Hannah R. Goodman: ARIA BLOG TOUR DAY 3: Gail Eastwood

Hannah: Hi, Gail. Welcome to day 3 of my week to host the Association of Rhode Island Author (ARIA) blog tour. Tell me a little bit about yourself and where you're from.

Gail: Thanks so much for this opportunity to meet your fans! I’m a native Rhode Islander –grew up in Barrington and have lived in Cranston, South Kingstown and Exeter. I’ve wanted to write all my life. I was a journalist and freelancer for almost 20 years before I finally wrote and sold my first novel. It was published in 1994. I wrote and sold six more novels following that. After taking ten years off from fiction writing to deal with some family matters, I am happily back at it again.

Hannah: What are you working on these days and what’s the current status of that project?

Gail: I’m suddenly very busy these days! Five of my out of print backlist books have been reissued as ebooks in the last couple of years, but I have just released the first new print editions of two of my books, available on Amazon, and I’ll also have those at the RI Authors Expo on November 8. I’m also part of an ebook boxed set project with five other authors that’s climbing the best-seller charts on pre-orders. It’s called Regency Masquerades and releases on October 13, just in time for Halloween! All six novels are about characters who are masquerading as other people, for various reasons, and with varying success. These are romances, so as you might imagine, falling in love under those circumstances can create all sorts of issues.

Hannah: Can you tell the audience what inspires you to write?

Gail: Part of it is the desire to teach and to entertain –the same urge storytellers have had for all the ages. Part of it is the joy of creating –of capturing a vision through a chosen medium. The challenge of massaging words on a page into a sharply focused world with appealing characters and gripping events that speak to a reader is a natural addiction for me. I think writers are born with the inclination. Like other kinds of artists, our brains are wired a little differently!

Hannah: What genre do you enjoy writing the most?

Gail: I write romance with a twist of suspense or adventure, set in the Regency period in England. Think Jane Austen, or the Napoleonic Wars –early 19^th century. I love history –I love bringing the times alive by the combination of imagination and research. Fiction is the closest thing we have to time travel! I’ve dabbled a bit with writing contemporary romance, but haven’t been happy with the results so far. Maybe I’m just not very contemporary, LOL! I’m drawn to romance because I think love is the most powerful force in the universe, and also one of the most mysterious. The way it works on people can be endlessly fascinating to explore through stories.

Hannah: Any upcoming projects we should know about?

Gail: I’m working on a Christmas/12^th Night novella, and also a new full-length novel that will be the start of a series. The hero is part of a secret club that has some basis in fact. I’d hoped the novella would be done in time for this year’s holiday season, but it doesn’t look like I’ll have it ready. So, 2015!! Updates will be posted on my website, GailEastwoodAuthor.com.

Hannah: Favorite movie?

Gail: Alfred Hitchcock’s The Trouble with Harry. Or, The Princess Bride. How’s that for eclectic?

Hannah: Favorite food or dish to make?

Gail: I’m better with words than with food. But I make a fantastic broiled swordfish the same way my mother always made it.

Hannah: Favorite place you have ever visited?

Gail: I have to choose? I love to travel. But I have to say England. More specifically, I’ll pick Stonehenge in the ‘70’s before all the crowds and barricades, or The George in Chatham, a neighborhood pub (since the 15^th century!) that is a one-bedroom B&B with the loveliest people.

Hannah: Favorite music band?

Gail: This is a throwback answer -- Steeleye Span.

Hannah: Favorite book?

Gail: LOL! There’s too many. I’m going to say Bewitching by Jill Barnett. Oh, or True Blue by Luanne Rice. Too hard!!

Hannah: Is there anything you would like to leave us with?

Gail: The RI Authors Expo is going to be such a fun event and such a great opportunity for fans to meet authors of all kinds. I hope they are planning to come! I love to talk to readers, so I hope they’ll stop by and say hello.