Guest Author & A Giveaway: Amy Knupp

Everyone please welcome Harlequin author Amy Knupp who is the “October Author” at ALBTALBS! 😀 This sounds dorky, but I first “met” her on twitter, and then at a few conferences. She’s totally fabulous, and I think she’s the best.

1. Do you collect anything?  Good intentions and calories.

2. What would your ultimate meal consist of? Describe each course and beverage.  I don’t know exactly, but it would definitely include bacon.  And cheese…lots of cheese.

3. What was your first job? Your most interesting one?  I worked at Dairy Queen for a total of about 6 years in high school and college.  I still have dreams about making that perfect curl on the top of the cone (and I’m pretty sure I still could, even though it’s been a LOT of years.)  Most interesting job?  Easily the current one I have as a freelance copyeditor (www.blueotterediting.com).  Not only do I get paid to read, but I get to indulge my punctuation OCD-ness. 🙂

4. What are five of your biggest pet peeves? What do you think would be fitting punishments for each?  1. Drivers who swing their car out to the right to take a left turn.  2.  People who use the word “irregardless.”  3.  Insurance companies that think they can prescribe what’s best for my health.  4.  Radio stations that ruin really good songs by playing them every twenty minutes.  5.  Wizard of Oz comments when I tell people I used to live in Kansas.  (I hate Wizard of Oz.  Don’t judge me.) [I’m a little surprised Amy doesn’t have punishments for them… she seems like she’d be the type. ;X]

5. What’s the strangest thing you’ve ever eaten?  I’m not very adventurous with food, so it’d probably be some kind of Blizzard combo from back in my Dairy Queen days.  The most disgusting one I remember was Nerds candy and Whoppers…together in vanilla ice cream.

6. If you have to listen to a song 24/7 for four days, which one would you choose?  I would throw the iPod in the lake after about an hour, no matter what song it was.  I love music but need to have a variety.

7. Cowboy boots, Stilettos, or Go Go boots?  The only one I own is stilettos, so if I have to choose one, I’d go with that.  My shoe of choice would be my fur-lined Sketchers.  They’re ugly, comfy and warm, and during the Wisconsin winter, comfy and warm win out.

8. How’d you come up with your author name? Have you ever forgotten your author name/accidentally ignored someone when they called out to you?  My parents gave me the Amy part and my husband gave me the Knupp part, so no, I’ve never forgotten or ignored. 🙂

9. Who would win in an ultimate death match? A Ninja or a Viking? A ninja.  Vikings are all big and bad-ass, but I’m thinking they’d lack the finesse of a ninja.

10. What was your favorite book as a child?  There was a book in my grade school library called A Letter to Amy.  I checked it out EVERY week just because my name was in the title.  No memory of what it was about, but it just shows how important a title is, right? 😉

11. What did you do with your first royalty check?  What I do with all my royalty checks…pay bills.  Glamorous, yes?

12. What’s your writing process?  Plot and plot and figure and plot and start writing and then figure out my plot sucks and won’t work for my characters.  From there, I pretty much have to wing it.  You’d think skipping the plotting stage would be a good idea for me, but that causes me more anxiety than it’s worth.  That original plotting craziness seems to be a necessary step in order for me to get to the eventual story.

13. What’s the most unique/strange silly skill your possess?  I’m pretty sure I could win a belching contest but I’ve never had the nerve to try one in public.  (I do rule the Knupp house, even though I’m the only female, though.  My mom is so proud.)

14. Which is worst? Hang nail, splinter, or paper cut?  Paper cut!

15. What’s the first type of alcohol you ever tried to drink? What do you prefer to drink now?  Kahlua and cream is the worst because I detest coffee.  I prefer gluten-free beer…or vodka.  I try to avoid having them together because that never ends well.

16. Is there a genre you’d like to write but haven’t? What genre would you personally never try to write?  I plan to try young adult, but probably most of what I write will always have some kind of romance in it.  I would never ever try to write historical because I am a history idiot for the most part.

She’s giving away copies of her upcoming November book After the Storm. Have you ever read a book by Ms. Knupp before? What questions do you have for her? Remember, the more off the wall the better! 😀

21 thoughts on “Guest Author & A Giveaway: Amy Knupp

  1. smartmouthtexan

    I haven’t read anything by Ms. Knupp yet. Will be adding her to my TBR list cause she sounds awesome, And I’m pretty sure most ordinary people are history idiots, so she shouldn’t stress it.

    Ashley

    Reply
  2. Lisa Guertin

    I love Amy’s firefighters! I was lucky enough to meet her briefly at RWA in Orlando a couple of years ago and she’s a very nice and patient lady!
    Lisa G

    Reply
  3. Amy Knupp

    Hi, Ashley, you sound awesome as well! Nice to meet you. 🙂

    Lisa, you are lovely yourself and I’m so glad I got to meet you in FL!

    Maureen, we have the faulty memory thing in common then. One thing that makes me smile…hmm…excellent use of sarcasm makes me smile! 🙂

    Reply
  4. Snookie Mello

    I’ve read all Amy’s books except After the Storm. Loved reading everyone of them too! One of my biggest pet peeves is also irregardless!!! I cannot stand to hear it spoken and worse yet written!!! One question for Amy . . . when you coming back to visit? 🙂

    Reply
  5. JoAnne

    Haven’t read books by Amy before but will rectify that. Great interview. Loved the questions.
    Questions I have:
    What would be your dream vacation and where would you go?
    If you could have dinner with anyone, dead or alive, which five people would you choose and why?
    Do you believe in love at first sight?

