Good Morning, Booklovers!
Summer in the Midwest can be a scorcher, but a little cloud cover has lowered temperatures so that morning on the deck is very pleasant. Won’t you join me, and welcome this week’s guest, cj petterson with her featured thriller/suspense novel, The Dawgstar?
Welcome, cj! How do you take your coffee?
cj: Thanks for the Coffee Chat invite, Ally. I absolutely love the taste of a good cup of coffee and drink my coffee half-caf, hot, black, unflavored, and eight to ten cups a day.
Ally: Wow, I think that’s even more than I drink! While I pour, please tell readers something about your background.
Summer in the Midwest can be a scorcher, but a little cloud cover has lowered temperatures so that morning on the deck is very pleasant. Won’t you join me, and welcome this week’s guest, cj petterson with her featured thriller/suspense novel, The Dawgstar?
Welcome, cj! How do you take your coffee?
cj: Thanks for the Coffee Chat invite, Ally. I absolutely love the taste of a good cup of coffee and drink my coffee half-caf, hot, black, unflavored, and eight to ten cups a day.
Ally: Wow, I think that’s even more than I drink! While I pour, please tell readers something about your background.
BIO:
cj petterson is the pen name of Marilyn A. Johnston. Born in Texas and raised in Michigan, Marilyn now lives on Alabama’s Gulf Coast.
She writes contemporary suspense/thrillers and mysteries with a touch of romance. Her strong protagonists and supporting characters take readers on a fast journey through stories filled with suspense, action, and sassy dialogue. Her non-fiction and fiction short stories, including a paranormal or two, appear in several anthologies.
Marilyn is a member of Sisters in Crime and their online Guppy chapter, Alabama Writers Conclave, Alabama Writers Forum, and a charter member of the Mobile Writers Guild.
Something unique/unusual that isn’t in your regular bio: “Here’s a cherished memory: I developed my taste for coffee when I was about four or five years old—Grandpa dipped bites of my mother’s homemade bread into his strong, black coffee and fed them to me while we sat on logs in the backyard and played games of checkers on top of an overturned washtub. I don’t remember if he let me win, but I do remember that spending alone-time with him and his handlebar mustache was a big win for me.”
AUTHOR CONTACT LINKS:
cjpetterson/author/facebook
Amazon Central Author Page
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6884697.cj_petterson
https://www.bookbub.com/authors/cj-petterson
blog at: https://www.lyricalpens.com
cj petterson is the pen name of Marilyn A. Johnston. Born in Texas and raised in Michigan, Marilyn now lives on Alabama’s Gulf Coast.
She writes contemporary suspense/thrillers and mysteries with a touch of romance. Her strong protagonists and supporting characters take readers on a fast journey through stories filled with suspense, action, and sassy dialogue. Her non-fiction and fiction short stories, including a paranormal or two, appear in several anthologies.
Marilyn is a member of Sisters in Crime and their online Guppy chapter, Alabama Writers Conclave, Alabama Writers Forum, and a charter member of the Mobile Writers Guild.
Something unique/unusual that isn’t in your regular bio: “Here’s a cherished memory: I developed my taste for coffee when I was about four or five years old—Grandpa dipped bites of my mother’s homemade bread into his strong, black coffee and fed them to me while we sat on logs in the backyard and played games of checkers on top of an overturned washtub. I don’t remember if he let me win, but I do remember that spending alone-time with him and his handlebar mustache was a big win for me.”
AUTHOR CONTACT LINKS:
cjpetterson/author/facebook
Amazon Central Author Page
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6884697.cj_petterson
https://www.bookbub.com/authors/cj-petterson
blog at: https://www.lyricalpens.com
INTERVIEW:
Ally: Who or what inspired your featured book?
cj: My youngest son, Jeff, said to me: “What if there was a satellite that was really a weapon, could fly unnoticed, and was sent into orbit by a psychopath?” It took him about eight seconds to ask a question that sent me on a deep dive into a research rabbit hole. The research became addictive, and it took me a couple of years to climb out. I found reports of our government’s program sponsoring college engineering geniuses (or genii) to develop nanosatellites, and it didn’t take a genius (I am living proof of that) to realize the U.S. didn’t have the only scientists in the world capable of developing such a satellite. The plot idea became plausible and possible.
