Welcome, Angela Parson
Myers, to my virtual coffee lounge
D L: I'm
having a weak long black with one sugar. There are no magazines in this coffee
lounge, just hundreds of books. Some books even have names in the front page or
previous owners. In this coffee lounge it's perfectly fine to tuck your feet
under your legs with or without shoes. And there's always something cooking in
the oven.
So, Angela,
coffee…how do you have it and what’s your favorite time of the day to partake?
ANGELA: Instead of having a mailbox at our house (long story),
Hubby and I have a post office box, and on the way to pick up our mail is a
very nice Panera, where I can buy my favorite coffee in the whole world. We
stop in for breakfast about three times a week, and I have a couple cups of
cream-laden, sugared coffee (just how my father taught me to drink it) with a
cinnamon crunch bagel and hazelnut cream cheese. Then I sometimes like to walk
from home to the nearby mall in the afternoon, where I stop at a locally owned
coffee shop for a caramel latte. On Sunday, I stop at the church lounge for
coffee on my way down to the television studio to help with the broadcast.
After dinner, we make Starbucks decaf at home and top it off with a tablespoon
or so of whipped cream for dessert. Oddly, I never considered myself much of
coffee drinker until I read what I just wrote. : - )
D L: Congrats on the release of When The Moon Is Gibbous And Waxing. What
an unusual title. In a world of one word titles (Fallen, Halo, Shiver, Beasty,
Matched, Divergent, Shattered etc) what made you choose a traditional title?
ANGELA: I HATE short titles! Too many books with the same one, and
none of them really tell you much about the story. My title is a term that I
first heard in astronomy class at the University of Illinois, and I was struck
by the poetic rhythm. (I've been writing poetry for many years, and some has
even been published in magazines I actually respected.) Then it just slipped
into the manuscript very naturally, and when it did, I had an Aha! moment.
Later I considered shortening it to Gibbous Moon, but when I Googled that,
bajillions of books popped up, so I went back to the longer version.
D L: I see you’ve got quite a
lot of great 5 star reviews.
You’ve told me you’re 20,000
words into the sequel. Did you always plan a sequel, or is your sequel a
response to the audience wanting to know more about these characters?
ANGELA: Nearly everyone who's read it has asked what happens next,
but the sequel came about because about the time I finished the massive first
edit (cutting about 40,000 words) I flashed on a scene from maybe 25 years in
the future and knew I had to write it, but that several other things had to
happen first. Those other things are just gradually filling in. I see another
book after the sequel I'm working on now, then the book that contains the scene
I flashed on.
D L: Do you think your background in
professional writing prepared you for creative writing, and if yes, what
components of professional writing crossed over into creative?
ANGELA: My background as a writer absolutely helped prepare me for
creative writing. My training as an editor gave me a solid background in
grammar, and years of practice helped me develop organizational skills that are
applicable to both types of writing. And just as important, I know from
experience that I'm not going to sit down and regurgitate a story and walk away
from it. Sometimes I just have to keep plugging until the story is finished;
sometimes I have to start somewhere in the middle and write to both ends;
sometimes the story changes as I write it--I've learned to call that
inspiration. And above all, my background taught me the value of proofreading.
I don't even send out an e-mail without checking it at least three times. And
it still will never be perfect. At a certain point, you just have to set a
deadline and stop when you reach it.
D L: If life is a highway, what
mode of transport are you taking?
ANGELA: After much thought--probably a Jeep Wrangler. It's open so
I can observe the scenery, and instead of being built for speed, it's built to
handle all the detours of the scenic route. And heaven knows, I've NEVER gotten
anywhere in my life's journey by taking the interstate. My educational career was
disjointed and convoluted, but I finally got my bachelor's degree at the age of
46. On the way to my dream job as a writer/editor/photographer, I was a
television writer, sales clerk, newspaper staff writer, waitress, logistics
tech, and metallurgical tech--not to mention wife and mother. I learned how to
run a television camera, burden tooling complexes, drive fork trucks, weld,
spin news releases, and plan complex events and crisis communication--sometimes
at the same time.... And that's just part of it. Yeah, a Jeep Wrangler might do
it--or a track-type tractor.
D L: Lastly, what is your favorite werewolf
story and why?
ANGELA: The only werewolf story I've ever read/seen that I
absolutely love is Ladyhawke, and I love it not because of the shapeshifting--I'm
not even sure the hero qualifies as a werewolf--but because of the love story.
I did like the werewolf character in Sanctuary, too, though that doesn't
qualify as a werewolf story either--just a story that has a werewolf in it.
I've always had a soft spot for werewolves, but I've had a hard time finding
stories I could relate to. I think I tried to remedy that by writing one for
myself.
Also,
I really like Monroe on Grimm, too. He's a werewolf of sorts, isn't he?
I hope you enjoyed learning a bit about Angela, I certainly did. And I for one want to
hear about the mail box story. What about you? Leave a comment and I'm sure
Angela might be coaxed into divulging the mysterious tale behind the mailbox.
BOOK COVER:
SYNOPSIS:
Unspeakable evil rises with the moon...
Graduate
student Natalie Beres can't remember who attacked her that autumn night under
the full moon. She can't remember anything between leaving her lab in a
secluded building at the south end of campus and arriving at her apartment in
the wee hours of the morning. Covered in blood. Not her own. Other than the
loss of memory, she's completely unharmed.
She
can't say the same for the men who attacked her. The grisly campus murders
force Natalie to dig deeper into what happened that night, to force herself to
remember. But what she learns about herself is horrifying. When the police
officer investigating the murders tries to get close, Natalie is caught between
her attraction to him and her fear of discovery. But worse, can she avoid being
found by the young man with a similar problem who's on his way from the West
coast to find her...leaving a trail of shredded corpses along the way...?
SHOP ONLINE:
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
D L Richardson is the author of speculative fiction. She has three teen novels and one short story anthology published. Her first novel reached number 2 at OmniLit and number 38 at Kobo Books. Her second reached number 1 at OmniLit. Little Red Gem is her third novel and recently won 2nd place Best Books of 2013 Paranormal Cravings. She lives in Australia on the NSW south coast with her husband and dog.
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