The Nun and the Narc

If you came for fashionista Friday, scroll on down, but why not enjoy this post first?

Readers, please help me welcome Catherine Castle to the blog. Catherine, I wanted to do your blog tour because I loved the premise of your story. I can't wait to read it.

1. How long have you been writing? What inspired you to pick the pen up one day and create characters that capture the imagination?

            I have written all my life, but never considered I could do it as a career until I began writing for the local newspaper as a stringer. Prior to freelancing for the newspaper, I’d tried to get some of my short stories published, but had no success. While reading the local newspaper I thought, “I could write something like that.” But writing and figuring out what to write were two different things. Then our church built a new sanctuary and I pitched the idea for an article to the paper. They liked the idea. I wrote the article, and soon afterwards I got up the courage to ask for a job as a stringer. 

            As for the inspiration to create characters that capture the imagination, I have to credit Leah, a character from the Old Testament, for that inspiration. She has always fascinated me. Her story, which was my first (currently unpublished) novel, not counting the angst-riddled teen romance I wrote in high school, was probably the book that started me on the journey as a fiction author. The 600 plus articles I’d written as a freelancer gave me the courage and polish I needed to begin writing fiction.

2. How long did it take for your first book to get published?

            I started The Nun and the Narc, which is my first published book, in 2003. After the first rejection it sat on the shelf for a while and then in 2007 I started sending it out again. It had a lot of rejections because it was outside the norm for an inspirational romance. The book was published in ebook format the spring of 2013 and came out in print format October 2013. Wow, that’s 10 years! In all honesty, I have to say the book did go through a major rewrite in 2007, I wasn’t pushing it out there all the time, and I completed a couple of other books in that time frame.

3. What does your writing day look like?

            I don’t have a set schedule. I tend to work on a tyranny of the urgent basis according to my deadlines, editorially imposed or self-imposed. I also work for long periods at a time. But I have to stop by 7pm because if  I don’t I end up pulling all nighters. I have been known to write all night, too, when I’m at the end of a book. I can’t stop with the words THE END in sight.

4. How do you handle family and your writing career? Is your family understanding of the time that you have to give your career? Is it sometimes difficult for you? How did they react to fact that you’re an author?

            My family is very understanding and even proud of the fact that I’m a writer and published author. I started writing for the newspaper when my daughter was a teenager. She bragged to her middle school writing teacher that her mom was a writer and had written a book.  The teacher invited me to speak to the class and as a result we became fast friends. My husband is more than understanding as he is a writer, too.

5. Do you feel each of your characters lives with you as you write? Do their lives sometimes take over a part of your life? 

            My characters definitely live with me during the writing process. I think that in order to make them real on the page, they have to come alive for you. You have to know who they are. As for taking over a part of my life—my husband has accused me of talking like my characters, and he was right.  

 
Catherine, thanks for answering my questions. Now let's find out a little more about The Nun and the Narc.

The Nun & the Narc

Catherine Castle

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BLURB:

Where novice Sister Margaret Mary goes, trouble follows. When she barges into a drug deal the local Mexican drug lord captures her. To escape she must depend on undercover DEA agent Jed Bond. Jed’s attitude toward her is exasperating, but when she finds herself inexplicable attracted to him he becomes more dangerous than the men who have captured them, because he is making her doubt her decision to take her final vows. Escape back to the nunnery is imperative, but life at the convent, if she can still take her final vows, will never be the same.

Nuns shouldn’t look, talk, act, or kiss like Sister Margaret Mary O’Connor—at least that’s what

Jed Bond thinks. She hampers his escape plans with her compulsiveness and compassion and in the process makes Jed question his own beliefs. After years of walling up his emotions in an attempt to become the best agent possible, Sister Margaret is crumbling Jed’s defenses and opening his heart. To lure her away from the church would be unforgivable—to lose her unbearable.

Excerpt:

Another row of pottery shattered, sending fragments into the car like tiny projectile rockets. Sending up a quick prayer, she covered her head.

Slamming the door shut as he passed, the man leapt over the trunk. He jerked open the driver’s door then jumped behind the wheel. Jamming the car into gear, he roared out into the market street. Shoppers and vendors screamed, leaping out of the car’s path.

Margaret scrambled into the passenger seat. “Stop this car immediately!”

“Keep down,” he ordered, “unless you want to get shot.”

The rear window glass erupted into the car’s interior, punctuating his words. The man fired at the attackers through the shattered back window.

“Shot?” Her voice rose an octave. “Oh, dear Lord in Heaven, what have I gotten into?”

“Trouble, Lady.” He fired off another round. “Big trouble.”

Margaret slid deeper into the front passenger seat, grabbing the door handle as the car careened around a corner.

I’m going to die. In a car crash. With a strange man. Heart pumping madly, she let go of the door handle just long enough to cross herself then grabbed it again as the car swerved. A guardian angel would be good here, Lord. And make it Dale Earnhardt! They swerved around another corner and she held on for dear life.

Oh, Mother Superior, maybe you’re right. Maybe I’m not good nun material after all. Who else in the convent could get themselves into a mess like this?

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Catherine Castle has been writing all her life. Before beginning her career as a romance writer she worked part-time as a freelance writer. She has over 600 articles and photographs to her credit, under her real name, in the Christian and secular market. Besides writing, Catherine loves traveling with her husband, singing, and attending theatre. In the winter she loves to quilt and has a lot of UFOs (unfinished objects) in her sewing case. In the summer her favorite place to be is in her garden. She’s passionate about gardening and even won a “Best Hillside Garden” award from the local gardening club.

Her debut inspiration romantic suspense, The Nun and the Narc, from  Soul Mate Publishing was an ACFW Genesis Finalist and is a 2013 EPIC finalist.

Buy links:

http://www.amazon.com/The-Nun-Narc-ebook/dp/B00CHU9DH2/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1368652543&sr=1-1&keywords=The+Nun+and+the+Narc

Print version:

http://www.amazon.com/Nun-Narc-Catherine-Castle/dp/1619352966/ref=sr_1_1_title_0_main?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1380639013&sr=1-1&keywords=the+nun+and+the+narc

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-nun-and-the-narc-catherine-castle/1116942061?ean=9781619352964

Catherine’s website: http://catherinecastle1.wordpress.com

Catherine’s blog: http://catherinecastle1.wordpress.com/blog/

Catherine’s Amazon author page: http://www.amazon.com/author/catherinecastle

Catherine’s Goodreads page: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7085414.Catherine_Castle

Twitter: @AuthorCCastle

Facebook: http://facebook.com/catherinecastleauthor

Catherine will be awarding a $25 Amazon GC to a randomly drawn commenter between this tour and her Virtual Book tour.Readers, follow the tour and comment; the more you comment, the better your chances of winning. The tour dates can be found here:

http://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2013/12/virtual-nbtm-book-tour-nun-narc-by.html

Catherine, thanks so much for coming to my blog.