Tiny or Not So Tiny, Ane Mulligan Talks About Tiny Houses!

I love tiny houses. But I'll be honest. I've never actually been in one. Maybe I just love the idea of a tiny house. However, my in-laws have a single wide trailer on a lake in Minnesota that feels very much like I could live there comfortably with my husband and beagles (and hedgehogs, can't forget the pigs!) So I think I could do it. 

My purging obsession of the past few years is kind of in response to this feeling. I don't want to be surrounded by stuff that I don't use/need any more! Ideally, I think we'd do great in an under 600 sq ft home with two bedrooms. (Gotta have room for drop in guests.) 

I know Zula could not do a tiny house. But Fern would adore a micro tiny 184 sq ft one!

Ane Mulligan is on the hot seat today. She has written about a tiny house and I want to pick her brain. So come along for the ride. 

Q: Though I've not read your story yet, Ane. I'm intrigued. How did you come to write about tiny house living? 

A: I've long been fascinated with tiny houses. I watch HGTV a lot, don't ask me why. I think I could easily live in one. After all, I'm a writer. I work in a small space. It's in my mind where I really live. That's where most of my friends live, and the others are all in cyberspace. Okay, I do have some very real flesh-and-blood friends, lest y'all get worried. But my fictional friends and I could live well in a tiny house.

The mayor of my town (Sugar Hill, GA) has been after me to set a story in Sugar Hill. I decided to combine those, then when some writing pals wanted to do a collection of novellas, I tossed them the idea of a tiny house being the unifier of the stories. Asfter some HGTV viewing, they became fascinated, too.

Q: In doing your research you have to have discovered some interesting details, please share!

A: I'd watched a couple of episodes where the buyer was a traveling nurse. I decided that's what my character should be. I should have researched the job more than the house, because in the end, it didn't work. However, they appear in my story.

As far as the tiny houses, I've got pictures of so many that I love, I'm trying to talk the hubs into one. But I don't think it's going to work. So I guess my tiny house living will be in my mind. See answer number 1.

Q: Do any of the other authors have tiny house history or plans? 

A: Yes! Kimberli S. McKay and her husband have decided they are going to build one in the mountains as their getaway. I feel so motherly.

Q: Anything different about writing a tiny house scene verses a traditional home like Claire's? 

A: Definitely. But, most of my scenes take place in the hospital instead of her tiny house. When the hero comes for a tour, it's over pretty fast. I mean, in 300 square feet, it doesn't take long to describe it.

Q: You have written a series, have a new release that is more political in nature, have written a novella and a cookbook, what has been the most challenging of these and why? 

A: For a long time, people in the industry kept talking about staying in one genre, but after querying my street team, I find they read in all genres. And they seem to like what I've done.

But I will say, the most challenging is writing romance. Love is Sweeter in Sugar Hill is a romance. And from my crit partner, Genghis Griep, I found out I needed some real lessons on writing romance. Some of her comments in critiques were hilarious! Okay, so I learned … and turned out a story that has drawn a few sighs. Whew!

Coming Home ~ A Tiny House Collection

Tiny houses are all the rage these days, but what can you do with something so small? Here are seven stories about people chasing their dreams, making fresh starts, finding love, stumbling upon forgiveness, and embarking upon new adventures in tiny houses. Travel with them around the country in this big novella collection.

Love is Sweeter in Sugar Hill: She has a tiny house. He lives in a mansion. She vows to charge a doctor with malpractice. His job depends on that doctor's finances. Will love find a way?

Kayla's Challenge: She was one "I do" short of marrying the man her pushy parents chose for her. Now, half a country away, she needs a tiny house to finally be free.

If These Walls Could Talk: Both claim to have inherited the same Queen Anne until an unexpected blessing changes everything.

First Love: Betrayed by her husband and desperate for healing, she can only move forward by going back home.

Dash of Pepper: His responsibilities tie him to the small town he loves, but her career plans will lead her to the big city. Will he cut his roots for her or will she clip her wings for him?

Big Love: Homelessness expanded her world and constricted his. Now she needs his help, but he only remembers the pain. Can they find big love in a tiny house?

The Light Holding Her: Friends since childhood. She's being stalked. He's in danger. Is their faith big enough to carry them through the trials into a deeper relationship?

While a large, floppy straw hat is her favorite, award-winning author Ane Mulligan has worn many: hairdresser, legislative affairs director (that's a fancy name for a lobbyist), CEO of a Community Theatre group, playwright, humor columnist, and novelist. She firmly believes coffee and chocolate are two of the four major food groups. Ane resides in Sugar Hill, GA, with her artist husband. You can find her on her website, Amazon Author page, Novel Rocket, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and Google+.

