Good Morning, Booklovers!
I’m on my second cup of coffee and ready for book talk with today’s guest author. Please settle in and join me in welcoming Cheryl St. John with her featured romance, Dancing in the Dark.
So nice to meet you, Cheryl. How do you take your coffee?
CSJ: Hi, Ally. Thank you for having me. I gave up caffeine over twenty years ago, so I drink my coffee decaffeinated with a pinch of Truvia, never milk or cream. If I’m feeling needy, I add a spoonful of hot chocolate mix. I also love hot or cold tea.
Ally: Since this is a special occasion, I’ll add that little bit of chocolate. While I prepare our drinks, please introduce yourself.
I’m on my second cup of coffee and ready for book talk with today’s guest author. Please settle in and join me in welcoming Cheryl St. John with her featured romance, Dancing in the Dark.
So nice to meet you, Cheryl. How do you take your coffee?
CSJ: Hi, Ally. Thank you for having me. I gave up caffeine over twenty years ago, so I drink my coffee decaffeinated with a pinch of Truvia, never milk or cream. If I’m feeling needy, I add a spoonful of hot chocolate mix. I also love hot or cold tea.
Ally: Since this is a special occasion, I’ll add that little bit of chocolate. While I prepare our drinks, please introduce yourself.
Bio:
Cheryl St. John is the author of more than fifty historical and contemporary romances. Her stories have earned numerous awards and are published in over a dozen languages. In describing her stories of second chances and redemption, readers and reviewers use words like, “emotional punch, hometown feel, core values, believable characters and real-life situations.” Her bestselling non-fiction books, Writing With Emotion, Tension & Conflict and Write Smart, Write Happy by Writers Digest Books are available in print and digital.
Ally: Something unique/personal that isn't in your regular bio: “I'm a bargain hunter with the heart of a hoarder trying to live as a minimalist. The struggle is real.”
Author Contacts:
Email: SaintJohn@aol.com
Amazon author page: https://tinyurl.com/y6js92y8
Website: http://www.cherylstjohn.net/
BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/cheryl-st-john
Facebook author page: https://www.facebook.com/CherylStJ
Twitter: https://twitter.com/_CherylStJohn_
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cherylstjohn/
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/cheryl_stjohn/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/24516.Cheryl_St_John
NEWSLETTER SIGN UP: http://eepurl.com/bqCji9
Aspen Gold Newsletter: https://www.subscribepage.com/n9n7p3
Cheryl St. John is the author of more than fifty historical and contemporary romances. Her stories have earned numerous awards and are published in over a dozen languages. In describing her stories of second chances and redemption, readers and reviewers use words like, “emotional punch, hometown feel, core values, believable characters and real-life situations.” Her bestselling non-fiction books, Writing With Emotion, Tension & Conflict and Write Smart, Write Happy by Writers Digest Books are available in print and digital.
Ally: Something unique/personal that isn't in your regular bio: “I'm a bargain hunter with the heart of a hoarder trying to live as a minimalist. The struggle is real.”
Author Contacts:
Email: SaintJohn@aol.com
Amazon author page: https://tinyurl.com/y6js92y8
Website: http://www.cherylstjohn.net/
BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/cheryl-st-john
Facebook author page: https://www.facebook.com/CherylStJ
Twitter: https://twitter.com/_CherylStJohn_
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cherylstjohn/
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/cheryl_stjohn/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/24516.Cheryl_St_John
NEWSLETTER SIGN UP: http://eepurl.com/bqCji9
Aspen Gold Newsletter: https://www.subscribepage.com/n9n7p3
INTERVIEW:
Ally: Why did you write today’s featured book?
CSJ: I wrote western historicals under contact for Harlequin Historical and Love Inspired Historical (with a few contemporaries mingled in) for twenty-five years, and I was depleted. When my contracts were fulfilled, I took a year and a half away from writing to care for a newborn grandchild and fill the creative well. The break did wonders for me, and I promised myself that from then on out I would only write books I loved. Dancing in the Dark was the first book I had loved writing in a long time. I have four more brothers to write about. Of course, the Ed Sheeran song prompted the title.
Ally: When did you first know you wanted to be a writer? What influenced that decision?
CSJ: As a child, I wrote stories and drew covers for little books I stapled together. Books were my companions, and I had a desire to make others feel the way I felt when I lost myself in a story.
