offer with a well known firm, and took a leap of faith in myself and my abilities. I was in the right place at the right time with the right story, so I was fortunate to sell pretty quickly. It was a long time, though, before I started making anything close to what I would’ve made as an accountant.

* How many books can we expect for your Fool's Gold series?

I’ll continue setting books in Fool’s Gold as long as readers enjoy returning to the town and I continue to find inspiration there. I love Fool’s Gold! There will be three books this year, including Chasing Perfect and Almost Perfect, which are available now, and Finding Perfect, which will come out in late August. Next year, I’ll tell the stories of the Hendrix triplets.

I’m having so much fun with the Fool’s Gold website, too – www.foolsgoldca.com – finding ways to enrich the reading experience for my readers. Lots of insider information about the town and its people, and I’ve shared some fun freebies there, too, like a cookbook, a free knitting pattern for a puppet based on my own dog, e-postcards, and more. And of course, Damaris knows all about the Fool’s Gold cheerleading squad, since she won the contest to be the head cheerleader!

* What was the most challenging part about writing your Fool's Gold series?

Logistics. Fool’s Gold is a small town, but there are still a lot of characters to keep track of. I have a chart for each character, including secondary characters who are barely mentioned, to make sure that I’m consistent as far as their looks and their personalities. In real life, there are lots of people who have the same name, but it gets confusing in books, so I have to make sure that I use different names for every character, too. I also have a chart for each location, to keep those details right. And more charts for the town’s many festivals, since that’s something Fool’s Gold is known for.  It’s pretty overwhelming. That document is up to almost 150 pages now.

* What are some of the things you look for in a man?

The same things I look for in the heroes of my books. My heroes are each very different men, but they share a few core qualities. They are always honorable, determined to do the right thing even when it’s tough. They’re protective and strong. And of course, being handsome never hurts a guy’s chances!

* How did you come up with the idea to write about a town named Fool's Gold?

The idea for the series came to me when I was reading a story about the 2010 census, which at the time was still a year or two away. I started to wonder what might be the most embarrassing thing that a town could find out about itself in the census results. Then I thought, “What if there weren’t enough men?” Fool’s Gold is suffering from a man shortage, and the women in town are kind of crabby when they think that people might assume they’re desperate.

As for how the town came to be named Fool’s Gold… It’s set in the Sierra Nevada mountain region of California, one of the most picturesque regions of the country. Many Sierra towns were established during the California Gold Rush, and “Fool’s Gold” felt both appropriate and fun. My tagline is “read. laugh. love.” and my books always have a lot of humor to go along with the emotion.

Thanks for inviting me to chat with you! This was fun. Now I need to get back to work on Dakota’s story. Wait till you see the man I have lined up for her!


We want a sneak peek! LOL :-) Thank you so much to Susan Mallery for taking the time to answer our questions and for being so awesome! :-)

Here are some cool links you can check out on Susan Mallery:



And for those who love to cook and learn new recipes, Check out her Blog on cooking:



***Giveaway time***
::: WAVES POM POM :::



One lucky person will win the first two books of Susan's Fool's Gold series.

How to Enter:
- US & CANADA ONLY (Unless you want to pay for shipping)
- Must be a follower
- Must fill out this FORM
contest ends Friday July 9th and winner will be picked on Saturday July 10th

We would love it if you helped spread the word on Twitter (Make sure to add @GCReading at the end) Facebook, blog etc. :-) Not a must to win, but we would really appreciate it hehe.

Thanks to everyone who stopped by to check out our interview with Susan & Good luck!

15 comments:

  1. I enjoyed the interview and I'm looking forward to checkout out Susan's new series.

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  2. OMG!! The cheerleader image is super cute!!=)

    Give me an A!!=)

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  3. I have read your books before and loved them and I'm sher to love your new ones

    sasluvbooks(at)yahoo.com

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  4. Thanks for the giveaway! I've heard great things about this author :)

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  5. Awesome interview.. now Iwant to read the books so much!! :D

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  6. @TheBookVixen, I've read a lot of Susan's books and I can tell you that she has not let me down. :-) I <3 them hehe

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  7. I just love Susan Mallery; haven't gotten to these new books yet, but can't wait to! :)

    Lois

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  8. I love this author, she is great! hope I win!

    Leslie
    storeybookreviews.com

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  9. Love Susan's books and the Fool's Gold series has been amazing. The website sure is cool, too.

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  10. Little Miss Cheerleader, I posted this over at the Romantic Times Forum where I have a Susan Mallery Fools Gold post I posted weeks ago. Your cheerleader photo and all.

    Hopefully you, Susan's fans and those who post here will check it out @ http://forums.rtbookreviews.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=27914&start=20

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  11. @Marilyn aw thank you! I will check it out! <3

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  12. I'd love a chance to win. I'm new to this series, and it sounds really good!

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  13. Great interview! Susan Mallery is one of my auto-buys.

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