Good morning! Please welcome guest author Lisa Chalmers. Though I will be away for most of the day, please feel free to leave comments for Lisa and I will post them as soon as I return. Thank you!
~Kate
What is one of your favorite things about writing?
When you’re brainstorming for a new story, what usually comes first for you, the plot or the characters? Most often the characters, the plot’s only come first twice that I can think of.
Are you a plotter or a pantser?
Definite pantster. Even after taking a ton of plotting courses, my mind still thinks if I plot too much of the book I’ve written it already.
When you’re writing, who is more in control, you or your characters?
I wish it was me! But it’s definitely them 90% of the time.
What is one of your favorite ways to learn about your characters?
Asking them questions.
Where do you find inspiration for your stories?
A lot comes from music, either directly or indirectly like the emotion in a song.
What usually comes first for you, characters or plot?
Characters always seem to appear first, although half the time they’re missing their names or later discover they hate the names they appeared with and want a name change. In one I think the heroine changed her name a good four times before the end of the first draft.
Do you find it harder to write novels or short stories?
Short stories, I can’t write short.
Would you tell us about your latest release?
IF TOMORROW NEVER COMES is my debut release, it’s a paranormal romance, although a couple people have called it a love story. I describe it as GHOST meets IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE.
Josh Collins has the perfect life—a beautiful girlfriend and a baby on the way, until an accident takes his life and he’s suddenly forced to fight for everything and everyone he loves. Alone and pregnant, Avery Rhodes is suddenly faced with a painful new reality facing the unimaginable. With his newfound guide Gabriel, Josh is forced to learn what happens IF TOMORROW NEVER COMES.
What are you working on now?
I’m bouncing back and forth between two projects, revising my next release DARK INTENT and working on a Christmas story which will be out next Christmas (so I’ve said for the last two years hehe).
Do you have an excerpt from your latest release you would like to share?
Fresh from her doctor’s appointment with her new best friend, Blake, she’d asked him to go to the cemetery right after. She’d felt a pull to go to Josh, to be able to talk to him like she used to. She knew she’d shocked him with her request, but she hadn’t been ready to go home yet. For some reason, after seeing the baby for the first time, she just needed to be where Josh was, even for a few minutes.
They walked in silence up to the spot where Josh was. “I’ll give you some space.” Blake squeezed her hand and started to walk away.
The bench the guys had bought had already been installed. A simple slate gray granite with a back rest. She brushed the dust off the bench and sat down, her eyes locked on the spot where the headstone was going to go. How could she go from an hour ago seeing the life they’d created, listening to the racing heartbeat to being here, with this being as close to Josh as she’d ever get again.
She kept trying to picture the headstone that would rise above his grave, the angels carved into the stone. Blake had showed her the picture of what they’d ordered that morning. She couldn’t imagine his whole life summed in a handful of words. Beloved Son, Brother, Friend. Four words that didn’t come close to the truth.
Didn’t capture what they’d all lost.
She rubbed the back of her neck tiredly. She hated thinking that one day she’d bring their son there, that this was as close as he’d ever get to his father.
“Are you here, Josh?” Everything was so still all of a sudden, like the world had gone silent waiting for her to speak. Part of her wished she’d see him walking towards her. Even if it would just be her imagination playing tricks on her, she didn’t care.
“I guess I’m hoping you’re here, that you’re somewhere, and you can hear me.” She smoothed the coat over her lap, picking at a loose thread on the seam. “Today was the second doctor’s appointment. Baby’s fine.” She stopped and took a deep breath, daring another glance over. Why didn’t it feel real? Shouldn’t it have felt real if he was really gone? A sigh fell from her lips. “So the baby’s fine, perfect health apparently. Even got the first baby picture.” She pulled the small photo out of her jacket pocket, straightening out the small crease that had appeared since she’d put it there a short time earlier. A breeze went by, calm and gentle. “You were right, it’s a boy.” She put the picture down on the bench beside her. She pressed the picture down as a strong gust of wind came up, the corner of the sonogram lifting like someone was trying to lift the photo out from under her fingers. She smiled, wanting to somehow believe that it was Josh trying to get a look at his son.
Josh sat down beside her on the bench, his fingers next to hers on the sonogram picture. He didn’t know what to feel. A mix of elation and sadness tore through him. A boy. He’d known it somehow from the very first moment she looked at him sheepishly, saying there was something she had to tell him. He remembered the way her voice had faded out once he heard her say pregnant. The way he’d pulled her on his lap and hugged her so tightly, so happy, so full of love at that moment. He’d thought he had everything he’d ever want and need right there in his arms.
He pulled his fingers away from the photograph, his gaze drawn towards the grave for a moment. It was strange to have his own name staring back at him from a headstone, knowing that there was a chance, the slightest chance that this could all be erased in a moment, that it would be nothing more than a bad memory burned into his mind for all time.
“Don’t cry, please, Avery…” His eyes stayed on the sonogram. The first pictures of his son, the son who would never know his father. “I was supposed to come back to you…today…baby, I failed. I couldn’t make them understand how much I need you. How wrong this whole situation is.” He shut his eyes. “They don’t know how much the two of us lost…” He shook his head. “The three of us,” he corrected himself. Two people who meant the world to him, and he’d never get the chance to meet one of them. To know what it was like to hold his newborn son. He bowed his head, wishing he’d somehow been able to make them understand. Couldn’t they feel his pain, her pain? The anguish that never seemed to leave him at all.
Do you prefer writing your heroes, your heroines or do you like writing both equally?
I like writing them both equally, sometimes it’s easier to get into the mind of my heroes more than the heroine.
Would you tell us about yourself?
I’m horrible at talking about myself. Let’s see, I’ve pretty much always had a story in my head. As an only child I had to entertain myself a lot of the time, so that could be where the stories came in. I started putting stories down on paper when I was sixteen, got more serious about it when I was eighteen and haven’t really stopped since.
What are your favorite genres to read and write?
I love the paranormal, it’s always one of my favorites to read and write. I’ll read most romances if I like the plot.
Where can we visit you online?
My website is http://www.lisa-chalmers.com
Twitter is: http://www.twitter.com/lisaink
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LisaChalmersInk
Buy links:
http://www.amazon.com/If-Tomorrow-Never-Comes-ebook/dp/B00BHOCMMC
http://www.amazon.co.uk/If-Tomorrow-Never-Comes-ebook/dp/B00BHOCMMC
https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-iftomorrownevercomes-644636-140.html
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/if-tomorrow-never-comes-lisa-chalmers/1115292097?ean=2940044514737
https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/if-tomorrow-never-comes/id646062728?mt=11
When you’re not writing, what do you like to do?
Listen to music, watch movies (old classic black and white or action are my favorites) in the summer, sit outside, work in the garden.
Do you have any particular writing habits?
Listening to music is a must and I seem to write better at night.
Name three fictional characters (not your own) that you find hot. They can be from books, movies, or TV.
Reese from Person of Interest, Castle from Castle and Angel from Buffy/Angel
What is your favorite season?
Summer, there’s no snow 🙂
Social
