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Patricia Sands

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Charleston SC

Spend some time with Christine Nolfi!

June 22, 2016 by Patricia Sands 13 Comments

Many of you are accustomed to seeing me involved in writing events and projects with Christine Nolfi.Nolfi-Photo-150x150 Collaboration is just one of the many rich and satisfying aspects of a writer’s world. Christine has also now been signed by Lake Union Publishing so we have even more opportunities to interact.

Hi Christine! It’s great fun to have you stop by for a chat!

Patricia, many thanks for the opportunity to stop by your blog! For those readers who are unaware, Patricia and I have been friends for quite a long time. She’s one of the first authors I had the luck of meeting when I began publishing.

Thanks for taking the time to answer these questions and give us a glimpse into your writing world.

PS ~ Have you always been drawn to writing? Was there a particular time in your life when you knew you simply had a story to share with the world?

CN ~ Like many novelists, I can’t recall a time when I wasn’t writing stories! In childhood, I had the other kids on the street convinced fairies had hidden treasures we’d find if we searched hard enough, and in high school, the literary magazine gave my stories front page billing. For many years I worked in public relations. When my children were in elementary school, I finally put storytelling front and center—the Liberty Series was the result.

PS ~ Your stories are described as 51vnQT3UNaL._UY250_“heartwarming and inspirational”, and they certainly are! Do you draw from past experiences in your own life when you develop an idea?

CN ~ Absolutely. I’ve had the luck of an interesting life, meeting an abundance of unusual people over the years. Many of my plots begin with a memory or an idea drawn from those past experiences. For example, the underlying story of Birdie finding her roots in Treasure Me is drawn from my personal history: my French ancestors were among the first families to settle in Charleston, South Carolina in the 1680s.

PS ~ When you begin a story, do you have an outline or do you have a particular writing style?

CN ~ I can’t begin work until a general outline becomes clear, and I’m certain of the main characters’ deep motivations and desires. The plot evolves and often changes as the characters come to life on the page.

PS ~ Is there a particular novel of yours that is your favorite? Why that one?

CN ~ Although I’ve fallen in love with characters of each novel I’ve written, THE TREE OF EVERLASTING KNOWLEDGE holds a special place in my heart. The themes underpinning the story were drawn directly from my experiences as an adoptive mother. In fact, several of the scenes in the novel were inspired by actual events. Like the book’s heroine, I underwent a personal transformation while helping my children put the nightmare of an abusive early childhood behind them.

PS ~ You create strong, engaging characters in all of your stories. Are any of those personalities based on people you have actually met?

CN ~ I suspect my characters represent an amalgam of personalities I’ve met over the years. I never begin work with the notion of representing an actual person in one of my novels.

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PS ~ Your new Wheaten Terrier pup, Lucy, looks like such fun and I’m sure she offers great diversion to your day. What else do you like to do when you aren’t writing?

CN ~ We adore Lucy! Barry and I moved to Charleston five years ago; in many ways, we’re still in tourist mode. We love strolling the beach, visiting the historical sites—Charleston is one of the oldest cities in the U.S., a distinctive the city shares with Boston. Lately I’ve begun researching my Postell ancestry—two weeks ago, I visited the oldest French Huguenot church, appropriately located on Church Street, and discovered the man hosting the tours was a distant cousin. The next thirty minutes were spent in astonishment as he described our ancestral connection to many of the founding families of Charleston.

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PS ~ Congratulations on recently signing a contract with Amazon Publishing’s Lake Union, the women’s fiction imprint. Can you give us a sneak peek at what you will be writing for them and a publication date?

CN ~ Like the Liberty Series, the new series for Lake Union will feature a small town with a cast of quirky characters. I’ve had too much fun writing the debut to call this work! The first book will release in February 2017. The second book will release in July 2017. I hope readers enjoy these new books—I’d love to write ten or more installments for the new series!

Christine’s bio ~ 

Some writers are gifted with an unusual life and I’m certainly one of those.SCG 180x240.jgp I’ve lived in Ohio, Virginia, California, Utah and now South Carolina. In college I was featured on the front page of the Houston Post for a lark that erased all my debt. I met my four adopted children for the first time in the sweltering heat of the tropics. I helped build several companies and was lucky enough to earn a living doing what I love best–writing–in a PR firm I owned.

