I’m pleased to welcome Teri Thackston to my blog today. Please leave her a comment to be entered into the prize drawing.

1. What inspired your latest book? Wait Until Moonrise was inspired by one scene in the Disney version of Beauty and the Beast. Remember the scene where Belle and the Beast are dancing in that huge ballroom? That sparked a scene in my mind and the entire story seemed to fall into place around it.

2. Where do you get the ideas for your stories? Ideas are everywhere. You just have to put a little spin on news stories or overheard conversations to come up with something fresh.

3. What is your favorite dessert/food? It’s hard to pick a favorite. I love Mexican food, Italian food and good old Texas cookin’. If I had to live on one food every day, I think I’d choose Mexican food. As for desserts…nothing beats a really rich fudge brownie.

4. Give us an elevator pitch for your book.
An eighteenth-century sorceress, the handsome earl she curses to a living death, the contemporary woman with the power to free him…what magic will it take to reach happily-ever-after?

5. Do you have a view in your writing space? What does your space look like? I have a wonderful office that is cluttered with books, and the front windows look out on a cute little park area that my husband, sons and I designed in our front yard. Because grass wouldn’t grow under the tree (in spite of attempts to re-sod, plug and fertilize), we put a hedge around the area and placed paving stones throughout it. It includes a fountain, a sun dial and plenty of squirrels and birds.

6. What genres are you drawn to as a reader? I love paranormal romances, romantic suspense and historical romances—and I’ve written in all three genres. But I also have favorite authors in the romantic comedy genre, too, and old-fashioned gothic romances.

7. What are you currently working on? Something I’ve never tried: a young adult series. It’s a sci-fi story and it has really grabbed my imagination. I can’t wait to work on it every day.

8. Do you have any words of inspiration for aspiring authors? Stop worrying about publishing and just write the stories that you want to write. You’ll know when you’ve created something wonderful when you feel that little thrill around your heart…that’s when you should start to focus on publication.

9. What did you want to be when you were a child? Did you always know you wanted to be a writer? I wanted to be a spy. Seriously, until I was about twelve years old, I imagined myself saving the world from all sorts of disasters and bad guys. But I also wanted to write stories and I didn’t think I could be a secret agent and a famous author at the same time. In retrospect, that might actually have worked!

BIO:

Teri Thackston is a native Texan and life-long lover of storytelling. Her award-winning novels cover the spectrum of romance, from suspense to paranormal to historical. Her very first novel–a blatant rip-off of the popular television series Get Smart–was written when she was at the wise old age of eleven years and will never–to the delight of readers everywhere–see the light of publication. Her more original works are seeing that light today and she hopes that fact will delight those same readers.

Excerpt from Wait Until Moonrise (paranormal romance):

Others had taken a hand in shaping her future. Now she couldn’t help comparing herself to her mother. Instead of being a housewife and mother as Bria had always been told, Beca had been a dancer. She’d traveled the world. She’d lived.

Maybe, Bria thought, I need to look at my own future again.

Water pattered against the floor as she rose and stepped out of the tub and onto a plush rug. Bath water gurgled down the drain and…

Clutching the towel suddenly against her wet, naked flesh, Bria whipped around. There had been a sound in the darkness, like the sharp intake of a breath…

Darkness…

She stared through the narrow opening of the bathroom door. Fear tickled the lining of her stomach. She could have sworn she’d closed that door. And the lamps she’d lit throughout the suite had gone dark, leaving only a faint glow of moonlight.

Fear overwhelmed her. Still clutching the towel, she bolted forward and shoved the bathroom door closed. Pressing an ear to the wood, she listened for sounds of movement, but heard only the cadence of tiny hairs rising on her damp body.

Calm down, she thought. You’re tired. You just heard the wind…this old place is probably full of drafts. And the lights…it’s probably nothing but an overloaded circuit.

Backing away from the door, she rubbed the towel over her chilled flesh, and tried to ignore the voices of fear and reason that argued across her mind. Uncomfortably, her memory chose that moment to bring up Davy Cadall’s spooky stories.

She took a deep breath and said aloud, “There is no such thing as a ghost.”