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

Waters of Separation by Carol McClain | New Novel News

Waters of Separation
by Carol McClain

September 11, 2015
Desert Breeze Publishing 
Purchase: Waters of Separation

Africa’s secrets resurrect the despair physician assistant Anna Haas buried in America. Her pregnancy and the discovery of boys bound by slavery in the cacao sector of the Côte d’Ivoire revive her childhood guilt. Her mother’s suicide claimed the lives of the two small sisters Anna had vowed to protect.

Her failure to save them was unforgivable.

It will not happen with these boys.

Her interference prompts a corrupt government to threaten the thriving mission and the lives of Anna and her friends. Her action also threaten her marriage.

However, doing nothing will destroy her.

The story weaves from past to present and across two continents as Anna fights for love, faith and redemption.

Get to know Carol...

What actor/actress would play you if your life was a movie? Without a doubt, Meryl Streep would play my life. First of all, she’s mature. I know I resemble a blonde Scarlett Johansson, but I believe she’d strain credibility. Furthermore, she’s not as versatile as Streep. If anything defines me, it’s versatility (no, not being jumbled or fragmented. I like more things than there is time to pursue it).

One of my daughter’s students once said I looked like Streep. Granted, this young man had autism, but I like Streep’s ability to play anything: a divorcing wife (which sadly had happened to me), a witch (which of course, I’d never be) or a coffee baroness (which sounds good to me and my addiction).

What are the names of your pets? If you don't have any, what would you name your pets? Currently we have two cats which we adopted when we returned from Italy. They are Ciao and Allora. Our Springer spaniel is Callie—on her pedigree papers she’s Calla Lily Sunbird Mac—named after my favorite flower, and our bow-rider boat. The Mac is a derivative of McClain.

Our cat who died a year ago was Mustar (moosh-tar). She was named for the Romanian translation of mustard. I was going on a mission’s trip when I got her and came across the word. My daughter liked it better than Cat-astrophe, so voila. Moosh was named.

My previous dog was Lily Bark named after an Edith Wharton character, Lily Bart in House of Mirth.

Share one pet peeve you have.
I HATE the term: “put a smile on his/her/your face". Where else is someone going to smile?