Ally: Are you self-published or traditionally published? How did you make the decision?
cj: I am both. When the original story (“Deadly Star”) was published by Crimson Romance, it was a happily-ever-after romantic suspense. After Simon&Schuster closed the Crimson Romance imprint in early 2018, the book joined a host of others languishing in marketing purgatory. A couple of years later, I asked for my rights back but only recently decided to self-publish an updated story. Further research found more supporting info for the plot, and I re-edited, revised to up the suspense and changed the genre to thriller/suspense with a touch of romance. I love the characters and their story, and my goal is to reach out to a new audience.
Ally: What do you find is the hardest part of writing?
cj: The hardest part of writing for me is sitting my butt in the chair and putting my fingers on the keyboard. It’s easy for me to find an excuse not to because I share office space with my photographer son who also likes to listen to sports talk shows while he works on his photos. Worse distraction/reason is the cat that keeps walking across my keyboard, as she is doing right now. I have to admit that lately, I’ve been struggling with coming up with “the perfect idea” for a novel which, of course, doesn’t exist. So I’m replenishing my empty mind by studying/reading books in the thriller/suspense genre. I’m hoping stories by Robert Ludlum, Elmore Leonard, Kathy Reichs, James Lee Burke, Patricia Cornwell, the original Robert B. Parker books, etc., will get my creative juices flowing faster.
Ally: Do you write from an outline?
cj: I’ve taken classes and submitted acceptable outlines to the instructor and peers, but really, I cannot outline or plot without feeling that I’ve already written the story. You’d think that would make it easier to finish the story, because the outline becomes like a first draft—and it’s always easier for me to edit than it is to create. (I think that’s the same for every writer, isn’t it?)
I used to call myself a “pantser.” Now I call myself a “pathfinder” because I have a beginning, I know how I want the story to end, and then I discover the path to get from beginning to end as I write the story, creating a maze of barriers and solutions along the way. (Paraphrasing here: Write your protagonist up a tree then throw rocks at her.)
Ally: What is your next writing project? Anticipated release date?
cj: My second novel project in 2021 was “Death on the Yampa,” another thriller/suspense tale with a female protagonist and a touch of romance. It was released April 30, 2021. Originally published by Crimson Romance in 2015 as the romantic suspense “Choosing Carter,” it suffered the same Simon&Schuster marketing death, so I gave it a similar new treatment.
Scheduled to release this fall are two short stories that were accepted for publication in two different anthologies, one of them a charity publication benefiting an animal rescue organization in Michigan. I’m currently eying another possible anthology submission and slugging away at a novel manuscript which doesn’t have an anticipated release date.
Ally: Which of the trivia questions did you choose to answer?
cj:
Ally: Who or what inspired your featured book?
cj: My youngest son, Jeff, said to me: “What if there was a satellite that was really a weapon, could fly unnoticed, and was sent into orbit by a psychopath?” It took him about eight seconds to ask a question that sent me on a deep dive into a research rabbit hole. The research became addictive, and it took me a couple of years to climb out. I found reports of our government’s program sponsoring college engineering geniuses (or genii) to develop nanosatellites, and it didn’t take a genius (I am living proof of that) to realize the U.S. didn’t have the only scientists in the world capable of developing such a satellite. The plot idea became plausible and possible.
Ally: Are you self-published or traditionally published? How did you make the decision?
cj: I am both. When the original story (“Deadly Star”) was published by Crimson Romance, it was a happily-ever-after romantic suspense. After Simon&Schuster closed the Crimson Romance imprint in early 2018, the book joined a host of others languishing in marketing purgatory. A couple of years later, I asked for my rights back but only recently decided to self-publish an updated story. Further research found more supporting info for the plot, and I re-edited, revised to up the suspense and changed the genre to thriller/suspense with a touch of romance. I love the characters and their story, and my goal is to reach out to a new audience.
