Inside the Mind of an Author
by Bette Lee Crosby
Everyone has someone or something that inspires them. For me, it’s my mom. There are bits of pieces of her in every story I write. Although Mom’s education ended in the sixth grade, and she seldom wrote anything longer than a letter, she was an absolutely mesmerizing storyteller. Supposedly, many of her tales were about long lost family members, but I seriously doubt that any family could produce all of the lovable and quirky characters she conjured up.
Once my mom was gone, so were her stories and one loss was as great as the other. So, after years of writing for business, I turned to fiction and discovered that I had inherited Mom’s storytelling gene. Once I started down that road, there was no turning back. I let my imagination run wild and in time, I became my mom…only with a computer.
Although some people have favorite authors, mine changes constantly. Since I write in a Southern voice, I enjoy a number of Southern authors but I also love discovering new authors with fresh voices and ideas. I am more inclined to have favorite books rather than favorite authors. I have classic favorites that include To Kill a Mockingbird and Gone With the Wind, and I have new favorites that include Erin Morgenstern’s Night Circus, Sarah Addison Allen’s Garden Spells and Christine Nolfi’s Treasure Me.
I download Kindle samples like crazy and read them all. As a writer, I am a very fussy reader and if a book doesn’t draw me in immediately, I pass it by. I like books that make me feel something right from the start. I like books with strong characters—whether it is the protagonist or the villain, I want to know what makes that person tick. My criteria for a good book is one that doesn’t just tell a story, but sweeps me up into the story and carries me with it until the very last page.
The book you’ll most often find on my nightstand is the journal I use to sketch out story ideas that float through my head just as I’m about to fall asleep…or not. I have become addicted to reading on both my Kindle and iPad, so it’s like having a stack of books to choose from and I frequently jump from one to another depending on my mood.
I am a night owl. I wasn’t always. When I had a “day job” I rose early, headed off to the gym and was in the office by nine o’clock. Now, I seldom go to sleep before 1:30AM, so in the morning I am somewhat bleary-eyed. On my way to becoming an author, social media happened and I am now addicted. I love scanning through the fun tweets I get, talking with fans and followers on Goodreads and Facebook, and yes, pinning lots of stuff to my boards on Pinterest. If you are up late some night, stop by one of my pages, you’ll find me chatting up a storm.
Reviewer’s Choice 2012 Award Winner! In a story that’s been compared to John Grisham’s The Client, eleven year-old Ethan Allen Doyle has witnessed a brutal murder and now the boy is running for his life. In the time-tested tradition of Southern Fiction, Crosby unveils the darkest side of human nature and then rewards her readers with a beautiful tale of love, loss and unexpected gifts.
Olivia Westerly is the only person Ethan Allen can trust, and he’s not too sure he can trust her. She’s got no love of children and a truckload of superstitions–one of them is the belief that eleven is the unluckiest number on earth. Olivia avoided marriage for almost forty years. But when Charlie Doyle happened along, he was simply too wonderful to resist. Now she’s a widow with an eleven-year-old boy claiming to be her grandson.
With a foul mouth, dark secrets and heavily guarded emotions, Ethan Allen Doyle is not an easy child to like. He was counting on the grandpa he’d never met for a place to hide, but now that plan is shot to blazes because the grandpa’s dead too. He’s got seven dollars and twenty-six cents, his mama’s will for staying alive, and Dog. But none of those things are gonna help if Scooter Cobb finds him.
Winner of Five Literary Awards,BookBundlz Finalist, Voted Goodreads Best Unknown Fiction, FPA President’s Book Award Gold Medal Finalist
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Genre – Literary Fiction
Rating – PG13
More details about the author & the book
Connect with Bette Lee Crosby on Facebook & Twitter & GoodReads
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