Interview with Cheryl Dale, Author of The Warwicks of Slumber Mountain

Cheryl B. Dale shares a home with her guy and two cats, one of which enjoys reading with her. The other watches TV with the guy. She dislikes cooking, cleaning, gardening, et cetera, and uses writing as an excuse not to do them.
Her books include a hardback mystery, TAXED TO THE MAX, from Five Star. TREACHEROUS BEAUTIES, a romantic suspense originally from Silhouette (and made into a CBS movie), has been updated and reissued along with INTIMATE PORTRAITS. From MuseItUp Publishing come her other romantic mysteries, THE MAN IN THE BOAT and SET UP.

MuseItUp also published THE WARWICKS OF SLUMBER MOUNTAIN, a gothic with paranormal elements.

Her website is www.cherylbdale.com and she blogs at cherylbdale.blogspot.com. She can also be found on FaceBook at https://www.facebook.com/cherylbdale and on GoodReads at http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5444447.Cheryl_B_Dale.

Where did you grow up?

I was born in Savannah and lived in various parts of Georgia all my life, except for a short stint in Starkville, Mississippi.

When did you begin writing?

I was thirteen when I wrote my first book. Well, it was more of a novella. And it was bad! Once I realized how bad it was, I burned that sucker! (I was feeling kind of dramatic/angsty that day.)

What is this book about?

THE WARWICKS OF SLUMBER MOUNTAIN is about a clairaudient: a person who hears voices other people don’t.

What inspired you to write it?

At the time, I lived in north Georgia, where a mountain similar to Slumber Mountain (though it wasn’t on the lake) overlooked the town. Someone had built a round house on its top. When I envisioned the first scene in the book, where the heroine rescues the hero from drowning, I immediately knew she had to take him home to a strangely-shaped house on the mountain. I also knew people in town whispered about the family who inhabited it so that she was scared to death. The rest went from there.

Who is your favorite character from the book?

The cat Jacinth. He’s got personality!

Where can readers purchase a copy of your book?

Of course, I would love for people to buy from MuseItUp at:

http://museituppublishing.com/bookstore2/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=484&category_id=60&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=1

but it’s also available on Amazon at http://amzn.com/B00AJ3IT10

and Barnes & Noble at: http://tinyurl.com/b6fju82.

Also on iTunes and Smashwords.

What is one piece of advice you would like to share with aspiring authors everywhere?

Keep polishing your craft. So many writers finish a manuscript and sit back, thinking they need to concentrate on selling it. Not true. Usually that first manuscript is a learning experience and not really up to professional standards. So keep studying how to write and edit, either through taking classes and workshops, or reading informative articles. The more you learn—and the more you practice what you learn by writing—the more your skill improves. And don’t stop writing even when you begin querying (it’s sometimes hard to make yourself write when you keep getting rejections, but that’s a part of the writing life). The more books you have in the pipeline, the better off you are.

What is up next for you?

I’m working on a vintage mystery right now, set on the Georgia coast in 1963.

When an heir to a fortune is lost at sea, an attorney suspects a relative murdered him for the money. The attorney hires an actor to pretend to be the heir and trap the killer, but a childhood friend of the heir shows up unexpectedly. If she suspects the truth, she’s bound to turn to the murderer for help and reveal the plan.

Sounds kind of blah, doesn’t it? I need to work on the blurb. But it’s my favorite book of all the ones I’ve written. Not going to be an easy sale, I fear!