Interview with Shanon Grey

I live in the very magical “low” mountains of Northern Georgia. Not too high up to get a nose bleed, but just enough to make for some great rolling pastures, fields, and forests. Having come out of Hurricane Katrina with pretty much what was on our backs, we relocated to Georgia. All my work, everything that wasn’t in my head, disappeared. Luckily, Georgia proved to be inspirational and the Gatekeeper Series poured right out of me. I discovered that the imagination is fairly disaster-proof.

No. At age seven, I wanted to me a Faerie Princess. By ten, it was the female version of “The Phantom,” by twelve it was an airline stewardess, and by fifteen, it was a world-renowned cancer researcher. I came closest to the last when I took premed in college. It was there that I started writing, mostly journal articles. I stayed with technical writing most of my life, sneaking in fiction in the late night quiet hours when no one was up.

Coffee. Lots and lots of coffee. Then Splenda Diet Coke. Everything thing else is arbitrary. My family is very, very supportive. Fortunately for them, my son is a fabulous cook and makes sure we all eat sometime during the day. I have an incredibly inspiring office (which my husband and son created for me) and I spend a great deal of my waking hours in there, our dog nearby (in case I drop some tasty cookie crumb). I never seem to have any trouble with writer’s block—again, that overactive imagination to the rescue—so I am pretty much ensconced in one story or another from morning until the wee hours.

The most challenging part of writing is patience. There’s always something someone needs that has nothing to do with putting my story on paper. Bookkeeping, marketing, filing—the administrative end of having a business. I wish I were rich and could have a “team.” Alas, I am not, so the drudgework is still mine. I wonder if I’d ever give up the control anyway.

The most rewarding part of writing is when a reader sends me an email or posts a comment telling me they love my work. Writing is hard at best. We put ourselves out there every time we put words down. To get a positive word or review (we love positive reviews, as well) makes our day, our week, month…. I was stopped one day in Barnes & Noble and was asked to sign my book. I floated around for hours. Having readers like that is the most rewarding thing in the world.

The Shoppe of Spells is the first in the Gatekeepers Series. It isn’t a series per se, since all the books actually “stand-alone.” They do, however, center around the quaint small southern town of Ruthorford, GA and the special inhabitants or “descendants” from that town. In The Shoppe of Spells, Morgan Briscoe’s relatively normal life is turned on its ear when she learns not only that she is adopted, but her birth parents are dead and she now holds half-interest in a business with their ward, Dorian Drake, who, despite his riveting good looks, can barely conceal his hostility toward his new partner. Morgan discovers that she is more than she seems and together she and Dorian have the ability to control a portal to another dimension. Unable to contain their growing attraction, Morgan and Dorian dance around their desires and her burgeoning abilities, until danger forces them to face their destiny.

I had been driving around the area and stopped at Barnes & Noble for a coffee and scone. Standing in line, the story came to me. It was the longest wait of my life. I grabbed my order, found a table, pulled the scone out of the bag and started making notes on the bag. I have since framed the bag. I have learned when an idea hits, write SOMETHING down. Anything. You’d think I’d learn to carry a notepad around with me. Nope. I’m still writing down ideas on whatever happens to be in my purse at the time. Oh, and ideas never come at convenient times.

7. Can you share with us your current work in progress?

Meadow’s Keep is due out late spring or early summer. It is Jasmine Monroe’s story. She is introduced in The Shoppe of Spells. Here’s the teaser:

 Jasmine Monroe once felt like damaged goods. But, not anymore. Her latent abilities, although appearing too late to save her from a brutal attack, will keep her safe from anyone ever hurting her again. She’s made sure of that. Secure in that fact, she’s moved on. Until she meets her first love’s doppelganger.

Eryk Vreeland, a misfit and embarrassment to his upper-class/upper-crust family, is a magician. His shows are renowned, his contributions to charity astronomical, his illusions precise. Except, not everything is an illusion. Sometimes there is real magic.

Jasmine stumbles upon a secret that will change Eryk’s life forever, and in doing so, she must face her own destiny as well. When Jasmine and Eryk are forced together to rescue and protect a young woman, each must overcome the barrier that protects, yet hinders any personal attachments. The safeguards must come down to combine their abilities and, when that happens, their attraction strengthens—beyond their control—until they can barely tell where one person stops and the other begins.

Can their hearts take the toll? Will they surrender to one another or risk a disaster to stay apart?

That’s not fair. I have so many. After a day of writing, I can’t go to sleep without being transported away into another author’s world. I tend to read genres and definitely many subgenres of romance. At the moment, I am reading Nora Roberts, Sharon Sala, Ted Dekker, and Sherrilyn Kenyon. Did I mention that I am always reading more than one book at a time? My husband is constantly warning me that someday my bedside table will give up the ghost and crumble from the weight of all the books.

Unfortunately, no. I admire so many authors’ styles and, since I am still developing mine, I don’t want to embarrass those great writers by implying my style is anywhere near as good as theirs. My writing is definitely character driven, so my style varies by the characters that are in charge at the moment. I enjoy that. It keeps things fresh.

In about a week, Susan Mallery’s new book, Barefoot Season, comes out. I also want to read The Help, which I haven’t yet.

I want to thank you for having me. There are many authors out there and you give readers a chance to get to know us a little better. I also wanted to thank you for reviewing The Shoppe of Spells on March 11, 2012 (click here to read review) . It is always wonderful to have a reviewer recommend your book.