Guest Author Series -Q&A with Author Theresa Stillwagon

Theresa is a fellow author with me at Desert Breeze and has a release out this month, "Saving Pale Moon." She's here today to talk about her story. Welcome, Theresa.

STEPH: How long have you been writing?

THERESA: I started way back in my teens. I remember I started writing a historical set in the West. I wrote it long hand and never finished it. All I remember about it was the beginning. She was on a train, thinking about why she was on the train. I didn't write 'the end' on a book until the mid1980s.

STEPH: What attracts you to romance writing?

THERESA: I've always read them. Romances are empowering. The main characters go through so many things, but they always manage to resolve them and get their happy ever after. Real life isn't always that way.

STEPH: Where do you find inspiration for your stories?

THERESA: I find my inspiration everywhere I look. I can sit in a restaurant and watch people and come up with characters, or a possible plot. LIstening to people, watching tv, and reading have given me ideals. Once I even dreamed a major scene and I built a story around it.

But I think my inspiration comes mostly from the secondary characters of my finished books. Just about everyone of them has at least one person screaming at me to write their story.

STEPH: Tell us a little about Saving Pale Moon.

THERESA: Jessica Callaway isn’t happy. Maybe meeting her birth mother now would be a good thing.

And it would be if only for her brother.

Blake Hunter doesn’t trust her. Why is she here now, after finding out about Abby twenty years ago? She does look like his adopted mother, but he plans on keeping a cool head until the verifying blood tests are done.

Jessie senses his distrust, but she is still way too aware of him. The mere sound of his voice sets her on edge. When her birth mother tells her Blake is adopted, she relaxes her guard and decides to enjoy her time in Texas . With all the horses surrounding her, especially Pale Moon, she’s in heaven.

Unfortunately Blake isn’t as accepting as the other Hunters.

Has she done the right thing coming to Texas ? Or has Jessie made the biggest mistake of her life?


STEPH: How long did it take to write?

THERESA: I had the ideal for this book for a long while before I actually started writing it. I've lived with these sisters for about fifteen years. I let them go when I couldn't sell the original first book to the series. Jessie stayed in my head all those years so I finally sat down and started writing her story. I don't remember the actually date, but I finished it way back in 2007. It went through a lot of changes since then.

STEPH: Did you have to do a lot of research for the story?

THERESA: No, not really. I did do some research on dude ranches and horses.

STEPH: What's the theme of Saving Pale Moon?

THERESA: I think it letting go and learning how to trust.

STEPH: Cast the characters? Who are the leads for Saving Pale Moon?

THERESA: Jessie Callaway is the heroine. She needs to find answers to question her adopted parents can't help her with so she decides to meet her birth mother. Life hasn't been treating her well lately. More than just possible health problems have convinced her to come to the ranch.

Blake Hunter is her birth mother's adopted son. He doesn't believe her reasoning for coming to the ranch now, when things are looking up for the Hunters. He doesn't want to get involved with her because he thinks he's like his abusive birth father. This is the main reason he doesn't want to trust her.


STEPH: Tell us a little about the state you live in.

THERESA: Right now I live in Georgia. My husband and I just moved here half a year or so ago, but I love the area. We live in an RV, in a campground in Savannah. The city is beautiful with a lot of history. We haven't really had a chance to see much of it yet but we plan on taking one of the bus tours of the city. And I'd love to do a ghost tour.

STEPH: Do you have an ebook reader? If so, which one?

THERESA: No, not yet. My birthday is coming up in May so I'm hoping my husband will get me a Kindle. I do so want one. It'll be so much easier curling up with an ebook reader. Right now I have to read all my books on the laptop.

STEPH: What's your writing space like?

THERESA: The kitchen table. We live in an RV so we have very limited space.


BIO

Theresa Stillwagon has been writing most of her life. Since one of her teachers praised a poem she wrote for a class assignment, she's been putting words together in the hopes of seeing them in print. Not caring if anyone other than herself ever read them. Her dream came to reality in 2008 when she signed her first writing contract. She's now just signed her fourth one, the first story in a series of five called The Sisters Callaway.

A former resident of the state of Ohio, Theresa now lives in her RV in the sunny city of Savannah, Georgia, with her husband of twenty-eight years and her two cats, Fred and Barney. She's currently searching for a job while hard at work working on the next installment of The Sisters Callaway series.

You can find more out about her by visiting her website at http://TheresaStillwagon.webs.com.

BUY LINK FOR SAVING PALE MOON: http://stores.desertbreezepublishing.com/-strse-151/%3Ci%3EThe-Sisters-Calloway-Book/Detail.bok