xWe'd like to offer a huge welcome to Claire Croxton, author of Redneck Ex You can reach Claire Croxton here: Web   Blog   Twitter   Facebook   Goodreads Redneck Ex by Claire Croxton With one twang of a banjo string, Summer Leigh Johnson's tidy, organized life in Barrow, Alaska is jolted back to the Ozarks when her coon-hunting, tobacco-chewing, bull-riding, redneck ex-husband asks for her help. She has two options: turn her back on him like he did to her eleven years ago, or help. Burdened with the curse of every southern woman--What Would Mama Do?--she goes to his aid. And what does she find? The man she fell in love with all those years ago and a second chance at love and family. The last time she gave her heart to Dwight, he flicked it aside like an empty can of Skoal. This time he's cradling it as gently as he would a speckled pup. It will take a lot more than Dwight's southern charm and good looks to convince Summer to stay. Buy the Book Redneck Ex: Amazon Kindle: US   UK Nook Paperback Meet Claire! Claire, firstly thank you for joining us! x Tell us about yourself... Howdy. Thanks so much for inviting me to your blog. My name is Claire Croxton. I write contemporary romance that I call soul-searching snark. My hope is that I’ll move you with heart-wrenching tales sprinkled with humor. Just like Dolly Parton in Steel Magnolias, laughter through tears is one of my favorite emotions. I’m married to a wonderful, patient man who supports and actually shows interest in my writing career. I’m a huge fan of cats, but have inherited a couple of dogs who are absolutely adorable. My friends break out pictures of their children. I show dog and cat pictures to everyone. Seriously, they’re so darn cute who wouldn’t want to see them? After spending years as a technical writer in northern Alaska, I decided to try my hand at fiction. I chucked aside my mukluks and headed to the Ozarks. While I miss the regular paycheck, I can say I don’t regret my decision. Besides, the New York Times is actively seeking the next bestseller, right? You moved from Alaska (cold) to Arkansas (hot). How did you find settling into a new state and adapting to a new life? Cold indeed. I lived in the northernmost community in North America, Barrow, Alaska. The temperatures are below freezing 324 days a year and it snows every month. I could see the Arctic Ocean from my living room window, but it was difficult to distinguish it from the tundra or the sky because everything is white and frozen. I loved it! I moved to Barrow to teach high school. School started in August and I’ll never forget the first day. It was 30 degrees Fahrenheit, there was enough snow on the ground for school to be cancelled in Arkansas and the Barrow students showed up in shorts and flip flops. I knew Barrow was the place for me. I was born and raised in the Ozarks in Northwest Arkansas and returned when my father became ill. I live in the family’s hunting cabin in the woods. It’s an ideal location to feed my writing muse—quiet, secluded, inspiring and hotter than blue blazes! How on earth I lived here as a child baffles me. The adjustment to the soaring temperatures hasn’t happened yet and I’ve been here for 3 years. I still have a house in Alaska—just north of Anchorage—and I try to go there every summer. What do you like to do in your spare time? Spare time? I have no concept of such a notion. Seems like I’m always doing something related to writing. I dabble at gardening. I get things going great guns and then a deadline hits and my garden goes wild. By the time I can get back to it, it’s beyond hope. When I get a moment or two, I like to read, cook, make quilts and I enjoy photography. I've just seen the most amazing Cheesecake recipe on your site and I see you love baking! (I'm a rubbish cook so I'm envious!) If you could have any dinner guest (alive or dead) who would it be and what would you cook them? What a great question! I decided to think on this and come back to answer it. I’m glad I did because once I answered question #5, I knew who I’d invite to dinner.  I’d have dinner with my father and my grandmothers. Everyone in my family was/are exceptional cooks. Daddy was famous for his coconut cream pie. His mother was known for her fried chicken. I always associate my mother’s mom with fruit. Every year she’d spend hours in a hot kitchen canning fresh peaches and making apple sauce. I’d fry up some chicken and bake a coconut cream pie along with all the other fixings. We’d set up plywood planks on saw horses in the middle of the yard and the whole family would gather around to hear Daddy and Grandma tell the tales of life in western Kansas and farming in the Missouri Ozarks. While they spun their yarns, the ice cream maker would be whirling as it mixed up a batch of peach ice cream.  