Rebecca Taylor

Author Interview with Shawn McGuire

Today I’m thrilled to feature author Shawn McGuire on my blog. Shawn is a fellow Colorado writer and also one of my dearest writer friends. You know when I talk about all those awesome brunches and writing retreats–well Shawn is always there.

Shawn recently released the 10th book in her Whispering Pines series. But for new readers, I’ve included links to the first book in the Whispering Pine series, Family Secrets, below.

Author Interview: Shawn McGuire

Q: What inspired you to write your Whispering Pines series?

A: I wanted to create a place where I would love to live. Someplace small with people who cared about each other. A house on a lake sounded good to me, too, so I threw that in there. It had to be a place that wouldn’t get overcrowded when people heard about how great it was, so I made Whispering Pines a place that anyone could visit, but only people who didn’t fit in anywhere else could live. Finally, I was curious about Wicca so decided to throw that into the mix. Turned out, my readers were looking for the same kind of place.

Q: Do you have to do any particular research for these books?

A: I do. First, these are murder mysteries and I like to find creative ways to kill people! While the books aren’t gory, I do like to give a bit of medical detail, so I research to make sure I get that right. Second, almost every book takes place during a Wiccan sabbat or holiday. The Wiccan details are the most fun for me, so I spend probably more time researching than is really necessary to make sure I can bring that to life.

Q: When you’re not writing, how do you spend your time?

A: I’m a baker so you’ll find me in the kitchen a lot. I love to hike and go on long motorcycle rides with my husband. Of course, I read a lot. I also do yoga and crafts. When not in quarantine, I love to travel.

Q: What does your writing routine look like?

A: I’m blessed to be able to write fulltime. My day starts around 4:30 or 5:00 in the morning. That quiet time before the rest of the world wakes up is like magic to me. I take breaks for meals and to get either a walk or some yoga in every day.

As for taking a book from the first word to publication, that routine generally takes me about 4 months. The first draft is my least favorite part, so I try to get that written as fast as possible, which means 2 or 3 weeks. Then I do a revision to add all the fun details. That’s when the story really comes alive. After my beta readers take a peek, I do another revision, put the manuscript through a grammar checker, and then hand it off to my editor. After making her corrections, I let Word “read” the manuscript to me to find any final awkward sentences then it’s ready for publication.

Q: Can you tell us a little bit about your journey to publication?

A: Like many authors, I wrote as a kid. English was always my best subject. I have a degree in English but never thought of being a novelist until many years later. I was a stay-at-home mom and when my youngest son was about 18 months old, I needed something to exercise my brain, so I started writing again. Soon the once-a-week exercise while he napped turned into an obsession. I tried going the traditional route, but self-publishing turned out to be a better fit for me. I can release books on my schedule the way I want them to be. And I’m finally using both my English and my Business degrees!

Q: Any advice for new writers?

A: Don’t be afraid to step out of your genre comfort zone. My first series was a young adult fantasy, and I thought that’s where I’d stay. On a whim, I gave mysteries a shot and it turned out to be a perfect fit. I had to learn the rules of the genre because not only had I never written mysteries I hadn’t read all that much either. I enjoy quilting and look at writing a mystery kind of like putting together a quilt. You have to take all these little pieces (clues) and put them together in the right order (plot) to create a beautiful image in the end (bad guy in jail).

From the publisher: Brown Bag Books

Welcome to Whispering Pines, Wisconsin. A place for those who don’t belong.

Sixteen years after a family feud drove her from the cozy Northwoods village of Whispering Pines, Wisconsin, former detective Jayne O’Shea returns to prepare her grandparents’ lake house for sale. Once there, not only does she find that the house has been trashed, her dog discovers a dead body in the backyard.

Jayne intends to stay out of it, but when it becomes obvious the sheriff isn’t interested in investigating the death, Jayne can’t stop herself. Her list of suspects grows faster than the plants in the commons’ pentacle garden. Could it be the local Wiccan green witch with her stash of deadly plants? The shopkeeper who slips into trances and foretells death? The visitor determined to practice black magic?

