Pat Garcia in “WHO’S ON THE SHELF” w/ @NonnieJules? – @Pat_Garcia @RRBC_Org @RRBC_RWISA @Tweets4RWISA #RRBC #RWISA

Hello, and welcome to “WHO’S ON THE SHELF?” with yours truly, Nonnie Jules! Since we are a book club, you know we had to offer something that included a bookshelf. A lot of interviews merely cover an author’s work or an individual’s career stories. Here on this “SHELF,” we get down and dirty and ask the questions no other interviewer dare ask. We ask the questions that you want to open up a book and find the answers to on your favorite authors and fellow book club members, but, no one has dared to cover them. We get personal! Because, when you sit on this “SHELF,” YOU are an open book! Even if I have to pry you open!

Today, we have a very special guest on the SHELF with us, RRBC  member and our October “SPOTLIGHT” Author, PAT GARCIA! 

NJ:  Before we get started, are you comfy?  We’ve made a few changes, and I want to ensure they are to my guests’ liking.

Pat:  I love it up here, Nonnie!

NJ:  Let’s start by confirming whether or not your author name is your birth name or a pen name.

Pat:  My author name, Pat Garcia is my penname, but it is within my real name.

NJ:  Tell us where you were born?

Pat:  Blythe, Georgia USA

NJ:  Do you still live there now?

Pat:  No

NJ:  What city and state are you calling home these days?

Pat:  I am an ExPat living in Grosskrotzenburg, Germany on the European Continent

NJ:  Married, single, happily divorced?

Pat:  I am Single and very happy.

NJ:  Any kids?

Pat:  No kids

NJ:  Any pets?

Pat:  No, but I did have a cat for 22 years.  His name was Clay.

NJ:  What breed of cat was Clay?

Pat:  He was a beautiful normal jet-black cat with green eyes.

NJ:  What’s the food that’s so good to you, you go to bed dreaming about it, and you forego breakfast just to get to it?

Pat:  I know it’s not a food, but I dream about coffee and would probably go on a hunger strike if I couldn’t have it.   I don’t dream about food, but like you, I do need my coffee in the morning.

NJ:  Yes, I will admit that I have to have coffee, but only because it compliments the creamer that I need.  So, I have coffee with my cream, and not the other way around.  Pat, what’s your favorite color?

Pat:  Can I choose two? I love red and green.

NJ:  Well, I only asked for one but since you already gave two….

What’s your favorite sport?

Pat:  Soccer

NJ:  Favorite TV Show?

Pat:  Bridgerton

NJ:  Favorite Actress/Actor?

Pat:  Tyler Perry

NJ:  Oh, I’m not a fan of his.  Pat, do you like to exercise to stay fit OR do you not mind walking around with a beer belly?

Pat:  I like to stay fit and have a membership in a fitness center near me.

NJ:  Good for you.  During this pandemic which we are all living through right now, what is the one thing you find that relaxes you and calms your mind and spirit?

Pat:  Reading a good book with a scotch on the rocks.

NJ:  Well, that sounds like a party to me!  What’s your favorite kind of music?

Pat:  Classical, R&B, Country, Gospel, Jazz, Blues, Worship music

NJ:  Favorite song?

Pat:  Man of La Mancha – To Dream The Impossible Dream

NJ:  I LOVE THAT!  BRAVO! BRAVO! BRAVO! Now, slow dance or jumping around the floor making a fool of yourself?  Which is Pat?

Pat:  I love both. When I hear music, I dance. I love dancing.

NJ:  In 15 words or less, what is the most common thing that the people who really know you,  ALWAYS say about you?  For instance, everyone who knows me all say:  “You always know where she stands on things,” OR, “There’s not another like her in the world,” OR, the one I’m most proud of, “God broke the mold with that one.”

Pat:  The Germans mostly say that when God made me, he didn’t make but one.

NJ:  OK.  Biggest pet peeve that makes you want to spit nails?  (For the record, NJ does not condone violence, but she does believe in being honest, so she admits that there are those times and there are those people, who do cause her to want to spit a few nails in the direction of their foreheads.  Just being honest.  It’s the only way I roll).

Pat:  I’m usually a person who is always trying to protect the underdog. I don’t like seeing another person being taken advantage of.

NJ:  Good for you!  So, are you neat or messy?

Pat:  In my office, it is totally chaos, but I do try to keep the rest of my home neat.

NJ:  Sounds like my office – right now, it is total chaos.  My first job as a receptionist, my mom bought me a sign that read:  A clean, uncluttered desk is the sign of a sick mind.  Well, if that’s the case, we should all be glad to know that my mind is extremely healthy.  Pat, some of us have been encountering people lately who appear to be sweet, kind, and gentle sheep on the surface, but then, there comes a time when they make the mistake of letting their ‘real’ shine through – I’m referring to their real not-so-sweet, their real not-so-kind and their real not-so-gentle.  Have you run into any of those kind online?

