Welcome this Week’s Featured Author
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ABOUT
Joanne was born and raised
in Sherburne, New York, a quaint village surrounded by dairy farms and rolling
hills. From the moment she could read she wanted to explore the world. During
her college years she slowly crept across the country, stopping along the way
in Oklahoma, California, and finally Washington State, which she now proudly
calls home. She lives with her husband and two Dobermans; Maya, and Tristan, in
their home located on the Kitsap Peninsula with a panoramic view of the Olympic
Mountains.
Joanne is a member of
Romance Writers of America, and an active member of Debbie Macomber’s home
chapter, Peninsula Romance Writers, where she serves as the President.
Chasing Victory
The Winters Sisters Series
Doctor Doolittle in female
form creates X-Men on steroids. Murder, kidnapping, and blackmail follow as
world-renowned geneticist Victory Winters is forced to pursue her research on
canine DNA. Victory is kidnapped and taken to a satellite facility of Biotec,
owned by a shadow conglomerate known as The Kaleidoscope Group. To her horror
she is presented with human test subjects, two military men who have been
injected with this foreign DNA.
Tristan Farraday is a naval officer assigned
to a clandestine division of the armed forces, known as SOCOM; Special
Operations Command. His primary goal is to expose the players behind a plot to
create indestructible soldiers and to secure this research at all costs.
Victory is suspicious and
untrusting of Tristan because their initial friendship was built on lies.
However, she realizes that in order to save herself and her family she will
need his help, and Tristan goes undercover as her research assistant. Working
together they fight to save the men injected with the foreign DNA. While inside
the Biotec compound Tristan attempts to contact Wyatt telepathically, but is
unable to reach him due to a hi-tech security grid. Tristan stumbles upon the
fact that Victory has her own telepathic abilities, along with a rare gift of being
an amplifier–someone who enhances others’ abilities. Victory is not aware nor
does she believe that she possess these abilities. They rebuild their
friendship, and as the danger surrounding them escalates, the passion between
the two ignites.
Excerpt
“Yeah, well there goes our
only real lead.” Tristan hissed while taking in his surroundings, trying to get
a read on what had taken place. “There it is again.”
“What?”
Wyatt answered.
“Shhh,” Tristan responded.
“I’m not talking to you.” Flaring his nostrils widely to fill his lungs with
the odors surrounding him, Tristan took in several deep breaths, each time
filling his lungs more deeply. He closed his eyes and focused on his breathing.
The scent from a person will travel in the wind forming a scent cone; these
scents are picked up by bloodhounds, and Tristan. He had caught that same scent
while tracking Jeffery through the forest. He knew Jeffery’s scent and that wasn’t
the only scent cone he was detecting.
Old Spice and sweat,
accompanied with the distinct odor of cigarette smoke still lingered, along
with scents that were uniquely human: stress and testosterone. These stenches
littered the area, and underneath them all, the strong scent of cordite given
off by the gun and the blood soaked ground. It was highly possible that those
were the scents of Jeffery’s killers. He turned slightly to his right and
picked up another scent cone. It was weak, but it was there. Without thinking
he moved with his eyes still closed, off towards the right. Lavender and
chamomile. Someone else was here, a woman. By the weakness of her fragrance,
Tristan surmised that she could not have been as close to the action. He stood
motionless, letting the odors of the ghastly scene penetrate his every pore. He
opened his eyes and continued walking, the lavender and chamomile growing
stronger with each step. He walked about sixty feet, when he found a patch of
bent and broken ferns. It was a small depression, but the
lavender-and-chamomile woman had definitely been lying among the ferns.
Crouching down into the depression, Tristan looked back to where Jeffery laid.
He could barely see Jeffery and he was sure whoever was laying here could not
have heard or seen anything, except the gunshot that had ended Jeffery’s life.
The Inside Scoop
Q. Do you work best on a deadline, or do you need
freedom from time constraints?
A. My first answer would
be that I like freedom, notice I said I ‘like’ it. However, knowing myself as I
do, I work much better on a deadline. It makes me plan out my time, and stick
to my plan.
Q. Is there a
word or phrase you catch yourself overusing?
A. ‘Had been’ – which of
course is bad in two ways, first it is past tense; and second, well you can
probably figure that out. It is unnecessary and weak. I found myself using it
as a stop gap while I was thinking. I am hyper aware of it now and always work
at avoiding the phrase, unless absolutely necessary.
Q. How do you keep your characters and stories
organized?
A. I create what I call my
Reference Bible. It’s a simple word document. I list every character, when they
first appear, and on what page, and in which book. Under each character, I list
their description and characteristics. As I progress through my WIP, my
character lists expand.
When writing a series, as
I am now, I also add page numbers where I feel important things happen and jot
down a brief summary or word. This may not be important in the book I am
currently working one, but often comes into play in later books in the series.
My Reference Bible is
always right on my desk, where I can get to it quickly.
Q. Are you a Swooper (write first, edit later,) a
Basher (edit each sentence as you go,) or both?
A. I am a Swooper. I like
to keep the flow going when I’m on a roll. Stopping to edit brings me out of my
creative phase. I do find that if I’m having a difficult time in a scene, I
will go back though and edit it, and then continue writing.
Q. What is the
one thing you must have to be able to write?
A. A love for the craft, a
need to want to tell your stories and the tenacity to see it through till the
end.
Q. What types of scenes are your favorite to write?
A. I love action scenes.
Once I have the idea in my head, I whip out an action scene in no time flat.
Q. Are you always in the driver’s seat? Or do your
characters drag you along for the ride?
A. I start out in the
driver’s seat, but get displaced quickly. For example, when introducing one of
my secondary characters in Chasing Victory, he was what I considered a
throwaway character and I planned to kill him off before the end of the book.
Well, come to find out, he decided he wasn’t going to die that easily, and has
since become the hero in the book two. Sharp curve ahead ~I didn’t see that
coming.
CONTEST: Comment below for a chance to
win a $20 Amazon Gift Card and a Print Book. Please leave an email address. Contest ends
Saturday, August 10th at Midnight.
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