Tuesday, November 4, 2014

Meet Wife/Husband Authors C.D. Hersh

Posted by Susan B James on 12:00:00 AM with 4 comments


Please tell us a little about yourself.
We are high school sweethearts who have been together for three times as long as we've been apart. During this time we've lived in several states and have had 16 different addresses. We like movies, traveling, antiquing, and, of course, writing love stories.

I love firsts, so tell me about the moment when you found you’d made your first sale.
Catherine got the “email” call while at the eye doctor. She’s sitting in the waiting room with dilated eyes, tromboning her cell phone so she can read the small print, when she sees the email from Soul Mate Publishing. She reads the email and squeals, startling the other patients. Then she blurts out “I’m a published author.” The eye doctor, his assistant, and about six other people knew before Donald did.
Love the phrase tromboning her cell phone. I do that a lot. What a great moment.

 How about the first time you kissed your true love?
This occurred right after Donald asked Catherine to go steady. We were sitting in his Chevy II convertible with red interior, at our favorite park.
Donald found me a picture of the Chevy. How awesome is that?

You are the first husband/wife writing partners I've ever interviewed. How does your writing process work?
We are pretty much plotters. We think you have to be when you are co-authors in order to keep on track. But we don’t discount the power of the muse in the process.
We lay out the story arc together for each book. Most of our plotting has been done in the car or at restaurants. Then we do a plot skeleton where we have scenes by character POV. Often times the scenes are out of order. Once we think we have enough scenes, Donald orders them into a chart, then gives the chart to Catherine. Catherine sits down and writes the first draft, which is often mostly dialogue. After each day’s work she gives the pages to Donald who edits them and gives them back. Each of us often has a surprise during the process mentioned since we have a tendency to let the muse lead us on occasion. Catherine will come in and say to Donald, “I don’t remember talking about this,” pointing to the scene chart. Donald often says “We didn’t plot this,” while reading the dailies. We have to mutually agree that anything the muse does works or it gets scrapped. This has sometimes required changing future scenes in the book or upcoming books in the series.
Once the first draft is finished we take it into Donald’s office, where we have a dual screen set up so we each can see what’s written. This is the point where we make sure the senses, tension, setting, dual plot lines and dual love stories, and the rest of the nuts and bolts of the writing craft is added to the story.
Then we read it again and again and again going over our weasel word list until we think it’s okay to send to the editor, or we run up against the deadline. We have been known to burn the midnight oil on first drafts and revisions. When Catherine hits the last hundred pages of the first draft, she will not stop writing. Throughout this process Donald has final say on all male POV and actions, Catherine the female.

When the edits come back, we are back in the office editing with the dual monitors where Donald has control of the key board, much to Catherine’s frustration since he cant (CAN’T with an apostrophe Catherine says!) spell and doesn’t always type what she wants.
That was fascinating. Thank you. I am one of the world's worst typists which slows my input tremendously.
What is your favorite pastime, other than writing?
Going to the movies. We’ve a standing date with our best friends every week to go to dinner and a movie. Best movie we’ve seen this year is The Hundred Foot Journey. It had a double love story, which is something we try to do in our books.

What’s your snack of choice while writing?
Nuts and water. No crumbs to get in keyboard or in Donald’s office.

Got a recipe you want to share?
You should really try roasted Brussel sprouts. Cut them in half, toss with some olive oil, salt, pepper and garlic powder. Place, cut side down, on a baking sheet that has been lightly oiled and bake at 375 degrees for about twenty minutes or until browned on the bottom. Even teenagers who say they hate Brussel sprouts will eat these.
My son, Chris makes them that way and I can bear witness to their wonderfulness.

Any advice for new writers just starting out?
Make sure your social media is in place and you know how to use the various aspects. Trying to learn social media after you sell your book gets quite hairy.

What genre or genres do you write?
We’re currently writing paranormal romance, but we have a couple of time travel/time slip romance books on the back burners.
Time travel? Yes!