    Reply
  6. Debbi S

    I love my fur lined sketchers in the winter too! I have read all your books and love the firefighters. So sad to them come to an end. 🙁 Looking forward to see what you come out with after them.

    Reply
  7. Amy Knupp

    Hi Snookie! I would LOVE to come back to visit you in Hawaii! There’s so much more you could show me! (The green sand beach, for example.)

    Hi JoAnne, it’s nice to meet you! You ask tough questions. Dream vacation…I love to travel but have never been out of the US, so I’d say my first choice would be to France and Italy. Greece would be high on the list. But the list is long. 🙂 As for love in first sight, I believe in serious attraction at first sight, but I think love takes time to develop. How can you love someone if you don’t know them on multiple levels? Maybe that’s not the most “romantic” answer, but I tend to veer toward realism (in the extreme. lol)

    Hi Debbi, high five for fur-lined Sketchers! 😛 Thanks so much for the compliments on my firefighters. They’ve been a lot of fun and a lot of challenges, in a good way! 🙂

    Reply
    1. Snookie Mello

      Yup, the green sand beach would be very high on the list 🙂 Watching the kids and young adults jumping and diving off the cliffs at South Point (southern most point in the US), a short hike to the Mauna Loa endangered Mauna Loa silverswords, up close views of flowing lava (if it’s happening)… Lots of cool things to do! You will have to set a book here 🙂

      Reply
      1. Cathy P

        Hi Snookie! This is the first time I have seen you on another site besides eHarlequin. How have you been? I saw on Facebook that Zach had hurt himself. Hope he is doing better. Luv ya!

        Reply
  8. Cathy P

    Hi Amy! I have never had the pleasure of reading any of your books before so you are a new author for me.

    I also don’t like to hear or see the word irregardless. It drives me nuts — well, nuttier than I am. Lol!

    I love historicals, so my question would be: If you sat down to write an historical book, would you be pulling out pieces of your hair?

    Reply
  9. Mary Preston

    I really need to get started on reading Amy Knupp’s books. Talk about a personality shining through. I chuckled my way through the entire post.

    My question: do you do many book signings or personal appearances etc? I ask because I’d be first in line.

    Reply
  10. Amy Knupp

    Snookie, if I had the money, I’d be on a plane tomorrow!!

    Cathy, thanks for posting. 🙂 If I sat down to write anything historical, yes, I would definitely be pulling out my hair, and anyone who tried to read what I wrote would be, as well! lol

    Reply
  11. Amy Knupp

    Hi Mary! Thanks for your kind words! 🙂 I do a few signings and appearances, usually in conjunction with conferences and group events. If you’re anywhere near Milwaukee, I highly recommend Barbara Vey’s Reader Appreciation Luncheon in April. I’ll be there along with about 40 other authors. Lots of prizes and raffles, a book signing, and James Rollins is the keynote speaker. If you’re interested, here’s the information: http://www.barbaraveyreaders.com/

    I would love to meet you in person!

    Reply
  12. flchen1

    Hi, Amy! Of course, I’ve read your stuff, starting with the Salinger sisters 🙂 Hmm… I am SO there with the punctuation OCD, btw… what’s your take on the serial comma? 😉

    And how did you meet your DH?

    Reply
  13. Kaelee

    Hi Amy ~ Love your books. This blog may me chuckle a lot. Looking forward to After the Storm.

    Are you still home schooling your son?

    Reply
  14. Kaelee

    Man ~ I should not comment on blogs when I’m tired. The second line above should read ~ This blog made me chuckle a lot. That post made me blush.

    Reply
  15. Amy Knupp

    Is that Fedora? (Hope so or I’m embarrassed!) In my own writing, I don’t use the serial comma (because Harlequin’s house style doesn’t use it) but when I edit, I do use it. What about you?

    I met my DH in college. We both worked on the college newspaper. We were somewhat scandalous, though, because he was an editor on the news side (aka a “newsie”) and I was on the advertising side (an “addie.”) The two supposedly aren’t supposed to mix. Ha! (We’re also both only children and have been repeatedly warned about that, but we’ll celebrate our 19th anniversary in a few months.)

    Hi Kaelee, good to see you! Thanks for the compliments! My son is now in virtual school, which is a public school taught online. He has live teacher lectures for two hours each day and the rest of the school day is spent independently doing the work for each of his classes. So no, I don’t homeschool anymore, but I do ride herd. It’s an ideal set-up for him and allows me to still be involved to an extent. (And it frees up my time a bit!)

    Reply
  16. Amy Knupp

    My apologies for taking so long to post a winner! Congrats goes out to JoAnne! Please send me an email with your postal address to [email protected] and I’ll get your signed copy of AFTER THE STORM in the mail.

    Thanks to all of you for the fun questions and comments! And big thanks to Lime for having me on her blog. 🙂 Happy Friday!

    Reply
  17. Fedora

    That is TOO cool, Amy! Happy almost 19 years! That’s a great background the two of you shared! And does your husband also still work with words? Ah… yep, I personally still like the serial comma, but follow house rules when editing, so sometimes that actually means taking it out (*gasp!*) 😉 And yep, it’s me, Fedora 🙂 Thanks, Amy!

    Reply
  18. Diane Sallans

    I’ve enjoyed several of these books in Amy’s Texas Firefighter series – I’ll have to check out which I’ve missed.

    Reply

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