T. Strange: Pumping Iron - Author Interview and Blog Tour

Pumping Iron (A Bad Boyfriends Novel)

Name: Nya Rawlyns

Blog: http://loveslastrefuge.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NyaRawlyns

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Nya_Rawlyns

Website: http://www.romancingwords.com/

Other: http://about.me/nyarawlyns

What do you do while writing that others might find unusual?

First off, thanks for having me! I appreciate being here with you and your followers.

As for writing, it’s not so much what *I* do, but what my supervisor does. I think everyone who knows me (and my alter ego, Diane) from Face Book is also familiar with Little Miss Mayhem, aka LMM. She is my constant companion and the devil on my shoulder, literally.

Lemme ’splain… LMM is a rescue kitty, brought to me by a FB friend and actual near neighbor, Mitzi. The world of social networking has watched this darling bundle of grey naughty grow up into a lovely adult filled with attitude and entitlement. She’s a cat, it’s what they do, but LMM does it better than any other.

When I write I go into “author space”, that black hole where nothing and no one but my characters and their stories exist. I lose all sense of time and place. I go where no man has gone before. Personal hygiene, paying bills, making dinner, answering the phone… Pfft. Those concerns, those activities simply don’t exist.

Until dinner time. LMM dinner time. She starts around 2:30. A mousie gets tossed into my lap. I ignore it. She sits and stares, a dark mind-penetrating glare. My hairs stand on end, but I finish the paragraph. I’m now aware of time passing; it’s irksome. Then around 4pm, she’s on the arm of the chair with her front feet on my shoulder—she ain’t light, our Little Miss—and a paw that’s been places I’d rather not think about goes in my ear or bats my jaw. By 4:30 the claws come out. My ankles are fair game.

I have two reasons for saving-to-file: to open a can of food … and to find the iodine.

What is the most satisfying thing about being a writer?

I spent my career writing technical reports. Now I write fiction. Both kinds of writing require discipline, both rely on a creative process, and although fiction might seem more a right-brain activity, it actually relies heavily on logic and a degree of objectivity in order to bring characters and situations to life.

As a child, I was painfully shy and introverted, bullied because of my weight, and forced to find solace in solitary activities. Books became (and remain to this day) my best friends. I learned to express myself through the written word, speaking with my fingers rather than my mouth and tongue. Eventually I learned to be more socially adept, but my best mode of communication is still via the written word. I am forever grateful for the digital revolution that allows me to communicate my thoughts with all the fabulous people who have befriended me from around the world.

Where and when do you prefer to write?

I write something every single day (points to the question above). Writing is like a muscle—if you don’t use it, it can atrophy. If it does that, it’s not always an easy task to bring it back to a level of fitness where it will function correctly. When I’m deep into writing a book, I like to start first thing in the morning and go straight through until Herself suggests it’s time to stop and smell the tuna. My evenings are for reading, for Firstborn, and for a few guilty pleasure TV shows (Suits, Dancing with the Stars, Arrow, Royal Pains, The Voice).

Would you ever want one of your books to be made into a movie?

I suspect my romantic comedies might be suitable for the small screen, although my contemporary M/M western saga would indeed lend itself to a Silverado treatment, perhaps with Kasdan directing. The casting couch is always open, especially for the roles of Ash and Oak, two of my favoritest characters (that’s like saying you like one of your offspring more than another, but hey ho, it is what it is). Sweeping Wyoming vistas, dangerous places, dangerous men…

Yeah, I can see that. Now all I need to do is crowd-source it.

Coming to a theater near you: The Crow Creek Saga.

We all see your posts on FB with your dinner plates, do you have a favorite recipe that you are willing to share?

Woohoo! Thanks for noticing!

I do love to cook—not bake so much as getting a tasty meal on the table, one that takes less than a pot and a frying pan, and about 30 minutes of my time.

Seafood has gotten pricy—shrimp, scallops and crab are a king’s ransom nowadays. Firstborn and I indulge but mostly during the holidays.

For everyday fish, we love tilapia. It’s meaty and not “fishy”—to the nose or on the tongue. Yes, I am aware of all the cautionary statements warning about farm-raised fish, but we restrict our selection to either Wegmans or Weis markets, two vendors we’ve grown to trust over the years.

Depending on the size of the filet, you might want one per person.

Ingredients:

Tilapia fillet(s)

EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)

Pat of butter

Lemon (for zest and juice)

Sea salt

Freshly ground black pepper medley

Old Bay seasoning

Tomato bruschetta

Capers

In a frying pan, heat about 1tbsp EVOO and pat of butter until the oil lightly smokes. Add the tilapia fillet(s) and season the top with salt, pepper, and about 1-2 tsp Old Bay seasoning. Cook on medium high until the fillet browns (halfway up the side, thickest portion). Turn over and season with the salt/pepper/Old Bay. Cook until the fish flakes with a fork. Turn heat to low. Zest the lemon onto the fillet, add a half cup of tomato bruschetta to the top of each fillet, and add a tbsp. of capers with some juice to the pan. Heat for a minute or so, then squeeze the lemon juice over the fish and plate.

For those of you on low salt diets, skip the salt. Seasonings can be adjusted to taste, keeping in mind “less is more”.

We usually have fresh crusty French bread and a salad to go with our fish. This prep also works well with Scallops—just skip the tomato bruschetta.

And there you have it! Thanks again for hosting the Pumping Iron Tour. It’s been a pleasure.

Nya Rawlyns

Crossing boundaries, taking no prisoners. Write what's in your soul.

It's the bass beat, the heartbeat, the lyrics rude and true.

Nya Rawlyns is the pseudonym of a writer who cut her teeth on sports-themed romantic comedy and historical romances before finding her true calling in the wilderness areas she has visited but calls “home” in that place that counts the most: the heart. She writes M/M erotic romance because her good friends deserve to have their amazing stories told.

She has lived in the country and on a sailboat on the Chesapeake Bay, earned more than 1000 miles in competitive trail and endurance racing, taught Political Science to unwilling freshmen, and found an avocation in materials science.

When she isn’t tending to her garden or the horses, the cats, or two pervert parakeets, she can be found day dreaming and listening to the voices in her head.

Website: http://loveslastrefuge.com/

Website: Romancing Words

The Men of Crow Creek: http://the-men-of-crow-creek.weebly.com/

Her published works include:

Curling Iron (A Bad Boyfriends Novella)

Pumping Iron (A Bad Boyfriends Novel)

Ash & Oak (A Crow Creek Novel)

Pulling Leather (A Crow Creek Novel)