Pat:  Plenty of them.  But I do my best to not let it bother me.

NJ:  So have I, Pat.  So have I.  Shall I name names?  OK, I won’t.  Coke or Pepsi?

Pat:  Coke

NJ:  Diet soda or regular?

Pat:  Regular

NJ:  Who do you favor most:  Nonnie Jules or Wonder Woman? Be honest.

Pat:  Nonnie Jules

NJ:  We all know that Wonder Woman has her truth lasso and Nonnie has … well, just her truths, in the no-nonsense way she forces us to be honest and tell it like it is, whether it makes others uncomfortable or not.  In your opinion, which one does a better job of making the world a better place?  You can be honest here, too.

Pat:  Honestly, I don’t know who Wonder Woman is. Nonnie is the only one I know out of the two, and I like Nonnie the way she is. She’s one of a kind. (And I mean that positively!)

NJ:  Thank you, Pat 🙂 Name two favorite INDIE books that you’ve read by RRBC members.

Pat:  Only two? That’s going to be difficult.

NJ:  Here we go again.

Pat, please try.

Pat:  The latest one I read was The Altar Boy.

NJ:  ONE good INDIE book you’ve read written by an RRBC member that was so good you wished the entire world would read it.

Pat:  No Pedigree by Nonnie Jules

NJ:  I’m glad you enjoyed it.  Thank you.  What did you find so great about it?

Pat:  The pure honestness. I like that the author didn’t shy showing how it is to be raped. She used the language of the time. There were no cutting corners around using certain words that depict the horror of the young girls situation.

NJ:  That was my intention – to ensure that readers felt the intensity of the crime.  Pat, after you read books, do you post reviews?

Pat:  Yes, I do, but I admit it takes me some time. Usually, I read anywhere up to ten books, make notes, and write up the reviews later. And that later means really later because I am a writer who has to write six days a week.

NJ:  Good for you, and I hope you’re the kind of reviewer who protects your reputation so fiercely that you always review honestly.  What do you think readers should base their reviews on, Pat?

Pat:  On how they honestly perceive the story. Not every story is for everyone. You’re bound to write a story that people are going to take offense to, if you plan on writing significant stories.

NJ:  Are you one of those who are afraid to be honest in their reviews lest the author gets upset with you, or is honesty your best policy, especially in reviews?

Pat:  Honesty has always been my best policy. I know I look at a book different than most readers. For example, I don’t check punctuation in a book. If the sentence styling is great, I am not going to gig a book because they left out a comma. I do have a problem with words being left out. That is more critical than a forgotten comma.

NJ:  Good for you.  I notice it all – missing words, misplaced/missing punctuation, which by the way,  can throw an entire read off if it happens enough times in the read.  Read any poorly edited  or poorly written books lately?

Pat:  Yes, I have and they have been written by traditional and indie writers.

NJ:  Of course!  Traditionally published authors make the same mistakes as Indie authors, but what I’m finding from books that have been traditionally published is the authors feel that those editing their books, are so much better than smaller {Indie} editors, and so they don’t take the time to read up after their books have been edited by these editors.  I’m finding a ton of traditionally published books where the editing is downright sad.  I say stick with the Indie-published books!  Pat, how many poorly written or poorly edited books have you read that you gave high marks to in your reviews, when you knew they didn’t deserve the high marks?  Be honest, I won’t ask you to name the books here in public.

Pat:  I am not worried about naming the books. There are books where I have given high marks to because I enjoyed the story. When you say poorly written, I am thinking verbs didn’t agree with the nouns, missing words in sentences, sentence styling sucks, dangling modifiers all over the place. When I get a book like this, I usually write the author pointing out the mistakes. I DO THAT! And I have gotten back some good responses and some bad responses. Either way, I don’t put those books up on my book review blog and I don’t send them in to Amazon or any other place either. That is my prerogative. If I pay for the book, then I decide whether I am going to post the review. I don’t like blasting authors. It is hard enough out there. We don’t need to blast each other.

NJ:  Pat, telling the truth about a book you’ve read isn’t blasting an author – it is telling the truth about a book.  I have said a thousand times, for those who take the time to notify us about issues found in our books before posting a review, God bless them, but, no reader OWES us that courtesy.  Let me repeat this so that everyone in the back hears me:  NO ONE HAS TO NOTIFY US OF ANY ISSUES FOUND IN OUR BOOKS BEFORE THEY POST THEIR REVIEWS.  We should be thankful for the ones who do, but for the ones who don’t, we should also be thankful that they spent their money and their time reading and reviewing our books.  And I’ll also say again, when we aren’t honest with authors about their books, we are harming them… not helping them.  Sometimes it takes for you to post your honest review publicly for them to take a  step back and realize that they should give their book another look.  You have to have a thick skin to call yourself an author – if you can’t stand the heat, stay far away from the kitchen.