Serials and Scenarios ~ Where I Was...Am...Uhhhh. Where I Visited

So. I wrote up a bit at Novel Rocket. It's all about the basics. The really, really bottom line stuff one needs to write a book. If you are so inclined, head over and check it out. 


http://www.novelrocket.com/2017/04/nearly-everything-i-need-to-write-book.html

Serials and Scenarios ~ My First Podcast!

Michelle and I were guests on Writers & Authors on Fire a few weeks ago. That conversation is now published. Here's the link. http://bit.ly/2dVDvuY This was so fun. We laughed quite a bit and John Vonhof was VERY PATIENT!!! We actually manage to give some tips and helpful advice along the way. 

So much fun. It's an hour. So if you are cleaning or cooking or folding laundry (my favorite times to listen to podcasts) pop it on and enjoy! 

Serials and Scenarios ~ The Picture of Perseverance ~ Ane Mulligan ~ Interviewed

While a large, floppy straw hat is her favorite, Ane has worn many different ones: hairdresser, legislative affairs director (that's a fancy name for a lobbyist), drama director, playwright, humor columnist, and novelist. Her lifetime experience provides a plethora of fodder for her Southern-fried fiction (try saying that three times fast). She firmly believes coffee and chocolate are two of the four major food groups. President of the award-winning literary site, Novel Rocket, Ane resides in Suwanee, GA, with her artist husband, her chef son, and two dogs of Biblical proportion. You can find Ane on her Southern-fried Fiction website, Google+, Facebook, Goodreads, Twitter, and Pinterest.

Your journey to published author is a picture of stick-to-itiveness. Share the top most valuable things you've learned along the way in the following areas. 

Spiritually:

The Lord is the Keeper of Dreams. If He has placed that dream in your heart, TRUST Him.

About yourself:

That I could stick with it for so many years without giving up.

About writing: 

Motivation is the key to plotting and characterization. If we have the core motivation, a universal one that readers can relate to, the characterization and plotting will grow from that.

About sticking with it:

The only person who fails is the one who gives up, and then remember to factor in God’s timing. I got my work publishable (according to 4 different acquisitions editors) six or seven years before I got published.  

You wear several hats in Christian publishing and writing. You are a mentor to many, a critique partner, editor, columnist....you get it, my fingers are getting overwhelmed typing now. How do you juggle your duties and responsibilities and keep that lovely smile upon your face? 

You hit it when you said juggle. I have a priorities list, it’s following it that’s hard. LOL I am ADD and a people person. I’ve learned to turn off my email during my writing hours. It’s too hard to ignore. The rest seems to fall into place fairly easily. I’ve found the busier I am, the more organized I am.

What has investing in Christian publishing done for you? 

It’s enriched my life with friendships. I’ve had the privilege of promoting some wonderful, life-changing books. It’s also given me a ton of business networking relationships. That hasn’t hurt my own book promotion.

Where did your inspiration for your series come from?  

From an overheard conversation. Yes, I’ll admit it. I eavesdrop. Most writers do! I heard a couple of young women complaining about their husbands. From those small snippets of conversation, a what if was born. What if a 40-something’s marriage had grown too comfortable; that she felt like nothing more than a sheet-changer, a towel-folder, a pancake-flipper? Fro there, Claire Bennett and the small village of Chapel Springs found life. Claire needed a BFF with a similar problem, and Patsy Kowalski jumped up and waved her hand.

Is there an Ane Mulligan clone in your series? Or do you find yourself completely woven into your stories. Share your thoughts, too, no a or b answers here. 

There are absolutely bits of me woven through my characters. Claire has my move-before-I-think tendency. Patsy has my ignore-it-and-it-will-go-away. But most of Claire came from a blending of three delightful women, who are thrilled with “their” Claire.

What has script/play writing done for your fiction writing skills? 

Nothing except knowing how to write dialogue. Oy vey, was that a hard transition! Show don’t tell? How do you tell a story without telling it? POV? What kind of acronym was that? Pop-out vehicle? Well, you get the idea. It took one long novel (which now lives with the dust bunnies beneath my bed) and several crit partners to complete my education.

If you could be a color from a crayon box or paint strip, which one would you be and why?  (feel free to describe or come up with a name:  (no need to run to Wal-Mart)

Red...it’s loud. I’m loud. I laugh too loud. I talk too loud. What’s left to say about that? LOL

Stripes, lace, polka dots or denim? Why? 

Stripes and polka dots on denim. Denim is soft. Lace scratches. Throwing stripes and polka dots together is flat out fun. But I usually do that in my earrings. I love wild earrings.

