Today I'm going to use my easy button, and re-blog a blog written by my blogging friend, Barbara Jean Coast who writes a wonderful blog plus the Poppy Cove Mystery series. Her cozy mysteries, Strangled by Silk and Death of a Beauty Queen have plenty of attitude and great reviews. You will love her blog-style!
Joyce Takes 5 with Barbara Jean
Hi there guys and dolls! Well, there’s another month just whizzing by! I don’t know about you, but the speed just makes my head spin. That, or the fact that I dipped into the martini pitcher…oh, never mind. The great thing about the month coming to a close is that I get to do my favorite feature blog — Take 5. They’re always so much fun. I just love my Cozy Cat Press friends who also happen to be great authors. September’s visit is with the fabulous and talented Joyce Oroz, who also creates beautiful artwork as well. I was so happy to sit down again for another chat with Joyce, this time on my blog. Enjoy our visit, I’m sure you will!
1. So tell me a little about your series and main characters.
Josephine Stuart is my fifty-year-old protagonist. She is a widowed mural artist who is misunderstood by her boyfriend, best friend and her own mother. They can’t relate to her curiosity, tenacity and bravery when she attempts to solve a murder mystery. Time after time her basset sniffs out the bad guys for her while the police try to get their facts together. If I were in trouble, I’d want Josephine working for me. She is good at gathering clues, and the rest is usually dumb luck. Each book focuses on a new and different mural painting job for Josephine and a murder of course.
2. What is your writing process like? Do you thrive on routine or work spontaneously as the whim takes you?
I make a point to work a bit everyday—at least six days a week. Sometimes it’s an hour, sometimes two or three, depending on the flow of ideas. When I am ready to begin a new book, I am unable to write an outline or even a series of ideas. Believe me I’ve tried. Instead, I write one sentence on my computer and elaborate on that. The ideas start to flow and a year later I have a book. About halfway through I usually know who the murderer is, but sometimes I don’t know until the end. I love surprises.
The Josephine Stuart Mystery series includes SECURE THE RANCH, READ MY LIPSTICK, SHAKING IN HER FLIP FLOPS, BEETLES IN THE BOXCAR and CUCKOO CLOCK CAPER, published by Cozy Cat Press. My new book, ROLLER RUBOUT will be out in a month or two.
3. What exciting moment or moments made you realize that you were really an “author?”
I have five published books in the Josephine Stuart Mystery Series and a new book coming out soon. It wasn’t until a stranger told me she had read all my books that I felt like an honest to goodness author. Even if my books were never published I would probably keep writing because it’s what I do and who I am. But I love having fans and entertaining people.
4. What do you do to spark up your creativity when you feel the well of inspiration is running dry?
Usually I go over what I have already written, correcting and making changes, until ideas show up. I put my mind into a quiet place and wait for the answer I’m looking for—the next move in the story. The best ideas show up while I’m driving or in the shower—when I can’t jot them down. Writing is a great lesson in patience.
5. Who are some of your favorite authors and how do you feel they have influenced your desire to write?
About thirteen years ago my husband, Arthur Oroz, wrote OKINAWA MOON. I loved watching the book come together—the whole process. A couple years later I started writing children’s stories, twenty-seven of them. But children’s stories weren’t enough. I wanted to write a novel. I always liked reading mysteries, beginning with Nancy Drew and including Janet Evanovich. Janet made me laugh. I tried to be outrageous like her but it didn’t work, but she did influence me. I like JA Jance, Patterson and many others. Reading is definitely an important part of writing.
Isn’t that the truth! Fellow bibliophiles, Joyce’s Josephine Stuart novels are great. Be sure to check out her page on Facebook, her author page on Amazon for all her series information: Joyce Oroz and read all her news and interviews on Blogspot. Till next time, booklovers!
Toodles,
Barbara Jean
1. So tell me a little about your series and main characters.Josephine Stuart is my fifty-year-old protagonist. She is a widowed mural artist who is misunderstood by her boyfriend, best friend and her own mother. They can’t relate to her curiosity, tenacity and bravery when she attempts to solve a murder mystery. Time after time her basset sniffs out the bad guys for her while the police try to get their facts together. If I were in trouble, I’d want Josephine working for me. She is good at gathering clues, and the rest is usually dumb luck. Each book focuses on a new and different mural painting job for Josephine and a murder of course.
2. What is your writing process like? Do you thrive on routine or work spontaneously as the whim takes you?
I make a point to work a bit everyday—at least six days a week. Sometimes it’s an hour, sometimes two or three, depending on the flow of ideas. When I am ready to begin a new book, I am unable to write an outline or even a series of ideas. Believe me I’ve tried. Instead, I write one sentence on my computer and elaborate on that. The ideas start to flow and a year later I have a book. About halfway through I usually know who the murderer is, but sometimes I don’t know until the end. I love surprises.
The Josephine Stuart Mystery series includes SECURE THE RANCH, READ MY LIPSTICK, SHAKING IN HER FLIP FLOPS, BEETLES IN THE BOXCAR and CUCKOO CLOCK CAPER, published by Cozy Cat Press. My new book, ROLLER RUBOUT will be out in a month or two.
3. What exciting moment or moments made you realize that you were really an “author?”
I have five published books in the Josephine Stuart Mystery Series and a new book coming out soon. It wasn’t until a stranger told me she had read all my books that I felt like an honest to goodness author. Even if my books were never published I would probably keep writing because it’s what I do and who I am. But I love having fans and entertaining people.
4. What do you do to spark up your creativity when you feel the well of inspiration is running dry?
Usually I go over what I have already written, correcting and making changes, until ideas show up. I put my mind into a quiet place and wait for the answer I’m looking for—the next move in the story. The best ideas show up while I’m driving or in the shower—when I can’t jot them down. Writing is a great lesson in patience.
5. Who are some of your favorite authors and how do you feel they have influenced your desire to write?
About thirteen years ago my husband, Arthur Oroz, wrote OKINAWA MOON. I loved watching the book come together—the whole process. A couple years later I started writing children’s stories, twenty-seven of them. But children’s stories weren’t enough. I wanted to write a novel. I always liked reading mysteries, beginning with Nancy Drew and including Janet Evanovich. Janet made me laugh. I tried to be outrageous like her but it didn’t work, but she did influence me. I like JA Jance, Patterson and many others. Reading is definitely an important part of writing.
Isn’t that the truth! Fellow bibliophiles, Joyce’s Josephine Stuart novels are great. Be sure to check out her page on Facebook, her author page on Amazon for all her series information: Joyce Oroz and read all her news and interviews on Blogspot. Till next time, booklovers!
Toodles,
Barbara Jean
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