Welcome Women's Fiction writer, Patricia Yager Delagrange!

Hi Patricia, welcome to my blog! So happy to be a part of your ongoing tour. I see your latest book, "Moon Over Alcatraz" is published by Musa Publishing. I am hearing more and more about this publisher. Are they fun and professional to work with? Love to learn more about them!

In the meantime, let's get on with the interview and chat more later...

1)   What is your writing routine?

After I take the two kids to school at 8 a.m., I shower and put on my make-up, get dressed then sit down with my MacBook and start writing or editing, depending on where I am with a book.  If I’m not writing a new book, which is what’s happening right now, I’m sending out query letters in search of an agent to represent me.  Querying agents is a very slow and time-consuming process.  I can’t imagine how it must have been before e-mails!  It takes me about ten to twenty minutes to thoroughly write a query letter and all I have to do is press “send”.  If I had to send every query via snail mail, I wouldn’t get much writing done.

2)   Which author/s inspire you to write?

I love Richard Paul Evans, Nicholas Sparks, Jodi Picoult, and Debbie Macomber.  I aspire to be able to tell stories so seamlessly as they.  Those authors pull me in, making me feel for their characters.  In my opinion, that’s a sign of a great writer.

3)   Which is your favorite romance sub-genre to read? To write?

I read mystery as well as women’s fiction.  I enjoy Diane Mott Davidson, Joanne Fluke, Mary Higgins Clark and her daughter as well.  I’ve written three women’s fiction books and one “men’s” fiction book from a man’s point-of-view - Taken Away.

4)   How do you deal with criticism/rejection?

I’m pretty emotionless about the rejections I receive from agents concerning representing me and my work.  It is such a hard business to break into, and very, very subjective on top of that.  Right now, with my fourth novel, I’ve had more interest than I ever had from agents, but I still get rejections for the same novel.  Agents are readers just like the rest of us and they’ll like some things and hate others.  I’ve learned to accept that and just send out more query letters!

5)   What do you expect from an editor?

I expect an editor to tell me where the story is not pulling the reader in enough and hopefully give me concrete ideas about what is missing and why.  I’ve had the pleasure and great luck to have a multi-published author who reads, edits, and critiques my books and I’ve learned so much from her.  She gives me solid reasons why something sounds wrong and I can, and love to, work with that.  I don’t mind criticism at all, as long as I get solid information about what’s wrong and what’s not working.

6)   Tell me about your latest release

Moon Over Alcatraz is about a couple whose baby dies at birth and instead of bringing them together their grief pulls them apart.  The book revolves around the wife, Brandy, and how she gets her life back together during which time she has several gigantic hurdles to jump through before finding happiness.

 7)   Tease us with a blurb or short excerpt

Three days later we were standing at the edge of a hole in the ground at Holy Sepulcher Cemetery in Hayward, the silence so thick, the insides of my ears buzzed like a distant swarm of angry bees.  Mr. Peralta and another gentleman stood off to the side while Weston and I held hands next to a tiny casket.

Weston had chosen a simple mahogany box with gold handles, a bouquet of white lilies graced the top of the small box.  I knelt down and laid a kiss on the smooth wood then wiped off the tears that had fallen on top.  Weston joined me, placing a single red rose in the middle of the lilies.

He helped me up and we stood side-by-side in silence, my guilt over her death like a stone in my empty belly.  I missed everything I’d dreamed would be happening right now, yearned for all that could have been.

Weston nodded at the man standing next to Mr. Peralta and our baby was slowly lowered into the gaping maw.  She reached the bottom, and a bird landed on the rich brown dirt piled next to the grave.  It pecked around, chirping a little song then flew off - as if saying goodbye.  My heart squeezed inside my chest.

I picked up a small handful of soft dirt.  “Goodbye, Christine,” I whispered, throwing it on top of her casket.

Weston wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me in close to his side.  Why her?  Why my baby?  Was this supposed to make sense?  And, if so, to whom?

We drove home in silence.  No words existed to express my grief.

 8)   Which is your favorite character in the book?  Why?

My favorite character is Brandy.  She’s a strong woman who, although she’s very depressed over the death of her first child, manages to pull herself out of that black hole, and she does that all by herself.  Her husband fails to understand what she’s going through which ultimately tears them apart.

9)  What are you working on right now?

I’m editing my fourth novel Brenda’s Wish.  It’s about a divorced mother of a 17-year-old son and her whose husband, a San Francisco cop, is murdered.  She and her son are prime suspects and their world is turned upside down during the process of finding his real murderer.

