Terrific Tuesday with Mahalia Levey:)

Welcome!  Please introduce yourself and tell us about your latest release.

Good Morning,

I'm Mahalia Levey aka Hales. I'm a multipublished author digitally for now. The Price of Defiance just released. I've been excited because it was released previously but only as a very short story less than three thousand words. It's now forty-eight thousand words and some change :) As you can tell that's quite an expansion.

Have you ever had an idea for a story which scared you after you began writing it?

No. I get an idea and just roll with it! I have had stories hit difficult patches but that happens a lot to everyone. 

Have you incorporated actual events from your own life into your books?

 Yes. I was adopted and had some emtional trauma and issues in my adoptive family that have made me the person I am today. I have a lot of darkness in me that no one sees. I'm generally really happy but sometimes when triggered the crap comes rushing back and I have to wade through the bad memories. I use my demon world build to unleash all the angst and hurt. It's very theraputic and free lol.

How much research do you do?  Do you research first and then write, or do you write first, then research as needed?

 Sometimes I research. I generally set the settings at places I've been to. I don't do many time pieces so if needed I'll just search up a topic or an area I have never been to.

Is there any message you want readers to take from reading your work?

I think it depends on the story. I write a lot of Inter racial and there's always a learning lesson. The unique part of being three different races is that I know the cultural norms of all of them, the bad sides and the good sides of each one. I've also lived in the high mid class neighborhoods and  then you could say near poverty ones. I've been in the culture pot of the world and lived in the hood an seen an entire different life than the one I was born into. Experiences help make us who we are. So I have a ton of life lessons to offer and share. I sometimes do that in a story.

 I think one of the crucial moments in my life was the first time someone pointed out I wasn't white. I was adopted by a caucasion family. I'd assumed I was tan. I wasn't a color growing up I was a daughter and that fist fight in second grade with a little mean boy set the stage for me to lose my innocence very early. After that I understood the whisperings and ways people would look at my mother.

Are you a plotter or a pantser?  And have you ever had a story take on a life of its own?

I am a panslotter. I have a premise and a title before I begin. I search out names I'd like to use and then put down the beginning, soft middle and possible ending. From there I write until the story is done and I don't write the characters they write me :P I find if I force something I have to backtrack and fix it.

How long did it take for you to be published?

 Um. I was asked to challenge myself in end of 08 with no experience. I sent something in a month later. Got a rejection but revise and resubmit and a handful of months later had a contract. My first book didn't release til May 2010

If you could go back and tell yourself anything when you first began your writing career, what would you say?

 If you don't remember basic technique and grammar lessons to brush up. I went in blind and had to do a lot of catching up. I took as many classes as I could find on line for whatever interested me to hone quickly. I'm still working on my craft it's an on going learning process but if I'd have thought to take classes earlier it'd been a lot easier for me.

Laptop or pen and ink?  What are your ‘must-haves’ when writing?

 Laptop. My writing is atrocious. I have to have music, noise, snacks and coffee. Used to be chocolate and coffee now it's healthy snacks and decaf coffee.

Who are your favorite authors?  Who would you say influenced you the most?

 I have so many. Sherrilyn Kenyon of course. Joey W Hill, LKH,Anne Rice, C Feehan, Johanna Lindsay, Madeline Hunter, Galen Foley, Karin Tabke, Virna DePaul, Sandy Sullivan, Andrew Grey, Laurann Dohner, KoKo Brown, Debra Glass and there are so many more. SK influenced me the most and the rest are constant inspirations.

What would your readers be surprised to learn about you?

 I don't know. Probably that I didn't grow up in a Christian home.

For Fun:

Favorite Thanksgiving memory?

Hmm. I don't have a childhood one. My mother was an absent parent more into her patients than her children. We usually went to The Holiday Inn Buffet rather than her cooking on holidays.

After I left home I learned how to cook from my children's father and his family. It was my first time sitting at a table with people there and not alone. It was nice. Thanksgiving is now one of my fav holidays. I love to make sweet potato muffins.

Any special Thanksgiving traditions? 

Cooking :P

Pumpkin Pie or cake? 

Sweet Potato Pie. I made pumpkin pie for the family and was looked at like i was crazy. African American families don't gen do Pumpkin pie lol. Needless to say learning dif cousine for the dif sides of me has been an education.

Thank you for being here today!  Please tell us where we can find your books.

 You can find me at

www.mahalialevey.com

www.mahalia2010.wordpress.com

www.twitter.com/hales3000

fb search Mahalia Levey

Blurb

America Patterson loves living on the edge. Car model by day, illegal street racer by night, she’s known as the best. Except underneath her flawless façade lies a young woman filled with turmoil. When her hobby lands her in hot water, she finds herself handcuffed and bailed out by the one person who’d abandoned her….

MMA Fighter Alejandro Escovedo is summoned home after a tournament that had left him sore and questioning his career. Expecting a nice welcome home, he instead finds himself rescuing his best friend’s sister out of jail. This time he’s had enough.

Their explosive past gives him all the rights where America is concerned, and he is more than ready to take her on. By ending her daredevil ways and finding the trigger to her self-destructive behavior, will he convince her he’s back to stay or drive her further away?


Genre: Erotic romance, BDSM, contemporary

~Excerpt~

“America, where are you?”

“Saint, I’m in big trouble.” Amy gripped the cell tightly to her ear. “I’m at Truman Memorial Hospital, about to be taken to jail.” She started to sob when reality dawned on her.

“Thank God, you’re alive. I’ve been going out of my mind since the link to the wreck was sent to my cell phone. Sit tight. We’ve been fielding police and the media, trying to protect your professional name. Sis, Alejandro demanded to be the one to handle the situation.”

“I’m sorry for scaring you.” Her brother and his team of misfits were all she had while growing up. Being named after their country of conception and proved just how zany her family was. Saint Vincent got his name chopped in half to Saint. “Is this going to hurt your business?”

“No. Alejandro will make sure you have a smooth transaction. I’m forwarding him your info now. Sit still and relax. Can’t have the baby of the family locked up and forgotten.”

She winced at the thought of seeing Alejandro again after so long. Her voice dropped an octave. “Can’t you come? I haven’t seen him since—”

“Miss, we’re ready to transport you to the police department,” Officer Blake interrupted.

“I gotta go.” Amy snapped the phone shut and handed it back to the officer. He was kind enough to leave, allowing her to change into the scrubs they’d sent for. She rapped and opened the door after toeing into the slip-on canvas shoes. “I’m ready.” Head dropped low, she allowed them to escort her to the jailhouse that was a ten-minute ride away.

Being booked took longer than she’d expected, and it mortified her. A nifty machine imprinted her fingerprints electronically after they took her mug shot. The issue with her identification became clear once she had a chance to speak and separate her professional identity from her personal one. When they finished processing her fingerprints and mug shot, she followed them through general population and looked at all the criminals on the way to her holding cell. The door buzzed and opened, and she was ushered in. She cast a glance at the officer, who shook his head, locked the door, and turned his back.

I’m not a criminal.