Showing posts with label muse. Show all posts
Showing posts with label muse. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Rock & Roll and Romance! Meet Gracen Miller, Author of Rockin' the Heart



I’m Author Gracen Miller and I’ve written the Road to Hell series, Fairy Casanova, Taboo Kisses, and my most recent book Rockin’ the Heart, which is the first book in the Hot Wired series. I am both self-published and with an indie publisher.
Karen was hoping I’d tell all y’all my wicked secrets and I might. I’m not shy. So grab your favorite drink, sink your teeth into something decadent, sit back, relax and get to know me…

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KAREN: If you could pick one thing about our world to change, what would it be and why?

GRACEN: Picking one thing is tough when there are so many things that need changing. I might start with bullying. Or maybe teach everyone how to love one another. No…maybe I’d eradicate all the violence in the world. I write violence in my paranormal books, but in real life it perplexes me how people can be so evil to one another. But then maybe I should eliminate racism. Gah! See…there are so many things that need altering and these that I mentioned don’t even scratch the surface. I worry about the future my children are inheriting.
  
K: Kind of morbid, but if you knew the exact moment of your death, down to the last second, what changes would you make in your life?

GRACEN: I’d diet less, but I wouldn’t change much else. I try to live each day with the “no regrets” mentality. Living is about experiencing life and learning. We can’t do that if we’re holding back. That said, it doesn’t mean I want to go bungee jumping or base diving or anything adrenaline seeking like that. Yikes! I’ll leave that to my daredevil son. LOL

 K: If you picked a television show or sitcom that fit your family, what would it be and why?  


GRACEN: The Addams Family because we’re all a bit odd and zany. Seriously…we all have our freaky quirks.
  
K: Pretend you’re writing a book about your life. What would the title be and why?

GRACEN: Lost in Translation. LOL I say that because I spend so much time in my head with my characters that the average person cannot relate to the way my brain works.

 K: What song title best describes your style of writing? (Use any song in existence or create your own).

GRACEN: Desperado…okay, maybe that’s more like the way I write rather than style. I write without an outline, so I’m always in the hot seat and desperate for ideas on the next chapter.

 K: Do you have a guilty pleasure? If so, will you share it with us?

GRACEN: Nope…I don’t feel guilty about pleasure in any form. Well, okay, maybe I do feel a little guilty when I eat Reese Cups while dieting, but I never regret those tongue-gasms! ;-)

 K: You’re stranded on an island, who would you want to be stranded with and why?

GRACEN: Dean Winchester! *fans self* For those unfamiliar with him, he’s one of the stars of the television show Supernatural. He’s a smart alec and a hottie, so yeah, I definitely want to be stranded on an island with
him! Preferrably him wearing the least amount of clothes as possible…I’ll keep mine to cover the rolls thank you very much! lol

K: Now, let’s get to know you as an author. When did you become aware that you wanted to be a published author?

GRACEN: Sometime in high school I decided I wanted to be an author. My best friend and I used to write stories back and forth to one another, like a daytime drama or soap opera. Those are some good memories. I didn’t realize at the time they were prepping me for the future.

K: Are there any particular authors that made an impact on you growing up or as an adult? Did any particular teacher or someone else in your life make an impact on your writing?

GRACEN: The Flame and the Flower by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss was the first romance book I read. I was hooked from that moment on! But I also loved Stephen King, so I guess it’s no wonder I mixed horror and romance—what I call horromance—in my Road to Hell series.

As for a particular teacher…my 6th grade English teacher, Mrs. Syler, was the one that got me started writing with a simple homework assignment. Without her influence, I might’ve never been introduced to writing.
  
K: Do you have any “must haves” while you’re writing—besides your computer, of course?

GRACEN: My muse and nectar of the gods—coffee. Without them, I’d be a basketcase!

K: Do you write in a particular genre? If so, what’s the appeal of that genre for you?

GRACEN: Before my newest release, I’d say paranormal romance and erotic romance, but Rockin’ the Heart is a new adult contemporary romance. In the beginning, I wasn’t comfortable leaving my paranormal or erotic romances, but I’m so glad I did. I hope my love for writing Rockin’ the Heart shows through when folks start reading it.
  

K: Any love/hates as it relates to the writing industry?

GRACEN: The petty backstabbing that goes on among authors. And the superiority complex some authors have toward other authors. Some forget that they started small too. I hope when other authors hear my name, they think of someone who is supportive and nice, not someone to stay away from or can’t be trusted.

K: You mentioned you have a Muse? What’s his/her name(s). Why do you think some authors have a muse and other authors don’t?

GRACEN: His name is Dom and I couldn’t do anything without him. I can’t say why some authors have them and others don’t. Maybe it makes those of us who write some scary stuff feel better if we give our muse credit for those thoughts.
  
K: If you could live the life of any one of your characters, who would it be and why? Would you do things differently in real life than he/she did in the book?

GRACEN: I’d be Sam from Rockin’ the Heart because this story quickly became my favorite of all the stories I’ve written. Sam’s a hellion and reckless and while those aren’t characteristics of my personality, I think if she didn’t have those attributes then Heath/Fang wouldn’t have been drawn to her. So…no I wouldn’t do anything differently.

 K: What are you working on now?

GRACEN: Book two in the Hot Wired series. I’m just getting started on it, so it’s hard to give too many details. But the story is set around Hot Wired’s drummer, Jase, who is also in Rockin’ the Heart and is the brother of Sam. His love interest also makes a cameo in Rockin’ the Heart.

Thanks for hosting me, Karen! It was a pleasure being here.

