Author Saturday Spotlight: Addison Albright #Interview #Giveaway

Saturday is here again! YAY! And it's Author Saturday Spotlight time. This week we have Addison Albright here. She's the author of 'Til Death Do Us Part, Cultivating Love, Dream series, and many more. She's agreed to sit with me, sip some coffee (water for her *wink*), and chit chat. We will take a look at her work, do a fabulous interview, and shut it down with a wonderful giveaway. So grab your coffee and sit with us for a bit.

Henry and Sam Miller-Greene are living the dream. They love their careers -- which afford each of them opportunities to travel to exotic locations -- they love their home, Sam’s caring family, and each other. They disagree on the subject of adoption, but are fully committed to each other in marriage ... ’Til Death Do Us Part.

The dream is shattered when Henry’s plane crashes and he’s presumed dead. But four people -- Henry, two other men, and a child -- survive undetected on a remote, small, and insignificant island. Will Sam and Henry’s love be able to survive, as well?

Henry fights to endure in harsh conditions, never knowing when disaster will strike. Sam struggles with his loss, but with help moves on with his life. Will Sam be able to put aside his new love when he reunites with Henry?

Mike is thrilled when his old university crush turns up at his door in answer to his roommate advertisement. Wes doesn't remember Mike at all, or even realize he's gay, but that doesn't stop Mike from pursuing a determined campaign of seduction. The trouble is, Mike isn't ready to give up his free and easy lifestyle and settle down with just one man. Mike isn't comfortable with public displays of affection. Wes doesn't like anything resembling the proverbial closet, but Mike's still buried deep inside one where his family is concerned. Will Wes have the patience to deal with Mike's issues, or will their dream come true end up a nightmare?

A man of few words, Joe is a hard-working farmhand who likes his simple, uncomplicated life. Ed is satisfied with his existence as an auto mechanic, but thrilled when an unexpected development in his life allows him to help Joe realize a dream.

It forces them, however, to reevaluate the casual, undefined nature of their relationship. They're too macho to speak of love, and neither would ever dream of acknowledging he doesn't really mind when it's his turn to bottom. When life throws them a curve ball, and the rules of their game get old, Ed makes an effort to take every aspect of their relationship up a notch. Will Joe be able to adapt to the open sentimentality Ed's injecting into their relationship, let alone the new spice in their bedroom activities?

Interview

Thank you, Addison, for being here today and for talking with me. I have some questions I’d like to ask you in hopes to get to know you a little better and connect with readers. Not painful, I promise.

Thanks for having me, Meredith. I’ll do my best, but after perusing your list of questions I’m not sure we see eye to eye regarding what is or is not “painful.”

‘Til Death Do Us Part received an Honorable Mention at the 2016 Rainbow Awards. That’s such a fabulous thing to see for such a great book. What was that like for you?

I am so incredibly flattered to have received this compliment (and thank you so much for calling it “great”). I don’t know if it’s the shy introvert in me that fills me with self-doubt, or if that’s typical for writers, but the honor was certainly unexpected. I’m one who sweats bullets with every review submission, crossing my fingers that someone will even be interested enough to want to read it, then hoping like crazy that they’ll like it or at least not hate it and write a scathing review. I’ve been delighted by the generally good reception my story has received. I submitted it for the Rainbow Awards figuring nothing would likely come of it, but nothing ventured, nothing gained, so why not try? It’s pretty much made my year for me. “Thrilled” doesn’t even begin to cover it.

When you’re reading a book what are the most important things you look for for it to be a great book for you?

I love humor in books, but it’s not a requirement—sometimes it wouldn’t fit the story. Likeable/relatable characters are generally important to me, although that doesn’t mean they can’t be flawed.

I like a variety of genres and sub-genres, so I think my answer has at least as much (if not more) to do with the storytelling than the contents of the story. How well the story is told is as crucial as the plot. Is the author’s voice engaging? Is the book well edited so I’m not continually thrown out of the story trying to figure out who “he/him” is referring to? Please, please, please, are the MCs acting like adults and not spoiled junior high schoolers? Whether it’s laughter, sadness, or horror, if the story connects with my emotions, it’s a good thing.

Have you ever written a character based on someone close to you?

The shy guy (Larry) in Another Dream (one of my early stories) channeled me.

I can’t say that any other characters have been truly based on anyone specific, although Buddy/Aiden from ’Til Death Do Us Part was influenced by several young’uns in my life. He was originally inspired by my granddaughter. I babysit her most weekdays, but she was only a few months old when I was writing the story. I based his younger abilities on my great-niece who was similarly aged, and his older personality on my precocious step-grandson, and memories of my son when he was that age.

