Monday, January 5, 2015

1-2-3 Author Q&A with Author Charmaine Gordon

Today, author Charmaine Gordon is joining us. She's taking part in my first 1-2-3 Author Q&A of 2015!   I’ve known Charmaine for a few years now through our local writing chapter and she’s proven that love can happen at any time, and at any age.

 

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On Writing

 

Do you agree with the adage “Write what you know”?

 

When I began writing, I didn’t have a clue about anything but the story in my head. Format? Never heard of it. Query letter-a total mystery. All I knew were scripts so when I wrote, much to my surprise, bits and pieces of me showed up on the page. Should I leave it in was the daily question. But I did so definitely, I write what I know and research to add to the mix.

 

 

The Writer

 

The best thing about being a writer?

 

The best thing about being a writer is the fictional life I create. It’s a mystery where they come from as I fly by the seat of my pants unlike the scripts I’d memorized over the years. How I treasured every word, followed directions to be rewarded by applause and strangers hugging me in the streets of NYC and the fun of dancing and singing with the boyish Harrison Ford during a break of Working Girl. Never star struck because they were people just like me who had worked hard on their craft and succeeded. I began in my mid years and became a small fish in the big pond.

 

 

The Book

 

What was the spark that ignited the idea for the River’s Edge series?

 

The River’s Edge Series began quite by chance. I thought about me, a virgin, at college and pictured another girl, named her Grace Meredith, placed her in the year 1960 where she’d never been kissed. She Didn’t Say No is the title. It cracks me up when I think about it and later her song becomes, “Don’t stop thinking about tomorrow, Yesterday’s gone, Yeah yesterday’s gone.” I believe in that.

 

 

Bonus Question

 

Help Wanted, is part of your River’s Edge series.  River’s Edge is a small town with a big heart, is this modeled after your experience living in a small town?

 

I’m a native of Chicago so no small time girl here but Air Force life was like small town for the years we were part of the Strategic Air Command and Rockland County has a small town feeling to it.

 

 

Blurb:

 

From She Didn’t Say No, Book 1 in the series.

 

Grace didn’t say no to the Big Man On Campus, Scott Dwyer. And then her life changed… Years later, a too-close encounter of an unpleasant kind with a skunk and Scott’s German Shepherd reunites the former lovers. What happens in between are their stories of beginnings and endings and love lost, then found.

 

Excerpt:

 

“After burgers, fries, and milkshakes he followed my directions to my apartment. Looking up at the nice building, he smiled. “So you live here. I’ve passed this place like a zillion times never thinking the girl of my dreams might be right upstairs.”

“Girl of your dreams?” I smacked his shoulder. “You probably say that to all the girls.”

“No, Grace. I mean it. I’ve admired you for months at the library and here we are.”

Is this where I say come up or what? And then I heard myself asking if he’d like to come up and we were inside and kissing in my quiet apartment where no one ever came. Ever until now. I always wondered what happens when two young people are alone, hormones raging. Hearing about it and reading books is not the same. I wore a spring sweater set, pleated skirt, underwear, socks and sneakers. Nothing sexy except my feelings and wanting him. Scott had experience on his side. Was I expected to be a casual lay? I didn’t know and didn’t care.

First we sat on the couch and necked. That led to touching and stroking each other and then , oh so politely, he asked if I minded if he did this and that and soon we were naked on my maiden double bed with pink flowered sheets and a matching spread.

“Grace, you’re so beautiful.” He fondled my breasts as if they were treasures and tasted one nipple and then the other. And sucked like a baby searching for milk. My hands grabbed his head, ran my fingers through his thick curly hair and held him close never wanting him leave.

 My first lover. My only love. “Do you have protection?” Protection? Um, oh birth control.

“I have a diaphragm and cream but I never used it.” It occurred to me this was a funny conversation in the heat of nakedness.

“Oh. Well, this time leave it up to me. Next time practice until you get it right because I have a feeling we’re gonna need a lot of protection.” He groaned and I heard a rip of a packet and fumbling and soon he played with the dark moist space between my thighs until I lifted my hips to heaven. Slowly, he entered the virgin territory where only a tampon had been. No comparison here as he continued to move in a little deeper each time to break the barrier and we were one reaching for the stars.

