I am thankful to welcome, Laura Brown to my blog today, as we chatted about Deaf Culture, being a Mum whilst pursuing a professional writing career, and the joy of writing Romance in fiction. As you may have already realised if you visited earlier in the week during my spotlight of her {New!} Cover Reveal for her début novel, I happily crossed paths with this Indie Author in the twitterverse! It was a true pleasure for me to get to know her a bit better, as we found as we conversed both through this Interview and outside it, that we share quite a bit in common with each other. It is always lovely I think when two people who serendipitously cross paths find a connection with each other to celebrate!
Synopsis of the story:
Never let your friends get involved
in your personal life.
Lila and Nate learn this the hard way. They are the star-crossed lovers of Glendale High. For three years the students have waited for the two to get together. They begged Nate to put his past relationship behind him, and cringed when Lila started dating Bryce. Just your typical teenage romance, except they’re the teachers.
Lila, a guidance counselor with a sweet demeanor, has an answer for every problem, every problem but her own. A visit from childhood friend Bryce thrusts her calm world into turmoil, as emotions buried deep inside are dragged to the surface. He soon realizes what only a friend can notice and a lover regret, that Lila, unbeknownst to herself, is in love with Nate.
Nate has seen better days. He is a history teacher stuck living in the past. Depression has kept his love for Lila unspoken, his ego frail after being cheated on.
Now Lila and Nate’s coworkers must unleash a scheme and uncover Lila’s true feelings. In a school this nosey what better way to get fast results than to involve the student population? The students are all too eager to get 
involved.
If everything goes as planned Lila will have to choose between two men. If her friends fail they might destroy these three and ruin their friendship. No wonder the scheme is called Project Torture.
Biography of the Author:
Laura Brown lives in Massachusetts with her quirky abnormal family. Laura and her three cats are “differently abled.” Laura is hard of hearing, her oldest cat is deaf and partially blind, and the other two cats have cerebellar hyplasia (they shake, and they don’t find it endearing). The “normal” members of her family include her husband, who has put up with her since high school, and her young son who enjoys “typing” on Mommy’s laptop and has agreed to take full blame for all spelling errors.
In your author’s biography you mentioned you have three unique cats of which are able-bodied in different ways from each other that others might consider disabled. Did you seek out to adopt cats with special needs (as they have a harder time to be placed) or did their medical ailments arise later? Can you share an antidote of how their love and joy has been a testament of hope and resilience in your life?
Brown responds: My cat adoption story began when we adopted a sweet kitten named Callie. She was my first pet that wasn’t a fish, and just the sweetest little cat you could find. Unfortunately she came down with FIP (a fatal feline disease) and died at 9 months old. A month after her death my husband and I went to the shelter, ready to open our hearts to another cat. There we met Oreo, a black and white tiny cat, labeled as “special needs.” Now, after caring for a cat that had chemicals filling her insides, “special needs” did not deter us at all. We asked, and they claimed she had OCD. We didn’t care that she was neurotic, only that she was healthy and made us laugh, which she did. The day I picked her up I was informed she was deaf. I have a hearing loss myself, and I watched as Oreo circled in her carrier, something they labeled OCD. I banged on the table and she stopped circling and looked up at me, feeling the vibrations. I informed the staff that she was circling to make sure she was safe. They had no idea. I’ve tried teaching her ASL, but she insists my hands are just scratching posts.
A few months after we adopted her, as we were starting to think of getting her a friend, the shelter contacted us, asking if we would foster three neurological kittens. We agreed and picked up these fluff balls, two gray, one brown. We looked at them and our first thought was “awww, no.” Famous last words! These kittens have cerebellar hypoplasia, essentially their mom was sick while they were in utero and they have an underdeveloped cerebellum. They were under weight and needed a place to go until they were ready for adopting. Over the weeks of having them with us they grew on us, with their shakes and poor coordination (the only signs of their disease). A friend of ours adopted the smallest, shakiest one and we were prepared to adopt one of the remaining two. The two left over were both the gray cats, almost identical. The guy, Gus had fallen in love with my husband, the girl, Pepper, with me. Since Oreo was more my cat, we decided to adopt Gus. Only when we went to the shelter it was over crowded and full-grown cats were in carriers due to the lack of room. We knew if we adopted both, another cat would get more space, and a home, so both Gus and Pepper came home with us! Gus, I’m convinced, took all the nutrients in utero, because he only shakes when you get him dizzy. Pepper, shakes when excited, or scared, or just being herself. Just don’t tease her, if you shake your head she very carefully and deliberately controls her shakes to stay still!
Whilst reading your story about Oreo and her unique way of trying to sort out for herself if she were safe in her environment made me remember another cat I featured on my blog when I had read Cats Are Part of His Kingdom Too. The video I shared was one of many heart-warming ones I had found on behalf of Oskar. I placed the video that introduced me to Oskar, a cat who was bourne blind but was not defined by his blindness on the Interview I gave with the author Cindy Vincent. Even before I ‘met’ him, I always believed that animals like humans are given such a curious strong will towards compensating and overcoming any physical or sense-driven hurdle that crosses their path. After all, I still smile when I think about the dog who has a ‘wheelchair’ as his hind legs which no longer can support him. He can out run other dogs quick as a fox!
