Welcome Erin Bevan, Author of To Kick Off The New Year

Being a mother who writes, I have tremendous respect for mothers who write. And Erin Bevan is one of them. You can tell your husband to get his own dinner, the cat to wait, and the dog to hold it, but you can't ignore your crying baby, or take your eyes off a toddler for a second. And when the older ones come home from school, you have to do all that homework with them even if you would rather be researching the paranormal instead of science projects.

So, welcome Erin. Tell us a little about yourself and what you're working on. 

Well, first I'm a wife and stay at home mom. I have three children all under the age of 5. My oldest goes to preschool during the day, but I stay at home with my two sons 16 and 6 months old. Yeah, that really happened! They are ten months apart.

I'm currently working on a story titled The Night Train. It's a story of old love, new love, a little mystery and some laughter all mixed in one!

2015 proves to be very busy. I am scheduled to release two works with Soul Mate Publishing, Cupid's Angels and Wedding Day-so be on the lookout for those!

What are your writing inspirations--and how did you possibly do it?

I'm kind of strange when it comes to writing inspirations. Really, anything can inspire me. I seem to get a lot of thinking done in the shower. It's the only time when I can't hear children screaming for the water running in my ears, so it gives my brain a moment to relax and let the juices flow. I can get inspiration from a conversation I have with a friend, from a dream, from a television commercial, and so on. Also, for some reason scouring the pantry for food always seems to give me inspiration.

Scanning the food in the pantry. LOL! How did you get interested and involved in writing romance?

Writing in the romance genre seemed to come naturally to me. I'll be honest, when I really started writing was during the whole Fifty Shades of Grey craziness. I read the books and tried my hand at writing erotica. I sucked at it. I went back to being me and it worked out best. I enjoy a good love story, but I also enjoy a bit of drama, some suspense, and a whole lot of comedy. I love to laugh.

How do you do research?

Google-need I say more?

What do you read when you're writing--same genre or different? Or not at all?

Oh, I'm always reading something. Right now, I'm reading What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty. I enjoy her voice as well as Tracy Brogan (I actually have an author crush on her because she is so darn good) and Mary Kay Andrews just because she is so southern. If I want to cry, I curl up with Nicholas Sparks and if I want to cry from laughter, I go for Janet Evanovich.

Laughter really is the best medicine!

Well there you have it from wonder woman, Erin Bevan.   

Tell us about your latest release-a Western romance, right?

Yes, The Ranch Hand:

Jason Haverty is looking forward to the fall horse drive, until his boss and uncle informs him one of the new cowboys coming in to help will be riding his favorite horse. His annoyance is furthered when the cowboy turns out to be a cowgirl—a quick-witted and confident blonde beauty. Trying to avoid her doesn’t work. The more time he spends with her, the more an unexpected protectiveness toward her grows. 


Bobby Jo's Texas upbringing taught her to give just as good as she gets, a quality Jason finds frustrating and all the more endearing in this Southern Belle. When an accident on the trail places her in possible danger, Jason realizes she means more to him than he thought. The question is, does she feel the same?

Excerpt:

“Are you Jason Haverty?” the beauty asked in a Southern twang.

“Yes, I am.”

“Oh, thank goodness.” She turned. “Mike, over here. I found him,” she hollered as she waved her arm in the air. The fire engine red handbag she held was some high-priced designer brand, Couch or Nada, something like that, and her luggage had the letters LV all over it. Maybe those were her initials.

He stood just as a young guy wearing a navy blue T-shirt and skin-tight jeans made his way over to them. This kid was long and lean, had celery stalks for legs, and a zit on the tip of his nose. Hell, she was probably the kid’s girlfriend, which meant she was young, too.

Too young for him.

A damn shame.

“Hey, man, nice to meet you. I’m Mike.” The boy tipped his hat and held out a calloused hand.

Jason shook it. “Umm…I was told there were only two guys: Mike and Bobby. There wasn’t any mention of bringing a girlfriend.”

Pimples and the beauty both looked at each other and laughed. He didn’t see what was so damn funny.

The girl shifted her black coat to her left arm. “I’m Bobby. Bobby Jo Turner.” She extended her hand. “It’s nice to meet you, Jason.”

Buy Links:

Amazon.com

Barnes and Noble

Contact/Connect:

Blog/website

Facebook

Twitter: @ErinBevan

How Was Last Year? It's Complicated

How Was My Year? It's Complicated

All in all, I am not sorry to see 2014 pass. There were some very good things that happened: my oldest son graduated college and is off to a five year masters to doctoral program in music composition—on a full scholarship. Yes, that was a very good thing—but bittersweet since my firstborn has now moved to California. After two weeks of holiday togetherness, his imminent return will not be a dreadfully tearful affair. Nor will the return the following week of my middle son to his final semester at college. This May, another graduation celebration and I'll be happy to see them both again—for a little while.

