Welcome Author Nana Malone

Author Nana Malone

Readers, please help me welcome Nana Malone to the blog. Nana's first book has just been released and she's eager to share her story with you.

Caroline: How did you get into writing as a career?

Nana:  I’ve always written, but as a child of strict Ghanaian parents, any career that wasn’t engineering, law, or medicine wasn’t a viable option. I didn’t have the courage to start writing with publication in mind until about ten years ago out of dissatisfaction with my PR job at the time. Who knew you had to be perky and love people in order to do PR? I still have a day job, but no more PR for me. I’m a software project manager by day.

Caroline: That's funny, Nana.  What do you hope your writing brings to readers?

Nana:  An escape. I’ve always been a voracious reader. I was mostly a lonely kid, so books gave me an opportunity to escape into a little adventure.

Caroline: Oh, me, too. In what genres do you write? (If more than one, why?)

Nana: I write Romance and Young Adult. Well, Romance is for the hopeful romantic in me. I heart happily ever afters. As for young adult, inside me lives an angsty fourteen year old who wants her stories told, so I have to listen.

Caroline: Who are your favorite authors?

Nana: I’m so glad you asked me for more than one LOL It would have taken way too long to pick just one. I could show you my crazy over-organized side and give them to you by genre, but I’ll spare you and just give you a couple. Misty Evans, Kimberly Kaye Terry, Eve Vaughn, Nora Roberts, Linda Howard, Sandra Brown. I’ll pretty much buy anything of theirs without reading the back cover.

Caroline: A couple of those are my faves, too. Tell us about your writing process. Are you a plotter or a panzer?

Nana: Total hyper plotter. I usually do a couple of outlines, using several techniques I leaned over the years, plotting by motivation, plotting with mythic structure, the W Diagram. Then I do a fast draft, giving myself less than a month to complete the first draft, then it’s on to the dreaded edits. So many times the characters laugh at my hyper plotting and just do what they like, so I spend a good deal of time making sure my threads are tied off.

Caroline: Do you have a writing schedule?

Nana: Ha! I wish. I used to have this gorgeous color coded schedule by book series, length, time to write etc….then I had a baby. So now I squeeze in writing at work on my lunch break or when the little nugget goes to bed and hubby is occupied with basketball on the tube.

Caroline: Nana, you sound very organized. Are you attending any conferences this year or scheduled as a speaker? Blog tours or other promotions?

Nana: Yes. Lot’s going on. I’m doing several blog spots, Interviews and giveaways. You can check them all out on my website: http://www.nanamalone.com

Caroline: Any guilty pleasures or vices you’d care to share?

Nana: Well, I got a million of ‘em, but not too many I’m willing to expose. Lol. The ones I will share: I just can’t help it, I get sucked into reality TV shows. Don’t judge me. I love Bryna Nicole handbags, though they can be murder on my budget. And, yes, I will buy books before I buy food. This became a real problem in college. Now I have DH to remind me that he needs to eat.

Caroline: When you’re not writing, what do you do to relax?

Nana: I read, read, and read some more. I also tickle the little nugget’s belly just to listen to her giggle. That really is the best sound.

Caroline: What advice would you give to pre-published authors?

Nana: Write, learn, and stay focused on your goals. Sounds simple doesn’t it? All kinds of things will act as obstacles. But if this is your dream you won’t let anything stand in the way of it.

Caroline: Is there anything else you’d like to tell us about yourself?

Nana: I’ve lived all over the world but my family is originally from Ghana. Growing up, I was always itchy for new adventures and slamming my nose in a book was the easiest, safest way I could manage it. It was during one of my less successful adventures in New York that I decided to actually do something about my writing hobby and aim for publication. It took me eleven years, 3 completed manuscripts, and more rejections than I care to count but I’m finally here with the release of  GAME, SET, MATCH.

Caroline: Tell us about your latest release.

Nana: GAME, SET, MATCH is a contemporary romance set in Los Angeles. It’s story of lost and reacquainted love. In a world of flash and not much substance, Jason is looking to find meaning in his life again, while Izzy is struggling to keep her family together while building her career. Both characters need to overcome their self doubt, trust barriers and the pains of the past to find their way back to each other.

Blurb:

Off the court, tennis star Jason Cartwright’s playboy image is taking a public beating. On the court, he’s down forty-love. A knee injury is shutting down his game, and the paparazzi are splashing his love life on every magazine. A comeback is in order, but the makeover he needs to save his faltering career is in the hands of the woman he loved and left fifteen years ago.

While single-mom, Izzy Connors, sees people for who they really are through the lens of her camera, even without it, she knows Jason isn’t the star he appears to be. Although his charm and good looks haven’t dimmed since he broke her heart, all she sees is his wasted talent and playboy lifestyle.

Can Izzy put the past behind her and help Jason get his game, and his image, back on track? Or will the click of her camera shatter his world as well as his heart?

Caroline: I've read it and it's intriguing. Would you give us an excerpt?
Nana: Here's one rated PG:

Dark glasses masked his eyes, but Izzy knew behind them, she’d find intense heat able to strip her to the soul. His tousled blond hair just as she remembered it, a little unkempt, as if he hadn’t bothered with it. He was every bit the Hollywood playboy portrayed in the press. And that devil-may-care sexiness was going to be the death of her.

Before she could say anything else, his strong arms and a warm musky scent enveloped her. Involuntarily, her body stilled like an ice sculpture as her breasts came into contact with the hard planes of his chest. Unable to process the situation, she heard a faint clatter as his sunglasses fell to the floor. She squeezed her eyes shut and tried not to think of the last time she’d seen him, the last time he’d abandoned her for Sabrina.

“Damn, Izzy, you look amazing.” He set her down, but kept hold of one of her hands. Whiskey eyes poured warm amber over every inch of her body. “How’ve you been?”

The source of her greatest humiliation wanted to know how she’d been, as if they were old buddies. She reminded herself they, for all intents and purposes, were old buddies, until she’d made the mistake of pegging him as her first lover.

Behind Jason, his companion, with his rugged dark good looks and infectious smile, saved her from having to speak. Not that she could have. “Did I miss something, Jase? You two know each other?”

Jason’s smile flashed, making her want to do all manner of inappropriate things. Smash his head in with a frying pan? Strip him bare and see if he still looked as good as he promised? Launch a full TET offensive on him with her lips?

Not necessarily in that order.

Caroline: Great excerpt! Where can readers find your book?
Nana: At my publisher, The Wild Rose Press, at Amazon, and at my website

Caroline: How can readers learn more about you?

Nana: Readers can check me out on my website: http://www.nanamalone.com

Caroline: Nana, thank you so much for sharing your time with us today. Best of luck in your writing career, and give your baby girl and extra tickle from me.

Readers, please leave your email in your comments to be entered in my drawing for a free book.