I loved learning about your cats, especially how Gus and Pepper not only knitted themselves into your hearts before you realised they were staying forever in your home, but how they each have such unique personality traits! Cats are beyond quirky, and being a cat lover myself, I have a lot of stories I could share, but the main thread that we share in common is our compassion for cats who need forever homes. My family and I have always given a home to a cat in need; including helping a neighbourhood cat who lost his guardian.
I encourage everyone to click-over the links to Ms. Vincent’s showcase pages, as my love for cats shines through!
You have a unique background yourself – how did you come to realise you’re a writer and what drew you into knitting together Contemporary Romances in particular?As I know, your original entry was through fan fiction based on “Frasier” of the Niles & Daphne storyline whilst contemplating a career as an actress but preferred being behind the scenes.
Brown responds: I’ve always loved writing, but never took it seriously until college, when I began writing fan fiction for Frasier (very, very bad fan fiction, I’m embarrassed to admit!). I loved writing, though, and when I graduated from college I decided I wanted to try my hand at writing a novel. I took my favorite piece of fan fiction, one I knew was very much my own story with their characters, and revamped it to make it completely my own. I’ve always loved romances, in fact, it was the Niles/Daphne storyline that drew me to become a Frasier fan in the first place. To write about matters of the heart is natural for me.
As for the acting: that was a teenage ambition of mine. I did plays in high school and college, but I love having my hands on everything. Impossible as an actor, plausible as a director, but as a writer, especially a writer of novels, there is the utmost control.
I love how you realised your full potential as an artist was to seek out a way which gave you the most creative control over creating your own works of fiction. I can understand and sympathise with this, as I always loved the ability to soak into my own muse, seek out where my heart was leading me next to create a believable world and full-bodied characters; breathing life into that space and watching it develop. Although, I do have interest in live theatre, I’d like to explore acting on stage and perhaps even, directing, as directing was one aspect of production that always had a keen passion for me as I loved the fact you were in charge of running a very large collaborative team! The fact you were inspired by “Frasier” says so much because it was such a cleverly written series!
In a way, as a writer you are still living a creative thread of conscience an actress would internalise, as you take-on the roles of each character as you draw breath into their story. Do you find that having a keen interest in acting has given you a bit of an edge as to how to interact with your imagination as you write?
Brown responds: I do feel my acting past helps me with my writing. I envision scenes in my head, even act them out to a small degree. I get into my characters, try and feel them and see through their eyes. Any way a writer has to connect with a character can only strengthen the way the character is portrayed on the page.
There are times where I think writers have it even a bit harder than actors, as we have to create the entire base of the character based on how depth and far our imaginations can carry us forward into the essence of who the character is; whereas actors have the benefit of what is already written on their behalf in a script. Actors do breathe a lot of dimensional depth into who the character is once it has transitioned off the page and I think it is a cohesive relationship, as writers start the process of creating life of a character but the actor takes the character into life. As much as readers continue the process for the writer, whilst they read and absorb an author’s words of a story.
I am always attempting to keep myself open to reading books which push me outside the comforts of what I regularly read in order to keep my reading life an evolving journey towards exploring every facet of literature that I can as I shift from one author to another. When I first saw this particular book being offered on tour with JKS Communications, part of me was excited in seeing a book step forward that was not the traditional story to empathsis our need to be more environmentally conscience in our livelihoods as much as in how we approach living day to day. This book I felt would not only challenge me as a reader but it would challenge a few precepts of where I thought we had broached to head next on an environmental level and where we still have a heap of work to undergo towards reaching a pinnacle of progress as a society with a green-mindset in place to help future generations make better choices than the ones who came before them. I find the topic of environmental conservation and preservation as stimulating as discussing green-minded practices in business, commerce, and trade. To uncover green sources of energy, materials, and supplies which take the burden off the Earth and allow us to live a healthier life overall is quite enticing.
Whilst attending the #LitChat of comedienne Monica Parker, I had the unexpected joy and pleasure of being able to receive her debut book Getting Waisted after an exchange of conversation between Ms. Parker, her literary publicist Ms. Chan, and myself! I had reached out to Ms. Parker after the literary chat and felt quite honoured I was given this opportunity as health & wellness holds fast to my heart! As I have been on a path towards wellness for years, seeking out the best way to maintain wellness and knowing which foods agree with my system over others. Personally, I am the most happiest in my spirit whilst eating a vegetarian and vegan diet enriched by whole foods, natural & ancient grains, as well as local farm fresh vegetables and fruits.
Biography for T.S. Krupa: 
When great love is lost forever, what does it take to find the courage to move on?