Diane Chamberlain on PRETENDING TO DANCE + a giveaway!

I’m going all bookworm fangirl as I write this. It’s always a thrill to have a preorder you’re excited about appear on your Kindle, and that’s what happened October 6th when Diane Chamberlain’s novel, PRETENDING TO DANCE, came out. I’m HONORED she took a moment from her tour to be a guest!

About PRETENDING TO DANCE

Molly Arnette is very good at keeping secrets. She and her husband live in San Diego, where they hope to soon adopt a baby. But the process terrifies her.

As the questions and background checks come one after another, Molly worries that the truth she’s kept hidden about her North Carolina childhood will rise to the surface and destroy not only her chance at adoption, but her marriage as well. She ran away from her family twenty years ago after a shocking event left her devastated and distrustful of those she loved: Her mother, the woman who raised her and who Molly says is dead but is very much alive. Her birth mother, whose mysterious presence raised so many issues. The father she adored, whose death sent her running from the small community of Morrison Ridge.

Now, as she tries to find a way to make peace with her past and embrace a future filled with promise, she discovers that even she doesn’t know the truth of what happened in her family of pretenders.

Hooked yet? Be sure to enter the giveaway for a complimentary copy! Now let’s have a chat with the amazing Diane Chamberlain…

Talk about one thing that’s making you happy right now.

Back when I first started writing, I worked as a hospital social worker and writing was my hobby. I wrote every spare minute. After a few years as a published author, I had to choose between my two careers. Obviously, I chose writing, which left me hobby-less. As social media and promotion became a bigger and bigger part of the writing life, I had less time to pursue leisure activities and I eventually gave up trying. I was officially a woman without a hobby. My partner John is an excellent guitarist, however, and he recently started attending a guitar meet-up group. I played guitar as a teenager but hadn’t picked up the instrument in years because Rheumatoid Arthritis had wreaked havoc on my fingers. I went to one of his meet-ups, though, and discovered I could play more than I’d expected. And now I’m hooked! I try to play a little each day and then have that one three-hour meet-up marathon once a week. It takes me completely out of my writing world and refreshes me for the next time I attack my work-in-progress. I love it!

Where do you love to be?

I’m a beach person who rarely goes onto the beach. Crazy, I know. When I was growing up, my family had a bungalow at the New Jersey Shore and I spent every summer there until I was twenty. You probably have a place of nostalgia as well and understand the pull that lasts forever. I need to be near the ocean, which is why I now have a vacation condominium on Topsail Island, North Carolina. It’s right on the beach. I have an aversion to sun, but it doesn’t matter. I sit in my living room, computer on my lap, and look out at that healing blue water. For me, there’s no better place.

Which talent do you wish you had?

Athleticism. Yes, I was the last kid picked for every sports team in school. Despite working out fairly regularly as an adult, I’ve never been able to develop the lung power or muscular strength I crave. When I was writing my first novel, Private Relations, I made the protagonist, Kit, just like me. She looked like me, did the sort of work I did, etc. But I found I couldn’t make her do anything I wouldn’t do, so I decided to change her. I thought, “what would make her the exact opposite of me?” and the answer was obvious. I’d make her an athlete. She came to life then and I enjoyed being athletic vicariously.

The best perk of writing for The Debutante Ball is having a reason to reach out to talented authors like you. What is the best perk of your job?

My readers, absolutely! It’s every writer’s dream to be able to touch other people with our stories. In the early days of my career, before the Internet, I looked forward to the occasional letters I’d receive from my readers. I lived for that feedback. Now it’s so much better. I love meeting my readers at signings or hearing from them in email or through social media. Writing is a lonely profession and getting to interact with real live readers is a joy.

Have you ever met someone you idolized?  What was it like?

When I was eighteen, I idolized Felix Cavaliere, the organist for the rock group, The Rascals. With some like-minded girlfriends, I chased that poor man and his group all over New York City. Felix was a follower of a yoga master, the late Swami Satchinanda, and I became fascinated with the Swami and yoga. After one of the Rascals concerts, I managed to get into their dressing room where I met Felix. I took his picture and he took mine. I asked him how I could learn more about the spiritual side of yoga. He was extremely kind and said he’d write to me with more information, and he did. I still have the letter. It was a meeting I’ll always treasure. You can read more about our meeting on my blog. Molly, the protagonist in Pretending to Dance, has a similar obsession with some famous people. That part of her character was very easy for me to write!

GIVEAWAY: Comment on this post by Noon (EST) on Friday, October 23rd to win a copy of PRETENDING TO DANCE (US only). Follow The Debutante Ball on Facebook and Twitter for extra entries—just mention that you did so in your comments. We’ll choose and contact the winner on Friday. Good luck!

 

Diane is the international bestselling author of 24 novels. Her 2014 novel, THE SILENT SISTER, hit both the USA Today and Publishers Weekly bestseller lists. Her former career as a psychotherapist inspired the creation of “pretend therapy” in her latest novel, PRETENDING TO DANCE.

Connect with Diane on her website, Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads page, and blog.