Monday, December 3, 2012

Meet Laura Hogg - Paranormal/Romance Author



Laura Hogg
Paranormal/Romance Author
 
     Welcome to my chat with Laura. Come on in and get comfy. There's a warm fire down here. Laura will be hanging out with us all week and will be around to answer any questions you might have.
  
Deanna:  Laura, welcome to my warm romantic area of the castle! Our readers have gathered around to hear all about you. Tell us a bit about yourself that our readers might not know.

 Laura:  I grew up in a large house that was built in 1901. It had lots of hiding places, and my sisters and I had fun with that. The house was situated right behind a mortuary. The people who worked there weren’t too thrilled when my sisters and I climbed their trees and hit tennis balls against the wall of the building.
     The neighborhood kids often told us that our house was haunted. We never got any visitors for Halloween. It was a private place to grow up. My mom’s brother was a famous rock singer, and he hung out with us there for a while in the seventies to hide out and relax.

Deanna:  What do you do to relax when you aren’t writing?

Laura:  I practice music, either guitar or electric keyboard. I also study and research, and do a lot of reading.

Deanna:
  Do you have to split your writing time between a day job?

Laura:  Yes, I work in a private reading school.

Deanna:  That has to be fullfilling to know you can help others enter another world. What one thing would you pass on to new writers?

Laura:  I was a music major before a language major, and I believe I remember hearing that Beethoven carried around paper so that he could take notes if he got sudden inspiration. This would be a good thing for writers to do as well. The notebook could be used to write observations as well. As a regular rider of public transportation, I have heard some gems on the city bus. Once a man got on my bus and introduced himself to all of us passengers. He called himself the world’s only black leprechaun. He started singing, beautifully. We all clapped. He took a bow. When the guy got off the bus, the driver replayed it for us from his recording. It was a great start to the day. Also, listen to people talk. Write down phrases for realistic dialogue.

Deanna:  What a wonderful story...and great advice. What are the physical characteristics that you admire in a man?

Laura:  A man who looks good holding a cat, sitting on a motorcycle, or wearing a kilt—my husband (He’s half Scottish)—can be pretty sexy. I was a hamster person before I met my husband. Now, thanks to him, I adore cats. I have one without a tail.

Deanna:  oh, poor thing. I'm now a cat person also with two Siamese. Name one most memorable moment.

Laura:  One day, when my daughter was two, we were sitting quietly. She was in my lap, with her back to my chest. Out of nowhere, she said, “I love you, Mommy.” It was the first time I had ever heard those words.
                                                   
Deanna:  How precious! It's the little things like that which we never forget. Tell us about something you’re working on.

Laura:  I’m working on a few things, but one is a short story called Turn Back Time. It’s a paranormal, inspired by the show Twilight Zone. In a nutshell, a young woman has two suitors. She’s close to both and has to make a decision. She has terrible dreams of an older woman visiting her and warning her not to marry the wrong man. She chooses one of them. Then, the scene shifts to the future. She’s middle-aged and miserable. She astral-travels to the past to visit her younger self and warn her not to marry the wrong man, but her younger self runs away in fear. The middle-aged woman then receives a visit from her own astral visitor—her elderly self, who has a very interesting message for her.
     I am really into the supernatural, thanks to my mom who taught me a lot about it. I also love reading and writing time travel stories, both sci-fi and romance. The two genres treat this subject very differently.

Deanna:  Your new story sounds intriguing! Share with us about your first book deal.

Laura:  The first book deal I signed was for a historical romance, Regency era, called, The 12th Kiss. Wings ePress published it. I took this from my interview with Wings ePress:
     I was having a hard time in my life, and I’m Catholic. I said a prayer and thought of the Archangel Raphael. Very shortly afterwards, the words to this novel flew out of my fingertips. It came to me in an inspired rush. Then I put the novel up on a critique board for nearly a year to tighten it up. I submitted it. After only one rejection, the novel was accepted with Wings. And get this: the publisher that turned it down said they liked it but, months after the rejection, they went out of business. I still get goose bumps from that one.



Deanna:  Unfortunately, that does happen with online publishers. I've had my own dealings with that, which is why I'm now an Indie Author. Do your books have a common theme or are they all different?

Laura:  I’m a romantic person. I once mailed a tiny braid from my hair to my husband, at work. So almost all of my work is romantic. I also write a lot of time travel and historical stories. But as for themes, forgiveness pops up often in my work. Everyone has been hurt by someone, and the need to forgive, in order to free oneself, is rampant.

Deanna:  That is so true! Any last thoughts?

Laura:  The younger or the older you are, when you achieve something, the more impressive it is, the more inspiring to other people. Sometimes I get discouraged, as I grow older, (I’m in my forties), then I remember this. I met a doctor once who told me that she didn’t even go to medical school until she was in her forties. My father went back to school in his fifties, and it changed his life.
     Thanks again, Deanna, I wish you and your readers the best. Please stop by my sites.




Deanna:  Laura, thank you so much for hanging out with us. Readers, feel free to leave a comment or question for Laura and please show her some love by visiting her sites and following her on Twitter and FB. Thank you all for stopping in!
 

2 comments:

  1. It was fun being your guest here! Thanks so much, Deanna, and I wish you and your readers well. -Laura

    ReplyDelete
  2. Loved your interview. I've been a cat person all my life. LOL. Happy Holidays.
    Sue B

    ReplyDelete