'The Tinsel Twist' with Rosie Potter

What happens with Sid, we are continuing our Christmas holiday romance little run, I would say. And so now I would like to welcome a best-selling author, Rosie Potter. Rosie, welcome to the show. Hi, thanks for having me. Of course. So you are a best-selling romance and speculative, you know, storyteller. Now, before we kind of look at one of your newest Christmas books, tell us a little bit about who you are, where you're from, and what really made you want to become an author? Well, I am from East Tennessee, born and raised here. I have spent some time in the Carolinas, but I came back here about eight years ago. So that kind of inspired a bit of the setting of the novel because it's kind of set in in the. the Chattanooga area, if you're familiar with that part of Tennessee, and I am not a full-time author right now. I do have a day job. I design training courses for a major university, so that's kind of a little bit different. It still has a little of the writing to it because I have to write scripts and stuff for the training, so it's kind of like I do writing for my day job, but But I do that, but, and I. I have just always wanted to be a writer as long as I can remember the dedication in the holiday romance is to eight-year-old me because I was as long as I can remember I've just always been writing and wanting to do this and I was an only child so I had a lot of time I spent with my imagination, you know, entertaining myself, and that was just something that I did, and I was always making up stories in my head, and of course, as an eight-year-old, I was imagining that I would be. Overnight sensation, you know, like Oprah's book club, have a movie immediately made for my books and stuff. But in reality, it's, you know, it's not always like that. So if we could all have our eight-year-old dreams come true. So yeah, I've just always, always wanted to be a writer as long as I can remember. And now I'll be 40 in a couple months and I finally have this novel. Yeah. It's nothing better than being an only child, you know, like the way our imaginations, you know, work. Like my family would see me talking to imaginary people. It was like, okay, she's in her own world. Like as long as she's not breaking nothing or messing up, she's, she's fine. And so speaking of your book, it's called The Tinsel Twist. So tell readers a little bit about what's involved in this storyline. So it is a holiday romance, but as the title implies, there is a bit of a twist, and it combines the suspense and mystery element to it. So we get the cozy small town, Adelaide is the main character, and she comes back. To her hometown right before Christmas, trying to get her life back together. So you get that kind of, you know, typical holiday romance aspect. But then shenanigans ensue and there's sabotage happening while she's trying to help save the hometown Christmas feast and things escalate and they're. It turns into like an international criminal conspiracy almost in some ways. So there's a twist. There's a twist. So that's something that I really enjoyed playing with, kind of, you know, taking that typical holiday romance and adding a little something extra to it. Yeah. Now, since you're, you know, in Tennessee and there's so much going on, you know, there, was there any like real life? You know, moments or examples, you know, maybe people watching that kind of helped inspire this story. I don't know this story necessarily. comes from anything real life, like the setting for sure has some inspiration. And of course, you know, there's like the small town bakery and, and things like that. And, you know, you, you pull those things from your life when you're writing because it's, it's real life. And that's what, you know, when you're writing contemporary instead of like fantasy, that's something you have to, you have to pull those inspirations from things. And I do like to people watch I work from home now, so I don't spend as much time out in the general public and getting to just sit and listen and kind of watch and observe. But I'm definitely someone who will watch an interaction between people and be like, hmm, I wonder what's going on there. How can I use this in a book? So always keep in mind, you might be the inspiration for somebody's novel. But. I really think with this one it was more of like the setting that inspired me and like the small town Appalachia and just the actually there's a small town I used to live in in South Carolina that really kind of inspired the downtown area in this book a little bit more. So I think more from that than so much like the experiences and things that happen. Yeah. Now what's next for you on this literary journey? Like, are there going to be more books, more holiday books? Are you going to, well, eventually, because the holidays will be over soon, are you kind of going to venture off into more suspense? Well, I do hope to write two more books set in Tinsley Falls, which is the setting of this novel. It's a fictional town that's right outside of Chattanooga, but on the Georgia side. And I do have an option with my publisher. Um, so I, I have to submit a proposal to them and I'm hoping there's two side characters in The Tinsel Twist, Gemma and Tyler, who I want to have their own books. And I've definitely been seeing from reviewers that it's like, when are we going to get Gemma's book? And when are we going to get Tyler's book? So I do hope I get a chance to write those and that my, my publisher would like to, to explore those options in the future. So if that happens, they'll, they'll still be on the same vein of like a cozy small town romance with that suspense element, since that's kind of. Where this has went with The Tinsel Twist and I don't know if they'll be set around holidays, but I am thinking maybe like one kind of fall, maybe Oktoberfest sort of and one summer, maybe 4th of July. So I would like to explore that and keep with the suspense. I also have a sports romance that I'll be shopping around soon. You can't go wrong with suspense and Christmas. You know, everything isn't always jolly, but it might be at the end. You know, that's what keeps us readers entertained. And so, Rosie, before I let you go, is there anything else that you would like to say to fellow book lovers out there, especially as we get into this holiday season? Well, honestly, there are so many amazing holiday romance books coming out that I think romance readers especially will be very satisfied with the options this season. And if you do like that sort of suspense element, there's a lot of suspense options as well, like The Santa Claus Con by Lauren Congesson and Ally Carter has a new holiday caper out this year. So that kind of. blended genre book is definitely going to be around this holiday season and there are lots of options for readers who enjoy things like my book The Tinsel Twist and that that kind of extra little something in their holiday romance. Well Rosie thank you so much for keeping us readers entertained and I can't wait to see what you come out with next and thank you for taking the time to come and chat with me and fellow book lovers out there. Thanks for having me it's so much fun.