THYME FOR LOVE - Pamela S Meyers

Bio:  A native of Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, author Pamela S. Meyers lives in suburban Chicago with her two rescue cats. Her novels include Thyme for Love, and Love Will Find a Way, contemporary romantic mysteries, and her 1933 historical romance, Love Finds You in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. When she isn’t at her laptop writing her latest novel, she can often be found nosing around Wisconsin and other mid-western spots for new story ideas.

Welcome back, Pamela. God has really been moving in your writing life. What do you see on the horizon?

I recently received my rights back on my first two published books and have been busy updating the first one, Thyme for Love (TFL), which I just published independently through Amazon. It’s exciting to do the entire process of publishing myself. Now that TFL is published, I’ll begin work on editing Love Will Find a Way. Then after that, I hope to write the third in the series, which I am calling The Cooking Up Trouble series. Although I haven’t published anything traditionally since Love Finds You in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, I still hope to publish that route in addition to the Indies.

Tell us a little about your family.

Since I am an only child and never married, my family connections are not exactly the same as a lot of people. My parents are both deceased, but I have first cousins whom I see periodically. I have a number of very close friends from church who are my sisters in the Lord and they count as much as family to me as any siblings would have.

I love friends like that. Has your writing changed your reading habits? If so, how?

Yes. First, I don’t have as much time as I used to for casual reading. But I do try to read current releases in my genre to keep up with what is out there and also to better my craft by reading other writers. Sometimes it’s hard to turn off the “editor” hat and just read for enjoyment.

What are you working on right now?

Having just published Thyme for Love, I’m working a lot on getting the word out to people about the book through promotion on social media and in blog interviews like this one J. The ACFW conference is coming up next month, and I need to focus on the novel I’d like to pitch to editors there and prepare for the appointments

What outside interests do you have?

I enjoy knitting and crocheting, both great stress reducers after a busy day of writing and editing. I attend Bible Study Fellowship each year from September to May and I really enjoy digging deep into the Bible and learning how to apply God’s Word to my life. This coming fall we’ll begin studying Revelation and I’m very excited about that.

How do you choose your settings for each book?

All three of my published books are set in southeastern Wisconsin where I grew up. Love Finds You in Lake Geneva is actually set in my hometown. I was very blessed to have the opportunity to set a novel there. The two mystery/romance novels are set in the small town of Canoga Lake, a fictitious community about ten minutes east of Lake Geneva. I chose to not have the story in Lake Geneva because in the first book, Thyme for Love, the police chief is a bungler, and I didn’t want to paint the police chief of my hometown that way J. I love setting my stories in Wisconsin, or the Midwest in general, because there are so many wonderful settings throughout the area. You have the Apostle Islands at the very northern most point in Wisconsin, the rolling glacier-formed hills of the Kettle Moraine in southeastern Wisconsin, the large and beautiful city of Chicago…I could go on, but I’ll stop.

If you could spend an evening with one historical person, who would it be and why?

I think I would love to go back in time to how my hometown of Lake Geneva was in the thirties when my Love Finds You book is set. I learned so much about the town in doing my research and I’d love to just hang with the townspeople and enjoy getting to know them. Then after that it would be great fun to go back even farther to the very late 19th Century in the same area. Many of Chicago’s wealthy built large mansions on the lakeshore and they lived a very different lifestyle than the townspeople. I’d love to go back and hang out in some of their homes, attending their tea parties and ride on their steam yachts.

What is the one thing you wish you had known before you started writing novels?

That can take a very long while to become established and just because someone tells you that your writing is ready to be published, it may not be that ready. I had quite a letdown in the early days of my writing because someone told me I was ready to be published and I really was not. That didn’t stop me, but it wasn’t realistic to tell me that.

What new lessons is the Lord teaching you right now?

Just today He showed me from Hebrews 13: 5-6 that I have been obsessing too much about how many books I’ve sold so far since I went Indie. It’s nice to be able to check on your sales right up to the minute, but it’s easy to become too caught up in it and almost make it an idol. I want all my writing to be to His glory, and it doesn’t matter if I sell a small number of books or thousands.

I don’t look at the numbers of my Indies until it’s royalty time. What are the three best things you can tell other authors to do to be successful?

Work hard, never stop learning the craft, and be flexible.

Tell us about the featured book.

New chef, April Love, has landed her dream job, but she never anticipated her former fiancé and a murdered boss would be on the menu.

