In the Author Spotlight & Contest

Pauline Holyoak

CONTEST: Please leave a comment for a chance to win a copy of Pauline's book (in e-book format). Winner to be announce on April 4^th.

AL: Hi Pauline! Thanks for being in the “Author Spotlight” this week.

Pauline: Thank you for inviting me.

AL: So, tell us what’s happening with you.

Pauline: This is an exciting year for me. I’ve almost finished the second book of my trilogy and hope to have it to my publisher by the middle of May. I’m going to England in July for three weeks. I will be attending my first gay wedding there. We are renovating our sixties style home and interior decorating is one of my favorite hobbies. My son is getting married in the fall, to a wonderful young woman. She’s the type of daughter-in-law I have always dreamed of having.

AL: Please share with us about a current or upcoming release.

Pauline: My current novel is called Merryweather Lodge – Ancient Revenge. It is the first of a trilogy. This is what inspired me to write this story?…Every summer, when I was a child, we would visit my aunt and uncle at their quaint little cottage on Salisbury Plain. It was called Scotland Lodge and was situated not far from the historical Stonehenge. My uncle worked as a farm hand for the local squire. My aunt tended the manor house. It was there as I roamed free, deep within the English countryside, that I experienced joy, enchantment and some very strange and frightening occurrences. It was like a fairytale kingdom with a sinister twist. The memories of my summers at Scotland Lodge stayed with me, as a sort of nagging unsolved mystery all my life. A few years ago I revisited my childhood wonderland (the old place still emanates a strange and eerie essence) and was lead by some mysterious force into concocting this story and writing this book. It is from my mystifying experiences at Scotland Lodge that this trilogy has emerged.

AL: What other works are you deep into?

Pauline: I’m working on the second book of my trilogy, Merryweather Lodge – Malevolent Spirit. I’m also in the process of revising some of my short stories and articles.

AL: What is the most difficult part of being a writer and do you write whenever the mood strikes, or do you have a specific routine?

Pauline: ?”...The most difficult part for me is the marketing. Years ago you would write a book, get it published then sit back and collect the royalties. But it’s not that way any more. Most authors are not salesmen, public speakers or comfortable being in the limelight but we are expected to promote ourselves, as well as our books, even by the big publishing houses. In the past few months I have participated in three book singing events, been interviewed by a newspaper reporter and was a guest speaker at our local library. It’s all a little nerve wracking, for an introvert like me. But I know I must come out of my shell and face the world, if I want to promote my book. I write long hand in my purple room, at my antique desk, under a large picture window. Then I type it into the cold inanimate piece of equipment I call my computer and edit as I go. Young people think this is weird, but the blank screen does not inspire me to write, the view outside my picture window does. I tend to compare my writing routine to my eating habits. Sometimes I graze, jotting down tasty morsels throughout the day. Other times I binge, feasting greedily, at my desk, for a long period of time, on something scrumptious, devouring every delicious word that comes to mind. Then, I find myself looking down at my work or my waist line and having to edit and revise.

AL: You also write children’s books—is it hard to turn off one genre mode to delve into another that is completely different?

Pauline: No, not really. I’m a professional nanny and I’ve worked with preschool children in one capacity or another most of my adult life. Children’s books come easy to me. Paranormal Suspense is a little more challenging but both genres fulfill my lust for storytelling.

AL: What is your advice for aspiring writers?

Pauline: Learn to live with rejections. Rejections are part of the writing life, learn how to cope with them and how to move on. For me, at first, they were like nagging little gremlins, suggesting that I didn’t measure up. I had to learn how to distinguish myself from my work, to set up boundaries between myself and my creation. My writing was like a child to me, but like my own children, I had to send it out into the world to succeed or fail on its own merit. We all get rejections, JK Rowling’s received 14 rejections before finding a publisher for Harry Potter. I wonder what ‘their’ thinking now? Steven King first book Carrie was tuned down 31 times, it took him ten years to get it published. And look at him now. Perseverance, patience, and bold determination are what most published authors have in common.

