The Worst Bad Thing by J.E. Birk
Dreamspinner Press
Cover art by Catt Ford
Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words is happy to have J.E. Birk here today to share some thoughts about writing and her latest release, The Worst Bad Day. Welcome, J.E, we have a few questions for you this morning.
- Where do you normally draw your inspiration for a book from? A memory, a myth, a place or journey, or something far more personal?
First of all, thanks so much for having me on your blog! My inspiration comes from everywhere. The Worst Bad Thing, unfortunately, was inspired by a horrible tragedy that happened within my community. Writing this book was my first attempt at working through all the emotions swirling in and around me during that time.
- Contemporary, supernatural, fantasy, or science fiction narratives or something else? Does any genre draw you more than another when writing it or reading it and why does it do so?
I’m all about contemporary. I’ll occasionally dabble in some fantasy or sci-fi, but it’s gotta be super-mega-awesome and totally draw me in. I’m not sure why I like reading about the more average and sometimes mundane sides of life—it’s possibly because I like to convince myself I could run into my favorite characters on the street at any moment. That’s infinitely easier to do when you’re not reading a book set on Moon Alpha One.
With all that said, I’d like to try writing a sci-fi novel someday, mostly to see if I could actually accomplish all that world-building. Fantasy and sci-fi authors are my heroes—world building is so difficult.
- If you were to be stranded on a small demi-planet, island, or god forbid LaGuardia in a snow storm, what books would you take to read or authors on your comfort list?
Can I please just take my e-reader and/or my entire bookshelf? Pretty please? There are so many! In the romance genre, some of my favorite comfort reads are books by Johanna Lindsey (been reading her since I was, like, eleven) and Kate Sherwood (Kaaate…I need more Dan…). I also strongly heart the Coda series by Marie Sexton after a difficult day.
That doesn’t even scratch the surface of all the comfort reads I’d want with me. Particularly if I was trapped in LaGuardia.
- How early in your life did you begin writing?
Probably as soon as someone deemed it safe to hand me a writing utensil and teach me the alphabet. I’ve always loved telling stories. I grew up on a dairy farm, and I used to sit with the cows and make up stories about their lives. I married them off, assigned them children. Given that they were all lady-cows, one could argue this was my first venture into writing LGBTQ romance.
- If you were writing your life as a romance novel, what would the title be?
Finally Made it to Almost There, which is also my favorite six-word memoir. I love six-word memoirs.
Blurb for The Worst Bad Thing
By J.E. Birk
Iceland, Stonehenge, London, Paris….
To the casual observer, it looks like a dream trip. For Tate O’Reilly, it’s anything but. He’s a man on a mission to rectify a critical mistake, and there’s nothing to hold him back—certainly not friends or family. For Tate, it all comes down to one simple thing—he must fix what he has broken.
What he doesn’t count on is meeting Gabriel Carillo. Gabriel is kind, mysterious, and seems to be on his own mission to ensure their paths keep crossing. But Tate’s hiding an awfully big secret—one he’s certain even Gabriel can’t forgive.
Does a man’s past have to determine his future? In the middle of cities filled with history, Tate is going to find out.
Buy links for The Worst Bad Thing
Dreamspinner | Amazon | Barnes and Noble | All Romance Ebooks
About the Author
Biography for J.E. Birk
J.E. Birk has been telling stories since she could talk and writing them since she was introduced to the alphabet. She hails from Colorado, where you can usually find her skiing, training for a 5K she won’t end up running, or watching grown men run into each other on football fields and in hockey rinks. You can follow her ramblings on Twitter by looking for @jebirkwrites. She’s also been known to ramble on Facebook as J Elisabeth Birk.
Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words 