Carol McClain | Author Chat

Hello friends! Grab your favorite hot drink and welcome quirky and hilarious Carol McClain to the blog!

Buried in upstate New York, she's got to find something interesting to work on. She's been a high ropes instructor, a marathoner, and an English teacher before they called English ELA. Currently, she's a bassoonist, a stained glass artist and a writer.

She's always been a story teller. As a child, she composed plays and forced her friends to act. She'd help rally the neighborhood kids and together they'd re-enact their favorite TV shows. Sadly, when the boys played, she never got to be the heroine--just the damsel in distress. Since then she's discovered the benefits of needing rescue, and so it's a role she prefers.

Since she lives in a rural area, she found no way to meet a potential husband--so she went online. There she met her soul mate, and there, the story of her debut novel was born.

She spends her time now writing, playing with her Springer spaniel and exploring the world with her husband.

Let's get real...

What’s one thing you would like to impart to your readers about your books and being an author?
I learn best via example, and the best lessons I learn are from novels. I want my readers to go beyond the awful situations my characters get themselves into and learn their lessons without the pain.

My latest release, The Poison We Drink, deals with learning to forgive the unforgivable.

Forgiveness has nothing to do with condoning the wrong. It has everything to do with setting the captive free.

What’s one thing you must have/do in the morning?
We all know what the answer should be. Rise before dawn, pray and read Scripture and then go for a long run. Then, as the pink rays of morning rise over the east, we begin to type away in a whirlwind of creativity.

I do rise—but after Mr. Sun has shown his face. I do morning devotions. But once the caffeine has kicked in, I play Words With Friends and Candy Crush. I’m embarrassingly far along the Candy Crush road. Only five of my friends are ahead of me. When I passed my sister, I knew I had a serious addiction.

What actor/actress would play you if your life were a movie?
Carol Burnett—enough said.

What’s one of your favorite books?
Of mine, it’s The Poison We Drink. It’s complex. The theme of forgiveness has been hammered into my being almost from the moment I’d become a Christian.

Aside from my books—gems yet to be discovered by the NY Times, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard. My high school students groan when I dig it out. Not one student ever understood my fetish with this book. But Dillard writes a poetic work filled with trivia and wisdom and spirituality. I don’t know how many times I’ve read it, but each time I learn new things about myself and life and God. (Note: in no way is this Christian literature).

Share one pet peeve you have.
My pet peeves are writing related. I despise the term: smile on her face. Where else is the grin going to show up? (Don’t answer). And if I read one more scene with a single tear flowing down the heroine’s face, I’m going to have a full-scale hysterics with myriad tears gushing from my azure orbs.

Coffee or tea?
In my scriptures—the Second Book of Opinions—there’s only one beverage worth indulging in—the rest are weak, watered-down substitutes. Dark roast, hot coffee drunk black. If you’re going to give yourself heart burn, why settle for anything less?

Creamy or smooth peanut butter?
Again, according to the dietary laws of 2 Opinions, chunky peanut butter is the only one that satiates. It can be enhanced by sprinkling trail mix on it.

Connect with Carol...
Blog: carol-mcclain.blogspot.com
Facebook: http://on.fb.me/1kq9DpL
Twitter: @carol_mcclain

The Poison We Drink 

by Carol McClain

Twenty-four-year-old hairdresser Torie Sullivan has given up on life. When her boyfriend betrays her, she careens her car into a ditch in a drunken fury.

After paramedic Adam Benedict rescues Torie from her mangled car, he learns she's the middle school bully who brutalized him. A week later, he discovers she lives in a lean-to in Hookskill Nature Preserve. Despite his hatred, his innate compassion won't allow him to leave Torie in the wilds. He offers her a room in his miniscule cabin.

After Torie's first night at Adam's, tragedy strikes his life, and he can no longer house her. His girlfriend, Maya Vitale takes Torie in. Though first-grade teacher Maya's past isn't as sinister as Torie's, she, too, hides a shameful secret.

The lives of three disparate friends collide and reveal the toxic pasts that threaten to poison their lives. Only by forgiving the unpardonable can they be set free. 

Purchase: The Poison We Drink