Looking Out The Window: Zoe McCarthy Talks About The Putting Green Whisperer, Her New Book. Gives Away A Kindle Copy Of One Of Her Other Books.
A Warm Welcome to Zoe McCarthy
Zoe will give away a Kindle copy of either The Invisible Woman in the Red Dress, Calculated Risk or Gift of the Magpie. To enter to win leave a comment and an email address below.
Hi Zoe, first, tell us a little about yourself.
My passions are being creative, being analytical, and writing stories. I earned a BA in mathematics and became an actuary for twenty-five years. I grew up a Coast Guard brat. From ages seven through ten, I lived in Haiti during the rise of Papa Doc. When I was a teen, home was Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba. I was there during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
During a summer break from the University of South Florida, I lived in Thailand while the Vietnam war raged. Since my early forties, I’ve loved the Lord, and have taught adult Bible studies and was a BSF children’s leader. Now, I teach the Community Bible Study. I live with my husband on a hill in the Blue Ridge Mountains. We enjoy exploring the mountains and valleys and canoeing the New River. I have two sons and 6 grandchildren.
It sounds as though your past has given you some interesting book fodder. Were you an avid reader as a child? If so, what did you read?
I was not an avid reader as a child. As a teen, I read Crime and Punishment twice, but it was during my twenties that I discovered the joy of reading novels. I worked in a library between the births of my sons and copied a patron’s children’s reading list. I read the books I’d missed reading as a child. Although I didn’t start out as a reader as a child, I’ve always written stories in my mind and on paper.
Tell us about your latest book.
As a teen, Allie Masterson experienced two tragedies. Her mother died and her pro-golfer father, in his inability to handle his grief and guilt, pawned her off to her aunt. Allie has stockpiled defenses around her to prevent opening old wounds or incurring new injuries. She immerses herself in golf, something she’s good at and something that doesn’t let her down.
Allie is watchful of others’ motives and relies on herself. But all this changes when she and fellow caddy Shoo Leonard become best friends, a relationship she wishes was something more.
What inspired you to write this particular book?
John and I joined my sister and my brother-in-law at a PGA seniors golf tournament at Rock Barn Country Club and Spa in Conover, NC. My sister and I sat on the fifteenth green and watched the over-age-fifty golfers putt and move on to the next tee. In one group, a male and a female caddy stood side by side on the edge of the green with their backs to us.
The two young caddies talked quietly while their players prepared to putt. He was tall, and she was petite with her blond ponytail protruding from her pink ball cap. My heart experienced a sappy moment, and romantic what-ifs cluttered my mind. I turned to my sister, pointed at the caddies, and said, “My next book will be about those two caddies.”
What do you love about this book? And what do you hope readers will tell others about it?
Her father being a pro golfer, her love for the sport, and her caddying job associates Allie with males. I enjoy that guys are romantically drawn to Allie, except Shoo, the caddy destined for pro golf and the one she is painfully in love with. Shoo is content to be Allie’s best friend. I like the social play between the guys and feisty but loyal Allie. Although the book has a golf background, I hope readers will tell others that the book is humorous, tender, and full of relationships for Allie’s growth, such as with her father, her stepmother, Shoo, the other caddies, Shoo’s family, and Jesus.
Introduce us to the main character in your new book.
Readers, I’d like you to meet Allie Masterson. Allie would you share with us what you want to accomplish physically?
Sure. I’m glad Dad asked me to caddy for him on the PGA Seniors Tour, but when that ends, I want to teach kids in a good golf program. Some problems have come up, and I might have to research youth golf programs sooner than I thought.
What do you think about your fellow caddy Shoo Leonard?
Man, I was afraid you’d ask me that. The great thing about Shoo is he has this unbelievable gift to read the greens. Guys who listen to his directions sink their putts. I misjudged Shoo at first because of our past history when we were kids, but now I’ll do anything to help him make it into the PGA. We’re fist-bumping buddies. And that’s a huge problem.
In three words describe your style of writing.
Humor. Tenderness. Relationships.
What is your writing schedule and where do you write?
When we moved from Richmond, Virginia to the Blue Ridge Mountains, I planned to write full-time. My supportive husband, gave me permission to design my office in the house plans.
