Meet Author J.Q. Rose & #Giveaway

I'm please to welcome J.Q. Rose to my blog today. She was kind enough to help me promote Mission to New Earth. Now I get to return the favor. Let's get to know J.Q.

Welcome. Please tell us about yourself.

Hello Diane. Thank you for hosting me on my Dangerous Sanctuary Virtual Book Tour. I’m celebrating the release of my romantic suspense, Dangerous Sanctuary, by giving away a PDF copy of the book. A lucky commenter will win the book just by leaving a comment below. The winner will be chosen Sunday, December 11 at 10 pm EST.

Update 12/13/16: the winner of the copy of Dangerous Sanctuary is Pamela T. Congrats, Pam.

Since you asked to tell a bit about me, I’m a wife, mother, grandmother, and snowbird. However, I prefer the term sunbird to describe my husband and me. We leave the north in the fall, migrating like the birds, to the warm sunny winter weather in Florida, then return to the north for the lovely spring sunshine. So we follow the sun, and escape from the snow.

Where can readers find you?

Readers can find me online here

J.Q.Rose blog 

Facebook 

Google+ 

J.Q.  Rose Amazon Author Page 

When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?

I began writing stories in the second grade in order to keep out of trouble. Yes, I was one of those chatty, little girls who loved to visit with classmates when I completed my assignment. Because my mother was my teacher that year, I had to behave. She didn’t put up with me or any of the kids disturbing others during study time, so I kept busy by making up stories.

Who was the greatest influence for you to become a writer?

My grandmother Maw is the one who encouraged me to be a writer. In seventh grade I wrote my first “book,” similar to my favorite story, Black Beauty. Maw took my hand-written “manuscript” and typed it on sheets of paper on her old clickety-clack typewriter and produced something that actually looked like the pages of a book. I was overjoyed seeing a title page and my name as the author and the neatly printed pages. That gave me the bug to become a published writer. I dedicated Dangerous Sanctuary to her because she was my first publisher and Bible teacher.

What does your family think of your writing?

My family gets a kick out of my writing. They’re happy to see that I’m fulfilling my lifelong dream to be a published author. One of my biggest fans is my granddaughter, 7-year-old Aubrey. She told me last week she wanted to write a story together. I was thrilled she was taking an interest in writing, let alone wanting to join me in a project.

This past summer, I took her to buy a book from my friend Jane Stroschin, a talented artist and children’s author. Her picture books are works of art. We visited Jane’s home where Aubrey picked out the book she wanted, and Jane drew a character in the front of the book and autographed it for Aubrey. Needless to say, Aubrey was smitten with this special woman. When we said good-bye to Jane, we returned to the car. As Aubrey strapped on her seat belt in the back seat, she said, “Now I know two famous people.” I twisted around in the driver’s seat and asked, “You do? Who are they?” She replied, “Jane and you!” Ah, she truly is my number one fan.

What is the best part of writing for you?

The best part of writing is getting the idea for the project. A news story, a person I meet, a place we visit are all fodder for sparking a story. Then I let the inspiration swirl in my brain when I walk, shower, wake in the middle of the night. I allow all of the “what-ifs”, the possibilities and potential of the story to foment in my mind.  The excitement about sharing the characters and their passion with readers and, oftentimes, an underlying message in the words builds until I have to rush to grab a pen or click on a blank page in Word to finally write it down.

What are some jobs you've done that would end up in a book?

Actually I already have two books including jobs I have done in my life. My mystery with a paranormal twist, Deadly Undertaking, takes place in a funeral home because my family was in the funeral business. I helped my mom and dad when I was a little kid all the way through high school. I set up flowers for visitation, ran errands like picking up the printing and death certificates, arranged seats for the funeral service in the chapel, and even dusted caskets. My husband and I owned and operated a floral shop and greenhouse business, so in the romantic suspense, Dangerous Sanctuaries, the sidekick to my main character, a female pastor, is a florist named Lacey.

