My Irish Dog by Douglas Solvie

Please welcome Douglas Solvie author of My Irish Dog

Douglas Solvie will be awarding $25 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

My Irish Dog

by Douglas Solvie

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GENRE: Suspense (Psychological)

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INTERVIEW:

1. What or who inspired you to start writing?

A: I’m not really certain. I’ve always considered myself a fairly good writer (albeit with still a lot to learn) and deep down in my mind I believed I had a novel in me. I had a short story published several years ago, and that gave me some confidence that perhaps I could bring my writing to a new level. I wanted to accomplish something noteworthy in my life, and I suppose I thought writing a book was the best and most natural way to do that.

2. How did you come up with ideas for your books?

A: Well, it’s just one book at this point. If you were to go to my website (www.myirishdog.com), you would read that a real-life adventure provided the impetus for my present book. I had struggled for years with various book ideas, and then serendipity or whatever you want to call it provided me with the idea I had been seeking. In this case, the real-life adventure was an overseas trip to Ireland. I do believe that getting out and about, away from what you know, can be an incubator for ideas.

3. What expertise did you bring to your writing?

A: As I mentioned earlier, nothing really other than the thought I could do it. I haven’t taken a formal writing class since probably when I was a freshman in college.

4. As far as your writing goes, what are your future plans?

A: I think the way I ended my present book could naturally lead to a sequel, so that is what I am thinking presently. Some of the characters could remain and I would add some new ones as well. I’ve written down several ideas for the beginning chapters to keep things fresh in my mind, but I have not yet begun writing. I’m a bit burned out from the first endeavor and need a bit of break for the time being. I’ll work on promoting my debut novel for now.

5. If you could be one of the characters from any of your books, who would it be and why?

A: The protagonist is a man named Spencer. As I mentioned, the book evolved from an actual experience, so in a way I am already one of the characters, or perhaps he is I. I’m not sure. At the beginning of the book, I used a lot of actual events to tell the story, embellishing and changing them up a bit to make things more interesting. So I basically put Spencer in my shoes and began writing. Then my imagination took over. Spencer and I have a lot in common, and in a lot of ways the character is based on me.

6. Do you belong to a critique group? If so how does this help or hinder your writing?

A: I did join one for a short while. The group critiqued a short chapter, and their input was quite valuable, things I kept in mind as I drafted and re-drafted. But in the end I could see that it would take years of critiques if I were going to rely on the group too much. I’m impatient, and so I soon went with a professional editor, which ended up being quite transforming with relation to the quality of the end product.

7. When did you first decide to submit your work? Please tell us what or who encouraged you to take this big step?

A: From the very beginning, I intended to publish the book, whether it was good or bad or somewhere in between. That was my complete mindset. So when the final draft was ready, I did approach a few agents. With no luck and not willing to spend months or years trying (again, I’m impatient), I uploaded the book to Amazon and hit the publish button.

8. Do you outline your books or just start writing?

A: My original belief was that a writer certainly needs an outline. The problem I was experiencing was I couldn’t really see how the story would unfold. Maybe it was writer’s block or something similar, but there was just no way I could envision the entire book in my mind. What worked for me was to simply begin writing. As I did, the ideas would flow for the present chapter and beyond. I had to write to generate ideas, and it ended up working for me.

9. Do you have any hobbies and does the knowledge you’ve gained from these carry over into your characters or the plot of your books?

A: I like to fly-fish and actually did some of that on my trip to Ireland. So naturally I made Spencer a fly fisherman, again using some of the actual experiences I had had in Ireland. This pastime isn’t really an integral part of the book, but it comes up here and there and is kind of a metaphor for Spencer’s personal mental anguish: Like everything else in his life, the fishing never goes as he would have liked it.

10. Do you have an all time favorite book?

A: Not really. But if I had one it would be A River Runs Through It. I don’t think that particular novel is necessarily a fantastic book, but there is a passage near the very end that to me is beautiful and mesmerizing. Iused to cry a bit when I would read it. In some ways, perhaps that passage inspired me to write, although I could never create something so utterly glorious.

BLURB:

Spencer held on to the faintest of hope, but still he knew the trip to Ireland had almost no prospect of remedying his internal dilemma. Then again, he never imagined that a chance meeting with a lost and dying dog named Shandy would change his life forever.

Step into the small Irish village of Galbally, where the unwitting Spencer stumbles headfirst into a parallel world that will test his will, sanity, and even physical well-being.

Time and promise are running out. Will unnatural forces and events scare Spencer away before he can connect again with the mysterious dog? Will he find his way forward before Shandy meets her inevitable fate? Or will suspicious locals and a nefarious Dublin innkeeper force Spencer from the village before he completes his life-altering mission?

Follow Spencer as he races to save a little Irish dog named Shandy. If he only realized that it is Shandy who is trying to save him…

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EXCERPT:

“Good morning,” Spencer greeted her. “Do you remember me?”

The woman stood in the doorway and did not respond immediately. “No, I can’t say I do,” she finally said with a blank expression.

Spencer felt a wave of dizziness overtake him.

“I was here a couple of days back and dropped off that little dog, which you kindly took from me,” he said desperately. “Anyway, I have been worried about her and wanted to make certain that everything had turned out all right.”

“I’m sorry,” the woman said warily, “I really don’t know what you’re talking about or who you are. You must have made some kind of mistake. We don’t have a dog and never have. And I’ve certainly never seen you before.”

Spencer was incredulous, his smile falling slowly. He also felt a little defiant.

“Excuse me, but I was here just two days ago. I told you I had found a stray dog that I didn’t know what to do with, and you agreed to take her from me. You said your husband would deal with the matter once he got home that night.”

“Listen, you have obviously made a mistake,” the woman said. Spencer winced inside; the woman was now the defiant one. “I have a husband, but I have no idea what you are talking about. Are you sure it wasn’t some other house?”

For a moment Spencer thought he might have gone crazy. He peered through the door, and though he could hear the sound of children inside, he could not see them.

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

My Irish Dog is the debut novel by Douglas Solvie and was motivated by a trip taken to Ireland and the chance discovery of a lost dog there. After spending most of his adult life living and working in Japan, Douglas is currently living in his home state of Montana. He hopes to make a new career out of writing and to travel the world, looking for inspiration for that next book, perhaps another set in beautiful Ireland. My Irish Dog is, after all, a story with a lot of unanswered questions.

https://t.co/YlJT9daWg8

https://www.linkedin.com/in/douglas-solvie-44210333/

Amazon buy link: https://www.amazon.in/My-Irish-Dog-Douglas-Solvie-ebook/dp/B08619VT25

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GIVEAWAY INFORMATION and RAFFLECOPTER CODE

Douglas Solvie will be awarding $25 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/28e4345f3341