Rico Lamoureux is a young American author living in the Philippines. Power of the Pen is his autobiography. For a full interview with Rico, click here.
Ten years ago Rico Lamoureux left behind everything he ever knew and headed for the other side of the world in the name of love. Never could he have imagined what lay ahead.
Faced with overwhelming obstacles under Third World conditions, he refused to return home without his soul mate and therefore remains among the harsh environment he describes as “the complete opposite of the Land of Opportunity.”
With so many years having passed, Rico’s unwavering American spirit has kept him going strong, now using his passion for storytelling to pave the way towards a better future.
“I’m writing my way back home, one pen stroke at a time.”
And now, an excerpt from Rico's Power of the Pen: Mom’s belt was becoming more and more frequent, especially since Child Protective Services were no longer checking in on us. And not just our bare butts, but sometimes our arms and legs too. She was heavy set, and didn’t really control her strikes since they came out of anger. So they were much too hard. Add to that hard slaps to the face and the barrage of verbal abuse and it gets to the point where hate is truly developed. You feel so helpless because there’s nothing you can really do, or at least that’s what we thought. It’s an unbearable feeling of being trapped. You’re completely under this person’s control, with no physical chance of being able to defend yourself. You feel so lost because you know there’s no way to avoid it. It’s coming and there’s nothing you can do about it. Then after the physical pain, you feel so frustrated. Wishing you could somehow get back at them. Who knows what the source of the poison was going off inside that brain of hers!
She’s always been the type of person where when she gets mad at one person, or thing, she gets mad at everybody around her. Such a trait truly disgusts me and shows nothing more than extreme lazy and weak mindedness. There’s no excuse for it, and to this day I refuse to tolerate it.
Unfortunately, we didn’t have a choice back then. There’s nothing more I wanted in this world at the time than to defend myself against her. To somehow return the pain. Well, as I said, you’re pretty much stuck with no options. So I did the only thing I could think of…
While I was still in her womb, my mother started a baby book for me. A collection of poems, letters to me, and song lyrics, including that oldie but goodie, Angel Baby. A song she said always reminded her of me.
One night I was lying in bed drenched in tears after receiving her wrath. I devised a plan to get back at her...
The next morning I left my backpack open. Right before I left for school I quickly put that baby book in my bag, zipped it up, and headed out the door. My heart was beating a mile a minute!
A few blocks from the apartment complex I saw the trash can that was pictured in my mind the night before. I took out my baby book and as I walked past the trash I tossed it inside.
Half of me felt guilt, the other half, redemption. It was an act done out of desperation more than anything else. I was only nine and a half years old, yet part of my innocence was lost with that baby book.
There's no greater fuel for a pen than life experience, creativity, and a love for storytelling. A fact which lead Rico Lamoureux to the realization that he was destined to become an author. From a childhood of abuse and poverty to overcoming life-altering health conditions. From being trained in an ancient martial art to finding his soul mate. With an artistic heart and an ambitious spirit, this diverse journey Rico takes the reader on is indeed an intriguing and unforgettable one!
Welcome, Rico. Your book is an autobiography. Does it cover your whole life up to this point, or does it deal with a specific time in your life? It covers my whole life up to the present. All the significant chapters so far.
Why did you decide to write an autobiography? I wanted to let people know who I am. Especially those who support my ongoing work as an author. In addition, I’ve always known that I would someday write my life story. Early on, when I looked around and realized I was already experiencing more than other kids my age (most of which were not good experiences, but rather the harsh realities of coming from an abusive and poverty-stricken home) something inside told me that I would one day share my unique story with the world. And as if fate knew this as well, the cards I was dealt, the curveballs that were thrown at me, continued to be unpredictable and very challenging as I grew older. And now I had arrived. I knew in my heart that I had finally come to the point in my life where it was time to pick up a pen and tell my personal story.
What will others learn from reading your autobiography? I have learned a lot about myself from learning about others. I believe the same can be true from those readers who choose to read my autobiography.
