Today I’m thrilled to have Anna Brentwood, author of The Songbird With Sapphire Eyes, with me in the Blue Rose Writing Room.
So, Anna, tell us, do you use a pen name/pseudo name? If so, why. If not, why did you decide to write under your own name?
I do use a pen name because I already had a personal internet footprint and I wanted to add a layer of privacy to separate my personal life from my professional one.
Those are two of the reason I have a pen name too. How long have you been writing?
Really, since childhood I dabbled with it, but I began writing seriously sixteen years ago.
Wow, sixteen years ago. I’ve only been at it for two years. What’s one thing you absolutely can’t tolerate during your writing? One thing you can’t write without?
I cannot tolerate interruptions that I cannot ignore like direct conversations or people showing up unexpected that jolt me back into reality. I can’t write without my computer anymore.
My hubby doesn’t understand he can’t try to talk to me when I’m writing either. What’s the funniest thing anyone has ever said to you about your writing? Or the unkindest? Or the oddest?
The funniest – when someone could not believe that knowing me, a city girl from West Philly had written so realistically about a girl growing up in rural Kansas with a bible thumping mama. The unkindest was from a reviewer who not only skewed the book, but her critique was filled with inaccuracies and lies about the story. While we all hope for good reviews and want people to love what we do, we know that it won’t be great for everyone, however as a reader myself, and now a writer, knowing how much hard work goes into every book, I personally believe that if you have nothing nice to say, don’t say anything at all and/or if you must say something, be constructive. You’ve got to wonder about people who go out of their way to just say something mean.
Tell us one unusual, weird, or curious fact you discovered while researching this book.
I dreamt most of the story (The Songbird With Sapphire Eyes) so when I actually began writing and researching it, I thought it both weird and curious that so much of what I had dreamed was actually factual and true. Especially when it came to places that I had never seen or knew about and some of the things that were happening at that time.
Fascinating! I’ve heard of other authors dreaming of their unwritten books too. What are you most proud of about your writing?
I am proud that I persevered through the roller coaster ride that writing and wanting to be published is to live to see my goal and dream of publishing a book, (especially this book) realized and when people read it, love or like it and then take the time to leave a review or tell me.
I know you touched on this topic above, but can you explain how do you respond to negative reviews?
Cringe, cry, rant and rave and then I cast an evil spell on the person—only kidding! I don’t like a negative review–who does? But, I do consider what they are saying and then I take the high road by reminding myself that this is why there is chocolate and vanilla and that we don’t all have to like the same things.
So true. I use the mushroom and peas analogy. I loathe them. Hubby loves them, and yest I still kiss him; only after he’s brushed his teeth of course. Anna, what’s one new thing you’d like to try?
It runs the gamut. I’d love to “try” the fabulous experience of having my book optioned as a movie someday or winning a giant lottery so I can help the people and things I care about most, but mostly I keep trying to be the best person I can be to my family and friends and co-workers and still find the time to keep writing.
Okay, now for the quickie questions: Answer in three words or less. Ready? Go!
Favorite Disney Character? Belle/Beauty and the Beast
Favorite Fruit? Watermelon.
Favorite Hero? Jamie Fraser (Outlander Series); Barrons ( DreamFever Series)
Favorite Eye Color? Blue.
Best Vacation destination? Hawaii or Europe .
Food you can’t stand? Liver.
What annoys you? Stupidity or people who make the same mistake over & over.
Coffee, tea, or something else? Coffee.
Nightgown or Jammies? Oversized T.
Prefer dogs or cats? Dogs, but like cats too.
Some tidbits about Anna Brentwood
Anna is inspired to write about interesting characters whose lives take them on journeys we can all enjoy and perhaps learn something meaningful from. She is busy working on a
sequel to ‘The Songbird With Sapphire Eyes’ which will take readers on a journey through the 1940’s with Johnny and Hannah’s son, wartime hero, playboy and New York mobster, Anthony Gallo.A wife, mother and grandmother of two, Anna lives in a log home on 45 wooded acres on Oregon’s coast range with her former Navy-Seal husband and a menagerie of animals that include one pug, one cat, one horse, two wolf-hybrids, a red-tailed hawk named Lucky and a feisty but lovable African grey parrot named Warlock
Here’s The blurb about The Songbird With Sapphire Eyes:
Speakeasies. Gangsters. Flappers.