Ally: What’s the most meaningful thing a fan has said about your book?
CSJ: Nothing is as rewarding as when a reader tells me one of my stories got them through a difficult time in their life. I wrote a story, Saint or Sinner, about a girl who is coerced and abused by her father. In the days when mail came to the post office box, I drove over once a week. I’d be so excited to read my mail that I had a letter opener in the console. I vividly remember sitting in my car with tears running down my face. A reader told me her step-father had beaten her, and she had permanent nerve damage in her arm, as well as other physical and emotional injuries. She said my story gave her hope that someone would love her as much as Joshua loved Addie. Nothing has ever affected me as deeply as those words. If I give hope to one person, I am fulfilled as a writer.
Ally: Tell us about your reading habits. Favorite genres. Books read per month, year? Print or ebooks? Current favorites?
CSJ: I’m a die-hard Louis L’Amour fan, so I adore westerns and Americana. I tend to go through genres, however. Medieval one season, true crime the next, then biographies or a contemporary series. Marriage of convenience is my favorite trope, and I also like a character pretending to be someone they’re not.
Ally: What is your favorite social media? Why?
CSJ: I prefer Facebook because of the ability to select who and what shows up on my timeline. I love to interact with readers and friends, but I don’t tolerate rudeness, crudeness or people on their political soapboxes, so I unfollow or unfriend those posters in a heartbeat. I love the ability to get thirty opinions on a character name or a plot point within an hour or so. I am in too many groups, but I enjoy Instant Pot recipes, furniture painting projects, seeing farmhouse decorating and marveling over what people have recently crocheted.
Ally: Do you write on a desktop, laptop or on paper? Why? Does it make a difference whether it’s a first or last draft?
CSJ: Sitting at my desk is like flipping a switch that turns on the words. I have a huge backlit keyboard, and my last one actually lasted five years—that’s a record. I do my plotting and character creating on paper, keep all of my research, character grids, notes in a three-ring binder that lies open beside me throughout writing the book. I’m a chronological writer, and I’m also a self-editor, so my first draft is pretty much my last draft. When I sit down to write, I read back over what I wrote the day before and tweak it. About half way through the book, I finally divide it into chapters (I don’t know why I do it that way, but it works for me) and read through the book, editing, then move forward to the end. When I’m finished, I do a read-through and it’s final. My excellent proof-reader friend finds my errors, and I’m good to go.
Ally: Why did you write today’s featured book?
CSJ: I wrote western historicals under contact for Harlequin Historical and Love Inspired Historical (with a few contemporaries mingled in) for twenty-five years, and I was depleted. When my contracts were fulfilled, I took a year and a half away from writing to care for a newborn grandchild and fill the creative well. The break did wonders for me, and I promised myself that from then on out I would only write books I loved. Dancing in the Dark was the first book I had loved writing in a long time. I have four more brothers to write about. Of course, the Ed Sheeran song prompted the title.
Ally: When did you first know you wanted to be a writer? What influenced that decision?
CSJ: As a child, I wrote stories and drew covers for little books I stapled together. Books were my companions, and I had a desire to make others feel the way I felt when I lost myself in a story.
Ally: What’s the most meaningful thing a fan has said about your book?
CSJ: Nothing is as rewarding as when a reader tells me one of my stories got them through a difficult time in their life. I wrote a story, Saint or Sinner, about a girl who is coerced and abused by her father. In the days when mail came to the post office box, I drove over once a week. I’d be so excited to read my mail that I had a letter opener in the console. I vividly remember sitting in my car with tears running down my face. A reader told me her step-father had beaten her, and she had permanent nerve damage in her arm, as well as other physical and emotional injuries. She said my story gave her hope that someone would love her as much as Joshua loved Addie. Nothing has ever affected me as deeply as those words. If I give hope to one person, I am fulfilled as a writer.
Ally: Tell us about your reading habits. Favorite genres. Books read per month, year? Print or ebooks? Current favorites?
CSJ: I’m a die-hard Louis L’Amour fan, so I adore westerns and Americana. I tend to go through genres, however. Medieval one season, true crime the next, then biographies or a contemporary series. Marriage of convenience is my favorite trope, and I also like a character pretending to be someone they’re not.
Ally: What is your favorite social media? Why?
