Let's Welcome Sophie Greyson to our party!

I'm excited to share a new friend with you. Sophie is a wonderful author with a fun sense of humor! Just read her responses to my questions!  I hope you will enjoy her books as much as I do.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hello Sophie and thank you for visiting today.  Tell us a little about yourself. 
I live in Texas with my husband and several saltwater fish. 
I am the mother of two grown children – one of whom gets married next summer!  In addition to my writing, I do have a fulltime job in accounting and human resources management. When I’m not working, I enjoy reading, movies, hanging out with family & friends, and watching my two favorite TV shows – The Voice and Once Upon a Time.

Thanks!  It sounds like you have an interesting life.  Now on to some personal questions.  
If you could go back in time to when you were seven years old,
what wisdom or advice would you pass on to yourself?
Spend a lot of time with your father and tell him you love him every day.  My father drowned in a fishing accident when I was 21.  I’ve often thought “if I could have just one more
day…”

I sympathize. I'm always wishing for another moment with my mom. For what are you grateful?
My family, our good health, our good jobs,  our safe community, and our freedoms as Americans.  
 
If a zombie virus took over the world, how many days do you think you could last before you were infected? And what would you do to postpone the inevitable?
My son and his friends once mapped out a plan for the possibility of zombies taking over the world.  I wasn’t in on the meeting, but I’m going wherever they’re going.  :)  My husband and son are good survivoralists so I would imagine we would be
one of the last to be infected.  We picked up a lot of good ideas from Will Smith in I Am Legend so, we’re in the game.  Plus, I come from a family of medical people, so I will have them hard at work coming up with an antidote.   We will not go down without a fight!  

Isn't it funny that our children have plans for this actually happening?  My family likes to be prepared and take that seriously. What’s your favorite thing to do to relax?
Read!  I wish I had more time to read.  If I am totally brain dead, I will watch a movie.   

Let’s find out a little bit about you as an author. Did you always want to be an author?
No actually, I didn’t.  Writing never occurred to me until my brother published an article in an automotive magazine.  I had won numerous writing awards throughout middle school and high school, but never considered writing professionally.  

What authors had an impact on you growing up and as an adult?
I didn’t read much growing up – I was into sports so the only
reading I did was for school.  I started reading for enjoyment when a librarian introduced me to Harlequin romances in high school.  After that, I carried one with me daily.   The author that has had the most impact on my writing is Alicia Rasley.  She has a way of teaching craft that gets through this thick, blonde skull like a surgeon’s knife. 

Do you have any “must haves”with you while you’re writing?
A drink - usually Vitamin water or iced tea.  Cinnamon pita chips are a must when I’m writing all day long. My Thor flash drive is a must for backups.  :)

Do you have a common theme or item that appears in each of your books?
My books tend to focus more on the hero’s POV than the
heroine’s.  Don’t ask me why.  My heroes are always alphas, and they curse a lot.  :)
  
What have you learned the most from being in the writing business?
~Working your tail off doesn’t guarantee success.   
~You cannot put a tight deadline on creativity and imagination. 
It needs room to breathe.  
~Really great authors get rejected every day. Grow thick skin and believe in yourself.

Heaven Scent
As a child, my heroine, Tarin, is deeply affected by her mother’s death. Her mother’s deathbed advice creates a woman in Tarin that is beyond her time.  She is a titled woman destined to move women beyond the constraints of 1848 American society.  A woman determined to have it all despite what her noble father, or society in general,
says is proper.  But she has an uphill battle ahead of her and she cannot afford to be distracted from her goals.

In comes my smokin’ hot hero, Rafe Sutherland, the rebel son of a local shipper, who has returned home after ten years away.   Rafe’s time spent serving in the Texas Rangers makes him unlike any other man in Boston.  His outlook on life and
women’s place in society is curiously different - so are the circumstances behind his father’s death.  But, he has scars of his own –both inside and out – and cannot allow himself to fall for any woman, much less a woman as beautiful as Tarin.

Yet, despite the odds that seem to mount as their love grows, the couple has an ally in Tarin’s mother, who has a big heavenly goal of her own.  


How did you decide on your story plot?
The inspiration for the book was the last of my children moving out of the house.  I realized they were all grown up and I questioned whether I had given them everything they needed to have a happy, fulfilling life.  I wanted them each to have jobs that they loved, to marry a spouse they really loved, and to just be happy.  You will see the emotions behind that train of thought in the prologue of my book.  

As for the plot, it literally developed before my eyes through historical fact.  I wanted my heroine, Tarin, to be a doctor, but women were not allowed to be doctors in 1848 America.  After
researching how women got started in medicine,  I had an external GMC, and historical facts to back it up, for my heroine.

As for my hero, Rafe, the Mexican American war happened to end the year the first female medical college was opened. 
He is a Texas Ranger returned home to Boston after barely surviving the war.  Again, historical facts helped create his history and GMC, and miraculously, the two stories meshed well together.   I call it divine intervention.  :)


Do you have a favorite scene? Why?
Yes, the ball and subsequent garden scene are my favorites.  The banter between Tarin and Rafe in the ballroom makes me laugh.  She is being stubborn about accepting his offer of courtship and he has had it with waiting.  He eventually
gets her out to the garden where they make up for time away from each other - if you get my drift.   The garden scene is very touching and romantic, whereas the ball is more active and
direct.  But all of my scenes are heavy with emotion.

Let our readers know how they can get a hold of you…
Of course!  My website has the latest news: 
http://www.sophiegreyson.com  You can also connect with me on Facebook and Twitter at:  http://www.facebook.com/sophiegreysontx
and http://www.twitter.com/sophiegreyson  

Is there anything else that you want to share… feel free!!
I will have a romantic comedy out later this year called Flirting
for Dim-Wits.  It involves cowboys, a runaway virgin princess and really bad pickup lines.  I have had so much fun writing it.   Check back with me soon for the release date!

Thanks so much for having me here today!

Thank you Sophie. Your latest release sounds like another great story! I hope everyone checks out Heaven Scent!
 

---