So this is what all the fuss is all about, I thought. And I wanted more and right away. Like a demon possessed, I coaxed his wilted member into an upright position after about half an hour and we lost count by night’s end collapsing in each other’s arms.

Vowing to love each other forever, finish school in a few years and begin a life together, we became the hottest unlikely new couple on campus. The studious girl and the BMOC. School first the priority. We made a promise not to interfere with our different plans. I’d be off to Purdue and he hadn’t solidified his plans yet. Law schools offered scholarships for the brightest students; pick one. He’d almost made up his mind since graduation was in June, a couple of months away.”

 

 

River’s Edge Trio, Volume 1

Three Stories

from the small town with a big heart!

by Charmaine Gordon

 

 

Now in Print and All Ebook Editions!

 

Three stories in the Charmaine Gordon series River’s Edge, combined in one volume. She Didn’t Say No, Book 1; Housebroken, Book 2; and Help Wanted, Book 3. These Charmaine Gordon stories of love, passion, and suspense set in River’s Edge, the small town with the big heart, are also available as singles in all ebook editions.

 

 

She Didn’t Say No

 

Grace didn’t say no to the Big Man On Campus, Scott Dwyer. And then her life changed… Years later, a too-close encounter of an unpleasant kind with a skunk and Scott’s German Shepherd reunites the former lovers. What happens in between are their stories of beginnings and endings and love lost, then found.

 

 

 

Housebroken

 

Sally and Steve Atwood must make a big adjustment – a fair number of them, actually – when after thirty-five years, three grown children, and a lifetime of memories, they are alone, together, at last… And, then they found River’s Edge, a small town with big heart, stories to tell that will warm your heart, make you smile, and turn a dreary day into a day of hope for the Kindness of Strangers.

 

 

 

Help Wanted

 

Steve and Sally Atwood have made some big adjustments when they moved to River’s Edge. Afraid he is losing Sally to a more exciting world, Steve panics, but despite Sally’s lecherous new boss, together they rediscover all the love of their thirty-five years together and all the… excitement… that brings to their lives.

 

Also Available as Singles for all Ebook reading devices!

 

PRINT EDITION on AMAZON

 

 

Buy Links:

Amazon Print Edition

Amazon Kindle Edition

All Romance eBooks

Smashwords – for ALL Ereading Devices including Nook, iPad, and More!

 

 

Author Bio:

I kissed my acting career goodbye, leaving on a high note with the lead in an Off Broadway play, “The Fourth Commandment” by Rich Knipe.  “It was great fun and time to move on since my voice was gone, kaput, bye, bye,” Before that, I had a full schedule working on movies like “Working Girl”, “Road to Wellsville” and having the pleasure of Anthony Hopkins’ company at lunch.  I worked with Mike Nichols in “Regarding Henry” and sang outside with Harrison Ford during “Working Girl”, cried with Gene Wilder over loss on another set, and sang ‘It Had to be You’ with the whole cast of  “When Harry Met Sally”.  There were lots of fond memories; “Especially my first job as a stand-in leg model for Geraldine Ferraro in a Diet Pepsi commercial with Secret Service men guarding Ms. Ferraro and her daughters.  Eleven years on One Life to Live, a few years on All My Children, Another World kept my calendar full.”

 

 

Author Links:

 

Website: http://authorCharmaineGordon.wordpress.com

Twitter: @CharJGordon

Facebook: authorCharmaineGordon

TSU: authorCharmaineGordon

 

 

Thank you, Tara. It’s a pleasure visiting with you today. No hunks with six pack abs on the covers but between the covers of each story, there’s plenty of romance and true love.

1 comment:

  1. Hi Tara, I just reread the post and my first thought was, "Did I write that?" I don't know about other writers but that's always my response. Then I think, Yeah, I did and what fun it is to be an author. Thank you for being so gracious and best wishes for a successful 2015.

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