Author Spotlight

AUTHOR PATTIE FIALA TALKS ABOUT HER LIFE 

AND HER BOOKS: GIVE IT A READ!


Rydin' the Storm Out by PJ Fiala

1. What inspired you to write this book?

a. I was and am inspired by life.  Have you seen the news? Read the papers?  Good grief, life is complicated, unusual, interesting and mind boggling.  There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t hear or read something and think, that is some crazy stuff.  Keep in mind that my day job is as a paralegal, so I hear some crazy stuff.  So, back to my inspiration.  Because of the complexities and unusualness of life, I write stories that have a little angst (not too much, life gives us that), a little adventure and a lot of love (sometimes, life doesn’t give us enough of that).

2. If you had to co-author a book, who would be your ideal partner and why?

a. I love Sylvia Day.  She is my inspiration and I would absolutely love to know how her mind works, what her writing process is and how she puts it all together.

3. Tell me a little bit about yourself.

a. I live in Wisconsin, just outside of Green Bay, though I was born in Missouri and spent my summers with my grandma’s family in Kentucky.  I call Kentucky home more than Missouri.  I still have family in Kentucky, and visit at least once a year to see them all.  I have four children, all grown and three beautiful grandchildren.  My husband and I ride motorcycles.  We ride whenever we can.  We’ve been on some fabulous trips and are looking forward to so many more.  With retirement only about a year away, we are hoping to be on the road several months each year.  I come from a long line of Veterans. My great grandfathers, grandfathers, father, brother and two of my sons.  My two sons both have served in Iraq and Afghanistan and my youngest is still in the Army Reserves.  I have a concealed carry permit and believe strongly in the right to keep and bear arms and do so proudly, but not without the understanding of the awesome responsibility of carrying.  Our whole family will go to the gun range together, or as many of us who can, to practice.  It’s a fabulous privilege.  And, lastly, I love to write steamy romances.

4. What do you do for a living?

a. As I mentioned, I am a paralegal.  The law office I work in deals mostly with business related law.  I have my bachelor’s degree in Human Resources Management with a minor in Paralegal.  The law I work in is heavily geared to employment law, business law, and litigation.

5. What part of the world do you live in?

a. I live in the United States, just outside of Green Bay, Wisconsin.

6. How long have you been writing?

a. I have been writing for about three years now, though I have wanted to write my whole life.  I let fear stand in the way for a very long time and finally decided I deserved to do what made me happy.  My husband has been a huge supporter and encourages me to follow my dreams.

7. What is your writing process like? Are you a pantster, a plotter, or somewhere in between?

a. I’m totally a pantster.  When I sit to write, I usually have my basic story in my mind, never on paper.  When I have the basic story in my mind and sit down to write, I can go all day.  The story just flows and usually takes me places I didn’t intend to go when I first started.  My characters usually misbehave, but if I left them go, I’m usually happy with the direction.  That’s not to say there aren’t major revisions along the way.

8. When and where do you write?

a. I write when the mood strikes me, as long as the mood strikes me when I am not at work.  When I have a story mostly puzzled out, I will set aside a weekend and let everyone know this is my writing weekend – Leave Me Alone.  I have a dedicated office at home, but lately have found that I prefer to stand while writing, so I will often take my laptop into the kitchen and stand at the counter for long periods.

9. What sorts of conditions are most conducive to productivity?

a. I like having music on or the television, especially home DIY shows.  I need noise or music. I find that when I need to, I can tune out things I don’t want or need to hear. When I need a break, I have the background noise to fall back on.


10. What's your favorite aspect of being a writer?

a. The creativity.  I love being able to invent people that I would like to know or be related to.  I love inventing scenarios and situations.

11. Your least favorite?

a. Marketing.  YUCK.  It is so dang time consuming.  There is so much out there and it’s so darn frustrating sometimes.  And, it takes away from my writing time.

12. What are the biggest challenges you face as a writer?

a. Time, always time.  Still working full time, I have to fit the writing, marketing, editing, cover design, teaser creation, formatting, uploading, swag creation, etc. into a few short hours a week.  It never seems to be enough.  My to-do list seems to grow rather than shrink.

