Wednesday 8 January 2014

Beverley Bateman Is My Guest

Please welcome fellow Canadian, Beverley Bateman. What would you like readers to know about you, Beverley?
I’m a really boring person and I’m techno challenged, so I have a lot to learn these days. I live in the beautiful Okanagan valley in southern British Columbia with my husband and two Shiba Inu dogs. It’s apple, pear, peach and apricot orchard country. We have beaches and skiing in the mountains. (Okay, not in the same season) And it’s wine country with award winning wines and ice wines. Yes, it’s my duty to taste them and it does help with the writing.

I agree! I love the Okanagan. Are you a full time writer or do you have a “day job”?
I've done both. I wrote when I had a day job and a tight schedule. I wrote a lot. Then I quit and found I didn't write as much. I think I wasn't on a tight schedule so I kind of goofed off. Now I’m back to writing and put in a good 3-4 hours writing and another 1-2 hours on marketing.

Do you have other talents? 
I’m not sure it’s a talent –yet, but I do paint. I do watercolors. I’m a beginner and love what you can do with colors. It’s also fun.

I've tried watercolors, but I don't have an artistic bone in my body! What do you do to promote your work?
I probably should do more but I’m learning. I've started to blog. You can check it out at http://beverleybateman.blogspot.ca/  I do blogs on other people’s sites. I twitter (tweet) and I’m on Facebook and have an author’s page. I’m on Triberr and Pinterest, although I don’t do much with Pinterest. I’m on Goodreads, but learning how it works. I post to several online loops.

Tell us about your current WIP.
My latest WIP is Missing – Luke’s story. It’s part of the Hawkins Ranch series. Missing is the 2nd book in the series set in Duster, Montana. The series is the stories of four Hawkins brothers. Luke is the doctor for Duster. He’s looking for someone to assist in his practice. The person who responds is a single doctor from New York. Luke is single but has adopted a daughter. Someone is threatening a kidnapping and Luke’s daughter is the victim.

Sounds exciting! What inspired this story?
Honestly? I’m not sure I want to admit this, but I was going through all those books that have been rejected, either fulls or partials, and realized I’d written three that were all set in small town, Montana. I thought why not make them part of a series? So I went through and made a list of all the townspeople and stores and rewrote the Hawkins Ranch series.

Wonderful! Give us an elevator pitch for your book. 
 Small town doctor gets a city doctor to help in his clinic. When his daughter is kidnapped, he has to save her, and convince the woman he loves that she really is a small town doctor at heart.

Are you traditionally published, self-published or both? 
I guess I can say both. I was published by two different small publishers and then I got my rights back and now I’m self-published.  However I have to find a cover artist and pay them. I need a proof reader and I have to pay them. If I do it myself, I have to learn how to format for epub or mobi and upload them to each site. Your publisher does that for you. Marketing stays the same with either.

Good points. What is your writing routine like?
That’s another good question. I always read other authors' blog and posts and ask what they do. I keep looking for something that works for me. I often do head work before I get up – thinking about where I’m at and where I’m going. Then once I’m up I do research in the morning (right after I do my email). I don’t actually write until after dinner. Then I hit the keyboard for 4 -5 hours.

What are you reading now?
I just downloaded The First Phone Call from Heaven by Mitch Albom.

What’s your opinion on authors giving away free books?
I don’t do it. I think our work is worth more than free. I know authors do it because they think that if someone downloads it and read it they might buy the next book. I download free books because authors ask me to and it does something for their position. (I’m not sure what). I've never read one yet. So I guess I’m not a fan.

We’d love a blurb and an excerpt from your latest book.
Running from a disastrous engagement, and an over-powering father, Dr. Allie Parsons agrees to help out an old friend and travels to Duster, Montana. She’s agreed to help the local doctor for a brief period of time until he can find a permanent new doctor. Raised her whole life in New York city, Allie is greeted with culture shock when she finds out how small Duster is, but she also finds a warm, friendly community. And the doctor turns out to be young, tall, dark and handsome. He sends her emotions shooting sky high. She’s welcomed into the Hawkins family and develops a relationship with his daughter. A mysterious stranger leaves notes at the clinic and Allie fears they are a warning he’s going to kidnap the doctor’s daughter.