I finished my doctorate. Four words that sum up two and a half years of scholarly research, reading, and writing. For those who know me personally—and I've been nicknamed the brainy brunette—this might not seem such a big deal. But for those who know me as a writer of fantasy fiction who still has not mastered use of the comma, researching Santeria and studying astrology and Tarot, this may come as a big of a surprise. But I have figured out a way to combine the two and found out that me wandering the streets of The Bronx, going in an out of botanicas is a legitimate form of research: ethnography. How I will publish that in academia remains to be seen but I really don't care. I CAN GO BACK TO WRITING FICTION!!!

Despite the rigors, I have managed to finish two short stories (both fantasies) that need revision. The Widow's Walk, which is the first in the Unfinished Business paranormal romance series was published in November. The prequel, Breakwater Beach, is being novelized from the novelette published in Haunted. I hope that will be published in 2015. And then I will write the third and final in that series. Boulevard of Bad Spells and Broken Dreams has made the rounds of agents and publishers, with some very encouraging but heartbreaking rejections. Nevertheless, I plan to hit the mean streets again to research the sequels and keep on submitting. Snippets published in Bites: Ten Tales of Vampires, Seers: Ten Tales of Clairvoyance, and Beltane: Ten Tales of Magic have gotten good reviews so I believe this urban fantasy series will find a good home.

It was a rough transition to middle school for my daughter—and unfortunately the New York City Public Schools are not getting better-despite what former mayor Bloomberg and the current mayor and batty school chancellor say. I had to take her out of public school and send her a local Catholic academy—for all of our sanity. Those who know me, and how committed I am to public education, understand what a hard decision that was. But last year they would not let her play in the orchestra, there were no field trips,  no foreign language classes, and no science fair at her school. That was the first time my kids did not participate in that March ritual since my first son began in Kindergarten in 1996! I feel like I caved, gave up, sold out and still have regrets, but I have some control over her curriculum choices and am not up at the school for some issue or another once or twice a week. She misses her old friends, and for that I am sorry but there are always new ones to be made.

All our Beta fish died. The last one, who belonged to my oldest, lived with us for three years. She waited until Nick got home for Christmas to give up, though she was failing for weeks. We just had her funeral. This may seem very silly, but since I wound up taking care of them all, I got very attached to those very social creatures. Sure, they'll eat each other alive but being so solitary they have personalities and interact with their caregivers for far more than just getting fed. Maybe they're fantasizing that they're going to eat me alive but I'd like to think they're as feisty as I am—and very kind until you cross a line at which time you better watch out.

I had the distinct pleasure of traveling to London and environs this summer to attend Lon Con, where I met other members of Anticipation workshops for tea and an Indian buffet. There was no one there from Taos Toolbox 2011, but they're all doing quite well with sales and I'm very happy for Alan Smale and Scott Hawkins, both of which have big releases coming up. I was able to meet with my good writing friend and mentor since 2007, Rayne Hall, meet her lovable Sulu cat, another Professional Author's group member Jonathan Broughton in Hastings. Another highlight of the trip was spending an evening with Andrew Richardson, who also is churning out new novels. Andrew and I have been critique partners for ten years. Meeting them all, and Noura all the way from UAE was a delight and I hope to get back to England someday soon. 

And yes, I did stand on line for more than an hour for a photo op at Kings Cross Station.

                                                               

And then here was that part of the year I really want to forget. Since March of 2014, a series of rather serious health challenges have come up. It could be worse, and I don't want to complain or dwell on it, but if you have not seen me around town at KGB Fiction readings or cons or other events, suffice it to say I am limiting myself to one activity per day because I am still feeling the after effects. So, in addition to getting back into creative writing, I have gotten back to the ballet barre again and resumed my general exercise routine. Sitting at a computer writing research papers with breaks to track research participants down all over The Bronx do not provide enough physical exercise and emotional release to maintain sanity—and I have been very depressed and very bitchy.

But it's January 2015. I am now Dr. Moleti. I am getting a new Beta fish tomorrow. Downton Abbey returns tonight. The 18 year old cat, 12 year old dog, and I are hanging in there. My daughter and I already started her science fair project. May will mark the tenth anniversary of my entry into creative writing—and the release of the last Star Wars film that spurned me into becoming a novelist. My Star Wars spin off is in a box in my attic, where most first novels wind up, but it seems strangely synchronous that in 2015, another Star Wars film is being released. That helps me look forward rather than back –and I've got many things to look forward to on my brand new calendar.