T's Stuff: VBT Fresh off the Starship by Ann Crawford

Fresh off the Starship

by Ann Crawford

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

GENRE: Women's fiction / humor

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BLURB:

Love to laugh? You'll enjoy this feel-good tale.

A starbeing skyrockets to Earth from the other side of forever with a specific assignment: to help steer humanity away from the collision course it's on. But we all know how travel can get drastically diverted--instead of landing in Washington, D.C., where she could assist on a grand geopolitical scale, she ends up in...Kansas!

Wrong place, right time? Join our shero on this whimsical journey as she pursues her purpose as well as discovers the beauty of life and love on Earth.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Excerpt Two:

Matt hands her a large drink with a little mountain of fluffy white stuff on top, with stripes of brown dripping down the mountainsides.

“Here, got you extra whipped cream and lots of car’mul on top, just the way you like it.”

Missy takes a lick of the whipped cream and her eyes go wide. “Oh!”

“Well, yer not supposed to lick it like an ice-cream cone. Sip it.”

She does and then slaps her hand on the table.

“Missy! You okay?”

“Oh, my! How can you beings ever complain about anything?”

“How’s that now?”

“Nothing.” She takes another sip and moans again. Several customers seated nearby look over at her.

“Missy, sweetheart, can you calm yourself a bit?”

She takes a bite of the round treat on a stick he’d set down by her. The moans escalate.

“Geez,” Matt says, trying to sink farther into his seat, “I feel like I’m straight out of

When Harry Met Sally.”

“Who’s Harry? Who’s Sally?”

“The main characters in one of yer favorite movies. You made me watch it at least half a dozen times.”

She takes another sip and bite. The moans escalate even more. By this time everyone in the café is looking at her.

“Missy! Perhaps we should eat these in the car.”

“Wherever you want!”

The customers in the café receive one more rendition of “Ohhhhhhhh!” as Matt leads her out the door and she takes another sip of her drink.

Okay, maybe it’s not thaaaat bad here.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

I'm a fun-loving, world-traveling, high-flying, deep-diving, and living-to-the-max author of eight books. When I'm not flying planes, scuba diving, climbing every mountain (on the back of my husband’s motorcycle) or riding the world’s fastest roller coasters, you can find me in my writing nest with a view of Colorado’s Rocky Mountains out the window. I've lived all over--from both oceans white with foam, to the prairie, and now to the mountain. Yes, a little backwards, but what the hey.

My bestselling and award-winning novels go as high and deep as I do—they’re profound yet funny; playful although poignant; heart-opening and heart-lifting; thought-provoking and inspiring; and edgy while universal. I'm also a screenwriter and award-winning filmmaker and humanitarian.

Interview with Ann Crawford

1. Do your characters seem to hijack the story or do you feel like you have the reins of the story?

My characters definitely hijack the story, LOL! My books start with characters coming to me, knocking on the doorway to my mind, saying, “Write my story!” Who am I to say no to a request like that? 😊 They also might visit me in the shower, sit with me in the car as I’m driving, wake me up in the middle of the night because they want to talk, and basically hang out until their story is in print.

I took a screenwriting class once, and I mentioned that sometimes my writing and characters surprise me. “You mean you say I can’t believe I just wrote that?” the professor asked. The class laughed, and so did I. But, well, yes…I do mean that. Sometimes I can’t believe what these fingers of mine type.

I just start where the book wants me to start it and fill in the story – forward, backward, beginning, end – as it comes. Then the characters sometimes blurt out things that weren't in my head and often take the plot in directions unseen to me. The story always changes as the book is written. A fun twist will suddenly emerge with no warning. Sometimes something comes at the end that makes me have to rewrite some of the middle.

I understand that Alfred Hitchcock storyboarded every single shot of his movies. I know writing books and filmmaking can be very different, but I'm the exact opposite of his process.

2. Convince us why you feel your book is a must read.

Here are the top 10 reasons my book is a must-read:

Reasons #7-10 – It’ll make you laugh. Then it’ll make you laugh some more. And after that you’ll laugh some more….and maybe even gigglesnort.

Reason #6 – The ebook is 99 cents right now!

Reason # 5 – The story involves a handsome stud…a nice addition to any moment.

Reason #4 – It’s a fairly quick read, which is good, as most readers/ reviewers said that once they started the book, they couldn’t put it down.

Reason #3 – In between the entertaining moments, I explore some social issues—such as drug abuse and PTSD in war veterans…some of the challenges we face that make us humans even more incredible.

Reason #2 – In between the laughs, I drop in lots of wisdom about this wild-and-crazy human experience we have going on here.

And the #1 one reason you’ll love my book is (drumroll, please): it’ll remind you and make you appreciate—from the ability of looking at life with brand-new eyes—how fun, beautiful, glorious, amazing, astonishing, magical, and miraculous this being-a-human thing is.

3. Have you written any other books that are not published?

The first book I wrote wasn’t published. I did get a renowned agent to represent it, but nothing ever happened with it. I wrote it in my mid 20s and, well, truthfully, I’ve gotten a lot better since then, so maybe it’s just as well.

4. Pen or type writer or computer?

Computer and the Notes feature on my iPhone. I get my best ideas while driving on long road trips, especially at night. Most of Fresh off the Starship came to me as I was driving back and forth across Kansas on two nights on either side of a weekend conference farther east. I email the notes to myself and arrange them in the right order and eventually into the first draft.

5. Anything you would like to say to your readers and fans?"

Missy, my starbeing, was such a fun character to write about. Just about anything is possible with and for her. She's so open-minded and curious. She brings so much wisdom with her, and yet everything on Earth was new to her. Having her learn about the beauty of life here—and especially love—well, it was about the most fun I've ever had in all of my writing.

The most important thing about a book is the reader. I love the opportunity to take readers on journeys to places and situation they haven’t experienced before, provide ideas they haven’t thought of before, introduce them to people they wouldn’t otherwise meet, and hopefully open hearts to understand more of this amazing journey we call Life and embrace more of this amazing planet we live on. Hearing back from readers about how much books have touched them…well, that’s simply the best.

Social Media & Book Links

Website

https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00GMPORX8

Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/anncrawfordauthorspeaker/

Twitter

https://twitter.com/ann_crawford1

Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/anncrawford509/

https://www.pinterest.com/anncrawfordauthor/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/ann-crawford-546053a/

Amazon