Yep. That would be a good day. What motivated you to write and what inspiration do you use when writing? I come from a long line of storytellers. My grandmother and father were masters at holding people’s attention with one word. My brother can have you rolling on the floor laughing with one cock of the eyebrow. Trust me, I’ve tried it, but there’s no way I can reach their level of expertise.  I’m able to express myself better though writing; therefore, I write. As for inspiration, I find it everywhere. I like to walk in the woods on my farm. The springs babbling into the pond, the ducks quacking, the smell of watermelon wafting from the garden, it all works to ground and inspire me. Also, I have a wonderful group of friends. The NW Arkansas Writers Workshop meets every Thursday and we read and critique each others’ work. Those folks know what they’re talking about. A splinter group, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pen, has formed from the Thursday night meetings. “Five women authors, traveling together on the long and winding road to overnight success. And though the saying goes that happiness is the journey and not the destination, they believe it can be both.” The Sisterhood meets monthly for in-depth and extremely thorough reviews and critiques of a member’s work in progress. Their input and insight is priceless. What is your daily schedule when you're writing (or do you generally write every day)? My goal is to write every day, but I haven’t been able to do that for a while. I spend a lot of time with social media and promotion. I’ve yet to figure out a way to balance it all, but I’m confident I’ll get it under control soon! Your book, Redneck Ex is now available. What inspired you to write this particular story? Oddly enough, Redneck Ex was inspired by my ex-husband—a bull-riding, tobacco-chewing, guitar-playing redneck. We’d been divorced at least fifteen years with absolutely no contact. One day, I received an e-mail from him at my work account. He was a civilian contractor in Kosovo and needed my contact information for a background check. Apparently, the FBI needed to contact all his ex-wives. We started e-mailing each other and have become really good friends. Not something I ever thought possible. That’s where the similarities end. I sent Redneck Ex to my redneck ex (he’s now in Afghanistan) and asked him if he recognized himself in the story. His response was “Uh, no. That guy was way too romantic.” Although, he does think that Brad Pitt should play his part in the Redneck Ex movie. :) Is this your debut book or have your written previously? Redneck Ex is my debut book. I have another one, Santorini Sunset, being released by The Wild Rose Press on May 18, 2012.  Both are/will be available at The Wild Rose Press, Amazon and Barnes and Noble. What are you writing now and when is it out? I’m working on two stories at the moment. Ex-Ray is about Anne Sutton, a woman who escaped an abusive marriage by disappearing without a trace. She moves to Barrow, Alaska and becomes a 9-1-1 emergency dispatcher. The book is wrought with sexual tension (she falls in love with the new cop in town) and anxiety (she lives in fear that her husband will find her.) It was really important to me that Anne not be a victim.  She takes the lead from the beginning and of course the inevitable confrontation between her and Ray—the abusive husband—was soooo much fun to write! The other book I’m working on is called, Loch Lonnie.  My farm is in the middle of nowhere and yet strays always find their way to my doorstep. Not just dogs and cats either. We’ve had stray calves and horses show up. As a joke, we’ve decided the huge pond built by my father, Lonnie, is a stray vortex. Strays pop through and land on my deck. That got me to thinking and I thought it’d be fun for a hot Scottish dude to pop through the vortex. Come on, who wouldn’t see the fun in that?! So far, I’ve had a blast writing this story. I can’t wait to get back to it. And of course, I’ll need to go to Scotland to do some research. Thank you so much for your time, Claire. Its been a real pleasure having you!! Redneck Ex Giveaway Now to the Giveaway and your chance to get your hands on this fabulous new book! Claire is offering one PDF copy of Redneck Ex to one lucky reader. All you have to do is fill in the Rafflecopter details (a few are mandatory). Don't forget to keep checking back to retweet to gain more entries!! Read more »

read more: Author Interview and International Giveaway: Claire Croxton, author of Redneck Ex