Meet Author Emelle Gamble

Ever wanted to write about a Hollywood legend? Most writers might have considered this idea but couldn't figure out where to begin. I know that's how I'd feel, anyway. In DATING CARY GRANT, author Emelle Gamble wove the ghost of Cary Grant into her novel. Let's ask her some questions, shall we?

Q. Welcome, Emelle. Tell us about your new release.

It  stars a career woman in Manhattan, her small-town husband and the ghost of a hunky screen icon...Welcome to the comic romantic novel, Dating Cary Grant.

Tracy Connor is mulling over what to do about her marriage, her career and her life. While she's mulling, she moves out of her family home in quiet Cukor, Connecticut and sublets a small apartment in a brownstone in Turtle Bay, Manhattan. There she meets – and becomes great friends with –the ghost of her film idol, Cary Grant. He’s the best kind of friend to her, a man who appeals to her on every level, and man she's always regarded as “Mr. Perfect.”

Cary proves a very charming and pragmatic ghost who only she can see, and he has a co-conspirator on page, a certain red-haired screen legend named Kate, who spars with him as she opines and helps show Tracy the errors of her views on men, marriage, and just what real love is all about.

What was the inspiration?

I had a dear friend who didn’t understand that marriage is all about compromise, on both partners’  issues. She read the book and DID NOT SEE HERSELF. HA!

Hilarious!

What’s the genre?

I always write blended genres, can’t seem to do just one. This is a pretty clear Romance, but with a dash of paranormal (ghosts) and, like all women’s fiction, is truly about the heroine’s journey and changing her life. 

I write genre straddlers, too. And I LOVE your cover!

Q. How long have you been writing?

On and off for thirty years. Pause. Writer is fanning herself in disbelief. But it’s true. Professionally since the 1990s with a 10 year break in 2000s because life has a way of intruding into fiction.

Q. What is your typical writing day. 

Marketing 2 hours in the a.m. Writing 4 hours at night and all weekend. I have a day job that is not writing, a husband, 2 cats, 2 kids who think they are on their own but they are not (HA – as I stalk and harass them still), and I read books. As many as I can fit in.

I like that idea to do the marketing the first two hours of the day and then clear the rest of the day for writing and other life responsibilities!

Q. Tell us something quirky about you that we may not know.

I took college drama classes with Potsie (Anson Williams from Happy Days). He was handsome and funny. I was serious and changed to English as a major. The rest is history.

I loved Happy Days! How cool that you took classes with him.

Q. Do you use a pen name? Why or why not?

Yes…and when I published my first book with Soul Mate Publishing in July of 2014, everyone who knew me  asked , “Who the heck is Emelle Gamble?”

Marsha Gamble is my maiden name, and I used “M.L. Gamble” as my pseudonym when I wrote for Harlequin Intrigue in the 1990s. When I began a year ago to stage my comeback (HA!) and gain an electronic presence, I quickly realized that initials are a bit hard to correctly use in email, blog and websites. I got completely different lists of information if I entered ‘mlgamble’ vs ‘m.l.gamble’ and even different lists of books with ‘m. l. gamble’ on Amazon!

So I came up with “Emelle”, which, when you say it out loud, sounds like “M.L.”, unless you’re my darling husband, Phil the fist, who make it sound like “umLLL”, but that’s his New York accent getting in the way of marketing progress!

Yes, your initials do sound like Emelle. lol. Interesting tidbit.

Q. What is your favorite marketing tip/promotional advice?

Do it everyday. Every. Day. Reach out and engage your readers. They want to know you and you’ll gain enormously getting to know them.

You are very good at marketing and I've been in the marketing field (in other industries) for 25 years!

Q. I love first lines. Post your first sentence. Hook us!

It was a dark and stormy night….wait, what?

My first lines are never that ‘hooky’, but I do try and get you interested by the end of page one. Here’s the first two lines of DATING CARY GRANT.

Tracy Connor stepped out of a cab at the corner of Second Avenue and 49^th Street, right into the middle of the classy Manhattan neighborhood known as Turtle Bay. When she looked up at the stately homes, reality hit.

The "reality hit" part hooked me and made me want to know more!

Q. What’s your next project?

I’m currently working on several things. My new book, KISS ME TWICE, is a romantic suspense. So I’ve come full-circle, as that’s where I started.  It’s about a woman facing meeting up with her ex-college lover at her 15^th reunion, all the while dealing with her mother’s early onset Alzheimer’s. 

I’ve also got a really weird project completed. All I can say about it is that it’s a noir mystery, set in 1950’s LA. It stars a blonde, a war hero journalist, and, possibly, a monster.  I know, I know, I may have taken the blended genre thing just a little bit too far….HA!

Life is good, and busy, and blessed. What could be better? Leave me a comment below telling me one good thing about your life right now and I’ll give THREE FREE eBooks copies of DATING CARY GRANT on Wednesday. That’s my hubby’s birthday, so we’ll celebrate.

Those sound like intriguing projects to say the least. I bow at your feet. Thanks for a fun interview! I can't wait to read DATING CARY GRANT. And did you read what she said, everyone?! THREE people will receive an ebook copy so comment by Wednesday!!!


BLURB 

    A modern Manhattan fairy tale starring…

Tracy Connor, a New York City career woman who loves her job and classic movies.

Mike Connor, her estranged husband, a small town Mayor  who loves his wife but doesn’t seem to have enough time to see her.

The handsome stranger, Philip Adams, who lives downstairs from the small sublet Tracy has temporarily moved into. He’s charming, funny and looks a lot like her very favorite screen icon, Cary Grant.

Dating Cary Grant is a romance all about New York city career woman  Tracy Connor struggling with real issues with her real guy, her husband of six years,  Mayor Mike Connor of Cukor, Connecticut. Tracy is a smart woman, but some of her problems with relationships are partially caused by her unrealistic expectations that real guys should – and can - behave like matinee idols. Mike’s problems are also caused by the fact that he’s such a great guy and overextends his heart, and his appointment calendar, to every constituent, friend or stray animal who crosses his path.

Tracy is also being stressed by  a TV reality show intent on showcasing Tracy and Mike’s personal life, as well as the imminent takeover of her employer, a small, private television station, by a billionaire with unlimited funds and no taste.

Dating Cary Grant considers just how selfless a man needs to be to meet his wife’s expectations, and just how honest a woman must be with herself about what she’s willing to give, and give-up.   And Cary Grant is along to help prove that any woman’s search for ‘Mr. Perfect ‘ might  take her to a surprising place to find him.

Connect with Emelle Gamble at…

www.EmelleGamble.com

Author EmelleGamble on Facebook

@EmelleGamble on twitter

DATING CARY GRANT book of the month at Long & Short Reviews
http://amzn.to/1iiE8Y0
SECRET SISTER RONE finalist for BEST CONTEMPORARY NOVEL of 2013
http://amzn.to/17J2Bn6
MOLLY HARPER and DUETS now available in one paperback volume!
http://amzn.to/1hW6YSj 

http://bit.ly/1l0gfFY  SECRET SISTER by Emelle Gamble on audio