Author Genre: Mystery & Thrillers, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Health, Mind & Body
Website: Author Peggy Holloway
Author's Blog: Author Peggy Holloway
Twitter: @authorpholloway
E-Mail: peggyholloway62@yahoo.com
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Amazon Author Profile
Author Description:
I have had three careers before turning to writing. I taught Mathematics in high school and community college, worked as a geophysicist in a major oil company exploring for oil and gas and worked as a counselor/psychotherapist with adults, groups, families, couples and teens. I have a BS in geology, an MCS in mathematics and an MA in Psychology. I taught Algebra II to William Faulkner's granddaughter.
My past writing experiences were writing plays for the neighborhood kid to put on when I was around 12-14 years old, writing technical reports as a geophysicist, writing research papers while working on my masters in psychology, and writing letters to judges, with recommendations, while counseling juvenile justice adolescents.
Besides writing mysteries, I like to read (anything I can get my hands on), paint landscapes in oil and in enamel on glass. I enjoy swimming and walking on the beach.
You can tell a lot about my psyche by reading my self-help book entitled THE ANSWERS ARE WITHIN. I have had many struggles in life and I like to incorporate my experiences into my writing.
A fantasy I have is to wear a Versache evening gown and dance the tango with Al Pacino.
I am a night person and can't stand morning people who wake me up early. I like relating to one or two people rather than being in a crowd. Most of my friends are for life.
SPOTLIGHT Questions and Answers with the Author
Congratulations on your book: Hermit's Cove. What do you have on the drawing board next? Can you tell us the timeline for its release and give us a little tease?
I’m currently working on two books. One is Princess Boot Camp, about a camp for young women who are spoiled, rich bitches. Their parents think they are sending their daughters there as sort of a behavior therapy group. The girls think they have won a three month stay at an exclusive spa. The other one is There for the Taking. It is about a counselor who goes off the deep end and ends up kidnapping a baby she finds that has been abandoned.
You have a good following on twitter. Since you started before the social media buzz, what impact has social media relationships had on your current success? How did you build your following in your niche? How much has it changed your book launch process?
I have found that, if I take the time to communicate with my friends and followers, my books do well. Sometimes I get so busy writing and ignore my live friends and my cyber friends. My book sales go down as a result
Has the advent of ebooks changed anything in your writing, getting the book to your readers and the relationship with your readers and fans?
I think ebooks is the best invention of all time. I’m an avid reader myself and love the fact that I can download a book I see that I want to read. It’s instant gratification. I sell very few print books and concentrate on ebooks. I know I’m probably missing a lot of sales that way, but I can’t figure out how to reach the readers who are still reading paperbacks.
You have great covers. They carry a theme and your brand with them. How does your book cover creation process work? Do you hand over the basic theme or do you have more of a hands-on approach? Do you get your readers involved in its development?
I was hiring someone to make my covers for me and then decided to do them myself. I love designing covers and it gives me a break from writing. If I didn’t have some distractions, I would write all the time. Well, except when I’m reading, walking on the beach or painting.
You have several great book trailers. (See links below.) They look very professional. Do you know how much impact they have had on your book’s success? Tell us about the process that you used to create your trailers? Do you use the trailer in your character development? Are the pictures and background the way you see your characters and scenes?
I have been disappointed in the trailers. I think they’re really cool and I paid through the nose to have them done, but I’m not sure they have helped my sales.
Many of your novels have been converted into audio books. What has been the impact on your regular sales? Has the audio books gained a new audience for you?
I have been surprised at how well the audio books have done. The narrators are amazing, especially Duane Sharp who narrated Little Boy Brave and Terror on the Beach. I had a hard time finding anyone to do Terror on the Beach. It’s, well, let’s put it this way. You think Hannibal Lector was a bad dude? He was a pussy cat compared to Twoon. Duane Sharp did the voices so well that you would believe an eighty year old woman is speaking when he does the voice for Dr. Anna, the psychiatrist, who is in her eighties.
Between your book writing, blogging, marketing, family and all the other things that can get in your way, how do you manage your time? Do you have a set schedule or do you sort of play it by ear?
I would never put myself on a schedule. I hear other writers talk about getting up at a certain time, writing 1500 words a day, etc. For me, the creative process doesn’t work that way. It comes when it comes. I might wake up at 2:00 a.m. with my book calling to me and write for four hours and then go back to bed. I might go for days without writing and then write 24 hours straight, taking time out to eat. Then I might sleep for 14 hours.
