I would like to welcome author Jocie McKade to the blog today for #WriterWednesday!

Hardest thing about being a writer: Sitting down and making the time to write. If you work another job, have a family, etc., then making the time to write the words can be difficult.

Easiest thing about being a writer: My head is full of unwritten stories. You know the old saying, ‘voices in my head’? I’m where that came from.

Things you always put in your books: I like to pay tribute to United States Veterans, and they appear in nearly all of my books. Many are main characters, others are secondary, but I always try to give them voice, I and hope I do them proud.

Things you never put in your books: Anything that has to do with hurting a child. The world has never done enough to protect its children, and I mean that in a global sense. You’ll never see a kid harmed in any of my books.

Favorite places you’ve been: The Grand Tetons, Wyoming. Spectacular! I visit as often as I can, and I have never been disappointed. Well, that’s a lie. We were there during a forest fire and I couldn’t seen the tops of the mountains because of the smoke. I cried all the way home.

Places you never want to go to again: New York City. Please, I’m not insulting the people or even the city. It’s just I’m a country girl and let me tell you, that place is like a cattle herd on crack. It’s just far too busy for me.

The nicest thing a reader said to you: My husband was dealing with cancer, and in the chemo infusion room, the same people tend to be there at the same time. They discovered via my husband’s bragging that I was a writer working on a romcom series (The Three Baers). It’s very humorous, and a few people asked me to read it aloud as I was working on it in the room. After……I had patients and nurses thank me for making a hellish day better by making them laugh. Writing doesn’t get any better.

The craziest thing a reader said to you:

Craziest or worst? LOL because I’ve had both. Craziest: I hate your book cover and I’m giving you a one-star review.

Worst? It wasn’t really their fault, but I was at one of my first book signings. The woman glanced at the table, raised an eyebrow and ask me where the ladies room was. Authors sometimes get very good at store directions.

Things to say to an author:

I loved your book! Thank you for the escape from reality for a few hours. I cried. I laughed. I want more books in the series. That character was perfect.

Things to say to an author if you want to be fictionally killed off in their next book:

I could have written it better. Anyone can write a book. You should consider another genre, this one (insert any genre) is over-saturated. And my favorite, especially when directed toward romance authors: ‘Did you practice all the sex in the book to be able to write it?”

Words that describe you:

Kind, open-minded, caring, family-loving, warped sense of humor, and never forgets the details of a vacation.

Words that describe you, but you wish they didn’t:

Warped sense of humor, procrastinator, self-confidence needs boosting, can’t stick to a diet, takes criticism to heart.

The funniest thing to happen to you:

With my warped sense of humor, there’s a book I could write in this category. Many years ago, we’d gotten a new car, and only had it a matter of days. My husband was picking me up after work. I march outside, it’s pouring rain, jump in the driver’s side of what I thought was our car, started complaint that he could have pulled up to the front door so I didn’t have to walk through the rain.

“I’m sorry.” I paid no attention that it wasn’t my husband’s voice.

“Turn that radio off.” It was blaring. “We have to stop at the grocery.” I’m tossing an umbrella and a briefcase into the back seat. “Your mothers coming for dinner, and I need some damn wine.”

The car didn’t move.

“Come on, get the lead out.” I ordered, turning to see a man I’d never met sitting in the driver’s seat. Then I looked across the parking lot at the front of the building where my husband was sitting at the door waiting in an identical car. “Oh, damn.” I whispered.

The man burst into laughter.

“I’ll drive you over there. No sense in making you walk in the rain.” He was still laughing. I was apologizing profusely.

Then I just had to explain to my husband why I was in another man’s car.

The most embarrassing thing to happen to you:

I was just out of high school and was working through the summer for a temp agency. They’d sent me to this huge company (Fortune 500 huge) to do some filing and clerical jobs. My very first day there, I had to report to the CEO’s office. His administrative assistant was on vacation. My job was just to file some things, type a few things and make his lunch reservation. He greeted me, showed me to my desk, and as I sat in the chair, that sucker flipped backwards, throwing me, my brand new suit skirt, and dignity into the air.