10)  Your biggest piece of advice to aspiring novelists?

It’s pretty simple:  persist, no matter what, and never give up - never.  If you truly believe in yourself and try to write the best book you can then don’t quit.  And if you want to be published, you will attain your goal, whether you go the traditional route or indie, it will happen.

11)  Where can readers find you?

I have a website/blogsite at:  www.patriciayagerdelagrange.com where readers can find out about my personal side, with pictures, and also read my blogs and buy Moon Over Alcatraz.

Moon Over Alcatraz

by Patricia Yager Delagrange

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BLURB:

Following the death of their baby during a difficult birth, Brandy and Weston Chambers are grief-stricken and withdraw from each other, both seeking solace outside of their marriage; however, they vow to work through their painful disloyalty.  But when the man Brandy slept with moves back to their hometown, three lives are forever changed by his return..

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

EXCERPTS (Please choose only ONE to use with your post):

EXCERPT #1:

“What are you doing?  Where are you going?  Please, let’s talk about this.”

“I work my ass off in New York while you’re at home screwing other dudes?”

I pulled the sheet around me, ran over and grabbed his arm.  “I wasn’t screwing other dudes.”  He ripped his arm out of my grasp.  “I was the one who was all screwed up.  Then you went to New York and all we ever did was argue on the phone.  You don’t tell your secretary you’re married and she treats me like crap on the phone...”

By now, he was fully dressed, shoes and jacket on, wallet grabbed off the bureau.  His hand hovered above the door knob.  His face looked void of emotion, wiped clean of all expression.  “I can’t do this,” he mumbled.

I sobbed, knowing I’d hurt him and betrayed his trust.  I felt like a slut.  “I’m sorry.  I made a mistake.  But I love you.”

He stood near the door, shaking his head, tears dripping from his chin.

My legs shook.  My stomach cramped.  I had to make him understand.  “I know I’ve hurt you and that wasn’t my intention, but I wasn’t thinking straight.  I’ll regret it forever.  You don’t deserve this but I’m asking you to forgive me.”

His eyes swam with tears and his chin quivered.  His Adam’s apple twitched up and down as he swallowed.  “I had sex with Carol Smith.”

EXCERPT #2:

Three days later we were standing at the edge of a hole in the ground at Holy Sepulcher Cemetery in Hayward, the silence so thick, the insides of my ears buzzed like a distant swarm of angry bees.  Mr. Peralta and another gentleman stood off to the side while Weston and I held hands next to a tiny casket.

Weston had chosen a simple mahogany box with gold handles, a bouquet of white lilies graced the top of the small box.  I knelt down and laid a kiss on the smooth wood then wiped off the tears that had fallen on top.  Weston joined me, placing a single red rose in the middle of the lilies.

He helped me up and we stood side-by-side in silence, my guilt over her death like a stone in my empty belly.  I missed everything I’d dreamed would be happening right now, yearned for all that could have been.

Weston nodded at the man standing next to Mr. Peralta and our baby was slowly lowered into the gaping maw.  She reached the bottom, and a bird landed on the rich brown dirt piled next to the grave.  It pecked around, chirping a little song then flew off - as if saying goodbye.  My heart squeezed inside my chest.

I picked up a small handful of soft dirt.  “Goodbye, Christine,” I whispered, throwing it on top of her casket.

Weston wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me in close to his side.  Why her?  Why my baby?  Was this supposed to make sense?  And, if so, to whom?

We drove home in silence.  No words existed to express my grief.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, I attended St. Mary’s College, studied my junior year at the University of Madrid, received my B.A. in Spanish at UC Santa Barbara then went on to get my Master’s degree in Education at Oregon State University.  I live with my husband and two teenage children in Alameda, across the bay from San Francisco, along with our two very large chocolate labs, Annabella and her son Jack.

My horse lives in the Oakland hills in a stall with a million dollar view.

http://www.patriciayagerdelagrange.com/

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Patricia-Yager-Delagrange/204510679568596

http://twitter.com/#!/PattiYager

Thanks for being here, Patricia!

Patricia will award a $25 Amazon GC to one randomly drawn commenter during the tour and to the host with the most comments (excluding the author's and the host's).

Follow the tour and comment; the more you comment, the better your chances of winning. The tour dates can be found here:  http://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2012/04/virtual-book-tour-moon-over-alcatraz-by.html

Over to you, guys!!