This is my stop during the blog tour for Just Things by Erin Lee. This blog tour is organized by Lola's Blog Tours. The blog tour runs from 1 till 21 May. See the tour schedule here.
Just Things (Diary of a Serial Killer #1)By Erin Lee
Genre: Horror
Age category: Adult
Release Date: 14 May, 2017
Blurb:
Sometimes, the cravings just take over.
Jimmie Putnam is an ordinary man by any measure. By day, he works as a law clerk. At night, when he can't fight the cravings, he becomes a collector. He takes great care of his human Things; buying them cherry lipstick and reading to them from his journal. When they've been on their best behavior, he even takes them out of his freezers...
Sometimes, the need is just too deep.
Florel Ross has been mostly invisible since the death of her twin, who died twenty years ago at the hands of a serial killer. Obsessed with justice, Florel is willing to risk anything for the answers she craves: What goes on in the mind of a serial killer?
When the two yearnings collide, will it be justice or just Things?
You can find Just Things on Goodreads
You can buy Just Things on Amazon
You can watch the trailer for Just Things on Youtube
About the Author:Erin Lee is a freelance writer and therapist chasing a crazy dream one reality at a time. She is the author of Crazy Like Me, a novel published in 2015 by Savant Books and Publications, LLC, Wave to Papa, 2015, by Limitless Publishing, LLC and Nine Lives (2016). She’s also author of Alters, Host, and Merge of the “Lola, Party of Eight Series,” When I’m Dead, Take Me As I Am, Greener, Something Blue, Once Upon a Vow and 99 Bottles. She also penned Her Name Was Sam, an LGBTQ awareness novella. She is author of Losing Faith, and co-author of The Morning After with Black Rose Writing. These days, she spends her free time working on the sequels to this novel, Jimmie’s Ice Cream and Thing Fifteen.
Lee is a co-founder of the Escape From Reality Series. She, along with authors Sara Schoen and Taylor Henderson, are working with twenty other authors to bring the hopes, dreams, fears and terrors of a tiny fictional town alive. The town and its setting is exactly the type of place a man like Jimmie might escape to as the bodies thawed.
Lee holds a master’s degree in psychology and works with at-risk families and as a court appointed special advocate. She cannot write horror with the lights off. However, these days, she’s getting braver and dimming them. She’ll get there . . .
Interview:
1.
When did you first
realize you wanted to be a writer?
I was in the first grade. The first book I ever
wrote was called NIRE: The Purple
Aardvark. Nire is my name spelt backwards and purple is my favorite color.
Not much has changed.
2.
How long does it take you
to write a book?
Novels take me about six
months. Novellas take three.
3.
What is your work
schedule like when you're writing?
I work full time as a home-based therapist so I
often do my writing at night. I tend to write for at least four hours a night at
my current pace so I don’t get a lot of sleep.
4.
What would you say is
your interesting writing quirk?
I will write on
anything. I don’t care what. When the ideas come, my hands, napkins, even my
steering wheel are like notebooks where I will write down ideas. I never want
to lose the words.
5.
How do books get
published?
I like to publish some myself and others I send
to traditional publishers. I think it’s nice to have a mix of both self-published and traditionally published works. It’s helped me to
network doing it this way.
6.
Where do you get your
information or ideas for your books?
I am a therapist and
many of my stories are based on real life situations. I use the internet a lot
for research but mostly know the people I am writing about and will blatantly
ask them.
7.
When did you write your
first book and how old were you?
My first traditionally published book released
in 2014 but I have been writing since I was old enough to hold a pen.
8.
What do you like to do
when you're not writing?
I love hanging out with
my dogs, Tommy and Milo, who are also registered therapy dogs. I also love
photography and spending time with my family.
9.
What does your family
think of your writing?
I’m
very fortunate to have the support of my family with my writing. I have been writing
since the first grade and it’s not really a shock to anyone that I’m writing
novels now. My writing is a huge part of my identity. Whether it’s writing
story ideas on napkins in a coffee shop or literally pulling over to write a
title or character sketch on my arm, I’m always writing in some form or
another.
