Two Fur-Peeps and A Writer: Sir Poops and Hair Ball: What’s Your Nosh Tuesdays, Author Mari Collier

SPAL: Hello, nice people. We’re back again for another What’s Your Nosh Tuesday.

HB: Yup. We’re looking for nosh, peoples. Nosh.

SPAL: No we’re here to help promote authors and their works.

HB: Yup. For nosh.

SPAL: Well, you’re feeling better I can see.

HB: Yeah. I’m free! I’m free! Look at me. ***he shakes his head*** The cone is gone. ***He takes off running in a circle***

SPAL: ***sighs***Anyway, today we’ve got Mari Collier with us.

HB: ***still running in a circle*** I’m free! I’m free!

SPAL: Hello, nice lady.

HB: ***stops running in circles***Hello, nice lady. ***he jumps up and down***I’m free! I’m free!

MC: Well, hello, thanks for greeting me. Aren’t you two just the most adorable little things? Come sit on my lap and we’ll be all nice and comfy. There, isn’t that better? Now ask away.

SPAL and HB: ***HB plops in her lap*** and ***SPAL snuggles beside her***

SPAL:***sniffs at Mari*** You smell like cookies.

HB: ***sniffs, too**** You smell purdy, Nice Lady.

SPAL: We’d like to know what you like to snack on when you’re writing? And why.

HB: Yeah. ***he licks his chops***

MC:I usually don’t snack while I’m writing. I don’t want crumbs in the keyboard. If I do snack on anything it’s a handful of peanuts on a small plate.

HB: I like the ones in the shell. They’re more crunchy that way.

MC: Yes. They are more crunchy.

HB: I like the shells but Mummsy says they get stuck in my bum when I go to take my poops.

SPAL: ***elbows his brother and whispers*** We don’t talk about poop in an interview. ***he looks at Mari*** Are your peanuts salty or sweet?

MC: The peanuts are neither salty or sweet. I like the dry roasted ones.

HB: I wonder what dry roasted tastes like?

SPAL: ***looks at HB*** Like dry roasted, stupid. ***he looks to Mari**** Nice lady, does it get your creative juices flowing?

MC: No, the snack would be to keep me going, not start something.

HB: Oh. ***scratches his head***

SPAL: Do you have any fur or feathered peeps?

MC: I used to. I wished they were still with me.

SPAL and HB frown.

SPAL: Did they ever help you write like we help our Mummsy write? She says we’re her muses.

MC: They once did. Felina, a little collie-mix, and Bear, the shepherd, would nap on the floor by my feet while I wrote. Technically, both Bear and Felina helped me with Gather The Children.

SPAL: Nice lady, what are your published books?

MC: Gather The Children can be found at Amazon and Barnes & Noble. It is in print form.

Before We Leave is an E book at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and at iBookstore.

Please share an excerpt from your work in progress if you haven’t published anything yet.

My newest work, Earthbound, is with a publisher and will be published next year. This is from Before We Leave, an E book that you’ll find online and available for all E readers.

And below is an excerpt of something I’m working on:

Antoinette didn’t think other children learned as rapidly as her first and last born. She wasn’t sure a governess would be sufficient this fall. Miss Ambrose was to return in September. Lorenz had mentioned he would look for a teacher after the drive. One was needed. Antoinette felt the Rolfe children would benefit as much as her own. It seemed Marty Rolfe was the only one receiving any instruction and that was in the ways of the wild from his grandfather. She shuddered at the thought.

The clatter of hooves, gunfire, men’s shouts and women’s screams interrupted her thoughts. Randall looked up at her, and his eyes widened.

“Mama, do y’all want me to find Pawpaw’s rifle? It’s danger.”

Antoinette looked out the huge front window and saw six horses. Two were heading for the house and four were racing for the barn and bunkhouse area.

“No, come with me both of you!” She picked up Melissa and ran to her bedroom and put Melissa and Randall in the closet.

“Don’t move. Randall, take care your sister. Be still, very, very still. Shh. Don’t come out of there until I say it’s all right!” Her voice was stern, insistent.

There wasn’t time to grab one of the larger guns from the office and she pulled her derringer from her purse and ran to the rocker by the window. From the table beside the rocker, she picked up her embroidery and covered the derringer with the linen scarf she was working on. Thank goodness the bed is made ran through her mind. She heard the man coming up the porch steps and wished she had had time to be sitting in the parlor. She did not want Randall to come out to protect her. Thank God it was Randall in the closet and not Kendall. Kendall would be arguing with her.

The man didn’t really knock at the door. He kicked against it and walked in. Julia had been in the kitchen, but must have run.

Antoinette walked to the open bedroom door with the linen strewn with a field of pink and blue flowers draped over her right hand and the needle in her left hand.

The man was clad in denims and a dirty, sweat-stained calico shirt. His grey hat was wide brimmed and two guns hung on his hips. Obviously, someone had told him the men were gone. He needed a bath, and Antoinette stilled a gag from the stench of him.

“Hallo, pretty lady. Greet the new man of the house. We’re taking over…”

Antoinette pulled the trigger.

MC:Thanks again for having me. It’s been so much fun. I’ve brought a little treat for you if your Mummsy agrees. It’s the one I give to my daughter’s friend when she brings him over.

HB:***claps his paws and wags his whole body*** Mummsy will.