In March THE LUCK OF THE WEISSENSTEINERS will be part of a multiple author box set, entitles “AT ODDS WITH DESTINY“.
I’m very excited to team up with such great talent and have decided to feature all of my fellow authors from the set here in the Countdown to the release.
Today I continue with P.C. Zick, no stranger to this site at all.
Tell us a little about yourself as writer and as person.
Writing is my passion, and I call myself a “storyteller” no matter the genre. I write contemporary fiction with a bent toward the environment. But always my work contains elements of love, which I consider to be the most important emotion of all.
I was born in Michigan and moved to Florida in 1980, where I lived for thirty years. Love brought me to my current location in Pennsylvania when I married my high school sweetheart, after a thirty-six year separation. That’s probably why romance always seeps into my work—I’m a hopeless romantic in real life as well as on the page.
Tell us about your writing history. When was the first time you decided to write and when was the first time you did?
I began my writing career in 1998 as a journalist after many years of teaching high school English. I’d been working on a novel at night and on vacations for several years, but soon the bug hit, and I couldn’t think about anything else except writing. When the local newspaper offered me a gig as a feature writer and political reporter, I went for it, while continuing to write fiction in my spare time. When I started winning awards for my columns and articles, I knew I’d made a wise choice. In 2000, I published my first novel with a small traditional publisher. That book is no longer in print, but since then I’ve published six more novels and several works of nonfiction. I’m getting ready to publish another romance and hope to finish a murder mystery set on the banks of the Suwannee River later this year.
Did anyone influence you / encourage you to become a writer?
I was in a writer’s group while I was still teaching. Our leader became annoyed one night when no one had brought any new work. We all had excuses. He said, “Look, writers write. That’s it. Either you write or you don’t, but don’t make excuses for not doing it.” The group broke up that night because folks took offense to his words. I didn’t. Instead I went home and finished my first novel which I published the following year. His words stay with me, even today more than fifteen years later.
When did you decide to write in your chosen genre(s)
It’s been rather organic. I don’t think I started out thinking about genre. I just wrote the stories I wanted to write and read. It’s only been recently that I’ve been trying to step out of the mold with my novels. I wrote my first romance last year, and my latest work Native Lands combines historical fiction paralleled with contemporary lives.
Tell us about the concept behind your books. How did you get the idea?
My ideas come from life. Living in Florida and covering small town politics provided me with rich fodder for my three novels in the Florida Fiction Series. When I wrote my romance, I found myself still including social issues within the love story when I added a soup kitchen for homeless vets. I watch what is happening in the world around us and try to write fiction that is both entertaining and educational about important topics.
What are you most proud of in your books?
I’m proud of the topics I’ve chosen. I’ve written about the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and the effort to save wildlife on Florida’s beaches; I’ve written about the plight of Florida’s Native Americans who supposedly became extinct; I’ve written about dysfunctional families and how to overcome them; I’ve written about loss, depression, and suicide. But even though the topics are sometimes painful, I try to give hope when all seems lost.
What is your life like outside of writing?
My husband and I live in western Pennsylvania, and I have no choice but to follow Pittsburgh’s teams: the Steelers, Penguins, and Pirates, so that occupies some of our time. We also love the water, so in the summer we’re either kayaking or out on our small powerboat on the weekends. We also golf, make homebrew, and garden. We’re headed into a transition point in our lives. Within two years, my husband will retire, and we’ll live in Florida for half the year. Right now we’re trying to downsize here and find a smaller place that will eventually become our summer home. I’m thinking cabin-size!
What makes you laugh?
Life’s absurdities. Stupid criminals. Politics. My husband. I think I laugh hardest at nonsensical things that no one can explain. I still laugh at underwear jokes and impolite noises in public. I try to remain a kid as much as possible.
Who would you like to invite for dinner?
I would invite Jon Stewart (who makes me laugh), Rachel Carson (who I hold in high esteem), Carl Hiassen (who I also hold in high esteem), and Henry VIII (just because).
What song would you pick to go with your book?
Closer to Fine by the Indigo Girls
What are you working on now?
Another romance, Behind the Bar, and a murder mystery, Death on the Suwannee
Is there anything you would like us to know about yourself and your books?
I write because it pleases me. If I please someone else along the way, then all the better.
Links
Website: http://www.pczick.com
Blogs: http://pczick.com/blogs-by-p-c-zick/living-lightly/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PCZick
Twitter: https://twitter.com/PCZick
Google: https://plus.google.com/+PatriciaZick
Amazon Page: http://www.amazon.com/P.C.-Zick/e/B0083DPN4E/
Amazon UK Page: http://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B0083DPN4E
Barnes & Noble (Nook): http://www.barnesandnoble.com/c/p.c.-zick
Apple iBooks: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id916306797
Kobo: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/search?query=P.C.%20Zick&fcsearchfield=Author
Kindle: http://BookShow.me/B00SHYGG7C/
Nook http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/at-odds-with-destiny-uvi-poznansky/1121088493?ean=2940151687607
https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id959421650
Kobo http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/at-odds-with-destiny
Smashwords https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/511673
My name is Jennifer B. Graham, author of a memoir, An Immoral Proposal. My book recounts my growing up as a person of colour under South Africa’s apartheid regime. The story culminates in a forbidden, illegal romance with a white man – a big no-no under apartheid for which there was a stiff prison sentence of 7 years if caught and arrested.
When I ran it by a publisher friend of mine, she told me very gently and diplomatically that it stank!…
lucky is too weak a word, January 26, 2015
war. I would have preferred more information about the people of the Holocaust.
