What is your favorite part of being an author? Delving into the complexities of relationships. All of my books are very character-driven. However, I must say that meeting with book clubs runs a close second.
What is your least favorite part of being an author? Editing! Although it is my least favorite part, it is absolutely crucial to producing a quality book. I will edit a book several times, then turn it over to an outside editor
What are you most proud of accomplishing so far in your life? Although I am very proud of having won ten different Literary Awards for my work, I am most proud of having earning the respect and friendship of my peers.
What inspires you to write? People and their relationships. Everyday life events. It can be a place we’ve visited or someone I’ve met. Spare Change is a perfect example of this. We were visiting friends on the Eastern Shore of Virginia and drove through long stretches of road without seeing stores, houses or even a gas station. I commented to my husband that it was such a desolate area that a murder could take place and no one would be the wiser…that thought gave birth to Spare Change.
Who or what influenced your writing when you first began? It was an older gentleman named Dan Grant. He was the leader of a writer’s workshop I attended and he constantly challenged me to grow beyond myself.
Who or what influenced your writing over the years? I believe it was the quality of the books I read. Every time I lost myself in another wonderful story, I challenged myself to reach higher and create my own stories with that same magical quality.
What genre are you most comfortable writing in? Definitely women’s fiction. That said, several of my books that are set in the first half of the twentieth century are also considered historical fiction. Amazon has all of my novels under Literary Fiction, I suppose it’s because they are all very character driven stories.
Have you developed a specific writing style? Very much so. I usually combine a number of different voices in any given story. Although the story of Spare Change is told in the narrative, There are first person segments from each of the main characters. It may sound confusing, but it’s not. As the story unfolds, certain characters step up and talk directly to the reader.
What is your greatest strength as a writer? Character development by far. I get so inside my characters, that I can not only give them a voice, but actually think as they would. Not only does this make it more fun for the reader, but it prevents me from letting anyone step out of character.
Reviewer’s Choice 2012 Award Winner! In a story that’s been compared to John Grisham’s The Client, eleven year-old Ethan Allen Doyle has witnessed a brutal murder and now the boy is running for his life. In the time-tested tradition of Southern Fiction, Crosby unveils the darkest side of human nature and then rewards her readers with a beautiful tale of love, loss and unexpected gifts.
Olivia Westerly is the only person Ethan Allen can trust, and he’s not too sure he can trust her. She’s got no love of children and a truckload of superstitions–one of them is the belief that eleven is the unluckiest number on earth. Olivia avoided marriage for almost forty years. But when Charlie Doyle happened along, he was simply too wonderful to resist. Now she’s a widow with an eleven-year-old boy claiming to be her grandson.
With a foul mouth, dark secrets and heavily guarded emotions, Ethan Allen Doyle is not an easy child to like. He was counting on the grandpa he’d never met for a place to hide, but now that plan is shot to blazes because the grandpa’s dead too. He’s got seven dollars and twenty-six cents, his mama’s will for staying alive, and Dog. But none of those things are gonna help if Scooter Cobb finds him.
Winner of Five Literary Awards,BookBundlz Finalist, Voted Goodreads Best Unknown Fiction, FPA President’s Book Award Gold Medal Finalist
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Genre – Literary Fiction
Rating – PG13
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