Books-n-Kisses is pleased to welcome Gretchen Archer to the blog for her 1st visit.

Gretchen, can you please share with us a little about yourself

I’m a Tennessee housewife with two grown daughters and one not-so-grown son. I live on a mountain with two huge tourists attractions. I’m constantly giving directions to people from Kansas who don’t understand a word I say

Have you always wanted to be an author?

Not always. I entered and won a national essay contest and that planted the seed. I couldn’t believe something I’d written had risen to the top of the pile. (Looking back, I may have been the only entry.) Just to give credit where credit is due, the topic was The Stinkiest Pet in America (I won a year’s supply of dog deodorizer and my essay was printed in a since-long-gone Doggie magazine), so it could be that it wasn’t my brilliant prose. It could be that my dog really smelled that bad.

Can you share with us your typical writing day.  Is there anything you have to have while writing?

My typical writing day stuns people. I get up at three, yes, three, in the morning, stumble to the coffee pot, and write for as long as I can. Usually three or four hours. I do it for a number of reasons including insomnia, the phone doesn’t ring, my family doesn’t need me at that hour, there’s no one online to distract me (you know who you are), and I can get more done during those hours than twice that many daylight hours. There are simply no distractions at that time of…night. I go back to work for thirty or forty minutes in the afternoon, after everything’s cooled off, to edit what I wrote that morning. A word of warning about my writing schedule: You will not be much fun or have much fun after eight in the evening if you go to work at three in the morning. Productive? Yes. Form thoughts and translate them into human communication past eight? No. Jimmy Fallon Who?

Most challenging or rewarding part of writing?

Most rewarding? It’s a tie between the actual writing process and the people. I write humorous mysteries, so for the most part, I thoroughly entertain myself at work. And then there are the people. Before I made the jump from banging away in solitude to published, I worked completely alone. I had no coworkers. Now, I work with the greatest group of people, from everywhere, states I can’t point out on a map. (I find all the M states to be confusing.) (I think we should change a few of them.) Writing is fun and makes your world larger.

Can you please tell us about your latest book?

DOUBLE WHAMMY, Henery Press, May, 2013, as I write, is days from release. Here’s the elevator pitch: Davis Way hits the jackpot when she lands a job at the fabulous Bellissimo Resort and Casino, but only if she can steer clear of her ex-ex husband, her evil twin, and pesky felony indictments

How did you come with the idea for this story?

I didn’t grow up around gambling at all. My father was, still is, a Baptist preacher. (Amen.) My husband, who has led me astray in so many ways, introduced me to casinos. Casino gambling, slot machines in particular, are such a draw. I wanted a main character in a casino setting who didn’t know anything about casinos or gambling. I was motivated by the potential audience, too: Gamblers spent 35 billion in US casinos last year.

Can you share with us your current work in progress?

I just turned in DOUBLE DIP, Henery Press, January, 2014, and it goes like this: Davis Way’s beginner’s luck may have run out. Her professional life is dicey and she’s on a losing streak at home. She can’t find her gun, her evil twin’s personal assistant has disappeared, Bellissimo’s Master of Ceremonies won’t leave her alone, and her boyfriend Bradley Cole thinks three’s a crowd. Meanwhile, she’s following a slot tournament trail that leads to Beehive, Alabama, where the So Help Me God Pentecostal Church is swallowing up Bellissimo’s high rollers. The worst? Davis doesn’t feel so hot. It could be the banana pudding, but it might be the pending pitter patter of little feet. DOUBLE DIP is a reckless ride in the fast lane, and Davis Way can’t find the brakes.

Who are some of your favorite authors?

Carolyn Keene. Carl Hiaasen. Richard Castle. Janet Evanovich. Michael Lee West. John Grisham. Pat Conroy. Lawrence Sanders. Nelson DeMille.

Do you feel that any of your favorite authors have inspired your writing style? 

Everything I’ve ever read—the side panel of the Frosted Flakes box, WAR AND PEACE—has inspired my writing. I love the written word. As far as specific inspiration, I’d say the writers I don’t connect with influence my work more than writers whose work I love. Lost in a great story, I’m not looking at setting, style, narration, dialogue, plot, timing. It all comes together so well, the technical aspects don’t register. It’s when a work is out of whack (for me) I take note, as in, note to self: don’t do that.

Open your book to a random page and please reads us a few lines.

I believe, deep down, my mother loves me. I do think she’d turn the garden hose on me if I were on fire, and just as far down, I love her. I wish my mother nothing but good health, prosperity, and happiness. But for whatever reasons—stretch marks, maybe?—she has always refused to cut me even the smallest amount of slack, and I didn’t/wouldn’t/can’t stop pushing her buttons. (All my life: “Mother’s going to kill you, Davis!” Me: “She’ll get over it.”)

What is in your To Read Pile that you are dying to start or upcoming release you can’t wait for?

My to read list: Larissa Reinhart has a new one coming out in a few weeks, STILL LIFE IN BRUNSWICK STEW. And LynDee Walker’s BURIED LEADS. Susan M. Boyer’s LOWCOUNTRY BOMBSHELL, Molly Harper’s A WITCH’S HANDBOOK OF KISSES AND CURSES, Richard Castle’s STORM FRONT, Janet Evanovich & Lee Goldberg’s THE HEIST, and Deborah Coonts’ LUCKY BASTARD. (So many books…so little time.)

Is there anything else you would like to add? 

Yes. Thank you for having me as your guest on Books-n-Kisses. I love your questions, and I’ve enjoyed this so much!

@Gretchen_Archer

Double Whammy

A Davis Way Mystery, #1

Amazon | B&N

Davis Way thinks she’s hit the jackpot when she lands a job as the fifth wheel on an elite security team at the fabulous Bellissimo Resort and Casino in Biloxi, Mississippi. But once there, she runs straight into her ex-ex husband, a rigged slot machine, her evil twin, and a trail of dead bodies. Davis learns the truth and it does not set her free—in fact, it lands her in the pokey.