What song would you pick to go with your book? People who know me, who know my story, have told me I remind them of the song, I Believe I Can Fly, by R. Kelly. That would probably go along well with the book.
Where’s home for you? Home will always be my beloved USA. But for the past 10 years home has also been beside my beloved wife, who is from the other side of the world, the Philippines. So for a decade now I’ve sacrificed my wonderful, diverse land of opportunity and have chosen to prevail under harsh Third World conditions. We hope the Power of the Pen will allow us to come home soon.
Tell us one weird thing, one nice thing, and one fact about where you live. One weird thing about the Philippines—Compared to back home, Christmas is not really Christmas. Instead of being wrapped up and cozy in a winter wonderland, you sweat up a storm. From the absence of the aromatic smell of Christmas trees, to the all-around holiday spirit. This will be the twelfth Christmas I’ll be dreaming of a real Christmas. One day I’ll be able to show my wife how it’s really done!
One nice thing about the Philippines—tax Is already included in the displayed price of things. No having to figure it out before you get to the register.
One fact—The Philippines is the texting capital of the world. And countless people have walked into me as a result!
Do you outline or write by the seat of your pants? When I write my novellas I have a general outline in my head, but most of what I write naturally comes about with the flow of my pen. (That’s right, I’m the old-fashioned type. A pen is still more natural to me than a keyboard-ha!ha!)
Do you have another job outside of writing? No, I practice what I preach when I say follow your passion. I’m grateful to my readers for keeping my pen moving!
Rico, I certainly hope your pen continues to move and you reach your dream of returning to the USA. Thanks for talking to us about your life and your book.
Readers, on Thursday read an excerpt of Rico’s book, Power Of The Pen, on A Blue Million Books.
About Rico: Ten
years ago Rico Lamoureux left behind everything he ever knew and headed
for the other side of the world in the name of love. Never could he
have imagined what lay ahead.
Faced with overwhelming obstacles
under Third World conditions, he refused to return home without his
soul mate and therefore remains among the harsh environment he describes
as “the complete opposite of the Land of Opportunity.”
With so many years having passed, Rico’s unwavering American spirit has
kept him going strong, now using his passion for storytelling to pave
the way towards a better future.
“I’m writing my way back home, one pen stroke at a time.”
The small lake front City of Safe Haven Harbor is broke, but no one can figure out why. A new city manager is hired to uncover the cause, and Millie Boyd is thrown together with him. Together they search for the source of the city's financial troubles. Millie is nominated for election as city marshal, and it’s a position she needs if she is to unravel the dangerous mystery completely. Chapter 1 – Millie
Millie screamed it, “What do you mean I don’t understand! She wasn’t just my sister-in-law; we were best friends. How dare you!”
Shamus knew he had gone too far and was flirting with danger so he hung his head, “Now, now, you know I didn’t really mean it.”
Millie was furious! She and Shamus’s wife Cathy had been so close that the pain of her death was like a knife through Millie’s heart. There was physical pain. She knew how Shamus must feel losing such a wonderful wife but that did not give him the right to bully her and she wasn’t going to have any of it.
Millie let it all go, “You are doing it again, just like when our ma died. Hiding in the bottle and getting mean is no way to grieve and it’s dangerous.”
She snatched the bottle from the table before Shamus realized what was happening and she ran out the back door into the night throwing the liquor container against the nearest tree. It didn’t break. Now all her fury was focused on that bottle. The back porch light cast on it and it glittered like a snake in the grass; it lay there mocking her.
She marched over and picked it up. It was still partially full and she swung it with all her might against the tree. The force of the impact reverberated up her arm and it hurt. It still did not break. Now she was beyond furious. She emptied the bottle on the grass and went into the garage, laid it on the concrete, grabbed a hammer and broke the bottle. She invested all her fury in the process breaking it into small pieces as the glass flew everywhere. When it was in a million little shards, she smiled with satisfaction. The satisfaction didn’t last long.