You have a B.S. in Mathematics (The Devil’s language) and a minor in chemistry. So how did being a published author come into play for you?

The Devil’s language??? Noooooo!!!! I originally was going to major in chemistry and minor in math, but I loved calculus II so much I reversed them. I don’t suppose that related anything other than what an odd duck I am, eh?

To answer your question, I guess it stems from being a voracious reader. I’m not one of those writers who has gazillions of story ideas rattling around in her head demanding to be let loose, but good stories I’ve read led me to dream about what happens next in the beloved characters’ lives, or what if “this” had happened instead of “that”? Eventually that evolved into a few story ideas of my own, and I felt compelled to try my hand at writing them down.

If you could collaborate with any author in this genre who’d you like to work with?

This is probably the toughest question on your list. There are so many different factors to consider. I think I’ll go with J.D. Walker. As a fellow JMS Books author, I’ve interacted with her a bit online and find her to be a genuinely nice person loaded with an abundance of great story concepts. So (1) she’d be fun to work with, and (2) my own inadequacy in the ideas department wouldn’t be a hindrance to the collaboration.

If there was a biography written about you what would it be titled?

Geez Louise, if there’s one thing worse than blurb writing, it’s coming up with a good story title. How about “She Tried”?

Does writing books get easier or harder? Explain.

Both? I’m pretty sure my skills have improved since I started, so I feel ever so slightly more confident, and achieving novel-length is no longer a seemingly impossible task. At the same time, I’m getting better at recognizing when passages I’ve written aren’t up to par, then I agonize endlessly over how to improve them.

Do you attend any conventions or conferences?

Thus far, no. The stuff I wrote years ago was all in ebook format only. Then I took 7+ years off, dealing with real life. When life settled down, and the idea for ’Til Death Do Us Part hit me, I started writing again. So I’ve just got the one recent release that’s novel length print format, which doesn’t seem like enough to attend as a writer, yet.

Since I only live an hour’s drive away, I’ve considered attending GRL this year as a reader/observer to see how these things operate, so the freaked out introvert that I am will be able to cope better if I ever attend one as a writer. I even went so far as to add myself to the waiting list for the supporting authors before realizing I probably won’t be able do either since the supporting author thing is on a Thursday, which would be problematic for me to attend, and Saturday (which is when I’d figured I might try to be a fly-on-the-wall observer) is now in conflict with an unavoidable family event.

That being said, I’m not ruling it out. I hope to participate one way or another in the future.

Please tell us about your future works?

I am very excited about To Love and To Cherish, my almost completed WiP. It should be finished within a week or two (actually by the time this spotlight hits your blog it might be done). It’s a story for Nash, the poor jilted fiancé from ’Til Death Do Us Part. Nash’s story has been a blast to write. I’ve put the poor guy through the wringer on the journey to his HEA, touching on many of my favorite guilty-pleasure tropes.

Once that’s done I plan to take down and rework my old stories with expired contracts that I’d subsequently self-published. Once I’ve worked them over, I think I’ll relist them on Amazon Unlimited.

After that, I will hopefully come up with another fresh story idea. I’ve got one brewing, but I still need to flesh it out.

How can your readers follow your career: Facebook, Twitter, website?

Website/Blog – https://addisonalbright.wordpress.com

Facebook Page – https://www.facebook.com/addison.albright

Facebook Profile – https://www.facebook.com/addison.albright.profile

Twitter – http://twitter.com/AddisonAlbright

Subscribe to my newsletter at groups.io – https://groups.io/g/AddisonAlbright (Click the green button that says "+ join group")

Fast Fire Question time!

Night or day? Day

Coffee or tea? Neither, but if forced to pick one I’ll drink tea. (Boring person that I am, my favorite drink is water)

Winter or summer? Autumn (okay…summer)

Netflix or Hulu? Netflix

Favorite color? Green

Favorite smell? Popcorn

Cats or dogs? Cats all the way!!!!

Right handed or left? Right handed

Favorite song? Bohemian Rhapsody

Your comfort food? Chocolate

Thank you again for being here and again for talking to me.

Thank you for thinking of me, Meredith. I guess it wasn’t that painful after all.

Giveaway

Addison is doing an INTERNATIONAL contest for a

signed paperback copy of ’Til Death Do Us Part!

Simply fill out the rafflecopter below.

Contest ends  August 26th.

Thank you, Addison, for being here today and talking with us.

a Rafflecopter giveaway