Through His Heart by Deborah Camp Interview & Giveaway

 BLURB:

“Sending you an SOS.”

When psychic Trudy Tucker hears this plaintive cry in her mind and then connects psychically with a little girl’s kidnapper, she is drawn to a small town in Missouri where everyone is suspect – including herself and her lover, celebrated psychic detective Levi Wolfe. As she and Levi work together to sort through whom and what to trust, an innocent life hangs in the balance.

INTERVIEW:

1) What is your favorite quote and why?

My favorite quote is, “Don’t wait for your ship to come in. Swim for it.”

I love this because I have a tendency to sit back and tell myself, If I’m good enough or what I do is good enough, someone will notice and give me my just desserts.

I have found this not to be true. Any time I sat back and waited for good things to happen to me – nothing happened! I’ve always had to make an effort, beat my own drum, and wave my arms frantically in the air to get someone to notice me! So, I like that saying because I need to swim as fast as I can. Otherwise, the ship will sail right past me or – worse – right over me!

2) Who is your favorite author and why?

My favorite author is Mary Stewart. When I was in eighth grade, I read “The Moonspinners” and I loved it – mainly because a movie was made from it starring Haley Mills and I loved her. However, I read all of Mary Stewart’s books after that. Reading her books made me begin to think that, just maybe, I could be a novelist, too. I began to write my own romantic stories, inspired by her books. I’ll always love her and “The Moonspinners” for pointing me in the direction of being a real writer and not simply a dreamer.

3) What, in your opinion, are the most important elements of good writing?

Showing, not telling is the Golden Rule. A writer should put you in the skin of the main character in each scene and keep you there! You should not know, sense, feel, smell, taste, see, or think anything that the main character can’t. And you should not be “told” things about the character. The writer should show or reveal things about characters through them. I hate it when the author steps into the story and tells you stuff about the characters! I want to yell – “get out of the story—you don’t belong in here!” I also think there should be a sufficient conflict. I get angry when I read books that have conflicts that could be ironed out if the main characters would simply talk to each other – ask questions and get answers. Those “misinterpreted remarks” should only last a chapter or two – not for a whole book! It makes the hero and heroine look stupid.

4) Where did you get the idea for this book?

I’ve had the idea for this series for around a decade, but never could interest any editor or agent in it. After reading “Fifty Shades of Grey,” I was inspired to just write it and put it on Amazon to let readers decide if it was worth reading or not. Personally, I thought the editors and even my agent were being short-sighted. Some of them were put off by the psychic element. Others were worried that it was too graphically sexy for a romantic suspense. It didn’t fit in a “box” or “category” and they just wanted me to stick with what I was already doing – contemporary romances and historical romances set in the American West.

When I read “Fifty Shades of Grey,” I decided to quit worrying about making my story “fit” some pre-conceived category and just write it. Let the readers decide what box they want to put it in!

EXCERPT:

Levi shifted his shoulders as if a weight had settled on them and his black brows knitted. His thick, sooty lashes tapped his cheeks as he squirmed a little. After taking a lung-filling breath, he let it escape in a long hiss. Trudy wondered what he was experiencing, what was going on in that brilliant mind of his. What did he see? Shadows moving in the distance? Souls stepping forward? A young girl emerging and answering his call? From the movement of his eyes behind his closed lids, she knew he was there . . . there among the spirits.

“Gregory,” he whispered.

His spirit guide! She sat forward, watching, waiting. He hadn’t connected with Gregory very much during the past few months. He’d told her that it bothered him, but that Gregory had reminded him that he only appeared when Levi needed guidance or centering. So, why had he appeared now? Was Levi having trouble? Had she been wrong to prod him into looking for Rachel over there?

“What’s going on?” Levi asked, his raspy voice carrying a sliver of doubt. “Who’s that? Is it . . . that’s not . . . no. No!” His eyes opened, wide and wild. He gasped for breath and emitted little grunts of panic with each exhale.

Trudy’s heart and spirits plummeted. “You saw her there? Rachel’s there?” A sob tore at her throat. How could she tell AmyLynn? Did the FBI know already?

“No . . . I . . .” Levi shot to his feet and scrubbed his face with his hands. “Fuck, fuck, fuck!”

“She’s there? Oh, my God, she’s dead. He killed her.” Trudy wrapped her arms around herself as she began to shake with the horrible knowledge. She’d failed. She’d been useless. Ineffective. A bad joke. The little girl . . . gone. Gone!

“I didn’t see Rachel.”

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Author of more than 40 novels, Deborah lives in Oklahoma. She has been a full-time writer since she graduated from the University of Tulsa. She worked for a few years as a reporter for newspapers before becoming a freelance writer. Deborah’s first novel was published in the late 1970s and her books have been published by Jove, New American Library, Harlequin, Silhouette, and Avon. She has been inducted into the Oklahoma Authors Hall of Fame and she is a charter member of the Romance Writers of America. She is widely published in non-fiction and writes and edits for a magazine focused on small businesses. Deborah taught fiction writing for more than 10 years at a community college. She is currently working on a series of novels featuring two psychics who work with police nationwide to identify and track serial murderers.

http://www.deborah-camp.com

http://wwww.facebook.com/officialdeborahcamp

http://www.pinterest.com/debbycamp44/

www.deborahcampwritersdesk.blogspot.com

www.twitter.com/authordebcamp

Book Video: https://youtu.be/7AFG88e98eM

http://www.amazon.com/Deborah-Camp/e/B001HOGDMW/

All of her novels are available on Amazon as ebooks

GIVEAWAY:

Deborah will award a $50 Amazon or BN GC to one randomly chosen winner via rafflecopter during the tour. 

The more you comment, the better your chances of winning. The tour dates can be found here: 

http://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2015/05/vbt-through-his-heart-by-deborah-camp.html

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