Author Spotlight Shines On: Patrizia Murray

I wouls like to introduce another fellow Eternal Press author, Patrizia Murray.

Tell us a little about yourself and how you became a writer

I’ve been writing stories ever since I can remember, but was first published in the local weekly newspaper when I wrote the high school news, sports, etc. I also wrote a column while I was in High School.

Wow, I wish we had a newspaper at school here in Australia.

I know you write different genres like myself but do you have a certain theme or trademark to your stories?

No. Stories come to me from people I know, experiences I have had, historical themes, adventures I have had, whatever.

Do you have an agent and how important do you think they are in the publication world?

I’ve been writing, publishing, editing, marketing my whole life for one thing & another, so no, I don’t think I need an agent.

It's amazing how many authors don't feel they need an agent these days. I will be pitching to an agent in August at the RWA conference I hope and I know I won't be knocking back their services. Although, these are the days of digital and that has made the agent era more difficult.

Are you a ‘go with the flow’ writer or do you have structure?

I am a died in the wool ‘pantser’, can’t ever utilize structure. The stories unfold almost as if I were reading someone else’s story. I often have no clear plot in mind when I start, & often the characters mold their own plot as we go along.

I understand that completely.

Have you always wanted to be a writer or did you want to be something else?

I have been a social worker, vocational counsellor, graphic artist, librarian, newspaper owner, advertising salesperson, editor, ad agency owner, student program administrator, realtor. I likely am somewhat ADD, & just go where the spirit takes me. All those careers come inhandy for my characters.

What groups are you affiliated with and how have they helped you through your journey of publication?

Romance Writers of America is my mainstay. They have great seminars, workshops, speakers, & above all they are unfailingly helpful & supportive in all that every member does.

I have Romance Writers Australia and I have no idea where I would be without them. LOST comes to mind.

How much marketing do you involve yourself in and with the mass consumption of social media, does this play a part in your marketing choice?

I do whatever book signings I can, & belong to many on line info sites, blogs, etc, including Facebook, Linkedin, & lots of others.

Here’s a random one for you. If you could be one animal, which would it be and why?

I’m allergic to most animals, so I don’t think I’d want to be one at all. Maybe if I had to choose, it would be a large bird like an eagle so I could fly.

With your titles and covers, did you get much of a say in this matter and how important is it to you to have input?

I was a graphic artist in another life, so it’s quite important for me to have input.

Do you have any tips for other aspiring writers or authors out there?

Write what you know, write often, work on more than one book at a time, don’t overthink what you have written, don’t over-analyse, don’t over-revise, don’t feel like you have to take everyone’s advice, read everything in your genre that you can, & submit, submit, submit. Don’t let a rejection get you down. It’s your story they are rejecting, not you. And if all else fails, self-publish. Never give up

Well said!

So, I think we’ve gotten to know you a little now. How’s about we step it up a notch. Are you panicking? Lol. Do you have any dirty little secrets or confessions you’d like to share with us- what’s on the blog stays on the blog, right guys. (wink)

I write under two different names—one is general & YA fiction, the other is contemporary erotic romance. I don’t want people who google me to find the erotic stuff unless they are sure that’s what they want. If I write YA & children’s sometimes the readers of those genres don’t want to know that the author also writes erotic romance.

Where’s your favourite place to write?

I have a fully equipped office for my other jobs in my home. It’s light, bright & I can see trees, birds, & watch the golfers going by. I listen to classical music, or occasionally ABBA while I write.

Classical, yes. ABBA I draw a firm line. Sorry ;)

Tell us of your releases- where and when can we buy them?

All my books are on Amazon.com You can find all my book trailers on youtube.com You can purchase any of them either for e-reader or Print On Demand.

Lucinda’s Grooms

This is the first in the Montgomery/Marquette Greentree saga, Although Evalina’s Gamble stands alone, many of the same characters and locations begin in Lucinda’s Grooms.

In 1914, Lucinda is loved by two cousins, Jack and Ford. She loves them both, but marries Jack. Ford comes home from the Great War in Europe with a small daughter, and professes his love for Lucinda once again. He proposes a scandalous solution that would allow the three of them to be together.

When they meet the family of Ford’s first wife who was killed in France, they forge an economic alliance with the coal barons, to develop coal mining in their small Canadian town.