Luke Hawkins, one of the Hawkins’ brothers is looking for a doctor to take over half the practice from the retiring doctor. He’s not expecting his temporary replacement to be a young, sexy, single woman from New York. He knows she’s the woman he’s been searching for all his life, but he also knows she won’t stay in Duster. He doesn't believe the notes are meant for him until his daughter is kidnapped. Now he has to save his daughter and convince the woman he loves that she really is a small town doctor at heart.


Excerpt
"Allie pushed open the door to the clinic and stepped into the small, crowded waiting room. The slight scent of antiseptic tickled her nose. She stopped.

Silence crept across the room. One by one, heads turned toward the door.

It might be the novelty of a stranger, but more likely it was the novelty of a stranger in fancy city clothes with a run in her stocking. She threaded her way through the patients to the reception counter. Patients watched her. A few of them put down the magazines they were thumbing through.

She’d bet a month’s salary those magazines were three or four years old. The furniture in the waiting room had seen better days, but it was serviceable.

The men and women stared at her, probably wondering who the heck she was. Several patients smiled at her. She managed to return the smiles. At least no one laughed.

A man stood behind the counter, tall, broad-shouldered, and maybe thirtyish He had curly dark hair, a strong, square chin and he caught her attention right away. His cobalt blue eyes, under long dark lashes, latched on to her as she walked toward him. Even partially covered by his lab coat, his muscled chest strained against the white t-shirt.

If he was the doctor he was definitely not the old geezer she’d expected.

A few feet from the counter, she stopped. His electric blue eyes locked on her. She couldn’t look away. Sensuality oozed across the space between them. Her breath hitched into an irregular rhythm, kicking her pulse up a notch.

“Good, you finally got here. I thought Jean would send someone a little faster.” His rich, smooth voice rolled over her. “Look, we’re backed up. Patients’ files are over there and the appointment book is on the desk. Check them in, pull their file, and put the file in the slot by the examining room door.”

“Excuse me?” She stared up at the man snapping orders at her. She’d run away from one tyrant and had no intention of putting up with another overbearing one, even if he was knock-down gorgeous. His firm abs, linebacker-type shoulders and muscular body did not compensate for his attitude.

Who did this jerk think he was?

Her back stiffened. She assumed he was the doctor, but his manners confused her. If staff and working partners were expected to put up with this, no wonder they hadn't been able to find another doctor.

“You’re not going to make me repeat all that are you? I have a room full of patients. When I asked Jean to send a temp over from the hospital, I thought she’d send someone with training and at least a vague idea of what they were doing.” A sigh slipped through his lips and he rolled his eyes. The look he gave her placed her one step above an idiot.

He pointed to a huge pile of folders. “The patients’ files are…”

Allie pulled her shoulders back, raised her chin and tightened her lips together. “Excuse me. I believe you’ve made a mistake. First of all, I’m not stupid. Second, I’m not your damn temp. I’m a doctor, Alexandra Parsons, M.D. I understood you were expecting me.”

“You’re the new doc? Shoot. I didn't expect you today.” The heart-stopping man stared down at her. His full lips drooped in apparent disappointment.

The disappointment could be her or the fact he still didn't have a temp. She couldn't tell.

“I arrived early, so I could acquaint myself with the town and find a place to live. I dropped by to introduce myself.”

He focused on her, drawing his eyebrows into a frown. “You’re the new physician? I should have known by that fancy outfit, it screams big city.”

“Sorry. I've just arrived and haven’t had time to get my jeans and plaid shirt yet. I’ll move that to the top of my list, so I’ll fit in.”