13. Who are some of your favorite writers and why?

a. I mentioned Sylvia Day before.  I love her books, her characters and her writing style.  I like Jill Shalvis.  She is so darn funny and her characters are light-hearted and fun.  I like S.C. Stephens.  Her writing style grabs hold and hangs on.  Lauren Dane is fabulous.  Gosh there are so many fabulous writers out there.

14. What are your favorite books?

a. I love steamy romances, not necessarily erotic, but I love being titillated and some steamy, panty melting scenes.  But, I want there to be a story to go along with it. I love it when two people need to fight to stay together. Not always fight with each other, but there are usually outside forces to battle and win.

15. What writing tools do you use, if any?

a. My mind and my laptop.  I suppose you could say Pinterest.  I create boards for every book.  Any inspirations I have for characters, clothing, places, foods, drinks, houses, bikes, anything, I locate and pin to my Pinterest boards and look at them often for additional inspiration.  I also create music lists on Spotify to go with my books as well.

16. How long does it typically take for you to write your first draft?

a. It depends.  My first book is 455 pages.  That took me about a month to write.  It went through many revisions and, even recently, another revision as I am republishing it this month.  Dog Days of Summer took about that same about of time for the first draft.  Rydin’ the Storm Out took about three weeks.  I have others coming soon, that have taken about 2-3 weeks.  I like to write them and then put them away for a little while.  I’ll pull them back out and look them over in a few weeks and usually make some changes.  Two weeks ago, I wrote a short story for inclusion in an anthology in a day.  I started on Saturday morning and before six o’clock Saturday night, I was finished with it.  That was a fun day.

17. Your final draft?

a. Oh, that can be a while.  As I mentioned, I’ll put them away a bit and come back to them.  I would say another month or two after the first draft.

18. Who's your favorite character from one of your books? Why?

a. Grayson Kinkaide from Second Chances is my favorite H.  He was my first and he’s simply unforgettable.

19. If you could have one superpower what would it be.?

a. Ooooo, I would like to be Storm from X-Men.  I could control the weather.  I would like that.  People I disliked would find themselves in perpetual thunder, lightning and just plan crappy weather all the darn time. While people that I cared about would enjoy all the warmth and sunshine they wanted.

Book Info:

Title: Rydin’ the Storm Out
Publication Date: January 9, 2015
Genre: Adult Contemporary Romance
Pages: 226
Publisher: Rolling Thunder Publishing
Format: eBook and Paperback
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00RI9I4DQ
Universal Amazon Link: http://myBook.to/RydintheStormOut
Barnes & Noble: http://goo.gl/zpLuVr
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24146271-rydin-the-storm-out

Tag Line:
Storms roll into our lives when we least expect them. It’s our passion and desire that help us hang on and keep Rydin’ the Storm Out.
*
Blurb:
Working at Rolling Thunder Motorcycles has been enough for Ryder, until now. He's always been the shy, quiet one. He watched his father find love and didn't think it was possible for him. Until he met Molly. Something stirred inside of him, but would he take the leap out of his shell to ask her out?
Molly has always been head strong and devoted to her work. Building up her photography business has always been top priority. Vowing to not make the same mistakes as her mother, she put love on the back burner. That is until she is hired to shoot a wedding and the groom’s son catches her off guard.
Is Molly ready to take that leap and realize not all men are the same? Will Ryder and Molly be able to move past their own insecurities and calm the storm that rages inside them? Or will they be Rydin’ the Storm Out alone?