When April Love applies for a job as an in-house chef at a century-old lakeshore mansion in Canoga Lake, Wisconsin, she never expected to find her old flame, Marc Thorne, working there and looking more gorgeous than ever. He’d left her high and dry weeks before their planned wedding, and last she heard, he was living on the West Coast. Soon, the old attraction heats up. But, April senses Marc isn’t spilling all the beans about his past eight years, and no amount of questioning has him talking. Despite being unable to trust Marc for her future, she’s determined to not let him stand in the way of living out her dream.

Their boss is murdered, and Marc is falsely accused of the crime. He’s about to be indicted, and April has no choice but to turn detective and find Ramón Galvez’s real killer. It isn’t long before she realizes she may be the murderer's next victim if she doesn’t stop her sleuthing. If she stops now, hopes for a future with Marc will end in a cellblock.

Sounds interesting. Please give us the first page of the book.

The kitchen door opened, and I came face to face with a ghost. Not a Scrooge’s Christmas Past kind of ghost. More like the Ghost of Long-Lost Love. Bronze complexion, espresso-dark eyes, hair as black as licorice, and the new addition of a short beard that grazed his jawline—Marc Thorne looked as gorgeous as he had when he walked out of my life the day before college graduation.

Limp as overcooked pasta, I gripped the island’s granite counter, its rock-solid support my only hope of not toppling off my four-inch-too-tight heels. Why now? I opened my mouth to speak, but a vise-like grip on my chest had squeezed out every ounce of air.

Marc stepped closer, and a whiff of his citrusy aftershave tickled my nose. Thankfully he wasn’t wearing the spicy fragrance I’d always liked. One sniff of that stuff and I’d have been transported back to a time I preferred to keep dead and buried.

“April? What are you doing here?”

What was I doing here?

I forced a ragged breath into my lungs. “I’m waiting to interview with . . . Mr . . . Gomez for the chef position.”

I can’t wait until my copy arrives, so I can see what happens. How can readers find you on the Internet?

Website:  www.pamelasmeyers.com

Blog: www.pammeyerswrites.blogspot.com

Facebook:  www.facebook.com/pamela.meyers

Twitter: www.twitter.com/pamelameyers

Google+:  https://plus.google.com/u/0/+PamelaMeyers/post

Thank you, Pamela, for sharing this new book with us. I know my readers will be interested in the story, too.


Readers, here is a link to the book. By using it when you order, you help support this blog.
Thyme for Love (Cooking Up Trouble Book 1)

Leave a comment for a chance to win a free copy of the book. Please tell us where you live, at least the state or territory. (Comments containing links may be subject to removal by blog owner.)

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THYME FOR LOVE - Pamela S Meyers - Free Book

Welcome, Pam. I've really been looking forward to our time together.

Q: Give us a little preview of Thyme for Love.

A:  April Love has always dreamed of being a chef. When her Aunt Kitty hears of a in-house chef position for a non-profit organization housed in a lakeshore mansion next door, April returns to Canoga Lake, Wisconsin, where she’d spent many summers growing up, to apply for the job. When she discovers her former fiancé Marc Thorne working there, she wonders if this position was really God’s intention for her. After all, Marc all but left her standing at the altar to chase his own dreams in California. It doesn’t take long to realize Marc is hiding secrets and despite returning feelings for the man, April determines she will not make the same mistake as she did eight years earlier. But when their boss is found dead and Marc is framed for his murder, April has no choice but to turn sleuth to keep Marc from being accused of a murder he didn’t commit.

Q: What made you want to write this book?

A:  I’ve always loved romance and mysteries, and decided to write a story that married the two elements together. I grew up in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin and have always been fascinated by the many 20^th Century mansions that dot the lake’s shoreline. I toyed with the idea of setting the story in one of those homes, but decided to create a smaller lake and village just to the east of Lake Geneva to gain more freedom with some of the details of the story and its characters. I loved having the area located close enough to Lake Geneva that April and Marc could go there for a meal at one of the actual restaurants there. I also gave them backgrounds that involve working on Geneva Lake as many college students do during the summer months.

Q:  Have you always wanted to be a writer?

A:  In one way or another I’ve always written almost since I could hold a pencil. When I was eight years old I asked for a diary for Christmas and I wrote in it at different times of my childhood. I still have that little book and it contains bits and pieces of my life from age eight until sometime in high school. Even into my adult years I’d journal from time to time, but never thought of turning that “need” to put words to paper into a career until years later. While completing my bachelor’s through an accelerated adult program, one of my professors suggested I could make a living writing. I published several magazine articles, but as the hankering to write stories grew stronger, I began taking fiction writing classes. At a local writer’s conference a multipublished author suggested I could turn one of my short stories into a novel. That was all I needed to hear. I soon joined American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) while the organization was in its infancy and through their writing courses and conferences I continued to grow in the craft.