Tell us about your latest release.
The second book in our Turning Stone Chronicles series, Blood Brothers, has just been released. It is a Paranormal Romance with suspense. Here is a blurb and excerpt for the book:

When Delaney Ramsey is enlisted to help train two of the most powerful shape shifters the Turning Stone Society has seen in thousands of years, she suspects one of them is responsible for the disappearance of her daughter. To complicate matters, the man has a secret that could destroy them all. Bound by honor to protect the suspect, Delaney must prove his guilt without losing her life to his terrible powers or revealing to the police captain she’s falling for that she’s a shape shifter with more than one agenda.

The minute Captain Williams lays eyes on Delaney Ramsey, he knows she’s trouble. Uncooperative, secretive, and sexy, he can’t get her out of his mind. When he discovers she has a personal agenda for sifting through all the criminal records in his precinct, and secretly investigating his best detective, he can’t let her out of his sight. He must find out what she’s looking for before she does something illegal. If she steps over the line, he’s not certain he can look the other way for the sake of love.

This excerpt from the book is where the hero and heroine meet for the first time:

Harry Williams paused at the entrance to Alexi’s ER room, hand hovering over the doorknob, uncertain when he heard the voices inside. Did she have company? He peeked in through a crack in the window curtain. The only people he recognized were Alexi and Rhys. He moved from the door, planning to return later.
“Captain,” Rhys called as he opened the door. “Come in.”
“I’m not intruding?”
“No. Alexi will be glad to see you.”
Harry stepped into the room. Going immediately to her bedside, he set the small vase of flowers he’d brought on the nightstand. “Didn’t know what kind you liked.”
Retrieving the vase, she held the flowers to her nose and inhaled. “These are gorgeous, Captain. Thank you.”
Tubes stuck into his favorite homicide detective’s arms. She seemed so helpless hooked to the equipment. Not at all like the fearless woman he knew. “You going to be okay?”
“I’ve got to stay in for a few days, but then I should be fine.”
He glared at Rhys. “How did you let her get mauled by a panther?”
“She ran in ahead of me ... like she always does.”
“Headstrong woman,” Harry said to Alexi.
“That’s what makes me so good,” she replied with a smile that lit her drawn face. Alexi directed his attention toward the older man. “This is Eli McCraigen, an old friend of Baron’s, and this,” she said, pointing to the woman, “is Delaney Ramsey. Our boss, Captain Harry Williams.”
Giving Eli a cursory nod, Harry then turned toward Delaney. A pair of turquoise eyes shown out of a china doll face, with the slightest hint of a middle age crease around her cupid bow mouth. A minute past before he found his voice. “Ms. Delaney, nice to meet you,” he said with a squeak. He hadn’t jumped octaves like that since his teenage acne cleared.
Smiling, her face lit. Amused, no doubt, by him. His gaze swept over her. She had a body a man could lose himself in. When she caught him enjoying the view, she blushed and returned the favor.
The once-over caused him to respond faster than he thought possible. A woman had not made him react like that in a long time. Women were a distraction. One he’d only dallied with occasionally since his wife left him. They all ran the minute they heard he was a career cop.

What’s your current WIP?
Our current work in process is the third book in the series entitled Son of The Moonless Night. We are working on first round edits for this book. When that’s done we’re on to book four of The Turning Stone Chronicles series.

And finally, where can we find you?
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AuthorCDHersh

Thank you so much for being here. Catherine and Donald are giving away an ebook copy The Promised One. which is the first in the series. I think you'll like Blood Brothers even more if you read the first one in the series So please enter to win. I read The Promised One and loved it. Currently devouring Blood Brothers. Thank you, Catherine and Donald, for dropping by.




a Rafflecopter giveaway

4 comments :

  1. Excellent interview! Enjoyed The Promised One and look forward to reading Blood Brothers. Best of luck with sales :)

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    1. Joanne - glad you enjoyed The Promised One. We think you will like Blood Brothers even more. Thanks for stopping by.

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  2. Loved the interview! Your co-writing process is inspiring. I write, and my husband has ambitions to write, but doing it together? Uh-uh! Pretty sure that would end in divorce for us.

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    1. Thanks Samanthe. We think our "what's said in the office, stays in the office" mentality is part of what helps our co-writing partnership from spilling over into the living room. Thanks for commenting. Don't forget to enter the Rafflecopter giveaway.

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