Title: A Pirate's Command
Author: Meg Hennessy
Publisher: Entangled: Seclect Historical
Genre: Historical Romance
Format: Kindle
His secrets could destroy her...
New Orleans, 1817
Colette Kincaid once knew such love and delicious passion in the arms of her pirate husband, Donato de la Roche. Yet Colette could not continue to live as the wife of a pirate, when reunited with her family. So she fled, taking their son with her and reconciling herself to never seeing her husband again...
Until their son is taken.
Donato is convinced his wife is behind his son's disappearance-just as she is convinced he is the villain. Now they're unable to leave each other's side as they seek their child, forced to confront the desire that still smolders between them. But Donato knows that soon he must face the secret about Colette he's been hiding for so long. And it's a secret for which there is no forgiveness...
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What are you
most proud of accomplishing so far in your life?
Since this is
an author interview, my answer will reflect my writing only. So I would say I
was most proud of my first book, Shadows
of a Southern Moon. Why? Because I
finished it. The hardest thing for a writer to do, is to finish the book. Southern Moon was published by The Wild
Rose Press in 2009, and that book will always hold a special place in my heart.
How has your
upbringing influenced your writing?
Everything I write
is southern, though I was raised in Wisconsin. My father had been born and
raised on the gulf coast. My grandmother’s home was only two blocks from the
large sprawling beach along the Gulf of Mexico. My father grew up on the water.
As children we would visit my grandmother and cousins. My father’s family was
quite large, so there were many cousins. And life in that small coastal town
was so different from the rural area we lived in Wisconsin. I was enamored with
life there and felt such a strong connection to the Gulf Coast. My writing, in
some ways, keeps me connected to my family and their history.
When and why
did you begin writing?
I became
interested in family history, since my father was from the Gulf Coast and my
mother from Minneapolis. I knew I had ancestors who fought each other in the
Civil War. I was intrigued by that and started working on an historical that
would take place in Mississippi. The heroine was easy. She was a combination of
all the wonderful southern woman in my family. She was my grandmother, my
aunts, my cousins, she was me. But the hero was a challenge. Who was he? When I
started to research the Union soldier, Brandt Michaels just stepped out of the
page. Again, I am referring to Southern
Moon.
Do you recall
how your interest in writing originated?
Many years
ago, about 37 to be exact I was put on bedrest while carrying my daughter. I
did nothing but read. I found myself going over and over some of the paragraphs
I had read, analyzing the craft. I didn’t really start writing until later, but
that was the moment I felt the “bug” to write.
When did you
first know you could be a writer?
I don't think we ever know at what point we can say, YES, I'm a
writer. Becoming an author is a long journey of trials and failures whether published
or not.
What inspires
you to write and why?
If I don’t write
the stories circle around in my head forever. If I don’t write their story, the
characters get older, their families
expand, they have grandchildren, but they remain in my head unless I put them
on paper. I collect, and that's the dangerous word, collect, but I collect old
books. I especially like history books. My oldest is dated 1842. I have an
encyclopedia set that was published in 1863 from New York. It's fascinating
reading. My library is quiet extensive, filled with history books of all kinds.
They inspire me. My husband and I travel around the country and love to visit
historical sights. For Shadows of a
Southern Moon, we had visited all the battlefields and antebellum homes of
Mississippi. We had toured a Creole plantation on the Louisiana river road. The
stark differences between the Creole homes and the American homes inspired Dark Secrets, Deep Bayous. The first
book in the series, Secrets of the
Bayous.
What genre are
you most comfortable writing?
I write
Historical Romance for two reasons. I am a history buff and enjoy learning
about different times in our history. I love to imagine those worlds and create
a new backdrop for my characters to enjoy. I like to write about relationships
and the art of falling in love.
What inspired
you to write your first book?
My father was
from the south and when they retired they’d spend the winters in Mississippi.
They did this for 35 years. When they came back I’d get all the gossip of what
was the latest on my many cousins. One time in particular, my mother had
learned of my father’s cousin doing family research and had learned two of my
father’s ancestors were in the Confederate Army. That intrigued me, I asked
about her family, since she was from Minnesota, and learned her great
grandfather had fought with the Union Army. I was so fascinated about this,
wondering what a young man from the north thought when he found himself in the
swamps of Mississippi shooting at other Americans. I stopped at the library on
the way home and found a book called A
Day in the Life of Billy Yank. As I read about the life of Union soldiers,
the hero of Shadows of a Southern Moon
simple stepped out of the pages.
Who or what
influenced your writing once you began?
I’d have to
say my husband was very supportive, and I joined WisRWA, Wisconsin Romance
Writers. Without that organization, I would have stopped long ago.
What do you
consider the most challenging about writing a novel, or about writing in
general?
Writing the
novel is fun and enjoyable. I write without pre-plotting, so I have to write
quickly to find out what happens next, because even I don’t always know. The
challenges are publication.
Did writing
this book teach you anything and what was it?
Oh, yes, my
latest release taught me something extremely valuable. I had sold the book on a
blurb because it was the second in a trilogy. I had yet to write it. Since I am
someone who just writes as the story unfolds I had to somehow make that work
for the blurb. I lacked confidence in doing so, and ended up writing one of my
favorite books. A Pirate’s Command.
Do you intend
to make writing a career?
I intend to
write, wherever that takes me, is where I am.
Have you
developed a specific writing style?
I think we all
have our own writing style. It’s called “voice.” It's how we tell a story,
whether in person or in a book. It's how we communicate.
What is your greatest strength as a
writer? I write what
they call "tight."
What is your
favorite quality about yourself?
My
tenaciousness when it comes to getting a project done. For some reason, I
always push through it.
What is your
least favorite quality about yourself?
My
tenaciousness when it comes to getting a project done. For some reason, I
always push through it. This is truly a double edged sword.
What is your
favorite quote, by whom, and why?
Well just
heard one today by Julia Quinn. “Finish the book, the world is full of chapter
ones.”
Why because
there are so many want-to-be writers but never get the first book done. Finish
it or you'll never move forward as a writer.
Award winning author, Meg Hennessy, lives amid rolling hills of the Kettle Moraine in Wisconsin. Besides writing, spoiling her first grandson or pampering her much-loved horse, she enjoys backyard birding and admits to being a gardening addict. With her father born and raised on Mississippi’s gulf coast, Meg grew up immersed in the culture of an old Southern family and writes with a strong Southern flavor. It was her sense of wonderment when visiting her grandmother's home as a child that now bubbles upward into her writing of today. She likes to create high-energy characters against historically rich backdrops, offering her readers a vivid peek into the lives and loves of yesteryear.
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