Awe-Struck / Mundania Press Authors Blog Tour - Jana Richards

 This Blog Tour is going so well - it's the first I've ever done and I hope it's not the last.

       Today, I'm so pleased to welcome Jana Richards, such a great writer. Here's her acclaimed "Till September" book on the Awe-Struck site.

    

 Sue: Welcome Jana. Tell us five things about yourself that most people on the internet don't know about you.

There are probably more than five things that people on the Internet don’t know about me! But I’ll try to keep it down to just five.

#1. I was born and raised on a farm in Western Canada. They call Saskatchewan “The Land of Living Skies” and nothing could be more true. The sky goes on forever on the prairies, capable of changing from a startling, cloudless blue to an angry, tumultuous grey in the blink of an eye. The land is so flat that, as the old joke says, you can watch your dog run away for three days. Our farm was fourteen miles from the small town where I went to school, so I spent many hours riding the school bus. It could be very isolating living so far from town with no close neighbors, and I left for the city as soon as I finished high school. I still have a love/hate relationship with rural life.

#2. I love horse racing! I know virtually nothing about the sport aside from the thrill I get when I see thoroughbreds thundering toward the finish line. What a rush! I’ve only had the opportunity to see live horse racing a couple of times, but even the Kentucky Derby on TV gets my heart pumping. I even like all the buildup before the race, and the talk of jockeys and trainers. In fact, sometimes hearing the horses’ histories is the best part. I have no interest in gambling on the ponies; I’m far too frugal (a.k.a cheap) for betting. There’s just something about the beauty of the horses and their athleticism that calls to me.

#3. I enjoy yoga. I will I never claim to be an athlete in any shape or form, but I can do a decent Downward Facing Dog, and my Warrior poses are pretty good, if I do say so myself. Some of the poses are challenging, but I do them to the best of my ability, and that’s good enough. Yoga that helps me to get in touch with my physical self as well as my spiritual self.

#4. I’ve been married to the same wonderful man for 33 years. And they said it wouldn’t last!

#5. I’ve had four full length novels and two novella lengths books published, with another novella coming out on November 30. Okay, that’s something anyone with an Internet connection could get from my website at http://www.janarichards.net But I’ll bet you didn’t know I almost gave up hope of ever being published, to the point that I nearly quit writing entirely. However, the desire to tell stories is very strong, and persists even when it seems that no one wants to hear them. I carried on and now I can tell you that writing is my life’s work. My goal is that each book I write is better than the one that came before.

Sue: Choose two characters from any of your books and tell us five things about them that might not be apparent from the books.

Hannah Kramer and Quinn Anderson appear in my Awe-Struck novel “Till September”. Here are five things about them that may not be apparent from the books:

#1. Hannah married her high school sweetheart at eighteen, and settled into the life of a farm wife. Although she and Peter had been close, she always felt a lack of passion in their marriage. Their marriage had also been missing a level of trust. Peter insisted on handling all the business of the farm, refusing to hear her ideas or even informing her when debt threatened to put them out of business. After Peter died, Hannah felt disloyal for even thinking of the faults in her marriage and in her husband. She pushed them to the back of her mind. Until Quinn came into her life and made her feel the passion she’d been missing all her life.

#2. The scene in the excerpt of “Till September” was inspired by own fear of heights. My husband was reshingling the roof of our house and I climbed up the ladder to bring him something. And then I found I couldn’t get down! This surprised me because I never used to be afraid of heights. As a kid I’d climb on the roof of the barn and up the haystacks without fear. Hannah eventually overcomes her fear, but I have to confess that I never have!

#3. Since he grew up without a father, Quinn fears that he would be a poor father-figure for Hannah’s son Ryan. But he loves the kid, and when it’s time for him to go, the pain of leaving Ryan hurts almost as much as the pain of losing Hannah.

#4. Quinn has a phobia about flying. He doesn’t know how it happened; he was never involved in any near-misses or accidents in a plane. His fear grew until one day when he was supposed to catch a flight, he couldn’t make himself get on the plane. So he now finds himself driving across the country.

#5. Hannah has a secret yearning to see more of the world than just her farm and her small community. But she feels disloyal for thinking about leaving, even temporarily. Quinn has seen much of the country, but longs for roots. Together, they can complete each other’s desires.

Sue, thank you for having me on your blog today and for all the thought-provoking questions!  

***

Check out the blurb for "Till September":

For the first time since her husband’s death, Hannah Kramer can imagine herself with another man.  But then she discovers the truth about Quinn Anderson’s reason for staying at the bed and breakfast at her farm.  He’s there to buy farmland from her cash-strapped friends and neighbors and resell it to foreign buyers.  How can she love a man bent on destroying the way of life she loves?  Will Quinn convince her that he wants to build her community, not destroy it?  Can he make her believe he loves her before time runs out in September?

***

Here's Jana's biography: 

Jana Richards has tried her hand at many writing projects over the years, from magazine articles and short stories to full-length paranormal suspense and romantic comedy.  She loves to create characters with a sense of humor, but also a serious side.  She believes there’s nothing more interesting then peeling back the layers of a character to see what makes them tick.

When not writing up a storm, working at her day job as an Office Administrator, or dealing with ever present mountains of laundry, Jana can be found on the local golf course pursuing her newest hobby.

Jana lives in Western Canada with her husband Warren, along with two university aged daughters and a highly spoiled Pug/Terrier cross named Lou. You can reach her through her website at http://www.janarichards.net

***

It's been great having Jana on Lauracea today. If you'd like to contact her, here are her links:

Buy link for "Till September" at Awe-Struck:  http://www.king-cart.com/cgi-bin/cart.cgi?store=Awe-Struck&cart_id=52781.13527&product=Till+September&return_page=&user-id=&password=&exchange=&exact_match=exact

Jana's blog:  http://janarichards.blogspot.com

Jana's website:  http://www.janarichards.net

The excerpt page on her website for “Till September”:  http://www.janarichards.net/ExcerptsreviewTill.html