AL: It’s time to get personal! Tell us what you were like as a kid.

Pauline: I was a shy, reclusive child. I lived in a world of fantasy and make-believe, preferred the company of animals and Mother Nature to people, and I still do at times. My teachers would say, “you’ll never amount to anything if you don’t get your head out of the clouds.” Obviously they had never heard this quote – “Imagination is more important than Knowledge.” Albert Einstein.

AL: Spring is here! What’s your favorite part of the season?

Pauline: Oh Ann, spring is not here. I live in Western Canada and there’s still a foot of snow in my back yard. We’ve had record braking snow falls and it’s been an exceptionally long winter. Sigh. But you’re right, technically it is spring. It is my favorite time of year. I love everything about spring; the new life emerging mysteriously from a recent frozen ground, the fresh earthy smell of new ploughed soil, baby birds, the fragrance of blossom, especially lilac. Did you know that you can get lilac bushes that bloom all year round?

AL: What’s your favorite comfort food?

Pauline: I love this question; because I love to eat. Comfort foods? Hmmm, I have so many; scones, covered in cream and strawberry jam – rice pudding – sweet potato fries – dark chocolate, with a glass of red wine and oatmeal cookies. Yummy!

AL: You have just won five thousand dollars! But...you have to spend it all today. What will you buy?

Pauline: That ones easy, as we are renovating our home. I’d race to the nearest department store and spend, spend, spend!

AL: What do you hope for your writing career in the next few years? Any goals that you have yet to obtain that you have set for yourself?

Pauline: I hope to have my Merryweather Lodge trilogy finished and ‘out there’ within a year. I would like to have my two children’s books published and all the revisions to my short stories and articles finished. My goal is to have my trilogy on the New York Times bestsellers list and to see it on the big screen. I like to dream BIG!

AL: Please share a favorite quote(s) with us.

Pauline: “Whenever the student is ready the teacher will appear.”…”Intuition is a spiritual faculty. It does not explain but simply points the way.”…”Refuse to put others either above you or below you, but instead see them as you.”…”Where there is love there are always miracles.”

AL: Thanks so much for sharing with us, Pauline.

Pauline: Thank you so much for having me. I look forward to hearing from your readers. Please join me on facebook.

AL: If you’d like to find out more about Pauline please visit:

www.paulineholyoak.com

FEATURED TITLE: MERRYWEATHER LODGE - ANCIENT REVENGE

Blurb:

When Emily Fletcher meets the gorgeous Jonathan McArthur she is infatuated and consumed with lust. Will he go with her to the dreaded wood-lot, to remove the bloody ancient curse, before it’s too late? In the first half of my story Emily is fourteen years old. In the second half she is forced to return to the cottage, at the age of twenty. My novel contains elements of horror, humor, fantasy, romance and sex. I have created a world into which my readers can escape and an atmosphere that will evoke their imagination, stir their emotions and engage their senses. This book was inspired by my own experiences in a remote little cottage near Stonehenge.

Excerpt:

“Let’s go somewhere privet.” She said, grabbing my arm. She guided me to the passage and plunked me down on the bottom step of the attic stairs. My back straightened. Panic rose within me as an icy shiver ran down my spine. It was as if I had been lead to an old cemetery, sat on a grave and left among the tomb stones.

“That was her room you know.” She said as she pointed up the stairs.


“Who’s?”


“Mary Eliss.”


I turned my head ever so slowly and drew eyes up to the portal at the top of the stairs. I shivered and quickly looked way. “I know it was.”


In a low voice she whispered. “Do you suppose she’s still up there?” Then she grinned mischievously.


I looked into her strange glassy eyes. “She was, the last time I was here and I have a feeling she hasn’t left.”

REMEMBER: Please leave a comment for a chance to win a copy of Pauline's book (in e-book format). Winner to be announce on April 4th.