Author Harvest ‘bales up’ Alissa Callen

Author Harvest is turning out to be one big par-tay with so many debut release authors – like this week’s Alissa Callen. She has two books – Escape Publishing and Random House Digital (see below).

Alissa, let’s start by telling me if it’s scones and tea or some other homemade delight you have whipped up for me today. 🙂

Without a doubt scones and english-breakfast tea 🙂  Have been known to walk the South Downs in England in record time just to get a ‘cream tea’ at the end. My nine-year-old little master chef also makes the best scones out of lemonade, cream and flour. Needless to say they don’t last long!

At home with…

My mum says garden gnomes make a house a home! Are you loud and proud in your love of garden gnomes at home, a closet gnomer or with a strict ‘no gnomes’ policy at your place?

Once a gnomer but not anymore. When attending university in the country town of Armidale I had a gnome who stood as a sentinel in my garden until he went on ‘holiday’. Courtesy of some other uni students, I received a postcard from a few of the places he visited but unfortunately he met a green-thumbed lady gnome in Nimbin and never made it back home.

(Oh no, I think I’ve heard about the Nimbin Gnome – the pint-sized, pot-smoking, party animal now populating the place with gnomettes!)

What vegetable (or fruit) have you always wanted to grow at home?

On our farm we inherited an extensive orchard (oranges, limes and pink grapefruit anyone???) and vegetable garden but one thing I’d love to grow is a passionfruit vine. Nothing beats fresh passionfruit on a summer pavlova.

(Ahh, it’s summer. Where is that mini master chef when you need him?)

If I came to your home and looked in the refrigerator, what would I find?

Food. Lots of it. Four children can wipe out a stocked fridge in less time than a locust plague can eat a crop.

If you sorted your wardrobe by colour, what colour would stand out? (Ahh, do you sort your wardrobe by colour?!)

Depending on what is left behind after a raid by my teenage daughter, there would be a rainbow of colours in no particular order other than, ‘Hideous, so not wearing that and mum what were you thinking?’

(I am still struggling with you having a teenager when you look like one yourself!)

What are you wearing now? (Be honest!)

Pj’s 🙂 It is morning … well late-morning.

Whose home would you like to housesit and why?

The list is endless and would depend more on location than on who owned it. I’d love to have unlimited access to a remote cabin in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, right up to a historic Scottish house like Drumkilbo where I was fortunate enough to once live as a nanny.

Country curiosities…

We love a sunburnt country (slip, slop, slap and all that). What’s your ideal hat? Or are you a boots person?

Can I be greedy and say both? I love hats, especially for the local country races, but also wouldn’t be without my trusty R M’s.

If you were a tree (or animal) what kind of tree (animal) would you be?

We are so lucky in Australia to have such unique and beautiful animals but must say I’d love to be a stately red river gum that stands there dignified and tall and weathers whatever nature (and teenagers) throw at it!

Now for the big question… Why did the chicken cross the road?

To reach the bookshop on the other side for there in the window is the perfect Easter companion to chocolate and time off – a certain March release by a certain Simon and Schuster author.

(Oh you absolute treasure! But did just experience momentary panic as my brain grappled with: “Who is the ‘certain March release’? Who else is Simon & Schuster bringing out in March?” !! Oh dear! Suggest chook is cleverer than ‘certain S&S author’! Must be where the saying “clever chook” comes from.)

About you…

Your turning point: when was that point in your life that you realized that being an author was no longer going to be just a dream but a reality and a career?

When I saw my first cover. RSI, or not, I had to keep going back and looking at it just to check that it was real and it really was my name on the cover.

(I hear ya!)

What is the hardest part of writing for you?

Doubt demons. I might polish my words until they are shiny and bright but still remain uncertain that what may be someone’s treasure might also be someone else’s trash.

(“The true treasure of a man is not in what he has accomplished or acquired, but rather the fragrance of his life that he leaves upon the hands of others when he is no longer in their presence”  ―    Julie Hardesty  I’m sure your story will leave us lingering over the end and wanting more!)

If someone was to write your biography, what do you think the title should be?

Clueless 🙂

Fun stuff…

What food would you be?

Something sweet and that can be eaten around a campfire – marshmallow my kids are yelling in the background!

(Those kids have good taste!)

What was the best thing before sliced bread?

Old fashioned bread baked at home that fills the kitchen with that lovely ‘just been baked’ smell.

How weird are you? Rate yourself on a scale of 1 (not) to 10 (very).

If you call reading the end of a book first, never having drunk a cup of coffee and tearing up in kid’s movies then I’m a 10!!

Thanks so much for having me, Jenn J. Am off to sneak a scone before getting out of my pj’s.

(Bad news, Alissa. Scones all gone -*licks lips*)

Now for the book news…

Connect with Alissa:  www.alissacallen.com and on Facebook

Book release details: 

Jan 2013 – What Love Sounds Like – Escape Publishing (What a gorgeous title!)

Feb 2013 – Beneath Outback Skies – launch title for new digital-first Random Romance list

The blurb – Beneath Outback Skies

A captivating rural romance featuring an indomitable young woman determined to save her family farm, and the city-boy who is not all he seems…

Paige Quinn will let nothing and no one distract her from caring for her crippled father, Connor, and fighting for her remote, drought-stricken property, Banora Downs. Least of all a surprise farm-stay guest named Tait Cavanaugh, whose smooth words are as lethal as his movie-star smile.

Except Paige can’t help noticing that, for a city-boy, Tait seems unexpectedly at home on the land. And he does ask a lot of questions…

It doesn’t matter how much he helps out or how much laughter he brings into her life, she soon suspects he is harbouring a big secret – the real reason he has come to Banora Downs…

 

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See who else has taken part in the harvest so far – HERE.

Author Harvest is just getting started. There’s plenty more in store with, summer, autumn and winter harvest.