Interviewing Author Peggy McAloon

Interviewing Author Peggy McAloon

Q1. Tell me about yourself? 

A. I grew up in the 1950s in a small farming community in southern Iowa. After high school, I attended Patricia Stevens Finishing School in San Francisco in preparation for the Miss Iowa Pageant. I also attended the University of Northern Iowa focusing on business credit. As an adult, I completed the CBF Designation through the National Association of Credit Management and eventually went to work for that organization in Minneapolis as National Sales Manager. I wrote a resource guide “The Art of Business Credit Investigation.” I began writing fantasy to inspire “girl power” after retirement with the Elle Burton series and a few anthologies. I have written one book for 5-9 year-olds called “Cosmo Is Adopted.” It was actually written only for my adopted grandchildren, but their mother begged me to publish it to help others. I live on a lake in Wisconsin as a retiree and spend my free time with my husband while taking a few hours here and there to dabble in watercolors.

Q2. What are your favorite books to read?

A. I was one of those unfortunate kids who suffered abuse as a child. My escape was the library and all the fantasies that were popular in the ’50s. As an adult, I still love fantasy and mysteries. I read everything James Patterson writes.

Q3. When did you decide you were going to write a book?

A. I wrote the credit reference guide in the 1980s. My husband had been injured and couldn’t work. We had taken in my husband’s nephew and his family of five to help give them a break and get established in Minnesota. I now had nine people to feed and all the payments to make. 

I decided to write a book on nights and weekends because I needed to double my income to take care of everyone. It worked. The book grossed $54,000 in the first year of publication. Looking back, I have no idea how I stayed awake. I worked at my job and took care of my children every day. Then, I did research and wrote the book from 11 P.M. to 2 A.M. on weekdays and as much as possible on the weekends.

Q4. How did you come up with the name of your book?

A. Let’s go back to the Elle Burton series. Elle is my granddaughter’s name and Burton was my grandfather’s last name. “Elle Burton and the Reflective Portals” is a fantasy about a young girl who is enlisted by winged creatures from another dimension to help them protect the children of the earth. As a child suffering abuse, a couple of things were important to me. I believed in guardian angels. I loved reading fantasy. 

So, I combined the two and came up with the concept for Elle Burton. As I was formulating the book, I needed Elle to go to the other dimension. I hesitated to call it heaven because there are young girls suffering throughout the world. Not all of them are Christians. I picture heaven as a beautiful place filled with flowers, so I named the other dimension “Fiori” which is Italian for flower. (We’d just returned from a tour of Italy.) I decided Elle should be able to get to Fiori 

through reflections. That could be a mirror, a lake surface, and even shiny metal. It also provided the method by which the winged Fiorin could enter the dimension of the earth (through the reflection of a child

Q5. What are you working on for 2021

A. The third book in the Elle Burton series is in its third edition. I’m also working with a child counselor on a book called “Re-Parenting,” This book is about breaking the chain of abuse for those of us who grow up, want to become parents, but wish to avoid the abuses we suffered as children.

Q6. How long have you been writing?

 A. I began making up stories as a child. Financial obligations made it impossible for me to follow my dream until after I retired.

Q7. What advice would you give other authors?

A. Run your book through a program like Grammarly before you send it on to the editor to reduce the amount of time they need to spend and the hours you’ll be charged for. Don’t ever overlook the editing. I strongly recommend when you finish a book, you put it away for at least 30 days before you begin the process of polishing it and eventually editing it. You need fresh eyes to see the errors.

Q8. Where can people find you online?

A. Website:  https://peggyshope4u.com/

Facebook:   https://www.facebook.com/peggymoundmcaloon

Amazon Author Page:  https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8193007.Peggy_M_McAloon

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8193007.Peggy_M_McAloon

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/peggymcaloon

My email is peggyshope4u@yahoo.com

9. What is your favorite coffee drink?

I love coffee and drank buckets of it until I hit my 50’s. Suddenly, I developed an allergy to the oils in the coffee bean. I still love the smell of fresh-brewed coffee, but I now drink tea.

Q10. What is your favorite coffee shop?

Q11. Do you plan on making a new book in the future? 

A.At my age, the question is more whether I will wake up another morning. If I do, I can assure you, I will continue writing.

Q12. How many books have you written?

A.  4 + 2 anthology contributions.

Q13. Did you go to college to be a writer? 

A. Answered above.

 

Peggy M. McAloon, Author, Watercolor Artist, Speaker

ViewBook.at/ElleBurton  Finalist in the Readers' Favorite 2018 International Book Awards

ViewBook.at/ElleMissing

Cosmo Is adopted  http://amzn.to/2pkD022

As seen on