Strawberry, chocolate or vanilla? Why? 

I love them all, but vanilla is so rich and creamy. Oh. You’re not talking about ice cream? Well, in that case, strawberry because they’re colorful and make me smile.

If your book becomes a movie, drop some names, who would you choose to play your characters?

Definitely Diane Keaton for Claire. Her character in Baby Boom was where I got Claire’s first characteristics. Things just happened to her! Okay, now I have to make a confession. I don’t watch movies (or so rarely I don’t know who is in them) and I don’t watch TV. I read. Okay, I watch Downton Abbey and HGTV. Am I pathetic or what?

Dream location? Describe your perfect laid back oasis. 

The mountains with a lake view, or in other words: Chapel Springs. It’s exactly where I’d love to live.

You and I share a fondness for pooches. Please share one of your favorite doggy stories. (You can send a picture of a cutie if you'd like.) 

My favorite involves Shadrach (our first English mastiff) and a good friend, musician Frankie Aster (who also became a character in one of my books). When Frankie first met Shadrach, the beast scared Frankie to death by leaping in his face and woofing. That’s all he did, but a 220-pound woof is scary.

For ages, Frankie kept a good distance between him and Shad. But after a while, Shad moved closer. By then, we were sitting at the table, eating chips and salsa. Shad sat beside Frankie, watching every chip go into his mouth.

Finally, after coaxing and teasing Frankie for being a whus, I told him to offer Shadrach a chip from between his lips. Frankie looked at me like I was nuts! But finally, he did. Shad gently took it without even touching Frankie’s lips. From that moment on, they were the best of buddies.

Chapel Springs Revival

With a friend like Claire, you need a gurney, a mop, and a guardian angel.

Everybody in the small town of Chapel Springs, Georgia, knows best friends Claire and Patsy. It's impossible not to, what with Claire's zany antics and Patsy's self-appointed mission to keep her friend out of trouble. And trouble abounds. Chapel Springs has grown dilapidated and the tourist trade has slackened. With their livelihoods threatened, they join forces to revitalize the town. No one could have guessed the real issue needing restoration is their marriages.

With their personal lives in as much disarray as the town, Claire and Patsy embark on a mission of mishaps and miscommunication, determined to restore warmth to Chapel Springs —and their lives. That is if they can convince their husbands and the town council, led by two curmudgeons who would prefer to see Chapel Springs left in the fifties and closed to traffic.

Serials and Scenarios ~ Seriously, the Last Wrap Up Post AboutNaNoWriMo….

I never actually signed up for NaNoWriMo. And we didn't follow the directions. In NaNoWriMo you are supposed to crack out 50k words in the month of November.

That's about 1600ish words a day with a few days off. (if you are wondering what 1600 words looks like, this drivel right here, that you are reading, the whole column is probably about 400 (376 actual count) and clearly, I'm struggling…just sayin.)

That's a lotta words. Especially when you are trying to make them good ones, ya know? Our book, Out of the Frying Pan, went into NaNoWriMo with about 50k words already there with most of them spit-polished and shiny.

We need 80k for publishing purposes. (Drum roll….) We cracked out 21k in November leaving us with a mere 9000 words to go. I wrote a scene yesterday, as did Michelle, so now we are at 7.5. I also started writing a second scene. We have four more chapters to go to clean all the details up and at this point I think we are both so excited to finish we will have it cracked out very soon. We each only have five or six scenes to write. And the editing process will go pretty quick I think since we have several eyes who are offering to check it over for us once we are happy with the process.

Next? Get it published. Michelle has an agent who's shopping it. Here is my advice for any wannabe writers. Immerse yourself in the writing world for a decade or so. Learn everything you can, give away your time for free. Read a whole lot and review the work of others. Support your more talented friends who begin to publish. Then somehow attach yourself to at least one of them and weasel your way into being published by osmosis.

Sweet gig. Eh? Oh, and with the "1 Million Dollars" Michelle and I will split on the publishing of our book, we will probably be able to buy each other a fancy latte and maybe a gooey treat of some sort and if it's a really great advance, one for each of our husbands. Probably not the kids. But they will all get a copy of the book.

Serials and Scenarios ~ NaNoWriMo Adventure

 Michelle and I are cracking out this book now. Four scenes down and others mapped out. We ran into some serious road blockage trying to get the many characters to cooperate and get in the places we need them to be in to get to the ending we have charted. But I think we've got it. About 25 K more to go and all in this month. I'm glad I'm not signed up for the official challenge of 50K NaNoWriMo, though.