Interview with Author Celia Kennedy

My guest today is Celia Kennedy.  Hello!  Welcome to Writing in the Modern Age!  It’s such a pleasure to have you here.

Can you tell us a little bit about your latest book? When did it come out? Where can we get it?

 

http://bookgoodies.com/a/B0163F3BWO

Prosecco & Paparazzi, Book One of The Passport Series was released on October 21st. It is available on Amazon for FREE 11/9-11/14. It can be found here: http://bit.ly/ProPa


Great!

Is there anything specific that inspired you to write Prosecco & Paparazzi?

The idea for Prosecco & Paparazzi was hatched as my husband and I watched Clint Eastwood on Inside the Actors Studio. We were amazed and inspired by this multi-faceted man, we both thought how amazing it would be to meet him. Which begged the question, how does one go about meeting a celebrity in a non-stalkerish way? I began to wonder how celebrities make new friends, allow people into their lives. Charlotte, stumbles upon her celebrity crush, Des Bannerman, and seizes the moment. But how does he feel about it?


Fascinating!
I know this is part of The Passport Series. So, if this series was made into a film, who would you cast in the starring roles?

Great question. It’s a large international cast.

Charlotte Young: Paz Vega

Tiziana Caputo: Maria Gracia Cucinotta

Hillary Cavendish: Julie Benz

Marian Conolly: Sarah Parish

Kathleen Ehlers: Rosamund Pike

Liam Molloy: Henry Cavill

Des Bannerman: Ryan Reynolds

Ted Blackwell: Daniel Craig

Michael Molloy: Chris Pine

I have made a Pinterest Board, which can be found here: https://www.pinterest.com/celiakennedy/if-i-were-casting-prosecco-and-paparazzi/
 

Oh, fun! 
Fascinating cast! :)
Let's tackle some general questions.
 
When reading, do you prefer traditional
printed books or ebooks?  And why?


I am probably like most readers. I love the easy and lightweight component of a Kindle, but I love paper. I love holding a book. I don’t buy many, I make use of the public library. I know, I know, I should buy books!



Well, you can't help what you like. 

 

So, what are you reading now?

 

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides, and A Chance for Sunny Skies by Eryn Scott.
 

Great! Let's try another question.
 
When you get an idea for a book, what comes first usually? Dialogue, the characters, a specific scene?  Or do you plot it out before you write?



A specific scene. I always know what I am working towards. My path can be very circuitous. I have a tendency to loosely map out the path, but since I have a goal in mind, I let my fingertips feel their way through the story. Every once in a while I have to reign them back in and give them some direction, but it is amazing to me what the brain and fingers can achieve without very little interference from me.



Oh, I certainly know what that's like! 


So, what do you have planned next, Celia? Or is that a secret?

 

I am currently writing Cognac & Couture, Book Two in The Passport Series AND Gin Fizz & Grit, book three in the series. Cognac and Couture takes place during Fall Fashion Week, and is Kathleen’s story. Gin Fizz and Grit is Marian’s story, and takes place along the trail of The Tour de France – which if you can imagine intelligent fashionistas on a bicycle, that is pretty funny.

 

Oh, yes, I see your books are getting revamped, and I love the new look! 

 

So, Celia...is there anything you'd like to add? Any advice for new writers?

 

Very, very, very, very, very, very few authors make it big with their first book, or second, third, fourth, or fifth. You need to write because it is part of your soul, and writing satisfies you and no one else. This will sustain you in the moments where you wonder why you are tapping away on your keyboard and book sales are slow to non-existent. This will help you rebound from awful reviews. Oh, and write something that makes you happy. You have to do that. Trying to imitate someone else or follow trends will not likely prove to be successful.

That's great advice! Thank you!  :)


Readers, here is the blurb for Prosecco & Paparazzi.

http://bookgoodies.com/a/B0163F3BWO

 

When fifteen minutes of fame goes horribly wrong…

Charlotte Young and her five closest friends ring in the New Year on a ski vacation in the swanky, celebrity-packed French Alps, where her world collides with long-time celeb crush, Des Bannerman—aka “The King of Rom-Com.” Unexpectedly, Charlotte finds herself happily reconciled to an innocent evening of drinking champagne, gambling, and chatting to the celebrity of her dreams.

Charlotte’s friends join forces to help her realize her lifelong fantasy, yet his girlfriend, the latest Bond Girl, proves an insurmountable obstacle. Lighthearted banter turns into tabloid fodder and leaves Charlotte saddled with a restraining order.

With the help of her friends, Charlotte finds the answers to life’s biggest questions while trying to deal with the fallout of her fifteen minutes of fame.

Prosecco &Paparazzi is a contemporary romantic comedy about what happens when the paths of a celebrity god and a mere mortal collide.


Here is an excerpt.

