Author Interview - Debbie De Louise
My guest this week is Author Debbie De Louise.
Debbie has written several books with her most recent being Sea Scope releasing today, May 4. Congratulations, Debbie, and thank you for being my guest this week.
About Writing/Books/Being an Author
1. Do you remember the first book you read that had an impact on you - in what way and what was the name of that book?
When I was 11, my brother gave me a book for Christmas called Winter People by Phyllis Whitney. It was a romantic suspense novel. I loved it so much that, after that, I read all of Phyllis Whitney’s books and also books by other romantic suspense novelists of that time including Victoria Holt and Mary Stewart. Although I’d always loved reading, Winter People started my interest in writing because I began to dream about emulating Phyllis Whitney and other authors who wrote such wonderful stories.
2. When did you first realize you wanted to write?
See my answer above, although my writing began in college. I was a Features Editor on my student newspaper and, when I graduated, I joined the Cat Writer’s Association and wrote for pet magazines. I needed to publish two articles to become a professional member of CWA and that inspired me to send my work out. My first novel was published in 2009 but the rest of my published books have been written since 2015.
3. Who is/are your favourite author(s)?
I’m a librarian, so I read a variety of authors and genres. I’ve enjoyed books my Nora Roberts, Mary Higgins Clark, Joy Fielding, Stephen King, Dean Koontz, Jo Jo Moyes, and many others. I also read Independent authors. One of my favorites who is a friend and local author is Lisa Diaz Meyer. She writes absorbing dark fiction short stories and poetry.
4. What is your favourite thing about writing? What is your least favourite thing about writing?
I like creating characters and seeing where they take me in their story. I don’t like the time it takes to market and promote my books which takes me away from writing them.
5. Where do your ideas come from?
Everywhere – TV shows, books, dreams, events in real life, my memories, but mostly my imagination.
6. If you could jump inside a book for one day (as an observer) what book would it be?
The Wizard of Oz. That was my favorite book as a child, and I’d love to meet the tin man, cowardly lion, and scarecrow, not to mention the cute munchkins.
7. When you create characters, are they completely made up or do they resemble or remind you of people you know?
Mostly made up, but sometimes a conglomerate of several people I know or knew. Eight-year-old Mac in my Cobble Cove mysteries was based on a man I worked with at my college library many years ago. He ate peanut butter sandwiches every day for lunch, so I gave that particular quirk to Mac. Otherwise, his character is fictional.
8. What are you working on now and can you tell us about it?
I’m currently editing my soon-to-be published psychological mystery, Sea Scope, that involves Sarah, a children’s book illustrator who, as a child, discovered a body with her brother by a South Carolina lighthouse near their home. Since Sarah and her husband are currently having marriage problems, she’s eager to accept her aunt’s invitation for a visit back home. The story then moves back and forth in time as she is reunited with people from her past and faces long-buried memories, text messages and strange clues about what happened that summer day twenty years ago by the lighthouse.
9. Have you won any awards for your writing/books and if so what?
I received a journalism award in college for featuring writing. More recently, I received an award from Purina for an article on cat grooming that appeared in Catster.com, and just last month, I received a Certificate of Excellence from the Cat Writer’s Association for my 4th Cobble Cove cozy mystery, Love on the Rocks.
A Little More Personal
10. What is one thing you haven’t done but would like to do?
See the Grand Canyon and travel out West.
11. Have you ever experienced something weird you could not explain?
Yes. In one case, a few days after my 17-year old cat Oliver died, a rainbow appeared on my wall. I thought it was a sign from Oliver that he was doing okay up on Rainbow Bridge or wherever beloved pets go when they pass on. Even weirder, on my mother’s birthday this past February, I woke up and saw the outline of a cat on my ceiling. My mother passed away nine months after Oliver in July. He was her cat for 13 years until she gave him to me when she went into a nursing home. She always loved animals, especially cats, and that’s where I acquired my love of them. Seeing the cat shape on my ceiling, I felt it was a communication from her that she and Oliver were together again.
12. What makes you happy?
My cats, my family, and my friends.
13. If you aren’t writing (or doing anything associated with writing), what are you doing?
Playing with my cats, dancing, walking, doing exercise videos, and going to church.
14. Have you ever met anyone famous – who?
I’ve attended Eternal Con with my family and met William Shatner from Star Trek and Lee Merriwether who played Cat Woman (I took a photo with her).
Bio
Debbie De Louise is an award-winning author and a reference librarian at a public library. She is a member of Sisters-in-Crime, International Thriller Writers, Long Island Authors Group, and the Cat Writer’s Association. Her novels include the four books of the Cobble Cove mystery series: A Stone’s Throw, Between a Rock and a Hard Place, Written in Stone, and Love on the Rocks. Debbie has also written a standalone mystery, Reason to Die, a romantic comedy novella, When Jack Trumps Ace, and a paranormal romance, Cloudy Rainbow. Her psychological mystery, Sea Scope will be published Spring, 2019. She lives on Long Island with her husband, daughter, and three cats.
Connect with Debbie at:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Deblibrarian
Amazon Author Page: Author.to/DebbieDeLouise
Website/Blog/Newsletter Sign-Up: https://debbiedelouise.wordpress.com