HOME IS WHERE THE HEART IS
by Nancy Gideon
A month dedicated to Michigan authors!!
Where was this when I started writing?
Back before computers and social networking, I thought I was the only word-obsessed writer in the state. I had no support network to encourage me, no critique group to lean on, no organization to watch my back. There was just me and the local library and a big dog-earred, out-of-date copy of The Writer’s Market. Looking back, it’s amazing that anyone so naively ignorant of the business ever sold a single book, let alone over fifty.
I’m a Michigander (I refuse to call myself a Michiganian, although that’s now the official title). Southwest Michigan has been my home my entire life. It offers everything you could want: four glorious seasons, weather that changes every fifteen minutes, sandy beaches, fiery sunsets, urban sprawl and mystic forests. For me, it’s always been a land of enchantment and inspiration (even though I could do without winter driving and the summer humidity!). I love being able to give directions by using the back of my hand as the map. Being typically Midwestern, I enjoy having everything within reach . . . but with a little elbow room.
When I started writing, I was told to write what you know. I didn’t want to write about my home town. I wanted the dream: the West, the tropics, the Continent, the coast (either one would do). But when I participated in the Great Lakes historical series for Berkley Book (eons ago), I started digging into our past and found it rich in lore and fascinating nuggets. In fact, while researching our Upper Peninsula, I found so much information, I stretched it into three books, one historical and two contemporary.
Do I still like to dream of the West, the Caribbean, foreign countries and the rocky coast? You bet. But I also can find a literary paradise in my own back yard, setting my romantic suspense Warrior series in upper Michigan and using the inner city husk of Detroit as a backdrop for a potential YA paranormal series. There’s another suspense series on the backburner set in locations scattered across the state as an excuse to visit my favorite spots . . . citing research (like I need an excuse to visit wineries!). Home can be where the heart is when it comes to romance.
Lately, I’ve been spending a lot of time in my fictionally adopted state of Louisiana, both in my imagination and with hands-on research in New Orleans where my BY MOONLIGHT dark paranormal series for Pocket Books is set. With the first three of six books out on the shelves, I’ve been living and breathing the swamps and cemeteries and cross cultures for over three years until I’ve started to think with an accent. (We Midwesterners don’t have an accent! We’re the bland voice of the news!). I’ve so enjoyed uncovering the regional quirks and have rediscovered the Southerner inherited from my mom (who made us eat okra like it was a real vegetable and taught me how to make pralines when I was little). I love to travel and visit places all around the country, but New Orleans is a place I could see myself settling (especially when I’m scraping ice off my windshield!).
Learn more about me and about my BY MOONLIGHT series by visiting my website: http://nancygideon.com .
Is there someplace special that calls to you? Someplace you could hang your hat or simply dream of living? Or are you happy where your roots are planted? Let me hear from you.
One lucky commenter picked at random will win a signed copy of CAPTURED BY MOONLIGHT.
About the Author:
by Nancy Gideon
A month dedicated to Michigan authors!!
Where was this when I started writing?
Back before computers and social networking, I thought I was the only word-obsessed writer in the state. I had no support network to encourage me, no critique group to lean on, no organization to watch my back. There was just me and the local library and a big dog-earred, out-of-date copy of The Writer’s Market. Looking back, it’s amazing that anyone so naively ignorant of the business ever sold a single book, let alone over fifty.
I’m a Michigander (I refuse to call myself a Michiganian, although that’s now the official title). Southwest Michigan has been my home my entire life. It offers everything you could want: four glorious seasons, weather that changes every fifteen minutes, sandy beaches, fiery sunsets, urban sprawl and mystic forests. For me, it’s always been a land of enchantment and inspiration (even though I could do without winter driving and the summer humidity!). I love being able to give directions by using the back of my hand as the map. Being typically Midwestern, I enjoy having everything within reach . . . but with a little elbow room.
When I started writing, I was told to write what you know. I didn’t want to write about my home town. I wanted the dream: the West, the tropics, the Continent, the coast (either one would do). But when I participated in the Great Lakes historical series for Berkley Book (eons ago), I started digging into our past and found it rich in lore and fascinating nuggets. In fact, while researching our Upper Peninsula, I found so much information, I stretched it into three books, one historical and two contemporary.
