Firction Archives - Tena Stetler

Aug 27th Interview Kimberly Baer Author of The Haunted Purse

Give a warm welcome to Kimberly Baer author of The Haunted Purse. Pull up a chair, grab a drink of your choice from the cooler, a Chocolate Chip or Peanut Butter cookie from the plate, and let’s find out a little about Kimberly and The Haunted Purse!

Tena, thank you so much for hosting me on your blog! My YA paranormal novel The Haunted Purse is my first officially published novel, and I’m so grateful for this opportunity to showcase it, as well as to tell your readers a little bit about myself.

My pleasure Kimberly. Lets start out with what makes you laugh out loud?

Inadvertent wordplay. I think it’s hilarious when people use the wrong word. Take the following message, which a young woman posted on social media: “My pillow smells like my boyfriend’s colon.” She was trying to say cologne—she just didn’t know how to spell it! Misheard song lyrics totally crack me up. People hear the craziest things! Like, instead of “I believe in miracles,” they hear “I remove umbilicals.” Instead of “I like big butts and I cannot lie,” they hear “I like big butts in a can of limes.” I have to confess, I’m as guilty as anybody. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve sung along to a song on the radio, only to have a friend tell me, “That’s not what they’re saying.”

Tell us something about yourself and allow us to get to know you.

I was widowed when my children were 6, 8, and 12. We lived out in the sticks, halfway up the side of a mountain, and that first winter on our own we were snowbound for three days without electricity. After that, I decided we’d had enough of rustic living, and we moved to a nice, flat suburban neighborhood. My focus over the next decade-plus was on raising the kids and putting myself through college. I didn’t date, because it didn’t seem fair to make the kids share their mom with somebody new. Our journey wasn’t easy, but we made it. The kids grew up and, miraculously, turned out okay. I got my college degree. And I now have a wonderful fiancé.

What do you want your readers to take away from your books?

I write stories for teens and tweens, and my intent is not just to entertain but also to inspire and uplift. Let’s face it: life can be hard—and my stories reflect that. My characters suffer through all kinds of hardships, but in the end they prevail. They come through their struggles stronger and wiser. I hope my young readers are able to draw strength from that message, to internalize it. I want them to believe that no matter what life throws at them, they’ll get through it.

If you could have one superpower, what would it be and why?

The power to heal any health problem. I can’t imagine anything that would have a greater benefit for humankind. Of course, there’d be some pretty serious ramifications to that scenario. People would be living a lot longer, so we’d be facing things like overcrowding and resource shortages. Elon Musk would have to send a lot more people to Mars. And I’d probably be so busy healing people, I’d have to give up writing!

What’s your approach to writing? Are you a plotter or follow your characters flow (Pantser)?

I’d say I’m a hybrid. I like to have the whole story roughly plotted out in my head before I put pen to paper (okay, fingers to keyboard), and I typically write a synopsis to encapsulate it. As I begin to write the story, I break the synopsis into individual scenes and fill in the details as I go. But each scene description is only a very loose guide, because the characters often seize control and take the scene in a whole different direction. And that’s usually a good thing.

SPEED ROUND FOR A LITTLE ADDED FUN:

Speed Round (one word only answer): Yep, I know torture for a writer!<evil laugh>

Favorite movie: Rain Man
Favorite book: Hotel Paradise, by Martha Grimes
Last book read: Little Eyes, by Samanta Schweblin
Favorite color: pink
Stilettos or flipflops: flipflops
Coffee or tea: tea
Ebook or audiobook or paperback: ebook
Pencil or pen: pencil

Favorite dessert: Lemon meringue pie

Favorite junk food: Nachos

Favorite thing to do to relax: read

Paranormal or Historical: paranormal

Wonder Woman or Top Model: WW

Favorite TV show: Breaking Bad

Hot or cold: Hot

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What a unique idea a haunted purse. I love it! Tell us a little about The Haunted Purse:

That old denim purse Libby Dawson bought at the thrift store isn’t your run-of-the-mill teenage tote. It’s a bag of secrets, imbued with supernatural powers. Strange items keep turning up inside, clues to a decades-old mystery only Libby can solve.

Filled with apprehension and yet intrigued by the mounting pile of evidence, Libby digs for the truth. And eventually finds it. But the story of the purse is darker than she imagined—and its next horrific chapter is going to be all about her.

A sneak peek between the pages of The Haunted Purse:

“Do you think we should tell my mom about the purse?” asked Toni.

“No,” I said. I wasn’t ready to trust an adult. Not even Toni’s mom, nice as she was. “Your mom is like you,” I added. “Practical. It would take a long time to convince her there’s something supernatural going on.”

We went back to watching the purse. There was a moment when I thought I saw it twitch, but that might have been my imagination.

“You could always get rid of it,” Toni said. “You know, donate it back to the thrift store.”

I considered that. “I could. But I don’t want to—not yet, anyway. This purse is the coolest thing I’ve ever owned. I want to find out more about it. I want to see what it does next.”

She moved her eyes from the purse long enough to glance at me. “Aren’t you afraid it’ll crawl into your bed some night and strangle you with its straps?”

“No. I think it’s trying to get my attention. It’s trying to tell me something.”

“Like what?”

I didn’t have a clue.

Buy links: Amazon | Barnes and Noble

Book trailer

About the Author:

Kimberly Baer is an author and professional editor who was born and raised in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, a town marginally famous for having endured three major floods. She even lived there during one of them. She currently resides in Virginia, where she enjoys power-walking on days when it’s not too hot, too cold, too rainy, too snowy, or too windy. If forced to stay inside, she’s likely to end up binge-watching one of her favorite TV shows: Gilmore Girls, Breaking Bad, Friends, or The Office.

Kim has had her nose in a book practically since birth, and she decided early on that she wanted to be on the giving end of the reading experience as well as the receiving end. Her first story, written at age six, was about a baby chick that hatched out of a little girl’s Easter egg after somehow surviving the hard-boiling process. Her recent focus has been on writing middle-grade and young adult fiction.

Visit Kim at www.kimberlybaer.com. Be sure to check out her Guest Authors page, which features interviews with some talented fellow novelists. Stop by her Blog page to learn about the calendar that predicted her husband’s death.

Author links:

Website: www.kimberlybaer.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/KimberlyBaer14

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorKimberlyBaer/

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Kimberly-Baer/e/B08D3RVKCH

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/20526172.Kimberly_Baer