I am "recovering" employment attorney/human resources consultant with 2 kids and 3 stepkids. I lived in the Virgin Islands for 6 years but I now live in Houston. I have been a writer all my life, but I didn't get serious until about 5 years ago. Since ten I have written 5 nonfiction books and 4 novels, as well as contributed to 3 anthologies.
2) What led you to write Saving Grace?
I bought a half-finished "jumbie" house in the rainfores of St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands. The house haunts my dreams. I think I'll be telling stories about her for the rest of my life. Between that house and the people and places in the islands, I couldn't help but write Saving Grace, and the two novels that will follow it.
3) Do you have a favourite writing spot or a writing routine you like to follow?
I write best in the afternoon, and I like to write with my laptop, on the couch, with my Boston Terrier Petey beside me.
4) What have been the best and worst moments in publishing Saving Grace?
The best moment was in May of 2012 when I finished the last of many rewrites, and finally satisfied myself that I had written the book I meant to. The worst moments were every other rewrite up until then when I would shake my head and say "that's not quite it yet."
5) What genres do you like to read? Who are your favourite authors?
I like to read women's fiction, mysteries, and what I think of as "epic dramas." I love Elizabeth George but I also enjoy Janet Evanovich. My all-time favorite authors are Larry McMurtry, Pat Conroy, and James Herriott. Woopsie, an animal book author snuck into that list. It was Petey that made me include Dr. Herriott. I love the incredible senseof place that McMurtry and Conroy are able to create. I also enjoy Jennifer Weiner and Lisa Scottline quite a bit.
6) Tell us a random unknown fact about yourself.
I used to show sheep in 4-H
7) What are you working on now?
I am working on next year's novel, the seqel to Saving Grace. It's called Leaving Annalise.
8) Where can readers go to find out more about your books?
The best source is http://SkipJackPublishing.com, but all my books are on Amazon, and I am a member of Goodreads.
Book Blurb: Texas attorney Katie Connell escapes professional humiliation, a broken heart, and her Bloody Mary-habit when she runs to the island of St. Marcos to investigate the suspicious death of her parents. But she trades one set of problems for another when she is bewitched by the voodoo spirit in her halfbuilt rainforest house and finds herself reluctantly donning her lawyer clothes again to defend her new friend Ava, who is accused of stabbing her very married Senator-boyfriend.
Author Bio:
Pamela Fagan Hutchins writes fiction and nonfiction. She is a former Human Resources executive and employment attorney who lives with her husband and two high school-aged kids, plus 200 pounds of pets in Houston, but their hearts are still in St. Croix, USVI, along with those of their three oldest offspring.
She has five nonfiction books out wtih SkipJack Publishing: Hot Flashes And Half Ironmans, How To Screw Up Your Kids, Love Gone Viral, Puppalicious and Beyond, and The Clark Kent Chronicles. SkipJack publishes her first novel, Saving Grace, on November 1 2012. She is also a contributing author to Easy to Love But Hard to Raise and the upcoming Easy to Love But Hard to Teach (DRT Press), Prevent Workplace Harassment (Prentice Hall), and an upcoming anthology of ghost stories (Houston Writers Guild).
She won Romance in the 2010 Writers' League of Texas Manuscript Competition for Saving Grace (fka Leaving Annalise), and she also won both Mainstream Fiction (2010, 2011 and 2012) and Narrative Non-fiction (2012) in the Houston Writers' Guild's Manuscript Competitions for Conceding Grace (novel) and How To Screw Up Your Kids (nonfiction book). She won top Ghost Story in 2012 from the Houston Writers Guild.
Links:
http://skipjackpublishing.com/publications/by-title/saving-grace/
Saving Grace sounds terrific - I especially love the voodoo aspect! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for having me, Nicki!
ReplyDeleteNicki,
ReplyDeleteYour site is awesome, the interview with Pamela is great. You do a very professional job.
And folks that read this, that Rainforest house really does have a presence. Call it what you like but it is as real as the sky is blue.
AND
The book ROCKS. :)
Great interview! It's fun to keep learning new little factoids about Pamela.
ReplyDeleteSaving Grace DOES rock, and I've been anxious for Leaving Annalise to be finished for some time now. I personally can't wait.
This was a great interview! Very smooth - I'm off to check out your books now. And baaa, baaa, my friend P - who knew?
ReplyDeletePamela, you're awesome! I loved this interview. Thanks Nicki! Great to be here!
ReplyDelete----WONDERFUL.
ReplyDeleteYou are SOOO beautiful, Pamela.
Loved the interview. :)))) Xx