Author Spotlight: Charmaine Gordon

Good morning, world. Today, we have the un-stoppable Charmaine Gordon with us today. She's a fellow VHP author and absolutely one of the greatest people I have ever met! :)





First off, I always offer my guests virtual coffee, tea (even alcohol), etc. Anything in particular you'd like? :)

If we're mtg in pm-half glass of Chardonnay is fine. More and I'll be tapping dancing on the table. ''tis sad but true. Otherwise decaf tea-chamomile with one sweetener.


I don't need the alcohol to tap dance, but either way, I'll gladly tap dance with ya! ;)



Ok, there is SO much that I want to discuss with you. We'll start off with your theatrical career. My brother is an actor, and we both grew up in the theatre and on the stage. Did you ever have a moment where you decided it was something you wanted to try, or was it more like my up-bringing where it was just a part of life?


I danced out of Mother's womb singing Chicago, Chicago, a toddlin' town. My debut.






You've done shows, movies, commercials - you've written sketches. What part of the entertainment industry was your favorite?


All fun touched with a sense of adventure on the set.







You are such a pistol! You are so bright and you literally light up a room! I have only known you to be positive and up-beat. What is your perspective on life?


Do the dance of life and move on.






Ok, two more questions and then we get down to the writing! :)




First off, your website says you're a new bride. Would you care to ellaborate? :)


New bride is a misnomer. Slightly used is more accurate. He has a Harley and rides it alone. I prefer tricycles.








Also on your website, there is a FANTASTIC picture of you on a motorcycle and you call yourself an adventurer. Do you ride? If so, can I ride with ya some time? LOL. What was the greatest adventure you ever experienced?



Greatest adventure is when I had a near death experience in 1967 while giving birth to my last child-a daughter. The me on the operating table drifting away-profound silence and peaceful tunnel-moving toward a light-realization that I couldn't leave my husband with all those children to raise and the new baby. Waking from a coma 3 days later. Fearless.





Wow! That is amazing! Thank you so much for sharing that with us! You are an incredibly brave and strong woman!


Ok, writing time! :)






Your books are incredibly powerful to me because they send a very strong, resilient and positive image about women. Was that your main purpose in writing, or did that just kind of happen?


As a writer, I find personal experience touches the story. Can't help it.






In To Be Continued, Lizzie reads the note from her husband while she's on the floor. Though she did not intentionally get down there, it really is powerful imagery. Tell us about how & why that scene came about the way that it did.



Liz Malone, excited to find a note from husband Frank, reaches for reading glasses, drops them.Scrambling along the carpet, finds them, glasses perched in place, she reads the ugly truth. Like a discarded doll, she sits naked and broken, discarded for the moment.


Ok, let's get down to the nitty gritty of your books! ;)

Once Again, Now

Widowed after forty years of marriage, Kate Harris hasn't a clue as how she'll get through the rest of her life. At a recycling-single-men party, she meets Mac McCord,a widower with secrets. The attraction is instant. Kate teaches him to play tennis-her favorite sport; Mac teaches her to shoot a gun-his obsession with security. And Kate finds that love, the second time around, is not always perfect.


To Be Continued

Elizabeth Malone wakes up the morning after an amazing night of passion with her husband of forty years to find a note: "Dear Lizzie, it's not you, it's me."
Abandonded by her husband disappointed in daughter Susie's casual attitude - 'Dad's having a mid-life crisis', Beth decides to re-establish herself as the winner she once was.
When Frank Malone returns, he's in for a big surprise!






I asked of another writer who is a singer if he felt that his various artistic endeavors helped feed into or support/help his writing. What about you? Do you feel a connection between all of your various adventures? Do you find that your experience has helped you to write?



Embracing each medium with enthusiasm is the way I approached work as an actor.:whether contemplating my navel in the dressing room at One Life To Live waiting for the actual moment when I was called to walk through swinging doors and not let them continue to swing-no easy task or singing Happy Birthday to Melanie Griffith in Working Girl. All fun touched with a sense of adventure on the set.




Since your heroines are such strong characters, what do you think is important for women of any age to remember as they go through life?


Do the dance of life and move on. One step forward, slide two steps back. Two steps forward, slide one step back. Try three steps forward.Keep going til you get it right. I still don't know what I'll be when I grow up.




Let's end this on an interesting note. Tell us your favorite line from your favorite show/play/movie/commercial/skit. :)


Favorite moment in an Off-Broadway play,The Fourth Commandment-Grace (the mother-that's me)moves in with daughter and her husband and has a chat.
"I still have the same bed. There's a few good memories in that mattress. Your father was a frisky little bastard when he came home from one of those long sales trips."





I think we should have some chardonnay anyway, my dear! Cheers! :)






Happy reading!

http://www.charmainegordon.com/
http://www.vanillaheartbooksandauthors.com/Charmaine_Gordon.html