Guest Interview: Emma McKee

I was so thrilled to invite our guest to blog with us today. We met online long before either one of us signed our first contract. We’re finally going to get a chance to meet face to face at RWA National in Orlando this July! Please join me in welcoming author Emma McKee, whose debut novel, A Turn of the Cards, has just been released by Wild Rose Press.

Emma, please tell us a little about yourself.

My life is pretty dull. I live in the oh-so-exciting Midwest with my hero of a husband. By day, I’m an accountant for a medical practice. By night, I’m the personal body servant to two very spoiled and demanding terriers.

And I’m sure they love you for it. What would your readers be surprised to know about you?

I passed typing with a D. Twice. Thank God for computers and spell check.

LOL. I never even took typing, so I can really relate! Tell us about your recent release.


A Turn of the Cards is set in 1870s Arizona Territory. When Catrina del Santos’s hated husband is killed and the ownership of her family estate is threatened, she turns to her neighbor to the north with a proposal. For widowed rancher, Jonah Prescott, accepting Catrina’s proposal will guarantee his sick son will not need to need to return to Texas, but feels like a betrayal of his love for his beloved wife. But their relationship grows from mutual respect to friendship to love as they battle an enemy who is closer than either of them can imagine.

That sounds like a great story! And it's available as both a download and in print! It’s downloaded in my ebookwise right now. What element of story creation is your favorite? (Character? Setting? Plot? Etc.) Why?

Character, definitely. What makes a story interesting is how the people in it react to the events that occur based on their innate nature and their backgrounds.


I agree completely. When and where do you write?

I’d like to say that I have the perfect home office and a regular writing schedule, but in reality, I write in fits and starts, usually on the weekends sitting in front of the television with my laptop. When I was working on my last project, I did find a corner in a little used room in our basement and worked there in an attempt to hide from the dogs.

We all need a little corner of our own. Do you have rituals you follow when writing?

Not unless you count trying to make our Cairn terrier stop barking at my laptop. Sometimes I use bi-aural tapes for creativity and focus, but I don’t know if they really help or they just dilute the barking.

Most people think a writer’s life is really glamorous. What’s the least glamorous thing you’ve done in the past week?

Was it cleaning the doggie vomit off the carpet or wandering around the backyard in my nightgown with a flashlight because the Westie lost his stuffed monkey? Although the monkey thing might have been more pitiful than unglamorous.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see some Westies in an upcoming Emma McKee release. What can we look forward to from you in the future?


I have a novella, Three Wishes for Christmas, coming in The Wild Rose Press’s Lawman and Outlaws Christmas anthology on November 11. And I just signed a contract for a comic suspense, if there is such at thing, currently titled Family Business, also with The Wild Rose Press.

That’s great! Where can readers find out more about you?

Check out my website at emma-mckee.com.

Is there a question you’d like to ask our readers?

While I read a wide variety of books, I just realized that I will almost always pick a book where the hero or heroine is trying to solve a mystery that is at least a generation old. I wonder if any of your readers have an automatic “trigger” that hooks them into choosing a book.

Thanks for joining us today, Emma! I’m looking forward to reading A Turn of the Cards.

Natasha
www.natashamoore.com