Aloha to TWRP's Marguerite Arotin

At one time, books from RT, RomCon, and RWA dominated our house.  But books have been overtaken by boxes of Trail's End popcorn.  Yep, hubby is the Cubmaster and it's fundraising time!  Our guest today can sympathize with my situation.   Please join me in welcoming Marguerite Arotin.  From her website,  http://www.ohioromance.net/,

Marguerite Arotin has been writing since the third grade when she wrote her first story for a Halloween class project and loved the praise she got from it. She didn’t pick up her first romance novel, however, until the age of nineteen when she met her husband who showed her that true love does exist.

Her fascination with Ohio history dates back to when she was working at a place close to the Cuyahoga Valley National Recreation Area and would walk the remains of the old towpath imagining what life was back when mules pulled the boats along the very path she walked along. Her daydreams led her to write The Locktender's Daughter, which will be published with Wings E-press in May.

In addition to wondering what life was like long ago, Marguerite has loved a good fantasy tale since the age of ten when she read the Narnia Chronicles and saw The Last Unicorn at the movies. It just took her awhile to muster up the courage to create her own realm. When she's not roaming around her fantasy realm or surfing the net on her laptop with a cat on her lap, Marguerite spends her days chasing her son around the house and making sure he doesn't get into trouble.

Kim:  Welcome, Marguerite!  Let's learn more about you in an abstract way. Imagine you are playing Celebrity Jeopardy with other romance authors, how would the announce introduce you?

Marguerite:  "Marguerite Arotin is the  author of romance from the heartland & beyond and part-time cub scout den leader mom".

Kim:  There is no such thing as part time den leader ... it's an all encompassing job!   Back to Celebrity Jeopardy, what would Alex say about you after the first break?

Marguerite:  When I first decided I wanted to be an author, which was in the third grade, my teacher wanted us to write Halloween stories for a class book she was putting together. Most of my classmates wrote about ghosts, goblins, the usual stuff. My little story had that in but also a little bit of romance too. See my hero was the prince of the goblins and he was out on a mission to travel to a castle to rescue and marry a witch princess. Along the way, he met a skeleton, a monster, and a ghost but became friends with them all and they all joined him in his quest to rescue the queen. My mom absolutely loved the story and I got some great praise from a few of my classmates too. I was hooked!

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Kim:  Great tidbit that would make the audience swoon.  Who would you like to play against?

Marguerite:  Linda Lael Miller, because she's the first romance author who's work I read and loved, Nora Roberts, since she seems like a smart chick, and Erin McCarthy, since I loved her Vegas Vampire series so much. 

Kim:  What would be your charity?

Marguerite:  The Humane Society.  I am an animal lover.

Kim:   You write historical, fantasy, and western romances.  How do you write between three distinct genres?  Do you turn one genre off to turn another on?

Marguerite:  I really don't have to turn anything off. If my imagination takes me to a specific genre, I go for it. And if I need to research an idea a little more before I start writing, I do my homework. I am a self-admitted research junkie.

Kim:  How long have you been a Cleveland Indians fan? 

Marguerite:  For as long as I can remember. My dad's a big Cleveland sports fan and growing up there was always an Indians game playing on the television or radio or a Browns game on. I didn't start getting into football later on, but I loved baseball since I could understand it more.

Kim:  Did you like the movie Major League?

Marguerite:  Absolutely loved it! To show you how big the movie was in Cleveland when it came out when I was in High School, I remember people sitting on the floor of the theater to watch it.

Kim:  Tell us about the Cuyahoga Valley National Recreation Area.

Marguerite:  I love that area. To me it's the perfect combo of history and nature. It's also the only National Park in the North East Ohio area. The remains of the old Ohio and Erie Canal run through the park along with an old train line. You can walk the towpath where the mules used to tow the boats, view the relics of the old locks, and plenty of old historical canal era buildings. It's just so cool!

Kim:  If you were to cast your husband as a hero, what genre and what type of hero?

Marguerite:  A contemporary spy. My hubby is very smart and I think he'd use more brains than brawn to protect his heroine from the bad guys, and I love that about him :)

Kim:  Today I am giving away your anthology, The Way Back Home.  If you could create the "perfect" anthology with no holds bar, who would you invite to write with you, what would be the genre, and what would be the story lines?

Marguerite:  Definitely fantasy romance because there's so many possibilities for a story line. Since I had so much fun writing with them and I consider both women to be my best author friends, I'd invite Abbey MacInnis and Amber Williams to write with me, the two ladies who's stories are also featured in The Way Back Home anthology. And I think a fantasy tale about three alternate universes but with the same hero and heroine in each story could be fun :)  In one story the hero and heroine are caught in a world where Greek or Roman Gods still call the shots and mythological monsters still roam the earth.  In the second story magic is outlawed but practiced in secret. The third story has a world that's run by vampires and werewolves. It's so fun playing what if and imagining the possibilities.

Kim:  I'd like to read that book!  Mahalo, Marguerite, for joining us at SOS Aloha!  In honor of your visit, we are giving away one copy of The Way Back Home.  To enter the book giveaway,

1. Contact Kelley at Columbussos@gmail.com to join Operation Holiday Card. It is our goal to ensure that 1000 deployed airmen, marines, sailors, soldiers, and Coast Guardsmen receive a holiday card.

I am promoting Operation Holiday Card through November 12 - if you have signed up, thank you!

2. Check out Mary's blog, http://www.marygramlich.blogspot.com/. Mary is the Reading Reviewer and my SOS partner. She graciously volunteered to serve as my shipping agent for the TWRP spotlight.

3. Leave a comment about Marguerite, Cub Scouts, Cleveland Indians, and/or research junkies. 

The book giveaway is open to US and Canadian residents only. Comments will be open through November 8 for the book giveaway.

Join us tomorrow as we host another double header with:

- Alison Chambers, http://www.alisonchambersromance.com/
- Lauren Hope, http://www.laurenhope.net/

Mahalo,

Kim in Hawaii

The Scouts in the Hawaiian Islands are governed by the Aloha Council (their website is currently unavailable).  But I found this tidbit on Wikipedia,

The first troop in the islands, appropriately numbered Troop 1, was founded by a British Scouter just recently relocated, and chartered to Kawaiahaʻo Church. One Saturday, former Queen Liliʻuokalani was driven past Kapiʻolani Park in Honolulu, and noticed this troop going through Scouting drills. She stopped and enquired what manner of military play this was, and the Scouts eagerly explained the concept of Scouting to her. On a following Saturday a month later, the Queen reappeared, and presented to the troop a Hawaiian flag. Emblazoned upon the red-white-and-blue stripes were the Hawaiian royal crest and the lettering in gold The Queen's Own Troop, which she had labored at herself. As the Scoutmaster was an Englishman, in their tradition of naming rather than numbering troops, the appellation stuck. The unit claiming longest continuous charter is Troop 1.

Also from Wikipedia,

In 1946, Scouts helped re-introduce the endangered Nene into the Haleakala National Park by carrying young birds into the Haleakala Crater in their backpacks.

We recently visited Haleakala (House of the Sun) National Park and admired the enlarged photos of the Scouts in the visitors' center.  This must have conveyed a great sense of pride for those Scouts who would later see the Nene thrive in the national park. 

Our pack's worldly possessions are currently stored in my garage.  We have several outdated patches unique to Hawaii.  If you are a patch collector, contact me and let's make a deal!