A Chat with Author Charmaine Gordon

Today, thanks to you, Debora,  I’m introducing my first book To Be Continued, published by Vanilla Heart, now optioned for a television movie. 

When Kimberlee Williams called to say she loved my manuscript and wanted to publish my baby, I danced with joy. Since then she’s published six of my full length novels of Romance/Suspense and four long/short stories in a series of Mature Romance for Boomers, Sexy Seniors and everyone who enjoys humor combined with love. All this in four years gives me a platform and I can say at this time in my life, I have a new career.

Before the epic change, I was mom to many, an Air Force wife, a community theater actor. And then we moved to New York. My baby turned sixteen; an actor friend whispered in my ear, “Go to New York and find your way.” I did and after classes at night about television acting and everything needed to join unions, I became a professional actor. Go figure. Hard work and a lot of luck made me a small fish in the huge talented pool . I loved those years. They changed my life and gave me confidence.

 When rejection came from an audition, I didn’t take it personally. It’s the same when an author receives rejection from a query letter you’ve worked so hard to get right. No biggie. One person’s opinion. Don’t Boo Hoo and throw your computer away. Dust yourself off and send out more queries. Be sure to send them to the right agent, editor, publisher by checking to see if your book fits their needs.

Give me a beach and I write. But then I write everywhere I have to wait: doctor’s office is a great place. Sometimes my name is called and I’m in the middle of a hot scene. Yikes! I hate when that happens.

And now, a little bit of To Be Continued.

BLIND SIDE: Webster’s Dictionary says: the side away from which one is looking.

Beth Malone sure wasn’t looking in the right direction all the years of her marriage to Frank. He’s abandoned her after forty years of what she thought was a good marriage. Once a winner, smart with Olympic Gold a strong possibility and a full scholarship to college close at hand, she meets Frank Malone. He’s handsome, a clever med student; everything her mom wants in a son-in-law. So Beth gives in to marry Frank, support them and pay for his education.

How can a smart girl cave and give all, you might ask? At seventeen, pressure from mom might be one answer. Beth’s needs became secondary nature as she literally takes a back seat in their life together and more so when daughter Susie is born.

Now Beth stands alone and must learn to do what I call the dance of life. Place one foot in front of the other and move on. A novice at first, she makes mistakes and turns to her love of swimming to strengthen her. Giving back to the community is new to Beth and opens a whole new world.

Dear readers, what are your feelings as you read Beth’s struggle to grow as a single when all her grown-up years have been as part of a doubles team? When she cries out, “I want my forty years back.” do her words resonate inside you?

I look forward to hearing from you.

All comments today will be entered into a random drawing to win an eCopy of Before the Final Curtain!

Charmaine

Charmaine Gordon writes books  about women who Survive and Thrive.  Her motto is take one step and then another to leave your past behind and begin again. Six books and several short stories in three years, she’s always at work on the next story. The books include To Be Continued, Starting Over, Now What?, Reconstructing Charlie, Sin of Omission and The Catch, just released. And now four long/short stories under the umbrella title The Beginning. . .Not The End. Instant Grandpa, Young at Heart, Before the Final Curtain, No Time for Green Bananas.

“I didn’t realize at the time while working as an actor in NYC, I’d become a sponge soaking up dialogue, setting, and stage directions. I learned many tools of writing during the years watching directors like Mike Nichols and actors including Harrison Ford, Anthony Hopkins, and Billy Crystal. And would you believe, I was Geraldine Ferraro’s stand-in leg model, my first job giving me entrée into all the Unions needed to work. When the sweet time ended, I began another career and creative juices flowed.”

You can reach Charmaine at http://authorCharmaineGordon.wordpress.com

And on her FB page  http://www.facebook.com/charmaine.gordon

To Be Continued  by Charmaine Gordon           

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