Wednesday, December 05, 2012

Wednesday Western- Guest Deanna Jewel


Whispers - Character Interview with Dana Kaster

Thank you for joining us! I hope you’ve brought your flashlights with you. We’re about to tour the old lighthouse but before we do that, let’s head inside the keeper’s house and gather around to chat with my main character, Dana Kaster. For those brave enough, later on you can roam upstairs for a ghost hunt of your own!
Deanna
Deanna:  Paty, thank you for having me this week on your blog. I love talking with readers so I hope they leave a question or comment for us. I’m also doing a giveaway at the end! I’ve brought with me my main character, Dana Kaster, from Whispers at Ghost Point. Since I have a love for lighthouses, I had to write about one and added a ghost to make it a bit spooky! Dana loves remodeling and decorating - who else love doing that? Tell us at the end if you love lighthouses and decorating!

Dana
Dana:  I’m excited to be here with both of you! Paty, thank you! I can’t wait for readers to jump into the book with all of us. I’ve always had a soft spot for decorating which is why I got my contractor’s license - it also allowed me to do more in the area of remodeling. Meeting other contractors and builders isn’t bad either! *wink* I moved to Wilmington NC a year ago after my divorce and found the abandoned lighthouse on the coast while I worked at the Cape Fear Historical Society. I was fortunate enough to get a job remodeling their lighthouse projects we took on, but I recently opened my own shop and I’m so excited.

Deanna: Taking on the entire remodel of a lighthouse that’s stood empty for hundreds of years won’t be easy. Have you run into any roadblocks?

Dana: The lighthouse in question is owned by an individual who I found through my research but he refuses to return my phone calls. That in itself is annoying. I want inside the place to see what might need to be fixed and put some plans together. I don’t understand why this man won’t call me back, but my guess is that he’s too old to care about the place being fixed up or is a recluse not wanting to be bothered. The lighthouse is begging me to fix it up though. Why can’t he sense that? LOL

Deanna: Does the lighthouse talk to you when you visit or is it the ghosts who talk to you? That would be spooky!

Dana:  I have an ability to sense the spirits in old places but I still need to work on that. It is scary when they come around and they usually visit when you least expect them to. If I were better at my psychic abilities, I could learn who they are faster but it still scares me so I need to get over that if I want to use my ability to the fullest. When I sit on my deck at night, I can see the lighthouse across the inlet. The tower light flashes and there’s no way the electricity still works there! It couldn’t for as old as it is, so what makes the lights come on? I also sense a spirit or two there and the pull they have on me is getting stronger but I just can’t learn who they are.

Deanna:  You’ve become good friends with a co-worker at the Historical Society who has the ability to sense spirits. Tell us about that. Everyone is always interested in people who talk to ghosts!

Dana: Sarah and I have really gotten close since I moved to Wilmington.  She doesn’t let very many people know that she can speak to spirits…they think you’re crazy when they learn that! Even with all the shows on television these days, but I love it. Personally, I just need to learn how to distance myself and set up my circle of light for protection. I visited the lighthouse a few times without telling Sarah…yet she knows! She has a way of knowing what goes on without me even telling her!

Sarah
Deanna: How does she feel about the lighthouse?

Dana: Oh my gawd! She isn’t keen on it at all! She said the spirits there aren’t at all friendly and that I need to quit going over there alone before something happens to me. She’s sat with me on my deck at night and we’ve both seen the lights come on. I think she knows more than she’s telling me about the spirits over there.

Deanna: Well that would make anyone jumpy to sense a spirit is evil. Maybe you need to listen to her and quit going over there.

Dana: I’m too nosey to stop going so the owner just needs to give me permission to go inside. I did meet a man on one of my visits there once. He said he was just a friend of the owner but wouldn’t tell me who the owner was. Too bad he wasn’t the owner - his eyes alone distracted me! But anyway, if I were able to get that lighthouse restored, it would help boost my business in Wilmington and the residents would be able to see what I can do. The work I’ve done on our historical lighthouse remodels has really helped too, but…I want inside the forbidden tower!

Deanna: You’ve lived in Wilmington for almost a year now. Any men you’re interested in?

Dana: With all the work I do remodeling and researching for the Historical Society and now starting my own business, I haven’t had time for dating and I really haven’t missed it. Taking time after my divorce to get my life back on track is what’s important to me now. I have to make a name for my business here so I can get to know the residents. Many of them have stopped by my new shop and have taken my card, saying they’ll call me when they start their remodels. I hope they do, I love to be busy!

Deanna: Paty, thank you so much for allowing me to spend time with your readers! Dana, thanks for stopping in to chat with our readers. I can’t wait to finish your story so they can all read it.

      The book will release later this month. I must apologize to those who’ve waited so long…I’ve been busy at the office which has slowed down my edits on the book. The characters in Whispers at Ghost Point are pulled into the present from my historical novel set in England 1778, No Turning Back. To know a bit more about the characters, you may want to read that book - it’s still on sale for .99.

