This week I’m hosting Susan Sleeman with Behind the Badge , Carla Stewart with Broken Wings, and K. Dawn Byrd with Mistaken Identity(ebook). If you want to enter the drawings, please leave a comment on one of the post during the week with your email address. I will not enter you without an email address (my way to contact you if you win). If you don’t want to leave an email address, another way you can enter is to email me at margaretdaley@gmail.com. The drawings end Sunday (June 19th) evening.
Interview with the heroine: Mitzi Steiner from Broken Wings by Carla Stewart:
1. Mitzi, tell me the most interesting thing about you.
I’ve not ever considered myself all that interesting. Gabe, though, he’s been my husband for nearly sixty years, and he’s the one who’s interesting. Even over at the Guardian Light Alzheimer’s Home, he keeps people on their toes. You just never know what he might do next. Together, we’ve had a very interesting life, singing for folks all over the country. Mercy, I can’t tell you how many friends we’ve made by sharing a jazz tune or two, and folks always say when they come to our shows, they leave happier than when they walked in. Interesting? Maybe, but I think it just means I’ve been blessed.
2. What do you do for fun? I still like to belt out a few bars of “New York, New York” or “Fly Me to the Moon” once in a while. And since Brooke Woodson has come to stay with me, we’ve been caught sneaking out for Chinese food and shopping. She makes me feel young again. And I can still play a mean game of gin rummy if you’ve got a deck of cards and don’t mind letting an old woman beat you.
3. What do you put off doing because you dread it? I know I need to clean out Gabe’s office and box things up since he’s been at the Guardian Light for three years, but I just can’t bring myself to do it. I’ve promised Brooke that it can be her art studio, so one of these days I might get up the nerve. Just not yet.
4. What are you afraid of most in life? Being alone. Gabe and I weren’t able to have children, and now that I know his time is short, I think about it once in a while. When I invited Brooke to come and stay with me, it was because I feared for her, but I must say, I’ve welcomed the company.
5. What do you want out of life? Life has already given me so much. I can’t think of a single thing that I still want to do. But I do hope that somehow I’ve made a difference in other people’s lives.
6. What is the most important thing to you? Gabe. I know he’s in the sunset of his life, and let’s face it, I’m no spring chicken, but I do hope and pray that his passing from this earth is peaceful. But it’s going to be a hallelujah day when we walk the streets of heaven together.
7. Do you read? If so, what is your favorite type of book to read? Yes, I read. Not as much as I used to, but I still like to sink my teeth into a good mystery once in a while. And I’ve been decided to reread the stories from the Bronte sisters. I’m really drawn to British authors.
8. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? I would like to eat healthier. I’ve been wanting to lose the same fifteen pounds for about twenty years now.
9. Do you have a pet? If so, what is it and why that pet? I grew up on a farm and we always had a dog or cat around, but because Gabe and I spent most of our lives traveling, we never had a pet. Brooke, though, has brought her cat, Cosmo, with her. The little scamp is always stealing Gabe’s pipes from the pipe rack in the living room. It sort of reminds me of the practical jokes Gabe used to play, so I’ve gotten a real kick out of him.
10. If you could travel back in time, where would you go and why? I would love to go back to my childhood in St. Louis so I could see and hear my mother sing. She died when I was six, but I remember how her face glowed when she crooned “His Eye is on the Sparrow”. She had a lot of misfortune, but she never lost faith. It’s because of her that I adopted that same song as my signature song. Oh, ’twould be heaven to sit and talk with her once more.