Isn't that a wonderful book title?
Most of you know that I am an unashamed bookaholic. And read widely, across genres and age groups.
I have been remiss of late. I owe several blogging friends reviews. I will get to them. I promise.
So when
C.Lee McKenzie asked for some bloggy support for her latest book I turned a new leaf (a leaf I hope to keep turning). While I have read the earlier books in this series I haven't read her latest work. Yet. I assuredly will and have loved everything of hers I have come across.
So I have asked her to do a Guest Post and tell us a little about her work. I hope that you will succumb to temptation and buy one (or more) of her books.
Please give Lee a huge welcome.
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Hi Sue and thanks for hosting me in your paradise today I always leave here with visions of beautiful plants or birds or art.
You asked me a couple of questions that I really love, so here goes.
Do you or your characters call the shots/direct the action?
I try to be the boss, and in the beginning, I pretty much am. I think. I visualize how they look and sound. I name them. I set them on the path that I want them to travel. This all happens before I write a word, but when I have a solid image, I put my fingers on my keyboard and let ’er rip. The problem is that once the words are on the screen, I often don’t recognize the characters. They come down from my head to my fingertips and in that brief journey, they’ve morphed into people I must deal with. By that I mean, I need to know them better. And I want them to trust that I’ll “get” them right. That’s the best way I have of explaining what happens, and it most likely means they call the shots from the get-go. I just like to think I’m important.
Am I right in thinking they become very, very real to you?
Yes. And they never go away. I still carry on secret conversations with Shawna (Sliding on the Edge). She’ll always be full of sass, but now it serves her because she’s running Kay’s horse ranch and making it profitable.
Carlie (The Princess of Las Pulgas) is all grown up. She and Juan Pacheco are happy together and I see 2.2 kids in their home. I love following Hutch (Double Negative) as he goes through life. In my mind, he’s on his Masters Degree in college and going into social work to help kids. I’m sure he’ll be at the forefront of literacy campaigns. Cleo (Sudden Secrets) is all grown up and out of Morgan Heights. I’m sure she’s in touch with Beleza. Cleo didn’t marry Rudy, but they’re great friends. I have the sense her parents divorced. Odd, isn’t it? I almost feel I should go back to their house on Queensbury Circle and find out for sure.
That was all about my young adult books, but I also write middle-grade novels. I call these my vacation stories. In them I shake off as much of the real world as possible and step through one of those magic portals like the one in
The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.
With Pete and Weasel I get to venture into a dangerous swamp, talk to a few alligators and travel through time. In
Alligators Overhead, I got to save a swamp and tweak some politicians’ noses. Yay! In
The Great Timelock Disaster, I visited Dickens’s England and saw Queen Victoria crowned. How great is that? With
Some Very Messy Medieval Magic the last book in this series, I met Richard The Lion Hearted. What a guy.
I love Chinese mythology and astrology, so in
Sign of the Green Dragon I played with both. I also happen to love anything about the California Gold Rush, so I set the story in an old boom town and explored a bit of that history that the early Chinese were such a large part of.
While my YAs takes on some serious issues that a lot of teen experience, my MGs are wacky fun with the ideas of friendship, honesty, and doing the right thing at their core.
Well, this has been fun. I loved your questions; they let me go back and do some reminiscing. I haven’t done that in a while.
All my books are available online.
Some Very Messy Medieval Magic is available at these locations.
Print ISBN 9781939844460 / EBook ISBN 9781939844477
Order through Ingram, Follett, or from the publisher
EBook available in all formats
My publisher has created a library request letter that I'm including. If people want to check out the book, rather than buy a copy, this is one way to make that possible.