Millie heard the car throwing gravel as it tore out of the driveway. She ran to the front of the house to see the taillights of her car disappear. She knew where Shamus was heading and he was in no shape to be driving. How dare he steal her car! She started walking toward Joe’s Pool Hall.
Shamus was sitting at the bar nursing a beer chaser for the whiskey he had just downed when a determined Millie stormed in. Shamus did not notice her coming. He felt the tap on his shoulder and swiveled on the chair. Sitting there he was just the right height. She cold cocked him. The power started from Millie’s legs through her pivoting hips and the vicious right uppercut took him squarely and he dropped off the stool like an anchor dropped in the deepest part of the lake. She saw him go down as though it was in slow motion.
Millie turned to the men at the pool tables, “It seems my brother has had more to drink than he could handle. Would a couple of you stout fellows help me get him in my car?” She bent over and took her car keys from his pocket.
Everyone in town knew Millie and two volunteers carried Shamus and unceremoniously stuffed him in the back seat. Millie drove back to her place, left Shamus in her car and went inside. She flopped across her bed and cried herself to sleep.
She woke to the sun shining in her window. Coffee, she needed coffee. She made some and sat at the kitchen table savoring it. She heard the car door slam shut.
Shamus staggered through the door lamenting, “Man, I must have really tied one on last night.” He abruptly turned and ran back outside. Millie could hear him throwing up and she hoped it was on the lawn. She was not in a cleaning mood today.
She went to the bathroom and locked herself in and showered. It was a long hot shower. Her tears mixed with the shower water. She stayed under the shower head until the water started telling her the hot water tank was just about drained. She got out, dried her hair, brushed her teeth and dressed.
Outside she found her brother was asleep curled up on the porch floor. She left him there. She took the wad of one dollar bills from her pocket. She had exactly thirteen dollars left to live on until her unemployment check came. Screw it, she thought. Her car had a full tank of gas so she could get by. She drove to the Hi-Way Diner and treated herself to breakfast. To read more of The Happenstance Marshall go to: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/109347 Michael Ogara has published eight novels, six of which are in the Millie Mystery Thriller series. The published eBook titles in the Millie series (in chronological order) are: The Happenstance Marshal, The Deliberate Sheriff, The Persistent Sheriff, The Windfall Sheriff, The Mogul Sheriff and The Mentor Sheriff. The seventh book "The Caring Sheriff" will be released soon.
Michael is a full time writer of mystery thrillers, thrillers, and historical action adventure novels. He lives in Missouri with his wife Ronda. Find Michael at: Website LinkedIn Blog Smashwords
Today I'm happy to be talking with Millie Boyd, the main character in The Happenstance Marshall by Michael O’Gara.Before we get started, here's a little bit about Millie: When life gave Millie lemons she set out to save a town and got a badge and a gun in the process. Her friends and community believed in her when others didn’t and gave her the chance others wouldn’t. Through a series of adventures and misadventures Millie became a true folk hero because she has grit and smarts. It doesn’t hurt that she has the “nose of a blood hound” and a natural aptitude for seeing what others don’t.
Welcome, Millie! Tell us, how did you first meet your writer? I really didn’t have any say about meeting him. Poof and there I was on a page one day. He didn’t ask if I wanted to be quirky and down to earth. He just wrote me that way.
Want to dish about him/her? I can’t tell you what I really think of him or he’ll write me into some really humiliating situation. He’s done it before when I didn’t even provoke him. Go figure.
Did you ever think that your life would end up being in a book? You’re kidding right? A townie gal like me makes it big time? No way!
Way. In fact, you're a figment of Michael's imagination. What is your least favorite characteristic your writer has given you? That I’m petite. Why couldn’t I have been some tall Amazon type? It would have made my life so much easier. I had to work really hard before anyone would take me seriously, and I became a peace officer more by luck than because anyone would hire me as a cop. There is a lot of prejudice against smaller people. Can you believe my writer once had me described as five foot nothing? I’m over five two.