Some real-life story that made it to one of your books:

In Baer Truth, the first book in my romcom series The Three Baers, there is a tractor scene. Now, I’m a farm gal and have driven tractors since I was a kid. When my kids were small, I even mowed ditch lines for the township. One day, myself and the farmer I mowed with were paid to mow a huge field where cars would be parking the upcoming weekend for an event.

The field was knee-high in weeds, and I had a bush hog on the back of the tractor going fairly slow to not kill the engine.

Up out of that high grass jumps a snake! Now, I have no idea what kind of snake only that it’s huge. (Probably much bigger in my imagination than it really was) I scream, pull my legs to the center of the tractor, you know, so it can’t get me, and my mowing partner heard me scream. Yup, I was that loud. He’s an old farmer laughs, and says, “just run over it.”

No, and hell no.

At this point, I’d forgotten every single thing I ever knew about driving a tractor because I was watching that snake. The farmer came over and tried to run over it. That snake jumped again, picked its head up and hissed. Nope, I couldn’t hear over the tractor, but I know it did. He had to swing and make another round to try and mow over it.

As I’m watching him try to save me from this snake, the tractor is still running, still in drive and slams smack into a ditch. I’m thrown off of it right into the nastiest, muddiest, slimiest road-run-off ditch you’ve ever seen. Thank goodness for ‘kill-switches’. This ended up in the book. Modified slightly for the character.

Something in your story that readers think is about you, but it’s not: They think I’m sneaky, stealthy, and probably would be a good private detective, since I write about a lot of them. I hate to disappoint them, but when I try to sneak, I sound like a pack of elephants, hyenas, and a murder of crows started throwing a rave.

Favorite things to do: My number one thing is spending time with family. I never realized how hard that was until they had adult schedules. I love, love, love to travel. We have always RV’d, and you never have to ask me twice if I want to travel.

I love gardening. I live on a small farm affectionately known as Dust Bunny Farm, for obvious reasons! My nearly 1/4 acre garden has shrunk through the years, and last summer we built a greenhouse, but there is nothing like a ripe tomato warmed by the sun and eating it in the garden.

Things you’d run through a fire or eat bugs to get out of doing: I HATE cell phone shopping. Seriously. I will put off shopping for a cell phone and a new plan until the duct tape holding my current phone together comes loose. I keep no very little personal and no financial information on my phone.

I think this comes from research for my latest book release Let Sleeping Dogs Lie, A Hope and Pip Cozy Cyber Mystery. The book has a robotic dog and an unknown AI that may or may not be helping Hope, the main character. After hours of research on scams, viruses, hacking, etc., it’s made me even more paranoid about electronics.

Yes, I can order online…..but I like to see the phone, feel the heft, see if it will fit in that one compartment in my purse. This requires me to go into a store. Blech!!!

Favorite books (or genre): I’ll read pretty much anything you put in front of me. I do love thrillers and mysteries, but hey, a good romance is awesome too!

Brad Thor, Vince Flynn, Jack Carr, Janet Evanovich, Lisa Scottoline, y’all, it’s a long list!!!

Books you wouldn’t buy: Horror. I’m a coward and easily scared. It’s a great genre, but I don’t read it because I then have to leave all the lights on in the house and it gets expense!

About Jocie:

Jocie is the author of over twenty books. Her fiction writing has received several awards for mystery and romcom books. Her non-fiction work has appeared in dozens of magazines, online blogs, and she served as the Senior News Editor of Reader’s Entertainment News.

Writing humorous cozy mysteries, and romantic comedy, Jocie can find humor in almost every inappropriate thing. She lives in the Midwest on Dust Bunny Farm with her family, and the world’s calmest Border Collie.

When not writing, she grows ArnoldSwartzaWeeds in her garden, and plots strategic military maneuvers against hostile dust bunnies.

Let’s Be Social:

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Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7348715.Jocie_McKade

Amazon: https://tinyurl.com/mtn7bdf6