What do you like to do when you're not writing?

I bet you know the answer to this one—reading. I enjoy reading a printed book, but I love reading e-books on my Kindle too. I can adjust the font, highlight passages I want to return to, make notes, and immediately access a dictionary when I want to look up a word. Plus when I turn on the Kindle to the book I am reading, the page where I left off pops up, and I’m ready to read. I also enjoy listening to audio books on my Kindle. I download them from my local library via overdrive.com.

Besides reading, my husband and I travel. In fact, we were full-time RV’ers for eight years after we sold our flower shop business. We still camp with the kids and love getting away with the family. We’ve enjoyed visiting almost all fifty states including Hawaii and Alaska. All that sight-seeing fits in with my next hobby, photography. I’m always in pursuit of that perfect photo of nature, family, and friends.

Dangerous Sanctuary by J.Q. Rose

Previously published as Coda to Murder

BLURB:

Pastor Christine Hobbs has been in the pulpit business for over five years. She never imagined herself caring for a flock that includes a pig, a kangaroo, and a murderer. 

Detective Cole Stephens doesn't want the pretty pastor to get away with murdering the church music director. His investigative methods infuriate Christine as much as his deep brown eyes attract her. 

Can they find the real killer and build a loving relationship based on trust?

Available at Amazon in print and e-book at  http://amazon.com/dp/B01MQIFQFI

EXCERPT: Dangerous Sanctuary, excerpt from Chapter 10

“The detective practically accused me of killing William, right there, right in the park.” Sitting on the screened-in porch at the rear of the parsonage, Christine expected Lacey to be as angry as she was at such a ridiculous idea.

Instead, her friend held her slice of pizza midway from the greasy box to her mouth long enough to ask, “Hey, you didn’t tell me you were at the park with Stephens this afternoon. How’d that happen?”

“What? You’re more interested in why I was at the park instead of being accused of murdering William? Come on, Lacey.” She planted her feet firmly on the cement floor and stopped the gentle rocking of the glider. “Don’t you get it? I could be tossed in jail for something I didn’t do.”

“Don’t be silly. You’re innocent. You know it, and so does everyone else.” Lacey popped the last morsel of pepperoni in her mouth. “Anyway, tell me how you met Cole Stephens at the park.” Her friend licked the pizza grease from her fingers and then grabbed the thin paper napkin to complete the grease removal from her lips.

“Excuse me, Lacey. Some people in this town are spreading rumors that I killed William. I wouldn’t be surprised if it weren’t some of my own parishioners involved in spreading them. There were several folks who weren’t too happy to have a young woman for their pastor.”

“You don’t think they’d spread malicious lies to get you out of here, do you?”

“I hope not.” Christine sat back on the glider and sipped her light beer. She was too upset to eat the pizza Lacey had brought over.

“I guess we could always do our own investigation, eh?” She threw it out there to get a reaction from her friend.

“Sure, Sherlock.” Lacey laughed. “We could go to William’s house to see if someone left a note telling us who killed him.”

Christine sat bolt upright. “You’re right! We could run out there and investigate.”

“I’m sure the police have already done that. There’s nothing left to check out.” Lacey piled the paper napkins next to the half empty pizza box on the patio table.

They sat in silence for a few minutes allowing the peaceful twilight to restore tranquility. Christine couldn’t let go of the idea of checking out William’s home. After all, William had shown her where the key was if she needed to get into his house in case of an emergency. I think trying to find William’s killer could qualify as an emergency.

Christine moved to the patio table. “We’ve got to go to William’s house and look for clues to his killer.”

“We can’t even get into his house.”

“Oh yes, we can. I know where he hides his house key. Come on, let’s go.” Christine swooped up the pizza box and bottles.

“Hey, what about the pizza?”

“I’ll store it in my refrigerator for a midnight snack. Let’s go now.” Christine was fired up to prove her innocence. Sitting back and waiting to find out who murdered William was no longer an option.