Welcoming Colleen Houck!

Please welcome Colleen Houck!  

Konstanz: Please tell us a little bit about yourself

Colleen: I just turned 42. I'm married and we just celebrated our 17th anniversary. I love fancy restaurants. I don't count a food as dessert unless it has some chocolate. I have a lot of brothers and sisters and I spent most of my childhood babysitting and bossing them around. =)

K: How do you handle Writer's block?

C: I don't usually get writers block I get I'm-too-lazy-to-write-today block. Usually that can be fixed by forcing myself to open the document.

K: If you had to date one of the tiger brothers, who would it be, Ren or Kishan?  Why?

C: I would totally date either one. I think Ren and I would get along the best but a date with Kishan would be exciting.

K: Why Tigers?  Why did you have the brothers turn into Tigers over any other creature? 

C: I just like tigers.  They are magical, mysterious, and beautiful which is perfect for my Indian princes.

K: After the final book in the Tiger's Curse Saga is released, what will you work on next?

C: Probably a book for a secondary character that I introduce in Tiger's Voyage. His name is Wes.  He's a Texas cowboy and I think he needs to find the right girl.

K: What is your ideal career if you couldn't be a writer?

C: I'd love to teach Deaf kids. I've been an interpreter for most of my working life and that will always be a part of my life since my husband is Deaf too.

K:  Is there a message in your novel(s) that you want readers to grasp?

C:  Well the theme running through this series is sacrifice. My characters have to learn to look outside themselves and find their place in the world. I think that everyone can be a hero and every character in my book is a hero in some way.

K: If you had to put a banana in each book you've written, could you show an example of how you would sneak it into Tiger's Curse?

C: Easy since I have a banana in Tiger's Curse. Kelsey eats a banana and wants to tease Ren about getting attacked by monkeys.

K: What is the worst writing advice you've ever received? What's the best?

C: You'll never make it if you self-publish. I don't believe that is true. It might have been once but there is plenty of evidence to the contrary now.  The best advice is to develop a thick skin. Writing books and sharing them with the world means you open yourself to harsh criticism. It's hard to process that at first. Eventually you have to get over it because if you didn't you couldn't work.

Well thank you very much for stopping by!  It was great getting to know more about you and I think I speak for all Tigers Curse fans out there when I say we cannot wait to read more!