Author Bio:
I was born in Bridgeton, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis.  During my time in Missouri, I explored the Ozarks, swam in the Mississippi River, played kickball and endless games of hide-and-seek with the neighborhood kids. Spending summers in Kentucky with my grandmother, Ruth, are among my fondest childhood memories.
 When I was thirteen, my family moved to Wisconsin to learn to farm.  Yes, learn to farm! Taking city kids and throwing them on a farm, with twenty-eight cows purchased from the Humane Society because they had been abused, was interesting, to say the least.  I learned to milk cows, the ins and outs of a breeding schedule, feeding schedule, the never-ending haying in the summer, and trying to stay warm in the winter. During our first winter in Wisconsin, we had thirty-six inches of snow from one storm, and we were snowed in for three days!  Needless to say, I wasn’t loving Wisconsin.
I’m married with four children and three grandchildren.  I have learned to love Wisconsin, though I still hate snow. Wisconsin and the United States are beautiful and my husband and I travel around by motorcycle seeing new places and meeting new people.  It never ceases to amaze me how many people are interested in where we are going and what we have seen along the way.  At almost every stop we make, the locals will ask us where we’re headed and offer advice on which roads in the area are best for travel and seeing the sites. They are also more than willing to share what others before us have told them about great rides and the best scenic routes to take.
I come from a family of veterans.  My grandfather, father, brother, two of my sons, and one daughter-in-law are all veterans.  Needless to say, I am proud to be an American and proud of the service my amazing family has given.

Website:  https://www.pjfiala.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/pjfiala1

Street Team:https://www.facebook.com/groups/RollingThunderMotorcycles/

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/pfiala

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/pattifiala/rydin-the-storm-out/

Google+:  https://plus.google.com/+PJFiala/
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Friday, January 30, 2015


Everyone, please enjoy this interview with my great friend and thriller-writer Khalid Muhammed, author of the 5* book, Agency Rules.  He'll be back in a few weeks to talk about Terrorism.



1. What inspired you to write this book?

The book is more inspired by a series of events in Pakistan. When we go backwards to the 1980s and the Afghan conflict, or the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, a series of events was started in Pakistan that the country still suffers with today. The Taliban, terrorism, and the drug culture are all remnants of that time and we have not been able to escape it because the US invasion of Afghanistan brought it to our doorstep again.

I also think that part of my motivation to write this novel was to help people understand that Pakistan is not a nation of terrorists. We have the misfortune of having self-serving politicians with no checks and balances, so the “anti-state” elements are able to prosper because many politicians and law enforcement personnel are involved for financial benefits. 

2. If you had to co-author a book, who would be your ideal partner and why?

I think that my ideal co-author would be John LeCarre. His ability to craft intricate and detailed characters is just amazing. While I think my characters are quite challenging, he just takes it to a different level. 

3. Tell me a little bit about yourself. 

In terms of my background, I was born in Pakistan, raised and educated in the United States and returned to Pakistan in 1997 to pursue emerging business opportunities. I’ve spent my time in the country comparing the on-ground Pakistan with everything that I heard in the media. What a difference! There are times when I think they make up the stories that are written about the country. 

As an entrepreneur, I have been able to build a successful marketing and brand management company in Karachi that services both domestic and international clients, which has helped with supporting my family while I build my writing career.  Since publishing Agency Rules in January 2014, I have written for a number of domestic publications and a few international ones, while I work on the next two books of the Agency Rules series.

4. What do you do for a living? 

I own a marketing company that works with international clients to develop and promote brands. We do both offline and online, so I put a great deal of the principles to work in promoting my novels.

5. What part of the world do you live in?

I, like my novels, are based in Pakistan.

6. How long have you been writing?

I wrote my first short story when I was 15 as a class project. I wrote my first poem for a competition at 17, didn’t win. I didn’t take up serious writing until I graduated from university and entered the professional world. With a degree in marketing, you really do become a storyteller, which most people don’t understand. I finally started to write a novella when I was 35, I think. I’m 43 now and finally got a story together that works and I am proud of enough to publish.

7. What is your writing process like? Are you a pantster, a plotter, or somewhere in between? 

I’m a bit of both. I tried to plot the chapters out, but that didn’t work because my writing just takes off when I sit down. I end up going in directions that I didn’t even think of while plotting. So I guess that I sit in the middle. I plot out the basic ideas for a chapter, but the writing takes me in the direction that it wants to go.

8. When and where do you write? 

After midnight, at my desk with my headphones on. I usually start out with a pen and paper and freeform write. From there, I sit down at my laptop and start transcribing from the paper, editing and expanding as I transcribe. I get much more done with this method than when I sit down and try to type it out.

9. What sorts of conditions are most conducive to productivity? 

Dead quiet. I can’t write when there are things going on around me. I need to get lost in the world that I am creating on the page, otherwise the scenes and characters don’t come to life for me. 

