Welcome SJD Peterson Today

Welcome to Dawn’s Reading Nook, SJD Peterson. Please let my cabana boys/girls get you a drink and make yourself at home. Comfortable? Great…now let’s get down to business.

Q: For the readers out there who might not know about you or your work, can you please tell them a little about yourself.

This is always the hardest question to answer….ummm lets see. For those who don’t know me, my name is Jo and I live in Michigan, which is not the best place to live when you hate the cold. I’m seriously thinking of moving to a deserted tropical island. I have a degree in both nursing and history. Nope they don’t go together but until I found writing, I planned to be a professional student the rest of my life. Writing is much cheaper. 

Q: How long have you been writing? What got you in to writing? 

Unbelievably I am not one of those people who grew up dreaming of writing. In fact, up until a couple of years ago, I never read fiction except the books they forced me to read in High School and College. I started writing nearly two years ago as a challenge to myself  and was shocked when my first attempt at writing was published.

Q: Where do you get your ideas for your stories, characters?

They just somewhat pop into my head. The weirdest things will set off a story. I went to a Christmas party in July and this guy had a nametag on and it hit me as funny. I came home that night and had an entire story mapped out in my head. Within two days, I had written the entire short story. Leon will be released with DSP as part of their Christmas Advent Calendar. 

Q: Are you a by-the-seat-of-your-pants kind of writer, or do you have to use an outline to put your collective thoughts into some semblance of common sense?

Definitely a by-the-seat-of-your-pants writer. I start out with an idea and once I get the first sentence worked out, I just write. The story doesn’t always go the way I envisioned. Lorcan for instance started out as one standalone romance. It took on a life of its own and the characters just wouldn’t do what I wanted them to. Writing this way makes for tons of clean up once I say, The End. I go back and add the “meat” and the more descriptive elements.

Q: Tell us all about your latest or upcoming release. What inspired it?

Quinn’s Need will be my next release, coming to DSP November 7^th. It’s the second book in the Whispering Pines Ranch Series. This story is a continuation of Lorcan and Quinn’s journey. Both characters make a ton of mistakes when they meet and this book is about them both coming to terms with their shortcomings and how they deal with the choices, they have made. I also Have LEON coming out in December, Masters & Boyd in January and Ty’s Obsession (#3 in the Whispering Pines Ranch Series) in February, all from Dreamspinner Press.

Q: If you had super powers, what would they be? Why?

To fly!!  I’d like to think that if I had the ability to fly I wouldn’t be so freaked out about heights. I hate flying and I hate heights, but I think it’s because I feel out of control when in those situations and that pisses me off. Oh yeah I so want to master flying. How 'bout the power to kill a yak from 200 yards away...with mind bullets! That's telekinesis, Kyle. Oh wait that’s a Tenacious D song. However, it would still be cool though I probably wouldn’t attack a yak!  


Q: What genre haven’t you tried yet but want to in the future?

I haven’t tried historical romance, which I think is funny since I have a degree in History. My proofreader has been bugging me to write a brutally accurate Vikings tale.  I plan to attempt it sometime in the future. I also have a fascination with true crime and I have started a story about a serial killer. 

Q: What is one thing readers might be surprised to know about you?

Most of my characters are smooth chested, alpha males and yet, big bears are what trip my switch!

Q: If we asked your muse to describe you in three words, what do you think they might say?

 Stubborn, tenacious and insane!

Q: What authors can be found in your library of books (print, audio or e-books)?

Pulling up my Kindle the first ten on the list is: TJ Klune, Scotty Cade, Cardeno C., Chris Owen, Sean Kennedy, Damon Suede, Heidi Cullinan, Marie Sexton, CB Conwy and Rowan Speedwell

Q: Have any guilty pleasures you want to share with us?

I rarely feel guilty about the things I do. I’m a firm believer in it’s the things we don’t do or try that we later regret.  I’ll try anything once, if I like it I’ll do it a lot without an ounce of guilt!

Q: Is there anything you’re currently working on that you can give us a taste of?

Currently I’m working on an Army Ranger short story called “Battle Buddy”.  Here is the first paragraph but remember it hasn’t gone to my proofreader or been edited so now you’ll get to see how more my writing is.

Harmony Church sounds like a sweet description for a choir singing together and in tune on any given Sunday morning.  Well, I’m Shane Tucker and I’m here to tell you, Camp Rogers in the Harmony Church area of Fort Benning, Georgia is anything but sweet; in fact, it started the first phase of my decent into hell. 

