Award winning, multi-published author, CH Admirand confesses that one of her writing quirks is to include bits and pieces of her ancestors and ancestry in all of her books, She names her characters after family or friends and even the castle on her website is the ancestral home of her Purcell ancestors, Loughmoe Castle in Tipperary, Ireland. Today she gives BYS an exclusive interview to share with readers what went between the sheets of A GIFT FROM HOME book 4 in her, award-winning on-going Irish Western Series available now from Five Star Expressions.

BYS: What went Between the Sheets of this book? Either what was happening in your life when you wrote it, or what was with the book as you wrote it.

CH: I wrote A GIFT FROM HOME over a year ago and turned it in last April. I started the book two years ago, but had to put it on the back burner because of edits for another book, extra hours at my day job, and my mother's health. I don't get a whole lot of sleep when I'm on deadline because I have to get up at 5 AM in order to spend a couple of hours writing before work, and if I've got an ounce of creativity left in me after work, then I'll sit down and keep going. AGFH is a special book for me, it's John Reilly's story. If you've read the first three books, you'll know who he is. The beginning just came to me in a rush one day. It starts over in Ireland, and I love it. I have been wondering when Aiden or Flynn will start bugging me to tell their stories, though. The heroine in this story is named for my daughter Jessi.

BYS: Take us through a typical writing day and your creative process.

CH: My "writing days" would be on the weekends...when I should be grocery shopping or cleaning the house...I try to get up way before everyone else (yeah, my darlings are still all living with us which at their ages mean a lot of coming and going at very odd hours) and write when the house is quiet. It's my favorite time of the day. As they wake up, and come into the kitchen, where I've been writing since I bought a laptop last fall, they'll start to talk to me and depending on how the book is going, I'll either answer or grumble at them. They'll either ply me with tea or food if they think I need it. They're great!

If I get to a tough spot and run out of words, I get up and put on the hot water for tea and head to the basement to throw in a load of wash or wash the dishes. Both chores are mindless and I can do either without thinking which gives my brain a chance to wander, usually I know exactly what I want to write about when I sit back down at my computer. I do have a lovely office filled with research books, a desktop computer, promo, but I really, really needs someone (me, I guess) to straighten it out. I'm a believer in the art of Feng Shui and right now EVERYTHING is wrong in there...my fountain needs water, I still haven't unpacked from the trip to RWA that got canceled when my mom was rushed to the hospital. So until I find a day when I have absolutely NOTHING to do, I'll keep working at the kitchen table.

BYS: Are you a visual writer? Do you see scenes and characters in your head? Or do you hear the characters voices?

CH: All of the above. Usually the characters of the next book I'm going to write wake me up in the middle of the night arguing, demanding that I start writing their story. The heroine in the second book in my new contemporary Western trilogy woke me up last week, calling the hero cupcake...needless to say, he was not amused. It's complicated trying explain to people who don't hear, see and live with the voices.

BYS: What is your opinion of critique groups? Do you find them helpful?

CH: I've belonged to two critique groups over the years and have found out the hard way that they just don't work for me. I do have a couple of writer friends that I can brainstorm with if I need to and have learned not to drive while brainstorming.

BYS: How is your family affected by your writing career?

CH: My family is absolutely fabulous and has been since I started writing for publication. They are so supportive of my need to write and just roll with the deadlines, mood swings, and my need to tell them what my characters are doing. At first my husband and our sons had NO idea who I was talking about, but our daughter knew exactly who I was talking about. She's read some of my books in the beginning stages and likes to play devil's advocate asking me questions, I'm not ready to answer; it makes me work harder.

My guys are used to me asking for help, positioning them and asking them to deliver a right cross, or sucker punch while I step into the middle. It helps to choreograph fight scenes with real people and to be able to know exactly where my 5'4" heroine would get hit if she stepped into the middle of a fist fight to stop it.

Fifteen years ago, our three kids were 11, 9 and 7, so they got used to pizza or grilled cheese and tomato soup for dinner when whatever story I was writing had me by the throat. I couldn't write if I didn't have their unconditional support, especially through all those years of rejection. My family is my rock, they totally ground me, and I'd be lost without them.

BYS: Were you an avid reader as a child? What did you like to read?

CH: I've always loved to read and as far back as I can remember, I've always devoured books. My parents gave me the gift of books. We had a huge closet that was supposed to be a spare bathroom, but my parents didn't have the extra money at the time they built our house, so it became our library...three walls of bookshelves, floor to ceiling. I used to put a couple of blankets on the floor, would grab as many books as I could, and immerse myself in worlds far away, in times long forgotten. I was in heaven! I read all of the childhood classics, but remember being very partial to THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS and RABBIT HILL as a youngster.

BYS: Do you have time to read now? What authors do you read?

CH: I usually go to bed with a book in my hand, whether or not I read one chapter or half a book, depends on what kind of a day I've had and how tired my darling hubby is. LOL! I'm a HUGE Nora Roberts fan and have been since I read BORN IN FIRE in 1995. I have every book she's ever written...I love Sherrilyn Kenyon, Christina Skye, Sandra Hill, Julie Garwood and Linda Howard.

BYS: How important is self promotion in today's publishing market and what do you do to promote your books?

CH: Self promotion is imperative in today's market, but how authors promote themselves is constantly changing. You have to keep on top of what avenues of promotion are out there. I'm a hosted author at BYS and TRS, I have a website, I blog (when I'm not on deadline or dealing with my mom's health issues), I have an author page at amazon.com, twitter page, facebook and myspace pages, a newsletter. I belong to RWA, RWA-NYC and Liberty States Fiction Writers, and attend RT's Booklovers Convention and RWA as often as possible. Some years, it wasn't possible to attend both, due to where they were located. I've also attended smaller conferences as well over the years. When I can, I attend ComicCon, NYC’s Book Expo and have attended NAIBA and the ALA. None of the above includes, the money spent on bookmarks, booklets, postcards, pens, etc.

BYS: What are you working on now?

CH: I just turned in the copyedits for my March 2011 book from Sourcebooks: THE SECRET LIFE OF COWBOYS: TYLER. It's my 10th book and my debut in mass market paperback. I turned in the partial for book two THE SECRET LIFE OF COWBOYS: DYLAN and am expecting a contract this week. I'm waiting for the pub date for the print version of the second book in my Medieval Trilogy: THE SAXON BRIDE, and this December the first book in that trilogy: THE LORD OF MEREWOOD KEEP is going to be released in Audio! It's been a busy year for me.

BYS: What advice do you have for aspiring writers? And how did you keep your spirits up until the first book was published?

CH: NEVER EVER GIVE UP!!! You never know just how close to publishing you are if you do. You could be on the verge of getting "the call," but if you give up, you'll never know. Finish writing the book, no matter what. Life gets in the way, but if writing is in your heart, you owe it to yourself and your gift to keep plugging and moving forward.

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