Thursday, April 11, 2013

Mutual Release by Liz Crowe


Let's Get to Know Liz Crowe



1. Before we start talking about your book, why don’t you tell everybody a little bit about yourself?
I am Liz, a.k.a. The Beer Wench A2 who owns a craft microbrewery in Ann Arbor. I have 21 books published, many of them in print and digital, and am represented by three publishers currently. I call Ann Arbor home now but am originally from Southeast Kentucky and was born in Nashville, Tennessee. I’m a huge sports fan, mostly of the Louisville Cardinal variety but have been known to obsess over the game of soccer generally and the men who play it.
2. Besides writing, what other things do you enjoy doing in your spare time?
I own a brewery, manage the beer bar side of it and all sales and marketing activity for the entire company so “spare time” is scarce.  But when a get a few moments I will go to the Bikram yoga studio for a nice sweaty couple of hours, or walk my poodle muses, or read.
3. What is your daily routine as far as when you have an idea for your story?
I head write then I open up the laptop and just “go.”  And go, and go until the thing is done really. I sneak in writing every spare second while I’m in “create mode,” without a doubt.
4. Where do you get your ideas from?
The real world, the brewing world, the real estate world and my own life experiences (like living overseas) for a start. But now that I’ve set lose this creative thing in the last few years I will say that many times complete plots will drop into my brain at the most inappropriate times, forcing me to question my sanity.
5. Out of all of the stories you’ve written so far, what would be your favorite and why?
I can’t say, really but I am very fond of PARADISE HOPS, a stand along brewery based novel that has been in turns excoriated by hard core romance readers and raved about by many others.
But this one that just came out MUTUAL RELEASE will remain in my top 5 for sure.
6. Tell us something funny about yourself that not a lot of people know about?  Let’s see….most people already know I’m a preacher’s kid and can recite Bible verses and sing hymns from memory…and that I am a hop head….and that I am sick obsessed with soccer players….Oh! I know! I cannot wear watches. They literally stop after I have had them on my wrist for a few weeks, even the expensive ones. I may very well be an alien, but at the very least I know my “bio rhythms” do not lend themselves to watch-wearing.
7. Does any of the stories you’ve written based on real life experiences or basically just from imagination?
Yes, both. I like to write what I know and I use my experiences in the brewing world, as a former real estate agent, as a former American ex-pat, a mom of frustrating teenagers, all of it to bring a lot of realism to my books. But from there I have been known to use my imagination, along with some research, to bring a plot to life.
8. Does your ‘muse’ have a name and if so what is his/her name?
HANS….you naughty boy….he’s hiding currently as he does that when I’m in promotions mode. Hans is my well-known, 6’5” blond haired, blue eyed very hot Muse who wears leather lederhosen and nothing else and brings me beer on command. It’s a bit of a D/s thing we have, and we have been known to switch.
9. What other genre besides the one you are writing about now would you like to venture into writing?
I am already working on a mainstream novel that will have elements of political thriller and near-future dystopia set in Ann Arbor with themes of reproductive rights, ultra conservative politics and the internet’s control of “the message.”  I’m nervous about it but determined to make it work.
10. Who are your favorite authors that are out now?
John Irving, Tom Wolfe (although I am struggling with his new book, I will say), Barbara Kingsolver, Zadie Smith, John Greene, Patrick Ness, Chris Moore, Margaret Atwood, Ann Tyler, Stephen King (non scary stuff mostly)
11. Who is your favorite female and male characters from your books and why?
Right now I am grooving on Evan and Julie from Mutual Release.  I took them both back to their teenage years in this book to capture deep motivation for their later actions. They don’t meet until they are both in their 30’s and life has handed them both a lot of sh*t to deal with. By the time they sort it all out even more is revealed about their characters in good and bad ways.
12. What do you think is the hardest thing about being a writer?
Realizing that you are “just another writer” and then determining what your career course should be: the “best seller route” or the “I write because I love it so much” one. Both are valid, but that moment after you’ve had a modicum of success with a few books and you look up to discover that you are, indeed, just another writer, can be tough (it was for me but that is my personality I guess).
13. What advice would you give someone who wants to start off being a writer?
Write.  Then get critiqued and edited and don’t take it personally but learn from it. Pay it forward. Find authors you admire and help promote them.  We all could use a boost and I know that right now there are a handful of authors who had been so completely supportive and great to me – I return the favor as often as I can.
14. If you hadn’t become a writer, what do you think you would be doing right now?
The thing is, I did not grow up with the “I wanna be a writer” mentality, but neither did I ever dream I would become a legit “beer wench” owning a brewery, with a full knowledge of the brewing process, running a bar, handling beer tastings and events…and I love it (most of the time---there are days when “owning a small business” is akin to “poking hot sticks into my nail beds.”) I am doing what I love, right now. The writing part has been a great bonus!
15. What do you like on a man…..briefs, boxer briefs or boxer shorts or nothing at all? Boxers under your clothes. But as naked as the day you were born otherwise.

