Authorsday: Irene Peterson

 

Blog Interview Questions:

Pick any ten

1. When did you know you wanted to be a writer?  I’ve been serious about writing since I was 15.  I have kept journals since I was 12, however.  I guess that’s serious.
2. How many rejections have you received?  This is embarrassing.  I’ve only received six rejection letters.  How come so few?  I don’t send out much….
3. Tell me one thing about yourself that very few people know?  I turned down a recording contract in the early 70s.
4. What’s your writing schedule?  Writing comes easily enough, the problem is that I play with the scenes through sleepless nights, sometimes for weeks, before I actually sit at the computer and write them.  I can write 20 pages at one time if I am so moved.  Trouble is, it takes a lot of time to get moving.
5. What three things would you want with you on a desert island?  Ah, the desert island bit.  Let’s see.  Three things?  Water, food and a sturdy boat perhaps?  I'm kind of practical that way.
6. Who is your greatest cheerleader? My 91 year old mother keeps me writing.  I never realized how much she read…but she has proofread and beta read all my work, even the early fantasies which she hated, but she read them anyway.
7. What did you enjoy most about writing this book?  The book is a continuation of my first published novel.  I needed to get some things resolved and I loved the characters so much, I had to move them forward.  I wanted the h/h of Glory Days to get married and I gave them twins to keep them out of the way so the new heroine could shine.  It’s her story, I needed to give her my full attention, but I had to bring in the other characters because they were such fun.
8. Who is your favorite character in your book?  Dennis, the wounded war veteran is my favorite character.  I am very familiar with PTSD and what happens to young people exposed to the ugliness of war.  Dennis starts off broken…but he gets better.
9. What was the hardest scene to write?  Carly goes searching for her priest friend in a deserted hotel about to be demolished.  It’s dark inside, pretty badly wrecked and I had to think what it would be like stumbling around while looking for someone.  Strictly my imagination…later I learned that the building I was using in my imagination had been torn down in 2009.  Luckily, I didn’t name it, so readers who are familiar with /Asbury Park can’t give me grief over it.  I'm not as brave or foolhardy as Carly.  I’d never have gone inside.
10. What was your favorite scene to write?  The scene where Carly’s father confronts the man with whom she just spent the night.  

Author Bio:  Irene has lived in central Jersey her entire life…central Jersey, where the pools are above ground and all the front doors come from Home Depot.  She met her husband to be on the boardwalk of Seaside Heights and returns there every year to celebrate the occasion.

Book Blurb:  First day on the job at her father’s detective agency, Carly meets two intriguing men.  One wants to kiss her, the other wants to kill her.