Rocked By Grace by M.J. Schiller

 Wild Women Authors is thrilled to welcome back long-time friend and fellow author M.J. Schiller as she celebrates the release of Rocked By Grace, book 1 in her new Love and Chaos series. With her is Zane Sanders who will go first.   

Welcome, Zane. Tell us a bit about yourself, starting with where you’re from. A little-known town in Missouri called Stanton. It’s mostly farmland, rolling hills, and trees.

Now tell us a bit about Rocked By Grace. It is the story behind the videos that hit the Internet when I pulled a fan from the audience at one of Just Short of Chaos’ concerts. The dancing that ensued was so…incredible, no one would believe me when I told them it was spontaneous.

          I don’t know what possessed me to do it. I’d never done anything like that before. But something about Grace drew me to her. And within minutes of pulling her on stage, I knew I’d made one of the best decisions of my life. Since our drummer Devin’s overdose, I’d felt dead inside. Perhaps for even longer than that. But Grace was fun, sexy—and as I would discover later—good and selfless. And an irresistible magic surrounded us that made me feel alive again.

That is, until I blew it. In classic Zane style. Funny thing is, when I first got Grace up on stage, I had no idea what to do with her. Now I have no idea what I’ll do without her. In the end it comes down to whether she’s willing to extend me grace, undeserved forgiveness. I’m counting on her big heart and depth of sympathy.

What did you think the first time you saw Grace? Wow. I wish I could tell you. I just…there was something about her. I mean, I know what it is now, but I don’t know what told me then. She was just a face in the crowd. Pretty? Yes. Sexy? Definitely. But…there were others in the audience that night that might have come close to her physically. If I believed in… “auras,” or whatever that is…maybe there was something emanating from her. I was simply taken by her, drawn to her, and even as I was questioning myself for doing it, I was inviting her up on stage. 

What was your second thought? Umm…does this blog have one of those warning things? Ha, just kidding. To be frank, she turned me on. Like no other woman had before. And I was probably wondering who the person was that she was bringing out in me.

Did you feel it was love at first sight? Yes. Absolutely. I think… There was definitely something there, right from the start, but I’m not sure I can put a name on it.

What do you like most about her? Oh, man. I mean…she’s just great. Funny, warm, kind, selfless, and she really makes me feel loved and appreciated for who I am. Who I really am. 

How would you describe Grace? Beautiful. Inside and out. And strong. Incredibly strong but loving.

How would she describe you? Oh, man. A raving lunatic, at times. But the man who loves her and would do anything for her. And we have fun together. I think she’d mention that.

What made you choose making music and performing for a career? Rock star or musician. It chose me. It allows me to be someone else. Music frees me. It makes me forget about my…insecurities and step outside myself and really have fun.

What is your biggest fear? Disappointing the people I love. The people who count on me.

How do you relax? Relax? What’s that? You know…one of my favorite things to do now is stay at home. Just stay at home, with Grace and her brother Jamie. And they’ve got me into fishing. That’s about as relaxed as you can be. Watching a string in water.

Who is your favorite fictional character? Holden Caulfield. He’d hate the music business. It’s filled with phonies. The phoniest of phonies.

What is the best piece of advice you ever received? Own your mistakes and learn from them. Rafe told me that. He plays lead guitar for Just Short of Chaos.

After reading Rocked By Grace, we can see that you paid attention to that good advice and practice it on a regular basis. Thank you for sharing a bit of yourself with us. Now it’s time to chat with M.J.

What movies or books have had an impact on your career as a writer? That’s a hard one to answer because I think a lot of times you take things away subconsciously. But, probably Pride and Prejudice, Wuthering Heights, A Tale of Two Cities. Oh, definitely Stephen King’s On Writing.

Oh, yeah. Mr. King knocked it out of the park with that one. But what one event in your private life were you able to bring to this story and how do you feel it impacted the novel? Not the cave scene. I assure you, not the cave scene. Umm…I visited the pizza places. I do karaoke. The trick for getting fish off the hook I got off YouTube.

Hah! Good one. Tell us a bit about your publisher: how did you hear about them and what influenced your decision to submit to them? This is a self-pubbed book, but I’ve worked with both ePublishing Works! and Crimson Romance. Crimson was under the Adams Media umbrella, who produces Publisher’s Weekly, so I figured they knew what they were doing. ePW! I learned about through a friend. I liked the things they had done for her and followed some of their interactions over social media.

What book[s] currently rest on your TBR pile? Oh, my gosh. So many. I’m really looking forward to reading another book from Kara O’Neal. I love her Pike’s Run Series. And RT Wolfe’s next book in the Island Escape Series.

Lastly, what's up next and when can we expect to see it on the shelves? Well, my publisher has the seventh in my chick lit Devilish Divas Series, Hell Hath No Fury, scheduled to be released in January. I’d like to try and get the second in my Love And Chaos Series, Rocked By Love, out before that, but life gets crazy sometimes.

 To learn more about M.J. Schiller and the stories she creates, go to:

Website: www.mjschillerauthor.blogspot.com

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/m-j-schiller

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/MJ-Schiller-Romance-Author/286382241460365?ref=hl

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/mjschiller/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/mjschiller

Tumblr: http://mjschilz.tumblr.com/

Instagram: http://instagram.com/mjschiller

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6479377.M_J_Schiller

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/M.J.-Schiller/e/B009JOQFQQ/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1

To purchase Rocked By Grace, go to:

 Amazon:  http://mybook.to/RockedByGrace

 Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/rocked-by-grace-m-j-schiller/1137187473?ean=2940162636427&fbclid=IwAR32dS2T6Fn_7cNDe4hIG-9kJvBqRx_Y0bVbzWI-XCJusQalL9lC980q888

 Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/rocked-by-grace

 iTunes: https://books.apple.com/us/book/rocked-by-grace/id1519022301