Guest Author in The Spotlight~Laura Hogg~

CK: Everyone, please give my guest, Laura Hogg a warm welcome! Laura is also a fellow Eirelander author.

When did you launch your writing career?

LH: I didn’t have the courage to submit my work until about five or six years ago. I got a short story accepted in an ezine called Sage of Consciousness and won a short story contest elsewhere. Wings ePress offered me my first book contract for my historical romance novel, The 12th Kiss, in 2005.

CK: Where do you come up with some of your awesome ideas?

LH: Sometimes I’ll have a dream, wake up and write a one page synopsis, then from there write a whole novel. Other times songs or pictures will spark ideas. Occasionally, I’m inspired by series such as Twilight Zone, or The Highlander. I love time travel and have a series called Romeo vs. Juliet where the hero and heroine travel through the ages. I read a lot of time travel stories, and sometimes ideas arise from those.

CK: See, my stories come to me during meditation, and sometimes in dreams. I can relate to you. Romeo vs. Juliet sounds like an interesting read.
Where did you submit your first story?

LH: After getting rejected by agents, I backed up a little and submitted short stories to ezines and epubs. The first story (unpaid) to get accepted is a story called, Judge, about a female rock musician. (I was in a rock band and drew upon that experience.) After that, epublishers accepted stories. It was exciting getting my very first royalty check in the mail. Even though it was only for 58 cents or something like that, it made me officially a professional writer who got paid for her fiction. An exciting day indeed.



CK: How do you fit writing into your busy schedule?

LH: My daughter was in high school when I first got published and is now in college. That helped, as far as time is concerned. When I get home from work at night, I work on my computer for hours. My husband works on his own computer. We get up often and talk or cuddle on the couch watching TV. He makes dinner every night, being the cook of the house, so I lucked out there. I guess starting writing later (I first submitted when I was in my thirties) has been a contributing factor. I never would have had the time in my twenties when I was in college, working, and raising a small child.



CK: What are the pros and cons of being a published author?

LH: I finally got published, yay! That’s a big pro.  And those little royalty checks that pop up in the mail have fed my family more than once. Cons? Well, I’m not successful enough yet to answer that, but once in a while, I would get an email from a stranger that did less than thrill me.



CK: Please, tell us about your most recent project.

LH: It’s a historical romance set in 1811-1812 London then Russia, during the era of the Napoleonic Wars. Yes, that’s the era of the English Regency, but there’s not a nobleman in sight in my novel. It’s called Descent into Darkness.

Here’s a blurb:

Duncan Amberley has come back from war, fighting Napoleon's men on a ship. Clarissa Hale is a lovely shopkeeper with a great sense of humor. A heroic heart rests inside this insecure, intelligent beauty, and she will be called to prove it. Clarissa and her love are pitted against each other for the sake of their families and some terrible accusations. She will be in constant peril as she gathers evidence to convict Duncan's dangerous brother of a harrowing crime. Duncan's heart breaks when he discovers something about Clarissa's sister. Can their love survive the results of their investigations? They devise a dangerous plan to get to the truth, which brings them into the heart of Napoleon's camp in 1812 Russia as spies. Risking everything, they must get to the truth.

It can be found here: http://www.moongypsypress.com/hogg.php
The cover is beautiful. I just love what the cover artist did.



CK: Please share an interesting paranormal occurrence in your life.

LH: The story of how I got my first book deal is kind of cool. As a Catholic, I have sometimes asked angels to join my prayers with theirs. Once I asked the archangel Raphael for prayers. Shortly afterward, I got an unusual rush of inspiration and wrote a novel with flying fingers. I put the novel, The 12th Kiss, up with a critique board for the better part of a year and revised it. Then I submitted it. The first place rejected it. The second, Wings ePress, offered me a contract. Two months later, the first publisher went out of business. What a coincidence. Prayer to an archangel inspired the book, then a company called Wings gives me my first book deal. 



CK: Oh my, that is cool indeed. I truly don’t think that experience was a coincidence. The archangel was truly with you. Where do you see yourself two years from now?

LH: Writing and hopefully back in a band.


CK: What are your hobbies?

LH: Music. I’m also an editor for a couple of epublishers, and a book reviewer as well.




CK: How do you unwind?

LH: Music or reading, or hanging out with my husband. Also, working out.




CK: Do you mold your characters strictly from imagination or from those you cross paths with in everyday life?

LH: Both. I ride the bus and the train after work at night, and I get a lot of material from people around me on the trek home, but I’ve dreamed some of my stories.



CK: What are your stories based on?

LH: Well, my paranormal stories are based on the supernatural. For example, I have a story called Double Vision, where the hero and heroine fall in love on the astral plane. I also like angels and stories about people with paranormal abilities such as psychic abilities. I respect the vampire/werewolf genre and know some writers such as my friend Jaime who excel in this, but I don’t personally pen stories with such beings. It’s just not my expertise. I do find ghosts very interesting though, and grew up in a haunted house.


CK: That sounds so exciting Laura.

Where can you be found on the Internet?

LH: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?ref=profile&id=62648343
http://twitter.com/lovebooksmusic
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B003F977GI
http://traveltheages.blogspot.com/
http://www.myspace.com/l_hogg


CK: Laura, thank you so much for sharing. It was awesome having you here today! I’m adding your books to my TBR pile on Goodreads.

LH : Thank you! I appreciate your time. It’s been fun. If you or any writer of the paranormal would like to be a guest at my blog, please send me a note.

CK: Thank you Laura, I would love to be a guest on your blog. I’ll shoot you an email.