The Next Big Thing: Meow Mayhem, Dana Arcuri, and Lorilyn Roberts

Today my blog is part of something bigger than usual. Last week Dana Arcuri invited me to be part of a blog hop called The Next Big Thing. It is an opportunity for me to bless other authors.
 

The purpose is to help readers discover the next great book or author; i.e., the one they will be compelled to read or the author whose work they simply can’t put down.

Check out Dana's book debut and blog: http://writing4theheart-n-soul.blogspot.com/

ABOUT DANA ARCURI : Dana Arcuri is an ordinary wife, mother, and sister, but a daughter of an extraordinary Heavenly Father. She began her love of reading and writing at the age of eleven. What began as a fun hobby gradually turned into a faith-inspired passion. She writes for the heart-n- soul to provide inspiration, encouragement, and hope.

Dana is a Contributing Author for Inspired Women Succeed, published in May 2011. Having a heart for the hurting, she is the Director of Prayer and Contributing Writer at Write Where It Hurts. You may visit WWIH at http://writewhereithurts.org/. In addition, she is a member of the National Association of Christian Women Entrepreneurs. (http://nacwe.org/)

Currently, she is completing her upcoming book, Harvest of Hope: Living Victoriously Through Adversity. Struggling with unfathomable trials, she shares her personal journey with depression, anxiety, ADHD, and Fibromyalgia. Despite ongoing adversity, she took one step at a time to successfully overcome each hurdle. Her captivating message is one of hope, healing, and rising above unrelenting hardships.

When Dana is not busy writing, she is enjoying Starbucks, dark chocolate, and being a girly girl.

What is awesome about this blog hop is the exciting adventure to learn about authors from various genres and styles. One may never know the possibilities in our future. His or her work might just be the next big thing, or perhaps mine, too. Whatever the case, we are living out our passion for writing and making a positive difference within our world.


Part of this blog hop involves me answering ten questions about my book.

Next week, please take the opportunity to hop on over to Lorilyn Roberts’s blog at

http://www.lorilynroberts.blogspot.com

1.           What is the working title of your book? Meow Mayhem

 

2.           Where did you get the idea for your book? The basic idea came from stories around my community, with the downturn in the economy, luring new businesses, and a story I heard about tunnels running beneath a business block, used for hiding valuables.

 

3.           What genre does your book fall under?  Cozy mystery

 

4.           Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?  Hmmm- not much into this, but I see True as a sort of Ryan Gosling-tortured but mature-type, and Ivy as a fun, slightly kooky but head-on-straight Americanized Helena Bonham-Carter (sorry, Helena).

 

5.           What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book? A small town mayor invites Ivy Preston and True Thompson to move their businesses to Apple Grove, can their love survive the sudden rise in crime?

 

6.           Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?  Meow Mayhem is being published by Whimsical Publications and scheduled for release January 28.

 

7.           How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript? I usually write pretty quickly, and this draft took place over about six weeks; however I rewrote a couple of times, and it took six years to find a publisher.

 8.          What other books would you compare this story to within your genre? It’s a little like the Cat Who mysteries by Liliian Jackson Braun.

 

9.           Who or what inspired you to write this book?  I was writing a series for the now defunct Heartsong Presents: Mysteries, and wanted to write a longer more developed series. I grew up with cats but can’t have them for pets now due to family allergy issues, so this is my way of keeping cats in my life. I wanted to write stories that had multiple layers and spoke to a wider audience while still being set in the Midwest and was clean and fun entertainment.

 

10.         What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest? The cats that are the “stars” of this book are Egyptian Maus, the only naturally “spotted” domestic cats and have fun, unique characteristics. In fact, Ivy and True’s cats know their “hearts” and those of their human friends, and help True and Ivy speak their minds as well.

 

Don’t forget, next week, please take the opportunity to hop on over to the blog listed below. 

               http://www.lorilynroberts.blogspot.com

Lorilyn: Because God is our heavenly Father, He can fill the void of earthly fathers. Seventh Dimension - the Door is a peek into the King's power to defeat that darkness and overcome rejection. It's a journey that parallels my own - a story of redemption and hope.
Read more at http://www.lorilynroberts.com/lorilynbio.html#wIQtZsHqtlhGh33G.99