I'm so excited to share this with you today! When working on the Anniversary week plans I was thinking of all the fun things we could do, talk about and share with you.
Then it hit me...books! After all I'm a avid reader....actually avid does not accurately describe....maybe voracious would be more appropriate! Last summer I read 41 books just in 3 1/2 months!
I realized that I had the answer for what to share with you right in front of me. Just recently at a St.Louis scrapbook event I finally got to meet author
Joanna Campbell Slan.
I am certain many many of you know her name from her countless books she's written on scrapbooking, journaling and the like.
She's recently branched out and now writes a murder mystery series that kicked off with her first book.... Cut, Crop & Die a Kiki Lowenstein murder mystery! Yes...a scrapbooker is the main character! How fun is that!
I was so fortunate to meet
Joanna and asked if I could interview her for our blog. She very happily agreed and also very kindly offered two of her books for a giveaway today! Read on to learn more about Joanna and how to enter to win!
1)Could you tell us a little about yourself, where you’re from, family?
I grew up in a small town in Southern Indiana, and I’m the oldest of three girls. My mother is a big believer in family history, so we often visited the spots that were our “roots.” My two grandmothers were both big storytellers. One told about our family’s history; the other told funny anecdotes on herself.
2) How did you get started writing?
Unfortunately, my father was an alcoholic, and life was pretty chaotic. I turned to books for an escape. Pretty quickly, I began to create my own stories in my head. I remember my first “book,” a group of papers stapled together with poems I’d written inside. I started winning attention and awards for my writing back in grade school. When I went to college at Ball State University, I majored in journalism.
3) I’m always very intrigued about everyone’s careers…could you tell me about your job and maybe what a typical work day is like for you? Where do you work from home etc?My husband and I start the day together, talking over coffee which he makes in his barista machine. (He’s pretty proud of his lattés.) I try to get in a walk with my three-legged rescue pup, Rafferty. Then I head downstairs to my office, which is the place where I write and craft. I start by answering emails, especially fan mail. After that I work on whatever the next big project is. Today, after I finish your questions, it will be putting together my next online magazine. (You can sign up to receive it at my website www.joannaslan.com) That’s always a big job as I include all sorts of information, contest details, page images, and ideas. In the afternoons, I get to my “real” job of writing. On weekends, I do events such as the Great American Scrapbook Convention or book signings.
4) Can you tell us about how you come up with your book ideas? Where you go for inspiration or what influences you?I keep a folder of ideas. I know who my characters are, and what their character arcs are. A character arc is the character’s life journey or progress as a person. I also listen to scrapbookers, because they are always a source for great suggestions. When I’m really lost or need a boost, I call my best writing buddy, Shirley Damsgaard, author of the Ophelia and Abby Mystery Series, and we brainstorm together.
5) Best and worst thing about being a writer?
The best part might be the dress code. That’s what I always tell kids when I visit schools. I can work in pajamas. Or maybe the best is the fan mail. It really, really makes a different when people write to say, “I love Kiki!” (Kiki Lowenstein is the main character in my books.) Or, hmmmm, the total escape into another world. Or the best moments might be when someone tells me that my book took her mind off a difficult time in her life. That’s so cool. It really keeps me going. And then there’s meeting people in the scrapbooking and mystery community.
I love scrapbookers. They are always so supportive. They always ask, “Do you scrapbook?” And of course, I say, “Yes!” Since I have seven “how to” books on scrapbooking to my credit, I enjoy trading ideas with other scrappers. Mystery authors are really fun people, and we all support each other through the ups and downs of rejection, publication, reviews, and so on. Between scrapbooking and writing mysteries, I have friends all over the world!
The worst is the criticism. Everything I do is “out there,” and since I encourage folks to email me at joannaslan@aol.com, I never know what I’ll find in my in-box. By far and away, most of my reviews have just been stellar, but you can’t please everyone—and you’ll just go nuts if you try.
6) What are your favorite books or authors?
I have so many that I could fill pages and pages. Let’s stick to the classics, shall we? I love Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë, Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier, and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith, best of all.
