I've popped out of my cave for an hour or two to get away from the screaming. All I hear is,
"Let me go! I didn't know it would be like this. I thought you just wanted a straightforward interview!"
Don't they know it's for their own good for gods sake? I'm raising their profile through my intense questioning. I have writers lining up at times to go in there but when they see my set up they head for the exit at the back. Do they really think they will get out. Fat chance, and oh so NO chance.
Anyway the lovely Jess Degarmo managed to survive my torturous ways and here is her story. Did you know she was also the lead singer of a rock band? No? I've heard her sing. Pretty good I might say.
Did you know that I also used to sing with a rock band in my home town of Hastings. No? Honest I did!
So take it away Jess.
Bio
Jessica Degarmo grew up in Upstate New York and now
lives with her husband, children and dogs in rural Pennsylvania. When she is
not writing, she is an insurance agent, the lead singer in a classic rock band,
an occasional country music DJ and a passionate collector of gemstones and
glass.
Her publishing credits include:
How to Meet a Guy at the Supermarket
(November 2010)
Hooking Up (May 2011)
Decisions (July 2011)
The Storm Within, A
Johns Creek Novel #1 (September 2011)
Six Weeks (October 2011)
Historically
Yours, A Johns Creek Novel #2 (August 2012)
Blood Lust (Lust Trilogy #1)
(October 2012)
Holding On (Hooking Up #2) (August 2013)
Height of Passion, A
Johns Creek Novel #3 (April 2016)
Tell me about the lovely Jessica L Degarmo
I guess you could say I’m a work in progress. I’m
still trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up, and trying to
figure out how to add about six extra hours to each day. Oh, and how to clone
myself. Of course, if I do that, my clone might take over, but on some days,
that might not be a bad thing! Hmmm…this is giving me some ideas!
I’ve got a dry sense of humor and an urge to leave
the world a better place than when I entered it. I love nature and would
happily spend a day in the woods with my back against a tree and a notebook and
pencil in my hands.
Oh, and I’m kind of a dork.
Family/Pets/Hobbies
I am truly the luckiest girl in the world! I hit
the jackpot when I married my husband. He’s the yardstick by which I measure people, and no one can ever come close to
adding up. He’s my rock, my best friend, the guy I can face in my raggedy
sweatpants and a stained t-shirt, without my makeup on. I love him so very
much! And somehow, he loves me back.
My kids keep me busy, of course. I have 3, the
oldest of which is 19, followed by a 15-year-old and a 12-year-old. If I
survive these teenage years, it will be a miracle! What is up with teenagers,
anyway? All that sass and energy wrapped up in hormones and the latest fashion,
and a stomach that rivals a bottomless pit. I think I used to be a teenager,
but I don’t remember it being this rough! Ah, how times have changed…
I also have 3 dogs, all of which were rescued from
one situation or another. They are my smooshies and I love them so much! I
don’t think a house is a home unless it’s filled with fluffy barking things and
enough dog hair to make a Pomeranian. But there is no more room at the inn. No
more fluffy barking things for us!
Day job
In real life, I’m an insurance agent, which is
perhaps the most adult occupation one could have. But I love it. I truly love
helping people and building relationships with my customers. And I figure,
since insurance is so dry and boring, it’s my job to make it as fun and easy as
possible. So, jokes are cracked but coverage is taken very seriously.
A secret you’re prepared to share with me:
Um…a secret? Moi? I have no secrets! Just kidding.
I think there are a couple floating around in there somewhere.
Ok. Here goes. I’ve been writing since I was a
little girl. I remember making a little book out of construction paper and
filling it with some very grown-up themes of love (not sex, mind you, but
everlasting love and devotion and angst and all that) that made my mom look at
me and go, “Um, I don’t think you’re old enough to be writing this sort of
thing.” I was probably 6 at the time. I guess it’s always been in me, but for a
lot of years it got pushed to the back burner. Now, I’m cooking with gas, baby!
If you get quiet moments how do you fill them?
My quiet moments consist of me driving to work with
the radio turned off. I have children. There are no quiet moments in my house.
When did you first get the urge to write?
Well, like I said, since I was a little one, but
not seriously until 2010. I was trying to come up with a way to bring some
extra money in the house and I thought, I’ll write a book! Yeah, that sounds
easy… Ha! How wrong I was. But it started something in me that has sort of
taken over.
How many books have you written?
9. I’m working on numbers 10, 11, 12. It’s been
hard to really write lately since we’ve got so much stuff going on, but I’m
slowly getting back into it, and I feel like a mental block has been lifted so
I’m excited to flex my brain and get back to it.
Which two books would you take to my fantasy Island
bearing in mind you would be alone:
The last Juror by John Grisham
All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot
If you took a walk along a beach on my fantasy
island, who would you like to meet for a chat about books?
Nora Roberts. She is so prolific and talented. I
wish I could get some tips from her. I’d love to know her process.
What are your views about Self-publishing v Traditional publishing
Whatever floats your boat! I think it would be
great to be published by one of the big companies, but I think a lot of writers
feel that way. I think it depends on the kind of book, the audience and the
drive of the author. I know a lot of self-published authors who have done very
well for themselves without benefit of a traditional publisher. I also know
people who were discovered and are now in one of the big traditional houses. I
think any sort of publishing is good. It’s getting your books out there. It’s
allowing your voice to be heard.
Current WIP:
A few of them. A romance, a vampire novel, and a
literary fiction. I’m well-rounded. Or crazy. Probably crazy.
You own an imaginary publishing house. What would
you call it? Who would you pick from your various FB friends to help you run it
and what jobs would they do?
Wow. I guess I’d call it Good Karma Press. I know
several people I’d love to work with. Here goes:
Catherine Chisnall-she’s a wonderfully supportive
individual who also does an excellent job editing. I think she’d be my editor-in-chief.
Tee, you are a fabulous blogger and so very
generous, so I’d have to put you in charge of marketing.
Maria Kuroshchepova is a great writer in her own
right, and she knows the good stuff when she sees it. I’d make her the head of
acquisitions.
Sessha Batto is an amazing book cover designer, so
she’d have to be my art director.
And I would probably be the resident cheerleader,
book reader, comic relief! With a staff like mine, I wouldn’t have much left to
do!
Links to Books
Author page at Amazon.
Website www.jessicadegarmo.comwww.jessicadegarmo.com
Any new books coming up
Height of Passion is a novella in my Johns Creek
series. The main character is Charlotte (Charlie) Hastings, a strong, sexy
young woman who was injured in the military and opened her own indoor climbing
park after her medical discharge. She is hard-headed and independent, and has
just broken things off with her ex-boyfriend, Nathan. She goes for a hike and
climb to get him out of her head and ends up stumbling upon a handsome fellow
climber named Shawn.
Will Charlie end up with the guy with whom she has
everything in common, or will she go back to her ex, who is everything she’s
not? Will she climb to the height of passion with Shawn, or is she destined to
fall?
Anything else you want to confess to Jess before I let your remains leave the cave
I‘m currently hosting a Goodreads giveaway here:
https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/183587-height-of-passion
and doing an Amazon giveaway here:
Book Covers
Phew what lovely covers Jess.
Well that's it folks until I manage to capture another unsuspecting victim.
Laters my lovely Potaters