Q: Have you written other novels besides Thyme for Love?

Oh yes. My first novel which I would classify as a women’s fiction languishes in my computer at the moment. Authors very seldom publish their first written work as that often turns out to be a practice project. The storyline still resonates with me and I’d love to one day pull it out and rework it. There are a couple other stories that will probably never see the light of day. I’m very excited to have a novel set in my hometown of Lake Geneva, Love Finds You in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, coming out in June 2012 from Summerside Press. It’s a 1933 historical romance, and I had a blast researching for the story.

Q. Do you have any plans for a sequel to Thyme for Love?

A. I’m so glad you asked. Thyme for Love is part of a three-book series called “On the Road to Love.” Books 2 and 3 involved April and Marc, and both are set in Canoga Lake. In Book 2, Love Will Find a Way, April moves into an old Victorian home with plans to turn it into a restaurant and catering business. It isn’t long before a discovery made while they are renovating the home threatens to hijack plans for the grand opening. In Book three, Love’s Reward, April and Marc’s wedding plans are in full swing, until it becomes apparent there is someone who doesn’t want them to marry.

Q. How do you get your story ideas?

A. There’s an old adage to write what you know. I might add to that, to always keep your eyes and ears open for a possible story line. That first novel I wrote was sparked by something someone said to me when she showed me a picture of my great-grandfather’s grave. My Love Finds You in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, story grew out of wanting to know the history behind the beautiful lakeshore recreational building that has become an icon of the area. Just today a newspaper article sparked an idea I’d like to develop into a proposal.

Q. What is your daily writing routine?

A. My best writing time is morning, but I’ve had to make myself work outside the box at times when that kind of schedule doesn’t work. Since I am a morning person, I find it best to set my alarm as if I’m going to work. I get up at 5:30 and spend at least an hour in my Quiet Time with God. Then I try to walk daily for exercise before settling down in my home office to write. I recently converted unused space in my dining are into an office and that has helped tremendously with getting the sense of “going to work.” This helps me stay on task. Too many years actually working Monday through Friday probably contributes to that. On days I have an obligation away from home in the morning, I have had to force myself to be creative in the afternoon and early evening. I think as I start working on deadlines more and more that’s going to be essential.

Q. What advice do you have for new authors?

A. Persevere, persevere, and persevere. I started out aspiring to be published in novel writing more than ten years ago. I had the raw ability and desire to write, but that skill had to be trained and honed, much like a young colt has to be trained. I have learned that writers need to develop what we jokingly refer to as rhino skin and also we need a positive teachable attitude. Join critique groups, take writing courses, attend writing conferences where great teaching occurs and you’ll have opportunities to meet with industry professionals and pitch to editors and agents. ACFW has a great yearly conference ever September that is for fiction writers only. I cannot tout ACFW enough. It is a must organization to join for anyone who writes fiction from a Christian point of view.

Q. When you aren’t writing, what fills your days?

A. I volunteer at my church in the multicultural ministry, helping Japanese women learn to speak English and lead a women’s small group Bible study. I’m also chapter president of my local ACFW chapter which meets monthly. Also, I enjoy reading (surprise, surprise) and movies. Love to cook and find new ways of making things. You’ll find an adaptation of a recipe someone gave me called Chicken George at the back of Thyme for Love. I loved having April prepare it in the novel, and look forward to experimenting with more recipes for the sequels.

Thank you, Pam, for spending this time with us.


Readers, you can find out more about Pamela at this site: http://www.pamelasmeyers.com/


Here's a link to the book. By using it when you order, you help support this blog. 

Thyme for Love


Leave a comment for a chance to win a free copy of the book. Please tell us where you live, at least the state or territory. (Comments containing links may be subject to removal by blog owner.)

Void where prohibited; the odds of winning depend on the number of entrants. Entering the giveaway is considered a confirmation of eligibility on behalf of the enterer in accord with these rules and any pertaining local/federal/international laws.

The only notification you’ll receive is the winner post on this blog. So be sure to check back a week from Saturday to see if you won. You will have 4 weeks from the posting of the winners to claim your book.

If you’re reading this on Feedblitz, Facebook, or Amazon, please come to the blog to leave your comment if you want to be included in the drawing. Here’s a link.
Http://lenanelsondooley.blogspot.com