Award-winning blog for book reviews, author interviews, and anything writing-related.

Thursday, May 7, 2015

Interview with mystery author Edita A. Petrick

Mystery
author Edita A. Petrick is here today to chat with me about her new novel Ribbons of Death.

During her virtual book tour with Goddess Fish Promotions, Edita will be awarding a Kindle copy of Ribbons of Death gifted from Amazon to 4
randomly drawn winners. To be entered for a chance to win, use the form
below. To increase your chances of winning, feel free to visit her other tour stops and enter there, too.

Welcome, Edita.
Please tell us a little bit about yourself.

Ten
years ago, I left a corporate job to concentrate on writing. It was perhaps the
scariest thing I’ve done. Of course, there were other considerations at the
time, life, kids, economy and my mother who was battling cancer. I wrote as
means of staying grounded because I had to hold it together. There was no one
else to pitch in. There wasn’t a single moment that I didn’t have doubts about
whether what I was doing was the right thing or not, but doubts come and go,
while the need to write goes on forever.

Since
2005, I’ve published 5 books and this year alone I have 6 new ones coming out.
I live in Toronto with my family and our two pets – wheaten terriers. And
whenever I’m tempted to look back, and start second-guessing my past decisions,
I have a cup of hot tea and pet the dogs. That seems to do the trick. Tea’s
very relaxing and the dogs are so affectionate and loyal. They restore my
equilibrium.

Please tell us about your current
release.

“Ribbons of Death is a mystery
suspense. Most of the reviews I’ve received so far are very positive, but even
the readers who gave me 5 stars mentioned (obliquely) that the book could do
with a faster start. I’m not sure if I know how to do “faster starts” – I’m all
for setting the ground first, so to speak. But I’m also willing to learn…I’ve
already had 3 free-download days and I was actually shocked how well that promo
went. So if you graciously gloss over that ‘slow start’ and we’re talking here
a handful of pages – then I guess this new release is off to a good start. Of
course, since it deals with a horrible ancient curse, book 2 is going to find
an antidote to that curse and the sequel is already done. Now, I just have to
solicit advice on how to make the opening faster…but some things just won’t be
rushed. This ‘slow start’ is really, really torturing me.

What inspired you to write this book?

I
own a complete collection of Agatha Christie mysteries. I love re-reading them.
So it just follows that what I love to read, I love to write.

Excerpt from Ribbons of Death“A female mask.” He nodded.

“A man wearing a female mask. The
Roman actors used them, the stage actors used them in Shakespearean times; so
did Chinese performers. The old Egyptians wore masks not only for stage
performances but to battle, or during exhibition combat in a palace.”

“So you’re saying that a female mask
will protect you against the Peacetaker’s power?” He must have sounded more
disbelieving than he meant to because she rose, braced her hands on her hips
and glared at him.

“We’re dealing with a curse damning
humanity for all eternity spun by a mythological demon. It produces a male
child born during the night of the Blue Moon. When the child reaches adulthood,
his power is activated with an amulet and as he walks amongst men, he devours
peace, leaving them howling with murderous frenzy like primeval beasts. Which
parts of what I’ve just said doesn’t sound rational enough to you such that you
can’t believe the controller is a man wearing a female mask?”

“Well, what if it’s cloudy during
that particular night of the Blue Moon and the actual moon can’t be seen? Would
ancient folks have known then it was a night of the Blue Moon? I’m just trying
to play the Devil’s Advocate.”

“An excellent point. We’ll gloss
over it. Not because it poses challenge for me, but because we have, once
again, a more important puzzle to baffle us,” she said with such candor that he
raised both hands to show her he was capitulating.

What exciting story are you working on
next?

The Harmony Scroll – that’s the title
for book 2.

When did you first consider yourself a
writer?

I’ve
many very brittle yellow pages, lined, written in child’s handwriting – stored
somewhere in a folder so I guess that answer that question.

Do you write full-time? If so, what's
your work day like? If not, what do you do other than write and how do you find
time to write?

Majority
of indie or small press writers can’t exist on what they make from their
writing. That’s a fact. I have a full time job. Bills need to be paid. I rise
at the crack of dawn, put in my 9 hours (includes a commute) and back home to
feed the dogs, feed the family (actually in that order) and get ready for the
next day at work and if I have an hour or so left, I’d sit down and re-read the
notes I have for the next in-production book. I work in the school environment
so I have the summer off and that’s when I fashion a story from the notes that
I work on the rest of the year. Sometimes I get some time to write on the
weekend but not much.

What would you say is your interesting
writing quirk?

I
read and re-read all my reviews. Then I go “click on” the links of the
reviewers and then I read all about them. Then, as opportunity arises, I ‘write
in’ any given reviewer as one of the characters in the book, as I see him or
her through their critique. How’s that for exercising it out of your system…?

3 comments:

Thanks for hosting me, Lisa, I still hold down a full time job so touch-base for me is not that easy. I appreciate the time and space you gave me here. I've been around for some time so I know how difficult it is to promote anything else but romances and romantic suspense. I write those too but the two new books in that category won't be out until later on in the summer. Currently I'm writing mysteries - series in particular. And I'm discovering just how much of an uphill battle it is when it comes to promotion. Thanks again for having me. Edita

I'm listed!

Blog Tour Partner - Goddess Fish

Followers

About Me

I'm a NH native and love New England. I love writing about the region, exploring it on foot, on my bicycle, and in my car. There are so many small communities and fun and interesting people in this area, that I could be here a lifetime and not do all it is I want to do. :)

I'm a moderator at The Writer's Chatroom that hosts live chats with guest authors on Sunday nights 7-9PM EST. Join the e-mail list to get notifications of upcoming guests, then stop in and join the conversation!