...read all about it!!
Thanks for joining us and please welcome a wonderful author and a great new friend,
Denise Moncrief
Hi Denise, great to have you here, could you
tell us a little about yourself...
I’m
a Southern girl. I’ve lived in Louisiana all my life. And yes, I
have a drawl. Writing is my passion. I tell people accounting is a
skill I learned to earn some money to support my writing habit. I’ve
been writing off and on since I was seventeen. That’s more than a
few years ago. I have a wonderful husband and two incredible
children. They not only endure my writing moods, but also encourage
me to indulge my passion.
What
or who initially inspired you to become a writer?
Harlequin
romances. My friend Brenda and I devoured probably hundreds of them
in high school. I wrote my first “novel” when I was seventeen.
Seventeen pages on school ruled paper and an obvious rip-off of the
last Harlequin I read. I love reading. A lot of my inspiration comes
from other writers.
Probably
my biggest inspiration comes from my daydreaming. I have an
incredible imagination. It made me feel guilty to spend so much time
thinking about what it would be like to live in other places and be
in other situations and know other people. Then one day I got the
brilliant idea to write all those scenarios.
What
kind of research do you do for a novel and how extensive do you get?
I
like to set my stories in interesting places. So the amount of
research I do depends on the location. If I’ve been to the locale,
it’s easier to use my impressions of the scene. Otherwise, I have
to do a lot of googling. I’ve probably purchased twenty guidebooks
on different vacation destinations trying to add local flavor to a
story.
If
there is some aspect of the story I’m not familiar with, I will do
the research necessary to give the plot detail some authenticity.
I’ve researched heart transplants, drug interactions, police
procedure, hurricanes, architects…Just about anything that might
give the story an added bit of reality.
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
sit on my bed with my MAC. I have a cup of coffee on the nightstand
and a comfy pillow behind my back. Sometimes the lights are out
because it’s late at night. I think I do my best work after nine at
night.
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’ve
read so many books in my life I couldn’t count them. My Goodreads
profile doesn’t even begin to mention a fraction of them. I love a
good suspense novel. I love a good romance. Those novels that mix the
two in a nice, satisfying balance are my favorites. I also like to
read in a variety of other genres, particularly novels that explore
family dynamics or character psychology. I like to know what makes a
character tick. I think reading a range of different styles and
genres adds to my knowledge of the craft of writing.
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?
My
family thinks my MAC is permanently attached to my hands. I never
completely plot or outline my stories before I write them. I have a
spiral bound notebook where I sometimes flesh out the main characters
or rough out a timeline of events if things get a little inconsistent
or tangled. Usually, I know how the story begins and how I want it to
end, and I let my muse take my imagination from point to point.
When
you need a break or some time off from the trials of being a writer,
what can you be found doing?
I
like spending time with my family. My daughter and I are shopaholics.
I have a few television shows I’m obsessed with. Grey’s
Anatomy. Castle.
And…I confess, America’s
Next Top Model. When
I’m not doing those things or working at my other, less satisfying
job (accounting), I’m reading.
Is
there anything about yourself nobody knows that you would like to
share with our readers??
I
have a severe crush on Nathan Fillion.
Where
can our readers find you??
Is
there an upcoming or current release you would like to share with us
today and where can we find it?
Having
a daughter, I guess I’ve seen every Disney princess movie ever
made. I’m not sure when or how I thought of naming my heroine Snow
White, but once I did, the rest of the story just kind of wrote
itself. I love tales with a sense of humor, so this story was a lot
of fun to write. I write suspense, so I couldn’t resist writing a
modern version of Snow White with its wicked Queen (or corporate CEO,
in this case). Instead of dwarves, seven pooches named after Disney
dogs become her best friends.
Snow
flees not only from a criminal investigation for fraud but also from
the wrath of her conniving future mother-in-law. Ann Winters is more
than willing to let Snow take the fall for her crimes if it will
drive a wedge between Snow and her son Anson. With nowhere else to
go, Snow escapes to the White’s family apple orchard near Yakima,
Washington. Her hideout
turns into a not-so-safe haven when the secrets from her family’s
past prove to be just as large as her problems back in Seattle. She
cringes every time she introduces herself to someone new, but when
she meets handsome Eric Prince, he doesn’t react to her Disneyesque
name. He acts as if he knows more about her family's past than she
does. Enter seven recalcitrant pooches. Snow isn’t a dog
person, but Eric seems to know every one of them, and they know him.
Eric and the dogs are determined to protect Snow from the danger
swirling around her.
Sounds like a great read, i can't wait! Now before we let you go 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.
Slap
Ya Papa Chili
This
was my Daddy’s specialty. Like so many other of his recipes, he
started his chili with a roux.
Roux
1
med. yellow onion, chopped somewhere between fine and coarse
2
lbs lean ground meat
2
cans chili beans
2
cans chili tomatoes
2
Tbsp tomato catsup
Chili
powder to taste
Prepare
the roux by browning ½ C flour in a ½ cooking oil. Salt and pepper
to taste. Cook on med heat, stirring almost constantly so it won’t
stick for 15 to 30 mins until the roux is the color of coffee with
light cream.
Brown
the ground meat and onion together. Add together the roux and the
meat in a stockpot. Add the chili beans, chili tomatoes, and catsup.
Add chili powder. Taste. Add more chili powder. Taste. Add more chili
powder. Eventually there will be enough chili powder added that it
tastes right.
Daddy
loved to extol the virtues of eating onions. He claimed they
prevented heart disease, stroke, and cancer. About two and a half
years ago, he passed away from an aortic aneurysm at the ripe old age
of eight-nine, three months shy of his ninetieth birthday. Daddy said
most of the world’s best recipes started with a roux. He always
added a little sweet catsup to anything with tomatoes, because he
said it cut the acid.
Denise I'm so sorry to hear about your Daddy, he sounded like a wonderful and wise man, and a great cook!! Thank you so much for being here with us today, it was great learning more about you and I hope you'll come back and visit us soon !!
Happy reading !!
Krista
