Saturday, October 20, 2012

Meet Wild Rose Press author Gail MacMillan


Hi Gail, and thank you for joining me today. Tell us a little about yourself and your writing adventure.

When did you first consider yourself a writer?

Let’s just say, I’ve never considered being anything else.  Maybe I have a writer gene somewhere in my DNA.  I must have.  Otherwise, over the years, with setback and rejections, a 9 to 5 office job, getting a university degree, and raising a family, I probably would have given up. 

Do you see writing as a career?

A career?  Not really.  I see it as a journey, sometimes smooth, often bumpy, always challenging.  Where publishing is concerned, writing can be frustrating and discouraging but never in the actual creative process of putting words to computer (or paper).  Those moments of actually making a story are magic, a writer’s raison d’etre.
  How many books have you written?

 HOLDING OFF FOR A HERO will be number twenty-six. 

Which is your favourite?

HOLDING OFF  FOR A HERO published by The Wild Rose October 19,  is my current favourite but, then, each and every one of my books has been and will remain special to me. It’s like asking which is a favourite child, isn’t it?  Our books are our babies and their growing up and going out into the world doesn’t make them any less precious.

Can you give us some details about your upcoming release/s?

In September, 2010, my book GHOST OF WINTERS PAST came out from the Wild Rose in both e-book and paperback.  It’s in the romantic suspense genre and set in a snowmobile lodge in northeastern New Brunswick.  If you love a good mystery complete with a First Nations ghost and an amazing Malamute sled dog with a sense of humor as comic relief, I know you’ll enjoy “Ghost”.
 
October 19, 2012, my romantic comedy was published by the Wild Rose both in e-book and paperback.  I had a lot of fun writing this book with my Pug Bruiser as cover guy and hero.

Coming from the Wild Rose in 2013 will be a contemporary romance with lots of suspense entitled ROGUE’S REVENGE.  I’m not certain what genre this actually falls into.  It does have elements of mystery.

Who are some of your favourite authors?

I love the Victorian classic novels of Austen, Collins, Dickens, the Brontes, and Harding but I’m also a big fan of mysteries beginning with Agatha Christie and Josephine Tey to such present day writers as Rhys Bowen, Maureen Jennings, Sue Owens Wright, and M. C. Beaton.

When you are not writing, what are your hobbies, passions, etc?

First of all, in the passion department there’s my husband and children.  Following on their heels are my dogs.  I’ve written four dog books, two of them award winners.  I love spending time outdoors with the dogs.  I have retrievers and a Pug  (the hero of HOLDING OFF FOR A HERO).  They’re the ultimate exercise machines...their walks cannot be denied.

Excerpt from HOLDING OFF FOR A HERO

She floored the gas, and they took off with a squealing of tires.

   “Hey, hey!” he yelled. “Slow down! The speed limit is 100 km. You’re heading to 130!”
   “Look, I told you, I’m in a hurry!” she exploded. “I’ve got a ton of things to do back at the cabin. You see,” she continued, quieting and sounding sly, “I’m having a party tonight. I have to get ready.”
   “A party? You’re having a party? At the lake?” Ah, man, that just about tears it.
   “Actually, a bachelorette bash. One of my teacher friends is getting married next week, and a bunch of us decided we’d give her a real whing-ding of a sendoff…up at my cabin where there’ll be no witnesses. Teachers and the likes of myself have reputations to think of, you realize.” She cast him a wicked glance.
   “So there’ll be music and a lot of noise and…”
   The Professor’s blood pressure would skyrocket when he gave him this information.
   “Oh, y-e-a-h.” She dragged out the last word.
   “Couldn’t you have it somewhere else? Like a male strip joint in town?”
   “Didn’t you hear what I just said about teachers and others of that ilk? We can’t be seen parading into one of those places. Our superintendent would suspend every last one of us. Anyway…” She looked over at him. “I don’t see why it should be such a big deal for you. You don’t have to keep banker’s hours. If the noise bothers you, stay up, watch a video, and sleep in on Sunday morning.”
   “Okay, okay, but will you please keep your eyes on the road? And slow down! There’s a speed trap somewhere along…”
   Behind them a siren wailed.
   “Quick!” she ordered, pulling over as the police cruiser rolled alongside. “Hunch over and clutch your chest.”

Three time Maxwell Medal winning author, Gail MacMillan is a graduate of Queen’s University and author of twenty-six published books.  Her articles and short stories have appeared in magazines across North America and in Western Europe.  Gail lives in Bathurst, New Brunswick with her husband and two dogs, Fancy a Little River Duck Dog and Bruiser a Pug who is the hero of her latest book HOLDING OFF FOR A HERO and its cover model.


Thanks for joining me today, Gail. Here’s wishing you many sales

Jean

1 comment:

  1. Sounds like a wonderful read and how could anyone resist that cover! Best of luck to you, Gail but with so many books under your belt --I doubt "luck" has anything to do with it. :-)

    Well done!

    ReplyDelete