Molly Daniels Interview
Mary: So tell us a little about Molly the person. We’ll get to the author part next.
Molly: Hi Mary, and thank you for letting me be here today. (pours Bailey’s into coffee) Let’s see, I’m the mother of three, and have been an official grandma now for nine months to little Alexandria. We migrated to southern Indiana back in 2006, and my daughter’s friends enjoyed my books back when they were still in middle school. My husband retired three years ago, so we enjoy the occasional lunch out together. And my best gal pal got me hooked on karaoke two years ago, so I can be found singing along to YouTube every Thursday afternoon as I practice what I plan to sing that evening.
Mary: Okay, Molly, author time, please tell us a bit about you as an Author. What is your writing routine, do you have any rituals that you do to get you in the writing mood?
Molly: Before the husband retired, I’d take the kids to school, then sit down at the computer until they arrived home from school. But now I pretty much do the ‘business’ and ‘social’ side in the morning, take a break for chores and lunch, then write in the afternoon and after dinner. And that’s if the muse is cooperative and keeps the characters whispering in my ear. Some weeks I’m lucky to get several thousand words down; other times I’m happy to just write one page.
Mary: I’ve visited your site and read over your Arbor University series. Correct me if I’m wrong, but Endless Love looks like the fifth book in the series. Tell us a bit about how you came up with the idea and where you find your characters.
Molly: Arbor University was ‘born’ back in the summer of 1985. I’d gone out on a blind date with a guy home from the Air Force, and we spent two turbulent weeks together. Fast-forward to the summer, when my grandfather passed away, and before our flight took off, the airline crew announced they’d overbooked the flight and anyone willing to take a later flight would be given a free, round trip ticket to anywhere in the continental US. I wanted to do it, but Mom refused. And the creative wheels started churning. I actually wrote what is now book #2, Love Finds A Way first, based on the ‘what if’ factor of me going out to California to see my AF officer. And as I began writing, my heroine has to have a roommate, right? And other friends. I was about halfway through writing it when I decided to name the university, and over the next five years, I’d write snippets of other stories. And in 1991, while on bed rest due to a high risk pregnancy, I decided to combine all the stories into one setting and came up with eight. My husband is the one who suggested fourteen, and it didn’t take me long to find more social and behavioral dynamics to throw at my characters.
As for the characters themselves, the first eight books are based on roommates and friends I met while pursuing my college degree in Social Work. The others are pulled from ideas, imagination, and observations made from people-watching. And any time I base a character on a close friend, I have them read the manuscript and let me know if I’ve gotten ‘too close for comfort’ or if they’d like something changed. And so far, I’ve only had to change one tiny item. Most of the reaction is “Wow…so this is what my life would have been, had I stayed on track? Good job!”
Mary: How many book do you have planned in the series? And when can we expect them?
Molly: There are fourteen planned, though more might be added later. 1-7 are written/published/submitted; I’m writing #8; #9-12 are still in my head; #13 is 80% completed; and the ‘finale’ needs to be edited and some parts rewritten, as I wrote it before Dick Clark had his stroke. I should mention, this series begins in the fall of 1984 and goes up to 1994 in #13. Book #14 jumps to 2003 or 4 (can’t remember, lol!) and wrote it in 2001.
Endless Love arrives on virtual shelves Tuesday March 5th, with book #6, Searching For Love arriving most likely in April. I’m still waiting on cover art and edits. Sweet Cravings Publishing has been wonderful to me the past two years, and I look forward to many more years with them.
Mary: Can we expect anything other than the books from the Arbor University series? If so, what?
Molly: I began writing a YA ‘Hurricane Katrina’ story line a few years back, but haven’t done anything with it. I also have several unfinished wips that I don’t know which pen name they’ll go under, including one with a zombie twist. Who knows?
Mary: Molly, where can people find you? Please share your web site link and any social media!
Molly: My website is www.mollydaniels.wordpress.com
I also have a page on Romance Books 4 Us: www.romancebooks4us.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/mollyjdaniels (and I also have an author page)
Blog: www.mjdaniels.blogspot.com
Caitlyn McCarty plans to marry her high school sweetheart, Bryan Johnson, and teach elementary school after graduating from Arbor University. But after Bryan's life turns upside down with an unexpected turn of events, Caty begins to question her goals and every decision she’s ever made.
Peter Criswell fell for green-eyed, opinionated Caitlyn when he first met her. However, her determination to hold onto a dream frustrates him. Sometimes you meet the right person at the wrong time, and falling for a woman who’s caught between her parents’ wants versus her own desires isn’t always easy.
When the foundation of Bryan Johnson’s relationship with Caitlyn is tested not once, but twice, he faces the possibility of losing the only girl he’s loved since high school. When Caty does make up her mind, will she stand by her man or run into the arms of another?
Thank you, Molly, for joining us in Mary's Garden. Hope you enjoyed it as much as we did. (Especially the Bailey's, my favorite!)
Comments
Thanks for visiting Melissa!