Do have any secret aspirations that your author doesn’t know about? Yeah, I’d like to beat the crap out of him for making my life so difficult. I won’t do it though, because I’m not like that. He thinks solving mysteries and taking down the bad guys is a lark. It’s not. It’s hard work and it’s dangerous. At least he gave me a lot of interesting friends and family.
At least there's that. If you had a free day with no responsibilities, and your only mission was to enjoy yourself, what would you do? Go fishin’ of course.
Of course. What impression do you make on people when they first meet you? Some people make the mistake of not taking me seriously at first. They don’t do that a second time.
Yikes. Okay, other side of the coin--what's the worst thing that's happened in your life? What did you learn from it? It is really hard to lose a loved one. I learned though, that life is for the living, so mourn, then get on with life. Life is not always fair and you might as well accept that, as well as sometimes you get what you don’t really deserve.
It sounds like Michael has also given you some common sense. Tell us about your best friend. I have two BFFs. Doris owns the diner, and she’s a successful business woman, and she’s good looking too. Most of the men in town are scared to death of a woman who’s smart, successful, and good looking. They can handle one of those characteristics but not when they’re combined. She doesn’t have much of a social life. Anna is a retired schoolteacher and is now the Mayor. She taught me in school. Despite our age differences me, Doris, and Anna are good buddies.
What are you most afraid of? It’s a close thing between being shot and having my heart broken again. Now that I think about it, I think I’d rather be shot than fall in love again and have another husband die. What’s the best trait your author has given you? What’s the worst? I like that he has given me a good heart but he’s made me a little rough around the edges. I wonder if the rough edges will wear off over time? What do you like best about Mitch? Least? Mitch is a hunk. His problem is that he is too self absorbed.
Oh no. Not another one of those. Watch out for him, Millie. How do you feel about your life right now? What, if anything, would you like to change? Life is good. I have a purpose that comes with a badge and a gun. I sure could use a husband though. I’m not picky. He just needs to be a hunk, smart, witty, hard working, romantic, and adore me. I don’t want a lot really.
Sounds reasonable to me. I'll put in a good word with Michael. See if he can't work something out for you. What aspect of your author’s writing style do you like best? The people who read about me say they really like me and my friends and my interesting story. Of course there is a lot going on. I like it when things are happening. As one person who read about me put it, “I found this book to be truly enchanting. It is a rare blend of mystery, romance, and humor, which is rare in books these days. It is well written, with strong character development and good chemistry between the players. When I finished it, I was eager to find the next book in the series. I haven't enjoyed a book this much in years.”
You're a very intriguing character, Millie. I'm looking forward to reading all of the books in the Millie Mystery series. Thanks for being here. And good luck on that hunt for a good man!
About Millie's author: Michael lives in Missouri with his wife Ronda. He is a full time writer of mystery, thriller, and historical fiction (action adventure) novels. Michael is a graduate of Fontbonne University and earned both Master of Fine Arts and Master of Business Administration Degrees there. He is also a graduate of St. Lawrence College where he studied Business Accounting. His past experience includes work as a newspaper reporter, news analyst, editor, accountant, financial analyst, artist, City Administrator and Town Manager. He has lived in regions as diverse as the Canadian sub-arctic and Florida.
About The Happenstance Marshall: When life gives Millie Boyd lemons, she sets out to save a town and she gets a badge and a gun in the process. It all starts because the small quaint lakefront City of Safe Haven Harbor is not prospering in spite of its natural advantages as a tourist destination. People and businesses should be knocking down the doors to develop in Safe Haven, but they aren’t. The city can’t afford to pay its bills and implemented lay-offs. The residents are at a loss as to why their community is languishing and cash poor when other communities close by are booming. People are finally ready for change, and the newly elected reform council has hired a young man named Mitch O’Keefe to unravel the city’s financial problems.
