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Read some interviews from past editions:
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S.J. Stewart
June, 2008
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Zelda Benjamin
April, 2008
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Shirley Marks
December, 2007
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Donna Wright
December, 2007
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Carolyn Brown
August, 2007
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Roni Denholtz
June, 2007
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Tara Randel
April, 2007
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Sydell Voeller
February, 2007
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Sheila Robins
December, 2006
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Ann Holt
October, 2006
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Cynthia Danielewski
July, 2006
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Jane McBride Choate
March, 2006
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Kathryn Meyer Griffith
January, 2006
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Mel Taylor
November, 2005
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Kathleen Fuller
September, 2005
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Tracey J. Lyons
July, 2005
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Ludima Gus Burton
May, 2005
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Holly Jacobs
March, 2005
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Sandra D. Bricker
January, 2005
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Kathryn Quick
November, 2004
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Cheri Jetton
September, 2004
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Heather S. Webber
July, 2004
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Karl Fieldhouse
May, 2004
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Shelley Galloway
March, 2004
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Ilsa Mayr
January, 2004
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Kathy Carmichael
November, 2003
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Dorothy P. O'Neill
July, 2003
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Joani Ascher
May, 2003
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Patricia DeGroot
March, 2003
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Nancy J. Parra
January, 2003
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Barbara Meyers
November, 2002
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Christine Bush
September, 2002
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Debby Mayne
July, 2002
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Jean C. Gordon
May, 2002
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Charles E. Friend
March, 2002
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Norma Seely
January, 2002
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Glen Ebisch
November, 2001
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Gina Cresse
September, 2001
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John Paxson
July, 2001
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Terri Alcock
May, 2001
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Clifford Blair
March, 2001
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Amanda Harte
January, 2001
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Kent Conwell
November, 2000
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Carolyn Brown
September, 2000
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Annette Mahon
July, 2000
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Marjorie McGinley
May, 2000
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Jack Lewis
March, 2000
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Amanda Harte
January, 2000
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Return to the current Author! Author! interview:
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Sherry Lynn Ferguson
August, 2008
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Author! Author!: November, 1999
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Click on images to learn more about these books.
An Interview with
Joyce and
Jim Lavene |
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How did you start writing together?
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This is the first question everyone asks us! We've been married twenty eight years and run three businesses together. It was a natural extension of that for us to start to write together. Joyce has been writing for most of her life (she had her first poem published when she was nine) but Jim didn't jump on the bandwagon until 1989. We found we made a good team and have been writing together ever since.
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How do you write together?
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That's always the next question! Usually people say, "Ugh! I would never want to write with my husband/wife! We'd have to spend too much time together!" We've been fortunate that we've always been best friends as well as husband and wife. We can't spend too much time together; there's not enough time for that! We developed our system of writing together by utilizing our individual strengths. Joyce is the imagination, so she usually gets the ball rolling. She proposes a story then we take a long drive somewhere and flesh the whole thing out. By that time, we're ready to write. Joyce does the basic outline then Jim adds to it and puts it out in a way that everyone can read it. Our greatest strength is probably that we love to talk!
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How did you decide to write your first mystery?
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Our first romance was published in February 1999. For obvious reasons, we're very drawn to romance. But we both love a good mystery, too. We've interviewed people for true life ghost stories and unusual disappearances. It was probably only a matter of time before we were drawn into mystery writing. Last Dance came to us when we were in a small town at the foot of the Uwharrie Mountains( it's a Native American name). Joyce had just read a story about the first woman sheriff elected in North Carolina and suddenly, there was Sharyn Howard, complete with her Granddaddy‰s service revolver on her hip. Ernie, Nick, Ed and Caison Talbot came later. Now, they're kind of an extension of our family who live in our computer.
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What do you hope to say with your writing?
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We both feel that family is very important in everything. We write books that try to capture being part of a family. Sometimes being part of a family isn't easy. You have to work at relationships to make them good. But it's always worthwhile. We'd like our readers to come away with a feeling that it was worthwhile spending their money and their time on our books. We'd like them to think about their own families, whether ones they were born into or extended ones. Romance or mystery, family is the heart of who we are!
We'd like to take a moment to thank all of our readers who have written to us and extend an invitation to visit us online at Joyce & James Lavene. Thanks! And don't forget to hug someone you love!
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