Hi there, guys and dolls! Can you believe another month… now wait a minute, of course you can’t, because it hasn’t! Yours truly has just decided it would be nice to change things up a bit and feature another Cozy Cat Press author pal in my favorite type of blog post. For those of you who haven’t met, let me introduce to you my good friend, Emma Pivato. She’s written three books in her Claire Burke Mystery Series and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed them all.  The latest is ROSCOE’S REVENGE and it’s a real humdinger. All of the books have a great sense of travel and adventure, as well as some interesting characters who we should all get to know better. By the way, I was tickled when I came across a lovely surprise in the newest tale. Now you know I won’t say, you’ll just have to get the book and find out what it is. In the meantime, have a seat and find out about my dear chum!

1. So tell me a little about your series and main characters.

The Claire Burke Mystery Series was conceived as a way to satisfy several passions of mine simultaneously:

1. I love puzzles and mysteries and bending one’s brain to figure out a solution. I enjoy crossword puzzles and have read hundreds (and maybe thousands) of mystery stories in my life.

2. I enjoy humor and seeing the light side of life and figuring out ways to turn difficulties into challenges and, ultimately, into mildly amusing road bumps on the road of life (and forgetting about the hard part)..

3. But the really big reason is my need to show people with a variety of cognitive and physical challenges as real and worthwhile and interesting people who form part of the fabric of society just like you and me.

2. What is your writing process like? Do you thrive on routine or work spontaneously as the whim takes you?

I am no good with routine. The ideas build up inside me until I can’t stand it any longer, everything else that MUST BE DONE has more or less been done and then I run away and write where nobody knows me and I don’t owe anything to anybody.

3. What exciting moment or moments have made you realize that you were really an “author”?

Sometimes I reread some of my stuff and I just know it is good and I feel a little thrill down my back – and at those moments I know I am really an author and I actually have something to say that is worth saying.

4. What do you do to spark up your creativity when you feel the well of inspiration is running dry?

Rest and escape from the daily grind of preoccupations and duties.

5. Who are some of your favorite authors and how do you feel they have influenced your desire to write?

Agatha Christie, Elizabeth George, Dorothy Sayers, M.C. Beaton, – and, unfortunately, the rest I forget. I read them, enjoy them, forget to write down the author’s names and then can never find the series again. Pathetic! I have been influenced by these and may others – L.M. Montgomery, A. J. Cronin, Tolkien just to name three – by the way they bring characters to life and make you think about life. I wanted to do that.

Thanks again for taking the time for a spring social tea with me, Emma.  It’s always such a pleasure to be in your fine company.  And friends, be sure to check out ROSCOE’S REVENGE and her other Claire Burke Mysteries.  Also, do visit her bio on the Cozy Cat Press site and her brand new website www.claireburkemysteries.com.

Toodles,

Barbara Jean