Take Five And Meet Author Elizabeth Andrews

Welcome to An Indie Adventure, Elizabeth Andrews.  Tell us, what inspired you to write your book Hunting Medusa?

Good question.  I don’t know that I have a good answer, though.  It was one of those things where I had just a snippet of something that might be called an idea, and I’d look at it when I was paging through my idea notebook, but it sat there a while before I suddenly knew a big enough part of the idea that I could attempt to start writing.  I’ve loved the old mythologies for as long as I can remember, and giving them an unexpected little tweak appeals to me.  Why shouldn’t the monster of old be the heroine now?  Why shouldn’t that old story have continued for thousands of years into the present? 

Have you been a lifelong reader of romances?  What are some the first books you remember reading?

I’ve been reading forever, but I was a teenager before I started reading actual romances, and those were from my mom’s stash.  Looking back, there were romances within some of the other books I was reading up to that point—Little Women, anyone?—but I wasn’t reading strictly romances before I was a teenager.  I had limited space for books as a kid, though I did have a fair collection, but we were at the library once a week, and I would bring home as many books as I was allowed to take out.  I still have my tattered old copies of Little Women and the Little House series, as well the Heidi series, and oh, there were so many!  And, wow, now that I think about it, there really was romance in some of my favorites. 

What do you do to rev your creative juices?

In an ideal world, I would be able to sit here at my desk with a candle lit a few feet away and the music I’ve picked for my story soundtrack playing to put me into my characters’ heads, and just write.  In the world where I’m living right now, however, I have to take the moments I get to work on my writing, between the evil day-job, normal household obligations, family, and the unexpected things that crop up.  You have to train your brain to get into that mode, and I won’t lie: some days it’s hard.  Most of the rewrites I’m working on have been done during lunch/dinner breaks at the EDJ. 

What would be your advice to people who are considering a writing career?

Study:  Read a lot of books in the genre(s) you love; read some more; go to some workshops or conferences in your areas of interest and even outside that area; read more books; join a writers’ group; did I mention reading?  Really, the reading is a great way to study the market, as well as to improve your writing skills.  Consider it homework.  And write because you have to, not because you think you’re going to get rich.  Writing well is hard work, and it takes a lot of practice.  If you don’t love it, there are probably much easier ways to get rich.  And if you love it, you’re going to do it no matter whether you get published or not. 

You’re having a dinner party.  What character from your novel do you hope doesn’t show up?     Why?

Stavros.  He is excessively violent, carries multiple weapons, and tends toward a drinking problem, so that wine on the dinner table would probably start things downhill in a hurry.  I don’t think the night would end well for the rest of the guests. 

Give us a brief summary of Hunting Medusa :

The Medusa Trilogy, Book 1

Ever since the original Medusa ticked off Athena, her cursed daughters have been paying for that mistake. To this day, successive Medusas play cat and mouse with the Harvesters.

When Kallan Tassos tracks down the current Medusa, he expects to find a monster. Instead he finds a wary, beautiful woman, shielded by a complicated web of spells that foils his plans for a quick kill and retrieval of her protective amulet.

Andrea Rosakis expects the handsome Harvester to go for the kill. Instead, his attempt to take the amulet imprinted on her skin without harming her takes her completely by surprise. And ends with the two of them in a magical bind—together.

Though there attraction is combustible, her impending PMS (Pre Magical-Curse Syndrome) puts a real damper on any chance of a relationship. But Kallan isn’t the only Harvester tracking Andi, and they must cooperate to stay one step ahead of a ruthless killer before they can have any future, together or apart.

Buy Links:

Samhain | Amazon

Bio:

Elizabeth Andrews has been a book lover since she was old enough to read.  She read her copies of Little Women and the Little House series so many times, the books fell apart.  

As an adult, her book habit continues.  She has a room overflowing with her literary collection right now, and still more spreading into other rooms.  Almost as long as she’s been reading great stories, she’s been attempting to write her own.  Thanks to a fifth grade teacher who started the class on creative writing, Elizabeth went from writing creative sentences to short stories and eventually full-length novels.  Her father saved her poor, callused fingers from permanent damage when he brought home a used typewriter for her. 

Elizabeth found her mother’s stash of romance novels as a teenager, and-though she loves horror- romance became her very favorite genre, making writing romances a natural progression.  There are more than just a few manuscripts, however, tucked away in a filing cabinet that will never see the light of day.

Along with her enormous book stash, Elizabeth lives with her husband of  twenty years and two young adult sons, though no one else in the house reads nearly as much as she does.  When she’s not at work or buried in books or writing, there is a garden outside full of herbs, flowers and vegetables that requires occasional attention. 

Find Elizabeth:

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