Tag: Margaret Sutherland

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Bar Yarns w/ Author – Margaret Sutherland

I am welcoming author of Seven Little Words – Margaret Sutherland – into the bar for a yarn and a beer. Come on in and, yes, bring the dog. Calingarry Crossing pub welcomes all dogs and their well-behaved humans. In fact, I love a book with dogs. They are the first characters I create with each novel. 🙂

Now, Margaret, before we start. Here is a beer coaster! Take a minute to jot down the blurb for your book.

Two writers, two lovable dogs, two ailing parents in need of care.  Is it a heartbreaking choice between love and duty?

Okay, grab a pew. What can I get you to go with your beer nuts? (Shandy? Wine Spritzer? Pink Lemonade?)
Beer and peanuts will do me.
(and a treat for the dog, of course!) 
Ahh, that beer hit the spot. Let me slip a drink coaster under your glass while you tell us—on a scale of 1 to 10—as a writer are you a messy desker or tidy desker
Tidy desk is a bad sign. I’m not working!
Have you heard the one about…? Come on, Margaret, tell us a joke.
How about this riddle for seniors?  Here’s the situation:
You are on a horse, galloping at a constant speed.
On your right side is a sharp drop-off.
On your left side is an elephant traveling at the same speed as you.
Directly in front of you is a galloping kangaroo and your horse is unable to overtake it.
Behind you is a lion running at the same speed as you and the kangaroo.
Q: What must you do to get out of this highly dangerous situation?
A: Get your drunken arse off the merry-go-round and go home!
(Readers, if you didn’t spit your favourite beverage at the computer screen after that joke … well, you are obviously not a senior, nor a drinker!!)

The publican offers you free drinks all night if you will:

  • Dance to Gangnam Style
  • Sing John Denver’s ‘Take me Home Country Roads’ on the Karaoke machine
  • Spend an hour washing dishes

Which do you choose?

I’d put the dishes in the dishwasher and accept the drink.

Time to liven the place up. Got a buck? We can crank up the old jukebox in the corner. You get to pick three songs.
I’m a music teacher. The songs I don’t want to hear are Ode to Joy, Bingo, and C Major scale.
(I have a character in Simmering Season – plays the church organ – who has the same thoughts when it comes to I Honestly Love You and Morning has Broken!!)
There’s a stapler on the bar. Tell me what it’s doing there.
I collect pencils and pens, maybe I would put the stapler in my pocket too.

The pub is the heart of a small town and most locals would be lost without one. What are three things you’d be lost without?

I’d be lost without my husband Bill, my dogs and my kindle.

Now… more about SEVEN LITTLE WORDS, by Margaret Sutherland

After a painful break-up, budding romance writer Cathy Carruthers is avoiding men. So what happens when she meets successful Australian literary novelist, David Hillier, at his country writing workshop? Good-looking David’s a bachelor with problems. His writing’s blocked, his blind father’s in respite care and David has to care for his retired guide dog, Banquo. He has absolutely no time for a relationship. Meanwhile Cathy’s past partner hunts her down, her grandmother’s ill and Cathy is landed with Pixel, a tiny dog with the heart of a lion.

David and Cathy can’t resist the powerful desire that at first overrides their problems.

But pressures build and lead to conflict and friction. It felt like love. Was it just a passionate affair? Cathy’s a stronger woman now. Eventually she faces a choice. Must she send the man of her dreams away? Fortunately there’s a solution from a most unexpected quarter…

CONNECT WITH MARGARET:
Links and blurb. www.margaretsutherland.com
SEVEN LITTLE WORDS. SCP Publishers. http://tinyurl.com/keabbbr
$4.99 (Publication Date: August 19, 2013)

And in case you haven’t heard…

Watch out … It’s on the way …

This storm season, in Calingarry Crossing, a perfect storm is heading Maggie Lindeman’s way.  

Find out more, right here. Simmering Season: April 1, 2014

For emergency alerts and warnings for Simmering Season, subscribe to Jenn J McLeod’s blog before you go, or LIKE her Facebook Page.