Featured Interview With Alegra Loewenstein

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I grew up in Texas, in the Dallas Suburbs. I’m not really a suburb kind of gal. Now I live in San Diego, in the City proper, though even my neighborhood is a bit burby for me! I’m all or nothing: Heart of the city, or middle of the woods.

As far as pet status goes… It’s complicated. I have a cat, except that he has pretty much decided to move in with my neighbor. We asked her to scare him out of her house and to not feed him, but she’s a cat junk food enabler. I told you; it’s complicated.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I didn’t really like to read until I discovered teen fiction in college. I am a rather slow reader, and this made it hard to enjoy the reading that I had done for school. I got a job in the children’s department of a bookstore and realized that teen fiction was a thing! Those stories are quick to read, and that really turned the tide for me. Working in the bookstore also introduced me to my love of self help books!

I have rather eclectic taste in both reading and writing. I have always written poetry my whole life, and I got a degree in it, but that made me realize I like poetry, not love poetry. I combined my biology degree and creative writing degree in science education, and that was an easy step to writing health focused non-fiction!!

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I’m pretty obsessed with non-fiction and in particular self help. It’s somewhat of an obligation I have, that if I’m going to read, I should be improving myself! I also love fiction, but sometimes I have to force myself to pick fiction!

Some favorite authors include Michale Pollan for food journalism, Mary Sheedy-Kurcinka is awesome for parenting, and Carol S. Pearson for archetype based self improvement.

I still love teen fiction, lately Squirm and Hoot – I love the environmental themes in them. My kids and I love listening to the Rick Riordan series; we’ve heard the first Percy Jackson, the Magnus Chase, and have started the Kane Chronicles.

I also make a point to make sure I’m reading a balanced number of women authors.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
Kitchen Magic: Simple Recipes & Rituals to Manifest Health & Happiness is all about having fun in the kitchen with healthy food!! It’s also natural living 101, while keeping everything lighthearted and playful. No pressure! Just do things for the sheer joy of it! Plant some seeds or compost some banana peels, and you are participating in the cycle of life! It’s all the best advice from my younger self.

Connect with the Author on their Websites and Social media profiles

Alegra Loewenstein’s Website

Alegra Loewenstein Facebook Page

Alegra Loewenstein Twitter Account

Featured Interview With Ida Beyer

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I'm a young woman, who lives in the cold north, more specifically Denmark. At the moment I study law at Copenhagen University, which does involve a lot of writing but not of the creative kind. Therefore, I fill my spare time with writing books of all kinds and of all genres.
Whenever I have time to spare, I love to travel. Some of my favorite places around the world are Tibet, Scotland, Thailand, and Ireland.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
Before I could read books myself, my mother and father read books for me. As soon as I was able, I started reading books. So, I've been reading books since before I can remember. This means I've also read more books that I can actually remember and more books than I have space for on my bookshelves.

I started writing years ago. I the beginning it was just for the fun of it, in truth it still is. Writing is something I enjoy immensely and something I cannot see myself ever giving up. For me, writing is the break I need in a busy schedule.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I love reading books of all genres which I suppose inspires me to write books in all genres as well.
In general, I like to explore lots of different writers. I think every writer has something different to say and to give to a story. Therefore I try to look for authors and titles that I haven't seen or read before.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
The latest book I've written is a fantasy in my Spirit Warrior series. The book called The Son of The North. This is a follow up to The Keeper of The Northern Gate.

This story features Cay, who dreams about becoming a warrior in the armies of Pathria. With his status as an orphan and a slave that dream can never become reality. Or can it?

Suddenly Cay's lost identity recovered by chance, but accepting his rightful place in this world is not without sacrifice. Things and beings he once thought was no more than the stuff of legends are now a part of his past, and if he takes his rightful place in life, the place long decided by the gods, they will become a part of his future.
The question is, will he be who he is destined to be? Will he walk in his father's footsteps? Or will he turn his back on who he truly is – a Spirit Warrior?

Connect with the Author on their Websites and Social media profiles

Ida Beyer’s Website

Ida Beyer Facebook Page

Featured Interview With Zelle Andrews

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
My first endeavor at publishing was at the age of twelve. A short poem I wrote in middle school was selected to be published in the Tallahassee Democrat. Years later I found the yellowed newspaper clipping that my mother saved, when I was in the process of writing my first novel.
Paisley Memories started out as an idea that I wrote on a scrap piece of paper. Just notes at first, then it became a couple of chapters. It was my first Tallahassee Writers Association Conference that made me take my writing serious. The novel evolved over the next four years and found a home with Southern Yellow Pine Publishing.
I live near the Florida coast with my family. I’m a member of Tallahassee Writers Association. ‘Paisley Memories’ is my debut novel. ‘Dancing with Dandelions: The Beginning of Me’ is a the second novel in the Paisley Series. Both have won medals with the Florida Authors and Publishers Association. I’m currently working on the third novel in the Paisley series.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I honestly don’t recall a period when I didn’t love books. I’ve always had books scattered in my room as a child and even as an author. Growing up, if I wasn’t reading, I was writing in my diary. Yes, I was one of those children who wrote everything that happened at school. My diary is full of one-day-crushes, the excitement I felt making the cheerleading team in ninth grade, first dates, second dates…. I’ve pretty much always written, but it wasn’t until a few years ago that a story took root and wouldn’t let go until it was written. Thus, Paisley Memories was born.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
My favorite author changes all the time. At the moment ,I’ve fallen in love with Paula Brackston’s style of writing and how it captivates you. I love historical fiction, humor, romance, and fantasy. My daughter is the inspiration behind my writing. She forever my number one fan.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
I have two novels out at the moment.

Paisley Memories: The Beginning of Me is the first book in the Paisley series. It is about a young woman named Tess Cooper. She is seventeen, a high school drop-out, an orphan, and a single mom to a baby girl with Down syndrome. When her father died, she fled Brooksville, Alabama in a quest to find herself. Well, about a year later she found herself, in the deep-fried, southern town of Panacea, Florida, where her money runs out. A stranger, named Butterball, takes them in and gives Tess a job taking pictures at Wakulla Springs State Park and the annual Sopchoppy Worm Grunting Festival. Paisley is thriving on all the attention, but Tess weighs her options. Can she give her baby what she needs? Should she put down roots in this place where she has found friends? Or should she give Paisley up for adoption and head out on a life of her own?

Dancing with Dandelions: The Beginning of Us, the second book in the Paisley series, takes you forward about a decade. Tess Cooper has purchased her very first home. A beach-front fixer-upper in Panacea on the Gulf Coast of Florida. The life she desires for herself and Paisley, her twelve-year-old daughter with Down Syndrome, is within her grasp. She can taste the independence. Life should be smooth sailing, but when is Tess’s life ever easy?
In addition to renovating her home and Paisley competing in the Special Olympics, her once platonic relationship with Aaron McMasters is changing. But she isn’t sure if she wants it to. I mean, why mess up a good thing? Then his ex-wife comes to town. Aaron’s easy-going nature becomes edgy, short tempered, and his always dependable, yet annoying flirting, has stopped.
Tess focuses on making a new home for Paisley and herself and helps plan Butterball’s upcoming nuptials at Wakulla Springs. Weddings are beautiful, so why are the tears on Tess’s cheek not tears of joy? Should she tell Aaron how she feels or will he cast her aside and send her drifting in the wind like dandelion seeds?

I’m currently working on the third novel in the Paisley Series.

Connect with the Author on their Websites and Social media profiles

Zelle Andrews’s Website

Zelle Andrews Facebook Page

Zelle Andrews Twitter Account