What has been your experience in giving your books away free? Have you been involved in any other type of giveaways and how did that work out? What was your main goal in doing this? Did you run into any obstacles?
I have had good luck with freebies. I’ve found that, once the promotion is over, I’ll get some sales for a few days. Giving away free Kindle books is a no brainer. It’s free promotion.
Do you maintain a reader list? What are the methods you use to find your readers and create the list and the relationship? Do you use social media, forums, newsletters and/or support groups to build your list?
I don’t do a list. I know I would probably do better with the sales if I did, but I don’t bother.
You have a great blog. You do a great job keeping readers informed, marketing your books and providing useful information to help other writers. What is your primary goal? And where in the world do you find the time to create great novels, take care of the social media and maintain your blog?
I’m retired. I didn’t start writing until I retired. I have plenty of time for everything. It’s wonderful. I love my life!
Author's Book List
Hermit's Cove
Born in Hollywood, Brian is the son of a narcisistic mother and a workaholic father. He is raised by a nanny, Feeling alone allof his life, he joins the army and is sent to Vietnam where he makes fast friends with Jeff, who is killed in action. As he is dying, Jeff asks Brian to make a promise: "Go to Satsuma, Florida...find Molly...help her run Hermit's Cove...take care of her, Brian."
When Brian returns home, his dad has died and his mother expects him to stay in Hollywood and take care of her. For the first time in his life, Brian defies his mother and is determined to fulfill his promise to his best friend.
When Brian and Molly meet, there is an instant attraction, which they both deny. Besides feeling guilty about his feelings for his best friend's finance, Brian also has survivors guilt and suffers from PTSD, involving flashbacks. He believes he is not fit to be loved b anyone.
Things become complicated when Corrine, a wild young woman from Texas who has stolen her daddy's car, and a man called Bulldog whom Brian met in Vietnam, show up at Hermit's Cove.
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Out of Phase
Ashley dies in 1973 and is reincarnated in 3037 when technology has gone too far. Meeting a wise woman named Irene, and befriended by a cave/jellyfish-like creature, Ashley reluctantly accepts her role as a savior of mankind. When she meets her universal soul mate, Joe, together they travel through time and space, going back to correct events leading up to the near distruction of humanity. This is a condensed version of 3037 and Time and Time Again, merged together.
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Little Boy Brave
Billy is only eight years old, but has already had a rough life. He never knew his mama, she died giving birth. His daddy married Rose, when Billy was five years old. Both Rose and his daddy drank and fought continuously. Rose was very abusive to Billy. During a camping trip, planned to bring the family together, Billy sees that things will never change. He decides to run away. Packing his tent in the middle of the night, he hikes through the mountains, facing many challenges before reuniting with his daddy.
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Time and Time Again
- The sequel to 3037The cave is back and, once again, Ashley and Joe are exploring the universe. The get separated in a time warp, after the cave has left them. When Ashley finds Joe, he is an old man in a rest home. When Irene catches up with them, she tell them that they have to make a difficult choice. They make the right choice and the cave comes back to take them on an unusual journey. Ashley finds out that she is able to communicate with the cave thing and that it is a very spiritual journey.
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Audible
3037
The year is 3037 and technology has come a long ways. There are no more computers. Now everything is implanted directly into the brain and the government is using these implants to control the people. It is up to Ashley, the heroine to come from the past and save mankind.
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Double Shock
Ramona, a battered wife, plans to kill her husband and make it look like an accident. After his death, while going through his belongings, she finds papers he has written that make no sense. When her mama commits suicide, she finds her mama’s diaries. The diaries begin just before Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. Ramona is amazed at what she learns about her mama, the sheriff, and the whole town of Addison, Georgia, where she lives.
Ramona is falling in love with the sheriff, but is terrified he will discover that her husband’s death wasn’t an accident. The town’s wealthiest man wants to buy the shack that Ramona and her husband, Jake, lived in, and is willing to pay double what it’s worth. The doctor that Ramona works for is trying to get her to leave town. Her landlord is found snooping in Ramona’s apartment. She doesn’t know who she can trust.
Book Trailer: Double Shock
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The Christmas Tree Inheritance
Joanie, a struggling college student, inherits a Christmas tree from her great-aunt, who was very wealthy. Joanie would have preferred money to pay for tuition and books. The tree is ratty and ugly. Joanie and her mama decide to put the tree up for Christmas this year, and then throw it away.
