Musa Author Interview: Patricia Yager Delagrange

Today I’m proud to present Patricia Yager Delagrange, yet another Musa author. She writes women’s fiction and her novel published by Musa is titled Moon Over Alcatraz. It’s an honour to have her here.

1. Can you tell us a bit about yourself?

I was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area in the small city of Alameda which is a man-made island with around 80,000 residents. I’m married and have a 17-year-old son and a 13-year-old daughter. Two 95-pound chocolate labs are also residents in our home, but my 1425-pound Friesian horse has to live up in the Oakland hills in a stall with a million dollar view.

2. When did you know you wanted to pursue writing as a career instead of as a hobby?

I’d been a stay-at-home mom for years and when my daughter came back from school one day she told me that one of her friends asked her why her mom didn’t work. I have always been an avid reader since I was about seven years old. I went to college because I loved to read and learn. A close friend once told me I should write a book. So, I went to the Apple store, purchased a MacBook and sat down and wrote my first book, Love to the First Power.

3. Who are some of the authors that inspired you to start writing?

I read anything that Debbie Macomber writes. I don’t even have to look at the title, I just buy it. Same goes for Danielle Steel, Richard Paul Evans, and Nicholas Sparks.

4. What inspired your book, Moon Over Alcatraz?

Moon Over Alcatraz is about a woman who loses her baby in child birth and how that affects her life with her husband. I wanted to show how one marriage was affected by tragedy. The relationship between a husband and wife, though it can be quite strong, has its limits because it is a union of two completely different individuals. And you never know how death affects you until it happens.

5. How much planning do you do before you start a novel?

I am more of a “fly by the seat of my pants” writer, as opposed to plotting out the entire book from beginning to end with a synopsis for every chapter. Generally, I know what I want the book to be about but how it unfolds I leave up to the writing process.

6. What part of the writing process do you find most challenging, and how have you made that easier for yourself?

The hardest part for me is ending the book. My first novel I wanted to end in tragedy and I was told it would never sell because readers only want HEA’s, happily ever afters. So, I changed it. I don’t believe life is like that, but I also know that lots of readers want to get out of the real world while they read and experience something that may make them smile, perhaps give them hope that the world can be a good place. So, HEA’s serve that purpose.

7. Why did you choose to go with an e-book publisher instead of a print publisher?

It appears that e-books aren’t going to be the wave of the future, they already ARE. Searching for an agent who then has to search for a publisher who wants your book is like wanting to be the next Academy Award Winning Actress. I want my book to be out there so the reader can decide whether it’s worth reading, not one agent who decides on the day they read my query letter that I may have potential.

8. How did you find Musa Publishing?
I read about Musa publishing in one of my Yahoo writer’s groups. They had a blurb about the latest news in publishing and there was Musa’s name and that they were launching in October 2011. I read about the people behind the name and was so impressed with their credentials that I decided to send them a query letter.

9. What is your favorite thing about being a Musa author?

I love the camaraderie between the people who run Musa and the authors. I’d never heard of such a thing and never dreamed that you could write e-mails back and forth with the individuals who would be publishing your book. Additionally, there is nothing hidden behind the Musa logo. If an author has a question, it is answered for all to read.

10. What are you working on next that readers can look forward to?

I have just finished my fourth novel, Brenda’s Wish. It’s about a divorced woman, raising her 17-year-old son in San Francisco, and how she and he deal with the death of her ex-husband after he’s murdered.

Bio:
Patricia was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, in the small city of Alameda. She studied at St. Mary’s College, a private institution where she majored in psychology, then she spent her junior year at the University of Madrid. She transferred to U.C. Santa Barbara where she received her Bachelor’s degree in Spanish and went on to acquire her Master’s degree in Education at Oregon State University.  She was employed as a Financial Aid Counselor at U.C. San Francisco, then worked in the corporate world of Price Waterhouse and Paine Webber before she married her husband James. They now have a son and a daughter and she writes every day, having just completed her fourth novel. Patricia writes contemporary fiction as well as women’s fiction.

You can buy a copy of Moon Over Alcatraz here for $4.99.

Thanks for stopping by everyone.