A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth, but he controlled it, as he ran his fingers through the tangle of dark curls."
Thank you for being my guest today, Beverley. I don't think you're boring in the least! Love your cover by the way.  Here is contact information.
Website http://www.beverleybateman.com/
Blog http://beverleybateman.blogspot.com/
Amazon
Sony
Nook



19 comments:

  1. Hi Beverley, Great interview. Anyone who writes a good book, as you have done, is anything but boring.

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  2. Hi Beverley! It's great to hear what you're up to these days. (Thanks, Anna, for having Beverley as a guest.) Your new book sounds intriguing. But I have to ask, living in the wonderful Okanagan, have you thought of setting a book or series there? I'd love to see more books with BC settings.

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    1. Hi Susan, it's so nice to hear from you. I haven't seen you around in awhile. Interesting comment, because I haven't thought about setting a book in the Okanagan - but I am now. I think when I was sending proposals to editors it was an ideal setting. My mind is already thinking, hmm Okanagan, wine country, death in a wine vat, poisoned by a Merlot.. I think you may see one, maybe later this year, early next year. I have a few more to edit and finish writing, before I start a new one. Thanks for a great idea.

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  3. Hi Beverley, I read your blog so it's nice to meet you and learn more about you here. Congrats on your books. I think more and more authors are going to self-pubbing because of the lack of support for promotion at the publishing houses. Since we are doing all the work anyway, it seems like we should make the money. If you ever need help with formatting for Kindle, Nook, Kobo, or Createspace, let me know!!

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    1. Hi Melissa, nice to see you here. I recognize you from my blog. I agree abut the self-publishing. We also have more control and don't have to wait years until someone else publishes it. My goal is to learn formatting this year (I'm dragging my feet because I can only learn so much at a time) but I may take you up on your offer. Thanks so much.

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  4. Great interview. I understand about not writing as much when you don't have another job. I write less now (on my novels) than I did when I worked full-time. Now, I'm too busy w/ 2 kids under the age of 5, twitter, blogs, facebook, etc. I feel like I have electronic ADD :)
    Google+'d

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    1. Thanks Andrea. It's interesting isn't it? When we work (outside the home) we have to be very organized and structured and we fit in that writing time. When we don't work out side the home it's easy to say - oh, I can do that later. I'll have time - and we don't. I like that electronic ADD. I know the feeling.

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  5. Your cover cowboy looks drool worthy and your excerpt has me wanting to read more. I think we sometimes take ourselves for granted and don't realize what seems mundane in our lives is anything but to someone who doesn't know us.

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    1. Interesting point about the mundane. Now wipe the drool and I hope you read more. It was fun writing it.

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  6. great interview, I love that cover. As a fellow Canadian I love your pride in your country, it shines through, :) As an aspiring author I found that your comments on going the self-publishing path helpful. I've been wrestling with the decision on which way to jump when my own work is ready.

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    1. It's a big decision. I sort of angst over it, but I like it. I'm learning lots and it's kind of fun, but a lot of work and a big learning curve. If you have any questions feel free to email me at babateman@shaw.ca. And yes I really love my country.

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  7. You are a wonderful writer and a leader! The cover is HOT! Can't wait to read this book!

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  8. Thanks Mary, you're sweet. Glad you like the cover. I thought he was kinda hot too.

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  9. I want to thank Anna for having me. It was fun. I apologize for responding to comments so late. We were traveling from Yuma to Tucson and just got in today and set up. I didn't get my internet until a little while ago.
    Thanks everyone for dropping by and leaving comments.

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  10. Loved the interview. Thanks, Anna, for having Beverley. She writes wonderful stories. It's always great to see all your guests and what they bring with them.

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    1. Thanks for the comments E. Anna has a great Blog site and some interesting books.

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  11. Great interview, Anna and Beverley. Loved the excerpt. Sounds like a book I'd enjoy reading.

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