Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Terrific Tuesday: New Release : Sucker For A Hotrod by Joselyn Vaughn

Please welcome Joselyn Vaughn to the Astraea Press house. We are delighted with having her on board and want to spotlight her on her release day with her novel Sucker For a Hotrod. Here's the blurb and and an interview with Joselyn.

Blurb

Bryce Halloway only dates a woman once. No exceptions.
It gives him the reputation of a heart-breaker, but he can handle that as long as it keeps his mother, Dinah, from trying to marry him off. Judi Montgomery and her tempting ponytail finagle their way around official dates with car problems and driving lessons. She worms her way into his heart and entices him to want more from his life.
When health issues causes his father to retire, Bryce inherits the family-owned tractor repair shop. Can Judi’s love and encouragement give him the courage to break tradition and pursue his dreams of owning a custom hot rod shop?
Interview


A random fact about your story.
We have a 1972  Datsun 240Z sitting in our driveway. Someday my husband hopes to get it running again.

A random fact about you as an author. 
I like to write my rough drafts by hand.  I can keep up with my train of thought faster writing than typing.
Favorite line in the story (can be funny, romantic, etc).  
“Little buggers leap like that – they probably have rabies.”  He panted.  “You sure he didn’t bite you?”

How did you get the idea for your book? 
It started with a guy who was supposed to know everything about fixing cars and then he got one that he couldn’t fix.  It’s strange how the story evolves. Bryce ended up loving cars, but couldn’t work on them because he was needed in the family tractor repair shop.

What are you currently working on?
I am currently working on a story with characters from my first book, CEOs Don’t Cry.  The owner of the bed and breakfast has a very interesting and complicated history and I’m trying to sort it out.  


Is this your first published book? No, I have two other books with Avalon Books.  They are CEOs Don’t Cry and Courting SparksCourting Sparks just came out at the beginning of the year.
  
Vanilla or Chocolate
Chocolate

As a child what did you want to be when you grew up?
I wanted to be a lot of different things.  A teacher, an architect, a librarian, a writer. I ended up as a librarian and have taught basic computer classes. No architectural work yet.

What was the scariest moment of your life?
This is hard because I’ve been very blessed.  I haven’t had many scary moments. My son had to have a minor surgery when he was six months old.  The doctor was explaining the procedure to us and I was nodding along at everything. No food after midnight. Okay.  Be at the hospital at six. Fine. You’ll go to the surgical waiting room and then the anesthesiologist will come and take your son back to the operating room. What?!  I don’t know if I was expecting to take him there myself or sit with him during the whole surgery or what.  Those options would not have been good either. But handing him off to the anesthesiologist seemed completely wrong. He came through the surgery just fine.

How do you develop your plots and characters?
They come to me during the first draft and I learn about them as I write it.  Sometimes I discover things about them after the story is done.  I had an epiphany about Bryce when the story was almost done.  I was at a seminar about birth order and suddenly Bryce’s behavior made so much sense.  


Do you listen to music while writing?
 It depends on where I am or if the Bob the Builder theme song counts.  Mostly I don’t because I write while my kids are resting, thus the Bob the Builder music or Dinosaur Train. 

Plotter or Pantser? Why?
Pantser, then plotter.  My first draft is totally pantsed.  Wait that sounds bad, but you know what I mean.  I don’t have any other plan for it than my main characters will be together at the end. Once the first draft is done and I developed all these ideas, I sit down and outline the story somehow. I’ve used spreadsheets, calendars and index cards.  I work from that for my revisions. If I have too much planned before I start, I’m not as interested in writing because the story has fewer surprises.

Tell us about your current release.
Sucker for a Hot Rod is about a woman with car problems and trying to find the Bryce who can fix them. As she falls in love with him, she learns that Bryce is in there somewhere. She must convince Bryce to follow his dreams.

Tell us the "story" of your book and how it came to be.
 Sucker for a Hot Rod was a labor for sure.  It started with the idea of a mechanic who’s known for being a real gear-head who can fix anything and he meets a car and a girl that he can’t wrap his head around. It seemed like I had the same problem. I couldn’t get my head around either of the main characters’ motivations for the longest time.  Since then, I have decided that I shouldn’t write while I’m pregnant because I can’t think.  Once my youngest was born, I was able to pull the story together.

Do you have a writing routine?
 Whenever I can fit it in.  In the afternoons, during rest-time (somedays  In the evenings after the kids have gone to bed, I work on my work in progress. I meet with my critique group once a week.  Some weeks that’s all that’s keeping me sane.

What inspires you?
Paper and ink.  I look at them and they say write on me. J

What are you working on right now?
I am currently working on a story with characters from my first book, CEOs Don’t Cry.  The owner of the bed and breakfast has a very interesting and complicated history and I’m trying to sort it out.  

Tell us something about yourself that your readers might not expect.
I love thrift store shopping.  It’s fun to find treasures amongst all the junk. Someday, I’d like to try repurposing clothes that I find.  My sister recently converted a men’s XL sweatshirt into a really cute dress and I’d like to try it myself.

Favorite Muppet?
I’ve never been a big fan of the Muppets, although I know I watched them a lot when I was little.  The only episode I remember is one with John Denver, so I’m going to say John Denver.

Favorite movie and why?
Really?  I have to pick one?  Shop Around the Corner with Jimmy Stewart.  He’s so cute in it.  

What are your goals for this year?
I’d like to finish the book about the bed and breakfast owner and another one that I have a rough draft for.  After that who knows.  There’s another idea rolling around in my head, so maybe I’ll sneak the rough draft in for that.

Wow! I free hand sometimes too Joselyn. It's just easier. If you want to find out more about Joselyn such as her facebook info bio and blog info hit the link here.

3 comments:

  1. Joselyn,
    Huge congrats on your release lady! So awesome when I see "neighbors" being published. Great interview as well. I love thrift stores. You can find some awesome things...

    ReplyDelete
  2. I know ! I found an awesome sundress this weekend. Now just need some sun. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Cute interview. Anxious to read this new story. Loved your first books. Best wishes!

    ReplyDelete