What Jayne knows for sure is that the closer she gets to solving this crime, the more the sheriff wants her to back off. And when a local fortune teller provides a crucial clue, Jayne knows it’s up to her to solve this murder.

What’s Happening Wednesday: A Whole Lot of Writing

I don’t know why, but this writer’s life always seems to unfold in either a creative feast or famine. And as I’ve said in some of my more recent posts, these last several months have been nothing but word starvation.

So it’s wonderful that this week I have seen the needle really, really move on my current project. I have even set myself a hard deadline for completing the first draft: July 22nd. That’s the day before I abscond to Breckenridge with some girlfriends for a weekend of Get The Hell Out of Town.

Which is desperately needed right now. And yes, I’m a huge introvert and largely have not suffered unduly with social distancing and quarantine–but even I have my limits! I’m looking forward to sights beyond my own four walls and backyard.

Other than that, I’m just waiting to hear if my kids will be going back to school in the fall, and if I will be going back to school in the fall (I work in a different district from them, so these could be different answers!) I’ve said it before: one of the most difficult things to cope with is the not knowing.

Are we going back? Yes? Fine

Are we going back? No? Fine.

But decision purgatory is no fun–in any aspect of life.

So for now I’m just going to relish this abundance of creative energy and savor the fact that this book is, once again, moving toward a completed first draft.

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Productivity During Quarantine

Mental Health Mondy and I thought it would be fitting to talk about productivity during these quarantine months.

In short, for me, it’s been a huge struggle. Between the news about the virus, disruption of life as I typically know it, and the uncertainty about what our world will look like even a few months from now, I find my head seems to spin from one catastrophic thought to the next.

I have been a firm believer in much of the advice that has been handed out since our world turned upside down. We should give ourselves a break. We should acknowledge that these are unprecedented happenings in our modern time. We should watch as much Netflix as necessary to numb our collective angst. And this is exactly what I have been doing for months now.

And yet, I feel the need for another shift right now. Because the thing is, it’s been three months and no matter what happens next week, next month, next year–some work needs to get done around here! Furthermore, I WANT to get some work done.

Yes, the desire to work has returned. Sadly my body and brain have grown accustomed to the habit of waking up whenever we feel like it, leisurely sipping a Nespresso, and sitting on the back porch while the sun traverses the sky. Until I grow tired of this. Then I retire to the family room couch for an ungodly amount of Netflix.

In addition to this sloth, there have been lots of french fries, potato chips, and wild berry seltzers consumed. So my version of “giving myself a break” seemed to have devolved into consuming an endless supply of junk food, alcohol, and mind-numbing television. Which actually, when I shift my perspective just a little, looks a bit like the start of a depressive slide to me. This is definitely NOT taking care of, or helping myself, mid-pandemic.

So yes, I’ve had enough of this. But how to climb out of this pit of poor habits? I’m almost positive it involves starting small and growing from there.

Stop with the junk food and drinks. Ruffles, chocolate-peanut butter ice cream, and alcohol are on break status for now.

Move more. There is a handy two-mile loop around my neighborhood. This is now what I do first thing instead of staring off into oblivion with my coffee while I doom scroll through Twitter.

Commit to a working schedule. Be at my computer by 8:00am and stick to my task list for the day. Take regular breaks (mid-morning, lunch, mid-afternoon) but keep them temporary and timely. Twenty-minute breaks and forty-five-minute lunchs.

Stay off social media during the day!! In fact, stay off the internet. This one’s HARD, but I know for a fact that the internet is like a black-hole of time suck. If I can’t stick to this on my own, I might need to employ some sort of internet blocker to get me started.

So this is my plan to get started engaging in my work life in some concrete way instead of the sporadic, shot-gun method that has left me floundering for weeks on end.

Wish me luck.

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What I’m Reading This Weekend: The Guest List by Lucy Foley

Happy Friday! This weekend I’m reading, The Guest List by Lucy Foley. I’ve never read anything by her (but I hear great things!) so I’m really looking forward to this.

