Friday's Interesting People features C. Lee McKenzie
Please help me welcome author C. Lee McKenzie whose new book was just released, NOT GUILTY. I am a part of her MC Book Tour Blog
adventure. Before we get to Lee's question and answer segment below, let's find out more about this wonderful writer and her books. Also be sure to enter C. Lee McKenzie's giveaway
linked below. Let's begin, shall we?
Not
Guilty by C. Lee McKenzie
Publication Date: October 25, 2019
Genre: Young Adult
Publication Date: October 25, 2019
Genre: Young Adult
A blood-smeared knife. One young man’s word against
another. A lifetime dream crushed.
The evidence points to Devon Carlyle. He was there
when it happened. Everyone knows he had it in for Renzo Costa. And Costa says
Devon was the one. In the judge’s rap of a gavel, Devon’s found guilty of
assault. The star of the Oceanside High’s basketball team loses his shot at the
one thing he’s worked so hard for—the championship game where college scouts
could see how good he is.
Now he makes his great shots in Juvenile Hall with
kids far different from those that have always been in his life.
Angry? Hell, yes.
He’s bent on finding who did the crime. He’s bent
on making them pay because he’s Not Guilty.
But can he prove it?
For those
who aren’t familiar with the author, here’s a bit of background on her.
C. Lee
McKenzie has a background in Linguistics and Inter-Cultural
Communication, but these days her greatest passion is writing for young
readers. She has published five young adult novels: Sliding on the
Edge, The Princess of Las Pulgas, Double Negative, and Sudden Secrets. Not
Guilty is her most recent one.
Sometimes she likes to jump into the world of the
fantastic and when she does, she writes for the middle-grade reader. Some
Very Messy Medieval Magick is the third book in the time-travel
adventures of Pete and Weasel, with Alligators Overhead and The
Great Time Lock Disaster being the first two. Sign
of the Green Dragon, a stand-alone, takes the reader into ancient
Chinese dragon myths and a quest for treasure.
When she’s not writing she’s hiking or traveling or
practicing yoga or asking a lot of questions about things she still doesn’t
understand.
For more
information on Lee and her writing, connect with her on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and
at her Website. Here is the author page at Amazon with her book listings. Goodreads is found here.
NOT
GUILTY can be found Smashwords, Barnes
& Noble, and Kobo.
The author’s other young adult books include: Sliding on the Edge, Princess of Las Pulgas, Double Negative, Sudden Secrets
With
Halloween recently celebrated, Lee’s giving away five digital copies of NOT
GUILTY and a $10 Amazon Gift Certificate. This tour-wide giveaway will
end at midnight on Tuesday, Nov. 5th.
To enter the giveaway, just click on the Rafflecopter widget below and follow the instructions. The widget may take a few seconds to load so please be patient. (SORRY FOLKS TERESA COULDN'T GET THE WIDGET TO VISIT!)You may still sign up by clicking HERE and you’ll be directed to the widget.
Let’s get to know Lee better!
T: What’s the craziest way you found an idea
to write about?
Lee: All of
my ideas sneak up on me. For my idea sources, I can point to articles I’ve read
(not too crazy, I guess), hikes on a mountain trail, bending over to pick up a
piece of trash, or stubbing my toe—that was kind of crazy because afterward I
got the idea for Double Negative—must have been the pain and the hopping around
while holding onto my foot that generated that one. For Not Guilty, I really
had the idea in my head for years, and then went to hear an author talk about
his book on injustice in the US legal system. That nailed it. I wrote the
story.
T: Do you plot your stories
or fly by the seat of your pants? And does this match your everyday style?
Lee: I’m a pantser through and through. I like some
order in my life-some routine, some lists-- but I’m an early adopter of new
ideas, and I like to take chances. If someone says, “Want to go river rafting?”
I say yes without bothering to find out if I’m heading down a Class II or a
Class V. I like to be surprised. My stories do that for me, too. I never know
where they’re going to take me. Life’s an adventure. I treat it that way.
T: Have you ever surprised yourself with something
that you wrote? Do you want to share?
Lee: I’ve surprised myself with just about every
book and every short story I’ve ever written. I have no idea where all those
words came from. I often think there’s a magic elf that sneaks in during the night
and cobbles together the stories. I wish he or she would also do the dishes and
the laundry, but that never seems to happen. I’m left to do the heavy lifting,
the boring parts, while that elf has all the fun writing stories.
T:
Out of the books that you’ve written, do you have a favorite character and why
him or her?
Lee: For me, choosing a favorite character would be
like choosing a favorite child of mine. I just can’t do it. Each of them are a
part of me, and they’ve lived inside my head for years, so when I think of
them, I remember who they are and why they’re special and how I love them. I
thought about one character the other day and realized she’d be twenty-six now.
Oh how I wish I could see the person she’s become.
T:
Is it important to be a part of a writing community either online or in-person?
Explain.
Lee: Both are absolutely essential! Without my
critique group, without the Insecure Writers Support Group, I don’t think I
could have continued. I certainly wouldn’t have learned as much as quickly. And
I’ve relied on these people for so much help. The amazing thing is that they’ve
never let me down.
Now for some fun stuff!
T: As a child or youth were you (a.) a
Loner (b.) a Leader (c.) a Bossy Flossy (d.) a Follower or (e.) Shy?
Lee: I was pretty much in the Loner category. I
moved around a lot, so I never had time to really settle in and connect with
kids my age for the long-term. My early life of never settling in one place has
done two things, it has given me the freedom to explore without too much
concern about being alone in a strange place, and it has made me cherish where
I call home. I love leaving. I love coming back.
T: Imagine this: You’re in the witness
protection program. You get to choose your new name and an imaginary
past. Even though you shouldn’t tell us about it, please do!
Lee: Okay, but this is very hush hush. If you share
what I’m about to tell you, I could be in serious trouble. Oh, well. I’m always
in serious trouble, so here goes. My name's Katrina. I used to be part of the
royal court in Rustonia, and I, well, to be delicate, “lifted” a few Crown
Jewels. Just a few. How they could be so upset about those tiaras was beyond
me, but, hey…they were stuffy old aristocrats. My plan was to fence the tiara,
join Juan Carlos in Biarritz, and live it up. Well, that didn’t happen. They
caught me at the airport. Never trust a nosy Beagle near your suitcase. They
can sniff out anything, including diamonds--so I discovered. However, the
arrest was rather exciting because the hunk of NCB (for the uniformed, that’s
National Central Bureau) was well worth the experience. In fact, with my new
identity, I’m off to Biarritz to meet the guy who arrested me.
Thank you,
Lee, for sharing your answers. Thank you to the readers for visiting. Don’t forget to enter Lee's giveaway! Really, go do it!
Have you read any of Lee's books? Do
you enjoy stories where the underdog becomes the champion? Who would you want to walk to school with and why: Winnie the Pooh, Dorothy (of Oz), Harry Potter?
T.
This tour was brought to you by:
Comments
Yvonne.