I had gotten this bright idea that joining the army at nineteen, was a great alternative to mucking cow shit and mending fences. I’d been ready too, or so I thought.  I memorized the seven Army Core Values, good thing too because I slept, ate, and um…ate some more about the damn core values, all within the first two weeks. I’d also prepared my body, best I could. I’ve always been a big guy, six foot, two inches by the time I was seventeen and growing up on a farm, insured my muscles are well defined.  A few months before I shipped out, I had started running every day, push-ups, sit-ups, the whole routine, thought I was looking pretty damn good and in the best shape of my life. However, don’t let anyone bullshit you about being ready for Army basic training, it can’t be done.  No one can truly prepare for the kind of fucked up training the army puts a person through. The running, push-ups, sit-ups, and even chin-ups are a breeze compared to the mental shit they throw at you. You’ll find out your either mentally strong enough to make it through or you won’t.

Q: When creating your characters, do you have models in mind or are they totally fictional?

I come up with my characters completely in my mind first. I then go on a search for models that look like my characters. Here are some I have for the Whispering Pines Series:

Q: Are you in control of your characters or do they control you?

They completely control me; the only thing I’m in control of is their names. I love unusual names and always go through sites to find out the meanings.  Lorcan for instance means: "silent" or "fierce" and was probably used as a nickname for a "brave warrior

Q: If you came with a warning label, what would it say?

I’d have two.  One would be, Warning: Do NOT deny me coffee or I will go psycho on you.  The other would be, Warning: Do NOT get me drunk, I have lost my recipe for humble pie.

Q: Please tell us where we can find you on the web.

I’m on Facebook, Goodreads and I have a blog @ http://sjdpeterson.blogspot.com/

Thanks for popping by and I wish you continued success in your writing career.

Thank you for having me!  I had a blast with your questions!

~*~ WARNING~*~  Spoiler Alert for Lorcan’s Desire

Quinn’s Need Book #2 Whispering Pines Ranch Series

Blurb:

Sequel to Lorcan’s Desire
It’s been a year since Lorcan James left Whispering Pines Ranch, and Quinn Taylor has barely recovered.  Only two things keep him from falling into the abyss of despair: his work at the ranch and his escape into the world of BDSM at a club called Push. At Push, the sound of men begging him helps drown out the bitter memory of his own voice begging Lorcan to stay.

When Lorcan comes back to Pegasus, the same blistering heat simmers between them, but almost nothing has changed.  Lorcan is still with Jess, the man he left the ranch with, and Quinn has captured the attention of Ty Callahan, a man who will beg Quinn for anything, anytime, and any way Quinn wants it. Despite how much he wants Lorcan, Quinn swears he’ll never beg a man again. If there’s one thing Quinn has learned the hard way, it’s that not even begging can fill love’s aching need.

Excerpt:

Brows furrowed, lips tightened in disgust, and the all-too-familiar scowl, always the same, always constant. The man looking back at Quinn in the mirror was barely recognizable. Nevertheless, the scowl never changed. It was constant. Familiar. The only thing that had been immutable the last year, the one attribute that never changed.

At six three, he had always been a big man with a thick bulk of muscle; now he was bordering on obscenely large. The long hours he put in on the ranch made not only his savings account swell but also his body. He was successful, handsome, and his reputation at The Push ensured that he never wanted for company.

 So why in the hell can’t I get rid of the fucking scowl on my face?

Quinn had spent the first three months after Lorcan left feeling sorry for himself. He either drank himself into a stupor or lay in bed staring at the walls while life went on around him. He’d felt nothing, empty inside, like a huge part of him had been ripped out and left him a shell of a man. White noise and static would buzz in his head, and he knew if he tried, he would be able to make out what was said within the buzz. He never tried. He knew what the static would whisper if he allowed it to form words. Feeling nothing, hearing nothing, was a hell of a lot better than the sheer agony that had taken him to his knees and forced him to hide away after he had heard Lorcan’s voice for the last time.

The insurance check from the fire had been large, covering all the damage done to his barn. Old man Henderson had gotten his wish and was never held accountable for all the things he’d done to Quinn. He died peacefully in his sleep soon after his attorney entered a plea of not guilty on his behalf. Henderson’s son, who’d been estranged from his father most of his adult life for being gay, had settled out of court quickly. It explained a lot of why the old man had had it in for Quinn for so many years. It left him without anything to worry about, financially, anyway.

In the beginning, it had seemed like a blessing. He didn’t have to force himself out of bed each morning; he had no worries when it came to his ranch. He hired enough hands and put his trust in his foreman, Clint, that the work that needed to be done would be. Conner and John looked out for everything else, and he could spend his time wallowing in self-pity.

It was the stench of his wasting body, the constant hunger, the pain in his deteriorating muscles, and Conner’s tears that finally forced him to pull himself up out of the sludge and foul depths of despair.

 He’d come back from his three months of self-imposed isolation a changed man. Never again would he let anyone get close enough to hurt him. He would not beg. Never would he allow pain and misery to render him so incapable of living. He’d kept that promise.

So why in the hell couldn’t he take pride in it?

Coming Soon to Dreamspinner Press Link: http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/index.php?cPath=55_424