Good Morning! Welcome to TBR Thursday–where I introduce you to a new author and book to add to your “to be read” pile. This week I welcome fellow Common Elements Romance Project author Anna St. Claire.
Welcome Anna!
Thanks for joining me for Sunday Speed Dates. I’m just going to jump in here and start asking you some questions. Let’s get started!
First, can you tell us a little but about yourself?
Sure! I write as Anna St. Claire, which is a penname I created from the names of my two grandmothers. My mother’s mother (Anna) helped me learn to read and write. In a way, it’s a way to honor her. And my father’s mother (Claire) was someone that I never got to know, being the child of divorced parents. My mother moved south with us from New York. Never really knowing her is a loss that I feel—although it was a different time and I understand why that is. We did not have the easy and affordable communication channels we have now. However, I wish I had had a chance to know her. Now, I understand that in some ways, I am like her, but it doesn’t resonate because I didn’t have that relationship.
I live in the Charlotte, NC area and I’m a wife, mom, daughter, sister, and Mimi to two adorable granddaughters. I enjoy DIY projects, reading, writing, and I also work. Joy to me is an easy hit…whether playing with my granddaughters, my dog Shep (who has always loved to play) or doing something fabulous with my husband or daughter—or everyone together! “Family” always includes my pets as well as everyone else. And as a writer, I enjoy creating a story and inserting pieces of life in there…whether it’s a character or a scene…or a theme. I love happily-ever-afters—and do not like stories where the animals die.
What inspires you as a person?
No one thing. Family interaction, books, a great show on Masterpiece, friends, going out on a date with my husband, writing. And I think animals inspire me. It’s something ingrained from childhood. We always had quite a few dogs and cats—and honestly, it was a different time. People did not spend then what we do now on dogs and cats. But I think perhaps, it was because the resources—including knowledge about animals’ health, was just not out there. For example, medical resources have increased, but on the flip side, and this is just an observation—vets insist we give them vaccinations on everything, annually. That’s a booster a year. Think about that for a moment. We don’t do that with people. I’ll leave that there, but it’s a topic that concerns me.
A lady I once worked with told me when I was pregnant that I would be the mother of girls. I laughed. I waited until her birth before I found out that indeed, it was a girl. But I have a big-hearted beautiful daughter, who has always been a source of happiness for me, and two granddaughters. Girls! (Honestly, my son-in-law and husband don’t have a chance with all of this estrogen! My husband has always known that, but I secretly think it was a shock to my son-in-law.) But girls are a lot of fun. And full of energy. It’s just magical for me to see things through their eyes. We adore our girls – all three of them.
As a child, I was into everything, if it hit my curiosity. I climbed trees, rode my bike—all day and everywhere I could, loved cards and board games. I really did not have toys, per say. I preferred books to dolls. But now, with granddaughters, I find tremendous fun in taking them to the playground, having tea-parties (a first!) and getting them toys. But we have so much fun with the ‘stuff.’
What were you like in high school?
I loved to learn and I loved school. I lived in Columbia for a long time, but we moved to North Carolina when I went into the ninth grade and I went to a small high school (there were 125 in my senior class). I generally liked everyone. I played in the band and joined various clubs—typical stuff. I wrote for the school newspaper, was in pep club, science club, math club, future teachers club (but never was serious about wanting to teach). I enjoyed learning, so most subjects appealed to me. School was important to me. The only class I found useless at the time was French. No one seemed to like it, but that was largely because the teacher was easily distracted and we rarely stayed on track. So I had to start foreign language over in college. <Sigh.>
Are you an only child or do you have siblings?
My mother remarried. So, I have a sister, a half-brother and a step-brother. We stay in touch. Now that we are grown, my path doesn’t cross with my brothers’ paths much. But my sister lives close to me. And my sister is now a “Gigi” to grandsons—two now, but a third will join her in a month! And she is a fun grandmother to those boys. One loves to cook, and it’s a hoot hearing how they ‘cook’ together when cooking was never her thing. But grandchildren change you. My sister makes me laugh—a lot. I would love to spend more time with her than we get to. But we are close.
Do you recall how your interest in writing originated?
Fact. As soon as I learned to read, I began to write. I even wrote a song for my favorite tv star—that I still think of at times and laugh. My mom (an English teacher) always encouraged me—and worked with me whenever I asked for help. My tenth grade English teacher also encouraged me to write (often), and I did major in Journalism, but my career was in Human Resources. Writing was only a spare-time thing for me. Years later, she humbled me when I learned she used my papers for her classes until she retired. While she was a much-loved teacher—her real worth in the lives of my classmates was never realized until much later. I think she would cheer me on today. But sadly, we all lost her to cancer several years back. I think of her often.
