Hi friends! We’re back with the final installment of our “Meet the Team” Q&A! I hope you’ll enjoy getting to know a few more of our authors. And if you missed any of the previous posts, you can find them at the following links:
Meet the Team Part Three: HERE
Sarah Courtney
Where do you live? Northern Virginia.
Drink of choice: Iced tea or Coke Zero.
Do you have any pets? Sadly, I do not, unless numerous children count. But I’d really like to get a Bengal cat. I even have a name picked out: Eowyn if it’s a girl, Eomer if it’s a boy.
Place you most want to travel: England! The English countryside is a favorite place of mine to visit. I adore Bath as well. I’d also like to visit New Zealand and see the Lord of the Rings filming locations and Hobbiton someday.
What food could you eat every day? Butter Zopf bread.
What is something you couldn’t live without? Books!
What is your ideal writing location? I’m pretty flexible! I write at my desktop in the basement, but I also write on a laptop at the kids’ basketball practice, softball, roller skating, at the park . . .
Name something that instantly makes your day better: The feeling of getting things done (it’s rare enough!).
Where is your happy place? When it’s evening, the house is quiet, and I can write or read or crochet in peace.
What’s one thing people might be surprised to learn about you? I can juggle! It was required, if you can believe it, when I was in middle school. Had to practice for weeks and weeks before I could pass and move on to the next gym activity.
Shannon Winslow
Where do you live? I’m a life-long resident of the beautiful Pacific Northwest. My husband and I live in a rural area about 30 miles south of Seattle, not too far from Mt. Rainier National Park, where we live in a log home that we built. When I say we built it, I don’t mean we cut down the trees or poured the concrete ourselves, but we did most everything else.
Drink of choice: Hot: I know tea is more Austen-ish, but the truth is I prefer hot chocolate. Cold: Most of the time, just plain water, and plenty of it.
Do you have any pets? Although we’ve had lots of animals in the past (dogs, cats, various kinds of fish, a parakeet, anole lizards, gerbils, and even a domesticated rat), we are currently without any pets. If we need to cuddle something furry, we can always visit our two grand dogs and one grand cat.
Place you most want to travel: England. No surprise there. I’ve been twice before, much too briefly, but I haven’t yet done the full Jane Austen tour. While we’re sort of in the neighborhood, though, comparatively speaking, I might try to sneak in another trip to Italy too.
What food could you eat every day? That’s a tough one, but I think I’m going to go with chocolate chip cookies. That sweet, buttery crunch with the added bonus of chocolate is an unbeatable combination that I’m pretty sure I’d never get tired of. At least, I’d be willing to give it a try!
What is something you couldn’t live without? Beyond the literal essentials, I’d put faith, family, and the arts at the top of my list. To quote Mrs. Elton, “Without music [and the other arts] life would be a blank to me.” I’m pretty dedicated to my morning walks, too.
What is your ideal writing location? Although I have romantic notions of writing at my bistro table on the patio (and have done so on occasion), the weather here in western Washington often doesn’t cooperate. So I normally settle for my comfortable desk in front of a big window, facing Mt. Rainier, where everything I need is within reach, and where I can enjoy the inspiration of nature while staying dry.
Name something that instantly makes your day better: When I wake up to find the sun shining, the mountain out, and my husband with me.
Where is your happy place? Home. I’m so lucky that my “happy place” is where I end up spending most of my time.
What’s one thing people might be surprised to learn about you? I was a dental hygienist for many years before retiring to write full time. It was a great job, but I like the one I have now better!
Summer Hanford
Where do you live? In the lovely Finger Lakes Region of New York. It’s very pastoral, and we get plenty of snow. You can also see the stars exceedingly well and the full moon is bright enough to read by.
Drink of choice: Tea. Earl Grey tea, to be more precise, but I ‘ruin’ it by adding cream and sugar. One lump, not two. Unless it is very fine tea out of fine china. Then I add nothing.
Do you have any pets? We have a crazy dog named Radar (yes, after M.A.S.H.) who is a German Shepherd and English Setter mix, and who is, of course, the most perfect dog ever. He and I play outside in the snow a lot. On a sled is the only way I ever go fast enough to be fun to race, but he still wins. He’ll even give me a head start to make it more interesting.
We also have a little cat named Madison, who cannot see, but if you’ve ever seen a picture of her, you know that the whole universe is in her eyes. They look like marbles meant to depict the vastness of space. Her main goal in life is to make certain I am at my computer writing every day, with tea. She is very concerned with the tea and checks each step, especially whether I put the sugar jar back where it goes. She likes everything to be in its place. I would, too, if I had to memorize the layout of the house to walk around. And yes, she goes on the counter. Other cats we’ve had weren’t allowed on the counter, but for some reason Madison gets to do whatever she likes.
Place you most want to travel: A shorter list would be places I don’t want to travel. I love going to new places. I like small towns. I want to learn what they have there. Go to their grocery stores. Try strange food (as long as it won’t actually harm me). Eat their desserts. I admit, I often plan my travel around food. For example, I’ve been to Parma in Italy, and to Edam in the Netherlands, and to Gouda there, and to Linz in Austria, and someday I want to go to the Champagne region of France, and to the Village of Roquefort. But I do enjoy architecture, theater, and nature as well, and have been places to enjoy those . . . and to eat their food.
What food could you eat every day? Tea and toast. For all my talk of going places and trying food, in my daily life, I like hot tea and buttered toast. By which I mean thick cut, warm buttered bread. I hardly toast my toast.
What is something you couldn’t live without? I assume we mean aside from my dog, my cat, my tea, and writing, because those go without saying. I would say my teacups, but that seems to be encompassed by tea (but seriously, if my house were on fire and I knew my husband and pets were safe, next I would save my teacups). If we back off from the existential, like readers who love my books, or my family’s affection, and into the world of mundane objects . . . Maybe my Fitbit? I’m a little obsessed with tracking my physical health. But frankly, if I lost it, I could just get a new one, so let’s go back to the teacups. They don’t make them anymore and I’ve bought all the ones I can find on eBay and Etsy, so they’re very dear to me.
What is your ideal writing location? I write on my couch. I edit and do graphics work, etc. on the ‘big computer’ at my desk, but I write books on my couch with my cat. Also, I must be able to see outside and see trees. I often stare at trees while I write. Not at the computer screen . . . which might be part of why I make so many errors, but the trees help me to think.
Name something that instantly makes your day better: Chocolate. Specifically, the chocolate that MJ Stratton’s mom makes. The fruit filled ones (although I like caramel, chocolate, and vanilla, too). With tea, of course. There’s always tea.
Where is your happy place? I like to be in my house. It’s my sanctuary. So maybe it’s the thing I can’t live without, although I’ve moved a fair number of times, so I know that I can become accustomed to a new house. There is also my parents’ garden. It’s the most beautiful place on earth. I’m not even exaggerating. If you’re ever in the Finger Lakes, you should go there. It’s technically closed in the winter, but of course I can go whenever I like. Except on Mother’s Day. They have a big charity event and there are far too many people. So the only time I don’t usually go to see my parents is on Mother’s Day, which is something adjacent to irony.
What’s one thing people might be surprised to learn about you? I like to put out stale bread for the crows, and then I put the feed from my front door camera on the TV and watch the crows take the bread. Country crows are very distrustful, so they land in a tree nearby, then glide down to the ground, and then sneak across the yard on foot before selecting a piece and flying away. For some reason, I find this endlessly entertaining to watch.
Thanks so much for joining us for this series. I hope you’ve enjoyed getting to know our team a little bit better. 🙂
Until next time!
JA
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