Author Interview - M.L. Ryan

Check out my review and a tour-wide giveaway HERE!

I'd like everyone to help me welcome the author of Special Offers, M.L. Ryan!

Thanks for stopping by to answer some questions today, M.L.! It's great to have you here!

Thanks for having me, I appreciate the opportunity to let your followers get to know me and my work better.

Where and when do you prefer to do your writing?  I prefer to write in the afternoon. Unfortunately, because of my day job, I seldom get to do that.  I usually write in the evening and on weekends. Sometimes I write at my desk, but my favorite spot is in the leather recliner I inherited from my dad.  Thank goodness for laptops!

Do you have any unique talents or hobbies?

My hobbies include jewelry design, bird watching and playing soccer.  I also am trying to teach our two desert tortoises to fetch.  They aren’t very good at it, but the training fits in nicely with my busy schedule.  I can throw an object for them, then have breakfast, read the newspaper and take a shower before they’ve brought it back.

Do you prefer ebooks, paperbacks or hardcover?  I didn’t think I’d ever say this, but I actually prefer to read eBooks.  I have a Kindle, and when I first got it, I was concerned that I would miss the feel of a real book.  Was I wrong!  I love almost everything about the eBook format — the ease of obtaining books, the ability to change the font size, having thousands of books crammed into one, compact device.  The one aspect that annoys me, however, is how traditional publishers charge the same amount for an eBook as for a print book.  Really?  What a rip-off.

What are three things you never leave the house without?  Clean underwear, lip gloss and some idea where I’m going.

Is anything in your book based on real life experiences or purely all imagination?  Bits of many things in the book are based on real life — either something that happened to me, someone I know or something I heard about.  But nothing is exactly the way it actually occurred.  My warped imagination went to work to make things even more absurd than they really were.  For example, at one time I milked rats for nutritional research.  In the book, Hailey milks chinchilla for artisanal cheese. I figured no one in their right mind would ever buy rat-milk cheese.

Who is your favorite character from your book and why?  That’s like asking which of my children is my favorite.  Hailey is fun to write because she’s a smart-ass (much like myself, I should add) and strange things tend to happen to her.  I love Alex because he’s the kind of guy every woman should have in her life — considerate, devoted, intelligent and way hot.  Sebastian always makes me laugh.  He’s a real bastard sometimes but manages to make you like him despite yourself.

If a fairy godmother told you could be put into the world of your favorite book for 24 hours, which book would you pick and why?  This probably seems really cliché, but I’d love to be transported into Pride and Prejudice.  I’d like to tell Lizzie that she rocks.  And smack some sense into Lydia.

Favorite book from childhood?  The Enormous Egg by Oliver Butterworth.  I must have read it 20 times as a kid.  It’s about a boy who finds a very large egg in his family’s hen house.  It finally hatches into a Triceratops.

Do you have any pets?  Would you like to share pictures?  We have many pets:  Four cats, two dogs (Curly Coated Retrievers) and two desert tortoises.

Do you have any advice to give to aspiring writers?  There will always be some people who hate your work.  Don’t let that bother you.  But do listen to constructive criticism.  Often when you spend a lot of time writing, you lose perspective.  Someone reading it for the first time may have a fresh outlook that can be very helpful.

Have you ever gone out in public with your shirt on backwards, or your slippers on, and when realizing it, just said screw it?  Yes, but only after I’ve been screwing.

Speed Round:

The Twitter version: tell us about your book in 140 characters or less:  It’s about a woman who is possessed by man with magical powers from another dimension who was previously trapped in her Kindle.

Pen or pencil?  Pen, with purple ink.

Milk, white, or dark chocolate?  Dark.  Definitely dark.

Dogs or cats?  Both!  We have four cats and two dogs.  I think having both allows people to learn two of the most important life lessons  – dogs teach us the beauty of unconditional love while cats instruct us how to not show it under any circumstances.   

Pie or cake?  Cake, but only if it is chocolate.

Coffee or tea?  I like both, but only hot coffee and iced tea.

If you could have any superpower what would you choose?  Invisibility.  I’d like to be able to find out what people are really saying about me.

Thanks again for taking time to visit with us today and helping readers get to know you a little better!

Any time, this was fun!