Interview: Carolyn Brown + Hell, Yeah giveaway

Today I am having  author Carolyn Brown over for an interview, and thanks to Sourcebooks I have 2 copies of Hell, Yeah to give away. More about that later in this post.

Welcome to Book Girl of Mur-y-Castell, Carolyn!

It's great to be here! And thank you for that wonderful review on Hell, Yeah! And I love your comment about OCD readers! I have a few like that who have asked me to list my books by order on my web page so they won't get out of order when they are reading them.

Tell me something about yourself, so we get a better understanding about the woman behind the author.

I'm a wife, mother and grandmother. My husband is one of those rare men who realizes living with a writer is a great BIG challenge and is a sweetheart for all his support. I was born in Texas and grew up in southern Oklahoma and writing has been a dream of mine since I was big enough to realize those squiggly things on the book pages told beautiful stories. I also love reading, sitting in my fabulous back yard and listening to concerts put on by the birds, crickets and locusts, and cooking for my enormous family. Life is good in southern Oklahoma!

Your newest book is called Hell, Yeah; can you tell me what it is about?

Yes, ma'am and thank you for asking. I can talk about Hell, Yeah all day and half the night. Cathy has put down roots in the Honky Tonk and has no intentions of ever leaving. Travis is only in the little bitty down of Mingus for a few weeks at most and then his boss, Amos Lambert, who plays a part in all four books, will let him go to his dream job in Alaska. So he has wings and Cathy has roots and never the twain shall meet. Right? Her roots get shaken. His wings don't want to fly. And suddenly they are fighting against what is right in front of their eyes. Throw in a whole honky tonk full of quirky characters who can see that they are right for each other and stir well. You'll laugh, cry and get so mad you could chew up railroad ties and spit out Tinker Toys.

How come you started to write western romances?

It's been said that folks write best about what they know. I could never write a thriller because my brain doesn't work that way. But westerns have been a love of mine since Big Valley, Bonanza and High Chaparral. Oops, I think I just dated myself! In my defense, I was very young and very impressionable. Cowboys are so, so hunky and sexy. They walk tall, speak slow and listen to every word a woman has to say.

I am curious, do you love country music, and as a total newbie, who would you recommend to me?
I cut my teeth on the old artists songs ... Hank Williams, Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson, etc. Then I grew up and married a man who played the guitar and sang country music. We still have family gatherings when Husband plays the guitar and we two-step with the grandkids in the living room. Who would I recommend for you as a newbie? Wow! How much room do we have here? You might like Blake Shelton, Miranda Lambert, Josh Turner or maybe Garth Brooks, Toby Keith (who is one of my all time favorites), Alan Jackson, Gretchen Wilson. Better yet, go to the country music radio on your computer and just listen to the songs they offer before you rush out and buy CD's. I betcha you'll be two-steppin' in no time.

Who is your favorite hero or heroine from your books? What makes them so special?

I'm not sure I can answer this one ... but usually it's whatever book and characters I'm working with at the time. I loved watching Travis and Cathy fall in love in Hell, Yeah! They were so much fun to work with even if they did get sassy at times and want things done just to their specifications. Yes, ma'am, I did change a few things when they wouldn't stop sitting on my shoulder and bugging me. But to choose an absolute favorite among the now more than fifty books I've sold, would be impossible.

Are you working on something new and exciting right now?

Oh, yes, I am. I'm working on the Spikes & Spurs series for 2011. First one should debut the series in May with two more following in the fall. I'm very excited about them. It's the stories of three women who traded their high heeled shoes for cowboy boots; their power suits for tight fittin' jeans but kept their whoop-ass independence. And the three sexy cowboys that strutted into their lives wearing ten gallon hats, boots and spurs and found out that taming a sassy woman was tougher than breaking a wild bronc.

Any advice for wannabe writers?

WRITE! You can whine or write. Whining doesn't produce much. Writing does. You'll never sell what you haven't written ... so write. Preservere and keep writing when you get rejection slips and you will get them. I have almost enough to wall paper the inside of the Pentagon. The White House was papered in them years ago. Give yourself exactly 60 seconds to whine when someone rejects your labor of love and then go write another story.

And last, if you could pick one book to take with you to a desert island, which book would it be and why.

How long am I going to be on this island? If it's just one day I'd take Laurie Brown's What Would Jane Austen Do? because I haven't read it yet and I'm dying to do so. But if I'm going to be there two or three days then I'd need a longer one so I'd reread Gone With The Wind. And if I was going to be there indefinitely I'd have to take one that I'd love to reread over and over again and I'd have to check my bookcase for my very favorite LaVyrle Spencer book.

Thanks for stopping by!
Thank you for letting me stop and catch my breath on this blog tour. It's been fun visiting here. Tell me, what do you readers think of the cover for Hell, Yeah?

CONTEST

Now to the giveaway, and I have 2 copies of Hell, Yeah to give away to you.

1. Ends September 6th.

2. Open to US and Canada.

3. Answer Carolyn's question about her cover, or ask her a question :) Or just comment.

4. If your email is not in your profile then please put it in your comment, or you can email me, Blodeuedd

For those who can play along in the contest please stop by, ask a question or comment you too :)

HELL, YEAH BY CAROLYN BROWN – IN STORES AUGUST 2010

She’s finally found a place that feels like home…
When Cathy O’Dell buys the Honky Tonk, the nights of cowboys and country tunes come together to create the home she’s always wanted. Then in walks a ruggedly handsome oil man who tempts her to trade in the happiness she’s found at the Honky Tonk for a life on the road with him…

He lives the good life…
Gorgeous and rich, Travis Henry travels the country unearthing oil wells and then moving on. Then the beautiful blue-eyed new owner of the Honky Tonk beer joint becomes his best friend and so much more. When his job is done in Texas, how is he ever going to hit the road without her?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Carolyn Brown, an award-winning author who has published 36 romance novels for the library market, credits her eclectic family for her humor and writing ideas. She was born in Texas but grew up in southern Oklahoma where she and her husband, Charles, a retired English teacher, now make their home in the town of Davis, Oklahoma. They have three grown children and enough grandchildren to keep them young. http://carolynlbrown.com/ 


Blodeuedd: And now for something from me since I could not help myself, I know certain readers will enjoy this, lol. Here you go ;)