Do I still like to dream of the West, the Caribbean, foreign countries and the rocky coast? You bet. But I also can find a literary paradise in my own back yard, setting my romantic suspense Warrior series in upper Michigan and using the inner city husk of Detroit as a backdrop for a potential YA paranormal series. There’s another suspense series on the backburner set in locations scattered across the state as an excuse to visit my favorite spots . . . citing research (like I need an excuse to visit wineries!). Home can be where the heart is when it comes to romance.
Lately, I’ve been spending a lot of time in my fictionally adopted state of Louisiana, both in my imagination and with hands-on research in New Orleans where my BY MOONLIGHT dark paranormal series for Pocket Books is set. With the first three of six books out on the shelves, I’ve been living and breathing the swamps and cemeteries and cross cultures for over three years until I’ve started to think with an accent. (We Midwesterners don’t have an accent! We’re the bland voice of the news!). I’ve so enjoyed uncovering the regional quirks and have rediscovered the Southerner inherited from my mom (who made us eat okra like it was a real vegetable and taught me how to make pralines when I was little). I love to travel and visit places all around the country, but New Orleans is a place I could see myself settling (especially when I’m scraping ice off my windshield!).
Learn more about me and about my BY MOONLIGHT series by visiting my website: http://nancygideon.com .
Is there someplace special that calls to you? Someplace you could hang your hat or simply dream of living? Or are you happy where your roots are planted? Let me hear from you.
One lucky commenter picked at random will win a signed copy of CAPTURED BY MOONLIGHT.
About the Author:
Southwest Michigander, Nancy Gideon is the author of over fifty romance novels under her own name and as Dana Ransom and Rosalyn West, ranging from historical and contemporary suspense to pararnomals. She’s also had two original horror screen plays optioned for film. When she’s not at the keyboard or feeding her NetFlix addiction, she works full time as a legal assistant.
About Captured by Moonlight:
Their Love Is Just Beginning
A mysterious death begins a dangerous chain of events. As the unexpected discovery of a family thought lost to him threatens the existence of Max Savoie's paranormal world, his awakening senses strain the bond he shares with Detective Charlotte Caissie.
His Time is Almost Up
Driven by instincts he can't control, Max fights the need to claim his human mate. How can he protect her when she's not safe with him? She's strong enough to keep his secrets, but can she survive the test of his love?
Will They Ever Really Be Together?
Separating business from pleasure just got more difficult. To have Max, Cee Cee must face her greatest fears by accepting who and what he is . . . someone deadly, unnatural and outside the law she serves. Loving Max Savoie isn't easy, but holding onto him could prove fatal.
Want to win a copy?
Then be sure to leave a comment on this postt
US shipping only
Be sure to include your email address
Winner to be Announced Next Wednesday
35 comments:
The book sounds like it will be a good read but I don't really like the cover. Something about it seems off somehow.
I am a homebody. My room is my haven. I have lived in the same house since birth and its the joke of the famuly that it will be mine forever. I will be the one to kick my parents out.
Hi, Nancy! Max and Cee Cee are a terrific paranormal romance couple! Their own personal struggles combined with the intensity of the story line makes for a really great read! I'd love to win "Captured by Moonlight"!
US Resident, GFC Follower, Subscriber
gcwhiskas at aol dot com
I really like the sound of this book. It seems like a book I would really enjoy reading.
sstrode@scrtc.com
I have always dreamed of going to live in Montana. I don't know if it will ever happen, but it would be nice.
twoofakind12@yahoo.com
I have the first book in the series which I'm going to start soon and I'd love to have this one too. Great post!
Stephanie G
sgradel(at)gmail(dot)com
Love the cover and looking forward to this one, I enjoy this author! tWarner419@aol.com
Hi Nancy. Your book sounds great. I am happy where I live. It is a small rural town.
Crystal816[at]hotmail[dot}com
I have lived in Michigan my whole life.
Ther have been times when I have wanted to move somewhere else but then I visit the place and find something wrong with it.
Florida- much too hot...and alligators- need I say more?
Georgia just about as hot as Florida without the ocean...hmmmm maybe not
Tennesee- the mountains are so beautiful and I feel at home there but driving through the mountains is not for the faint of heart (ie ME) and I have no desire to see a bear in my backyard or anywhere else for that matter
New Orleans- now this is a place that has always called to me and I love to visit but it's not home
So for now Michigan it is even with the terrible economy, high crime rates and cold cold cold winters
I loved Marked by Moonlight and really look forward to Captured.
