FRIDAY STIR FRY - An Author Spotlight

Please help me welcome Michele Stegman to my blog today.

Don't you just love the cover of her new novel?

Blurb:

Her people conquered his country. How can they overcome the distrust they feel to find love? 

In 1067 England, Madeline, a Norman, wants a big, brash, never-defeated-in-battle, Norman knight. What she gets, by order of the king, is a wiry Saxon who once studied for the priesthood instead of warfare. But is this gentle man she is falling in love with entangled in the rebellion now sweeping the land?

Ranulf wants to marry the girl next door. What he gets, by order of the king, is a lush, strong Norman woman who just might be a spy reporting his every move. He wants her in every way a man can possibly want a woman. But can he trust his heart to a woman who might have been sent to root out the struggle for freedom his people are engaged in?

I love to interview authors and find out a little more about them. Here are some fun questions for my guest. 

Do you listen to music when you write and if so, what is your favorite playlist? 

I love music. I play piano for church. I go to the opera. But when I write, I turn off the music. Music, for me, is so full, there is so much going on in every measure, that it becomes a distraction. Now, for inspiration to write, that's another story! Classical music and some movie themes paint pictures in my head, and sometimes that leads to a story idea.

 What is your favorite food and what food would you never eat? 

I don't eat coconut, coffee, chocolate or liver. I just don't like them. I think coffee is the most disgusting tasting stuff! How can people drink it? I sometimes like a little mild milk chocolate, but not much. As for my favorite food, that's just about everything else. Seriously, I guess if I had to pick I would say bread. My husband and I both love good bread. I bake it myself two or three times a week. It seems that even if I have just brought home a big load of groceries, if we are out of bread, there's nothing to eat in the house. When I take loaves out of the oven, I often say to my husband, "There's food in the house!"

What is the best advice you've ever received about the writing process? 

I used to think I needed to wait for inspiration to write. Well, that helps, but getting the words down takes work. I like this quote from Pearl Buck: "I don't wait for mood. You accomplish nothing if you do that. Your mind must know it has got to get down to work."

 Tell us something interesting about yourself? 

I am a hand spinner and weaver. I enjoy taking raw fleeces just as they come from the sheep (shearing doesn't hurt the sheep), and preparing them for spinning, and then spinning the wool into yarn. I then weave the yarn into shawls or scarves, or I knit or crochet it into other garments.

Thanks so much for answering those questions, Michele. Now, enjoy an excerpt from Conquest of the Heart

 He let his gaze travel back to his bride walking stiffly, reluctantly, toward him. For once, Ranulf felt speech was beyond him. She was so much more than he had expected. So beautiful. So clean. She  glittered like a bright jewel in a dung heap. For Etherby, no matter how much he loved it, was not much better than one right now.

 If only he could say to this magnificent woman, "Go away. Come back in a year. Give me time to build the castle the king has ordered, tear down this rotting hall, teach cleanliness to servants to whom filth is a way of life. Then you won't have to grit your teeth and square our shoulders as if going into battle as you come to wed me." But it was already too late. She was here. The wedding was now. And he felt as randy as a billy goat.

He would begin building the king's castle immediately. The work would distract him from Lady Madeline's seductive lure. She would find no treason with which to fill the king's ears, and, like his mother's attitude toward his father, he was sure the lady would be glad not to have him in her bower, not the way he felt now, the things he wanted to do to her.

 I hope you enjoyed this visit with a talented author. Please check out her links below.

You can contact Michele on her website, www.MicheleStegman.com, or on her Facebook page, www.Facebook.com/MicheleStegmanAuthor.

Buy links for Conquest of the Heart

 Amazon:  http://amzn.to/1cVjVKN

Smashwords:  http://bit.ly/1JP7QFB

Bio:

Michele Stegman has always loved history and she lives it every day. She spins, weaves, makes her own soap and bread, and lives in a 175 year old log cabin with her husband, Ron, who is the basis for all her heroes.