Laura McNeill will be awarding a $20 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour, and a $10 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn host.
Center of Gravity
by Laura McNeill
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
INTERVIEW:
1. What or who inspired you to start writing?
I’ve always loved
reading and books. Growing up, my parents kept the TV off all summer,
every summer. While I wasn’t thrilled at eight years old, at about age 28, I
discovered it was the best gift they could have given me. I trekked to the
library and back by myself almost every day of the summer and it grew my love
of reading exponentially.
Even today, I don’t watch television much. I think that’s
why I found being a TV news reporter fascinating (I worked as a reporter,
anchor, and producer in Dothan, Ala. and Watertown, NY). Every day, it was my
job to discover stories and share them with the community!
2.
How did you come up with ideas for your
books?
I’m lucky, my ideas just come to me! I have more than I know
what to do with, sometimes. When an idea sticks with me, when I am thinking
about it when I’m at work, or driving home, it’s usually a sign that it’s a
viable and that I can stick with it for 80,000 or 90,000 words.
Sometimes, I overhear a conversation that provokes a what-if
question. There are times I read a newspaper article or see a story online and
begin to think about it. I’ve also been inspired by friends’ personal stories
of loss and triumph.
3.
What expertise did you bring to your writing?
I’m an
English major (bachelor’s degree) and a journalist by trade. I worked in TV
news as an anchor and reporter for 6 years before trying to write a novel. It
was excellent preparation – a lot of writing under pressure.
4. What would you want your readers to know about you that might not be in your bio?
I hold down a full-time job and am the single mom of two
boys. I write in the mornings (or edit, or plot another story) in the early hours
of the morning before work. This past 18 months, while working on Center of Gravity, I also finished my
graduate degree in Interactive Technology from the University of Alabama.
5. If you were the casting director for the film version of your novel, who would play your leading roles?
Ava Carson - Emma
Stone - Best known for her roles in The
Amazing Spider-Man and Crazy,
Stupid Love.
Mitchell Carson - Christian
Bale (Ava’s husband) – He is best known for his role in the Dark Knight (Batman) trilogy.
Graham Thomas
- Chris Pratt - I see him playing lawyer Graham Thomas in Center of
Gravity. He starred in Moneyball,
Zero Dark Thirty, and Guardians
of the Galaxy.
Jack Carson - Jonathan
Morgan Heit - Ava's 8-year-old son
in Center of
Gravity. He is best known for Date
Night and Bedtime Stories.
Dr.
Lucy Olsen - Carla Gugino – She is best known for her role
as the mom in all of the Spy
Kids films.
6. What is the best and worst advice you ever received? (regarding writing or publishing)
BEST - Read a lot and write a lot. In addition, find a story
you love and want to write about. This might sound obvious. Of course you
are going to love the story you write about! Until, that is, you don't love it,
and it isn't working. So, make sure you love Minnesota, or the Civil War, or
the year 2050, or the character you're going to spend 85,000 words with.
It's an investment.
WORST – Write only in one genre. I started out in Chick
Lit/Women’s fiction, but was discovered by my agent after publishing my second
novel under the pen name Lauren Clark.
7. Have you started your next project? If so, can you share a little bit about your book?
My second HarperCollins/Thomas Nelson book will be released
in April of 2016. Sister Dear is the story of a woman, Allie Marshall, who goes
to prison for a crime she doesn’t commit, leaving behind a 5-year old daughter.
When Allie is paroled 10 years later, she hopes to reclaim her quiet life and
move on, but her daughter, now a teenager, soon challenges her innocence. In
her quest to find justice, Allie discovers that the one person she trusts most
committed the ultimate betrayal a decade earlier.
8. What is your favorite reality show?
I
used to watch Gordon Ramsey and Hell’s
Kitchen quite a bit – I think I related it to the novel a lot. For example,
just like Ava’s life in Center of Gravity
… like it or not, there’s a brand new playing field with Hell’s Kitchen. Ava’s
life is now as calm and cool as Gordon Ramsey’s temper, peppered with cussing,
tears, stress, and more than a few sleepless nights. Ava needs to put her battle gear on, expect
turbulence, and hang on tight.
9. Do you have an all time favorite book?
All of Jodi Picoult’s books stay with me for
a long time. My favorite is probably My Sister’s Keeper, probably because of
all of the first person narratives like in Center
of Gravity!
They are ALL so carefully written,
well-researched, and powerful. She explores tough issues and isn’t afraid of
challenging the norm or stirring up people’s emotions. I think that’s the job
of a writer – to leave readers with a lasting impression or message.
10. Anything else you might want to add?
It’s my hope that readers connect with Ava in Center of Gravity – a woman who finds strength deep within herself when almost everyone else has given up on her. Like so many of the women I’ve met over the years, Ava is tenacious, smart, sensitive, and, as it turns out, a bit naïve, when it comes to trusting and believing in the man she’s chosen to marry. She’d like to cling to the fairytale of having a perfect marriage, but eventually sees through her husband’s charming façade.
My message is that women are stronger than they believe,
love can persevere, and there is life after betrayal and tragedy.