In 1918,Kansas City is Sin City
In 1918,
The early 20’s roared. Fortunes were made or lost in a single night, and criminals mingled with kings. Neither the government nor Prohibition could stop the flow of alcohol or the lure of the “good life.” Handsome rum runner Johnny Gallo is part of New York
Hannah goes with Johnny to Al Capone’s Chicago and eventually to Brooklyn , New York
She faces the dark side of her dreams but dares to defy Johnny despite the dangers and unwittingly discovers that for her, dying just might be the only true path to freedom after all.
Enjoy an excerpt from The Songbird With Sapphire Eyes
PROLOGUE:
Hannah Speaks
Hannah Speaks
Surely life should consist of more than work and endless acres of dust and dirt? What’s wrong with wantin’ to know things, to experience more than getting up every morning with a long list of chores to do and only farm animals for company? I was an unruly child, lonely, energetic and fanciful beyond measure. Emalith, my Mama seemed to care more about farming then anything else. She covered her wiry body in shapeless garments of washed out gingham, while I yearned to have pretty things, which she believed to be vain and sinful. If vanity was a sin, it was just the beginning of the many sins I would commit. Labor defined our lives. Depending on the season, Mondays were washday, Tuesdays ironin’, Wednesdays mendin’ and we did odd chores on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. If hired help was scarce, we tended to the horses, cattle, sheep and pigs too. On Sundays we went to church.
Mama truly believed hard work was the path to heaven. I wondered whether her Heaven was worth aspiring to. I envied the birds bein’ able to fly, the colorful flowers; daisies, asters and primrose for their beauty, wishin’ and wantin’ things I was told I wasn’t meant to have or be. According to my Mama, a body had to accept things the way they were and to stop askin’ questions. Problem was, I couldn’t stop. Often, by summer’s end, when the flowers were dying and the bees flying erratically, living fast and furious to make up for their lack of time, I felt like they were the only ones understood exactly how I was feelin’, like time was runnin’ out and we had to hurry up and live before it might all be over. I worried somethin’ awful I’d be sucked dry, brittle and hollow like the wheat stems lying in the field after harvest. I didn’t want to be left with nothin’ but regrets and tough work hardened hands like my mother, whose once remarkably smooth skin was dry and parched as an old wagon road. I wanted things, things I suspected existed yet I didn’t know where. And, I burned for freedoms I had yet to feel, for something different, for change, for pleasures yet to be. I learned too late perhaps that wantin’ lots of nice things is its’ own kind of trap and true freedom comes from letting go, not from holdin’ on and from acceptance and forgiveness but that’s gettin’ ahead of myself here.
Folks say I was pretty as an angel. I was no angel, but was it so bad to listen to my heart, to want, need and dream? In the telling of my story some might judge me harshly, think I got my due. Times I was greedy, impulsive and a willing partner in my own corruption, yet even now I don’t regret my choices, for they were mine and felt right at that time. Still do considerin’. So why talk now? Because I need you to know that every life whether lived well, foolishly, or barely has a clear-cut purpose to it. That it’s better to live life true to oneself than to just exist to be safe or comfortable.
Tragedies befall us. We don’t always grasp the need for hardship, pain, or suffering while we’re livin’, but it’s okay, all part of the BIG plan. And, I have learned from life and death that there is a plan. That there are unlimited beginnings, infinite, sad or happy endings. But, most importantly, never endings. My name is Hannah and this is my story
Here’s how you can contact Anna Brentwood
Facebook.com/annabrentwood & please “Like” at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Anna-Brentwood/447346295303805?ref=hl
Twitter @annabrentwood
Thank you again for joining me today, Anna.
