I can't believe November is almost over! This day crept up on me and then hit with a 'Hey!!' bang just yesterday, lol. This month we featured Tears of the Neko by Craftingmom. She's given me a great interview with a lot of interesting answers (I don't remember her working at the CIA! ) so read on. Plus she asks for some input so make sure you leave comments and questions for her, because Craftingmom has also agreed to come 'live chat' on the blog for a Q&A session from 1-3 EST!

Who do you like best, Jerry or Tom?
Jerry, definitely--I loved Sliders, as I really like science fiction, and Jerry O'Connell was my favorite character in that show. Of course, Tom in Splash, Sleepless in Seattle, and ... well anything really is also pretty good, but I think I like him more for humor, than anything else... -- or, were we talking Tom Cruise? Because he wasn't too bad before he started all that Scientology stuff, so...
Oh wait, we're probably talking about Tom or Jerry, the cartoon ; Oops, okay, then it would be Tom. I always felt sorry for him. Plus, I love cats.

What are you wearing (and no fibbing!)?
Since I write at night--pink pj top with a coffee mug on it that says "I love Coffee" and matching pants with lots of coffee mugs along with my fuzzy slippers. Oh, and a pouch full of three sugar gliders around my neck--one of which is crawling out of the pouch and down my back; which reminds me, I really need to clip some claws.

Are you a person who makes their bed in the morning, or do you not see much point?
Most of the time, I just pull the comforter up to make it look neater, if I'm the last one up; otherwise, it may tend to stay unmade since my husband doesn't think to do it. I sleep with like 5 fluffy pillows all around me, some of which end up on the floor, so I'll throw them back on the bed. My husband also has 5 flat pillows himself, so I'll often stack them at the head of the bed ( I give him pillow cases that are a darker shade than mine so we can tell them apart--he used to accuse me of stealing his).

What do you do other than write?
Read. Read. Read. I think I've spent more money at Amazon buying books for my kindle than on any other hobby. I used to scrapbook, but I haven't done that in a long while. Our family is also into Renaissance Faires; we've been going for over 15 years--costumes and all.
As for jobs, I worked at a grocery store in the bakery section in high school, and then I worked a couple summers at the CIA, the main campus in Langley, Va. In college, I was a professor's assistant and a grammar tutor, of all things! I worked for nine years teaching in middle school after getting my master's degree in Education. But after my second daughter was born, I stayed home to be with my girls--thanks to my wonderful husband, I am able to do what I really enjoy, stay home with my girls and write when I want to! I did teach preschool while they were younger, since it was only a few hours in the morning and I could still put them on the bus and be home when they got back home in the afternoons. Even though they are in middle school now, I still stay home, but I watch my nephew for my sister who works odd hours like noon to ten--so sort of working as a daycare provider--but I have Mondays and Tuesdays off so I tend to use those days for writing (that and nights).

When did you first consider yourself a writer?
I would say I've considered myself a writer since middle school when I really started writing stories and actually allowed someone (my best friend) to read them and she'd beg for more. However, I would say I really felt like an author after I finally got up the nerve to publish my first book about two years ago when my daughter begged me to publish them so she could have them in book form. She's a lot like me and reads constantly (you rarely find her without a book in her hand, even when we go out to eat!), so she wanted copies of my stories she could carry around and weren't in the huge three ring binders I had them in. Shortly after publishing them, I was asked to be the guest author at a local book club, so yeah, that's probably when it finally hit me that people might actually like my writing.

Do you have any writing rituals?
Not really. Maybe that I tend to first spend a bit of time listing all the possible names for characters. I think a character's name says a lot about them, so I like to find one that suits them.
I tend to write when I feel like it, but getting started is usually the hardest part, even if I have a story idea in mind because, to me, the beginning is one of the most important parts--to grab the reader. Sometimes the story is flowing so much in my head and I can't get it down fast enough, so I have a notebook that I'll scribble down notes in until I can get to that part in the story. My husband actually has told me to get out of bed in the middle of the night and go write because he can tell when I'm not sleeping and knows it's because story stuff is running around in my head.
I do like to write out the whole story before posting or sharing it though because I tend to go back and change too many things before it is complete. I also like to read it over at least twice myself before publishing anything to try to catch as many errors as possible, but it seems no matter how often I read it I'll still edit and tweak wording.

What part of a story do you think is the easiest to write? The hardest?
I love dialogue, so I really like to make it flow as naturally as possible. Most of the time that comes pretty easy, but then sometimes, like in chapter 9 of All in, it takes many rewrites to get it to go where I want it without it seeming too forced. I find the hardest thing to write is setting. I don't like stories that go on and on about describing the setting, so I tend to skimp on it in my own stories.
I also haven't written in the first-person yet, but I keep thinking about it. I really like stories that are written in the first person, but I keep finding that I want multiple POVS, like Damien and Kayden's or Jason and Devyn's.

Why write a story in the Neko universe?
Well, my favorite genres right now deal with slave fic and shifters, so Tears of the Neko was sort of a mix of the two. Growing up, my favorite books were historical romances, and as I said, my family and I are avid Renaissance Faire patrons (in fact, my husband and oldest daughter are cast members now), so I would say I very much enjoy the historical aspect that makes up Kayden's world.

Did the characters or the plot come to you first?
Kayden probably came first because I've been reading a lot of shifter stories lately. I love abused characters who get 'saved' and eventually find their inner strength. But an interesting fact is that the main characters of all three of my m/m stories all have a 'y' in them--Kayden, Avery, and Devyn. I love names with 'y's--I don't know why--but both of my daughter's names have a 'y' in them too! Of course, mine doesn't, but still...

What prompted your edit of Tears of the Neko?
Honestly, it was the reviews I received from the original posting of the story here. While the reviews of the original loved the story, they also posed questions that had me thinking what I could do to make the story even better. Some edits addressed things reviewers saw as inconsistencies in character reactions, especially Damien, others added more to Damien's background and the neko universe in general. Most of the large additions to the story were scenes that had more interactions between Damien and Kayden, which a lot of people really seemed to want.

What are your future projects?
Well, I've promised to write a sequel to the Neko, so I've been trying to work out some basic plot lines and talking with one of my betas about ideas--so if anyone has ideas they'd like to see in the sequel, let me know your ideas. I'm considering a shifter story, maybe a merman, or another slave/cinderfella-like fiction. (Cinderella is my favorite fairy tale, so many of my stories have the poor, abused character who needs saving, even in my YA fiction.)

What brought you to GA?
I was searching for more reading material because, you know, I read ALOT, and came across Weeping Lily by Nephylim and the Paradox of Friendship by IntheMindofSunshine. Those were the first stories I found here, and since then I have enjoyed reading many stories. I admit, though, I'm horrible at remembering to write reviews because I read on my tablet and I hate typing on the on-screen keyboard, plus I get so into the story, I keep going through the chapters until I'm done. I'm trying to be better though, and plan to go back to review the stories that I've read. After posting the Tears of the Neko here, I discovered I liked this site much better than AFF or Fiction Press, which is why in posting All In, I decided to post a couple chapters ahead here first (so while I'm posting it at the other sites, GA is ahead by a couple chapters!)

Thanks so much for great interview, Craftingmom! Okay guys, don't forget to leave your questions or come back between 1-3 EST!