WELCOME!
Do you like stories set in unusual or exotic locations? How about unique or interesting occupations? Combine both, firmly wrap them around romance and adventure, and that's the kind of reading that takes you places!
It's also a style of writing for Monica McCabe. Always a bit of an adventuress, she's lived in and explored places like Alaska, Hawaii, Montana, Florida, Mexico, California, Washington, and yes, even Las Vegas. At every location she seized the opportunity to explore, hike, camp, raft, canoe, fly, scuba-dive, or zip-line. She's climbed glaciers and ancient Mayan pyramids, dived shipwrecks and reef caves, camped in sasquatch country, drove across the USA three times, and is now working on gathering as many official stamps in her National Park passport as she can. So far - fourteen and counting.
Always an avid reader, the writing bug bit her hard somewhere between Alaska and Montana. Slowing down enough to actually put words on paper, well, that was difficult. She scribbled a few notes, played at writing a historical romance (her favorite reading), but it wasn't until she landed in Tennessee that writing became a passion.
Now that she’s sprouting roots alongside her husband of eleven years, three lazy cats, and one happy dog, she’s turned her wanderlust into crafting stories of adventure and romance. And all that travel and exploration lends realistic detail to her writing. Plus she's been known to sneak in a bit of her own experience, and a pet or two, because they like the fame.
BOSCOE, making his debut appearance in DIAMOND LEGACY...
His role was short, but he’s okay with that. Beefing up a fictional romance tale didn’t rank high enough on the hipster meter and he's a reputation to live up to. Besides, he had plenty of other things to do, like ruling the household. He left the fame pandering to the dog.
WOGGY GIRL, star of EMERALD FIRE. She’s a total ham, has no concern over dignity, and drools all over anything that makes her happy. When I offered her a role in the story I had to break out the bucket. Her joy soaked everything she came in contact with.
Woggy's natural state. She loves to nap and dream of fame, fortune, and chasing squirrels. Terrorizing the sweet little critters is her favorite pasttime.
ACADIA NATIONAL PARK, MAINE
Her latest National Park stamp!
EMAIL ME
Do you enjoy reading romantic adventure?
Drop me a line and let me know!
adventure @ monicamccabe.net
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INTERVIEW NOTES
Everywhere - the newspaper, TV, movies, the local mall. Ideas are all around you, especially if you have an overactive imagination like me. I get a kernel of an idea and run with it, next thing you know a story has formed. The down side of that is sometimes I can’t sleep. When I get going on something it won’t let go.
Do you do a lot of research for your books?
Tons! That’s the fun part. I try to pick unusual occupations for my characters, which means I have to do a lot of digging. In order to keep it real I study as many aspects of the job as I can. For example, my heroine in DIAMOND LEGACY is a dental zoologist. So I researched veterinary school programs, zoo techniques, and had to learn what drugs are used to sedate a four-thousand-pound hippopotamus. I research way more detail than what goes into the book, but I need to know so the story reads authentic.
Are you a big plotter? Or do you go where the characters take you?
Well, both. Though mostly I plot. I must have a basic outline to go by or I’ll ramble around for pages and pages going nowhere. Nobody wants to read that! Sometimes though, you can get deep into a story and think you’re going one direction when inspiration strikes and you do something altogether different. Those are fun moments and when it happens I just go with it and see where it takes the story.
Do you write in chronological order?
Alas, yes. I wish I could write scenes all over the place then thread them together. But that method has never worked out very well for me. I’m a linear thinker, one step at a time kind of person, and jumping around with the writing only creates chaos for me.
Have you been to the places you write about?
I’ve been to a LOT of places, but I tend to choose locales I’ve not visited. I think the reason is because I want to go someplace new! But there are consequences in that. I end up with a burning desire to go wherever I’m researching. Like Botswana, where DIAMOND LEGACY is set. A photographic safari is now on my must-do list. And I really want to dig my toes in the sand of St. Lucia, a West Indies island in the Caribbean where EMERALD FIRE begins.
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