It’s so wonderful to have Paisley Kirkpatrick here today!
Welcome Paisley.
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 write under a pseudo name. I chose to go this way for safety sake. I have several writer friends who are well known that gave me the advice to do so. Unfortunately there are people who can become addicted to you and start stalking. One of my author friends fought this problem for a long time, so I took her advice.
I think that’s wise. That’s also one of the reasons I use a pen name.
Tell, us, how long have you been writing?
I’ve been writing 24 years, but seriously since November 1999, when I joined Romance Writers of America and my land chapter Sacramento Valley Rose.
Place you absolutely want to visit before you die?
I would like to go anywhere in Scotland again. We spent 23 days driving in the Highlands and I left my heart in the country my Mother’s family migrated from. When I was on a boat on Loch Ness, the hair on my arms stood up and I started crying. I knew I’d come home. It was an unusual feeling, but so real.
Scotland is the top of my list too!
Why did you choose to write in this genre? Have you ever written any other genre? Do you plan on doing so in the future?
History is the genre I write in. It’s the one subject I enjoyed the most in school and the one genre I enjoy reading the most. You can’t make up stories better than actual events that happened, people who lived their lives then, and how things came to be. I suppose you can say I am not always happy with the way people live today. I am old enough to remember the kinder, gentler days of my childhood.
What historical figure do you wish you could have met?
Michelangelo. I have the movie of his life and find his story so fascinating, not only because he was so talented in so many ways, but because he had principle, rarely gave up, and did what he believed in. My mother painted in oils mostly so I was raised to appreciate art through her eyes.
Michelangelo! Oh, that would be wonderful!
Tell us one unusual, weird, or curious fact you discovered while researching this book.
When my Mother put together our genealogy, she discovered my great, great grandmother is the first woman to have stories published in a magazine. She was able to get copies of these from the California State Library. While I was writing this story, I happened to be looking through the genealogy books and found g, g grandma’s stories. The first one she wrote was about her life. She traveled from the east coast to San Francisco by ship to meet up with her husband-to-be. I was stunned when I read a scene in her story that was very similar to one I had written in this story of mine. Not only was the plot line almost the same, but there were two sentences verbatim to what I had written. Talk about freaking!! Not long after that we had a person speak about past lives at our Sacramento Valley Rose writer’s chapter. I asked her if I could have inherited some of my g, g grandmother’s memories. She told me it was possible, or maybe I had inherited her. Another fact: every time I read the last sentence in her story, I get emotional and cry. She was standing on the wharf in San Francisco waiting for her love. When she felt his hand on her shoulder, she knew she was home. WOW it still makes me tear up just writing those words.
That’s beautiful!
What are you most proud of about your writing?
I got published. J It took me 22 years and a lot of hard work learning the craft, but I got a five book contract offer on Christmas Eve, 2011.
There’s something so profoundly fulfilling about that first contract isn’t there?
Do you have a favorite quote?
When at first you do succeed, try to hide the astonishment.
LOL!
Okay, now for the quickie questions: Answer in three words or less. Ready? Go!
Favorite Disney Character? Little Mermaid
Favorite Fruit? Crisp apple
Favorite Hero? My Dad
Favorite Eye Color? Green
Best Vacation destination? Anywhere in Scotland
Food you can’t stand? Fried liver
What annoys you? Being ignored
Coffee, tea, or something else? Coffee
Nightgown or Jammies? Nightgown
Prefer dogs or cats? Dogs
A bit about Paisley
Drawing on family history and a healthy imagination, Paisley kicks off her wild ride on a dusty trail with Night Angel. Don’t worry your little heads, though. It’s the first of many adventures in a time when men were men, and women knew how to put them in their place. If you love your cowboys rugged with a sensitive side, and your heroines with enough fire to light up the western sky, you’ve got a home waiting in Paradise Pines. Just be sure to bring a six-shooter because the Lady Paisley aims for the heart, and when she fires, she never misses.
A poker game forces Marinda Benjamin’s life into a devious scheme of adventure and revenge. When Ethan Braddockdiscovers his brother’s poker pot cleaning his private office, he jumps to the right conclusion — she is reluctantly spying for his worst enemy. Drawn by her innocence, he finds her irresistible and soon offers to marry her. She crushes his dreams by informing him she will only marry when she find the forever after kind of love.
Marinda’s stubbornness dissolves when she discovers what she’s been looking for has been right in front of her all along and is then able to prove her worth when given the chance to right the wrongs done to her and her family by the corrupt man who almost ruined her life.
Enjoy an excerpt from Paradise Pines Series: Forever After
Fulton County, Illinois
August 1850
“I’ll bet this little lady against whatever you’ve got in your hand.”
A sudden hush filled the Hidey Hole Saloon. Humiliation scorched Marinda Benjamin’s cheeks. She grabbed the back of her employer’s chair to steady her quivering knees. Jonas Danforth had bet her, body and soul, in a card game.
Fancy women dressed in garish attire crowded around the poker table. Some stared at her with pity while a few sneered in obvious enjoyment of seeing another Benjamin sister fall from grace. She wracked her brain for a way of preventing the ridiculous bet, but what could she do? Danforth held the cards, but she was the master of her own fate.
“Stop! You can’t…”
Danforth whipped around. He arrogantly flicked his mustache.
She drew back out of his reach.
His brows knit into a malicious frown. “As long as I hold the loan on your house, you’ll do as I say. Is that clear?”
She wanted to run, but her stomach somersaulted. She held her head high. Jonas Danforth would never see the tears she fought. He’d broken her father’s spirit. He’d not break hers.
The town’s mischief maker sat across from Danforth. Patrick glanced her way. “She looks like she might be worth five twenty-dollar gold eagles and I could use a cleaning lady. I call your bet. Let’s see what ya got.”
The knot in her stomach tightened. Danforth placed three kings on the table — a heart, a diamond, a spade. He leaned back and twirled his waxed mustache around his pinky finger. The smirk he directed at her turned her cold.
A triumphant grin spread across the face of the arrogant, young cardsharp. “Not good enough.” Patrick tossed down three aces and two tens.
Most of the patrons in the whiskey-steeped room let out hoots and hollers, a few applauded Patrick. The piano player’s fingers danced over the keys with a lively tune while saloon girls went back to tempting customers.
Danforth pushed away from the table and stood. His narrowed gaze shifted and he focused on her face. “Go with Braddock. You work for him now.”
Stunned at the turn of events, she felt giddy. “No!”
He shot her a warning glance. “Watch your tongue, girlie, or you’ll find yourself in more trouble than you can handle.”
Marinda’s mind raced in circles as the full significance of the last few minutes swept over her. Inwardly she fumed, but wasn’t sure what to do about his comment. Since Danforth never made idle threats, he had definitely captured and held her attention. When the banker offered her the job as his bookkeeper six months ago, she’d been so grateful. What a fool she had been to accept, but she needed a job to support her ailing mother and no one else would hire her. She quickly learned how far Danforth’s power reached. Whatever troubled the man, he’d decided to take his cruelty out on her today. “What do you expect from me?”
Here’s how you can contact Paisley:
Thanks again, Paisley, for joining me here today.
Buy links
Desert Breeze