CONTEST #1:  I’m giving away a $10 gift card so get your entry in HERE by clicking on the Paty Jager Contest to be in the drawing to be held on Monday, Dec 10th!
CONTEST #2:  Be sure to enter my Grand Prize drawing by clicking HERE and sending me your entry. There are three prizes that will be picked for this contest! Good luck!
       Please check my blog, website and my newsletters for more info. By subscribing to my newsletter, readers are automatically included in one of my monthly drawings and by following my blog, you’ll be included in that drawing. Both drawings win gift cards and the newsletter winner also gets a goodie bag and tee shirt!
       Thank you all for stopping in to meet Dana from Whispers at Ghost Point. I hope I’ve piqued your interest just a bit and if so, you can read Chapter One and watch the book trailer by clicking HERE. I’ve also posted book info and an excerpt HERE. I hope you enjoy reading it and meeting my characters.

Meet Deanna
Deanna Jewel lives in the Pacific Northwest and has been writing since 1991. She is married to a retired captain of the fire department. He’s also owned his own businesses for 23 years. They have two Siamese cats: Zoie and Sinbad, who keep them entertained. Deanna has enjoyed reading historical romance novels for over thirty years, camping with her family, and traveling.
Her writing goal is to draw the reader into the story to experience what the characters feel, to show both the hero's and heroine's points of view, and to take the reader away from their every day stress to a place not yet visited.
She has completed one time travel and one historical novel and has several others in the works. A trip to Dubois, Wyoming, south of Yellowstone, inspired her time-travel novel. The landscape and town locations described in NEVER SURRENDER are real.  Jon Daley, a professor at Boise State University, translated the Shoshone language that you will find in the book.
 NEVER SURRENDER, her time travel romance, was released in 2008 in print, e-book and iBook for download to e-Readers and i-Pads. This novel won an Honorable Mention in the 2008 Quill Awards at Writing.com.
NO TURNING BACK, her second novel, an historical taking place in England, 1778, was released in April 2010, and is also in print, eBook and iBook for download to your electronic readers.
Hard at work on her next novel, Whispers at Ghost Point, which she hopes to have available in late fall, 2012. Whispers takes place at an abandoned lighthouse in Wilmington, NC and her main characters from No Turning Back are reincarnated into the present. Join Dana as she learns about her past while working toward her future. The dangers that lurk at an abandoned lighthouse pull her into a past she was unaware of but also involves a man she's never met...in this lifetime! Follow the book’s progress on her website.

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*See her site for more places to find Deanna Jewel!

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Author Deanna Jewel has the rights to all the photos in this post.

9 comments:

Judith Ashley said...

Interesting post, Deanna. I'm wondering how you picture your story since you mention psych abilities. Do you see it as fantasy, paranormal, or real?

Deanna Jewel said...

Hi Judith, thank you for stopping by and for leaving a comment. I see Whispers as real yet anything ghost related falls into the paranormal category. I do believe spirits are around us and that certain people have the ability to correspond with the spirits. Sarah's abilities are stronger than Dana's. Sarah's been aware of her ability to channel spirits, who they are and what they want.
Dana has the ability to strengthen the way she interacts with spirits as she learns more about that part of herself.

I also believe we live more than one life which allows my characters to be reincarnated to the present time and meet again. I hope readers can understand that as they read, although I also understand that not all readers believe in reincarnation and the spirit world around us.

Readers, thank you so much for stopping by. I hope you read Ch 1 and watch the book trailer. I do my own book trailers and have a lot fun creating those. Again, thank you for stopping in!

Steve Tindle said...

Hey Deanna,
Another great interview. Hope I'm not too late to enter the drawing. Nov 24th has already passed. LOL
Steve

Deanna Jewel said...

Hi Steve! Thanks for seeing that. The drawings will be done on Monday, Dec 10th for BOTH drawings!

Readers, be sure to get into both contests!

E. Ayers said...

Your book sounds fascinating. Love lighthouses. I've learned a lot about them as there are so many on the East Coast.

I stumbled upon one sitting in an odd spot in Edenton,NC not too far from me. That sent me on a goose chase until I found someone who knew something about it. There were three of these houses left in the area and someone bought them back in the 1960's and attempted to move them inland. two broke apart and fell into the water before they could be salvaged so the guy only got one. They are called screw houses because the wooden pilings were carved like a screw and screwed into the muddy bottom of the Sound. The Lighthouse Preservation Society wants the house and it's on private land - so big hassle. In the meantime, every bad storm does more damage. So sad.

Deanna Jewel said...

E, so sad about moving those lighthouses. I'm from Michigan and have visited nearly everyone on the coast of Michigan and the UP - Those in the UP take a beating in the winter! But one can get some gorgeous photos in the winter up there. I'm sure you can also find them on the internet...lighthouses in Michigan's UP in winter....I've no doubt! Thanks for stopping in!

Deanna Jewel said...

My apologies to those attempting to enter the contest via my form, I have now fixed it. I hope you give it another try and get in on both contests.

Deanna Jewel said...

Paty, thank you for having me as your guest! Readers, thank you all for stopping by!

Whispers will be released in ten days so I hope you stop by my website to check your favorite buy link!

The $10 gift card winner is....bn100! Your Amazon card will be sent soon!

Anonymous said...

Hi, I read your new stuff daily. Your writing style is awesome,
keep up the good work!