I'm right where I want to be deep in the heart of TX. But the place I was born and raised still calls me like a beacon and I have to go back and walk the hills of eastern KY at least once a year. It's weird and I can only describe it as a spiritual pull, a longing, and I always make that journey...
annhonATaolDOTcom
I have been looking at these books and am definitely going to have to add them to my TBR pile.
I tend to be a homebody too. I like my house and tend to just hang out there. I see all these people with vacation homes and think it might be nice to have one then I wouldn't have to stay at a hotel or anything but I can't afford one of those yet.
Sounds great. Thanks for the chance!! I have read a lot of great things about this series.
bacchus76 at myself dot com
ooooh sounds like something I would like!!
aliciahall0605(AT)yahoo(DOT)com
Book sounds like another fabulous read in the series! I love California and will always stay here because of family and friends but I love to travel to different states and countries!
lilazncutie1215[at]yahoo[dot]com
Thanks for this great contest. I look forward to reading this book!!
rosie0512 @ hotmail . com
I'm actually very happy where I am, it's the area I grew up in. I left to go to college and planned to only come back to visit and then I came back, got married and had our kids here. I wouldn't trade it.
The book looks really good, please enter me.
crystalfulcher(at)ec.rr.com
Captured By Moonlight sounds like a good read.
I am completely happy where I am planted.
kissinoak at verizon dot net
Is it just me or are these book covers getting hotter and hotter???
Either way, I can't wait to read Captured by Moonlight.
Thanks,
Tracey D
booklover0226 at gmail dot com
Even though I relocated to Florida, my home will always be California. It's where I was born and lived all my life before relocating. I've been dreaming of moving to Oregon though, I think I've about had it with the heat.
I'm looking forward to reading the By Moonlight series.
This is a comment from Nancy:
Due to techical difficulties I haven't been able to log on and chat but I wanted to thank you for your comments. I agree with you about that Home Sweet Home. I LOVE to travel but I don't have enough wanderlust to want to uproot and move. The grass is always greener? Maybe . . . maybe not. As long as I can visit new places and return to reacquaint with them, I'm happy. My family, my job, my critique group, my focus is all in my community. Besides, I can always relocate through the pages of a book ;-)
Happy Reading!
Nancy Gideon
I love the cover with the man crack and scratches. RAWR!
I would love to be entered to win this one! It sounds like a great book. I'm happy where I'm at - been here all my 54 years!!
I follow on gfc
mlawson17 at hotmail dot com
I love where I am. I am in the heart of suburbia. PTA, little league, the whole nine yards and lovin' it.
lizzi0915 at aol dot com
I'm really looking forward to starting this series. I read a sample on my Kindle and it's on my wishlist.
I've moved quite a bit in my life. I always called it the "itchy feet" syndrome. I finally settled in the San Francisco Bay Area. I've been here for 20 years now and I love it, but recently I've been feeling the itch.... Would love to move to southern cal, and live close enough to walk to the beach.
jen at delux dot com
Another good series I have to add to my TRL. Sounds very good.Please count me in.
Carol L.
Lucky4750@aol.com
Can't wait to get started on the series, Nancy. I'm pretty much happy where I am, staying close to family and friends, and being by the east coast by the water. Love traveling around, if I ever moved, would have to be near the shore somewhere as I'd miss it.
Hi Nancy,
I have this and a few other of your books in my TBR list:) As for your question... I'm happy where my roots are planted, but I wouldn't mind an adventure now and then to keep things spicy.
yadkny@hotmail.com
I'd love to read this book!
I'd also love to get to Montana someday! or at least find a small town to settle down in!
meredithfl at gmail dot com
Please include me in your giveaway.
Thanks
Debbie D
debdesk9(@)verizon.net
OOO... Great giveaway.
oreo_93@hotmail.com
Oh, I'm totally happy where I am. We live in a rural community about 30 minutes from a town in 3 different directions. We are lucky enough to live within an hour of the mountains and 5 hours from the beach. Winter is moderate while the summer is usually pretty hot but spring and fall are awesome. Can't image living anywhere else.
US Resident, GFC Follower
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(='.'=)
(")_(")
alterlisa AT yahoo DOT com
http://lisaslovesbooksofcourse.blogspot.com
Thanks for this great giveaway!
allisonsbj3(at)gmail(dot)com
please enter me, read the first in the series and enjoyed it!
littopandaxpress(at)yahoo(dot)com
This sounds great!
throuthehaze at gmail dot com
I like my home state of MS. All my family is here. However, I would really love to visit England and Scotland.
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