Author’s Choice with Lois Winston

Please welcome Lois to Author’s Choice.

Dear readers, here’s where you get to play along. The author will tell us two truths and one lie (ed comment –I randomized the order). At the end of the questions, we’ll reveal what really happened. Remember, we write crime fiction, so lying is in our nature . . .

Two Truths, One Lie

Truth or Lie? I backpacked across Europe when I was twenty.

Truth or Lie? I skipped two grades in elementary school.

Truth or Lie? I speak fluent French and Italian.

Eight Quick Questions

Now for some fun insight into today’s author. Here are eight forced choice questions.

1.          First draft: longhand, keyboard, or dictation? Keyboard all the way.

2.          Plotter, pantser, or plantser (that chaotic middle ground)? Total pantser.

3.          Editing as you go, or vomit draft first and fix it later? Editing as I go so I don’t wind up with a manuscript full of errors.

4.          Character names: meticulously researched, stolen from real life, or whatever sounds right? Whatever sounds right unless I’ve auctioned off naming rights to a character for a charity event.

5.          Writing space: coffee shop chaos, library quiet, or home sweet home? Home sweet writer’s cave with a large Do Not Disturb sign on the door.

6.          Writer's block: push through, step away, or "it's not real"? Pushing through after a short break that usually involves retail therapy.

7.          Social media for authors: necessary evil, genuine fun, or absolutely not? Absolutely, positively, emphatically not.

8.          Happy ending, bittersweet, or gut-punch finale? Happy endings all the way but with a whodunit twist that hopefully readers didn’t see coming.

About the Book

Enough about you, let’s turn to three questions about your book.

Q: If your main character in this novel showed up at your door right now, what would be the first thing they'd say to you (and would it be a complaint)?

A. Anastasia would demand to know when I’m going to stop dumping dead bodies at her feet, and yes, it would be a complaint.

Q: What's one thing you hope readers take away from this book?

A. I hope they’ve had a satisfying reading experience that makes them want to read other books in the series.

Q: What question did you want me to ask, and what is your answer? 

A. Who would I like to play Anastasia in the movie or TV series? Hands down, Tina Fey. I think she’d be perfect as Anastasia. (Tina, if you’re Googling yourself and come across this interview, please get in touch!)

The Big Reveal

Now let’s see how good a sleuth (or guesser) our readers are. Please reveal all.

The lie is that I speak fluent French and Italian. I wish!

We had half-yearly advancements in the city school I attended. I skipped the second half of third grade. A year later, the school system switched to yearly advancements, causing a year and a half of education to be condensed into a year for the students who would have started the second half of a grade at the beginning of the school year.

The summer going into my senior year of college a friend and I spent three weeks backpacking through Italy, Austria, Switzerland, and France, traveling via EuroRail student passes and staying in hostels.

Here’s a blurb for and some links where you can find Lois's latest:

Book Blurb for Embroidered Lies and Alibis

A Stitch in Time Could Save a Life…

When Anastasia’s mother Flora is offered a free spa vacation from Jeremy Dugan, a man connected to her distant past, Anastasia and husband Zack suspect ulterior motives. After all, too-good-to-be-true often spells trouble. Their suspicions are confirmed when the FBI swoops in to apprehend Dugan. However, Dugan isn’t who he claimed to be, and his arrest raises more questions than answers.

The Feds link Dugan to a string of cons targeting elderly single women across the country, but his seemingly airtight alibi leaves investigators stumped. Then, shortly after his release on bail, he’s kidnapped. A certain segment of New Jersey’s population is known for delivering deadly messages, and the FBI believes Dugan received one of them.

Meanwhile, bodies begin showing up in the newly created public garden across the street from Anastasia and Zack’s home. With two baffling crimes, no clear suspects, scant evidence, and every possible motive unraveling, both the FBI and local law enforcement are once again picking Anastasia’s brain. This time, though, her involvement is far from reluctant. Will she stitch together enough clues before she or someone she loves becomes the killer’s next victim?

Craft project included.

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Want to know more?

For more information about Lois Winston https://www.loiswinston.com