Mitch is thrown together through some very odd circumstances with Millie who is facing her own set of challenges. She is initially a reluctant partner to the attractive Mitch as they work to solve the mystery of why the city has no money. In doing so they set the stage for Millie to discover her talent for unraveling mysteries which exposes them both to danger. Millie is nominated for election as city marshal, and she accepts, for she knows there is more to the city's problem than a lack of cash. To fully solve the mystery she needs to be city marshal. She does not realize the danger being marshal will expose her to or the adventures and misadventures she will become involved in along the way. I’m very pleased to welcome Michael Ogara to A Blue Million Books. Michael, first tell us how long have you been writing. In one form or another I’ve been writing for all of my professional life; forty plus years. Most of my writing was related to writing: reports; analysis; policy papers; professional journal articles; editorials; newspaper articles; and newspaper features.
How did you go from that to writing novels? I started fiction writing in 2011. Since then I’ve written twelve novels, eight of which are published as eBooks and all of them have been rated between four and half to five stars out of five.
Excellent. You like writing and it shows. What do you like best about writing? What I like best is the act of storytelling and the creativity involved.
What’s your least favorite thing about writing? If the question hadn’t stipulated “about writing” I would have said marketing is my least favorite thing about being a writer. I guess because of the way the question was asked, I’ll go with editing. To some degree I enjoy editing, because I consider it a very necessary and important function. A book that is poorly edited takes away from the flow of the story. For that reason I will usually leave a finished book sit for a while after my and my editor’s first review. Then I’ll do another edit after several weeks have passed.
I think that's important too. And I’m with you on both counts—marketing and editing are necessary evils. I do think marketing is part of an author’s writing life, so I’ll take that answer too!
I love the title The Happenstance Marshal.How did you come up it? The title is indicative of how the main character Millie becomes city marshal: by a chance circumstance. “The Chance Circumstance Marshal” doesn’t do it as a title thus the title “The Happenstance Marshal.” Makes sense to me. Do you outline or write by the seat of your pants? I don’t use a formal outline because that would stifle my creativity. It’s a personal preference, and I believe there are successful authors in both camps. I find outlines to be too confining. I’m mostly an “organic” creative writer, so I start my books with a general concept and let my imagination carry me, but often I’ll go back and change something to ensure cohesiveness.
Did you have any say in your cover art? Tell us about the artist. I go beyond having a say in my cover art. My wife and I both have degrees in visual art so we design the book covers. I’ve done about half of them on my own.
I am impressed. What about imaginary friends? Do youhave them? When do they talk to you? That is an interesting question, and I would have to admit the “good guys and gals” in my books are sort of imaginary friends.
Do they tell you what to write or do you poke them with a Q-tip? I do think, figuratively speaking, that the way an author develops a character increasingly “tells” the author what to write for them as they participate in the story.
I like how you did that. You didn't confirm or deny. Very shrewd, Michael. How do you handle criticism of your work? If it’s constructive, I’ll analyze it and determine if I think the criticism has merit, and if it has, I’ll take appropriate action. I’ve changed some minor parts of two books during the edit process because of constructive criticism.
Do you have a routine for writing? Do you work better at night, in the afternoon, or in the morning? I do have something of a routine, but for me the creative process does not seem to be limited to a time of day. I have developed discipline, and I usually write at least six hours a day and often a lot more. Generally I start between seven and eight each morning and work until three or four in the afternoon then I’ll often do some more writing in the evening. There are days when I’m on a roll I’ll work twelve to fourteen hours. Some weeks I’ll work five days and some weeks six days. Occasionally I’ll only work four full days in a week.
What’s one of your favorite quotes? “I’m getting tired of having to shoot dumbass criminals.” --Sheriff Millie.
I love it! Tell us what you're working on now. I’m working on a new novel (number thirteen, and no I’m not superstitious) while getting the four new novels I’ve finished ready for release.
