Please welcome my first guest on the All Romantic Suspense Authors Blog Tour -- Anne K. Albert.
Anne, with the countless number of interview questions out there, let’s try something different. Tell
us about yourself. How about something that hasn’t been previously stated? Maybe a phobia or pet peeve.
AKA
- Phobia, it is. I have this aversion to the tips of pointed objects facing me, and that includes cutlery! I have no idea
why or when it began, but I absolutely cannot sit at the dinner table and enjoy the conversation if something pointed is directed
at me.
What genre do you write and what genre would you love to try?
AKA - I write my own version of
romantic suspense. It’s really more mystery than romance, because I focus more on solving the crime than the development
of the romance, but there’s always a happy, romantic ending.
Tell us about what you've had published.
AKA
- DEFENDING GLORY is the first of the Piedmont Island Trilogy. It’s set on a fictitious Minnesota island in the middle
of Lake Superior where troubles outnumber residents.
My second novel, FRANK, INCENSE AND MURIEL, is the first book
of the Muriel Reeves Mysteries, and thanks to Muriel’s zany family contains a lot of humor.
Any works in
progress?
AKA - Oh, yes! I’m working on the second installment of the Piedmont Island Trilogy. It’s
called DEFENDING HOPE. I’m also thinking about what will happen in the second Muriel Reeves Mysteries book, VAL AND
TYNE DAY’S MURDER. As you might guess by the zany title, it takes place in February.
What's your inspiration?
AKA
- I write stories I like to read. Ones that entertain, and make me smile.
What drives you as a writer?
AKA
- Writing is the only career I’ve ever held for more than seven years. It’s not that I did not enjoy teaching,
selling display advertising at a small town weekly newspaper or working for a national brand water company. It’s just
that writing “feels” right. It’s not a job!
How long have you been writing?
AKA
- Decades! Unlike so many writers, I never knew I wanted to write until I reached middle age. I envy those authors, I might
add, because they’ve got almost an entire lifetime of writing as a head start. It bothers me that time is on their side
and I’ll never catch up.
Do you have a dream man/cop/detective? Does he appear in your writing and if so,
what does he look like?
AKA - I saw an interview on television once with Barbara Cartland where she said all of
her heroes were “tall, dark and handsome”. I have to agree. My heroes are also tall, dark and handsome...even
if I’ve written them as a blond!
Please tell us what you are most passionate about outside of writing.
AKA
- I love to travel and people watch from a perfectly positioned sidewalk cafe table. I enjoy leisurely visits to art galleries,
spending time with friends and family, drinking a glass of chardonnay and eating plain milk chocolate.
What makes
you laugh? Cry?
AKA - I cry at anything and everything that touches a chord inside my heart. That can be a snippet
from a television commercial to a verse inside an anniversary or birthday card. What makes me laugh is a totally different
matter. I’m much more selective, and sadly there are a lot of comedians I just don’t “get”!
What
do you do to amuse yourself when not working?
AKA - Did I mention that I love to travel? There are times when I
honestly think I could be a nomad. As long as I’m staying at a hotel. J
Sinful indulgence?
AKA - Fifteen years ago while visiting the Caribbean I
discovered a wonderful French perfume that just resonated with me. I wear it everyday. Even those days when I never leave
the house!
Can you describe the time you realized you were indeed a "real" writer?
AKA - I was reading
a well known author’s book and just could not get into it. I’d stop mid-sentence and desperately want to revise
it! Finally, I realized there was no point in continuing. I tossed the book aside and said, “I can write better than
that.” Whether or not that is true, of course, is up to the reader to decide, but it was at that moment I accepted the
truth that for better or worse, I am a writer.
Thanks so much for taking the time to answer these questions. The
floor is yours. Please tell us where to find your work, your website, your blog, book trailer, and anything else you care
to share.
AKA - Thank you so much, Cassie, for having me. It was fun!
My website is http://www.AnneKAlbert.com.
My books are available at Amazon.com, Amazon,ca, and Amazon.co.uk as well as other book retailers listed on my blog http://anne-k-albert.blogspot.com.
Story Blurb for DEFENDING GLORY:
Suffering from survivor's guilt and unable to resume his career with the FBI, Mac McKeown moves to northern Minnesota to start over as a general contractor and forget that fateful day that changed everything. When he discovers the body of his nemesis on Glory Palmer's property, along with a warning for her to leave while she still can and abandon her dream of building a Christian retreat, Mac realizes his past has come back to haunt him and an innocent woman's life is in grave danger. He vows to keep her safe during construction of the retreat... but how will he protect his heart?
Story Blurb for FRANK, INCENSE AND MURIEL:
What happens when a
gullible intellectual reluctantly joins forces with her sexy high school nemesis, now an even sexier private investigator,
to find a missing woman?
It’s the week before Christmas and the stress of the holiday season is enough to frazzle
anyone's nerves. But Frank and Muriel must deal with an embezzler, femme fatale, kidnapper, and of course, Muriel's eccentric,
but loveable family whose desire to win the coveted D-DAY (Death Defying Award of the Year) trophy just might make them all
crazy.
