Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m ‘country’, heart and soul, still in partnership with my husband of 40 years on our family farm, mother of two fantastic young men who are married to wonderful women, and grandmother to the sweetest, best grandkids on earth. I just published my 9th novel. After nearly four years of a horrendous writers’ block (caused by numerous health issues), I finally managed to publish another stand-alone romantic suspense.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
I have always wondered about the families of criminals after the fact. After the criminal activity is discovered, how do they react? When their loved one─ father, mother, brother, sister, cousin, friend ─ is arrested, what do they do? When the loved one goes to prison─ what happens to those they profess to love? If the loved one dies resisting arrest─ or if the circumstances in the prison turn against them─ what does the family left behind do? Of course, the answer to all of these questions depends on the circumstance. Yet, what becomes of the innocent─ those who loved blindly without question, while another defies the law and lies to everyone else around them?
In ‘Shattered Image’, Elizabeth Anne Miller lives her thirty-four years believing her parents were killed when she was a toddler. She is aware the circumstances of their deaths is questionable. Yet, she accepts the explanations of her grandfather and aunt without question─ until her employer is killed in his office. She believes her employer was the victim of an ambush until she returns to her childhood home and finds evidence otherwise….The setting for Shattered Image is 1986 rural Missouri.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I’m a night owl. Is that unusual?
What authors, or books have influenced you?
Too many to list. I have always been a voracious eclectic reader of all titles from non-fiction biography, inspirational, and history; to fiction romance-all genres, science fiction, and futuristic paranormal, both male and female authors. I have most of Sandra Brown’s books but Kathleen E. Woodiwiss’s Ashes in the Wind is still my favorite. Lately, I’m reading more books from newbie authors on my kindle.
What are you working on now?
At the moment, I’m taking a breather from writing. Shattered Image was just published on Christmas Day and I am concentrating on promoting it this week. After the New Year, I’ve told myself I’m going to return to finish that Birds in Peril series. We’ll see if I listen to me.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Websites and contacts such as Awesome Gang are fantastic. Amazon still promotes a number of websites and places to list books. I also belong to several author/writer/crafter groups on FaceBook where we’re frequently able to list and share our current works. I have an author page on Facebook and I also have my own website. I give those links out whenever possible in the hope to inspire someone to buy my books.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Just do it. No one can pull that story, poem, etc. from your head and put it to paper or computer page but you. It’s not easy. It takes a lot of determination and long hours of concentration but, in the end, for me at least, the effort has always been worth the outcome.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Finish it. Told to me by a well-known romance author who has become a dear friend when I was lamenting over the perils of writing one of my books. Finish it, she said, you can edit and make it perfect later. Just get those words on paper first. She was right.
What are you reading now?
I had begun reading ‘The Witch Next Door’ series by Judith Berens while I waited for the final edit and cover finishes for Shattered Image. In all, there are at least a dozen books on my kindle I have yet to read. I recently purchased hardback copies of Kim Harrison’s American Demon and Ted Cruz’s One Vote Away and my son gave me two books about the Civil War in Missouri for Christmas….so….I guess I’ll be reading one of them…or all of them….
What’s next for you as a writer?
Did I mention that I am also offering Shattered Image in paperback (ISBN: 979-8585615085)? So many people have requested that I have my books published in paperback that I decided to try this from the beginning, just to see how it affects sales. The good ole e-book versus paperback controversy. I am thinking of having the first four stories of the Birds in Peril Series also released in paperback. The Sweet Pea Trilogy is already available in kindle and paperback form. So paperback sales are a new adventure and may lead me to some book signing events.
If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
My Bible, a Catholic Daily Devotional, and my kindle (with the battery well charged so I can read the books on it)
Author Websites and Profiles
Mary Elizabeth Fricke Website
Mary Elizabeth Fricke Amazon Profile
Mary Elizabeth Fricke’s Social Media Links
Facebook Profile