Welcome Back, Hope Toler Dougherty

Welcome Back, Hope Toler Dougherty!

Linda:  Thanks for joining me today. It’s nice to have you back again. Congratulations on your latest release, Forever Music. I love the cover. What was the inspiration for your story (besides being a musician yourself)?

Hope: I lived in Charlotte after grad school and taught English at York Technical College. I was young and single then. It’s fun to think of that time—the people I knew, the adventures I had, the guys I dated. It’s easy for me to think about romance when I think of Charlotte. Several of the scenes in Forever Music began with a kernel of truth from that time.

LM:  Your stories are all set in different locations. How do you decide where to put your characters?

Hope: My characters usually come first, and they let me know where they live. One book, however, started with the location. Mars…With Venus Rising is set in Mars, Pennsylvania, near Gibsonia where we used to live. It’s a quirky little town, and I thought it’d be fun to set a quirky story there.

LM: What sort of research did you have to do for Forever Music, and did you unearth any exceptionally intriguing tidbits?

Hope: Aside from what I’ve had to learn on the fly for motherhood, I have little medical knowledge. I had to interview a doctor for information about ulcers. I also interviewed an attorney and a retired judge for the law questions. Having grown up with Blue Laws, when most stores and services were closed on Sundays, I was surprised to learn that people can be served, arrested, and freed any day…even on Easter Sunday.

LM: You have done some fantastic things, including soloing a Cessna! What is one skill you wish you could learn?

Hope: Flying was a long time ago! I wish I knew how to play the banjo. I love blue grass music and am fascinated by the talent of people like Earl Scruggs, Bela Fleck, and Steve Martin. A banjo waits in my living room for me to begin lessons.

LM: Here are some quickies:

Hope:

Coffee or tea? Coffee unless I’m in Ireland!

Bicycling, walking, or driving?  Bicycling!

Mountains, lake, or ocean? We enjoy a sweet week at Dear Valley YMCA family camp on a lake in Pennsylvania every year, but I love the weeks we’ve spent together at Emerald Isle, NC.  Then again, I love the mountains! North Carolina is a wonderful place to live because we have all three vacation sites!

LM: What is your next project?

Hope: I have about four or five chapters on one of the brothers in Forever Music. He’s such a fun character to write, but now he’s being silent and not talking to me. Maybe he knows I’m focusing on his sister Josie’s story right now and waiting for my full attention!

LM: Where can folks find you on the web?

Hope: Here are my social media links. I love connecting with people and talking about books and writing, so please look me up. Thanks so much for having me, Linda!

Website/Blog: http://hopetolerdougherty.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AUTHORHOPETOLERDOUGHERTY/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/13941031.Hope_Dougherty
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/hopetdougherty/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/HopeTDougherty
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hopetolerdougherty/

About Forever Music

A battered heart needs healing.

A community needs rescuing.

A chartered course needs redirecting.

College history instructor, Josie Daniels, is good at mothering her three brothers, volunteering in her community, and getting over broken hearts, but meeting aloof, hotshot attorney Ches Windham challenges her nurturing, positive-thinking spirit. Josie longs to help Ches find his true purpose, but as his hidden talents and true personality emerge, will she be able to withstand his potent charms, or will she lose her heart in the process?

A rising star in his law firm, Ches Windham is good at keeping secrets. He’s always been the good son, following his father’s will to become an attorney and playing the game for a fast track to partnering with a law firm. Lately, though his life’s path has lost whatever luster it had—all because of his unlikely, and unacceptable, friendship with Josie. He struggles between the life he’s prepared for and the one calling to him now. Opposing his father has never been an option, and spending time with Josie can’t be one. The more he’s with her, however, the more he wants to be.

When a crisis tarnishes his golden future and secrets are revealed, Ches is forced to reexamine the trajectory of his life. Will he choose the path his father hammered out for him or the path that speaks to his heart?

Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/2UdYjSp

Talkshow Thursday: Meet Hope Dougherty

Talkshow Thursday: Meet Hope Dougherty

Linda:  Thanks for joining me today. You recently published your third book, Rescued Hearts, which sounds very intriguing! Where did you get your inspiration for the story?

Hope: Thank you, Linda. I live out in the country and ride my bike on two-lane roads. One afternoon, I took a detour off my regular route onto a dirt path. The lane meanders by the location of where a farm house once stood. Trees, bushes, and a couple of shelters have been left behind.

As I passed the lonely-looking spot, a creepy sensation tickled the back of my neck. My imagination kicked into gear. What if a bike rider rode by an abandoned house? What if she saw a kitten entangled in a honeysuckle vine at the porch steps? What if, while she tried to free the kitten, someone grabbed her and dragged her inside?

Those questions continued popping up in my mind. I began seeing the characters, then hearing them speak. Those questions led to the first chapter of Rescued Hearts.

LM: How do you come up with your characters? Are they based on any real people in your life?

Hope: The characters for Rescued Hearts appeared as I began to answer some of the questions to the previous questions. The characters aren’t based on people I know, but they do have some characteristics of family members or friends. For example, two characters enjoy carving objects from wood. My father is a wood carver.

LM: Research is an important part of the writing process. Do you have an interesting research incident to share?

Hope: Because I didn’t know anything about guns or undercover police work, I attended the Writers’ Police Academy. What a great weekend of learning from knowledgeable people including FBI agents, EMT workers, and undercover policemen. I also interviewed my local sheriff and several undercover deputies. They were all helpful, generous, and patient especially since I hadn’t published anything in fiction at the time and didn’t have an agent either.

LM: Fun! I've always wanted to attend one of those weekends. What do you do to prepare yourself for writing? For example do you listen to music or set up in a specific place?

Hope: I like quiet when I write. I’ve tried writing in public places, but I’m too much of a people watcher to be productive in coffee shops. I write from my desk in the corner of our bonus room or on our back porch. I pray for God’s guidance and help, then I’m off to the story world!

LM: You’re from Eastern North Carolina, a beautiful area of the country. If money were no object, what is your idea of the ultimate vacation?

Hope: I’d love to take another home exchange to Ireland or visit Italy for the first time. I also want to do a bicycle tour in Vermont and paddle boat down the Mississippi River. The best vacation I’ve had in a long time, however, happened two summers ago. My husband and I splurged and rented a house for a week right on a North Carolina beach. We and our four adult children read books, played board games, played cards, put a puzzle together, swam in the ocean, and relaxed the whole time. I would choose that vacation again, for sure!

LM: The random facts about you on your website list include lots of intriguing things. What’s left on your bucket list to learn or do?

Hope: Oh, fun question. I’d love to learn to play the banjo. I already play the piano, clarinet, and dulcimer. I love blue grass music, so learning the banjo would be fun.

LM: Good luck with that. What is your next project?

Hope: I’m working on a sweet romance set in Charlotte. No guns in this story!

LM: LOL! Where can folks find you on the web?

Hope: Thanks so much for having me, Linda. I love connecting with people, so I hope your readers will look for me. Here are my social media links:

Website: http://hopetolerdougherty.com/

Facebook:  www.facebook.com/hope.t.dougherty

Twitter: @HopeTDougherty) | Twitter 

Pinterest:  www.pinterest.com/hopetdougherty/

Goodreads:  www.goodreads.com/author/show/13941031.Hope_Dougherty