Interview with Liza O’Connor
Brynna: Thank you for joining me in the shadows. Pay no attention to that odd silhouette over there. Weird things live here. Where do you hail from?
Liza: From Denville, NJ. population 17,000 with a really large police force (no doubt to keep me in line.) But I’ve been buried in edits and didn’t have time to get in trouble, so they snagged NY Jets RB Mike Goodson and arrested him on weapons and drug charges. Sorry about that Mike.
B: Tell me about your latest book. What makes it stand out from the crowd?
L: This is a trick question for me. My debut novel was Saving Casey which is about an 80 year old woman dying and coming back into the body of a troubled teenage girl. Reviewers declared it’s twists and turns were unpredictable and they couldn’t put the book down. (I put super-glue on their Kindles.)My novel coming out July 15th is called Worst Week Ever. It’s part of a 3 book series called A Long Road to Love. It’s a humorous disaster novel (both in life and romance) about a middle-class young woman who falls in love with her billionaire boss. He’s very needy and she loves to be needed, but otherwise, they are like two different species of human. Even as she faces the worst week of her life, she’s determined to make this impossible relationship work. Eventually, she’ll learn that just because a guy says he loves you, doesn’t make him the right guy. But that’s a lesson to be learned along the way. Right now, she just needs to survive this God Awful week.
B: Do you have anything new in the works and can you tell us a bit about it?
L: I have another fabulous book coming out in December called Ghost Lover. It’s about two English brothers who fall in love with the same young woman. The ancestral ghost has to intervene only he falls in love with her as well. Again the twists and turns are not predictable.
B: What can we expect from your novels?
L: Humor, moments of poignancy, and an unusual plot with an HEA.
However, in Worst Week Ever, while there is a Happy Moment at the end, you’ll need to journey further into the series to get the truly fulfilling HEA.
B: What advice would you give to writers just starting out?
L: Don’t try to publish right away. Once you begin publishing you’ll be tempted to write what sells rather than the crazy story your deranged brain wants to tell, and then you’ll no longer stand out.
B: How did you deal with rejection letters? Any tips for unpublished writers?
To be honest, I haven’t gotten that many rejections. Saving Casey was accepted by the third publisher I sent it to. Ghost Lover was accepted by the first publisher I sent it to, and Worst Week Ever I chose to self publish so I could see how I liked that being in charge. However, to make it a fair comparison, I had to use one of best novels to test the waters.
B: What tools of the trade are must-haves for you?
L: I must have a reliable computer and internet service. Otherwise, I’m dead. I also need a comfy chair to write from, peace and quiet and no distractions. I also need TIME to be creative. (If someone knows the secret to stretching out time, please share.)
While I would in no way refer to them as ‘tools’ I also need my fellow authors. Their collective knowledge is better than wiki-pedia. Their support and assistance is downright astounding. I mean think about it. There are only a finite number of readers who are not authors. (maybe 42 of them) so writing could easily fall into survival mode where we sabotage
and bad mouth each other. But no. We chose to help one another and allow those 42 readers to work out for themselves what books they want to read. Honestly, in all the jobs I’ve worked, I’ve never had such helpful co-workers before.
and bad mouth each other. But no. We chose to help one another and allow those 42 readers to work out for themselves what books they want to read. Honestly, in all the jobs I’ve worked, I’ve never had such helpful co-workers before.
B: What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done to research a story?
L: I went through a phase were I did a great deal of crazy things so my characters would have exciting things to do.
This included: learned to fly a plane, skydive, hang-glide, scuba dive, ski, cross country ski, water-ski, sea kayak, white-water kayak, white-water rafting, take life endangering boating trips, helicopter death rides and white knuckle boating excursions, dived for great white sharks, almost became chum getting to the world’s largest shark cage, rafted over a 21 foot waterfall, did a week long raft down a class 4/5 river which was nothing compared to the step and dangerous climb out of the place when the trip was over.
B: Now for the fun questions. Let’s strip away the veil of invisibility. Do you have a day job alongside writing and will you tell us about it?
L: No, I quit my day job years ago so I could focus solely on writing. Before you ask, no, writing does not pay the bills. I only began publishing a year ago. I live the life of a starving author, living off my hard earned savings of past jobs. To me it’s worth it.
B: If you weren’t a writer, what career might you have chosen?
L: Either an artist, actress, or musician. I love the act of creating and clearly don’t mind starving.
You finally have an evening free to spend any way you want. Money is no object. Where do you go? What would you do?
L: I’d probably put the money in the bank and write more novels. There is nothing in life I enjoy more. It’s rather like an addiction.
B: You’ve been gifted (or cursed) with the ability to shift into another form by a witch. What kind of shifter are you? Why?
L: I would be a dog shifter where I could shift into any size or breed of dog I wanted. Then when my dog Jess and I go hiking, I could shift into the perfect size dog to take the trail, and when we meet other dogs, I could shift into whatever is needed to ensure Jess is well received by the other dog: a Labrador puppy for the nice dogs and a Rottweiler for the mean dogs.
Thanks so much for being my guest today! Anything else you’d like to share with my readers?
Liza laughs. Since you asked. My book, Worst Week Ever is coming out July 15th.
Worst Week Ever
by Liza O’Connor
New Adult, Humor, Contemporary
BLURB
What do you get when you put a hardworking, can-do middle-class young woman together with a egoistical, outrageous, billionaire boss, then throw in the worst week of disasters imaginable?
Book 1 of the 3 book series A Long Road to Love.
Worst Week Ever.
Trent Lancaster spends one month without his Executive Assistant, or as his drivers refers to Carrie: ‘Trent’s brain, left hand, and right hand’. He’s had a miserable month without her at his side and to ensure it never happens again, he intends to marr
y his brilliant beauty. Only given all the times he’s threatened to fire her, he’s not sure she even likes him. However, the future of his company and his happiness depend upon him succeeding, so Trent begins a slow one week seduction that happens to coincide with Carrie’s Worst Week Ever when everything that can go wrong does so in hilarious form.
y his brilliant beauty. Only given all the times he’s threatened to fire her, he’s not sure she even likes him. However, the future of his company and his happiness depend upon him succeeding, so Trent begins a slow one week seduction that happens to coincide with Carrie’s Worst Week Ever when everything that can go wrong does so in hilarious form.
(Hilarious to the reader–Carrie is not having much fun this week.)
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LIZA O’CONNOR
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