Interview with a cozy writer: Mary Feliz

This interview first appeared on A Blue Million Books with Blogger Amy Metz


IFs ANDs OR WHATs INTERVIEW WITH MARY FELIZ

Ifs
Q: If you had to do community service (or already do volunteer work), what would you choose?
Working in a nature preserve such as my local Elkhorn Slough.

Q:If you were on the Amazon bestseller list, who would you choose to be one before and one below you?
Louise Penny.

Q:If you could meet any author for coffee, who would you like to meet and what would you talk about?
Louise Penny. I could talk to her about anything. She’s so funny and kind. We’d do more laughing than talking.

Q:If you could choose a fictional town to live in what would it be?
Three Pines.

Q:If you could live anywhere in the world, where in the world would it be?
I’m so lucky—right where I’m living right now. But I’d also be able to “apparate” (a Harry Potter skill that is like transporting onStar Trek, but without a transporter) to my children’s homes and my mom’s house if I were needed.

Ands

5 things you need in order to write:
• coffee
• silence
• love
• something little to snack on (My favorites are dry Cheerios or blueberries.)
and
• a pad of paper next to my computer to write down things I need to do that aren’t related to what I’m working on. These distractions always pop up, and they’re often important enough that I don’t want to forget them, but not important enough to interrupt my writing. If I jot them down, the interruption is minimal.

5 things you love about where you live:
• Blue Heron
• King Fishers
• Red-legged Stilts
• sea otters
and
• the ocean

5 things you never want to run out of:
• love
• coffee
• fresh, clean ocean air
• imagination
and
• health

5 favorite foods:
• raspberries
• strawberries
• fresh corn on the cob
• salmon
and
• chocolate

5 favorite books:
• any book by Louise Penny
• The Doomsday Book by Connie Willis
• Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone byJ.K. Rowling
• Winnie the Poohby AA Milne
and
• A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
.
5 favorite authors:
• Madeleine L’Engle, whose books reveal more every time I read them
• Connie Willis
• Harlan Coben
• Josephine Tey
and
• PD James
(and all the other writers I’ve mentioned in answering other questions.)

Whats

What’s your all-time favorite place?
I’m lucky enough to live in my favorite place—within view of the beach at the apex of Monterey Bay. The temperature here can be chilly year-round, which I love. We’re famous for our June Gloom – a month of overcast days in which we see the sun briefly in the afternoon, if at all. I love it. We have more typical sunny beach weather later in the summer. It’s busy with families during the warm months, but in the offseason we have the place (mostly) to ourselves. I love the beach and the sea mammals and am rapidly becoming a bird geek – we have hundreds of species of migrating and resident birds.

What’s your all-time favorite place in your town?
The Monterey Bay shoreline.

What’s your all-time favorite movie?
The Princess Bride. It’s so perfectly structured and a great story. The more I learn about writing structure, the funnier it becomes. For example, just at the point of the movie where you’d expect to place what’s known as a “storming the castle” scene, Miracle Max sends the boys off saying “Have fun storming the castle.”

What’s your all-time favorite author?
Louise Penny. I miss her characters between books! I hope that my characters are at least half as vibrant as hers!

What’s one thing that very few people know about you?
I’m a certified California Naturalist.

What’s your biggest pet peeve?
Politicians flouting the rules of logic.

What’s your favorite meal?
Breakfast for dinner.

What’s your favorite song?
"Lean on Me."

What author would you most like to review one of your books?
Louise Penny.

What’s your latest recommendation for:
Food:Fresh produce from my home town! Strawberries grow at our doorstep.
Music:Classical, but also Leonard Cohen
Movie:Old:The Princess BrideNew:On the Basis of Sex
Book:Still Life(the first in the series by Louise Penny)
Audiobook:Black Outby Connie Willis
TV:The Heart Guy
Netflix/Amazon Prime:Line of Duty

What books do you currently have published?
Address to Die For
Scheduled to Death
Dead Storage
Disorderly Conduct
Cliff Hanger