Why do you write? Writing for me is like breathing; something I have to do. I have come to realize it is what I was created to do, and I enjoy it immensely.
And it shows. Michael, thank you for sharing your passion of writing with us. Good luck with the ones to come. I hope you'll stop in again when you launch another book. And folks, Michael's also a blogger. Check it out!
A word from Michael about Michael: I'm a full time writer of mystery, thriller and historical action
adventure novels. I used to do other things including: newspaper
reporter, editor, visual artist, analyst, and city manager. I didn't
enjoy any of those as much as being a fiction writer.
I live in
Missouri with my wife Ronda who designed some of my book covers. We both
graduated from Fontbonne University in St. Louis. I earned both Master
of Fine Arts and Master of Business Administration degrees there. My
favorite thing to do is write books.
I have published eight novels, six of which are in the Millie Mystery
Thriller series. The published eBook titles in the Millie series (in
chronological order) are: The Happenstance Marshal, The Deliberate
Sheriff, The Persistent Sheriff, The Windfall Sheriff, The Mogul Sheriff,
and The Mentor Sheriff. The seventh book, The Caring Sheriff, will be
released soon.
I have also written a thriller titled Crossing Cassandra and a second
book in the series is now finished and awaiting release. I have also
written a historical action adventure Sword, Cross and Crown.
She drove down Trimble and turned left on Zanker. She had to install the new fileserver today. A single car sat in the Shopahol parking lot. Jen pulled next to it and smashed the curb with a sickening crunch. Damn. She reversed it and cut the engine.
A gust blew dried leaves in a circle on the sidewalk. Jen locked her car and bent to examine the damage—a cracked air dam on her brand new Eclipse. She dropped her keys and spit on her finger to rub out the black scratch.
The neighboring car’s bumper stretched over the sidewalk. That’s why she had misjudged. Her eyes widened. Dried brownish streaks flaked off the bumper and grill, and a tuft of black hair was pinched to the license plate holder.
Jen stood and backed from the car—a white Camry! She must not scream. Drive away. Pretend she didn’t see it. Whose car was this? Her breath came in sharp puffs, and she doubled over, trying not to hyperventilate or faint. She quickly retrieved her keys from the sidewalk. A pair of trousered legs met her on the way up. The scream erupted from her throat, and strong hands clamped her wrists.
Steel-grey eyes bore into hers. “Calm down. Are you okay?”
Words scattered from her throat. She tried to pull away, but the man, the CEO, the delectable Dave Jewell, held her tight. He picked up her backpack and pulled her toward the building.
“I-I ah…” Jen gasped, but she followed him through the door.
“Let’s get you some water.” He handed her the backpack and steered her through the lobby toward his office. “It’s only a little front end damage. I’m sure your insurance will take care of it.”
He appeared calm, too calm to have blood on his car. Jen’s brain burst with silent screams. She forced herself to breathe evenly. A CEO wouldn’t be driving a Camry, would he?
There had to be an innocent explanation, and she sure as hell didn’t want to get involved. She’d pretend nothing was wrong. Consciously relaxing, she disengaged from his hold and accepted the bottle of water. “Sure. I’ll be down in the server room. I hope Bruce unpacked the boxes and racked the filer. Is that his car parked next to mine?”
Dave looked up from his Blackberry. “Huh? I have to go. I came to grab a file. Let me know if you need anything else.”
He jingled his keys, one with a Toyota emblem, and he patted her shoulder. “Don’t worry about your car. I’ll pay for the damage. I should have had parking blocks installed, especially where the curb’s too high. Let’s go check it out. I know a body shop that’ll do you good.”
Jen fought for her breath again. How could he be so light-hearted and casual? But wasn’t that the case with psychopaths? Especially charming, handsome, successful ones? The last one anyone suspected. He acted as if he didn’t remember meeting her last night at the pizza place. Oh, yes. Stupid. Of course. He was the boss, and this was work. Well, she’d pretend she never shared a video game with him, either.
