Category: Cozy Cat Press

books, Cozy Cat Press, Interview with the Author

Interview with the Author: Julie Seedorf and her Crook Hooking Granny

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It’s time to meet another Cozy Cat author!  Who do we have today?  Why, Julie Seedorf, of course.  Who is Julie Seedorf?

Julie Seedorf is a Minnesotan. She calls dinner, supper, and lunch, dinner. She has had many careers over her life time but her favorite career was motherhood. Later in life, she opened her own business as a computer technician, but you can’t keep a wordsmith silent.  She also writes a column for southern Minnesota area newspapers called “Something About Nothing.

“Granny Hooks A Crook” is her first book for Cozy Cat Press. Her children’s book, “Whatchamacallit? Thingamajig?” was her first self-published book.  Her theory is that we all take ourselves too seriously and we need to have a little fun. She secretly yearns to be like the Granny characters in her books.

Girls AND Grannies just want to have fun.

The Outside Lane:  Tell us about GRANNY HOOKS A CROOK.

Julie Seedorf:  Granny leads a secret life in the small, unique community of Fuschia, Minnesota. It’s not just her all junk food diet, multiplying pets, or her shocking bedtime attire that makes Granny one in a million. Believe it or not, Granny is an undercover cop, charged by “the Big Guy” (the town’s police chief) with preventing theft in local stores. Granny takes her job seriously and daily foils many shoplifters using her trusty spiked umbrella and amazing acting skills. When some startlingly brazen burglaries begin to occur that Granny can’t solve, along with mysteriously appearing bad guys, disappearing clerks, and misplaced Corvettes, Granny begins to wonder if she isn’t ready for the wrinkle farm. Maybe, it’s fortuitous when she accidentally-on-purpose falls in the lap of an attractive older gentleman who is soon roped into her wild adventures, as they try to figure out what’s happening in their little town.

Who can resist fan art?

TOL:  That sounds like fun!  What about…whatsamahoosit?

JS:  WHATCHAMACALLIT? THINGAMAJIG?  This is a children’s book.  You see, Abby had her fingers full of chocolate cookie dough. She was putting her fingers to her mouth to sample a taste while no one was looking. Maggie, who was helping, had her back turned to Abby. She was sneaking a couple of chocolate chips out of the bag and into her mouth before she gave the bag to Abby to add the chips to the cookies. Both of them had their hands halfway to their mouth when the phone rang. They jumped and quickly dropped their hands to their sides as cousin Brady ran into the kitchen and snatched up the phone.

“Brady, Brady, all of you have to come quickly. I need your help,” screamed Grandma.

Yes Grandma is in trouble again and four cousins scramble to her aid. What they find when they look for her is a ransacked house, a missing Grandma and clues they don’t understand. What they learn about Grandma leaves them wide eyed and open mouthed.

TOL:  How did you start writing?

JS:  I started writing as a teenager. I found my love of writing when I took my first creative writing class my junior year in high school. Through the years I dabbled and wrote newspaper articles and things just for me. Occasionally I took college writing classes. When I was younger there was not much support to become a writer. It was not realistic so I followed the normal path and married, became a mom, worked various jobs and did a lot of volunteer work where I could use my creativity. It wasn’t until later life when I had a bad fall and was laid up for months that I started dreaming and writing again. That was when my column started. It took another illness and encouragement from my grandchildren to write my first book “Whatchamacallit? Thingamajig? Just for them. During that illness I realized that life is too short to not go for your dream or to use the gifts God has given you and writing “Granny Hooks A Crook” took me out of that illness and to become the person I had left behind.

TOL:  Where do your ideas come from?

JS:  Ideas come very easy to me. I get quirky ideas and the only way I can explain it is that they come from God. I used to write services for our church. I would say no, and then God would put the service in my head. So God.

A divinely inspired duo of books by Julie Seedorf.

TOL:  Who is your favorite character?

JS:  Granny, my main character, is probably the person that hides inside of all of us. We just don’t let it out. We forget the child inside and let society tell us we are old. Perhaps Granny is who I would like to be like in later years.

TOL:  Thank you so much, Judy!  Where do we find more information about you and your books?

JS:  Visit my website at http://www.julieseedorf.com, My blog: http://www.justalittelfluff.com, or my Facebook Page http://www.facebook.com/sprinklednotes.

books, Cozy Cat Press, Interview with the Author

Interview with the Author: Blanche Day Manos

the outside lane

Now that I am part of the Cozy Cat Press family, I thought it would be nice to introduce you to some of the other fabulous felines making their homes there.  Today, you get to meet Blanche Manos.

The Outside Lane:  Blanche, how did you become a writer?

