Welcome to WHAT TO READ WEDNESDAY!
Today we’re all in for a wonderful treat. I’d like to welcome Carolyn Arnold.
Hi Carolyn. Thank you so much for visiting today! I’m so excited to learn about your newest release. From the teasers I’ve read, it sounds like it’ll be a wonderful book and something that will prove to be a thought-provoking read.
Before we get started, can you please share a little bit about yourself so we can get to know you?
I have been faithfully committed to the writing craft for the past four plus years. As a teenager I used to write, but things in life changed and my passion for writing was pushed to the background.
I was born in Picton, Ontario in 1976 and am married to my best friend. I love dogs, and have two beagles who are my children. As some people phrase it, I’m a furry baby momma.
I’m a furry baby momma too, as well as a mom to the furless variety 
Since 2011 is winding down, did you set any goals for yourself that you accomplished? Any that are still a WIP?
When I started this year, I had no idea I was going to go the self-publishing route. In fact if you asked me in January I would have told you I’m still holding out for traditional. But again, things in life changed.
I had an agent interested in my debut novel TIES THAT BIND, but they requested a change I didn’t agree with. I’m blessed to have a terrific online network and thought I’d try the self-pub route. I haven’t regretted that decision at all.
In fact, I plan on self-publishing all my novels.
As for a current WIP, I’ve been doing a lot of edits recently trying to get a couple books ready for launch. ELEVEN which just released this month, and the second in the Madison Knight series JUSTIFIED is set to release in December. I’ve written a few words in a new novel and will commit to the project in the New Year.
I have met several other self-pubbed authors and they’ve all be wonderful…a great network of people. Now back to some serious issues. lol
Chocolate or Vanilla?
Vanilla.
Favorite season of the year and why?
Winter, and for one reason, the snow is so beautiful to watch coming down from inside a warm house. LOL
You’ve got that right! Lol What genre(s) do you write?
Mystery, thriller and suspense. I have also written one Romantic Suspense and have ideas for other romance novels but my heart’s into writing M/T/S right now.
Where do you write?
In my office.
Would you say you research before you write or while you’re writing?
A combination actually. I like to have a bit of foreknowledge – saves time in the editing process later on. I’ve read the advice to mark places where research is needed in a manuscript with an asterisk (*) and go back after you’ve finished the first draft to do your research. I have found this advice to be wise. It allows me to keep the flow of the story without getting sidetracked with research.
I love the fact that your title ELEVEN released on 11/11/11…I just had to comment!
Thank you Honestly the book, the title and that date was the final push I needed to choose the self-publishing route. Traditionally it never would have been turned around that quickly.
Tell us about your latest release.
Brandon Fisher always wanted to be FBI, and at the age of twenty-eight has made Special Agent. Transferred from his hometown of Sarasota, Florida to Quantico, Virginia he is teamed up under the lead of Veteran Special Agent Jack Harper of the Behavioural Analysis Unit. With a temper normally close to the surface, Brandon has to learn to keep it under control because Jack tests his limits at every possible moment. And with the first case taking them to Salt Lick, Kentucky and the discovery of underground burial chambers, Brandon must confront one of his greatest fears – claustrophobia.
Here’s the book blurb:
Eleven Rooms. Ten Bodies. One Empty Grave.
Brandon Fisher never expected this when he signed up as a Special Agent for the FBI. Working in the shadow of Supervisory Special Agent Jack Harper of the Behavioral Analysis Unit his career seemed set. But when the team is called to a small rural town where the remains of ten victims are found in an underground bunker, buried in an unusual way, Brandon knows he’ll never return to his normal life.
With one empty grave, and the case touching close to home, he fears he’s become the target of a psychotic serial killer who wants to make him number eleven. Only thing is, everything Brandon thinks he knows is far from the truth.
If you have a minute, you can watch the book trailer for ELEVEN and have 11 seconds leftover. Here’s the link.
What character in your story do you identify with the most and why?
In ELEVEN, that’s a hard question to answer, or in any of my novels for that matter. They all have characteristics that pull from human emotions, and they all have justifications for their actions and thought patterns.
What was the easiest part of writing this book? The hardest?
I would have to say the easiest part was getting into Brandon’s mind.
The hardest was allowing myself to push past the dark elements in the book – the multiple murders and torture.
Would you share an excerpt of your book with us?
I have a few but they contain spoilers. However, here is one passage I’m rather proud of. It follows the discovery of the room where the victims were killed:
An ominous silence enveloped the room as if we were all absorbed in contemplating our mortality. The human reaction to death and uncertainty, of wanting to know but not wanting the answers, of sympathy for those lost yet relief that it wasn’t us.
Where did you get your inspiration for this story?
I love the show “Criminal Minds”, and was also inspired by my favorite authors David Baldacci and Sandra Brown, wanted to write something “darker” than I normally would.
As far as where the inspiration actually came from, there’s this small rundown house on the outskirts of the city where I live. It’s been abandoned for years and it just got my imagination going.
What are you working on now?
Right now, I’m working on the final edit round of JUSTIFIED, the second in Madison Knight series. It’s set to release the beginning of December.
Where do you hope to see your writing career in three years?
Ideally, I would love to see it supporting me as a living. I derive such pleasure from writing and it is only increased by knowing people are reading and enjoying my work.
And finally, Carolyn, where can we find you?
Thank you for stopping by Carolyn. It’s been great learning a bit more about you and your books. Can’t wait to read them all, but especially Eleven. Just your book trailer alone had me hooked.
And thank you everyone for joining us. Happy Reading!!!
ChristineWarner
