Amanda HockingNice Girls Don’t Bite
Today I’ve got a fun interview with an author, but before that, I’m reminding you that give away is still going on, with only 9 days left, so be sure to enter and tell your friends, if you haven’t already!
Joan Sween was kind enough to an interview with me the other day. She’s the author of the campy Nice Girls Don’t Bite about a pair of middle-aged antique dealers who accidentally become vampires.
Can you tell me about a little bit about yourself your writing?
I have written many different types throughout my life, but currently I am a published humor columnist and an unpublished novelist. Formerly I wrote “Bittersweet” for the ROCHESTER POST-BULLETIN. Currently I write “Dealers Choice” for Minnesota’s antiques newspaper, THE OLD TIMES. I have a mystery novel in the trunk, ONE MINUTE TILL DEATH. I have a cozy paranormal mystery, NICE GIRLS DON’T BITE, that I am currently querying agents about. I am halfway through a horror/haunting novel titled SLEEPER, and a mystery/thriller with a working title of DEATHBLOW.
What’s your favorite thing about writing paranormal?
Paranormal is appealing to me as a writer because it expands the “what if” seed of creativity into anything one can imagine.
How did you become interested in writing?
I became interested in writing in first grade when I found the Dick And Jane books unbelievably tedious. I started inventing my own plots to make things more interesting. My first acknowledged work was a puppet play I wrote in fourth grade which was produced at Lake School in Milwaukee.
You also lead a group of writers in SE Minnesota. Do you want to tell me a bit about that?
I have founded Minnesota Writers’ Alliance, a nonprofit corporation, which strives to link writers of all kinds in the 11 counties of southeastern Minnesota. It’s not a membership organization; there is nothing to “join.” To receive ongoing information of interest to writers, people only need to send me their email address.
What’s your favorite book you’ve read in the last year (other than yours, of course)?
My favorite book in the past year would be P. J. Tracy’s MONKEYWRENCH.
If you picked a soundtrack for your book, what songs would be on it?
I haven’t considered soundtracks for any of my books. Probably something classical. You know in the movie DIEHARD 2, when the big jumbo jets are finally able to land, and they bring them in to Sibelius’ “Finlandia?” That absolutely gives me goosebumps it’s so good.
When you’re not writing, how do you spend your free time?
I write throughout the day. In the evening I relax by creating two-dimensional paintings and three-dimensional found object sculptures while watching crime-solving programs on TV. Every now and then I am obliged to do a lick of housework.
When you were a kid, what monster scared you most?
When I was a kid, wolves scared me the most. Our old house had a ghost. I would see him often, but he was benign and not frightening. Wolves, however, swarmed in my nightmares and stared in my windows with glowing eyes.
Dogs or cats? Cats.
Do you have any upcoming novels you’d like to talk about?
Check out NICE GIRLS DON’T BITE (www.joansween.com) It made it through the first cut of the Amazon/Penguin Breakout Novel Competition, but was torpedoed at the second cut. The judges criticized it because it was broad-humored and campy.Yup, that’s exactly right.