Patricia Snodgrass

Please help me welcome Patricia Snodgrass to SR this week :)

Do you have travel when researching your books? If yes, where is the most interesting place you’ve visited?
Yes in fact I prefer it. There’s nothing quite like first hand experience of a place to make the scenes real.
When I was working on Glorious, for example, my husband went to the site where Overton, the fictional town in Arkansas, was. In reality the area is Corp’s of Engineer land and a wildlife refuge, but it wasn’t hard to imagine a town there.

Did you have any other careers before devoting yourself to being a full-time writer?
I worked in restaurants, as a punch press operator in a machine shop, as a painter, a bondo girl at a car body shop (that job lasted 2 weeks, I couldn’t take the fumes) I worked in a candy store, a mess hall, worked as a secretary at an army ammunition facility. I also was a certified nurses aid and worked in a couple of nursing homes as well as a home health provider. In the early 80’s I ran my own house cleaning business. During these times, I never stopped writing.

What books or authors have most influenced your life?
Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird has had a profound influence especially on my writing life. It’s the one book I read consistently every year. Stephen King has also been a tremendous influence, especially with novels such as Hearts in Atlantis. JK Rowling is also a great influence, I can relate to her financial struggle as a fledgling writer. I hope I can be half as successful as she. I am also a fan of the classics, Charles Dickens, John Steinbeck, Charlotte Bronte. Coleridge.

How do your family and/or friends feel about your book or writing venture in general?
My husband and son are extremely supportive. So is the rest of my family. I have a few friends who think I should give up this foolishness and get a ‘real’ job. But for the most part, everyone is very accepting.

When not writing, how do you relax?
I paint, play guitar, spend time with family and friends. And go on walks.
What’s the perfect romantic evening?
Dinner at Johnny Carino’s with my husband, and afterwards, a long moonlit drive in the country with the radio playing classic rock.

What’s your favorite curse word?
Frak. Compliments of Battlestar Galactica. I use it all the time. It’s so frakkin’ versatile.

If you could have three wishes granted, what would you wish for?
1. for my books to sell well
2. to buy a house in the country
3. go to California via train. I think trains are very romantic.

If you were stranded on a desert island, what three things would be the most essential for you?
A computer with wifi
My husband
Books

What’s number one on your list of things you hope to do before you die?
To meet HH the 14th Dalai Lama

Check out Patricia at the locations below :)
http://thepaleo-adventure.blogspot.com/

You can find me on face book under Patricia Snodgrass