The tree will not let Joanie, her mama, or her mama’s boyfriend string new lights on it. Every time they try, the lights explode. Ornaments sit in the same box the tree was in. When they decorate the tree with these ornaments, it lights up and becomes beautiful. Joanie discovers that if she focuses on an ornament, she is taken to another time and place.
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She's Gone
Trying to find a much needed job, Amy can't believe her luck. A prominant psychiatrist hires her to take his little girl, Jenny, on a train to spend the summer with her grandparents. The salary is good and it is a low stress job, or so Amy believes. When the little girl is missing, Amy is questioned by the FBI. She is terrified of being arrested. No one believes her and no one turns out to be who they say they are.
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Southern Greed
Having led a sheltered life—except for a major trauma—twenty-three-year-old Belinda easily falls in love with the handsome, suave Adam. He talks her into running a scam. An extremely wealthy woman is dying and wants to find her granddaughter, who disappeared at three years old. Belinda agrees to pretend to be Kathy, the granddaughter, but while exploring the mansion she has flashbacks and wonders if she really is Kathy.
After she marries Adam, his actions sometimes indicate that it was only for the inheritance. Kathy suspects that her grandmother is being poisoned. She doesn’t know who to trust in the household: her grandmother’s doctor, the nurse, the chef, the memoirist, even her husband. When her grandmother makes Kathy the sole beneficiary of her will, the lawyer includes a stipulation to protect Kathy from any fortune hunters. She now believes she is safe. But is she?
Book Trailer: Southern Greed
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A Life of Confusion
This is my life as I remember and understand it. In this book I reveal my shame of growing up in poverty and the confusion of being punished after being sexually abused. I divulge my struggle with anorexia, my search for a place in the world, and the many careers I embarked upon: from the stripper pole to the oil fields, to the psychiatrist’s couch, to the other side of the psychiatrist’s couch, to retirement, and finally to realizing my calling as an author.
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Monroe Beach
Judith McCain returns to Monroe Beach to help Sarah James, who sees women standing behind her in her mirror, that turn up dead on the beach. Sarah dreams of the killer but can’t make out his face. Then she sees herself behind her image in the mirror and fears for her life.
Judith is called upon by the FBI to profile a killer who rapes his victims, dresses them in a white robe, and then drowns them. Although she has no problem profiling the killer, Judith feels she is in over her head when it comes to helping Sarah. She calls Delilah, the older black woman with second sight, who is Dave Boudreau’s cook and housekeeper, to help her. They head down to Jacksonville, to Oceans Sands Psychiatric Center, and meet with Dr. Anna Stevens, who helped Julia, Judith’s sister, when she tried to commit suicide.
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JUPITER RETURNS
Jupiter, the psychopath from Portrait on Wicker, has escaped the institution for the criminally insane and is out for revenge against Judith McCain and Tracy Carr, who were responsible for putting Jupiter away. The convict’s rap sheet lengthens with identity theft, kidnapping, and murder of a loved one. Being a former cop, Jupiter knows what the police will do next. Will Judith and Tracy have enough time to figure out what Jupiter wants?
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Terror on the Beach
Someone is terrorizing people on the beach. Sarah James lives in a beach condo and owns a boutique close by. Her boyfriend, Robert Kola, is the sheriff of Monroe Beach. He is worried about Sarah and wants her to move in with him so he can protect her. She refuses. Things are happening to her that she can’t explain. She receives merchandise for her shop that she doesn’t remember ordering. Someone who smokes has put mileage on her car. When Sarah finds bloody clothes in the back of her closet, she thinks some fiend is trying to frame her for murder … or possibly, she realizes in terror, she herself committed the murders and doesn’t remember.
Book Trailer: Terror on the Beach
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Portrait On Wicker
In this sequel to Blood on White Wicker, Judith McCain is now a psychologist and returns to New Orleans in search of her missing sister, the artist, Julia. She uncovers a pedophile ring involving several judges and some upstanding pillows of the community, including her former foster father. She eventually teams up with her FBI friend, and the man who helped her remember her past when she was sixteen, John Shepherd. They attempt to find a judge they can trust. Judith is, once again, forced to face her past, and is in danger of becoming a victim, when she trusts the wrong person.
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I also started writing by writing things for my friends to perform. It was an early lesson about how difficult it is to do anything once you have cats to herd.
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