Author, Author Saturday April 14th

...read all about it!!

                                       Saturday April 14th

 
Thanks for joining us today and please welcome a great author,

            Lynna Banning       



Welcome Lynna, can you tell us a little about yourself?
           
            I’m an Oregonian, raised in California, and I write westerns mostly (except for two medieval a couple of years back) and one memoir, just recently published (Gauchos & Gumption).  I’m older.  Widowed.  I started writing fiction when I retired from an editing job in 1993 and was published in 1995 (Western Rose was my first book). 

            I live in Northern California, within sound of the Roaring Camp Railroad train whistle.

 
  
What or who initially inspired you to become a writer?

            A friend challenged me: “why don’t you write a book” she said when I wondered what I’d do in retirement.  So I did.

 
What kind of research do you do for a novel and how extensive do you get?

            I do mostly book research and I get very extensive.  I have one whole wall of books pertaining to the Old West, and another wall of books about medieval Spain and England.  I also have bulging file cabinets full of information on horses, guns, medieval castles, maps, etc.

 
Do you have a special place you like to do your writing? Such as an office, a spare room, the dining room table, your couch?

            I write longhand on a yellow tablet (and later type the pages into the computer).  Most often I write in bed at night, with a clipboard propped up on my knees; my second favorite place to write is a coffee shop where I can feel “not alone” and screen out the noise.  This works well.

 
As a reader, what types of works do you like to read and do you think they influence the genre/genres you write in?

            I read LOTS of nonfiction (history/culture mostly), literary fiction, and some genre fiction—mostly westerns (Elmore Leonard is a favorite) and some romance—preferably historical and preferably well-written.  Favorite periods are medieval and the Old West.

 
What is your favorite method of writing...as in laptop, desktop, Ipad or the old fashioned pencil and paper??  And do you plot out your story or go with the flow of your muse?
           
            Method of writing is old-fashioned pen/paper.  I’m a “pantser”; I don’t plot the story in advance but try to let the characters take me where they’re going.

 
When you need a break or some time off from the trials of being a writer, what can you be found doing?

            I play with a medieval music ensemble on harp, psaltery, recorder, etc.  I also play the piano (classical) and harpsichord.

 
Is there anything about yourself nobody knows that you would like to share with our readers??

            Nobody knows (yet) how tired I am getting of social media!

 

For fun, I have a few personal questions, 

Your Favorite 5

1) Favorite color -     Blue
2) Favorite dessert -     Carrot cake
3) Favorite Season -     Fall
4) Favorite sad song-      September Song
5) Favorite Romantic movie -  Casablanca

 
And a bonus, what is your ideal romantic vacation??

            My ideal vacation (romantic or otherwise) is within sound of the surf, alone (or with significant other), with nothing I “have” to do.

 
Where can our readers find you??
            I’m on Amazon and Barnes & Noble and Turquoise Morning Press (www.turquoisemorningpress.com).
            My books are also listed on Goodreads.
   Links: webpage is www.lynnabanning.com. www.amazon.com. www.montereybayrwa.org. www.historyhoydens.com.

 
Is there an upcoming or current release          
 you would like to share with us today and where can we find it?

            My most recent release is “Gauchos & Gumption”, a fictionalized memoir about my grandmother’s 1910 trip to Argentina to raise cattle.  This is available through Turquoise Morning Press.  In 2013 I will have a new western historical out, “Smoke River Bride,” about a young Chinese mail-order bride on an Oregon ranch.

                       Book blurb:  In 1910 new bride Marie Banning sails to Argentina to join her husband on his cattle ranch.  Far from Civilization Marie learns to make ostrich egg omelets, converse with the gauchos in Spanish, and wear “bombaches,” the baggy, calf-length pants worn by the Argentine cowhands.  Then, camped on the pampas a thousand miles from Buenos Aires, Marie discovers she is pregnant.  Photographs included in the printed book are those Marie herself took during her Argentine honeymoon.  The author’s mother was born in Buenos Aires at the end of a 1000-mile cattle drive.

            

It's been wonderful having you with us today but before we let you leave us, do you have a favorite recipe you'd like to share?  I like to cook and am always looking for new recipes to try and share.

            CB’s Hors d’Oeuvre:  Top a block of cream cheese with chopped red onion and top the red onion with chopped olives.  Spread on Triscuits.


Thanks again for sharing with us today and we hope you'll come back and visit again.

Readers, make sure you grab Gauchos & Gumption.



Happy Reading,

Krista