I'm delighted to welcome Ann Crawford to the Flight Deck today, to tell us some more about herself and her book Fresh Off The Starship - a romantic comedy, which as it says on the cover is 'out of this world' - so appropriate for this blog, don't you think! 😊
HL: . OK, I just have to ask you Ann - Where did the idea for the book come from
AC: I moved to Kansas—from the Northern California coast and after growing up in New York—thirteen years ago to marry my husband and be a stepmom to his two wonderful kids. I’d been through Kansas a few times as I crisscrossed the country over the years. He grew up halftime in Wichita and halftime on a farm in Western Kansas. When he took me out there, I fell in love with the people and the land. When I would tell people from big cities and the coasts that I was living in Kansas, they’d roll their eyes—like I probably used to (oops!). So I wanted to celebrate these people and the land as well as delve into some of the issues they experience there, as many places do. I wanted to show these Kansas folks’ depth, sincerity, and wisdom—they’re definitely not the bunch of “hicks” so many may think.
Also, I heard a line from the movie Starman many years ago: something along the lines of “You humans are at your best when you’re at (facing) your worst.” I’ve wanted to create my own starbeing for decades and have to look through her eyes to see how beautiful we humans can be and how amazing life on Earth is. It was really fun to have to imagine taking a sip of water for the first time as well as the many other fun—and far more exciting—things humans engage in.
HL: I love it! So often Science Fiction and Fantasy is seen from the human perspective, this sounds like such fun. How long did it take to write?
AC: This book took only 5 months to write AND publish! My writing often includes speaking into the Notes feature on my iPhone, and I probably spoke about half the book into my phone as I was driving back and forth across Kansas over two nights on either side of a weekend conference farther east. It’d been in the back of my mind for so long that it just came out. And that magical night on the side of the highway, that Matt and Missy have in the book and which is based on something that actually happened, certainly helped.
HL: When did you start writing?
AC: Oh, age 3 or so. 😊 As I was growing up, sometimes I looked at my childhood books that my mom read to me, I saw that I’d written in them, trying to continue the story!
HL: LOL, been there myself! :) What do you do for fun when not writing?
AC: OMG, I look like such a mild-mannered author and all, but I do a lot of wild-and-crazy things…I can fly a plane…I go scuba diving…I travel—a LOT (70 countries and counting, plus all 50 states). My favorite thing of all, though, is to just sit on a balcony overlooking the ocean, in a tropical setting. Reading and movies are two big loves, too.
HL: Wow what an exciting life you have! So what comes first: the plot or the characters?
AC: The characters! They can get quite rowdy in my head.
HL: Yes, I can relate to that one too,. Sometimes the only way to shut characters up is to write about them! 😏If someone were to play one of your characters in a movie, which character and what actor would it be and why?
AC: I think Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper would make a GREAT Missy and another-character-to-remain-unnamed here (don’t want to spoil it).
HL: Have you a favourite actor/hunk? If you’ve answered question 6 would this be the same person?
AC: I have a major thing for Aquaman. My husband is growing out a beard and looks like a sea captain or Poseidon or someone along those lines. Last night I said to him, “You look like Aquaman’s dad!” Knowing what a big thing I have for Jason Momoa, he said, “Wow! That’s a HUGE compliment!”
Actually, Jason would make a great character-to-remain-unnamed, too.
HL: Intriguing! What’s you’re writing process? Has it changed since writing your first book?
AC: I have a writing “nest” – a comfy sofa that faces out a window where I have a view of a grove of trees and a beautiful garden. I have a desk, too, but I never seem to write there. I put my laptop on a huge, thick cushion on my legs, and I’m more comfortable than at a desk plus my posture is better. I’ve written five books on that sofa. Oliver, our parrot, is right next to me enjoying the view, too, along with some neck scratches when I’m taking a break.
I generally meditate right after breakfast and then write. I spend the afternoons doing things like marketing work (which can be endless) and recording audiobooks, which is REALLY big fun. I had no idea it’d be so much fun for me. I’m converting a couple of my books into screenplays and that sure takes a while, too.
My writing process has changed over the years, especially since I’ve started writing full time. When I had a day job, I pretty much just wrote on Sundays. Then I started writing for an hour each weekday very early in the morning, before work started. I’m so grateful I can spend my whole mornings writing now—and even have Sundays to chill!
HL: Do you listen to music when you write and if so, what kind of music – or do you find it distracts you?
AC: I develop a new music playlist for every book…and after a little while it’s Pavlovian: as soon as I turn on the music, I’m in the world of the book. Even now, if I hear a song from, for example, the Angels on Overtime playlist, I’m back in the mountains of Idaho.
