Georgia Tech |

Yesterday–in case you haven’t noticed all the messages and blogs I’ve posted about this–was the release date for THE MATCHMAKERS OF BUTTERNUT CREEK. That’s my ninth published book and the second in the Tales from Butternut Creek series. When my sister-in-law called and said, “Are you celebrating? Are you excited?” I realized I was excited but not celebrating. Too much to do on release day, one of them being looking for reviews and hoping people love the book. Appearing on blogs has also distracted me.

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Two of my friends invited me to blog with them today. I met Alison Stone of Twitter. She’s an engineer and a writer–she blogged here a while back. She’s now writing for Love Inspired Suspense. She writes great suspense novels.

http://alisonstone.wordpress.com/

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I’ve know Alexa Bourne for years and through several noms de plume. She’s a terrific writer who’s going to visit here soon with stories about Scotland.

http://getlostinastory.blogspot.com/

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Please stop by and leave a message. I’d love to see you there–and answer any questions. Alexa will give away a copy of THE MATCHMAKERS.

I’m so pleased to have Alison Stone on my blog today. She writes great romantic suspense. To learn more about Alison, go to yesterday’s blog. Her bio is there as is a blurb for her newest book. So–take it away, please, Alison!

Thanks Jane for having me on your blog.

I had the pleasure of meeting Jane on Twitter. Yes, we live in a brave new world. If you had told me twenty-five years ago that I’d be chatting with people over the Internet, I’d say, “What’s the Internet?” If you told me in 1987, that in 2012 I’d be a published author, I would have tossed my freshman calculus book across a Georgia Tech dorm room and asked you what parallel universe you were living in.

I settled on engineering after I saw an advertisement in a magazine picturing a blue baby booty and a pink baby booty. The caption read (I’m paraphrasing here): which baby will grow up to be an engineer? Then it reported some dismal statistics on how women are far underrepresented in the field of engineer. An idea was born.

Soon, I was enrolled in Georgia Tech‘s engineering program. After I graduated, I worked for various industries—from pharmaceutical to aeronautical to automotive. I always enjoyed the people I worked with, but my heart was never in it. I could never get excited about fin damage on a condenser core. Yawn. So, it came as no surprise when I took a leave of absence after my second child was born. Thirteen years later, I’m a full time author.

Oh wait, back up a step. Soon after my eldest was born, I saw an ad in a magazine. (I never realized until now how many magazines I read back in the day!) The ad was for an institute that taught writing for children. I enrolled in the course. Although I never had any success writing for children, I did have success writing articles for local publications. I soon got up the nerve to try full-length fiction and I was hooked. After a long learning curve filled with craft books, workshops and critique partners, I finally got “the call.”

Writing for a living was not on my radar twenty-five years ago, but life’s unexpected turns are what make life exciting. Has your life taken any interesting twists over the years?

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Too Close to Home is Alison’s second romantic suspense with a sweet romance. It will be released August 7^th. What’s the story? They say you can never go home. If you do, better watch your back.

Amazon Buy Link: http://www.amazon.com/Too-Close-to-Home-ebook/dp/B008GWOHIU/ref=pd_sim_kstore_3?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2

Barnes & Noble Buy Link: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/too-close-to-home-alison-stone/1112120174?ean=9781609288501