7) What kind of career or job did you have prior to this?I’ve been involved in some aspect of communications for a living most of my life. I did work as a motivational speaker before writing fiction full time. I traveled around the world giving speeches. I still speak in front of groups as frequently as possible. I’ve also been a speech writer, an advertising salesperson, a television talk show host, a public relations practitioner, and a teacher at various universities.
8) Given you have written about scrapbooking…are you yourself a scrapbooker? Can you tell us about your scrapping…how long, any pages you can share?Yes, I am proud to say that I am a scrapbooker. I love it. My first book on scrapbooking—Scrapbook Storytelling—came out in 1998. I spent the entire 18 months beforehand teaching myself to scrapbook. I decided not to take the easy route and just use other people’s work. I wanted to know what it was about firsthand. And of course, I loved scrapbooking from the git-go. Now I have too many albums to count, and I’m a sucker for pretty paper like Bo Bunny makes. My style is eclectic. From the beginning, I challenged myself to always try new techniques. Lately, I do a lot of pages for charity auctions. I get quite a few requests for that! And I enjoy teaching other people to scrapbook.
I’m also the founder of The Best of British Scrapbooking Contest in the United Kingdom. That’s the largest and most prestigious contest in England. I judge the contest, and I prepare comments on the winning layouts which are published in ScrapBook inspirations Magazine.
9) Tell us about your latest book….Cut Crop & Die.Cut, Crop & Die is the second book in the Kiki Lowenstein Mystery Series. Kiki is a young widow with an eleven-almost-twelve-year-old to support. She works in a scrapbook store called “Time in a Bottle” in St. Louis. At a big crop, Kiki is accused of copying another scrapbooker’s ideas. Then that scrapbooker dies after having an extreme allergic reaction. Kiki and everyone at “Time in a Bottle” are blamed, so she must solve the murder to clear her name and keep the store from going under. There’s a bit of a love story in the style of Nora Roberts, a bit of humor in the manner of Janet Evanovich, and a lot about women friends like Debbie Macomber. While it’s a mystery, I don’t include graphic violence, nor is there any offensive language. In the back of the book is a coupon for 50 free digital prints from Snapfish. The book can be ordered at
http://tinyurl.com/lqhapb10) Lastly I have to ask…do you have any sneaks or tidbits you can offer to us about the Kiki Lowenstein series for readers?
In Cut, Crop & Die, Kiki’s relationship with the hunky Detective Detweiler takes a surprising turn.
In Book #3, Kiki’s daughter Anya stumbles over a dead body at school, and it’s possible that she saw the murderer leave the scene. So Kiki must protect her child and solve the murder, which involves poking around in a St. Louis tradition called “The Veiled Prophet.” Believe me, no one is happy that Kiki is interested in this secret society. Meanwhile, Kiki’s love life gets more and more complicated, because Detective Detweiler’s “little brother” is at the center of the crime!
In Book #4, the opening line is: “I was in the trash dumpster searching for my lost paycheck, when I reached down and grabbed Cindy Gambrowski’s severed leg.” Poor Cindy was a scrapbooker at “Time in a Bottle,” so the police drag Kiki and her co-worker Bama into the investigation. Bama’s shady background proves a real liability to the store. The answer to Cindy’s disappearance will shock readers, but I think it’ll also provoke a lot of discussion.
I promise my readers that my books will be thrilling, full of love and friendship, and that each book will center around a theme designed to be thought-provoking. In fact, there are book club questions on my website www.joannaslan.com And folks who sign up for my newsletter at my website learn all the inside scoop first!
For more information, go to my website www.joannaslan.com or follow my blog posts at http://joannaslan.blogspot.com or http://kikilowenstein.blogspot.com or where I blog with other mystery writers who are also crafters at http://KillerHobbies.blogspot.com And if you follow me on twitter (www.twitter.com/joannaslan), you’ll receive great updates and journaling-prompts designed to keep you journaling in your scrapbook. Finally, you can always follow my appearances by going to www.booktour.com and putting in “Joanna Campbell Slan,” or you can email me at
joannaslan@aol.comI'd like to extend a BIG thank you to Joanna for letting me interview her and also offering to give away two of her books! To enter to win...let's have you leave a comment with your favorite book or author by Friday! I'll pick two names Saturday, July 11th!Thanks again Joanna!!!
Julia
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