Blanche Day Manos:  I started writing when I was a youngster, inspired by Nancy Drew and by not having any friends nearby to play with. I created my own world with my words. As a child and later as an adult, I started writing poetry for children. I also wrote short articles on the importance of reading to children, books as a good baby shower gift, and my experience as an elementary school teacher.  

I wrote fiction for children and was published by several children’s magazines, including Cricket, Humpty Dumpty, Turtle, Guide, The Friend, Wee Wisdom, and others. I’ve also been published by confession magazines and Christian periodicals. I’ve written on assignment for many years for a Christian publication.

TOL:  Tell us about THE CEMETERY CLUB.
BDM:  Several years ago, a friend introduced me to Barbara Burgess, another northwest Arkansas writer. Since we are both of Cherokee heritage and have heard several legends about northeast Oklahoma and northwest Arkansas, we thought it might be fun to write a mystery incorporating our ideas and experiences and so, our first book, The Cemetery Club was born.
 
BDM:  And how did you come to Cozy Cat Press?
A:  A funny thing…when we finished our second book, Grave Shift, and queried Patricia Rockwell, she was interested in it but thought it might have a little too much violence for a cozy. We re-wrote and she liked it and took it for Cozy Cat Press.
 
TOL:  Tell us about Darcy and Flora, the main characters of your series.
BDM:  The main characters in our books are quite a bit like Barbara and me; our likes, our beliefs, and the closeness we shared with our parents. We like Darcy and Flora, our main characters and we like their small and fictional town of Levi, Oklahoma. 
 
TOL:  What’s next for your intrepid problem solvers?
BDM:  We are finishing our third Darcy/Flora book and I am thinking of maybe branching out on my own with a completely different series and a different protagonist. 
 
The second book in your series, GRAVE SHIFT, is getting rave reviews on Amazon.  What is it about? 
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When Darcy Campbell returned to her home town of Levi, Oklahoma, she longed for peace and healing from the recent loss of her husband. She found much more than she bargained for when two rare Oklahoma earthquakes, a villain with murder in his heart, and a mountain lion threaten her and her mother Flora Tucker. Being an investigative reporter on leave of absence from her Dallas newspaper, Darcy has an active curiosity which leads her into some dangerous places and nearly costs her her life. At last she solves a long-standing mystery in Levi and her grief begins to heal when the sheriff of Ventris County re-kindles an old flame in her heart.
 
TOL:  I can’t wait to read your books!  Where else can we find you?
BDM:  My website is www.BlancheDayManos.com, on Facebook, and on Google+ as Blanche Manos.
 
Of course you can find all of Blanche and Barbara’s books on Amazon.
 
Stay tuned for more Cozy Cat Press authors, and go visit Blanche’s website.  She has a great blog tucked in over there.
Cozy Cat Press, Destinee Faith Miller Mystery, Tiara Trouble

Come Cozy Up With Me

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I’ve had a lovely whirlwind of activity in the past few days, starting with an offer for TIARA TROUBLE from Cozy Cat Press on Thursday, and winding up with that completed contract in my hot, little hands this morning.  Destinee Faith Miller and her mayhaps/mysteries have found a home, and I couldn’t be happier.  I’ll keep you all posted as things develop, but for now I am just thrilled.  So thrilled, I can barely feel my toe throbbing–I broke it on the coffee table on my way to open email this morning, and promptly forgot about it when I found my completed contract waiting.

Here’s the funny story about how Cozy Cat came to read my submission because you know if it happened to me, it did not happen without some hijinks.

A few days ago, B and I were talking about me publishing under my name.  We were laughing that I wasn’t exactly Jane Smith, having unusual first and last names.  Somewhere else entirely, managing editor, Patricia Rockwell, was opening an email from me.  She was a little confused because her author Lane Stone, writes a series also involving tiaras (the subject line of my query was TIARA TROUBLE, with my name), and because she knew and had worked with someone who shared my last name.  Thankfully, she liked that colleague well enough not to be put off immediately 😉  And, she sent me an offer full of encouraging words about Destinee’s future.

When I wrote back, I asked if her former colleague was called Bob.  Because Bob is my husband’s uncle, who worked in the same field as Patricia.  Not only was it Uncle Bob, but he was remembered quite fondly.  B checked in with Uncle Bob, who had the same impressions of Patricia, and…well, that was that.

I am a Cozy Cat author.

How crazy is that?  Out of all the world (and out of all the publishing companies and agencies I researched,*) from Texas I query a press in Illinois, with a managing editor who has ties to my Uncle-in-Law in Louisiana–unbeknownst to all of us.  That is something that would only happen to me.  I love it!

Yay!

*While I queried about 20 agents, I only contacted four publishing houses from probably about 200 agents/presses that I researched.