Tell readers a little about yourself so they can get the feel of where you’re coming from.
I’m a former Solar System Ambassador for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab as well as a former geography teacher. Besides working on a Native American reservation, floating the Okavango Delta of Botswana, Africa and visiting The Great Wall of China, I was lucky enough to have spent time at Space Camp for Educators. Living in a mining community for many years led to writing the novel, The Rescued Heart, a romantic suspense. Attending a week long workshop on mining and geology, hosted by the Doe Run Company helped me with a lot of research. My husband is a mine engineer so he too, helped with the big picture of a mine collapsing in on itself.
How about a little taste of what the book is about.
Between a father who owns everything and everyone in three counties and a mine engineer who intends to take it from him, Fawn is caught between a rock and a hard heart. Trying to escape proved disastrous when she fled from both men to start a new life. Now she was back and the turmoil only increased. This time Garrett Horton intends on winning it all after finding out the lies her father created to keep them apart. The trouble with the truth was it could bury you alive 1000 feet underground.
You sometimes work on several projects at once. How did The Rescued Heart fit into your schedule?
.jpg)
I actually wrote the first five chapters 20 years ago then stuck it in a drawer. Last year I participated in Savvy Authors online pitch session. I chose 17 publishers I thought might be a good fit for The Rescued Heart. After I pitched my four lines I got a little worried. What if they wanted to see more? So I wrote another five chapters. Wouldn’t you know it—eight publishers wanted to see more. Whew. Good thing I had five more chapters. Then I really got scared. So in about a week I wrote the rest of the book. It was a good thing because I got three contract offers. It was a great experience.
Will we see more of Garrett Horton and Fawn Turnbough?
There is actually a prequel I wrote years before The Rescued Heart. It involves Garrett’s sister who shows up in this novel. It is sitting in a box in my garage. We’ll see if I’m ready to rewrite the whole thing. It needs a lot of work. I don’t have any immediate plans to write a saga about the Turnbough Mining Company at this point. I’m working on several other projects that are nearing completion.
What kinds of things help you get the words from head to paper?
Music plays a big role when I write. I have soundtracks for each novel or story. For The Rescued Heart I actually used a lot of nature sounds. It seemed to take me back to the farm where I lived in Iron County. I could almost smell the air and hear the whippoorwills. For other novels I have favorite artists like Trailerhead I use. Anything by Hans Zimmer is also good background music. Right now I’m using some classical pieces that tie into the urban fantasy I’m writing.
A notebook of ideas for a story keep me from getting writer’s block. I jot down names, ideas, characters, tweets, etc. to keep focused. Every one of my novels has a notebook.
What social media outlets do you use?
Twitter: TierneyJames1
Tierney’s books are listed at Amazon.com Winds of Deception is due for release June 8, 2015