It’s upstairs with three large picture windows across one side that look out over fields and mountains. My office has three writing stations, a table, a desk, and a recliner. I work five days a week (and an occasional Saturday), writing, developing writing workshops, and performing the tasks that come with a writing platform and marketing. I work in my office from nine to six, when my husband calls “I need a sous chef!” My husband has recently become my marketing manager and CFO.
Are you a plotter or a pantzer?
I use the Hero’s Journey to plot all the stages of my hero and heroine’s journey, then I write the story by the seat of my pants.
What are you working on right now?
I'm well into completing Book 2 of the Twisty Creek series for which The Invisible Woman in a Red Dress is Book 1. Both stories take place in Twisty Creek, a fictional spot in the Virginia Blue Ridge Mountains. Also, I'm working on a novella for a 2019 Valentine Day's collection, which will host five authors’ Valentine’s Day romances. My nonfiction book, Tailor Your Fiction Manuscript in 30 Days, is coming out soon, and I’m preparing to promote that book.
More about The Putting Green Whisperer
Suddenly unemployed, Allie Masterson returns home to Cary, North Carolina where she caddies for her father on the PGA Seniors Tour. There, she encounters a man who possesses an alluring gift of reading the contours of the green. Fascinated with his uncanny ability, Allie is excited to meet the Green Whisperer—until she discovers that the easygoing caddy is actually Shoo Leonard, the boy who teased her relentlessly when they were kids. Despite Allie’s reservations, when Shoo is faced with having to overcome a hand injury, she agrees to use her sport science degree to become his trainer...and then she falls for him.
Shoo Leonard is grateful to Allie for her singular determination to get him ready for the PGA tour, but he isn’t ready for anything more. Still raw from a broken engagement and focused on his career, he’s content to be her fist-bumping buddy…but then he falls for her.
What seems like a happily-ever-after on the horizon takes a turn when Allie decides she’s become a distraction to Shoo’s career. Is it time for her to step away or can The Putting Green Whisperer find the right words to make her stay?
Excerpt
What was that all about? Shoo stared at the retreating caddy, whose blonde ponytail protruding from the back of her golf cap danced wildly as she hurried off. He craned his neck to keep her in sight as she wove through the caddies on the cart path. Approaching him, she’d seemed like a girl on a mission. Her striking blue eyes, bright against her tanned skin, had focused on him, as if she’d rediscovered an old friend. No doubt about it, her smile had beamed at him. Then, bam! She’d done an about-face and slammed into the check-in table.
But he didn’t know her. Did he? He mentally scanned his female acquaintances. No match surfaced. Unlikely he’d have forgotten the petite blonde.
Buy The Putting Green Whisperer on Amazon
About The Invisible Woman in a Red Dress
Candace Parks's high school crush, star football player and prom king Trigg Alderman, is in Twisty Creek visiting his grandmother who lives next door to Candace’s family home. He doesn’t recognize her at first and remembers little about her. He’s not alone.
Candace’s rekindled attraction to Trigg adds unexpected complications to finding her passions.
Sorting her life out? How about nothing of the sort.
About Gift of the Magpie
After ten years, Amanda Larrowe's heart still smarts from the humiliating aftermath of their perfect high school Valentine’s Day date. He may have transformed into a handsome, amiable man, but his likeability doesn’t instill trust in Amanda’s heart. When Cam doesn’t recognize her on their first two encounters, she thinks it’s safe to be his fair-weather neighbor. Boy is she wrong.
About Calculated Risk
Nick LeCrone is a man too much Cisney Baldwin's opposite to interest her and too mild-mannered to make her overbearing father's "list." Now, Cisney fears Nick wants to take advantage of her vulnerable state over the holiday. Boy, is she wrong.
Nick wants little to do with Cisney. She drives him crazy with all her sticky notes and quirks. He extended an invitation because he felt sorry for her. Now he's stuck, and to make matters worse, his family thinks she's his perfect match. He'll do what he can to keep his distance, but there's just one problem--he's starting to believe Cisney's magnetism is stronger than he can resist.
A full-time writer and speaker, Zoe M. McCarthy writes contemporary Christian romances involving tenderness and humor. She is the author of The Invisible Woman in a Red Dress, Gift of the Magpie, and Calculated Risk. Believing opposites distract, Zoe creates heroes and heroines who learn to embrace their differences. Zoe and her husband live in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia.
Comments
It's my pleasure.
Joanie Walker