Well now that we got the question and answer out of the way…..why don’t you tell us about your latest story you have out now?

Blurb

Can two souls ever make a light?

As president of her own distribution company, Julie Dawson has all she ever wanted - money, power, and respect. But her carefully crafted facade conceals a torment of abuse and helplessness. After years remaining emotionally aloof, she is finally independent, but alone. Because she refuses to rely on anyone but herself ever again.
Evan Adams is no stranger to success, or personal damages. the horrific trauma that destroyed his twin sister, and tore his family apart, forced him to craft a new life from the ashes of the old. He's content enough, focusing ahead and not dwelling on his murky past. But something important is missing. He knows what that thing is but refuses to acknowledge it.
When a chance encounter brings these two strong-willed but damaged people together, what seems like a long, erotic journey through hell could lead them to a match made in heaven.

MUTUAL RELEASE

A coming of age novel about trust...on the long road to love


Excerpt


A leather chair appeared from the gloom. Evan looked around, then took the seat, disappointed but intrigued. He could hear Jack’s voice, his laughter low and inviting. What the fuck? Was Gordon getting in on action while he had to watch? Then he heard Jenna’s annoying giggle and realized the club must be making her watch too, only she got to do it with her date. He sighed, leaned back, and prepared himself to be underwhelmed.
“No,” a sexy, rough female voice broke through the clamor in his head. It must have surprised everyone because all the people on the couches glanced up. “I want him. Out here.” Evan looked straight at her and saw the hot-as-shit Domme point her bullwhip right at him. He gulped, actually looked around like a dork, thinking there must be someone behind him. He was no sub.
She crooked her finger, her ruby-red moist lips drawing his gaze and making him feel positively hypnotized. His cock kept up its painful pressure along the inside of his zipper. A drop of sweat formed on his temple but he couldn’t move his arms to brush it away. All he knew… was her.



Meet Liz Crowe

Microbrewery owner, best-selling author, beer blogger and journalist, mom of three teenagers, and soccer fan, Liz lives in the great Midwest, in a major college town. Years of experience in sales and fund raising, plus an eight-year stint as an ex-pat trailing spouse, plus making her way in a world of men (i.e. the beer industry), has prepped her for life as erotic romance author. 

When she isn't sweating inventory and sales figures for the brewery, she can be found writing, editing or sweating promotional efforts for her latest publications. 


Her groundbreaking romance subgenre, “Romance for Real Life,” has gained thousands of fans and followers who are interested less in the “HEA” and more in the “WHA” (“What Happens After?”)


Her beer blog a2beerwench.com is nationally recognized for its insider yet outsider views on the craft beer industry. Her books are set in the not-so-common worlds of breweries, on the soccer pitch and in high-powered real estate offices. Don’t ask her for anything “like” a Budweiser or risk painful injury.




Liz will award the following prizes at the end of the Virtual Book Tour and the Book Blast:


Grand Prize:  Paperwhite Kindle (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008GEKXUO/ref=fs_cl)
1st Prize:  Signed set of first 6 books (Includes all books in the series *except for* Mutual Release)
2nd Prize:  boxed set of first 3 Stewart Realty ebooks  (Floor Time, Sweat Equity, Closing Costs)

5 comments:

  1. Thanks for hosting Liz on your blog today!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I learned something new! :) It is hard to put your heart and soul into a book and have negative comments about it, but I guess that's the nature of the beast!

    Love ya Liz!
    Melissa
    daringzoey@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  3. That's nice you can recite that from memory

    bn100candg at hotmail dot com

    ReplyDelete