The Porch Swing Chronicles: New on the Porch Swing: 5 Questions

Photo: Ashley Schweitzer via minimography.com

Sometimes, a confluence of factors inspires an idea. Last week, inspired by my friend Cerella Sechrist's Heartwarming blog, the generosity of the folks at ir-on-ic in downtown York and my own Christmas shopping dilemmas, I came up with the idea of once again featuring authors here on my blog. I've done this before, but it's been a while, and, like me, many of these friends have released new books since their last visit.

So today, I'm launching my 5 Questions feature. Between now and the end of the year, you can expect to see a few of these a week, and, if I still have author interest in January, you'll see them once a week. The faces and the titles will change, but the questions will be the same, giving you a chance to find out a little about the people behind the books.

That's my goal, in fact. Sure, I'll post book covers, but this feature is less about selling books and more about letting you get to know the people who write them.

Since being the author of the blog should come with some perks, I'm launching the feature with my answers to the five questions.

What have you written? I have four published books: two nonfiction and two novels. The nonfiction books (Acting Assertively and Diverse Divorce) both grew out of my teaching experiences. The novels (Casting the First Stone and Chasing a Second Chance) are connected by the same cast of characters, and, while I'll readily call Chasing a Second Chance the sequel to Casting the First Stone, I haven't yet decided if the Marita-Angel-Charli story is finished, or if it will continue.

What do you read? Since I started teaching at the college level, most of what I read is nonfiction, and connected to psychology in some way. I look forward to breaks when I have the opportunity to pick up a novel or two.

Why do you write? I have loved to write ever since Miss Lee introduced me to creative writing when I was in seventh grade. She was my first encourager.

Fun writing factoid (not technically a question, I know): The protagonist's best friend in the novel I'm getting ready to revise is reacting very badly to the fact that I need to change her name. Although she doesn't love the first name I gave her, she has, so far, refused to accept any other moniker. She's turning out to be even feistier than I thought she was.

One more thing: Authors are awesome. They're generous, talented, funny and a great support network for one another. That's why it's so fun to invite them to my blog.