Today I have the pleasure of speaking with author Wendy Burke. Thanks for taking time to talk with us today, Wendy.
To start, can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
Sure! Thanks for having me, first off! I’m a born & bred Cheesehead, displaced for the past nearly 30 years to the Land of Buckeyes! I’ve been writing all my life, and thankfully was able to be published —I was having a hard time figuring out what to do with all those ‘voices in my head’! When not playing with the people in my head, I’m a TV producer and I also work part-time in radio, which is really my true calling.
Could you tell readers about your new release?
My latest release, Wise Men Say, pays slight homage to my hometown of Sheboygan, Wisconsin and the many, many hours I spent sledding there when I was a kid. I can’t tell you for sure where the basis of the story came from, but for some reason unknown to me, there are plenty of Elvis references! This is my third 1NightStand story through Decadent Publishing and my fourth published work overall.
What is the most interesting thing you’ve done in the name of research?
I spent nine weeks taking a Citizens’ Police Academy Class through the Toledo, OH Police Department. Very interesting. Next thing on my research ‘bucket list,’ an autopsy!—when I have the time!
If you could pick any celebrity to be on the cover of your book, who would it be and why?
For those who really know me—they know the answer; for those who don’t, well, Russell Crowe. The man has so many, many faces and he’s so applicable to my characters. He’s the basis for the main character in Haste Ye Back. This is definitely my ‘Ian’ in the story. Then, he’s also my ‘Ty’ in another story I’m working on, and ‘Mike’ in a third. Each ‘face’ is different…but it’s all Russell!
What would you say is your most interesting writing quirk?
I write ‘inside out.’ I can only think of one story where the first line came to me and I went from there —The One He Chose. For the most part a scene might come to me, and it could be the ‘middle’ of a story and I go outwards from that point. I’m a ‘panster’ in the truest sense of the word…no outlines, no notes, no nothing. I just write.
What’s the most interesting obscure fact you know?
That the State Fish of Hawaii is the Humuhumunukanukaapua’a…and I can pronounce it! Although, recently the name has been shortened to Humuhumu or in English, the Rectangular Triggerfish.
What writing project are you currently working on?
Right now, I’m busy promoting Wise Men Say; however, I need to finish a little story called For Me. It’s part of a total of six overlapping stories fellow Decadent author, Deanna Wadsworth, and I are working on for the 1NightStand Series. In order they are: Bear It All by Deanna, The One He Chose by me, Accidentally Beautiful, Deanna, and Haste Ye Back by yours truly. Deanna has the next one ready, so I really need to get For Me and about six others in various stages of completion done! (Not enough hours in the day!)
Is there anything else you would like to add today?
I have a copy of Wise Men Say for one lucky person. Just email me: wendyburke1994@bex.net by midnight Dec. 30th, and one person will win an e-copy of the book!
Thanks for taking time out of your busy schedule to answer some questions for us today!
Wise Men Say Description:
More than twenty years ago, Emmy Patterson kissed her fiancé for the last time. Despite bad news from U.S. military services, to this day she has reasons to hold on to hope he’s alive and celebrates his life every chance she gets.
Her family, however, thinks her partly crazed, unable to grasp the reasoning behind her perpetual optimism.
Called on a business trip to promote her glass artwork, she spends the winter holidays in Las Vegas. Is this chance travel to the The Castillo in Vegas a coincidence, or does the wise Madame Eve know ‘some things’ were meant to be?
Wise Men Say Excerpt:
Usually after so much time in the cold, she’d be tired but instead she tossed and turned.
Office of the Pentagon.
Why did that have to come today?
“Dammit.” Getting out of bed, she went to her closet. Dragging out a step stool, she reached for the box tucked in the furthest corner of the shelving. She got a hand on the container, and with reverence, she slipped it from its resting place. Careful, it’s almost all you have left of him.
Cross-legged on her mattress, with the linens and comforter bunched about her, she smoothed a small area and placed the box there. She slipped off its lid. Inside sat a flat, vacuum-packed plastic bag holding a near-ratty sweatshirt. The word Navy printed on the front, faded and close to illegible, the article of clothing had seen many washings.
But, yet, it hadn’t been washed in twenty years.
Removing the shirt from the bag, she placed it in her lap where she stroked the decade’s old piece of clothing. Closing her eyes, she remembered Nick’s solid biceps filling out the jersey fabric, his well-cut pectorals curving the front. Slipping a hand into the pullover’s opening, she imagined his flat, muscled tummy meeting her touch and her finger tracing a dark trek of cottony down.
She smiled, seeing his salacious grin in return, while his hand grasped hers, willing it further into his boxers.
“Where are you, Nicky?”
Stretching out, she kept the sweatshirt close to her face. It irritated her that she could barely discern his scent considering she’d taken such care to retain it.
He filled her mind. Sure, she had photo upon photo of him, of them together, but those images captured not the essence of her Nick; his kindness, loyalty, dedication to her and to his country, and of course, the physical memories. She cursed herself, reaching far back into her memory, trying to extract the sound of his voice. Would I even recognize it if I heard it?
“I miss you, Nicky….”
She clutched the one remaining possession of her fiancé and cried herself to sleep.
Susana's Morning Room 