BIO:  

Gracen is a hopeless daydreamer masquerading as a “normal” person in southern society.  When not writing, she’s a full-time basketball/football/guitar mom for her two sons and a devoted wife to her real-life hero-husband. She’s addicted to writing, paranormal romance novels, movies, Alabama football and coffee…addictions are not necessarily in order of priority. She’s convinced coffee is nectar from the gods and blending coffee and writing together generates the perfect creative merger. Many of her creative worlds are spawned from coffee highs.
Where you can stalk me—not really!—but I do love to meet and interact with readers:
Twitter: @GracenMiller


If music nourishes the soul…
Loved by millions, but shunned by blood, Heath “Fang” Fangor has led his band, Hot Wired, to the top while others have fallen by the wayside. He devoted his life to music, and from that devotion harvested a new family—his band mates and fans.
A man can desire nothing else…or can he?
Living in the shadow of her brother’s fame sucks! Sam Collins is desperate to have what she wants—a simple and uncomplicated life. She’s no stranger to scandals and how they work. Now that she’s inadvertently dragged Fang into the center of her latest gossip, could the scandal she created in her quest for freedom have gone too far?
Amid stardom the heart stages a new melody…
Fang has more fame and fortune than he will ever need, but none of that matters if he can’t have the woman of his dreams. Years have been wasted waiting for the right moment to approach the woman his heart desires above all others. There’s just one major problem...she’s his best friend’s sister. To have her, he will have to risk it all.
One that might be responsible for Rockin the Heart!

Buy Links (Note: Rockin’ the Heart released January 23rd):

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Grandma and Doing What You Have to Do


                I’ve mentioned my grandmother here once or twice.  She came to this country from Ireland in 1928, just in time for the Great Depression. In Athlone and Galway, she was a certified teacher. When she came here, she was told she couldn’t teach in America. This was the age when companies still had signs up that said Irish need not apply. She was told that she talked funny (and this in New Jersey), or that she was only going to get married and pregnant so why bother taking her on. So, as she told me, she did what she had to do.  That involved scrubbing floors and other “menial” tasks. She did marry and had four sons (a small family by standards then). Unfortunately, she married the stereotypical Irishman for that day, he was an alcoholic who liked to drink away his check.

                But she always did what she had to do to survive and hopefully thrive. 

                I wonder if we haven’t lost the ability to do what we have to do. We have become a people of doing what we want when we want. Is this some of the appeal of social media? I am just as guilty of getting sucked into the instant gratification and neglected my writing. 

                But sometimes circumstances remind us to do what we have to do no matter how uncomfortable.

                I recently resigned from the bank where I had worked for the last six years. I had started when it was called something else. It was a good place to work by and large. We put the customer first and believed that doing the right thing would drive results and profitability.  We treated employees like assets not expenses.  The place I use to work is in the terminal stages of a merger with another large bank creating a national behemoth. It was a process three years in the making.

                Those who know me know that I am not adverse to change. When the changes started coming, there was concern over the direction we were headed. But I counseled patience. Things would get better when the dust settled.  As time passed and changes continued, I counseled patience saying things had to get better.  After years of dealing with people who made a mockery of management and a farce of the term leadership, it had taken a toll on my physical and mental health and my family. So after trying patience and weighing the pros, cons and consequences, and without any immediate prospects I severed my relationship with that bank.

                This was not an easy decision to make as it puts a strain on personal finances in the near term. But in the long run, it has given me control back of my future, allowed me to begin healing my psyche from the almost daily trials. It has given me hope.

                And my muse is back. I had been too exhausted to hear her.  While I search for my next source of immediate cash, doors open for me. I am speaking at a Women in Business breakfast next month. I am putting a long term business plan together for my writing ventures and meeting some wonderful writers and entrepreneurs along the way. I am finding self-discipline and I am rediscovering my passions.  Which is a good thing, as I intend to try my hand at erotica for NaNoWriMo. But more on that in a later post.

                And in many ways I have my grandmother to thank for this.

                Have you made big changes in your life? Share your story with us.

Thursday, April 7, 2011

The Music of My Muse

The Music of the Muse

Sorry I haven’t been around lately but I’ve been a bit under the weather.  Trying to stay awake and get some writing done, despite cold meds.  To get in the mood, I have my personal writing station on Jango running in the background.  It plays a mix of songs from bands I’ve designated and those thrown in by Jango.  I knew that music had the power to change my mood, so it followed that my characters would have music that represented them, both in general and in certain scenes. Right now, I’m listening to Bruno Mars “Grenade”.  It somewhat reminds me of Ekaterina Vilkas, the shapeshifting assistant to my Russian vampire, Baron Ivan Vasilievich.  She is hopelessly and obsessively in love with him.  She will do anything for him and in a dangerous extension of this, she will do anything to make him hers.  So I might add it to Kat’s song list.  Songs are not a perfect reminder fit my characters but they help me focus on them or the emotion of a scene. 

“Werewolves of London” belongs to Liam when he’s in one of his playful moods.  As his mood darkens and the moon grows full, he might switch to U2’s “Where the Streets Have No Name”. When out driving, he listens to Bad Haggis. In his gloomier moments, The Doors and darker from there.

Micaela is a funny girl. She likes music but since there are so many things she doesn’t want to deal with she avoids associating things and herself with music.  As usual she’s holding out. As if on cue, Styx’s Crystal Ball started.  It now belongs to my MC Micaela.

Now I’m from New Jersey and here we have our own version of Coke vs. Pepsi and it’s Springsteen vs. Bon Jovi.  I like early Bruce, but I am a Bon Jovi girl.  Looking great from the front and rear doesn’t hurt, either.  So I find a lot of inspiration in his songs.  Welcome to Wherever You Are is a group song for my main characters who all seem to be on a journey to getting comfortable in their own skin (or skins, in some cases).

During fight scenes, it’s not about the lyrics; it’s the bass and the drum.

What do you listen to while you right? Is it about the character, the emotion, the location or the action?