I seem to be on a dark, atmospheric book kick just lately. Last week I read Home Before Dark by Riley Sager, a ghosty, twisty thriller that I devoured in less than a day. My TBR pile is filled to overflowing with beachy reads but my current reading tastes seem to be skewing toward October!

What are you reading right now? Any suggestions? I love getting good book recs!

From the publisher, William Morrow

The Guest List

The bride – The plus one – The best man – The wedding planner – The bridesmaid – The body

On an island off the coast of Ireland, guests gather to celebrate two people joining their lives together as one. The groom: handsome and charming, a rising television star. The bride: smart and ambitious, a magazine publisher. It’s a wedding for a magazine, or for a celebrity: the designer dress, the remote location, the luxe party favors, the boutique whiskey. The cell phone service may be spotty and the waves may be rough, but every detail has been expertly planned and will be expertly executed.

But perfection is for plans, and people are all too human. As the champagne is popped and the festivities begin, resentments and petty jealousies begin to mingle with the reminiscences and well wishes. The groomsmen begin the drinking game from their school days. The bridesmaid not-so-accidentally ruins her dress. The bride’s oldest (male) friend gives an uncomfortably caring toast.

And then someone turns up dead. Who didn’t wish the happy couple well? And perhaps more important, why?

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Eleven Steps For Feeling, and Staying, More Positive

Even in the best of times (and right now, we are nowhere near “the best of times”) stress, worry, and often overwhelming pressures are always turning up the burners under our life. Our attentions are constantly pulled in a thousand different, and often conflicting, directions. We read social media and get angry. We watch the news and feel powerless. We try to do our jobs and raise our families and feel overwhelmed. Our emotions end up on a runaway freight train headed for a panic attack.

Here are a few tricks to help slow you down.

1- Be aware of your thoughts. Really pay attention to what you’re thinking. Your thoughts drive your emotions.

2- If you find you are entertaining lots of negative thoughts, or maybe you’re even in the middle of a negative thought spiral, say this word gently to yourself. “Stop.” Say it in your head or even out loud, but say it kindly. Like you were talking to a young child you love very much.

3- Great, now you have your own attention! If your brain is still trying to gallop away on that negative stallion, take it softly by the shoulders and repeat, “Stop.” Then look your brain in the eyes and say. “Okay? Can we do this? Let’s stop. Let’s take some breaths.”

4- Take some breaths. Really do this. I know it sounds lame, do it anyway because it really helps.

5- Then say to your brain. “I know there are a million bad, horrible, annoying, terrifically terrible things you’re very, very worried about. But, did you know that worrying yourself into an anxiety attack really WON’T DO ANYTHING to make all that awful stuff go away. Honest to God, freaking yourself out changes nothing and actually makes it that much harder to work toward some solutions for whatever might be in your power to change.

6- More breaths here. Five, ten, twenty, take as many as you need until some sense of centered begins to return.

7- Once you have the tiniest grip, make your brain think of one positive thing in your life. Just one. Even if it’s only the fact that you are alive, breathing, able to read and think. Hang onto this thought and focus on the fact that this is a good thing in your life right now.

8- Awesome. Now can you think of a second thing? Try it. You have shelter, food, a person you love or that loves you in your life. A dog? Anything. Focus on those two good things.

9- Now, please go outside. More breaths. Big deeps ones filled with some fresh air. Start walking. Walk to the end of your block, the edge of your neighborhood. To that park, tree, trail, monument, building, whatever it is that is far enough for you to get some movement and change of environment.

10- Try to imagine letting go of some of the cognitive weight you’re carrying around. Obviously you can’t let it all go–you’re living and working through this life, I get it. But do you really need to bear all of it all at the same time? Prioritize your concerns by hanging onto one or two things that both need your immediate attention AND are within your control to do something about in the short term.