10. What's your favorite aspect of being a writer? 

Being able to express myself. I am a very social, interactive person, so I never thought that I would be able to channel all my emotions, thoughts and ideas into paper. It took a great deal of writing and wasted paper to get to the point where I could help people visualize what I was doing, thinking and saying, but I got there.

11. Your least favorite?

Editing and revisions. I hate it. My editor and I spend hours talking about the revisions that she recommends. I argue my side, she argues hers. We try to get to a place where we are both happy with the storyline, character development and plot. Sometimes, it takes numerous sessions and conversations to get there.

12. What are the biggest challenges you face as a writer? 

I write about an extremely volatile topic and live in a country that doesn’t like to have these things exposed. The biggest challenge that I face is controlling what I write so that I don’t end up in a dark hole somewhere with terrorists standing over my beaten body.

13. Who are some of your favorite writers and why? 

I don’t have a single favorite. I love to read spy thrillers so Tom Clancy, John le Carre, Fredrick Forsyth, Daniel Silva, Ian Fleming and Robert Ludlum are big influences. But at the same time, I really enjoy the new voices in the espionage world like Tom Rob Smith, Matthew Farrugia, and Matthew Reilly.

14. What are your favorite books?

Wow… best book? That would actually be a tossup between Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and The Afghan. Both are fantastic stories with characters that you can really identify with, if you are a true spy fan. 

15. What writing tools do you use, if any? 

Pen. Paper. A laptop and my heavy metal music. That’s all it takes for me.

16. How long does it typically take for you to write your first draft? 

First draft of a novel or a chapter?!? I wrote the first draft of Agency Rules – Never an Easy Day at the Office in about 4 months. That was after about 6 years of research, interviews and conversations with people in the intelligence industry. The new book has taken me about the same time.

Then, we start the editing process and the beta reader process. So with all the writing, editing, and beta process, it takes about 6-7 months to finish the novel.

17. Who's your favorite character from one of your books? Why?

Since I only have one book published right now, my favorite character is Kamal Khan, the protagonist in my series. He is very dark and sinister at times through the first book. He is also very conflicted over the things that he must do as an intelligence operative. This isn’t a character that is black and white. He is many shades of grey. 

18. If you could have one superpower what would it be?

I have had a great deal of bad luck and bad people in my life that have done some serious damage to me in the past. It took me a long time to put that behind me and repair myself so that I could move forward to live the life that I knew I could have. If I could have one super power, I would want to be able to heal people’s scars, because everyone has the potential of being superb and no one, and I mean no one, should be allowed to stop them from achieving that.

Social Media Links:

Twitter: http://twitter.com/AgencyRulesPK (@AgencyRulesPK)
Facebook: http://facebook.com/AgencyRulesPK
Website: http://www.agencyrules.com


Buy Links:

Amazon - http://smarturl.it/amazon-ar B&N - http://goo.gl/lNMQo0
Kobo - http://goo.gl/mUtIS8
iTunes - http://goo.gl/6MK31X

_________________________________________________________________________________


Sunday, February 1, 2015




FRIENDS, Check our PJ Fiala

She's an Inspiration to Us All...
Rydin' the Storm Out by PJ Fiala

1. What inspired you to write this book?

a. I was and am inspired by life.  Have you seen the news? Read the papers?  Good grief, life is complicated, unusual, interesting and mind boggling.  There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t hear or read something and think, that is some crazy stuff.  Keep in mind that my day job is as a paralegal, so I hear some crazy stuff.  So, back to my inspiration.  Because of the complexities and unusualness of life, I write stories that have a little angst (not too much, life gives us that), a little adventure and a lot of love (sometimes, life doesn’t give us enough of that).

2. If you had to co-author a book, who would be your ideal partner and why?

a. I love Sylvia Day.  She is my inspiration and I would absolutely love to know how her mind works, what her writing process is and how she puts it all together.

