Can you tell us a little bit about your latest book? When did it come out? Where can we get it?
DANGEROUS GROUND is a dark romantic suspense set in
southeast Minnesota. Deputy Sheriff Ingrid Olaffsen is called out to a sinkhole
in rural Fillmore County Minnesota where two young boys have found human
skeletons. Ingrid moved home from St. Paul after her father was diagnosed with cancer.
Living with her sisters, Ingrid found moving home was exactly what she needed to regain her confidence as a cop.
The discovery of the skeletons brings Michael Wilson to Fillmore County. Michael, a former Marine, decides his best way to follow the case is by getting close to Ingrid. As he gets to know her more, Michael finds his interest in their relationship changing, but he is not sure how to handle it.
Together, they must learn to trust themselves and each other enough to let go of their secrets and allow love into their hearts. Without love and trust, they may not be able to stop a killer.
Dangerous Ground will be coming out this fall and can be bought through Amazon as well as directly from Solstice Publishing. I hope to have it available from other booksellers as soon as possible.
Interesting!
So, is there anything that prompted Dangerous Ground? Something that inspired you?
I'm often inspired first by a "what if" moment or an interesting character idea. Dangerous Ground was originally inspired by a very long, and extremely stressful trip. At the end of it, as I was finally returning home, I saw a sinkhole and thought that it would be a great place to hide a body.
Yes, it’s a long story...
What if there are bodies in the sinkholes?
From there I came to know Ingrid, a cop who feels lost, stressed and burnt out. Who fears she has nothing left to give to her family and her job. Ingrid needed to find these lost girls to bring peace and confidence back to herself. She also deserved to find the person who made her heart whole again.
Of course!
I have always written. I have
"written" in one form or another before I have memories, or even the
words to explain it. I have been asked many times when I knew I was a writer,
and I can't tell you. I wish I could, but it's something that has always been me. For me writing is like my sight or right arm. Always there, and something
I can't imagine not having. It's something I would mourn if it were taken
from me.
My mom said that as a toddler I would bring pieces of paper with colorful crayon scribbles to her and tell her my "stories". I guess in those early days I color coded my ideas. ;)
Nice! It's fascinating to hear about an author's journey. :)
I have tons of favorite authors. I read pretty
much everything. I try to keep an open mind about reading and try
something from every genre and read a lot of non-fiction. I have found books
that I absolutely hate, and genres that bother me this way, but I have also found
an amazing array of authors that I love.
Here's a VERY short list:
Aaron Michael Ritchie
Nora Roberts
Wendy Corsi Staub
Tess Gerritsen
Clive Cussler
Tony Hillerman
Carol Berg
Tolkien
George R.R. Martin
David Eddings
MK Meredith
Marina Adair
Eileen Dreyer
Ellie Midwood
Beth Dooley
Awesome! I love Nora Roberts too.
So, do you write in a specific place? Time of day?
I can write anywhere. All I need is old
episodes of T.V. shows or a movie soundtrack to keep my ADD brain moving and no
people talking to me. I do have writing nooks in both my house and my
greenhouse, but I can write in a crowded airport if I want to.
I tend to write at night. This isn't because I need to for my craft; mostly it's because I have an 11-year-old and live on a farm. My days are pretty full. Hopefully on some shining day I'll be able to write as a career and pay someone to muck stalls and fix fences. Then I can write when the sun is out and give up my Vampiric author lifestyle.
LOL. I hear you!
Are there any words you'd like
to impart to fellow writers? Any advice?
You have to be passionate about writing to be an
author. It's something that has to drive you almost every second of every
day. Passion is what gets you through the demands of publishing.
This industry isn't easy, and the years of unanswered queries and rejections can wear a person down. So to make it through that, you have to have a passion that just won't be put out. If you do have that passion. If writing is something you think about every day, then DON'T GIVE UP.
I'm not kidding here. There are a lot of people who think they'll get published as the next J.K. Rowling or Nora Roberts, and your work has to get through the pile of those manuscripts in an agent's or editor's email. If you give up after 10 or 20 or 50 rejections, you'll never know if you could have been good enough. Trust me; I know. I had 673 rejections before I got a publisher. Just let that number sink in for a moment. 673. I know to the center of my soul that I'm a good writer and that one day I will be an excellent writer, but I still have that number in front of me. 673. What would have happened if I gave up at 50 or 100 or 500?
DON'T GIVE UP! Your passion is worth taking a few knocks for.
Thank you for offering those words of wisdom to our readers. And you're so right! Persistence and perseverance is what I keep saying...
And thank you so much for stopping
by to visit us here today at Writing in the Modern Age. It was so nice
having you! :)
Sinkholes.
The perfect place to hide a body. Until kids decide to explore one.
Standing
over the skeletons of young women discovered deep beneath the earth, Deputy Sheriff
Ingrid Olaffsen knows she is facing the challenge of her career: crimes she
thought she’d never see in rural Minnesota.
The
oldest of eight sisters and the first female deputy in Fillmore County, Ingrid
hoped returning home after her father’s death would help her learn to love
police work again. That love of the job is tested in a way she’d never imagined
as she hunts this psychopathic killer.
Soon
another girl disappears and Ingrid knows she has to work fast before the
unspeakable happens yet again.
When
Michael Wilson appears in town, Ingrid is drawn to the enigmatic former Marine
with sad eyes and a killer smile, but she doesn’t trust his motives. His kisses
feel like the first drop of a rollercoaster, but Ingrid doesn’t know if it's
her or the case that Michael’s truly interested in. She does know that the only
place she feels strong and whole is in his arms.
They
must learn to trust each other and let go of the secrets in their past or a
monster will be left free to kill.
How
can Ingrid believe in love when she can’t trust the ground beneath her feet?
This book sounds riveting! We'll be sure to check it out as soon as it releases! :)
Author Bio
M.R.
Rutter was born in the mountains of Colorado to an ex-hippy and former Marine. She
spent much of her childhood on her grandparents’ ranch near Leadville, CO.
She
studied forensic anthropology and ancient history in college and started her
professional life as an assistant to her advisors while working on her
coursework and thesis. After years of teaching other professors' classes and
putting murdered children back together rather than working on her focus,
ancient remains, Megan left the field to pursue a career as a writer.
She
now lives and works on a sustainable agriculture research farm in Minnesota
with her husband, daughter and a menagerie of animals where she is a full-time
farmer, research assistant, mother and writer.
Happily
for M.R. she can still fill her novels with mummies, skeletons and corpses.
Author Links:
Amazon
Author Page: http://amzn.to/2cXl4UI
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/M.R.Rutter_author/
Publisher: http://solsticepublishing.com/
Coming Soon:
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