11- This is a big one: Pay attention to outside influences on your thinking and emotions. News, social media, toxic people. Either take a break, cut these out, or limit your exposure to these influences. This might mean getting your news from a single source once a day, limiting social media (especially those really toxic ones. Hint: if you feel angry reading certain people’s posts, that’s a big clue that maybe it’s time to switch them off), and reducing contact with your IRL people who are not good for your mental health. It might take some time, and retraining of old habits, but it’s worth it. Picture yourself reducing those negative influences and replacing them with more positive ones. Small changes every day, little by little, it adds up. In a month, you’d have a more positive outlook and a real sense of personal agency over your life and environment. This, consequently, would lead to having the ability to problem-solve, and actually do something, about many of those things that were worrying you in the first place.

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The Best of Women’s Fiction Interview: Rebecca Taylor and Lainey Cameron

Here’s an interview I did at The Best of Women’s Fiction where I discuss writing, inspiration, and my new book, Her Perfect Life.

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Seemingly Happy Accidents Between You and the Page

I was working on the new book today. Pushing my main character up against walls, depriving her of her desires, and it got me thinking about what she wanted. Which, of course, needs to happen with every character in every book. That understanding of what they desire and what is keeping them from achieving it is a necessary analysis every writer has to explore. At least, I think they should.

I had figured out before I even started writing this book that Alyson (my main character) most wanted safety. Safety for her son, herself, her marriage. So it’s interesting to me to read through all the many scenes in this book where that safety is being jeopardized–especially when I didn’t explicitly or consciously craft it with that intent. And yet, there it is. Again and again–references to safety in this scene, that statement, those actions, and I didn’t purposefully mean for that to be the case. Themes sometimes infiltrate books without needing much intention from the author.

This is one thing I love about writing the most. The seemingly happy accidents and layers that you can stumble across in your own work. They always surprise me and remind me that, no matter how much you study the craft and plan your books, there is still a mysterious element that finds it’s way from you to the page, which for me, always feels like the very essence of creation itself.

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Winner’s of My Women’s Fiction Day Giveaway

Thank you to everyone who participated in this year’s Women’s Fiction Day events! It was awesome to connect with so many new readers and book bloggers!

I’m announcing the winners of my giveaway today. If it wasn’t you, don’t worry. I love to give things away, especially books. I can guarantee there will be other fun bookish things up for grabs in the future!

So please stick around.

The winners from Monday who both subscribed to my blog and left a comment were:

Kristyn, Melissa.P, and Pamela.C.

I’ll be sending each of you an email this evening so I can get your mailing address.

Thank you again to everyone who entered and I look forward to getting to know each of you!

One Week Later…Her Perfect Life is Out in the World

It happened. Her Perfect Life published and went out into the world on Tuesday, June 2nd, 2020.

This date has been circled on my calendar for over a year, ever since my editor gave me the official pub date in April of 2019.

I had imagined that day, and what it would feel like for 18 years.

As you may well imagine, it ended up nothing at all like I had imagined.

I want to thank all the friends and readers out in the world who have been so supportive and encouraging–I feel very fortunate to be on this road with you.

Women’s Fiction Day

Happy Women’s Fiction Day!

Women’s Fiction Day was established by WFWA in 2019. It is a day to celebrate the authors, stories, readers, bookstores, and fans of the women’s fiction genre. It’s a day we hope finds our fans on the beach or somewhere relaxing as summer reading season kicks off.

To celebrate, I’m giving away three signed copies of my recent release, Her Perfect Life.

It’s easy to enter.

Leave a comment below letting me know you’d like a copy.
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Here are some other ways you can help celebrate Women’s Fiction Day

Support our genre by reading books and posting reviews on Amazon, Goodreads, Bookbub, through your own social media accounts and blogs.
Give women’s fiction stories as gifts, donate them to your local library
Organize a writing event
Organize a book talk or book club event
Tell the world what you’re reading!

Share your Women’s Fiction Day ideas and promotion with WFWA on our Facebook Page, and tag us on Instagram and Twitter.

For a list of participating authors and links to their individual giveaways, please visit the Women’s Fiction Writers Association website.