In 2004 I made the wisest and most irrational decision of my life–I began writing fiction full-time. All those years of hard work pay off daily in sweet notes and comments by readers. Please continue the mail, tweets and comments on FaceBook, GoodReads and other sites. I cherish your support and love chatting with readers.

Visit Christine at her website by clicking right here or on Facebook.

Discover more information about Christine’s books on her Amazon Author Page.

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Filed Under: Author Promotion, Blog, Uncategorized, Writing Tagged With: Amazon Publishing, author, Charleston SC, Christine Nolfi, Heavenscribe, Lake Union Publishing, Liberty Series

The countdown is on …

May 2, 2014 by Patricia Sands 26 Comments

If it’s Friday, it must be France…

Excusez-moi! I’ve been a little off the radar on the blog this past week. There’s been a lot going on in my writing world. How’ve you been?

I spent some time processing all the fabulous writing and publishing information generated at the PubSmart Conference, I attended in Charleston SC, April 16, 17, 18. There will be a blog post  about it  soon. Wow, did I learn a lot !PubSmart_logo_290

The conference was also a great opportunity to mingle with and meet so many interesting and energizing people who are committed to sharing information and working together to get better at what we do! It was SO good to  spend some time in person with some of my online “besties”. Making connections with people who motivate and inspire you is such a buzz, isn’t it?  Have you had the same experience lately? I’d love to hear about it!

Next I took a big load off my shoulders when I hit “send” and fired my manuscript off to my editor. With any luck, we will be good to go for a July 1st release and I’m excited! The cover art is in the works as well!

There’s always a moment of what I refer to as “extreme anxiety” when an author sends a new novel off to their trusted advance readers. These are avid readers who have promised to be completely honest and candid in their comments about your new work. Their word is their bond and we trust them implicitly! Their comments are the best way to make our work even better. Here’s the thing, we’ve lived with the story for months or years and we feel good about it and we hope everyone else will too … but … what if they don’t … egos must be set aside. It’s all part of the process … and I love it!

But, zut alors, it’s Friday and I want to be talking about France!ilovefrance

The countdown is on … 31, 30 … in 29 more days my husband and I will be back in Nice, France.  It feels more like going home than going on holiday and we are always thrilled to be there!

Here’s how our first morning will play out:

~ Walk along the Promenade des Anglais, just minutes from our apartment, pausing for a croissant and café au lait at a beach restaurant.

Nice-PSandsPhotos

~ Dip our feet in the Med and plan to come for a swim in the afternoon.

Nice-PSandsPhotos
Nice-PSandsPhotos

~ Stop in at the fab daily market in the old town and pick up some cheese, fruits, veggies, and a big bouquet of flowers.

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~ Attempt to limit the number of photographs I take on my first day!

~ Write for an hour or two and then meet friends for lunch. From that point on … who knows?

Bon weekend, tout le monde!

You know I love to spend time in the south of France and write about this breathtaking area on my blog and in my novels. I’ll be researching my next novel as well as spending part of each day writing, and I hope you will enjoy my reports.

Better yet! Come and visit for yourself. For part of June, my friend and fellow author, Susan Sommers and I will be leading a tour of the south of France for women, organized by the Womens Travel Network .  There are two spots open in the first tour from  June 12 to June 22. The second tour from June 25 to July 5, is sold out. Call your BFF, your mom, your sister, or just come on your own as you will find great company in our group of travellers. I know at this point it would be a spur of the moment decision, but those are often the best kind!

Have you been to the south of France? If so, please tell us your favourite spots to visit! Any questions? Fire away! I’ll be happy to find the answers for you.

And, by the way, this is another home exchange for us. I keep saying what an affordable and friendly way this is to travel. Try it! You’ll like it!

Nice-PSandsPhotos

 

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Filed Under: Blog, France, If it is France..., News Tagged With: Charleston SC, France, Nice, Promenade des Anglais, PubSmartCon, Toronto, vieille ville, Womens Travel Network

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