BLURB:
Her whole life, Ava Carson has been
sure of one thing: she doesn’t measure up to her mother’s expectations. So when
Mitchell Carson sweeps into her life with his adorable son, the ready-made family
seems like a dream come true.
In the blink of an eye, she’s
married, has a new baby, and life is grand.
Or is it?
When her picture-perfect marriage
begins unraveling at the seams, Ava convinces herself she can fix it. It's
temporary. It’s the stress. It’s Mitchell’s tragic history of loss.
If only Ava could believe her own
excuses.
Mitchell is no longer the charming,
thoughtful man she married. He grows more controlling by the day, revealing a
violent jealous streak. His behavior is recklessly erratic, and the unanswered
questions about his past now hint at something far more sinister than Ava can
stomach. Before she can fit the pieces together, Mitchell files for divorce and
demands full custody of their boys.
Fueled by fierce love for her children
and aided by Graham Thomas, a new attorney in town —Ava takes matters into her
own hands, digging deep into the past. But will finding the truth be enough to
beat Mitchell at his own game?
Center of Gravity weaves a chilling
tale, revealing the unfailing and dangerous truth that things—and people—are
not always what they seem.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
EXCERPT:
When your children are
stolen, the pain swallows you whole. Logic fades, reason retreats. Desperation
permeates the tiniest crevices of your mind. Nothing soothes the ache in your
wounded soul.
Right in front of me, my
sweet, charmed life fell to pieces. Everything destroyed; a hailstorm’s wrath
on a field of wildflowers. All I’d known—gone. Foolish me, I’d believed in
magic, clung tight to false promises. The lies, spoken from tender lips, haunt
me now, follow me, and whisper into my ear like a scorned lover.
What’s left is emptiness.
Give up, a voice urges. Let go.
No! I argue back. My
children aren’t gone. Not yet. Precious
and delicate, tiny fossils, they exist in glass-boxed isolation. Hidden.
Protected.
And so tonight, I run. Blood
pulses through my legs, my muscles protest; my lungs scream for more oxygen.
Thick storm clouds brew in the distance. The rain falls in blinding sheets. The
force of it pricks my skin like needles, but the pain only makes me push
harder.
I will rescue them.
Lightning flashes across the
wet driveway. The bulk of his truck looms large in the black night. I skid to a
stop and catch my breath, pressing a hand to my heaving chest.
They’re here. My children
are here.
Thunder booms and crashes,
nearer now, the wind whips my hair. A gust tosses tree branches to the ground.
Birds cry and flutter to safety. An escaped sandbox bucket spins, clattering on
the blacktop.
I grasp the railing and pull
myself up the steps. At the top, the door’s shiny-slick with water and
humidity. Mother Nature howls and drowns out my knocking.
“Hello! Can you hear me?”
With my palm open wide, I slap at the barrier, willing it to open. I will
rescue my children. I will rescue them . . . or I will die trying.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
After six years behind the
anchor desk at two CBS affiliates, Laura moved to the Alabama Gulf Coast to
raise her family. Her accolades in broadcasting include awards from the
Associated Press, including Best News Anchor and Best Specialized Reporter.
Laura works at Spring Hill
College as the school’s web content and social media manager and is active in
her community—participating in fundraisers for the American Cancer Society,
Ronald McDonald House, and Providence Hospital’s Festival of Flowers.
Laura was recently awarded a
2-book deal with Thomas Nelson Publishing, a division of HarperCollins. Her
novel, Center of Gravity, set in Mobile, Ala., will be published in July
of 2015. Laura is represented by Elizabeth Winick Rubenstein, president of
McIntosh and Otis literary agency in New York. Her writing awards include
those from William Faulkner-Wisdom Creative Writing Competition, Writer’s
Digest, RWA, and the Eric Hoffer competition.
She holds a master’s degree
in journalism from The Ohio State University and a bachelor’s degree in English
from Clarion University of Pennsylvania. She is currently pursuing a second
master’s degree in interactive technology from the University of Alabama. She
is a native of Upstate New York and currently resides near the Alabama Gulf
Coast with her two children.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GIVEAWAY INFORMATION and RAFFLECOPTER CODE
Laura McNeill will be
awarding a $20 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during
the tour, and a $10 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn host.
RAFFLECOPTER:
http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/28e4345f1000">Enter
to win a $20 Amazon/BN GC - a Rafflecopter giveaway
Thanks for hosting!
ReplyDeleteChristine ~ Thank you so much for hosting Center of Gravity on your website today! Excited to be here ... and loved sharing all of the answers to your questions!
ReplyDeletexx, Laura
Welcome to the Angel's blog. I hope you have a great tour. Allana Angel
ReplyDeleteLooks great and I like the cover. Thank you for the chance to win :)
ReplyDeleteYour book sounds chilling and intriguing--and like it could really happen! So glad you stopped by Rogue's Angels' blog, and hope your tour is a success!
ReplyDelete--Amber Angel
loved the excerpt, thank you!
ReplyDeleteReally great post! I loved learning about this book..thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like a really intense book! Thank you for the great post and contest!
ReplyDeletethanks for the chance!
ReplyDelete