Can their three way love brave the town gossips and keep the Marquettes from taking their granddaughter away from them?

From rural Canada to Paris, the sweeping saga of the Montgomery family where love transcends all, and families are not what they seem.

Evalina’s Gamble

Second in the Greentree saga, we find Jean-Gilles Marquette, a French industrialist, and Evalina Carstairs, a flapper, who meet on an ocean liner heading to Canada from Europe in 1923. Evalina is to marry a neighboring rancher, so that her father can get access to more land. As the train takes her closer to a marriage she doesn’t want, she waits in hope that Jean-Gilles will rescue her from that fate. Can he escape an icy grave to return from the dead to rescue her from abduction and an icy death of her own?

Books 3 & 4 of the Greentree saga are in the works & will likely publish in 2013.

Mia’s Blind Date

While Rob is being held hostage by rebel forces who have kidnapped him from his oil rig job, Mia is about to marry Colby. After a hilarious meeting at a blind date, Mia and Rob have parted over his decision to leave her for two years and work in the volatile Mid-East. Rob dreams of returning to Mia, and Mia realizes she can’t marry Colby till she finds out Rob’s fate. Will Rob return to her? Will Colby wait for her? Who will she choose?

Suzien’s Second Love

Suzien has a settled but dull life with her son and both sets of her son’s grandparents. She hasn’t dated since her one true love was killed in a plane crash while she was pregnant. Can John, a man eleven years her junior, make her see that love knows no age? That he loves her for everything about her, not just her looks that may fade long before his looks do? Can the hot sex between them change Suzien’s mind about being seen by the town and the grandparents as a cougar?

Freddi’s Collection

Why do three separate buyers want the acreage that Freddi has inherited from her inventor father? What is the mysterious concrete structure on the property with no doors or windows? Is bad boy biker Brian on her side or the other side in the attempts to buy her out? Brian’s motorcycle injuries give both of them time to think about what they really want from life, and to decide if their love can overcome the barriers they have set up against each other, and to solve the mysteries her father has left behind.

Coming Soon

Sophie’s Calgary Stampede

A Washington corporate lawyer arrives in Calgary Alberta just in time for the annual ten days of madness called the Calgary Stampede. Feeling like a brown shoe with a tuxedo or a Manolo high heel with a cowgirl outfit, Sophie is about to find out what the new wild west is all about.

Marda’s Muse

Feeling like Joan Wilder in Romancing the Stone, Marda is sniffling her way through allergy season, nearly finished her newest romance novel. Marda is the best friend of Justine, of Justine’s Auction fame. Since Justine’s marriage to Ryan, Marda has been feeling like a fifth wheel whenever she’s around her friends. Now, as she finds herself wishing for a hero like those she writes about, opportunity for a new life is about to knock on her door. As she embarks on a Joan Wilder type adventure, will her life imitate her art?

Bella’s Song

A melty chocolate voice that spans nearly four octaves, introduces Daniel to Bella, a world famous singer of everything from opera to Broadway, with stops in between for a little jazz, a little country, and a little Rock ‘n’ Roll. He would follow that siren’s call anywhere she led, but the threads that hold them together are mysterious and full of longing. He needs to make sure his songbird is safe from all that threatens her, including himself.

Fantastic Line up.

In one word, how would you best describe yourself?

My family says we all have a flaky streak, so I guess you could say Flaky. I’d prefer Adventurous, but it’s probably flaky.

I love the flaky.

Now that we’re all friends, tell us your most embarrassing moment?

I can always laugh at myself, so nothing ever embarrasses me.

Pft, I embarrass myself daily but yes I can laugh about it too.

Do you have any upcoming signings or author appearances you would like to share?

Next one that I know of now, is the Glendale Arizona Chocolate Affaire in Feb 2013, plus I’ll be signing at our local RWA chapter in June.

Is there anything else that you would like to share with us?

Only that I always wanted to go to Australia, & had actually bought a ticket to go there at one time, but I fell in love, & stayed home. Never made it to Oz. Maybe some day.

I forgive yo, LOVE trumps all!!!

It has been a true pleasure to have you here Patrizia and if anyone wants to learn more about Patrizia and her books go to her website http://www.patriziamurray.com/

If you would like to be a guest as a reader, writer or author please email me.

Happy reading and writing

Kez