 

Marian, Hillary, Kathleen, Tiziana and I had met at Oxford. We were all at varying points on the same path, graduate students at the Said Business School. I met Kathleen first. Her long, blonde hair glistened in the late summer sun as she taped up a poster for a pub crawl for American students studying abroad on a lamp post. It wasn’t her I noticed so much as all the guys ogling her wiggling backside as she smoothed down the tape.

Three days later, at the pub, The Bear, we met Marian. She was there spying on a groom, at the behest of her good friend, the bride. I guess to make sure he didn’t get out of line.

We were young, easily influenced, and really drunk. We had been in and out of four pubs in the two hours, if my memory served me well. While ordering a round of drinks, we heard people chanting, “Stripper, Stripper!” The next thing I knew, Kathleen’s elbow collided with my kidney as she pointed at Tiziana.

Tiziana! Every woman’s archenemy nemesis. Think of Sophia Loren wearing a man’s white dress shirt with a long string of pearls and a pair of flashy stilettos. To be fair, Tiziana appeared shocked when she realized the stripper comments were directed at her. You’d think a girl who oozed that much sexuality and dressed that skimpily would get used to being the object of every male’s fantasies. But no. She looked more than a little nervous when a couple of guys drinking with the groom became a little too friendly and suggested Tiziana show the soon-to-be-married man a little mercy.

Marian reminded me of a bull when she was angry: snorting nose, steam out of the ears, crazy eyes. A smart person would back away, slowly. So when Marian dragged Tiziana outside before anything could happen, we were worried for her. None of us knew Tiziana, but still I didn’t think she’d done anything worthy of dismemberment. When Kathleen and I followed them outside to where they stood on the narrow sidewalk, Marian was swearing away in Gaelic at Tiziana, and Tiziana was shouting back in Italian. The two of us just stood back, amazed.

Just when things had calmed down a bit, a very regal looking woman opened the pub door and took in the situation. “Oh! What luck, I found your… purse?” She handed a bedazzled black clutch to Tiziana.

Why we burst into laughter, I wasn’t quite sure. I really didn’t even know if we were laughing together or at each other. After we controlled our laughing, Hillary, the regal one, who had let loose and smirked a bit, invited us to go back in for another drink. “The groom’s my brother! I’m here to make sure he doesn’t overdo it. Sorry his friends are such asses.”

We’ve been close friends ever since.

 

What a fun teaser! Thank you for visiting us on Writing in the Modern Age, Celia! :)

 

And readers, don't forget that Prosecco & Paparazzi is FREE on Amazon this week!

 

http://bookgoodies.com/a/B0163F3BWO

 

Author Bio

 

Celia Kennedy was born in Wurzburg, Germany on an American military base. Her parents' penchant for traveling the world, via a Volkswagen Minibus with a Porsche engine, sparked her imagination. Staring out the window, sometimes through fog and rain, at other times at sunny blue skies, she began to make up stories for the places and spaces they passed by. The in-between time, the most fascinating to her.

The imagined world has always fascinated Celia. She has studied Landscape
Architecture, Architecture, Interior Design, and pretty much every other subject matter. Like her childhood, it was the ride that was the most entertaining, arrival at a degree, not anywhere as important.

Mark Twain said, "Write what you know." When combining this concept with her unusual life experiences (working at a nuclear submarine base when Chernobyl blew, testing software Bill Gates kept close tabs on, traveling extensively while quite broke, or falling in love with her boyfriend's close friend) thinking of what to write about isn't challenging; there just needs to be more hours in the day.

 

Author Links:  
  
Website:  www.celiakennedy.weebly.com
Blog:  www.womanreinventsself.blogspot.com
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/CMKAuthor  
Twitter:  https://twitter.com/KennedyCelia  
Amazon Author Central:  http://www.amazon.com/Celia-Kennedy/e/B00AW5KEZO/  

Pinterest:  https://www.pinterest.com/celiakennedy/
Google+:   https://plus.google.com/u/0/106475224814075459757/posts  

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6965584.Celia_Kennedy

 

Celia's Books: 

 

http://bookgoodies.com/a/B0163F3BWO
 
 
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B016KW8N2I/ref=x_gr_w_glide_bb?ie=UTF8&tag=x_gr_w_glide_bb-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B016KW8N2I&SubscriptionId=1MGPYB6YW3HWK55XCGG2

 
http://www.amazon.com/May-Fourth-Collection-Stories-Across-ebook/dp/B00WKW1IMU/ref=la_B00AW5KEZO_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1447120322&sr=1-4

 

http://www.amazon.com/Cupid-Loose-Valentines-Anthology-Stories-ebook/dp/B00S8H34KK/ref=la_B00AW5KEZO_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1447120322&sr=1-3

 

http://www.amazon.com/Kathleens-Undressed-Accidental-Enigma-Book-ebook/dp/B00SAP05QG/ref=la_B00AW5KEZO_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1447120322&sr=1-5

 

http://www.amazon.com/Venus-Rising-Celia-Kennedy-ebook/dp/B00EFCYQX6/ref=la_B00AW5KEZO_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1447120322&sr=1-2

 

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