Author Interview: Ellie Mack

Look who is featured in the muse shop!!!!

Meeting With The Muse

(Kelly was written by Kelly Blanchard. Ellie was written by Ellie Mack.)

Usually her Muse Shop wasn’t a beachfront shop, but today it was. Ah, the magic of the imagination. Today’s interviewee could decide between the two locations—a beach and the Muse Shop—so Kelly adapted to it to include both. She polished a silver candleholder and stared out the front windows of the shop to the blue ocean stretched out beneath the cloudless sky. Yeah, maybe Kelly would keep her shop here. It was nice. She could get used to it, and a fond smile found her face.

The door chimed, drawing Kelly out of her thoughts, and she looked to see a woman entering her shop. Setting down the candleholder and the rag, Kelly stepped around the front corner. “Hello, Ellie Mack. I’m Kelly Blanchard. So nice to meet you, and I must say, thank you for suggestion a…

View original post 2,250 more words

Summer Lit Blitz

My first guest for this summer’s blitz is the delightful Ms. Sara DeVaney.  Sara  is the fastest beta reader I have ever sent anything to!  Her observations and comments have been an amazing help to me and I’m sure other authors as well.

1. Tell me a little about yourself. 

My name is Sara E. DeVaney. I am 30 years old and live in Michigan. I am the youngest of four kids, sisters Amy and Brenna, brother James. I have six nephews and nieces – Owen, Noah, Grayson, Rosie, Nylah and Gavin. I have two dogs – Lucky and Lily – Lucky is a 12-year-old Labradoodle and Lily is a year-old Golden Doodle. I live with my parents – Judith and Daniel, both of who are retired from social work.

2. What genre do you write?
I usually write modern-day fiction, comedy and drama.

3. Do you have a vacation planned for the summer? If so where? If not, when?
My parents, brother and his family, and I rented a cottage and we are going August 13-20. Unfortunately, the dogs can’t come, so they are staying with a family friend. I hope to have lots of fun playing with my niece Nylah and nephew Gavin.

4. What are your favorite summer foods? Activities?
My favorite summer activities include – cloud watching, swimming, being lazy, watching fireflies, playing in the sprinkler and having fun. My favorite summer foods are – hot dogs, burgers, kabobs, s’mores, lemonade and strawberries.

I’m not much on hotdogs but kabobs – yum! Love strawberries too!   I remember playing the sprinkler when I was a kid. We had a blast! 

5. Who is your favorite hero of fiction?
My favorite hero – I mean heroine – of fiction is Hermione Granger because she’s not afraid to say how she feels or what’s going on with her. I love how she stands up for others (house-elves, Harry and Ron, just to name a few) and her sense of humor.

6. If you could choose to be a character in a book, who would it be?
I would choose to be either Annabeth Chase from Percy Jackson or Hermione Granger from Harry Potter. For guys, I would want to be Legolas from Lord of the Rings or Four from Divergent.

Annabeth –  now I can relate to that!  That is an excellent choice.  I hate to admit but I’ve not read the Harry Potter series,  so I can’t comment on Hermione. From what I’ve heard though, it’s a great character.

7. Which book have you read the most in your lifetime?

The first Harry Potter book – the cover has been taped together and ripped so many times I can’t even count.

8. What is your favorite journey?

My favorite journey is to Hogwarts – Harry Potter was one of the first book series I read – I was eleven when it came out and I felt like I was part of the Trio – playing Quidditch with Harry, going to classes with Hermione and eating in the Great Hall with Ron.

9. What advice would you give to aspiring authors?

My advice to aspiring authors is to write what you know and know what you write. Also, read everything, even if it’s a menu – imagine what kinds of foods your characters would eat and what they would drink. If you have pets, imagine what kind of pet your characters would have. Use your imagination every day and you’ll go far.

On a side note, since I’m not published, you can visit www.fanfiction.net or www.fictionpress.com .

My pen name there is LuckyxLabradoodlexLoverx7.

Here’s a blurb of this year’s novel – it’s called “In the Shelter”:

In the back room of Friendly Corners Animal Rescue, the animals of the shelter come together to tell their stories. Minerva and Athena, an owl and crow, run Shelter Group.

Here’s an excerpt:

The wind howled as two new residents – Night and Zirah – came into Friendly Corners Animal Rescue. Both of them growled and lashed out at the volunteers.

Athena watched from her perch, curious to know what was going on. She and the other birds – Minerva the Owl and Boston the Red-Tailed Hawk – watched curiously, along with the King Vulture named Queenie.

“They’ll make an excellent addition to Shelter Group.” Minerva hooted.

Boston ruffled his feathers, not impressed. It was hard to impress Boston.

Meanwhile in the Big Cat sanctuary, Juba paced, then stopped when the door opened. He let out a low growl to let the newcomers know that this was his turf.

“Easy Juba – they won’t hurt you. This is Night and Zirah.” The volunteer said as the door closed behind him.

Juba let out a low growl, “no one hones in on my turf.”

“We’ve had a rough night – leave us alone.” The panther – Night – growled.

The lioness – Zirah – was oddly quiet.

Juba narrowed his eyes at the others, “as long as you don’t make trouble, you’re welcome here. There’s Shelter Group in the afternoon tomorrow.”

“What’s Shelter Group?” Zirah asked curiously.

I can’t wait to read more!  My youngest daughter has fanfiction on there,  I will have to read the rest of this when I read hers!

Thank you Sara for sharing with us today and providing summer reading material!  

Be sure to leave a comment for Sara when you read her work! 

Write on my friends, write on! 

Til next time,

Ellie