3. Tell me a little bit about yourself.

a. I live in Wisconsin, just outside of Green Bay, though I was born in Missouri and spent my summers with my grandma’s family in Kentucky.  I call Kentucky home more than Missouri.  I still have family in Kentucky, and visit at least once a year to see them all.  I have four children, all grown and three beautiful grandchildren.  My husband and I ride motorcycles.  We ride whenever we can.  We’ve been on some fabulous trips and are looking forward to so many more.  With retirement only about a year away, we are hoping to be on the road several months each year.  I come from a long line of Veterans. My great grandfathers, grandfathers, father, brother and two of my sons.  My two sons both have served in Iraq and Afghanistan and my youngest is still in the Army Reserves.  I have a concealed carry permit and believe strongly in the right to keep and bear arms and do so proudly, but not without the understanding of the awesome responsibility of carrying.  Our whole family will go to the gun range together, or as many of us who can, to practice.  It’s a fabulous privilege.  And, lastly, I love to write steamy romances.

4. What do you do for a living?

a. As I mentioned, I am a paralegal.  The law office I work in deals mostly with business related law.  I have my bachelor’s degree in Human Resources Management with a minor in Paralegal.  The law I work in is heavily geared to employment law, business law, and litigation.

5. What part of the world do you live in?

a. I live in the United States, just outside of Green Bay, Wisconsin.

6. How long have you been writing?

a. I have been writing for about three years now, though I have wanted to write my whole life.  I let fear stand in the way for a very long time and finally decided I deserved to do what made me happy.  My husband has been a huge supporter and encourages me to follow my dreams.

7. What is your writing process like? Are you a pantster, a plotter, or somewhere in between?

a. I’m totally a pantster.  When I sit to write, I usually have my basic story in my mind, never on paper.  When I have the basic story in my mind and sit down to write, I can go all day.  The story just flows and usually takes me places I didn’t intend to go when I first started.  My characters usually misbehave, but if I left them go, I’m usually happy with the direction.  That’s not to say there aren’t major revisions along the way.

8. When and where do you write?

a. I write when the mood strikes me, as long as the mood strikes me when I am not at work.  When I have a story mostly puzzled out, I will set aside a weekend and let everyone know this is my writing weekend – Leave Me Alone.  I have a dedicated office at home, but lately have found that I prefer to stand while writing, so I will often take my laptop into the kitchen and stand at the counter for long periods.

9. What sorts of conditions are most conducive to productivity?

a. I like having music on or the television, especially home DIY shows.  I need noise or music. I find that when I need to, I can tune out things I don’t want or need to hear. When I need a break, I have the background noise to fall back on.


10. What's your favorite aspect of being a writer?

a. The creativity.  I love being able to invent people that I would like to know or be related to.  I love inventing scenarios and situations.

11. Your least favorite?

a. Marketing.  YUCK.  It is so dang time consuming.  There is so much out there and it’s so darn frustrating sometimes.  And, it takes away from my writing time.

12. What are the biggest challenges you face as a writer?

a. Time, always time.  Still working full time, I have to fit the writing, marketing, editing, cover design, teaser creation, formatting, uploading, swag creation, etc. into a few short hours a week.  It never seems to be enough.  My to-do list seems to grow rather than shrink.

13. Who are some of your favorite writers and why?

a. I mentioned Sylvia Day before.  I love her books, her characters and her writing style.  I like Jill Shalvis.  She is so darn funny and her characters are light-hearted and fun.  I like S.C. Stephens.  Her writing style grabs hold and hangs on.  Lauren Dane is fabulous.  Gosh there are so many fabulous writers out there.

14. What are your favorite books?

a. I love steamy romances, not necessarily erotic, but I love being titillated and some steamy, panty melting scenes.  But, I want there to be a story to go along with it. I love it when two people need to fight to stay together. Not always fight with each other, but there are usually outside forces to battle and win.

15. What writing tools do you use, if any?

a. My mind and my laptop.  I suppose you could say Pinterest.  I create boards for every book.  Any inspirations I have for characters, clothing, places, foods, drinks, houses, bikes, anything, I locate and pin to my Pinterest boards and look at them often for additional inspiration.  I also create music lists on Spotify to go with my books as well.

