About the Author:

Mysti Parker is a wife, mom, author, and shameless chocoholic. She is the author of the Tallenmere standalone fantasy romance series. Her other writings have appeared in the anthologies Hearts of Tomorrow, Christmas Lites, Christmas Lites II, The Darwin Murders, Tasteful Murders and EveryDayFiction.

Other writing pursuits include serving as a class mentor in Writers Village University’s seven week online course, F2K. She finished her first historical romance this spring and has one children’s book (Quentin’s Problem) soon to be published, with one more waiting for illustrations, and many more stewing in her head.

When she’s not writing fiction, Mysti works as a freelance editor and copywriter. She also reviews books for SQ Magazine, an online specfic publication, and is the proud owner of Unwritten, a blog voted #3 for eCollegeFinder’s Top Writing Blogs award. She resides in Buckner, KY with her husband and three children.

About the Book:

Interview:

We at Redpillows have had the pleasure of conversing with her about her life and writing. Here is what she has to say:

• What/who inspired you to start writing?

I’ll have to give credit to my grandmother, Kessie, who taught me to read when I was three. Ever since then, I’ve been fascinated with words.

• Tell us a little about yourself.

I’m a wife to my high school sweetheart, mom of three wonderful kids, and a writer. I am also a shameless chocoholic and have too many pets: 3 cats, 1 dog, 3 hamsters, 2 hermit crabs, and a big school of fish. Between pets and kids, it’s a wacky zoo around here.

• What is your favourite genre?

Romance!

• Which is your favourite book?

Too many to name, but Jane Eyre and The Hobbit were some of my earliest faves.

• Who is your favourite author?

Impossible questions!! Next…

• What are your hobbies?

Ah, there we go. Hobbies in the general sense I don’t really have, since writing is now more job than hobby. I do enjoy good chocolate, red wine, and ghosty shows on TV, like The Dead Files.

• Which would be your perfect holiday destination?

The Smoky Mountains—I love it there—especially walking the strip in Gatlinburg and hiking the trails in the park.

• Describe a perfect writing day.

Enough coffee, a cat in my lap, and a big chunk of story (or a whole short story) down on virtual paper!

• Which is the best part of writing a story?

Creating people, places, and situations that are a bit foggy in my imagination, but come to life in literary detail on the page. It’s rather like being a little god. Nowhere near as awesome as the Big Guy himself, but creating something out of nothing is a bit supernatural, isn’t it?

• How much inspiration do you draw on from real life experiences, with respect to plot, characters etc?

Most every story I write contains some aspect of real life experiences and memories. Never so much as my current release, The Roche Hotel. Many of the events and characters were inspired by my real-life experience working in a mid-priced hotel in Louisville, KY back in the late 90’s.

• Who among the characters you created do you like the most and why?

In my Tallenmere series, it would have to be Jayden Ravenwing. I’ve tortured that poor wood elf so much, yet he still keeps coming back for more. In The Roche Hotel, I’m quite fond of all the characters, but Jerry the maintenance man is probably the most fun to write. He’s big and hairy like a sasquatch and speaks kind of like Tarzan, but he’s also a computer whiz and a retired Army special ops guy. There are a lot of secrets yet to be found beneath all that facial hair.

• How much do you relate to the characters or incidents in your story?

In the case of Jane Seymour from The Roche Hotel, I’ve never been divorced, but I do relate to her adaptability to her less-than-ideal life. While adapting to her graveyard hotel shift, Jane cares for her ailing mother who has early stage dementia. My own mother had lung cancer, and I took care of her during those months before she died. My grandmother had Alzheimer’s and died when I was 14. So Jane’s mom is sort of a mix between those two important women in my life.

• What kind of impact do your stories have on you?

When I’m in the process of writing, my stories occupy a huge amount of head space. It’s really hard to concentrate on much else until I get the story written. Of course, that’s a bit hard to do when I have to keep three kids fed. I swear, every other day, it’s food, food, food. Just kidding. I feed them at least twice a week. Heehee.