Nancy Famolari lives with her husband, five horses, two dogs and five white cats on a farm in the Endless Mountains of Pennsylvania. Her stories and poems have appeared in Long Story Short, Flash Shot, Fiction Flyer, Lyrica, Alienskin Magazine Clockwise Cat, and Matters of the Heart from the Museitup Press. She received an award from Fiction Flyer for one of her flash fiction stories. Her novel, Summer’s Story, will be available from Red Rose Press in the fall 2008. Her mystery, Murder in Montbleu, will be available from Red Rose Publishing in 2009.

What are your future writing plans?

I have a second book under contract to Red Rose Publishing. This novel is a murder mystery, Murder in Montbleu. The setting is a small town in Pennsylvania similar to the one I live in. I’ve become very friendly with the characters in this novel and have two other novels that use the same setting, Lake House and Buttermilk Falls Murder. I’m still in the process of editing them, but hope to find a home for them.

Do you write the same genres you read?

I read mysteries and romance. These are the genres I write. I find that when I’m writing something I’d like to read myself, my story is more interesting. The characters start to talk to me, and I have fun listening to them. I’ve tried to write in genres I don’t read and it comes out flat.

What draws you to the genres you write?

I’ve always loved mysteries. In fact that’s my preferred genre. My next book Murder in Montbleu due this year from Red Rose Publishing, is a cozy mystery. I had great fun with it. I decided on a romance for Summer’s Story because I think harness racing is romantic. I’d been involved in harness racing as a breeder, owner, and trainer for years. I thought it would be fun to write a book with that as background. When I read, I like to be taken to a place outside my ordinary work-a-day world. Harness racing for most people, except those who work in it, is quite foreign. I enjoy romance, particularly the Nora Roberts style of romance. I don’t do serious erotica. I also have great fun with mainstream romance, but mysteries are my first love.

What is the best tip you can give someone who wants to write?

The best tip I can think of is apply your seat to the chair and write. Courses are great, so are critique groups, but the sad fact is that you have to put in the hours developing your voice and learning to use all the things you’ve discovered in courses. Critique groups are a double edged sword. You can get valuable information, but you have to have enough self-confidence to decide what to accept and what to reject. It is, after all, your work. It has to please you.

Thanks for stopping by, Nancy. More about her book, Summer’s Story, will appear in this blog on the 21st of January!