Friday, 29 October 2010

• Currently Forest Song: Letting Go By Vila SpiderHawk see related

  AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT - Vila SpiderHawk

  
  

  Vanilla Heart Publishing

  AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT

  Vila SpiderHawk

   

   

  Vila SpiderHawk lives with her husband in the woods of Pennsylvania in a log house of their design.  They share their home with five cats and enjoy frequent visits from their many woodland friends. 
  
  Learn more about Vila SpiderHawk, her writing, and more at Vila’s VHP Author Page
  

  
  

  Forest Song: Letting Go by Vila SpiderHawk

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  Forest Song: Letting Go

  by Vila SpiderHawk

  She left her birth home to learn the ways of the woods in Forest Song: Finding Home; She grew into her powers as protector of the denizens of the forest in Forest Song: Little Mother, and now, Judy Baumann faces the horrors of World War II: the concentration camps, the Jewish ghettos, and the other persecution of the Jews. 

   

  Join Judy as she struggles to survive death-defying challenges, betrayal, and loss with courage, cleverness, and humor.

   

   

   

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  Forest Song: Letting Go by Vila SpiderHawk

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  AUTHOR INTERVIEW

  What's the elevator pitch for your most recent release?

  In this third book of the Forest Song series Judy Baumann and her friends 
  survive death-defying exploits along the Polish-German corridor during 
  World War II, overcoming betrayal and loss with courage, cleverness and 
  humor—all the way to the block-busting ending! 

  
  Do you work on more than one novel at a time?

  Never!  I have to hear my character’s voice.  When she’s speaking to me, if I try 
  to hear someone else’s voice, the whole thing just becomes a cacophony.  
  
  

  What historical time period is your favorite? Why?

  Right now World War II.  I suppose, being of German descent, I feel a sort of 
  racial shame at what my people did.

   
  Do you have a vision board or other `trick' to help motivate you?

  No I am self motivated.  I have always been this way.  Plus Judy is a very 
  insistent character.  She wants my attention 24/7, but, sadly, I can give her 
  only a few hours a day.

   
  Do you schedule time to write or is writing all-consuming 
  to the exclusion of everything else and you schedule time to do 
  other things? Like eat.
  
  Writing cannot be all-consuming for me.  Too many other people and animals 
  depend on me.  But if I could, I would spend my days doing nothing else but 
  writing.  

  
  What three words do you think describe you as a human being?

  Driven, creative, empathetic, in that order

  
  How do you think others would describe you?

  Most seem to find me empathetic and kind.

  
  Do you have any pets?  If so, introduce us to them.

  I live with 5 cats.

  Her Miminess is the oldest, being 20, and she’s a crotchety old crone.  
  But we have had a very special relationship since the time when she fit in 
  one palm.  She rules the roost here and keeps the guys in line.

  (Actually, we just lost our Mimi cat (otherwise known as Her Miminess).  
  For twenty years this cat has been part of my body.  Her death diminishes 
  me greatly.  I have written a poem for her in honor of her memory. 
  Thank you for indulging me in this moment of grief.  Vila)

  A Farewell to Mimi

  Old crone, 

  queen of the house

  and of my lap

  and of my bed,

  under the covers demanding 

  to be draped on my chest,

  how will I sleep without you on my heart?

  Ball of fluff

  Curled in my arms,

  soft purr wisely rumbling,

  guarding my secrets

  and my pillow,

  whom shall I sing to in the dark?

  Farewell, sweet old love

  my sister of the soul.

  Run now with the spirits

  in that sunny meadowland.

  You are free.

  And I?  

  I must remain

  for a moment.

  But soon, very soon we’ll sleep together.

  Vila SpiderHawk

  Freckles is our jokester.  He loves to climb on top of doors and pounce on 
  us as we go through the doorway.  He also hates his thyroid medication and 
  so forces me to climb to the highest perch he can find to give it to him.
  
  

  Puck takes no nonsense.  He has mellowed out in his old age, but he still has 
  his moments.  Mimi and he definitely do not get on well together.

  
  Cadeau is a sweetie.  Our nickname for him is “Purrfect cat” because he seems 
  to simply adore everyone, human or beast.

  
  Callie is our newest addition, and she seems to be Mimi’s understudy.  
  She feels it’s her duty to keep the guys in line too!

  What is your most precious memory?

  The first night we actually slept in this house.  We’d been designing it for 
  twenty years. We took five years just to find the right plot of land on which 
  to build.  We took another three years to find just the right builder who 
  would work with out plans.  And it took another year to build it. We have 
  been here for ten years now and I love it as much as I did that first night.

  If you weren't a writer, what would you be doing with your life?

  I’d probably still be teaching French. I taught French literature at the 
  university, French grammar in middle school, high school, and a few 
  community colleges.  I adored teaching.

  
  Can you describe the time you realized you were indeed a "real" writer?

  Yes that’s easy. It was the first time someone stopped me in a parking lot 
  and thanked me for having written Hidden Passages: Tales to Honor the Crones.  I was up to my teeth in cat food, but she insisted on telling me, point for point, how that book had changed her thinking about living and dying and growing older.  It was quite a lovely moment, though my arms ached like crazy.

  
  Who are your favorite authors?

  Flaubert, Sartre, Camus, also several poets.  I used to like Anne Rice before 
  she went into cut and paste mode.  

  
  Do you read more fiction or more non-fiction?

  Actually I tend to read more non-fiction.  

  
  How many books are in your office or home?

  In my office only about a hundred.  But we have a full library downstairs 
  with shelves floor to ceiling along all the walls.  I have absolutely no idea 
  how many books are down there.  We put it in the basement because the 
  floor was already reinforced for the enormous weight of all those shelves and 
  books.  And then my husband’s office has a few hundred books that spilled over 
  from the library.  We are nothing if not excessive.

  
  In your novels, is there a favorite character? Why that one?

  I am truly not able to choose a favorite character.  That’s like asking me which 
  of my friends is my favorite.  Each has blessed my life in an individual way, 
  and I am better for having met each one of them.

  
  In your novels, is there a character you love to hate? Why that one?

  Not really.  I like to look beneath the surface, to figure out why the characters 
  I don’t like do what they do.  

  
  Why do you write?

  Because not writing is like being suffocated.

  
  What writer most inspires you?  Why?

  Anne Rice used to.  I adore her descriptions.

  
  How do you define your writing? Has that definition changed? Why?

  I define it as spiritual because for me it’s a spiritual experience to channel 
  my characters and tell their stories.  I often write in a light trance.

   

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