Around the Fire welcomes back author, journalist and photographer. JL Regan.

Hello, everyone! There are only a few more Around the Fires until 2024! Can you believe it? In December the festivities begin with Pete's birthday. This year we went to thesizzlebbq.com/ an Argentina BBQ. The food was amazing and the empanadas the best I ever had.  Our house is already into holiday mode. Decorations and the tree is up. A Christmas party will be happening soon. And guess what? I typed The End to a Christmas story I hope will publish next year. So that's me. How about you? Let me know in the comments or at [email protected] 
​Now on to the fire and today's gues. 

JL thanks to spending some time with us Around the Fire. I'm going to grab us some vanilla chai lattes. I know you enjoy them.  While I do let's begin by talking about your inspiration.  
Sometimes actors and actresses from way back when inspire me to create new names from their handsome/beautiful images.My friend, Isabelle Holland, a brilliant author of The Man Without a Face, inspired me as well.

I love the old movies especially from the 40s and early 50s. The characters seemed so elegant. I love scenes from dance clubs and the way they dressed. I grew up reading and loving books. What is one that you hold dear from your youth?
My favorite book from childhood is Charlotte's Web.

Let's chat about writing tough scenes. What are yours?
Hardest scenes to write are about the Holocaust for my historicals. It pains me to read the research of six million tortured and murdered souls.

A dark time in history, certainly. I read Corrie Ten Boom's The Hiding Place several times and struggle with how cruel people can be. Many aspiring authors fall into what we call traps. These can be unreal writing expectations that can set them up for failure. Like, trying to be perfect on the first draft. Firsts can be really messy. This is where its truly about the process. What would you share with new writers? 
TELLING with too much narrative and not enough showing.

Oh, that's a big one. It's when we describe the scene instead of immersing the reader in it by using the protagonist senses. For example, The room was cold. Instead something like Frost on the window in the unheated cabin sent shivers through Maddie. Howling winds carried snow in swirls past the decrepit porch with missing boards as she closed the door. There are many aids for writers. Speaking of which, what's the best money you've ever spent as an author?
My resource library so that I can pull a reference  off the shelf. Also subscribing to verified historical magazines.

My favorite resources are onestopforwriters.com Have you won anything.
I won a prize for a teenage story that was published in Japan many years ago.

Nice, early on recognition. How will you treat yourself after writing a story?
When my novel is under contract, I will feast on salmon and champagne.

JL, thank you for hanging around the fire with me today. Before you leave tell us more about your book.

Nothing in Margo Simmons’s life comes easy. She can’t claim the inheritance on a condo apartment her uncle has left to her until she is gainfully employed in a job for a year. She meets the man of her dreams but anguishes over a loving relationship because he is still emotionally tied to his deceased wife. With great difficulty, she becomes the guardian to a recently orphaned child she had been tutoring.   Margo evolves from an insecure, newbie elementary teacher into a woman determined to fulfill the secret desires locked in her heart. My story speaks to anyone who has suffered a loss and had to start over.
Tender and a bit of spice
www.amazon.com/Secret-Desires-J-L-Regen/dp/099840991X/
www.barnesandnoble.com/w/secret-desires-j-l-regen/1125516296?ean=2940165390814

About Joan 
As a journalist, several of Joan's trips overseas inspired her photography. In fact, she was runner up for a Time Out Magazine cover. Her recent trips to Auschwitz and Madrid will be used as background for historical suspense novel series. When she isn't consulting on how to open your own enterprise, teaching English as a Second Language, and working on the next book in her suspense series, she can be found on a yoga mat or in a ballet class. She adores horses but has little time to ride these days.
She is proud to announce that her entrepreneurial training handbook, The Write Rules, is in the London Consortium of Libraries and Secret Desires was a runner up for best contemporary romance by Readers Choice.
Secret Desires is now in French.​