Please welcome my guest, Terry Odell

Today I'm interviewing Romance and Mystery author Terry Odell.

Welcome Terry, glad you could join me. 

      How long have you been writing and what made you decide to pursue a writing career?

      About 8 years. I ran out of room on my walls for needlepoint. (Actually, the real story is on my website, http://www.terryodell.com  Check out "How I Became a Writer By  Mistake") 

Why do you write in the genre/sub-genre that you do?  Any plans

in the future to write in a different one? 

      I thought I was writing a mystery, but my daughters told me it was a romance. I found romantic suspense the perfect combination, although I consider them more "mysteries with relationships."

Who is your favorite author?  (I know, an unfair question.  I

couldn’t name just one myself.) 

     Totally unfair. Who's your favorite child? I like different authors for different moods. I'm not going to name names because I know I'll forget someone. 

How do you stay motivated when writer’s block hits or your muse 

won’t cooperate? 

      I think about the housework that's waiting, and decide writing is a better option than cleaning toilets. I might shift projects—do critiques or work on blog posts, but the WIP remains in my   head. But writing is work. Can you imagine calling a plumber to fix a toilet and he says, "I can't come today. I have plumber's block."

Do you have a critique partner or partners?  If so, do you think 

they help more in terms of moral support or in terms of line 

editing, brainstorming, etc? 

 

     I belong to an on-line critique group, and we've been together for years. We do everything from brainstorm to line edits. But yes, moral support is a biggie, because writing is such a strange business. I also belong to my local RWA chapter and a book club, and talking reading and writing helps with the focus.

What’s the best writing advice you were ever given?  

      Barf it up first, clean it up later.

What part of the writing process do you like the most? The least?

      I like the discovery, peeling away the layers of my characters, and making them suffer. I suppose the least favorite part is coming up with a strong ending. And the title. Hate coming up with those.

Tell us about your current release in a couple of sentences. 

     I'm republishing my Pine Hills series, having just regained the rights from the publisher, as well as a companion piece of 4 short stories and vignettes featuring Randy and Sarah, the hero and heroine of Finding Sarah and Hidden Fire. Find out more at my website,                                    http://www.terryodell.com

Can you tell us a little about your next project? 

     My next 'official' release isn't until April of 2012: Rooted in Danger, another Blackthorne, Inc. novel. It's Fozzie's story. It starts on a tropical island, and things heat up from there. It deals with botanical research into cures for orphan diseases—the ones the big companies don't bother with because there's not a big enough market for the drug. Of course, there's a romance involved as well. You can read more about it at the "coming soon" section of my website. In the meantime I'm working on another book in my Pine Hills romantic suspense series, to accompany Finding Sarah and Hidden Fire.

Anything else you’d like to share?  

      I'd like to invite everyone to my website, http://www.terryodell.com, and to my blog, Terry's  Place, where I discuss writing, host guests, share recipes and photographic field trips. And, of course, to check out my books. First chapter reads of all my novels can be found on my website, and they're for sale at most on line bookstores.