Ally: What do you find is the hardest part of writing?
cj: The hardest part of writing for me is sitting my butt in the chair and putting my fingers on the keyboard. It’s easy for me to find an excuse not to because I share office space with my photographer son who also likes to listen to sports talk shows while he works on his photos. Worse distraction/reason is the cat that keeps walking across my keyboard, as she is doing right now. I have to admit that lately, I’ve been struggling with coming up with “the perfect idea” for a novel which, of course, doesn’t exist. So I’m replenishing my empty mind by studying/reading books in the thriller/suspense genre. I’m hoping stories by Robert Ludlum, Elmore Leonard, Kathy Reichs, James Lee Burke, Patricia Cornwell, the original Robert B. Parker books, etc., will get my creative juices flowing faster.
Ally: Do you write from an outline?
cj: I’ve taken classes and submitted acceptable outlines to the instructor and peers, but really, I cannot outline or plot without feeling that I’ve already written the story. You’d think that would make it easier to finish the story, because the outline becomes like a first draft—and it’s always easier for me to edit than it is to create. (I think that’s the same for every writer, isn’t it?)
I used to call myself a “pantser.” Now I call myself a “pathfinder” because I have a beginning, I know how I want the story to end, and then I discover the path to get from beginning to end as I write the story, creating a maze of barriers and solutions along the way. (Paraphrasing here: Write your protagonist up a tree then throw rocks at her.)
Ally: What is your next writing project? Anticipated release date?
cj: My second novel project in 2021 was “Death on the Yampa,” another thriller/suspense tale with a female protagonist and a touch of romance. It was released April 30, 2021. Originally published by Crimson Romance in 2015 as the romantic suspense “Choosing Carter,” it suffered the same Simon&Schuster marketing death, so I gave it a similar new treatment.
Scheduled to release this fall are two short stories that were accepted for publication in two different anthologies, one of them a charity publication benefiting an animal rescue organization in Michigan. I’m currently eying another possible anthology submission and slugging away at a novel manuscript which doesn’t have an anticipated release date.
Ally: Which of the trivia questions did you choose to answer?
cj:
- book you’re currently reading: Hank Phillippi Ryan, The Murder List
- a movie you’ll always remember: “An Affair to Remember”—the 1957 version with Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr that shows up every year on TV.
- favorite fashion accessory: I used to have a closet full of shoes, but now my favorite accessory is earrings (especially diamond studs). They always fit, no matter how much I weigh.
- favorite book character: Robert B. Parker’s character Jessie Stone
- favorite holiday song: Little Drummer Boy, by Bing Crosby and David Bowie (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_ReMi7tVWA OR the same song by For King & Country (https://www.audacy.com/971talk/entertainment/for-king-and-country-performing-little-drummer-boy-live )
- Do you re-read books? Any book in particular? Only the Bible, every night
Ally: Thanks so much for chatting with us, cj. Before you go, please show us your featured book.
The Dawgstar*
Genre: thriller/suspense (Jane Bond style)
Rating: PG-13
The Dawgstar is a suspense/thriller filled with international political gangsterism, nanosatellites (real things), assassins, fears of Frankenfood, and a touch of romance.
When protagonist Mirabel Campbell’s telescope detects a mysterious point of light in the night sky, she finds herself in the crosshairs of a madman. Mirabel and her CIA ex-husband reconnect in the midst of an action-packed drama where a sociopath’s money can hire an assassin, turn friends into traitors, and build a bioweapon to hold world powers for ransom.
Buy Link: https://books2read.com/u/3LRRG5
(*The Dawgstar was originally published as the romantic suspense “Deadly Star” in 2013 before it was updated and revised.)