CSJ: I prefer Facebook because of the ability to select who and what shows up on my timeline. I love to interact with readers and friends, but I don’t tolerate rudeness, crudeness or people on their political soapboxes, so I unfollow or unfriend those posters in a heartbeat. I love the ability to get thirty opinions on a character name or a plot point within an hour or so. I am in too many groups, but I enjoy Instant Pot recipes, furniture painting projects, seeing farmhouse decorating and marveling over what people have recently crocheted.
Ally: Do you write on a desktop, laptop or on paper? Why? Does it make a difference whether it’s a first or last draft?
CSJ: Sitting at my desk is like flipping a switch that turns on the words. I have a huge backlit keyboard, and my last one actually lasted five years—that’s a record. I do my plotting and character creating on paper, keep all of my research, character grids, notes in a three-ring binder that lies open beside me throughout writing the book. I’m a chronological writer, and I’m also a self-editor, so my first draft is pretty much my last draft. When I sit down to write, I read back over what I wrote the day before and tweak it. About half way through the book, I finally divide it into chapters (I don’t know why I do it that way, but it works for me) and read through the book, editing, then move forward to the end. When I’m finished, I do a read-through and it’s final. My excellent proof-reader friend finds my errors, and I’m good to go.
Ally: What is your next writing project? Anticipated release date?
CSJ: Tanner, a sweet western, part of the Bachelors & Babies series, will be a July 1 release.
Whisper My Name, my next book in the Aspen Gold Series, will be a September release. The story features another of the Cavanaugh brothers introduced in Dancing in the Dark.
Ally: Which of the short answer questions did you choose?
CSJ:
Ally: What is your next writing project? Anticipated release date?
CSJ: Tanner, a sweet western, part of the Bachelors & Babies series, will be a July 1 release.
Whisper My Name, my next book in the Aspen Gold Series, will be a September release. The story features another of the Cavanaugh brothers introduced in Dancing in the Dark.
Ally: Which of the short answer questions did you choose?
CSJ:
- Most watched tv show - Don’t throw rocks. The Walking Dead and Fear the Walking Dead are my favorite television series. People tend to assume it’s a “zombie” show. Yes for sure, there are a lot of walking dead, but the series is not about them—they are external conflict. The entwined stories are about ordinary people surviving in the worst possible circumstances. It’s all about relationships, about life or death decisions, moral decisions—it’s about internal conflict and personal conflicts.
- Favorite accessory (jewelry, scarves, shoes, etc.) - I love vintage jewelry and own way too much. I never take off the ring my husband gave me when we were dating, my great-grandmother’s wedding ring or my dad’s wedding ring.
- Pie or cake? What kind? - I love cake. I love to bake cake. Chocolate cake is my favorite. I wrote and published All About the Bundt®, a collection of Bundt® cake recipes. I have a two-foot high stack of Nordicware Bundt® pans.
- If you couldn't write anymore, what would you want to do? - I would clean my house a lot more often. I’d actually crochet and complete all the unfinished or planned craft projects.
- Favorite holiday song - O Holy Night. My grandmother used to sing it as a solo in church.
- A little-known fact about you - I’m the worship leader at a non-denominational full-gospel church.
Dancing in the Dark
Genre: sweet, contemporary romance
Rating: PG
He’d had his own baby. Without her.
Dusty Cavanaugh has loved Kendra Price since she walked into the school cafeteria and captured a dozen boyish hearts with the sweep of her stormy gray-green gaze and the lift of her chin. College, marriage, and children had been the plan. But then Dusty made a mistake.
Kendra Price had never wanted to be rich, but she’d wanted to be comfortable, which she was. She’d never wanted to be famous, but to live her passion to the fullest and dance, which she did. She’d wanted to marry Dusty, have babies and live happily ever after. It would never happen.
She'd wanted to dance, get married and have babies...all she had left was dance.
He had everything a man could want--except her forgiveness...
There had been no road map for life apart. Will love be enough to guide them back?
Buy Links (and KU):
Dancing in the Dark: https://books2read.com/u/4XZxe9
Amazon: https://books2read.com/dancinginthedark-aspengold
Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dancing-in-the-dark-cheryl-st-john/1133927035;jsessionid=17286EB2BD8E3E390E0966D2D2A470FB.prodny_store02-atgap01?
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