Today I have the pleasure of speaking with author Rose Anderson. Thanks for being here today Rose, welcome to FAR!

To start, can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

Hi Tammy, thanks for having me here at Fallen Angel Reviews.

I got my first book contract a year ago this past December and became a published author in mid-March of last year. One of the things I was supposed to do as a new author was come up with something about me for the back of my book. I'd read several jackets from other authors trying to get an idea of what I should say about myself. What do you say about yourself? What would people like to hear? I have a lot of interests, a few are sort of off the wall, but then I consider myself to be an off the wall person. :) I'm an information hound too - I love learning new things. I'm a mother of two grown kids, and I share my life with a small menagerie of furry and feathered little people. I've been married to my best friends and soul mate for the past 34 years. I'm happy to say I emerged from the gene pool blessed with a measure of creativity. The muse whispering to my mind is constantly thinking up images for my hands give form to. That form could be tangible like a molded clay figure or a sketch, or as in the case of words I type out on my laptop, ephemeral. When the Muse finally releases me from her grasp, my mind can move on to the next thought, the next blob of clay, the next story waiting in the wings. What do such thought-creators say about themselves? People who have this little gnawing drive to manifest some thought into reality know it just is what it is. Describing it is tricky.

Tell us about your latest book. What's the title and when will it be released?

I've never had such a hard time coming up with a title before so my latest is not yet named. This a shape-shifter tale based upon a local urban legend. It's hard to imagine but people have sworn they've actually seen the creature several miles away from my house. Without giving too much away, I've taken the urban legend and combined it with archaeological facts and to my delight the whole thing became completely realistic and somewhat plausible! No kidding. Comprised of two books and spanning three thousand years, I do believe this is the best story I've written to date. I hope to see the first in print by early spring.

What would you like to accomplish with your writing career?

I'd like more than anything to become successful enough to buy a nice piece of land for my husband to retire on. That's been my goal from the start. He's worked so hard for our family. I came to our marriage with rheumatoid arthritis, a disease I've had since I was 15, a disease he married along with me. Since I've never had good health in all the years we've been together, the financial burden has always been on his shoulders. That's not to say I've never worked. He did, and continues to do, the lion's share. Second to that, I'd like to set up a foundation that gives grant monies to people and organizations that do good things for the environment, animals, and mankind. I liken the desire to picking up Ben and Jerry's torch and running with it. I dream big. :)

What is the best advice that anyone ever gave you?

The advice had nothing to do with my writing career. The job I recently retired from after eleven years put me in the public eye on occasion. I'm a very shy person, so these encounters were never comfortable. Years ago, I was giving an important presentation to local officials and my office support person must have seen me wringing my hands, bundle of nerves I was. Leaning over to me, she whispered, "Just think. One county over these people are nobody." Talk about a paradigm shift! That moment changed my life. I realized that shy or not, I was no more, no less, than anyone else. We're all just human beings dealing with external and internal forces. Some people just outwardly carry it off with more panache than others.

While writing, how does the story develop for you? Do you go from start to finish or create scenes as they come to you?

Oh I'm definitely a fly by the seat of my pants writer. It begins with a general idea as the main players form in my mind. When the characters start to speak and tell me their thoughts, I get a grasp on how they will interact with one another. Before you know it, there are stressors coming in from the sidelines and they must react to them. I honestly walk into the story and keep writing until it tells me to wrap it up. On occasion I do leave mid-story. I find when the creative flow wanes, I need a redirection or the story suffers. This past spring I had five books simmering at once! Coming back and reading from the beginning often creates a more solid story. If I'm lucky, the book will write itself. That's what happened with the shape-shifter tale I mentioned above. It literally wrote itself. Now if it could only edit itself… LOL

Where do you hope to take your writing in the future?

Around the world. :) I want to travel the world looking for inspiration for my larger work. I gave myself five books in the erotic romance genre so I could learn this business and use that knowledge on my labor of love -- my larger work -- the four-years-in-the-making, five-book, as yet unnamed, Magnum Opus. It's a work of philosophy, theology, history, and science rolled up in a timeless love story. It's also a transcendent battle between good and evil. When I say larger work, I mean larger!

What do you still struggle with as an author?

It has to be the fact that nine-to-five creative sparks don't exist in my realm. For example, when I started this journey I had no idea self-promoting would play such a huge role in my life. But I quickly learned that using my allotment of creativity for the day on this left little or nothing for creating in my alter worlds. That creativity is a bubble rising from the bottom of the ocean or a snowball rolling downhill. It's a unique burst of inspiration that must take its course, but it's not necessarily something an artistic soul always has on hand. And as art often comes with a bevy of emotion, the artist can sometimes get drained from the creation process. I have been tapped out on occasion. I blogged this early on in my career:

If I could look inside my creative mind with say…an electron microscope, I'd see an entire galaxy of thought. One quadrant might have a meteor shower of possibility, another a comet of inspiration, while across the way a full-blown conceptual super nova is taking place. That's what I deal with as a person able to manifest thought into a product. In other words, there's a vastness to my brain galaxy but also a great distance between each super nova and only so much fuel to propel my little spacecraft along. I have to refuel after creating something before I'll be able to travel the stars in my mind again. Sometimes refueling comes quick and other times days will pass before the creative spark finds me once more. Other artist/right brain thinkers know what I mean.

Since everybody needs a break, even when doing something they love, how do you like to spend your time away from writing?

I love entertaining and enjoy spending time with my family and friends. I've been blessed to share my world with some pretty terrific people and each and every one of them is as odd as I am! We have poetry nights, we drum, we gather and create things, we share meals, songs, conversation, and laughs. Like I said, I've been blessed.

We all have one, so tell us yours. What is your favorite comfort food?

It's a weird one. Both of my parents passed away long ago. When they were alive, my dad with his Polish heritage did most of the cooking the whole time I was growing up, and I'd give just about anything to have him cook sauerkraut again. My brother makes it nearly identical to our father's particular style so he often makes some when he comes to visit and it's always a treat. I've been known to eat sauerkraut for breakfast (and gotten much ribbing by my husband and kids for it too!) I see their point. Growing up with the overpowering aroma of cooking pickled cabbage like I did, the scent means nothing to me but home. My three find it overwhelmingly stinky and stinking up the house comes with all manner of complaint. LOL I think I'll make some this weekend!

Describe yourself in 5 words.

Oh wow. I've never been asked this one before. How about…?

1. Witty

2. Compassionate

3. Nice

4. Friend

5. Steadfast

Do you have a website or blog where readers can learn more about you and your works?

I do! I've devoted my entire blog to this amazing author journey I'm on, including any laurels or skinned knees and elbows I've picked up along the way. It's certainly a way to get inside my head. Here's my blog, as well as a few of my other links all over the place. Leave messages. I love to hear from people -- tweets, questions, comments etc.

My Blog: Calliopes Writing Tablet

My Book Trailers

Follow me on Twitter

Join my circle of Friends on Google+

What can readers expect from you in the next 6 months?

Both books in my shape-shifter story should be out by then. That's about it. I'll make some headway on my next book by then. This one is set on the Isle of Skye.

Is there anything else you would like to add today?

Just a thank you again for having me here at Fallen Angel Reviews. I'm still a relatively new author and this is a great opportunity to become known. I appreciate your your time.

Thank you for taking time to speak with me today Rose.

You're welcome! It's been fun.

Interviewed by: Tammy