Blog Guest: Ann Summerville

I welcome author Ann Summerville to my blog. Here we are last summer at a writer event. Ann's new book, Trouble at the Manor, is the fourth in her Lowenna cozy mysteries, and she's ramping up a new series. Let's hear from this prolific author.

What are your current or upcoming works?
I’m currently working on a new series, Pecan Valley. Each book will be based on a quilt pattern. I thought it would be fun to introduce an older protagonist (retirement age). I think my readers will love the new characters.

Excerpt:

Grandmother’s Flower Garden

Bea peeked through the blinds in her kitchen. They were still there, both of them. Two feet clad in mud-covered brown boots protruding, uninvited, from beneath the vines of her sunshine yellow squash or was it a cucumber vine? She couldn’t tell from the window. Regardless of which vegetable patch these boots were invading, she had no doubt that the owner was lifeless. After all, who lies beneath vegetation in someone’s well tended garden in the middle of a Texas summer?

This wasn’t what Bea had anticipated when she told her friends she was starting a new life, moving from the hustle and bustle of the city, moving to the country and she said . . . . Bea paused for a moment, thinking of the words she had used.

“I’ll have a vegetable patch, grow raspberries. I’ll buy storage jars for the vegetables and make jam. Perhaps even pickles.”

But there in the middle of her prized squash . . . Bea lowered one of the blinds with her finger until it resembled a v-shape, scrunched her brow and considered looking for her glasses. No, the feet were definitely pointed toe up among the yellow flowered cucumbers.

What was she to do? The garden club tour was in less than a week and having yellow tape and crime scene people traipsing around just simply wouldn’t do. But regardless which vegetable from the cucumber family had been invaded, this was the second death in as many weeks and she began to reconsider her life changing decision.


Who is your favorite character in your books?

In the Lowenna Series, Rose is my favorite character. She is who she is. She doesn’t do anything to impress anyone, says how she feels and loves her friends dearly.

Any chance of a screenplay from your book? Who would you cast as your leading characters?

I have started writing a screenplay of A Graceful Death, but with such a busy schedule, I haven’t had time to delve deeper into this side of the writing industry.

Where can we buy your book? Advise any contact info.

All my books are available in print on Amazon.com or for e-readers at Amazon.com and Smashwords.com

My books are all listed on my Amazon author page

http://www.amazon.com/Ann-Summerville/e/B005CAPSOG/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_2?qid=1359981500&sr=8-2


Favorite tunes playing as you write?

I prefer quiet when I write. I find music distracting.

Are you consistent in genres of movies/books/TV or do you prefer a variety of entertainment choices?

I mostly like mysteries, and dramas (especially British ones). Of course Downton Abbey is a favorite. I also read mysteries, but I have joined more than one book club this year and that has helped me to read something a little different. I plan to find more biographies this year.

If you could go anywhere on a paid vacation or retreat to write, where would you choose?

Italy would be my first choice. I particularly like Venice, but then the Cornish coast in England would be another lovely retreat, especially as the Lowenna series is based there.

If you won the lottery, but had to give away half the winnings, where would you spread the joy?

Even if it wasn’t a requirement, I’d look into opening a no-kill shelter for animals and also expand our local crisis pregnancy center where I have volunteered for over 20 years.
Do you encounter writer's block? What do you do to get over it?

The only time I ever experience writer’s block is when I’m in a classroom setting and the teacher asks for something written in a few minutes. My mind seems to fly out the window. Otherwise, I never have problems writing. I’ve always got more than one project going on, so if I’m stuck with one project I go on to another one.

Thanks Ann for sharing your thoughts on writing, on your upcoming projects, and for joining Word Splash

Thank you Joanne for inviting me to be a guest on your amazing blog today.