Author, Author

...read all about it!!


Thanks for joining us and please welcome a wonderful author and a great new friend,

Darlene Henderson

Hi Darlene and welcome, can we start off by hearing a little about you? 

This question always throws me.  A little about me.  Hmmm.  I live on Florida's Gulf Coast where we enjoy the world's whitest beaches.  I'm a single mom which has been a blessing.  I have an awesome kid and I get all the credit =).  I'm a Nascar fan.  I'm very involved at my Church, with Boy Scouts and I volunteer with the American Cancer Society.  And just for something completely random I have a phobia of dropping something into mail boxes that  I didn't mean to drop.  It was on an episode of the Lucy Show (the one after I Love Lucy).

What or who initially inspired you to become a writer?

I guess it's from years and years of reading. I wrote some as a kid, into high school even and let it go.  I made up stories all the time but never put pen to paper or fingers to keys.  But then my fellow Still Moments author Jillian Chantal challenged me to write a story and I had the bug and have been writing ever since.

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

I heard a long time ago to write what you know.  So I try to stick with that, but there are those times when I want to make sure I got something right and it's easy to get caught up in the minutiae.  My final edits included limiting the list of ingredients in a drink.  I mostly get distracted doing research.  Darn Internet, it's always there., speaking to me, tempting me to play.  Confession I went to IMDB to check out Lucille Ball and make sure I got the right name for that TV show.  So yes I research and sometimes too much. 

 

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?

The couch is probably my favorite.  But I can write anywhere.  Don't have to have a specific place or anything.  From McDonald's at lunch to the table in the kitchen at the office to my bed.  (See advantage of being single no one to complain when you bring the laptop to bed).  This weekend I wrote outside sitting at a picnic table gazing out over the bay.  So I guess what I am saying is any place I can find enough time to write is a special place. 

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 love mysteries and cop stories.  Looking at my bookshelf, I see a giant section of John Sandford's Prey Books.  I have a ton of Stephen King and Dean Koontz too, but I've read Victoria Holt since I was a kid.  Even though I write romantic things, they are nothing like what I read. 

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?

I Love love love my laptop.  It goes with me most everywhere, just in case there's time to write.  It's funny I'm not usually a purse-carrying kind of girl but I lug a laptop bag around everywhere.

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

Playing word games.  Watching movies or Trivia type game shows.  Or deeper involved in one of my other activities.  

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

Wow.  Tough question Okay my son knows this, but I do this weird thing touching my key before I put it into the car ignition. It's my crazy little OCD thing.  

For fun, I have a few personal questions,
Your Favorite 5

1) Favorite color - Pink

2) Favorite dessert - Strawberry shortcake

3) Favorite Season - Spring

4) Favorite sad song- At This Moment by Billy Vera and the Beaters

5) Favorite Romantic movie - The Lake House. 

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

The Mountains, the lake, the race track, a Stay-cation.  Where doesn't matter as long as there's lots of down time and lots of romance.

 

Where can our readers find you??

www.dandwh.wordpress.com

I'm DandWH on Twitter

 

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

I've just had my first "romance" release.  My story, Dog Day Afternoons is one of the stories featured in Still Moments Publishing's Love  Unleashed  anthology which was released this month.  It's available at :

Still Moments Publishing:   http://www.stillmomentspublishing.com/p/ebook-store.html

Smashwords:    https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/152478

One last thing before we let you go today Darlene.  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.

For recipes, I like easy.  Here's one of my favorites from when my son was a kid.

1 can of biscuits

1 lb of hamburger meat

1 jar of spaghetti sauce

mozzarella cheese - shredded

  Brown your hamburger meat, drain and pour in the spaghetti sauce.  Mash the biscuits down into a greased muffin tin creating cups.  Fill the cups with your meat/sauce.  Bake according the instructions on the biscuit can.  About five minutes before taking them out of the oven sprinkle the cheese over the meat filled cups return to the oven and bake until the cheese is melted. 

 It makes a quick and easy meal.  Kids can pick them up and eat them  Serve them with a salad and you've got all the basics covered.  For a variation use brown gravy and cheddar cheese. 

Thanks so much for the chance to come and visit.  ~  Darlene

 Darlene it was an absolute pleasure and might I add that I tried your  recipe and my kids LOVED it!!!!! I’m so glad you shared that and my kids thank you J

Readers, make sure you get this great anthology at:

Still Moments Publishing: http://www.stillmomentspublishing.com/p/ebook-store.html

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/152478

Thanks so much for stopping by and Happy Reading J

 Krista