“No… no, I have to go to the lab.”
“Okay, I’ll take a look on the way out and call someone to fix it. You just worry about the filer. Promise me you won’t break anything?” He smiled and pantomimed tipping his nonexistent hat.
Was he a loon on top of being a murderer? Jen shuddered and backed out of his office. When she saw him exit, she ran to a window near her cubicle.
Dave squatted in front of her car. He traced the crack and pulled on the broken air dam. He glanced at the white car and froze. Slowly he eased himself to his feet and looked at the office building. Their gazes locked.
About the author
Rachelle Ayala was a software engineer until she discovered storytelling works better in fiction than real code. She has over thirty years of writing experience and has always lived in a multi-cultural environment. Rachelle is an active member of online critique group, Critique Circle, and a volunteer for the World Literary Cafe. She is a very happy woman and lives in California with her husband. She has three children and has taught violin and made mountain dulcimers. Scroll down for an interview with Rachelle! Rachelle's website Buy Broken Build
Rachelle Ayala's book, Broken Build, was published in September by Amiga Books, and she's here today to tell us a little about it.
Book blurb: Jen Jones hides a horrible secret behind her new degree, toned body, and exciting job at Silicon Valley’s hottest startup—until a man is killed in a hit-and-run at her work.
CEO and founder Dave Jewell is about to land a huge deal. What he doesn’t need is blood on his car, threatening phone calls, and Jen wrapped in broken code and blackmail.
A gang of thugs hunts Jen, and she takes refuge in Dave’s protective arms. Together, they must thwart a killer and rescue an innocent victim from their past. Love blossoms, but a damaging revelation points straight at Jen, threatening to tear them apart forever.
Hello, Rachelle, I’m happy to have you here today to talk about your work. You’ve published three books. Do you outline, write by the seat of your pants, or let your characters tell you what to write? I daydream the big moments in advance so I know who the villain is and what the setup of the climax would be. Other than that, I write by the seat of my skirt (I don’t wear pants since I outgrew my jeans.) When I write, a movie is playing in my mind. I record everything, and oftentimes it goes with what the characters are thinking and feeling. They don’t necessarily tell me what to write, but if they won’t go a certain way and I’ve tried to nudge them that way a few times, I give up. If I keep dictating to them to do this or do that, they go on strike, and I get blocked, and no writer likes to get blocked.
I’m constantly on the lookout for new names. How do you name your characters? Names pop into my head. I don’t really give it much thought. I suppose it is free association. I try to keep the names very common so that no one can say it is about them, hence Jones, Walker, Williams, Cruz, Jewell, Mathews are used as surnames. I live in a multi-cultural environment so Indian, Spanish, and Chinese names pop into my mind frequently.
What would Jen, your main character, say about you? She doesn’t like me very much. I’m too mean to her, expose all her secret fears and weaknesses and make her go through lots of trauma, physical and emotional. I gave her a broken man, one she broke with her past misdeeds, and had her fall in love with him while fearing he’d reject her when he finds out what she’d done.
Are you like any of your characters? How so? My female characters have tender hearts. They may have their own problems, but they’re all nurturers and melt at the sight of small children and baby animals. They tend to be impulsive in love like I am. This means I need to write a different character next time, but I find it tough to relate to a hard-as-nails independent woman with a chip on her shoulder. Perhaps that is why I never finished my book, Kyra’s Shield, about a woman who grew up as a man in ancient Philistia.
With which of your characters would you most like to be stuck on a deserted island? Well, gosh, this is hard. I have such hot male characters. There’s King David, Prince Ittai, Michal’s second husband, Phalti the scribe, CEO Dave Jewell and my latest sweetie, triathlete Lucas Knight.