10.
What was one of the most
surprising things you learned in creating your books?
Writing taught me a lot
about myself. If I were to diagnose myself based on the first story I
ever wrote, I’d go with narcissistic idealist. This is a professional
classification within the psychiatric lexicon of personality disorders.
Long
before I knew anything about such pathologies, I wrote a book about an
aardvark. Its title, a real grabber, was Nire,
the Purple Aardvark. Always one to see the world backwards, it doesn’t
surprise me that I named my quirky protagonist after my own name, spelled in
reverse. Six-year-old me was sure Nire would make it to the best seller list,
but I quickly learned that the literary world can be a cold place with little
room for purple aardvarks. Earning only an “honorable mention” for that book in
a Young Author’s contest – something given to every kid who participated – I
knew Nire and I had a long way to go: hopeless split personalities.
I
haven’t stopped writing since that first attempt at putting my words into
print. My first teenage job was writing
hometown “news” - aka lists of community events - for a free weekly newspaper.
I was paid 10 cents an inch and thrilled with my bi-monthly $13 loot. The
byline was better than the money. Since, I’ve worked as journalist, marketing
director and therapist. I’ve written children’s books about rainbow cows and
talking apples, exotica, suicide prevention literature, journal articles, memoir
and poetry. When I stop and think about all the topics I’ve touched on, I
realize I might want to add schizophrenia to my self-diagnosis.
For
me, that’s what makes writing fun. Where else, but in art, can you wear such
different hats so easily passed off with an “oh, she’s a writer"? Writing
has made my world such a crazier - in a good way - place. For me, writing is a
love affair: It’s allowed me to fall in love with hundreds of characters. Add love addict to that diagnosis.
I’ve
come a long way from my days with Nire, and apparently increased my
pathologies, but some things have not changed. My favorite color is still
purple. I continue to write for the love of the art. I’m still attracted to
writing about quirky characters. My mother, my first writing mentor and a
retired English professor with a heavy red pen, is still my number one
wordsmith coach.
But
some things do change. My days of undergrad internships with manual paste up
all-nighters are gone. The sweet smell of scented markers and newsprint on my
hands has long ago been replaced by a stylus and antibacterial lotion. The
Internet and digital photography have opened doors to creative folks who
otherwise may not have had the opportunity to share their stories.
Along
the way, I’ve been fortunate to run into kindred spirits who have encouraged my
love for storytelling and imagination. As a therapist who specializes in
narrative therapy - the art of helping people define themselves, tell, and
rewrite their own life stories - I feel privileged to tell my characters’
stories. Nire will always live in my heart, but things have changed. If I had
to diagnose myself now, I’d go with word-a-holic, type A - a condition I never
desire to change. There is no cure, treatment, or expectation for my recovery.
11.
How many books have you
written? Which is your favorite?
I’ve lost count. I think I’m at around five
novellas and ten novels. Some haven’t released yet. By the end of the year I
should be at around nine novellas and fifteen novels.
12.
Do you have any
suggestions to help me become a better writer? If so, what are they?
Write every day, no
matter how bad the words don’t want to come. Do it anyway. And save them.
There’s always a place you can put them.
13.
Do you hear from your
readers much? What kinds of things do they say?
I have a great team of beta readers, a street
team, and a fan group. These guys are great and make the work more fun.
14.
Do you like to create
books for adults?
Yes, but for kids too. I’m currently working on
a YA novel about a transgender kid. I’m having a lot of fun with it.
15.
What do you think makes
a good story?
It’s all about the characters. I think you need
to write about people that others can relate to. I like characters who are
realistic and flawed.
16.
As a child, what did you
want to do when you grew up?
A journalist.
17.
What would you like my
readers to know?
That,
for indie authors, reviews matter. Even a one sentence review keeps our art
going. Please review!
You can find and contact Erin Lee here:
- Website
- Goodreads
- Amazon
Giveaway
There is a tour wide giveaway for the blog tour of Things. One winner will win a signed copy of Just Things by Erin Lee (US only)
For a chance to win, enter the giveaway below:
a Rafflecopter giveaway
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