ATTENTION ALL READERS: Who wants to join in some scavenger hunt mayhem and fun for the month of May? Learn more about your favorite authors, their work and their wonderful characters in our Character Interview Blog Bash! Great prizes to be won, as well!
Hi gang, I've got an exciting new contest to introduce to you today! Whimsical Publications is putting on a scavenger hunt, with some great prizes for all who enter the contest. To participate, please send an email to: promorobyn@gmail.com
Robyn White will give each entrant a list of questions you must try to answer. The contest is fot the month of May and you'll have plenty of time to find the answers. At the end of the month, a drawing will be held from all correct entries for several prize baskets.
As for my part of the hunt, I'm sharing a recent chat I had with one of my main characters from my first Whimsical Publication; A GIRL'S BEST FRIEND. Somewhere in the chat, you'll find the answer to my question that will win you a point on Robyn's scorecard.
Character Chat
Hi, folks. I’ve got a man here with me today who’s been there and done that, wherever and whatever. As a former deep cover spy, he’s led a double and sometimes triple life few people experience, much less imagine. For purposes of security, I’ll call him Laz. His cover name was Hayward Lazarus and he’d been traveling around the world as a diplomat representing a philanthropic foundation, Hands Round the Globe. I doubt he’ll kill me for revealing that HRTG was really a CIA front (similar to Air America) that did good work for children in need all over the world. Anyway, thanks for coming by. I hope you enjoy the session.
Pat Dale
PD: Good day, Laz, and welcome. Thanks for dropping by for a chat.
LZ: My pleasure, Pat. Especially since you ended my tale the way you did.
PD: Uh, wait! That’s classified.
LZ: (laughs sarcastically) Isn’t that ironic? I’m the spy but you pull that classified material stunt on me. Pretty funny.
PD: (blushes) Well, I guess I can see the irony in that. I just didn’t want you giving the end away in case our audience hasn’t read A GIRL’S BEST FRIEND yet. I mean, as a man who decided he had to die to save his agency and maybe his country; you gave your all in the cause.
LZ: Yeah. I gave at the office, you could say. Including giving up the most glamorous woman I’d ever met in the bargain. How in the world did you come up with an amazing character like Laura?
PD: Oh that? It was easy, my man. A member of my family was involved in the TV jewelry industry, so that gave me an idea for what she’d be doing. Also, how she’d ever cross paths with a man as elusive as you. The rest was basically simple benign lust.
LZ: Lust? Come on, Pat, how can you lust for a character in a book?
PD: (chuckles) Hey, pal! Readers do that all the time. You mean, you’ve never picked up a book and found a character in it that you dreamed about for days or weeks?
LZ: (nods head) Oh. Yeah. I see what you’re getting at.
PD: Not really. I’m just putting you on, Laz. Actually, I had a friend who resembled the lady I created to appear with you in the book.
LZ: You mean you knew a real life Laura?
PD: Yep. Oh, I changed some of her features to protect my friend. You can do that kind of thing if you’re a writer, you know.
LZ: Lucky you. Really, lucky me! I-
PD: Watch it! You almost did it again. I thought you were a master spy. Surely, you know how to keep a secret.
LZ: (blushes) Yeah, I do. It’s just that being around a gorgeous babe like Laura kind of ties your tongue in knots. You dig?
PD: (laughs) I do indeed. Okay, I’ve got a question for you. Looking back on your adventure, is there anything you’d have done differently if you’d been the one writing the book?
LZ: Hmm. That’s a serious question that deserves a serious answer. Let me think about it for a moment. (pauses, closes eyes)
LZ: (scowls at Pat, smiling ruefully) I’m not sure I could have put Laura through the sexually charged ordeal you got her into in Amsterdam.
PD: Come on, man. You’re a man of the world, experienced and well traveled. No doubt, before you met Laura, you’d had lots of incidents with gorgeous sexy women. Maybe even some events similar to her entanglement.
LZ: (eyes blazing) You implying something about Flame and me?
PD: Hey, my friend, don’t get in a huff. I realize you had no idea at the time what a conniving bitch she turned out to be. Anyway, I got Laura out of it didn’t I?
LZ: Yeah, you did. Good thing, too, or I’d have searched you out and done what I did with my old pal Jeffrey. I’ve got to hand it to you, you created a real bastard there.
PD: If Jeff was a bastard, what would you call Heiny?
LZ: (looks around the room for a sign) Is this show PG rated?
PD: Yes. So?
LZ: So, I can’t use the words in my mind to describe him. You know, looking back on it, I’m not sure but what Laura had a tougher time in your novel than I did.
PD: (bows gracefully) That must mean I was successful in writing a double helix. I wanted to develop two separate storylines moving in parallel, gently twisting them together into one. Hence my tagline; glamour gal and slippery spy ratchet between agony and ecstasy as they search for a way to be together. I think we’d best stop now and let our audience learn for itself if Laz and Laura found a happy ever after.
LZ: (big grin) Yeah! Hey, Pat, it’s been fun. I’d hoped I would have a chance to meet you in ‘real’ life someday. You sure gave me hell in A GIRL’S BEST FRIEND, but what the heck. It makes for a fantastic read. No wonder it’s been highly rated. Stay well, my author friend.
PD: And you, too, my favorite spy! (high fives and fist butts with Laz)
PD: (turns to audience) Thanks to all of you for coming by our chat.
http://www.patdalesblog.blogspot.com
http://www.whimsicalpublications.com
Well, that's it for now. Be sure to contact Robyn to get your scoresheet and good luck. By the way, there are eighteen authors who are participating in the contest and Robyn's scorsheet will supply all the blog addresses you'll need to win. Good luck!