HL: What is your personal definition of success?
AC: Winning the lottery and not changing a thing about my life—how I spend my days, what I do, where I live, being able to touch lives…in other words, already doing and having all those things. I’m getting there!
HL: Is there any advice, as a new writer, that you were either given, or wish you had been given?
AC: Keep writing! Show up to, as the adage goes, “put the seat of the pants to the seat of the chair” at a pre-arranged, uninterruptable time every workday, and the book will get written.
Even if you have only fifteen minutes a day, little by little a book can get done.
Some writers are plotters, where they outline and pre-arrange the book before writing it. I’m definitely not one of them. I write whatever wants to be written that day and then tie those pieces together.
For me the most important thing is being open to the music from the muse and the changes it might bring. I once said to a screenwriting professor that my writing surprises me sometimes. “You mean you say, ‘I can’t believe I just wrote that?’” she asked. The class laughed, and so did I. But…well…yes, I do mean that, LOL.
HL: If you were an animal, which one do you think you would be, and why?
AC: A dolphin! I’m such an ocean person and they are such amazingly happy, playful, beautiful beings. I had the opportunity to swim with them in the wild, off the coast of the Big Island of Hawaii. That was one of the highlights of my life.
HL: Oh, brilliant choice! I love dolphins too, but I can only dream of swimming with them. Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts with us today, and wishing you much success with this book - it's on my Kindle and I can't wait to read it!
BLURB:
Love to laugh? You'll enjoy this feel-good tale.
A starbeing skyrockets to Earth from the other side of forever with a specific
assignment: to help steer humanity away from the collision course it's on. But
we all know how travel can get drastically diverted--instead of landing in
Washington, D.C., where she could assist on a grand geopolitical scale, she
ends up in...Kansas!
Wrong place, right time? Join our shero on this whimsical journey as she
pursues her purpose as well as discovers the beauty of life and love on Earth.
EXCERPT
Matt hands her a large drink with a
little mountain of fluffy white stuff on top, with stripes of brown dripping
down the mountainsides.
“Here, got you extra whipped cream and
lots of car’mul on top, just the way you like it.”
Missy takes a lick of the whipped cream
and her eyes go wide. “Oh!”
“Well, yer not supposed to lick it like
an ice-cream cone. Sip it.”
She does and then slaps her hand on the
table.
“Missy! You okay?”
“Oh, my! How can you beings ever
complain about anything?”
“How’s that now?”
“Nothing.” She takes another sip and
moans again. Several customers seated nearby look over at her.
“Missy, sweetheart, can you calm
yourself a bit?”
She takes a bite of the round treat on
a stick he’d set down by her. The moans escalate.
“Geez,” Matt says, trying to sink
farther into his seat, “I feel like I’m straight out of
When Harry Met Sally.”
“Who’s Harry? Who’s Sally?”
“The main characters in one of yer
favorite movies. You made me watch it at least half a dozen times.”
She takes another sip and bite. The
moans escalate even more. By this time everyone in the café is looking at her.
“Missy! Perhaps we should eat these in
the car.”
“Wherever you want!”
The customers in the café receive one
more rendition of “Ohhhhhhhh!” as Matt leads her out the door and she takes
another sip of her drink.
Okay, maybe it’s not thaaaat bad here.
AUTHOR BIO
I'm a fun-loving, world-traveling,
high-flying, deep-diving, and living-to-the-max author of eight books. When I'm
not flying planes, scuba diving, climbing every mountain (on the back of my
husband’s motorcycle) or riding the world’s fastest roller coasters, you can
find me in my writing nest with a view of Colorado’s Rocky Mountains out the
window. I've lived all over--from both oceans white with foam, to the prairie,
and now to the mountain. Yes, a little backwards, but what the hey.
My
bestselling and award-winning novels go as high and deep as I do—they’re
profound yet funny; playful although poignant; heart-opening and heart-lifting;
thought-provoking and inspiring; and edgy while universal. I'm also a
screenwriter and award-winning filmmaker and humanitarian.
Social
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link:
The book will be on sale
for only $0.99.
Ann Crawford will be awarding a $25 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
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Follow the tour HERE - the more blogs you comment on, the more chances you have of winning!
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Continuing snippets from my fantasy novel 'The Matchmaker's Mare. This story is told from three p.o.vs. and two time-lines. Today's excerpt is again from Rhiannon's p.o.v. and takes place in the distant past, a few paragraphs along from the last one. I forgot to say last week that it takes place in rural West Wales (where I grew up) so some of the names may be very unfamiliar.
