Interview with Marcie A Bridges

Can you give us a brief overview of your latest book? Is it part of a series?

Tough Love is a standalone, fact-based book that deals with the emotions of first love. The journey takes Janessa from infatuation and co-dependency to forgiveness and redemption, but not before she risks the love of her family and friends for the most toxic relationship imaginable.

Do you have a favorite character?

This one is hard for me since all the characters in my book are based on real people, but if I had to pick one it’d probably be ‘Aimee’, who is my best friend Carrie. She’s a no-nonsense, tell it like it is kind of gal and that was fun to write.

Do you belong to a critique group? Have they helped improve your writing?

I used to, but we’ve all gotten busy these past couple of years and haven’t run submissions in a long time. However, I love the story behind my group, so I have to tell you about it. We started as a side group off of the Twilight Moms website, bonding over our shared desire to write a book, and began our submission-critique cycle in the early months of 2008. Two of those original members decided to launch their own publishing company, which is what led me to be published. I know a lot of ladies who believe Twilight changed their lives, but for me, it truly has.

What is your writing process? Do you listen to music or do you like silence?

Music is a must for me! I’ve always been the type of girl who had to music in my life; in fact, I would honestly die of heartbreak if it weren’t for music. It helped bring back so many memories while I was writing, which was essential for me to take the reader on this journey. A perfect writing day for me would be a temperature in the upper 60’s with plenty of sunshine, so I could sit outside by the water with my iPod, a notebook (yes, I wrote most of Tough Love the old fashioned way), and a pen. Oh, and of course, a drink from Starbucks!

Do you outline your story or just go where your muse takes you?

I do a bit of both. Tough Love started as a paper in college before morphing into a book, so I used that to start the process. But I found that an outline was extremely helpful.  

Besides Amazon, are there any other sites where your books are for sale?

You can also find Tough Love on bn.com and smashwords.com

What kinds of marketing [twitter, facebook, blog, forums] are you involved with for promoting your book(s)?

I’m on twitter (@marcie_ann), Facebook (Marcie A. Bridges), Google+, Goodreads, Pinterest (marciebridges), and my website is marcieabridges.com

Do you find it difficult to juggle your time between marketing your current book and writing your next book?

Heck yeah I do! In fact, I haven’t written anything new in several months, which makes me sad. But being a wife, mom, teacher, and college student (again) keep me very busy.

Besides writing, do you have any other passions?

I enjoy traveling (even though it’s mostly just on Google Earth), attending Cincinnati Reds baseball games, and rooting for my beloved Buckeyes. I also love all things music, as I said above – singing, dancing, watching musicals, everything. And, of course, reading!

What’s next for you?

I plan to write a few more books about strong female characters; ladies who, though they might find a wonderful man to share their future with, don’t necessarily need someone else to complete them. Hopefully this next one won’t take me five years to write!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Follow the Book Tour