There are some INDIE authors who have come onto the scene and have given our literary playing field a new look.  Can you name two INDIE authors who have done this in your eyes?  And, how have they changed the field for us?

Pat:  Eloise James was an indie author when she published Fifty Shades of Grey.  She gave the Romance world a new honest look and has given us the courage to be more honest about the intimacy that goes on between couples.

John Fioravanti wrote a book, REFLECTIONS, INSPIRATIONAL QUOTES & INTERPRETATIONS has written a book that causes people to think more intensively. To go inside of yourself. To take time and slow down.

NJ:  Are you an author?  If so, are you a good one? C’mon, we love honesty here.

Pat:  Yes.  Yes, I am.

NJ:  How long have you been writing?

Pat:  I started writing stories in my own scribble at three years of age. But I started really writing in the first grade. I was five years of age.

NJ:  This is the most important question that you’ll get here today.  Are you able to take constructive criticism of your written work?

Pat:  Yes, but it didn’t come easy. I grew into it. I knew I wanted to be one of the best and the only way I was going to reach that plateau was to learn how to take criticism. I say criticism because I don’t think anybody is able to see it as constructive at the beginning. You learn to discern whether the person who is criticizing your work mean it for good.

NJ:  How do you handle negative reviews of your work?  Are you able to shake them off and move on?

Pat:  Yes, I am able to shake them off and move on. I have had lots of negative criticism about my writing. When I wrote Turn The Light On, one of my friends thought the woman should be a Caucasian. She was highly upset that I had chosen an African American. She told me that people don’t want to read a story about a black woman. (And she meant it.) And then she said to me, “other than that the story is excellent.” I decided that I would distance myself from her and I did.

NJ:  Pat, please say your kidding?  Who let that crazy loose?  Gee whiz.  Name two books that you’ve written…

TURN THE LIGHT ON

A SHARED DREAM

I’ve only written two books so far, and I am working on the third, and a fourth one is sitting somewhere in Cambridge waiting on a decision.

NJ:  Do you have a blog or website?

Pat:  Yes, I have blogs.

NJ:  I love GREAT blogs, so would you say that yours is written well enough for harsh critics like me to enjoy?

Pat:  I think so.

NJ:  Which online resource or organization has helped you as an author the most?

Pat:  As a resource, i.e. blurbs, book covers, editing, book trailers and tours RRBC.

NJ:  How were you helped by them?

Pat:  If it had not been for 4WillsPublishing, Turn The Light On would not exist as we now see it. The team was fabulous. They delivered outstanding work.

NJ:  Thank you, Pat!  I am proud of the work that’s done at 4WillsPub.  Since you’re sitting on the SHELF, you’re obviously a RAVE REVIEWS BOOK CLUB member, so what do you think of the club?

Pat:  Magnificent group of writers and the administrative team that is supporting the writers is awesome.

NJ:  Thank you, Pat!  Paula will be pleased about that praise.  Have you come across any other online entities like RRBC?

Pat:  No, because I haven’t been looking.

NJ:  Pat, RRBC is OFTEN imitated but has NEVER been duplicated (no matter how hard they try… and they do try) so even if you were looking, you wouldn’t find our model ANYWHERE.  #Fact.  Would you recommend it to your friends and family?

Pat:  Yes, undoubtedly.

NJ:  Are you a member of the prestigious RWISA?  If so, what do you think of it?

Pat:  Yes, I am a member of RWISA. It is a pleasure to be among the writers there.

NJ:  What’s your most favorite program or place here within RRBC?  (#PUSHTUESDAY, RAVE WAVES Shows, Writers’ Conference & Book Expo, BOOKS OF THE MONTH discussions, “ON THE SHELF” interviews, etc.)

Pat:  I like all of the above and participate in most of them, but you have asked me what is my favorite program, and I have to say that it’s working on THE PIPELINE. I know it’s not a program but a magazine, but when I am preparing the sections, I’m assigned to do, I feel good. I like working on this team.

NJ:  Pat, we appreciate you being part of this team.  Thanks for all you do!  Well, this shelf is getting hard on my hiney so we’re going to wrap this interview up.  Any final words for our reading audience today?

Pat:  Yes. It has been a pleasure talking with you. RRBC has become a heart thing for me. We have great people here and it is an honor to be among them. Thank you.

NJ:  Thank you, Pat, for joining me today – it was such a pleasure to have you.  Visitors, I ask that you pick up a copy of either of Pat’s books above. Please be sure to leave her a comment below as she loves to chat!

Have you joined RAVE REVIEWS BOOK CLUB yet?  Well, here’s your chance!  And, since Pat was on the “SHELF” today, tell them she sent you.

Until next time, take care.  We’ll see you again soon, right here on the “SHELF” with another INTERESTING GUEST!!!