Get Lost in The Sweet Spot and Laura Drake

 

Get Lost in a Story Readers, it is my privilege to introduce Laura Drake to you.  Romantic Times picks her debut novel, THE SWEET SPOT, as a Top Pick! 

 

ABOUT: THE SWEET SPOT!

Charla Rae Denny’s role as a traditional ranch wife and mother fits her like custom-tailored Wranglers. But when her only son is killed in a tragic accident, Char retreats to a world of grief and Valium. Her reeling husband takes up with a blonde buckle bunny half his age. Their ranch, which supplies bucking bulls to the Pro Bull Riding circuit, is split up in the divorce. All her county fair ribbons won’t help Charla now. She’s alone, addicted, ill-equipped, and has no one to blame but herself. In spite of her fear of horses and smelly cows, she stands up, takes off her apron, and learns to run a ranch. She and Jimmy have lost their way. But through months of hard work, tears, and some hard knocks, they both learn to forgive — themselves and each other. Together, they find their way back, to life, to love, to the Sweet Spot.

 

DONNELL:  Welcome to Get Lost in a Story, Laura.  Wow, that blurb has me choked up.  True or false, is it a tear jerker?

LAURA:  Oh yeah. I felt stupid, reading it over for edits, crying at the end. I’m hoping that I’m not the only one who does that (now that would be embarrassing!)

DONNELL:  This book sounds like it deals with real issues, grief, an affair, divorce, and it sounds like it’s my kind of read.  What was the most rewarding thing about writing it?

Then turn this, what did you find the most difficult?

LAURA: Most rewarding – this was my lesson in learning to get the emotion on the page, so if my readers answer the question above, yes, then I passed the test!

 Most difficult – Believe it or not, it wasn’t difficult! I have had major problems with books, before and since, but I knew this was a special book from the beginning; it just rolled off my fingers. Now if I could just figure out how to replicate that…

 DONNELL:  When writing, where will we find you?  And then, when you’re not writing, what will you likely be doing?

 LAURA:  Writing – at my desk in my office, with coffee, computer, and cat, watching the birds nesting in the tree outside.

Other – lately there hasn’t been much of this, due to foot surgery, but I’ll be riding my bicycle or my motorcycle.

DONNELL:  What’s in your refrigerator right now?

LAURA:  Yikes! Okay, luckily you caught me after I took a vow of healthy. Greek yogurt (my latest passion,) romaine lettuce, iced tea. The unhealthy stuff is all Alpha Dog’s, I swear!

DONNELL:  Are you organized?

LAURA: Wow, you’re hitting all my weird buttons (or do I just have more than most people?) I’m obsessively organized. Books, record albums, all filed by author, then title. One of my sources of pride used to be that I could lay my hands on anything I owned, in the dark.

Then I married the Chaos of the Universe. It’s been interesting…

DONNELL:  Who or what inspires you?

LAURA:  Humans. I’m endlessly fascinated by people who are very different than I. Getting to know how they think – how they react in different situations. I love to explore that in my novels.

DONNELL:  What’s the most unusual thing you have in your closet?

LAURA:  Well, they’re not unusual to me, but others would probably say, my motorcycle leathers. I’ve rode over 100k miles on the back of my husband’s bike before I learned to ride my own. Now I have 100k on my two; Elvis and Sting (yes, there’s a theme there.)

 DONNELL:  If you could meet anyone, past or present, who would it be, and why?

Wow, Donnell, you didn’t tell me these questions would be so hard! Only one? I’ll narrow it to only writing related, or we’ll be here all day, discussing people (wouldn’t that be a fun discussion?) it would have to be Mark Twain. I love his subtle humor – I’ll bet he was a real wild card!

 

LAURA, NOW IT’S YOUR TURN… TIME TO ASK READERS A QUESTION.  This is also the time you decide if you’d like to do a book giveaway.

I’d love to give away a book! I don’t have any hard copies right now though, so it’ll need to be an ecopy.

 

LAURA DRAKE'S QUESTION FOR READERS: 

You may have guessed from my answers, I’m a bit – untraditional. The Sweet Spot is my debut novel in my ‘Sweet on a Cowboy’ series, which is set in the world of Professional Bull Riding. I’m a city kid, but fell in love with the drama of the sport. But I know that it’s not ‘mainstream.’ My question is -- would you pick up a book set in a world you’re not familiar with?

 

Thank you so much for having me, Donnell – you made me think hard! I have to go cool my brain off with some iced tea and cheese . . . Oh no, wait, that’s not my cheese!

DONNELL:  It's been my pleasure, Laura, thank YOU for joining us!  

www.LauraDrakeBooks.com Twitter: @PBRWriter
FB:https://www.facebook.com/LauraDrakeBooks
Blogging at: http://writersinthestorm.wordpress.com/

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