16. How long does it typically take for you to write your first draft?

a. It depends.  My first book is 455 pages.  That took me about a month to write.  It went through many revisions and, even recently, another revision as I am republishing it this month.  Dog Days of Summer took about that same about of time for the first draft.  Rydin’ the Storm Out took about three weeks.  I have others coming soon, that have taken about 2-3 weeks.  I like to write them and then put them away for a little while.  I’ll pull them back out and look them over in a few weeks and usually make some changes.  Two weeks ago, I wrote a short story for inclusion in an anthology in a day.  I started on Saturday morning and before six o’clock Saturday night, I was finished with it.  That was a fun day.

17. Your final draft?

a. Oh, that can be a while.  As I mentioned, I’ll put them away a bit and come back to them.  I would say another month or two after the first draft.

18. Who's your favorite character from one of your books? Why?

a. Grayson Kinkaide from Second Chances is my favorite H.  He was my first and he’s simply unforgettable.

19. If you could have one superpower what would it be.?

a. Ooooo, I would like to be Storm from X-Men.  I could control the weather.  I would like that.  People I disliked would find themselves in perpetual thunder, lightning and just plan crappy weather all the darn time. While people that I cared about would enjoy all the warmth and sunshine they wanted.

Book Info:

Title: Rydin’ the Storm Out
Publication Date: January 9, 2015
Genre: Adult Contemporary Romance
Pages: 226
Publisher: Rolling Thunder Publishing
Format: eBook and Paperback
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00RI9I4DQ
Universal Amazon Link: http://myBook.to/RydintheStormOut
Barnes & Noble: http://goo.gl/zpLuVr
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24146271-rydin-the-storm-out

Tag Line:
Storms roll into our lives when we least expect them. It’s our passion and desire that help us hang on and keep Rydin’ the Storm Out.
*
Blurb:
Working at Rolling Thunder Motorcycles has been enough for Ryder, until now. He's always been the shy, quiet one. He watched his father find love and didn't think it was possible for him. Until he met Molly. Something stirred inside of him, but would he take the leap out of his shell to ask her out?
Molly has always been head strong and devoted to her work. Building up her photography business has always been top priority. Vowing to not make the same mistakes as her mother, she put love on the back burner. That is until she is hired to shoot a wedding and the groom’s son catches her off guard.
Is Molly ready to take that leap and realize not all men are the same? Will Ryder and Molly be able to move past their own insecurities and calm the storm that rages inside them? Or will they be Rydin’ the Storm Out alone?

Author Bio:
I was born in Bridgeton, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis.  During my time in Missouri, I explored the Ozarks, swam in the Mississippi River, played kickball and endless games of hide-and-seek with the neighborhood kids. Spending summers in Kentucky with my grandmother, Ruth, are among my fondest childhood memories.
 When I was thirteen, my family moved to Wisconsin to learn to farm.  Yes, learn to farm! Taking city kids and throwing them on a farm, with twenty-eight cows purchased from the Humane Society because they had been abused, was interesting, to say the least.  I learned to milk cows, the ins and outs of a breeding schedule, feeding schedule, the never-ending haying in the summer, and trying to stay warm in the winter. During our first winter in Wisconsin, we had thirty-six inches of snow from one storm, and we were snowed in for three days!  Needless to say, I wasn’t loving Wisconsin.
I’m married with four children and three grandchildren.  I have learned to love Wisconsin, though I still hate snow. Wisconsin and the United States are beautiful and my husband and I travel around by motorcycle seeing new places and meeting new people.  It never ceases to amaze me how many people are interested in where we are going and what we have seen along the way.  At almost every stop we make, the locals will ask us where we’re headed and offer advice on which roads in the area are best for travel and seeing the sites. They are also more than willing to share what others before us have told them about great rides and the best scenic routes to take.
I come from a family of veterans.  My grandfather, father, brother, two of my sons, and one daughter-in-law are all veterans.  Needless to say, I am proud to be an American and proud of the service my amazing family has given.

Website:  https://www.pjfiala.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/pjfiala1

Street Team:https://www.facebook.com/groups/RollingThunderMotorcycles/

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/pfiala

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/pattifiala/rydin-the-storm-out/

Google+:  https://plus.google.com/+PJFiala/
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