Today, J. R. Richardson returns to talk with us about writing and her new book, CURSED BY THE WICKED. Please join me in giving her a warm welcome.
Here's the interview:
NM: What drew you to
the genre?
JR: I just love the idea of our loved ones who have passed on
interfering in our lives and getting us back on track. I’ve read mysteries and paranormal for a long
long time, I’ve always loved them. I
doubly love writing them and mixing them both together to see what happens.
NM: How would you
describe your style/voice as a writer?
JR: I write in a very straight forward kind of way. I tend to follow my own thought process when
I’m writing a main character. Lately
it’s been first person POV because I like to leave a little something for the
reader to try and figure out right along with my hero. I try to keep his or and voice realistic and
in doing so, they sometimes have very illogical thoughts. That makes it fun. For me, anyway.
 |
| Author J. R. Richardson |
NM: Which character is
your favorite? Tell us about him or her.
JR: Definitely Finn.
She is quirky, matter of fact, doesn’t think much about herself and
loyal until the day she dies. I enjoyed
writing her into Coop’s life and giving him someone he could trust and confide
in who wouldn’t push him too hard too soon but rather give him the tools to
figure everything out for himself. It
was a blast getting them together.
NM: What other authors
inspired you to write?
JR: Jim Butcher, Sarah Addison Allen. Jim because he writes snarky like no other
and Sarah because I love how she writes about the paranormal and supernatural –
but it’s very subtle.
NM: Who else do you
read in your genre?
JR: I read Jim Butcher like crazy. When I found him I read his first ten books
in the Dresden series non-stop. He’s on
book 12 or so now and still has about 8 or 9 to go so I’m set for a while at
least.
NM: Who’s your
favorite author and why?
JR: OK I’m becoming redundant now, but, JIM BUTCHER. And I think it’s because he’s the first
(major) author I’ve come across that writes across genres. I don’t know if he sees it that way, but the
way he’s got action, adventure, mystery, paranormal, supernatural, thriller and
comedy all rolled in to one has completely captured my similar in nature heart
and won’t let go.
NM: What other writing
projects are in the works?
JR: I’m working on a Romantic Comedy right now in hopes of
finishing it up this year and publishing in 2015. WISH ME LUCK!
Other than that, I have about five other “ideas” I’ve started
and paused – I love all the ideas, I’m just not sure how to execute them yet.
NM: What are your
marketing strategies?
JR: Um. I really don’t
have any. I have some social media going
on: Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, Pinterest. But really, I just try to do what
feels right. I’ve found quite a few good
friends out there in virtual land and if I’m online and see something happening
with them, I retweet it. If I have
something to say, I tweet it and FB it, I chat when I have time, and I blog
about things I’m interested in. Other
than that, I don’t have an actual plan.
Probably not the best way to go about things but I like to have fun with
whatever I’m doing when it comes to writing, if it’s not fun, it’s not worth
it.
NM: How many years
have you been writing? How did you decide you wanted to be a writer?
JR: I’ve been writing since I was a wee lass. But over the past five years is when I
started actually finishing full length stories online through some fanfiction I
wrote. Then in 2012 I finally started my
own story. I think I just wanted to see
if I could do it – finish a story with my own characters – and I did. And it
felt GREAT. And lucky for me, Debby over at Soul Mate Publishing liked it
enough to invest her time and energy into me.
I’m going to always be grateful to her for that email she sent. It was the first step in a long path of steps
I’ll be taking, going forward.
NM: How do you come up
with your story ideas?
JR: Every which way you can think of. A song, a show, a commercial, a picture,
conversations I have with friends. Sometimes
a little bird. ; )
NM: What is the most
important thing you want people to know about you and your work?
JR: That it’s all
written from the heart and that it’s usually a fun ride.
NM: Please tell me
where you live, what your family’s like (including pets), and what you do for a
living if you work outside of writing.
JR: I live in Florida, now, with my husband and two girls –
my husband and I were both raised up North but found that cold weather does not
agree with us, so we headed down here about 15 years ago. The rest is pre-history. : ) We have 2 cats and that’s enough for now,
but in the past we’ve had dogs, rabbits, turtles and even hamsters. Lessons learned. We love dogs, but in the end, we are cat
people.
By day, I’m a techno-geek. I love it but this is why writing
has been such a great part of my life, it lets the right side of my brain get all the
creative type things out that need letting loose after looking at numbers and
analyzing data all day.
NM: Anything else you
want to tell people about yourself or your work?
JR: Simply put, if you give any of my books a try, I hope you
have some fun!
But wait, there's more.
Here's the blurb:
Cooper Shaw lives his life under a pen name and
enjoys the anonymity it provides during his journeys across the globe as a
seasoned writer for a travel magazine. When his job lands him in his hometown
of Salem, Massachusetts to cover the famous Festival of the Dead, he soon
realizes that he can’t stay invisible forever as he faces ghosts from a past
he’s been trying to forget ever since he left.
The city holds nothing but bad memories for Coop
until he meets a quirky young woman with an old soul and curious insights by
the name of Finnley Pierce. While she acts as his tour guide through a town he
thought he knew, Finn helps him unearth the truth of his childhood and might
even begin to open up his heart.
By unraveling the mystery of his father’s murder,
Coop may finally accept who he is, where he came from, and perhaps even realize
what he wants for his future.
Here's an excerpt:
“I came by Geneva’s to see
you this morning,” I tell her. She slides her hands inside my jacket, around my
waist. She holds us together tighter.
“You did?” There’s a smile in her voice. I grin
but she can’t see it.
“I’ve gotten used to starting my days out with
you in them.”
“You have?” She leans back to look at me. She’s
stunned although I have no idea why. I’ve been so transparent even a bat could
see through me the past few days.
“Yeah,” I tell her, “I have.” I brush the hair
out of her face. Even through the rainfall I can see the blush in her cheeks.
This is the most vulnerable I’ve seen Finn since Geneva’s, when she thanked me
for handling Dan.
“Most people don’t like the way I’m so pushy
sometimes,” she says. “They find it offensive. Some might even say I’ve got a
smart mouth. Too smart for my own good, blah blah blah.”
She trails off at the end there and I laugh at
the way she thinks I’m buying that none of it bothers her.
“Come to think of it, you did say something I
found offensive yesterday,” I tell her half serious. She looks hurt but I can’t
stop the smirk from spreading across my face as I back her up against the
nearest tree.
She’s caught off guard by the move, I can hear it
in the way her breath hitches. “What was that?”
She tries to recover but she fails.
“I believe the term you used was friends,” I tell
her, narrowing my eyes. Her lips part, just barely. She swallows something down
then clears her throat.
“Isn’t that what we are?”
I move my head from side to side. “I don’t think
so, Finn.”
About the author:
A writer of stories and lover of life.
Jo grew up in Maryland with four siblings, three
parents and an endless number of cousins within the vicinity. Today she lives
in Florida with her two girls and a husband that shares her same sense of humor
and basic take on life as we know it.
Life is too short to put dreams on the back
burner.
She’s always loved writing, and always enjoys a
good mystery, so in 2012, Jo wrote a novel that was picked up by the good
people at Soul Mate
Publishing.
Find and follow Jo online:
