#ThisorThatThursday Author Interview with Sebastian de Castell

I’d like to welcome Sebastian de Castell to the blog for today’s #ThisorThatThursday!

Hardest thing about being a writer: Writing. It’s really the most difficult thing I’ve ever done, even after nineteen published novels.

Easiest thing about being a writer: Talking about writing. I can expound for hours on the craft techniques and artistic inspirations for writing. If only I could make those work on myself . . .

Things you need for your writing sessions: silence and solitude.

Things that hamper your writing: emails from my publishers wondering when the book is coming.

Favorite music or song: “Fall At Your Feet” by Crowded House

Music that drives you crazy: Speed Metal

Things you always put in your books: friendship and idealism
Things you never put in your books: extended exposition on magic systems

Things to say to an author: “My god, Mister de Castell, your latest book is your best yet!”
Things to say to an author if you want to be fictionally killed off in their next book: “Umm, haven’t read your latest book. Your first one was my favourite, actually.”

Favorite places you’ve been: Cairo, York, Montpelier, Marrakech
Places you never want to go to again: The colonoscopy procedure room at my local hospital.

Favorite books (or genre): heroic fantasy and hardboiled detective novels.
Books you wouldn’t buy: ghostwritten ‘autobiographies’ of billionaires.

Favorite things to do: Travel, perform on stage in bands, hang out with fellow writers.

Things you’d run through a fire or eat bugs to get out of doing: cooking and colonoscopies.

The funniest thing to happen to you: After an event in Prague, a young woman came to the stage asking if I would sign her copy of Spellslinger because, apparently, the VIP signing session where I was going to be signing books later was sold out. Like any good Canadian, I jumped down off the stage and signed the book for her and agreed to a selfie. Thirty seconds later, I was literally swarmed with twenty-year-old Czech women and my editor was desperately trying to haul me back onto the stage. This is the sort of experience that would probably be very exciting as a young man, but is distinctly uncomfortable when you’re fifty years old. Also, my wife wasn’t there to see me being mobbed by fans, so I couldn’t even gloat about it!

The most embarrassing thing to happen to you: Afterwards, in the green room, one of the handlers asked if I’d sign a book for a girl outside who was crying because she hadn’t been able to get hers signed. I said sure, of course, and offered to go back out into the hall just to sign for anyone who wanted. My Czech handlers went through a whole routine of getting security ready, and when we finally got out into the hall, pretty much everyone had forgotten about me. I literally experienced my fifteen minutes of fame and then it was gone. Never doubt that the universe has an excellent sense of humour.

The nicest thing a reader said to you: “Your series got me back into reading for pleasure for the first time in many years.”

The craziest thing a reader said to you: “Would you sign my [inappropriate body part]”

Some real-life story that made it to one of your books: Most of the murderous, thieving things Reichis the squirrel cat does in the Spellslinger books are based on my cat, Peloush, who is, amongst other things, a murderer and a thief.

Something in your story that readers think is about you, but it’s not: People often assume Falcio is based on me but I could never be that obsessively heroic.

 My favorite book as a child: The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis

A book I’ve read more than once: Jhereg by Steven Brust

About Sebastian:

Sebastien de Castell’s acclaimed swashbuckling fantasy series, The Greatcoats was shortlisted for both the Goodreads Choice Award for Best Fantasy and the Gemmell Morningstar Award. His YA fantasy series, Spellslinger, is published in more than a dozen languages. He spends his time writing, travelling, and going on strange adventures.

Let’s Be Social:

website: www.decastell.com

X: @decastell

Instagram: @sebastiendecastell

Facebook: Facebook.com/SebastienDeCastell

#WriterWednesday Author Interview with Marlie Wasserman

I’d like to welcome author Marlie Wasserman back to the blog for #WriterWednesday!

Hardest thing about being a writer: For me, the hardest part of being a writer is the way I work on multiple books at once, yet I need to focus on a single book in my daily marketing efforts. As I shout out to everyone about my new, fourth novel, I’m still fielding requests related to the third, writing the fourth, and thinking about the fifth. Admission: sometimes, as I prepare for an event centered around one of my books, I need to reread it myself because my brain is deeply into the next book. Few readers realize how our books overlap in our lives.

Easiest thing about being a writer: Presenting at a book club. I love talking about my book, anticipating questions about it, and formulating answers that are—I hope—just the right length for the audience. No one at a book club has insulted my writing so far. I like to think the quality of my book is the cause, but maybe it’s the cookies and wine.

Things you need for your writing sessions: Coffee, but not in any old mug. It must be in a favorite mug—just the right ten-ounce size, the right light weight, the right thin handle, the right picture of a scene from my travels on the front.

Things that hamper your writing: When I can’t find the word file I worked on the previous day. You’d think this would be easy after many years of writing, but no one has explained Microsoft’s OneCloud to me, and I use it at my peril.

Words that describe you: goal-oriented, obsessive

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

Something you’re really good at: I have fantastic visual memory. If I meet someone for an hour or two, months later I can spot them walking down a street and feel certain the person I see from afar is the person I met.

Something you’re really bad at: I have the world’s worst hand-eye coordination. I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve managed to hit a tennis ball.

Last best thing you ate: Ice cream, yesterday, and the day before that. Is there any better food?

Last thing you regret eating: Popcorn that stuck in my teeth and my throat. Not the first time—I should know better.

The last thing you ordered online: A book, of course—Alvarez’s The Cemetery of Untold Stories. Add it to your to-be-read pile!

The last thing you regret buying: Yet another hair straightener. Living in humid NC, I should learn to accept the frizz.

Things you always put in your books: Smells. I literally go through a round of revision, just to add smells because I always forget that sense in first drafts. Then of course, I can’t just cram in a smell—I must show how it affects a character. So that turns into more revision.

Things you never put in your books: Diary entries. I don’t mean to insult all the great writers out there who advance their plots through the use of diaries, but, really, do you know anyone who pours her heart into a diary then hides it—poorly—so a descendent or detective can find it later?!

Favorite things to do: Sketch people, but I struggle to convince them to sit still for five minutes.

Things you’d run through a fire or eat bugs to get out of doing: The weekly wash. My wonderful husband does 100% of our laundry. I don’t know how to turn on the machines. But before you try to steal him away from me, know that he can’t cook.

Most daring thing you’ve ever done: I walked over a swinging bridge, strung over a chasm in northern Ireland. That might not sound daring, but the others in my group bowed out the minute they saw it.
Something you chickened out from doing: Scuba diving

Besides writing, what’s the most creative thing you’ve done: I’ve sewn quilts by hand, creating my own designs.

A project that didn’t quite turn out the way you planned it: Oh, my—this list is long, starting with a sweater with arms that could have embraced an elephant.

My favorite book as a child: All right—I know it’s a cliché—but my favorite as a child was Little Women. I identified with a different sister every year of my adolescence.

A book I’ve read more than once: Hmmm, I’ve never read a book more than once. Life is too short and the world has too many great books. I still have hundreds of thousands to go!

 About Marlie:

Marlie Parker Wasserman writes historical crime fiction, after a career on the other side of the desk in scholarly publishing. She has written The Murderess Must Die (2021), Path of Peril (2023), Inferno on Fifth (2023), and the forthcoming First Daughter (2026). Her books are set between 1895 and 1927, years of rapid social and technological change. Marlie lives with her husband in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Strange fact: unlike most mystery writers, she is afraid of dogs and cats.

Let’s Be Social:

 Bookshop.org: https://bookshop.org/p/books/first-daughter-marlie-parker-wasserman/2b98d3281a55ae75?ean=9798898201548&next=t

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Marlie-Parker-Wasserman/author/B0B7KMSRVZ?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1&qid=1777817510&sr=8-1&shoppingPortalEnabled=true&ccs_id=3c8b35bc-73b1-41f9-961e-a86ee28edc01

Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/first-daughter-marlie-parker-wasserman/1149891550?ean=9798898201531

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marlie.wasserman

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marliepwasserman/?hl=en

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/marliewasserman.bsky.social

What Was Going on During the Writing of the Jules Keene Glamping Mysteries?

When I proposed the glamping mysteries to my agent, I wanted my amateur sleuth to have a job where she wasn’t tied to an office. By giving Jules her own business with a team of helpers, I was able to give her the opportunity to sneak out and poke around for clues. I am an 80s girl, who loves pop culture. Jules gets her name from Demi Moore’s character in St. Elmo’s Fire. Jake gets his name from Michael Schoeffling’s character in Sixteen Candles.

My aunt and uncle owned a traditional campground in the 1970s at Crabtree Falls in Virginia, and it was such a fun place. I based Jules’s campground on this one with the addition of posh trailers and tiny houses for the glamping experience.

The mystery in the first book, Vintage Trailers and Blackmailers, came to me at an IT data and security conference in Orlando, Florida in 2012. I went to a session on Bluetooth technologies and learned how easy it was for bad actors to hijack all kinds of smart devices, including medical ones. And hence, I now had the crime and a motive for some really bad deeds. I love technology, but sometimes, it makes me want to hide under the bed.

I was writing the third book in the series during Covid, and we were streaming so many things on Netflix and other services. I was definitely watching The Tiger King during this time, and the name for book three, Christmas Lights and Catfights, was born. Plus, wouldn’t it just make you scratch your head to figure out why a big cat tamer would register for the town’s Christmas parade?

And at the time I was writing Teddy Bears and Ghostly Lairs, my Chessie Sisters in Crime chapter had a presentation with a group of paranormal explorers, and they provided some ideas for a ghost search. I am also fascinated with an abandoned hotel/motel site on Afton Mountain near Charlottesville. The crumbling site sits high above the mountain top that you can see from I-64. That made the perfect location for a paranormal exploration that I turned deadly, when Jules and the gang encountered a dead body instead of something other worldly.

All of the Jules Keene Glamping Mysteries are available at your favorite bookstore.

#ThisorThatThursday Author Interview with Lisa de Nikolits

I’d like to welcome Lisa de Nikolits to the blog for #ThisorThatThursday.

Hardest thing about being a writer: The constant worry that I’m not marketing and promoting my books in the best possible way. Social media can feel like a black hole, and I always feel like I’m not doing enough – or doing it correctly.

Easiest thing about being a writer: How much fun I have getting lost inside writing a book!

Things you need for your writing sessions: I need to start off neat and tidy, with my pens lined up just so and my desk in order.

Things that hamper your writing: social media. It’s very easy to think the grass is greener, that other authors are doing much better than I am. I have to push that self-doubt down, get on with my writing and ignore my inner critical voice.

Words that describe you: Determined, productive, prolific, creative, original, disciplined.

Words that describe you, but you wish they didn’t: Perfectionistic, obsessive, outcome orientated.

Something you’re really good at: binge writing. That’s when I have the most fun and am the most productive.

Something you’re really bad at: taking breaks from my desk. If things are going well, I’ll work around the clock, until the early hours, like 2 a.m., sleep for a few hours and then get back at it.

Last best thing you ate: Chocolate! Without fail, chocolate is my favourite thing in the world. That said, I do love cake too. Vanilla sponge cake with lemon filling and buttercream icing.

Last thing you regret eating: Onions. I love them, but I hate onion breath!

Favorite music or song: It’s very hard to just choose one song! I’ll go with the best of the 80’s.

Music that drives you crazy: I just can’t love hip-hop or rap even though I’ve tried.

My favorite book as a child: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith. That book inspired me to become a writer.

A book I’ve read more than once: There are so many great books in the world that I don’t usually reread a book. I do reread poetry, T.S. Eliot, for example.

Your favorite movie as a child: The Man from Snowy River, 1982. I guess I wasn’t really a child in 1982 (I was 16) and I was a very romantic teenager, and I loved horses.

A TV show or movie that kept you awake at night as a kid (or as an adult): Foul Play, 1978, starring Goldie Hawn and Chevy Chase. I know—who gets terrified by a comedy? The albino terrified me. His face appears in a window at night and for years (even now), I can’t bear to have uncurtained windows at night for fear of “the face in the window.”

The last thing you ordered online: A sofa cover from Shein. It really refreshed the room, and it didn’t break the bank.

The last thing you regret buying: A fancy dragon ear cuff off Instagram. It didn’t fit and was really poor quality.

Favorite places you’ve been: Tasmania, Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Shetland, Edinburgh, Long Beach, New York, Nice, Barcelona, Budapest, Namibia, Peru, Vail, Australia, Rome and Milan and all across Canada on a bus (which became West of Wawa). And South Africa of course, my home country.

Places you never want to go to again: I got lost in Cusco, Peru, and it was awful. It was completely my fault. I went on a group tour and the minute we arrived at our hotel; I ran out into the street to explore. And I got horribly lost. The sun was setting, I was jet-lagged, I couldn’t remember the name of the hotel or what street it was on. And some of the streets I wandered down weren’t exactly safe. Thankfully, I found a travel agent, and they helped me back to my hotel. Now the first thing I do is grab a map from the hotel, a business card of the hotel and the name of the hotel manager.

Most daring thing you’ve ever done: take the (very precarious) chair lift up to Great Wall of China and climbing down the Stairs of Death on Huayna Picchu mountain in Peru.

Something you chickened out from doing: So far, I’ve done everything I’ve set out to do even if my heart was going to explode from the fear.

The nicest thing a reader said to you: “I loved your book and read it in one go!”

The craziest thing a reader said to you: “You based that book on me, right?” I actually get that quite a lot.

Besides writing, what’s the most creative thing you’ve done: I was a fashion magazine art director for 30 years. I art directed Vogue Australia, Cosmopolitan, marie claire, and many magazines in Canada. The glory days of magazines were very “Devil Wears Prada” and I wouldn’t change a thing

A project that didn’t quite turn out the way you planned it: There have been many! I start off plotting my books carefully but, like the Fleetwood Mac song, they like to go their own way!

About Lisa:

Originally from South Africa, Lisa de Nikolits has lived in Canada since 2000. With a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature and Philosophy, she is the award-winning author of twelve published novels with her 13th, That Time I Killed You, forthcoming with Level Best Books in 2026. Her work has garnered five-star reviews and a strong international fanbase. Her short fiction and poetry have been published in various international anthologies and journals including the Crime Writers of Canada’s 40th Anniversary anthology (2022). No Fury Like That was published in Italian in 2019 by Edizione Le Assassine under the title Una furia dell’altro mondo. She delights in crafting suspenseful stories with memorable characters and twists that cozy mystery fans can’t resist.

Let’s Be Social:

Author website:

https://lisawriter.com

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/lisa.denikolits

X/Twitter:

https://x.com/lisadenikolits

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/ireadsomewherethatbylisa/

Amazon.ca
https://tinyurl.com/5bckbbpp

Inanna Publications:
https://inanna.ca/product/mad-dog-and-the-sea-dragon/

Substack:

https://lisadenikolits.substack.com/

Goodreads:

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3217413.Lisa_de_Nikolits#

Amazon.com

https://www.amazon.com/stores/Lisa-De-Nikolits/author/B004JLC3QK

About the Book:

That Time I Killed You

She thought she’d buried the past forever. Now it’s knocking at her door.

Janis Wheeler has the life she always wanted: a loving husband, two children, and a peaceful home in an idyllic beachside town. With the summer holidays about to begin, everything finally feels under control—until a police car pulls up outside her house.

Sixteen years earlier, Janis killed her lover to escape a past that nearly destroyed her. She believed the truth had died with him.

It hasn’t.

As old secrets resurface, Sandpiper Crescent begins to unravel. Neighbours aren’t what they seem, loyalties fracture, and disturbing truths emerge about the people Janis trusts most. To protect her family, she must confront the life she thought she’d left behind—and consider how far she’s willing to go to keep everything she loves.

Darkly funny, fast-paced and sharply observed, That Time I Killed You is a compulsively readable domestic thriller about secrets, survival, and the dangerous cost of a perfect life.

#WriterWednesday Interview with Humphrey Hawksley

I’d like to welcome Humphrey Hawksley to the blog for #WriterWednesday.

Hardest thing about being a writer: Writing well
Easiest thing about being a writer: Writing badly

Something you’re really good at: Listening
Something you’re really bad at: Golf

Favorite music or song: Elgar Enigma Variations

Music that drives you crazy: “I Will Always Love You”

Favorite smell: Hyacinth on a spring morning
Something that makes you hold your nose: Rotting fish

Things you’d walk a mile for:   A Sichuan meal with my wife

Things that make you want to run screaming from the room: Circular conversations led by people with too much time.  

Favorite places you’ve been: Alaska, Bhutan, Kashmir, Vietnam, Iraq. 
Places you never want to go to again: Chittagong, Mandalay, Monrovia

Favorite books (or genre): The Drifters, James Michener; The Honourable Schoolboy, John Le Carre; Killing Floor, Lee Child; Dead Line, Marc Cameron. War and Peace Leo Tolstoy;
Books you wouldn’t buy:  Expensive, arty, coffee table hardbacks.

People you’d like to invite to dinner:  Confucius; Lee Kuan Yew; Charlie Chaplin; Yoko Ono; Harper Lee; George Orwell; Cleopatra; Mahatma Gandhi; Leonardo da Vinci; Jacinda Ardern; Joan Baez; Meryl Streep. 
People you’d cancel dinner on: Donald Trump, Kier Starmer; Joe Biden; Benjamin Netanyahu; Liz Truss; Rishi Sunak; Boris Johnson.

Best thing you’ve ever done: Left school at seventeen to go to sea
Biggest mistake: To soon to tell

The coolest person you’ve ever met: My son

The celebrity who didn’t look like he/she did in pictures/video: Hugh Grant

The nicest thing a reader said to you: You are the best thriller writer we have 

The craziest thing a reader said to you:  Will you marry me?

Besides writing, what’s the most creative thing you’ve done:  Turning a news story about child slavery in West Africa into a global campaign against human rights abuse in our supply chains. 

A project that didn’t quite turn out the way you planned it:  As above. Slavery is worse now.  

 About Humphrey:

Humphrey Hawksley is a journalist and best-selling author whose BBC assignments have taken him to crises all over the world. His current Rake Ozenna international thrillers are set in the Arctic and High North. His earlier Third World War series focused on the Indo-Pacific. Humphrey is a regular guest speaker at universities and think tanks such as the RAND Corporation, the Center for Strategic and International Studies and MENSA Cambridge. He hosts to the twice-monthly Democracy Forum Debates and the monthly Care Visions Professional Talk.  

Let’s Be Social:

X: @hwhawksley;  @Humphreyhawk

Facebook: Humphrey Hawksley;  Humphrey Hawksley Books

Instagram: Humphrey Hawksley

LinkedIn: Humphrey Hawksley

Blue Sky: @humphreyhawksley.bsky.social

Truth Social: @hwhawksley

#WriterWednesday Author Interview with Randi-Lee Bowslaugh

I’d like to welcome Randi-Lee Bowslaugh to the blog for #WriterWednesday!

Hardest thing about being a writer: Promoting the book.

Easiest thing about being a writer:  Being creative and getting the idea written.

Things you need for your writing sessions: Noise-cancelling headphones and a great playlist.

Things that hamper your writing: Mess around me. 

Words that describe you: Creative, eccentric, smart, honest

Words that describe you, but you wish they didn’t: Annoying, perfectionist, silly, blunt

Last best thing you ate: Gluten-free Skor butter tart from Bomb Bish

Last thing you regret eating: Chicken and frozen diced cauliflower that I made and really overspiced 

Favorite music or song: Punk Rock and Country

Music that drives you crazy: Most pop songs

The last thing you ordered online: Invisible fence dog collar (to keep my pup out of my garden). 

The last thing you regret buying: Slime for my kid - it stuck to the ceiling, and the purple spot is still there.

Things to say to an author: Keep going, write true to who you are, and you will find your audience.

Things to say to an author if you want to be fictionally killed off in their next book: Your books are boring cliches.

Favorite places you’ve been: Cuba, Parc Omega, Ireland, Salem

Places you never want to go to again: The hospital.

Most daring thing you’ve ever done: High ropes course by Niagara Falls with a 40-foot drop at the end.

Something you chickened out from doing: Skydiving when my dad asked me to go with him. 

The first 8-track, record, cassette, or CD you ever bought: Garth Brooks’ first album on cassette.

A type of music that’s not your cup of tea: Screamo (but my child loves it).

My favorite book as a child: The Monster at the End of the Book - featuring Grover by Jon Stone

A book I’ve read more than once:  Acheron by Sherilyn McQueen

Your favorite movie as a child: The Labyrinth (and it still is)

A TV show or movie that kept you awake at night as a kid (or as an adult): “The People Under the Stairs”

About Randi-Lee:

Randi-Lee is an outspoken advocate for mental health, a YouTube host of the Write or Die Show and a public speaker. She is the mother of two grown children, a grandmother, and a wife. She has dealt with depression for more than half her life, and was diagnosed late in life with Autism and CPTSD. She wants others to have the tools they need to keep going.
Randi-Lee graduated from Niagara College for Community and Justice Services and completed a placement at a Drug and Alcohol Recovery House. She worked in social services for six years before becoming an author and focusing on speaking out.

She has represented Team Canada twice in kickboxing, earning a silver medal in 2016. She took a year's break after having cancer. She returned as a kickboxing coach, personal trainer and yoga instructor until chronic pain made it difficult. She continues to fight to regain her life.

Her motto is never to let “too tired keep her down” and wants others to know they are not alone.

 Let’s Be Social:

https://www.facebook.com/rbwriting/
https://www.instagram.com/randileebowslaugh/
https://www.tiktok.com/@randileebowslaugh
https://substack.com/@randileebowslaugh
https://www.rbwriting.ca
https://www.youtube.com/@randileebowslaugh
https://rumble.com/user/randileebowslaugh
https://www.amazon.ca/stores/Randi-Lee-Bowslaugh/author/B08QJTS9T9?ref=ap_rdr&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

What's the Attraction to Mysteries?

I read lots of different genres, but I always seem to focus on mysteries and thrillers. I am a product of 70s cartoons, and I fell in love with Scooby-Doo, Josie and the Pussycats, The Funky Phantom, and so many other shows where the characters solved some kind of crime or puzzle. I wanted to be like the sleuths (and Bat Girl), so when I found the mystery section in the library, I was instantly sold on Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, Alfred Hitchcock’s the Three Investigator, and the Two-minute Mysteries. These became gateways to Agatha Christie, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, P. D. James, and so many fabulous reads.

Here’s why I’m attracted to mysteries:

• There is a puzzle or a crime, and the reader can parse through the clues and work out his/her solution as the story progresses.

• It’s a fun escape from whatever is going on in the real world, and it’s a great way to relax or wind down at the end of the day.

• Mysteries are entertaining. I love visiting new places and experiencing new things through books.

• I enjoy reading series because the characters become old friends.

• And I know by the end, the crime will be solved and justice served.

Why do you read mysteries?

#ThisorThatThursday Author Interview with Beth Mims

I’d like to welcome Beth Mims to the blog for #ThisorThatThursday!

Hardest part of being a writer: Marketing and social media. This is so out of my comfort zone.

The easiest thing about being a writer: Writing when the ideas are flowing and the whole house is quiet.

Things I need for writing and things that hamper – What I need to write depends on where I am. If I’m in the car or outside, I will settle for a pencil and notepad. I have used a napkin, and sometimes I use the notes app on my phone when I am desperate. These days, though, I prefer to be at my computer. The words flow more quickly than I can write them by hand.

Interruptions hamper. Distractions hamper, and I can make a distraction out of anything, say a pile of laundry or a pillow out of place. I’m really good at distracting myself. I can also interrupt myself if no one happens to be around to do it for me.

Words that describe me: Words that describe me, but I wish they didn’t. Unfortunately, I’m a perfectionist, and I wish I wasn’t. That is a terrible burden to bear (for everyone).

Favorite Places You’ve Been/Places You Never Want to Go Again Maine, I wish I could live there for a year. Our trip was much too short. But I would also like to revisit British Columbia. There are so many beautiful places in this world.

Disneyworld. I prefer nature over the make believe. We took the children when they were small, and I guess I could go back, but it’s at the very bottom of my list.

Favorite books or genre/Books you wouldn’t buy Bible; Historical fiction; Books with great characters, a little suspense, and a satisfying ending – that covers a lot of territory. I want to feel good when I finish reading a book. There is enough in the world to feel bad about.

I don’t buy horror books or those filled with graphic violence, vulgarity, and misdeeds. Again, there’s enough of that in real life.

Favorite things to do/things you’d run through a fire… I always enjoy spending time with my family. I love a good book or a day fishing with my husband. Days at the coast are always a joy, and I love to just ride and look, especially when the seasons are changing. I piddle around with my plants, and I also wander around taking photographs whenever I get the chance. I love close ups that magnify the little miracles God has created.

If you’re watching sports on television, I’ll choose to read my book or go for a walk, although I do enjoy watching a live baseball game.

The first 8-track, yes I’m old enough to have bought an 8-track, was of a gospel group called the Inspirations. They are still around, although I don’t think it’s the original group.

 I don’t enjoy music that is screechingly (my word) loud or vulgar.

My favorite book as a child is a hard question. There were too many. I loved Island of the Blue Dolphins. I loved The Lion’s Paw. I wasn’t much older when I fell in love with Christy, by Catherine Marshall. I think that book was part of the reason I became a teacher.

My favorite movie had to be The Sound of Music followed closely by Mary Poppins. To this day, I remain a loyal Julie Andrews fan. The best complement I ever received was the day a second-grade student in my class said after listening to a song from Mary Poppins, “Mrs. Mims, she sings just like you.” He was biased, but I have always loved that child.

I could always tell by the opening music of a movie or television show if I would be able to watch the show. The one show that I could never watch was “The Twilight Zone.” I did one time, and it took me several years to forget the black widow spider that crawled slowly down a string of web to fatally bite the poor woman tied in the chair. Maybe I still haven’t forgotten it. At least it doesn’t keep me awake still.

Something you’re really good at/bad at I am a great organizer. I enjoy putting things in their places and keeping things in their places, sometimes to the dismay of other people.

I’m really, unfortunately, bad at building/putting things together. Ask my family. If something arrives in pieces, I call for support. I can do it, but it takes me forever, and I usually have to redo it several times to get it right. And then there are the pieces that are left over.

About Beth:

Beth Mims is a career educator with over four decades of experience. She holds degrees in Elementary, Early Childhood Education and Educational Leadership. A native of the Florida Panhandle, she has lived in multiple states across the southeast, but she always seems to land back in the fertile soil close to the salt marshes of the gulf. 

While Beth often refers to herself as a haphazard gardener, her writing reflects her love of the outdoors, the soil, and her family. She and her husband of forty-six years have two beautiful daughters and five brilliant grandchildren. Whether fishing, cutting trees, or traveling, they stay close. Faith is the anchor that holds their busy, challenging life together.

A lover of words, Beth weaves her words to tell of The Word. Her greatest joy is writing and speaking of the grace of Jesus Christ. Beth is an active member of Word Weavers, International and has previously published poems in “A Time of Singing Poetry Journal”, “Cantos, A Literary and Arts Journal”, and devotions in ChristianDevotions.us. Wrapped in Grace, her first book, was released in February 2026.

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You can contact her at www.bethmims.com.