Meet Author Tracie Banister
Welcome to week 5 in Some of My Favorite Authors Series! Today I'm ecstatic to introduce Tracie Banister to you. I met Tracie online, through my favorite women's writing group, and she has been a great friend for the past few years. I hope to meet her in person one day!Welcome, Tracie! I have some questions for you: What new(er) authors have you recently discovered? What about them do you like in particular?TB: Traci Andrighetti (Limoncello Yellow) and Jennie Marts (Another Saturday Night and I Ain't Got No Body) are two authors I've discovered in recent months whose work has really delighted me. They write Chick Lit/Mystery series, and I'm a big fan of that hybrid genre. What both ladies do incredibly well is blend humor and romance with lots of surprises and suspense, and their characters are unique, colorful, and highly entertaining! I look forward to reading more from these talented authors! How did you start your writing career? (planned, by accident, when, etc.)TB: I’ve been writing since I was in elementary school – plays, essays, short stories, etc. Writing just came naturally, and I enjoyed sharing my work with others. I dreamed of one day publishing a novel, but I also had dreams of marrying a prince and starring on a soap opera. None of those dreams seemed very likely to happen, so I did what sensible people do when they grow up and got a real job (administrative work.) I took a stab at writing a Historical Romance in my early twenties just to see if I could do it, but got distracted by real life and never finished it. For the next decade or so, I kept my creative juices flowing by penning a lot of genre fan fiction that was well-received online.My "Aha!" moment came when I lost my job as a personal assistant after 12 years. My friends and family encouraged me to follow my bliss and devote myself full-time to writing a novel. The thought of chasing a dream was pretty scary, and I honestly didn't know if I had what it took to not only complete a novel, but submit it to agents and editors. Rather than spend the rest of my life wondering, "What if?" I decided to commit myself 100% to getting my work published. I'm happy to say that despite a lot of ups and downs, it's been a really rewarding experience and I'm proud of myself for going after what I wanted. What can you tell us about your current project?TB: My next novel is a Chick Lit story about two sisters (identical twins!) who are polar opposites in every possible way (their careers, their personalities, their attitudes toward men.) I can't say anything more without getting spoilery, but I can promise plenty of comedy, romance, cute guys, and even cuter dogs. I'm planning to release this book some time in the fall, so stay tuned for announcements about the title, cover art, etc.! (This blogger can't wait!) Connect with Tracie here:Blog: http://traciebanister.blogspot.com/Twitter: https://twitter.com/traciebanisterFacebook: http://www.facebook.com/tracie.banister Tracie is offering a gift copy of her fabulous ebook, In Need of Therapy. I loved it, so will you.
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