Do you ever get writer’s Block?
I think what I have experienced is procrastination. I don’t think it’s the same. So, I do not think so, yet. Sometimes I will stall, but I pick up and keep going.
Any tips on how to get through the dreaded writer’s block?
I begin writing and just see where it takes me. Sounds crazy even to me, but typing my thoughts is easiest and allows me to churn through creative ideas more readily.
Where do you like to write? Is it messy or organized?
I have a new office. I’m really excited, because this is the first time in my married life that I have had my own space in the house. My husband encouraged me—he encourages me in everything. Kind of my real-life hero. I designed the office with my granddaughters in mind. One is four and the other is a toddler. So the room has a corner for them. I kept their mother’s American Girl dolls and selected toys and we play with them. I told you…I never liked tea parties until now. I even bought them “tea party dresses!”
(Okay, confession time. Just between us, I saved a lot of things…but I now see the fun in getting rid of stuff!! So that’s a constant.)
Organized mostly. There has to be a bit of messiness. Come on!
Tell us about your Common Elements book.
I’m so proud of this book. It releases on January 21.
The Earl She Left Behind is about second-chance romance. I found that to be more difficult to write than I originally thought. There is the pace of renewed love to consider, hard feelings, baggage, etc. Here is a short blurb, and a bit of the book.
Maggie Winters had everything she always wished for — betrothed to the man of her dreams, a loving home, and a new puppy. But it all changes when her parents die, and her new guardian sweeps Maggie from town and forces her to marry a stranger to pay his debts. When she suddenly finds herself a widow and free of an unhappy marriage, can she finally find the love she has dreamed of?
Lord Maxwell Wilde still loves Maggie Winters, despite his years abroad in service to the Crown. They had planned to marry until she disappeared from his life, leaving only a scribbled note in her wake. Returning home late from an assignment in the middle of a sudden storm, he finds a badly injured woman lying in the road. He saves her only to realize he has rescued the woman he had never forgotten.
Hearts are in play as danger beckons them into a treacherous game. Do they dare grab a second chance at love?
Where did the idea come from for your Common Elements book?
I’m not sure, really. I just started writing, trying to decide what part the elements we had selected as a group would play in my story. That’s what I frequently do to generate an idea. I use my NOTES application on my iPhone and begin to generate ideas. I find they flow better there. I’m not much of a plotter. I usually know the general plot and the ending. But I’m a Pantzer for a lot of the book. I just write—but I keep my thesaurus open, almost always.
How does it fit in with your other books? Is it part of a series?
Yes, now that I am finished, I found a need to create the Noble Hearts Series. This is book one. I am already working on book two.
Okay…time for the Hot Seat…
If you could be a Disney character, who would you be?
Ha! Maybe a Peter Pan? So maybe I’d be Penny Pan. <laughing> That doesn’t quite sound right. But I enjoy imagination a lot. (Most famously— Mary Martin played Peter Pan in the television version when I grew up.) And, there is always a “Captain Hook” of sorts in my stories—someone out to spoil things for the hero/heroine or both.
If you could go back in time to see any concert, which would you choose?
Definitely an Eagles concert. I love the original group. I also loved the MONKEES as a child. Do you remember them? <smiling> I would like to have seen Davy Jones before he died.
Do you speak another language? If not, which language would you like to learn?
I speak, “Mom.” You know the one with the serious undertone? That’s it. I’m afraid I never really learned any foreign language, despite years of sitting in the classes. I only remember odd words here and there.
On the silly side, sometimes I think it would help to learn Vietnamese so I could understand the conversation in the nail salon I use. They always begin a discussion over me when I sit down for a pedicure and it gives me a bit of a complex about what, I’m not sure. <smiling> But on a serious side – I really would like to learn Spanish. I think it’s necessary and I may try to do alongside my granddaughters, as they learn. Writer’s Words of Wisdom
What is the greatest piece of writing advise you’ve ever been given?
Write every day. I try to write something. I actually have goals, but life sometimes interrupts completing the loftier ones and that creates frustration with something I do not want to be frustrated doing. So I just try to write some.
What is the next project you’re working on?
I’m drafting book two in my Noble Hearts Series. It’s part of a book set with other authors and will be going up for preorder soon.
Wonderful! I can’t wait to see you around online. Thanks for stopping by!
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To find out more about Anna St. Claire, you can visit her at the following places around the internet.
Email ~ Amazon ~ Facebook ~ Twitter ~ BookBub ~ Website
The views and opnions expressed in this interview are solely those of the guest author.