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Monday, August 12, 2013

10 Questions with Gloria Burland


Back for another Musaling Monday, this week our intrepid guest is the fabulous Gloria Burland who writes the Clifton Chronicles.

1. Can you tell us a bit about yourself?
 My great grandparents were early settlers and did the covered wagon, Oregon Trail bit. I find this incredible, and so brave of them, I couldn’t imagine being that brave, but a bit of their pioneering spirit must have reached me as I’ve lived all over the world and am always looking for the next place to live.

2. If you won a million dollars, would you go to work tomorrow?
My work is writing and I would definitely not stop writing.
 
3. What’s the first thing you would buy?
A car that doesn’t require a PHD in technology – a car that’s not run by computer. I find that concept scary. What if the computer crashes and we all know they do that. I’d buy an old Ford or Volkswagen, perhaps. But any car would do just as long it started with a crank handle, and didn’t have a robotic voice telling me to put on my seat belt or shut the door!

4. What philanthropic organization would you share your booty with?
Women of the World, and especially women in Rwanda. Their plight is a subject which is really close to my heart and I am writing a novel Cut The Tall Trees, about the genocide in 1994

5.Would you still write?
You may as well ask ‘would I still breath?’ Yes, I would definitely still write

6. Would you loan me 50 bucks?
No, I wouldn’t loan you 50 bucks, but I would definitely GIVE you 50 bucks or more if you needed it.

7. What if I gave you five bucks? Not so exciting, I know. Suppose I did, but you had to spend it on something totally frivolous. What would you spend it on?
Ah! I’d buy some purple eye shadow, with loads of glitter in it.

8. If you could buy an island or a mountain to live on, which one would it be?
I can’t bear heights so it will have to be an island. Dozens of years ago, I saw a TV programme, Homes for the Rich and Famous featuring Bora Bora and thought how wonderful it looked. Years later I met the actor, Peter Strauss, who’d just been there and he said it was the most wonderful and magical place on earth, so I guess I would buy Bora Bora. But only if the purchase package included Peter Strauss!

9. Pimp it if you got it. What is new and next for you?
Well. The fourth novel in my Clifton Chronicles series A VALENTINE SCANDAL is scheduled for release in January, and I am working on Clifton Chronicles 5 as we speak.

10. Not even being filthy rich exempts you from the required rejection haiku. Care to share?
They said, ‘one day your prince will come
on a white horse.
He’ll claim you for his bride and take you to a castle
where the grass is emerald green
and streams flow with glittering diamonds.
They said, if not a castle, then a cottage
where roses grow around the door and birds sing in a garden.
Lies all lies.
My cottage is a tenement block, my garden a window box
where roses wither and die, choked from city fumes.
There are no birds.
One day a prince rode by. He didn’t care to stay.

 
Wow! Not just a haiku, but a full poem. Sniff. And so sad. Plus she's giving me $50, yo. Y’all excuse me while I have something in my eye. 
 
In case you need more Gloria Burland in your diet—and who doesn’t?—you can check out her website http://www.gloriaburland.com/. You can find her books at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, All Romance eBooks, or the Musa Publishing Website.

6 comments:

  1. I am with you on purple eye shadow and bossy cars Gloria. I am always arguing with the sat nav.
    Great to see another Clifton Chronicle due. I have been to Bristol several times this year and love hearing about those familiar landmarks !
    Susan

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  2. Glad to see The Clifton Chronicles are continuing. Share your views on mountain v island.

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  3. Gloria, I think what you're really trying to say is that you'd like to be stranded on a desert island with Peter Strauss, right? Nothing wrong with that...

    Yes, a sad poem...and one of the reasons that romance novels with an HEA are so popular, I think. Life doesn't always measure up to our hopes and dreams, but our fictional heroes always do.

    Tweeted. Good luck with Clifton Chronicles #4!

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  4. My husband and I went to Bora Bora for our honeymoon - you couldn't have chosen better, Gloria! And, I love your philosophy about money, particularly loaning versus giving... Best of luck on #4 and on #5 of Clifton Chronicles.

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  5. I am jealous of your ancestry. Please tell me your great grandparents left behind a diary.

    Congrats on your release!

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  6. Surely there must be a romance along the Oregan Trail? I've been working on a small project - what were my ancestors doing in Regency times - one family were working on a large estate not five miles from where I now live, although they branched off and went to the nearest booming industrial town in the 1830s,where I was born years later. Looks like I've gone almost full circle in the ancestry game.Just proves that economic migration is nothing new. I am looking forward to the next Chilfton Chronicle and best wishes with your WIP.

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