20 QUESTIONS WITH MELISSA SOVEY AUTHOR OF DOXIE MOXIE

20 QUESTIONS WITH MELISSA SAVOY AUTHOR OF DOXIE MOXIE

Special thanks to Melissa for taking the time out of her busy schedule at Willow Creek Press to answer my 20 questions.  Melissa wrote one of my favorite books of all time DOXIE MOXIE.  I didn't even realize it but I have gifted several people with her books in the past.  Melissa is the author of 12 books! You can click HERE for a link to her books at Amazon.

She has a new title that will be released next week:  A Mother's Nature: Quips, Quotes and Musings on Motherhood  so be sure to stop by Amazon or Willow Creek Press to order it. This looks like the perfect gift for Mother's Day and I will have a review up next week since Melissa was nice enough to send me a copy. 

Here is the descriptions from Amazon:

Product Description

Every woman knows that becoming a mother will be life-altering, but few could anticipate the feelings, instincts and quirky behaviors inherent to motherhood. This charming book makes the perfect gift for any mom, whether her children are grown, still very young, or somewhere in between! Filled with thoughts and quotes that will warm a mother's heart, and make her laugh out loud, this is a beautifully designed book reflective of a hand-written journal, with added elements of the popular craft of scrapbooking. Filled with outstanding wildlife photography, each spread presents a reflection on the nature of motherhood as a tribute to moms everywhere.

And now the important part:

1. Bookmarks or dog ears?
No bookmarks. I lose them or I find them to be a nuisance. I only dog ear (and then write or underline) in my books when something on that page really strikes me.

2. Dust jacket on or off when reading a hard back?
Ah, now here is my bookmark, the ever-present dust jacket flap. I love when I get past the halfway point and have to switch to the back flap.

3. Favorite author?
I couldn’t pick just one if I tried but I will tell you that I was obsessed with Franz Kafka in high school and as recently as five years ago I had a big writer’s crush on Michael Perry.

4. Favorite genre’?
Right now it’s memoirs.

5. What is the best book you have read in the last year?
Wow. I’ve read a lot of great books but this little gem, The End of the Alphabet by CS Richardson stuck with me for a long time.

6. What book would you most like to see made into a movie?
I think The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry would make a great film. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society could be interesting too with its historical angles. I’m looking forward to Dennis Lehane’s Shutter Island and an HBO movie on Temple Grandin, whom I adore.

7. If you could only take one book with you to a desert island, which would you bring?
I guess I’d have to say the Bible just because there wouldn’t be any excuses left for not having the time to really “get into it.”

8. What book have you read that you think is overrated?
Of course this is just a personal opinion (although I know quite a few who share it) but frankly, anything by Mitch Albom. I read The Five People You Meet in Heaven one afternoon stranded in an airport and was so disappointed on so many levels (mostly disappointed with myself for buying the book). At least it started enough inner dialogue that I spent the rest of the layover writing. Not about the book, about commercialism actually.

9. What are you reading right now?
Asta in the Wings by Jan Elizabeth Watson. There are some wonderful books being published by first-time novelists and I love reading them. Just finished In Hovering Flight by Joyce Hinnefeld. Lovely.

10. What is the last book you bought?
Just today I bought Lit: a Memoir by Mary Karr after reading a stunning review of it this morning.

11. What is the last book you received in the mail?
Well, it’s been awhile so I don’t know if I could answer that. Working for a publisher and also being an author, I support all avenues of retail sales but I am a huge supporter personally of shopping locally and shopping the indies. If my local bookstore doesn’t have a book I want, I have them order it for me. It’s worth the extra few bucks to keep my money in the small community I live in and to support a local business.

12. What is the number of books you own?
A bajillion, give or take a few. And they are of the most eclectic topics you could imagine – from Chinese medicine to child rearing to flash fiction to fairy tales and everything in between!

13. What is the first book you remember reading by yourself as a child?
It was The Wind in the Willows. I still think about that book all the time.

14. Do you have a favorite place to read?
When I was a child it was outside under a willow tree on our farm. Now I have a very weird habit of standing while reading at my kitchen island counter-top, but my favorite place is sitting on the shore of Lake Superior in a beach chair with my toes in the sand.

15. What is next for you, publishing-wise?
I’m working on a humor book for women, and playing with ideas for a book on sons. I have three, so I have some knowledge of the subject matter!

16. Do you prefer to write about animals or people?
I think it’s wonderful to write about the relationship between animals and people – it’s fascinating to me. If I Had A Horse which I wrote in 2004 was inspired by the impact horses had on me, and the women around me.

17. Do you have any pets (real or imaginary)?
This is the first time that I can remember being without a pet. My wonderful King Charles Cavalier, Jackson, just passed away last spring. I’ve just started checking with a few rescue groups and the local shelter looking for my next little sidekick.

18. The last thing you Googled?
Vintage tins. Yep, vintage tins.

19. What one thing would you save in a fire (other than people or animals)?
Letters, cards and family photos … but I just have to say that my first impulse was to say “Mrs. Lang.” Formally dubbed (for no apparent reason) shortly after we purchased her in the early 80’s, Mrs. Lang is this really large oil painting of a woman and a child in a gaudy gilded frame which is much too formal for her primitive rendition. Everyone in my family loves her. No one outside of the family understands.

20. What makes you cringe?
 Television. Really, television.