Monday, January 22, 2018

20 Questions with Mystery Author Abby Bardi @abbybardi

Abby Bardi is the author of three novels: Double Take, The Secret Letters, and The Book of Fred. Her short fiction has appeared in anthologies and journals, and she has written academic articles on Roma (Gypsies). She grew up on the South Side of Chicago and now lives in Ellicott City, MD, the oldest railroad town in America.

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1. Are you a morning writer or a night writer?

I write every morning. By night I’m tired and my brain stops working.

2. Do you outline or are you a pantster?

I’m both! I make outlines and then change things. I move back and forth between the two styles and change the outline to fit the pantsing.

3. Which comes first – plot or character?

Character has a slight edge but I basically start with both: a character in a particular situation.

4. Noise or quiet when working on your manuscript?

When I’m writing, I don’t notice what’s going on around me so it doesn’t matter.

5. Favorite TV show?

There’s so much great TV at the moment—it really is a golden age. Having said that, the TV show I enjoy the most is probably Dancing with the Stars. It just makes me happy.

6. Favorite type of music?

I love all kinds of music but what I listen to the most is music from Bollywood movies. Bollywood is my passion.

7. Favorite craft besides writing?

Is there a craft besides writing?

8. Do you play a musical instrument?

Yes, guitar and piano. I used to perform as a singer-songwriter but haven’t been doing that much lately. Writing novels in my kitchen is more fun.

9. Single or married?

Married for twenty years this year!

10. Children or no?

Two grown children. They’re really cool adults.

11. Pets?

A dog and a cat. The cat belongs to my daughter but has been living with for a while.

12. Favorite place to write?

In the kitchen on my laptop.

13. Favorite restaurant?

Every Thursday, we eat at a local Korean eatery. Their tofu stew is amazing.

14. Do you work outside the home?

Yes, I teach English at a community college.

15. What was the name of the last movie you saw?

Jab Harry Met Sejal—Bollywood starring the great Shahrukh Khan.

16. Favorite outdoor activity?

I do a lot of dog-walking.

17. Pet peeve?

Irritability. I think people should try to be pleasant.

18. Your goal in life?

My current goal is to find the right agent for my new novel. It’s a time-travel novel, and it turns out that some people aren’t crazy about that.

19. Your most exciting moment?

When my kids were born, when my three novels were published, and when my house is clean.

20. The love of your life?

My cute husband.

About the Book:

Title: Double Take
Author: Abby Bardi
Publisher: Harper Collins Impulse
Pages: 186
Genre: Mystery

Set in Chicago, 1975, Double Take is the story of artsy Rachel Cochrane, who returns from college with no job and confronts the recent death of Bando, one of her best friends. When she runs into Joey, a mutual friend, their conversations take them back into their shared past and to the revelation that Bando may have been murdered. To find out who murdered him, Rachel is forced to revisit her stormy 1960s adolescence, a journey that brings her into contact with her old friends, her old self, and danger.