Tell us about your favorite scene in the book. This one is from Broken Build. I loved to play pinball back in the 1980’s. There was a game called William’s Time Warp with yellow banana shaped paddles. I must have been in the zone one evening at UCLA. Usually, I’m pretty bad and my friend, Kathy Curry, would whip me, but that night, with Time Warp, I scored one high score after another. I didn’t even notice that everyone around me had stopped playing and that a crowd had gathered.
So I relived this pinball game in Dave’s garage at his Tahoe cabin. Only, he was playing with a hot female sitting on the table facing him. Uhmmm… my favorite scene was actually deleted. Instead, he tells her what he’d do to her on the table without actually doing it. My characters were both too emotionally damaged to go through with the hot scene I’d written.
What book are you currently reading? Scent of Triumph by Jan Moran, I’m fascinated by women who struggle through cataclysmic times to survive, gain love and reunite their family. The heroine in Scent of Triumph reminds me of my protagonist, Michal, in Michal’s Window who loses her husband, King David, to her father’s murderous rage, only to go on an epic journey to reunite with him, sidetracked by lovers and rivals, wartime destitution and queenly duties, death and sacrifice, but ultimate triumph.
How do you handle criticism of your work? I don’t expect every reader to like my writing, so it is fine if they criticize it. I generally absorb it to see if there is anything I can improve, but I do not struggle to change my vision to suit critics. For example, my first book, Michal’s Window, has too much sex for its genre. I have my fair share of one-star reviews to prove it. But I truly believe I could not have captured the depth of Michal’s obsessive love for David and the distraction by her lover if I did not include the scenes. And honestly, they were not that explicit. It’s just that the ordinary reader of Biblical fiction is not used to on-scene sex.
Do you ever get writer’s block? What do you do when it happens? I rarely get blocked, but as I said earlier, when I do, it’s because I’m not being true to myself—I’m trying to live up to someone else’s expectation of how my book should be structured. Here’s an example. My current WIP, Hidden Under Her Heart, is about abortion. In order to not offend any potential Christian readers, I decided that my two lovers would not have pre-marital sex. I’m writing along and get to the 2/3rds mark where they’re reunited after a long estrangement of 10 weeks. These two have talked it out, they’ve averted sex three times already, but they insist on escaping the party to go camping in a tent. At this point my readers are likely to be just as frustrated as my characters. The situation borders on unrealistic. So my characters simply went on strike until they got what they wanted. Of course, sex complicates their relationship, but hey, complications are good. And unbeknownst to them, the “Delete” key is always available.
What are you working on now? I’m working on a novel with abortion as the main topic. I read a post on the taboos of romance. [URL: http://shewandapugh.blogspot.com/2012/08/the-unspoken-rules-of-romance-part-i.html] Abortion was mentioned as the #1 no-no. I’m an indie author, no one tells me what I can and cannot write about. As I started asking myself the “what-if’s” the story gelled. My main character, Maryanne Torres, is a nurse, not a pregnant teenager. I wanted her to be completely knowledgeable and responsible for her own choices. There will be obvious complications and a series of decisions to make. I don’t want to give too much of the story away, but I’m excited about the concept and hope it will make for an emotional story, no matter which side of the debate you are on.
I'm sure it will. Thank you, Rachelle, for stopping by to chat about Broken Build. Good luck with it and your WIP. I hope you'll come back when it's published.
About Rachelle: Rachelle
Ayala was a software engineer until she discovered storytelling works
better in fiction than real code. She has over thirty years of writing
experience and has always lived in a multi-cultural environment.
Rachelle
is an active member of online critique group, Critique Circle, and a
volunteer for the World Literary Cafe. She is a very happy woman and
lives in California with her husband. She has three children and has
taught violin and made mountain dulcimers. Follow Rachelle: Website/blog Facebook page Goodreads author page Twitter Amazon
Ten years ago Rico Lamoureux left behind everything he ever knew and headed for the other side of the world in the name of love. Never could he have imagined what lay ahead. 
